Seasteading
Offline I don't think anybody here has ever heard of this. Very few people have.
There's a group that's trying to build self-sufficient floating platforms for people to live on, and colonize the oceans.
It's related to the environment somewhat, so I figured I'd post it here.
http://www.seastead.org/
Basically they want to make a big, bouyant platform with a heavy weight underwater to keep it upright, that will be able to exist in the middle of the ocean with minimal reliance upon land.
The top floor is a big garden to provide food, you could also fish for food, it would have solar panels (or possibly wind or wave power) to provide electricity (which can be used to electrolyze water to generate hydrogen fuel for cooking), desalination facilities to provide water, and solid waste would fertilize the garden. That's pretty damn green if you ask me.
With the world population where it is, and with no new landmasses to discover, and with so much ocean out there totally unused, seasteading looks like a good idea. It would be a solution to overpopulation by increasing the total useable liveable area in the world.
The budget looks almost affordable as well. Their estimated cost of "Coaststead", a small seastead that would likely go in San Francisco bay, is $495,157 which is about as much as a decent middle-class home. Even doubling to account for unforseen costs it we get about $1 million, which really isn't out of reach for people that know how to handle their money properly. If enough were demanded, a mass production venture could probably greatly reduce the cost, perhaps to $300,000 per unit.
I really hope they succeed at what they're doing.
what about storms? I'm just wondering how they would keep from being wiped out? ( I didn't read the article not enough time so if it says there I apologize)
There would be little trouble from waves. As a quick glance at the plan shows, the area in contact with the surface of the water is very small. And a tsunami, out on the ocean, has a long wavelength and a very low wave hight. A tsunami could pass by and you wouldn't be aware. Or with the right hardware, a steastead could act as a tsunami detector to warn coastal regions.
High winds could be a problem, but seasteads are mobile, and could, for example, maneuver away from large storms if need be, or at least as far away from the eye of a typhoon, hurricane, or cyclone as is needed to be safe. If one is not able to get out of the way of the storm, as the wind tries to push it over, the ballast will have greater leverage to keep it upright. Also as it is tilted by the wind, it presents the bottom side of the platform to the wind, which might lift it up away from the water. Really, a seastead might only be pushed around by the wind. High winds would also allow wind generators to take in a great deal of energy for use by the seastead.
Rain could be harvested for free freshwater. Lightning could be diverted from inflicting damage by lightning rods.
well if they could work out all the problems then I would say it would be a very promising hope!...probally cheaper than colonizing space..
hmm, this is a very interesting idea. but in case of an emergency such as a natural disaster, would it be able to move away fast enough? what would move it? how fast could it move? I think it would be kickass, like a little moving island
Depending which way the wind is blowing it might go partially under wind power. It could also be accompanied by tugboats or something similar. How fast it could move depends on it's underwater frontal surface area, how much it weighs, and how much energy is moving it.