This is both my personal learning project and my contribution in the struggle to confront the ongoing Republican/ libertarian assault on rational science and constructive learning, as manifested in their malicious strategic Attacks on Science ~ A collection of articles, scientific resources, plus my own essays and indepth critique of various presentations from unidirectional-skeptics ~ Hopefully a resource for the busy, yet discerning, student who's concerned about the health of our Earth
While culling through YouTube videos for a project, I came across a NASA Goddard video that presented a text book example of a well meaning, but overly cautious scientist whose's awkward wording and omissions leads to more confusion than clarity. It also highlighted one of my pet peeves - the lack of a coherent and memorable narrative to serve as a skeleton upon which to drape the many varied bits and pieces of information being presented.
(Well look at what I just discovered! Seems that fraudster and PR spinmeister Lord 1000Folly, Monckton's YouTube clone (who's been flooding YouTube with maliciously fabricated misrepresentations of climate science), also discovered this example of NASA's communication failings and does he have a field-day mocking scientists based on manipulating this very video's gross omissions: "NASA - The Mystery of Antarctic Cooling" (1/26/16) no I'm not linking to it.2/17/16,1:45 PM)
A unifying concept, such as "Plate Tectonics" which created a real mental visualizing tool onto which the disparate bits and pieces of geologic knowledge fit seamlessly and became a comprehendible whole. Perhaps a concept along the lines of our "Global Heat and Moisture Distribution Engine" subtitled "It's The Atmospheric Insulation Silly."
In any event, this quote at 0:55 set me off. - Speaker: "The increase that we're seeing in the Antarctic ice extent is a little bit of a mystery…"
Poor phrasing indeed. Particularly since he never brought it back to explaining how scientists have been uncovering the various geophysical phenomena that have driven the increasing sea ice and solved the one time mystery.
Not confronting that meme and explaining why sea ice has been increasing, they reinforce what an unschooled person might assume and what the contrarian PR machine keeps feeding people. Why, I wonder? After all, it is a pretty clear and straightforward story.
I follow the short video in question by highlighting the pieces of information I'm familiar with; information that offers a coherent physical explanation for why all that extra sea ice has been forming, and why it's part and parcel of global warming's cascading consequences. Items that were unjustifiably omitted from the video but that could have been included. For supporting evidence I link to various splendid short videos and some articles that provide further details to this aspect of our climate engine.
NASA | The Arctic and the Antarctic Respond in Opposite Ways
Sadly all too many. I often hear people, not just the religious with their paper thin understanding, but educated rational people who superficially accept the notion of evolution, but who have never spent anytime really absorbing what Earth's pageant of evolution has been all about, dismissing the need to learn anything about it.
Its all led to a general apathy that I can't for the life of me comprehend. Especially considering what an amazingly beautiful, complex, mysterious and absolutely relevant story it is.
This general apathy terrifies me, and compels me to share some of the building blocks that have shaped my own developing basic understanding. I have a head-start since I've been fascinated by this Creation I was born into since my earliest days. The wonder of it, and the things I've learned makes me want to share some of my experience and perspectives during what time remains for my own, oh so splendid, journey on this wonderful planet. Tragically, people who never pondered the reality, (that all we have today is the direct product of four and a half billion years of evolution, unfolding one magnificent day after another), lack the foundation to understand what we are doing to our planet and life support system these days. It explains why we have so many profoundly ignorant, self-deluded and disconnected politicians and 'masters of the universe' these days.
When I toss out a concept such as, our "Global Heat and Moisture Distribution Engine," it's blank faces all around. Why? I'm fearing listeners have no fundamental conception for the intricate interconnections between our evolving Earth, oceans and land masses. Without that awareness, of course they'll never get it.
After all, our atmosphere is the direct product of a fantastic evolutionary process that married geology and biology and took billions of years to unfold. Without understanding how it got here, there's no way one can comprehend what we have,... and what we are doing to "it",... that is, the only life, and economy, support system we have. ____________________________________________
January 6, 2016
{1} Our Global Heat and Moisture Distribution Engine
My last evolution post, {5b} Earth's Earliest Climate - By Angela Hessler, was fairly weighty stuff, so I'm going to lighten it up a bit in this installment. First, I have an excellent 5 minute video that though being a cartoon, is the best short summary of our four and a half billion journey I've been able to find on YouTube. For the intermission I link to Michael Marshall's wonderfully concise list of nearly 70 milestone events along Earth's fantastic evolutionary pageant.
From there we'll consider our Moon's profound influence on Earth's evolution with another short YouTube video. Then it's back to school work with the course outline of a University of Michigan's Global Change Courses, section: "Evolution Of The Atmosphere: Composition, Structure And Energy"
Short animation covering 4.5 billion years. The animation was download from Unit #4 of The Big History Project. Checkout the 18 minute introduction video of the project -- available here: https://www.bighistoryproject.com.
