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How Close Are We To Engineering the Climate?

merbs writes The scientists had whipped themselves into a frenzy. Gathered in a stuffy conference room in the bowels of a hotel in Berlin, scores of respected climate researchers were arguing about a one-page document that had tentatively been christened the "Berlin Declaration." It proposed ground rules for conducting experiments to explore how we might artificially cool the Earth—planet hacking, basically. This is the story of scientists' first major international meeting to tackle geoengineering. It’s most commonly called geoengineering. Think Bond-villain-caliber schemes but with better intentions. It’s a highly controversial field that studies ideas like launching high-flying jets to dust the skies with sulfur in order to block out a small fraction of the solar rays entering the atmosphere, or sending a fleet of drones across the ocean to spray seawater into clouds to make them brighter and thus reflect more sunlight. Those are two of the most discussed proposals for using technology to chill the planet and combat climate change, and each would ostensibly cost a few billion dollars a year—peanuts in the scheme of the global economy. We’re about to see the dawn of the first real-world experiments designed to test ideas like these, but first, the scientists wanted to agree on a code of ethics—how to move forward without alarming the public or breaking any laws.

319 comments

  1. Once we start there's no stopping. by fustakrakich · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We'll be chasing it back and forth like crazy, every time a storm pops up.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Once we start there's no stopping. by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      We'll be chasing it back and forth like crazy, every time a storm pops up.

      This. Once you start there's no stopping without fixing the underlying problem of too much greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. And on top of cooling the atmosphere you'd also have to do something about ocean acidification which could ultimately turn out to be as big a problem if not bigger that the warming.

    2. Re:Once we start there's no stopping. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Re "We'll be chasing it back and forth like crazy, every time a storm pops up."
      That has been done with Operation Popeye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... by the US during the Vietnam war.
      "The cloud seeding operation during the Vietnam war ran from March 20, 1967 until July 5, 1972 in an attempt to extend the monsoon season, specifically over areas of the Ho Chi Minh Trail."
      "Starting on March 20, 1967, and continuing through every rainy season (March to November) in Southeast Asia until 1972, operational cloud seeding missions were flown."

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Once we start there's no stopping. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We already are engineering the climate; that's the whole point of climate change.

  2. The Ambulance Chasers will love climate eng.! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Imagine the lawsuits if we start tinkering with the climate? Not just crop failures or floods or hurricanes, but when are we to do when little Suzy's party gets washed out? Litigate, of course.

    1. Re:The Ambulance Chasers will love climate eng.! by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Funny

      This can be easily solved by directing lightning bolts at lawyers. Hell, even if we decide not to engineer the client, we should direct more lightning bolts at lawyers.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:The Ambulance Chasers will love climate eng.! by disambiguated · · Score: 1

      if we start tinkering with the climate

      We've been tinkering with the climate for a hundred years, that's why we're even talking about this.

  3. These people scare me by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    more than climate change ever will.

    1. Re:These people scare me by Hardhead_7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      more than climate change ever will.

      As opposed to the people changing the climate now with no code of ethics?

    2. Re:These people scare me by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 0

      We do have a "code of ethics". We work to improve people's lives.

    3. Re:These people scare me by medv4380 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Can you really call any code of ethics that permits this an actual code of ethics. Lets start with Informed Consent. You have to inform the entire world since it would be involving everyone and not just the one country you want to help. For example, just because we want to stop hurricanes from hitting Florida sounds good, up until you find out that it'll negatively affect the rain fall in another country like Mexico. So we have to inform everyone of the risks, and benefits. Then where do we draw the line at consent. Is it half the countries agree, or half the population. Is it at half, or is it at two thirds. I'd give the option for unanimous, but that's never happening. Then what if it will benefit 90% of the world, but really screw over one country?

    4. Re:These people scare me by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Insightful

      By fucking them over in the long run.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    5. Re:These people scare me by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "the climate is always changing."

      A statement about as useful to climatology as saying "the patient is going to eventually die" to medical research.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:These people scare me by MozeeToby · · Score: 2

      His point is, we're already doing it blindly. How would you feel if we were going into an ice age and people were proposing dumping billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere to in an attempt to reverse it?

      And not every form of ethics revolves around informed consent.

    7. Re:These people scare me by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      Which is odd, because almost every researcher in climatology say it is as close to a fact as anything in science can be.

      But clearly /. id 3712517 knows more about climatology than the experts.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    8. Re:These people scare me by budgenator · · Score: 0

      As opposed to the people changing the climate now with no code of ethics?

      I'm not sure that "code of ethics" means the same thing to them as it does us.

      Peter H. Gleick ... works at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, which he co-founded in 1987 ... In 2011, Gleick was the launch Chairman of the "new task force on scientific ethics and integrity" of the American Geophysical Union. ... In February 2012, Gleick admitted to unauthorized distribution of documents he had obtained from The Heartland Institute under someone else's name, and took a voluntary leave of absence from the Pacific Institute; he was reinstated following an investigation.Peter H. Gleick

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    9. Re:These people scare me by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      And the Chinese will move in from the oceans slowly over 100-300 years, with an ongoing, powerful economy, continuint to drive science and engineering rapidly forward, as Europe, and eventually the US, fall further and further behind, their overbearing, if well-intentioned regulatory burden being scarcely different, burdenwise, from political corruption in 3rd woorld nations.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    10. Re:These people scare me by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 2

      When overall life expectancies and standards of living worldwide start to decline rather than rise, I'll re-evaluate your position.

      I don't see that happening any time soon, "big oil" notwithstanding.

    11. Re:These people scare me by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 1

      If your doctor knows as much about physiology as climate scientists know about the mechanisms governing climate, the latter is a given.

      Likely sooner rather than later.

    12. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >> the people changing the climate

      > Damn Chinese.

      And their SUVs. And their Oil Industries. And their deniers. I'm fed up with English-speaking Chinese in polluting countries which now start to pose as environment-conscious -- now that the thief has robbed the house, there's a talk about maybe installing a lock.

      The Chinese are doing everything wrong -- exactly like most industrialized countries did until recently and these latter didn't even lost a second of sleep over it.

      We need smarter people both in buyers like the US, Europe (most of the world, actually) and sellers (China and a few other countries)... smart enough to move society faster to new technologies (e.g. hybrid cars), new habits (like telecommuting) and new solutions (like planting lots, and I mean really lots, of trees).

      Perhaps we need ones smarter than me, but there you have them, some ideas...

    13. Re:These people scare me by BCGlorfindel · · Score: 2

      more than climate change ever will.

      As opposed to the people changing the climate now with no code of ethics?

      The people changing the climate now is every living soul on this rock. More importantly, the distinction is that the activity currently dumping CO2 into the atmosphere is in absolutely no way being done with the intention or purpose of engineering the climate. Flying planes, driving cars, raising cattle, planting crops, breathing in oxygen are all just activities people are doing in order to survive. The fact they dump CO2 into the atmosphere is secondary. The step of consciously acting to alter climate, with maximum affect as best as we understand how to for the express purpose of altering the climate is distinctly different.

    14. Re:These people scare me by digsbo · · Score: 1

      Can we add economists to the mix? Hayek identified the fatal conceit there long before "climate science" was a thing.

    15. Re:These people scare me by wxxy___ · · Score: 1

      "It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. â

    16. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As opposed to graphs missing error bars based from the Heritage foundation?

    17. Re:These people scare me by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      The Chinese are fully aware that they have a huge coal problem and are racing to nuclearize (using the American standard plant design) away their carbon emissions. And when the Chinese need to build something, they just f* build it.

    18. Re:These people scare me by riverat1 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Name the study that convinced you beyond any doubt that AGW is "true". It will be based on least squares curve fitting and computer modeling, neither of which every proved anything.

      Svante Arrhenius who is 1896 stated:

      if the quantity of carbonic acid [CO2] increases in geometric progression, the augmentation of the temperature will increase nearly in arithmetic progression.

      Or F = ln (C/C sub 0). That formula still hold true today.

      Gilbert Plass who in 1958 published a paper called "The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climate Change".

      Everything today is refinements of that (and some others) work.

    19. Re:These people scare me by Tetetrasaurus · · Score: 1

      Doubtful that the US will ever fall behind, because the US is becoming the international country destination of choice for the very people bringing China into the modern age. The US is going to no longer be majority white in a decade or two, which is a very big statement about how its role and identity is changing. The US is being remade as China remakes itself. Thanks China, for choosing the dollar so far and for investing big over here!

    20. Re:These people scare me by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      probably as much as the first cave man to bring fire into his cave. "WE ALL BURN TO DEATH!!" they would say. "But we be less likely to freeze death which is actually happening now" he would reply.

      Let's address the problems we have now, and only consider lightly the problems we don't yet have. If they do happen to come up, we can address them at that time.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    21. Re:These people scare me by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      When overall life expectancies and standards of living worldwide start to decline rather than rise...

      While things are great now, that is something to be aware of before it actually happens. That whole 'calm before the storm' thing has some merit. And you know how the ocean draws back before the tsunami hits. Let's not be as arrogant as the owners of the Titanic.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    22. Re:These people scare me by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Stupid /., you can't do formulas. That formula should read:

      {delta}F = {alpha}ln(C/C sub 0)

    23. Re:These people scare me by LessThanObvious · · Score: 1

      It is something we have to approach cautiously, but it makes a lot of sense to look at the practical application of ideas. It's not unlikely that we will get to the point where something must be done and it will come at at time much to late to fix the issue by changing current carbon output. I don't know if it's possible to have an impact without a significant downside or insurmountable costs, but it seems like one the best areas to focus practical research.

    24. Re:These people scare me by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      Sounds great. Let's start with you. Every breath you take expels CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change which affects every person on the planet.

      Much as I love a good tu-quoque, the above doesn't really apply in any meaningful way. Breathing is carbon-neutral.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    25. Re:These people scare me by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      By fucking them over in the long run.

      Not intentionally, of course -- global warming was/is an unintended side effect of digging up fossil fuels. If the atmosphere was "sufficiently large" to absorb all of the exhaust without consequences (as was initially assumed), we wouldn't have a problem -- but it isn't, and so we do.

      I think the underlying problem (of which global warming is just one specific case) is that we are approaching the limits of planet's resources. The closer we get to those limits, the more constrained we get, because the consequences of our actions get reflected back at us more quickly and more forcefully.

      In the long run, there are only two solutions: acquire more resources (off-planet?) or reduce resource usage (by some combination of population control and resource conservation).

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    26. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well please then, tell us what we all need to do since apparently you see the ocean drawing back while others do not.

    27. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get yourself a surfboard, or an inner tube, I really don't care

    28. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point at which ethics threatens the survival of the species is the point at which ethics is not worth for sht.

    29. Re:These people scare me by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      This way burning fossil fuels is also carbon neutral - by adding the million year old synthesis into the cycle. Breathing is carbon neutral - only if you add the plant synthesis over last few month.

      By adding appropriate reverse chemical reaction, every chemical reaction is carbon neutral. So only nuclear (mostly fusion) reactions which create carbon are non-carbon-neutral.

      Plants have already converted CO2 to solid organic matter and O2. After that, breathing is not carbon neutral.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    30. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about an analogy with vaccination? Vaccines save the world from the scourge of infectious disease, but they really screw over the one person in a million who contracts the disease from the vaccine. There's some line at which we say that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and vaccines are clearly over that line. We just need to determine, for any given climate engineering project, on which side of the line it falls.

      Actually, we've already got a mechanism for this. If someone gets sick, their medical care is paid for by the state (non-US person here), which is funded by the taxes from the people who didn't get sick (thanks to the vaccine) and hence have more money to pay them. So, if a climate-engineering project is going to really screw over one country, we just need the rest of the world to pay to mitigate and compensate for its effects.

    31. Re:These people scare me by TwoEyedJack · · Score: 0

      So he "stated" a causal relationship between atmospheric CO2 and global mean temperature. Where is the experimentation? Where are the independent experiments which yield the same results? If you are going to make statements, you have to show experimental results. That is the way science works. Given all the factors that make up atmospheric air temperature, asserting that CO2 concentration is the sole driving factor requires much more proof, especially when shameless politicians seize the opportunity for massive wealth transfer to government.

    32. Re:These people scare me by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      This way burning fossil fuels is also carbon neutral - by adding the million year old synthesis into the cycle..

      It's the digging up of fossil fuels from underground that is the problem. Carbon levels in the biosphere would remain static without that.

      Note that when you breathe, it doesn't require you dig anything out of the ground to do it.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    33. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree, scary stuff. We don't have a good ability to predict effects of a 'treatment', but in this case we want the result to be very large! Actually changing the climate. Unwanted side effects will always exist. Like introducing an invasive species to 'fix' a problem.

      Second, we can't even agree on why/how to reduce our current 'engineering' of the climate, CO2. Science almost agrees but can't explain, politically and commercially we are far from agreeing on anything.

    34. Re:These people scare me by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      I see, so your view is that if a theory can't explain everything, it cannot explain anything. That's interesting kind of nihilism you've adopted, mate. I do hope you apply that to all science. If you're going to be an anti-intellectual, you should be fair and reject pretty much everything.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    35. Re:These people scare me by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Yes, digging fossil fuels and excluding the formation of fossil fuels from the cycle makes it non-carbon-neutral. Eating food, converting into CO2 and excluding formation of food from the cycle makes breathing non-carbon-neutral.

      Include the synthesis of fossil fuels and food from atmospheric CO2, and that will make burning fossil fuels and breathing carbon neutral.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    36. Re:These people scare me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      especially when shameless politicians seize the opportunity for massive wealth transfer to government.

      You are far from rational.

    37. Re:These people scare me by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      ... especially when shameless politicians seize the opportunity for massive wealth transfer to government.

      Ah, I see, your objection is informed by your ideology more than science.

      Here are some papers that examine the changes in outgoing longwave radiation spectra over time that support the increase in greenhouse forcing:

      * Increases in greenhouse forcing inferred from the outgoing longwave radiation spectra of the Earth in 1970 and 1997 – John E. Harries, Helen E. Brindley, Pretty J. Sagoo & Richard J. Bantges; Nature 410, 355-357 (15 March 2001) | doi:10.1038/35066553.

      * Comparison of spectrally resolved outgoing longwave data between 1970 and present, J.A. Griggs et al, Proc SPIE 164, 5543 (2004).

