Environmental Innovation: Reflecting On Reflecting
A lot of people are drawn to far-fetched technological ideas: cold fusion, floating cars, that sort of thing. The crazy people (a/k/a future geniuses) who devote their lives to develop these kinds of marvels almost never succeed, but they often come up with other innovations that push us forward. For example, John Pemerton, looking for a cure for headaches, invented Coke (well, not always forward). So it is with climate change innovations.
One fairly simple idea to address global warming is to reflect the sun's rays back into the atmoshere, otherwise known as solar radiation management, one aspect of geoengineering. As your third grade science teacher would tell you, this will help prevent the mass (the land, or ocean, or building) from heating up. But to affect global warming, it needs to be done on a large scale, and that presents risks.
The extreme of this theory is a relector in space that could reduce the amount of sunlight getting to the earth -- great idea, impossible (at the present time) to execute. So how do you reduce that concept to a more workable proposal that presents less risk? There have been two recent attempts that are worth noting.
PAINT OVER THE PROBLEM
A Peruvian inventor, attempting to save a rapidly melting glacier, came up with a simple solution -- paint the rocks around the glacier white. The white rocks will reflect more of the sun's rays and will reduce the temperature of the surounding land which will, in turn, reduce melting of the glacier. The painting has begun and only time will tell if it will succeed.
COVER IT UP
Another example, based in the I-should-have-thought-of-that school, is being used to slow the rate of snow melt in the mountains of Northern Italy. A giant, white blanket is put on top of the snow to reflect the sun's rays. If the sun's rays can't reach the snow, the snow won't melt. It's simple, efficient and can be done by a handfull of dedicated people.
I point these out because these are the type of climate change solutions that should appeal to almost everyone. A majority of people currently believe that climate change is ocurring. The fight comes over whether the change is man-made or natural and whether the huge expense of finding a solution is necessary or appropriate. These recent examples avoid these arguments. The solutions don't attempt to trap or eliminate man-made CO2 or reduce green-house gas emissions. They don't point the finger at man or nature. They don't even ask anyone to alter their life style or to save electricity. They do their job quietly, apolitically and efficiently and ask nothing in return. If they work (which should be easy to verify in fairly short order), they can be expanded upon. It's one of those small steps that can lead to great things. That, to me, is innovation.
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