How he could teach us a thing or two about beating climate change

Published Date: 06 July 2009
By Tristan Stewart-Robertson

BOLD ideas to rescue the planet from the brink of climate change disaster by covering the Sahara desert with mirrors, making livestock behave like herds of wildebeest to lock in carbon and creating clouds to bounce back sunlight have been presented at a conference.
Scientists, engineers and campaigners from around the world offered their proposals to a panel of experts on how to cut greenhouse gas emissions.Stephen Salter, professor emeritus of engineering design at the University of Edinburgh, proposed using special unmanned boats which use solar power to blow a spray of fine seawater particles into the air, producing clouds to bounce sunlight away from the Earth.The festival in Manchester invited experts to present ideas for a special report, to be published for policymakers in advance of the Copenhagen summit on climate change in December.In addition to the wildebeest and mirrors creating clean energy in the Sahara, there were more proposals. They included making charcoal and burying it to seal in carbon; giving "eco-overhauls" to old leaky homes; developing a new form of nuclear reactor using thorium; tidal turbines; and advocating better family planning in the developing world to control rising population numbers.Chartered accountant and farmer Tony Lovell, from Queensland, Australia, told the conference that huge amounts of carbon could be stored by farming cows in a manner that mimics wildebeest."Wild herds are constantly on the move as they head to the newest grasslands. They cause initial damage to the area as they are all feeding in close proximity. They are all closely hemmed in, in an attempt to avoid predation."Once they move on, the grassland uses up carbon to repair itself and then has three months and often much longer to be fully repaired before the animals return. In this time, they can lock in even more carbon from the atmosphere."Prof Salter said: "We need to do the basic research for the ideas that need research, then you could decide how much of each one will be needed. But it is extremely difficult for people to raise capital and a lot of good projects like these are at risk of going bust, and the need is desperately important."