Climate change is real. That has become blatantly obvious. Those that deny it, often earnestly believe that the Earth is flat and/or that man was formed from mud a few thousand yrs ago, can live inside of a fish, and that evolution is a myth. In other words, only the intellectually challenged, delusional, and/or scientifically illiterate still believe that climate change is a myth or a hoax.
But I’m not debating it. I assume the reader is not a moron or mentally insane. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I’m also not here to beat a dead horse or stupid human.
I’m here to make a philosophical examination based on a moderate understanding of climate change and the carbon cycle.
Greenhouse effect, CO2, methane, and Venus
What little I do know of the carbon cycle, tells me that most of the damage is done. I will attempt to explain, as a layman. From what I understand about climate change, mankind clearly facilitated its early arrival. But the phenomena has always been a part of Earth’s geological processes. It is interesting to note that the Earth has, via climate change, been wiping its proverbial slate and repeatedly starting over again for over 4.5 billion years.
It wasn’t supposed to happen for a few million or so years. Mankind, in their lust for more power, helped speed that along by discovering and fully exploiting oil and coal.
It didn’t help that we have been raising and breeding cattle for consumption for a very long time. Cattle produce massive amounts of methane which is another greenhouse gas like CO2. Mankind has been stupid with our planet ... beyond compare. That is just a fact. But, man can no more stop the carbon cycle juggernaut than they could stop the ice age or the world from turning.
And speaking of ice, once the ice caps melt, it will probably be as if we’re careening towards extinction at breakneck speed.
On Earth, gases that build up in the atmosphere, like CO2 and methane, absorb the planet’s heat energy, which it receives from the sun, and radiates everywhere. The radiation that is reflected back heats the Earth and lower atmosphere.
Of the CO2 that man produces nature filters half.
But if you want an idea what increasing levels of greenhouse gases like CO2 will do in the future, consider the planet Venus. 96.5% of her atmosphere is CO2. The average temperature on the planet Venus is 864 degrees Fahrenheit. The atmospheric pressure there is 93 bar, which is roughly the pressure on earth, at 3000 feet under the ocean. Nathan Gillett of the University of Victoria, Canada, and his colleagues have demonstrated that there is also a greenhouse effect on air pressure on earth.
Anoxic events, mass extinction, small minded politicians
So we are talking here about a natural global geological process … that we pushed forward a few million years by disrupting the carbon cycle.
We now have CO2 accumulations in the world’s oceans which in turn are becoming anoxic. Oceans contain plankton and marine plants that produce 70% of the world’s oxygen.
A volcanic C02 pulse triggered the Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event. Anoxic events often coincide with mass extinctions. Anoxic events are when portions of the ocean are depleted of oxygen. The ones that coincide with mass extinctions are usually massive enough that only the tiniest forms of life survive.
So that's a bit of the science from a layman’s perspective. It may be confusing, but the science is there. C02 is reaching levels similar to those of other mass extinctions. Extinction is an ever growing reality. So let’s get that out of the way.
What is also a reality is that man is too late and too insignificant to stop this planetary geological process.
What we should should concern ourselves with is, slowing the process, for as long as we can, changing with the climate and living our lives. We cannot do this if we are constantly fighting with scientifically illiterate politicians about fossil fuels and the reality of climate change! Enough already! We can no longer tolerate small minded politicians deciding the fate of the rest of the world! Enough of religious delusion being broadcast by these simpletons, as if that were an answer to anything the earth is currently facing. Enough of the willful ignorance.