G L O B A L  W A R M I N G : T H E   B I G G E R   P  I  C T U R E !

Sometimes you must approach a controversial issue from an entirely different angle! The Global Warming Debate seems to be one that is not only controversial but full of a lot of pseudo science and political hogwash! In this article, we are going to address the issue as a medical doctor would diagnose and treat a patient whose temperature has increased One degree Fahrenheit! It is constantly 99.6 F, not the Norm of 98.6 F!

First, the planet Earth, like the Human Body, is a complex system made up of a number of subsystems integrated into its overall operation. For most of its life, a well cared for body is self-regulatory and self-healing! Planets like our Earth that supports living organisms have been self-regulatory for millions of years! It has had a few problems but, on balance, it has done rather well!

A human body -- and all living biological systems (e.g., animals, etc) -- is a continuously operating system so long as it receives energy (e.g., food & water) to keep it healthy and alive. Planet Earth is a living entity that is part of the Solar System which means all planets in the Solar Universe are locked into a relationship that abides by the Laws of Motion and Gravitational Attraction -- all originally clarified by Sir Isaac Newton. Earth is singularly unique because it is the only planet where human life exists -- so far as we know!

The problem with a Complex System like a Human Body or a Planet in space is that they must continue to function with the aid of a built-in intelligent maintenance system. Actually, the Human Body does have someone who can keep it working right, You, Your Parents when you are small and a doctor can monitor our general health.

Planet Earth, however, is designed to self-maintain itself solely on its own! It is this self-maintenance intelligence built into our planet and the Solar System that corrects itself, keeping it operating between two fairly well-defined limits or extremes. Temperature, water and oxygen are the essentials of Life for us. Concern over keeping this delicate balance working properly is certainly legitimate!

Only until now, have we humans had the instruments and the skill to observe whether Earth is a healthy planet. Given this relatively new capability to monitor Earth's condition, it is no surprise that there is concern about global warming. Unfortunately, this highly scientific issue has been hijacked by politicians who seek to worry People who have little understanding of scientific issues! Caution is advised when any such issues become political!

What are planet Earth's limits and how does its Smart System  maintain itself?

Planet Earth did not become what it is today in a matter of a few years! From the time of the BIG BANG when this mass of gas and material first coalesced, the pieces have been adapting to an environment that has been adjusting to a variety of forces and conditions. By far the most dramatic part of Earth's birth and early years was when it was a hot mass of gas. As it cooled and changed from gases to liquids and solids, Terra Firma began to appear. Other things occurred such as:

1. Once the oceans and land masses were established, the continents began to separate and move into positions where their masses would balance the Earth's Mass. By distributing the Continents better, the rotation of our planet would become more balanced or more stable. That process of movement of the outer shell of Earth continues to change although very slightly. The reason for this continuing shift is that our planet has not yet fully adjusted its mass into a perfect dynamically balanced ball. It will probably always keep trying to achieve better stability because millions of tons of material is rising from inside our planet called volcanoes continuously! The most active of these is on the largest island in the Hawaiian Chain in the Pacific Ocean. The volcano called Mauna Loa has been erupting for a number of years, discharging millions of tons of basalt rock plus tons of sulfur dioxide -- one of the emissions, like carbon dioxide that the Green People are worried about! 

You can have your tires balanced on a precision balancing machine. Earth does the same thing but it takes a little longer so we don't suffer too much as it shakes, rattles and rolls! Although we do not sense what is really happening to our planet, it is really pulsing, vibrating and shuddering from time to time! Such movement is dampened by Earth's huge mass! Except when huge adjustments occur called earthquakes!

2. Earth is now in its most stable condition, thus far, and for at least several millions of years, it has been operating as a Living Planet, which means -- roughly speaking -- that heat generated at the center of the Earth is now moving energy from Inside to the Outside! This process -- most evident in volcanic activity in the Pacific Ocean along the Hawaiian Chain -- is actually creating a new land mass that could someday be a whole new continent! Imagine a new continent where the Hawaiian Islands are -- only it will be the size of Australia!

Along with the stabilization of Heat at the surface, our Planet reached an average temperature that permitted the following conditions:

       a. Water could exist in its three forms of matter: gas, solid and liquid which began the weather cycles!

       b. Life began on Earth, starting with the simplest creatures, first, thanks to oxygen! The Oxygen-to-Carbon Dioxide-to-Oxygen Cycle began to build a breathing atmosphere once photosynthesis in the oceans began to create oxygen. Later, on Earth itself, Trees and vegetation began producing oxygen by the a process called photosynthesis.

       c. Then Water became Ice at the areas most distant from the effects of the Sun and Oceans began to stabilize, creating what we see today as coastlines and the clear definition of continental topography.

