Wearing masks became a political thing, at least in the US, because the government deliberately lied to us about their efficacy. They were trying to reserve masks for health-care personnel, or more generally, trying to "shape" public behavior through lies, and worse, disinformation and disavowal campaigns against those experts that contradicted the message intended to control.
The "get out of my way, I'm trying to control people here" message feels like a really bad way to go about this. We've had enough of that. My credence for your claim that this is the only way is low, and I think most critical thinkers would likely come to the same conclusion.
Having read the article, dumping sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere causes acid rain, which has its own significant problems (not the least of which are direct human health consequences). And Dr. Keith is proposing the same "get out of my way" attitude that has earned us a myriad of troubles:
> “A lesson I’ve learned from this is that if we do this again, we won’t be open in the same way,” Dr. Keith said.
In other words, instead of listening to the objections against solar geoengineering the only thing he learned from the objections was to hide what he's attempting. That's hubris. It isn't just that he's ignoring Indigenous People's groups or Greta Thunberg, he's ignoring his colleagues in the field who are saying this is dangerous.
So no, I don't trust people who lay claim to an existential threat as license to do as they please, especially when we know there are safer alternatives.
The "get out of my way, I'm trying to control people here" message feels like a really bad way to go about this. We've had enough of that. My credence for your claim that this is the only way is low, and I think most critical thinkers would likely come to the same conclusion.
Having read the article, dumping sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere causes acid rain, which has its own significant problems (not the least of which are direct human health consequences). And Dr. Keith is proposing the same "get out of my way" attitude that has earned us a myriad of troubles:
> “A lesson I’ve learned from this is that if we do this again, we won’t be open in the same way,” Dr. Keith said.
In other words, instead of listening to the objections against solar geoengineering the only thing he learned from the objections was to hide what he's attempting. That's hubris. It isn't just that he's ignoring Indigenous People's groups or Greta Thunberg, he's ignoring his colleagues in the field who are saying this is dangerous.
So no, I don't trust people who lay claim to an existential threat as license to do as they please, especially when we know there are safer alternatives.