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Imagine the entire planet fighting for the thermostat
by fifnir 8y ago
Imagine the entire planet fighting for the thermostat
- dalbasal 8y agoThis is not impossible. There are a bunch bunch of ideas for how to build a "thermostat." Some of them might be affordable for even a mid sized economy. We could find ourselves in a world where 26 different countries have competing climate control agendas and toolkits. Presumably Vanuatu has a different take that Latvia. Perhaps this will be the 22nd century's alternative to resource wars.
- credit_guy 8y ago“Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age.” - John Martin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin_(oceanographer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin_(oceanographer)
- gaius 8y agoWhat’s the downside to that strategy? It seems like a no-brainer at first glance
- gameswithgo 8y agotoo many whales!
- coldtea 8y agoThat we barely know enough about how our changes will affect the ecosystem at large, and can get feedback loops that get out of control.
- gpm 8y agoI think the main downside is that we are quite sure what would happen. The primary effect (a giant fucking algae bloom) is pretty well known. But the secondary effects are hard to predict and could be very negative. Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon.
- wereHamster 8y ago> Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon. We are in a big fucking experiment right now: what happens if we release fucktons of CO2 into the atmosphere? Most of the developed world doesn't give a fuck.
- arethuza 8y agoPurely anacdotal of course, but most of the really bad incidents I've been involved in with production systems were actually caused by a rushed response to an initial problem that seemed serious at the time....
- wereHamster 8y agoNobody is pushing for a rushed response. Just some fucking common sense, and scientifically literate people. And nobody can cry 'rushed response' anyway because the effects have been known (more or less accurately) for dozens of years.
- close04 8y agoIf a sufficiently large mass of people can be convinced of something that's where everyone is going. So the result is that if a small group of people want to get somewhere all they have to do is convince a larger group. Sounds difficult but with today's tech and money concentration it's not hard to convince someone that "more CO2 is better".[0] Regular people can't draw their own conclusions based on self study and own research. Scientifically literate is not enough when you rely on someone else's data and conclusions. So the only way is to present some evidence (plausible stuff) and the conclusion in a loud enough and convincing fashion. What you end up with is a great number of people who are genuinely convinced that global warming is a farce. They have scientists on their side so who are they to argue? [0] https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/scientist-who-thinks-more-co%E2%82%82-is-great-joins-national-security-council/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/scientist-who-thinks...
- wongarsu 8y ago
- Rubinsalamander 8y agoGuess they would have to scatter the metal so that the algae have more iron surface area. Would make it hard to remove if it turns out bad
- jandrese 8y agoIIRC it was tested on a small scale and didn't work. Fish ate the algae before it could settle on the sea floor.
- fiter 8y agoIt may vary with scale. Similar to how swarming populations (cicadas) can saturate the local predators.
- moultano 8y agoI know settling to the sea floor is the intended result, but locking up more carbon in the steady state biomass of creatures would do the trick too. If we did this continuously could we just grow the biosphere?
- dalbasal 8y agoErm... Isn't the downside that op will give us an ice age of empires unpredictable severity and duration?
- credit_guy 8y agoIndeed, and you don't need to start with a half-tanker, especially if you are not aiming for an ice age. You can start with a half-bucket and work your way up to a half-kayak, half-fishing-boat, maybe half-trawler. Oh, wait. Some guy did just that in 2012 [1]. Some people claim it was an absolute success, while some others claim that more studies are needed (but they are not willing to fund them!), or we should not play with the only planet we have, etc, etc. [1] https://planetsave.com/2014/07/02/ocean-fertilization-dangerous-experiment-gone-right/ https://planetsave.com/2014/07/02/ocean-fertilization-danger...
- BurningFrog 8y agoVanuatu is 270k people. They can be bought off in any deal.