Page 21 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Black Pinhole Nanofurnace

trillions of tons of carbon dioxide are trapping heat in the
atmosphere and need to be removed. I foresee the construction of
thousands of Jacob’s ladders, on the model of those space elevators
designed to carry payloads into the ether on cables anchored to low-
orbit satellites. Instead I propose to catalyze atmospheric CO into
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heavier molecules and suck them into receptacles in a satellite
anchored by a semi-flexible tube. The means of doing that is on my
drawing board right now. Nanofurnace generators will power it, of
course. The catalyst and collection mechanism, with a reach of
hundreds of cubic kilometers of atmosphere, is my secret until I get
funding. Once the flow of carbon begins, I intend to combine it at
the bottom of the chute with nuclear waste in a form virtually
impossible to reprocess. Blocks of that material will then be lowered
into one of several dozen Moholes to be excavated around the world
in the most stable geology. That will take about fifty years, at the end
of which mankind will have rid itself of two scourges.”
I began to edge toward the door, nodding all the while. Aitkens,
hopping from one leg to the other like an elongated gnome, seemed
oblivious to my flanking maneuver.
“But other damage cannot so easily be rectified. Topsoil can be
regenerated, seed banks judiciously exploited, political disputes
resolved under duress—but we cannot live without water. In a
decade or two what remains of our dwindling ice cap, snowcap and
glaciers will be melting rapidly; that hemorrhage will flow directly into
polluted rivers, lakes and seas. Nanofurnace desalination can begin
soon, but the continental interiors will not be able to benefit from
that conversion of distant seawater. My idea is this: we have
thousands of depleted aquifers available with no means of
replenishment. Meanwhile pure water frozen for eons is being lost in
a global meltdown. The solution is to convert all the oil and gas
pipelines to water pipes, and recharge every possible aquifer with that
high-quality runoff from the mountains and glaciers. Once the
climate stops heating we may see the return of our lost ice; that I
cannot predict. And I have yet a greater vision: combine the
elimination of excess carbon with refilling our aquifers. Don’t you see
it?” I tilted my head in canine quizzicality. “It’s obvious! Pump

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