Startup releases sulphur particles into atmosphere to fight climate change

A US-based start-up has started releasing sulphur particles into Earth's atmosphere in an attempt to fight climate change.

The company called Make Sunsets has claimed that it sent sulphur particles into the atmosphere using weather balloons to deflect sunlight and bring about a cooling effect.

It put 10 grams of sulphur dioxide into two weather balloons, pumped them up with helium, and released them into the atmosphere. However, the experiment was carried out without any monitoring equipment, and the company has no idea if it had the desired impact on the atmosphere.

The company also did not obtain permission from any government authority or scientific agency before deciding to conduct a geoengineering experiment.

The first experiment was carried out in April this year somewhere in the area of Baja California, while the company was incorporated in October.

"This was firmly in science project territory. Basically, it was to confirm that I could do it," Luke Iseman, the co-founder and CEO of Make Sunsets, told MIT Technology Review.

The company claims that a gram of sulphur can offset one ton of carbon emissions for a year. It has also started to sell "cooling credits" for $10 each for future balloon flights. It plans to sponsor future experiments by selling these credits.

Geoengineering essentially involves manipulating the climate by reflecting more sunlight back into space through the release of sulphur and similar particles.

It involves sending chemicals that have a cooling effect into the stratosphere. In doing this, the sunlight would be reflected back into space, instead of warming up the planet.

Several scientists have been sceptical of the idea of geoengineering. A recent study even suggested that the long-term effect triggered by deliberate climate change reversal could lead to a huge loss of plant and animal species.

Geoengineering can deplete the ozone layer, and injecting sulphur into the atmosphere can lead to drought in the Sahel and the Amazon rainforest. Without the ozone layer protecting us, we would be exposed to ultraviolet light, leading to an increase in skin cancer and eye damage, among other dangers.

Scientists believe that tampering with the atmosphere artificially should be the last resort as it could go disastrously wrong and we may end up accelerating the processes responsible for global warming.