GLOBAL WARMING? GLOBAL DIMMING?

Global Warming? Think for a moment… Is it real????? Hmmmm! Yes! WAIT! Don’t leave! Take a few moments and read this one. It is a little long, but trust me, I have shortened this, REALLY! And this is right up my alley; I studied this extensively in school, so give it a chance!!!! And please do not argue with me with anything that you heard from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. I like them both, but they are not scientists, just conservatives like me, but I however understand the Earth System Processes, well more than they do!

Temperatures on a global average have been on the rise. (Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 100 years ending in 2005) This is a fact! No, I do not like Al Gore. His work is flawed and inconsistent. And he has bad hair. Does this mean that everyone is experiencing a warming? No. Some places are cooling and some are warming. This is an “average” global temperature increase, “average.” And yes, I know some of you are thinking, I am really cold right now. Yes! It is winter. HELLO! Really though, this is what happens when there is a climate shift, weather begins to see extremes. When a climate begins to change, bad things can happen. (I really like this, but then again, I am a natural disaster “FREAK,” as long as nobody gets injured or killed) If you have noticed in the past few years there has been an increase in extreme weather events. I know my friends in Arkansas thinks so. So when it gets colder than usual and you say, Wow! Global Warming huh! You are correct! When it snows in June you say, Wow! Global Warming huh! You are correct again! There are those that may say, well I thought they said back in the 70’s and 80’s that we were going into an ice age? Yes, this is the pattern that the earth should be going into. (This is what is great about science; new discoveries are made, let’s see what we can figure out next!) Does this mean an Earth covered in ice? No! Although, here in Utah this could be very bad, anyone remember the great prehistoric pluvial lake, Lake Bonneville, from the Pleistocene? I don’t, I was not around yet, but our mountains and shorelines remember. Take a look sometime if you are in the area, remarkable!

There are cycles that the Earth goes through called Milankovitch cycles, named after a Serbian civil engineer and mathematician, Milutin Milanković, that helped to determine these various orbital variations. These orbital variations are eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession of the Earth's orbit and they are very complicated, so I will not bore you with them. Feel free to read about them if you can’t fall asleep. Talk about "moving!" These cycles show that we should be headed toward what looks like an ice age, but we are not. We are warming! (Sorry Phoenix! It is getting hotter!) This is where the confusion begins.

There is a direct correlation with warming to the industrial revolution. Also, there is a direct correlation to the increased amount of CO2 in the atmosphere with the industrial revolution. By the way, the levels of CO2 have been measured from the top of Mount Kīlauea, Hawaii. Far away from any heavily polluted areas. It is very hard to ignore this evidence. So, Yes! global warming is happening. Now this is where the argument about global warming can begin.

Since it is a fact that temperatures have been on the rise, now we need to ask why. Is it anthropogenic? (Dang humans!) Perhaps! This is where there is such a debate. This is where I feel the real question should be. Is Global Warming Man Made? I personally believe that we have had some sort of an impact on climate change. To what extent? I am not sure. To actually know how much is very hard to track. Could there be some variable that we do not know? Yes! Could we, as humans, have just set off a tipping point and caused the warming to occur, or a climate shift to occur? Perhaps! There are just too many variables to consider. Whatever has caused this to happen may never be known. On the flip side we have also been helping to cool our planet with the sulfates we have been releasing into the atmosphere. This was discovered through methods called pan evaporation. (Cool Huh!) Pans of water are measured for the amount of evaporation that occurs over time. Evaporation is related to temperature and solar insolation or sunlight. The temperature has been increasing over the past years, but the amount of evaporation has been decreasing. Long story short, this has been because of the amount of sulfates that have been releases into the atmosphere. These sulfates block the amount of solar insolation the Earth receives. Now, could we have actually been slowing the rate of warming, very likely! Can you say, “Global Dimming!” (Very interesting study performed the day after 911 when all the planes were grounded, let me give you a little hint, no vapor trails!)

So, as you can see there are so many factors to consider. Since we do not know how much man has contributed to global warming, it is hard to say what we need to do, or if anything. My problem with these global warming extremists is that they think that we can fix this with no problems. They also paint a very dim picture of our future. It has taken a long time for this problem to happen and it is going to take a very long time to correct the problem. I personally feel, too little too late! I believe we are past the point of no return. The damage has been done. I am not an extremist when it comes to the global warming issue, but if we know we are contributing then it is our responsibility to do what we can to stop polluting our atmosphere. Even though I feel. it is too late, let's be good stewards of our Earth. Ultimately, the Earth will fix itself as it has done many, many times in the past. We will probably not be around to see this, but Earth will take care of this problem. Think About It!