Newt Gingrich: 8 of the GOP idea man's more unusual ideas

Newt Gingrich is a big ideas guy. Ask anybody. Some of the ideas end up working, like the one a couple of decades ago that the Republican Party could actually take control of the House after 40 years of Democratic rule. Others are a little out there. An elaborate system of space mirrors to light highways? Check. Say what you will, but at least the former House speaker – and now the clear front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination – has a fertile imagination. Here are some of his more unusual ideas.

- Linda Feldmann, Staff writer

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An image from NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the state of Arctic sea ice in a September 2008 file photo. (Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA/AP/File)

6. Using geo-engineering to combat global warming

On Wednesday, Romney released a web video highlighting the ad Gingrich made in 2008 with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling for action on global warming.

Oh, how times have changed. Gingrich has since backed away from asserting that manmade global warming is real. But just three years ago, he was promoting a process known as geo-engineering to combat it.

“Geo-engineering holds forth the promise of addressing global warming concerns for just a few billion dollars a year,” Gingrich said in 2008, according to Think Progress.

An article published in Scientific American in November 2010 reported sharp divisions in the scientific community on geo-engineering, which could include measures such as dumping iron dust into the sea to encourage algal blooms that absorb carbon dioxide.

“A last-ditch remedy for an ailing planet, or a reckless scheme that could be a greater threat to life on Earth than the problem it aims to solve?” wrote author Jeff Tollefson. “Opinions are sharply divided on geo-engineering – potential massive interventions in the global climate system, intended to forestall the worst effects of climate change.”

So far, caution rules. Last year, participants in the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a moratorium on geo-engineering "until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities and appropriate consideration of the associated risk,” Mr. Tollefson wrote.