Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. SCoPEx planned a small pilot experiment, with the rationale that we need to scrutinize and consider the idea of solar geoengineering today so we dont end up relying on a totally untested technology in the future. Gates and other private donors are supporting Harvard University's Solar Geoengineering Research Program, which had planned to launch a new study based in Sweden in June researching the. Keith, who manages a multimillion dollar geoengineering research fund provided by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, previously commissioned a study by a US aerospace company that made the case for the . Despite simmering on the internet in recent weeks, Google Trends data suggested that people are still searching for answers. The UN document correctly indicates that volcanic eruptions sometimes fill the skies with ash or sulfur, dim the sun for years, and lead to measurable global cooling episodes. His grant-making research fund, the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research, partially finances the project. Fluoride.. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has been supporting a wide array of research on geoengineering since 2007, ScienceInsider has learned. You may need heart surgery or something. The article was shared on Facebook and was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. "It is not a test of solar geoengineering per se," the SCoPEx website says on its website. According to Snopes, SCoPEx is also financed by the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research (FICER), a fund for research grants co-created by Gates in 2007. Official govt docs expose Michelle Obamas 14 year history as a man., "Woody Harrelsons 60 seconds in the middle of his monologue was cut out of the edits released after the show., BREAKING Trump preps Marines to stop presidential coup.. Claim that Bill Gates is scheming to block the sun is wrong If Your Time is short Harvard researchers proposed a small-scale experiment that would spray aerosols into the atmosphere to. Gates, who dropped out of Harvard in 1975 to co-found Microsoft, has provided funding to the university for climate research since 2007. Bill Gates's PR companies are again reporting on a UN study that is pushing for atmospheric modification to block the sun. In the future, a small amount of the dustbetween 100g to 2kgwould be released to study atmospheric changes. BILL GATES TOO. The arguments underlying these concerns are outside the scope of this article, but a central feature of misinformed reporting on SCoPEx involves conflating scientists' or activists' views on solar radiation management in general with fears about SCoPEx specifically. Weitere Informationen ber die Verwendung Ihrer personenbezogenen Daten finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklrung und unserer Cookie-Richtlinie. The experiment involves launching a high-altitude balloon about 12 miles into the atmosphere, according to its website. Bill Gates has been falsely accused of many villainous plans, from depopulating the Earth to pushing microchips as part of all medical procedures. The launch will not release any stratospheric aerosols. After much investigation, the team settled on using calcium carbonatechalk, essentiallyas an ideal light-blocking particle. Keith wrote in a blog post last December there are "no easy answers" to climate change and noted that a "technology's risks depend on how it's used. Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime. Now, some social media users are claiming that billionaire Bill Gates is planning to spray dust into the atmosphere to "block the sun" as a way to combat global warming. It is true that no one knows what will happen until the CaCO3 is released and then studied afterward. The Keutsch group planned its first test flight for June 2021, which would. Is Russias Only Aircraft Carrier Cursed? The experiment would measure the risks and effectiveness of the technology. This process involves seeding the stratosphere with aerosols to reflect sunlight away. Bill Gates is working on a way to block the sun's rays so we prevent global warming. These models, the SCoPEx website explains, "are the primary tool for estimating the risks and benefits of solar geoengineering." Fact check: Bill Gates is not trying to 'block the sun's rays' in the name of climate change. In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts. International cooperation will be required to assess the risks, winners, and losers of any such experiment, and how best to proceed with all in mind. Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering experiment backed by Bill Gates has . As previously detailed by Snopes, a fact-checking organization, the assertion is largely based on sensationalist reports about the scope and ability of the SCoPEx project. But the same factors that make solar geoengineering a radical idea make it almost impossible to test, even on the small scale. Neither is it desirable, ethical, or politically governable.. A doctor at the Mayo Clinic is misdiagnosing pregnancies of Trump supporters so they have abortions. Three doctors from the same hospital die suddenly in the same week, after the hospital mandated a fourth COVID-19 vaccine for employees. The chemical is non-toxic and the amount released will also be small. Know what makes your body hoard aluminum? I cover energy, security, Europe, Russia/Eurasia & the Middle East, The Sun setting into a pall of forest fire smoke, over Alberta from fires in BC and elsewhere, on August 17, 2018 This shows the dimming and reddening of the Sun as it set, with it disappearing from view long before it reached the horizon This was from home in southern Alberta, and is a Lighten blend mode stack of 20 images taken at 10 minute intervals, and shot on Auto Exposure with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm lens The frames are part of a larger 200-frame timelapse processed with LRTimelapse. A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggested the SCoPEx procedure could lower global temperatures by a full 1.5 C for no more than $1-10 billion a year. Bill Gates Is Thinking About Dimming the Sun Geoengineering is the term for technologies that try to alter Earth's physical qualities on the largest scale possible. In theory, solar geoengineering is based on the idea that experts can reduce the impact of global warming by reflecting sunlight back into space using chemicals. Impacts will vary across regions, and there are uncertainties about the effects on weather patterns, agriculture, and the provision of basic needs of food and water.. This bioweapon attack on humanity cost us $20T, millions of lives, and our freedom. billionaire founder Bill Gates is financially backing the development of sun-dimming technology that would potentially reflect sunlight out of Earths atmosphere, triggering a global cooling effect. Other reports that misrepresented the project includeda story from the British tabloidThe Daily Mail, which warned of potential disasteras a result ofthe experiment. The letter goes on to call for five measures to be adhered to by the international community: no public funding for solar geoengineering; no outdoor experiments; no patents for solar geoengineering tech; no deployment of such tech; and no support for solar geoengineering from international institutions. "It doesn't guarantee they'll make the right decision. .css-v1xtj3{display:block;font-family:FreightSansW01,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:100;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-v1xtj3:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.1387rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-v1xtj3{line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.18581rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.23488rem;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}USAF's Reactor Creates Jet Fuel Out of Water, Air, Ring Lasers Can Allow Time Travel, Scientist Says, Mystery on Easter Island: More Moai Found in Lake, Ironton Found: Solving An 1894 Shipwreck Mystery, Scientists Discovered a Highly Reactive Superacid, 60 Scientists Are Trying to Block the Sun. Bill Gates Is Thinking About Dimming the Sun In late 2022, the startup Make Sunsets announced that it was injecting small amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere as an experiment in solar. Computer modeling and laboratory work tell us some very useful things about solar geoengineering, but as with all other aspects of environmental science, computer models ultimately rest on observations of the real environment. That was an atmospheric aerosol event. Its the instigating event of the 2013 film Snowpiercer, for example, where blocking sunlight has turned Earth into a lifeless ice ball. American journalist Jack Posobiec was arrested at World Economic Forum., The Uvalde, Texas, mass shooter was an illegal alien., Says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants Americas sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine., In Ohio, there are 75,000 acres of farmland, fertile farmland, that are all now being poured down with acid rain., Muslims by the millions are converting to Christianity.. Some have alleged Gates wants to block the sun. 1800 I Street NW SCoPEx will take a small step in its early research this June near the town of Kiruna, Sweden, where the Swedish Space Corporation has agreed to help launch a balloon carrying scientific equipment 12 miles (20 km) high. Widespread research into the efficacy of solar geoengineering has been stalled for years due to controversy. Brain Organoids Are Alive, But Are They Conscious? Although . Unlike sulfates, which can lead to ozone loss, calcium carbonate is not particularly reactive. