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Comment by polotics | Hacker News Reader

The quantity of sulfur released in this stunt was not such that it would affect the climate. This was a pure stunt, with the hope to kindle interest for purchase of "cooling credits". The main question at this point is despite the similarity, we can't call it "greenwashing", and "whitewashing" is kind of already taken. Maybe "graywashing"?

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Sulfur is yellow, why not go with that

They’re literally pissing in the pool we are all living in.

This is a crime against humanity and these people should be jailed accordingly.

The tragedy of the commons. Truly reprehensible.

More like pissing in the ocean.

You forgot the "asking people to pay you for doing it" part.

You should read up about how much of toxic chemicals get released into the atmosphere during new year celebrations.

I think you're missing the point a little. Which is that for this to 'work' in any meaningful sense, it has to be scaled up to a planetary level of significant dispersion. This will almost certainly have consequences which we can't model, because of the scale. What does it mean to block out the sun across the whole planet? Photosynthesis on which we all rely to survive, needs sunlight. Even small changes can have dramatic effects on plant growth etc. It's a crazy idea, dreamed up by scientists who read too much science fiction.

Surely some volcanoes have ejected a fair amount of sulfur into the environment? How was the local weather affected by them?

If I remember correctly, there was a mini-ice aga in medieval times because of an erruption that was significant enough.

Ask the dinosaurs.

Global weather has been impacted to such extents (resulting in multiple massive famines) that there's even a term for that - volcanic winter.

Surely you jest; Only Man could affect global weather!

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo is often cited.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_eruption_of_Mount_Pinatub...

As is driving any ICE vehicle. People are very selective with their outrage. They'll rage against this and then buy a pointlessly large SUV because they like the sound it makes, or something.

I have driven ICE cars of course and without guilt even. So, don't get me wrong here. Just pointing out that it's irrational to go fuming at one thing without doing it for the other thing. If you own or drive a car, you are a part of the problem. We all are.

There is an outrage against suvs as well.

At least with combustion engines we get something (the entire modern world) out of the deal and it essentially has majority support.

This is a “I’m unilaterally rolling the dice with our future” type of situation. People have a different response because it’s a different situation!

Of course! "Yellowashing" strikes just the right chord!

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