The Last Frost

More and more scientists are considering radical options dubbed geo engineering, to curb global warming. This is freaky scientific territory because we all know how good we as a species are at controlling our globe. It's like a drunk driver taking over the wheel for another drunk driver, you might get lucky and survive, but it's not a good idea… the new driver is still drunk.

Some of the strange ideas include: Building Huge mirrors in space to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. Or even better, injecting huge quantities of Sulfur Dioxide into the atmosphere to turn the skies yellowish-gray also with the goal of reflecting more light away. It doesn't sound too cool to me, I like our blue skies.

Another idea on the drawing board is to send boats throughout the oceans dumping iron particles into the water. This would result in a bloom of plankton which would then absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. The article mentions the potential problems that could arise when the plankton die. Their rotting mass leaching the oceans of oxygen; killing other sea life, which is not good.

This idea particularly irks me because all you have to do to see the flaw in the plan is to study water surrounding golf courses that treat their grass with fertilizers (see image). The fertilizer, which is basically grass food, washes off the course into surrounding water. The algae in that water then goes on a feeding and reproduction frenzy which is great for a while. Then huge amounts of the algae dies and begins to rot, effectively suffocating all life in the pond. It's not an experiment you would want to run on the world's oceans. 

It's good to know that we're trying to think on our feet at least, but the only way to control nature on a large scale is to let it control itself. Hopefully mankind will learn this lesson before nature decides she doesn't like us anymore.  

Read the ABC News article for more info on these and more ideas. 

Weird Science Getting New Respect, Just in Case » [ABC News]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Bullshit, Climate Change, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.