Sounds incredulous, but there are votaries for the use of extreme technologies to cure the Earth of its environmental ills. A concoction of the cutting edge and 'over-the-edge' knowhow. It's called 'Geo-engineering'. But all seem to serve one problem - fastracking the results. Check out some of the notional suggestion doing the rounds.

Proffers to combat global warming by using mirrors in outer space to deflect the sun, or suspending smoke particles in the upper atmosphere are some. Then there are other proposals which seek to soak up the carbon in the atmosphere by seeding the oceans with iron dust. Apparently, it would spurt the growth of algae which can then work on the excess carbon in the air.

Some of these ideas have come out from the blueprints to the real world. Victor Smetacek, a professor at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, is planning an iron sulphate fertilization experiment off Antarctica in early 2009. The institute will also collaborate with India to disperse 20 tons of iron sulphate near South Georgia over 300 sq kms.

Various start-ups have and are seriously working on their prototype ideas. Australia's Ocean Nourishment, Atmocean in New Mexico and Climos are working on varying sea-based projects. Albeit at a very small scale as the arcane 'experiments' have yet to find widespread sanction. The fear of unforeseen consequences has been the dividing line between the nay and yeah sayers.

The U.N. Climate Panel notified that world greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, mainly burning fossil fuels, rose 70 percent between 1970 and 2004. Yes, the number is numbing...but is it time to push the panic button? The skeptics don't think so. They would like to tread on the side of caution because playing with nature might create havoc.

Terry Barker, head of the Cambridge Center for Climate Change Mitigation Research and one of the leading authors of the U.N. panel report says,


"More evidence has been coming in since then, but it's far from making a reliable case for geo-engineering."

And we would be just adding to the mess. Rene Coenen, head of the Office for the London Convention, an international organization that regulates dumping at sea had this to say regarding the iron fertilization experiment –

"We are at the boundaries, treading in areas that we are not normally dealing with."
Also, "knowledge about the effectiveness and potential environmental impacts of ocean iron fertilization currently was insufficient to justify large-scale operations."

But the patrons are taking a different perspective. They cite the so far unsuccessful attempts to curb carbon emissions as a prime reason for looking at alternate scenarios.

Victor Smetacek says that nature is already under the hammer. He reasons about his experiment that - "Iron has a very positive effect. Added to the ocean it's like water in the desert." His research could be an important portent to the efficacy of alternate technologies.

The scientific reasoning is sound. The iron sulphate will promote the growth of algae in the ocean waters. His study aims to measure that growth and the extent therefore it can absorb carbon dioxide. The extra algae would also serve as food for krill, a marine species which is the main food of whales and penguins. As the algae dies off it will get submerged and sink to the bottom.

But it the effect of such manipulation on a wider scale and its effect on the delicate marine food chains is the worrying factor for the skeptics.

The iron fertilization project is one of the most 'workable' and cheapest proposals that have been placed before the U.N Climate Panel. Other proposals deliberated by the U.N. Climate Panel include installing a metallic screen covering a 106 sq km (40.93 sq mile) patch of space 1.5 million kms (930,000 miles) away from earth in the direction of the sun. Nobel chemistry prize winner Paul Crutzen came up with the idea of blitzing the upper atmosphere with sulfur particles to deflect sunlight. Another proposal looks at mimicking the effect of sea water on air. Sprays of sea water make low level clouds whiter, thus bouncing off the incident solar rays.
All proposals which come under 'geo-engineering' have an important forking beyond the obvious. That is the only concern. After all, man wasn't meant to play God.

Source: Reuters
Image: Flickr.com