What is Global Warming?
The present debate, declared to be over
due to consent to be correct on one side of the argument, regards a runaway
greenhouse effect whereupon the Earth will continue to warm until it is all
burning desert and lifeless wasteland. In this argument, Earth will soon be
exactly like Venus unless we cork all the livestock and return to subsistence
farming using wooden implements. Since this discussion has officially been
declared closed, we will focus instead on the underlying fundamentals. In doing
so, we will use only non-scientific and indefensible arguments that may easily
be dismissed by any person who is not a complete moron.
If you are a moron, read on. If you are an
intelligent person who has a reasonable understanding of modern concerns and
scientific knowledge, please click away now
before you are offended. If you did not CLICK AWAY,
please remember that I DID WARN YOU.
Global warming is the natural effect of
radiant energy from the sun striking the Earth. For the sake of modeling the
process, we shall view all celestial objects as closed systems within a vacuum,
with radiance being the only source of both heating and cooling. In our model,
every object will have its own heat signature, based upon its own energy
potential. The Sun, of course, radiates great volumes of energy. The energy
reaching Earth is nearly 1,370 Watts per square meter of surface area. This
rate of incoming energy is pretty much a constant, though it does vary
according to solar activity and the transit of Venus, whose shadow partially
occludes the sun. Atmosphere and surface features are the main determinants of
how much of this energy is absorbed and how much is reflected. In addition to
reflection, the Earth also radiates energy on its own. In recent times, the
balance of energy received to energy reflected or emitted was pretty close. It
was not always this way.
Once, the Earth was covered with ice for
much of its upper latitudes and upper altitudes. Because of this, the Earth
began to discharge its energy into space. Energy output was greater than energy
input due to high surface reflectivity. This went on for some time, as the
Earth grew colder and colder. At some point, the Earth grew so cold that there
was no longer enough water vapor in the atmosphere to maintain the snows that
fed the ice fields. The oceans were chilled with glacial runoff. Large-scale
evaporation was limited mostly to equatorial regions and precipitation came
quickly, before the water vapor could reach the ice fields. In addition to
this, the crust grew thicker, making radiation of energy less efficient. This
was the tipping point for Global Warming. When this tipping point was reached
the Earth began to warm.
The Earth did not warm quickly. For
thousands of years, glaciers retreated from erosion by melting and by
sublimation. As they retreated the energy balance of the Earth shifted. The
lowered reflectivity allowed more energy to be absorbed from the Sun. Fresh
water from melting glaciers made evaporation less costly in terms of calories
required to raise water temperature even as it cooled the waters. Increasing
vegetation added to atmospheric water vapor. The humid zone began to widen to
include areas outside the tropical zones. Still, the warming went slowly. The
ice serves as a rather large heat sink. As long as the ice remains in large enough
quantities, the Earth remains at a fairly constant temperature, allowing for
seasonal differences and minor adjustments along the way where ice fields might
grow and recede in short bursts. In all, though, these little periods of change
are tiny fluctuations on the greater waveform of charge and discharge of global
energy. You can observe the lingering effects of Global Cooling in Mongolia, in
the Sahara, in the Baja Peninsula, in Northern Africa, and throughout the
American West. Desertification is a very visible direct result of a lack of
atmospheric water vapor. At night, the desert may be cool enough for frost to
form, but the aridity of the atmosphere due to low evaporation prevents all but
the least of precipitation from ever occurring.
At some point in the future, the ice
fields will have receded sufficiently for the world to begin warming without
their balancing influence. Without the atmospheric water vapor to sustain and
replenish them, they cannot survive. When this happens, the ice will all but
vanish, limited to the farthest Polar Regions. The oceans will begin to warm.
Continental rebound will raise Asia and North America. The oceans will grow
deeper and may actually tear the crust by hydrostatic pressure, causing more
undersea volcanism. As the waters warm, the atmosphere will begin to saturate
with water vapor, which will increase the global energy absorption. Atmospheric
pressure will increase and the atmosphere will expand. Satellites in low orbits
will be dragged from the sky.
