These are solutions for several kinds of catastrophes. Most of them
are classic ones. For sure some of them are bad ideas. But I don't know
yet why
and which ones so I mention them all. The idea of this text originated
when talking with a friend about the fact solutions to major threats
should be
searched for.
Tornadoes and hurricanes
They are due to the fact the Sun heated the ground surface. So there is
a
layer of hot air just above the ground. That hot air "wants" to rise
but it
cannot. Once the hot air layer becomes too thick or if there is an
external
perturbation, a giant bell of hot air will form at one given point.
Like in
a lava lamp. That hot bell will rise in the air and form a way towards
the
sky. The surrounding hot air will flow towards the point were the hot
air
bell rises. That's the formation process of the tornado. The tornado
column
is that point where the hot air has a path to the sky. The fast
rotation of
the tornado is due to the rotation of the Earth. The air zones rotate
slowly
with the Earth but when they speed towards the point of the tornado
basis the rotation
accelerates drastically. (That's the reason why the water in your
wash-hand basin
rotates when leaving through the hole. It's a mini-tornado directed
towards the
ground.) After a short time the tornado would have sucked up all the
surrounding hot air and die away. But often it will move towards
another zone where hot air is trapped near the ground. So it keeps
active and sweeps over a distance: hundreds of meters or thousands of
kilometers. The surface it
sweeps over will be emptied of its hot air. The tornado sort of eats
the
hot air away. It's her fuel. Till there is no more hot air to
suck/allow
to rise. Then the tornado will die, going out of energy. Its rotation
will
decrease and stop. What can be done to avoid the formation of a tornado
and
its destructive journey? Maybe in the future man will be capable to
avoid the
formation of the hot air layer by influencing the Earth meteorology.
But at
today standards the solution seems to be a backfire. Weak tornadoes
should
be triggered all over the country once the hot air layer is forming. So
the hot air won't
accumulate and no strong tornado will form. Besides if the tornadoes
are
triggered on purpose people can protect themselves. To start a tornado
there
seems only one way to me: create a bell of hot air. To warm the air
many ways
exist. One is to make a ground array be dark colored. So that array
will be warmed up by the Sun and will become the start point of
tornadoes. The
tornado may even not leave the zone and simply suck away the
surrounding hot
air constantly. (This could be a bargain for air sports.) A
complementary way round
is to draw giant paths of dark spots on the country. That way the
tornadoes
will tend to follow the same path every time and can be made to avoid
some
places. Another way is to vaporize a huge quantity of combustible gas
in
the air and light it. The hot air will rise and start the hot air
column. Now about hurricanes. Why
is a hurricane so much powerful than a tornado? Main reason, I believe,
is
the hot air above the Ocean is filled with water vapor. By condensing
while
the hot air rises the water vapor keeps the air hot. So it can get to
much
higher altitudes and contains intrinsically more energy. Hurricanes die
when
they arrive over land. But they are so huge and contain so much wind
speed and
rotation energy that they will spend a long time over the land,
destroying
everything around. The solution would be to start mini-hurricanes
ways offshore, a few hours or days before the real hurricane comes by.
That
way it would find no more hot air to feed from and it would die away
before
reaching land or will follow another path. Can the Ocean surface be
made
black? Maybe with carbon powder. Maybe the carbon can stay in the air
for a while as a dust cloud.
An example of the fact the suggestions above may be dangerous: in some
cases tornados are powered by the Jet Stream. That is a fast and narrow
beam of wind that speeds at high altitude. Once a natural chimney of
hot air has opened a path towards the Jet Stream passing above a
territory, the Jet Stream will literally suck away the air through that
path. So opening that path using the techniques mentioned above could
cause the problem instead of avoiding it. That's the sort of things
that has to be tried out and computed carefully.
