Global Warming Won't Happen.

 

It is becoming obvious to many people that we can't avoid serious global warming and sea level rise by lifestyle modifications alone.

 

And so, in the words of the March editorial in the leading scientific journal, Nature, "Altering the Climate through Geoengineering has Staged Something of a Comeback.”

 

Why haven't these ideas been in the current debate?  Again in the words of that editorial: "The climate community views geoengineering with deep suspicion or outright hostility " or as the president of the American Academy of Sciences said "various individuals (in the climate academic community) have opposed the publication of Paul Crutzen's paper for reasons that are not scientific"

 

This occurred despite the fact that Paul Crutzen had already saved the world once!  He got a Nobel prize for recognising the mechanism whereby CFCs destroy the ozone layer.

 

Paul Crutzen’s new global cooling suggestion is to simulate the effects of a volcanic eruption by burning a sulphur compound in the stratosphere.

 

In the past 250 years there have been 13 large volcanic eruptions.  Each of these has caused a significant reduction in global temperature in the subsequent two years.  The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 completely reversed all the man made global warming up to that time until the products fell out in the atmosphere in 1993.

 

And, which is also important, there were no disadvantages at ground level.  Material that gets into the stratosphere (above 30,000 ft.) stays there for a year or so and then quickly drops to earth in rain when it drifts into the atmosphere below the stratosphere.

 

My part in this is to suggest an easy way of burning a sulphur compound by dissolving dimethyl sulphide in jet aviation fuel.  This would allow experimental distribution of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere from a high flying plane such as a B-52.

 

Previously I have suggested adding tetra ethyl silicate to aviation fuel to produce tiny particles of glass (silica or silicon dioxide).  These particles might be more effective in reflecting sunlight than the sulphur products -- or they might be less effective.  Only by experiment will we find out. See Diatoms below.

 

These experiments could literally be started tomorrow on a very local scale.  If successful there are 75,000 commercial flights a day worldwide.  Many of these are partially in the stratosphere so the experiment could be extended to wide scale implementation very quickly at negligible cost.

 

The world has quite enough problems for this century without pretending that we can achieve impossible reductions in emissions and rejecting simple technological solutions because of some prejudice.

 

If you know anyone influential in airlines, climate research, the oil industry etc., please would you pass this note on. 

 

John Gorman.  January 2007.  gormans@waitrose.com

 

In more Detail

 

Poster for American Geophysical Union, San Francisco. December 07

Paper submitted for the Virgin Earth Challenge 2007

The evolution of an idea and experiments conducted so far.

Tetra ethyl silicate. What it is and how to get some.

Safety. If you are experimenting.

Global Cooling with reflective particles. Volcanoes etc.

What is the mist/smoke?

The Cause of Global Warming

Tetra Ethyl Silicate in a Jet Engine

Articles in the Press

Diatoms and Diatomous Earth

Good Lectures on the Web

 

 
 

 

 


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