#7 EM Debate - How about, An Essay Concerning Our Weather?

EM, I've been working with your next sentences and your concern for economy prosperity, (as though that justifies ignoring physical realities).  You got me to thinking how Republicans, and you, are approaching all this from way off in deep right field.  That would be, lost in the financial world as though that's all there was to understand or master about the world we live in.  Me, on the other hand, though I've learned to recognize the reality and need to deal with and accommodate the financial world, I appreciate a higher reality holds sway.

Being a handyman, I'm constantly reminded that dealing with the reality at hand demands remaining skeptical of my own pre-conceptions.  For me it's easy to remain extremely skeptical of the Republican "ever increasing growth and profits" mindset, instead I've found more security (and prosperity) in abiding by down to Earth realities.  Such as, it's not how much you earn, it's how much you spend, and such truisms.  

I bring all this up because I'd like to share an essay of mine, three decades in the writing.  I'm hoping it might help you get Earth's physical realities vs. human economic desires, into a more realistic perspective.  Here I'm reposted it December 17, 2015 version.  Enjoy.
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Twenty years ago I came across a cartoon by Mike Keefe in the Denver Post that captured an attitude I had found all too pervasive among my fellow Americans: the attitude of entitlement and detached disregard for understanding how our global climate system operates.

It inspired me to write an essay describing my understanding of our planet’s climate system, and it was published in the November/December 1995 issue of the Humanist magazine. Rereading it recently, I noticed some minor errors but the basic story remains as accurate today as it was back then. Since anniversaries are a good time to reflect on history and how far we’ve come (or not), I wrote a twenty year reflection which the Humanist printed in their recent Nov/Dec 2015 issue.  This is a slightly altered version and I've included a many links to further information.

I thank Mike Keefe for the permission to use his cartoon.

I think it’s worth recalling where our understanding of climate change was twenty years ago.  Though there were fewer media outlets back then, they were more objective and for the most part offered straightforward climate science information. After all, it’s not that tough a story to summarize, even if the details get devilishly difficult.

By ’95 we had learned that weather is the product of climate conditions and that Earth’s climate conditions fluctuated. We knew that CO2 and other greenhouse gases were a major regulator of those fluctuations.

At the same time we were also being forced to confront the reality that it was our own burning of fossil fuels and the machines behind our modern marvels and lavish lifestyles that were increasingly belching “gaseous insulation” into our atmosphere.

Reflecting on our failure to appreciate the weather, our weather.

Yup, "our" weather as in, you break it, you own it.   Republicans believe it's okay to deny observable facts - They believe it's their personal "Free Speech Right" to fabricate lies and malicious nonsense, then insist their cynical misdirections are reputable facts. Which they most certainly are not - as any good-faith full spectrum examination makes clear.   They refuse to listen to any corrections and thoughtful explanations, they slander honest, accomplished and respected scientists with hysterical claims, sans all serious evidence.  Since arguing the facts of the matter is a loser for them, they derail discussions with character assassination attempts on all who dare defend climate scientists against the outlandish paranoid machinations of fiction reporters - all this rather than rationally listening to what scientists have to teach.  

Of course, taking our changing global environment seriously does demand changing the way we think and do things.  It demands growing up and recognizing we have a huge population on a warming planet with shrinking resources and we no longer have the luxury of behaving as though Earth was still a limitless cornucopia.  Since I'm still not getting the time I need to write, I want to share an article from last year where I try to describe our failure of vision and curiosity when it comes to addressing humanity's most fateful "geophysical experiment."   (some touch up editing 12/24)

Reposted from 
 http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2015/12/our-failure-to-appreciate-our-weather.html
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Twenty years ago I came across a cartoon by Mike Keefe in the Denver Post that captured an attitude I had found all too pervasive among my fellow Americans: the attitude of entitlement and detached disregard for understanding how our global climate system operates.

