Over on MSNBC, an article by an unknown author gives ideas. put forth by the scientific community.

Volcanic Dust

Proposal: Using balloons, jet engines, and artillery, to put millions of tons of sulfates into the stratosphere to mimic the cooling from volcanic dust.

Problems: Expensive, tens of thousands of pounds needed per month to produce enough cooling; no effect on carbon dioxide; could cause drying of the Mediterranean and Mideast.

Solar Umbrella

Proposal: In 20 million launches over 30 years, deploy 16 million refracting disks in orbit between the Earth and the Sun.

Problems: Cost could be $4 trillion; no effect on carbon dioxide.

Carbon Capture

Proposal: Capture carbon dioxide from major emission sources and deposit them into salt formations, depleted oil and gas reserves, or the ocean. Current commercial systems can reduce the carbon dioxide emissions up to 90 percent per kilowatt-hour, but waste is not currently stored.

Problems: Expensive; leakage a risk to humans, ecosystems; entire volume of ocean may change.

Artificial Trees

Proposal: Use industrial size artificial trees to filter 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the wind per year. Each tree could filter 6.6 pounds of carbon dioxide per second.

Problems: Separation, transport, and disposal costs high; leakage a risk to humans, ecosystems.

Geritol Effect

Proposal: Dump iron ore dust into the ocean to create an algae bloom that would absorb carbon dioxide and sink.For each ton of iron oxide dumped into the ocean, 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide would be absorbed by the resulting algae bloom.

Problems: Could change sea temperature; political implications in international waters.

Hmmmmm…
Let’s think about each of these for a moment. ‘Solution’ #1, Volcanic Dust injection, reverses what we have been trying to do for the last thirty years. Reducing sulfur has removed the major contributor to acid rain and all that it causes. This one doesn’t even pass the Homer Simpson ‘Doh’ test.

On to ‘Solution’ #2, Solar Umbrella, wasn’t this the theme of an Outer Limits episode? ‘Nuff said.

‘Solution’ #3, Carbon Capture, sounds almost plausible until one realizes the colossal expense, and the idea of ocean storage is something any 1st year biology or chemistry student would not put forth. Carbon dioxide mixed with water forms carbonic acid; it is a very weak acid to be sure, but the net effect on the pH of the oceans of the world would make the current destruction of the Great Barrier Reef look like the experiment of a five year old boy by comparison. Oops!

‘Solution’ #4, Artificial Tree construction, with removal by sodium hydroxide, and then storage. Sodium hydroxide is, for the uninitiated, a very destructive compound, that when the pelletized solid absorbs moisture from the air forms lye, and does still more nasty things. Handling of this stuff would indeed be costly. And what about those trees? Can you say, ‘destroys the natural landscape’, boys and girls?

‘Solution’ #5, Geritol Effect, this has the same net effect as ’solution’ #4, only worse. There would be untold amounts of carbonic acid in the ocean, a multitude of iron compounds, not all yet known, because this type of experiment has never been done in a ‘live’ environment, and yes, other countries could get really upset when we ruin the waters for fishing, or conceivably, travel. Algal bloom in natural waters is why phosphates were removed from detergents in the 1970s, as it was seen how poorly the ocean’s ecosystem responded to this type of growth.

When is some serious thought going to be given to these problems? This ‘public isn’t smarter than a 3rd grader’ nod to problem solving is simply wasting time.

As the Rolling Stones put forth in song, ‘Time waits for no man, and it won’t wait for me.’ Time is, regardless of your political affiliation, running out.

Tags: msnbc, political affiliation, greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, science, solutions, algal bloom, rolling stones