but it was snowing in JohannesbergadirielSeptember 7 2006, 18:19:47 UTC
I know there should be some concern, and I work in the energy sector, surveying the cost and quality of fuels used to preserve our companies presence in the energy grid, which is pretty prominent, and maintaining a operational cost vs. provision expense vs. captial gain gap analysis
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Re: but it was snowing in JohannesbergadirielSeptember 7 2006, 18:25:42 UTC
I simply can not *find* any conclusive evidence we could control this (now) if we tried, without that control being a catalyst for other potential changes of equal magnitude.
Re: but it was snowing in Johannesbergbaal_kriahSeptember 7 2006, 18:35:59 UTC
Oh, I don't suggest that we can control this now; I believe that we are past that point. If we bend every effort to cut emissions from our present system we still won't stop catastrophic warming. No, what we should be doing is the equivalent of several Manhattan Projects directed at the following goals: energy technology that doesn't produce emissions (for the long term), efficient energy storage that would allow current renewable technologies to supply our current needs. In practical terms that probably means developing a cheap and practical high-temperature superconductor, though that may not be possible, so a lot of other approaches should be assessed and invested in as well. One thing that could be done immediately without much initial outlay would be a huge prize ($10 billion?) offered for meeting a list of specs for a practical high-t superconductor. The money could sit there generating interest until when and if it's won.
It is not unreasonable to think that the carbon fixing lifeforms of the earth will balance out the CO2 released from permafrost.
No one has demonstrated any actual mechanism for that to happen though anything can be suggested as hypothetically possible. James Lovelock, who came up with the Gaia hypothesis that the earth's biosphere is a largely self-correcting feedback system, is so concerned about global climate change that he wants us to develop more fission power. He apparently doesn't see any viable chance of carbon fixing lifeforms balancing out our emissions while we're still around to emit them.
Are there methane fixing lifeforms ?
There are such bacteria, which are being closely investigated for biotechnological potential, but there is not even the slightest indication that they are a short term way out of the climate problem. If there were such an indication you can be sure the pro-do-nothings would be trumpeting it.
FWIW, I don't see the value of ever being "scared".Then you are clearly not an evolutionary biologist.
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My brother has an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. He's been a researcher working on vaccines/preventives for a number of diseases (mostly sleeping sickness and East African tick fever), a professor of immunology, and a technical expert for the FDA. Currently, he is at the NIH, overseeing an AIDS vaccine research budget of over a quarter billion dollars. For years he's been telling me that, though the danger from new diseases is real, we are far more vulnerable to the resurgence of long-established diseases that adapt to our treatments. One intriguing area of research is with genetically-engineered phages that will literally eat the infectious agent. There are viruses that consume bacteria, and bacteria that live on viruses, so it's hypothetically possible. When someone gets a plague, we treat with the appropriate counterplague, and the ability to genetically modify them allows us to adapt whenever the infectious agents start adapting.
Bacteriophages...daughterofgaeaSeptember 9 2006, 05:56:35 UTC
Very fascinating! We will 'play' with them in my microbiology lab this semester. I will tell you all, if you are interested. The fact that they can be genetically engineered in a lab is the most intriguing part, for me....
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Are there methane fixing lifeforms ?
FWIW, I don't see the value of ever being "scared".
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No one has demonstrated any actual mechanism for that to happen though anything can be suggested as hypothetically possible. James Lovelock, who came up with the Gaia hypothesis that the earth's biosphere is a largely self-correcting feedback system, is so concerned about global climate change that he wants us to develop more fission power. He apparently doesn't see any viable chance of carbon fixing lifeforms balancing out our emissions while we're still around to emit them.
Are there methane fixing lifeforms ?
There are such bacteria, which are being closely investigated for biotechnological potential, but there is not even the slightest indication that they are a short term way out of the climate problem. If there were such an indication you can be sure the pro-do-nothings would be trumpeting it.
FWIW, I don't see the value of ever being "scared".Then you are clearly not an evolutionary biologist. ( ... )
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Someone once told me that Fear is what keeps mountain climbers alive.
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The fact that they can be genetically engineered in a lab is the most intriguing part, for me....
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