For those of you who are claiming that this "jackass" is throwing "waste overboard", I recommend reading up on the process used[1] and recognizing that this is something that has been studied and experimented with.
Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
21–30 of 56 posts
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#22This is a really good wiki article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization
There's a few key ideas here: The limiting factor in plankton growth is iron. So we can hit it with other things, the plankton needs more iron to incorporate into chloroplasts to grow. Algal/plankton blooms can be toxic from the chemicals produced, but they are usually toxic because they deplete oxygen in the environment. I suspect that this would be manageable in the ocean, since there's constant mixing and the ocean is _big_. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/habharm.html
Iron seeding of the ocean already happens, in the form of dust storms blowing onto the ocean. We've been able to see the effects of it, and it does as it says-- it increases plankton life in the ocean.
I think that a lot of posts here are underestimating the size of the ocean or over-estimating the capability of humans. We would have to dump so much iron into the ocean to make the whole thing anoxic. If we did this in a controlled manner (and in small paths, so we wouldn't end up with big un-mixed anoxic patches) then I think this is very reasonable.
All of you should be careful not do have the knee-jerk "nah that sounds crazy!" reaction. This is HN, and you ought to know that the disbelievers don't have a good track record.
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#23I just don't understand why everyone refuses to study the results (at least, from what the article seems to convey). Yeah, it was short-sighted and illegal and probably dangerous in ways that are currently inexplicable -- but isn't that the whole point? Go ahead and arrest the guy, or sue him, whatever -- but scientists should not pass up the opportunity to study the effects of an actual geoengineering intervention.
And the strange thing is nobody is actually preventing people who dump billions of ton of plastic in ocean with this much vigour.
It's millions of tons a year, not billions.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150212-ocean...
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
And the strange thing is nobody is actually preventing people who dump billions of ton of plastic in ocean with this much vigour.
No one is "dumping" plastic on the ocean. It's million of litterers and maritime equipment malfunctions.
Cosmetic companies include microbeads in many products. These end up in the sea. The plastic soaks up some pollutants, and is also eaten by fish. It makes its way into the human food chain. It's a serious problem. Individual consumers didn't really know that they were dumping plastic into the ocean. The manufacturing companies did know, absolutely, that they were dumping hundreds of billions of these microbeads.
Acrylic clothing sheds microfibres. These are too small to be caught by washing machine filters, and they end up in the sea doing the same thing as plastic microbeads.
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was unaware that cane toads, in any number, could have any effect on climate. "...and that is how we know the earth to be banana-shaped..."
Rabbits have completely transformed the Australian continent, one so dramatic you can see the effects from space. ( http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/181383/view ) Cane toads have a smaller but measurable effect since they utterly ruin entire ecosystems. If you think it's impossible for a single organism to have an effect on climate you're mistaken. Wolves, once reintroduced to Yellowstone, have changed the entire pa…
> Rabbits have completely transformed the Australian continent, one so dramatic you can see the effects from space. (http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/181383/view)
I don't get it. Which side are the rabbits?
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#26So, look, if you believe that there is a large chance that climate change will be a global catastrophe in the next few decades -- and there are a lot of people who claim to believe that -- then you should be willing to compromise on other beliefs/other risks to forestall or mitigate that catastrophe.
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rabbits have completely transformed the Australian continent, one so dramatic you can see the effects from space. ( http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/181383/view ) Cane toads have a smaller but measurable effect since they utterly ruin entire ecosystems. If you think it's impossible for a single organism to have an effect on climate you're mistaken. Wolves, once reintroduced to Yellowstone, have changed the entire pa…
> Rabbits have completely transformed the Australian continent, one so dramatic you can see the effects from space. ( http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/181383/view ) I don't get it. Which side are the rabbits?
It's the right side, but the so-called effects purported to be visible in this photo are not from the rabbits - the left side of the picture is densely agricultural, while the right side is not.
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#28[deleted]
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#29A couple of notes, this is from 2014 and the results of ocean fertilization are better understood today.
The interesting thing for me over the controversy when this was being done was that it reiterated the concern that nobody feels they know how to direct climate change. As a result the only action they can endorse is "affecting it less" by reducing our own carbon emissions. This guy is taking it from the other side saying, "Let's start driving the model and get it to a point we like."
Re: Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?
#30So, look, if you believe that there is a large chance that climate change will be a global catastrophe in the next few decades -- and there are a lot of people who claim to believe that -- then you should be willing to compromise on other beliefs/other risks to forestall or mitigate that catastrophe.
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