Climate Change and Common Sense

Climate Change and Common Sense

       In recent years, a debate has raged over climate change. It creates a war between common sense and science. Common sense borders on logic and probabilities. Science is supposed to be based on The Scientific Method and not opinion.

Fossil fuels are being blamed for creating excessive amounts of carbon dioxide or CO_2.  Decomposition also creates methane gases, and freon a gas in coolant compressor systems along with propellants in aerosol cans linked to breaking up the ozone layer above the earth to allow stronger unfiltered sunlight to hit the earth.

This combination is reasoned to contribute to global warming. As proof glaciers are melting and receding at an alarming rate. Scientists have also drilled ice caps to pull sample layers to prove how levels of CO₂ have increased for the last thousand years.

While reading please keep in mind the four standard points I apply to making any decision. When hurricanes, cyclones, flooding, and tornados cause pain it is natural to avoid such calamity. Anyone can rationalize to get the solution they want – to be free of such painful occurrence.

Then, the more you do for people, the less they learn to do for themselves so blame everything on lack of government intervention and prevention. And last, you cannot build accountability in a micromanagement system.

Here are facts seldom presented in arguments for or against climate change and what to do about it:

1. CO₂ is essential for plants to convert back into oxygen O₂ so plant more trees and stop deforestation in the Amazon River Region that replenishes up to 25% of the earth’s oxygen.
2. Take the tree line for example. No trees grow above a certain altitude because carbon dioxide is non-existent. Of all the gases 79% is N2- nitrogen, 21% O2- oxygen. Somewhere in between is Argon of less than 1%, and of that 1% only one-tenth of that is carbon dioxide.
3. The earth is about 3.5 billion years old. Dinosaurs roamed 250 million years ago and became extinct 65 million years ago. And man has only been recorded for 250-300,000 years. The question becomes, “Is man bent on extinction?”
4. Only 10,000 years ago a glacier extended down to St. Louis in America. When that receded, it formed The Great Lakes – the largest body of fresh water on the planet.
5. The great Sahara Desert was once a thriving forest, but climate changed that, too, 2.5 million years ago.
6. Woolly Mammoths roamed the earth 15 million to 10,000 years ago and have been found frozen intact. Global warming is not what killed them.
7. The Egyptians and Pharaohs built mathematical genius pyramids and thatch boats over 3,000 years ago. Christ walked a little over 2,000 years ago among a Roman Empire.
8. Populations then and now have exploded from less than a few million to upwards of seven billion people who all poop and produce methane gases. Yet we are blaming cows.
9. With populations people want the pleasure of warmth and scenic views so they build homes and occupy spaces where catastrophic storms have always hit for of years. And now we blame climate change for this death and destruction.
10. I read where one scientist stated when the volcanos erupted in Iceland a recently spewed more CO₂ in four days than all that man had created in the last 150 years!
11. Scientists have also reported efforts by man to control the sun are microscopic by comparison.
12. The United States has a population of 330 million while China and India each have about 1.4 billion. It is reported China is building 950 and India 750 coal burning plants to produce electricity. Yet people in the U.S. believe we can change the climate by our efforts alone.
13. Logic – would God have created the earth and man in his own image and likeness to be so short lived? For all we know, temperature variations may be on a 10-20,000-year cycle. Yet people believe they can change this course of evolution overnight or in a few short years?
14. Will the earth eventually run out of fossil fuels? Yes, but technology for alternative energy production must be given time to catch up. This certainly cannot take place in one year.
15. Hydrogen fuel cells may be the answer as it is more abundant and replenishable. The by-product is water vapor.
16. The U.S. policy war on fossil fuels is ludicrous. Electricity must be produced from clean burning natural gas and coal or nuclear with strong safety measures.
17. There is enough natural gas to power all things in the U.S. for the next 200-300 years! Why not get technology to create a safe solution to provide numerous natural gas stations instead of electric recharging that takes upwards of 20-40 minutes to recharge a car? And how will trucks laden with tons of products get space to load thousands of pounds of batteries to power them?
18. If you are bothered by long lines at a gas station, wait until 100 cars hit 10 electric refueling outlets. May take a day to get repowered.
19. How will the electric grid handle increased demand? What happens when an electric grid in the heat of summer fails? How do you power up your car? More personal solar panels on your home? More costly?
20. Demand is created by scarcity so cutting off clean deliveries of oil to refineries via pipelines is crazy. Oil tank cars on trains and trucks and ships create far more pollution and dangers.
21. The U.S. needs and uses about 20 million barrels of oil a day. The Keystone Pipeline from oil rich Canada could provide 900,000 barrels of oil a day. Fracking could provide another millions of barrels per day along with a lot more natural gas in Pennsylvania alone.
22. The Government release of 1 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserve is a literal drop in the bucket for no effect on gas prices but will affect strategy to power vessels to protect our country and essential businesses like water filtration, and food production in an emergency.

If man is supposed to have dominion over the earth and all things known, then we must act with more common sense to figure out solutions rather than rely on emotions of the uneducated or those few who profit from material gain.

How do the uneducated think electricity is made? How are synthetic fibers and plastics made? From petroleum – fossil fuels. All those windmills have at the top a turbine comprised of a massive copper coil the same as a hydroelectric plant on rivers with dams. The generator in your car uses the same technology to recharge the batteries.

When wind, solar, and hydro (moving water) are not readily available those generators must be powered by coal, natural gas, or nuclear fission to produce the heat into steam to move the generator and create electricity.

Common sense must tell us that any kind of conversion from fossil fuels to other forms must allow for technology to catch up over the next 30-50 years! Just as President Kennedy issued a challenge to put a man on the moon that was not accomplished in one year.

And, if man has been on this 3.5-billion-year-old planet and dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago do you really think man can be extinct after 250-300,000 years in the next 50 years?

Even as the world population continues to explode and food and water become scarcer, man will kill man for power and control to enrich themselves far faster and greater than CO₂ and climate change. In the next 100 years man can try to control emissions but still be powerless to what the sun is doing. Man can only hope to adapt with the weather. But regardless, weather will continue to strike populated areas with more destruction simply because there are more people living in that concentrated area than before.