Climate change seems to be the "hot" current event topic-at the movies, in the newspapers, on television and in Congress. On the way back from a meeting last week, while on the plane, I watched the movie "An Inconvenient Truth." As an engineer, I agree that it is an issue that we need to address and should be addressing as a global issue in global partnerships since none of us have a monopoly on the atmosphere. However, as an engineer, I also believe it is important when people discuss the issue often referred to as "global warming" that they do so with all the facts. I feel that it is wrong to present a "Doomsday" picture to the public that we will all be under water in 50 years, or that our land will all be a desert. By presenting information in this way, while it may attempt to have an emotional appeal and to "get someone's attention," it also indirectly gives the impression that engineers are sitting back and doing nothing to address the issue.

The truth is the untold story on the fabulous research that is out there right now, ready to go into effect. We already have developed technology for ethanol plants that use a tall grass plant as its feed source. No carbon emissions. Farmers can also plant this grass without the worry of insecticides or special fertilizers. The grass is also a perennial plant thus not requiring new plantings each year. It is a crop that provides a profit. Cars are already being sold that can handle both fuel sources. Efficiencies are being improved. If the Antarctic cores can prove the years when the car emissions law was out into affect, they will certainly tell the story of what is being developed right now. It is the untold truth which is the primary issue I had when I saw the movie, which I simply think the movie forgot to tell, as Paul Harvey puts it, "the rest of the story."

Climate change has not been swept under the rug and forgotten as many would like to preach. The Climate Change issue is a critical issue being addressed by research under the National Science Foundation, NOAA, and even NASA. It is an issue that our Administration is also addressing. For those who have not seen it, in September, the Administration released a 274-page report addressing climate change and a Strategy Plan for U.S Climate Change Technology Program. The report is aimed at accelerating the development of new and advanced technologies to address climate change. The Department of Energy is taking the lead. It projects a 100-year horizon and notes the need to dramatically reduce greenhouse emissions through technologies such as hydrogen, bio-refining, nuclear fission and fusion, and carbon sequestration. The report tells of the advances that are already under way and are to be taken to address this critical global issue. The details of the report can be found here. Take a read. It is very interesting and tells the rest of the story.

November 18, 2006

The hole CO2 thing is way out of whack. I just studied an Artic Climate Impact Assessment graph by Clean Air Task Force that displayed a very "Gee Wiz" graph of CO2 and temperature rising showing a 2 to 8 Gt carbon rise these past 60 years associated with about a 1 degree centigrade temperature increase. Now recently, this increase is thought to be 50% soot driven (mostly from China), not just CO2 as originally supposed. Indeed, the west (China) side of our Mt. Hood is gray while the east side is snow white, proof of the China effect from rampant power boiler soot emissions drifting unchecked over the Pacific; even basic bag house emission restraints are missing from their power boilers. Add to that the melting floating ice sheet in northwest is now rightfully asserted to be due to this same soot, and not so called global warming as everyone was asserting before. And now, as noted, 1/2 of warming is thought to be due to soot as well, and that leaves a meager 1/2 degree centigrade these past 60 years that can be blamed on CO2 (which is theoretically impossible). Do a calculation for the part of the total 38 degrees centigrade that is greenhouse effect, and consider 95% of that effect is due to atmospheric water vapor, and that leaves about 3.5% (there are other greenhouse gases besides CO2) due to CO2. Then consider Man's 40 PPM CO2 added to a base 100,000 year peak of 340 PPM CO2 (we are 380 now), and one gets about a meager 0.2 centigrade that can be due to our CO2 increase. This is in line with the Clean Air task Force's own chart! So, if we add another 8 Gt carbon, we can expect temperature to rise at most 0.2 centigrade more due to our CO2? Perhaps not much more, because warming is almost all due to water vapor and increasing sun energy striking earth (TSI is still increasing). But regardless, even one degree centigrade is mighty small compared to El Nino effects, which can be 1-2 degrees centigrade. Thus, one wonders what gives with all this CO2 trading? This CO2 'thing' is turning out to be nearly 100% pure bull.

Are we all a bunch if idiots or what? Surely the average American business person is eventually going to study this data and ask for a scientific explanation of this essentially "feel good' assertion about CO2 and further ask about what is more likely the real emission culprits we should be worrying about such as soot, mercury, sulfur, NOx, but especially soot. What's needed to wake up American society to what's really important as to emissions? Where is the press in all this? Why is CO2 getting all the attention when it is not important to us at all?

To add insult to injury, recently California passed a CO2 law which was signed by governor you know who that mandates all power from coal meet natural gas generated CO2 standards, even imported power into California. That's absurd. It's China that needs to clean up its act. If the Greenland ice sheet melts due to soot deposits and floods us all out, and it might, it's China (and California lawmakers) we need to blame, not the rest of us. Start calling a spade a spade here and get on with what's important in emissions. Speak out before it's too late.

Lloyd Weaver
Harpswell ME

October 20, 2006

Let's not sweep it under the carpet for political expediency. Global warming is threatening us every day. The signs are obvious:

1. 1255 Sq.Mi. of ice shelf collapsed in the Antartic.
   
   
2. Antarctic ozone hole is the biggest ever in the Antarctic.
   
   
3. Biological impacts are occuring.
   
   
4. Carbon emissions are increasing by 2% a year.
   
   
5. Oceans are warming by 3-4 degrees F.
   
   
6. A 34% jump in dead zones in the oceans.
   
   
7. Permafrost melting in Siberia releasing methane sequestered for more than 40,000 years.
   
   
8. Dr. Hansen was censured for sounding the global warming alarm.

Researchers warn of a climate time bomb.

Listen to the non-political scientists on climatic changes. We have done enough studies.

Col. John D. Koutsandreas
USMC