Rock You Like A Hurricane? Not If Bill Gates Gets His Way!

Mother Nature doesn't seem to be so happy these days, and climate change is probably the number one reason for her cranky mood. While there have been wild weather patterns in the past, within the last several years, we've endured really intense changes globally that have yeilded out of control tsunamis, hurricanes, intense heat waves, floods and widespread droughts (among other natural disasters). In most cases, terrible tragedy and loss of life has resulted.

I've often thought that it would be our saving grace to create the technology necessary to temper these types of phenomena, but of course, there's always the moral dilemma to consider -- I mean, what business do we have acting like God? It would make perfect sense to relocate excess water to areas that are severely depleted and nip volcanic action in the bud in order to save populations of innocent people from sure disaster, but with that kind of power, how could we ensure that it would be used in the spirit it was intended...and what if our best intentions resulted in accidentally cataclysmic events?

The ability to change the very nature of Mother Nature -- otherwise known as geoengineering -- has received a great deal of attention as of late. Countless scientists have been arguing the pros and cons of weather intervention while a very high profile individual has recently applied for a whopping six patent applications on his very own 'hurricane killer' concept. That person is none other than Bill Gates. Working in tandem with a private group of inventors, the team is proposing a dual-step process to thwart hurricanes.

Weakening its force is the first line of defense, and they think that cooling the top surface of ocean water in the storm path will help. Using as many as 200 conduit-equipped floating tubs that work in tandem to circulate warm ocean water down to the depths of the ocean via tubes, they will concurrently be able to pull cold water up to the top of the surface. This proposed technology is years away from implementing, but they foresee how it might be applied to another big concern of ours -- global warming. By employing the floating tubs to stir up sediment languishing at the bottom of the ocean -- a.k.a. wave induced downwelling -- dead zones could potentially be brought back to life via algae growth. With algae proliferation, our opportunity to absorb carbon dioxide will increase exponentially, ideally aiding in the combat of global warming. Do you think the Gates' team is onto something valuable for our future or do you think they should get back to the drawing board?