It inspired me to write an essay describing my understanding of our planet’s climate system, and it was published in the November/December 1995 issue of the Humanist magazine. Rereading it recently, I noticed some minor errors but the basic story remains as accurate today as it was back then. Since anniversaries are a good time to reflect on history and how far we’ve come (or not), I wrote a twenty year reflection which the Humanist printed in their Nov/Dec 2015 issue.  This is a slightly altered version and I've included many links to further information.

I thank Mike Keefe for the permission to use his cartoon.

I think it’s worth recalling where our understanding of global warming induced climate change was twenty years ago.  Though there were fewer media outlets back then, they were more objective and for the most part offered straightforward climate science information. After all, it’s not that tough a story to summarize, even if the details get devilishly difficult.

By ’95 we had learned that weather is the product of climate conditions and that Earth’s climate conditions fluctuated. We knew that CO2 and other greenhouse gases were a major regulator of those fluctuations because they regulated how much of the sun's incoming heat was retained within Earth's climate system.

At the same time we were also being forced to confront the reality that it was our own burning of fossil fuels and the machines behind our modern marvels and lavish lifestyles that were increasingly belching “gaseous insulation” into our atmosphere.

Reflecting on our failure to appreciate the weather

Twenty years ago I came across a cartoon by Mike Keefe in the Denver Post that captured an attitude I had found all too pervasive among my fellow Americans: the attitude of entitlement and detached disregard for understanding how our global climate system operates.

It inspired me to write an essay describing my understanding of our planet’s climate system, and it was published in the November/December 1995 issue of the Humanist magazine. Rereading it recently, I noticed some minor errors but the basic story remains as accurate today as it was back then. Since anniversaries are a good time to reflect on history and how far we’ve come (or not), I wrote a twenty year reflection which the Humanist printed in their recent Nov/Dec 2015 issue.  This is a slightly altered version and I've included many links to further information.

I thank Mike for the permission to use his cartoon.

I think it’s worth recalling where our understanding of climate change was twenty years ago.  Though there were fewer media outlets back then, they were more objective and for the most part offered straightforward climate science information. After all, it’s not that tough a story to summarize, even if the details get devilishly difficult.

By ’95 we had learned that weather is the product of climate conditions and that Earth’s climate conditions fluctuated. We knew that CO2 and other greenhouse gases were a major regulator of those fluctuations.

At the same time we were also being forced to confront the reality that it was our own burning of fossil fuels and the machines behind our modern marvels and lavish lifestyles that were increasingly belching “gaseous insulation” into our atmosphere.

Part 5b - Debating ClimateDepot fan: of politics and environmentalism

In this installment I'm taking another bite out of WillH's last comment.  It's only the next sentence, since he continues getting personal and rather than be reduced to calling him names or some such nonsense, I'd rather explore his words in more detail.  Admittedly, I'm also hoping I'm not the only one getting something out of this.

WillH - 10/26/15

Will H writes: .. (see 5a) … "Concerning Our Failure to Appreciate the Weather"  I did read your article. You seem to be primarily into the politics of AGW and are an environmentalist. …"

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"Primarily into the politics" ?  What does that even mean?  Do you have a rational explanation?  What are you yourself doing if not "politics"?  You certainly aren't contributing to the science.  What about your pal ClimateDepot's own Mr. Morano,  that alpha political operative, Mr. Swift Boat himself, he doesn't know anything but power-politics and slashing his way through a campaign.

WillH, it is your side that's deliberately politicizing climate science and scientists right to explain their science in a complete and clear manner.  It's politics that's out-screaming their rational message with manufactured scandals and misrepresenting what climate scientists have actually been saying and doing.

Then you crank it up another notch branding me an "environmentalist."

Ah what a fantastically contrived Republican attack tactic that one is.  Hate the environmentalist, the tree hugger, the people who care about this planet from which we evolved and upon which we depend for our sustenance and quality of life.

Why despise the people who recognize that humans and society are dependent on a healthy biosphere, clean air and water and space to move?  Why hate the people who want to slow down the relentless destruction of the very resources that all of us and most especially our children depend on?

