.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. The Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), launched by Harvard University scientists, aims to examine this solution by spraying non-toxic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) dust into the atmosphere a sun-reflecting aerosol that may offset the effects of global warming. Bill Gates-funded Study to Dim Sunlight May Be Needed - Newsweek But late last month, a Harvard advisory committee that was set up to study the projects ethical implications recommended pushing back the test until a more thorough societal engagement process can be conducted to address issues related to solar geoengineering research in Sweden, Harvard wrote. It also has made him a. Bill Gates is a popular target of conspiracy theories characterizing his charitable giving as evidence of a nefarious world domination scheme. The most the experiment would seek to do is release two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of non-toxic dust from a weather balloon 12 miles high in the sky. 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. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. ", Ultimately, Keith said that more study was needed, writing: "It would be crazy to start deploying solar geoengineering today. Photo credit: Justin Sullivan - Getty Images. The article shared in the Facebook post also falsely claims that the experiment will "kick off in June." That was an atmospheric aerosol event. 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. Gates argument, as described during a 2010 TED Talk, is that humanity should not be in a position, if global warming gets bad enough that geoengineering needs to be taken seriously, where we do not have the research to fully understand the mechanics of that solution: If you get into that situation, it's like if you've been overeating, and you're about to have a heart attack. A controversial, Bill Gates-backed sun-blocking experiment has been postponed for ethical reasons. What is solar geoengineering, anyway, and why are scientists suddenly interested inand concerned bythe concept? 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.". Geoengineers inch closer to Sun-dimming balloon test To do so, scientists need to determine whether there are aerosols that could reduce or eliminate ozone loss without increasing the chance of other risks. Instruments carried by the balloon monitorthat region for changes inaerosol density, atmospheric chemistryand light scattering. Elsewhere, the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) aims to get the United Nations to discuss solar geoengineering at the UN General Assembly in 2023though C2G emphasizes that its stance is strictly impartial, and that the initiative simply seeks effective governance of the technologies. In the case of Keutsch's experiment, the chemical will be calcium carbonate, which is essentially a chalk dust. The Swedish Space Corporation has agreed to help launch a balloon close to the town of Kiruna, Forbes reported. Researcher Chris Field writes: Chapters in the report include the role of philanthropists like Gates, the goals of preparing future political decisionmakers, and the state of existing research about 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. Bill Gates has been falsely accused of many villainous plans, from depopulating the Earth to pushing microchips as part of all medical procedures. It is true that no one knows what will happen until the CaCO3 is released and then studied afterward. Its the instigating event of the 2013 film Snowpiercer, for example, where blocking sunlight has turned Earth into a lifeless ice ball. Planned Harvard balloon test in Sweden stirs solar geoengineering "One example is cloud seeding, where airplanes flush clouds with particulate matter in order to coalesce into rain.". "It doesn't guarantee they'll make the right decision. The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) released a . 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. Know what makes your body hoard aluminum? SCoPEx is also partially funded by Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research program, which is also funded by foundations and donors, including Gates. Neither is it desirable, ethical, or politically governable.. Her favorite topics include nuclear energy, cosmology, math of everyday things, and the philosophy of it all. With assistance from Hayley Arlin and James Grant. With everyone from investors to indigenous groups involved in the process, SCoPEx will never get off the ground without a lot of diplomacy. The Earth is warming rapidly as a result of human-caused emissions. Bill Gates wants to block out the sun, conspiracy theorists claim - indy100 UK researchers experiment with a solar geoengineering system called SATAN To refine these models, scientists need to know how the aerosols interact with the atmosphere on a nanoscale. ", USDA is predicting egg prices will be $12 a dozen by fall 2022.. ". SCoPEx,and geoengineering in general,aresomewhat controversial. Microsoft's MSFT -2.2% billionaire founder Bill Gates is financially backing the development of sun-dimming technology that would potentially reflect sunlight out of Earth's atmosphere,. And its not just academics who object to the concept and practice of solar geoengineering. I'm not sure that's wise, given the importance of the problem, but there's now the geoengineering discussion about: Should that be in the back pocket in case things happen faster, or this innovation [in sustainable energy] goes a lot slower than we expect? In a December 2020 Boston Globe editorial, he wrote: Why the sharp divergence between media and science? Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering . That's why Bill Gates must block out the sun : r/conspiracy #BillGates is buying out all of the farmlands and trying to figure out ways to block out the SUN for THREE DAYS!!! Bill Gates's PR companies are again reporting on a UN study that is pushing for atmospheric modification to block the sun. