Global Warming Solution - pollute the stratosphere

[Gary_B]

A Nobel prize-winning scientist threw out the idea to catch the attention of policy makers and now it's being taken seriously. His idea is to counteract the global warming effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide by seeding the stratosphere with sulphur dioxide to reflect the sun's heat before it reaches the lower atmosphere.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061117.NAIROBI17/TPStory/TPInternational/Africa/

Yup, more pollution will save the planet. Go geo-engineering!

It is not very similar but I'm somehow reminded of the time that the Australians tried to deal with a beetle infestation by introducing the cane toad. That worked out great. Human beings should not fuck with systems that they don't fully understand.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

This ranks with the stupidity of Arthur C. Clarke and Issac Asimov creating the Star Wars Defensive System for Ronald Reagan.

[Ontir]

Y'know, my grandmother always said, "Don't $#!+ where you eat!" In the long run, it's a lot easier.

[Iangould]

This ranks with the stupidity of Arthur C. Clarke and Issac Asimov creating the Star Wars Defensive System for Ronald Reagan.

Asimov and Clarke were both outspoken critics of the SDI.

Supposedly, Clarke's 40-odd year friendship with Bob Heinlein who supported SDI ended when Heinlein called Clarke a "limey fag" for his oppositon to SDI.

[Iangould]

We need to reduce the amount of COs and other greenhosuse gases we emit full stop period end of sentence.

But, the likely consequences of global warming in the next several decades are likely to be catastrophic even if we embark on an aggressive path of reducing emissions.

Anything that reduces that and buys us more time is a positive - provided it isn't presented as a long-term solution to the problem when its only going to be a temporary fix.

[Ontir]

At this point, it's not about stopping Global Warming, it's about mitigating the aftermath,which we can, to some extent, do now.

[Iangould]

In case anyone doubts that this is only a temporary fix:

"A massive dissemination of pollutants would be needed every year or two, as the sulphates precipitate from the atmosphere in the form of acid rain."

So not only you drastically increase acid rain, you also have the costs involved in getting 10 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere every couple of years.

Such geo-engineering options were discussed by the US Natioanl aCademy of Sciences 20-odd years ago (wish I coudl find the reference again), they concluded they were a more expensive and less reliable solution than cutting emissions.