      * Spectral signatures of climate change in the Earth’s infrared spectrum between 1970 and 2006, Chen et al, (2007)

      * Radiative forcing – measured at Earth’s surface – corroborate the increasing greenhouse effect, R. Phillipona et al, Geo Res Letters, v31 L03202 (2004)

      * Measurements of the Radiative Surface Forcing of Climate, W.F.J. Evans, Jan 2006

      * A method for continuous estimation of clear-sky downwelling longwave radiative flux developed using ARM surface measurements, C. N. Long and D. D. Turner, Journal of Geophysical Research, vol 113, D18206, doi:10.1029/2008JD009936, 2008

      * Satellite-Based Reconstruction of the Tropical Oceanic Clear-Sky Outgoing Longwave Radiation and Comparison with Climate Models, Gastineau et al, J Climate, vol 27, 941–957 (2014).

    38. Re:These people scare me by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 1

      I see, so your view is that if a theory can't explain everything, it cannot explain anything.

      Not at all. Consistent and accurate predictive ability would go a long way to convincing me they have a grasp of how it all works. Instead they search for their missing heat.

      And no points for just predicting "warming" - it is an interglacial after all, that's a given, and it's been warming for the entire instrumental record (since ~1850), so it's pretty much a no-brainer.

      So basically the models are awful, and they can't predict SFA better than a loaded coin toss.

      That is not science. Did you think everyone would just take their word for it?

    39. Re:These people scare me by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      Include the synthesis of fossil fuels and food from atmospheric CO2, and that will make burning fossil fuels and breathing carbon neutral.

      Well, it would, if we could synthesize enough fossil fuel and/or food from atmospheric CO2 to equal the amount being pumped out of the ground. However, unless/until we make some really impressive engineering breakthroughs, we do not and cannot do that. (Not that it isn't a worthy goal -- if we could do that, we likely wouldn't have to pull fossil fuels out of the ground anymore)

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    40. Re:These people scare me by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      That doesn't make breathing carbon neutral. Breathing itself still puts more CO2 in the atmosphere than it had before breathing. NOT carbon neutral.

      Misleadingly meaning breathing+eating+growing food when using the word "breathing" makes it carbon neutral. Which is exactly as misleading as meaning burning+digging+creation of fossil fuels when using the word "burning".

      Technological feasibility doesn't matter - both these cycles are carbon neutral, isolation of single step in them is not carbon neutral, and using single step to mean the whole cycle is identically misleading.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  4. We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's what Global Warming is.

    How much effort does that require? Now, do you think some magic sprinkle will reverse it? That's like sitting on a couch for 40 years, then expecting 5-min of effort, one time, and a pill to become a competitive long distance runner.

    Global Warming will require a larger effort to reverse than the one that created it.

    1. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You don't understand. "Global Warming" is an imaginary problem that predates on irrational fears. When you attempt to "fix" nonexistent problems there are real chances that you break something and do real, tangible, everlasting damage.

      In sum, it's time to take the reins out of those people that have lost touch with reality, before they drive us off a cliff.

    2. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily. Sometimes it is cheaper to let shit happen and fix the aftermath. For example, it is easier to remove dust with a broom than to track down and eliminate every source of dust in your house.

    3. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Global Warming will require a larger effort to reverse than the one that created it.

      The real word for it is selfishness. We're just stealing from future generations. Same thing happened with air, trees, minerals, oil and water resources. We shit all over them to make a penny today and in the process it costs our progeny exponentially more to clean it up. It's how it's always been and we persist it, snowballing the total cost.

      "You can't do that, our GDP would drop by $10 million!" == "It'll cost trillions for someone else to clean up."

    4. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not necessarily. Sometimes it is cheaper to let shit happen and fix the aftermath. For example, it is easier to remove dust with a broom than to track down and eliminate every source of dust in your house.

      Great analogy, so what you're saying is we just need a megalithic sky broom that can magically filter out carbon and methane from the atmosphere in broad swaths. Because it might be easier in the future to capture something loose floating abundantly a thousand feet up than to install a simple goddamn carbon scrubber on your billion dollar coal stack now.

    5. Re:We already are by Knuckles · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily. Sometimes it is cheaper to let shit happen and fix the aftermath. For example, it is easier to remove dust with a broom than to track down and eliminate every source of dust in your house.

      Actually if you intend to stay in that house for a longer term it is a better idea to eliminate at least some sources of dust.

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    6. Re:We already are by Livius · · Score: 1

      Global Warming will require a larger effort to reverse than the one that created it.

      Depends on what you mean by effort. Technology and gross planetary product have advanced since the deforestation that humans started at the beginning of agriculture 10 000 years ago.

    7. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are an idiot.

    8. Re:We already are by Knuckles · · Score: 1

      You are an idiot.

      You should learn about house keeping!

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    9. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure why you brought up filtering out carbon from the atmosphere. You get better temperature reduction per dollar by generating sun-reflecting clouds.

    10. Re:We already are by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      That doesn't help the ocean acidification issue.

    11. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      is that you, mister chemtrail?

    12. Re:We already are by zmooc · · Score: 2

      No no no no. We are not engineering the climate at all. We're just being human beings doing human being things like filling our biosphere up with CO2. We're just nature doing its nature thing.

      We are making some attempts at engineering the climate, though, namely attempts at minimizing our CO2 output, but this has not had any real effect whatsoever.

      It doesn't become engineering until you do it on purpose. We do not do that. Also note that it is nature until you start to "manage" or "engineer" it, at what point it stopt being nature and starts being "cultivated". Geo- and climate-engineering aim to finally destroy all nature by conserving it in an artificial way and thus making planet earth one big museum.

      Just let nature be nature. Even if it destroys humanity. Nature doesn't need us, weed need nature.

      --
      0x or or snor perron?!
    13. Re:We already are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How much effort does that require? Now, do you think some magic sprinkle will reverse it? That's like sitting on a couch for 40 years, then expecting 5-min of effort, one time, and a pill to become a competitive long distance runner.

      Global Warming will require a larger effort to reverse than the one that created it.

      Sorry but that just makes no sense whatsoever. What do you base this on? Your advanced knowledge of geoengineering? Natural processes, including our influence on them so far have been chaotic. Intentional manipulation is going to be a lot faster simply because it's goal oriented, something our manipulations so far have not been.

      Have a coffee, drop the stupidity mantra and think it over again.

    14. Re:We already are by BCtoo · · Score: 1

      If Global Warming was real.

  5. Free energy by mitcheli · · Score: 0

    So by shunting the extra energy causing global warming into the power grid, would it be possible to recapture some of the "global warming" into a green energy production thus lowering the "global warming" to previous levels and reducing CO2 output of traditional energy production methods?

    --
    Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
    1. Re:Free energy by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Large-scale thermal energy generations requires a heat difference to work, and in effect moves heat from one place to another. The only part of the Earth that isn't likely to be directly affected by global warming is the stuff underneath the crust, but that's already warmer than the atmosphere, so global warming reduces the temperature difference and reduces our ability to generate energy from heat.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    2. Re:Free energy by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Funny

      So by shunting the extra energy causing global warming into the power grid ...

      You should write your congressman and ask him to repeal the 2nd law of thermodynamics. That is one of the worst laws ever, and is the root cause of many of our biggest problems. While you are at it, ask him to repeal the first law too. After that, you should sue your high school science teacher for malpractice, using yourself as prima facie evidence.

    3. Re:Free energy by deadweight · · Score: 2

      WRONG - otherwise my heat pump would not work. Take a heat pump and put one end in outer space to radiate heat away from us. The only issue I can see is procurement. Where oh where are we going to get 48,000 miles of copper line, 24,000 miles of electrical cord, and 10 million tanks of Freon? Also have ot look into voiding the warranty for putting the compressor end out in space.

    4. Re:Free energy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You might find this article interesting. No need to but anything in space.

      http://tech.slashdot.org/story...
      "Engineers at Stanford University have developed an ultrathin, multilayered, nanophotonic material that not only reflects heat away from buildings but also directs internal heat away using a system called "photonic radiative cooling." The coating is capable of reflecting away 97% of incoming sunlight and when combined with the photonic radiative cooling system it becomes cooler than the surrounding air by around 9F (5C). The material is designed to radiate heat into space at a precise frequency that allows it to pass through the atmosphere without warming it."

      Either use the termal difference to power a heat engine (difficult but possible to use such a low temperature difference) or use that tech on the condencer on a heat pumps to send the heat out in space(instead of dumping it in the air). Your AC could radiate all that heat into space instead of dumping it in the air.

  6. Playing God with people's lives by BoRegardless · · Score: 1

    When these "scientists" "change things" and some climate is altered, I can guarantee more than a billion people are going to complain about the change and the legal charges in the Hague against those that foisted off the plan and carried it out will be a circus.

    1. Re:Playing God with people's lives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have to remind you that the USA does NOT recognize the International Criminal Court aka Hague...

    2. Re:Playing God with people's lives by BoRegardless · · Score: 2

      Well, the scientists are in Berlin, Germany!

    3. Re:Playing God with people's lives by Charliemopps · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When these "scientists" "change things" and some climate is altered, I can guarantee more than a billion people are going to complain about the change and the legal charges in the Hague against those that foisted off the plan and carried it out will be a circus.

      But there will come a point in the not too distant future when "Warming" will no longer be a debate, and no one will argue with the need to cool the earth. At that point things may be so dire that some countries might get so desperate that they just start little to no planning or forethought. That's why it's good to think about these sorts of things now, so they at least have some sort of scientific frame work to start with rather than doing something rash that may very well kill us all.

    4. Re:Playing God with people's lives by budgenator · · Score: 1

      The thing is it revolves around climate sensitivity, that how many degrees the Earth will warm for each doubleing of CO2,

      The climate sensitivity specifically due to CO2 is often expressed as the temperature change in C associated with a doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere. Climate sensitivity

      for the climate to warm 2K, we'd have to be at almost 800ppm CO2.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    5. Re:Playing God with people's lives by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Whether the planet is warming isn't a debate, any more than the existence of evolution. A debate implies that there is sound reasoning for both sides, and in both cases we have science vs. ingrained notions. There is a lot of debate over the details of both.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    6. Re:Playing God with people's lives by disambiguated · · Score: 1

      there will come a point in the not too distant future when "Warming" will no longer be a debate

      I hope you're right, but you might be underestimating the stubbornness people are able to maintain in regard to AGW. We're far past reasonable doubt already.

      Many people will only be convinced by an argument that goes like this: AGW is real, but don't worry we've solved the problem in a way that allows you to not make any sacrifices to your god-given way of life, and your taxes aren't going to go up.

  7. Peaceful uses only? by Amigan · · Score: 1

    I'm old enough to remember (and read) the book - Weather War . Forget the lawsuits, look at the next level of targeting for political advantage.

    --
    "Software is the difference between hardware and reality"
    1. Re:Peaceful uses only? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, that's easy. Once you cure Global Warming, you can run for President of the United States.

      http://www.adultswim.com/videos/frisky-dingo/money-troubles/

  8. Good Luck by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Trying to actively control a massive, chaotic system is not going to end well. The only stable configurations that pop out of computer models of the climate are the snowball Earth and the Venus 2.0 scenario. The only right way to play is to stop applying massive perturbations to the system and realize that even then the climate will change.

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    1. Re:Good Luck by phantomfive · · Score: 0

      You sound irate.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Good Luck by Rockoon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Trying to actively control a massive, chaotic system is not going to end well.

      We are told by climate scientists that we have such an outstanding grasp of this "massive, chaotic system" that they can make accurate long term predictions. Seems to me that the veracity of your beliefs is in direct conflict with theirs.

      Or perhaps our grasp of this "massive, chaotic system" isnt the belief that actually drives your opinion. But if thats not it.. then what?

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    3. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well we've been advocating stopping applying massive perturbations to the system for quite a while now, but between climate change deniers and the pollution lobby, that doesn't seem to be getting anywhere very fast.

    4. Re:Good Luck by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 2

      Climate 'scientists' might confidently state that the world will warm by X.YZ degrees in the next 20 years. What they don't ever tell you is the uncertainty in their prediction, basically because it is nearly impossible to quantify.

      Take a look at these climate model results:

      http://www.ig.utexas.edu/people/staff/charles/uncertainties_in_model_predictio.htm

      Which model is closest to correct? Each model makes large numbers of different assumptions about how to mimic radiation, atmospheric turbulence, adequate atmospheric and terrain resolution, and any number of other phenomena. As the actual system is highly nonlinear, even a small uncertainty in the initial conditions can lead to wildly different results even if we had all of the equations exactly correct (which we don't, most are modeling approximations to make the problem tractable).

      The best that can be said is that it seems probable that the Earth will be getting warmer. The questions are how much and how quickly? Having a number of predicted outcomes means that there is a range of policy decisions, and politicians can cherry pick the outcomes that resonate with their ideology. If a politician seizes on a prediction that indicates that warming isn't a big deal, they will push for the status quo, especially if the are already benefiting from the status quo. Or maybe they will seize the worst case outcome which suggests major societal upheaval is required to remedy it.

      Also, as it is a chaotic system, there really is no way to determine if your attempts to control it were even meaningful, even in hindsight, as chaotic systems change non-linearly without human input. That is the argument of the folks who believe that AGW isn't occurring because the world was warming before humans came along. Others think it's all our fault. Without the ability to spin up a human-free Earth 2.0 as a control, it is very difficult to tease apart what is what.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    5. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only right way to play

      Is to begin off-world colonization efforts, fools. The technology to survive beyond this planet is the very same answer to, "What can we do about the climate?"

    6. Re:Good Luck by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      Well, that's because no one knows what constitutes a "massive perturbation". Some think dumping CO2 into the atmosphere at a rate mutliple times faster than the environment's ability to absorb it is not a big deal, no action required. On the other end, some folks think we should all stop exhaling, now. Intermediate remedies include expensive technologies to mitigate the perturbation. Any solution within that broad spectrum of "solutions" is going to cost dearly, and there is no way to know if they would even work.

      We don't know for certain that doing anything is better, worse, or neither as compared to the immediately inexpensive option of doing nothing.

