See, also, my IG posts re: #SentinelsOfTheNorthWestPassage : A painting,
and previous BingoRage blogpost proposing the "Sentinels" idea as a #Canada150 project.
We are all worried about #climatechange, #globalwarming, #polarmelting, etc.... or, should be.
Unless you're not. You may be oblivious and really don't give a shit. you may be powerful, and think the problem can be managed... handled. You may be wealthy, and think #Greenland will have great #oceanfrontproperty. *
* Personal #filmtheory : #WestWorld is set in post-warming polar regions. Unless they lied, and it is in space. Then it's probably a #Halo thingie.
I digress.
#Terraforming has a bad reputation, because ... well... we don't know what will happen if you fill the atmosphere with synthetic crud and turn the limestone quarries inside out, into the oceans. Needless to say; these "solutions": may be beyong our current capabilities, and just further excuses to pad corporate coffers with "technological solutions" that end up being low-tech embarassments like #oildispersants in the #gulfofmexico. Poison, to hide #poison.
The current #hubris behind that kind of self-delusion, is that we can fix, or reverse what we have done. that does not look possible. international accords are fighting an uphill battle, just to stop the accelaration of CO2 dumping. Nevermind, reduce, or eliminate. #PolarMelting is occurring, and will continue.
So. Here is a big, crazy idea for today; a form of terraforming that may be more within human logistical scale:
Instead of trying to change the weather and global climate, with "more stuff", we can reduce the ocean levels, a little bit, slowly, and use that effort to generate power, new coastline and fishing grounds. It may give us a few millimetres (?) of ocean drop. Hopefully decades, not centuries, of protection against unchecked melting.
No problem. The #icecaps are melting, just bail out the oceans. :)
Let me preface the "How?", by saying that there are obvious problems and unknown consequences of this idea, ( lol ) a few of which i will enumerate, afterwards. But, of course, I start with where?
The #DanakilDepression for starters. That should set sane people laughing. :) ... and anywhere else that we can find that is dry and under sea level. Those were the two that came to mind.
1) How would you fill the lowest places on Earth, with Ocean water ?
2) What sort of results would you expect; on oceans, land, people and climate?
1) I think it was the physicist #EdwardTeller, who thought that we could carve the planet to our liking, with atomic bomb construction tools, and advocated for their use in making harbors and such. :0
I was thinking #internationalmegaprojects.
The Danakil Depresssion will become a Sea one day, as will the #RiftValley of Africa, as #tectonicplates separate there, and the land drops away. Currently, it is one of the most inhospitable, hottest places on Earth. hotter, on average than #DeathValley, which has hotter spikes (? no citation). My geography sucks, but it is basically bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopa, and some Gulf States, separated from the Red Sea by some low mountains.
Why would anyone want part of their small land base flooded? In a region of political turmoil and instability?
#TheIdealGood
- New coastline and interior waterway:
- This could provide new, shallow fishing grounds, with
- desalinisation/salt plant infrastructure opportunities,
- plenty of new coastline for people to build on, in hard rock deserts that are currently very hard to live in.
- Water, and possibly rain, in areas that are very dry, currently. Adding continuous water input into areas that currently dead end in below sea-level salt pans may not be a great idea. see the #SaltonSea. However, forming new bodies of water that circulate with the existing seas and oceans can distribute the salt load more equitably.
- Power generation: "Below sea level" means that there is an altitude gradient that can be harnessed by #hydroelectric #powergeneration. Using the same #tunnelboringmachine technology that digs our subways, highway and railway #tunnels, we could create 100+ miles-long turbine-spinning water pipes. After the sea levels start to equalise, power may still be generated by circulation, if a second tunnel, or canal is built to the Ocean, and by local evaporation ala the Mediterranean currents.
- Invigorated trade and agriculture, along a new inland sea, hopefully. The world would have to build state of the art sewage and water infrastructure as well, not just #shantydevelopment.
- An injection of water, food and trade, in areas currently challenged by geology, scarcity and heat.
The Obvious Bad and some unknowns:
- power struggles over new waters and coastline.
- Whom gets flooded, how are they compensated, etc?
- What gets flooded:
- Some of the oldest known deposits of early
#humanancestors , the #australopithecines and other
#archaeological #paleontological #cultural remains.
- Unique and rare #flora, #fauna and #geological
places.
- "Unique and rare geological places" includes volcanically active #hotsprings #geysers and #volcanoes. (A #lavalake ? citation!)
- Who pays for the drilling? the power generators? the new cities, with adequate or better infrastructure?
- Unknown ecological effects??
-What happens when you flood a large volcano, essentially? Will
the current volcanic features form productive, shallow hot vents,
or blow up?
- Some island-building,
- radical erosion,
-poisonous water zones that need to find new equilibriums (ala
ocean-bottom brine/methane lakes) that could become very
productive underwater,
- and a long-lasting injection of #watervapour #watervapor into the immediate region, areas downwind and the entire #atmosphere.
- Local rain in current deserts?
- Modified monsoons, greater hopefully?
- More water vapour to circulate to the poles, made
available to fall as snow and accumulate as ice, again.?
- Or catastrophic flooding in unforseen places? Drying in
others?
- Warm water takes up more room. Does connecting some of the dryest, hottest, lowest places on Earth with the current ocean system
As they say, in the Biz: #amodestsuggestion
However, now; imagine a #MiddleEast, where #Palestine, #Israel #Syria and #Jordan share a new #inlandsea, that is no longer dead. At least two big canals/tunnels/combo circulating the water in, gradually, sealing the #brine and drawing power from the growing #oasis. #DeadSea
Revitalise the Salton Sea. too? It is below sea level and the North end is in the #USA, the South end, is in #Mexico. It is the sort of mega project that could bring two countries together.
- invigorate a Stagnant ecological and economic zone, that has suffered the loss of water from the #ColumbiaRiver, but
- is already in a prehistoric estuary/alkali/brine setting, that will not suffer from becoming part of the ocean. It may benefit greatly from circulation, rather than deadend accumulation of brine and runoff.
There are other, large basins in #China and #Kazahkstan. Also, hot, dry regions where scarcity feeds conflict and tensions.
What else am I missing? Any more pros and cons to add, below? Tweet, to the right.
:) Cheers
:Eric #BingoRageStudio Feb20-21, 2020
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