Global warming, some have argued, can be reversed with a large-scale ‘geoengineering’ fix, such as having a giant blimp spray liquefied sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere or building tens of millions of chemical filter systems in the atmosphere to filter out carbon dioxide. But Richard Turco, a professor in the UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and a member and founding director of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment, sees no evidence that such technological alterations of the climate system would be as quick or easy as their proponents claim and says many of them wouldn’t work at all. Turco will present his new research on geoengineering - conducted with colleague Fangqun Yu, a research professor at the State University of New York-Albany’s atmospheric sciences research center - today and Thursday at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco. ‘We’re talking about tinkering with the climate system that affects everybody on Earth,’ said Turco, an atmospheric chemist with expertise in the microphysics of fine particles suspended in the atmosphere. ‘Some of the ideas are extreme. There would certainly be winners and losers, but no one would know who until it’s too late. ‘If people […]
The following is a transcript of President-elect Barack Obama’s weekly radio address: PRESIDENT-ELECT: Over the past few weeks, Vice President-Elect Biden and I have announced some of the leaders who will advise us as we seek to meet Americas twenty-first century challenges, from strengthening our security, to rebuilding our economy, to preserving our planet for our children and grandchildren. Today, I am pleased to announce members of my science and technology team whose work will be critical to these efforts. Whether its the science to slow global warming; the technology to protect our troops and confront bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; the research to find life-saving cures; or the innovations to remake our industries and create twenty-first century jobs – today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. Its time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore Americas place as the world leader in science and technology. Right now, in labs, classrooms and companies across America, our leading minds are hard at work chasing the next big idea, on the cusp of breakthroughs […]
A study compiled by Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University reviewed twelve combinations of electric power generation and vehicular motivation, ranking them from best to worst. Wind power emerged as the overall victor in the study. When teamed with battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, wind power claimed the top two spots, being the best in seven of the eleven categories. Photovoltaics failed to make the top five. The Study ranked ethanol as the biggest loser of the study surprisingly falling behind clean coal. ‘My hope is that policy makers will use this information and begin to focus on the best solutions to climate change, air pollution, and energy security, said Jacobson. So far two major alternative energy organizations RePower America and the Pickens Plan are using the information from the study to bolster their plans. Jacobson has also presented his results to New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. His ranking includes research from water usage to terrorism. His study emphasized […]
Young Americans just aren’t watching TV like they used to. Put another way, the older you get, the more you watch, according to a report due out today from Deloitte indicating that ‘Millennials,’ the generation of 14- to 25-year-olds, watches just 10.5 hours of TV a week. That compares to 15.1 hours for those belonging to Generation X (ages 26-42), 19.2 hours for Baby Boomers (43-61) and 21.5 hours for Matures (62-75). Lest one assume Millennials are shunning broadcast and cable in favor of watching DVDs on their TV screens — they’re not. They spend less time watching DVDs of movies and TV shows on television sets, 4.8 hours a week, than do Gen Xers. They are, though, spending more time watching DVDs on a computer — 1.9 hours a week — than any other age group. But while Millennials are watching the least amount of TV, they are spending the most time with media in general, making that up with video games, music and the Internet. Just don’t expect them to spend too much time worrying about such things as news and current events, according to the Deloitte study dubbed ‘The State of […]
New studies being released this week indicate that climate change is exerting massive and worrying change on the Arctic region-reducing the volume of ice, releasing methane gas into the atmosphere, and dramatically raising air temperatures in some parts of the Arctic. The findings will give fresh urgency to international deliberations on the next global climate change pact planned for December 2009 in Copenhagen. The studies also will likely intensify international pressure on the incoming Obama administration to embrace major cuts in the emission of greenhouse gases in an effort to help stabilize global temperatures. NASA scientists will reveal that more than 2 trillion tons of land ice on Greenland and Alaska, along with in Antarctica, have melted since 2003. Satellite measurements suggest half of the loss has come from Greenland. Melting of land ice slowly raises sea levels. The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, is also reporting that ice volume in the Arctic this year fell to its lowest recorded level to date. Experts from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado will further reveal that temperatures this fall in some Arctic areas north of Alaska were 9 or 10 degrees Fahrenheit […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
