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Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#12

No (to the question in the title), this is someone trying to sell a magic solution. You do not need to fight climate change, we need to stop it. And the first thing that needs to stop is the greed of the superrich. Unless the seaweed gives a conscience to the superrich then no, seaweed cannot help.

Okay cool, so what is your timeline for how long will it take to stop humans from being greedy? You realize any solution that is "rich people stop being greedy" is no solution at all?

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#13
post #10
post #9

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

Which would imply there's at least one tool that is either faster or less expensive, which would be good news, wouldn't it?

Nukes. Already paid for, so no more cost. Faster, should stop most emissions in a few weeks, after the fires go out.

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#14
post #10
post #9

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

Which would imply there's at least one tool that is either faster or less expensive, which would be good news, wouldn't it?

> Does Betteridge's Law of Headlines Reveal a Lifehack For Climate Change?

No.

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#15

No (to the question in the title), this is someone trying to sell a magic solution. You do not need to fight climate change, we need to stop it. And the first thing that needs to stop is the greed of the superrich. Unless the seaweed gives a conscience to the superrich then no, seaweed cannot help.

> You do not need to fight climate change, we need to stop it.

The correct answer is neither; we need advanced technologies and material wealth that will allow us to master the environment more robustly. Consider that in the past 50 years of climate change, the human population more than doubled yet the number of deaths from climate-related causes dropped to one-third[0], mainly due to the growing wealth of developing countries that allowed them to better shield themselves against extreme weather conditions.

The state of man in nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". Anyone who has spent any time outdoors in remote places or tried to build even a rudimentary shelter knows how true that is. There has never been a time when the climate was conducive to human flourishing except when humans made it that way by ever-increasing per capita energy expenditures; hence today, despite everything, we are the most insulated from the effects of climate on ourselves.

To "stop" climate change is like telling Glurg the caveman no, you cannot light that stick on fire to keep yourself warm, because think of the CO2 emissions!

[0]: https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10989

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#16
post #14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which would imply there's at least one tool that is either faster or less expensive, which would be good news, wouldn't it?

> Does Betteridge's Law of Headlines Reveal a Lifehack For Climate Change? No.

> Does This "Law" of Journalism Mean You Never Have To Read an Article Again?

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#18
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does Betteridge's Law of Headlines Reveal a Lifehack For Climate Change? No.

> Does This "Law" of Journalism Mean You Never Have To Read an Article Again?

Depends

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#19

This kind of reminds me of what Marine BioEnergy is trying to do with kelp harvesting https://www.marinebiomass.com/ to make biofuel.

I wonder how much you'd need to farm to have an equilibrium reduction in fossil fuels (e.g., trap carbon in in flight kelp)

Re: Could seaweed be the 'fastest and least expensive' tool to fight climate change?

#20
post #10
post #9

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

Which would imply there's at least one tool that is either faster or less expensive, which would be good news, wouldn't it?

It could also just imply that seaweed isn’t going to work for some reason.
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