Monday, November 06, 2006

Global Warming

Hey Folks,

First and foremost, I hope you read my last column. I cannot stress enough how important it is to vote, and to vote with your head. I can see very few reasons why you should vote yes on Props 86 or 87 for example.

Do any of you realize what people in some countries would give to vote? Some would die for that right. You owe it to yourselves and your country to sack up and hit the polls. Is it so much to ask? Anyways, your vote does count, even if you don't think it does. If you hate everything I have to say, and everyone I voted for, then why don't you cast opposite votes and cancel me out? That's the way I look at it. If I can neutralize the vote of just one radical leftist, then I did my part.

In other news, I finally received my bonus miles from United last week, but I don't think I'm going to Ireland. They still won in a way.

Finally, I would like to express my opinions on everyone's "elephant in the room"; the theory of global warming.

That's right, theory.

I do not claim to be a scientist. In fact, I dislike science. I don't really care how gravity works or why mixing two things together creates an explosion. I just want shit to work, you know? However, it does not take a scientist to know that there are many possible reasons that the earth is warming up a little bit.

Global warming is not a proven fact by any means. It's nothing more than a catch phrase and a theory. If you find a scientist somewhere who claims that global warming is without a doubt, 100% occurring because of reason X, Y, and Z, that man is a LIAR. A flat out, fucking LIAR.

At this point, global warming is more of a political catch phrase used by Democrats to diss on Republicans with. Every time an ice cube melts in Sweden, it's global warming. Every time Mark Foley sends sexual emails to Congressional pages, it's global warming. Every time there's a rainstorm or a hurricane, it's global warming.

Speaking of which, where are these assholes now? Hurricane season ends on November 30. Where are the hurricanes? Ever think about that? The only hurricanes happening right now are the University of Miami Football team, and the Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes.

WE'VE HAD ZERO HURRICANES HIT OUR COUNTRY THE ENTIRE SEASON!

Remember last year, when we had a record breaking year for named tropical storms? Yeah, we had a shitload of them. Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Dennis-- you remember that?

Everyone and their mother was on TV blaming all of these hurricanes and the extraordinarily active 2005 season on global warming. Where are these people now? I guarantee you that if there were hurricanes striking left and right, the Democrats was be using that as part of their election platform and the Weather Channel would be setting record viewing numbers again.

If global warming caused all those hurricanes and tropical storms on its own last year, I guess the earth cooled down this year. I don't see any hurricanes now. Very interesting.

All dissing aside, the earth is probably warming up a little. However, all the causes and reasons are unknown. Anyone with a high school education should know that since the beginning of the earth, the planet has been evolving, changing, and going through radical transformations. There was the Cambrian and pre-Cambrian and all that mumbo-jumbo. Remember all the dinosaurs died and then there was an ice age, and all that shit? Well the earth is sure as hell more powerful than a bunch of factories and diesel engines. If it wants to change, it will. Nothing ever stopped it before. The earth has been changing for millions of years, long before the first locomotive or Chevy Suburban.

In fact, there are many things that affect climate in a major way, such as strong ocean currents and volcanic eruptions. For me, I see a direct correlation between the lack of major volcanic eruptions and the earth warming. The following is a direct quote from a U.S.G.S. (U.S. Geological Survey, a government agency):

"The concentrations of different volcanic gases can vary considerably from one volcano to the next. Water vapor is typically the most abundant volcanic gas, followed by carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Other principal volcanic gases include hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride. A large number of minor and trace gases are also found in volcanic emissions, for example: hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and volatile metal chlorides.

A significant component of volcanic gas research involves measuring the quantities of gas that volcanoes release into the atmosphere. Huge amounts of volcanic gas, aerosol droplets, and ash are injected into the stratosphere during major explosive eruptions. Some gases, such as carbon dioxide, are greenhouse gases that promote global warming, while others, like sulfur dioxide, can cause global cooling, ozone destruction, and polluted air known as volcanic smog or "vog". Studies of volcanic emissions allow scientists to compare volcanic gas output to emissions from man-made sources and to assess the effects of both past and future eruptions on the Earth's climate."


This, I think is the most interesting finding of all:

"USGS scientists studying the gases of Mount St. Helens have determined that a total of about 2 million tons of sulfur dioxide were emitted between 1980 and 1988. Sensors aboard a satellite detected about 1 million tons of sulfur dioxide injected into the stratosphere during the climactic eruption on May 18, 1980. Another half-million tons of sulfur dioxide were dissolved in water droplets attached to ash particles that eventually fell to earth."

If you read the first quote, you'd know that it is believed that "...sulfur dioxide, can cause global cooling." Well how bout them apples?

So, what I take from this, is that since 1980, we haven't had any major volcanic eruptions on the scale of Mount St. Helens. Due to the extreme amount of sulfur dioxide spewed into the air, the earth either cooled slightly, or stabilized its global tempurature for about 15 years. Now, since we haven't had any large eruptions chalked full of sulfur dioxide coupled with the fact that we are driving cars that only contribute global warmers like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, then the earth is heating up slightly. I think it makes perfect sense.

Now I don't know what would happen if Mount Saint Helens had another massive eruption, and I don't know if spewing man-made sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere is the answer to the warming trend. What I do know, is that global warming has very little to do with SUVs and factories, and a lot to do with a powerful planet that has always done things its own way. It doesn't respond to little things. It does as it pleases, and it has been going through climate changes and cycles since the beginning of time. Carbon output doesn't help anything, and it may act as an accelerant, but it sure as hell isn't the cause of anything.

You should really think about this stuff critically instead of listening to partisan talking heads and loser weathermen on local TV.

This is the link to the article I used.

Also, I highly recommend reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear. It deals with many of these issues in a scientifically correct and dramatic way. Great read.

Until next time...