Climate Change – How Low Can You Go?

Here’s the tale.

Somehow somebody supposedly knows that before the industrial revolution the earth’s atmosphere was 228 ppm CO2. That ‘revolution’ started in the 1700’s, increased in the late 1800’s, and intensified in the 1900’s.

Starting with CO2 in the 1700’s, the latest atmospheric measurements show that CO2 has increased nearly 100% since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Wow!

We’re supposed to react to such a shocking increase by undoing everything we’re doing that generates CO2 – and save the planet from overheating, melting all the ice caps, stopping the oceans from boiling while rising to levels making for ocean shorelines in Pittsburgh, reducing the violent weather – tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and drought – that are currently scourging us and will intensify in the future with even more CO2.

The worst scenarios depict an uninhabitable planet if we don’t make immediate major changes to the way we live. Currently a major part of the supposed solution is to generate all our energy via sun and wind, thus eliminating the use of fossil fuels – which have made the industrial revolution and our current lifestyles possible.

Science tells us that water vapor and CO2 are the two main causes trapping the sun’s warmth in our atmosphere. Climate Changers know water vapor is not man-made so believe we should focus on reducing CO2 to a point allowing more heat to escape and thereby keeping the earth cooler. And since fossil fuels contribute to CO2 in our atmosphere, they say we need to significantly reduce or even eliminate their use.

That all makes sense, right? CO2 traps heat in the atmosphere causing the planet to get warmer which in turn causes major problems in our weather, our ability to cultivate crops and grow food, and our safety from Armageddon.

Given these prospects, everything else is subjugated to stopping global warming.

It doesn’t matter if the US spends trillions of dollars it doesn’t have and runs up more unpayable debt. We, and the world, need more research into making solar and wind energy generation more efficient, and more available. Right?

Things like illegal immigration, inflation, crime sprees, homeless addicts camping on our streets, a failing public education system, and political partisanship everywhere are minor issues in comparison in some leaders’ minds. Constitutional rights, and corruption are just minor blips in the big picture of global warming. Government(s) must focus on that big picture until the threat is eliminated – and the Al Gore prophets are satisfied.

But wait.

Let’s go back to the numbers that started this thing.

CO2 supposedly made up 228 ppm of our atmosphere in the 1700’s. That number was measured at 421 ppm in May 2022 – almost doubling. That’s a concerning increase, right?

Well, just take a moment to think about that. 228 parts per million is .000228, or .02% of the atmosphere. 421 ppm is .000421, or .04% of it.

If you can believe the numbers representing the increase in the earth’s surface temperatures, it has increased 0.6 degrees since 1980.

We won’t deny that last statistic – that the surface temperature of the earth has gone up about ½ of a degree in the last 50 years.

But can anyone tell us how many times in the last say, 2,000 years, that the earth’s surface temperature has gone up or down ½ of one degree over 50-year spans?

Can anyone tell us, without reservation, that the ½ of one degree increase over the last 50 years is solely man-made by burning fossil fuels, or that the increase in temperature is not because of the almost immeasurable increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere in the last 200+ years?

Is it more plausible and maybe even more possible that things like volcanic activity and/or the sun’s constant change in radiation, sunspots, solar flares, or coronal loops is just normal and natural things that affect the earth’s surface temperature all the time?

We’re going through trillions of dollars and changing our transportation systems, mobility and lifestyles to reduce CO2 emissions which now represent .04% of the atmosphere.

We’re building, with the government footing most of the expense, thousands of acres of solar panels and thousands of windmills everywhere, including the oceans.

Are there CO2 emissions from the current manufacture of solar panels and/or wind turbines and EVs? Answer: Yes. Are there unintended consequences as a result? Answer: Yes

Call me a denier because I can’t make the leap that the earth is in inhabitable trouble from fossil fuel energy generation. Call me a denier because I can’t buy the proposition that another ½ of one degree on the earth will make the oceans boil and/or rise to intolerable levels, that the ice packs will totally melt, or that it will produce a plethora of more violent storms and hurricanes, more wildfires, or more deaths. Call me a denier because I don’t believe replacing all combustion powered vehicles with electric ones will make any significant difference in the temperature of the earth.

When I look at the numbers, what I see is that my carbon imprint is way too small to measure.

Ergo, I will not be getting on the 2050, “zero CO2 emissions by 2050″ bandwagon. Frankly, it’s irrelevant.

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Have a great and prosperous week.

Hug somebody.

References:

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/07/30/co2-drives-global-warming/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth%27s_atmosphere

https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

SPIDER Bites

This week’s trivia question: What does the raven say in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven? The answer to last week’s question of how many bones do sharks have: None. They are a special type of fish known as “elasmobranchs”, which translates into bodies made of cartilage – no bones.

Yesterday was Veterans Day. I trust you gratefully thought of them and their sacrifices and hugged at least one of them. Today is not to late to thank them for their service.

Well, what do you know? The City of Phoenix cleared its streets of an estimated 1,000 tent dwellers last week who occupied what came to known as “The Zone.” After a suit was filed by a couple that owns a business in downtown Phoenix, a federal judge ordered the city and county to clear the streets by the end of last week. And it’s done. Pedestrians, shoppers, and school children can now walk the Phoenix sidewalks without fear or disgust. Residents are grateful to the federal judge who called it a public nuisance and set the 45-day deadline to clear.

Gun stores report a surge in sales to Jewish Americans in the wake of threats and an alarming outpouring of unhinged antisemitism and pro Hamas sentiment nationwide, fueled by indoctrinated university students and members of The Squad. These are the same people who use social media and where many ‘journalists’ get their clues for reporting narratives. Meanwhile, residents of Gaza City are following the Israeli war pauses to use Israeli prepared safe routes south as the city is surrounded by the IDF. Unhinged pro-Hamas protests continued across in various cities and university campuses, while some Arab nations call for cease fire.

Bank of America investment strategists predicted the current US debt of $33T will skyrocket even more – another $20T – for a total of $54T by 2033. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has been compelled to auction an unprecedented amount of bonds. Moreover, rising bond yields have led to increased annual interest costs for the federal budget, which exceeded $1 trillion in October. We’ll soon be chasing our tail even more.

The FL legislature met for a 1-week special session last week on hurricane relief and school vouchers in addition to three measures to support Israel and sanction Iran from the state’s perspective.

No surprise Donald Trump was an outspoken witness at his fraud trial in NY last week, calling it a scam and a disgrace. He’s on trial for allegedly inflating the value of his assets to get more favorable interest on bank loans. I guess I always thought banks did their own assessment of the collateral put up for loans made.

Danish company Orsted is trying to get out of its $300M guarantee to NJ if it failed to build the state’s first offshore wind farm. It scrapped the project based on the costs encountered and the lack of promised tax credits.

Federal Fish and Wildlife Services made public a plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Cascades of northern Washington last week. The proposition has residents alarmed and screaming. The last grizzly in the area was shot in 1967 and the people there want to keep it that way.

I guess thinking better than ask the Commander-in-Chief, the Air Force is asking Congress for help with encroaching, towering wind turbines on underground nuclear launch silos.