We could all use a little walking around money, and 25 million would fit that bill. So if you want to make a cool 25 million simply develop a way to remove C02 from the atmosphere and then call up Richard Branson, the head of Virgin.
British tycoon Sir Richard Branson Friday announced a US$25 million (€19 million) prize for the scientist who comes up with a way of extracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
The Virgin Group chairman was joined by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other leading environmentalists as he announced the challenge to find the world’s first viable design to capture and remove carbon dioxide from the air.
A landmark report by the world’s leading climate scientists and government officials, published in Paris last week, warned global warming will continue for centuries, creating a far different planet in 100 years.
“Man created the problem, therefore Man should solve the problem,” Branson said.
“Could it be possible to find someone on Earth who could devise a way of removing the lethal amount of CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere?” he asked, adding his wife Joan inspired him to make the challenge. (via)
We have already put enough greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere that even if we stopped today we would still suffer drastic consequences from global warming. The logical option seems to be to remove these gasses before that happens. This will not be easy, there are as of yet no ways to recapture C02 once it has been put into the air. But hey if you have got an idea, it could be worth a lot. Not to mention the fact you would be saving the earth.
The most effective way to keep C02 out of the atmosphere is not to put it there in the first place. Perhaps Mr. Branson’s next prize will be for a super cheap electric car, or better wind turbines, or how to make cheap solar panels. Don’t get me wrong, if someone can figure out a way to remove C02 from the air (why not just use plants…hmm maybe I should go for that money) it would be great. I just feel that there are other ways to effectively solve global warming that we already have the technology for.