Geoengineering

As we all know, climate change is happening because greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide, are trapping heat inside our atmosphere. The result is the general warming of our planet. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean all regional climates around the world will become warmer. Instead, climate change will affect weather patterns, i.e. precipitation shift, temperature variation, and changing wind patterns, etc.

I bring this up because there are many theories on how to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Obviously the best place to start is to emit less carbon in the first place (think cap and trade or carbon taxes). However, many believe the situation is so dire that we need to begin removing carbon from the atmosphere in a process known as sequestration.

This week, a group of German and Indian scientists embarked on a mission to implement a sequestration strategy known as iron fertilization. The process consists of spreading iron into iron-deprived ocean waters that will, in turn, spur the growth of plankton that "eat" carbon. When the plankton die, the theory goes, they will sink to the ocean floor, forever trapping the carbon it "ate." At this point, however, scientists don't know how effective this strategy really is, hence the experiment.

The catch is that over 200 countries agreed to a moratorium on this activity. No one knows what the effect will be, intended or otherwise. As our world moves closer to environmental disaster, it will be interesting to see what types of things nations or NGO's start to do.

Global Warming in the Media

This is disturbing:

As scientists make ever-more urgent calls to curb our emissions of greenhouse gasses, mentions of global warming in the media are down. What's going on? Are people burned out hearing about something that's going to burn them up? WTF?

Environmentalism

Reading this post over at Washington Monthly's blog reminded me of a conversation I had with a Republican at the Union County Fair a couple days ago. He was advocating massive expansion of domestic oil drilling (specifically offshore and in ANWR) and prefaced the discussion with something to this effect, "Don't try and use global warming as a reason not to drill because I don't believe in it."

My response, "That's fine. There are lots of other reasons not to expand drilling: oil spills, air pollution, habitat disruption, short-term solution, etc."

It was good timing, then, that the above-mentioned post was written. In short it says that environmentalists need to lay off of the global warming mantra and talk more about dirty air, filthy water, lost animal habitat, ruined forests, dead lakes, trash everywhere, etc. In other words, there is a lot more to environmentalism than global warming.

I certainly agree, although that does not incline me to put the fight against global warming on the backburner. Instead, let us highlight that "saving our planet" means more than just reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Not only is this the correct thing to do, it is also practical. There are many people out there who are not interesting in global warming but who are willing to take on air pollution because their child has asthma, clean up rivers because they love fishing, or pick up trash because they want their surroundings to be beautiful. It's long past time we find allies wherever they may lie.

Energy Saving Tip of the Week

Ms. Margot, my blogging inspiration, passed me the mic for today's energy saving tip. She made a poignant point about global warming awareness that can be generalized across so many important social issues:

... I guess I found it funny that I (along with many of my friends) know all the words to this terrible song (Bubba Sparxxx, Ms. New Booty) yet many people don't do anything to prevent or deal with global warming...

So many of us--often times myself included--absorb so much trivial crap into our minds (think celebrities, tv shows, athletics, and gossip) that we can't/don't take the time to learn the policy views of the three presidential candidates, what's going on in Tibet, or why Darfur is more complicated than you may think. Perhaps for many that would make life depressing or dull, but at the very least we would be more engaged in the world we live.

That said, on to this week's energy saving tip: When using the dish washer turn off the heat dry function and simply let the dishes air dry. If you have an older dishwasher without this feature, simply turn off the washer after the final rinse cycle. Yes, you may get a couple extra spots and it will take longer for the dishes to dry, but it's a simple and effective change that saves energy and money on your electricity bill.