[hackerspaces] Radical Solution To Save The Ozone Layer

[Jesse Sanford]

Ha you sound like my father. As I alway tell him. With great knowlege
comes great apathy.

Sent from Space!

On Oct 18, 2011, at 8:01 AM, B F <bakmthiscl at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ozone is very easily produced by exposing an oxygen atmosphere to UV
> light.  My little solar-powered bug zapper (with a UV lamp to attract
> bugs) produces enough ozone for me to smell.  (Yes, I can smell ozone.
> I understand that not everybody can.)
>
> Well, the sun is an excellent source of UV light, especially in the
> upper atmosphere, before it gets filtered out BY the atmosphere.
>
> So the question you need ask is why, with all this UV present, is the
> ozone hole appearing?  I don't really know the answer.  In the past
> this was (correctly) attributed to certain polluting gases -- freons
> -- that react with ozone in the upper atmosphere and destroy it.  I
> don't know whether that is the reason for the reappearance of the
> ozone hole.  I'd read somewhere it was related to weather conditions:
> "The cause for both the Arctic and Antarctic ozone holes is the same,
> the study says: unusually cold conditions that convert chemicals
> produced by humans into ozone-gobbling forms of chlorine.  Although
> the release of ozone-depleting substances was limited by the 1989
> Montreal Protocol, scientists say the long lifetimes of such chemicals
> once in the atmosphere will ensure Antarctic ozone holes for decades
> to come."  (http://www.mercurynews.com/green-living/ci_19106418)  So
> it's weather conditions plus long-lived pollutants.
>
> Bottom line -- there's plenty of oxygen and UV up there, but the rate
> of formation of ozone cannot keep up with its rate of depletion.
> Until the freon-like pollutants disappear, that condition will remain,
> at least sometimes.
>
> So, if you want to prevent ozone holes, (1) work to further reduce
> such pollution, and/or (2) come up with a means of scavenging these
> freon-like pollutants from the upper atmosphere.  (Good luck on that
> second one -- you'll need it!)
>
> Okay, now back off and ask why this matters.  "Depletion of ozone in
> the upper atmosphere allows more ultraviolet radiation from the sun to
> reach the surface, potentially causing an increase in skin cancer and
> other health problems. " (ibid.)
>
> Notice that this does NOT say anything about the melting of the polar
> ice caps.  Those ice caps ARE melting, but that is not due to a hole
> in the ozone layer.  Okay, maybe the hole contributes slightly by
> allowing more high-energy light through, but that's probably neither
> here nor there.
>
> In fact, the ozone hole and the melting of the ice have nothing to do
> with each other.  The melting of the ice is due to the increased
> thermal load of the Earth.  This is sometimes called "Global warming",
> but there's really no great warming involved.
>
> Here's why:  Take a styrofoam cup or insulated coffee mug.  Fill it
> 3/4 full with ice cubes, then all the way full with water.  Stir.
> Insert a thermometer and read the temperature.  It will be 32*F (=
> 0*C).  Now it should be obvious that if the room is warm, heat will be
> entering the cup from the top. As a result, the ice will melt slowly
> (or fast).  From time to time, stir a little more and take another
> reading of the thermometer.  It will still read 32*F.  Some time
> later, only a little ice will remain.  If you stir again and read the
> thermometer, it will still read 32*F!  Not until all the ice is melted
> will the water temperature begin to rise.  All the heat entering the
> cup is going to melt the ice.  Not until the ice is completely melted
> will the water temperature begin to rise to room temperature.
>
> The Earth is the same way, except, despite all the winds and currents,
> the stirring is incomplete.  Also, the "cup" is non-insulating, so
> heat enters across broad areas and even radiates away on the night
> side.  All this gives rise to extensive weather patterns and changes
> in temperatures.  But the ice is melting.  When all that ice melts,
> the temperature of the Earth WILL begin to rise.
>
> But all is not lost.  When crops fail and lowlands are flooded by the
> rising sea, international forbearance is sure to fail, resulting in a
> thermonuclear war.  This will load the atmosphere with dust for a few
> years which will shade the Earth and cause a precipitous drop in
> temperature and a reforming of the ice caps and glaciers.
> Furthermore, any decent war will bring an end to our fossil-fuel-based
> economy, so greenhouse gas emissions will drop off precipitously.
>
> Life will go on.  Probably on six legs.
>
> On Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 7:30 AM, David Venancio <metabaron at massmulti.org> wrote:
>> Thanks, I'm quite overloaded with work atm but you'r right.
>>
>> I'v posted the same text on my blog here : http://david.venancio.free.fr/?q=node/35
>>
>> Please everyone try to do it if I can't (at least this week). Next week I'll find time to continue on this idea.
>> Thanks again and RiseUP !
>> --David
>>
>>
>> Le mar 18/10/11 13:02 , Petr Baudis  a écrit::
>>
>>  Hi!
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 12:49:32PM +0200, David Venancio wrote:
>>> My proposal is to build a stratospheric baloon equiped with Solar Panels and the a quite huge Ozone Producer (electric arcs produced by Coupled inductors + Capacitors based on Nikola Tesla's invention). Eventually several baloons.
>>>
>>> I KNOW this may sound crazy, mad, stupid or whatever BUT will we stay like this watching the ice melt down ?
>>
>>  When I imagine this in action, I gotta say it would look madly cool.
>> :-)
>>
>>  However, if you want to convince people to get seriously interested,
>> I think you should present at least rough back-of-the-envelope
>> calculations and few crucial numbers:
>>
>>  * How much ozone is being depleted, i.e. what exactly are we trying to
>>    combat.
>>
>>  * How much ozone would you be able to generate with a single
>>    reasonably-sized and reasonably-priced device given current solar
>>    panel and battery technology.
>>
>> --
>>                                Petr "Pasky" Baudis
>> We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island
>> of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorace. -- J. A. Wheeler
>>
>>
>>
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