General Climate Discussion

[LT]

Figured we could use a thread dedicated to climate and climate change discussion.

Partly spurred on by me reading this:

http://xkcd.com/1732/

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[aleshemsky83]

Supposed to be a real mild winter here in Edmonton

Bring on the climate change

 

[Bluelines]

I read an article a few years back and it said that earth is not the only planet that is currently going through a warming or climate change.

I certainly believe that humans are contributing to climate change but I also think that climate change is a natural part of earths cycle.

What if our climate change is due to the earth moving closer to the sun? Maybe our trajectory is getting closer or the sun is growing in size. I have no science to back that up but wouldn't it make sense that if the thing that warms our planet is closer, our planet would get warmer?

 

[PredsV82]

I read an article a few years back and it said that earth is not the only planet that is currently going through a warming or climate change.

I certainly believe that humans are contributing to climate change but I also think that climate change is a natural part of earths cycle.

What if our climate change is due to the earth moving closer to the sun? Maybe our trajectory is getting closer or the sun is growing in size. I have no science to back that up but wouldn't it make sense that if the thing that warms our planet is closer, our planet would get warmer?

its not that our orbit is changing, that would be able to be easily measured. Solar activity(flares, output, etc) is almost certainly playing a role, however.

I fear for this thread, it could get really political really fast.

 

[Leafsdude7]

Solar activity(flares, output, etc) is almost certainly playing a role, however.

I fear for this thread, it could get really political really fast.

Hopefully not.

 

[LT]

Hopefully not.

Where'd this graph come from? Just curious, as I haven't seen it before.

 

[Leafsdude7]

Where'd this graph come from? Just curious, as I haven't seen it before.

I'm assuming you're asking for the data source? It's from Krivova et al 2007 and PMOD (sunspot) and NASA GISS (temperature).

That said, the more commonly cited graphs (from what I can tell) are these two:

 

[LT]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-19/environmental-concerns-cows-eating-seaweed/7946630?pfmredir=sm

This was a fascinating read. Considering its already working in sheep, I think there's a good bet it works in cows as well.

And considering how cheap and accessible seaweed likely is (especially if this catches on, and it becomes a commodity), and how little is required, this is absolutely viable all over the world.

Even if its not as much as stated, it doesn't appear to have many side effects, and even something as small as 25% could have a pretty huge effect, considering how much methane agriculture produces.

This is definitely something I'd be interested in keeping an eye on.

 

[njdevsfn95]

Not climate-specific but certainly could be major going forward. Someone should link the YT video found here. Cool stuff.

https://www.ornl.gov/news/nano-spike-catalysts-convert-carbon-dioxide-directly-ethanol

 

[jdhebner]

Not climate-specific but certainly could be major going forward. Someone should link the YT video found here. Cool stuff.

https://www.ornl.gov/news/nano-spike-catalysts-convert-carbon-dioxide-directly-ethanol

Not really. Sorry. http://www.snopes.com/2016/10/19/method-to-convert-co2-into-ethanol/

 

[njdevsfn95]

Not really. Sorry. http://www.snopes.com/2016/10/19/method-to-convert-co2-into-ethanol/

That article doesn't drive a dagger through the heart of the new process or anything.

 

[jdhebner]

That article doesn't drive a dagger through the heart of the new process or anything.

Yes it does. At the very very best its carbon neutral and the authors admit that it's not feasible on the large scale. These carbon sequestration processes will always require more energy than they will give. Converting co2 into ethanol with catalysts has been done before and the challenge is gettting it done on the large scale. The focus needs to be on carbon free energy production and then on sequestration

 

[LT]

Yes it does. At the very very best its carbon neutral and the authors admit that it's not feasible on the large scale. These carbon sequestration processes will always require more energy than they will give. Converting co2 into ethanol with catalysts has been done before and the challenge is gettting it done on the large scale. The focus needs to be on carbon free energy production and then on sequestration

They literally provided a counter-argument to your claim in the article you linked, which I'm assuming you read fully.

Nothing is going to suddenly appear that can go into play immediately and make drastic changes. I don't think anyone is expecting that. Give this several more years in study, development, and testing, and maybe they'll be on to something.

 

[njdevsfn95]

Hence why I said "could" in the first place. This certainly isn't the first go-round for turning CO2 into other compounds.

A chemist at my grad school developed a reaction process to turn sunlight, water, and CO2 into various hydrocarbons. Right now it is only 1% yield so clearly it is not going to have an impact at this stage.

Sure it isn't great now but who knows where it goes from here. Too early to tell.