———————————————
A news blurb about recent increased volcanic
activity in Alaska renewed a question for me.
Then a new entry posted at Real Climate brought
the question even closer. And then an overview in
Science News put me over the brink, so here I’ll
stick my neck out.
My question comes in two parts. First, what
happens if we do find some safe and reasonable
way to “geoengineer” a cooling of the atmosphere,
only to find out with deep regret that we’ve set
ourselves up for a dangerous cooling — beyond
the intended, engineered cooling — when a
volcanic eruption deepens our engineered chill to
even deeper and, for many, to lethal levels?
Second, while even a major volcanic cooling is
widely accepted as a relatively temporary thing,
lasting only a few years if not only a few
months, might it relieve the heat in ways we
don’t dare voice aloud? Put crudely, my second
question is: Might some major and violent
volcanic eruption “save” us from the dangerous 3C
or 4C heat scenario by eliminating zillions of
consumer-emitters?
Lance
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“So what are the problems? Robock’s study looks at
a subset of the potential ones – in particular, the impacts on
precipitation.”
A new entry titled ‘Climate change methadone?’
has been posted to RealClimate.org.
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=593
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“The eruption of Indonesia’s Tambora in 1815
triggered agricultural failures in North America
and Europe, caused the worst famine of the 19th
centuryŠ”
“Today, by comparison, the world’s surplus food
supply would last only about 90 days, a number
that’s steadily dropping as population increases
Š”
“What happens if another major eruption happens
today?” Verosub asks. “If we lower the growing
season globally, are we looking at a food crisis?
Š We’ve got a really stressed system, and if we
hit it hard, is it going to collapse? I think
that’s worth thinking about.”
Science News
August 30th, 2008; Vol.174 #5