      My opinion is that since the perturbations being produced by humankind (e.g. CO2) are on the order of the natural inputs, so that it seems likely to me that we are affecting the climate in some manner. However, there is no concrete proof one way or the other, so my opinion may be quite wrong. All there is is a large number of climate model results, many poorly reported as being accurate without qualification, all swirling in a shitstorm of money and politics, with cherry-picked results being used to support chosen agendas. I really don't see a scientific / technical means to cut through this Gordian knot.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    7. Re:Good Luck by radtea · · Score: 1

      The only stable configurations that pop out of computer models of the climate are the snowball Earth and the Venus 2.0 scenario.

      Since the climate has achieved neither of these equilibria in four billion years, despite massive changes to the solar constant (early quiet sun), atmospheric composition and land-coverage by plants, we can be sure on this basis that the models are wrong. Which is not surprising, because the models are unphysical: they contain small but significant approximations to the true physics that mean it would absolutely astonishing if long term integrations resulted in anything remotely resembling reality.

      This is not to say that climate models are useless or "global warming is a hoax", but that we should be extremely cautious in their interpretation. There are excellent reasons to not dump gigatonnes of GHGs into the atmosphere without precise models, and its not as if some gang of left-wing idiots are trying to hijack our need to make relatively modest tweaks to global capitalism and "change everything" in some doomed revolutionary experiment of the kind that failed so frequently and bloodily in the 20th century, so there's really no reasonable impediment to taking modest steps toward a cleaner world, such as replacing some fraction of income tax with carbon taxes.

      After all, who but a wealth-hating socialist would oppose reducing the tax on something basically good (income) in favour of a tax on something basically bad (GHG emissions)?

      --
      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
    8. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He also sounds like an engineer......

    9. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet more than half the time they can't get 7 week forecasts right...pfft!

    10. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      some folks think we should all stop exhaling, now.

      Yeah, but to be fair, I thought that before I had even heard of global warming.

  9. Start with Venus... by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems a bit frightening to start out on the planet we actually have to live on. This is not good engineering practice. If we make mistakes, it would be nice to do it on a planet where the consequences aren't quite as critical

    My proposal is that we should start out by gaining experience by modifying another planet. Let's work on terraforming Venus.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Start with Venus... by wiggles · · Score: 1

      Problem is, that will take hundreds of years to get habitable. By that time, this planet will have too many problems.

      Plus, Venus's problems aren't the same as Earth's. They're similar, but far more severe, and different chemistry is involved.

    2. Re:Start with Venus... by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Terraforming Venus would take thousands of years.

    3. Re:Start with Venus... by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Well I guess they are not counting the cloud seeding that's been going on in the mid-west. I know Colorado and Kansas both have programs since that the area I live in and it occasionally hit the news.

      http://cwcb.state.co.us/water-...weathermodificationprogram.aspx

    4. Re:Start with Venus... by AK+Marc · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Not if you manage to set of a chain reaction. Anyone else remember the '40s? I wasn't around then, but one of the complaints about the atom bomb was that it could "set the atmoshpere on fire" causing a chain reaction that consumed all the oxygen and killed the entire planet's biosphere (not just the humans, but even the cockroaches, just off a single bomb. Well, lets test that in Venus. But it doesn't matter what we do to the atmosphere, it will be unstable, so long as the planet doesn't rotate. And that's something we can never fix (with the amount of energy needed, it'd make more sense to push Mars into the Asteroid belt to "absorb" all the asteroids there to become more Earthlike in size, then move Mars to a more friendly (closer to the sun) orbit. As much as that'd take, it's still be less energy than spinning Venus to Earth days.

      Venus, not spinning, has no magnetic field. So the lighter parts of the atmosphere float to the top and are stripped by solar wind. This leaves only the heavy atmosphere, and makes any "fix" of the atmosphere unstable. Venus used to be like Earth. but the closeness to the sun caused tidal effects that slowed the rotation (all parts, even the core). Once the rotation was slow enough to "stop" the magnetic field, the solar winds ripped away all the breathable atmosphere. The top parts of the atmosphere are more earth-like, but are being lost to space, pushed up by the heavier air below, and stripped off by the solar winds. So even if we could terraform it in days, it wouldn't last. Not without spin.

    5. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure thing, Geoff. That's totally within the realm of possibility. Should we start by sending a few 3D printers? Personally I'd send some of the loudest Space Nutters just to get rid of them.

    6. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      It seems a bit frightening to start out on the planet we actually have to live on. This is not good engineering practice. If we make mistakes, it would be nice to do it on a planet where the consequences aren't quite as critical

      My proposal is that we should start out by gaining experience by modifying another planet. Let's work on terraforming Venus.

      Terraforming? Terraforming?? We can't call it that, it's not new and hip and trendy! I know, we'll call it "planet hacking" and draw page hits!

    7. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Problem is, that will take hundreds of years to get habitable. By that time, this planet will have too many problems.

      Plus, Venus's problems aren't the same as Earth's. They're similar, but far more severe, and different chemistry is involved.

      Well part of the point of using a place like Venus is to prove that it can be done on a global scale, to start with, and that we can control it as well. While it might indeed take a long time to reach the habitability point, it would take far less time to prove the concept.

      We'd probably be better off starting with Mars, simply because the ability to live (in shelters) on the surface would make it a lot easier.

    8. Re:Start with Venus... by RenderSeven · · Score: 1

      earth:/$ chroot /media/venus

    9. Re:Start with Venus... by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 4, Informative

      I wasn't around then, but one of the complaints about the atom bomb was that it could "set the atmoshpere on fire" causing a chain reaction that consumed all the oxygen and killed the entire planet's biosphere

      Yes, and you'll note from the fact that we still have oxygen to breathe that this did not happen. Similarly the LHC did not create a Black Hole that set off a chain reaction to swallow the Earth. Planets are bombarded by lots of high energy radiation all the time and have been for billions of years. Setting off a chain reaction is going to be incredibly hard because any reaction we can produce will already have happened many, many times over in nature. Indeed after all the CO2 we have pumped into our atmosphere over the past century or more we have only managed to create a tiny deviation in the temperature so far.

    10. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems a bit frightening to start out on the planet we actually have to live on. This is not good engineering practice. If we make mistakes, it would be nice to do it on a planet where the consequences aren't quite as critical

      The consequences are already disastrous. It's not as if we can make ourselves extinct twice.

    11. Re:Start with Venus... by CresCoJeff · · Score: 1

      Indeed, we need much more data before trying something like this at home. Are we even certain the earth's climate is changing dangerously? Last I heard on the matter all we had were climate change trends and lots of ugly-looking man-made emissions - two items which might not even be correlated - analyzed using about 100 years of fairly good planetary ecology data and maybe a thousand years of empirical-but-primitive data total if we include crusty old ships' logs with 'here be dragons' annotations and illustrations of fire-breathing walruses. That's not even a fraction of an eye-blink in geological time. Assuming that warming trends observed within a tiny window of geological time are permanent, unusual, deadly, unnatural/man-made, and can be reversed by man through simple 'planet hacks' seems quite dangerous. That said, we should all really look into not burning dinosaurs to get from point A to point B anymore...

    12. Re:Start with Venus... by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      The average surface temperature of Venus is 462 degrees C (863 F). That's hotter than Mercury. How long would it take for it to cool down enough to be tolerable for human habitation?

    13. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To cool Venus from its current temperature to that of Earth would take several hundreds of years, even as a perfectly efficient black body radiator with no incoming radiation from the Sun. And how do you stop the same run-away effect from happening?

    14. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm all for sending all scientists who think engineering the climate is a good idea to Venus.

      Or Mercury, for that matter. If they manage to cool that, they can come back.

    15. Re:Start with Venus... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Not without spin.

      Would a political press release do?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    16. Re:Start with Venus... by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      A very long time. We'd need to come up with some way to transfer that heat to something else, which is hard because of thermodynamics. How do you move the hear to the core/mantle, or send it into space?

    17. Re:Start with Venus... by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      And how do you stop the same run-away effect from happening?

      Step 1, make it spin. I thought I was clear on that.

    18. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If we suspend all the money it would take to do that, high in the atmosphere it would provide enough shade to cool the earth.

    19. Re:Start with Venus... by crunchygranola · · Score: 2

      The average surface temperature of Venus is 462 degrees C (863 F). That's hotter than Mercury. How long would it take for it to cool down enough to be tolerable for human habitation?

      According to this analysis the time could be as short as 200 years, if we cut off all sunlight falling on Venus so that it radiates heat away as fast as possible.

      This assumes though that there is no problem with having 460 C rock only 30 m below the surface. The upheavals that will develop as the crust shrinks, creating fissures, may complicate this optimistic scenario.

      --
      Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
    20. Re:Start with Venus... by crunchygranola · · Score: 2

      It seems a bit frightening to start out on the planet we actually have to live on. This is not good engineering practice. If we make mistakes, it would be nice to do it on a planet where the consequences aren't quite as critical

      My proposal is that we should start out by gaining experience by modifying another planet. Let's work on terraforming Venus.

      While I agree that it is a bit frightening to start with Earth - we are already doing it in a vast unplanned, unregulated experiment.. The purpose of these proposals is to evaluate techniques to offset the world-wide climate modification experiment already in progress. Not doing anything about that current experiment that is still accelerating as releases of the the major climate modification chemical increases year after year is a lot more frightening.

      --
      Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
    21. Re:Start with Venus... by kylemonger · · Score: 2

      It's too late to be worried about experimentation; we're already experimenting on this planet. All they are talking about is more experimentation on top of what we're already doing by digging naturally sequestered carbon out of the ground and releasing it by the gigaton into the atmosphere. At least now there are people paying attention to the results of the experimentation.

    22. Re:Start with Venus... by surd1618 · · Score: 1

      Well, lets test that in Venus. But it doesn't matter what we do to the atmosphere, it will be unstable, so long as the planet doesn't rotate. And that's something we can never fix (with the amount of energy needed, it'd make more sense to push Mars into the Asteroid belt to "absorb" all the asteroids there to become more Earthlike in size, then move Mars to a more friendly (closer to the sun) orbit. As much as that'd take, it's still be less energy than spinning Venus to Earth days.

      I don't know. I am suspicious of a few things here. Maybe you have a source? I don't see how making a planet spin takes less energy then pushing it into different orbits. Maybe if you want to push Mars around in a very very slow way, this is true, but it would take a looooooong time. Also, any amount of collisions that added substantially to the volume of Mars, would create oceans of molten lava. If we let Mars accrue enough of the asteroids to gain gravity, it would take a long long time to cool off I think...? (It would also build up a lot of carbon dioxide in the process, which is actually a good thing for terraforming purposes, but it would translate into a still longer superhot period).

      Again, not sure.

    23. Re:Start with Venus... by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Well, we've managed to produce a pretty accurate model of climate temperatures - something like a half-dozen major contributors that, taken together, track almost perfectly with climate changes since we've been making the measurements, and to the limit of the accuracy of our historical climate reproductions. That's pretty compelling. In that time we've managed to both fill in most the major gaps in our understanding of what exactly is happening, and our contribution to the issue has continued to accelerate, making for a reasonably clear experimental test, though obviously without the controls you'd like to have to be sure.

      At this point pretty much the only major gap in the observational science is the "unknown unknowns" - the unexpected ecosystem feedback systems that might possibly stabilize things at the last moment. Or make them even worse. That's the things with unknowns - they could go either way. But so far the majority have been trending strongly in the "make things change even faster" direction. And certainly the long-term climate indicators suggest that the world goes through rapid, dramatic snowballing climate shifts every few tens of thousands of years, apparently in response to relatively small initial changes. Some spike of random climate "noise" gets just a little too high or low, and the whole thing starts spiraling off to a radically different global climate.

      Of course climate *engineering* is about as big an unknown as you can get. A few of the techniques mimic naturally occurring processes that are reasonably well understood, but they've got some rather major differences as well just begging for unintended consequences to unfold. Want to pump ocean water into the air to brighten the clouds? Great - sounds like an easily-aborted exaggeration of existing atmospheric processes - except what happens to the already struggling ocean ecosystem when you're suddenly introducing anomalous vertical and atmospheric mixing? Probably nothing with the scales we're talking about. Hell, we might even reintroduce some mixing once performed by all the whales and fish we've wiped out. But let the dice come up snake-eyes and it could be the straw that broke the camel's back and triggers a marine ecosystem collapse - one of the worst possible nightmare scenarios of the "entire atmosphere becomes moderately toxic in a manner that devastates mammalian intelligence" variety.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    24. Re:Start with Venus... by gordm · · Score: 1

      I don't expect Venus is an easy subject but that's exactly where my mind wanders. Why CAN'T we terraform Venus in the way that Red/Blue/Green saw happening to Mars (from a drastically different starting point)?

    25. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb

      The mutant human New Yorkers in the 1970 post-apocalyptic film Beneath the Planet of the Apes pray to an 'Alpha-Omega' bomb, which Colonel Taylor explains to Brent is a doomsday weapon with a cobalt casing; Taylor detonates the bomb at the end of the film, after which a narrator states that the planet "is now dead."

      (It's not mentioned how the sterilization occurs)

    26. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The document mentioned, "Terraforming Venus Quickly", by Paul Birch, 1991, Journal of British Interplanetary society is very interesting reading. It describes several terraforming steps, including ways to transport an ice moon from Saturn to Venus, to provide water, and it gives plausible methods, timetable and cost for doing this. It does not address the need for a magnetic field.

    27. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I agree, it is not good engineering practice. We have in fact been terraforming the Earth for thousands of years. It is only recently that we have paid any attention to the effects of those actions. At least these new efforts are going to have their effects carefully measured and any actions are going to take place only after careful deliberation. I think they are much preferable to the typical practice of deliberately not even measuring the results.

    28. Re: Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While the biggest problem with venus is the atmo, it also doesn't have an active magnetosphere. The "easiest" solution I've heard to solve the problem is turning mercury into a moon. So yeah, venus isn't going to be a colony planet for a while.

    29. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and another myth you fell for was the extreme survivalibility of cockroaches. They wouldn't survive a nuclear winter.

    30. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's a good counterargument to the fears of the LHC, but not to the fears of the first nuclear bomb test. The first nuclear bomb test heated a volume of atmosphere to higher temperatures, and reached higher pressures, than any similar volume of atmosphere in the entirety of Earth's history, by natural or artificial means. The fear was that this would be sufficient to cause fusion of nitrogen nuclei - not just the occasional reaction triggered by a cosmic ray, but trillions of reactions all at once - and that the heat released by *that* would cause further nitrogen fusion, in a chain reaction.

