The idea of 'solar geoengineering' or shooting stratospheric particles to reduce the sun's heat, sometimes dubbed sun dimming, is thought to help reduce global warming and climate change. Even a startup called Make Sunsets claims to have tried it.
The Washington Post reported that the company's CEO and founder, Luke Iseman, had flown a helium balloon filled with sulfur dioxide over Baja California in Mexico last year.
The goal, as quoted by us from Futurism, is for the balloon to release sulfur dioxide particles at a high point and reflect sunlight back into space. According to MIT, this action, while small in scale and unsophisticated in its methodology, likely marked the first time anyone had actually tried to do something like this.
Make Sunsets continues despite much criticism of its geoengineering efforts. Scientists are concerned about the impact on regional weather patterns, agriculture and others. In addition, there is no valid proof this technology works.
"The conditions in science today are not good enough to either reject, or accept, let alone implement," said Janos Pasztor, director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, adding that it was a very bad idea.
Despite many criticisms, the idea of geoengineering has been gaining quite a bit of momentum recently. In 2021, the National Academy of Science recommends that the US pursue the idea given the growing climate crisis.
In short, most scientists agree that more research needs to be done before we can start sending large amounts of chemicals into the atmosphere to counteract the warming sun.
Today, there are many reasons to be skeptical. For example, there is concern that solar geoengineering efforts could adversely affect entire regions of the world, thus ignoring geopolitical boundaries.
"Who said it is permissible to do it and if it is done, how much and where and under what protection and with whom is it responsible?" said UCLA environmental law professor Edward Parson.