The extravagant idea funded by Bill Gates to cool the Earth: they will start testing it in Sweden

The first test of a Bill Gates-backed billionaire project to spray millions of tons of chalk into the stratosphere, in an attempt to “Darken the sun” and cool the Earth, could take place in June.

The experts of the Harvard University will test the system by sending a large balloon 19 kilometers above the Swedish city of Kiruna to throw 2 kilograms of chalk dust into the stratosphere, according to Daily mail.

The objective of the mission, estimated at $ 3 millionis that chalk deflects some of the solar radiation, prevents it from hitting the surface and cools the planet.

The idea has been heavily criticized from the start, and the project manager, Frank Keutsch, even characterized the need for this geoengineering scale as “Creepy”.

Supported by a number of private donors, including Gates, the test mission will be launched from Sweden, given that the country is already ready to do so at the end of the European summer.

The test balloon will lift 600 kg of scientific material 19 kilometers above the surface of the arctic city of Kiruna and, if all goes well, around 2 kg of dust will be released.

This will then create a column of dust several kilometers long, although not large enough to have an effect on the intensity of the sun’s rays hitting the Earth.

During this first test, the team will take care of collect information on the reaction of dust particles with air to introduce it into computer models capable of determining what would happen if the operation were carried out on a larger scale.

Keutsch told the British newspaper The temperature What are they looking for determine the true effects, as current models “may be overly optimistic” and make the technique attractive, according to Daily Mail.

It would take tons of dust and columns several hundred miles long to make a difference, and the theory is that the dust would create a huge umbrella.

This would reflect some of the sun’s rays and heat return to space, dampening those that pass through it and thus shielding the Earth from the ravages of global warming.

Keutsch, whose Harvard lab is leading the project, argues that the strategy would only be implemented in the face of desperation to prevent parts of the planet from becoming uninhabitable.

If no effort is made to stop climate change, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and other pollutants, different regions of the world could see their temperatures rise dramatically.

Critics of the project from the scientific community

Critics of the dust cloud believe that bill gives politicians an excuse not to take action to adequately tackle climate change.

The professor at the University of Edinburgh Stuart Haszeldine told the Times that blocking the sun would do nothing to eliminate the main cause of global warming.

“It would cool the planet by reflecting solar radiation, but once you realize it, it’s like taking heroin: you have to keep using the drug to keep having the effect,” he said. -he explains.

Without tackling pollution, he added, we should first continue to raise more dust in the stratosphere, which this would change the daytime sky to white and if it ever stopped there would be an increase in global temperatures again.

David King, at the University of Cambridge, told The Times there should be a moratorium on the deployment of the technique.

According to him, it could be disastrous for weather systems in a way no one can predict, therefore, data should be collected using modeling and other techniques.

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