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0 pointskaraterobot5y ago0 comments

This is in no way to disagree with your overall point, but marine cloud brightening looks like it might be a fairly cost-effective solution to climate change. It's unproven, but not an insane gamble either, and it has little risk of second-order consequences if it doesn't work. All that at a cost of single-digit billions per year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_cloud_brightening#Costs

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8 comments · 2 top-level

runarberg5y ago· 4 in thread

We have many proven solutions to the climate disaster, including, carbon tax, renewable energy, cleaner and more efficient infrastructure, telecommuting, international agreements, etc.

Going after a single unproven solution (yes this includes non-existing types of nuclear energy too) is just magic at this point and it doesn’t work.

karaterobotOP5y ago

I wouldn't say those approaches have turned out to be sufficient by themselves, so far. Why not keep improving them, and try additional measures with some hope of success and little risk?

runarberg5y ago

All of these solutions have been deployed on small scales and are proven to work. However they always stop short of implementing on the scale required for the problem. International agreements in particular worked really well to stop the destruction of the ozone layer. However they have never agreed on enough carbon emission reduction for any significant reduction in climate harm.

Dylan168075y ago

All of those reduce emissions but they don't stop them and they don't do anything about the existing already-too-high levels.

selectodude5y ago

We have methods of removing carbon out of the atmosphere. They all have the same thing in common, they require a whole lot of electricity. We have something in our back pockets that can generate a whole lot of electricity without any additional carbon...

Forbo5y ago· 2 in thread

It seems to me to make more sense combating the problem at the source. This just seems to add more complexity to the problem. Did anyone else think of Snowpiercer when they saw this?

dylan6045y ago

Not from seeing Snowpiercer, but from everytime I hear some other crazy science scheme. It's like the pharma industry creating ways of dealing with symptoms rather than the cause of the symptoms. It's the ultimate Old Lady Swallowed a Fly.

virtue35y ago

I think we can look to austrailia for many many many examples where we thought something would work out when we fucked with nature on a large scale without really studying it.

IE. Canetoads.

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