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One begins to wonder if there's going to be a future business in climate modification. Could the UN spend money to pay for a reduction in world wide temperature

by mabbo 9y ago

One begins to wonder if there's going to be a future business in climate modification. Could the UN spend money to pay for a reduction in world wide temperature? This isn't all hypothetical either. Release a large quantity of sulfur dioxide, like one sees in a volcanic eruption, and you can measurably reduce the global temperature for a year or two. Capture carbon or other greenhouse gases and bury them. Somehow reflect a large amount of sunlight from hitting the Earth. Probably a dozen other good ideas exist- this is hacker news, I'm sure we could invent a hundred more. The only challenge is going to be convincing the powers that be that it's on their economic interest to pay you to do so. But as sea level rise, it may quickly become self evident.

nsporillo 9y ago
This is called Geoengineering and most proposals mimic some form of natural effect that reduces net energy absorbed by the earth. It actually is significantly cheaper to reduce the physical effects of greenhouse gas emissions than it is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions themselves. Cloud ships which turn seawater into clouds to reflect light back into space before it hits the darker ocean beneath sounds like an interesting plan, but the issue with geoengineering is it does little for ocean acidification.
nabla9 9y ago
>The only challenge is going to be convincing the powers that be that it's on their economic interest to pay you to do so. But as sea level rise, it may quickly become self evident. I don't believe the idea that hurt from climate crisis spurs sufficient action. Our time horizon shrinks during crisis. Any corrective actions starts to have an effect decades in the future. Once the sea level raise starts to inflict "unbearable pain" all money is channeled to treat the acute consequences. If governments go to emergency mode, they put trillions to relocating people, solving immediate food crisis, stopping hunger , fighting military conflicts etc. All the cool technical solutions requiring trillions in investment go out of the window.
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  The trouble is, nobody is equipped for this large scale of interventions. Cool technical solutions will be required, such as genetic adaptation, building nanostructures with internal climate systems, artificial islands etc. And power sources and/or ethical changes to run all of this.
saiya-jin 9y ago
what about some thin foil spread somewhere between Sun and Earth (probably closer to Sun), that would absorb say 5% of the rays for 10 years and then be moved away? Sounds cheaper to do, and very slim chance of some well-intended geoengineering effort going wrong/horrible side effects. It would require some sort of active management on site, ie minor adjustments, or removal from photon path to Earth if it is deemed dangerous.
runedog 9y ago
> Probably a dozen other good ideas exist- this is hacker news, I'm sure we could invent a hundred more. > The only challenge is going to be convincing the powers that be that it's on their economic interest to pay you to do so. Maybe instead we can come up with ways to hack the powers that be to pay for these things? That seems to be the real issue to get past. I'm sure we could think of ways to engage millenials in voting campaigns to influence this policy. I don't know a lot about politics but I'm sure there's other ways of applying pressure as well aside from voting.

by mabbo 9y ago

nsporillo 9y ago

This is called Geoengineering and most proposals mimic some form of natural effect that reduces net energy absorbed by the earth. It actually is significantly cheaper to reduce the physical effects of greenhouse gas emissions than it is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions themselves. Cloud ships which turn seawater into clouds to reflect light back into space before it hits the darker ocean beneath sounds like an interesting plan, but the issue with geoengineering is it does little for ocean acidification.

nabla9 9y ago

>The only challenge is going to be convincing the powers that be that it's on their economic interest to pay you to do so. But as sea level rise, it may quickly become self evident. I don't believe the idea that hurt from climate crisis spurs sufficient action. Our time horizon shrinks during crisis. Any corrective actions starts to have an effect decades in the future. Once the sea level raise starts to inflict "unbearable pain" all money is channeled to treat the acute consequences. If governments go to emergency mode, they put trillions to relocating people, solving immediate food crisis, stopping hunger , fighting military conflicts etc. All the cool technical solutions requiring trillions in investment go out of the window.

AstralStorm 9y ago
The trouble is, nobody is equipped for this large scale of interventions. Cool technical solutions will be required, such as genetic adaptation, building nanostructures with internal climate systems, artificial islands etc. And power sources and/or ethical changes to run all of this.

saiya-jin 9y ago

what about some thin foil spread somewhere between Sun and Earth (probably closer to Sun), that would absorb say 5% of the rays for 10 years and then be moved away? Sounds cheaper to do, and very slim chance of some well-intended geoengineering effort going wrong/horrible side effects. It would require some sort of active management on site, ie minor adjustments, or removal from photon path to Earth if it is deemed dangerous.

runedog 9y ago

> Probably a dozen other good ideas exist- this is hacker news, I'm sure we could invent a hundred more. > The only challenge is going to be convincing the powers that be that it's on their economic interest to pay you to do so. Maybe instead we can come up with ways to hack the powers that be to pay for these things? That seems to be the real issue to get past. I'm sure we could think of ways to engage millenials in voting campaigns to influence this policy. I don't know a lot about politics but I'm sure there's other ways of applying pressure as well aside from voting.