Cure Global Warming With Lots Of New Trees?

Global Warming is caused by an excess of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, right? Gases like Carbon Dioxide... Which we humans breathe out, and trees and plants breathe in. Then the plants produce oxygen, which we breathe in, etc., etc., etc.

And a few years ago, lots of people were up in arms complaining about the destruction of rainforests.

So if we've got too much C02, why not just plant a huge group of trees? Tons of trees. Tons and tons and tons of trees! Then they'd automatically be able to suck in all that C02, right? And we could go right on polluting until oil runs out...

Electric Cars Are Like Toys

I recently watched a few segments of a show about very fast electric cars, which are hyped to be predecessors to cars of the future. One of them stood out because of how it reacts to stop lights. As soon as the light turns green, the driver puts his foot on the gas pedal (or in this case, the power pedal?), and the car immediately takes off. It's like there's no friction, no warm-up needed, just pure "GO!"

So, needless to say, the driver leaves everybody in the dust after every stop light. Cool, but not that necessary, unless you use that advantage to perpetually skip ahead to the next group of cars. Otherwise what's the point when the people you "left behind" catch up to you at the next red light?

Hoover Dam Has The Energy Answer

Recently I mentioned how underwater turbines seem like a good idea. Yesterday I watched "Life After People," and it presented the likely scenarios of how things will fall apart if humanity suddenly disappears. It said the gas-powered electricity-producing facilities would shut down in a matter of hours, nuclear power plants would automatically shut down pretty soon as well, and wind turbines would grind to a halt when no longer kept well-oiled. However, the power-producing Hoover Dam is supposed to last for a couple of years (maybe more) on its own, with no maintenance.

So obviously there's plenty of power in nature, especially in bodies of water moving around. If we could harness that in a major way, we'd be well off!

US Sunlight Provides 100,000 Times As Much Energy As We Need

I saw something on TV recently that caught my eye. It said that scientists have calculated that the U.S. on average receives 10^25 units of sunlight energy per year. We only consume 10^20 units per year of energy from various sources.

This means that if we could perfect solar technology, we'd be set for years and years!

Although I did wonder, are trees and plants taken into account? I mean, if we harnessed all the energy we needed, would there be enough leftover to maintain the ecosystem? I think there would, given that if we did our job perfectly, and harnessed exactly 10^20 units, there's still be 99.999% of the total energy left, right?

Underwater Turbines

I recently read that off the coast of Florida tons of water rushes by in a strong, smooth current, never pausing, never stopping. This energy can be harnessed with turbines, and would equate to 10 nuclear power stations, capable of supplying power to (I believe) 1/3 of Florida. What if we did that all over every continental coastline? What if we installed turbines throughout the majority of the ocean? We'd have tons of free, clean energy!

It seems like every couple of months, a new energy option is revealed. I'm starting to think we are fully capable with current technology of detaching from oil permanently. Let's hope we do it in time.

Another Solution To Global Warming: We Leave

It would seem pretty lame if humanity refused to clean up its technological act, and became similar to the locust-like creatures in "Independence Day." If we were to ditch our problem planet and just pick up and go to Mars, what would happen? First we'd terraform, and then after a couple of hundred years of industrialization, we might decide to bail again.

I've heard that it's possible that in order for the human race to survive planetary disaster, we must have outposts on other planetary bodies. I'd like to see us develop clean fuels simultaneously.

Methane To Mars

I saw a link on Yahoo recently to an article or video news unit about how we might go about putting human outposts on the moon and Mars. They said one option for terraforming Mars would be to add a bunch of methane gas to its atmosphere, giving it a much-needed greenhouse effect, which would warm things up to the point at which life would be sustainable.

Another thing that was mentioned was that if we were "ambitious," we might detonate nuclear weapons at the ice cap to generate liquid water.

But here's the thing. If we've got too much greenhouse gas, and Mars doesn't have enough, let's send our leftovers to Mars! Two birds with one stone...

Age Of Nuclear Power = Age Of Homer Simpsons?

When I heard that nuclear power was making a comeback, I figured there'd be a bustling new industry created virtually overnight. Left and right, guys with the experience and training would be hired into cushy nuclear power plant jobs. Suddenly, there'd be a knowledge vacuum, and training programs would pop up everywhere.

But could a guy get hired right out of college and enroll in a nuclear power plant company training program? Maybe. Homer Simpson, in real life.

Will Aliens Fix The Environment?

Most of my posts here have been somewhat based on things that are for the most part known to be true, or at least highly plausible. However, occasionally I'll make a post mentioning some "out there" theory. This is one of those posts.

There's a site called RealSuperPowers.com, and it's mostly about how there are real super-human abilities that some people have managed to be born with or tap into. Like being able to remotely sense a family member's emotions.

Anyway, on one rare page in the site, someone mentions how they had dreams (or maybe real experiences) that involved communicating with aliens. During the final meeting between this person and the "visitors," this person learned that "the Earth is dying due to the use of Toxic Waste and Nuclear weapons."

If you just take one moment to evaluate this idea and assume that it really was "spoken" by an alien, what could it mean? Are aliens going to fix the planet? Clean things up? Watch it decay? Take us all to Earth 2?

During the U.S.'s best years, it acted as a benevolent Super Power, and bailed out ailing countries. Might an Alien Nation do the same for Earth?

Disposing Fluorescent Light Bulbs (With Mercury)

A couple of months ago I was looking all over the internet for the local means by which I could recycle or properly dispose of a fluorescent light bulb. It was surprisingly not a straightforward process, in that the information I did find seemed geared toward a company or industrial organization. All this while we'd been marketed to by giant forces about procuring and using the light bulbs of the future, but no one had told us what to do when they burn out.

Well finally today there appeared in the newspaper an article with information addressing my concern after the fact. Hopefully similar information will appear at the local level everywhere else.

Coal As A “New” Fuel

I heard somewhere, some political setting on television, that coal would be great once we’ve developed the technology to harness the wastes emitted from its use. I didn’t think much of coal, because of all the old stories about England being covered in coal dust. The image isn’t very clean.

Anyway, the other day I saw a commercial basically saying, “Coal: It’s making a comeback!” It was like a “Got Milk?” commercial, where a widely known and accepted commodity is supported, with no brand name being mentioned. Hopefully we can develop the technology to catch all the pollution thrown up into the air by the use of coal. Then we’d be in a pretty good spot!