Well now, isn't this interesting?
".....The idea proposed by Alfred Wong of the University of California, Los Angeles, at last week's meeting of the American Geophysical Union, in Acapulco, is about as lateral as they come. Dr Wong reckons the problem is not so much that CO2 is being thrown away, but that it is not being thrown far enough. According to his calculations, a little helping hand would turn the Earth's magnetic field into a conveyor belt that would vent the gas into outer space, whence it would never return."
From The Economist
I just knew those magnetic field lines we all learned about in grade school were good for more than just looking cool.
Speaking of cool, Wikipedia did a good job on auroras. Their article on Birkeland has some good links.
I always thought he got screwed, the guy basically created Norsk Hydro and got not much out of it.
