In order to reduce the melting of polar ice, why couldn’t we use liquid nitrogen in some ways, to freeze parts of the pole’s seas?
In: Physics
I do recall a line from Futurama “We just drop a giant ice cube into the ocean every once in a while”
Yes theoretically we could… but the amount required would be incredible, and that energy to make the liquid nitrogen has to come from somewhere which would probably end up making the problem worse. Also it doesn’t solve the underlying cause which is too much CO2 in the atmosphere, and that’s only getting worse.
The solution to climate change isn’t to become carbon neutral, it’s to become carbon negative. In other words we have to be taking more carbon out of the air that we put in.
Becoming carbon neutral is the first step, and arguably they easier part. Stop doing more damage.
But we haven’t figured out a practical and effective way to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it away on geologic time scales. Planting more trees is the obvious answer, but it won’t work fast enough.
Latest Answers