The Yins and Yangs of saving the planet (and us).

[Workingman]

The Yin. (one of)

There are plans for huge Sargassum seaweed farms floating in the sub-tropical gyres in the oceans. Gyres are like giant whirlpools from which floating debris finds it hard to escape. The plan is that they will soak up CO2 and then sink to the bottom of the ocean where the CO2 will be locked in. They are only at the experimental stage and nobody is sure if they will work or what their outcome for the local marine environment might be, but if they do work it is claimed that they could soak up 1 gigatonne of CO2 each.

The Yang. (one of them)

It is reported that this year some five billion mobile phones will be hoarded or simply dumped - not recycled. That's one for every adult on the planet. It's five billion bits of plastic, glass, rare earth and precious metals and some other rather toxic materials entering the natural environment. Nobody has a clue about how to recover them except for a few small scale initiatives.

There are many other Yangs such as throwaway fast fashion, plastic bottles, ugly vegetables, car tyres - the list is endless.

I somehow do not see seaweed farms saving us. We have got to stop producing things to use and throw away. We need things to last and be repairable. And we, you and me, need to stop being so hedonistic and wanting the lates "must have" thingy.

Unfortunately those things do not fit with the growth, growth, growth, Capitalist economic model; and all the Yins combined only tinker at the edges.

[Suff]

Most of all we need to stop burning Oil, Coal and Gas and decarbonise concrete.

If we could do that we would gain a breathing space to create innovative and balanced solutions.

I'm beginning to think that our only possible salvation may be a space parasol which is partially opaque.

Anything else is just noise to keep people thinking we might have a chance in the future. Only direct action on w/Square meter hitting the surface of the Earth stands a chance now.

Because we have failed at every single point to reduce our CO2 output. Wilfully.

[Workingman]

A space parasol? A big umbrella. Where do we get the materials from, and how do we get it up there?

While we're at it we might as well build a Dyson sphere for free electricity - look it up.

We could combine the two - shade and free electricity in one.

We need to stop dreaming of possible (unproven) future technological solutions and come up with practical solutions here on Earth: today. The trouble with those practical solutions is that they are hard to do and cost money. God forbid we spend money.... it is needed in the bank accounts of millionaires and billionaires, banks and companies and conglomerates otherwise they have failed. Failure to make money - lots of it - is a cardinal sin.

[cruiser2]

I can remember going to see a client in North Wales when I was working. His electricity for his house was provided by an hydroelectric generator.
He saidthis had been installed many years ago and he sold surplus energy back to the Grid.
This must be over 50 years ago before any talk of renewable energy.

[Suff]

Spacex is going to send 1,000 starship to Mars and build a city of 1m people there.

Compared to this a space parasol is child's play.

You need to get on board with the developments of Starship. Potential for $2 per kg sent to space (currently about $2,500), plus multiple launches per day from a single booster/starship combination with up to 150 tonnes payload.

The world is changing whilst you are not looking.

This is the ship which, when in production, will deliver it.



Here is a. Reference to the size of Starship.



Those grid fins weigh 5 tonnes each. And those miniatures are people.

We have been used to disposable rockets to get stuff to space. Even Falcon 9 has a disposable second stage.

A fully reusable rocket totally changes the playing field.

This makes things like a space umbrella simply an incredibly difficult engineering challenge. Rather than science fiction.