Some solutions to global warming

[Curt 1]

Burn sulphur, then dump the particles out of high flying 747s, spraying them into the sky with long hoseso even shooting them up into the sky with naval artillery. Basically recreating the effects similar to volcanic eruptions in which the climate is altered for months loading the sky with the tiny particles that act as mini-reflectors, shading out the sunlight and cooling the earth.

 

This according to a certainy Mr Lowell Wood.

 

Other solutions:

 

Scrub the air - tower that sucks air through a spray of sodium hydroxide, a strong chemical base that absorbs CO2. The air that emerges on the other side is lighter in CO2 by a few parts per million. Pity is the towers will take ages to be cost efficient.

 

Create cloud factories - boosting the reflectivity of clouds by 3% would be enough to offset worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide. Stumulate the creation of whiter, more reflective clouds by deploying a flotilla of unmanned yachts that would sail back and forth across the ocean, using 60ft tall rotors to throw fine mist of salt spray into the air. Generating the required reflectivity would require 5,000-30,000 yachts crisscrossing the seas.

 

Fertilize the oceans - Iron stimulates plankton bloom, which absorts CO2 through photosynthesis.

 

Build a sun shade - giant sun shade 2000 miles wide (!) made of thin screen or glass launched into space. It would cool the earth by deflecting sunlight.

 

Hmmmm. Any better ideas?

[Ocean11 0]

Green the deserts using proven methods.

 

Use soil-building methods of livestock farming.

[soubriquet 0]

>Green the deserts using proven methods.

 

What are they?

[Ocean11 0]

Read all about it. Or watch the Flash movie .

 

Another approach. (Although my mate Bhadrinath in India says D1 aren't to be trusted, the approach is probably workable.)

[soubriquet 0]

Thanks

 

Somewhat off topic, but something I find interesting is Australia's unsustainable use of water for unsustainable agriculture.

 

The governments have tight restrictions on domestic and insdustrial water use (20%) while 75% of total water use is for irrigation. Cotton and rice crops use 1,800 GL and 1,600 GL respectively. They return 60 cents and 20 cents per GL consumed. Clearly the farmers are paying virtually nothing for their water.

[Ocean11 0]

In 'Collapse', Jared Diamond has some pretty harsh things to say about water management in Australia (as well as the national tendency to 'mine' the environment as a whole).

 

The sad thing is, all the means for slowing down emissions and beginning to fix carbon are all available and economical now. But we prefer to twiddle our thumbs, spending billions on nuclear fusion and considering reckless fixes involving the whole atmosphere and the whole ocean.

 

From next year, my local NPO is going to start a forestry project to try to improve the CO2 absorbency of our local forests.

[soubriquet 0]

I was never comfortable working for (as opposed to in) the mining industries, but it was very interesting. It was a lot of fun being paid to beat up someone else`s Landcruiser in the desert, or being chauffeured around the Pilbara by helicopter. There`s no doubt that mines, comprising effing great big holes in the ground are ecological black spots. There are a lot of them in the WA Goldfields.

 

In terms of area, the environmental damage from mining is trivial compared with farming. For example, the WA Wheatbelt comprises about 155,000 km^2 of bush which has been cleared of native vegetation. As well as devastating loss of habitat, the area is prone to problems such as soil erosion, and rising ground water levels are poisoning the land with salt. The water of Avon river, which drains much of the Wheatbelt is undrinkable. It contains about 10,000ppm salt, approx 1/3 that of seawater.

[Ocean11 0]

Diamond likens Australian agriculture to mining - the nutrients in the soil are essentially sucked out and nothing is returned until it's just toxic dust which poisons the water. That's maybe why the Permaculture movement arose there.

[soubriquet 0]

I won`t disagree with agriculture as mining, although Diamond may be overstating his case (I haven`t read him). In much of Australia, the soils fall into a loose category, generally referred to as laterites. There is plenty of debate about what the term laterite precisely means, but some aspects are clear.

 

Essentially, these are ancient soils. They are the insoluble residue from 10`s of millions of years of weathering. Rain water passing through has removed all the soluble elements, including silica (silicon) and gold. Typically, what is left is iron, aluminium and manganese. Any other nutrients were held in the biomass. When the native flora died, the nutrients were re-cycled, but as the trees have been replaced with grasses, they are now harvested.

 

The other effect of replacing forest with grass, is that lower transpiration from shallower levels has allowed ground water level to rise. This ground water is saline because rainwater always carries salt and the excess of evaporation over runoff has led to it`s concentration. Agricultural practice has led to the current salinity crisis. The worst affected areas are the bottom lands, the most productive soils in the valley floors.

[Rag-Doll 0]

Soubs, Diamond say as much in his book.

