The engineering challanges of living with global warming 9

[sms]

Rather than continuing to hijack the thread on Saudi oil, I thought I would start a new thread...

Drillernic said in the Saudi Oil thread:

“However if anthropogenic global warming is fact, it may be too late to do anything about it when the arguments have finished, so perhaps the wisest course of action is to do something about CO2 emissions just in case?”

If my (perhaps pessimistic) friend moltenmetal is correct, then messing with CO2 emissions is a waste of time and effort. Perhaps we ought to take on the engineering challange to begin adapting human civilization to higher global temperatures, beginning by:

Start relocating pacific islanders.

Stop all development of the Florida peninsula

Start development of a New Orleans style water handling systems for London, New York, and other major cities…

Start relocating New Orleans inland.

Further development of drought resistant crops.

Although as certain parts of the globe become unlivable, migration will happen naturally.

What other engineering problems and solutions do you see as a result of adapting human civilization to higher global temperatures?



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[hydromech]

Lets start with designing a new planet.

This one was not designed to have 6.5 billion people living on it...we need something bigger.

Multi level...with climate control.

Alternatively, several thousand smaller versions of earth with high speed transportation between them...no actually scrub the transport links.

 

[BJC]

hydromesch.
Slardy Bartfast - one of the great engineers of all time. Where is he when you need him?

 

[prohammy]

BJC,

Off designing fjords for someone who can afford his talents......something tells me that he would be well out of the price range of this planet

Kevin Hammond

Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK

 

[Grubbyky]

Is it wrong to be excited about the prospect of the new, large, exciting projects addressed by sms?

I recall reading that in the not-so-distant future, that the oceans will be pretty well fished out. Global warming can provide new habitat for these fish and maybe save seafood.

 

[GregLocock]

If we use all the fish up then they'll stop eating the algae, which will take over the sea, and as it grows it absorbs CO2 from the sea, which absorbs it from the air. When the algae dies it falls to the seabed and becomes calcium carbonate, sequestering the CO2.

Therefore to reduce global warming (if it exists) we should eat more fish, just like your mom said.



Cheers

Greg Locock

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[TheTick]

It won't matter what the engineers and scientists do or say. The politicians will booger it up, anyhow.

The one thing that global warming has shown is that hard science has no place in politics. If something can't be warped into a catchy and nearly-true soundbite, it won't become policy. The public is not able to comprehend the issues in a meaningful way, and he politicians will make decisions along those lines.

 

[JAE]

"The one thing that global warming has shown is

that hard science has no place in politics."

....and that politics has no place in hard science.

 

[corus]

Given that underground temperatures stay roughly constant it may be wise to build underground or undersea cities to escape the higher on-land temperatures. Undersea cities would be the better option though as you could just then pop out and grab yourself a fish for tea, and thus help reduce global warming. Being undersea and not being confined to driving on one fixed plane would also help reduce traffic congestion in this new aqua-topia. It has potential.

corus

 

[sms]

Corus outlines an interesting solution...

My whole point is that when global warming alarmists like Al Gore talk about the subject, the implication is that this is the end of mankind, we're all gonna die!!! The truth is that regardless of cause or effect, human kind will adapt.

The latest one is that the bees are disappearing (theoretically due to cell phone usage). Since the bees will not be there to pollinate the crops, this will result in food shortages, and we're all gonna die!!

But even if the bee's are gone, I suspect that engineers will come up with a solution to the pollination problem and food will continue to be readily availble...


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[TheTick]

... it may be wise to build underground or undersea cities to escape the higher on-land temperatures.

I saw the movie Dr. Strangelove on cable this morning. Interesting parallel...

 

[electricpete]

Yup. When Mom told us kids not to play with matches she didn't know what she was talking about. New houses can be built, so why worry about matches?

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[davefitz]

sms:

well, we are all gonna die- nobody gets out of this place alive.

Also, the bees will be back, just as soon as they are done making their cell phone calls to the other bees.

 

[sms]

Sorry Pete, I don't see that as a valid analogy. It would be closer if no one knew that house could be burnt down, because no one had ever played with matches before. Then when the house caught on fire it went up so fast there was nothing that could be done about it.

At that point the only choice is to relocate or build a new house.

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[MadMango]

The problems of shifting climates is more of an economics (investment, supply and demand) problem, not an engineering one. The solutions are there, no one wants to bother with the ecomonic burdens.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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[electricpete]

There is no guarantee that a child playing with matches will burn down the house,just like there is no proof-positive guarantee that our present emissions practices will significantly affect the climate.

But a lack of proof positive is a lot different than suggesting no-one knew it could...

http://www.ipcc.ch/

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[electricpete]

But mine was a poor analogy from the standpoint that a kid playing with matches serves no useful purpose (unless he's going to grow up to be an scientist who invents some new combustion process). In contrast, the burning of fossil fuels does meet a need.

I like hydromech's idea. All we have to do is figure out how to build a new planet. I think it should have individual climate control for each person, just like the new cars have. And most importantly, no brussel sprouts on the new planet.

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[ScottyUK]

Or sweetcorn. Definitely no sweetcorn!


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Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

 

[sms]

Pete,

I guess what I was getting is that when Henry Ford put the auto into production, or when the industrial age began and factories started belching out smoke, they probably figured out pretty quickly that pollution could be a localized problem, but no one knew that it could cause climate change. The solution to pollution is dilution was the idea, and so smoke in the air could not be a problem because it was diluted.

If it had been apparent back in the late 1800s that CO2 emissions would be a problem I think that industrial development may well have evolved differently.


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[zdas04]

I like the premise of this thread--it looks like the planet is heating up, what are the engineering options to maintain current increases in real quality of life. I'm just about convinced that the planet is heating up in the short term, I'm not even slightly convinced that people have anything to do with the change.

Maybe enough gloom and doom in the "catchy and mostly true soundbytes" would fund a space program to spread the human race through the galaxy a la Heinlein or Asimov. It won't help the population pressure on Earth since folks will breed faster than you can build ships, but it certainly creates a boom time for engineers.

David