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Engineering Earth!
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Engineering Earth!  Imagine if engineers could come-up with a way to reduce climate change. Well, a report by the UK Royal Society has just concluded that it IS technically possible - so now it's just down to funding and political motiv The current aim of geo-engineers is to reduce carbon emissions produced by industries and consumers, but researchers in this area are already looking at a much bigger picture. Here's a glimpse of some of their ideas: 1. Giant 'scrubbers' in space that would clean the air of excess greenhouse gases such ascarbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide. Especially the removal of CO2 to return the climate closer to its pre-industrial state.
2. Pouring iron filings into the ocean to grow algae; algae is excellent at absorbing CO2. Giant CO2 scrubbers in space  Growing algae 3. Large carbon capture and storage methods where CO2 is taken directly from power plants and stored under the Earth's surface. Carbon capture & storage
4. CO2 capture from ambient air, directly reversing the cause of climate change. CO2 capture from ambient air. 5. . Enhanced weathering: This aims to enhance natural reactions which remove CO2 from oceans and atmosphere by the weathering of rocks and minerals. We can accelerate this process by crushing rocks into powder and spreading them in a thin layer. 6. Land use and afforestation: intelligent land-use management based on sustainability practices would play a role in reducing the growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
 7. A giant mirror on the Moon; a space parasol made of superfine aluminium mesh; and a swarm of 10 trillion small mirrors launched into space one million at a time every minute for the next 30 years. All we need is a bit of dubstep/rave music and we've our own cosmic disco with mirror balls! Using contours of farm land 8. Stratospheric aerosols: Essentially provides 'global dimming'. Volcanic eruptions have shown the potential effectiveness of this method to reduce global warming by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching Earth. Thousands of tiny mirrors in space
9. Cloud albedo approaches: These include "cloud ships" which would send sea water into the clouds to make them more reflective and form a protective cover to sunlight. (Below)
Stratospheric aerosols...like living in England! It's no secret that governments are playing with data and statistics rather than getting serious about the climate change and sustainability issue. The study also suggested that we need a reduction in global emissions of at least 50% on 1990 levels by 2050. So further geo-engineering research and development should be undertaken to investigate effective solutions to our climate change crisis....and quickly!
The truth is no matter how quickly we introduce some of these measures, unless we drastically AND immediately work on reducing the CO2 and methane we produce through the everyday working of our planet, we are very much a dying planet. What we need a true world body with the authority to enforce restrictions on each and every country on our planet. Our governments have proven that they are unable to work effectively together and have turned every world environment summit into little more than a political junket. But how would it be set-up, who'd fund it and how would we decide who'd lead it? What's your vision for the future? Sourced from: www.geeks.co.uk/6508-drastic-methods-of-climate-control; http://www.azimuthproject.org; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8231387.stm Images: goodcleantech.com; serc.carleton.edu; moonbattery.com; makeitgreen.webs.com |
