Nuclear War and Geoengineering

                                        Enough with the planetary geoengineering already

One of the nasty side effects of a nuclear war, in addition to the mass destruction of cities and deaths of millions of innocent civilians, is something called nuclear winter.  Computer models of the effects of nuclear war suggest that the huge explosions and enormous heat generated by nuclear bombs create convective clouds that carry radioactive dust and aerosols up into the upper atmosphere from the detonation site at ground zero.  Set off enough nuclear bombs and create enough nuclear mushroom clouds, and the debris carried into the atmosphere will block a portion of the sunlight and produce a global cooling effect.

In an article entitled "you want crazy we got crazy" Michael D. Lemonick suggested that a nuclear war just might make his day.  Mr. Lemonick didn't call for an all-out nuclear exchange between the US and Russia and China as he felt that was too extreme, but he proposed instead that limited nuclear exchanges between second tier nuclear powers like India and Pakistan, Israel and soon-to-go-nuclear Iran or even Britain and France might put just enough dust into the air to successfully counteract the effects of rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere.  Mr. Lemonick suggested the ideal scenario would be a series of limited nuclear exchanges between different pairs of countries, with a new nuclear war beginning between two new countries just as the cooling effect of the previous nuclear war was just diminishing in effectiveness. 

It definitely seems crazy to suggest limited nuclear war as a way to slow Greenhouse Warming, so perhaps Mr. Lemonick had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he made his suggestion.  Or perhaps Mr. Lemonick is one of those crazy cock-eyed optimists who can always put a positive spin on things, no matter how disastrous the situation.   

So if in the future, god forbid, a nuclear war starts, please remember Mr. Lemonick's idea.   The world may be ending, but there is a silver lining in those mushroom-shaped radioactive clouds----at least you won't have to worry about Greenhouse Warming for awhile.