a perspective on global warning

2 of my favorite quarterlies are the skeptic and the american scholar.

each issue is sure to contain at least 2 or 3 well reasoned, thought provoking, well written essays

from our most thoughtful authors.

whether i agree with the writer's views is usually immaterial.

i read, with great interest, in the scholar, an essay by noted scientist, robert b. laughlin(professor of physics at Stanford University and a co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physics. This essay is adapted from his new book on the future of fossil fuels, which will appear next year).

laughlin puts in perspective mankind's relevance to the history of the world and his ultimate effect on it's ecosystems.

central to his thinking is an assertion that earth has some equitable balance to the great amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, due to the remarkable capacity's of earth's vast waters to absorb carbon dioxide.

laughlin discusses water, continental shelf levels, and fossils through the millions of earth's years.

here is a brief excerpt from one of the opening paragraphs.

ENJOY, AND LEARN.

"any serious conversation about the planet’s climate and our energy future must begin, paradoxically, with a backward look at geologic time. The reason for this is that the way forward is fogged by misunderstandings about the earth. Experts are little help in the constant struggle in this conversation to separate myth from reality, because they have the same difficulty, and routinely demonstrate it by talking past each other. Respected scientists warn of imminent energy shortages as geologic fuel supplies run out. Wall Street executives dismiss their predictions as myths and call for more drilling. Environmentalists describe the destruction to the earth from burning coal, oil, and natural gas. Economists ignore them and describe the danger to the earth of failing to burn coal, oil, and natural gas. Geology researchers report fresh findings about what the earth was like millions of years ago. Creationist researchers report fresh findings that the earth didn’t exist millions of years ago. The only way not to get lost in this awful swamp is to review the basics and decide for yourself what you believe and what you don’t.

Geologic time is such a vast concept that it’s helpful to convert it to something more pedestrian just to get oriented. I like rainfall.

• The total precipitation that falls on the world in one year is about one meter of rain, the height of a golden retriever.
• The total amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the industrial revolution began is about 200 meters, the height of Hoover Dam.
• The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the time of Moses is enough to fill up all the oceans.
• The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the Ice Age ended is enough to fill up all the oceans four times.
• The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the dinosaurs died is enough to fill up all the oceans 20,000 times—or the entire volume of the earth three times.
• The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since coal formed is enough to fill up the earth 15 times.
• The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since oxygen formed is enough to fill the earth 100 times."

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/what-the-earth-knows/