Michael Marshall put together a concise listing of nearly 70 important evolutionary milestone over at NewScientist.com along with links that lead to further details. It's done with clarity and make a perfect quick reference.
The University of Michigan's Global Change Courses, part of the Program in the Environment, offer a modern approach to undergraduate science and social science education. In interdisciplinary courses the topic of Global Change from physical and human perspectives are examined, and case studies are used to explore scenarios for sustainability. Small, GSI-led group sessions promote critical thinking and analysis.
The courses are aimed at first and second year students who want to understand the historical and modern aspects of Global Change and Sustainability. These 4-credit courses include laboratory sections and carry distribution credit. globalchange@umich.edu
Evolution Of The Atmosphere: Composition, Structure And Energy
How did the atmosphere evolve into what it is today?
What gases in the atmosphere are important to life and how are they maintained?
What natural variations occur in atmospheric constituents and what are the important time scales for change?
1. The Earliest Atmosphere, Oceans, and Continents
Oxygen in the Atmosphere
Early Oceans
Early Continents
2. Evolution of the Present Atmosphere
The evolution of the atmosphere could be divided into four separate stages:
Origin
Chemical/ pre-biological era
Microbial era, and
Biological era.
The Biological Era - The Formation of Atmospheric Oxygen
Firstly, Eukaryotic metabolism could only have begun once the level of oxygen had built up to about 0.2%, or ~1% of its present abundance. This must have occurred by ~2 billion years ago, according to the fossil record. Thus, the eukaryotes came about as a consequence of the long, steady, but less efficient earlier photosynthesis carried out by Prokaryotes.
Oxygen increased in stages, first through photolysis (Figure 1) of water vapor and carbon dioxide by ultraviolet energy and, possibly, lightning:
H2O -> H + OH
produces a hydroxyl radical (OH) and
CO2 -> CO+ O
produces an atomic oxygen (O). The OH is very reactive and combines with the O
O + OH -> O2 + H
The hydrogen atoms formed in these reactions are light and some small fraction escape to space allowing the O2 to build to a very low concentration, probably yielded only about 1% of the oxygen available today.
Secondly, once sufficient oxygen had accumulated in the stratosphere, it was acted on by sunlight to form ozone, which allowed colonization of the land. The first evidence for vascular plant colonization of the land dates back to ~400 million years ago.
Thirdly, the availability of oxygen enabled a diversification of metabolic pathways, leading to a great increase in efficiency. The bulk of the oxygen formed once life began on the planet, principally through the process of photosynthesis:
6CO2 + 6H2O <--> C6H12O6 + 6O2
where carbon dioxide and water vapor, in the presence of light, produce organics and oxygen. The reaction can go either way as in the case of respiration or decay the organic matter takes up oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water vapor.
Life started to have a major impact on the environment once photosynthetic organisms evolved.
Banded Iron Formations
Red Beds
The Oxygen Concentration Problem.
The Early Ultraviolet Problem
Fluctuations in Oxygen
3. Composition of the Present Atmosphere
Comparison to Other Planets
Current Composition
Greenhouse Gases
Radiative Properties
Sources and Sinks
Greenhouse Gases (apart from water vapor) include:
Carbon Dioxide
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Methane
Nitrous Oxide
Ozone
and each have different sources (emission mechanisms) and sinks (removal mechanisms) as outlined below.
4. Summary
We developed a few useful tools for the study of biogeochemical cycles. These include the concepts of the reservoir, fluxes, and equilibria.
Atmospheric evolution progressed in four stages, leading to the current situation. The atmosphere has not always been as it is today - and it will change again in the future. It is closely controlled by life and, in turn, controls life processes. Complex feedback mechanisms are at play that we do not yet understand.
Oxygen became a key atmospheric constituent due entirely to life processes. It built up slowly over time, first oxidizing materials in the oceans and then on land. The current level (20%) is maintained by processes not yet understood.
Sometime just before the Cambrian, atmospheric oxygen reached levels close enough to today's to allow for the rapid evolution of the higher life forms. For the rest of geologic time, the oxygen in the atmosphere has been maintained by the photosynthesis of the green plants of the world, much of it by green algae in the surface waters of the ocean.
Selective absorbers in our atmosphere keep the surface of the earth warmer than they would be without an atmosphere.
There's a new commenter at CFI (Center for Inquiry) forum who tossed down a challenge that I took up this morning. Since putting together my response required plenty of time and effort I'm going to add it to my WUWTW's 'considering debate' collection.
I haven't changed his words though my response is a bit more detailed than over there and as usual I share many authoritative links to support and explain the claims and arguments I make.
I figure it's an interesting case study others may find helpful.
Dude writes: Nice evidence and empirically referenced discussion so far.
Here are my questions regarding this vital topic. It is only vital due to the implications of mass destruction of our planet. Otherwise, who GAF (give a *&#$%$F word)
1. What is the evidence that warming of the surface of the planet is happening today?
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Your phrasing is telling. Why do you single out "surface of the planet"?
