Monday, Jan 5

Dear Reader,

Mr. Dot is a Trekkie (our second date was in front of the TV set with his friends watching Captain Kirk and the gang. Kinda shocking that there was a third date). Despite Mr. Dot’s best intentions, though, I have remained steadfastly unswayed by futuristic scenarios, preferring the straightforward to the fantastical. I tend to discount news of technological wonders that promise to save the planet, such as this recent announcement by Reflect Orbital, an American company that’s planning to launch 4,000 huge satellites over the next years to reflect sunlight onto solar panels from space — at night. The sunlight directed at Earth would be 3 miles (5 km) in diameter, and the satellites would exceed the moon’s brightness and make the stars essentially disappear for observers within the illuminated areas on the ground. It could also damage eyes and make sleep difficult if not impossible. But it would all be worth it, the company’s CEO said: “It would be really great if we could get some solar energy before the sun rises and after sunset, because then you could actually charge higher prices and make a lot more money.” 

Oh. I see. It would be great … for him. 

Politico brings news of another promised savior in the story of Stardust, a 25-person startup with the aim of essentially turning down the sun, like a thermostat. Politico reports that, “If what Stardust was claiming … was true, then a key threshold had already been crossed. Humanity had gained the power to turn down the sun, and barely anyone on the planet even knew. What’s more, that untested power was now effectively for sale.” But, as so many caution, because we can doesn’t mean we should.

Do not confuse Dot’s skepticism with dismissal of technology. Several ongoing geoengineering projects hold significant promise, as Bluedot editorial director Leslie Garrett reports in this story. (Although I and many others believe that there’s a dangerous lack of regulation around many proposed geoengineering projects.) 

But here’s the thing that many of these pie-in-the-sky promises ignore: the technology we need to reduce the warming of our planet already exists in the form of solar panels and increasingly efficient batteries to store the energy they produce (our growing storage ability has been called a “game-changer.”) But, for the most part, that won’t make people rich. And so the hunt for the magic beans continues. 

Ambivalently,

Dot