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Photo of electric charging station powered by diesel generator is emblematic of the electric vehicle movement. It's perhaps equally crazy to keep ignoring it. Suggests root canals are linked to breast cancer. Bill Gates is investing in research to build sun-dimming technologies which could reverse global warming. The claim among Twitter users is that Gates' involvement with the academic project is somehow nefarious, and that he ultimately wants to "block the sun" from the Earth. And thats what this news really is: keeping options open and exploring the ramifications of a radical technology. One that has persisted in recent weeks involves an experiment by a team of scientists at Harvard University, known as the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), that is testing aerosols that might be relevant to solar geoengineering. The falsehood centers on a small-scale experiment that Harvard researchers proposed called SCoPEx, short for Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment that would spray aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect some sunlight back into space, a technology aimed at minimizing global warming. These Experts Say Yes. The experiment is funded in part through Harvards Solar Geoengineering Research Program, and Bill Gates is among the donors to that program. Additionally, the project is not working to block or dim the sun. ", He wrote: "The obvious nightmare is that the future possibility of geoengineering slows efforts to stop emissions but that the technology turns out to be infeasible. The Western Journals reporting, and other claims in its vein, reference or combine a December 2020 Reuters story with elements of a scientifically confused profile of the SCoPEx project published in 2019 by the British tabloid Daily Mail. Proponents of geoengineering have cited the global cooling effects of volcanic eruptions that result from the introduction of sulfuric ash into the atmosphere. Improved understanding of these processes will help answer applied questions such as, is it possible to find aerosols that can reduce or eliminate ozone loss, without increasing other physical risks?". Mount Merapi, 2,968 metres high, is known as one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, with an eruption occurring every two to five years. Those responsible must be held to account or it will happen again and again until world government. In 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, for example, released a two-part report on climate interventions like solar radiation management. For his part, SCoPEx researcher and Harvard Professor Frank Keutsch has argued that concerns like these are unsupported by scientific research and motivated more by fears about geoengineering being a problematic, pro-fossil fuel solution to global warming. Frank Keutsch, the projects principal investigator, does not know what the results might bring. The United States, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia blocked a 2019 United Nations assessment of global geoengineering plans. If the world cannot slow emissions or the effects of climate change are more extreme or occur sooner than expected, there may be demands to pursue additional climate-intervention technologies about which scientists need a better understanding, National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone said in a news release for that report.Although riskier ideas to lessen the amount of energy absorbed from the sun should not be considered for deployment, they should be studied so that we can provide answers if someday these ideas begin to be considered in attempts to avert catastrophe.". We need your help. Gates' financial involvement with SCoPEx has been documented since November 2018. Why Trust Us? Anyone new to solar panels should start with a good kit, like this one by Renology. Now, concerned that science fiction could end up becoming science fact in all the wrong ways, an international coalition of researchers and campaigners has called for an end to solar geoengineering plans. On the other hand we are expected to go to solar powered energy. St. Petersburg, FL stated on March 3, 2023 in a Conservative Political Action Conference speech: stated on February 19, 2023 in a Facebook post: stated on February 24, 2023 in an Instagram post: stated on March 2, 2023 in a speech at CPAC: stated on February 25, 2023 in a Facebook post: stated on February 22, 2023 in a Facebook post: stated on February 26, 2023 in an Instagram post: stated on February 27, 2023 in a Facebook post: All Rights Reserved Poynter Institute 2020, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. In that piece, the outlet represented a Harvard University project named SCoPEx, partially funded by Gates, to be a catastrophic threat to humanity and a literal test of a form of geoengineering known as solar radiation management releasing aerosols into the atmosphere as a way to cool the planet and counter global warming. There is a line of research on what's called geoengineering, which are various techniques that would delay the heating to buy us 20 or 30 years to get our act together. Opponents believe such science comes with unpredictable risks, including extreme shifts in weather patterns not dissimilar to warming trends we are already witnessing. For example, no credible scientist is arguing that SCoPEx, by releasing 4.4 pounds of chalky power 12 miles above the arctic, will, as the Daily Mail put it, "trigger a disastrous series of chain reactions, creating climate havoc in the form of