Experiments to dim the sun

Other experiments have been cancelled: opposition from the public may well get the British ones cancelled too.

Experiments with dimming the sun are dangerous in the extreme and we don’t want any government dimming the sun. It’s about time our governments got the idea that we all think this is all ridiculous. The British government's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has put aside £50 million for experiments in dimming the sun. Program director Mark Symes says they will be “small controlled outdoor experiments on particular approaches… We have strong requirements around the length of time experiments can run for and their reversibility and we won't be funding the release of any toxic substances to the environment.”

However, it is quite likely that people do not trust his reassurances. The truth is that such experiments are the first step on a particular pathway that the general public does not want the scientists walking on.

The Scopex experiment was a similar effort by Harvard scientists to dim the sun that was planned to be launched in 2021. It was cancelled after opposition from environmental groups and indigenous groups in Sweden, where the experiment was planned to be conducted.

A similar experiment was planned for Mexico in 2022, by a company called Make Sunsets, run by two entrepreneurs called Luke Iseman and Andrew Song — balloons with sulphur dioxide were slated to be sent up into the atmosphere to dim the sunlight. After strong opposition from the general public the Mexican government cancelled the experiments.

In the video below, John Campbell makes the point that there is a lack of humility in science these days: the powers-that-be seem to think they have a right to “tinker about with things we don’t understand.” Well, these other two project were cancelled, after public opposition. Enough opposition from the public may well cancel these British experiments as well. The director of ARIA Mark Symes could be right: these experiments may be mild enough, but where are these experiments heading? These experiments are quite obviously intended to be the first step on a pathway towards some kind of global geoengineering, which would result in catastrophic cooling, the demise of agriculture around the world, and worldwide famines.