Author Topic: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found  (Read 1553 times)

Ben

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Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« on: January 28, 2007, 04:43:57 PM »
I think they got their idea from Mr. Burns on the Simpsons....  grin

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/us-urges-scientists-to-block-out-sun/2007/01/28/1169919213362.html

US urges scientists to block out sun

   David Adam and Liz Minchin
January 29, 2007
Page 1 of 2 | Single page

THE US wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming.

It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a UN report on climate change, the first part of which is due out on Friday).

The US has also attempted to steer the UN report, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions. It has demanded a draft of the report be changed to emphasise the benefits of voluntary agreements and to include criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol, which the US opposes.

The final report, written by experts from across the world, will underpin international negotiations to devise an emissions treaty to succeed Kyoto, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft of the report last year and invited to comment.

The US response says the idea of interfering with sunlight should be included in the summary for policymakers, the prominent chapter at the front of each panel report. It says: "Modifying solar radiance may be an important strategy if mitigation of emissions fails. Doing the R&D to estimate the consequences of applying such a strategy is important insurance that should be taken out. This is a very important possibility that should be considered."

Scientists have previously estimated that reflecting less than 1 per cent of sunlight back into space could compensate for the warming generated by all greenhouse gases emitted since the industrial revolution. Possible techniques include putting a giant screen into orbit, thousands of tiny, shiny balloons, or microscopic sulfate droplets pumped into the high atmosphere to mimic the cooling effects of a volcanic eruption. The IPCC draft said such ideas were "speculative, uncosted and with potential unknown side-effects".

The US submission complains the draft report is "Kyoto-centric" and it wants to include the work of economists who have reported "the degree to which the Kyoto framework is found wanting".

It also complains that overall "the report tends to overstate or focus on the negative effects of climate change". It also wants more emphasis on responsibilities of the developing world.

But Professor Stephen Schneider, a climate consultant to the US government for more than 30 years and a key figure in the panel process for more than a decade, says the world is "playing Russian roulette" with its future by responding too slowly to climate change.

The panel's draft report shows projections for average global temperature rise from 1990 to 2100 will expand slightly, with a new range of one to 6.3 degrees. The 2001 report's range was 1.4 to 5.8 degrees.

Professor Schneider said he was concerned the increase was more likely to be three degrees or higher, with a 10 per cent chance of a six-degree rise by the end of the century.

"Hell, we buy fire insurance based on a 1 per cent chance," he said. "If we're going to be risk averse & we cannot dismiss the possibility of potentially catastrophic outliers and that includes Greenland and West Antarctica [ice sheets breaking up], massive species extinctions, intensified hurricanes and all those things. "There's at least a 10 per cent chance of that. And that to me for a society is too high a risk & My value judgement when you're talking about planetary life support systems is that 10 per cent, my God, that's Russian roulette with a Luger."
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

mountainclmbr

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2007, 05:25:59 PM »
Since the sun is a giant hydrogen bomb contained by its own gravity, but harming us with the global warming I propose we nuke it back. We should not sit idly by when we are having our brains and arses toasted. We should be at 4 degrees Kelvin and nothing more!
Just say no to Obama, Osama and Chelsea's mama.

Manedwolf

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2007, 06:22:08 PM »
Mylar space mirrors have been proposed for a while, and would have a number of other uses as well. Imagine if, after a disaster, a series of them could be adjusted to bounce a chain of sunlight from the daylight side to the night side of the planet, giving a full-moon brightness to an area as large as an entire city. That'd be GREAT for rescuers, and terrible for looters. Hear of a genocide going on? Put a spotlight on it...literally. Also useful in a military operation...hell with flares. Cheesy


Antibubba

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2007, 07:31:51 PM »
Hmmmm...do you suppose nuking Tehran and Pyongyang would create enough "reflective dust"?
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Parker Dean

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2007, 07:48:47 PM »
Hmmmm...do you suppose nuking Tehran and Pyongyang would create enough "reflective dust"?

Only one way to find out...

280plus

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2007, 12:54:25 AM »
I wonder how BIG of a mirror you might need to even begin to have an effect.  rolleyes
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wingnutx

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2007, 01:11:26 AM »
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle had better get to work.

bedlamite

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2007, 03:03:34 AM »
How about relaxing the restrictions on sulfur emissions. Wasn't that what was going to cause the next Ice age 20 years ago?
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crt360

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Re: Stop the Global Warming Threads - Solution Found
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2007, 11:31:32 AM »
Since Yellowstone is supposed to erupt as a super volcano, destroy a large area of the U.S. with it's deadly ash and dim the sky for years, I don't see what the worry is all about.  I guess they're just looking for a back up in case nature fails.
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