Scientist publishes 'escape route' from global warming

[seemslikeadream]

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1205975.ece

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist has drawn up an emergency plan to save the world from global warming, by altering the chemical makeup of Earth's upper atmosphere. Professor Paul Crutzen, who won a Nobel Prize in 1995 for his work on the hole in the ozone layer, believes that political attempts to limit man-made greenhouse gases are so pitiful that a radical contingency plan is needed.

In a polemical scientific essay to be published in the August issue of the journal Climate Change, he says that an "escape route" is needed if global warming begins to run out of control.

Professor Crutzen has proposed a method of artificially cooling the global climate by releasing particles of sulphur in the upper atmosphere, which would reflect sunlight and heat back into space. The controversial proposal is being taken seriously by scientists because Professor Crutzen has a proven track record in atmospheric research.

A fleet of high-altitude balloons could be used to scatter the sulphur high overhead, or it could even be fired into the atmosphere using heavy artillery shells, said Professor Crutzen, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany.

more

[panader0]

1. Interesting and hopeful

[dipsydoodle]

2. Duplicate thread ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1775430&mesg_id=1775430

[seemslikeadream]

5. It is not a dupe this is LBN that is in GD

[dipsydoodle]

7. Did you overlook the fact

that's from the UK's Independant which went to press at about 10pm GMT last night and hence is more than 12 hours old ? I wasn't being picky - threads are threads.

[seemslikeadream]

11. your original complaint was that it was a dupe now

you are complaining that the story is over 12 hours old, hum it seems like a problem with the subject more than anything else. BTW a thread is not a thread if they are in separate forums.

I've been here over 4 years, 16817 posts, I think I know the rules, thank you and jah bless.

Did you look at the date and time? 31 July 2006 09:41, it is now 31 July 2006 9:44 my time only 3 minutes by my clock

[dipsydoodle]

16. I didn't complain it was a dupe

just pointed it out. As for LBN which is not supposed to be more than 12 hours old- if you go into our Independant site it shows the time you went in - not the time a news item was listed. Check it now if you like.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1205975.ece
Don't change the fact the "news" is from last night UK time - well past 12 hours .

[seemslikeadream]

17. The date on the article is July 31

therefore since it is not 31 July 12:00pm the story can NOT more than 12 hours old. And again this is not a dupe according to the DU rules, that was your original post


Do you always scrutinize all LBN threads this closely? If not why have I been given such pleasure?

[dipsydoodle]

18. Please understand

July 31st is the date of today's The Independant newspaper. That paper was printed last night probably no later than 9pm and was then loaded onto lorries etc for nationwide distribution ready for shops to sell this morning from about 7am onward. I had a lot of friends in the various print unions and so know the timings. I appreciate you may not have understood this and hence mis-judged the true age of that "news".

[seemslikeadream]

19. THE DATE IS THE DATE ON THE ARTICLE

and please answer my pleasure question edited on after your post.

Do you really expect the mods to into great global time research as you have for every LBN story?

[seemslikeadream]

20. You please understand

I'm trying to figure out the reason why you would waste my time and yours with such pettiness.

And again do you scrutinize all LBN posts this meticulously?

[dipsydoodle]

23. Q : do I scrutinize all LBN posts this meticulously?

Nope - I'd simply responded to the original post in General Discussion and didn't see the point in a duplicate. The article in The Independant makes it clear that it is an extract from the August edition of Climate Change and that periodical was probably being composed weeks ago - most August editions are on the newstands late July. The Independant reporter would not have been allowed to use yesterdays date in today's newpaper edition - hence 31st July.

I didn't make the original point that it was a dupe posting for your benefit - it was for other to be able to see all comments. Nothing more than that so no need to take the matter personally.

[seemslikeadream]

24. You may not realize this but many people do not read GD

They do not have the time to sift through all the talk and come to DU just for the news. And again it is not a dupe, just clarifing the rules for you.

Duplicate Topics and Spamming

Do not post duplicate topics that have already been posted. There are different levels of enforcement in different forums. For example, the Latest Breaking News forum has extremely strict rules against duplicate topics, but the General Discussion forum is much more lenient. Cross posting of duplicates in the two General Discussion forums is not permitted. Cross-posting of duplicates in other forums is occasionally permitted if there is a clear reason for doing so.

Do not spam the message board by posting the same message repeatedly, or by posting a flood of different messages. We have an automatic spam filter which blocks out members who post numerous messages in a short period of time.

