Inside Philanthropy — swsmos » Billionaire Philanthropists Want Us to Really Consider Dimming the Sun ‘Michael Kavate | February 28, 2023 ax Call it “sunscreen for the Earth" or stratospheric aerosol injection, but the idea of dimming the sun to buy time for ‘humanity amid accelerating climate change is having another moment inthe spotlight ‘Some prominent philanthropists have in recent weeks thrown money andjor tir reputations behind the {dea of using particulates to reflect sunlight and therefore heat. Not tobe left ou, the U.S. gaverament and startups are also ramping up their activity on thisfrot Perhaps most prominently, the financier, mega-donor and conspirecy theorist target Geonge Soros made headlines ‘this month when he announced a security conference that he supported s plan to spray seawater into the atmosphere to shield the fast-melting Artie from the sun. Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, former journalist Cai Tuna, alo publily joined the ‘ranks of billionaires backing solar geoengineering this month. Open Philanthropy a fund primarily supported by the ‘couple, recently sent $900,000 to a network of scientists in Aiea, Asia and South America to study auch measures, ‘Government funding i also beginning to Now, thre yeas after Congress quietly directed the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a program, following lobbying from SilverLining, «solar geoenginesting- focused nonprofit. The overament’s program now spends nearly $10 million a year, reports Seence. And late lat year, the White House release a five-year plan to research such climate interventions. As usual for the eld, theres also controversy. A startup, Make Sunsets, has been in the news for its widely criticized sl-carbon-credits-now,sor-out-he-detailslater approach, relying on YouTube videos and Home Depot runs to Jauneh balloons bearing sulfur dioxide int the upper atmosphere. Kelly Wanse, the executive director of SverL.ining which is backed by both foundations and billionaire donors, denounced te startup as “selling ence oi” According to Time, Wansee’s statement sparked so much pubic outery in Nevada, where Make Sunsets made their latest lease, thatthe governors oie called the startup to investigate. Bilioaires and controversy have gone hand-in-hand with solar geoengineering for quite some time now. Yet in addition to these high-profile efforts, there are smal signs of widening interest within philanthropy, including ftom ia Follow the Money! ‘hams DONOR I ADVISORY, i CENTER = CONSULTANTS, DIRECTORY a it Philanthropy Jobs Checkout our new Butane abs Center ar chek Job singTegacy institutions. With living billionaires dominating environmental philanthropy it seems Hkely there wil only be ‘more backers signing on in the years ahead And ami accelerating climate chaos, t may be that more foundations and philanthropists will see such measures — which backers typically liken to chemotherapy or alas resort — as something that must be investigated, Billionaires are the biggest backers, but they're not alone ‘To the extent that there is a solar geoengineering fel, it owes alot to philanthropy, and particularly bilionsiees ‘Mega philanthropists like Bll Gtes and John and Laura Arnold were early backers of sich research, as well a others 1ike Rachel Pritzker, wit sits on SiverL.ning’s board, I covered these supporters and others ina survey ofthe philanthropic landscape for solar geoengineering in February 2021 ‘Soros’ speech gota lot of attention, bt it's not completely new information, Staff at Open Society Foundations told sme back in 2021 thet solar radiation management would be part of « $40 million climate portfolio they had recently launched. We now know there's buy-in fom the very top for that fanding ‘There are now two solar geoengincering backers who derived their wealth fom Facebook: Matt Cober, who was ‘employee No. 7a the social media company, and now Moskoxitz, And Mark Zuckerberg is backing ajcent ~ and sometimes conflated ~ carbon removal efforts, technology thet, through one method or another, pls carbon dioxide ‘rom the air The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was recently inthe news forbacking a company aiming to design the first-ever purpose-built plant to use geothermal heat to power direct ar eapture. Lester-known tech figures lke venture capitalists Chris Sacca and Bill Trenchard were other initial supporters Te makes sense of couse, that tec titans would focus on new technology asa solution for climate change. In «recent pice, Time reporter Alejandro dela Gara acrbically summed up why so many billionaires feom the seetor are “obsessed” with solar geoengincering: “ifyour life story involved working relly hard on some stu your 20s, and then it paying off so substantially that you're abe to spend the rest of your lif working on passion projects while everyone around you tells you what an awesome, cool genus you re, you're probably not ona fundamental lve, too excited about some sort of soelet)= level change, Tn your experience things have worked out really well, so therefore, the thing we've got going right now is probably pretty good. Bot als this climate change stoffis definitively not-good. What to do?” Legacy funders, however, have not been entirely absent from the scene —and new players ae emerging. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Sloan Foundstion both supported carly research. And the Gordon and Bey Moore Foundation is now ised among SilverLinings supporters. The smaller but tll substantial Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust sas «newly public backer, sd arate one from outside the tech world ‘What's next? ‘The yar is 2025 and an unprecedented heat wave has just struck India. Tens of million peopl ae dead, whole towns and cities wiped out by temperatures too great for human bodies to endure. In response, the Indica government takes rastic unilateral ation, deploying jets to release sur dioxide into the atmosphere to replicate the cooling impact of 4 voleanic eruption, Solar evengineering has arrive. “Thos begin science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry forthe Future, « 2020 novel that explores how we right get toa point where governments and others resort to hotly contested measures ike dimming the sun. While it's easier to imagine the U.S. or China making such a move, based on historical precedent, the larger point is clear. Billionaires are largely dominating and funding this debate right now, but accelerating chaos could, in theory, push it into another gear. ‘There remain many reasons tobe skeptical. Foremost i a concern that pursuing measures would dissuade ‘governments, corporations and individuals from making the changes necessary fo cu emissions, whieh opponents and supporters of solar geoenginecring agree shouldbe ou priority. There i also ver litle eartainty about whether sucha measure would unleash a new series of eatastrophes, with some research finding it would aidty the ocean oF {pact the monsoon season. There have been voleanc eruptions, suchas Mt, Pinatubo in 199, that both spewed sulfur and lowered global temperatures. But humans’ record of interventions on that scale is decidedly mixed, For proponents it's critical that we investigate the strategy further, particularly possible side effects, so we know ‘bether this tool of last esortis effective an feasible or incaleulably destructive, For opponents, research is at best a ‘waste of resources and at worst ike laying Checkov's gun onthe table. It will as the principle dictates, inevitably be fire, ‘Many of those holding the biggest purses — billionaires and government — cleanly fll nt the fist camp, It's ha tell for sure whether their intrest is preventative, hopeful or both, Yet the work seems tobe fast approaching the point where, ready or not, someone might try to pull that trigger.Just this week, a group of 60 sclentsts published an open leter calling for deeper study of methods to col the earth by reflecting sunlight — and soon. They emphasize, as others have pointed out, that existing pollution already shields ‘the earth from as much as a third of historia! warming. Reducing our emissions, in other words, could actully warm the climate inthe short term by pulling back that shield After ll, 2025 ~ the date ofthe novel's haunting opening —is less than two years away. And emissions keep rising. Featured > Coreen Funders Show ‘with Foud Systema the New Suppor ‘Spots Cor Eepor olutanmtsions at en io mate a Gta Pande edge Explore GrantFinder, a powerful resource for IP subscribers. Winther you rise maney or give aay, Fellow IP ‘Quiek Links Become a Subscriber f X in About Us Indivicual Subseripons > consatart rectory Fro a He Newsletter Follow the money! Gat our dally email Inside Philanthropy