Note to Joan Riley
In the 80s I took 4 years of honors historical geology courses, and spent 3 as a docent at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. I'm not dismissing concerns about humans effecting the environment - which they are, but one thing I learned is that climate is not static, but fluctuates, and sometimes rather quickly.
If you were to look at a climate data chart, you’d see a jagged line where temperatures are constantly rising and falling.
Some 11,000 years ago, in what is called the Younger Dryas episode, Earth’s climate was switching back and forth between glacial and temperate in intervals of sometimes less then ten years.
More recently there was The Little Ice Age, which occurred in three pulses between 1350 and 1850 AD. Though world wide in extent, Europe was impacted the most. In areas of the Alps, whole villages were wiped out by the advancing ice sheets.
Before this was the Medieval Warm Period, with temperatures even higher then today. Besides increased glaciation, the cooling brought famine because of crop failures. It was also responsible for the extinction of the Viking colony in Greenland. Again, not to dismiss the effect of humans, but the planet has been warming naturally ever since.
Earth has been in an ice age, the 5th in it’s geologic history, for the past 2.5 million years or so. There have been 4 major ice advances, each being more severe then the previous. Each of these has been interspersed with interglacial warming periods, like the one we’re in now.
There are a number of other factors, besides humans, that also cause climate change. One is variations in Earth’s orbit, tilt towards the Sun, and precession, collectively known as Milankovitch cycles. There’s also variations in the Sun’s energy, and variations in ocean currents, like El Niño and La Niña, which cause global changes of both temperature and rainfall.
Then there are things like volcanos. In 1816, Indonesia’s Mount Tambora erupted. The ejected debris caused what’s become known as The Year Without A Summer, for millions of people in parts of North America and Europe. This lead to failed crops, near-famine conditions, and disease outbreaks.
In 1783 there erupted Iceland’s Laki volcano. The eruption freed trapped volcanic gases that were carried by the Gulf Stream over to Europe. Extensive crop damage and livestock losses created a famine in Iceland that resulted in the deaths of one-fifth of the population. Like many other volcanoes, it effected world climate.
Same thing with Philippines Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Cooler than normal temperatures were recorded worldwide due to fine ash and gases that were sent high into the stratosphere, forming a large volcanic cloud that drifted around the world. The sulfur dioxide (SO2) in this cloud -- about 22 million tons -- combined with water to form droplets of sulfuric acid, blocking some of the sunlight from reaching the Earth and thereby cooling temperatures. As the USGS writes, “An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo could affect the weather for several years.”
Around 1500 BC, the eruption of Thera – located on the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea, is thought by geologists to be the largest eruption to ever be witnessed by humans. It obliterated the Minoan Civilization and changed the course of history in that area of the world.
So as you see, there’s more going on that effects climate then your average person knows about.
The problem with regard to “Climate Change” is that because of politicization, there are people who have no true knowledge, who not only behave as if they’re experts on the subject, they habitually denigrate those with differing views - regarding them as being intellectually and morally inferior. This attitude contributes to the current state of political animosity in this country. Rather then progress and bringing people together to work on problems we all face, what’s created instead are enemies.
Here’s a second problem: What means do we use to scientifically distinguish natural from human influenced climate change?
(tick-tock-tick-tock …)
Answer: There is none. That means that climate change policy is policy by assumption. It wouldn’t matter so much if this were public knowledge, but because of politicization, you get people like Bill Nye, the Science Guy (who’s actually an actor) running around calling people who don’t goose step to Climate Change dogma, “Deniers.” It seems as if the ideal “Question Authority” doesn’t apply to him or his beliefs.
As Orwell wrote, attitudes like Nye’s, where everyone is expected to think the same way and those who don’t are denigrated, are totalitarian in nature. In a true democracy based on tolerance, even though you may disagree with another, they are still respected as a fellow human being. That is how to get people together to solve common problems. That is what true Progressivism is all about. Or to look at it another way, Bill Nye is a Fascist.
Personally, I feel we’d have far greater success with protecting the environment if the focus were on worldwide pollution. As evidenced by what we saw in the search for that missing Malaysian jetliner in the Indian Ocean, it’s everywhere. It’s all man made, none is “natural.”
That would hopefully lead to the understanding that climate change, pollution, resource depletion, and deforestation, are all symptoms of the far greater problem of runaway population growth. So far, National Geographic seems to be the only major source that’s taking the threat seriously. Besides televised programs, ever 2012 issue was devoted to this growing problem. That was the year worldwide population reached 7 billion.
The biggest problem here is with Communist China. Not only are its cities highly polluted, it’s also the biggest factor in rainforest depletion. They clear the land, in order to grow the crops, that they ship back to China, to feed the animals, that they use to feed their 1.5 billion population. That’s 4 1/2 times the US population.
To put that in perspective, imagine going out and for ever single person you see, make it four instead.
India’s population is another 1.3 billion. The U.N. expects that by 2030 (only 12 years from now) India’s population will exceed China’s. So to those 4 people you imagined, add another 4 more.
By 2050, the U.N. predicts world population will be some 9 billion, maybe even higher. All those billions consume things: water, food, fuel. They want things: housing, cars, smart phones, TVs, computers. And in the process they use up resources and produce huge amounts of waste.
By comparison, Global Warming is minuscule, but as a nation we’ve allowed ourselves to be lead astray and to be deceived by politicians whose goal isn’t to change the world for the better, but to acquire power. Just like in 1984, they need a scapegoat, an enemy to blame that will unite the masses with hatred. That’s why there is no progress.
