For some years now I have had a recurring thought: save the planet by using plastic.
So much plastic is in the sea now that it is predicted that within this century there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
I read about a young guy who had figured out how to collect the micro bits of plastic. Ocean Cleanup has a floating barrier that is towed between ships to collect plastic. There are other ideas out there for how to clean the plastic from the oceans.
My idea is that the plastic collected could be shipped north or south to the Arctic or Antarctica or to places like Greenland where the glaciers are melting.
Why is the ice melting? Beyond the factors of air pollution and rising temperatures globally, there is the issue that the sun's rays are reaching earth and not getting bounced back.
Most plastic is reflective. The key to preserving ice - as shown by scientists who coated a frozen pond with glass bubbles - is to reflect the sun's rays. I am not sure from the articles why these experts on materials chose glass. Plastic could do that.
The idea originally came to me after reading concerning articles about the "ozone hole." Ozone protects the planet from the sun's rays but there are places, especially in the Antarctic, where it thins. More sun gets in, the air temperature rises, the snow and ice melts. The reflectivity of the snow and ice lessens and so more melts.
But coat the snow and ice with plastic and what would happen?
Take the plastic from all over the world's oceans. All those cargo ships out there on the sea could be enlisted to collect and move the plastic towards the poles.
Increase the reflectivity at the poles and reduce the amount of sun's rays reaching the polar regions.
It is kind of an apocalyptic thought to imagine the polar ice coated in vast sheets of plastic. As is the idea shared by Native American elders that the planet is now being spider webbed with cement. The roads, the buildings, the parking lots and playgrounds covered in cement are sealing the planet in the oddest way. Humans in cities rarely if ever actually walk on the real ground.
So yes, there would be all kinds of engineering issues to address - and financial, political, social as well. In my own backyard, I covered plants and plant beds with plastic sheets to keep them warm on the bitter cold days. So maybe sheets of plastic are not the answer. But microplastics - those tiny bits that break up in the ocean and are killing marine life - they would have air spaces between them. That could help to balance temperatures.
I am not sure why this image keeps returning to my mind. I have no power to implement it or even much ability to share the idea. But it does offer me some hope that all the terrors of climate change and plastic pollution and so much more could be alleviated if we could do something positive about it all.
If the planet is in trouble - which it is - then we have a responsibility to do something or at least to dream about possible solutions.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-control-of-nature/a-heat-shield-for-the-most-important-ice-on-earth
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