Once all of these adjustments were optimally fixed or static, the first million years that followed saw Earth with an ICE CAP at the North and South Poles, areas that received the least overall heating from the Sun!  Actually, the Ice Cap at the North Pole was so large that it extended southward nearly as far as the state of Georgia! That part of Earth receiving the maximum amount of Heat from the Sun (called the Equator) became  dry, arid deserts where vegetation could not survive unless it was protected by thick, tropical, jungle growth.

By this time, Earth's defining characteristics were reasonably deployed and it was then that all Life forms were beginning to live and flourish.

Now, that I have created Earth for you, I want you to concentrate on the ICE CAPS, the OCEANS and finally, the CONTINENTS where animal and human Life can exist in a friendly (i.e. mutually supportive) environment. In the early days of Human Civilization, temperature dictated where human beings lived. The first recorded Cradle of Civilization was along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what today is called IRAQ. Ironic, ain't it?

But, now, lets think about the ICE CAPS. Then take note of the Oceans and the huge amounts of salt water in them. Next, look deep inside the Earth where pressure of billions of tons of material are so tightly compressed, huge amounts of Heat are being generated by that pressure -- enough heat to melt virtually every metallic element that exists inside the Earth. Iron is plentiful and a ball of it is sloshing around at the center of our planet, forming among other things the magnet that creates the magnetic flux that a mariner's compass has used for a couple of centuries at least. Let's not pass this point too swiftly. The fact that the oceans are salty is very important: salt water absorbs heat and stores it much better than fresh, potable water! This maximizes the oceans ability to accelerate the evaporation of water into the atmosphere, thereby, enabling the Rain Cycle & weather systems, a key process that has helped human existence and the growth of all forms of Life, especially vegetation, trees, etc!  

ICE CAPS, OCEANS and CONTINENTS and the tectonic plates of a plastic-like material on which the continents ride represent the fundamental system that keeps our planet Earth alive! I call it our Living Platform! Yes, a planet must be alive to provide the dynamic balance that keeps Human and Animal Life viable and functional! When I speak of BALANCE I mean both physically and ecologically balanced! A body with the mass of our planet must be able to move Heat away from it's center or it would eventually explode like an atomic bomb! Volcanoes are the relief valve for such pressure from the inside! The salt water in our oceans form a huge HEAT SINK capable of absorbing lots of heat energy, storing it and releasing it. Climate and weather systems exist because the oceans affect the air masses flowing across them creating what weather experts call Maritime or Continental Polar air! Our weather systems transport Heat and distribute it to all parts of our Earth including the atmosphere surrounding it.

HOW THE SYSTEM OPERATES

I return to the Human Body for a few minutes to remind you how our Body deals with excessive or inadequate temperatures. When skin sensors indicate to the Brain that we are cold, the Brain triggers the Heart Rate Control center, telling it to increase rate of circulation. At the same time, our metabolism system is speeded up so more calories (i.e., Heat) are pumped to the arms, legs, toes, etc so the Body will warm up very similar to how the cooling system in a car regulates the heat of the engine! On a summer day when you become overheated, the same process of increased blood flow occurs but the circulation system operates like a cooling system in your car's engine. It is a miraculous system!

For Human Life to be sustained on Earth, Heat, Oxygen, comprising 20% of the air you breathe plus Carbon Dioxide, are necessary.

Mother Earth has a similar system for monitoring the condition of the planet. Depending upon the activity at the center of the Earth where vast amounts of Heat must escape toward the surface (roughly a 2,000 mile trip!), the Oceans are the first to absorb that heat usually appearing at the bottom as volcanoes. The Pacific Ocean remains our most active area for volcanoes. The difference in the temperatures of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans prove my foregoing statement!

Now, comes the real kicker! What would happen if the oceans began to get warmer? The Pacific Ocean already has a warming problem expressed by climate scientists as El Nino and La Nina. The effect of the warmer water in the area just West of South America (Eastern Pacific) on weather in the USA is very significant. It interrupts the usual Hurricane Season cycle and sends violent weather into mid-USA such as tornadoes. It seems to occur about the same time the Sunspot Cycle occurs. When El Nino is most active, the usual Hurricane season is less severe!

The interesting thing about the El Nino period is that the water in the area that becomes warmer is nutrient deficient which means fish cannot find enough food during the El Nino period! I believe that proves my theory that the heat appearing at the surface during El Nino is due to volcanic activity in the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Water at great depths is nutrient deficient! Heated water rises the same way warm air rises which means the rising currents carry nutrients toward the surface!

How does Mother Earth deal with the warming of the Oceans -- the Pacific Ocean in this example? She calls the North and South Poles and says: send us some ICE! Earth knows she is getting warmer and she needs help! If there was no ICE, then I would be concerned. It is supposed to melt from time-to-time on a cyclical basis!    

