Nature’s imbalance at the hands of humans could be catastrophic but could purposefully changing the climate actually help it?

On the fringe of experimental earth science exists a theoretical and nearly improbable study of climate called geoengineering or terraforming.  The basic idea is if we do certain things to alter our atmospheric composition or sunlight intake, we’ll be able to counteract the negative effects of the damage we’ve already done.

One theory suggests that if we shot more sulphur into the atmosphere, it wold enhance a cloud’s ability to reflect sunlight.  Only problem is that atmospheric sulphur particles are what make acid rain and is usually the byproduct of dirty factory pollution.  Other theories involve enriching the sea with iron to propagate plankton growth, one of nature’s most efficient carbon removers.

In the end, the unwitting tampering with fragile climate systems seems only to have presented more problems but an open discussion of geoengineering has new solutions emerging into the mainstream.

For more on geoengineering, take a look at some of the following links:

Geoengineering our way out of trouble (Columbia University)

The human element to geoengineering (Op Ed News)

Recruiting plankton to fight global warming (NY Times)

Diagram by Kathleen Smith/LLNL

There aren’t many places left unclaimed by one nation or another, unless of course your country is not on land.

Seasteading, or homesteading on the high seas, has become not only the subject of entertainment but the topic of serious research, design, and political philisophy for individuals seeking to demonstrate how to live sustainably and prosper.

In the book, Seasteading: A Practical Guide to Homesteading the High Seas, author Wayne Gramlich writes,

These aquatic pioneers will settle civilization’s next frontier through the unusual merger of green technology and free enterprise. Once there, they will experiment with new social, political, and economic systems, adding much-needed variety and innovation to the stagnant business of government.

So far, only one example of a recognized micro-nation of this kind exists off the coast of England known as the Principality of Sealand.  After a brief run-in with the British military, Sealand proved its soverignty in court and now has his own currency, national anthem, and passports.

For some amazing designs of these future floating nations, click the slideshow below and check out some of the following links.

The Seasteading Institute (Seasteading.org)

Seasteading: Homesteading the high seas (Green Upgrader)

Seasteading is the aquatic answer to the housing crisis (io9)

Peter Theil makes down payment on Libertarian ocean colonies (Wired)

Featured design by Emerson Stepp.

Slideshow by ejacobhansen.

Full BBC article here.

Green Air Filter:

Whoever said timing wasn’t everything? The Northern shrimp, a species popular in the North Atlantic, has been predicted to decrease in population. This is not due to an influx of natural predators of the Northern shrimp, in fact, the shrimp barely have the time to develop from larvae form.

The Northern shrimp normally hatches in time with bloom when food is most abundant in the ocean floor. With the rapidly changing climate, however, the temperature of the ocean is also changing at a high rate. Unable to adapt to their surroundings, the larvae is no longer able to sync with the bloom of its food supplies. The prawn cocktail industry can now be added to the endless list of victims of climate change.

Photo by Andrew Gaskell.

In like a lion and out like a lamb.  An unlikely green super-hero emerges to protect the fragile seas.

The Bush administration may not be remembered for it’s ground breaking conservation efforts but just before his departure from office, President Bush effectively protected a whopping 195,000 square miles of the central Pacific’s untouched ocean oasis.  With the stroke of a pen, the President set aside an area the size of his home state of Texas as the largest swath of protected ocean on the planet.

And Bush didn’t skimp on the protection either: these marine monuments are granted the highest level of conservation, prohibiting commercial fishing, mining, and drilling of this newly safeguarded underwater Yellowstone.  While the initial proposed ocean and island plot was over 700,000 square miles, Bush’s declaration went above and beyond expectations and is still a huge and important initiative.

Only recently have we come to discover the finite nature of our ocean as a natural resource and it’s efforts like this we hope will endure through our emerging administration.

For a look at the largest marine monument on earth, check out some of these images:

Photo by Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Slideshow by volcanojw.

It’s your first date and you’re at the pricey seafood restaurant of her choice.  You want to impress and seem savvy by ordering the “right” dish.  You seem to remember reading something about tuna… yeah, tuna… it’s bad right?  Wait… or was it salmon… or grouper?  DANGIT!!!

Before you soak your shirt with anxiety and opt for the garden salad, your aquaculture-alert-on-the-go cell phone function has arrived… introducing, Fish Phone!

Our fishing-forward friends a the Blue Ocean Institute are the master mariners behind the “first sustainable seafood text messaging service.”  From geared up smart phone users to pay-as-you-gosters, anyone can tap the up-to-the-nanosecond news on species with significant environmental concerns.

The fish are ranked according to Blue Ocean’s evaluation of species’ life history, abundance, in the wild, habitat concerns, and catch method or farming system.  Health advisories are also provided indicating unsafe levels of mercury, PCBs, and dioxins.

Now take a deep breath, order the halibut, and get on with the courtship you eco STUD!

Thanks Fish Phone!

Photo by soxer123.