In Silicon Valley, a rogue plan shapes up to alter climate

Three men arrive at a self-storage warehouse in silver Winnebago at the edge of a Silicon Valley suburb, all sporting mohawks, mustaches and camouflage shorts. They unlocked a storage unit crammed with drones and canisters of pressurized gas, then wheeled out four tanks containing sulfur dioxide and helium, using a dolly and stacked them on the floor of the camper van. Soon after, they were back on the road, heading toward the golden hills by the Pacific Ocean.

According to New York Times, Make Sunsets is one of the most unusual startups in the climate alteration region brimming with wild ideas. Its co-founders Iseman, 41, and Andrew Song, 38, claim that they can cool the planet by reflecting some of the solar energy back into space by releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere.

Though having partial grounding in science, it’s a risky pursuit. For the past 5 decades, climate scientists have suggested releasing aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the heat from the sun by acting as a buffer. Volcanic eruptions have temporarily cooled the planet similarly in the past but no one has attempted to intentionally replicate the effect at scale.

Armed with their makeshift equipment and the confidence of having secured over $1 million in venture capital, they were planning to release pollutants into the atmosphere, in the name of fighting global warming . “We’re flying under the radar,” said Luke Iseman, a co-founder of Make Sunsets, relishing their anonymity as he sat in the back.

The idea, known as stratospheric solar geoengineering , is growing, as the perils of climate change become more extreme. But all geoengineering is not created equal. While universities invest millions in research, some individuals, claiming to care about global warming and seeking business opportunities, are moving forward without scientific validation. Luke Iseman was inspired to create Make Sunsets after listening to the sci-fi novel “Termination Shock” by Neal Stephenson in 2022. The story depicts a Texas billionaire who initiates a large-scale solar geoengineering project, using a giant cannon to spray massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

The firm so far is releasing sulfur dioxide on a small scale. Experts warn that larger attempts to interfere with the fragile balance between the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land, and sea ice could lead to disastrous unintended effects. For example, blocking sunlight could interfere with the monsoon season, which is crucial for agriculture, income and food supply in India. Make Sunsets founders, however, have no such concerns. They are selling “cooling credits” to customers who want to offset their carbon emissions.

Sikina Jinnah, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who specializes in geoengineering, shares concerns about potential harm. “They are a couple of tech bros who have no expertise in doing what they’re claiming to do,” she stated. “They’re not scientists and they’re making claims about cooling credits that nobody has validated.”

Make Sunsets has neither a scientific advisory board nor staff scientists.

Regulated market for carbon credits is expanding, driven by activities like tree planting, nature conservation, and capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to store underground. However, there are currently no established standards for "cooling credits", a creation of the Make Sunsets team.