Despite international pressure, Iran appears to be continuing its march toward getting a nuclear bomb. But Washington can contain and mitigate the consequences of Tehran's nuclear defiance, keeping an abhorrent outcome from becoming a catastrophic one.
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Prom Updos 2010
Not only Geo Engineering
Not only Geo Engineering techniques, People will have t o think of using more eco friendly practices in their day to day activities to prevent these environmental hazards. No doubt that engineers will play an important role in such a situation but at the same time people will have to contribute to it. vancouver web design
Global warming is serious. So
Global warming is serious. So are a lot of other things. like microbes, viruses and bacteria some of you will be working on. So we have to change the way we use our time to provide more time for civic engagement. My High School Alumni association is campaigning against this burning issue. To live safe and better in future everybody should come out to work jointly in this venture.
All these science &
All these science & politicians jump on the wagon about globe warming saying it all human fault the earth is warming up and melting the ice at the North & South pole and in Greenland . But people just do some research on the net and old world book . Just last week 2 NEW volcanoes erupt shoot clouds of poison gas and ash that floats in the air blocking out the sun and changing the ozone . There are more active volcanoes going on now then there was 100 yrs ago. There are place all over the world that is releasing gas in the air… They want you to think human are the reason and human can fix it with the money you send them. All they are doing is going to use the money to built themselves and politicians a place for them to go when thing get to bad… Also the magnet field pole has move closer to the true north pole could be the reason the ice is malting 100 yr ago it was not as close as it is now. Earth has done this warming up for awhile then cool down for awhile over and over again for the life of earth.
Matt John
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mcdst is better tool!
I think people are now more
I think people are now more concerned about the climate changes and various other environmental hazards that are occurring nowadays. To address those issues engineers will have to play a pivotal role in reducing such situations from happening by introducing various geo-engineering techniques. Layaway
Global warming solutions
Global warming isn't a small issue any more.
It became so serious, especially after the noticeable rise of water level due to the melting of ice in the north pole.
Some ideas have risen in the past years, like building green buildings, using outdoor solar lights & also using hybrid cars.
We hope the world comes with new ideas & put them all into action.
What happens is not to be
What happens is not to be ignored. We can not live alone without putting concern on the environmental issues. picture frames
I think in the future we will
I think in the future we will have to think more about using eco friendly technologies. All the engineering techniques should be eco friendly. Otherwise we will have to suffer from more severe environmental hazards than this. Debt Settlement
Global warming
Global warming is a real threaten that the whole world is facing.
Now the world came up with the idea of building green buildings, which reduce the energy consumption & generate energy by itself & in a very clean forms.
Locksmiths Houston
It is never easy to deal with
It is never easy to deal with the possibility.
Vizyondaki Filmler
Another approach is to dump
Another approach is to dump iron dust into the sea to spur the growth of algae that absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the air. When algae die, they fall to the seabed and so remove carbon.
Louisville Kentucky
It is never easy to deal with
It is never easy to deal with the possibility. But yet the probability of happening is big and hence we have to get prepared.
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Doesn't make sense
The facts aren't adding up for me. Does anyone else find this strange?
Geoingineering
The common citizen has very little influence on the community. To be listened there must first take place a descentralization of the political and economical powers. Most of the resources are directed to other fields and not to echology. Financing echological programs should be more democratic.
When the human being becomes conscious of the meaning of the word echology finally we could see a change. It comes from the Greek word oikos meaning "home". Man must first understand the sense of belonging to Earth as a totality and that damaging it , is like comitting suicide. (Costa Rica)
Selfishness and greed is the
Selfishness and greed is the only reason why today our planet is suffering. Every one is just running for their comfort without caring about the effect of the inventions on the environment. We have to change this and think for the better of earth.
Yes, selfishness truly play a
Yes, selfishness truly play a big role in what we face now. It creates nothing but more problems. I have learned this during the years of careers in the Data Recovery industry.
The Geoengineering option
With the 7th,8th , 9th billion population growth coming , perhaps these people should be living or existing underwater , in colonies , then moving into outer -space as the natural series of developments technically that are bound to occur, or should occur - without much difficulty.
Please advise me of the flaws in such simple concepts, as it seems such a natural progression or series of events.
