Many years ago, I read some novels by Rabindranath Tagor at a stretch. It built an opinion in me about him that his tremendous strength is- he makes his readers obliged in his current judgment and tied to the opposite wisdom in the following sentence. This time I saw environmental science as if Rabindranath. When the science avowed global warming is the principal problem yet, extreme cooling may cause our extinction. I know- for the environmental scientists, it is simply the cause and effect, but for the people of other fields, it is a puzzle, a mystery, a paradox, etc. Another story- billions are pouring into the business of decarbonization. Wall Street giants and corporate titans are betting on climate innovation. Is it fair to believe that venture capitalists would make it happen? Or, eventually, humans will see a different, worse scenario? The last tale is about our space. Space gets more crowded, a single SpaceX satellite internet venture – Starlink – wants to put 12,000 satellites in orbit over the next five years. A UN report from 2013 projected that catastrophic collisions might occur once every five to nine years over the next two centuries. My question is- are we going to develop our information gathering capability, or within some days, there will be no information about us in this universe?
On Aug 19, 2021, sciencemag.org printed, Massive volcanoes could cool earth more in a warming world. Here I summarize the article with my interpretation. In a combined computer simulation of idealized volcanic eruptions with a global climate model, the scientists simulated the response to plumes released from midsize and large volcanoes in historical conditions and by 2100, in a scenario when we predict the earth to warm very rapidly. It suggests increased greenhouse gases will help the plumes from gigantic eruptions reach higher, spread faster, and reflect more sunlight, causing more abrupt and extreme cooling.
There are few forces on earth more powerful than a large volcanic eruption. At their most potent, volcanoes inject millions of tons of Sun-blocking particles high into the atmosphere that can cool the earth for nearly 5- years, endangering crops and leading to years without summer. The most recent, the Philippines Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991, caused a temporary 0.5°C drop in global temperatures.
Yet its become increasingly clear that even human-driven climate change alters these grand forces. Declining ice cover can trigger more frequent eruptions near the poles in Iceland elsewhere. And an increasingly layered ocean will allow more volcano-induced cooling to linger at the earth's surface. Increased greenhouse gases will help the plumes from tremendous eruptions reach higher, spread faster, and reflect more sunlight, causing more abrupt and extreme cooling.
But the question is- will we ever warm the climate enough to influence volcanoes?
On Aug 21, 2021, The Economist published, "billions are pouring into the business of decarbonization. Wall Street giants and corporate titans are betting on climate innovation.' I do not want to go into the detail of the article. Instead, choose to lit the candle of hope. But fear is there. The entire world wants to back to preindustrial temperature. Is it fair to believe that venture capitalists would make it happen? Or, eventually, humans will see a different, worse scenario?
On Aug 9, 2021, SCIENCEFOCUS.COM wrote, Space Junk: Is it a disaster waiting to happen? The writing says- We forget that seven decades ago, the moon was the only thing orbiting the earth. On Jan 1, 2021, there were 6,542 satellites in orbit. Tellingly, only just over half of them were active. That's a lot of useless metal careering around the planet at 28,000 kph – ten times faster than a bullet. Estimates suggest half a million pieces of debris the size of a marble or bigger and 100 million pieces of debris above one millimeter across. Yet only 27,000 pieces are actively tracked by the US Department of Defence.
Space gets more crowded, with the number of satellite launches set to quintuple in the next decade. In January 2021, a single SpaceX Falcon rocket launched 143 satellites into space alone. SpaceX satellite internet venture – Starlink – wants to put 12,000 satellites in orbit over the next five years. All this additional hardware significantly ramps up the chances of collisions and the dreaded Kessler syndrome. A UN report from 2013 projected that catastrophic collisions might occur once every five to nine years over the next two centuries.
My question is- are we going to develop our information gathering capability, or within some days, there will be no information about us in this universe?