      If nitrogen were rather more energetic when fusing, this would have been a valid fear. The Earth could have persisted for the billions of years of its existence, bombarded by a range of high-energy radiation, without ever achieving bulk nitrogen fusion, only to be scoured of life when the first nuclear bomb was tested. Fortunately, nitrogen does not release enough energy when fusing (by a big, big safety margin) to allow this chain reaction to happen.

    31. Re:Start with Venus... by plopez · · Score: 1

      Not unlike Economics, but with ethical guidelines.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    32. Re:Start with Venus... by plopez · · Score: 1

      Well, Economics already is doing it. But without ethical guidelines.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    33. Re:Start with Venus... by uassholes · · Score: 1

      Let's send these idiot scientists to Venus.

    34. Re:Start with Venus... by wiggles · · Score: 1

      Habitable does not necessarily mean earthlike. Just getting it to the point of having floating colonies, actively working on fixing the planet - of putting up sun shields over the planet to even start cooling, getting cheap, efficient interplanetary transportation - all of that will take hundreds of years. Turning it into a place we can walk around on the ground would take a lot longer.

    35. Re:Start with Venus... by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 1

      Transferring an ice moon across Earth's orbit is something I'd rather avoid for the next 50 years or so. You are welcome to play planetary billiards when I'm gone. Thanks.

      --
      the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
    36. Re:Start with Venus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And what is the number one reason why we have oxygen to breath? Photosynthesis.

      Yet, many proponents of AGW ignore that fact and are pushing to develop and test artificial climate engineering technologies here on Earth despite the fact that attempting to fix a drought in one area could have server consequences, as a result, in another area. Not to mention, it's more than likely at some point that it'll be weaponized as we progress.

      All in all, the Earth has natural mechanisms in place to help balance out CO2 levels and if you don't live in the city, you can easily see an abundance of it right outside your window. Yes, it's called plant life, and when CO2 levels go up, so does the amount of blooming, but if we allow environmentally destructive industries to continue unregulated then these natural mechanisms for controlling the CO2 levels will have no affect.

      In other words, we need to regulate the hell out of these assholes, repair damaged areas, and fortify others.

      Trying to physically manipulate the climate will only end in disaster, leave it up to nature to handle it while also lending a helping hand.

    37. Re:Start with Venus... by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

      The first nuclear bomb test heated a volume of atmosphere to higher temperatures, and reached higher pressures, than any similar volume of atmosphere in the entirety of Earth's history, by natural or artificial means.

      What about a meteorite impact? The shockwave from a sufficiently large one (and there is plenty of evidence of these) would presumably be very similar to that of a nuclear device. While the energy density at the core of the explosion might be less than a nuclear bomb presumably it is the shockwave heating which you need to generate the chain reaction since this will create high temperature and pressures rather than just temperature? I'm not a plasma physicist though...

    38. Re:Start with Venus... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Not if you manage to set of a chain reaction. Anyone else remember the '40s? I wasn't around then, but one of the complaints about the atom bomb was that it could "set the atmoshpere on fire" causing a chain reaction that consumed all the oxygen and killed the entire planet's biosphere (not just the humans, but even the cockroaches, just off a single bomb.

      A system that fragile and delicate does not survive for billions of years in the high-energy environment the Earth is in. That's why the people who knew ignored that chain reaction argument.

  10. I saw Snowpiercer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and Captain America knows this can only end badly!

  11. The road to hell is paved with good intentions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Can we find a way off this rock before we mess it up too badly, please? No throwing the basket around while it holds all the eggs, mkay?

    1. Re:The road to hell is paved with good intentions by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Nope, nobody's going anywhere without massively FTL travel.

      And don't give me any crap about generation ships, we don't even have the long-term-thinking capability to fix global warming through CO2 emissions reduction, and even the thought of any sacrifice that might be involved totally disables us.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  12. We already do this. Just for an evil genius by gurps_npc · · Score: 2
    As per Austin Powers "Okay no problem. Here's my second plan. Back in the 60's, I had a weather changing machine that was, in essence, a sophisticated heat beam which we called a "laser." Using these "lasers," we punch a hole in the protective layer around the Earth, which we scientists call the "Ozone Layer." Slowly but surely, ultraviolet rays would pour in, increasing the risk of skin cancer. That is unless the world pays us a hefty ransom. "

    The mere fact that we seem to be using out ability engineer the earth like a mad scientist intent on doing as much harm as possible does not change the fact that we are already engineering the planet.

    Just not in a GOOD way.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  13. Sulphur in the atmosphere...? by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

    Spraying sulphur in the atmosphere in a warmed up Earth? Are they trying to recreate Hell?

    --
    Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    1. Re:Sulphur in the atmosphere...? by kencurry · · Score: 2

      no, just Venus

      --
      sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
    2. Re:Sulphur in the atmosphere...? by xfade551 · · Score: 1

      Spraying sulphur in the atmosphere in a warmed up Earth? Are they trying to recreate Hell?

      "They" aren't, but the summary writer sure is.

    3. Re:Sulphur in the atmosphere...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they are not careful they most certainly will.
      If the sulphur reacts with water and oxygen in the atmosphere, you get sulphuric acid.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid
      https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080203115351AAjWKht

  14. Who controls the thermostat. by Charcharodon · · Score: 2
    Fighting over the thermostat with 2 room mates, now imagine having 300,000 room mates.

    "We are now able to engineer the climate. Weather in Florida will be even nicer year round.....North Dakota...sorry...but you are fucked"

    1. Re:Who controls the thermostat. by Charcharodon · · Score: 1

      300,000,000 roommates. Don't much care about the rest of the world.

    2. Re:Who controls the thermostat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, it looks like only the top 0.1%. (The first guy said 300,000.)

    3. Re:Who controls the thermostat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly - but this will be on a country by country basis - with armies to back it up. I can't see Russia saying let's make it colder guys.

      Personally, I'm looking forward to a few degrees of warm up. I'm stuck in new england for family reasons and hate the winters.

    4. Re:Who controls the thermostat. by nicoleb_x · · Score: 1

      Maybe before they do the ethics thing they might want to get some major agreement on just what is the ideal temperature. At least when there is nobody/everybody at the helm it's hard to get too mad, but just start targeting the climate with techno arrogance and you'll have billions bitching that you screwed them and killed their babies and you should die a horrible death. Unfortunately, they might be right some of the time even if your tech is proper and correct.

  15. Summary video by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The panel posted a quick summary of their results and findings.

    Isn't global warming [from greenhouse gases] an exponential system? When the planet gets warmer, doesn't that release more greenhouse gases from clathrates under the ocean, causing more warming?

    Isn't offsetting an exponential response by using another exponential curve difficult? I thought that was what made nuclear reactor regulation difficult.

    Any control theorists in the audience who can shed light on this?

    1. Re:Summary video by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Isn't global warming [from greenhouse gases] an exponential system? When the planet gets warmer, doesn't that release more greenhouse gases from clathrates under the ocean, causing more warming?

      No, or warming would have "runaway" eons ago.

    2. Re:Summary video by xfade551 · · Score: 1

      The deep ocean, where the clathrates are (because methane requires high pressure to hydrate in the midst of liquid water) really doesn't have much variation in temperature. Water, salt water included, is at it's densest at just a few degrees above it's freezing point, so you get an approximately constant temperature at the bottom (neglecting thermal vents and thin areas of crust, and the like). Tectonic/volcanic events are much more likely to release the stuff, and we don't have much control over that (okay, there is some debate about oil fracking, but that is land-based).

      With respect to the "exponential system", the old "hockey stick" graph has been repeatedly shown to be false. Not to say there is no warming going on, but whether it's linear, exponential, or cyclic has yet to be proven. I'm more inclined to lean "cyclic" as there have been multiple ice ages and warming periods. Anyone know of any studies that have run Fourier Analysis/FFTs on climate data?

    3. Re:Summary video by BlackPignouf · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure global warming is an exponential system.
      But I get your point, and you're probably talking about treshold effects and positive feedbacks.
      And yes, it would be a bitch to control this system, and very hard to stay between -1*IAU and 1*IAU : http://xkcd.com/1379/
      Disclaimer: IANACT

    4. Re:Summary video by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Water is a greenhouse gas. So as the earth warms, you don't need the depths to release greenhouse gases. You just need the surface to warm up, and evaporate more. It's both more fragile and more complex than people think.

    5. Re:Summary video by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Isn't global warming [from greenhouse gases] an exponential system?

      The opposite, it's a logarithmic system. Every ounce of CO2 released produces less warming than the previous ounce. This is why climate scientists talk about warming in terms of "a doubling of CO2", because if it causes 1 degree of warming with one doubling, the next doubling will also cause a degree of warming.

      doesn't that release more greenhouse gases from clathrates under the ocean, causing more warming?

      So far that hasn't been, and it doesn't look like it will be, a significant problem. In most systems the feedbacks are smaller than the initial impulse, otherwise the entire system would have already jumped to the other side (of course, that is the idea behind the fear of the runaway venus hypothesis).

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:Summary video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nuclear reactor power is self-regulating. Power increases by increasing steam demand, and the reactor power rises to match automatically. You only need to move the control rods to turn it on, off, or to change temperature.

    7. Re:Summary video by swillden · · Score: 1

      But more evaporation will produce more clouds, increasing the albedo of the planet and cooling it. It's quite clear that there must be negative feedback cycles in both directions, otherwise the planet would have become a permanent snowball or Venus.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    8. Re:Summary video by markass530 · · Score: 1

      :I thought that was what made nuclear reactor regulation difficult.:

      It's really not that difficult you shim some control rods in and out

    9. Re:Summary video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The methane is a positive feedback loop.
      But as the methane would become exhausted, the positive feedback loop would, after depleting, go back to zero.
      The methane solubility in water is temperature and pressure dependant, this makes the modelling quite difficult due to the large amount of number crunching you have to do to get a good picture.

  16. Ice age by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like a sure fire way to bring on the next ice age.

  17. Ocean Seeding by Scottingham · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've always liked the idea of seeding the ocean to create enormous blooms of plankton (both the animal and plant kind). If we widened the base of that enormous food chain a lot of carbon could be both sequestered in their dead tiny bodies at the bottom of the sea OR in a new wave of fish. Considering how much we fish globally if we artifically increased the supply (instead of wank-ass fish farming) we could be solving a few problems with one concerted effort. Let's start by trying to make the ocean's deadzones...undead.

    I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

    1. Re:Ocean Seeding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Enormous blooms of plankton are often the cause of those deadzones. They use up all the oxygen.

    2. Re:Ocean Seeding by Scottingham · · Score: 1

      I thought it was algae that did that when the bloom died the bacteria population explodes and consumes all the oxygen.

    3. Re:Ocean Seeding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Gulf dead zone is easy to fix; fertilize less. It's agricultural runoff from the Midwest that ultimately makes its way into the Gulf that causes seasonal plankton blooms that subsequently die -- the decomposition scrubs all the available oxygen which then makes the area toxic to critters.

      Unfortunately, farmers almost perfectly apply the amount of fertilizer they need for their crops; using more than the plants can absorb costs them money. And using less isn't really an option either unless the farmer wishes to lose money or consumers wish to pay more for food. But all it takes is a few extra grams / acre to muck up the balance in the Gulf.

      The dead zone thing isn't directly related to either seeding (adding more fertilizer to an already heavily fertilized area won't do anything) or warming; it's related to how we grow our terrestrial food.

    4. Re:Ocean Seeding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The GP is referring to the open ocean, areas which are naturally fairly lifeless because it is lacking in nutrients, not the coastal deadzones caused by over-abundance of nutrients (from fertilizer runoff.)

    5. Re:Ocean Seeding by aXis100 · · Score: 1

      I've seen studies on that before.

      One of the best ways to seed the oceans is with the addition of iron based minerals. Plants in the food chain need this to grow, but it's very scarce in the ocean. Historically there was a natural seeding process as iron laden dust was blown off the coastlines, but human development has reduced that source.

    6. Re:Ocean Seeding by dissy · · Score: 1

      Let's start by trying to make the ocean's deadzones...undead

      Oh great! So now instead of an eerie dead section of ocean, we will have eerie sections full of zombie fish, zombie lobsters, zombie crabs, and of course the kraken.

      *Goes off to stockpile silver tipped harpoons for our new three hundred leagues under the apocalypse*

    7. Re:Ocean Seeding by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

      Not much really except the beaches might smell a bit more 'fishy'. But the plankton route seems the lest risky with the greatest benefits so far, since it would essentially be natural growth. Any extra algae that shows up can be scooped up for 'veggie-fuel'.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    8. Re:Ocean Seeding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The phytoplankton are blooming to enormous levels because of the CO2 levels. CO2 is like cocaine to plant life and as a result, even the deserts are steadily becoming greener in some areas.

      AGW extremists seem to ignore that our planet has natural defenses in place to sustain a habitable world which have been ever evolving for hundreds of millions of years. Our world has survived through periods of extreme levels of CO2, some of which were many thousands of times higher than they are right now, and it will again.

      The best way to take care of our planet it is stop the systematic destruction of our environment and to slam environmentally destructive industries with regulations.

    9. Re:Ocean Seeding by Scottingham · · Score: 1

      "Our world has survived through periods of extreme levels of CO"

      No shit sherlock...will WE survive through that period is the real question.

      Your last line though is pretty reasonable.

      ~
      Remember, when feeding the trolls remember to hold your hand flat.

    10. Re:Ocean Seeding by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I believe iron seeding has been tried (on a small scale) without the expected results. I don't remember the details.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  18. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Fwipp · · Score: 4, Informative

    Oh, you mean pictures like these? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

  19. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    I guess all that is still cheaper than desalination. Eh, another scam by the people who brought you the bearded lady snake, thing, whatever..

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  20. spraying sulphur in the air you say? by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    I just modified my local micro-climate.
    mmmm, chili for lunch....


    also, ib4 "chemtrails!" and "HAARP!"

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  21. What did one Geo-engineer say to the other... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here, hold my beer ...

  22. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by dave562 · · Score: 1

    I am not sure desalinization is not viable due to the cost of the technology, or due to the infrastructure required to get the water from the coast, up over the mountains and into the Central Valley where all of the farmland is.

  23. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by dave562 · · Score: 0, Troll

    How old are you?

    How long have you been looking at contrails?

