[ExI] some inneresting comments of the Krugman graph

Damien Sullivan phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu
Mon Aug 3 23:08:16 UTC 2009


On Mon, Aug 03, 2009 at 05:46:01PM -0500, Damien Broderick wrote:
> An exchange between me and my missus:
>
> [Barbara:]
>
>> Resources would be better allocated to research into food crops that  
>> can withstand heat and drought; alternative food sources such as  
>> yeasts; sunblocking aerosols (although I am frightened by the thought 
>> that people might do something like this without really understanding 
>> how it works and end up making things much worse).
>
> Yes, of course, I basically agree. Plus doing some work to make sure  
> levees are strong enough to handle major floods or whatever (because  
> it's probably cheaper than building entirely new cities elsewhere), plus 

Why is this better than trying to get off fossil carbon and removing
CO2 from the atmosphere?

Levees mean you're increasing the number of possible failure points; bad
engineering if you can avoid it.

Sunblocking schemes don't stop the acidification of the ocean, and
create another global failure point if relied upon long-term rather than
used as a stopgap before reversing carbon emissions.  You're also
blocking more and more of the light that drives photosynthesis.

> it would be nice to spread contraception worldwide, and fast track MNT 
> and AI development if possible. A lot of the current policies seem to mix 

We have no real idea of how to do MNT or AI.  We know how to build solar
plants, nuclear plants, solar ovens, Franklin stoves (more efficient
wood use), energy-efficient homes, biochar, etc.  Why do you want to
rely on the magic tech and not the proven tech?

-xx- Damien X-) 



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