How a risky sunlight-dimming experiment in California collapsed - POLITICO

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H simmens

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Jul 27, 2025, 3:45:34 PM7/27/25
to HPAC, Planetary Restoration
This lengthy and deeply researched article illustrates yet again the extreme challenge of even getting to the point where outdoor SRM research could take place. 

The article focuses on the university of Washington MCB researchers and Silver Lining as they attempted to line up a much larger more expensive experiment to follow on on the aborted initial small scale experiment off the coast of Alameda California last year. The information on this larger research effort was not released publicly but was obtained under a freedom of information request. 

It also doesn’t help that the funders of this effort are identified as Silicon Valley billionaires and cryptocurrency investors amongst others. 

It’s hard to imagine how the SRM Community will be able to avoid these kinds of damaging stories and abortive attempts at outdoor experimentation in the coming years. 

Interestingly I heard about this not from a post by an SRM researcher but rather a post by someone very prominent in the ‘sunlight as beneficial to one’s health’ community. A community I am very active in and which is almost universally horrified by any efforts that could block sunlight from reaching the Earth. 

As the extraordinary benefits of direct sunlight become better known to the public it is highly likely that this growing community will become a major obstacle to SRM research unless careful and sustained efforts in building relationships with this community occur. 

Which is yet another reason why the kind of major multimillion dollar NGO devoted to advocating for a triad based restoration model is an absolutely necessary prerequisite to achieving progress. 

Herb 


Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future
“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com

Philip Bogdonoff

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Jul 28, 2025, 8:14:25 AM7/28/25
to H simmens, HPAC, Planetary Restoration
Researchers quietly planned a test to dim sunlight. They wanted to ‘avoid 



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H simmens

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Jul 28, 2025, 5:43:11 PM7/28/25
to Alan Kerstein, Tao Ye, Philip Bogdonoff, HPAC, Planetary Restoration
Alan,

Your boss was right - at least much of the time.

I’m not sure if that’s the case with SRM however. 

The university of Washington folks as I understand it never even told municipal officials in Alameda California that they were going to do oh just a wee small MCB experiment in their town. And it as you know backfired catastrophically. 

I suspect if they had done their homework and consulted properly they wouldn’t have had the story in Politico putting them further on the defensive and probably making it even more difficult for them to get funding and social acceptance for what would otherwise have been a second phase I guess of their outdoor testing. 

And look what happened when Make Sunsets decided not to tell anyone before they released substances into the atmosphere in Mexico. 

It contributed to 32 states introducing legislation to ban geoengineering as well as many countries around the world reacting negatively as demonstrated at the last United Nations Environmental Assembly meeting in Nairobi. 

I’m not suggesting that there’s any easy or obvious course to getting permissions and social acceptance to do field testing in an environment where SRM has minimal social acceptance to say the least. 

But it strikes me that a sincere well thought out effort to meet with  local constituencies should be the norm. That doesn’t guarantee success but I believe it makes it much more likely as long as the outreach is truly sincere, two way, and doesn’t smack of condescension from outside elites. 

Herb
 
Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future
“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com


On Jul 28, 2025, at 5:26 PM, Alan Kerstein <alan.k...@gmail.com> wrote:


I support your viewpoint Ye, but I want to share a little anecdote. My first boss kept the following scrawled across the top of his whiteboard:

It is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.

That became my guiding principle and has paid copious dividends throughout my career.

Alan

On Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 5:39 AM Ye Tao <t...@meer.org> wrote:
Quietly planning an experiment and starting it without involving stakeholders contradicts the inclusive image Silver Lining and friends have portrayed for themselves. 

Perhaps more importantly, committing to making the resulting knowledge and technology nonprofit, data open-source, and all funding sources fully transparent would have helped:)   There is no point in getting rich on the polycrisis, which is mostly not about global warming.

Ye

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Ye Tao

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Jul 28, 2025, 6:17:56 PM7/28/25
to Philip Bogdonoff, H simmens, HPAC, Planetary Restoration
Quietly planning an experiment and starting it without involving stakeholders contradicts the inclusive image Silver Lining and friends have portrayed for themselves. 

Perhaps more importantly, committing to making the resulting knowledge and technology nonprofit, data open-source, and all funding sources fully transparent would have helped:)   There is no point in getting rich on the polycrisis, which is mostly not about global warming.

Ye

On Sun, Jul 27, 2025 at 3:55 PM Philip Bogdonoff <pbogd...@gmail.com> wrote:
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/healthy-planet-action-coalition/CADBd-r%3DFGg1vXsPasXgjb0RTcpZ8RqMh2R_CL%3DJ1zJ9YWG3Fow%40mail.gmail.com.

Alan Kerstein

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Jul 28, 2025, 6:17:56 PM7/28/25
to Ye Tao, Philip Bogdonoff, H simmens, HPAC, Planetary Restoration
I support your viewpoint Ye, but I want to share a little anecdote. My first boss kept the following scrawled across the top of his whiteboard:

It is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.