  24. I'll use an IT analog by Virtucon · · Score: 2

    Go test it in the staging environment and get back with us before you plan to put it into production.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    1. Re:I'll use an IT analog by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      There's no staging environment, only some similar VMs, and if the production environment performance degrades too much our civilization will collapse.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  25. Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Stories like these give people too much hope that our problems can or will be solved by engineering/science breakthroughs and hurt motivation to actually use the tools and knowledge that we have to solve our problems (which generally are sufficient, assuming that there aren't influential groups working to prevent it). Rather than cut carbon emissions and increase sustainable sources, which could be done right away and with the technology we have (even if it wouldn't be simple or cheap), people will hope for breakthroughs because those with the most influence are going to continue to ring the last drops of profit out of the power sources that are dooming the planet in some a game of human extinction chicken.

    1. Re:Sigh... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      This is the only realistic hope we have, at least maybe until Gen. X'ers die off. Conventional fixes to global warming are utterly incompatible with most Americans, and if the US can't get on board, nothing's going to happen.

      Global warming could be solved by accident with very cheap solar power, but now cheaper fossil fuels are killing that solution too.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:Sigh... by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      There's really an immense number of problems that could have been solved by changing people's behavior that have been solved by scientific or engineering or economic means. The population explosion? Get the world's population reasonably prosperous and it stops. Bad crime? Preaching morality did a lot less than banning leaded gasoline. Take a look at the demands from the Communist Manifesto and see which have partly or fully happened as national wealth rose. There are problems that couldn't be solved earlier. The only reasons people starve nowadays are political, since it's easy to produce all the food the world population needs.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  26. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Chemtrails are a complete hoax. The technology isn't there yet and anyone who believes in this chemtrail stuff is an idiot.

  27. Oblig. Futurama by TheNastyInThePasty · · Score: 1

    After describing their solution to global warming, dropping a giant chunk of ice in the water ever few years:
    Man: "Thus solving the problem of global warming once and for all!"
    Little Girl: "But-"
    Man: "I SAID ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

    --
    The best thing about UDP jokes is I don't care if you get them or not
    1. Re:Oblig. Futurama by kwiecmmm · · Score: 1

      Personally I like the second solution in that Futurama.

      We just need to move the Earth a little farther from the Sun. And we would get a longer year, while ignoring the moon in all of our calculations.

  28. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yup P.T. Barnum was right....

  29. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Desalinization is simply expensive, the technology isn't the problem, the infrastructure is.

    Not to mention the problem of salt disposal.

    I suppose if you come up with a way to desalinate say 100 cubic miles of water in a handwave, then we can deal with all that salt, but absent that...yeah, it's still a pig in a poke.

  30. white knighting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that's all climate science has been all this time, it's just white knighting.

    like we sooo need them to save us all.

  31. How about adapting? by Terry+Pearson · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Without getting in on either side of the "climate change" debate...

    How about we spend that time and energy adapting to any changes that do occur and stop worrying so much about it. Humans adapt tremendously well. If you fear extreme weather, design better living spaces, build tunnels, etc. Here in Minnesota, some of our major cities are connected by skyways between buildings throughout the downtown. Why? Because the climate is not so pleasant for half the year. We engineered solutions to our issues without deciding to solve everybody else's perceived issues.

    We should take a lesson from Australia. They introduced Cane toads to solve beetle problems. It was not the savior they hoped for and ended up being a bigger problem then they sought to solve. Too many well meaning and intelligent people think that their engineering of a problem will work, so they propose a huge experiment the size of a region or planet. I think one of our greatest weaknesses as humans is that we refuse to say no. It can be a strength in the right context, but it can be a means of unintended destruction as well.

    A famous quote of CS Lewis was "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive... those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." I tend to agree. If we engineer climate and hurt people in the process, the powers that be are hardly likely to stop because they will think the overall good will even out in the end.

    Besides the "do-gooders" who genuinely care, there will be others involved in the process. The people who make these decisions (politicians) want results to show off come election time. The engineers who execute the decisions want to get paid. Nobody will be there to stop a "botched climate experiment" until it is too late. Once that ball is in motion, it is not likely to stop. We cannot assume everything will always be the same. In fact, trying to change the weather for everybody is probably one great way to start a world war. Instead, focus on adapting. Focus on using technology, common sense, and natural abilities to adapt into whatever climate may exist.

  32. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    The only problem with desalination is the politics and greed that is impeding it. Technology is not an issue. It's about the market. Scarcity is its life blood.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  33. Great way to start an ice age. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Honestly, if these people start fucking with the climate, all they are going to end up doing is kickstarting the next ice age.
    The climate is stupidly delicate. Changing it on a large scale is even worse.
    This process has been happening quite literally for billions of years.
    Funnily enough, our industrial revolution has essentially prevented an ice age, as well the secondary one with all these new countries coming along in to the industrialized age. (hopefully with help from us since it would be a shame to see so many die the same way that many millions did through our industrialization efforts, needless death is needless)

    This planet will get much hotter. The average temperatures of this planet were far higher back in the days of the dinos. And it is the reason the lizards were so successful and varied because they could take it.
    A lot of life will die. Mammals are more capable of surviving hot temperatures compared to those times, especially humans.
    There was also far FAR more plant life across the planet back then as well. A lot of that has been cleared and built over with heat absorbing materials which has an even larger effect on the local weather. (large concrete jungles raise the average temperature for many many miles around it)
    One major issue that is of concern is if the planet does indeed get much hotter again, there is a good chance some of those igneous provinces to spring back to life. These things helped wipe out the majority of life on the planet. Several times. These things are evolution-reset buttons.
    The higher temperatures, while seemingly not much, could have an effect on the crust in sensitive areas. (not to mention yellowstone could get more unstable. Goodbye half the north American continent and hello extra long winter)
    So there is a good cause for cooling the planet.

    For all we know, slowing it down could very well do severe damage UNDER the ground.
    We don't fully understand how the flows of liquid under our crust fully work. We won't fully understand how the core works for many many years. We are getting better at understanding it, but it is still too early to full understand what effects slowing the climate would have on the planet as a whole.
    Geoengineering should not be done until we at least have a slight clue.
    Cities are bad enough.

    We know the planet is based on many feedback cycles, all bouncing off each other. But we know they aren't perfect, and Earths definitely isn't, despite what is commonly thought. This Earth isn't and has never been a stable place for life, we are just extremely lucky.
    Screw Venus up first, build colonies that float on the surface of the clouds on Venus, that would work very well, you could make huge floating cities on there, protected from radiation and have plenty of energy.
    Scramjets would be even more capable on that planet as well.
    I'd rather not have Earth get screwed up before we had another place to go to.
    And by colony, I mean full on colony, none of those space station and some hanging gardens crap.
    Our bodies, hell, all life, is based on infection. If you put life in sterile environments, they get ill, horribly ill. This is the reason so much autoimmune is coming about because of sterile food, antibiotics and anti-bacterials abuse, our bodies are freaking the fuck out because it can't detect any infection so it dials up the sensitivity until it finds something: your gut bacteria, your skin bacteria, harmless stuff just sitting around and even helping you.
    Getting a stable colony going will require large gardens and if you expect there to be transfer between Earth and the colonies, will also require sharing cultured bacteria from all environments in question or you are going to get people end up dying the instant they walk on to this alien world because their immune system has had zero exposure to said environment.
    Bit of a tangent there, but the topic is sort of related.

    tl;dr DUN DO IT MAYN, WE ALL GON' DIE. BRUCE WILLIE CAN'T SAVE US FROM HEAT.

  34. Ethics ? Don't make me laugh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As soon as some advantage can be gained by using climate
    manipulation against an adversary, this will be done.

    Don't believe me ?

    Google Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden.

    The human race are the most destructive and violent creatures
    on earth, and to believe otherwise is so unrealistic it borders on
    psychosis.

  35. christened? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was christened? It's a Christian thing then? Or do you mean 'named', it was named The Berlin Declaration, but you just want to push your religion onto it?

  36. Dial it down a bit, "failure machine" Samzenpus by damn_registrars · · Score: 0
    Even for Samzenpus this is a crappy article, and that is really saying something. You can't expect to be taken seriously when you start a summary with

    whipped themselves into a frenzy

    . That was quickly followed by a classic editing fail:

    major international meeting to tackle geoengineering. Itâ(TM)s most commonly called geoengineering

    The final statement with the cheesy summary of ethics:

    the scientists wanted to agree on a code of ethicsâ"how to move forward without alarming the public or breaking any laws.

    Well summarized whose side of the conspiracy theory Samzenpus is on.

    Although considering the overwhelming conservative vocal majority here on slashdot, it really doesn't surprise me at all that this crap made the front page. If you can't disprove the science, why not attack the scientists themselves, right? Make them look as crooked and juvenile as possible so nobody will want to have anything to do with them? Maybe we can swift boat them while we're at it.

    (yeah, I know I will be moderated down into oblivion for this. but we all know there is no "-1 disagree" moderation so they'll have to use "flamebait" or "overrated" as a substitute. that doesn't chance the fact - as much as they would want it to)

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Dial it down a bit, "failure machine" Samzenpus by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      :-) I would never mod you down for anything, but maybe you should check out that sloppy post before you complain about other peoples' editing.

      (yeah, I know I will hear more whining about no unicode and how it's everybody else's fault, but hey, that's why I'm posting this. The reaction reveals a person's true character)

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:Dial it down a bit, "failure machine" Samzenpus by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

      On this occasion, I did do a poor job of checking my typing before hitting submit, there are some typos in that message that are definitely my fault. However, in what way is it my fault that text rendered by this site does not get accepted properly back in to the text input boxes on this site?

      More to the point, "overrated" is a cowardly mod. The person who used it on my comment almost certainly disagreed with what I was saying, rather than how it was entered and was too much of a coward to actually talk about it.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    3. Re:Dial it down a bit, "failure machine" Samzenpus by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      yeah, I know I will hear more whining about no unicode and how it's everybody else's fault

      in what way is it my fault that text rendered by this site does not get accepted properly back in to the text input boxes on this site?

      Thank yooouuu... gonna call you damn_reliable

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  37. Carbon not a source of heat by SuperKendall · · Score: 0

    that can magically filter out carbon and methane from the atmosphere in broad swaths

    Carbon has been proven not to be a significant contributor to warming, otherwise instead of global temperatures holding pretty much flat for ever a decade the temperature would have gone up a lot in response to continued large increases in atmospheric CO2.

    Methane probably would be more of an issue but we really aren't putting enough of that into the atmosphere to matter (or if we are, then again the stable temperatures point to it not having a real effect)..

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 0

      Until the temperature goes up enough for all those frozen methane clathrates at the bottom of the ocean to destabilise... or some idiots go looking to disturb them for fun and profit. Oh, they are already.

      Then, whoof! Up it goes.

    2. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The global temperature curve holds flat if you hand-pick your endpoints but that's because it has a random component in addition to the contribution of atmospheric CO2. It's not a proof that there is no contribution.

    3. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Carbon has been proven not to be a significant contributor to warming, otherwise instead of global temperatures holding pretty much flat for ever a decade the temperature would have gone up a lot in response to continued large increases in atmospheric CO2.

      Exactly the opposite. Carbon increase is visibly correlated with temperature increase. This has been repeated ad nauseam.

      Methane is worse for global warming, except it didn't accumulate enough yet to be threatening. The current thinking (as I've read about it) is that CO2 can warm Earth enough to release massive amounts of store methane -- and then, well... if you're religious, I'd say NOW would be a good occasion to start praying.

      Of course, acting towards a solution wouldn't hurt...

    4. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Carbon has been proven not to be a significant contributor to warming, otherwise instead of global temperatures holding pretty much flat for ever a decade the temperature would have gone up a lot in response to continued large increases in atmospheric CO2.

      What you fail to understand is the magnitude of the warming signal compared to the magnitude of natural variations. Natural variations are considerably larger than the warming signal but the natural variations mostly just cycle up and down netting to zero in the long run while the warming signal just continuously rises. Even a decade or two of "no warming" is not long enough to make the statement you made.

    5. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CO2 in the atmosphere works like a blanket. The more there is the thicker the blanket. The hotter we get under our nice little blanket.

    6. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by Nostalgia4Infinity · · Score: 1

      Netting zero takes a lot longer than you might think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

    7. Re:Carbon not a source of heat by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Of course there are long term variations like Milankovitch Cycles that operate on scales of thousands of years and drive the cycle of ice ages but they have so small an effect on a scale of a few centuries that you can ignore them. I was talking about variations that work on multi-year and decadal scales like ENSO, the AMO and PDO, solar cycles, etc.

  38. What? Aren't we already? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    The main tenet of the anthropogenic climate change is that this climate change was engineered by human activity.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:What? Aren't we already? by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Something being engineered implies it was done purposely.

  39. Re:We'll do something after it's too late by TwoEyedJack · · Score: 0

    I predict that your prediction will be as spectacularly wrong as the predictions made on the first Earth Day http://www.aei.org/publication...

  40. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by dave562 · · Score: 1

    Do you have any data to back up those assertions?

  41. For reference by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 1

    For reference, see Kudzu in the United States and think Law of Unintended Consequences on a global scale.

  42. Geoengineering? What a great idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a first step how about we stop pumping gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere every year! It seems like the LOGICAL place to start!

  43. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    What, that greed is the biggest impediment to progress? I don't understand the question..

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  44. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, you believe in that nonsense? I'm trying to detect some sort of sarcasm in your post, but you seem to be the real deal. But don't worry, keep that tinfoil hat on nice and tight, and it will all be ok...

  45. How close are we? We're NOT. by kheldan · · Score: 1

    It has to start with discontinuing dumping shit into the atmosphere that's screwing everything up, and we can't get everyone to do it. Then it comes out that a large pecentage of the problem is jet airliners and cattle of all things. No, we're not anywhere close to being able to 'engineer' this, we can't even stop fouling our own nest.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:How close are we? We're NOT. by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      By far the largest percentage of carbon emissions is from generation of electricity and surface transportation. Aviation is less than 5% of the problem and bovine emissions of methane are a minor side issue.

  46. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by dave562 · · Score: 1

    Some data where desalinization projects did not go through due to greed on the part of the incumbent water utility.

    I am curious because I used to live in a city that used desalinization. I always wondered why it was not more widely adopted. Everything that I found led me to believe that the root cause was due to the cost of energy required to make the process work.

