Inevitable & Obvious

Paul Gambill
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Conversations with the researchers, founders, and strategists working on the most important climate question nobody's talking about: what do we do when emissions cuts and carbon removal can't work fast enough? www.inevitableandobvious.com

Episodes

  1. "Are You Going To Stop Me Cooling The Earth?" — Luke Iseman, Founder of Make Sunsets

    2D AGO

    "Are You Going To Stop Me Cooling The Earth?" — Luke Iseman, Founder of Make Sunsets

    Luke Iseman is putting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere with high-altitude balloons and selling cooling credits to pay for it. And he doesn’t care if you approve. Make Sunsets is maybe the most polarizing company in climate interventions right now, and I wanted to have Luke on the show so we could learn more about how they think and what their goals are. We discussed the question that if we assuming cooling the planet is necessary (and we both believe it is), does that justify acting without institutional permission? We get into the energy math on carbon removal, the governance question, and a wealthy customer who may be planning to personally fund enough deployment to measurably cool the planet. Chapter Timestamps * 01:22 — What Make Sunsets actually does and how cooling credits work * 05:07 — The energy math against carbon removal: why CDR needs 20x global energy production * 07:00 — Luke’s vision for 2100: nuclear energy, 10x global prosperity, and table stakes * 10:50 — “We’ve been geoengineering since the industrial revolution” * 15:11 — Theory of change, the wealthy customer revelation, and “are you going to stop me?” * 19:40 — Deployment risks: monsoon disruption, weaponization, and the Pentagon’s response * 25:27 — Luke’s critique of governance approaches being taken today * 30:29 — The smallpox analogy: does innovation precede or follow institutions? * 38:36 — What success looks like for Make Sunsets in 10 years (0.1°C measurable cooling) * 47:39 — The Mexico ban that wasn’t, and why getting the facts right matters * 53:19 — What the field needs: “bold action” vs. “analysis and meetings” * 55:07 — Paul’s post-interview reflection: where he agrees and where he doesn’t Notable Quotes * “Are you going to stop me? And unless someone is going to do that... the cat’s out of the bag. Anyone can do this.” — Luke Iseman * “Unless you are breaking the law to build nuclear reactors, I don’t want to hear about CDR from anyone proposing it as a serious climate solution.” — Luke Iseman * “People are obsessed with developing governance for something for which there’s no demand. You govern things for which there is demand.” — Luke Iseman, quoting a friend * “I have a lot more respect now for the institutions that govern things that can help make decisions, the social license and legitimacy that comes from working through much more traditional systems.” — Paul Gambill (post-interview) * “Every day that we wait to do solar geoengineering is needless lives lost, species extincted, and tipping points flirted with.” — Luke Iseman Links and Resources * Make Sunsets: Luke’s company, where you can buy cooling credits * Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson: the novel that inspired Luke to start Make Sunsets * “Why Countries Aren’t Ready for Climate Interventions Yet” (Inevitable & Obvious) This and every episode I publish is free because I want these conversations to reach as many people as possible. Paid subscriptions are how I keep doing this work independently. They allow me to follow the research on climate interventions and meet the researchers, practitioners, founders, and policymakers shaping how this landscape evolves. Paid members get access to our community chat, where we discuss the latest developments in climate interventions and make sense of them together. If you found this conversation valuable, I’d appreciate your support. Get full access to Inevitable & Obvious at www.inevitableandobvious.com/subscribe

    58 min
  2. What We Don’t Know About Cooling the Planet — Dakota Gruener, CEO of Reflective

    MAR 17

    What We Don’t Know About Cooling the Planet — Dakota Gruener, CEO of Reflective

    Stratospheric aerosol injection might be one of the only interventions that could reduce global warming on the timescales that actually matter, but we don't yet know enough to say if it's completely worth the potential tradeoffs, and we're not on track to find out in time. Dakota Gruener is the founder and CEO of Reflective, an independent nonprofit trying to change that by radically accelerating the research. In this conversation, we talk about what it would take to actually evaluate SAI: • The tools Reflective has built to map the unknowns • The case for something like clinical trials for the atmosphere • Why Dakota thinks the worst outcome isn't deployment but decisions being forced before the science is ready. Subscribe for free at inevitableandobvious.com Get full access to Inevitable & Obvious at www.inevitableandobvious.com/subscribe

    59 min
  • 2 Episodes

About

Conversations with the researchers, founders, and strategists working on the most important climate question nobody's talking about: what do we do when emissions cuts and carbon removal can't work fast enough? www.inevitableandobvious.com

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  • Creator
    Paul Gambill
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Inevitable & Obvious LLC
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    Inevitable & Obvious