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Climate Change: Not Just CO2

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Helios223

Helios223

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Proper research means reading papers yourself - not reading whatever a news source tells you to think about them. If you can even call that ridiculously right-wing website 'news', that is.

It is easy for skeptic blogs and such to pull the odd figure out of the literature, and take it completely out of context. The blog Watts Up With That does this on a regular basis for example.

The only way to get the complete picture is to read the literature yourself. News is not peer-reviewed and they can basically get away with any form of deception they like. Journals, on the other hand, can not.

Anyway *once again*, do you have anything to say regarding the actual *topic* of this thread.

*Hélios~

06-Mar-2011 22:10:56 - Last edited on 06-Mar-2011 22:12:15 by Helios223

Mini Reddish

Mini Reddish

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To be honest, regardless of whether Climate change exists or not. (For which I believe it does) The research and study involved in how the system works, and on how it can be modified is a valuble tactic. Look at the uninhabitable land spaces on Earth, and if there are ways to simulate an artificial climate that's relatively cheap to maintain and has no/little ill effects on the global ecosystem, then it'll be worth it.

I was reading a recent news article, which mentioned about the toxicity of certain chemicals, which although most don't make it to commercial consumers, there was mention of "endocrine disruptors" which may have unknown effects on society. Thus reeling in a call for tighter control and study on the effects of these chemicals.
Iminngernaveersaartun*gortussaavunga

06-Mar-2011 23:01:05

Summant Else
May Member 2006

Summant Else

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But Helios, the Romans *are* fake! They're just a scam made up by historians so they can get money to fund the "research" they do on them. I found it on an internet blog, so it must be true. Plus, hillforts were thought to be of Roman origin, but have found to be not, yet more evidence that goes against the scam of the Romans existing.

06-Mar-2011 23:01:31

Helios223

Helios223

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We do need to be careful with any geoengineering we might do in the future. While it would be useful to get inhabitable areas suitable for cultivation and such, we cannot get it wrong as it could be disasterous. Plus we have to ask ourselves who gets the right to do this? It is a bit of an ethical dilemma in some ways.

~Hélios~

07-Mar-2011 13:57:19

Mini Reddish

Mini Reddish

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True, I would think small scale studies would be thoroughly done. Even in theory, if there is a planet out there which is near suitable for life, research conducted on Earth, could prove vital in the 'terraforming' of said planets. Only really a hypothetical situation, since there's usually either a time, or money constraint which would probably stop it. Iminngernaveersaartun*gortussaavunga

07-Mar-2011 23:20:57

Helios223

Helios223

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The thing is... We only have one Earth. :P It is fine creating models and testing them. We can even sink billions upon billions into gigantic simulations and if they completely blow up, it'll be a huge loss but all that would happen is a few companies would go out of business.

On the other hand if we did manage to get this geoengineering wrong, that's it. There is no backup Earth to fall back on.

In the very long-term we might well need to learn how to terraform. But hopefully by then, technology will be sufficiently advanced to make this more accurate. However for the next few hundred years, we need to worry about climate change.

I still think that geoengineering is just attempting to stick a plaster over an open wound. We need to fix the problem itself rather than just offsetting our current way of doing things.

~Hélios~

07-Mar-2011 23:30:37

N Y J

N Y J

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Oooh, let's all "Go Green" everyone. It is very real, lets take Windmills and Electric cars for example.


Windmills. What if theres no WIND? You would beed to put FUEL in it to keep it spinning.

Cars. What if you run out and can't charge your car? You'll have all that FUEL in your trunk to put 20 gallons in it.

07-Mar-2011 23:37:06

Helios223

Helios223

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I agree, to be honest.

Personally I do not like the idea of windmills. They are just far too energy-intensive to create and, as you say, depend on there actually being wind. Not to mention they are rather ugly and dangerous for aircraft.

As for electric cars, they are nothing more than a temporary placeholder while the technology behind hydrogen-powered cars is created (along with a decent infrastructure to support them). Electric cars need electricity to run, and that kind of defeats much of the point.

The crux of all this is that we need to get fusion sorted as a power source. Never mind fiddling around with windmills and all that.

~Hélios~

07-Mar-2011 23:40:14 - Last edited on 07-Mar-2011 23:43:55 by Helios223

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