Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Kylon wrote:, with the only end cost being energy.

Plantagenet wrote:We can burn coal to get energy to stop greenhouse warming caused by burning coal to get energy.

Kylon wrote:This is going to sound crazy

Terran wrote:What about blowing up a couple dozen nukes in the stratosphere? Wouldn't the dust in the upper atmosphere reflect back a certain degree of sunlight?

Or how about loading up several dozen tanker ships filled up with an iron compound. Dumping it into the oceans while sailing around the world. Wouldn't it produce an algae boom, where it increases photosynthesis, and absorb more CO2? For one thing, the oceans lack iron as a nutrient.

kiwichick wrote:t

that makes sense for countries like canada , russia and norway/sweden/finland, greenland and iceland

maybe the uk and ireland

but how to explain denial in the us and australia?

is it the realisation that there is trouble ahead, but because people are invested in their housing /business/community they can't
admit it?

The company NewLight Technologies first came across our radar last year, when it announced a system for making plastic almost out of thin air. Instead of using petroleum, the feedstock is the airborne carbon emitted by sewage treatment plants, landfills, power plants, and other industrial sites, so in addition to reducing the need for petroleum the system also captures and recycle greenhouse gas emissions.

How’s that for a nice sustainability twofer? Now that NewLight Technologies is a star – just last month it made headlines in USAToday – let’s see what they’re up to now.


When we first met NewLight Technologies the company was using the name AirFlex for the plastic produced by its carbon capture system, which now goes by the name AirCarbon™.

According to NewLight, AirCarbon is the performance equivalent of a range of plastics that includes polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene.

AirCarbon also lends itself to various manufacturing processes including extrusion, blown film, fiber spinning, and injection molding.

To top it off, AirCarbon plastic is biodegradable and recyclable, and to top that off, Newlight cites a third party verified cradle-to-grave analysis demonstrating that AirCarbon is a carbon-negative material:

Graeme wrote:Who Needs Tar Sands Oil When We Have AirCarbon?

The company NewLight Technologies first came across our radar last year, when it announced a system for making plastic almost out of thin air. Instead of using petroleum, the feedstock is the airborne carbon emitted by sewage treatment plants, landfills, power plants, and other industrial sites, so in addition to reducing the need for petroleum the system also captures and recycle greenhouse gas emissions.

You were nine when you set up Plant for the Planet. How did it all begin?

It started as a small school project in my class seven years ago, when I had to give a speech about the environment. Inspired by Wangari Maathai, who planted 30m trees in Africa, I proposed that children could plant one million trees in each country of the world to create a CO2 balance.

It slowly grew from there. We planted the first tree in my school, and then some other schools joined in, planting trees as well. Children in other countries also found out about it and got active as well, doing similar things.

How does Plant for the Planet work now?

We have a worldwide network of 23,000 climate justice ambassadors, who work from regional clubs and academies to campaign for tree planting in their schools and among families and friends. We have a global board which is made up of one adult and 14 children, representing all the Plant for the Planet regions.

The board is re-elected each year, and votes on campaign matters, supervises and supports our regional clubs. We aim to plant 1 trillion trees around the world by the year 2020. To achieve this, we will need some help from adults, but we feel that children are central to success.

Graeme wrote:'Our message to adults and global leaders: stop talking, start planting'

Even if humans miraculously halted all carbon emissions next week, the problem of climate change would be an inescapable and grim reality as most of the heat-trapping gas would linger in the atmosphere for decades or even centuries. The inertia in the world’s warmed oceans would prevent a quick return to cooler temperatures, even as the CO2 levels decrease. The most optimistic predictions for the rest of the century, cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its 2007 assessment report, forecast a rise of 2.0 to 5.2 degrees by 2100, while the direst anticipate a rise of 4.3 to 11.5 degrees. Among the anticipated effects are rising sea levels, increasingly severe storms and droughts, and melting glaciers and permafrost.



Hamilton agreed that what was initially a Plan B is now a nearly inevitable course of action as mitigating efforts do not seem to be progressing forward at the requisite rate to stem drastic climate change. But he expressed a lot of reservations about the Promethean-like nature of this sort of intervention and the “technology will save us now” air to it. “In essence, this plan is being marketed as turning a drastic failure of the free enterprise system into a triumph of humanity’s ability to solve our greatest problems through technology.” In her recent article, Dr. Rachel Smolker took issue with what she perceived to be the normalization of geoengineering: “This insistence that we engage in debate over climate geoengineering is part of the process of ‘normalization’ that seems orchestrated -- perhaps deliberately -- with the intent of habituating people to the whole idea of climate geoengineering as an option.”
In a response, Dr. Simon Nicholson stated, “geoengineering is in fact entirelynormal. It is the expected response of a culture that looks to technological solutions to complex societal challenges. It makes far more sense, in that light, to have an active voice in the geoengineering conversation than to seek to suppress it.”

Which trees should I plant?
Studies have identified several optimal tree species for carbon storage, and botanists continue to experiment with new hybrids. Surprisingly, we should avoid trees such as the willow, which store comparably little carbon and emit more harmful volatile organic compounds. When choosing trees to plant, consider:

- Fast growing trees store the most carbon during their first decades, often a tree’s most productive period.

- Long-lived trees can keep carbon stored for generations without releasing it in decomposition.

- Large leaves and wide crowns enable maximum photosynthesis.

- Native species will thrive in your soil and best support local wildlife.

- Low-maintenance, disease-resistant species will do better without greenhouse-gas-producing fertilizers and equipment.

Consider these reliable and versatile star-performers. The “best trees” vary by region, so look around local parks to see what’s hardy in your climate zone.

1. Yellow Poplar (or Tulip Tree), the top carbon-storer in one New York City study, works hard under rough conditions.

2. Silver Maple can trap nearly 25,000 pounds of CO2 in a 55 year period, according to the Center for Urban Forests.

3. Oak (White Oak, Willow Oak, Laurel Oak and Scarlet Oak) has adapted to thrive in many climates, provides food and shelter to wildlife.

4. Horse Chestnut grows well in cities; its domed top provides exceptional shade which offers passive cooling benefits.

5. Red Mulberry provides the added benefit of delicious seasonal fruit.

6. London Plane is an excellent choice for urban planning, very tolerant of pollution and root-cramping, resistant to cold and disease.

7. American Sweetgum has brilliant fall colors, is large and long-lived. In the north, consider American Linden instead.

8. Dogwood offers lovely seasonal flowers; this and other particularly dense trees like Black Walnut can store more carbon in a smaller tree.

9. Blue Spruce, widely introduced as an ornamental, thrives in most northern regions; in the Pacific Northwest, Douglas Fir also excels.

10. Pines (White, Red, Ponderosa and Hispaniola) are the most carbon-effective conifer; find out which is right for your zone.

Where trees are most needed?
Cities and suburbs.
In urban “heat islands,” vast stretches of asphalt magnify and reflect sun, sending CO2 directly skyward and creating “dead zones” below. A tree forms an oasis of shade, provides wildlife habitat, and improves air quality. Adding street trees can actually lower summer temperatures through evaporative cooling.