Comments on: Reflecting on Climate Change

By: dave gott

dave gott — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:26:14 +0000

i had a dream that in the future gliders roam the air above deserts and spray lime/calcium powder which covers the deserts like a tennis player wears a white t-shirt–

and this is done on a continued maintenance schedule to cool the earth s surface and deflect the heat of the sun back into space

is this a crack pot dream??????????? i never heard of this anywhere i just dreamed it..but i would never tell anyone cause it sounds like a crack pot idea

but why would i have dreamed it if it didnt make sense to me on some level????? in my dream the “glider program” was a silver bullet fix to the climate change problem– my point is, if i dreamed it..then on some level it must make some sense to me…and i am not a crack pot

By: John Amith

John Amith — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:31:59 +0000

Start with two-tone sheets. Start by spreading them white side down, so the black side will help to warm us back up.

By: Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:46:08 +0000

David – yes you are correct the reflected IR component will be re-radiated down about 40 % of the balance will be used in stimulating the gas molecules or will pass on through the inter-molecular spaces or radiate out from the molecules. This would be a degenerative iterative process as the returning IR is re-radiated again, but new energy will also be continuously re-radiating.
The critical issue is the fact that discussions of global warming always use average temperature – a 1 degree C rise at the equator brings 2-3 degrees rise at the poles. The last Ice age was terminated by a rise of only 7-8 degrees at the poles i.e.such a small change melted the ice sheets. Consequently 2 degrees at the equator will cause the biggest increase in sea depth since that event.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:31:44 +0000

Good idea Tony. (Just for the record I personally wasn’t recommending covering the deserts in tin foil or painting our roofs white). However, you say “grazing” crops, doesn’t that imply grazers…by which I presume you mean cattle…aren’t they wasteful producers of methane? I think goats are the way forward…seriously.

By: tony lovell

tony lovell — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:03:54 +0000

May I humbly suggest that instead of covering the Earth’s rapidly expanding deserts with a reflective sheet , that we spend this money on encouraging the adoption of proven changed grazing management techniques on the planet’s 5 billion hectares of arid and semi-arid grasslands. This will allow us to can cover their surface with green and growing plants instead.
This will genuinely address not just climate change but also help to reverse desertification, reduce drought and flood, and boost bio-diversity.
Please take a look at the presentation on http://www.soilcarbon.com.au to learn more about what carbon farmers around the planet are doing now to restore the natural balance between soils, grasses and grazing animals.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:37:09 +0000

@Brian – that occurred to me too, but it won’t be 100% efficient reabsorption will it? I’m not suggesting that Toyama’s idea could be viable on that basis, but just saying that it’s not entirely discreditable on the IR issue.

By: Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:15:15 +0000

reflecting heat really depends upon the spectrum, if its IR it will warm the upper atmosphere and be re-radiated down.

Another solution using current technology is to remove gases from the upper atmosphere at the poles where warming is most felt. How this can be done read at http://technostrat.blogspot.com unfortunately those salivating about getting oil from the Arctic will see to it that nothing is done!!

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:19:32 +0000

@Albatrossity – I think you’re right, as I mentioned elsewhere, we should talk to the Australians about cane toads before we launch into these kinds of solutions.

@Tom – Thanks for the additional thoughts on whitewashing the problem ;-)

By: Tom Hewitt

Tom Hewitt — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:18:03 +0000

Yours is a pretty good reading of my thoughts on the matter. And your discussion of dust and maintenence adds to the discussion.

The amount of albedo increase by using diluted latex depends upon the level of dilution and how many coats are applied, and should be tunable to match the esthetics of the particular location. There is a lot more porous human created surface area than just rooftops,pavements and fencing come to mind. Of particular efficacy would be painting bare metal surfaces (which if untreated) have low infrared emissivities (i.e. they don’t reradiate heat away very efficiently). I think the ability to get environmental buyin to such a plan requires that manmade surfaces be the primary targets, at least early on.

The biggest problem of uneven distribution would probably be if the cooling were not well distributed across longitude, as a local cool spot will tend to create a dip in the jet stream at that longitude, so relative to typical atmospheric long waves scales (a thousand or two kilometers), we should strive to balance the cooling along longitude.

By: Albatrossity

Albatrossity — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:14:44 +0000

It is apparently very easy for humans to forget that other creatures live on the planet, even in deserts. They are not “just rocks”. As long as we continue to force other creatures on the planet to pay the price for our greed, we will not solve the true problem (greed).