serious droughts and hurricanes, and bring death to millions of people around the world." Geoengineering Monitor, accessed April 23, David Keith's Research Group at Harvard University, October 19, 2020, ", Keutsch Group at Harvard, accessed April 23, ", Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, April, 17, 2018, ", Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program, accessed April 23, ", Harvard'sStratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment. In other words, it's a very small-scale project, far from the climate-altering claims about it that have surfaced on social media. Update 01/22/2022 GMT1240: This post has been updated to clarify the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiatives stance on solar geoengineering technologies, as noted by C2G executive director Janos Pasztor. released into the stratosphere to reflect the sun's light back into space, theoretically cooling the planet. Further research on this and similar methods could lead to reductions in risks and improved efficacy of solar geoengineering methods, write the authors of the paper. Cocaine Bear Isnt the Only Animal Getting High. NO MORE CROPS, NO FOOD, NO PLANTS NO NOTHING!!! District of Columbia We take a look at 7 End Times Headlines from all across the world. Slippery-slope arguments aside, this is a far cry from an attempt to geoengineer the world. As noted by Nature in 2018, the concept in a broad sense is designed to spray particles into the stratosphere that may cool the planet by reflecting some of the Sun's rays. The project at issue in several sensationalized news stories, SCoPEx, is an experiment designed to collect data for the purpose of refining computer models that simulate solar radiation management, not to implement an actual test of the practice. Bill Gates is now best known as a philanthropist, not the guy who started Microsoft or was the avatar for everyone's annoyance with Windows 95. Jan. 5, 2021, USA Today, "Fact check: Bill Gates is not trying to 'block the sun's rays' in the name of climate change," April 23, 2021, Wilson Center, "Solar Radiation Management," Sept. 20, 2020. Digital IDs were given to residents in East Palestine, Ohio, to track long term health problems like difficulty breathing before the Feb. 3 train derailment. Now, that's just an insurance policy; you hope you don't need to do that. 01 Mar 2023 04:14:30 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A controversial, Bill Gates-backed sun-blocking experiment has been postponed for ethical reasons. . It is, however, a mischaracterization to suggest that SCoPEx seeks to test geoengineering per se, that a geoengineered world is a desired outcome for the people involved in the project, or that SCoPEx itself could disturb the global climate system. The incremental nature of SCoPEx cannot be understated. One goal of the project has always been to explore the real implications of this technology before we need it, because its never a good idea to launch an untested mechanism at a time of crisis. MSFT Measuring the ways that aerosols alter stratospheric chemistry can, for example, improve the ability of global models to predict how large-scale geoengineering could possibly disrupt stratospheric ozone. Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. Geoengineering and Bill Gates blocking out the sun. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Scientists say this lack of concrete information and consensus is a critical failure that must be corrected with new studies. But the SCoPEx website says the current project's scope remains limited. Ultimately, Gates' involvement is financial. As Popular Mechanics noted, "(A)ll of the scientists and backers involved are only suggesting doing researchnot taking large-scale action.". We do not approve legitimising development towards solar geoengineering technology, nor for it to be conducted in or above our lands, territories and skies, nor in any ecosystems anywhere, the signatories stated in a letter drafted by the Saami Council, which represents indigenous Saami people across Scandinavia and in Russia. Bill Gates, Harvard, To Begin Blocking Sun In Spring Of 2019. Its driven, in part, by a well-intentioned sense of caution that solar geoengineering will weaken efforts to cut carbon emissions. Proponents of so-called solar geoengineering, such as tech billionaire Bill Gates, say techniques intended to block a portion of the solar radiation reaching the planet ought to be. But in my view we have a duty to provide them with that information, so they can make those decisions in the face of really horrific climate risks.". Excessive aluminum in the brain. The project originally was scheduled to have a test flight in Sweden in June 2021, but a Harvard advisory committee delayed it until at least 2022 in order to study potential impacts. The meteor strike that might have killed the dinosaurs blanketed the Earth in a layer of aerosol dust. (Photo by: VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images), Santa Clara, California 27 September, 2014 Global, March Against Chemtrails and