To punish Sisyphus, the tyrant of Ephyra, Zeus condemned him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down, forcing him to repeat his futile labors for eternity.

To punish gaslit climate hysterics, Mother Gaia condemned them to suck CO2 out of the air only to put more back in powering Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems.

Do not be dissuaded by the thermodynamic absurdity of such virtue seeking performances. Intentions are more important than results. CO2 is poison! It must be eliminated at all costs, or your children will die.

Pay no attention to MIT scientists who sheepishly admit that DAC is a fool’s errand. They can’t prove that deploying DAC systems will never achieve net atmospheric CO2 reduction. Especially if trillions of dollars are available to chase elusive “breakthroughs” as systems scale up hoping to one day have as much impact as … a fart in a windstorm.

Meanwhile, good money can be made snarfing down research grants, bamboozling investors, and pocketing subsidies. As a bonus, carbon credits can be sold to bloviating politicians to support penance performances as they jet around the world lecturing us to stop using fossil fuels.

Who’s the real fool in this story? Stay tuned as DOGE figures it out.

Story suggested by MIT News