Monday, April 27, 2009

Doh! Factor of 10 to the 10th power

Seriously. I was still living in lower Manhattan on 9/11/01 .. this is beyond stupidity.
Do bureaucrats have major portions of their brains excised before being placed in positions where they make decisions like the one mentioned in the link posted below?

If you wanted to create panic and psychological stress in people who had been on site for the afore mentioned event the official responsible for setting up the Statue of Liberty 'photo-op' did everything exactly right.
They need to not be tasked with public relations related activities or anything job operation that might impose their ham fistedness on the public at large. Just an Ex NY'kers personal opinion.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/27/low.flying.plane/

Monday, April 20, 2009

Earth Day and global warming and later on

Well, it's been 39 years since the first Earth Day and issues of dumping pollutants into the water and air supply as well as burying it in the ground are still rampant.

I've given this issue a lot of thought since I first heard about the CO2 issue 41 years ago and have reached a few conclusions.

1: Unless large corporations see immediate profits* from reducing the pollution generated by their operations they will not willingly undertake action to reduce said pollution.

2: Once people become used to a lifestyle that is comfortable they are unwilling to relinquish that lifestyle.

3: The processes of climate change can be likened to a supercargo vessel, once it gets going it's not going to stop on a dime... or a manhole cover.

4: Most of the dialog by scientists monitoring global warming trends focus specifically on the man made elements and chemicals which have accelerated a process the planet normally goes through.
I have seen no instances where they added in the 'natural' forces such as volcanic gases, methane release from oceanic clathrates and melting permafrost although I'm sure someone is probably trying to look at those numbers, (while gnawing their fingernails to the quick).

5: When I first learned of this issue way back when, I learned about the complete natural cycle.. after it gets hot.. it gets really really cold.
Of course that can take centuries but one small fun fact that should be mention is this: we're in what they call an 'inter-glacial' period. In fact according to the dating of ice cores we're actually a bit on the late side to begin a new ice age.

Isn't science fun?

But it gets better.. how do ice ages begin? First you warm up the planet, then melt the ice caps.

If you dump say, all the fresh water frozen on Greenland into the Gulfstream you essentially hit the 'off switch' for the global conveyor current.
It's only in the last decade that it became clear that all ocean currents are tied into one giant heat exchange system.
It's also the main reason we live on mostly ice free continents.
But turn that system off and the places that are getting warmed by the heat carried up from the equator begin to cool, rather rapidly.

Are we having fun yet?

Well hang on, it gets better.

So, there you are living in say.. Chicago or New York City or London or Moscow and the first year after the conveyor goes offline is on the cool side, say the next year the snows stay through too late April, May or possibly depending on the latitude of your city.

And each successive year the winters last just a bit longer. Reflecting heat back into space for every day that snow is on the ground.

Within a relatively short time the 'habitable' zone will begin shrinking southward toward the equator.. and all the creature comforts we humans have invented will be legends told to the survivors. Tales of flying machines and buildings that reached the sky..
First the fire and then the ice. It sounds like something a deranged science fiction writer would pen doesn't it?

*(inside a 5 year time period)