From THE DAILY CALLER
Owen Klinksy
Contributor
Billionaire-backed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) behind a botched experiment to block sunlight using aerosols in California have announced they will continue their efforts, Politico reported Wednesday.
The initiative, which aims to lower global temperatures by making clouds brighter so they better reflect the sun's rays, has run into obstacles because California officials are reluctant to allow scientists to spray aerosols, such as liquefied salt, into the atmosphere. Still, many of the program's funders, including Hyatt hotel heiress Rachel Pritzker, are undeterred, according to Politico. (RELATED TOPICS: Climate scientists want an umbrella the size of Argentina to block out the sun)
“The Pritzker Innovation Fund believes in the importance of research that helps improve climate models and enables policymakers and the public to better understand whether climate interventions like marine cloud brightening are feasible and advisable,” Rachel Pritzker said in a statement to Politico in response to public backlash against the Alameda experiment. “We will only get answers to these questions through open research that can support science-based, democratic decision-making.”
“We remain committed to promoting transparent, equitable and science-based approaches to understanding and potentially mitigating climate risks,” Greg De Temmerman, science and program director at the Quadrature Climate Foundation – an NGO with ties to British hedge fund Quadrature Capital – told Politico.
The Alameda experiment lasted a total of 20 minutes, despite being planned to last several months. According to Politico, this is partly because the researchers first announced the project in the New York Times before notifying the city.
The project is the second billionaire-funded project to inject aerosols into the stratosphere to fail in recent months.
In March, a similar Harvard-led project in northern Sweden was shut down after facing opposition from environmentalists and indigenous communities concerned about the study's impact on weather patterns, Politico reported.
The University of Washington, NGO SilverLining, SRI International, the Quadrature Foundation and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen's Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation – all of which were also involved in running or funding the Alameda experiment, according to Politico – did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation's request for comment.
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