Water floods
Water floods are common around modern inhabited zones ones it rains too
much. That's because the former river array
has been restricted. Many things are done to avoid or decrease the
water
floods: buffer basins are created, weather forecast allows to decrease
the
river levels and empty the basins before the rain starts, ground arrays
are
managed so the water can soak inside the ground... There is one
thing I didn't hear about yet: set a construction rule telling
everything
around a river should be placed a way to allow the water to flow in the
river's normal flow direction. Indeed the problem when flood water
enters a
for example a city is the water inside the city streets won't flow.
Only the
water above the river will continue to flow. The water in the city
streets
will only flow back towards the river once the river level decreases.
But
should the city streets and buildings be arranged so the water can flow
through the city too, and so all along the river, the flood will rise
less
high and spend less time. One drawback is the city streets will become
dangerous during the flood. Because of the strong water flow. But this
can be
coped with provided the inhabitants are trained. Light bridges can
be installed between the roofs, for example.
Forest fires
Firemen have many techniques to battle forest fires. One radical
approach
would be to build and buy many more water dropping airplanes. But a
more
subtle approach would be to rely on early alert. Once there is a risk
for
fire, little airplanes should hang
in the air above forest zones, with high resolution infrared cameras.
Water dropping
planes should be in permanent alert. Once there is a fire start, when
it's no more than a few trees burning, a massive concentration of water
can be dropped on it. Early alert is a key to effective fire operation.
But this seems
to lack currently.
Global Warming
I'm not sure Global Warming is a bad thing. Many icecold countries will
get a
warmer weather and many tropical hells will get a colder weather.
Better
agricultural yields are awaited too. Maybe best would be the countries
that
suffer from the Global Warming get compensations. Local problems like
desertification can be coped with by using adapted agricultural
techniques to
create forests. This all has to be debated at the United Nations and
the
choices belong to mankind as a whole. Reasons to stop the warming
exist. The
coral reefs are dying and there is a menace the warming can diverge and
become a threat to mankind. But I don't understand why Global Warming
is seen
as a fatality neither why such extreme things have to done like
drastically
breaking down the energy consumptions of countries. Each time a volcano
bursts open the Earth temperature decreases a little. That's because
the dust
particles send high in the air by the volcano will hang there for a
while and
will reflect a little part of the sunlight back to Space. The heath
radiation
coming from the ground on the contrary are not send back to the ground.
They
pass through the dust. So there is no greenhouse effect and the global
Earth temperature decreases. Why does no nation plan to send airplanes
in
the air with tons of fine white dust? The time the dust hangs in the
air can
be tuned by choosing the dust particles size. So a first trial would
not thy
down mankind for a long term. Other ways to send fine dust particles
high in the atmosphere exist. Like blowing giant cloud of a mixture of
hot air, dust and a little water vapor, through a big blowpipe chimney.
Or blowing a mixture of air and a black dust that whitens after a
while. The bell of black dust will be heated by the Sun and rise in the
air. Air humidity is one of the keys of Global Warming. Dust particles
can act on that parameters several ways. For example they can increase
the condensation inside clouds hence force them to rain. Maybe the
weather can be influenced to some extend by building dust blowpipes all
over the World. The kind of dust would be chosen for each blow session
according to the short-term effect intended on the local weather but
bearing in mind its long-term effect on the global weather. Apart from
its optical and pshysical behavior, a dust can also be chosen according
to its chemical properties. For example it can have an action on some
of the greenhouse effect gases. Changes into the habits of humans can
change things drastically. TV adverts propose to put one more cloth on
in winter time and to diminish the house heating just a few degrees. A
proposal I can make is to eat less starch and more fat. And less
industrial products and more organic products. When I do so in
wintertime I literally become a human heater. I have to put the house
heating to a minimum or even switch it off.
It seems the water vapor produced by airplanes contributes a lot to the
global warming. I suppose trains and ships will regain interest. Also
maybe airplanes flying at low altitude and lower speeds, like in the
thirties.
Local warming
Very hot weather is the meteorological phenomenon that causes the most
casualties. I heard on TV thousands of people died in France because of
the high temperature of recent days. I could see a few picture of rooms
were old people live and suffer from the temperature. The room windows
are open, closed or have curtains closed.
