Global warming and climate change
I have been interested in climate change since junior high in the 1970s when I had a fossilized part of a giant fern like plant. I needed two hands to wrap all the way around it. At the time I took the simple view that when fossil fuels were plants and animals the climate was significantly different (giant ferns, dinosaurs, no polar ice caps) and then the carbon was buried and over time the climate changed. I figured that if we dug up enough of that carbon and released it back into the atmosphere then we should have about the same climate as the last time the earth had dinosaurs and those ginormous ferns.
This wasn’t precisely correct, but close enough. The basic understanding of the problem has not changed much since it was theorized in the late 1800’s by a Swedish scientist. Since 1960 Dr. Keeling and countless others have refined and improved our understanding of the topic and related issues.
There was scientific debate in the past but the question of man changing the climate has long been settled. Since at least the turn of the century (if ever) there has been no legitimate scientific studies concluding we are NOT harming the climate just as there were no legitimate scientific studies since the 1950s (if ever) that smoking tobacco did not harm our lungs.
Climate is a high level view of weather over a large area and a broad time frame. The climate has always gone through cycles. To better understand these trends one can step back and look at our planet in relation to the sun.
Sun light drives life on our planet and is the one and only major source of inputs into our planet. The rest is pretty much a closed system. The amount of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and everything else are essentially constant at the planetary level. Some of these are locked in rocks, plants, and animals and the rest is relatively free in the environment.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays an important role in the temperature of our planet. It allows sunlight to pass through but keeps in some of the heat generated by sunlight hitting dark parts of the planet. This is the greenhouse effect. It is good that it works because our average global temperature might be about zero degrees Fahrenheit without any greenhouse gases.
The extra carbon available to giant ferns and dinosaurs has been out of the atmosphere and out of the oceans buried for a tens and hundreds of millions of years. Volcanoes hit some pockets and burn it up into the atmosphere but most stayed locked away as fossil fuels until the industrial revolution. The climate has been relatively balanced since early primates and humans began walking around above the vast amount of carbon sequestered in geological formations.
Millions of years ago, using proxies from marine sediments and others methods, we can estimate much higher levels of CO2 with huge swings as life expanded and contracted on the planet.
Using air bubbled trapped in antarctic ice hundreds of thousands of years ago and more recently readings from a mountain top in Hawaii we know the level of CO2 and other gases in the atmosphere. Until recently it has been relatively stable cycling between 180 and 300 parts per million (ppm) since long before man first used fire.
CO2 levels started increasing around the start of the industrial revolution. We have long since broken out of the historical norms. For the first time ever humans are living on a planet with more than 400 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.
As we have increased CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere more heat has been trapped - increasing the average temperature of the planet, global warming. It is the warming of the planet that is causing the climate to change. The changing climate is reflected in changing weather events, such as hurricane Maria that I might have experienced as a category 2 or less rather than a category 5 if not for 60 years of higher than normal greenhouse gases.
I do not “believe” in global warming using the definition of accepting something as true without evidence. I don’t know anyone who actually “believes” in global warming. They “know”, “recognize”, “see”, “realize”, “experience” or “understand” that global warming is happening. They have seen the news or read reports and so know the evidence. Of course some people believe that the earth is flat and some believe that man has not changed the climate. But then some people do not believe that smoking can cause cancer and some don’t care if it does.
pictures of coal plant
This week I’ve talked with a number of people and surveyed their understanding of global warming and changing climate. There is little the people of Grenada can do to reduce amount of greenhouse gases in environment so “what it is” is more of an academic exercise. However, changes to weather events are already damaging the island and I’ve not even gotten to the oceans yet.
There are some things I think they should do to respond to climate change in the short term but that will have to wait for future posts.
Love always,
John
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| Not exactly like the one that I had |
This wasn’t precisely correct, but close enough. The basic understanding of the problem has not changed much since it was theorized in the late 1800’s by a Swedish scientist. Since 1960 Dr. Keeling and countless others have refined and improved our understanding of the topic and related issues.
There was scientific debate in the past but the question of man changing the climate has long been settled. Since at least the turn of the century (if ever) there has been no legitimate scientific studies concluding we are NOT harming the climate just as there were no legitimate scientific studies since the 1950s (if ever) that smoking tobacco did not harm our lungs.
What is climate?
Climate is a high level view of weather over a large area and a broad time frame. The climate has always gone through cycles. To better understand these trends one can step back and look at our planet in relation to the sun.
Sun light drives life on our planet and is the one and only major source of inputs into our planet. The rest is pretty much a closed system. The amount of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and everything else are essentially constant at the planetary level. Some of these are locked in rocks, plants, and animals and the rest is relatively free in the environment.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays an important role in the temperature of our planet. It allows sunlight to pass through but keeps in some of the heat generated by sunlight hitting dark parts of the planet. This is the greenhouse effect. It is good that it works because our average global temperature might be about zero degrees Fahrenheit without any greenhouse gases.
 |
| picture credit koshland science museum org |
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| Source: absolutely free pictures |
Greenhouse gases
Millions of years ago, using proxies from marine sediments and others methods, we can estimate much higher levels of CO2 with huge swings as life expanded and contracted on the planet.
Using air bubbled trapped in antarctic ice hundreds of thousands of years ago and more recently readings from a mountain top in Hawaii we know the level of CO2 and other gases in the atmosphere. Until recently it has been relatively stable cycling between 180 and 300 parts per million (ppm) since long before man first used fire.
CO2 levels started increasing around the start of the industrial revolution. We have long since broken out of the historical norms. For the first time ever humans are living on a planet with more than 400 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.
 |
| https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/ |
 |
| Immediately after Maria on Dominica |
I do not “believe” in global warming using the definition of accepting something as true without evidence. I don’t know anyone who actually “believes” in global warming. They “know”, “recognize”, “see”, “realize”, “experience” or “understand” that global warming is happening. They have seen the news or read reports and so know the evidence. Of course some people believe that the earth is flat and some believe that man has not changed the climate. But then some people do not believe that smoking can cause cancer and some don’t care if it does.
pictures of coal plant
 |
| Source: Absolutely free photos |
There are some things I think they should do to respond to climate change in the short term but that will have to wait for future posts.
 |
| Not old enough to vote - so the future generations depend on us to set policy that will give them a future |
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| Hopefully, a peaceful and happy future. |
Love always,
John
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