 

Ocean, I really enjoyed reading that book and one of the points he makes about the Greenland Vikings and the way they tried and ultimately failed to transplant a European culture to Greenland (i.e. the continued use of European clothing and farming practices until the bitter end) really struck a cord with me as it has a remarkable parallel with modern Australian society. 200 years after European settlement we still associate Christmas with snow and cold and winter – Christmas trees and fake snow in the windows and people, many of whom have never seen snow, sing about one horse open sleighs. Of course there is obviously a recognition of the fact that Christmas falls in Summer, but the association with Christmas and the European Winter is still the norm. I doubt we're likely to go the way of the Greenland Vikings but it says some interesting things about human nature and cultural resilience.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

the UN just released a study they did about livestock and climate change, funny enough.

 

read an article aboutit here

 

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3956

[soubriquet 0]

The Greenland story has captivated me for years. I think it would make a great epic novel/film, but I'm not good enough with words.

 

It's a classic example of people not adapting themselves to the environment, and to change. The Inuit, of course, had no such trouble.

[Ocean11 0]

Oyuki kigan, there is a solution to the totally artificial problems mentioned in that interesting article.

 

Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm has a model that creates soil, thereby sequestering CO2 (and providing meat). There's actually no mystery to it.

 

Soubs, you might enjoy the Diamond book. He covers the relationship of Greenlanders with the Inuit. Very interesting it is too. Some European Greenlander women reckoned they'd have a better chance of survival with the flat faced pogs and absconded...

[soubriquet 0]

My knowledge is technical, so I know nothing of the social side. I'm not surprised the women moved across. They're much better survivors than men.

 

I'd be very interested to read the Diamond book. I'd be happy to pick up the bill if you could find the time to ship it.

[Ocean11 0]

Diamond book not having I'm afraid. I borrowed it from my excellent local library.

[soubriquet 0]

Thanks. Can you give me the full reference? Time to find out about inter-Library loans in Japan.

[Ocean11 0]

It's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond.

 

And here's Matsuyama City Library .

 

If you're interested in raising cows, pigs and chickens, Joel Salatin's books on the subject are also in the library.

[keba 0]

Before you read "Collapse" get a hold of "Guns, Germs and Steel"... I think he meant for them to be read as a series. A lot of the concepts from the first book are relevant to the second.

 

Back on topic... and at risk of being mown down in a hail of bile and vitriol... what about nuclear as a means of mass production of electricity, with electric cars. Would that put the brakes on CO2 emissions?

[Ocean11 0]

Curt kicked things off with means of recovering from global warming so nuclear wouldn't count, strictly speaking. But I just read a suggestion on another forum today that building more fast reactors would be a good way of generating electricity and dealing with nuclear waste at the same time. But I don't know enough about that to comment. Apparently, in the US at least, there's already enough excess power generation to cover at least 84% of transport needs , if plug-in vehicles became the norm. The same probably applies elsewhere too. In Japan, there are at least two EVs scheduled for release within 2 years, so your suggestion may be realized anyway.

 

Most of the 'sulphur in the sky' and 'big white reflector' schemes are ridiculous. They're just big, expensive, state-driven, reckless kludges that have no other purpose. They're not inherently sustainable. Instead of these, investing in a full-scale forestry industry would go a long way to solving the CO2 and many other problems, including water resources, employment, food and energy security, and health. Using forest thinnings in local cogeneration plants would provide heating and electricity. Using wood for building instead of concrete would lock up carbon for periods of between 50~100 years giving us a grace period to stop emitting more. And we could start today.

[Rag-Doll 0]

The Guns Germs and Steel is a very interesting book. It offers up an explanation as to why Western European culture and societies came to dominate the world. Keba you might be right about the two books being connected but I didn't get that impression apart from the general theme that there are reasons why some societies thrive while others do not.

[keba 0]

Rag-Doll, that IS the connection, that's what I'm getting at.

 

"Collapse" is (IMHO) reverses the arguements in "G,G&S" to explore not just why some societies thrive, which "GG&S" did by hypothesising how geographical factors, indiginous flora/fauna, etc. influence the emergence of technological cultures, but to try and explain the factors which may cause previously successful technological cultures to fail.

They are complementary works, but I personally preferred "GG&S". A lot of what he argues in "Collapse" is pretty obvious stuff (in hindsight, of course) and he tends to get a bit over-repetitive. I had trouble finishing it...

 

Electric cars are only a solution if the grid electricity comes from non-fossil fuel sources.

[Ocean11 0]

> Electric cars are only a solution if the grid electricity comes from non-fossil fuel sources.

 

In the long run yes, but not so now. If they soak up unused power from the grid, that power source replaces highly inefficient gasoline and its resultant emissions.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

I liked the article on Polyface farms a lot, and i sincerely hope that model becomes widespread.

 

But that still does not address the fact that more people can be fed with less resources if we eat lower (and as pointed out in the article, locally) on the food chain.

[keba 0]

I see your point, O11.

[Mantas 3]

I recently signed up with Greenfleet . The basic concept is this.

Your annual fee provides enough funding to plant 17 mixed species of trees in the Murray Darling basin. Those 17 trees when fully grown would be enough to absorb an average cars CO2 emissions for 1 year. Making your car CO2 neutral. It also tackles the problem of salinity. The planting work is carried out by volunteer boy scouts.

What a pitty such a great scheme is run by a non-profit organization and boy scouts and not our government.