Here is the link to an interesting solution being proposed by President Obama's staff Chief Scientific Advisor.
This should spark some interesting discussion amongst you all and I can't wait to read it.....tell me what you think.....
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It just doesn't seem feasible to start redirecting sunlight to space and altering clouds (seeding). I think more research should be explored before we begin re-engineering the planet. I agree that any solution is helpful but a desperate and careless solution could speed us along to our demise.
ReplyDeleteThey can't fix something that doesn't exist
ReplyDeleteJake,
ReplyDeleteThat is a VERY astute observation and I wholeheartedly agree with you..thanks for starting the discussion off to a great start....
first of all...what are the qualifications for being obama head scientist because from what i can tell, anyone and our class could do a better job. The algae idea is absolutely retarded. Basically they want forced eutrophication of the ocean which can cause algal blooms and be vastly dangerous and harmful to humans as well as the environment. Mirrors in space...really imagine the volume that the mirror would have to be to be even minutly effective. Personally i believe that the earth is just running its natural course and while we may have accelerated the process we cant slow it down and the harder we try the better the chance that we will make it worse.
ReplyDeleteumm i want to see these mirrors!
ReplyDeleteI agree the mirrors and iron idea are a bit ridiculous, and I agree with matt that the earth is just running its natural course, but I do believe we should start looking at ideas to help our earth and yes some of these ideas may be restricting but is'nt the problem that we have not had enough restrictions. Also Matt im sure their are some significant qualifications for working for the federal government, not that our class could'nt do a great job.
ReplyDeleteThe first thought that pops into my mind is " cane toads"....but i agree we need to do something to lessen our anthropogenic impact on earth.....exactly what i really haven't a clue....
ReplyDeleteI didn't really get the article. I didn't understand half of it. What I got from it is like what Matt said, forced eutriphication and "seeding" clouds. How do you seed clouds? Obama's head scientist apparently has no idea on Earth what needs to be done? I mean seriously, killing fish just to get rid of carbon emissions? Which is the lesser of two evils: Killing off a source of food, or getting rid of carbon emissions that are just going to come back because of how much is released into the air everyday? I don't think of it makes any sense.
ReplyDeleteWow that is a little extreme.
ReplyDeleteBut I mean at least they're thinking!
im completely on the same page with Matt. These mirrors wont do any good other than messing up the natural processes of the Earth. I wonder how much something like this would cost. And what would happen if they were ineffective? Well there goes billions of dollars down the drain.
ReplyDeleteThe "geo-engineering" ideas proposed in the arcticle seemed really farfetched. The reason our environment is the way it is now is because humans have messed it up, and I believe we need to minimize the footprint we are leaving on the earth, and maybe in time the earth can recover.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we some crack pots in the White House right now by the ways these ideas sound. I mean really.........why dont we let some 5th graders come up with some ideas......or even better......let us come up with them. We could come up with some killer projects, and they would be plausible.
ReplyDeletethose are some big mirrors first of all, and secondly, all of these ideas could back fire on us pretty bad... what do they plan to do when there "done" saving the earth? how are they going to get all the alge outta the sea when their done??? that could potentally kill a bunch of fishies... not to mention balugas tooo
ReplyDeleteI don't like any idea that is "unnatural", so its refreshing to hear something that is somewhat green. I would definitely want to see a test study before I jumped to conclusions on these ideas.
ReplyDeletewell i'm glad they finally realized that the earth's is kinda important to everyday life lol
ReplyDeleteI agree these ideas seem a little crazy, and expensive. And it seems like the more we try to fix environmental problems the more everything else gets messed up because of it. These solutions are targeted to fix global warming but we don't know what else is going to be affected by the change. I agree with Ben, we should minimize our footprint as much as possible and try to reduce what is causing the problem.
ReplyDeleteThese ideas seem more idealistic than realistic. They are very far fetched but I give credit to those who came up with the idea in the first place. Along the lines of what Rachel was saying, we need to just let things be as of right now because we've only seemed to make things worse. Surely enough if we were to do all those things proposed, some other problem would occur in place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with ashton, and any solutions to climate change, regardless of how seemingly natural, would have a butterfly effect.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is definately thinking above and beyond lol.
ReplyDeletebut global warming is a natural thing and i do not think we should get involved with it and cause other things to occur.
hmmm... i would just love to see how this plan would work out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mrs. B. CANE TOADS! I really don't think they realize the harm they could do. This is a little bit crazy President Obama.
ReplyDeletei with morgan i would love to see how this is going to pan out
ReplyDeletethose are the stupidist propositions ive ever heard. "Lets stop global warming by reflecting more light". If it didnt fry us all, mirrors that would do anything would change the daily amount of light on earth. the metal thing sounds very similar to the who done thing, and the cloud planting thing would totally throw off all the current weather patterns. Right?
ReplyDeleteyes I would tend to agree with you on the weather patterns logan.....it would certainly be different
ReplyDeleteSara says:
ReplyDeleteFor the Geo-Engeneering blog:
I wish they would stop trying to fix stuff with technology because if they focus on one area they are going to create more problems. It all boils down to the fact that people are unwilling to give up their luxuries so they want to basically have their cake and eat it too.
i would love to see how it goes i just dont think it will go to plan
ReplyDeleteJustin says:
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of geo-engineering is, like most in the class, a far-fetched one. But, the idea of putting mirrors into space does not seem feasible (as Jake said). In order to attain the desired effect, we would have to put very big mirrors into space. On paper, the idea seems like it might work. But, logistically, its execution seems near impossible. Some of you may know this, but I assume most of you do not. Snow deflects close to eighty percent of all sunlight (because it is white). One method, far less crazy than the ideas proposed above, are to white-wash everything. Every roof, every road, and even deserts would be painted in a layer of reflective foil. In an aside, the iron idea sounds like a decent one. But, how much more can phytoplankton do? They already absorb twenty-nine billion tons of carbon dioxide that we throw into the atmosphere every year. Doing this could also have unknown and potentially detrimental impacts on the oceanic and marine food chain. Of all the ideas proposed by Mr. John Holdren, the idea that seems the most possible is cloud seeding. As an aspiring meteorologist, though, I highly disagree with this. I do not feel we need to interrupt any natural cycles like cloud formation. Furthermore, my biggest concern is the moisture has to come from somewhere! Where are we "robbing Peter to pay Paul?" Somewhere along the line, moisture is being taken from another location downwind. Also, the chemicals they use to form new clouds are still not assuredly safe. Silver iodide toxicity is one of the major criticisms of cloud seeding. Before anything is done to stave global warming, I think we need to collectively think about what the impacts could be. We definitely need to wait and see how things get globally as environmental issues are becoming a "front-burner" topic. I personally do not think anything needs to be done. As many have already mentioned, "global warming" is a natural cycle. One in which will either fix itself once we quit tampering with it, or get worse because it is supposed to.
glad to see theres someone on this staff not putting the environment last.
ReplyDeletei would like to see this actually work....would be interesting at best
ReplyDelete