  47. man made global warming is a fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Man made CO2 might be able to raise global temperature by 2 degrees in the next 400 years after which time we'd probably have switch to other means of producing energy. This would still leave the planet with a level of CO2 lower than is has been in the past 10,000 years, during man's ascent.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSVI-EdgLr4&list=PLgnnPnL9OL7H1_hH-MeHeLCZY1J3oFkBJ&index=40
    time stamp 28:20

    20K ppm of CO2 is dangerous
    10K ppm of CO2 is not. In fact, that's what you breath out
    400 ppm is in the atmosphere
    150 ppm is the minimum for plant survival

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnEoQmHrPCY&list=PLgnnPnL9OL7H1_hH-MeHeLCZY1J3oFkBJ&index=85

  48. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by dave562 · · Score: 1

    I see the geo-engineering deniers are out in force today with their mod points.

    Go ahead and ignore what is hanging above your heads. I have made my peace with it already.

    I am not sure why people get so defensive whens someone points out that they are trying to make it rain over California, a state that is experiencing its worst drought in decades.

    One would think that I was touting conspiracy theories about the Illuminati trying to poison the masses with aerial bombardments of bacteriological agents.

  49. We don't understand how the climate works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not by a long shot. Short term answer, not very close. Long term answer, we'll never get there.

  50. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL, "Data" for Mr Chemtrails! Bahahahahahaahahaah!!! You wouldn't know Data if he had yellow eyes and did not use contractions!

  51. We're already doing it and don't know the results by frooddude · · Score: 1

    So we're already engineering the climate, and doing it without a clue as to what the changes we've been making (and are still making) will ultimately end in. Do we really know enough to try adding yet more crap to the original pile of crap in order to cancel out the whole pile?

    Yikes.

  52. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by dave562 · · Score: 1

    Step out from behind your fear, AC. It is easy to sling mud when nobody knows who you are.

  53. Re:We already do this. Just for an evil genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The mere fact that we seem to be using out ability engineer the earth like a mad scientist intent on doing as much harm as possible does not change the fact that we are already engineering the planet.

    1. That movie was making a very obvious satirical statement.
    2. Stumbling around blindly and arriving at an end is not "engineering". Engineering is planning and execution, analyzing and revising the plan while the implementation is in progress to react to changes and unforeseen obstacles. It has method, rationale, and logic.

  54. Engineer the economy first by nut · · Score: 1

    We are already 'engineering the climate' - we're just doing it randomly and without plan.

    If the price of oil goes down and everybody starts burning more of it, we're engineering the climate with more CO2.

    If we chop down hundreds of square miles of amazon rain forest and replace it with cattle ranches we're engineering the climate with more methane.

    If we want to start engineering the climate in a more directed manner, we MUST control these activities as well. Trying to control some of the strings while others are being yanked in a haphazard manner is not a practical approach.

    The Kyoto Protocol has many critics - and with reason. It is clumsy, largely ineffectual and tainted by accusations of corruption. But real practical climate engineering will only be achieved by some sort international cooperation along these lines.

    --
    Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
  55. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Yes, because bean counters make policy. Energy is just another commodity under very tight controls by government protected industries. At the foundation is plain old greed of very class conscious people.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  56. Deliberate vs. Side effect by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    How much effort does that require?

    Well technically none at all - absolutely no effort was put into changing the climate whatsoever it was just a byproduct of doing something else. While I would tend to agree that I think that the environment is particularly stable and will be very hard to affect I would expect that if we deliberately set out to change it we will probably find it an order of magnitude or two easier to do than changing it inadvertently.

  57. Reminds me of old Disney 50s SciFi Optimizim by greggman · · Score: 1
  58. What happens if i cut this red wire? by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    Scientists that had their lives dedicated to the study of climate and consequences still getting surprised by some of the newly discovered consequences of global warming. Tinkering with a very complex system that you don't understand could have even worse or more urgent consequences than the original problem you were trying to solve. And if you make big mistakes there you not only lose the future of mankind, but also all the past.

    Whats wrong with solving it in the plain, simple, ordered and pretty studied solution of diminishing our influence in the change?

    1. Re:What happens if i cut this red wire? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Whats wrong with solving it in the plain, simple, ordered and pretty studied solution of diminishing our influence in the change?

      Americans won't get on board.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  59. Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe that after all that we done and that has happened anybody is this stupid. Especially not so called respected scientists.

  60. What if amateurs get into this game? by david_bonn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm getting kind of concerned. While I agree strenuously that intentionally messing with the climate is likely to end as badly as unintentionally messing with the climate, the scary part is that the cost estimates for doing so aren't really that high.

    It is at least plausible that a Buffet, Zuckerberg, Allen, or Musk might just go ahead and start seeding the upper atmosphere with sulphur dioxide. The cost estimates are low enough (and I suspect that you could do it for a lot less) to make it plausible for non-state actors to do exactly that -- without asking anyone's permission. I kind of doubt anyone would be able to stop them, either. And once they had managed to get away with it for a decade or so, my understanding is that we'd almost have to keep seeding the stratosphere or we'd have a very rapid, very scary climate shift in a very few years.

    For that matter, I could see the Russians or the Saudis quietly pursuing a geoengineering program just so they can keep selling oil. It isn't that much of a stretch to imagine a consortium of hedge-fund billionaires with large holdings of Florida real estate doing exactly the same thing.

    The heck of it is, if someone quietly did a sneaky climate hack, people would forget about the whole global warming thing in a very short time. Politicians, either ones who had pressed for action or who had pushed for doing nothing at all, would not pay very much attention to the issue if it appeared to be going away. And scientists who claim that someone is messing with the climate would be just as easily ignored as they are now.

    1. Re:What if amateurs get into this game? by swillden · · Score: 1

      While I agree strenuously that intentionally messing with the climate is likely to end as badly as unintentionally messing with the climate

      As is not messing with the climate at all. The climate isn't naturally stable.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    2. Re:What if amateurs get into this game? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Define stable...

      What is definitely unstable is climate engineering theories that ignore the fact that there are naturally occurring mechanisms in place for dealing with CO2 levels and that all we merely need to do is to get serious with regulating environmentally destructive industries and to clean up and fix parts of the environment that we've destroyed.

    3. Re:What if amateurs get into this game? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I'm getting kind of concerned. While I agree strenuously that intentionally messing with the climate is likely to end as badly as unintentionally messing with the climate, the scary part is that the cost estimates for doing so aren't really that high.

      Sigh. What if amateurs are already in this game? It's called cloud seeding, and there are absolutely no laws against it at the federal level or in most states.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:What if amateurs get into this game? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Saudis might change to using solar powered hydrocarbon production:
      http://revolution-green.com/nrl-fuel-sea-water-concept/

      With cheap carbon capture technology the Saudi's could keep ruling over the market:
      http://revolution-green.com/carbon-capture-breakthrough/

    5. Re:What if amateurs get into this game? by swillden · · Score: 1

      Define stable? How about... we can expect climate to continue being what it has been for the last few hundred years. This common implicit assumption is provably false. Within the last 75K years the planet has seen far more drastic climate changes than anything in recent history, including a 7C change in ~50 years, and if you want to look back tens of millions of years has been both much, much hotter and much, much colder than it is now. If we would like the climate to stay the way we know it, we're going to have to learn to engineer that stability.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  61. Models and Fundamentals by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 2

    You have no idea what you're talking about. You can prove AGW in your basement — that is, depending on what parts of empirical reality you take issue with. Proving that CO2 absorbs IR is trivial. Proving that CO2 levels are rising is less trivial, but possible, and hopefully not in dispute. Proving that Earth is surrounded by vacuum is would be difficult but again hopefully not in dispute. Determining the variation (negligible) of solar irradiance is best done from space, but you might be able to get a good enough measurement from Earth.

    The above would be sufficient to prove the fundamentals of global warming. There's only one major heat input, and only one way for heat to escape Earth. Adding CO2 to the atmosphere must correspond to a rise in temperature; it's very simple physics. Attributing the rise in CO2 to humans is pretty simple and two-pronged: one, we know pretty much how much fossil fuels are being consumed, and two, there's a huge difference in oxygen isotope ratios.

    That's not all though. Unless everything that is known about radiation is wrong, as previously mentioned, a rise in CO2 means a rise in temperature. This can actually be calculated fairly exactly: 3.7 W/m^2 per doubling, corresponding to about 1 degree C change in global temperature. No one cares about this. However, we have lots of this "water" stuff lying around, and it's a way better greenhouse gas than CO2, and the amount of water that can be in the air increases exponentially with temperature. At first glance, this leads to a runaway positive feedback cycle. At second glance, there are reasons why it does not do that, but despite years of research, there does not seem to be any factors that can lead to a negative feedback cycle. The exact degree of forcing is a matter of research.

    Realize that science started investigating this problem at least a hundred years before computer modeling existed. If computers were the only evidence people would be more skeptical. In point of fact, they were more skeptical; it has taken more than a century to muster convincing evidence that humans could affect the climate at all. At this point arguing against AGW is equivalent to arguing against evolution or heliocentrism; literally everything we know about atmospheric and radiative physics would have to be wrong in order for it to be untrue. It's actually a lot easier to prove the fundamentals of the theory than it would be to try to prove evolution.

    Talking about computer modeling in the context of proving AGW is like talking about epidemiological models in the context of proving the germ theory of disease. You have the relationship backwards, and you're missing the actual evidence entirely.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    1. Re:Models and Fundamentals by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, the real world rarely displays such predictability.

      Nonsense. If the world was not predictable, neither science nor engineering would be possible. You're not being empirical, and waffling about unpredictability isn't equivalent to refuting evidence.

      Let's flip this around. In order to disprove global warming, you need to invalidate one of the aforementioned observations. First, that CO2 absorbs infrared radiation. Second, that solar output is relatively constant. Thirdly, that the Earth can only lose heat by radiation. Fourth, that the atmospheric CO2 levels are rising. Given all of those, global warming must be occurring.

      The final factor in radiative forcing is water vapor. In laboratory environments it is trivial to prove that there is a significant positive feedback cycle combined with CO2-induced forcing. In order for an increase of CO2 to have a net-zero or net-negative effect, there needs to be an equally strong negative feedback cycle. So far there is no evidence of such a thing.

      Your degree in physics seems not to have taught you to be empirical. This is not a chain of reasoning which can be discarded by refusing to accept its axioms, this is a chain of observation, repeatable and testable, which requires countering evidence to refute. Every aspect of AGW has been subject to repeated empirical testing, no different from any other field of science. It may surprise you to know that the same principles of heat transfer are used to predict and explain the atmospheric conditions of other planets and even stars. Do you also dispute those results? What aspect of this planet defies empiricism? And more directly to the point, what part of our heat transfer equations is so small to have been heretofore unobserved and yet so large as to cancel out the enormous increase in atmospheric carbon?

      I'm afraid that I can't accept sophistry about predictability as an explanation; please provide evidence or an observable mechanism.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    2. Re:Models and Fundamentals by russotto · · Score: 1

      Proving that CO2 absorbs IR is trivial. Proving that CO2 levels are rising is less trivial, but possible, and hopefully not in dispute. Proving that Earth is surrounded by vacuum is would be difficult but again hopefully not in dispute. Determining the variation (negligible) of solar irradiance is best done from space, but you might be able to get a good enough measurement from Earth.

      This simplistic zero-feedback model proves nothing. Other things besides the amount of CO2 affect net radiation flux, and many of those other things are affected by CO2.

    3. Re:Models and Fundamentals by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      This simplistic zero-feedback model proves nothing. Other things besides the amount of CO2 affect net radiation flux, and many of those other things are affected by CO2.

      No, it proves that per basic laws of physics (Stefan-Boltzmann), all other things being equal, increased CO2 produces warming. There are indeed many things that affect net radiation flux, most notably H2O. Basic calculations and laboratory testing, indicate that water has a positive feedback effect on temperature changes due to an increased partial pressure of CO2. Please show evidence or a mechanism that would cancel out the CO2+H2O forcing.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    4. Re: Models and Fundamentals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh Baxter, you are wise. Like a Buddha, with hair.

    5. Re:Models and Fundamentals by russotto · · Score: 1

      No, it proves that per basic laws of physics (Stefan-Boltzmann), all other things being equal, increased CO2 produces warming.

      No, it fails to prove even that. It proves that all other things being equal and no feedback within the system, increased CO2 produces warming.

    6. Re:Models and Fundamentals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The CO2 still produces warming even if something else offsets this. Put up or shut up. If there's a negative feedback, it should be really strong to counter out the positive feedback. It should be blindingly fucking obvious. Where is it?

    7. Re: Models and Fundamentals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When all else fails, ad hominem.

  62. Step 1. find an isolated test subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As we can't seem to convince people that we are in trouble how are we going to convince people we have a solution?

    The scientific method says
    a) control subject that will not be messed with
    b) experiment subject that will be messed with in only the controlled scenario

    We can get neither alternate earth for study.
    Whatever we do will be influenced by our ongoing activities so the situation will be even murkier than our current one where a lot of the public don't think we are in trouble. So how on earth are we going to convince people we have a solution?

  63. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know about the GP, but I'm 48, and I've been looking at contrails since I was big enough to lift my head.

    They haven't changed much. There are more of them than there used to be in the 70s, but that's about it.

  64. Ship wake bubbles is a good method by Spy+Handler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    See: http://www.bbc.com/news/scienc...

    This method is great because ships are already making bubbles in their wake. We just make it whiter with smaller bubbles. Basically raising the ocean albedo.

    In the "What can possibly go wrong?" department, this method is far better than any of the other geoengineering proposals. And it's cheap.

    Simply retrofitting existing large ships to produce smaller bubbles could reduce global temperature by 0.5C. If we want more cooling, we could float dedicated solar-powered bot ships that do nothing but cruise the equitorial seas making wake.

    1. Re:Ship wake bubbles is a good method by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And do you know how the small bubbles affect the sea life?
      Does it affect krill? Does it affect fish, mammals, and so on?

    2. Re:Ship wake bubbles is a good method by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What could possibly go wrong?

      1. It becomes militarized.
      2. We do irreversible damage to the natural climate cycles.

      If you AGW extremists want to develop climate engineering tech, move it over to Mars or some other planet in our solar system.

  65. Trying to imagine living thru a world war by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The other day I was trying to imagine living in a world war II type scenario. The idea of air strikes or food rations seems absurd to modern Americans. But it could happen. Was anyone predicting the collapse of the ruble in Russia recently and laughed at? Bad things can and will still happen.

