posted on Nov, 5 2009 @ 10:48 PM
reply to post by spellbound
I recall seeing a TEDtalk not long ago regarding the geo-political shifting of borders - how borders themselves are starting to become more or less
arbitrary in the face of economies. An example he gave was China's heavy mining industry in Mongolia, as well as their increasingly prominent leasing
of Russian territory for farming. This farming is generally done by Russian citizens who are drawn to parts of the southern Siberian territories that
- until rather recently - were too cold to farm. Now, however, Global Warming has opened land use opportunities which are drawing more of the
population to areas which were previously deserted due to the cold and minimal utility of the land.
While this may seem like a positive benefit of Global Warming (and it is), as of now I have no way to gauge whether or not this is a net benefit for
China monetarily considering the expenditures going out to halt the spread of the Gobi Desert. The desertification of China and Mongolia is speeding
up, and in part are being blamed on Global Warming.
Source: Trying to green the growing Gobi.
I also want to state that I am against any move to sequester and bury carbon from the atmosphere. That's just an eco-disaster waiting to happen.
Considering how difficult and poorly our nuclear waste is disposed of (leakage into the ground, specifically fault lines, has actually lead to
discoveries about how Earthquakes work) - I can only image the damage that would occur if a geological shift were to allow such high levels of
concentrated CO2 to release in either the wild, or in a community/metropolis.
I would be more in favor of sequestering CO2 if that CO2 were then converted to a more stable or useful form. Craig Venter's labs have built an
organism which consumes CO2 to produce viable octane fuels. Provided the emissions from burning that octane are not worse than CO2 or are easier/safer
to sequester and store - I would fully support it's implementation for applications and industry for which Solar Power and battery storage is thus
far not tenable. This would allow coal sources of inexpensive electricity to remain viable for many more years to come. A boon not only for us in the
interim, but for the industry of developing nations in the future.
Global Warming has many components and factors which are influenced by man's activities... and (regardless of natural or anthropomorphic causes) it
will take a lot of unique and clever solutions to overcome or, at least, slow to more biologically and economically adaptable speeds if necessary.