Increasing temperatures - another possible step toward a solution

It has been very hard to ignore all the talk about "global warming" and "climate change" lately.  I want to set one thing straight off the top.  Please don't refer to "global warming" as "climate change".  The climate is always changing, its an incorrect statement.  In fact, global warming might be an incorrect statement as well.  I'll touch on this statement a bit more later.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately.  When I woke up early this morning and this was the first thing on my brain, I decided the only way to get it out what to write about it.  I believe I have an idea that can help to halt the rise in temperatures.  The problem is I lack the knowledge and resources to do something about it.  I haven't been able to come up with an alternative to what currently exists.

If you were to look out your front door right now, what is one of the first things you see?  Something you rely on nearly every day.  A road.  This connects to other roads, that connect to even more that connect to wider roads.  These roads stretch on for millions of miles.  What are roads primarily made of?  Rock and/or stone.

Now take a moment and imagine a sunny day in July.  Aside from comfort-ability, where would you rather lay, a road or the grass?  I'm guessing you answered grass.  Why?  Perhaps because its cooler.  Have you ever been out at night in the middle of summer, after the sun has set and felt heat radiating off pavement?  Then felt heat coming off the grass?  There's a big difference.

Ok, so there is more to this than holding and radiant heat.  And roads are only a part of it.  The general problem is a "darkening" of the earth.  I'm talking about Albedo.  This is basically the reflective-ness of an object.  What color is your roof?  I'm guessing its darker than the grass in most cases.  Coincidentally, most roofs are made of stone or metal.  Both get very hot in direct sunlight and then hold onto that heat longer than a grass covered field would.

We have done a considerable amount of expanding of civilized areas and have erected many, many structures.  All of these structures have a minuscule impact on the Earth's albedo.  However, if you add up all of it together, the impact becomes much greater.  This is not a new idea, the concern about this has been around for at least 10 years, but it's not being discussed.

So why am I talking about this and not greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.  Well, for one, that's is over discussed.  Secondly, steps are being taken here, we still have a LONG way to go, but we have cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and it IS getting better.  However, temperatures are still rising.  Basically, we need to do more.

Early I mentioned that calling it "global warming" is somewhat of an incorrect statement.  Here's why:  Growth of Sea Ice.  So Antarctic sea ice is growing.  Hard to have "global" warming, when some areas are getting cooler.  Obviously Antarctica is in the Southern Hemisphere.  The amount of land and population in the Southern Hemisphere is MUCH lower than the Northern Hemisphere.  Less land, less population, not as many roads and structures, cooler temperatures.  Coincidence?  I'm not sure, but it seems rather telling.

So what do we need to do?  We need to "green" up the Earth again.  We need to change what makes up our roads.  We need to continue to cut back on greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.  If Antarctica is any clue, we can fix this.  We NEED to fix this.  We've created this problem, so we need a solution.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.  If you think I'm crazy, let me hear.  I'd love to have a discussion.

-Jon