[hadeohedron]

If there is anybody who sees Indian domestic news and/or articles, could you tell us whether there is any political impetus there to start spraying climate-modifying aerosols at high altitudes regardless of effectiveness and/or international opinion, or if it's completely outside of the Indian overton window?

[sirius87]

I don't see this being discussed or something any public figure has said as being considered.

Various states in India are deprioritizing power supply to industries in favour of consumer household use. So domestic news is playing those "govt reduces power supply to industries by 50%" headlines. [1]

Use of ACs and air coolers has skyrocketed the demand for power (38 year high), thereby increasing demand for Coal. Internal politics is now totally fixated on Coal stocks and supply for each state. National govt even blamed some states for "not taking ample steps to end power shortage, not buying enough coal". [2]

National govt cancelled 650 passenger trains to ensure timely delivery of coal supplies by train rakes to states.

[1] https://twitter.com/CNBCTV18Live/status/1520308462533550080

[2] https://twitter.com/CNBCTV18Live/status/1519929083588902912

[distances]

And is there any sentiment that this is caused by climate change, and coal phase out should be accelerated?

I get the immediate need for electricity, but talk about increasing coal stocks sounds weird nonetheless in light of what the goals are now in Western countries.

[sirius87]

I don't think there's any confusion here that human activities are impacting the climate, even in the political strata. So policy wise, carbon emissions targets are...whatever they are.

But if talk of an "accelerated coal phase out" were to come up, it will face some pushback and phasing-out pace will only be in line with development and growth targets. I wouldn't be surprised if politicians point to emissions by developed nations over the years and term India as a victim of it.

Consumers would happily switch to EVs that are priced right. That shift may occur fairly quickly. The grid going hybrid is a work in progress. Coal is now showing how "elastic" it can be to meet demand spikes like these, so it may stick around longer.

[rayiner]

Western efforts to avert climate change won’t succeed, certainly not in time to avoid the consequences of these heat waves, and India can’t afford to spend time or money on optical measures. Renewables are being phased in as they are cost effective, but India needs to invest in air conditioning now instead of uncertain mitigation efforts in the future.

[sriku]

At least among those who're aware of these things, I do believe that sentiment prevails, though it sucks that nuclear which is likely a good options is opposed.

[thoweir324234]

India has done more than its share to meet its commitments.

The rest of the world, of course, is full of pompous hypocrites who say one thing to arm-twist nations like India, while doing exactly the opposite at home (see, climate-change, Russian-oil etc.). Little wonder there is little trust of the West in the global south (except in "elite" circles).

[vishnugupta]

I'm experiencing this heat right now, albeit very very mild but still bad, in southern part of India.

Coming to climate modifying aerosols I haven't heard/read this being discussed. A comparable exercise, cloud seeding, was done couple of years ago. But it was very geographically limited. What we are experiencing right now is unprecedented. So I guess we just have to wait it out.

For comparison; Bangalore used to see high summer temperature of 32-34 about a decade ago. It's gotten progressively worse. To an extent that Bangalore reached ~35-36 as soon as summer months began, mid/late March.

By far the harshest heat I've experienced is back in 2015, early May in Delhi, India. I don't know what the temperature was but the blast of heat wave as soon as I exited from office building is vivid in my memory. Couple of days later I read in news that a few cars spontaneously caught fire around the office building I visited.

Also, fire broke out last week in Delhi last week[1]. So yeah, it's quite bad.

Edit: more content.

[1] https://www.india.com/news/delhi/video-delhi-bhalswa-landfil...

[gshakir]

Nope. The hot weather is off the news cycle and the top news is political. https://www.ndtv.com/

[cuteboy19]

Cities section does have it.

https://www.ndtv.com/cities#pfrom=home-cities

[shmageggy]

Was this comment inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future, or is this a case of life-imitates-art-imitates-life?

[sbierwagen]

Neal Stephenson also published a geoengineering novel this year.

[lozenge]

The climate effect would extend far beyond India's borders, isn't it a given that more developed countries wouldn't "let" India do it? Of course, I don't expect they will apply the same objections to themselves when it becomes domestically advantageous to geoengineer the climate.