Why all the self-destructive paranoia and contrived hatred for everyone who believes differently than the Republican/libertarian mindset?  What's with using every advantage modern science has to offer when it comes to your profits and comforts - but then ridiculing, attacking and ignoring those segments of the same solid scientific community who's information is inconvenient for your self-centered expectations?  It's childish and ultimately self destructive... and that we are really doing this to ourselves is beyond comprehension to me.

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Will, as for my essay, 

Concerning Our Failure to Appreciate the Weather

By Peter Miesler • 20 October 2015 • The Humanist

http://thehumanist.com/magazine/november-december-2015/up-front/concerning-our-failure-to-appreciate-the-weather

Allow me to run through my main points.

To begin with, it was a reflection on "An Essay Concerning Our Weather" written in 1995, which itself was my reflections on the previous couple decades of weather/climate/scientific/political history.

The first essay was inspired by a cartoon in the Denver Post by Mike Keefe, this revisit was built around the cartoon with speculation on what was going through the cartoonist's mind.  I'm gratified to have Mike assure me I got it.

used with permission from Mike Keefe

I explain the basic outline of what's understood about our climate system and what increasing our atmospheric greenhouse gases, (read global insulation), will be doing to our planet.  The Keeling Curve is certainly not politics, nor is the paragraph describing our planet's changing CO2 levels and likening it to one of our climate engine's regulators.

Then a brief outline of, what for that time, were a foreboding string of extreme, even unprecedented, weather events over the previous couple decades.

This led to our Great Dilemma back in 1995 - 

considering our climate system

(June 21, 2015)

Goal of this article: A) To convey a recognition and appreciation of the fundamental components of our planet's climate system.  B)  To explain the difference between "Global Surface Temperature" and the "Global Temperature" (Something everyone conflates way the heck too often!).

Our Earth's climate is a global heat and moisture distribution engine consisting of three major components.

There's the atmosphere with it's distinctive layers, the lowest one is called the troposphere, it's where our weather lives.  The troposphere varies in height from around five miles at the poles up to around twelve miles at the equator.  

3d_hadley_md.v3.jpg

http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/climate/5.html

The troposphere is held in place and insulated from space by the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and finally the exosphere topping out in the neighborhood of three hundred miles - actually, on the leeward side of Earth it goes way beyond, but that's a different story.

Fortunately for life, our atmosphere contains certain greenhouse gases that act to slow down the heat escaping from the surface thus acting as insulation that keeps our planet livable.  The troposphere holds pretty much all the water in the atmosphere, scientists calculate it adds up to a little over 3,000 cubic miles of liquid water.  If spread over the Earth's surface it would amount to an inch. 

An Essay Concerning Our Weather

I've been temporarily distracted from my Steele's Climate Horror Stories project by Science of Doom's naive excursion into social/political commentary.  While working on my next post which looks at some of the comments over at SoD I was reminded of an article I wrote for the 1995 November/December issue of the Humanist Magazine which was followed by a slightly edited version Nov/Dec 2005 which I'm reprinting here since I've been wanting to do so for a long time and I'll be referring to it in my next post.

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“Katrina and Rita in Context”


Printed in The Humanist,  Nov-Dec, 2005 issue 






There has been something missing from the recent news coverage in the aftermath of 
Hurricanes Katrina's and Rita. No one seems to be reporting on the real story ~ namely the 
weather.

 

These most recent storms should encourage U.S. citizens to recognize that we are facing a 
powerful entity that has only begun to barge into our American way. Look up into that 
beautiful sky overhead and consider its substance, dynamics and might. Our atmosphere is 
the product of more than four billion years of ongoing evolution ~ geological as well as 
biological. It's a tenuous veil of gases that lays upon the surface of our earth, thin as 
the finest silk upon your skin. This veil has a most interesting structure, one that's 
worth thinking about.