Biradicals to the rescue?

Don’t tell Greenpeace, the Sierra Club or Julia Gillard*, but Gaia doesn’t need them.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have isolated a molecule they call ‘Criegee biradicals’, and they claim it’s like Mr Clean, for the air:

A little-understood molecule in the atmosphere could play an important role in reducing pollution and global warming, scientists believe. The ‘Criegee biradicals’ could lead to aerosol formation – and ultimately to clouds, with the potential to cool the planet. The compounds react far more rapidly than scientists expected.

Not only is this pretty good news for mankind generally, the biradical was discovered with the aid of something called a ‘synchrotron’ particle accelerator. I don’t know what the folks at East Anglia use when they make up their climate data, other than a crystal ball and a pile of funding requests, but I bet it’s not as cool as a synchrotron particle accelerator.

real science is when you need goggles

While the hippies who want to shut down the global economy and make energy unaffordable try to assimilate the notion that there may be a natural solution to global warming, let’s pile on:

Criegee biradicals react more rapidly than first thought and will accelerate the formation of sulphate and nitrate in the atmosphere. These compounds will lead to aerosol formation and ultimately to cloud formation with the potential to cool the planet.

Oh noes, you mean we don’t need to live in yurts and sing kumbaya around a goat-dung fire at night? But wait, there’s more:

Co-author Professor Dudley Shallcross, from the University of Bristol, pointed out that chemicals released naturally by plants aided the production of Criegee biradicals. ‘Natural ecosystems could be playing a significant role in off-setting global warming,’ he said.

Oh, the ironing. CO2 feeds the plants that release the chemicals that produce the biradicals that clean the air. It’s almost as if the pesky planet doesn’t need saving.**

*We have a new rule, suggested by reader and serial commenter brc. Any mention of the 2011 Hippie of the Year gets an Aussie hottie. Which is why the Universe gave us Kylie.

*click*

**Unless Criegee biradicals are too good to be true. Which seems, unfortunately, likely.