Using Barges to Fight Global Warming

An anonymous reader writes "Dr. Peter Flynn, Poole Chair in Management for Engineers in the University of Alberta Department of Mechanical Engineering, has developed what he would like to consider a fall back plan to help combat the effects of global warming, in northern Europe. Flynn proposes using 'more than 8,000 barges moving into the northern ocean in the fall, speeding the initial formation of sea ice by pumping a spray of water into the air, and then, once the ice is formed, pumping ocean water on top of it, trapping the salt in the ice and reaching a thickness of seven meters. In the spring, water would continue to be pumped over the ice to melt it, forming a vast amount of cold, salty water that sinks and adds to the down-welling current to re-strengthen it.'"

Comments

Re:the barges?

[mrball_cb]

It doesn't matter what kind of solutions are devised for energy consumption. Our economy is based on growth, and that growth is based on the destruction of consumable resources. We live on a planet with finite resources and finite ability to sink the by-products of that consumption. The only long-term viable solution for this scenario is:

1. a social change to a lower standard of living
2. lower the population, a hugely irreverent and unacceptable proposition, but maybe Mother Earth will flex her muscles and get rid of a large chunk of us on her own accord (remember, she just created us because she wanted plastic :-) )

Go read http://www.peakoil.com/ for an eye-opening view of the signs and statistics that our economy is showing us. Remember that the people on this site tend to slant pretty far left, nearly the same capacity that the ruling Dictator Bush slants too far to the right. Somewhere in the middle lies the ultimate truth, but that middle is scary because the reality if this "reckoning" is not but a few years off. The beginnings of the creaks and cracks of our world economy have been starting to show for quite some time. Dictator Bush has made it much MUCH MUCH worse, but he's not the only one to blame here. Some accuse Greenspan of setting up this fall we're about to have, but he's not the only one, there's lots of complicity here.

Too late.

[Fantastic Lad]

When old cycles end, they end. 8000 barges aren't going to turn anything around. Not in this reality. Come on. This is pie in the sky.

Too little is understood to be able to determine what the right thing to do is anyway, at least by enough people who will all agree at the same time. 8000 barges is a story for sci-fi dreamers. Reality is run by psychopaths, religious nut-jobs, and alien free-range farmers with dinner napkins tucked under their chins eagerly awaiting the slaughter.

Systems which do not respect life and Mother Earth, are doomed to fall hard. The U.S. is sinking fast and technology is not going to save us. Guaranteed. --Not because we aren't capable of thinking up good ideas, but because those who are in control are quite pleased with the direction of things. And the human elite who have a clue, (bastards), have chosen to ditch out on the rest of us and hide underground while the planet burns/freezes/gets hammered with comets. So 8000 Barges? Yeah. Dream on.

Mother Earth is pushing the re-set button. Get comfy with that idea.

-FL