While I was in the shower, I thought of a brilliant idea! Let’s trigger several smaller volcanic eruptions that release a semi-controlled amount of volcanic ash into other atmosphere. That will cool down the atmosphere, which should buy us some time to fix our carbon emissions.
Then I realized, that doing so would block visible light. Plants need the light to grow, and we need the plants to breathe and eat. Obviously, this is not going to be a long term solution. Oh, and how do you even make sure the volcanic eruption doesn’t spiral out of control and suddenly spew out 50 times the ash we were aiming for. Oh, and volcanoes also spew CO2 and even nastier gases, so… It sounded so good while I was still in the shower. The more I think about it, the worse it gets.
This is called Geoengineering, and we don’t need volcanoes for that. Current approaches mostly consider injecting sulfates or other reflective aerosols directly into the atmosphere to influence how much solar radiation reaches the Earth. The principle is the same as behind volcanoes. This method is in fact already being employed and has been used in the past, albeit only for regional climate engineering.
Why don’t we do this to stop climate change? As you yourself kinda noticed, the consequences could be very unpredictable and dangerous because the effects are difficult to model. However, maybe after everything else has failed Geoengineering could be a viable option.
basically snowpiercer
But the aerosols would also amplify the green house effect right?
This brings up an important point. Greenhouse effect is not the only factor in global temperature changes. There’s also solar input rate which varies enormously with cloud cover.
Basically this:
Man, do I love Futurama.
This guy thinks we can control volcanoes.
You get some paper machet, you get some altroids, you drop in some diet coke, and BOOM! You got a 4th grade science teacher failing you because you did the project wrong, and (airquotes) “didn’t pay attention”.
…what were we talking about.
Maybe take a bath next time!
geo engineering is a stopgap solution. it enables the continuation of fossil fuel burning, and rampant over consumption. it does nothing to prevent ecosystem collapse in our oceans, decline of breathable air or extinction of native species.
when you hear “geo engineering”, think of “clean coal” and “sustainable aviation fuel,” because they are one and the same
I still giggle at the idea of trump scrubbing a piece of coal with a toothbrush as a demonstration.
If you want to make a shade without choking life to death how about a big parasol in space? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_sunshade
Watch Snowpiercer
Isn’t this what happened in the Matrix?
We don’t know who struck first, us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power. It was believed they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.
It’s exactly what happened in the Matrix. Cypher turned on that volcano, and it solved global warming. Good job Cypher.
Have you read the Mistborn novels, by any chance? That’s more or less what would happen, only without the cool metal magic
Man, the fact that
Tap for spoiler
The mist they were so scared of didn’t actually harm plant growth, and the Lord Ruler fucked up the ecosystem for nothing
was something. Also, I don’t think our plant life would adapt nearly well enough to sustain human life if it happened to us.
Tap for spoiler
Besides, those humans were genetically engineered to survive off shit nutrients, at least on the main continent.
