Hundreds of documents show how researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun’s rays — while they planned a much huger sequel.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250728172625/https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/27/california-sunlight-dimming-experiment-collapse-00476983


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  • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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    -125 days ago

    Fuck, no! We do not understand anything about anything, well enough to start fucking with shit on this scale.

      • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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        1025 days ago

        1st of all…the Sun isn’t the problem. It isn’t getting brighter or hotter. The problem is us. So, “fixing” something that isn’t broken, isn’t going to actually “fix” anything. It will just introduce additional variables to an already ridiculously complex equation.

        Not to mention, it may even give the fossil fuel industry and its supporters a justification to continue doing more damage, under the false pretense that the problem has been “solved”. So, where does it stop? When we’ve blocked out the Sun entirely, but are still choking to death on our own industrial exhaust?

        • wildncrazyguy138
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          325 days ago

          Not necessarily disagreeing with your premise but the sun is slightly warmer right now.

          • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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            225 days ago

            The Sun has its own natural cycle of activity. But that has nothing to do with why the planet is warming.

          • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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            124 days ago

            Lol! This isn’t going to save it. The problem will just keep getting worse, no matter how dim we make the sun…because the sun isn’t the problem.

    • Nora
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      925 days ago

      We actually do. Cargo ships used to give off white smoke because they burned sulpher. A new law went into effect that stopped them from burning sulpher and the clouds went away and we saw a spike in temperature.

      So we have some data. We’ve already been experimenting with global climate. Might as well experiment to try and fix it.

    • @Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      925 days ago

      Fuck it we ball. Nerds, start turning those knobs and dials until the problem is fixed or we die.

    • FaceDeer
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      625 days ago

      And therefore we should not do anything that could help us learn about this?

      • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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        -225 days ago

        What could we possibly learn from this, other than brand new ways to fuck up our environment?

        If we are serious about “solving” the climate change problem, we should try fixing the things that are actually causing it…not altering the variables that aren’t.

        • FaceDeer
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          825 days ago

          What could we possibly learn from this, other than brand new ways to fuck up our environment?

          We could learn brand new ways to fix up our environment.

          we should try fixing the things that are actually causing it

          You may have noticed, we’re trying that already and it’s not working particularly well. Your proposal, then, is to not try anything new but instead just keep on trying the thing we know isn’t working?

          • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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            125 days ago

            No offense, but we aren’t “trying that already”. We have spent decades trying everything except that…and this is just the latest and most desperate attempt at not doing anything to actually address the root causes of climate change.

            We would rather block out the Sun, than stop burning fossil fuels. It would not surprise me, at all, if it turned out that the fossil fuel industry was behind this whole idea. It sure would be convenient to kick the can down the road a little longer, so we can keep killing ourselves for profits that you and I will never share in.

    • Nora
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      -125 days ago

      We actually do. Cargo ships used to give off white smoke because they burned sulpher. A new law went into effect that stopped them from burning sulpher and the clouds went away and we saw a spike in temperature.

      So we have some data. We’ve already been experimenting with global climate. Might as well experiment to try and fix it.

      • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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        -125 days ago

        Honestly, that is actually a perfect example of how stupid this whole idea is. Imagine actively promoting the burning of sulfur, in order to try and reflect sunlight. That is the definition of the solution creating even more problems than it solves.

        • @baldingpudenda@lemmy.world
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          325 days ago

          volcanic winter

          There was a planned test of getting a glider up to the stratosphere and releasing SO2 and H2S and watching effects, temps, dispersal, etc. Someone made an article and there was so much uproar that the test was canceled.

          We’re able to create, destroy, vent, and dump whatever as long as there’s a profit, but a small test to see what happens absolutely NOT. Science is all about pulling threads, trying to figure out something new however small in the hopes others can build on it. Nature already does this. We just doing it in a controlled manner.

          • @Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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            -124 days ago

            Why would you need to do a test if something, when you can simply observe the same results from a naturally occurring event?

            Science isn’t about doing things just to see what happens. That’s absurd. And wildly unethical.

        • Nora
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          124 days ago

          You wouldn’t need to use sulfur if you actually did it on purpose. You could use many other methods to make clouds.

        • DesolateMood
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          024 days ago

          I almost thought you were being serious until I read this one lol