you can see the slowdown in the 80s in the mauna loa record
On Oct 8, 5:29 am, "Alvia Gaskill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I don't think so. Economic activity isn't going to stop. This isn't the
> 1930's. Yet. People will still be driving, heating their homes and
> factories will still be operating. If anything, the collapse of the Monopoly
> Game Ponzi scheme formerly known as Wall Street will hamper efforts to reign
> in emissions. And that's something else we can't afford.
>
> http://news.stv.tv/environment/32969-economic-woes-may-give-planet-a-...
>
> Economic woes may give planet a breather
> NICOSIA (Reuters) - A slowdown in the world economy may give the planet a
> breather from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions responsible
> for climate change, a Nobel Prize winning scientist said on Tuesday.
> Atmospheric scientist Paul J Crutzen, who has in the past floated the
> possibility of blitzing the stratosphere with sulfur particles to cool the
> earth, said clouds gathering over the world economy could ease the Earth's
> environmental burden.
>
> 07 October 2008 16:28 PM
>
> a.. Read 6 times
> b.. Jump to video
>
> By Michele Kambas
>
> NICOSIA (Reuters) - A slowdown in the world economy may give the planet a
> breather from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions responsible
> for climate change, a Nobel Prize winning scientist said on Tuesday.
>
> Atmospheric scientist Paul J Crutzen, who has in the past floated the
> possibility of blitzing the stratosphere with sulfur particles to cool the
> earth, said clouds gathering over the world economy could ease the earth's
> environmental burden.
>
> Slower economic growth worldwide could help slow growth of carbon dioxide
> emissions and trigger more careful use of energy resources, though the global
> economic turmoil may also divert focus from efforts to counter climate
> change, said Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his
> work on the depletion of the ozone layer.
>
> "It's a cruel thing to say ... but if we are looking at a slowdown in the
> economy, there will be less fossil fuels burning, so for the climate it could
> be an advantage," Crutzen told Reuters in an interview.
>
> "We could have a much slower increase of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere ...
> people will start saving (on energy use) ... but things may get worse if
> there is less money available for research and that would be serious."
>
> CO2 emissions, released by the burning of fossil fuels in power stations,
> factories, homes and vehicles, are growing at almost 3.0 percent a year.
>
> The U.N. Panel on Climate Change estimates that world temperatures may rise
> by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius (3.2-7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) this
> century. The Group of Eight industrial nations agreed in July to a goal of
> halving world emissions by 2050.
>
> Crutzen was in Cyprus for a lecture organized by the Cyprus Institute, a
> research foundation.
>
> He caused a stir with the publication of a paper in 2006 suggesting that
> injecting the common pollutant sulfur into the stratosphere some 10 miles
> above the earth could snuff out the greenhouse effect.
>
> He believes that dispersing 1 million tons of sulfur into the stratosphere
> each year, either on balloons or in rockets, would deflect sunlight and cool
> the planet.
>
> Scientists observed that world temperatures dropped by 0.5 degrees centigrade
> on average when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in 1991, spewing
> sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, and Crutzen said the idea originated with
> a Russian scientist about 30 years ago.
>
> "I am not saying we should do it, but it is one of the options if we continue
> under present conditions. We should study it," he said. "If you look beyond a
> decade, two decades, and nothing has been done (to counter warming) then we
> will have a very serious problem on our hands."
>
> Sulfur is a component of acid rain, which has harmful effects on plants and
> fish.
>
> "Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide emissions from the ground, from the
> chimneys, and it's 50 million tons per year. The experiment in the
> stratosphere would be one million tons of sulfur per year. It's negligible,"
> he said.
>
> It would be an extreme endeavor, but for extreme circumstances, he said.
>
> In a 2007 report, the U.N. climate change panel said such geo-engineering
> options were largely speculative and unproven, with the risk of unknown side
> effects. Reliable cost estimates had not been published, it said.
>
> "The price is not a major factor... it's peanuts," said Crutzen. "The cost
> has been estimated by some at 10, 20 million U.S. dollars a year."
>
> (Editing by Kevin Liffey)
>
> 32969-economic-woes-may-give-planet-a-breather-200.jpg
> 17KViewDownload
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