Scientist Tim Flannery has proposed a radical solution to climate change which may change the colour of the sky.
But he says it may be necessary, as the “last barrier to climate collapse.”
Professor Flannery says climate change is happening so quickly that mankind may need to pump sulphur into the atmosphere to survive.
National Nine News: Change sky’s colour, proposes Flannery
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Was this fruitcake around in 1970s, I wonder?
This sounds like the sort of looney-tune ideas that were proposed to combat the Global Cooling hysteria back then:
http://www.junkscience.com/apr05/coolingworld.pdf
This must qualify as “Environmentally Responsible Climate Scientology” – recycling nutty ideas.
My immediate reaction to this news item was a sort of fascinated horror;
Does Flannery have any evidence that this would be effective? [This might have no more effect than a medium size volcano, and disperse more quickly]
What effect might very hot sulphur dioxide have on jet turbine blades?
Should the human race embark on this sort of [?] irreversible experiment? I know there is only an astronomically small probability of Flannery not completely understanding the planet’s weather systems, but what might happen if he is wrong?
Tim is a scientist, it’s true. His specialty is prehistoric macropods. His hobby is climatology.
The bloke says we should pump sulphur into the atmosphere to block out sunlight, or cosmic somethings (he and Louis oughta get plasmatic together)
“It’s the last resort that we have, it’s the last barrier to a climate collapse,” Tim quivers with excitement.
“The consequences of doing that are unknown,” admits climate hobbyist Tim.
Uh, Tim, mate, perhaps we might want to do a bit of research before we begin a trillion dollar project the outcome of which is “unknown.”
That’s the problem with Al Gorian catastrophe theory and prophecies of apocalypse, it’s always an excuse to short circuit the normal course of technological evolution and democratic process to arrive at some miracle cure, the outcome of which is “unknown.” But it’s surely better than THE END OF THE WORLD!
Whatever. Personally, I’ve become a bit jaded by the End of The World type prophecies. They always get postponed. Just ask the Southern Baptists, or Club of Rome or Malthus or Paul Ehrlich.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6898/full/nature01013.html
The key feature of humanity that all collectivists routinely discount is innovation.
The key feature that all pseudo-scientific prophets of dooms agree upon is that the cure is super-government to govern the weather. Of course to govern the weather means that everything under the sky must first be rigorously put under the jack boot of bureaucratic punitive regulation.
Oh, I know what the creeps are going to say. Better to act precipitously before the evidence is in, because the cure is painless and good for mama Earth anyway.
Wrong. If we spend a trillion or three fighting a phantom of our own collective media-driven conscious rather than reality based issues, the death tolls in Burma and China are mere child’s play to the end results.
For the last 12 months at least we have had the best weather I have experienced in my life.
On not a few mornings I can see Mt. Mowbullan, 200 kilometers away.
Sky’s blue, rainfall’s average, dams are full, the birds sing, the bees buzz, the katydids caper.
God’s in his heaven.
The Albert gronks the pobble bonks
In random orchestration,
The butterfly that flutter by
Clap in appreciation.
Bugger off Tim you crazy wanker!
This isn’t a story planted by agents provocateurs is it?
From the 1975 article linked by Denialist Scum: “Climatolgists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects.”
Where would we be if the politicians got involved then? Where will we because the politicians are getting involved now?
But, to people who fall for the latest scares, “We have to do something!!! Anything is better than nothing!”
Well, we could sacrifice some virgins to the gods on a temple mount, as that seemed to be the course of action by their predecessors. At least they were doing “something.”
“Bugger off Tim you crazy w*****” ROTFL !!
Mt Mowbullan eh? Well that’s one grid point for the ICBM triangulation.
Leave out mate Tim alone …. hehehehe …
But haven’t we been here before?
http://climatesci.org/2006/12/21/deliberate-global-climate-modification-is-this-a-good-idea/
“Well, we could sacrifice some virgins to the gods on a temple mount…”
Got something like this in mind ?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/JackMercer/globalw.gif
Isn’t that what Chaiten is doing daily?
As the AGW hoax goes into total collapse, the fruitcakes keep coming out of the woodwork. I was recently in NH, and the weather was cold, cold, colder. Not your usual spring days.
I wonder, if the sun doesn’t perk up soon, will winter return in September?
