do you think we are burning fossil fuels for fun - ThreadSky

theophite.bsky.social • 15 days ago

do you think we are burning fossil fuels for fun

“This paper presents a bold proposal to employ a buried nuclear explosion in a remote basaltic seabed for pulverizing basalt, thereby accelerating carbon sequestration through Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW).”

Or, we could just stop burning fossil fuels🤷🏻‍♂️

Comments

cordwainershark.bsky.social•15 days ago

Also, what about all the carbon already emitted?

trashbot.bsky.social•15 days ago

I mean, every advancement in carbon-free electrical generation is met with Ludicrous Mode and the Ghiblification Machine

so, yeah, kinda seems that way

yakuzajohn.bsky.social•15 days ago

CCS is often a smoke screen for fossil fuel companies but it is also true that we need significant sequestration if we want to avoid some of the higher end estimates of warming! this research is necessary no matter how much is burned now

onbluskysku.bsky.social•15 days ago

I am generally skeptical of the nuclear bombs for peace initiatives given how these have gone in the past

onbluskysku.bsky.social•15 days ago

So it’s possible this could work but also we may end up irradiating a ton of the ocean

michaelander45.bsky.social•15 days ago

Yes this is not a good idea, but carbon removal/capture needs to be part of the remit.

adamjschmidt.bsky.social•15 days ago

He wants to nuke the ocean floor? I have concerns. 🤔

towit12.bsky.social•15 days ago

That guy was down for the count after getting domed by a steam ship, he's not shrugging off a nuke

adamjschmidt.bsky.social•14 days ago

megaweapon5.bsky.social•15 days ago

Aerosols in the upper atmosphere a la a major volcanic eruption still seems like the best temporary fix while we completely decarbonize, IMHO.

saintsopossums.bsky.social•15 days ago

Once we shut down those dastardly 100 companies who are staffed entirely by captain planet villains, we will have solved this whole “climate” thing forever!

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

I feel like even if we could get to net zero emissions tomorrow working on carbon capture would still be important—there are a lot of nasty long term effects of climate change that would still be working themselves out for decades to come, that it would be good to avoid.

boomies-n-zoomies.bsky.social•15 days ago

And of course, there’s a lot of stuff that just cannot be made zero emission with current technology.

Concrete, for example.

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

And since we’re nowhere near net zero it seems like we should be using every tool in the toolbox to get there ASAP.

nordiceuropean.bsky.social•15 days ago

I'd be wary of side effects of messing with the seabed at such a large scale, though.

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

Don’t nuke coral reefs, obviously, or hydrothermal vents or any other delicate environments. But the abyssal plain is staggeringly large.

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

There are other carbon capture methods worth exploring ofc. Nuking the sea floor isn’t the only option. But honestly the environmental disruption of any CC method is going to be less than long term ocean acidification and rising atmospheric CO2 levels.

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

Like at this point it’s just a choice of which kind of environments devastation we get and how much. And CC means less overall afaict. It’s a pretty easy calculation to make!

nordiceuropean.bsky.social•15 days ago

I would like to see the sources for these calculations, though. Like how do you even quantify different kinds of environmental damage to make them fungible? Whose interests are being prioritised?

nordiceuropean.bsky.social•15 days ago

It's large, and unknown to us, so we consider it empty. But it doesn't mean it is truly empty. Maybe there are microorganisms there with an important role in the ocean ecosystem, which we would wipe out during our geoengineering. We simply don't know.

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

"We have no reason to think X, but X might be true, so we must act as if X is true" is reckless and unwise. It's a general argument for doing nothing when we know drastic action is required.

tanadrin.bsky.social•15 days ago

It's also an argument for a weird kind of epistemic helplessness. I'm against wanton destruction of the environment, but we know the abyssal environment is not at all unique, and a local disruption is going to have a small effect on the overall ecosystem.

meelar.bsky.social•15 days ago

To a certain extent we are *cough cough Bitcoin* and stopping things that are that obviously wasteful is probably a good idea, but if the nuke thing ends up making sense we should probably do that too.

joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social•15 days ago

Easy to pick on bitcoin & I agree there, but like, incredibly difficult to decide what’s wasteful.

Or put differently, it’s easy to call out things we do not personally derive value from. The flip side being I never, *ever* see people saying we shouldn’t fly for pleasure.

tznkai.bsky.social•15 days ago

People really don't like hearing that flying is really really bad for the climate. You're dumping carbon right into the upper atmosphere and everything!

nobedbugsatdoral.bsky.social•15 days ago

Yeah but a big part of it is that a large percentage of people derive huge value from flying. Crypto is just for day traders/gambling addicts and money launderers.

tznkai.bsky.social•15 days ago

Crypto is somewhat unique in how useless it is insofar as it is designed to derive value from waste

joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social•14 days ago

Sure and I agree, but if one person *really* enjoys gambling and another person *really* enjoys traveling, how do we make that determination?

Again I am on your side it’s just in practice I think it can be hard to make these calls (like others have said, maybe it’s just a carbon tax)

tznkai.bsky.social•14 days ago

The key to all of this is to tax it and then leave people alone

joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social•15 days ago

“I used ChatGPT once and I enjoy the occasional hamburger, also I still have like $50 in a crypto wallet somewhere” - literal devil

“I fly to Aruba every winter” - Oh wow that sounds lovely I’m jealous

meelar.bsky.social•15 days ago

This is a fair point, and a good argument for good old-fashioned carbon taxation that will reduce vacation flights and Bitcoin mining alike. Although I'd guess that Bitcoin is relatively easier to find substitutes for--even if you want the crypto form factor, Ethereum uses much less electricity.

blank.org•15 days ago

It's all bad, but the fact that BTC is still the exact same energy disaster that it was a decade ago is just _embarrassing_. At least eth is "only" likely to cause a global recession the next time it melts down. BTC is the cryptocurrency equivalent of rolling coal: the inefficiency is the point?

adamjschmidt.bsky.social•15 days ago

Cap and trade was a free market conservative proposal advocated by Senator McCain. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-political-history-of-cap-and-trade-34711212/

meelar.bsky.social•15 days ago

And if you're willing to venture a little further afield, I think the same psychological urge can probably be also satisfied with a slot machine.

donzeko.bsky.social•15 days ago

The impulse to try to find the one correct way to deal with global warming drives me nuts. We need to do a lot of different things at once!

chowdster.bsky.social•15 days ago

"Why should I give up my SUV when the 1% are flying private jets that use so much more fuel? Why should Americans change anything when China pollutes more than us? Why should individuals change our lifestyles when its the corporations fault?"
People are talking like we have the luxury of choice here

michaelander45.bsky.social•15 days ago

The other big thing is that carbon removal will just have to be a part of any forward looking strategy because 1) we have burned too much already; and 2) there are use cases without good clear alternatives we want to mitigate.

faeelin.bsky.social•14 days ago

I’m burning fossil fields for fun

nordiceuropean.bsky.social•15 days ago

Some of it, yes. You don't need to fly to that Zanzibar vacation.

robert2themax.bsky.social•14 days ago

trying to shame people out of taking a vacation is the absolute worst way to reduce carbon emissions.

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