it's possible to stop global warming?

Question

it's possible only to know, and if is, how we can help to stop it?

Answer 1

SHORT ANSWER...

Yes


EXPLANATION...

The media devotes a lot of attention to global warming but one area that receives little coverage is that of geoengineering. In repsect of global warming this refers to measures that can be taken to regain control of the runaway climate and bring it back to it's natural levels.

We've already interfered with the climate and messed it up, the idea is to interfere with it some more and this time put it right.

Steps are being taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but in itself this won't stop global warming although it will slow down the effects. Something more drastic is needed if we're to actually stop global warming (or at least the manmade part of it), this is where the geoengineer comes in.

Several ambitious projects are being considered, all of them are in their early stages although some have been tested and found to work. More research is needed, especially with respect to the possible implications. You see, some of the schemes have no real way of being undone or stopped; if something goes wrong it could be far worse than not having done anything at all. Some schemes that can be completely regulated - they can be slowed down, speeded up or stopped altogether.

Here's a quick overview of some of them...

● Human Volcano
Volcanic eruptions emit large quantities of sulphur dioxide which blocks out some of the heat from the sun. One proposal is to simulate natural volcanoes by firing pellets of sulphur into the upper atmosphere where the particles of sulphur will reflect back some of the solar radiation.

● Sulphur Blanket
Professor Crutzen's idea is to launch rockets into the stratosphere (10 to 50km above Earth's surface) and release one million tons of sulphur. This radical plan could have drawbacks including an increase in acid rain and damage to the ozone layer.

● Solar Mirrors
The US National Academy of Sciences has proposed a scheme that would involve positioning 55,000 gigantic mirrors in space. Each mirror would be 100 square kilometres in area and the effect would be to reflect some of the sun's heat energy back into space.

● Global Sunshade
British astronomer Roger Angel has proposed creating a giant sunshade consisting of 16 trillion glass discs, each one microscopically thin and weighing just one gram. On board each disc would be a tiny camera, computer and solar sails allowing each disc to align itself so as to refract light from the sun just enough so it misses Earth.

● Moving Earth
Perhaps the most ambitious of all schemes so far proposed is one to actually move planet Earth into a different orbit. It has been estimated that if Earth were 1.5 million miles further from the sun then the reduced heat energy received from the sun would compensate for anthropogenic global warming. It has calculated that the energy required to move the Earth this far would be the equivalent of 5 quadrillion hydrogen bombs (5,000,000,000,000,000).

● Cloud Seeding
Cloud seeding isn't a new concept and one variation on this theme is to launch a fleet of self propelled vessels to sail the world's oceans and spray a fine mist of sea water particles into the atmosphere, this would produce specific clouds which would reflect some of the solar radiation back into space.

● Artificial Trees
In the artificial trees air passes through the device and hydrogen sulphide absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, each 'tree' could remove 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year. The carbon dioxide would need to be permanently stored and one option could be drilling holes thousands of metres deep into porous rock beneath the oceans into which the CO2 would be injected.

● Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton are microscopic marine plants, like all plants they photosynthesise - taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Increasing the quantity of phytoplankton will result in more carbon dioxide being absorbed and when the plants die they sink to the ocean floor taking the carbon with them.

More info about some of these schemes can be found on this BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/6298507.stm and if you've got a spare hour there's a BBC documentary you can watch http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=286000425078890061

Answer 2

I don't think it is possible to stop global warming now, not in my lifetime. Firstly, we must know what is causing the global warming. A search on the net will easily tell you several of the green house gases, which are mostly industrial related. Eg: oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulfur and carbon dioxide. Now, which are the countries contributing the most of the gases that leads to global warming? Ans: USA and China? There is a pact that aims to control the effects of the global warming and hopefully stops it. The pact is called the Kyoto Protocol, and it has already been signed by many countries. Interestingly, USA refused to sign it, on the grounds that it will be detrimental to the growth of its industrial sector. China is even worse, they have almost no environmental laws to controls the gases that its factories puts into the air, and with its high coruption rates, I don't think China can do anything good anytime soon. This is a really big issue, not smething that can be solved by individuals. But, if you wants to play a part, you can try to do the 3 Rs, Reuse the things, Recycle anything whenever possible and Reduce the wastage of things. :)

Answer 3

Even if we stopped global warming today the effects that have been set in motion are too great and it wouldn't do any good.We studied global warming in school and that is where I found this out. Even if every company stopped polluting and every car stopped running the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere are enough to supposedly lead to destruction. More importantly the earth does have cycles, for example there was a similar age of warming during the middle ages, and they had no fossil fuels back then, plus at the beginning of the industrial revolution factories began pumping pollution into the atmosphere at full tilt with no restriction. Global warming is real but the fact that humans are the sole cause is not real.

Answer 4

Global Warming is almost as old as the Earth itself, it is not new and it will continue to occur until the dying out of our sun or unless some other cosmic catastrophe literally destroys our planet.

Volcanoes, the Sun and many other internal/external factors cause global warming.

So while human do indeed play a role in global warming and while we certainly can reduce our own impact on global warming, we cannot however stop global warming.

Answer 5

No. The only possible way we can stop global warming is if:
1.every single person in the world believed that there is actually global warming
2.change their ways of driving and buy a solar-powered car.
3.Do not buy dangerous gases
4. Convince every company, factory and vehicle to limit the emission of carbon dioxide
5. Tell everyone to stop using sprays such as Lysol.
6. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!

Answer 6

No you can not stop it only slow it. It is a natural cycle due to the wobble in the earths axis. Its about an 50,000 year cycle.
The north star changes, the earth warms and cools.

more carbon is expelled into the atmosphere from a single volcanic erruption that all mankind ever.

Man is responsible for 2-3% of the greenhouse gases.

People need to wake up!

Answer 7

if you really do believe that Global Warming exists. it would be hard to stop it.
Manor from Cows alone give off a ton more Carbon Emissions that humans do, not to mention Volcanoes as well as the Industrial boom in the 1800's and early 1900's.
If this isn't just a normal fluctuation in temperature than its not really the fault of humans and current Industry.
So it would be hard to have any effect.

Answer 8

Of course it is.

Planet Earth has been much warmer than it is today many times in the past. What makes you think that it won’t cool again from this “warm” period as it always has done?

I put warm in quotes, because I wonder who decided what climate constitutes “normal”? Had this person made their decision three or four hundred years ago – during the Little Ice Age – they would have assumed “normal” was several degrees centigrade colder than it is today, and had they made their decision 900-1000 years ago – during the Medieval Warm Period – they would have taken “normal” as up to 3°C warmer than today.

So, who says that the current climate is, or is getting, “too hot”, and who took it upon themselves to decide for us what is “normal”.

Answer 9

We can't stop it at this point, but we can help stop the effects by making strives to slow global warming down.

We are a world too relient on fossil fuels and ther like, so to say that we can just STOP this is impossible.

Answer 10

Do what you can. Like me im close enough to work so i walk. I recycle and use florescent bulbs. You can get a 6 pack of florescent bulbs from Walmart for 9.99! If everyone did a little we could stop global warming.

PS. if the government would step in it would help!