David Schnare, an environmental scientist and attorney associated with the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, told the U.S. Senate today that a solution to global warming is simple, cheap -- and no more than a few years away.
With geo-engineering, the doctor says, scientists are learning how to replicate natural phenomenon, like volcanic eruptions, to control global temperatures. Here are excerpts from prepared testimony the doctor submitted:
Geo-engineering is the deliberate modification of large scale geophysical processes ... The first of the two most common examples cited is placement of reflective aerosols into the upper atmosphere in order to reflect incoming sunlight and thus reduce global temperature.
The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 injected a significant amount of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, lowering the Earth's surface temperature by about (half a degree) the year following the eruption.
... Because these techniques mimic natural phenomena, we know more about how quickly and well they work than we do about the efficacy of attempting to reduce greenhouse gases. We have measured the effects of the natural processes and can state with considerable certainty, bordering of complete certainty, that they will produce the result sought. Although the effects of greenhouse gas reduction would occur over a period of no less than decades and more likely centuries, the effects of geo-engineering can (and will) be manifest in a matter of weeks after application.
... Geo-engineering is ... 200 to 2,000 times less expensive ... than exclusive reliance on carbon control.
Wow. Has Al Gore talked to this guy? Is it really that simple?
Dr. Schnare has more on his Web site.
-- David Eldridge, managing editor, WashingtonTimes.com
Comments (8)
These kind of guys scare me. The weather is more complex than a biological lifecycle and biological lifecycles depend on it. Lets not forget that we truly don't know all of the variables of environmental homeostatis and saying we can exactly mimic natural processes is like saying carbon emissions can control the weather. Has the Dr. provided an ecological/geological morphogenic model? Lets not forget that volcanoes are influenced by plate tectonics, the earths core and unknowns like solar magnetic storms, and lunar and solar influences of the earth's orbit. If we can predict the weather more than 36 hours in advance, then there may be some credibility in a theory of imitating nature.
Posted by Larry Stone | September 27, 2007 7:42 AM
Has the Dr. provided an ecological/geological morphogenic model?
Krakatoa.
Posted by Mike Fisher | September 27, 2007 3:20 PM
The value of this is not in whether it's been proven that this suggestion will work or not (although the empirical evidence of the Mt Pinatubo explosion some years back certainly suggests this).
The value is in making the point that there are other possible solutions to the problem (if it IS a problem) of global warming. Some potential solutions do not involve crippling the economies of the industrial nations.
It will be very revealing to see how the environmentalists react to these proposals. Odds are that they will find excuses to reject any that do not have an adverse affect on the lifestyle of comfort -made possible through the use of technology- that they find distasteful.
You MUST give up YOUR SUV.
Posted by Lokki | September 27, 2007 4:26 PM
I think there's merit to considering this strategy, and have a college lecture on the subject (see sample slides at http://www.jamesoberg.com/climate_engineering.pdf), but I don't get many invitations -- no surprise.
Posted by Jim Oberg | September 28, 2007 12:46 AM
Actually this might work! The same people that have provided us with the Katrina rescue, the post office, created a crisis in health care, caused a debacle in Iraq, have completely devalued our money, spent our grea-grandchildren into debt would toy with the concept of climate change. The result would be a significant reduction in the number on humans on the earth and thus an answer to the problem. If there is a problem.
Posted by David Caskey, MD | September 28, 2007 12:00 PM
The fix is simple and straightforward and is not only cheap, it is in fact cheaper than the status quo! Remove the scrubbers from every coal-fired power plant. The resulting soot and sulfur dioxide will do the rest. Throw another log on the fire...
Posted by Rorschach | September 28, 2007 12:20 PM
Fix what?
Posted by Larry Stone | September 30, 2007 12:49 PM
Fix the planet that we've messed up so far.
Posted by BigB | October 1, 2007 11:12 PM