SuperFreak Levitt: Acid Rain Haze Hose "So Sensible" Solution To Global Warming

11/11/09: Appearing on the Charlie Rose Show, Freakonomics author and University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt argues that pumping sulfur dioxide through garden hoses into the stratosphere to build a sun-blocking haze is the "so sensible" solution to global warming.

Transcript:

LEVITT: So, it seems like if you really think global warming is a terrible problem, you need a solution that's faster, and that's more certain, or easier to do. So, turns out geoengineering, extremely controversial but so sensible.

I mean, there are ideas out there that are cheap, they're totally versible, totally reversible, which is incredibly important. You wouldn't want to do anything that's irreversible, because the science isn't that certain. And they don't require massive behavior change. We're not saying we should go out tomorrow and build one of these machines say, to put sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, but what we are saying is, "How can that not that be part of the debate?" We're just trying to give geoengineering a seat at the table. . . .

ROSE: Explain how it would work.

LEVITT: It's pretty straightforward.

ROSE: You pour sulfur dioxide in the air and it puts a shield.

LEVITT: Exactly. It puts a shield. Really, the science is based on what Mother Nature has been doing for eons, which is when there are big volcanic eruptions, among the other things that are spewed out is sulfur dioxide. And it sprays it so high it gets into the stratosphere. The key is that getting the sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere where it forms into this haze which reflects something like one to two percent of the sunlight. And that's enough to cool the earth. And all you need to do is just have a steady flow of it. And if you can figure out a way to get it up there, Nathan's idea and his compatriots is to just essentially build a glorified garden hose. They put one at the north pole and south pole. It sounds like scientific fiction, but they have the engineering solution. It wouldn't be that hard. And if you don't like it, you just turn the spigot off . . .

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• global warming
• SuperFreakonomics
• Freakonomics
• geoengineering
• Levitt
• Myhrvold
• Steven Levitt
• Charlie Rose
• climate change
• science fiction