Lumifer comments on Open Thread, Aug. 1 - Aug 7. 2016 - Less Wrong
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I think that climate change is a situation where we should directly go to plan B. Plan A here is cutting emissions. It is not working, because it is very expensive and require cooperation of all sides. It also will have immediate results and the temperature will still grow by many reasons.
The plan B in climate change prevention is changing opacity of earth atmosphere. It could be surprisingly cheap and local. There are suggestions to put something as simple as sulfuric acid in the upper atmosphere to rise it reflection ability.
"According to Keith’s calculations, if operations were begun in 2020, it would take 25,000 metric tons of sulfuric acid to cut global warming in half after one year. Once under way, the injection of sulfuric acid would proceed continuously. By 2040, 11 or so jets delivering roughly 250,000 metric tons of it each year, at an annual cost of $700 million, would be required to compensate for the increased warming caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide. By 2070, he estimates, the program would need to be injecting a bit more than a million tons per year using a fleet of a hundred aircraft." https://www.technologyreview.com/s/511016/a-cheap-and-easy-plan-to-stop-global-warming/
The problem with that approach is that it can't be stopped. As Seth Baum wrote smaller catastrophe could result in disruption of such engineering and immediate return of global warming with vengeance.
There are other ways to prevent global warming. Plan C is creating artificial nuclear winter by volcanic explossion or starting large scale forest fires with nukes.
There are also ideas to recapture CO2 using genetically modified organisms, iron seeding in ocean and dispersing carbon capturing mineral olivine.
So we are not even closed to be doomed from global warming - but we may have to change the way we react on them. We must agree that cutting emission is not working in next 10-20 years perspective.
Goes straight into the "Shit LW people say" bucket.
I think starting forest fires with flamethrowers, or cooling the Earth by painting things white, is probably the less exciting but more sensible approach.
Frankly, I wouldn't use the word "sensible" anywhere near these approaches :-/
Hang on, wouldn't starting forest fires create more CO2?