Don't you appreciate that the oceans are an integral part of what's happens to surface temperatures?
For starters there are copious thermometer records that are recording a warming surface.
The ease with which you two misrepresent the facts in yourWall Street Journal op/ed “Complete Guide to the Climate Debate” is appalling. Your opening shot reveals a determined self-imposed ignorance regarding the seriousness of today's AGW threat to our planet's life support system that demands a pointed rebuttal. You write: "In February President Obama said,a little carelessly, that climate change is a greater threat than terrorism." What do you mean? "A little carelessly"!?? Where do you two get off belittling the physical reality and future consequences of ongoing documented trends? You willfully ignore decades worth of global news so as to remain "innocent" to the evolving situation. (At the end this letter I share a response to the op/ed's lies from 7 leading climate scientists.) What terrorist threat to New York is greater than the threat of it's streets, subways and subterranean infrastructure being inundated by the ocean? What terrorist threat is greater than killer heat waves, such as the one visited on France in 2003 and sure to revisit? What terrorist threat is greater than the potential impacts of continued severe drought on California?
Any objective awareness of the evolving world news would make you understand that I could fill pages with examples of such monstrous real world threats from our warming and rapidlyevolving global climate system - threats that far outweigh our self created and fueled, terrorist problems.
Chapter 2 . . . Human costs of weather-related disasters
Chapter 3 . . . Impacts of weather-related disasters by country
Chapter 4 . . . Weather-related disasters & national income
Chapter 5 . . . Counting the economic costs of disasters
Acknowledgements
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A warming planet promises threats for our modern top heavy society, that only an appreciation for it's complexity will allow one to grasp. Sadly your Republican/libertarian PR Machine has been very successful at confusing and dumbing down the public. When honest education is what's required, you conjure fairytales, hostility, lies, bullying and slam your minds shut. It is simply ludicrous pretending our weather doesn't have a deep impact on the wellbeing of our economy at every level, from agriculture, to transportation, construction, communication, the power-grid, even your beloved military-industrial complex and beyond. Not to mention our own wellbeing as we go about our day to days.
Folks that don't like me call me a troll, which is nonsense. If anything I'm a trawler, always on the lookout for interesting information and new lessons to learn and share. That's why when I make a claim based on memory, as I did in my earlier post regarding the attack being leveled against the climate research unit of Australian's CSIRO, I like backing it up, as I did sharing John Dupuis' thorough collection that shines the light on the Stephen Harper shenanigans. While trawling for that information, I found much more worth sharing.
In this post I share a link to The Harper Watch who have been documenting Stephen Harper's Administration since the man's election. Then excerpts along with links to the Royal Society of Canada expert panel on the future of libraries and archives. A well written summation by Erika Thorkelson at Huffington Post, and another thoughtful piece by Penny Pepperell examining implication of the National Energy Board gobbling up a portion of Canada's Oceans and Fisheries. Then the Canada Center for Policy Alternatives' review of the Harper Administration's 2008-2013 impacts on the full spectrum of the Canadian government and its people. I finish up with Charles Mandel reporting at the aftermath. It's too late to stop this damage, now Canada is left with mop-up and half-hearted rebuilding. CSIRO's damage can still be prevented. Can you help?
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For a complete documenting of the Harper Adminstration's destructive actions, visit the website HarperWatch.wordpress
Compiling the Harper Government's Assault on Democracy
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COMMENTS FOR ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA EXPERT PANEL ON THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES IN CANADA
December 15, 2013
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT)
In my previous post I commented on the latest substantial right-wing conservative attack aimed at climate research efforts, this time it's the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia who are in the bullseye. In my introduction to that post I mentioned the carnage inflicted by Canada's faith-based Harper Administration. This post is intended to support my claim with facts. Towards that end I'm sharing the following collection put together by John Dupuis of 'Confessions of a Science Librarian" fame. There's nothing else to add, except for: read it and weep. Of course, for Australia it's not too late, yet. Can you help?
This is a brief chronology of the current Conservative Canadian government’s long campaign to undermine evidence-based scientific, environmental and technical decision-making. It is a government that is beholden to big business, particularly big oil, and that makes every attempt to shape public policy to that end. It is a government that fundamentally doesn’t believe in science. It is a government that is more interested in keeping its corporate masters happy than in protecting the environment.
As is occasionally my habit, I have pulled together a chronology of sorts. It is a chronology of all the various cuts, insults, muzzlings and cancellations that I’ve been able to dig up. Each of them represents a single shot in the Canadian Conservative war on science. It should be noted that not every item in this chronology, if taken in isolation, is necessarily the end of the world. It’s the accumulated evidence that is so damning.
A long list of various environmental programs that the Harper government has discontinued or slashed funding to is here. I haven’t found individual media stories about all of them, so they aren’t in the list below. If you can help me find stories about some of those programs, etc, please let me know. As well, some stories are treated multiple times, with perhaps an initial story telling the big picture or introducing a large series of cuts and later stories fleshing out details.
