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US Scientists Launch World's Biggest Solar Geoengineering Study (theguardian.com)
In what will be the world's biggest solar geoengineering program to date, U.S. scientists part of the $20 million Harvard University project are going to send aerosol injections 20km (~12.4 miles) into the earth's stratosphere "to establish whether the technology can safely simulate the atmospheric cooling effects of a volcanic eruption," The Guardian reports. From the report: Scientists hope to complete two small-scale dispersals of first water and then calcium carbonate particles by 2022. Future tests could involve seeding the sky with aluminum oxide -- or even diamonds. Janos Pasztor, Ban Ki-moon's assistant climate chief at the UN who now leads a geoengineering governance initiative, said that the Harvard scientists would only disperse minimal amounts of compounds in their tests, under strict university controls. Geoengineering advocates stress that any attempt at a solar tech fix is years away and should be viewed as a compliment to -- not a substitute for -- aggressive emissions reductions action. But the Harvard team, in a promotional video for the project, suggest a redirection of one percent of current climate mitigation funds to geoengineering research, and argue that the planet could be covered with a solar shield for as little as $10 billion a year. Some senior UN climate scientists view such developments with alarm, fearing a cash drain from proven mitigation technologies such as wind and solar energy, to ones carrying the potential for unintended disasters. If lab tests are positive, the experiment would then be replicated with a limestone compound which the researchers believe will neither absorb solar or terrestrial radiation, nor deplete the ozone layer.
Global Thermonuclear Warfare. Nuclear winter and vast reductions in population will restore the ice caps, as well as permanently remove the "terrorist" threat. Of course, that will also make him the world's biggest terrorist, but you can be sure he's okay with being #1 at something other than "World's Biggest Loser."
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
This is a massive waste of money, and it's dangerous. When you move past the "adjustments" (fabrications) to climate data, there's no evidence the Earth is getting warmer. In fact, the Earth has been cooling slightly for the past few decades. Climate scientists have stated that sea ice is decoupled from global average temperates when they said that Antarctic sea ice would grow as the Earth warms. In the longer term, we're likely to descend back into another ice age, based on natural cycles. We actually need the Earth to be warm in order to support human civilization. Accelerating the process of global cooling is probably going to be incredibly damaging to human life. It's a waste of money because it's attempting to solve a problem that doesn't exist. It's also extremely dangerous. Let's not destroy human civilization because we believed the global warming lies. I'm certain I'll be modded down by moderators who are eager to censor my views, but that just underscores how Slashdot readers and scientists don't care about the truth and would prefer to silence it. The unadjusted data can be found and examined, but it's easier to most people silence the truth instead of accepting that they believe and have been promoting lies.
Nuclear warfare has been pretty much inevitable since the start of the cold war. That's a genie that humans won't be willing to put in a bottle because people are stupid as shit.
The "most imminent threat" is not North Korea. Any N. Korean nuclear strike would not cause crippling damage, and the retaliation would be pretty quick, and completely remove NK as a threat.
Both Kim Jong Un and Trump are in a contest to see who can take the title for Crazy Leader with Bad Hair - and Trump, at this point, is clearly in the lead. Trump has surrounded himself with people who will profit greatly from any war, as well as jeebus freaks who believe it's their manifest destiny to start armageddon. Of the two, Trump is the clear and present danger. But he's also the world's laughingstock.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Christians aren't killing people or threatening to use nuclear weapons on people who disagree with them. North Korea is actively developing long range nuclear missiles and everyone knows it. Muslims are continually plotting terror attacks against western nations as we sadly saw in London. Trump is busy trying to unite Republicans over health care, tax reform, and infrastructure. And you're an idiot.
Democrats allowed North Korea to develop nuclear weapons, and they are an imminent threat to use them.
Ummm, say what now? Are you just an idiot or are you intentionally trying to rewrite history? Because it was the Bush administration who completely ignored NK in favor of fucking up the Middle East. NK left the the Non-Proliferation treaty in 2003 and had their first successful test in 2006. Every single fucking existential threat that faces our country today is the direct result of Republican geopolitical policies.
The proposed scheme reduces Earth's infrared energy surplus by reducing the amount of visible light reaching us from the sun. Photosynthesis requires certain wavelengths of visible light; so reducing the amount of sunlight reaching plants will reduce photosynthesis, which will in turn reduce the conversion rate of CO2 to O2. So while less energy comes into the system, more CO2 remains in the system, and the latter will tend to offset the former. The net effect on warming might be zero. Worse, we could be upside-down on the transaction, with the net effect actually worsening global warming in the long term. Yes, volcanic eruptions reduce average temperatures; but their effects are fairly short-lived, and don't give us much of a clue about the consequences of reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface over a span of decades or centuries. Also, it strikes me that we might experience significantly-reduced crop yields as an additional result of the reduced photosynthesis - not a good thing when we may also be losing arable land as a result of rising sea levels.
I really hope the folks tinkering with our biosphere are asking the same questions, (and more), and coming up with credible answers. I know they're generally a smart lot of people; but their track record so far WRT climate change models and predictions isn't nearly good enough to justify their apparent excess of hubris. Their attitude of 'yeah, if a few minuscule tests look good, we should roll out a full-scale implementation on the whole planet', is downright fucking scary.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
The weather/climate system is a complicated, chaotic system. If we do enact this system then what happens to the countries that go through drought/floods/ etc. due to this system?
The same is true for adding CO2 to the atmosphere, but we're not stopping that either.
Muslims are mostly not the issue. The issue is with the specific sects. Mostly with Wahhabism, which was originated and continues to be actively promoted by the House of Saud. There's a reason most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. And you know those Islamic State jackasses? Wahhabist.
We should turn Saudi Arabia into glass. But otherwise Islam is just not an issue. I mean, what does anyone have against Indonesia? It's a total non-issue.
Think what it means that your leaders have kept this knowledge from you, even at this height of anti-Muslim sentiment. Trump is grandstanding and I am sure I appreciate him as an entertainer, but wake me up when he says word one about the Saudis or Wahhabism. I mean, word one other than the trip there he took ten days ago to kiss ass.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.