Credit: airbus.com
Another attention-seeking billionaire with too much time on his hands, dreaming up Hollywood-style schemes? A planned small-scale test is in the offing.
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The Microsoft co-founder, who has donated about $50 billion to various charitable causes, considers climate change one of the most acute problems humanity is facing and has spearheaded several initiatives on research and development of clean energy, says Sputnik News.
A Bill Gates-backed project aims to stop climate change by dropping tonnes of chalk dust into the stratosphere, The Times reported.
According to the newspaper, the initiative funded by several private donors, including the Microsoft co-founder, will be the first serious attempt to deal with the issue of climate change by dimming the Sun.
Essentially, scientists will attempt drop chalk dust in the atmosphere hoping it will create sunshade that will reflect some of the Sun’s rays and heat back into space and dim those that get through, thus preventing our planet from getting warmer.
This summer scientists plan to launch a large balloon carrying 2 kg of chalk above the Swedish town Kiruna and then drop the chalk. Researchers will then monitor how it interacts with the atmosphere.
This information will be used to run simulation tests to see whether increasing the amount of chalk dust will help deal with the issue of climate change.
The scientists behind the project were inspired by the 1991 volcano eruption in the Philippines. Back then, Mount Pinatubo released an enormous ash cloud containing millions of particles of sulphur dioxide, which then formed into droplets of sulphuric acid that floated in the air for more than a year and acted as sunshade.
Scientists say that global temperatures went down 0.5 Celsius as a result of this.
Excuse for Politicians and Potential Impact on Weather System
Despite its popularity, the project has raised concerns among the scientific community.
Full article here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Total madness! Even if the planet were heating up, which it is NOT, this would be both foolish and potentially dangerous. Gates is a megalomaniac, convinced he is brilliant and needs to be prevented from trying this on a large scale. It is bad enough they are going to try it small scale in Sweden.
and when we all start breathing this MASSIVE load of chalk dust, what happens to our lungs?
His wealth has driven him insane IMAO.
And how much fossil jet fuel will he use to do that??!!
This is a Bond plot, right?
Why not drop tons of sulphur dioxide and trigger a new ice age which is due anyway. This will get rid of the pesky Climate Crisis.
‘thus preventing our planet from getting warmer’
Our Billy is going to need a lot of chalk dust 🙄
There goes the aircraft. Stuff some chalk up your engines, pilots.
Ever noticed how it has always been the business tycoons screwing up the environment?
The Great Rest vs. The Great Awakening – Full Disclosure Required: https://youtu.be/o5BNWSgJgM0
PotentialBabylonBeeHeadline™: “Bill Gates Aims to Сool the Planet With Tons of Chalk Dust; Women & Minority Workers in Solar Energy Industry Hardest Hit”
So Gates wishes to do what the Chinese wish to do locally — and we’ve seen how well that’s worked so far — what a megalomaniac more so than the CCP politicians.
From http://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202012/02/content_WS5fc76218c6d0f7257694125e.html
So how will Gates’ plan affect what China is doing?
China v. Gates for weather/climate control? Should be an interesting showdown.
“Despite its popularity, the project has raised concerns among the scientific community.”
Really — why would anyone object to a plan that, if carried out in a big big way, could destroy crop production for years to come?
Of course, the real thing they are doing is dropping 5 pounds of chalk dust in a very small area. I must have pounded that amount of chalk dust out of chalkboard erasers in one semester in elementary school.
I watched my cousin’s ashes — Blind John Fleming — released by another sky diver over Oregon — didn’t affect the temperature at all. One observer was convinced that the ashes formed a cloud that looked like Blind John’s face . . . . there had been a lot of drinking among the wake attendees….
“I must have pounded that amount of chalk dust out of chalkboard erasers in one semester in elementary school.”
Who could forget polychromatic alphasite?
So if it was inspired by a volcano, why not just get down wind of Iceland and when the wind shifts, measure the effect?
‘the first serious attempt to deal with the issue of climate change by dimming the Sun.’
Serious? Only in the minds of the delusional.
I think we should be sharpening the pitch forks and getting ready to deal with the fool when he starts the ice age. We are still getting down to single figure C temps down here in the south of France at night.
This is just a stupid fool trying to virtue signal and/or support his idea of world population reduction following the Club of Rome ideas.
These stories are just a kite flying exercise in case an account has to be made to cover a natural cooling.
What if this tips us back into the next ice age?
Geoengineering: billions will die.
Remember Bill? He’s one of the guys who wants to tell us what to think, say, see, smell, and do.
1 cubic km of chalk, would not do anything.
Though if you put 1 cubic km of chalk in Earth/Sun L-1, might cool Earth.
But since all Europeans are worried about getting warmer {in their frozen lands] it would be quite easy to just cool Europe.
If this chalk dust layer acts as a barrier to incoming radiation, surely it will also act to stop out-going radiation, hence causing Global Warming (according to the Radiation belief of Climatologists).
Bring this possibility to the attention of Extinction Rebellion and the cries of outrage will lead to it being banned.
The best that Bill the Dill could say is that it would make no difference, so why do it?
Aye, little willy lyrics~sweet saysit all. a thick-head
gbaike said:
‘Though if you put 1 cubic km of chalk in Earth/Sun L-1, might cool Earth.’
Go on, I’m intrigued. Would the slight reduction in the Earth’s gravity, and therefore reduction in the lapse rate, be offset by the solar radiation reflected toward the Earth from the tiny white cube shaped object? Whatever the theory, it’s got to be at least as plausible as Bill’s!
Many additional jobs for chalk removal specialists.
gbaikie – you said Earth/Sun L1 and I even copied it and still read Earth/Moon. Doh. Got it now.
I’m sure Bill could work out how to keep a big flat disc there with a bit of help from Elon. 🙂
Alternative sun-blocking tech…
between Billie and the Chinese this is shaping up to become one of those apocalyptic SciFi movies, “But sir, it wasn’t supposed to happen that way…!!”
More of the same…
Top US Scientists Propose Research Into Blocking Sun to Fight Climate Change
Is this really our answer to climate change?
https://futurism.com/top-scientists-propose-research-blocking-sun-climate-change
Based on this report:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/25/top-us-scientists-back-100m-geoengineering-research-proposal
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If you can’t move the orbit of the Earth, and you can’t, just give up and stop fooling around.
Oldbrew, think big! We’ve already moved Titan around. With a big enough lever…
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-the-slingshot-ef/
“When a spacecraft in orbit about a primary body comes close to a moon that is orbiting the same primary body, there is an exchange of orbital energy and angular momentum between the spacecraft and the moon. The total orbital energy remains constant, so if the spacecraft gains orbital energy then the moon’s orbital energy decreases. Orbital period, which is the time required to complete one orbit about the primary body, is proportional to orbital energy. Therefore, as the spacecraft’s orbital period increases (the slingshot effect), the moon’s orbital period decreases.”
So, with enough carefully orbited satellites, we could add some orbital energy to the Earth at the expense of, say, Mars and put both planets in the same orbit. Making Earth cooler and Mars nearer and more habitable. … Velikovsky would be proud. Now, about my grant cheque?
T$UNami BUILD-CHALKword
SuewesturntugUNsteadyBOTHways,
for “$19 bill” WAVES BIGgest[$]ure “ever give UN”.
“at the gates$sov. h[!]ll” — Tom Petty
When you’ve had enough of making $billions from state-of-the-art microchips, bring on ‘a large balloon carrying 2 kg of chalk’.
‘1 cubic km of chalk, would not do anything.’
1 cubic km of anything is way beyond the scope of Man. That is a billion cubic meters.