I heard the news today. Sir Richard Branson is offering a $25 Million Climate Challenge prize, to be awarded to one who develops a means of removing green house gases from the atmosphere. Al Gore joined in the announcement. Branson also also intends to invest $3 Billion in fighting global warming.
Of course it has been proposed before that a program to plant the equivalent of three or four Amazon forests would be pretty effective at reducing CO2, but presumably the prize will go to someone who develops an idea beyond that.
This is just one more indicator of a world waking up. On the other hand right-wing Seattle radio this week featured a retired Canadian geologist who writes letters and op-eds attempting to debunk the whole idea that the planet is warming (he says it is stable or cooling). The radio host and most of his callers were thrilled, THRILLED, that finally someone on the radio was telling the truth. I suppose it is self interest that drives them to hope, wish, or claim that nothing is going on with the climate.
Also yesterday I heard a local Hummer dealer air this radio ad, paraphrasing but nearly verbatim.
“Voice: The weather has been so bad, what with our floods, windstorms, and snow that my brother just got himself an Ark!”
“2nd Voice: You’re kidding, he built an Ark?”
“Voice: Well not quite, he did something even better. He went up to _____ dealer and bought a Hummer. Those are built to last, just like the Ark - they can get you through any weather safely.”
I’m sure the irony of buying a Hummer to cope with wild weather is lost on the dealer.
1 Bill Magill on Aug 12th, 2007 at 3:35 am
Dear Sirs,
I have been sitting on two ideas for many years now. One is potentially environmentally helpfull and perhaps wildly profitable. The other is a way to repair the hole in the ozone layer. I realize that neither fall into the confines of your contest, but to sit on them any longer may be immoral. The first may reduce fossil fuel usage by at least 10% globally. The second would cost a whole lot of money and require the assistance of NASA.
As far as the first goes I might need a patent attorney.
The second is so out of the box it does’nt matter. Here goes.
As you may know, ozone can not be created at ground level to the benifit of the ozone layer. Actually it’s a very bad thing down here. Ozone can be created with electricity and oxygen. To carry oxygen into orbit with current technology would destroy more than it could help.
Recent discovery says that the moon has lunar ice caps. Using robotic mining equipment and solar plants to convert the ice to hydrogen and oxygen, drones could then use the hydrogen as fuel, and go into low earth orbit with their payload of oxygen. The oxygen would then be delivered to orbiting solar-powered ozone generators, dropping the ozone from above, and the drone would then return to the moon base.
Just a thought.
Bill Magill