Richard Branson announced that he was sponsoring a $25 Million contest with a goal to develop technologies that can help scrub a billion tons of CO2 from our atmosphere.
Present along side him when he made the announcement were Former US VP Al Gore and former UK diplomat Crispin Tickell. The contest will be judged by a panel comprising of Branson, Al Gore, Crispin Tickell, U.S. climate scientist James Hansen, James Lovelock and Environmentalist Tim Flannery.
The winner will have to come up with a way of removing one billion tons of carbon gases a year from the atmosphere for 10 years - with $5 million of the prize being paid at the start and the remaining $20 million at the end.
Australian Tim Flannery pointed out that this could possibly well be the first exercise of humans at planetary engineering. I’m not sure about when the first attempt was, but I’m pretty sure that we did try to reduce the hole in the ozone layer by banning the use of chlorofluorocarbons. This was made possible by the ratification of the Montreal Protocol.
Update: Official Site here
Article here
Category: Greenhouse Gas
March 24th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Amazing things have been achieved through scientific research. I would not discount the possibility that someone could accomplish this. However, Mr. Branson is not risking anything and the offer of $25 million comes across as a sham.That is one way to receive free publicity and guarantee an invitation to appear on the Today Show. It seems all one needs is to become a business magnate and spout off on some worthy
(but near impossible) endeavor and offer a prize. Where do I sign up for all the free publicity?
March 7th, 2009 at 11:55 am
On behalf of my brother and in response to Scott R. My brother has a a response to the measely 25M offered to save the planet? If the ante is upped, I would consider introducing Mr.Branson to my brother.