John Holdren (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Shooting sulfur particles into the air to cool the Earth? A world full of giant man-made artificial "trees" to suck carbon dioxide out of the air?
Ideas that would have previously seemed far-fetched and stuff out of science fiction movies are actually getting the attention of the Obama administration. In an effort to prevent the earth from reaching critical "tipping points", bold new ideas are being presented to the new administration. Critical tipping points that could lead the earth into runaway climate change would be the melting of the Arctic ice (predicted to be gone in about 6 short years, much faster than previously imagined), the melting of frozen Siberian permafrost (which would lead to tons of methane gas being released into the atmosphere) and the incidence of larger and more devastating wildfires.
John Holdren, President Obama’s new science adviser, recently said that global warming is happening so rapidly that emergency measures to cool the earth must be looked at but would only be used as a last resort.
The idea of using technology to cool the climate is called geoengineering. One idea brought up by Holdren and a Nobel Prize-winning scientist includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. "It's got to be looked at," he said. "We don't have the luxury ... of ruling any approach off the table."
To read more about tipping points in climate change and a runaway climate:
http://hubpages.com/_examiner/hub/The-Tipping-Point--Our-Climates-Point-of-No-Return
Comments
Tipping points are unproven hypothesis -- as is anthropogenic global warming. While it is likely that humans are impacting climate, there is NO proof that additional warming will cause Earth's temperature to rise ever further. The Earth has been significantly warmer several times in the past and there is no evidence of any tipping points that caused ever warmer temperatures. The concept of tipping points is rooted in the unproven climate models used by the IPCC, which incorporate positive feedback -- as the Earth warms, it causes more warmth, which causes more warmth, etc. etc. The actual global temperature anomaly is currently running below the IPCC climate models projections.
Wow, this is getting sad. For the national science advisor to be proposing such absurd "solutions" is beyond the pale.
Quote: "Ideas that would have previously seemed far-fetched and stuff out of science fiction movies are actually getting the attention of the Obama administration."
Previously seemed far-fetched? Previously? Good God, far-fetched isn't a strong enough reaction.
What we have feared is happening: Todays news March 5,2010.
Huge quantities of methane below the Arctic seabed are showing signs of destabilising, according to research conducted in the East Siberian Sea.
Scientists aboard Russian icebreakers have discovered that methane is leaking from the sub-sea permafrost far faster than had been previously estimated, raising concerns that climatic tipping points may have been reached.
From the Times Online today.
This is serious stuff.
Mike: Perhaps you could give us some proof of what you say. The Artic is melting at an alarming pace and its not the polar bears who are stealing the ice when we're not looking.
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