Climate Change

Suggestions • Optimism • Ideas

Practical Suggestions

Not all suggestions have to be things that involve decades of research. Some are just targeted suggestions about pragmatics. They're worth some thought.

• Monash team learns from nature to split water (EurekAlert, 17 Aug 2008)
  
• Solar Collector Could Change Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source
  (Science Daily, 14 Aug 2008)
• Giant vacuum cleaner leaves reefs thriving (New Scientist, 11 Jul 2008)
• Mexico plants 8 million trees in latest green project (Reuters, 5 Jul 2008)
• Hawaii to require solar water heaters for new homes starting in 2010 (Los Angeles Times, 28 Jun 2008)
• Heavyweight physics prof weighs into climate/energy scrap (The Register, 20 Jun 2008)
• European System for Cutting Carbon Dioxide Emissions Is Working Well
  (Science Daily, 12 Jun 2008)
• Racing principle’s role in cutting emissions (BBC News, 9 Jun 2008)
• Plastic bag policy ‘a diversion’ (BBC News, 17 May 2008)
• Supermarket trials carbon labels (BBC, 29 Apr 2008)
• Venture to Use Sea to Fight Warming Runs Out of Cash (New York Times, 14 Feb 2008)
• Motivated by a Tax, Irish Spurn Plastic Bags (The New York Times, 2 Feb 2008)

Stories of Optimism

Here is a place for stories about good things happening, or of hopeful signs. Many of these are tentative in one way or another. And even things that are very good things may have timelines that are too long to be practical. A lot of other damage can be done before a given natural effect kicks in or a given technology is brought to fruition and properly deployed. So we still have many reasons to be pursuing Climate Change aggressively. But, all that said, this issue is so depressing sometimes that it's still nice to have reasons for optimism.

• Ozone Layer to the Rescue? (Science Magazine, 12 Jun 2008)
  A related story appears in NASA's Earth Observatory.
• Algae oil promises truly green fuel (New Scientist, 10 Jun 2008)
• Harnessing Microbes to Meet Our Future Energy Needs (Science News, 7 Jun 2008)
• Wind Energy in Rockport (KOMU.com, 24 April 2008)
• Environmental Engineers Use Algae To Capture Carbon Dioxide (Science Daily, 1 Apr 2007)

The Idea Mill

There are going to be a lot of boondoggles where people try to get “green money” for things that won't really help. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't invest in various alternative ways to address the problems posed by Climate Change. (The only things I don't think we should invest in are the things that are actively working against a solution.)

Nuclear Power

Nuclear is the “new green”. No, it's not 100% safe in all regards, but it has shown itself to be manageable, and even the problems that it might sometimes have pale in comparison to some of the predicted Climate Change effects, so it's definitely worth considering as a stopgap.

• McCain says wants 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 (Reuters, 18 Jun 2008)

Carbon Sequestration

• Put the Trees in the Ground (Physorg.com, 13 May 2008)

Colonizing Mars

Establishing a permanent and sustainable base off the Earth is the single best thing we can do to assure the survival of the human species. Moreover, every dollar spent understanding how to live on a planet that is hostile to human life may turn out to be valuable as we move ever closer to making Earth join that group.

• Scientist Calls Mars a Terraforming Target for the 21st Century (Space.com, 23 Jun 2007)
• Technological Requirements for Terraforming Mars
  (Pioneer Astronautics & NASA Ames Research Center)

Please feel free to contact me with more suggestions.