SNOWFLAKES IN THE UNIVERSAL SKY

You may be wondering what this image of galaxies in deep space has to do with climate change but I wanted to get your attention.  I downloaded this picture from www.nasa.gov as well as the two of the polar ice cap below.  The NASA site has much to offer and I suggest you browse its offerings.  This is government at its best.  Just sign on with a user name and password of your own design, its free to use and you've already paid for it through taxes so get your money's worth.  If you search ice cap melting you will get a plethora of articles dealing with climate change.


                                                         
                                         BEFORE                                      AFTER

                  NORTH POLAR ICE CAP TIME LAPSE
                                                           

The ice cap images above may look scary if you don't examine the issues further. There is an animation included with the NASA article that included these pictures showing fluctuations of ice at the north pole.  It appears alarming as the ice cap waxes and wanes through the seasons but the narration indicates there is no evidence these changes are due to human activity.  

                                                     

   10,000 YEARS FROM THE GLOBAL WARMING TEST

What then is the cause of this spectacular display?  Mankind is so sure of it's omnipotence; positive it's the most powerful force on earth that many would conclude it can only be the works of Man behind all this apparent calamity and those "special interests" with their own ax to grind  raise a clarion call and jump on the bandwagon sounding their dire alarm.

The news media and politicians of the world are hyping the fear of disaster as they're wont to do.  However there are multiple sides to every argument and prudent thinkers should look at why those who tout the end of the world as we know it are so vocal.  What's in it for them?  The fact is there is no one reality, no one truth, no one dogma, there are only multiple perceptions of phenomena due to each individual's perception of what they see, hear or read. 

Every side to an issue has a hidden agenda, a reason behind their argument.  They may espouse one thing but want something else.  Everyone is not completely above board but you already knew that having had your car repaired recently.  Lets look at this issue of climate change with a grain of salt.  Even the ancient Romans knew that things are not necessarily what they seem.  

                              A PERSONAL CONFESSION

And even I have another agenda in writing this other than just passing on information.  I confess that John's Musings  may keep readers returning to this site and perhaps buying some of our wares.  It also helps with page rank on the search engines thus bringing more people to our trough. 

                                        CLIMATE CHANGE

Highly industrialized nations, big oil, automotive industries, etc might lose some of their profit if their activities were severely regulated.  They might therefore wish to deny any involvement in climate change.  Politicians who want to regain or increase their power might wish to be the regulators.  Both have hidden agendas.  What's a body to do?  Who's right and why?

The issues under discussion here are:  

Is there a severe climate change taking place on Earth?  Is the Earth getting warmer?  Will the oceans rise and drown out all that expensive real estate along shorelines or flood the villages of third-world fishermen?  Are we all going to die?  What is the cause of climate change?  Is Global Warming the work of industrialized societies who wish to maintain their standard of living?  Is it folks who live in ancient forests who cut down trees to heat their homes or to produce farmland to feed their families who are at fault?  Who are the culprits?  Who can we blame?  

      Perhaps we should ask what is to be blamed. 

What is it that humans are doing to change the earth?  Man in its infinite power must be the villain in this piece.  Right?  Or is climate change merely  Earth inhaling or exhaling, burping or merely passing gas.  Which is most powerful, Man or Earth?  Which is older?  How much does Man really know about Earth's fluctuations, twitches, exhalations and sighs. 

I imagine Earth does sigh occasionally perhaps due to the arrogance of Man in his puny activities.  Earth probably considers us vermin crawling about making it itch occasionally but a good shake and were gone.  The Earth abides, the Earth abides, Man's perhaps insignificant existence on its surface a mere eye blink in its four to five billion year history.

                                               THE DENIERS

On December 24, 2007 a guest opinion on the OP-ED Page of The News-Press published in Fort Myers, Florida written by Wayne Holbrook dealt in part with the following:

He wrote, "I am a denier, a pejorative term applied to those of us who reject the now discredited report that 99 percent of climatologists agree that we are in a period of accelerated global warming, and that the debate is over." 

He went on to say that deniers are composed of those who base their positions on solid science as opposed to those who rely only on computer models.  I would imagine his argument is garbage in, garbage out.

He quoted Dr. Richard Lindzen who he termed the world's leading climatologist.  "The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world temperature wise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week which use the same computer models."

Two others, Dr. John Christy and Dr. Roy Spencer of NASA were cited as saying, "The insignificant rise of 0.6 degrees C over 100 years is at the very limit of measurement and that measuring man's contribution is impossible and may be zero."

Holbrook's article continued with the following pronouncements from those he called true scientists.

1. The earth is warming as a result of a recovery from the last ice age, a natural cycle which has been going on for millions of years.

2. The temperature rise in the last century was 0.6 degrees C, which is at the very limit of detectability.

3. The Antarctic ice cap is not melting, but is growing at a record rate.  The Arctic Ocean is cooling, not warming.

4. Sea levels have been rising since the end of the last ice age.  At the current rate, which is not expected to accelerate, it will take 1,000 years to raise the level two inches.

