Friday, April 25, 2008

Global Warming or the Ozone Hole

In an article posted on lifescience.com they talk about the geoengineering scheme to end global warming by pumping sulfur into the atmosphere. The problem is that this worsen the ozone hole over the arctic and possibly extends the hole to populated areass. Ozone over the Antarctic would not have the same problem because it is gone but it would hinder the redevelopment of the ozone in this area. The article then goes on to say that on the other hand, if the hole over the Antarctic were to completely re-form, the Antarctic would begin to warm because ozone absorbs UV light and would warm the surrounding air.

This study is interesting in that I feel that any geoengineering scheme is completely ludicrous. I really hope that we never come to the point where we are going to try and play god and control the environment. If the earth is warming, we need to adapt like every other animal is trying do and change our habits to reduce our effect on the warming trend. Pumping sulfur into the atmosphere may help lower the temperature of the earth by a degree but what other effects will this have on the earth and on the health of humans? We dont know. No models will be able to tell us. I would rather have the government force me to change my habits than to have a group of scientists try and alter the environment on a large scale. If a volcano explodes and sends a huge plume of sulfur into the atmosphere we deal with it because it is a natural phenomenon. Nobody is to blame if negative consequences emerge from a volcano but if a human causes the consequences, someone is to blame. Can you imagine what the US would do if Russia starts sending plumes of sulfur into the air and American health is endangered? We need to stop doing things that are contributing to the human element of global warming instead engineering the earth to be a perfect place. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, volcanoes, death are all things that are part of life and we cannot and should not try and stop them from happening.

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