Support NeoGAF

[adamsappel]

That's neat. This would have to go through the FDA, right? If so, we aren't seeing this for 100 years. With the amount I poop I'd truly make a difference.

Who's Trump's pick to head FDA? Probably someone who wants to get rid of it altogether. Progress!

 

[diablos991]

Yes and how did we do that? You think that energy is free.

Why pursue any option if they will all use that gross coal stuff for energy.

Why are you thinking this takes more energy than it's worth?
Have you calculated the volume of this chemical needed or researched the cost and scalability of production?

Making aerosol can't be that bad. I'd imagine we could get a pretty efficient mix from our greatest scientific minds that would ease production.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

I've been advocating for this (Solar Radiation Management) for a few years now. There's really no reason not to do this given the enormous risks inherent in all the various tipping points in the climate system that would be game over for humanity if triggered. It's efficient in the same way that nuclear power plants are many magnitudes more efficient than everything else; a kilogram of well-placed aerosol can offset over a hundred thousand kilograms of CO2. And I don't think anyone can dispute that current timeline for global progress is far too slow to prevent the more disastrous climate projections we are facing.

This is literally a pause button that buys us the decades we need to transition global infrastructure away from fossil fuels and towards renewables. And because it's incremental and temporary, we can test it and pull back if we see that unforeseen consequences are worse than the known consequences of global warming (although it's hard to imagine something worse).

Yes it doesn't solve ocean acidification or the overconcentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. But nothing else in existence can either. We can't solve those problems until we can efficiently pull CO2 from the atmosphere and contain it. And since that kind of technology is decades away, what do we need? A pause button.

 

[Ganzlinger]

Hope it works

 

[CarlieCaplin]

Huh...guess I gotta update my material.

I thought ozone depletion in the polar regions is mainly caused by unreactive substances which carry chlorine into the polar regions.

I mean, sulfuric acid is probably the biggest player in atmospheric nucleation but I've never heard about its ozone depleting potential.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Research funding provided by:

 

[Principate]

Why pursue any option if they will all use that gross coal stuff for energy.

Why are you thinking this takes more energy than it's worth?
Have you calculated the volume of this chemical needed or researched the cost and scalability of production?

Making aerosol can't be that bad. I'd imagine we could get a pretty efficient mix from our greatest scientific minds that would ease production.

The point of that matter is we have no idea of logistical feasibility and the scale that would be needed to make a dent. It just strikes me as a huge irony to put your eggs in this risky basket thinking things will be fine while we're curebtly completely fumbling the solution we made for climate change. Tempered expectations even the scientists behind this state as such.

 

[Protome]

You're missing the poster's point. Manfacturing this stuff will take a large amount of energy, that energy will likely come from fossil fuels.

If it's a 1:1 ratio of how much pollution is created to how much this magical aerosol can undo then yeah it's pointless.

And how did the Paris agreement end up? this is no easy fix. The same problems remain. CO2 emissions must be broufg otherwise there's a reasonable chance your bringing a garden sprinkler to a forest fire.

I don't think anyone is actually saying this aerosol is going to magically fix everything. But if it's something that can help put off the worst for a bit longer it's good enough.

 

[Timeaisis]

There's a solution, let's put more stuff into the atmosphere that we don't quite understand, and in 10 years we'll realize that was a huge mistake.

Geoengineering scares the shit out of me. Especially since we have no idea what the full-scale consequences are, especially in certain geographic zones. Are we willing to sacrifice the good of the few for the good of the many? Are we willing to at least just risk it? It's a very tough ethical problem to answer. I'm not a fan of the ramifications, much less who gets to decide what gets put into the atmosphere while operating on limited knowledge.

 

[Pagusas]

Sounds scary as hell.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Someone better start building the perpetual motion train and tracks which go around the Earth ASAP

 

[Paskil]

There's absolutely no way this can go wrong.

