Global Warming Solution?

[theophilus]

OK. So I'm thinking. Why not bury as many neutron bombs as it takes in the Sahara or another equally uninhabited place and touch them off to put a calculated amount of dust in the high atmosphere? Sound crazy? Sure it does!

Couldn't scientists figure how much dust we need to block a little sun and not kill all the plants, etc? Would neutron bombs produce too much residual radiation?

So? What is your plan for a quick fix?

This dust thing would be like a manmade super volcano and would wear off in a few years. By then we should have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions dramatically, etc.

Or, are we just boned with no hope?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Holy Moly

that sounds like it might work! Of course I am totally ignorant of all the science involved, but it just sounds cool. Make a great movie!

However...I thought neutron bombs didn't whip up dust. I thought they killed by radiation.

But the concept of a big dust spewer.. god knows we have enough sand and dust to donate.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. "It's not nice to fool (with) Mother Nature!"

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. We are boned with no hope. n/t

[lectrobyte]

7. I think there is always hope. I do suspect, however, that if we screw

up the planet bad enough, nature will factor us out of the equation.

[lectrobyte]

4. I'm looking for a quote along the lines of: Mankind is a very harsh

organism and the earth is trying to fight us off. I know I read or heard something like that in the last 2 weeks or so, but I can't remember the exact quote or the source. Ring any bells? Thanks.

[theophilus]

6. I think Kurt Vonnegut said it on the daily show. Something to the

effect that the earth's immune system has been activated and is trying to shake us off. I'll bet you could find a transcript. It was last week, I think.

[lectrobyte]

12. That's it, thanks. The exact quote:

We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.

-- Kurt Vonnegut

[Fovea]

5. actually, one factor in the current climate shift

is that greenhouse gases are being affected by ahistorical amounts of particulates, blocking sunlight from reaching the ground.

However, that may not be good news, as they may wind up heating up higher layers of the atmosphere, thus changing the character of the jet stream.

[MadHound]

8. Very very foolish solution

First off, neutron bombs are designed to put out lots of radiation, but not much "ommpf" in terms of exploding power. Therefore, they probably wouldn't be suitable for blowing a bunch of dust in the air. Secondly, do you really think that the various nations that have parts of the Sahara within their borders would agree to a nuclear explosion there? Somehow I doubt it. But the real big kicker is if you did such a thing, you would be spreading radioactive dust world wide. The number of cancers, birth defects, etc. etc. would go through the roof, and worldwide the population would drop.

There is no quick fix friend, for just as this problem has been decades in the making, it is going to require decades to fix. We should focus on long term solutions, mainly weaning the world off of fossil fuels, and promoting the use of clean renewable alternatives like wind and solar. We also need to invest seriously in conservation measures. Do these things and we can still stave off total disaster, though there will be so short term problems.

I'm sorry, but your quick fix would probably cause more problems than it would solve.

[theophilus]

10. I feared as much. It was just a "bubble in the ol' think tank".

Fortunately I don't have any nuclear bombs lying about. Another twist would be to somehow touch off a major major volcanic blow. Same problem with local populace but it would more resemble a "natural" event. My point is that we should seriously start thinking of solutions and implementing them. You are no doubt right about it taking decades but the dialog needs to start and our creativeness needs to come to the forefront.

[Jim__]

9. Certainly sounds like it's worth a shot.

I mean, suppose it doesn't work. What could it hurt? :shrug:

[Meldread]

11. Actually... I have a better idea.

Instead of, you know, using giant bombs that if successful would just create a whole mess of other problems why not try something more creative and natural?

We have the ability to genetically modify things. I think the best solution is to genetically modify plants, alge, and the like. Make it normal as it is but boost how much CO2 it intakes. If I remember correctly plants "feed" off CO2 and out put oxygen.

It would be natural and wouldn't cause any harm to anything. Do this in conjunction with lowering or at the very least leveling off our CO2 emissions to a stable level... and we have a workable solution to the problem.

Although, to be honest, we are beyond the point of no return. Just embrace Global Warming as inevitable and a new fact of life. To reverse the effects of Global Warming now would force us to do something too dramatic – something that will ultimately create with it its own set of unique problems, which may or may not be worse than the original.