Astroid Defences

[tubeswell]

Very interesting discussion.

I can totally see KLA2's point - although I'd like to add that a collision with an Oort cloud comet on a parabolic trajectory might well be unavoidable - but my personal worry and priority would be what tubeswell mentioned.

Therefore, I drive a big car, live in a house with a crappy heating system and old wooden (if double-paned) windows, and I prefer to leave the computer on when I leave work. Did I mention my holiday on Hawai'i?

Yeah, we Germans are so carbon footprint-conscious, arent' we?

Yes - all the characteristics of a super wicked problem to be sure. Thanks to hydrocarbon fuel technology, everyone that can afford it drives a car, most people who can afford it have crappy heating systems, most buildings existing today have been built in an era when people were not thinking about energy efficiency, most work IT departments tell you log-off your workstation when you finish work, but leave the power on so they can run the auto-update and auto-problem diagnosing software when no-one else is around, and everyone who can afford it goes on holiday to Hawaii at some point or other.

We need to develop alternative fuel technology that does not produce atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions as a byproduct of energy utilisation, and we need to produce this technology in bucket loads as quickly as possible.

[KLA2]

Yes. Arneb,

Tubes, agreed that we should do what we can to stop polluting our planet and work on better energy sources, but, you do realize that we are still living in the tail end of an ice age.

Cooling and heating of this wonderful water planet has happened many times. Whether we are causing, or can prevent this cycle is a subject for a whole 'nother forum. In which there are probably only a handful of experts truly qualified to comment.

Certainly, not me.

Always think of some Neanderthals sitting around a fire at the start of the last ice age, saying "Need more greenhouse gases. Light more fires!"