First Draft

Greetings Leon,

Below is a draft of a speech I gave at a Toastmasters
club meeting in February 2008. It addresses a direct
solution for Global Warming. I would be very happy to
see this idea propagated around to policy makers and
the public in general. Please, if you think it has
merit, add it to your website.

regards,

Dave Handwerk

Global Warming Revisited

Toastmaster Club # 111
Presented by: David Handwerk
February 7th, 2008

Did anyone here watch the story on the History
Channel, on Sunday evening 01/27/2008, on Global
Warming? It was sobering. There are not many of us
who dont believe Global Warming is real, although we
may not agree on exactly what is causing it. Does it
really matter if it is caused be Greenhouse gasses,
increased solar radiation or by some other cause(s)?
Well, maybe a little so that we can try to reverse it.
However the results of Global Warming make it
irreversible. Let me explain. The melting of the
Tundra in Siberia, Alaska and Canada is releasing
Methane from frozen hydrate in and under the ground
and lakes. Methane is a Greenhouse gas 5 times more
potent than Carbon Dioxide. Further Methane hydrates
in the ocean, will boil off as the oceans warm. This,
in my opinion is an irreversible, chain reaction that
will increase Global Warming (whatever its initial
cause), until all the frozen Methane is in the
atmosphere. This chain reaction will speed up over
the years; I guestimate a 60-foot sea-level rise in
the next 100 years. Make no mistake, this is serious,
and it may lead to the extinction of life on earth,
other than a few Extremeophilic single cell lifeforms.
This is just my estimate based on an average of what
I have read, it could be much sooner, or later. So
since nothing on heaven or earth can stop it, I
recommend selling your beachfront home and buying in
the mountains.

WAIT, did I say on heaven or earth? Lets look at it
one more time from heaven. Global Warming occurs
because sunlight from our slightly variable sun passes
through 93,000,000 miles of space, then strikes the
earth and is partially absorbed by the earths land,
oceans and atmosphere. There doesnt appear to be
much we can do at the earth end, but might it be
possible to attenuate some of the sunlight between the
Sun and the Earth?

What do you think of this idea? We put up a partial
reflector at the Sun-Earth-L1-Lagrange-Orbit (Ill
just call it
L-1). L-1 is a very stable location that stays
between the earth and the Sun with very little effort.
So what will it take to do this?

To accomplish this remediation (and to provide at
least 2/3rds of Earths Energy needs) in the next 20
years, with my estimated Sea-level rise of 4 to 5
feet, we must do the following steps:
1. Realize that we will be able to resolve these
problems from space, and to spread the word.
2. Quickly develop the political will to make this
happen.
3. Increase the space budget by a factor of 11 or
more, to $2B / year (about what the Iraq War costs).
4. Persuade other nations to join in this effort,
(Perhaps we could remind them of the costs that
sea-level rise will have on their nations) and begin
updating our space program.

As money becomes available here is what NASA, or
whoever runs the project should do:

A. Improve our launch capability tonnage by a factor
of 1,000 while lowering the cost to orbit by a factor
of 1,000. This could be done be adopting various
Electromagnetic & Tether Launch Systems, in as little
as 5 years.
B. Establish a dozen or two Lunar Colonies to Strip
Mine lunar regolith from the Moons surface then to
electromagnetically launching it in a stream of
buckets to L-1 (as defined above).
C. Establish a dozen Solar Powered Space Factories at
L-1, to process this dust and cause it to form a
controllable cloud to attenuate the sunlight headed
for Earth.
D. Allow commercial interests access to space to build
Space Solar Power Satellites to provide at least
2/3rds of Earths Energy needs. The rest could be
provided by on-earth Solar, Wind, Fusion, Geothermal,
etc. (Access to low fixed cost supply of electricity
could further persuade other nations to join in this
effort.)
E. This needs to be studied and acted upon as quickly
as possible. If we could get the entire system
operational in 20 years, plus another year or so to
cause actual reversal, sea-level rise may max out at
only 4 5 feet. Cities could build dikes and the
land loss may be acceptable.

The scientific and engineering effort is huge; we have
a lot of work to do. This includes:

i. Quickly developing various ElectroMagnetic Launch
Systems(EMLSs).
ii. Test the suitability and properties of lunar
regolith for this purpose and design machinery to
re-powder and disseminate the compacted lunar soil.
iii. Rapidly develop lunar colony and mining plans.
iv. Rapidly develop Solar Powered Space Factory plans.
v. Automate the entire project, as it may need to
operate for decades or centuries.

