Comment Taking Control of the Environment (Score 1) 361
The sane response to all proposals of this ilk is not "hey, maybe global warming isn't such a big problem after all." The sane response is sheer terror.
Say you start putting particulates into the atmosphere so their cooling effect will counteract the warming effect of the CO2 we put into the atmosphere. Well particulates don't stay up in the atmosphere as long or spread globally in the same patterns that CO2 does. So we would be getting into a continuous process of deciding how much to insert into the atmosphere where and when so that not only the global weather is OK, but so that no huge weather distrubances are caused regionally. Gotta make sure the monsoons arrive on time in India, without setting off too many hurricanes in the Gulf. In other words, what is being proposed is that mankind take over active management of the world's climate.
Yes, our understanding of global climate has advanced by leaps and bounds, and weather models are really fairly good these days, but not anywhere near THAT good. If you planted a four-year-old kid who had seen "There Goes An Airplane" in the pilot's seat of a Boeing 747 and turned off the autopilot, you'd be in approximately the same delightful situation.
I suppose sooner or later we are going to be forced to actively manage the planet's weather, but we need to do everything we can to make it as much later as possible. The fact that there are lots of maniacs waiting in the wings, ready and willing to take over the management of the earth's climate if we screw up its natural balance enough should only be taken as more encouragement to cut CO2 emissions for all we are worth, as fast as we can. We need to invest in learning all we can about climate, in hopes that the maniacs will know a bit more about what they are doing when their turn comes, and we generally need to build international cooperation, because the geopolitical problems of managing global weather are at least as scary as the scientific ones.
Say you start putting particulates into the atmosphere so their cooling effect will counteract the warming effect of the CO2 we put into the atmosphere. Well particulates don't stay up in the atmosphere as long or spread globally in the same patterns that CO2 does. So we would be getting into a continuous process of deciding how much to insert into the atmosphere where and when so that not only the global weather is OK, but so that no huge weather distrubances are caused regionally. Gotta make sure the monsoons arrive on time in India, without setting off too many hurricanes in the Gulf. In other words, what is being proposed is that mankind take over active management of the world's climate.
Yes, our understanding of global climate has advanced by leaps and bounds, and weather models are really fairly good these days, but not anywhere near THAT good. If you planted a four-year-old kid who had seen "There Goes An Airplane" in the pilot's seat of a Boeing 747 and turned off the autopilot, you'd be in approximately the same delightful situation.
I suppose sooner or later we are going to be forced to actively manage the planet's weather, but we need to do everything we can to make it as much later as possible. The fact that there are lots of maniacs waiting in the wings, ready and willing to take over the management of the earth's climate if we screw up its natural balance enough should only be taken as more encouragement to cut CO2 emissions for all we are worth, as fast as we can. We need to invest in learning all we can about climate, in hopes that the maniacs will know a bit more about what they are doing when their turn comes, and we generally need to build international cooperation, because the geopolitical problems of managing global weather are at least as scary as the scientific ones.
