Photo: AFP Image
While some sit idly by, not sold on the idea of climate change, others are preparing for ‘out-of-this-world’ strategies to combat global warming. And we don’t mean Copenhagen, 2009.
While skeptics question whether climate change is fact or fiction, or deny human interference as the main cause, others do not need scientific statistics to convince them of environmental changes.
For example, in Tuvalu, a group of islands only four meters above sea level, the fact that the sea is rising is a daily reality. Many occupants have had to leave their homes, and their crops have been killed by floods of salt water.
In the far north of North America, melting ice and rising temperatures have made the traditional lifestyle of indigenous peoples impossible.
Politicians in the Maldives recently held an underwater meeting to stress the dangers they face as the lowest-lying nation on earth. Cabinet duties that day involved donning scuba gear and convening on the floor of the Indian Ocean to sign a document calling for a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Though not even a major culprit in carbon dioxide emissions, the vice-president compared the problem to a boat with many holes in it; it matters not who put them there, all must work to patch them or all go down together.
Many experts believe that change must encompass two aspects of society: technological and behavioral. As old habits die hard, behavioral changes may not come quickly enough or be powerful enough to halt the climate crisis. Working against such a shift in the mainstream are the factors of apathy, ignorance, greed, a struggle for wealth in developing lands, as well as the desire to maintain a high-energy consumption lifestyle in the developed world.
In the direst scenarios, business-as-usual could result in low-lying areas on earth completely disappearing, while storms intensify along with floods, droughts, fires, mudslides, and crop destruction. Glaciers that provide fresh water to river systems could vanish, disease could spread farther abroad, and thousands of animal species could become endangered or extinct.
In light of these predictions, a wide array of measures has been suggested such as mandatory limits on fossil-fuel emissions, taxation penalties, more nuclear power generation, and new, eco-friendly technologies.
But, as brought to light by a recent episode of CBC’s The Current, guest-hosted by David Suzuki himself, some feel it’s time for the Hail Marys of climate action. What exactly does this involve? Several geo-engineering ideas are on the table and are being mulled over by scientists.
To help reduce the effects of intense sunlight, giant mirrors in space to reflect heat have been proposed. What about the idea of imitating a volcano by pumping materials into the atmosphere, since studies show that the earth cools after volcanic activity? This too is being considered. Or, there’s the possibility of whitening the clouds by spraying a fine mist of salt water into the atmosphere, enabling them to reflect more sunlight into space. Sounds incredulous, yet some experts say it’s now looking feasible. In fact, these measures wouldn’t be too expensive compared with the global or U.S. economy, and could easily be carried out by a single political entity.
Then there’s carbon removal options, either biological by using plants such as algae that engage in photosynthesis and sequester carbon, or by setting up industrialized facilities that pull CO2 out of the atmosphere and then sequester it underground.
What could possibly go wrong with these urgent and drastic measures?
For one thing, if people perceive them to be a viable solution to climate change, they could become an excuse to let fossil fuel consumption go on unhindered, setting in motion further catastrophic changes and creating a domino effect that cannot be reversed.
The most worrisome aspect, though, is that we do not know the consequences of these actions. And don’t look to the experts-neither do they. They do know, however, that the earth’s systems are extremely complicated and that when humans interfere, unanticipated problems occur. It seems preposterous that the technologies of man, known for shortsightedness (think DDT’s, CFC’s) could solve the climate problem. The so-called solutions could be fraught with side effects.
Imitating a volcano, while causing a cooling effect, could disrupt water levels and rivers, causing famine to occur in some places. Algae used for capturing carbon would eventually die, and could create dead zones in oceans. And, sequestering carbon and storing it deep beneath the earth’s surface would no doubt have an impact on microbial communities that scientists have found existing up to four kilometers underground.
While they do face grave risks, some experts agree that an element of doubt is not justification for doing nothing. It’s a case of, ‘do we accept the devil we know, or the devil we don’t know?’
Maybe you’re getting your jaw off the floor after being shocked at the mess we’ve made and the unnatural measures we have to go to in fixing things, resembling some science-fiction movie. Or perhaps you’re marveling at human ingenuity and our MacGyvering abilities. Whatever the case, the question remains: Are these last-resort attempts, or Hail Marys, likely to succeed? Even the experts agree that no one knows. One thing is certain: this calls for a huddle and a little more strategy before launching that final pass towards the end zone in a last-ditch attempt at victory.
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“In the far north of North America, melting ice and rising temperatures have made the traditional lifestyle of indigenous peoples impossible.”
What the hell? About 20,000 years ago their range was all the way down below the 48th parallel. Once climate change began, the ice receded to where it is today. This required 20,000 years of climate change, including many periods where the ice began to grow again but then stopped, and it continues to recede to this day. Beneath this ice 20,000 years ago, the land was all permafrost. It too began thawing and melting back, heading northward chasing the receding ice. This has been going on since the end of the last glaciation. There is no way to distinguish continuous natural glacial and permafrost melting from anything humans might be be responsible for. Melting ice and rising temperatures over the past 20,000 years are exactly what has made the traditional lifestyle of indigenous peoples not only possible but unbelievable.
Studies have found that Aboriginal people, those who live in the North whose livelihood rely on the land, water and other natural resources, are more affected by climate change.
Though they have centuries of experience adapting to the climate, their ‘traditional’ lifestyles have been most affected by recent changes. Seasonal weather patterns are not predictable anymore and caribou sightings are becoming a rare event – even to the point of not getting anything all winter.
So as temperatures rise in the Arctic and the ability to procure traditional foods becomes more difficult their “traditional” lifestyles will eventually become a thing of the past.