 

[kess]

Doesn't do shit for the ocean

 

[MikeDip]

This isn't a new idea. We've had this in our back pockets for a long time. But honestly, it's a last ditch thing, that shit stays in the atmosphere forever (not literally but close enough). Very cool it's still being worked on though.

Climate change is real and scary, but it isn't end of days scary yet. We have options.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Just to make a more succinct post:

Runaway global warming trigger points become more and more likely as the Earth gradually warms. These must be prevented from occurring at all cost.

If you feel confident that the current pace of global change is sufficient to prevent those outcomes then feel free to ignore Solar Radiation Management. If you don't then let's recap its benefits and negatives.

Efficiency: For every 1 kg of Aerosol you can offset 100,000+ kg of CO2.

Costs: Estimates vary wildly, but we're talking $30-$100 billion a year, not trillions. Chump change for the global community.

Timeliness: Immediate results that can be monitored in real-time. Can increase or decrease intensity as needed.

Negative: Could cause bad things to happen.
Counterpoint: Our current trajectory is also very bad.

Negative: Does not reduce the output of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Counterpoint: This doesn't prevent the global community from continuing to reduce CO2 output, it just mitigates the harm of CO2 we do put out.

Question: What about ocean acidification?
Answer: There is no way to stop or reverse ocean acidification outside of removing huge quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere. That kind of technology and scale does not exist yet.

 

[Rebel Leader]

more like

And thus solves the problem once and for all

 

[Chmpocalypse]

There's almost no gore. People get shot or stabbed, but nothing gruesome.
As for the quality, I fucking love it. One of my favourite movies.

Seconded. Fantastic film, a really awesome surprise if you go in (snow)blind.

 

[Bombless]

I for one welcome our new Transarctica overlords.

 

[ShinZed]

I for one welcome our new Transarctica overlords.

Lol I was about to say the exact same thing. All hail the Viking Union!

 

[ItIsOkBro]

Someone should make a movie where we're invaded by aliens but our ozone aerosol infects and kills them.

 

[Noema]

 

[R10Neymarfan]

Not going to lie, that's a pretty big risk on its own. Crazy to think we are letting things get this far.

Well white people had a good run...

Seriously though if things get bad we might have too. Evolution would kick in and I rather have future generations

 

[PKrockin]

So basically the evil plot in Spy Fox 3 Operation Ozone except the aerosol actually repairs the ozone.

 

[The Mule]

“Geoengineering is like taking painkillers,” said Keutsch. “When things are really bad, painkillers can help but they don’t address the cause of a disease and they may cause more harm than good. We really don’t know the effects of geoengineering, but that is why we’re doing this research.”

What a strange quote. Whatever we do to solve climate change, whether it be addressing the causes or the symptoms, will be a type of geoengineering. Everything we've done to lead us to this point has been a form of geoengineering, it has just been undirected and unplanned till recently.

 

[MrHoot]

Will we also all look sexy like these people in the Axe commercials ?

 

[lt519]

Been talked about for a while, the freakonomics guys have touched on the subject several times including aerosol solutions in SuperFreakonomics in 2009.

Turns out the UK have a grant in 2011 to start testing it.

http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/02/finally-a-garden-hose-to-the-sky/

 

[Ogodei]

It's always seemed obvious to me that we're going to need to take measures to directly mitigate the effects of climate change even as we work on solving the root causes. Waiting for the Earth to slowly rebalance itself over a period of decades or centuries is going to leave far too many people all around the world up shit creek without a paddle.

Pretty much. Probably as far back as the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, possibly much sooner, we were committed to having to endure a half-century of misery or rapid geoengineering.

 

[leroidys]

Neat, but it doesn't solve ocean acidification so we're still fucked and need to drastically cut carbon.

 

[ZOONAMI]

Finally some good news

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

Oh. So, chemtrails. 😂

 

[Poyunch]

OP already referenced Snowpiercer. I have nothing to contribute to this thread. ;A: