INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Y Combinator, the wildly successful San Francisco-based startup accelerator, is issuing a request for startups that will focus on different
kinds of geo-engineering technologies in a bid to mitigate the effects of climate change.With the acknowledgement earlier this month from
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that drastic measures are going to be required to reverse climate change and protect the globe
from catastrophic climatological events by 2050, the startup accelerator is hoping that its call to action might spur some new
[And I] keep meeting really smart people, and the situation keeps seeming to get more dire
be balanced by removing CO2 from the air
electro-geochemical processes, genetically modified enzymatic carbon fixing using cell-free systems and desert flooding to create
micro-oases and carbon sinks of new (somewhat arable) land.If all of these things sound insane and completely unfeasible without government
In its blog post, the accelerator pointed to bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, which would require growing new biomass to convert
into energy and then capturing the emissions created when that biomass is burned for power and burying it in the ground
Gates-backed company that takes carbon dioxide from the air and converts it into fuels and chemicals; LanzaTech, a New Zealand company that
converts carbon into chemicals and fuels; and the Australian cement manufacturer Calix.Further afield is solar radiation management, which
would reflect inbound sunlight back into space
Researchers have proposed sending satellites into space that would reflect solar energy, injecting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere,
cloud-seeding to make them more reflective, or whitening roofs and developing reflective crops that would not absorb as much sun.Those
technologies are (to some degree) here already; what Y Combinator is asking for from startups and entrepreneurs are the next generation of
geo-engineering technologies.This new initiative from Y Combinator is both the ultimate expression of Silicon Valley hubris and a clear-eyed
attempt to wrestle with what is quickly becoming accepted as the reality of climate change and its impact on the world.And fortunately or
implement some of these technologies without regard to the consequences of the global ecosystem.If the apocryphal butterfly flapping its
wings could create monsoons halfway around the world, what might the potential implications be of creating new life in the ocean to absorb