This huge project has other benefits that may not be
obvious. Very fast, very low cost transportation
between points on earth and/or space destinations.
The relocation of many polluting mining and
manufacturing plants to space. The opening of vast
energy sources, vast material resources and vast new
land areas in space. Adventure, exploration,
expansion, and colonization of the solar system and
eventually the galaxy.

I for one think this project is extremely important
and plan to spend my remaining life on its
realization.

Thank you.

Speech Outline:

History Channel
Why It doesnt it really matter
Can it be stopped? No, melting of the
Tundra releases Methane, causing an. irreversible,
chain reaction.
Chain reaction will speed up over the years;
anticipate a 60-foot sea-level rise in the next 100
years. (my guestimate)
This will continue at an ever increasing
rate.
Make no mistake, serious, may lead to the
extinction of life on earth, except for a few extreme
single cell life.
Nothing on heaven or earth can stop this
runaway chain reaction.
WAIT! Lets look at it one more time from
heaven.
Global Warming occurs because sunlight from
our slightly variable sun passes through 93,000,000
miles of space, then strikes the earth and is
partially absorbed by the earths land, oceans and
atmosphere.
Nothing to do at the earth end, but might it
be possible to attenuate some of the sunlight between
the Sun and the Earth?
Idea? We put up a partial reflector at the
Sun-Earth-L1-Lagrange-Orbit (L-1 for short). L-1 is a
very stabile location that stays between the earth and
the Sun with very little effort.
So what will it take?
The realization that we will be able to
resolve these problems from space, and to spread that
word.
Quickly develop the political will to make
this happen.
Increase the space budget by a factor of 11
or more, to $2T / year (about what the Iraq War
costs).
Persuade other nations to join in this
effort, and begin updating our space program. Perhaps
we could remind them of the costs of sea-level rise to
their nations.
Allow commercial interests access to space to
build Space Solar Power Satellites to provide at least
2/3rds of Earths Energy needs.
The rest could be provided by on-earth Solar,
Wind, Fusion, Geothermal, etc.
Access to low fixed cost supply of
electricity could further persuade other nations to
join in this effort.
We need to accomplish this fix, in the next
20 years, so as to limit Sea-level rise of 4 to 5
feet.
As money becomes available we must improve
our launch capability tonnage by a factor of 1,000
while lowering the cost to orbit by a factor of 1,000.

This could be done be adopting various
Electromagnetic Launch Systems, and Tether Systems in
as little as 5 years.
Establish 1 or 2 dozen Lunar Colonies to
Strip Mine lunar regolith from the Moons surface
then to electromagnetically launch it in a stream of
buckets to L-1.
Establish a dozen Solar Powered Space
Factories at L-1, to process and disburse this dust
and cause it to form a controllable cloud to attenuate
the sunlight.
This needs to be studied and acted upon as
quickly as possible. If we could get the entire
system operational in 20 years, (the actual cooling
would be quite fast and easily controlled) then the
actual reversal, sea-level rise may max out at only 5
feet.
Cities could build dikes and land loss may be
acceptable and later reversible.
One in place this system could immediate cool
the planet and reverse problems, once the problem is
gone this system could be stored for hundreds or
thousands of years until needed again.
The scientific and engineering effort is
huge; we must quickly developing various EMLSs
Test the suitability and properties of lunar
regolith for this purpose and design machinery to
re-powder and disseminate the compacted lunar soil.
Rapidly develop lunar colony and mining plans
and deploy them.
Rapidly develop Solar Powered Space Factory
plans and deploy them.
Automate the entire project, as it may need
to operate for decades or centuries.
Other benefits include a very fast, very low
cost transportation between points on earth and/or
space destinations.
The relocation of many polluting mining and
manufacturing plants to space.
The opening of vast energy sources, vast
material resources and vast new land areas in space.
Adventure exploration, expansion, and
colonization of the solar system and eventually the
galaxy.
In Summary: From whatever cause, we need
this Global Cooling Machine ASAP. Plus if we ever need
it again, it will be ready.
I for one think this project is extremely
important and plan to spend my remaining life on its
realization.
Thank you.

Approximately 8 minutes.