5. Carbon dioxide levels are increasing, but the levels follow increases in temperature and are the result, not the cause of temperature increases.

6. Dr. Lindzen of MIT and Dr. Hansen, the father of the greenhouse theory, agree that even if nothing is done to restrict greenhouse gases, the world will see a global temperature increase of only one degree C in the next hundred years.

Holbrook completed his article with the following.

"Al Gore?  His prize-winning film is so bad that the

British government ruled that it may not be shown

in schools without a disclaimer that it is a political

tract, not a scientific paper."

           

                       AL GORE NARATING

                 AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

No credentials were given for Mr. Holbrook only that of the News-Press, www.news-press.com  which wrote, "Wayne Holbrook of Bokeelia had a 30-year career in science."  However he seems to have done much research in the production of his argument.


                 GLOBAL WARMING AND HURRICANES

Hurricanes are born in warm water of at least eighty degrees. As the temperature rises in certain areas of the ocean hurricanes are more likely to arise. It seems to be a given that as the earth warms hurricanes will occur more frequently and be stronger.

However I don’t know if global warming is real. Note the operative phrase is I don’t know. I do know there is no one reality, no one truth, no one dogma; no one thing that is real to everyone. People are different primarily due to their genetics, also we perceive things differently because of where and when we grew up, our parent’s beliefs and how much influence they’ve had on us;  in short no people understand things the same way. Therefore there is no one  reality or truth only many perceptions of the same phenomena.

However whether or not there is a warming trend or if it is directly due to the works of man or merely a natural cycle of the earth isn't’t known as scientists differ on this issue.

See Michael Crichton’s “STATE OF FEAR” for

another view of how government and media

manipulate. 

I highly recommend this book.

                      WHY IS NEWS NEWS?

When you read media accounts touting the end of the world you should examine the reasons behind their love-fest with disaster stories.  Disaster creates fear, which compels folks to look for more media to alleviate that fear but media being media only seeks to intensify it because that's how they make their living; their reason for being.  Bobby was kind to Alice is not news.  Bobby dismembered Alice is.  Why is this?

We've been keeping climatic records for about a hundred years; botanists can go back several hundreds of years by examining cores from ancient trees.  Cores of ice taken from Antarctic ice go back even more.  However Earth is four or five billion years old.  A hundred or even a thousand years is but an eye blink against this vast history.  What we do know is that climatic changes have occurred over this history.  The question is what has caused Earth's temperature to rise over the last hundred or so years.  Is it merely a naturally occurring cyclic change or do humans have something to do with it.

Consider that cattle and other domestic livestock contribute more methane, a so-called greenhouse gas, through flatulence than all the internal combustion engines on earth.  What do we tell the cows?  "Don't fart bossy, you're contributing to the demise of your meadow."  
                                                      

                  CHEMISTRY 101, PHOTOSYSTHESIS

By the way carbon dioxide, another so-called greenhouse gas,  is the stuff of photosynthesis, the food making process practiced by green plants and a convenient by-product of that occupation is oxygen.  Now what good is oxygen?  Ay?  That's a Canadian eh for those new to John's Musings.

                                                  WORD FORMULA 

    carbon dioxide + water + light energy yields glucose + oxygen + water

                                              CHEMICAL FORMULA

               6Co2+12H2O+light energy--->C6H12O6+6O2+6H2O

This is a balanced chemical equation, what goes in comes out.  Add the Cs, Hs and Os to make sure on each side of the yields sign --->, or ask any high school student to explain it.

Plants need carbon dioxide, CO2, water, H2O, and light energy to make glucose C6H12O6.  By-products of photosynthesis are oxygen, O2, and more water, H2O. 

This is a very clean and elemental process which allows us to live on the planet.  You will note that food, oxygen and water are given off in the chemical reaction.  All of these compounds are necessary for our very existence.  If there is more carbon dioxide produced during this period of global warming even more food, water and essential oxygen will be produced for us air breathers.   All in all a very nice balance.  Isn't nature grand? 


                               MAN'S ROLE


I'm not saying humans couldn't clean up their act.  We're a filthy species but our contribution to the workings of Earth could be compared to an amorous flea riding the back of an elephant and when she stumbles saying, "Sorry dear didn't mean to hurt you."  Talk about delusions of Grandeur.  This is a flea with ego.  Ay?  Lets face it Man is egocentric.  The Earth abides, the Earth abides.

Examine motives of the media, recycle, examine motives of government, don't throw your trash in the ocean, examine the media, live your life to the fullest, examine the media, be kind to others, examine the media  ...................................

The biggest problems have the remarkable ability

to cease to be in the future.  Ay?

Let me conclude with this quote my daughter Chris sent me with one of her e-mails.

           "Be who you are and say what you feel

because those who mind don't matter and those

who matter don't mind."  Theodor Seuss Geisel 

(Dr. Seuss)

That's that for this.

                                                                        

                     ALWAYS WATCHING


                        Take Care,

                              JB