[seemslikeadream]

21. Do you expect the mods of DU to run down every story

printed on-line to see exactly what time it was written? Are you serious? Because you have friends in the various print unions and know the timings means nothing, it is the DATE on the article.

[gristy]

14. The dupe thread rule applies to dupe OPs across all forums

Last time I checked, anyways.

[seemslikeadream]

15. It does not please check again

and I could give you thousands of examples but I don't have time for this pettiness

but I will post from the rules

Duplicate Topics and Spamming

Do not post duplicate topics that have already been posted. There are different levels of enforcement in different forums. For example, the Latest Breaking News forum has extremely strict rules against duplicate topics, but the General Discussion forum is much more lenient. Cross posting of duplicates in the two General Discussion forums is not permitted. Cross-posting of duplicates in other forums is occasionally permitted if there is a clear reason for doing so.

Do not spam the message board by posting the same message repeatedly, or by posting a flood of different messages. We have an automatic spam filter which blocks out members who post numerous messages in a short period of time.

[gristy]

29. And your clear reason for doing so is

what?

Other than the fact that I am petty and everyone else does it.

[Miss Chybil]

37. I'm hoping his clear reason is the fact we all don't read GD for the news

and I don't read GD much, at all. Important stuff gets buried too fast in there. This is the forum for the news and I'm glad the OP put it here so I could read it, too.

[pagerbear]

3. The EU is going to have to do it

...because the US gov't will never go for it. They'll politicize it while at the same time put most of their energy into ways to make a profit from it.

[Gully Foyle]

4. ok

I thought Chemtrails were the solution?

[Double T]

6. But what about dealing with the 'CAUSE' of the problem????

Band-Aids are fine for the short term, but 'WE' need to change our lifestyles drastically and immediately.

[Kolesar]

8. Do you think Mommies and Daddies would conserve...

...if they knew what all this fossil fuel consumption is going to do to their childrens' world?

[Gully Foyle]

10. Oh Yeah.

Sure, just like they do now.

[Teaser]

12. That's the author's point

It's pretty obvious that we don't have the political will to implement the necessary reductions...so he wanted an failsafe.

[jilln]

9. I asked a physicist just the other day...

if something like this was possible.

It's definitely interesting, but I wonder what the side effects would be. Dumping iron into the ocean sounds risky.... no telling what it will do to marine life.

[newyorican]

13. There can only be one...

Highlander!

[mainegreen]

28. Ung, that highlander movie stank!

Badly.

[yurbud]

22. what happens when the sulphur comes down?

[krkaufman]

25. Wow. This sounds like one of those "unintentional consequences" scenarios

As a last resort, we definitely need to be thinking about workarounds, but putting more pollution into the air is bound to have negative, unpredicted side effects.

[Jim__]

26. Action that we could take in a dire emergency is a good plan.

But, if we have to actually come up with this as a plan rather than control our greenhouse emissions, I fear there is no real hope.

[belab13]

27. treating a symptom and not the underlying condition

I love these scientists who think they can distill a complex system like the earths atmosphere into three or four dynamic components.

Pardon my french but this could F**k things up more....

[drm604]

30. Wouldn't this cause acid rain?

Granted, that may be the lesser evil.

[Lindacooks]

36. That's what I thought too, but I think this will be placed above

the area in the atmosphere where clouds form, so that won't happen.

[drm604]

41. I think you're probably right.

They obviously intend to place it where it would remain for a long period (rather than coming down in rain), otherwise it would be pointless.

[Sretto]

31. Thank God!

Somebody has a plan! I can stop wringing my hands now!

[MasonJar]

32. He has onething right for sure; mankind is not going to save the

earth the old fashioned way, i.e. by cutting pollutants.

[Odin2005]

33. IMO we are past the point of no return, mitigation is all we can do now.

We need to start reseaching climate modification technology NOW!

[soulcore]

34. Some of us think they are already doing something similar.

I'm just saying...

(and yes, I have my flameproof suit on.)

[drm604]

42. What?

Are you talking about the jet contrails in those pictures or something else? What do you think they're doing? :shrug:

[gulfcoastliberal]

35. Why not? Volcanoes do it naturally - and it does cool the globe. nt

[truthisfreedom]

38. we should try it NOW, before Greenland slides into the Ocean and sinks

Silicon Valley.

[Ghost Dog]

39. We are talking about large-scale environmental engineering

- controlling the atmosphere, terraforming here at home (without having practised on any other planets first).

It's a huge responsibility. We'd better be very sure not to make any irreversible mistakes.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

40. Escape route?

LOL

I don't think there will be one unless we colonize Antarctica.