Actually, this could be a good thing; the hidden absurdity and nuttiness of some of the AGW proponents needs to get air so the punters see what they are dealing with; the ABC is doing their bit;
http://www.abc.net.au/science/planetslayer/greenhouse_calc.htm
This one should be real good for impressionable kids; take the test; find out when you should die; just despicable.
One could actually do harm using such an approach too. (as we discussed here August last year)
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2007GL030524.shtml
A recent paper by IPCC lead author Kevin Trenberth and Aiguo Dai:
Effects of Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption on the hydrological cycle as an analog of geoengineering
suggests that there would be adverse effects, including drought, as a result of the use of geoengineering in order to offset greenhouse warming:
Abstract
The problem of global warming arises from the buildup of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels and other human activities that change the composition of the atmosphere and alter outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). One geoengineering solution being proposed is to reduce the incoming sunshine by emulating a volcanic eruption. In between the incoming solar radiation and the OLR is the entire weather and climate system and the hydrological cycle. The precipitation and streamflow records from 1950 to 2004 are examined for the effects of volcanic eruptions from El Chichón in March 1982 and Pinatubo in June 1991, taking into account changes from El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 there was a substantial decrease in precipitation over land and a record decrease in runoff and river discharge into the ocean from October 1991–September 1992. The results suggest that major adverse effects, including drought, could arise from geoengineering solutions.
What Tim Flannery really means is dumping lots of sulphur dioxide up there – he pinched this idea from Professor Paul Crutzen, who has been running around promoting it for quite a while now:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/6369971.stm
Want to know a bit more about sulphur dioxide?
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_dioxide
http://www.airqualityontario.com/science/pollutants/sulphur.cfm
http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/air_quality/Older/Sulphur_Dioxide.html
http://hk.geocities.com/xavier114fch/02/02c.htm
Q. Tim Flannery, do you really want to know how to easily get lots of filthy sulphur dioxide pollution into the air to act as a sunshade?
A. Simple! Build lots of coal fired power plants and burn lots and lots of dirty low grade coal without scrubbing the emissions!
The IPCC discovers Mt Pinatubo! Well saints be praised.
Flannery has that certain doomsday cultist feel about him lately. Bimbolopithicus climatensis wants to make an offering, a big one, to placate the carbon gods.
Lets not forget that this was the clown who wanted to re-establish large carnivores into the Australian landscape to restore his much prized ecological balance as it was prior to any human modification. He didn’t get around to explaining how he was going to keep those large carnivores away from country school bus stops, swimming holes, scout camps and playgrounds but, heck, he’s a big picture man.
Of course, he has now teamed up with the Goreacle. They plan to introduce ManBearPig as their designated large carnivore. Awesome.
Speaking of making an impression on kids, Starbucks has a “Planet Green” game for kiddies, in which you discover ways to save the planet. There are “bonus destinations” to win you more points (carbon credits?).
Be sure to go to the upper left and find the movie theater, where you get to see great shows like “Save the Polar Bear,” in which some people save a polar bear only to be eaten by it. No kidding. Why aren’t we worried about the bi-polar bears?
Another film titled “Higher Power” shows the destruction of NY City by a megastorm, and it comes with the warning that we won’t have time to find “facts” in the year 2050.
There’s nothing like scaring kids to death to advance a cause.
http://www.planetgreengame.com/
Maybe they could give the sky a counter-culture tie-died color pattern. That would be mind-blowing, dude. Mother Earth would approve, I’m sure.
I am sure Tim wants to see a pink sky.
Aw, c’mon. Where you going to find virgins nowadays?
Tim should read Blainey’s Peaks of Lyell again. This classic from Australia’s mining history documents the trials and tribulations at Queenstown in Tasmania where whole mountain ranges became barren and denuded after decades of sulphides roasting.
Doug: I have long memories. My first experience of sulphur fumes was the time our council health inspector burnt the yellow powder in and open fireplace near my cot as I recovered from scarlet fever. He also soaked the room in DDT including all my Aunt’s antiques while we waited in bright sunshine out on the back lawn. Until then everybody on the farm was quarantined.