A Mirage
There is a basic error in the idea that cooling the planet overall by increasing albedo offsets human greenhouse gas forcings. Even concentrating reflective materials in polar regions would not change the fact that temperatures will not drop as fast or as far at night, or that winter temperatures will be much higher. Making the poles more reflective won't help much in the winter when they receive little sun light! Warmer night and winter temps affect sea ice formation, which greatly reduces albedo. In the mountain west, where I live, these conditions facilitate insect infestations that are wiping out forests and making some of them net carbon emitters. Cooling the planet overall doesn't solve these effects.
I don't see how geoengineering gets around the inherent difficulty of international cooperation on these issues. It introduces substantial new risks of international conflict. The fact that prominent scholars of environmental politics, including the authors here, as well as Tad Homer-Dixon, are talking about this so seriously is alarming. It seems as if they are throwing in the towel on climate cooperation, just when there's finally a chance to make some progress with new leadership in Washington. This seems ill-timed.
Problematic aspects of Geoengineering
Ocean Fertilization and Depletion of Deep-sea O2
(a recipe for a catastrophic anoxia in deep sea water strata)
Typical deep-sea water masses have been isolated from the surface for long periods of time and have limited supplies of dissolved oxygen that are replenished at extremely slow rates.
Multiple strata separate these deep waters from the surface waters and from the atmosphere, so that O2 equilibria in these deep water layers are (a) slow to replenish, and (b) likely to be highly-sensitive to disruption.
Given what we already know about nutrient-induced eutrophication in aquatic systems and the catastrophic effects of the anoxia that results (classic textbook subject-matter), we should be quite skeptical of schemes that imagine wide-scale fertilization the ocean’s surface layers. First, of course, on a century-to-century time scale, deep-sea organisms are adapted to one of the most stable, unchanging environments on earth.
Secondly, while fertilization of the sea’s surface waters (with a dusting of iron, for example, or systems of ocean pumps) may enhance phytoplankton growth, the increased biomass will not be confined to surface waters, but will result in export of tons of additional organics to the deep-water layers.
Heterotrophic microbes in the deep-sea can be expected to respond to an increased import of such organics with a burst of exuberant growth – quickly depleting already limited supplies of dissolved oxygen, and producing a cataclysmic deep-sea anoxia, expanding examples of which have already developed.
Since the ocean covers approximately 70% of earth’s surface and produces the greater portion of the oxygen that we breathe, advocates of wide-scale fertilization, if successful in their campaign, may unwittingly trigger ecosystem disruptions and marine extinction events on an unimagined scale.
Even our brightest, most well-meaning, and most ingenious suggestions need to be measured against the human propensity to error, blunder, and trigger unintended consequences.
Although we are an inventive species, we are also brash and display a reckless lack of humility. Current projects that envision re-engineering the operation of 70% of earth’s biosphere constitute a clear example.
Footnote
Humanity’s central problems today are: (a) the impending arrival of a 7th, 8th, and 9th billion by mid-century, along with (b) the extreme levels of overpopulation / environmental impacts that we already exhibit.
With additional billions on track to join us by mid-century and many other millions rapidly industrializing, the combined effects of today’s planet-wide demographic tidal wave constitute the single greatest risk that our species has ever undertaken.
For instance, can biosystem functioning even survive a continuation of the impacts that we are already exerting today, even without the avalanche of new arrivals who are arriving at a rate of 800,000 additional persons every four days?
As a result, the discussion of geoengineering has the effect of: (a) Distracting us from the true nature of our problem which is overpopulation; (b) Encourages journalists and non-scientists to imagine that scientists can devise some sort technological fix that will allow us to escape (and ignore) the demographic corner into which we have painted ourselves, and (c) Encourages policymakers and economic interests to imagine that business as usual can be pursued for at least a little while longer.
Potential conflicts
This is an excellent, thoughtful discussion of why we need to take the geoengineering option seriously. Yet I'm surprised that the authors spend so little time thinking through how geoengineering efforts might engender serious inter-state tensions. Consider environmental conflicts over river basins, etc., and that multiply that a thousandfold. There will be North-South conflicts -- the authors note that only advanced countries will have the ability to shape the global climate -- and there will conflicts between states that want a milder climate and those that don't. Granted, a "milder climate" will entail many undesirable consequences, but relying on the good sense and far-sightedness of all parties involved doesn't strike me as very sound. Also, it should be obvious that the power to shape the climate can also be a power to make war on an unimaginable scale. Granted, geoengineering will never be extremely fine-grained. But as long as impacts are uneven, it will be understood as a weapon of war. Jamais Cascio has written a lot about this, and I'm eager to read his reaction to the piece.