That became my guiding principle and has paid copious dividends throughout my career.

Alan

On Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 5:39 AM Ye Tao <t...@meer.org> wrote:
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/healthy-planet-action-coalition/CAC84H4ki%3DgtzkKPjAR%2BZOrmHAqAT4FG_qbfg1nXFYd28a%2BuqEw%40mail.gmail.com.

H simmens

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Jul 28, 2025, 8:49:33 PM7/28/25
to Alan Kerstein, Tao Ye, Philip Bogdonoff, HPAC, Planetary Restoration
Alan,

I do think you’re onto something.  However HPAC’s  role - given the fact that we have zero public visibility and no substantial media contacts- could be to work with activist groups like Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion and another group that I’ve developed ties with who shall remain nameless for now - to induce them to use the kinds of high profile tactics that have proven to get media and other attention to support SRM. 

Based on what I heard just today something like that may not be as unlikely or implausible as it may sound. One of the high profile activist groups that occasionally acts out may be significantly softening their opposition to SRM and it appears that it is not alone. 

We may be on the verge of a shift in attitude towards SRM amongst the activist community and we should find ways to support and hasten such a shift. 

Herb


Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future
“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com


On Jul 28, 2025, at 8:30 PM, Alan Kerstein <alan.k...@gmail.com> wrote:


Herb,

I'm being a devil's advocate here, so from the perspective that desperate times call for desperate measures, I wouldn't mind seeing the perpetrators of this escapade go fully on the offensive while they are in a momentary spotlight, focusing on the greater damage inflicted by geoengineering opponents who are unavoidably complicit in purely harmful geoengineering every time they add to CO2 emissions. Greenpeace has shown how generating outrage can sometimes have benefits if it's done right. Is it too far out of line to suggest that this could be a political jiu jitsu opportunity for HPAC?

Alan

On Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 2:43 PM H simmens <hsim...@gmail.com> wrote:
Alan,

Your boss was right - at least much of the time.

I’m not sure if that’s the case with SRM however. 

The university of Washington folks as I understand it never even told municipal officials in Alameda California that they were going to do oh just a wee small MCB experiment in their town. And it as you know backfired catastrophically. 

I suspect if they had done their homework and consulted properly they wouldn’t have had the story in Politico putting them further on the defensive and probably making it even more difficult for them to get funding and social acceptance for what would otherwise have been a second phase I guess of their outdoor testing. 

And look what happened when Make Sunsets decided not to tell anyone before they released substances into the atmosphere in Mexico. 

It contributed to 32 states introducing legislation to ban geoengineering as well as many countries around the world reacting negatively as demonstrated at the last United Nations Environmental Assembly meeting in Nairobi. 

I’m not suggesting that there’s any easy or obvious course to getting permissions and social acceptance to do field testing in an environment where SRM has minimal social acceptance to say the least. 

But it strikes me that a sincere well thought out effort to meet with  local constituencies should be the norm. That doesn’t guarantee success but I believe it makes it much more likely as long as the outreach is truly sincere, two way, and doesn’t smack of condescension from outside elites. 

Herb

Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future
“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com

On Jul 28, 2025, at 5:26 PM, Alan Kerstein <alan.k...@gmail.com> wrote:



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Alan Kerstein

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Jul 30, 2025, 6:31:34 AM7/30/25
to H simmens, Tao Ye, Philip Bogdonoff, HPAC, Planetary Restoration

Herb,


We have discussed the need for trusted messengers to mediate between the experts and those who are concerned but unengaged. A fascinating angle on this is that the rabble rousers might have the authenticity to gain at least open-minded consideration of their message. I strongly endorse your efforts to encourage them and I have a suggestion in this regard. How about offering to provide a concise online climate science boot camp to help them to support their message with science that they can communicate intelligibly in their own voices. If scientifically well grounded (which I can't judge), suitable examples might be temperature-albedo and temperature-microbiome feedbacks that are already? possibly? incipiently? underway and are largely decoupled from CO2 concentration. I think people like Jim Hansen should be enticed to participate to provide a touch of gravitas as well as scientific rigor, although it shouldn't go any deeper than a Klutz guide to climate change.


Alan

Alan Kerstein

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Jul 30, 2025, 6:31:34 AM7/30/25
to H simmens, Tao Ye, Philip Bogdonoff, HPAC, Planetary Restoration
Herb,

I'm being a devil's advocate here, so from the perspective that desperate times call for desperate measures, I wouldn't mind seeing the perpetrators of this escapade go fully on the offensive while they are in a momentary spotlight, focusing on the greater damage inflicted by geoengineering opponents who are unavoidably complicit in purely harmful geoengineering every time they add to CO2 emissions. Greenpeace has shown how generating outrage can sometimes have benefits if it's done right. Is it too far out of line to suggest that this could be a political jiu jitsu opportunity for HPAC?

Alan
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