Should I do this with my own windows when there is a lot of Sun, at the
end
of the day the temperature would rise so high in my room I wouldn't be
able
to stay. Even naked and with a ventilator I'm dripping in sweat and I
feel
bad. But I spend each afternoon at home and feel very comfortable.
Maybe I just remove my T-shirt or take a shower. What's the trick? I
simply
covered the outside of my windows with aluminum foil, glued down with
tape.
That costs a few € and took me an hour work. (Worst difficulty is to
stretch the foils or put them straight against the window glass, to
avoid they flap with the wind and make noise.) I also keep the windows
tightly
closed once the Sun begins to hammer on them. I open them once the Sun
is gone. I keep them all night long open to allow the inside room walls
to cool down. The
aluminum foil in front of the windows sends away all the sunlight. When
the
sun is allowed to enter, the heat it creates inside is tremendous. The
energy
amount is comparable to that of an electric heater. Putting a curtain
behind
the window, even a white one, does help but not a lot. Ones the light
entered, a
fair amount of it will be turned into heat. If you really cannot cover
the
outside of the windows with aluminum best is to use it inside anyway,
but
really tight close to the window and surrounded by tape so air cannot
flow between the aluminum and the window. (Bear in mind aluminum foil
has one side
more reflective than the other.) The reason why the windows must be
shut once
the Sun shines is the air on the
outside walls can be very hot. Opening a window means that hot air will
enter (except when there is a lot of wind). A window can only be opened
once the air on the wall cooled down. So I live in a protective closed
shell while the Sun is shining.
(Windows the Sun is not shining on and that are not surrounded by hot
air can
be opened, of course). Other points worth talking about is what happens
inside
the room when it is closed up. Electric devices like TV, refrigerators,
lamps
or modern computer can consume a lot of energy hence participate to
warm up
the room. This shouldn't be taken up too seriously. One or two 100 Watt
devices won't make the room temperature rise a lot. But best use neon
lamps and portable computers. Refrigerators are vicious: the higher the
temperature, the more energy they will consume so the more they will
add to
the room temperature. Best place them in an uninhabited and ventilated
room (air
circulation inside the room is precious for refrigerators and
energy-saving).
A key problem inside a closed room is humidity. The more of it, the
more
the air temperature will be painful. A friend pointed out the air
conditioning in modern buildings tunes the temperature but also the
humidity level. Indeed humid air at 100% concentration can kill at 40
°C while dry air can be livable at 100 °C. Another friend who lived in
Africa told me at the same temperature of 45 °C, one African country
was a hell while the other was a paradise. Because the first one was
very humid and the second one had only 20% humidity in the air. It is
better to decrease the humidity than the temperature. So be cautious
with humidity coming from
bathrooms or kitchen. Close the doors and open some window. My friend
also pointed
out during warm days our ancestors washed themselves up and cooked
their meals outside their houses. Other ways round than aluminum foil
exist to cope with the sunlight. Specialized enterprises propose high
technology plastic films that can be placed
very aesthetically on the window's outside. You even can see through.
Curtains
can be hung outside the windows. Shutters can be installed. The walls
can be
painted white or be insulated. Trees can be planted in front of the
Sun...
Once the Sun fades away and you open the windows, you can use a
ventilator to speed up the arrival of cool air inside the house. Place
the
ventilator as for away you can from the open window but with its air
stream
directed towards the window. That way the hot air is forced out of the
room. This needs to go on for a few hours, till the inside walls and
ceilings cooled down. (One can think out of this that best is to have
little windows. But you must also plan a house for winter time. Then
it's best to have huge windows facing the Sun. Best compromise is
perhaps to have huge isolated windows facing the Sun, with a tunable
system on the outside to reject the sunlight in summertime...) Many
systems exist to enhance the conception of a house and make it suitable
for both wintertime and summertime : turning houses, special paints
that take up the heat, electronic windows...
