DarrinS
09-13-2008, 08:33 AM
Has anyone seen this show on The Discovery Channel?
The show bills itself as “eight crazy experiments bold enough to change the world”. The experiments are ways to reduce or reverse the effects of global warming.
Without getting into why I don't see global warming as a serious issue, at least not in the catastrophic sense, I'd like to point out the amazingly stupid experiments this show is conducting. (I've only seen two so far)
One of their experiments was to create more clouds to reflect the sun's rays. Theoretically, a 10% increase in cloud cover would reduce temperatures to pre-industrial levels. They showed a computer simulation of a fleet of automated ships, off the coast of Africa, spraying atomized sea water into the air to create clouds. In one experiment, a team rigged 300 salt flares to a boat and fired them simultaneously. They wanted to show that the tiny salt particles, when airborne, could "seed" a small cloud. Looks like it worked, but is it really a good idea to create more clouds? Just ask people along the Gulf Coast. And water vapor accounts for 60-70% of the greenhouse effect. Very stupid idea, IMO.
Another of their "great ideas" is to reflect part of the sunlight that reaches Earth by launching billions of refractive lenses into space. First off, isn't launching a bunch of debris into space a bad idea? Let's ask the folks at NASA what they think about that. And isn't the sun a major energy source for the Earth? What do solar energy advocates think about this?
The show bills itself as “eight crazy experiments bold enough to change the world”. The experiments are ways to reduce or reverse the effects of global warming.
Without getting into why I don't see global warming as a serious issue, at least not in the catastrophic sense, I'd like to point out the amazingly stupid experiments this show is conducting. (I've only seen two so far)
One of their experiments was to create more clouds to reflect the sun's rays. Theoretically, a 10% increase in cloud cover would reduce temperatures to pre-industrial levels. They showed a computer simulation of a fleet of automated ships, off the coast of Africa, spraying atomized sea water into the air to create clouds. In one experiment, a team rigged 300 salt flares to a boat and fired them simultaneously. They wanted to show that the tiny salt particles, when airborne, could "seed" a small cloud. Looks like it worked, but is it really a good idea to create more clouds? Just ask people along the Gulf Coast. And water vapor accounts for 60-70% of the greenhouse effect. Very stupid idea, IMO.
Another of their "great ideas" is to reflect part of the sunlight that reaches Earth by launching billions of refractive lenses into space. First off, isn't launching a bunch of debris into space a bad idea? Let's ask the folks at NASA what they think about that. And isn't the sun a major energy source for the Earth? What do solar energy advocates think about this?