Environmental Impact
Faith in Stewardship
Humanity is called to maximize the flourishing of nature and civilization. Synthesizing advanced technology with environmental stewardship is the most effective way to achieve this. We work alongside nature.
Abundance is the answer
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The Right Technology
Other technological solutions to produce freshwater exist but suffer from capital, timeline, and scaling issues.
Non-Scaleable
Desalination
Desalination plants suffer from energy, construction, and regulatory bottlenecks. Transporting water from the coasts to water stressed locations inland is economically impractical.
Non-Scaleable
Direct Air Capture
Direct air capture and brackish water desalination are suitable local solutions where they can be implemented but can’t scale to solve the magnitude of the water crisis.
Scaleable
Precipitation Enhancement
Precipitation enhancement is cost-effective and easy to scale compared to the alternatives. Ideally, all of these solutions will work in tandem, but precipitation enhancement is the only one that can meet demand fast enough.
The Responsible Technology
Cultivating healthy environmental and symbiotic civilizational growth is our top priority. Intentional intervention in climatic systems is consequential, and we act accordingly.
Ecosystem Health
The volume of cloud seed dispersed in a traditional aerial operation is vanishingly small relative to the area it’s dispersed over, typically around 1 kilogram dispersed over hundreds of square kilometers, less than a 6 ounce glass.
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In areas where precipitation enhancement has been conducted for decades, studies have not detected silver iodide beyond natural background levels in streams, soil, and lakes.
Even with this evidence, we are confident that our ever-improving understanding of cloud microphysics will enable us to use significantly fewer cloud seeds and develop new ones with zero environmental impact and greater efficiency.
Incidental Effects
Rainmaker maintains strict operational criteria to prevent flooding and hazardous precipitation (hail, snowstorms, and torrential rain). We continuously collect data from local water and snowpack levels as well as public and in-house weather forecasts to determine if we should suspend operations.
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Precipitation enhancement has never been shown to be zero sum; it does not decrease precipitation in regions downwind of the operational area. This is because precipitation enhancement operations cause clouds to expand, resulting in continued precipitation outside of the project area. Additionally, precipitation enhancement only affects a relatively small amount of the overall moisture in a cloud.
Complex Systems
Broader, higher-order effects of precipitation enhancement operations on the atmosphere and climate are more difficult to control. There is no evidence, or even defined theory, that large-scale precipitation enhancement operations will negatively impact the climate. We work with academic oversight and model our high-order outcomes internally.
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Even with the possibility of unknown unknowns, we believe that Rainmaker must act to solve the water crisis problem that humanity faces today. The known trajectory of ecological collapse and depopulation of water-stressed areas around the globe demands immediate action.
Let’s Make it Rain
Water scarcity is an existential problem, and we act accordingly. We are an engineering organization that iterates quickly and measures timelines in days, not years, to solve the most important problem of our age.
Open Roles