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has been supporting a wide array of research on geoengineering since 2007, ScienceInsider has learned. This technology would trigger a global cooling effect," blared a viral tweet from RapTV, an . So how does that work???". "Bill Gates hatches 'horribly stupid' plan to block out the sun," says the headline on a Feb. 21 article on the Daily Star website. Environmentalists similarly fear that a dramatic shift in mitigation strategy will be treated as a green light to continue emitting greenhouse gases with little to no changes in current consumption and production patterns. 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. This is the purpose of the experiment: once a safe, experimental amount of CaCO3 is released, the balloon will fly through it, sampling atmospheric reactions and recording resulting dynamics. This week, the influential National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) also released a new report urging the U.S. government to spend at least $100 million to study solar geoengineering, a controversial technology. . Carbon capture, where emissions are taken and sequestered beneath Earths surface, is another major form of geoengineering. Bill Gates's PR companies are again reporting on a UN study that is The project revolves around the concept of geoengineering, large-scale efforts to reducethe effects of climate change usually temporarily on oceans, soils and atmosphere. So what does this mean for SCoPEx, and for solar geoengineering in general? Again, these temperature decreases bring with them serious risks. It's perhaps equally crazy to keep ignoring it. Bill Gates has provided undisclosed amounts of funding to academic research into solar geoengineering research, which in turn helps to fund the SCoPEx project. Slippery-slope arguments aside, this is a far cry from an attempt to geoengineer the world. 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. The claim first surfaced in 2021 and has been previously debunked by multiple fact checkers. Such assertions or implications are misleading in several regards described in detail below. 60 Scientists Want to Block the Sun: Solar Geoengineering Facts SCoPEx is partly funded through FICER and partly funded by Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program, which itself is funded by a number of foundations and other private donors, including Gates. We need your help. Due to the controversial subject matter (more on that below) and the fact that it is privately funded, SCoPEx is overseen by an outside panel of advisers run by Harvard. Such geoengineering . For one thing, the methods could have unintended consequences on global weather patterns. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. 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. The stories or tweets generally assert or imply that: Bill Gates is funding research that will literally dim the sun; that he "wants to" use this form of geoengineering as a tool to fight climate change; that SCoPEx specifically seeks to test the theory that "spraying particles into the atmosphere" can reduce warming; and that scientists think SCoPEx itself could produce global unintended consequences. Solar geoengineering, also known as radiation management, is based on the idea of using technologies to fight climate change by reflecting sunlight back into space. 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. 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 . Mexico Bans Tests to Block the Sun: What Is Solar Geoengineering? Concerned groups want a clearer understanding of consequences before the launch. Major disruption of the global climate could bring unintended consequences, negatively impacting highly populated regions and engineering another refugee crisis. MSFT Aerosols are the gaseous clouds formed by particles of many common materials. The experiment is funded in part through Harvards Solar Geoengineering Research Program, and Bill Gates is among the donors to that program. 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." 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. For these reasons, and because SCoPEx does not from a factual standpoint actually dim or block the sun, we rate the claim that Gates is funding research that "would help block out the sun" as "Mostly False.". released into the stratosphere to reflect the sun's light back into space, theoretically cooling the planet. USA TODAY has reached out to the poster for comment. radiation, lowering the Earth's temperature by 0.6 degrees Celsius (33.08 degrees Fahrenheit.) An article headline says, "Bill Gates hatches 'horribly stupid' plan to block out the sun.". If you live somewhere with low light, you might be worried that solar panels aren't for you, but these actually perform excellently in low light conditions. In late December 2020, reacting to reporting from Reuters, the Western Journal published a story titled "Bill Gates' Savior Complex Spirals Out of Control, Funds Sun-Dimming Plan To Save the Human Race." Despite simmering on the internet in recent weeks, Google Trends data suggested that people are still searching for answers. But for some, the potential rewards of solar geoengineering in the face of a warming planet are clearly too tantalizing to resist, even when balanced against its unknown risks and fraught ethical implications. Although . The claim that Gates is working on a way to block the sun's rays to prevent global warming isFALSE, based on our research. Unlike sulfates, which can lead to ozone loss, calcium carbonate is not particularly reactive. 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. Primary source evidence proves the claim to be false. Weitere Informationen ber die Verwendung Ihrer personenbezogenen Daten finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklrung und unserer Cookie-Richtlinie. 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. Three doctors from the same hospital die suddenly in the same week, after the hospital mandated a fourth COVID-19 vaccine for employees.