Richard Branson invests in our future
There have been many blockbuster prizes offered recently to spur scientific ingenuity. Some of them like the tremendously successful X prize have helped the world realize that we as a people are capable of much more than public funding can pay for and standard motivation would suggest. Today came word that Sir Richard Branson has once again raised the bar, challenging the worlds top minds to address the very real problem of climate change.
LONDON (AP) — British tycoon Richard Branson dangled a $25 million prize before the world’s top scientists Friday seeking to spur research into devising ways to suck greenhouse gases out of the air.
Former Vice President Al Gore lent his support to the challenge, which came a week after a landmark report by the world’s leading climate scientists and government officials warned that global warming will continue, creating a far different planet in 100 years
This is only one small step in the overall battle to put right what we have for so long been making wrong. That’s saying something considering the twenty five million dollar sum. Still, it represents a much needed and, at least from me, appreciated effort.
Technorati Tags: Global warming, Richard Branson, Virgin Earth Prize
February 10th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I’m guessing Branson has researched the effect of removing this much CO2 from the atmosphere. However, just in case he hasn’t, I feel it is important to point out that all green plants extract CO2 from the atmosphere and use it in photosynthesis. The plants create oxygen for the atmosphere as a result of photosynthesis. Without CO2 all green plants will die and our oxygen supply will disappear. Perhaps the solution to greenhouse gases is to pay farmers to plant trees instead of crops that become part of our national surplus.
February 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
[…] You may have seen that I wrote about one such story back in early February. Richard Branson with the endorsement of Al Gore announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, sponsoring a $25 million dollar prize for researchers who could create a process to effectively remove large amounts of CO2 from our atmosphere. […]