Not boring! Very interesting!

Chances are, by the time you see the two words I'm going to be talking about, you will lose interest immediately.

Ready for it?

I'm not kidding.

Seriously, interest levels will reduce to zero.

Which would be sad, because this will actually be quite good.

Okay, here goes

'Climate change'

Yes, okay, so most of you stopped reading there. But the couple of you who are still here, strap yourselves in!

Global warming, climate change, melting ice caps... they've all got a lot of good media coverage recently. It's dying off now as the interest levels wane and no one can maintain the outrage for too long.

WHICH IS A GOOD THING

Yes, you heard me right. It's a good thing, because once the hysteria has worn off, once the thunderous blog sermons have rung out to their empty cyber pews, we can get on with figuring out a few things
a) Is there a problem?
b) Are there solutions?
c) What is the best one?
d) What is the best achievable one?

Here's my go at it! Take note, UN!

Okay, so it's accepted scientific opinion that the world is getting warmer. By how much, well, that depends. But we're getting warmer. And it could lead to some nasty things. Like more deserts. We won't run out of water obviously... there will be the same amount of moisture as there always has been! That won't change. Heh heh.

A big thing a lot of scientists don't like is the amount of carbon emissions we're putting into the atmosphere. They reckon we should stop putting them there. Mostly by not using coal, or oil.

Fat chance guys. Sorry. But China and India have a giant hand with a giant middle finger painted on it (in penguin blood!) pointed straight at anyone who wants them to change their energy consumption habits. So that solution is not diplomatically, economically, or physically viable.

HOWEVER

What if (call me crazy) there was a reliable energy source that did not pump out carbon? An energy source that was cheap, reliable, and available? One that could be adapted to our current energy infrastructure without a dramatic initial cost? Let's call it Obamacide. Or, wait, Unobtainium. No... I'm going to call it Darthvaderite.

Okay - so how do we get Darthvaderite? An energy source so powerful it countries will be rushing to change their power systems? I've got an idea.

Set aside a big freaking load of money. They say that the cost of implementing emission standards will cost into the trillions and trillions of dollars. So instead of wasting all that, lets get say... $1 trillion? how about $700 billion? Okay, $700 billion. And use that to provide grants and prizes to whoever comes up with the best new energy solutions. Set a 10-15 year time limit on it, organise it through the Nobel Prize, set strict conditions on it, and let's have at it!

Reassess through the competition, making sure promising leads are given good resources and bad ones closed down. Make the prize at the end so good that every country, business, whatever is giving it a go. The first to develop Darthvaderite will be rich!

Hey - I know there will be political interference. They'll have to account for that. But humans can be pretty creative. I expect something pretty useful and impressive would come out of it.

Ooooh! One other thing. Use another $40-80 billion or so and give everyone clean drinking water and sewerage! It's actually surprisingly cheap.

So that's my idea.

As far as I can see, it's a much better one than restricting carbon emissions. I mean, that's a good idea too... butttttt... not a great idea. It's a boring idea. A defensive idea. The reactive idea of boring people with no imagination.

Let's get the creative people have a go at creating a proactive solution. Do some carbon emission crap too, just so people know it's going to hurt them financially enough that it's not worth continuing with, and then get on with the science fair!

What do people think?

Also, that Obama video is hilarious!!!!! More cringe-inducing than old videos of yourself singing in childhood... This one is pretty classic too! Heh heh heh ahhh doing embarrassing things for ideas we believe in. It's part of being human I guess :)