My little mate form the paper mills followed me out of fitting and machining into instruments. Eventually he became a sort of commander at the new acid plant where they roasted sulphides again railed up from mine tailings dumps built over decades. Vitriol = gas = SO2 then SO3 that was absorbed > H2SO4. Meanwhile I was busy in the campaign to clean up sulphur and other emissions from coal and oil combustion on the mainland. When my mate eventually retired from preaching duties his health had deteriorated so badly he hardly left the house by the beach but the acid plant had long gone. I met the guys who scrapped its rotten shell of a stack after the residents round about said it reminded them of their own demise in the fumes.
There is considerable info about sulphur and its ores on the web and the roasting process are well known in the global context. Tim hasn’t done any homework on this idea of adding sulphur to jet fuel. Simply industry has already taken it out.
http://publicdb.imi.chalmers.se/commdb/scripts/sheet.asp?actid=CPMXFRTOOL1999-04-06879
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid
“Q. Tim Flannery, do you really want to know how to easily get lots of filthy sulphur dioxide pollution into the air to act as a sunshade?
A. Simple! Build lots of coal fired power plants and burn lots and lots of dirty low grade coal without scrubbing the emissions!”
Absolutely !! Do you know how much trouble that would relieve us geos from ?
SO2 would need to get into the high stratosphere to have an effect like Mt. Pinatubo.
Mt Pinatubo ejected 20 million tonnes of SO2 in the last cataclysmic event.
Flim Flan would need an explosion such as Tsar Bomba to emulate Pinatubo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba
Chaiten is ongoing and could yet produce a VE6 explosion. This volcano is at a low latitude so even a stratospheric ejecta plume would take a long time to get to spread world wide. The scientist who studied the last eruption which happened many thousands of years ago discovered that Chaiten emitted a relatively low SO2 level.
Whenever I stray from the path of AGW sceptisim it’s usually Tim who guides me back.
Last I heard, if you pump sulphur into the atmosphere, you get acid rain.
See, “Acid rain”, Environment Agency (UK),
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/yourenv/eff/1190084/pollution/acid_rain/
Although, it *does* appear that acid rain can help combat the horrific onslaught of the menace of the global warming debacle:
“Acid rain limits global warming”, New Scientist,
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6231-acid-rain-limits-global-warming.html
So, if we started burning high-sulfur coal, we could help save the planet, whales, Patagonian toothfish, and spotted owls.
Wes George, ‘His hobby is climatology’
But, but, but… The Canberra Times referred to him yesterday as ‘Australia’s best-known expert on global warming’.
One doesn’t know who to believe.
Well, The Canberra Times, now there’s a towering collective intellect. Big on backroom intrigue, totally lacking in ecological penetration. Or is that the wrong word to use in ACT?
Tim sees himself as the evil genius. Getting us all in a tail spin over his dire predictions and then proposing the great solution.
“Do you expect that this will save us now Tim”? [supplicatingly]
Save you? SAVE YOU? I expect you to DIIEEE!!!
Good old Tim. Aussie of the year. What a guy!
Tim must have another book ready for publication, well this is the cynic in me.
Shame on you, Louis!
Ol’ flim flam must be off his meds. Yes, by all means, Timmy, let’s pollute the atmosphere with S02 to save the planet. Brilliant. Now, take your prozac.
Wasn’t Jim Lovelock among the first to propose a significant role for sulphur in atmospheric chemistry and climate? Something to do with marine algae – er, Polysiphonia fastigiata producing dimethyl sulphide? Also a Japanese scientist called Ishida. Or is my tired old brain confused? Perhaps Tim has been reading up on Gaia.
Flannery’s idea is by no means original see the quote below from
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070418/63856919.html
“Meanwhile, way back in 1974 Russian scientist Mikhail Budyko came up with an idea that may resolve the global warming problem in several years. The gist is to change the “meteorological sun constant” by introducing into the lower stratosphere (at an altitude of 12km-16km) fine dispersed aerosols of sulfuric acid, for instance. This will decrease solar radiation on the Earth’s surface and reduce the temperature in the troposphere by the required number of degrees.
This is an instrument of climate change.”
One problem is of course that there doesn’t seem to be agreement on the relative warming/cooling of aerosols
The RAI site has posted several climate change items over the last couple of years that refelect a much more relaxed and pragmatic Russian persepective without media hype.
Unfortunately their search engine is not working, but using the the calendar and the Contents list look in
Russia 15/01/2007
Online News 30/03/2005
Science & Technology 31/03/2008
Russia 08/09/2007
to find relevant articles.