Super Freakonomics

The book does a great job taking on Global Warming,  geo-engineering, and religion.  In 1991 Mt. Pinatubo erupted spewing tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.  The end result was a partial cooling of the earth.  If the earth can cool itself down,  why can’t man recreate this effect and solve the “issue” of global warming?

Dump chemicals in the atmosphere?  It was a crazy hair-of-the-dog scheme that seemed to violate every tenet of environmentalism.  Those who saw global warming as a religious issue could hardly imagine a more grievous sacrilege.  P.216

 Budyko’s Blanket is a plan to do this.  Pump sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere at the poles to cool the earth down. 

So Budyko’s Blanket could effectively reverse global warming at a total cost of $250 million.  Compared with the 1.2 trillion that Nicholas Stern proposes spending each year to attack the problem, IV’s ideal is practically free.  It would cost $50 million less to stop global warming than what Al Gore’s foundation is paying to just increase the public awareness of global warming. 

P.216

Besides Global Warming the book takes on Prostitution,  (Casual Sex has killed the prostitutes wages.)  Suicide Bombing, Child Birth, and a lot of other topics.  A great read.