Burn leaves and bring back global cooling by Those who remember
Pitch
Leaf burning was banned in 1970 to stop global cooling and it worked. Now we use diesel to truck plastic bags to landfills. Burn leaves!
Description
Summary
At the first Earthday to stop global cooling we proposed a ban on leaf burning. The particulate matter in the atmosphere from those burning leaves raised Earth's albedo (reflectivity) and reflected away the sun's rays. By banning leaf burning it was hoped the heating effect of the sun would increase. And it worked!
For more than forty years we've benefited from that ban and averted a new ice age. Unfortunately, now those leaves are packaged in plastic bags and trucked -using fossil fuels- to landfills where they rot and generate heat and methane without liberating clean carbon dioxide that would have been used via photosynthesis to increase the forest and ground cover.
We recently saw proposals from "serious" scientists to start injecting artificial particulate matter into the atmosphere at great cost with the hope of increasing the albedo. Those who remember will hang their heads and shake them in disbelief that so many of their peers have forgotten how to burn leaves to achieve the same effect. Also, that natural particulate matter from the burnt leaves used to act as seed formation for ice and snow crystals which also reflected the sunlight back to space.
Of course, fire safety is paramount to an effective program. Educating the public about how to have controlled burns, watch the wind to prevent excess smoke build-up, and an official schedule so asthmatics can leave the areas or stay indoors during a burn are useful components of a climate altering activity.
Category of the action
Changing public perceptions on climate change
What actions do you propose?
Leaf burning used to be a normal part of life, an enjoyable reward for all the work of raking the leaves. Those who remember often miss that activity, the smells, the kinetics, the gathering of friends. It was frequently a social event.
Now, instead, we have giant trucks belching foul diesel smoke driving around to collect black petroleum based plastic bags full of moldy rotting leaves. The bags are often placed in landfills where they rot and generate methane and sulfur dioxide, two truly dangerous and obnoxious greenhouse gasses with no albedo benefit. Getting rid of those two would be a big achievement.
A media campaign in the northeast United States would easily convert people back to accepting leaf burning, with the caveats of fire safety, smoke control, and breathing protection. It's one of those things that goes viral quickly, once the legislative prohibitions are lifted.
The West has its own issues with wildfires so such a campaign might not be wise in specific areas such as Southern California and the Rockies. It would have to be locale and season appropriate. But New England and MidAtlantic areas would benefit immensely.
Local collection costs would disappear, fuel use would be reduced by the sanitation trucks, labor costs would go down, and electrical use would drop with the lowering of local temperature due to global cooling. This is a low tech, no cost solution to several problems, including global warming. After all, that's why we used to burn leaves: it was easy and free.
More specific programs will be developed within this proposal by Those who remember.
Who will take these actions?
Government in various locales, with the agreement of local fire officials, will lift the bans on leaf burning. Schools will teach about albedo effects and how we control our climate through its manipulation. Federal clean air standards will need periodic relaxation during burn times, which are very short periods. Heck, the news on TV tells us when the peak foliage times are every fall.
Brochures can be distributed by churches, temples, and mosques describing the safe ways to burn leaves. Stores can sell burn cans, those old metal garbage cans with big tight lids. Hospitals can prepare for those rare burns that will occur.
Local climate change educators can give speeches about the benefits of burns and schools can have fairs. Earth day can celebrate keeping the earth free of landfill.
Where will these actions be taken?
The US is the principal site of current leaf burning bans. The forests in the Northeast are particularly ideal for leaf production. It would be easy to implement a reversal of policy and its effects could be monitored immediately
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
Suburban populations in the Northeast average twenty bags of leaves a year per household (a very rough estimate based on personal empiric data). Companies that sell lawn and leaf bags can give a more accurate accounting from their Fall sales. Given that those garbage trucks come around at least twice in a season, and the amount of fuel used is accounted based on mileage, those numbers can also be derived. We do know that methane and sulfur dioxide production would cease.
The one irrefutable fact is: when leaf burning was banned, global cooling ceased, and now we want it back.
What are other key benefits?
Cost savings, social interactions improved, family bonding, more involvement by children in household care (who wants to let the handyman burn the leaves?)
What are the proposal’s costs?
Other than educational costs, the downsides are more fire protection, health costs due to breathing disorders (both actual and perceived) and burns, and loss of income to the plastic bags and hardware store businesses.
Time line
Again, a quick and easy to implement solution.
Related proposals
This is a unique approach to the problem of climate change. It does not detract from other effective programs.
References
Those who remember, remember.
By:
Those who remember
