4 ms·

How interesting that a bunch of tech nutcases now want to geoengineer the planet by dispersing sulphur into the stratosphere to dim the sun to 'tackle' climate

by jaggs 4y ago

How interesting that a bunch of tech nutcases now want to geoengineer the planet by dispersing sulphur into the stratosphere to dim the sun to 'tackle' climate change. Mind-blowing stupidity.

pfdietz 4y ago
Because gradually injecting sulfur is the same as massive uncontrolled natural injections, right?
- aquaticsunset 4y ago
  Nobody knows. Which is why it's colossally reckless to propose anything around this as a guaranteed solution, instead of a proposal that needs more research.
  - pfdietz 4y ago
    This is irrational pearl clutching. If sulfur is added, it will be done gradually, with the results monitored. There would not be some sort of catastrophic cooling. The real sticking point would be that some countries would not want the cooling. Russia, say.
    - MrOwnPut 4y ago
      Our proposed planet-scale terraforming will be done gradually, don't be irrational! We'll just see how it goes... Are you serious?
      - pfdietz 4y ago
        So let me get this straight: in the face of a failure to control global warming by other means, you'd prefer your anxiety about possible risks to prevent any attempt to counter the warming by this approach, dooming the world to potentially catastrophic temperature increases? Are YOU serious?
        MrOwnPut 4y ago
        Assuming your doomsday predictions are correct and all this time... then assuming your counter to the prediction is correct. Ya'know what... go right ahead and try to terraform the Earth to whatever you think is... best. Your doomsday prediction may then come true actually. Self fulfilling prophecy and all that. God speed in making your artificial ice age.
        pfdietz 4y ago
        > artificial ice age Oh good grief. Are you getting your position here from Snowpiercer?
        MrOwnPut 4y ago
        My position is to not do these things as we cannot know the repercussions and we don't have a great track record. Your position is to try to simulate a volcano to cool the Earth and "let's just see how it goes". Ignoring the fact if we do that, then a natural volcano could go off as well and set us over the edge, causing an ice age. Sure you can hand wave away the repercussions pointing to a movie, but it's still your stupid suggestion. And what retarded logic that is, just because Armageddon is a movie doesn't mean asteroids aren't a threat.
      - superluserdo 4y ago
        Without taking a side on sulphur injection, it should be noted that we are already doing very rapid planet-scale terraforming.
        MrOwnPut 4y ago
        Not really? We have no idea the relativity of our change vs what's supposed to happen when coming out of an ice age because of our short window we are observing. We may change the climate in our entire history as much as a super volcano does, or many times less.
- jaggs 4y ago
  Who knows? Nobody, especially on a global scale, which is what they're suggesting.
  - pfdietz 4y ago
    We have natural experiments where sulfur aerosols were injected. The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, for example. It injected 17 megatonnes of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, causing a global cooling of 0.4 C and a northern hemisphere cooling of 0.5-0.6 C. This also affected ozone, which suggests aerosols other than sulfuric acid droplets might be a better idea.
    - mariuolo 4y ago
      Would we diffuse it in the same way at the same speed? If not, would the results be any different?
twblalock 4y ago
The climate change we have right now has been caused by geoengineering too -- accidental geoengineering. Intentional, careful geoengineering is the only real chance we have of holding back climate change. Human societies simply will not be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to roll back climate change solely by reducing emissions. A combination of politically acceptable emission cuts, geoengineering, and acceptance of/adaptation to higher temperatures and their consequences is the only possible outcome in the real world. So hold back on the knee-jerk reactions to geoengineering and take it seriously.
dang 4y ago
Maybe so, but please don't fulminate or call names on HN. You may not owe tech nutcases better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- jaggs 4y ago
  I apologise. In my defence, it's only geo-engineering which gets me so riled up. But of course you're right, and I should, and will, tone it down completely. (I'm not sure I have been guilty of 'fulmination' though :) ) Happy New year.

by jaggs 4y ago

How interesting that a bunch of tech nutcases now want to geoengineer the planet by dispersing sulphur into the stratosphere to dim the sun to 'tackle' climate change. Mind-blowing stupidity.

pfdietz 4y ago

Because gradually injecting sulfur is the same as massive uncontrolled natural injections, right?

aquaticsunset 4y ago
Nobody knows. Which is why it's colossally reckless to propose anything around this as a guaranteed solution, instead of a proposal that needs more research.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  This is irrational pearl clutching. If sulfur is added, it will be done gradually, with the results monitored. There would not be some sort of catastrophic cooling. The real sticking point would be that some countries would not want the cooling. Russia, say.
  - MrOwnPut 4y ago
    Our proposed planet-scale terraforming will be done gradually, don't be irrational! We'll just see how it goes... Are you serious?
    - pfdietz 4y ago
      So let me get this straight: in the face of a failure to control global warming by other means, you'd prefer your anxiety about possible risks to prevent any attempt to counter the warming by this approach, dooming the world to potentially catastrophic temperature increases? Are YOU serious?
      - MrOwnPut 4y ago
        Assuming your doomsday predictions are correct and all this time... then assuming your counter to the prediction is correct. Ya'know what... go right ahead and try to terraform the Earth to whatever you think is... best. Your doomsday prediction may then come true actually. Self fulfilling prophecy and all that. God speed in making your artificial ice age.
        pfdietz 4y ago
        > artificial ice age Oh good grief. Are you getting your position here from Snowpiercer?
        MrOwnPut 4y ago
        My position is to not do these things as we cannot know the repercussions and we don't have a great track record. Your position is to try to simulate a volcano to cool the Earth and "let's just see how it goes". Ignoring the fact if we do that, then a natural volcano could go off as well and set us over the edge, causing an ice age. Sure you can hand wave away the repercussions pointing to a movie, but it's still your stupid suggestion. And what retarded logic that is, just because Armageddon is a movie doesn't mean asteroids aren't a threat.
    - superluserdo 4y ago
      Without taking a side on sulphur injection, it should be noted that we are already doing very rapid planet-scale terraforming.
      - MrOwnPut 4y ago
        Not really? We have no idea the relativity of our change vs what's supposed to happen when coming out of an ice age because of our short window we are observing. We may change the climate in our entire history as much as a super volcano does, or many times less.
jaggs 4y ago
Who knows? Nobody, especially on a global scale, which is what they're suggesting.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  We have natural experiments where sulfur aerosols were injected. The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, for example. It injected 17 megatonnes of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, causing a global cooling of 0.4 C and a northern hemisphere cooling of 0.5-0.6 C. This also affected ozone, which suggests aerosols other than sulfuric acid droplets might be a better idea.
  - mariuolo 4y ago
    Would we diffuse it in the same way at the same speed? If not, would the results be any different?

twblalock 4y ago

The climate change we have right now has been caused by geoengineering too -- accidental geoengineering. Intentional, careful geoengineering is the only real chance we have of holding back climate change. Human societies simply will not be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to roll back climate change solely by reducing emissions. A combination of politically acceptable emission cuts, geoengineering, and acceptance of/adaptation to higher temperatures and their consequences is the only possible outcome in the real world. So hold back on the knee-jerk reactions to geoengineering and take it seriously.

dang 4y ago

Maybe so, but please don't fulminate or call names on HN. You may not owe tech nutcases better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

jaggs 4y ago
I apologise. In my defence, it's only geo-engineering which gets me so riled up. But of course you're right, and I should, and will, tone it down completely. (I'm not sure I have been guilty of 'fulmination' though :) ) Happy New year.