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Climate Part 1: Some Terms and Caveats [1]

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Date: 2023-04-22  

As our climate is changing, and there is no evidence it is not changing and rapidly, we need to address not only altering our impact (greenhouse gasses, pollution of our air, soil, and water), we need to address restoring it as best we can. After all the new climate we are creating may not be optimal or even sub-optimal for our civilizations survival and perhaps for our species as a whole.

Now, first, I Am Not A Climate Scientist (IANACS)…..I am a fairly well read science educated person who can reason and do maths and understand the scientific process…I will not discuss inane minutiae or obscure cherry picked data sets….that is a sign of a “Merchant of Doubt” such as the “physicist” from Australia who natters on and picks at selected odd results (his name might come up later).

Second I will go over many terms and caveats (warnings) about climate science and what I see as things we can do to both lower/stop our emission of greenhouse gasses and reduce CO2 and Methane in the atmosphere which are main drivers at the moment…..oh, and I am also a “physicist” since my degrees are BSc. Physics and Math (there the appeal to authority is done ;) ) and that means bumpkiss folks.

The things I will discuss, in later posts, are energy transition, synthetic limestone, Marine Permaculture, Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF), Methane Oxidation, population (We Are Too Many) and Lifestyles of the NRG Civilization. (Much of this comes from the book “Climate Restoration by Peter Fiekowski)

Now a caveat…..We will always need and use Oil; shocking that I a Greenie Progressive would say this? Not really, it is just a fact that we need oil for plastics (polymers are forever), specialized insulation (for electrical use), coatings, lightweight parts (planes have a lot), etc. Get over it, accept it, and move on……oh, but we really should stop burning it.

Now among confusion terms are the following:

Climate: it is what happens over long periods of time, not today, next week, month to month, etc……that is weather.

Greenhouse Gasses of note and their impacts:

CO2; low forcing (1) but very long persistence (1,000 yrs)

Methane: High forcing factor (40) but short (3-4 yrs).

(other gases such a Choloroforocarbon-whats-its-name are even higher, ask a biochemist or a organic chemist please)

Restoration/Sequestration: locking the CO2 back up, which nature has been doing since forever through rock breakdown, plants, limestone building, bogs, clams, etc…..a good system to keep balance but takes a long time. Note this is not burning coal and pumping the CO2 captured into the ground (silly really when you think on it).

Oh, there are so many terms and arguments; a classic being it will hurt the economy to fix pollution, climate, etc…..what kind of economy will we have without a livable climate though, eh.

Oh, and perhaps, just perhaps folks should actually read up on the subject; I have a few books (not screeds or twits, err tweets?) to suggest as follows:

The Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes (how to lie)

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner (water development)

Climate Resoration by Peter Fiekowsky (things we can do)

Fieldnotes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert

Last Days of Ancient sunlight by Thom Hartman

Devil take the Hindmost by Edward Chancellor (markets drive a lot of things including climate)

Life as we made it by Beth Shapiro (humans impacting the climate for over 50,000 years)

Radical Simplicity by Jim Merkel (really, how much do we really need?)

The Hockey stick by Michael Mann (a man, a graph and plenty of enemies)

The Ripple Effect by Alex Prudhomme (Water, it is critical)

I could go on forever and should not; but hopefully you get the idea…..we need a broad education in many areas to understand Rapid Anthropogenic Climate Change and our Political, Social, Cultural, Financial and Physical constraints here.

And another Caveat: We also need to know about the opposition to change, progress, climate restoration, and what drives them (often fear and money) so there are a few books to read that many will not agree with at all (like The Skeptical Environmentalist).

Well that is enough for the moment; and maybe too much….next part is about Physical Climate Drivers to give folks some more terms and areas to read up on (Malinkovish orbital cycles anyone?).

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/22/2165327/-Climate-Part-1-Some-Terms-and-Caveats

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