Atmospheric saturation will reach a point
where the cool of night will be enough to cause precipitation. It will get hot.
It will get damned hot. People will abandon lowlands and cities and failing
technology and civilization. Cave dwelling will become quite stylish, as will
sleeping in the day and coming forth only in the night to gather food. Water
should not be a problem. Fruit should be quite plentiful. Farming will become
impractical as large animals swarm to lowland waters for their cooling effect. They
will find the waters too warm and will succumb to the heat, choking the rivers
and pools as the waters wash away their worldly sins.
Preparedness by the rich and powerful will
result in marvelous mountain keeps and stone tunnels taking advantage of the
natural coolness of the Earth's crust.
They will also preserve some food animals and agricultural plants. At
some point, the ice fields will grow to the point where the glaciers border on
the jungles, pressed southward by the crushing weight of the incessant snows. A
tipping point will be reached, and the Earth will be fully charged with
infrared goodness. The Age of Aquarius will be over. Rains will not fall as
they once did. The snows that fed the ice fields will disappear along with the
water vapor that fed them. Continents will sink under the weight of all the
ice. The sea floors will rise from the reduced pressure of the shallow seas.
After the chaos and tumult, the wealthy
and powerful that survived will come forth and rule the wretched dregs of
humanity who remain, granting them food animals and agricultural crops. They
may even teach the poor fools to roast meat and serve it to them as a
sacrifice. They will become the undisputed Lords of the World. They will most
likely declare a new world and begin numbering the days beginning with their
assumption of sovereignty over mankind. Their rule will not be easy, however,
as the shrinking atmosphere will make rain sporadic and unreliable over much of
the previously lush tropical areas. Natural desertification of the land will
continue as the glaciers recede and the seas grow deeper as the continents rise
from the release from the crushing weight of the ice.
Eventually, the Lords will pass on, taking
their closely guarded technological secrets with them. Whatever technology is
in use already will survive for a while until it breaks down and is discarded.
Their various groups of loyal minions may fight on in their name for a time,
but the age of the Great Lords will be over, and all traces of their works will
vanish, aside from megalithic structures too huge for the useless dregs of
humanity to adequately destroy. New powerful leaders will rise and claim the
ancestral places for their own, erasing their original purpose and meaning.
They will probably assert that the world is theirs and always has been, likely
claiming that their inability to duplicate yesterday's glories is due to their
having found a better way and to no longer indulge in the sins of the past.
This, naturally, is a really foolish and
totally unscientific view of Global Climate Change. The Truth, obviously, is
something else. The Truth, as we are now being told, is that we can control
Global Climate by changing the diet of our livestock to reduce methane
production. We can control Global Climate by no longer using the internal
combustion engine. We can control Global Climate by forcing people to use
compact fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs. Twelve thousand years
of glacial retreat HAS been caused by two hundred years of human industry. It
is obvious. Only a moron could believe otherwise. Still, being a moron, I might
consider joining the National Space Society
instead of buying things I really didn’t want just because they are intended to
Save the Earth from Global Warming. If only I had a doctorate in Geology or
something, I might not be so dumb. Oh well. I’ve grown quite accustomed to the
fact that I am already as smart as I will ever be and will never be as smart as
the rest of Humanity.
Now I feel bad for misleading you, so I
will include a series of links to sites containing more officially correct and
responsible scientific theory and research.
First,
an accepted alternative to the hydrostatic force model for continental plate
formation and movement:
Pangaea - http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html
Then,
an accepted alternative to the charge-discharge model of global warming and
cooling:
Ice
Sheets - http://edmall.gsfc.nasa.gov/99invest.Site/science-briefs/ice/ed-ice.html
One of
my favorites, a responsible view on extinctions:
La Brea - http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news284.htm
And,
of course you can easily find your own links regarding the origins and nature
of Earth’s ancient Gods and Warlords:
Zecharia Sitchin - http://www.sitchin.com/
Michael S. Heiser