From Campbell Wallace
You ought to start a competition for THISPs. You have reported proposals to seed the sea with iron filings to stimulate algal growth (14 June, p 7), putting solar reflectors between the Earth and the sun (spangles in space), releasing sulphur particles in the upper atmosphere to foster cloud growth (both 21 July 2007, p 42) and cutting down trees to bury carbon (3 May, p 32).
These are all examples of a THISP – Truly Horrible Idea for Saving the Planet.
I’d like to propose a THISP of my own. Polystyrene packaging – there is no shortage of it – should be crushed to particles about the size of a grain of rice, mixed with common salt, coated with a slow-dissolving, non-toxic resin or binder, and released in massive quantities into the Gulf Stream in the Caribbean.
The white particles will greatly increase the albedo of the ocean.
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As the binder dissolves, the salt will be released. The resulting cooler, denser water will sink earlier than otherwise, keeping a great deal of heat from reaching the Arctic, and preventing total failure of the ocean circulation.
Harvesting the salt and treating and releasing the particles will provide much-needed employment in some very poor countries.
True, the particles will end up on the beaches of western Europe and North America.
But this will allow fisherfolk, caught between falling fish stocks and increasing fuel prices, to find employment gathering them.
When, inevitably, an oil spill occurs, the oil will cling to the particles, making it easier to clean up.
Who’s going to give me a few million to do a study and prepare a report? Someone from the packaging industry, perhaps.
Redon, Brittany, France
