Changing Weather, even Climate, Bill Gates style

Gizmodo recently reported about 5 patents that Bill Gates has filed. These patents call for a fleet of specially equipped vessels which can redirect any tornado by changing atmospheric pressure conditions, specifically by reducing low pressure zones by churning up cold water from ocean bottoms to the top.

While these patents deal with geo-engineering weather change, I wonder if that is the kind of approach Gates is going to take towards climate change. His concerns seem to be mostly centered around how the people in the poorer countries of the world will deal with climate change. This, from his 2009 speech,

A big challenge in achieving this goal is that climate change will be making weather conditions more extreme—triggering both droughts and floods—in the tropical areas where most of the poor live. The negative effects will fall almost entirely on the poor, even though they did not cause the problem. I hope that the increased public interest in reducing climate change will also increase the political will to provide aid that will help the poor mitigate its negative effects. It is interesting how often the impact of climate change is illustrated by talking about the problems the polar bears will face rather than the much greater number of poor people who will die unless significant investments are made to help them.

Unlike legislation, diplomacy and other government based approaches, being a purer technology play, geo-engineering could be cheaper to achieve. For a super-rich  individual like Bill Gates, it might even be affordable. And then, they say that for a person who has a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

For those inclined to probe further, here is a nice Salon article on geo-engineering.