"The masses, it seems, have vague aspirations towards liberty and human brotherhood, which are easily played upon by power-hungry individuals or minorities. So that history consists of a series of swindles, in which the masses are first lured into revolt by the promise of Utopia, and then, when they have done their job, enslaved over again by new masters." ― George Orwell, (James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution - 1946)
If you were to look at a climate data chart, you’d see a jagged line where temperatures are constantly rising and falling.
Some 11,000 years ago, in what is called the Younger Dryas episode, Earth’s climate was switching back and forth between glacial and temperate in intervals of sometimes less then ten years.
More recently there was The Little Ice Age, which occurred in three pulses between 1350 and 1850 AD. Though world wide in extent, Europe was impacted the most. In areas of the Alps, whole villages were wiped out by the advancing ice sheets.
Before this was the Medieval Warm Period, with temperatures even higher then today. Besides increased glaciation, the cooling brought famine because of crop failures. It was also responsible for the extinction of the Viking colony in Greenland. Again, not to dismiss the effect of humans, but the planet has been warming naturally ever since.
Earth has been in an ice age, the 5th in it’s geologic history, for the past 2.5 million years or so. There have been 4 major ice advances, each being more severe then the previous. Each of these has been interspersed with interglacial warming periods, like the one we’re in now.
There are a number of other factors, besides humans, that also cause climate change. One is variations in Earth’s orbit, tilt towards the Sun, and precession, collectively known as Milankovitch cycles. There’s also variations in the Sun’s energy, and variations in ocean currents, like El Niño and La Niña, which cause global changes of both temperature and rainfall.
Then there are things like volcanos. In 1816, Indonesia’s Mount Tambora erupted. The ejected debris caused what’s become known as The Year Without A Summer, for millions of people in parts of North America and Europe. This lead to failed crops, near-famine conditions, and disease outbreaks.
In 1783 there erupted Iceland’s Laki volcano. The eruption freed trapped volcanic gases that were carried by the Gulf Stream over to Europe. Extensive crop damage and livestock losses created a famine in Iceland that resulted in the deaths of one-fifth of the population. Like many other volcanoes, it effected world climate.
Same thing with Philippines Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Cooler than normal temperatures were recorded worldwide due to fine ash and gases that were sent high into the stratosphere, forming a large volcanic cloud that drifted around the world. The sulfur dioxide (SO2) in this cloud -- about 22 million tons -- combined with water to form droplets of sulfuric acid, blocking some of the sunlight from reaching the Earth and thereby cooling temperatures. As the USGS writes, “An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo could affect the weather for several years.”
Around 1500 BC, the eruption of Thera – located on the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea, is thought by geologists to be the largest eruption to ever be witnessed by humans. It obliterated the Minoan Civilization and changed the course of history in that area of the world.
So as you see, there’s more going on that effects climate then your average person knows about.
The problem with regard to “Climate Change” is that because of politicization, there are people who have no true knowledge, who not only behave as if they’re experts on the subject, they habitually denigrate those with differing views - regarding them as being intellectually and morally inferior. This attitude contributes to the current state of political animosity in this country. Rather then progress and bringing people together to work on problems we all face, what’s created instead are enemies.
Here’s a second problem: What means do we use to scientifically distinguish natural from human influenced climate change?
(tick-tock-tick-tock …)
Answer: There is none. That means that climate change policy is policy by assumption. It wouldn’t matter so much if this were public knowledge, but because of politicization, you get people like Bill Nye, the Science Guy (who’s actually an actor) running around calling people who don’t goose step to Climate Change dogma, “Deniers.” It seems as if the ideal “Question Authority” doesn’t apply to him or his beliefs.
As Orwell wrote, attitudes like Nye’s, where everyone is expected to think the same way and those who don’t are denigrated, are totalitarian in nature. In a true democracy based on tolerance, even though you may disagree with another, they are still respected as a fellow human being. That is how to get people together to solve common problems. That is what true Progressivism is all about. Or to look at it another way, Bill Nye is a Fascist.
Personally, I feel we’d have far greater success with protecting the environment if the focus were on worldwide pollution. As evidenced by what we saw in the search for that missing Malaysian jetliner in the Indian Ocean, it’s everywhere. It’s all man made, none is “natural.”
That would hopefully lead to the understanding that climate change, pollution, resource depletion, and deforestation, are all symptoms of the far greater problem of runaway population growth. So far, National Geographic seems to be the only major source that’s taking the threat seriously. Besides televised programs, ever 2012 issue was devoted to this growing problem. That was the year worldwide population reached 7 billion.
The biggest problem here is with Communist China. Not only are its cities highly polluted, it’s also the biggest factor in rainforest depletion. They clear the land, in order to grow the crops, that they ship back to China, to feed the animals, that they use to feed their 1.5 billion population. That’s 4 1/2 times the US population.
To put that in perspective, imagine going out and for ever single person you see, make it four instead.
India’s population is another 1.3 billion. The U.N. expects that by 2030 (only 12 years from now) India’s population will exceed China’s. So to those 4 people you imagined, add another 4 more.
By 2050, the U.N. predicts world population will be some 9 billion, maybe even higher. All those billions consume things: water, food, fuel. They want things: housing, cars, smart phones, TVs, computers. And in the process they use up resources and produce huge amounts of waste.
By comparison, Global Warming is minuscule, but as a nation we’ve allowed ourselves to be lead astray and to be deceived by politicians whose goal isn’t to change the world for the better, but to acquire power. Just like in 1984, they need a scapegoat, an enemy to blame that will unite the masses with hatred. That’s why there is no progress.
"The masses, it seems, have vague aspirations towards liberty and human brotherhood, which are easily played upon by power-hungry individuals or minorities. So that history consists of a series of swindles, in which the masses are first lured into revolt by the promise of Utopia, and then, when they have done their job, enslaved over again by new masters." ― George Orwell, (James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution - 1946)