Thomas Kostigen discusses whether we can restore nature or if we're stuck managing it with technology. The conversation weighs the feasibility of returning to a natural state against the reality of climate change and ocean pollution.
Bulletproof radio, a state of high performance.
The truth is that we already have massively messed with the oceans and that we've dumped stupid amounts of oil in them via spills all over the place. There's tons of plastic, there's tons of pollution, there's increasing acidification and all that. So the idea that it's controversial, that we mess with it, I guess the big question is, are you saying we mess with it to put it back the way it's it was working, or are you saying we just kind of take it over and now it's a managed real estate and we're going to landscape it the way we want it? Is this a return to nature or is this a landscaping project you're talking about?
There is no return to nature of Little House in the Prairie are done. And we've had this. And this is kind of a pet peeve of mine movement of trying to bring things back to the way things were. And there is no going back there. You know, we're on a certain trajectory of progress. It doesn't have to be bad, it doesn't have to be pejorative. We can have reasonable, positive, managed oceans, land, atmosphere. We've already messed with the land. We've already messed with the oceans, as you've said, and we've already messed with the atmosphere. And Mother Nature said, you know what, I'm out. She's good. She's like, I don't know what you guys are doing, but you know, I can't handle this in terms of carbon capture or in terms of other means in the ocean or in the atmosphere or on land anymore. So you guys have to figure it out. So we truly do have to become stewards of the planet and we truly do have to mind what we do in a positive way. So not recklessly so, for listeners out there thinking that, I'm just saying let's just go at stuff. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying we have virtual modeling that we've never had before in the history of humankind that can show us, and you as an engineer know this, what things are going to be based on myriad possibilities way into the future with supercomputers. So why aren't we using that type of modeling today and then putting it to our best minds to say, how can we keep things from getting worse when it comes to the climate?
