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GBlist: Re: Harry's post on strawbale rant - population, third world
Yo Terry:
Hadn't realized that you were a fan of John Brunner, too... I have a first
edition of Stand on Zanzibar. Talk about dim futures.
Having been involved in the energy conservation/IAQ game for a while, I've
come to the conclusion that we need to always keep an eye on the role of
the building to provide light, air, comfort, and a place for your stuff. If
sustainable technologies are going to take hold, we need to get past the
trained owner-operator approach (I have two friends who are chemical
engineers whose house features a special septic system that amounts to a
scaled-down municipal system, complete with valves and transducers) while
avoiding violations of the Zeroth Law of Design (never conceive of a system
designed to out-perform the people operating it).
We can do it, but a lot of toys will be left behind...
In the vein of the nitrogen cycle, we should get ready for the methane
cycle. There's a fascinating catrastrophe waiting the next bump in the
interglacial cycle. Seems that some believe that onset for an ice age can
be rapid (and yes, coincide with global warming).
There's a joker in the deck, however, in the form of gas hydrates along the
continental margins. Gas hydrates (called clathrates by the chemists) form
ice at critical pressure/temperature that encages methane. In the Arctic
Tundra, this can occur at minor depths in the soil, giving ice that burns.
In the (relatively) shallow sea, a few hundred feet of water depth does the
trick at less chilly temperatures. Anyway, the gas hydrates can form an
impermeable layer that traps methane formed within the sediment. Reducing
sea level kills off the clathrate layer, unleashing the methane and the
greenhouse effect takes over.
How does global warming coincide with emerging ice ages? The distribution
of extreme events. Sorta like the disappearance of the 400 hitter in baseball.
... Harry
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