permaculture

["Nicholas Roberts" <nicholas@themediasociety.org>]

as I haved posted before, if you thought the mega-projects of the 20th
century had too great a downside, its pretty hard to imagine the risks
and costs and side effects of the mega-mega-projects coming over the
event horizon

Gaia Permaculture; application of permaculture principles to planetary
level systems

how we do that ? I do not know, ppotentially a good theme for tthe
launch of Permaculture .TV / Permaculture Cooperative


8 . Leading climate scientists call for an emergency "Plan B"

ANU earth and paleo-climate scientist Dr Andrew Glikson writes:

While governments tinker at the margins of miserably inadequate ETS
schemes, a survey of 80 international climate scientists by The
Independent  reveals 54% consider recent climate developments so dire
that attempts at geo-engineered mitigation, or "Plan B", are
unavoidable.

About 35% of respondents disagreed with the need for a "Plan B",
arguing that it would distract from the main objective of cutting CO2
emissions, with the remaining 11 per cent saying that they did not
know whether a geo-engineering strategy is needed or not.

Attempts at geo-engineering, aimed at artificially reducing solar
radiation, as originally suggested by Paul Crutzen, the Nobel Prize
atmospheric physicist, include artificially increased albedo
(reflection) of the stratosphere, probably over the Arctic circle
where ice melt and albedo loss are fastest. This could be achieved by
injection sulphur dioxide aerosols, possibly shot from guns or mixed
in jet fuel of planes over-flying polar regions.

The effects would be similar to volcanic events, such as the 1991
Mount Pinatubo eruption, or the 1816 Mount Tambora eruption, which
resulted in freezing winters and snow storms in Europe and North
America (dubbed "the year without a summer"). Both eruptions resulted
in cooling of the Earth surface by about 0.5 degrees C for a couple of
years.

Injection of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere are converted to
sulfuric acid aerosol dust veil that encircles the Earth. Estimates of
the mass of SO4 for the Tambora eruption vary between 60 and 100
terragram (0.6 to 1.0 million ton), not an easy task for a
geo-engineering effort.

Other means of increasing the Earth albedo include dissemination of
aluminum particles in or above the stratosphere, or installation of
large solar reflectors in space. A "sunshade" 1800 km in diameter was
proposed by Roger Angel to NASA, consisting of 16 trillion discs,
contained in capsules fired by electric or magnetic guns (railgun,
coilgun) to positions 1.5 million km from the Earth and capable of
blocking 2% of sunlight, i.e. regulating several Watt/m2 of solar
energy.

Other proposed methods include ocean fertilization with iron filings,
enhancing algal and phytoplankton growth and photosynthetic CO2
capture, cloud seeding by atomized sea water (John Latham, US National
Centre for Atmospheric Research; Stephen Salter, Edinburgh University;
Mike Smith at Leeds), sodium pipe systems ("trees") sequestering CO2
to sodium carbonate, and other methods, and vertical ocean-wide pipe
systems to help pump cold CO2-absorbing water to the surface.

All these methods risk yet unforeseeable complications and side
effects, including "collateral damage".

That an interest grows in atmospheric geo-engineering, including US
conferences, underpins the bankruptcy of international attempts at
emission cuts. This includes partly watered down IPCC reports and
woefully limited emission reduction targets of Kyoto -- not to mention
failures in Bali and Poznan, Garnaut' conservative emission cut
recommendations, and the 5/15 whitewash paper.

The astronomical costs of proposed geo-engineering methods make
mockery of the economy-based arguments raised by business and
governments against deep reduction in carbon emissions (while
trillions are used for military purposes and the rescue of bankrupt
financial institutions). The time for "business as usual" is nearly
over.

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Nicholas Roberts
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