geoengineering

posts about #geoengineering more →
Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
Geohackers Want to Transform the Sahara into a Forest
Amazing Terraforming Projects - Real and Imaginary
Is "Planet Hacking" The Only Way To Save The World?
The Mysterious Cones of the Egyptian Desert
Artificial Islands of the Dead Sea
Farmers Put 220 Acres Under Glass to Create Vast Artificial Environment
We Can Stop Global Warming — And Cook Ourselves Alive
Show Caves of the Nouveau Riche
Blowing Up the Panama Canal

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missmonster
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
It's worrying that scientists are willing to fuck with the natural order of things like this, but then again, industry has been doing the same thing (with a less honourable motive) for ages. So who knows? Nautue, let us manipulate you.

The dust storm was the most exciting thing to happen around these Sydney-parts for a long time. It was crazy how everyone just woke up, looked at the thick, bright orange sky and went 'huh, would you look at that? The sky is orange,' then headed off to work as if nothing was up.

I personally woke up and started getting excited about the imminent apocolypse.
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gorehound
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
sounds interesting to me.hey it can't be any worse than the damn polutants we keep spewing into the enviroment.this is an example of "good polution" i guess.
DIRT POLLUTION !!!!
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LittleDragon
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
Climate change. Humans crashing things on the moon. Yadda yadda yadda. Oh looky. Pretty pictures.
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reddingofish
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
So that dust storm was kinda' like God saying "Hey guys, try this."
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cylon_conspiracy
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
I hope global warming (or climate change) is a problem for a long time. Not because I hate the earth, I just want to make sure the activists are occupied. Without something to stop or save they are listless.

I'm reminded of the the character in Tales of the City (About SF in the 70s) where the guy's girlfriend joins the Israeli army because she couldn't deal with Viet Nam being over. Couldn't be happy without a cause to get involved in.
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Annalee Newitz promoted this comment Edited by cylon_conspiracy at 10/08/09 1:16 PM cylon_conspiracy was starred cylon_conspiracy was unstarred

Dayburner
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
The problem is over due it and you get a massive deadzone like in the Gulf of Mexico west of the Mississippi river. The problem is the algae bloom dies and as it decays it sucks the oxygen out of the water. This makes the zone unable to support life.
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Grey_Area
10/08/09

@Dayburner: We may be facing something similar here in the San Francisco Bay. After over 150 years the last of all the sediment from the runoff of gold mining in the Sierras is finally washing out to sea. Life in the bay struggled and succeeded in adjusting to the murkier waters and now it may have to adapt to clearer conditions as "nature originally intended". An algae bloom is a serious and dangerous possibility here.
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Dayburner
10/08/09

@Grey_Area: The main problem we have with the Gulf deadzone is agricultural runoff coming down the Mississippi river.

[serc.carleton.edu]
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
10/08/09

@Grey_Area: Quick! Start shoveling!
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tmittan01000001002003004
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
This is exactly how God planned everything, the soil becomes too dry due to drought caused by "global warming" and blows into the ocean which in turn counteracts global warming causes. Everything work out fine if we just stay the hell out of the way and let nature run it's course.
It's too damn cold here for me to believe in global warming.
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Grey_Area
10/08/09

@tmittan01000001002003004: "Climate change" is a more accurate term and yeah it's happening.
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icelight
10/08/09

@tmittan01000001002003004: Of course, by the time the climate is changed enough to have massive, widespread droughts, you will have killed off all the species that lived in those regions, raised the sea level to flood coastal, and disrupted countless other ecosystems beyond any hope of recovery. But sure, call that "working out fine" while you sit in your air conditioned room and blithely condemn the natural world to destruction because it's "what God wanted".
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Demosthenes7898
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
I love humanity.
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CoyoteBrown
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
You am play gods!

ian jones: Me am fixing climate! no am play gods!
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tetracycloide
10/08/09

@CoyoteBrown: ian jones while being engulfed by a giant alge monster: Me am play gods!
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Anekanta - Go Play!
10/08/09

In reply to Sydney Dust Storm Proves Geoengineering the Oceans Could Work
This is crazy--no one should be allowed to do this without at least international consultation.

The truth is that we really don't know what this will do to the oceans, or the planet. These are very complex systems; these brute force solutions are bound to have unforeseen consequences.
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Bigdamnhero
10/08/09

@Anekanta: "These are very complex systems; these brute force solutions are bound to have unforeseen consequences."

Yup. But then again, that's what BOINC projects are for. Maybe we can actually figure this stuff out, before we do something stupid.
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zenpoet
09/18/09

In reply to Geohackers Want to Transform the Sahara into a Forest
"You live in a desert!
You know what it's going to a be
a hundred years from now?
It's going to be a ------- desert!
We have deserts in America
we just don't live in them!"
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ParryLost
09/16/09

In reply to Geohackers Want to Transform the Sahara into a Forest
There are probably upsides and downsides to this idea. What I can't comprehend is people who argue that the way the climate naturally changes is in some sense superior to human-guided change. The climate doesn't have a mind or a plan, and it doesn't change in ways that are meant to do good or bad. It just happens. The Sahara doesn't "need" to be a desert. It just happens to be one. This is good for some species, and bad for others. But unlike the blind forces of nature, human scientists can weigh the pros and cons, and make plans to carry out changes that will improve things in the long run.

Today, we have the power to change the climate, for good or ill. Abdicating this responsibility is a choice with consequences, just as trying to use this ability for good is a choice with consequences. Pretending that somehow, the blind forces of nature "know best" is just a way of running away from our responsibilities, and of ignoring the power we now have, which is a dangerous way of thinking.
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Anekanta promoted this comment Edited by ParryLost at 09/16/09 3:31 PM ParryLost was starred ParryLost was unstarred

Anekanta - Go Play!
09/16/09

@ParryLost: Yes, but if something goes horribly wrong, then humans have to take responsibility for that, and we can always say that humans ought to have known better.

If the climate does it, fate, well, then the results may be tragic, but there's no one to get mad at, no one to hate--it's just the way things turned out.
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ThisDudeRufus
09/16/09

In reply to Geohackers Want to Transform the Sahara into a Forest
I know it isn't quite the same thing, but I thought this was pretty neat...
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Anekanta - Go Play!
09/16/09

@ThisDudeRufus: Very cool.
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Anekanta - Go Play!
09/16/09

In reply to Geohackers Want to Transform the Sahara into a Forest
But where will Shai-Hulud live?
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James Countryman
09/16/09

@Anekanta: In my pants.

(I was seriously going to pitch a fit if the first comment wasn't a Dune joke, and now it's a random Harvey Birdman joke.)
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Anekanta promoted this comment Edited by James Countryman at 09/16/09 2:45 PM James Countryman was starred James Countryman was unstarred

Anekanta - Go Play!
09/16/09

@James Countryman: Nice.
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Cory Gross
09/16/09

In reply to Geohackers Want to Transform the Sahara into a Forest
I remember seeing this in Disney's "Eyes in Outer Space", which was released 50 years ago. After the animated weather control sequence, Paul Frees intoned how we can turn "useless" deserts and polar ice caps into pleasant farmland. Frickin' around with the environment isn't really a new or radical concept.

Given that a desert's borders are always in flux, I'm in principle opposed to reclaiming land from it. I am opposed to whiping it out entirely, since the desert also serves its purposes. My biggest concern is over what they plan on using to reclaim it. Introducing species just makes bigger problems in the end.
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