  66. Just do it already! by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    Why the hell are we waiting? We have like a dozen volcanic eruptions worth of climate change data just from the last 200 years or so to prove it works. If a mountain and arbitrarily launch dust into the atmosphere and we record worldwide temperature drops, that's all the experimenting I need. The miscalculation risk repercussions of any method would be what, wild climate changes? Oh no! That's almost like the exact same thing that will happen if we do nothing.

    I think these scientists should stop watching Snowpiercer, which wouldn't happen in reality unless we launched the entire Hawaiian island into the atmosphere, and start spraying something up there.

    1. Re:Just do it already! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not just getting CO2 out of the atmosphere and store them in a solid form?
      We have the technology to do it:
      Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) Carbon Capture Process
      http://technologies.research.gwu.edu/technologies/09-000x-licht_solar-thermal-electrochemical-photo-step-carbon-capture-process
      Solar-powered process could decrease carbon dioxide to pre-industrial levels in 10 years
      http://phys.org/news199005915.html
      Researchers Demonstrate New Solar Carbon Capture Process; STEP Converts CO2 to Solid Carbon or CO for Use in Fuels and Chemicals Synthesis
      http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/07/researchers-demonstrate-new-solar-carbon-capture-process-step-converts-co2-to-solid-carbon-or-co-for.html

      George Washington University Professor Develops Carbon Dioxide-Free Method Of Producing Iron
      https://mediarelations.gwu.edu/george-washington-university-professor-develops-carbon-dioxide-free-method-producing-iron

  67. stop with the 'hacking' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's influencing the climate. Not hacking.

    Why is everything must relate to some underground, or hipster, or urban meaning. It's just influencing the climate. Weather is not a system in CS definition, it is phenomena.

    Oh, forgot this is /. ... hipsters, continue discussion...

    1. Re:stop with the 'hacking' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First of all, the word hacker is not an urban word and has generally meant tech savvy for over 60 years.

      Second, our climate models (systems) is an explanation of the phenomena.

      Third, you're a hipster.

  68. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  69. Aren't we? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We already have, can we engineer our way out of it, no.
    Just ask the Maya, the Egyptians, survivors of the dark ages.
    We really AREN'T smart enough to play god, after all.
    We can't even reign in in the oil companies so that are the odds?

  70. The real fundamental is reality by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Come back to us after you look up what percentage of the earths atmosphere is CO2, and look at the increase over the last decade where warming has flatlined while CO2 substantially increased.

    The fact that CO2 absorbs IR under controlled conditions in your basement means essentially nothing.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  71. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh you mean the obvious lies in the wikipedia pages?

    Chemtrails and contrails are completely different animals.

    Contrails dissapear in a couple of minutes.
    Chemtrails go on for hours after hours or even days, if you track them.

  72. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you know, how much energy the saudi arabian seawater desalination factories use?

    Technology being a non issue at required quantity the farmland irrigation needs? Dont make me laugh. Are you going to pay for it?

  73. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And you think, that you are mister right, becouse you think that you "know" something, so you are always right?

    If we are to go to court becouse the chemtrails.
    Are you able to disprove or prove the chemtrails in a honest court?

  74. Please wait.... by jdawgnoonan · · Score: 1

    I sincerely hope that they wait to do this until after I am dead. Honestly, I believe that they want to tinker with things that they barely understand.

  75. Never going to happen now by russotto · · Score: 1

    Coming up with a code of ethics first means you've hamstrung yourself before you've started. If you don't DO before you handwring, you'll never get past the handwringing.

  76. No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The trouble is that nautical engineering attempts to minimize these bubbles. They literally eat away at the propellers. more smaller bubbles, turns into less efficient boats, and higher costs in keeping them afloat. And those props are expensive. At least with other approaches, the investment can be calculated, and made by a single agency. This one, if you mandate that, you externalize the costs to hundreds of shipping lines, millions of consumers (on tickets, shipping costs, and on personal watercraft, if we take it that far), and unless an exception is made for navies, we then further balloon defense spending, and put servicemen at risk. Especially submariners, who already have hellish jobs, and we then have more ships, laid up more of the time, getting propellers replaced. No thanks.

  77. Don't watch the movie 'Snowpiercer' then... by Andy+Prough · · Score: 1

    ...unless the taste of human flesh and cockroaches appeals to you, that is.

  78. Reality Check by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

    The fact that CO2 absorbs IR under controlled conditions in your basement means essentially nothing.

    Why? Propose a mechanism. If what you're saying is true, there has to be an effect to counter the CO2+H2O forcing. It has to be a large effect since the positive feedback is strong. That should make it easy to find. Go ahead, find the evidence, show us what we're missing.

    ... look at the increase over the last decade where warming has flatlined while CO2 substantially increased.

    I am not aware that the warming has done any such thing, and most of the warmest years on record fall in the last decade. The multi-decadal trend is upwards, in close agreement with theoretical predictions.

    Come back to us after you look up what percentage of the earths atmosphere is CO2...

    Now here's a fact in search of an argument. Either you're disputing easily-observed facts about CO2, solar irradiance, and radiative physics, or you have to admit that CO2 causes warming. Specifically, all other things being equal, a doubling of CO2 results in about 4 W/m^2 of warming. Since I know you're not going to dispute basic laws of physics, we're back to the top of this post, where you find the term that makes a bunch of positive feedbacks go negative, but only on this planet, and only when it's convenient, and contrary to observations.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  79. nothing to worry about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We've had plenty of practice at manipulating the environment successfully, just look at the introduction of cane toads into Australia. Worked a treat :)

  80. Thank you! by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1

    Isn't global warming [from greenhouse gases] an exponential system?

    The opposite, it's a logarithmic system. Every ounce of CO2 released produces less warming than the previous ounce. This is why climate scientists talk about warming in terms of "a doubling of CO2", because if it causes 1 degree of warming with one doubling, the next doubling will also cause a degree of warming.

    Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!

    Great response!

    1. Re:Thank you! by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      You're welcome. I can say I've never had such a warm response to any Slashdot post I've ever made.

      If you liked that, you might also be interested in the actual equation. C0 is the initial carbon dioxide concentration (ie, 280ppm), and C is the final carbon dioxide concentration (ie, 560ppm for a doubling).

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  81. There's a Good Science Fiction Story.... by Ferretman · · Score: 1

    ....in this where something goes horribly wrong and we crash the planet into a new Ice Age......

    Ferret

    --
    Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
  82. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    I believe that they are doing everything that they can to keep the state's agricultural economy from cratering. Too much of the Western United States is dependent on California's agriculture.

    If that were true, they would have already built salt-water purifiers so they could reroute the water to agriculture. If they were really worried, they would not dump as much water for the delta smelt. If either of those things happened, there would be plenty of water for agriculture.

    The drought has the powers that be more worried than they are letting on to.

    Conspiracy theories become mundane when you stop using vague words like "powers that be" and do the actual work of figuring out who those powers are. It's not the illuminati.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  83. ummm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the LHC did not create a Black Hole that set off a chain reaction to swallow the Earth.

    YET. Time will tell.

    1. Re:ummm by gomiam · · Score: 1

      No, it won't. LHC at its highest energy doesn't even get near the energies that happen in the higher atmosphere when solar wind particles hit it.

  84. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Fwipp · · Score: 1

    Yeah, everyone knows that condensed water vapor in the atmosphere always fades in a few minutes. That's why clouds aren't real!

  85. We Should Step Back a Minute... by ApplePy · · Score: 1

    What makes anyone so sure that we need cooling? What if they go over the edge and trigger irreversible Ice Age conditions? I should think we'd find that a more difficult problem to rectify! I don't think Earth can warm faster than our technology to stop it, at current rates.

    We could stand a warmer climate -- dare I say it, a much warmer climate if you ask North Dakotans -- so long as we address the issue of desertification.

    I promise it's much more complicated, but it should be sufficient to say that more ground cover planetwide will bring more atmospheric moisture, which leads to more ground cover, which, yadda yadda, prevents things from getting too warm. I'm told there is a period of history in which the global climate was much warmer -- and more importantly, wetter -- than it is now, and remained stably so for several hundred million years. I don't think the matter of stability is being addressed by these folks.

    It's not really warming that we should be going all Chicken Little for; it's desertification. Overall stability of the climate should be the priority over desperately trying to stabilize the current conditions, which may or may not be optimum for human use.

    It is my country bumpkin opinion that we should be concerning ourselves with how to make our climate wetter, not colder. I think city folks who live in more tropical locales lose sight of that fact, but those of us who live in the deserts are keenly aware of it.
     

    --
    That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
  86. One problem solved by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Freon has already been staged in the upper atmosphere. You can find most of it around the poles so one of your problems is already solved!

  87. Biosphere 2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can't even create a functioning biosphere. Check out the Biosphere 2 failed project. Has anyone created a self sustaining biosphere? Sure, lets just jump in and start "fixing" the real thing. We need to change our behavior, but we don't like hearing that.

    1. Re:Biosphere 2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly!

      But I suppose these nut jobs won't see how stupid they are when this technology becomes militarized...

      Like the creator of the Atom Bomb once said:

      "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

      -J. Robert Oppenheimer

  88. This is about making $$$$ for Monsanto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1) Spray aluminum particles in the sky to seed clouds which gets into the soil and kills plants
    2) Develop and sell aluminum resistant seeds (they already have this) because farmers will have no other choice.
    3) Profit.

  89. Too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like a cover for stuff going on more than a decade (or more!). Thanks for finally letting us know.

  90. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How the fuck old are YOU? YOU are the one imagining secret gubmint conspiracies about those dumbass contrails. I bet you have a problem with fluorinated water too. HAARP on stupid stuff much?

  91. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So the obvious solution to solve that particular problem is to stop tracking them. Then they will disappear in a couple minutes. Sounds like your ilk are the cause of the trails because you just can't stop believing in them.

  92. Why it is a bad idea. by blang · · Score: 1

    Firstly, this is exactly the kind of solution the climate change and energy crisis deniers have in mind when they say that science will one day solve their problems. that way we will continue to burn fossil fuels until earth is a smoldering smoke stack. and for our energy needs, while the last drops of oil is pumpwed up, the densiers will say cold fusion is going to happen any day now.

    energy conservation, renewable energy, reuse and recycling, population control, sustainable food production etc. etc. are by far the cheapest ways to solve all these problems.

    climate engineering will be too little too late, akin to peeeing your pants to stay warm. an net longterm side effects likely to be much worse than any short term gains.

    --
    -- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
  93. We are already engineering the climate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought that was the whole problem behind AGW.

  94. What could possibly go wrong! by Delgul · · Score: 1

    Yeah good idea. Let's start messing with this incredibly complex system on which all our lives depend and for which we have no validated model to predict what will be the outcome because we are seeing some measurements results lately that surprise us a bit because we don't have a clue of how it all works in the first place! Grand idea!

  95. A Solution by prof_robinson · · Score: 0

    Create a satellite the size of an 18 wheeler tire, with a clear window in the middle of the hub, that can be tinted electronically. Put it in orbit far enough out, that it sits between the Earth and the Sun, and all of the light that reaches the earth has to pass through that window. Then, you idiotic scientists can adjust the amount of light that actually reaches the Earth, and we can take away your remote control when we get tired of it. This way, anything that is done to "modify the climate", isn't permanent, and if you screw something up, we can shut it off. You're welcome.

  96. 40 years ago. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its been going on for the better part of 40 years, with the spraying and all.
    We have been noticing the effects of this the last 15...

  97. A recipe for disaster... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Proponents of AGW and Climate Engineering are one in the same.

    They're using AGW to push their agenda in deploying climate engineering technologies which is no better than playing with nukes...

    What a stupid fucking time we live.

  98. Re:"...the dawn of the first real-world experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a conspiracy theory that climate engineering tech could become militarized and have the potential to send our planet into a death spiral.

  99. Re:Why are they concerned about the public? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ignorant fool.

    "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac

  100. Once we start there's no stopping. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It should be called the Global Genocide Declaration to be more descriptive of what it will effectively do.
    Then again given the amount of batshit crazy greenies in Berlin and Germany overall it's a pretty fitting one still.

  101. What is their control? by plopez · · Score: 1

    If you are truly to experiment, what is the control group? Without a control is this really Science?

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  102. The twilight of science? by fygment · · Score: 1

    This upcoming failure of science will lead to a religious backlash that will put all further scientific progress on hold for centuries.

    --
    "Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
  103. Bull by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no such thing as 'catastrophic man-made global warming', which is why they renamed it 'climate change'.

    www.climatedepot.com
    www.wattsupwiththat.com

  104. I've a plan by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    Nuke the middle-east and the global cooling will stabalise the climate

  105. It seems like a good idea ... by wylderide · · Score: 1

    ... Right up until someone invents fembots in an effort to steal the weather control devices.

    --
    This is the best restaurant I ever eat in
  106. This is More Climate Change Nonsense by BCtoo · · Score: 2
  107. There is a simple solution calm down everybody by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Calm down everybody.
    There is a perfectly safe alternative to put extra stuff into the atmosphere (sulphur) or use mirrors need active maintenance.
    Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) Carbon Capture Process
    http://technologies.research.gwu.edu/technologies/09-000x-licht_solar-thermal-electrochemical-photo-step-carbon-capture-process

    It is cheaper to build a STEP chemical plant that takes CO2 out of the atmosphere than to launch a bazillion mirrors into space.
    Or have a giant sulphur spraying boondoggle that will ask a yearly payment for eternity!!!

    The necessary process has already been discovered.
    Calculations to assess how big you have to build it are done.
    The process avoids:
    - putting stuff into the atmosphere
    - planting trees or other area efficient and other forms of inefficient solution
    - putting stuff into space
    - active maintenance after the change

    The process can store carbon as solid carbon, you can just leave it in the desert where the chemical plant is built.
    The process is efficient in terms of area, capital, material and labor required compared to other alternatives.
    Furthermore the process is very safe, no hidden, difficult to predict or unpredictable effects can happen.
    Does not need active maintenance after being applied, further increases how cheap this approach is.
    When the next ice age begins, change some of the carbon to achieve a stable, ice ageless climate!!

