Steve GannTruth and Consequences
February 8th 2007 23:13
In the early 50s of the last century, Astounding magazine (later Analog) published a short novella entitled The Cold Equations. In the story a young girl stows away on a spaceship, not realising that she will have to be jettisoned because the fuel needed for the journey is calculated so precisely.
The story by Tom Godwin, created quite a stir, not because of the evocative nature of the subject, but because of the concept that some laws cannot be avoided. Their consequences are inevitable. And if we do choose to ignore them, we do so at our peril.
Such is the nature of the situation with global warming. The first pivotal fact we should take to our hearts is that any science we practice to remediate the current situation, should have a positive knock-on effect. In other words there should be an accumulation of benefit which will help the environment to recover -- to progress back to the positive side of the ledger.
For this reason the initiatives being championed by the Howard camp should be given close scrutiny. Let us take the so-called Clean Carbon option. First the name is emphatically wrong. There is no such animal. Any technology which allows the burning of coal to be on-going, encouraged or expanded, must be examined in terms of its impact. This technology aims to capture CO2 and keep it from the atmosphere. But what it does do, is tie up oxygen in the burning, combining with the carbon to form CO2. Oxygen will be removed from the atmosphere without providing a mechanism for releasing it again. Secondly the compressed sludge stored beneath the earth can be the source of all sorts of trouble. Giant bubbles of CO2 could escape. The sludge could cause instability in the ground in which it is stored. Earthquakes anyone? The list goes on. It could eat into and destroy local formations. The only safe place to store this sludge would be on the moon. Seriously.
If there is a need to burn coal, producing green house gases, then surely ways should be found to break those gases back into environmental friendly bi-products. Trees work. They always have. Plant them in the streets, on plantations, near factories that spew out green-house gases. Trees are the lungs of the earth. On one hand we have Chicken Little Howard and the other bird brains running round saying there is no problem. Then they discover the sky is falling. The next breath they say they have the solution but it won't be ready for another fifteen years or so -- maybe. If it works. If all goes well. If we survive what happens between now and then.
In the meantime, the result of our actions go inexorably onwards. So let's do what needs to be done. First don't chop down trees unless it is to improve the health of the forest. Wherever possible, plant more trees. Grow trees for their shade and because the add to the peace and harmony of our being. More importantly they do remove those pesky green-house gases and they do it from day one. Plant ‘em wherever you can and get the polluters to pay for the planting and up-keep.
So we plant trees, we use renewable power sources, we improve the emissions situation with our cars, planes and industries. What else can we do? Well educate our politicians for one. Then if they refuse to learn the obvious, vote them down. Vote them out. Get rid of the ignorant, the fossilized and the stupid. They are as mentally dead as the dodo and just as useful. As someone once said: ignorant, irrelevant and out of date. Let’s get someone in who thinks clearly, cares greatly and makes sense with the way they get things done.
The story by Tom Godwin, created quite a stir, not because of the evocative nature of the subject, but because of the concept that some laws cannot be avoided. Their consequences are inevitable. And if we do choose to ignore them, we do so at our peril.
Such is the nature of the situation with global warming. The first pivotal fact we should take to our hearts is that any science we practice to remediate the current situation, should have a positive knock-on effect. In other words there should be an accumulation of benefit which will help the environment to recover -- to progress back to the positive side of the ledger.
For this reason the initiatives being championed by the Howard camp should be given close scrutiny. Let us take the so-called Clean Carbon option. First the name is emphatically wrong. There is no such animal. Any technology which allows the burning of coal to be on-going, encouraged or expanded, must be examined in terms of its impact. This technology aims to capture CO2 and keep it from the atmosphere. But what it does do, is tie up oxygen in the burning, combining with the carbon to form CO2. Oxygen will be removed from the atmosphere without providing a mechanism for releasing it again. Secondly the compressed sludge stored beneath the earth can be the source of all sorts of trouble. Giant bubbles of CO2 could escape. The sludge could cause instability in the ground in which it is stored. Earthquakes anyone? The list goes on. It could eat into and destroy local formations. The only safe place to store this sludge would be on the moon. Seriously.
If there is a need to burn coal, producing green house gases, then surely ways should be found to break those gases back into environmental friendly bi-products. Trees work. They always have. Plant them in the streets, on plantations, near factories that spew out green-house gases. Trees are the lungs of the earth. On one hand we have Chicken Little Howard and the other bird brains running round saying there is no problem. Then they discover the sky is falling. The next breath they say they have the solution but it won't be ready for another fifteen years or so -- maybe. If it works. If all goes well. If we survive what happens between now and then.
In the meantime, the result of our actions go inexorably onwards. So let's do what needs to be done. First don't chop down trees unless it is to improve the health of the forest. Wherever possible, plant more trees. Grow trees for their shade and because the add to the peace and harmony of our being. More importantly they do remove those pesky green-house gases and they do it from day one. Plant ‘em wherever you can and get the polluters to pay for the planting and up-keep.
So we plant trees, we use renewable power sources, we improve the emissions situation with our cars, planes and industries. What else can we do? Well educate our politicians for one. Then if they refuse to learn the obvious, vote them down. Vote them out. Get rid of the ignorant, the fossilized and the stupid. They are as mentally dead as the dodo and just as useful. As someone once said: ignorant, irrelevant and out of date. Let’s get someone in who thinks clearly, cares greatly and makes sense with the way they get things done.
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