Personal warming
The Sun is a nuclear furnace. It's radiations are dangerous, even if
the most dangerous of them are filtered away by the atmosphere. Worst
that can happen to your body is to be altogether irradiated by direct
sunlight for hours, be in warm weather and loose body water. This will
destroy a tremendous amount of body cells. At the end of the day at
best you will be weak, most probably you will be sick and vomit. This
can even kill. If you are badly hit, put the harmed body parts under a
cool water stream (like for fire wounds) and go to the physician. You
have to protect yourself. Cover your skin with trousers and a hat. (The
level of protection you need depends on you particular nature.) Use
clothes made of vegetable fibers since synthetic fibers won't protect
you. Possibly wear eye protections like quality sunglasses or add-ons
(low quality eye protection can be worse than no protection). Eat only
carbohydrates at midday. Drink water constantly. Try to stay in the
shadow. Wearing trousers and a hat when the weather is hot may seem
nonsense. But provided you're moving this is more comfortable than
wearing a short and no hat. Once you get home, remove the trousers and
the hat. It's like wearing a scarf and a coat in wintertime: you have
to remove them when you enter a house and put them back on when you go
out. I you can afford, quality clothes exist that are really cool in
summertime and warm in wintertime. Even when the temperature is
acceptable it may be better to wear a hat and eye protection. This is
especially true when there is a continuous thin layer of clouds.
Because they let the Sun ultra-violet radiations through. A friend had
severe problems of headache and pain in the eyes when she went out of
her house. Now she's wearing a hat and eye protections and she has no
more problems. Even if you feel you get no problem with sunlight, try
wearing a hat for a few days. You may realize you are in a better shape
the evening. During hot summertime people with a lot of body hair can
suffer more than the others. A simple solution is to shave everything
away. That makes hot weather a lot more livable. It's cheap, easy, and
a lot less polluting than air conditioning.
Epidemies
Antibiotics and antiviral drugs are just wonderful. But the key to
avoid
sicknesses spreading is hygiene. Most endemic sicknesses in Europe were
tamed
by hygiene, long before drugs were invented. Hygiene is a technology as
a whole.
It means using disinfectants, washing up things and yourself, removing
the
garbage at due time, change social habits, changing clothes often...
The most
difficult epidemic to fight are those of sexually transmissible
sicknesses.
Thats a matter of spiritual level. You only can better that point by
making
people more aware of what they are. But hygiene has to be well
understood. The
purpose is not to avoid every germ. People doing so get severe
sicknesses
like allergy and asthma. They become more vulnerable to dangerous
sicknesses
too. We need all kinds of sicknesses to keep our immunity system fit
and
healthy. The challenge is to avoid dangerous or mutilating sicknesses
and
collect the other kinds. I expect in the future people will to their
shopping
at the local pharmacy to choose sicknesses for themselves and for their
kids.
Civil War
There can be many reasons to a civil war in a country, like a mafia
activity
or foreign countries influence. In such cases the remedy is to attack
the
source of the problem. Often the reason why such people or foreign
country
destroy the country by civil war is to get hold of local resources. So
an
international regulation of that resource may the solution. When the
civil
war is due to fights amongst politicians of the country, the aid of
international negotiators often can calm things down. But I'd say the
canonical civil war cannot be solved by any of these means. A real
civil war
is when huge different parts of the population go mad against each
other.
This can be triggered or enhanced by propaganda or the like. But the
key
problem is that opposition deep inside the population. One reason of
the
Rwanda Genocide is the European negotiators thought they could solve
the
problem by forcing the political leaders to negotiate and settle
agreements.
So they did. But the tensions inside the population were too strong and
burst
open to the genocide. In such cases neither humanist propaganda nor UN
troops
will solve the problem. To me the country as a whole should be treated
like
if it was a person with mental problems. Radio devices should be given
to
each family. Day after day, the opinions and values of each camp should
be
exposed, explained, praised and criticized. That will make the people's
minds
evolve and weaken the tensions. Solutions and new opinions will be
proposed
and a common base will arise. The role of the politics will be to
reflect
that evolution of the population. So democracy is a key part of the
process,
with a democratic countries' survey.