Geoengineering, YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA - JANUARY 07: Lava runs down, from Mount Merapi as the volcanic activity increases on January 7, 2021 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The project revolves around the concept of geoengineering, large-scale efforts to reducethe effects of climate change usually temporarily on oceans, soils and atmosphere. Microsofts That's what the Harvard project, called the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment, or SCoPEx, aims to fix. Headlines or statements to the contrary rely on "slippery slope" arguments about geoengineering in general, not a fear that SCoPEx itself could destroy the world. Prominent campaigner Greta Thunberg came out in support of the indigenous peoples and against solar geoengineering. The most commonly proposed method is to use aerosols "the gaseous clouds formed by particles of many common materials" because the physical structure of their particles blocks and scatters light, according to Popular Mechanics. It's relatively budget-friendly (solar panels can get expensive fast) and it performs. Many anti-Gates stories and memes suggest Gates philanthropic efforts' stem from things he "wants" to happen. The claim gained traction in mid-February as residents in the state of Texas faced deadly winter storms but continued to circulate on the social network this week. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. This is why, SCoPEx says, most research has focused on an aerosol chemical already found in the stratosphere: sulfuric acid, which is a pollutant. Gates did not personally hatch a plan, nor is he or anyone scheming to block out the sun. Snopes said SCoPEx is also financed by the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research (FICER), a fund for research grants co-created by Gates in 2007. There is documentation of bull sharks in the Great Lakes. David Keith has proposed the creation of a risk pool to compensate smaller nations for collateral damage caused by such tests, but such a payout might be little comfort to those displaced by unlivable conditions. "The risks of solar geoengineering are poorly understood and can never be fully known," dozens of scientists wrote in an open letter to governments last year, imploring them to prohibit the technology. In a December 2020 Boston Globe editorial, he wrote: Why the sharp divergence between media and science? . China threatens to shoot Nancy Pelosis plane down if she visits Taiwan., Know what they always find in Alzheimers patients? Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering . While the mechanism of an aerosol solar geoengineering study is simplethe physical structure of aerosol particles literally blocks and scatters lightthe reality is more complex. In a report made by that body, Gates' involvement is noted, but the proportion of the project funded by Gates is not publicly disclosed. The geoengineering project is an attempt to cool the earth's overall temperature. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. If you aren't really sure where to start, this solar panel is a failsafe option. This is geoengineerings addiction problem, often called its moral hazard. The concerns enumerated in Daily Mail and Reuters, when quoting from actual scientists, universally fall into the "slippery slope" line of reasoning the notion that the only reason for the incremental work proposed by SCoPEx is to realize a dream of actually geoengineering the planet. Lets just say the plan doesnt work out as intended. The Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) will spray a special calcium dust into the sky in order to reflect sunlight back into space. A snapshot of searches between March 1 and 2 included breakout results largely based around: "Bill Gates trying to block sun. In terms of solar radiation management, that is not the case. Thunberg: Not too late to act in Climate fight, Climate Activist Greta Thunberg appeared virtually before a House subcommittee Thursday to call on U.S. officials to do more, saying it's "not too late" to make real changes in the fight against climate change. One example is cloud seeding, where airplanes flush clouds with particulate matter in order to coalesce into rain. But there's another nightmare: It's that after bringing emissions to zero, we realize in hindsight that early use of geoengineering could have saved millions of lives lost in heat waves and helped preserve some of the natural world. Proponents of solar geoengineering, also known as solar radiation modification, say deployment of the technology could be a shortcut to slow a rise in global temperatures that is stoking more. It's also easy to use and compact in size, making it easy to store when not needed. But even this flight still months away and pending approval from Harvard's outside advisory committee is only a test of the balloon, and would not release its theoretical payload of just under 3 1/2 pounds of calcium carbonate powder. The SCoPEx project is partially funded by the Harvard University Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP), which lists Bill Gates as one of its philanthropic donors.