| In their book, Super Freakonomics, authors Steven D. | | | | of Mt. Pinatubo, which spewed tons of sulfur dioxide |
| Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner highlight a conversation | | | | high into the stratosphere, scientists were able to |
| with the founder of Intellectual Ventures. | | | | positively document a sustained drop in global |
| Intellectual Ventures is a think-tank company, and | | | | temperature. |
| holder of over 20,000 patents of novel ideas such as | | | | How much sulfur dioxide are we talking about here? |
| using lasers to zap malaria carrying mosquitoes, and | | | | About 34 gallons of sulfur dioxide per minute, |
| the Salter Sink, a device that floats on the ocean and | | | | discharged into the stratosphere, would be enough to |
| re-circulates warm surface water to deeper, colder | | | | effectively cool the entire Northern Hemisphere. |
| water, which, if placed in the path of an approaching | | | | Overall, it would take 100,000 tons of sulfur dioxide |
| hurricane would weaken its intensity. | | | | per year, a fraction of the 200 million tons that is |
| Nathan Myhrvold is the founder of Intellectual | | | | already being discharged into the environment at |
| Ventures, and he came originally from Microsoft. He | | | | ground levels. |
| has some ideas about curbing global warming: one of | | | | Could this actually work? Myhrvold thinks so: he'd use |
| them is to build an 18 mile long flexible hose to spew | | | | helium balloons to raise the 18 mile long hose high into |
| sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. | | | | the sky, and small pumps spaced along its length |
| Why does he think this will work? According to | | | | would pump the sulfur dioxide along. |
| Myhrvold, sulfur dioxide would absorb enough water | | | | Critics say the plan is insane, and we need to |
| vapor to form an aerosol cloud, blanketing the Earth | | | | concentrate on curbing emissions, not on |
| and producing a cooling effect. He calls this cooling | | | | "geoengineering." Myhrvold counters that both |
| blanket Budyko's Blanket, after the Russian scientist | | | | approaches are needed; it is too late to think curbing |
| who first suggested the idea back in the mid 1970s. | | | | emissions alone will be sufficient to reduce global |
| Myhrvold also points out that after the 1991 eruption | | | | warming. |