    Solar-powered process could decrease carbon dioxide to pre-industrial levels in 10 years
    http://phys.org/news199005915.html

    Researchers Demonstrate New Solar Carbon Capture Process; STEP
    Converts CO2 to Solid Carbon or CO for Use in Fuels and Chemicals
    Synthesis
    http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/07/researchers-demonstrate-new-solar-carbon-capture-process-step-converts-co2-to-solid-carbon-or-co-for.html

    The process can also do production of iron and cement without carbon dioxide emissions.
    Carbon Dioxide Free Production of Iron
    http://technologies.research.gwu.edu/technologies/10-006-licht_carbon-dioxide-free-production-of-iron
    Solar-powered cement production without carbon dioxide emissions
    http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24883.php

  108. Carbon Capture Breakthrough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I am running two stories today, one on carbon capture the other on making fuel from carbon. Is it possible to join the dots ? I am not a big fan of carbon capture, however story really has some merit."
    http://revolution-green.com/carbon-capture-breakthrough/

    "Rice University scientists have created an Earth-friendly way to separate carbon dioxide from natural gas at wellheads. A porous material invented by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour sequesters carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, at ambient temperature"

  109. Winners and Losers? by groblewis · · Score: 1

    Like any such large-scale effort, climate engineering will produce both winners and losers (including, of course, many non-human species). How will we decide which people and other creatures will enjoy the benefits, and which will bear the costs?

  110. No need to cool the earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No need. Warming stopped. They must have missed the memo.

    All 5 of the major datasets (RSS, UAH, HadCRUT4, GISS, NCDC) show no warming for between 14 and 18+ years. In that time CO2 has risen 8-10%.

    A question for everyone who thinks that CO2 controls the climate. How long with rising CO2 and flat or falling temperatures before you admit your theory is wrong? 20 years? 30? Never?

    As to geo-eng the weather well if you want to stop another glaciation then open up the Panama - South America channel again like it was 3 million years ago. That change in the ocean current has put us into an ice age that we are about to go back into. Sadly our little inter-glacial is about done.

    If you want to read a great explanation of why the IPCC models are broken beyond belief there was a great article describing that and all the other problems with climate science by Dr Brown of Duke university

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/10/06/real-science-debates-are-not-rare/

  111. Engineering? by cwsumner · · Score: 1

    I might believe it if they had any real Engineers in the group.

    Scientists make theories, Engineers do engineering. The tasks are -very- different.

    Scientists doing small experiments is good. Scientists trying to do large Engineering is very dangerous. What they are talking about, is like doing flammability testing on your house while you are sleeping in it...

  112. Been a pleasure "dusting you" again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject-line & see you here where I dusted your "so-called 'points'" point-by-point -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... throughout that ENTIRE exchange!

    * 1 single file you natively already in hosts being run & used by kernelmode subsystems does more with less with something you already have natively not needing to "pile on more" needlessly!

    1.) Hosts are faster than usermode slower ones in local dnscache client which breaks down on larger hosts files

    2.) Same as #1 above with browser addons layering on more messagepassing overheads + memory & cpu bloat https://blog.mozilla.org/nneth...

    3.) Hosts omit the complexity of DNS with an easily texteditor 2 column easily understood file.

    4.) Hosts overcome security issues of DNS too by avoiding it for your fav sites @ the top of hosts cached by the kernelmode diskcaching subsystem into RAM! Folks hit finite #'s of sites, & this works for that, up to 2-3 million indexed remote SLOWER dns queries returning (minus security risks in DNS hosts overcome).

    5.) Hosts lighten DNS server request loads too complimenting DNS again (multiple bonuses)).

    APK

    P.S.=> You failed man - bigtime! How so? Ok, in general summary:

    1.) You overlooked hosts being cached by the local kernelmode diskcache

    2.) Hosts are in operation LONG BEFORE addons (IP stack & diskcache operate before browsers) & addons' greater messagepassing overheads + memory bloating & cpu hogging inefficiencies in browser addons, with hosts doing MORE with LESS by far http://it.slashdot.org/comment... vs.addons .

    3.) Same as #2 above on DNS: Same on DNS usage too (adding on more parts that in DNS' case has massive SECURITY ISSUES in redirect poisonings, amplification attacks, & adding on more parts for higher power bills + more RAM & CPU cycles + other forms of I/O consumption, needlessly vs. hosts - a SINGLE native part you already have vs. layering on "more" for NO good reasons)... apk

  113. Been a pleasure "dusting you" again...apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject-line & see you here where I dusted your "so-called 'points'" point-by-point -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... throughout that ENTIRE exchange!

    * 1 single file you natively already in hosts being run & used by kernelmode subsystems does more with less with something you already have natively not needing to "pile on more" needlessly!

    1.) Hosts are faster than usermode slower ones in local dnscache client which breaks down on larger hosts files

    2.) Same as #1 above with browser addons layering on more messagepassing overheads + memory & cpu bloat https://blog.mozilla.org/nneth...

    3.) Hosts omit the complexity of DNS with an easily texteditor 2 column easily understood file.

    4.) Hosts overcome security issues of DNS too by avoiding it for your fav sites @ the top of hosts cached by the kernelmode diskcaching subsystem into RAM! Folks hit finite #'s of sites, & this works for that, up to 2-3 million indexed remote SLOWER dns queries returning (minus security risks in DNS hosts overcome).

    5.) Hosts lighten DNS server request loads too complimenting DNS again (multiple bonuses)).

    APK

    P.S.=> You failed man - bigtime! How so? Ok, in general summary:

    1.) You overlooked hosts being cached by the local kernelmode diskcache

    2.) Hosts are in operation LONG BEFORE addons (IP stack & diskcache operate before browsers) & addons' greater messagepassing overheads + memory bloating & cpu hogging inefficiencies in browser addons, with hosts doing MORE with LESS by far http://it.slashdot.org/comment... vs.addons .

    3.) Same as #2 above on DNS: Same on DNS usage too (adding on more parts that in DNS' case has massive SECURITY ISSUES in redirect poisonings, amplification attacks, & adding on more parts for higher power bills + more RAM & CPU cycles + other forms of I/O consumption, needlessly vs. hosts - a SINGLE native part you already have vs. layering on "more" for NO good reasons)... apk

    1. Re:Been a pleasure "dusting you" again...apk by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      You're a jerk in addition to a complete psycho for posting the same damn thing so many times. If you can refrain from spamming and trolling my every post, I might think about replying. You have a long history of harassing people who disagree with you; it's a bad habit that will get you in trouble some day.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    2. Re:Been a pleasure "dusting you" again...apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You started with apk hypocrite (take your own advice) http://it.slashdot.org/comment... he finished you with it summarized here listing your fails http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

  114. Been a pleasure "dusting you" again... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject-line & see you here where I dusted your "so-called 'points'" point-by-point -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... throughout that ENTIRE exchange!

    * 1 single file you natively already in hosts being run & used by kernelmode subsystems does more with less with something you already have natively not needing to "pile on more" needlessly!

    1.) Hosts are faster than usermode slower ones in local dnscache client which breaks down on larger hosts files

    2.) Same as #1 above with browser addons layering on more messagepassing overheads + memory & cpu bloat https://blog.mozilla.org/nneth...

    3.) Hosts omit the complexity of DNS with an easily texteditor 2 column easily understood file.

    4.) Hosts overcome security issues of DNS too by avoiding it for your fav sites @ the top of hosts cached by the kernelmode diskcaching subsystem into RAM! Folks hit finite #'s of sites, & this works for that, up to 2-3 million indexed remote SLOWER dns queries returning (minus security risks in DNS hosts overcome).

    5.) Hosts lighten DNS server request loads too complimenting DNS again (multiple bonuses)).

    APK

    P.S.=> You failed man - bigtime! How so? Ok, in general summary:

    1.) You overlooked hosts being cached by the local kernelmode diskcache

    2.) Hosts are in operation LONG BEFORE addons (IP stack & diskcache operate before browsers) & addons' greater messagepassing overheads + memory bloating & cpu hogging inefficiencies in browser addons, with hosts doing MORE with LESS by far http://it.slashdot.org/comment... vs.addons .

    3.) Same as #2 above on DNS: Same on DNS usage too (adding on more parts that in DNS' case has massive SECURITY ISSUES in redirect poisonings, amplification attacks, & adding on more parts for higher power bills + more RAM & CPU cycles + other forms of I/O consumption, needlessly vs. hosts - a SINGLE native part you already have vs. layering on "more" for NO good reasons)... apk

  115. Been a pleasure "dusting you" again... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject-line & see you here where I dusted your "so-called 'points'" point-by-point -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... throughout that ENTIRE exchange!

    * 1 single file you natively already in hosts being run & used by kernelmode subsystems does more with less with something you already have natively not needing to "pile on more" needlessly!

    1.) Hosts are faster than usermode slower ones in local dnscache client which breaks down on larger hosts files

    2.) Same as #1 above with browser addons layering on more messagepassing overheads + memory & cpu bloat https://blog.mozilla.org/nneth...

    3.) Hosts omit the complexity of DNS with an easily texteditor 2 column easily understood file.

    4.) Hosts overcome security issues of DNS too by avoiding it for your fav sites @ the top of hosts cached by the kernelmode diskcaching subsystem into RAM! Folks hit finite #'s of sites, & this works for that, up to 2-3 million indexed remote SLOWER dns queries returning (minus security risks in DNS hosts overcome).

    5.) Hosts lighten DNS server request loads too complimenting DNS again (multiple bonuses)).

    APK

    P.S.=> You failed man - bigtime! How so? Ok, in general summary:

    1.) You overlooked hosts being cached by the local kernelmode diskcache

    2.) Hosts are in operation LONG BEFORE addons (IP stack & diskcache operate before browsers) & addons' greater messagepassing overheads + memory bloating & cpu hogging inefficiencies in browser addons, with hosts doing MORE with LESS by far http://it.slashdot.org/comment... vs.addons .

    3.) Same as #2 above on DNS: Same on DNS usage too (adding on more parts that in DNS' case has massive SECURITY ISSUES in redirect poisonings, amplification attacks, & adding on more parts for higher power bills + more RAM & CPU cycles + other forms of I/O consumption, needlessly vs. hosts - a SINGLE native part you already have vs. layering on "more" for NO good reasons)... apk

  116. Ah, yes - reduced to ad hominem attack I see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was meant to get your attention - & it "got to you" what-with your "FoaMiNg-@-TeH-MouTh" raging reply laced with illogical ad hominem attacks directed my way, lol!

    (It shows how easily I crushed you based on your "ReAcTioN", hahaha, & on your single largest blunder there (diskcaching of hosts into memory using fav. sites @ the top of hosts) which led to the rest of your demise, easily, with facts...)

    APK

    P.S.=> Your reaction (priceless by the way) "gives me your tell" you're pissed - don't be @ me: YOU DID IT ALL, TO YOURSELF, *trying* to "take me on", but failing miserably on your part... lol! The "bitter taste of SELF-DEFEAT"'s your drink tonite, Tenebrousedge - enjoy it (you brewed it up & NOW you MUST "drink it"... lol!)...apk

    1. Re:Ah, yes - reduced to ad hominem attack I see by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      An Ad Hominem is when you attack someone's character because you can't think of a way to attack their actions. Yet your cyber-stalking is quite disturbing even to those of us with no skin in the game. It's pretty damned spammy, and I get annoyed every time there's a serious discussion going on that you have to pollute with your endless attempts at getting back at anyone who might have questioned your character.

  117. Delusions of Competency by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

    See reply here — Slashdot doesn't like that "DNS" is repeated so many times.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  118. Re:Delusions of Competency: Block Pastebin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I block pastebin: No delusion. I question your competency Pastebin: A remote backdoor server http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...

    THAT & *IF* You're going to reply, deal with it here where it started on /. where you started up with me & I finished you -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... since you're delusional IF you *think* I'll even visit pastebin due to the link above and its points on it!

    You were blasted to pieces for it, with facts, by "yours truly": So, quit crying: /.'s far worse on restrictions on posts for us ac users (in length of posts especially)

    Besides: I finished you with facts, here, point-vs.-your-"so-called 'points'" already -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment...

    * Keep it here - NOT SOMEPLACE ELSE THAT PRESENTS RISKS TO ME WHATSOEVER, like pastebin...

    APK

    P.S.=> "Man Up", & you're no psychiatric pro so, I'd cut the attempts @ being a pseudo one ala "The 'SiDeWaLk-ShRiNk of /.", ok...? Didn't work out too well for you last time you tried that, & your illogical off-topic attempts @ an adhominem attack that failed on me using the word 'delusional' -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... now did it? NOPE! Especially since I tore you apart, piece by piece before it...

    ... apk

  119. Like Tenebrousedge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everything he did fails vs. apk so out came tenebrousedge's ad hominem attacks http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

  120. Re:Delusions of Competency: Block Pastebin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're doubly crazy. First, did you read that article? Pastebin was being used as an attack vector for wordpress sites. It poses no risk to you, except maybe to your worldview. Second, it requires no professional ability to tell that you are obsessive and irrational. I am hardly the first person to say so. Seek help. It's not a bad thing to have to do, we all need a little help sometimes.

    TBH I'm a bit surprised to be hit by the lameness filter. I think I'll write to Dice and see about getting it replaced by an APK filter, that should do all of us a load of good. My response is on pastebin, if you find the time to read it.

  121. Why the ac reply? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Why's that Tenebrousedge? Keep it where you started it w/ me http://slashdot.org/comments.p... OR, do a "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" (The latter's all I see).

    * Sorry - I don't go where there's risks involved like pastebin, so... there you are.

    (Too bad - I really was having fun ripping you up & the best part is, you're the one who started it - anyone can see that much in the link above, easily!)

    APK

    P.S.=> Either you're confident enough in your words to let me dismantle them (again) point-by-"so-called 'point'" of yours, or you're not - &, you're not... apk

  122. Re:We already do this. Just for an evil genius by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
    1) Yes. And that point is still valid today, and is in fact relevant to this discussion.

    2) What makes you think we are stumbling around blindly? Interesting proposition. Can I see some evidence. Because honestly, we appear to have our eyes wide open and know full well what the effects of our actions will result in. If we know what will happen but refuse to change our behavior, that is not stumbling around blindly. That is full speed charging at the wall, with our eyes wide open, clearly seeing what we are doing.

    We plan, execute, analyze and revise the plan, while reacting into changes and unforeseen obstacles. Some of those obstacles include people pretesting against those environmental actions. All the things we are doing have method, rationale and logic. It's just not good logic

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com