A significant problem with a lot of geo-engineering/carbon dioxide removal ideas is that they go like this:
A lecture about how meddling with the planet has caused massive problems.
A second lecture about how meddling with even more things (previously unmeddled with) is going to make the situation better.
This highly interventionist approach, treating the Earth as something to be improved, rather than to be understood and fixed- this IS the problem. #climate#geoengineering#CDR
@lns In the case of CDR I think about what scaling up a lot of the proposed schemes would look like, particularly for the ocean. Creating vast seaweed farms in places without seaweed now, artificial upwelling, iron fertilisation etc - none of these are consequence-free when scaled up. But the discussion is framed as though scaling up any of them should just be accepted, without acknowledging the damage that scaling would cause, and talking openly about the trade-off
I was not expecting Sellotape to make me ponder the definition of “plastic” today. But my departmental stationary cupboard has “zero plastic sellotape” (similar to Scotch tape, if you’re from the USA).
Plant-based things can be made non-biodegradable, bamboo fabric being the obvious eg - it’s rayon, which contribute to plastic marine waste & doesn’t decompose. And this “zero-plastic” tape will only compost in an industrial composter.
If it looks like plastic and quacks like plastic… #plastic
@buerviper Well, it won’t - that’s part of the problem. It meets the standard for “industrial composting”, which means that if you put it in a very specialised vessel in the right conditions, THEN it will decompose. But it won’t otherwise. So out in the natural environment, it’s pretty much like any other plastic. The Big Compost Experiment did some very good work on this recently, but there’s plenty of other evidence that shows the same thing.
@gspeng A significant proportion of marine plastic pollution is rayon, so if you care about having a material that will biodegrade, it fits the functional definition of plastic more than not.
A lovely bike ride along canal towpaths today made me wonder whether one day disused motorways will become havens for walkers, cyclists and wildlife. Although the joy of that thought does rather depend on us not replacing them with something worse. #cars#canals
Today’s reminder that we are still very far from knowing everything: I have just found an odd gap in the scientific literature: the specific mechanisms of generating root pressure in trees and how this relates to the force that tree roots can exert on their surroundings (eg pavements/sidewalks), and what those forces actually are. As far as I can see, having done an extensive literature search, nothing has been done on this since the 1970s. Zilch. Not a sausage. Frustrating! #science#trees
@bifouba@twobiscuits Thanks, but there are loads of papers like that. But none get at the physics of the biology - they’re all just about the consequences.
@philfeld Thanks, but none of that gets at the specific physics (at least nothing in the last 50 years). As far as I can see, recent literature on this topic just doesn’t exist.
@leonardblaschek The gap is in exactly what the pressures generated are, what affects them, how they vary between species and why, how the rigid woody material of the root affects the pressures, whether they come and go with time, and what exactly they can push and when. The specifics, beyond turgor pressure and wood.
Still two months until “The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works” (same book, slightly different title) comes out in the US (Oct 3rd), but Publishers Weekly are being very nice about it. And the US cover is very sleek.
“Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject.”
Finished the first today, now halfway through the second. It’s quite a pairing. The Robinson book is a very readable account of how professional women in the UK gained acceptance from 1850-1950-ish, and the Jacobs one (written in 1961) takes no prisoners in her acerbic and brilliant criticism of paternalistic city planning that ignores the needs of actual people. It’s slightly of its time, but provides a lot of food for thought. City planners now are still making the same mistakes #books#women
As just one example, here is (some of) what Jane Jacobs had to say about Ebenezer Howard, who came up with the idea of the Garden City (think Letchworth and Welwyn). #cities#books
And the Jane Jacobs book was a huge influence on Robert Caro when he wrote The Powerbroker, right up there on the list of the best books I’ve ever read. Highly HIGHLY recommended.
Heatwaves involve a chunk of extra energy arriving where it's not wanted/expected. But it is energy. Is anyone talking about extracting and using that energy to feed into the grid (and perhaps cool the surroundings down a bit)? Obviously it's technically "only" a few degrees so hard to run a heat engine off it, but has anyone heard of any actual work to turn it into electricity? #climate#heatwaves#energy
@Havant_Enviro Yes, but I was wondering whether anyone has come up with a way to really use that energy in practice. Stirling engines also rely on a temperature difference (as would any energy extraction mechanism), so you’d need a direct connection to something cool.
How do actual scientists even begin to compete with semi-informed thought leaders who spend 110% of their time writing op eds, showing up at fancy conferences, and raking in cash/power for boondoggles?
@natematias Another annoying problem is people who are scientists (or who at least became a professor at some point) loving the publicity and suddenly popping up in subjects they know nothing about, while proclaiming with all the authority of “science”. Especially in the geoengineering space.
Speechless. TIL: There are loads of unexploded munitions on the seabeds around Europe (not the batshit bit) and people want to remove them before installing wind turbines and cables (also not the batshit bit). So they do it by just blowing them up.
Now if I wanted to dispose of stuff like that on land, that’s standard practice - I did it during my PhD when a charge failed to go off as expected. But to do it underwater, where sound is critical to so much marine life? ARGHHHHH. #ocean#noise