Mad ideas for saving the world - increase our albedo

[Andy Simmonds]

"a 'stab' at world peace" - nice metaphor, nick.
see you at the conference.

[Tahir]

Rather than burying the charcoal the benefit could be much greater if fed to cows and vegetarians....

Have you suggested this to Mrs Grant? Dunno about world peace but I can't see this enhancing domestic peace chez Grant.

[Nick Grant]

Didn't have anyone in mind!

[Andy Simmonds]

Glad to see from the lack of postings here that every one is engaged in reducing emissions - and not relying on mad ideas to save the world...or are they?!

[Chris Herring]

Or is it simply a mad idea that we can save the world?

[David OLIVIER]

The consensus at a recent conference of energy experts at Claverton - see energyresearchgroup.eu - was that we'll need even more measures than we're suggesting here, as the world's climate is getting really out of hand. But insulating and draughtproofing our buildings would be a start.

D.

[Andy Simmonds]

Of course its mad that we can save our world (as it is).

It might be like passengers 'managing' a train crash (Forget the driver helping - given the current lack of suitable leadership - he just seems to speed up). I can't work out whether it is the rear or middle carriages that are the safest in a crash, but I do know that the poor s*$ds hanging on the outside are in trouble.

There may be problems with this metaphor.

There is money to be made in advising the super rich which are the 'safest carriages' to ride in - I think James Lovelock complains of being asked after lectures where best to build that (fortified) 'retirement' home.

[Andy Simmonds]

aaaaaaaaaaah, it's termite enzymes we need here:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/termites-bellies-biofuels.html?c=y&page=1

[Tahir]

Or is it simply a mad idea that we can save the world?

As a species we've lived through major climate upheavals before at a time when we had very little of the technical knowledge that we do now, I can't see how we'll die out, major population reduction? Yeah, I reckon, but if we really are doomed our world will survive just fine, it'll just be doing so without us.

[Chris Herring]

Some of the major extinctions have resulted in well over 90% species loss.  Reading some views...Lovelock, Lynas etc, we may be looking at a major extinction.  Our brain power and technical development does give us something special, but on the other hand, the larger and more complex organisms are always the most vulnerable.  In a way it is academic whether the human species survives or suffers 99.999% population loss.  The suffering we will have created both in our own species and many others will be incalculable.  Extinctions will happen, but this one will be the responsibility of one species uniquely with self consciousness and the intelligence to know it is coming.  We know, and we are not acting effectively...perhaps it is better that a species which behaves like that does suffer extinction?

[Andy Simmonds]

About time we had some more mad ideas.....

[David OLIVIER]

The Inst of Mech Engineers is now saying that we need to construct artificial trees, although for reasons that I don't understand it appears that a possibly more favourable activity such as seeding the oceans with small amounts of iron is still "off". So I guess that mad ideas are now mainstream.

David

[Nick Grant]

Yes, when I heard that I thought, another case of you heard it first on the AECB forum! Thing is we we always knew they were mad ideas.

[Andy Simmonds]

Nothing new here, but lets keep this thread alive...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7921619.stm

[Peter Linnell]

Carbon sequestration, carbon economics, saving rural Wales,
http://www.cat.org.uk/biology/journal.html

Much work is being done  - research grants etc. on biochar - extracting liquid fuels from the wood, leaving the carbon for other uses.

As for the space ref-lec/rac-tor - 20 Mtonnes of what exactly ? and what else could we do with it and/or the power required.