Global warming: My View.

(I've just realised that Kurtni just made a blog on this. Dammit, oh well. Here's another one.)

Global Warming is defined as an increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution in the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary. I actually thought that this was a widely accepted concept and that everyone had started doing their bit to not cook the planet. However, I have seen a large increase in the number of people who believe that global warming is not man-made and we are blameless. (There's an excellent argument for this on Kurtni's blog and I feel it would be inadequate to merely paraphrase it, kay?) There are a few 'facts' getting thrown around which I feel inclined to justify properly.

Warm climates are NOT better than cold climates. Temperate climates - like Central Europe or Central America or even New Zealand - are the best types of climates for good agricultural soil. Plenty of dampness for worms to do their thang and a good cold winter to kill the little buggers during winter. Consider the rainforest, it is damp and humid. Terribly hot and humid. All the creatures have been adapted to the heat due to the lovely process of evolution. They thrive in those conditions, growing all year round. Perpetual summer. If even a slight shift in the wetness or the heat, this can overthrow the little bugs and enzymes in the soil. Those die, plants die. Plants die, animals die. Whereas, in the temperate climate, the bacteria and such in the soil are more adapted to a temperate, cool and soggy climate. Happy as worms in mud. One would assume that more 'rainforest' style climates popping up around the world would only be good as this would bring more life to the planet and help with all the carbon dioxide! Excellent idea, yeah?

Well, actually, no. In order to get a rainforest climate...you need rain. As the planet heats up then...guess what? That ol' H20 in the atmosphere known as clouds boil and turn into vapours, increasing the effect! Y'see, it is a chain reaction, like nuclear fusion. (This will pop up in a bit, yipee!) More gaseous H20, more padding around in the atmosphere, more radiation staying within the planet meaning more H20 in the atmosphere and so forth. Oh, and remember, the deserts are increasing. I wonder why that is? Less water about maybe? Cutting down trees?

The use of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in industry has depleted the Ozone (trioxide molecules) and this HAS been proven over the years. The Ozone layer is the shield from cosmic, gamma, X, ultra violet and infra-red rays from the Sun and other cosmos detail. These electromagnetic radiations are very powerful and can heat up the Earth. Even the humble microwave (which is a very low frequency compared to the ones listed above) can toast things. Think about your microwave oven, it works at - say - 750 Watts. That's less than an electric heater. Now, if you put your tea on a heater and one in a microwave, which will heat up first? Obviously the microwave. There is an interesting fact about the electromagnetic spectrum and it is that at about 11 cm wavelengths, (microwaves), H20 molecules spin, generating kinetic and in turn thermal energy. This is why when you just dump a perfectly dry mug in a microwave; it doesn't do anything - even when you turn it on.

Most of these electromagnetic waves are reflected by the atmosphere and more so at night as the atmosphere is thicker. There is an experiment you can conduct: get a radio and flick through all the stations on FM and Medium Wave at 5pm and then again at 10. there will be an increase in the number of stations received as the atmosphere is thicker at night, letting less radio (and other electromagnetic waves) escape the atmosphere and they are resultantly are reflected back onto the Earth. If more of these waves hit the Earth and less can escape, then the Earth will obviously heat up! Therefore, global warming.

Carbon dioxide is not the biggest offender, but with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, then these rays will not pass through the atmosphere and be REFLECTED back on to the Earth. Basic Physics. Therefore, greenhouse effect.

Sulphur dioxide which causes acid rain is a more destructive substance and also the fact that 'premium' petrol that used to contain lead (poisonous) is now being labelled as friendly. How? They're bunging in benzene (carcinogenic!) Smart move, eh? Benzene is an AWFUL substance which can easily react to any number of particles in the air to create DDT, novocaine or LSD. Hell, maybe someone should do a drugs raid on the atmosphere.

Secondly, back to ol’ Physics. YAY! Our glorious sun…well…actually ain’t all that glorious after all. Our Sun is a regulation, normal main sequence star (Known as a G2). It is actually brighter than 85% of stars the same size as it, however these other stars are actually collapsed stars known as Red Dwarfs (not like the idiotic TV programme). Most normal G2 stars that are the same age as our Sun are usually twice the size. Since of its size, The Sun will not get hotter as it begins to die. It will start to implode on itself, pulling in the outer layers of gas that surrounds it. The Sun’s centre, will yes, heat up but the outside of the Sun will cool down, turning a reddish colour, making it a Red Dwarf too! No huge explosions or black-holes here! As TS Elliot said, the world ends not with a scream but with a whimper. Our planet will actually – when the Sun actually kicks the celestial bucket – freeze. Cool beans, literally.

Thirdly, Mars may have a greenhouse effect of its own but this is due to different reasons. There is far less atmosphere on Mars than on Earth. There is a quick scattering of carbon dioxide and little else. Maybe a bit of methane if you’re lucky. If Mars is heating up, this must be due to the atmosphere thickening. This could be due to all those little critters we’ve sent up or maybe it’s Osama being a prat on Mars. Either way, without actually going to the planet and measuring its atmosphere, we will not know. After all, which is closer to the Sun: Mercury or Venus? Mercury. Which is hotter? Venus. Venus an extraordinarily thick atmosphere of sulphuric acid (Hey, like acid rain!) and this blankets the planet, making it constantly warm. After all, on the dark side of Mercury, it’s bloody cold at a teeth-chattering −183.2°C (−297.7°F). Yikes. Without that…protective…blanket of sulphuric acid, Venus would be a damn sight colder.

It is obvious that the weather of the planet is going out of control. Today, for example, it has been raining, hot, foggy, freezing and windy. That is not normal weather for June, even in Scotland. Global Warming is a very poignant issue and very real.

In regards to the lovely slice of propaganda about developing and developed countries: there is little oil and other fossil fuels left on the earth. We are heading for a MAJOR energy crisis. Of course it is not fair to developing countries but it's also not fair to them that some of them have nothing to eat or drink, nowhere to sleep, disease raging across the lands and their animals dying with the planet. We are heading for total terrestrial meltdown. I personally think that if we don’t do something then we’re going to end up living on Venus.2. Something must be done to reverse global warming or at least slow it down.

There are of course quite a few ways to slow down global warming. We can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we emit every year by simply turning your thermostat down one degree, reusing those damn plastic bags we use in supermarkets, by not chopping down the rainforest and by using far faster growing materials like pine and other soft woods as these can be replenished far easier than hard woods. You can save the world, just that little bit at a time.



Posted on June 19th, 2007 at 12:37pm

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