In the beginning of Time, as Earth was ready to take on human passengers, as noted earlier,  more than half of it was covered by a huge ICE CAP! The melting of that huge Cap of Ice was the final adjustment made to our planet's self-regulatory system. The most important CAP is at the North Pole. Why? Because it floats on top of the Arctic Ocean. When Ice melts while floating on top of an ocean, IT DOES NOT ADD WATER TO THE OCEANS OF THIS WORLD! Oceans will NOT cause flooding along the coast! Ice caps are a regulating system, kind of like a sprinkler system waiting to cool things off when needed! When the oceans are temperature-balanced again, glaciers, and the Ice Cap begin to form! This is what I have called The Icemaker Phenomenon.

Finally, a very important point: Earth has been in its longest ICE AGE period BUT now that epoch is coming to an end! At least it seems so! Places covered by ice and snow ever since Man first saw them are now exposing the once-hidden land mass! Don't forget, however, that Greenland was once warmer and the Vikings were planting crops there! I predict that the Ice Caps will be renewed soon and that this Cooling Mechanism will continue to function for a very long time!!

OKAY, -- just to settle another point -- get a glass of water fill it half full of ice cubes, then fill the glass with water to the top -- don't spill it! Set it on a dry paper towel and watch how much water will spill over the top as the ice melts!

Unless you were clumsy, NOT ONE DROP will overflow!

So, if the ICE CAP and the Glaciers in the world melt: that's why they are there! That is their purpose! They help to dissipate the heat rise and return the Earth's system to its more Normal state! Pretty neat, huh?

RETURN TO SANITY IN SPITE OF POLITICIANS LIES!

My comments should not be taken as meaning: PAY NO ATTENTION to current indications of warming, BUT MAKE SURE, Global Warming claims by unscrupulous politicians like Al Gore and the Green People do not panic us Rabble into our returning to a New DARK AGE! The most dangerous thing in your World today is not global warming!

What is it then?

Politicians who are misguided, unscrupulous rabble rousers! The only way Nature or the Almighty provided for dealing with such people is a thing inside your head! It is called your BRAIN! Think! Learn to recognize scam artists and political hacks who have nothing better to do than mislead and arouse gullible people!

Why do some scientists agree with the Green politicians on Global Warming? Professors and scientists throughout the world are always begging for funds to carry on favorite, sometimes stupid research work. Often that work is carried out by graduate students in universities. If companies don't give the money to these politically active professors, they make cozy deals with politicians: they support Global Warming claims for your tax dollars! In Washington, this process is called QUID PRO QUO: YOU HELP ME AND I WILL HELP YOU! 

When  will we really know whether Global Warming due to human abuse is a scientific fact? On Earth, Time frames are so mind-boggling that Time estimates are meaningless! Instead, we must monitor Earth's health based upon specific events and outcomes just as an MD watches his patient for telltale evidence of improvement or the worsening of conditions. What & When will that be?

If Greenland continues to lose its snow and ice and there is NO REVERSAL of the ICE CAP disappearing, we will know that the planet's COOLING SYSTEM is out of kilter! Within the next x-number of years, the low point in the ICE AGE (i.e. the warming has reached its end) and we will see the ICE & SNOW CAP begin to build-up again.

Keep in mind that we cannot stop the production of Carbon Dioxide without ending Life on Earth! Our Life System is wholly dependent upon the Oxygen-Carbon-Dioxide-Oxygen Cycle and there is no way to stop that process until we find a way to stop Lightning that starts forest fires, to stop the Volcanoes discharging tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere, and stop Human Beings exhaling CO₂! Tamper with this cycle and we could do harm to the air mixture. Sequestration of carbon dioxide, a process being promoted by the EPA and several companies could do harm to the water table! Unless a major breakthrough in using Fuel Cells is discovered, we will have to continue to use Energy sources that produce Green House Gases! We need oxygen to live! At the moment, the reaction we call Combustion of a fuel and oxygen is the principal way we propel our machinery, heat our homes and factories and warm our food and homes and ourselves. Neither wind, water, chemical or nuclear power has the capacity to satisfy our huge energy demands!  

What will the Green People do then? It is predictable that they will demand that people only inhale and never exhale Carbon Dioxide! We will probably be forced to wear masks that process what we exhale. Birth control laws will stop the population growth, euthanasia will terminate air-breathing people who no longer contribute anything to Civilization! Before all that happens, I have one further thought: put politicians on notice that if they continue to create chaos over stuff they do not understand, they will be sent home! Only YOU can do that by voting for people who have their heads screwed on correctly!

The first on that bus will be Al Gore and Ted Kennedy!  

Jayson Quigham Ph.D.

May 23, 2007 

Note: Among his many careers, Doctor Jay -- his nickname here -- was a U.S. Air Force Pilot/Instructor, where he also taught Meteorology and Navigation. -- csf III