Might as well tackle global warming first so I can get on with the day. The solution is easy and doesn’t require us to give up burning fossil fuels, capturing cow belches, or any of that. I offer it here under a creative commons attribution license:
The solution to the global warming problem lies in the creation of floating islands of white styrofoam packing pellets. The carpet should be roughly 100 km by 1000 km (100,000 square km). Solar heat normally absorbed by sea water will be reflected back into space when the carpet is deployed. The carpets are constructed of carbon nanotube netting so they can be easily rolled up at night to release ambient heat from the sea during the dark hours. The math isn’t in, so I don’t know exactly how many of these we need but I figure about five hundred of them ought to do the trick… that would be areas equal to a couple of Greenlands and an Iceland thrown in. I think I have enough packing pellets around to make a significant contribution to construction.
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Winston 09.08.06 at 6:00
Don’t underestimate the design and construction issues. These suckers have to be hell for stout to withstand the assault of US military landing on them (to liberate of course) and then setting up camp to keep the peace. Waste disposal issues alone will take years of wrangling…