Extinction Level Event

Blog For Peace

This post is made in support for Blog for Peace that happens every year. This year the theme is "Hold the Light." There are people who need you to hold the light for them.  Hold space. Hold the line. Do not judge, do not preach, just hold the light. Say the truth and back it up with proof.

Climate Change

Today, I write about how the world is facing a dramatic change that has been caused by man. It is very real and will cause catastrophic changes. They have already begun. The sea levels are rising, permafrost is melting, glaciers are disappearing, and the acidity of the oceans has increased while the salinity has decreased--which affects the worldwide currents which govern our weather. 

Greenhouse Gases

Carbon dioxide is always present in our atmosphere. It is the principal greenhouse gas that occurs naturally. The natural carbon cycle is simple. Men and animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide that is absorbed by plants, grasses and trees. The plants, in turn, are given energy from the sun and, through the process of photosynthesis, release oxygen back into the atmosphere. In the fall and winter of each year the process reverses as plants decay and release carbon dioxide. The oceans of the Earth absorb approximately one third of human generated carbon dioxide as part of the grand scheme of global carbon recycling.

Source: Carbon cycle-definition|explanation|diagram - DewWool

Carbon dioxide is Earth’s most important greenhouse gas: a gas that absorbs and radiates heat. Unlike oxygen or nitrogen (which make up most of our atmosphere), greenhouse gases absorb heat radiating from the Earth’s surface and release it in all directions. Without carbon dioxide, Earth’s natural greenhouse effect would be too weak to keep the average global surface temperature above freezing.

Carbon Dioxide Levels in Atmosphere

Air bubbles trapped in mile-thick ice cores from the Antarctic show that during the ice age cycles of the past million years or so, atmospheric carbon dioxide never exceeded 300 parts per million (ppm). Before the Industrial Revolution started in the mid-1700s, atmospheric carbon dioxide was 280 ppm or less. In 2020, we are at 420 ppm.  Carbon dioxide is predicted to reach 500 parts per million by the end of the century.

Source: Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide | NOAA Climate.gov

Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are expected to double from preindustrial levels by the year 2100. At that time, the resulting average temperature in the world will have increased by about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit

The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020, the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person

Even the world's oceans cannot absorb this amount of carbon dioxide. Nor can the trees handle this great amount. In fact, it would take a forest the size of Jupiter to convert this amount of carbon dioxide to oxygen.

Other Greenhouse Gases

Greenhouse gases attributable to human activity includes methane from livestock as well as from rice patties and sewage. Nitrous oxide from fertilizer is 310 times more effective in trapping heat than CO2. Industrial fluorocarbons (such as CFC refrigerants and aerosols) trap heat which will remain in the atmosphere for as long as 50,000 years. 

Drinking Water Disappearing

With the world heating up, the ice being held in glaciers and ice sheets are melting. Greenland's ice sheet holds 6% of the world's freshwater. The glacier known as the Snows of Kilimanjaro will disappear by 2033. Some South American glaciers and Alpine glaciers will completely vanish during the same time. Even the mighty Himalayas have shrunk over 30% since the 1970s.

Melting glaciers in the high mountains of the world threaten drinking water, irrigation and hydro power. That means water, food and electricity will fail.  Concurrently there will be a decrease in precipitation in the tropics and subtropics contributing to the expansion of the deserts and those regions.

Sea Level Rising

The equilibrium between gas absorbed and gas released by the ocean has been disrupted, and the increase in dissolved carbon dioxide has caused a 30% increase in the ocean's surface acidity. This damages coral and seashells and unbalances the food chain. This is in addition to the problem caused by the increase in ocean temperature that also damages marine life.  We have seen what acid rain can do. Now we are going to see acid oceans.

Due to temperature increase. sea levels will rise by about 20 inches--partially due to melting ice and partially from the expansion of the oceans as a result of the increase in temperature.  

Islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean that are close to sea level will be engulfed and drowned. The Polynesian islands of Tuvalu have already been partially evacuated because of rising waters and are expected to be completely underwater by 2050 as a result of the 12.5-inch rise (Levy, M., Why the Wind Blows A History of Weather and Global Warming p. 158.)

Rising sea levels could displace as many as 70 million Chinese, 30 million Bangladeshis, and hundreds of thousands of Americans as parts of America's coastlines disappear underwater. 

Changes in Climate Due to Warming

Permafrost in Alaska and Siberia is melting. The consequence is that methane and carbon dioxide that was trapped within the permafrost since the end of the last ice age10,000 years ago will be released during the next few decades. This means potentially up to eight hundred gigatons of carbon could be released from the melting permafrost. To make it worse, large sinkholes are opening to swallow homes, farms and public lands.

The ten hottest years on record have happened since 1998 (The 10 warmest years: Not exactly forever ago – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet).  Three of the five most intense storms have hit the USA since 2018 (Top Five Most Intense U.S. Hurricanes | The Weather Channel).  

The habitat of plant and animal species has migrated northward by about 50 kilometers per decade in the northern hemisphere. This forever changes the ecological balance in these regions. 

The Extinction Level Event

There is a major problem with the buildup of greenhouse gasses, increasing temperatures and the melting of glaciers that remains. Typically, warm fresh water moves up the Atlantic Ocean from the tropics where it encounters saltier, heavier water south of Greenland.  Here the water sinks below the surface and travels south to the coast of Antarctica.  There it splits into two branches; one travels north into the Indian Ocean and the other skirts the eastern shore of Australia on its way to the North Pacific. Both branches then rise and travel back to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Source: Thermohaline circulation - Wikipedia

This conveyor belt (Thermohaline Circulation) is driven by differences in the oceans temperature and salinity. It moves water at a snail's pace of 0.1 meters per second. One drop of water will remain in this system for 1000 years. Paleoclimate records constructed from Greenland ice cores have revealed that the thermohaline circulation has, indeed, shut down in the past and caused regional climate change. The last time this happened, the Anazasi left their ancestral homeland.

As we emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, ocean temperature rises, Arctic ice melts, thermohaline circulation slows, and the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide diminishes (Wikipedia).

It is important to realize that the weather patterns are driven largely by movements of ocean water in a continuous flow, created largely by surface winds but also partly by temperature and salinity gradients, Earth’s rotation, and tides. Major current systems typically flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere, in circular patterns that often trace the coastlines.

Ocean currents act much like a conveyor belt, transporting warm water and precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics. Thus, ocean currents regulate global climate, helping to counteract the uneven distribution of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface. Without currents in the ocean, regional temperatures would be more extreme — super hot at the equator and frigid toward the poles — and much less of Earth’s land would be habitable. (NOAA)

 Conclusion

I wish there was an easy answer to all the problems I have illuminated with my light.  If we start today to do whatever we can to reduce our own carbon output, while electing people who are knowledgeable about this issue, and educating others to the danger of ignoring this phenomenon, we are still in for some rough times.  However, if we do nothing, the cost will be borne by our children and their children.  

The main causes of a warmer Earth are: 1) vehicle exhaust from cars, trucks, planes, ships and heavy equipment (14% of emissions); deforestation (18%); and power generation (25%).  We have already begun to see new technologies for automobiles and trucks (hydrogen, solar), but it is probably too late to do anything about the deforestation that has ravaged countries. We are losing 10 million hectares of forest cover per year (one hectare = ~2.47 acres).

Some suggestions:  

Collect farm waste, urban waste, wood manufacturing waste, and sewage, capturing the methane to use as fuel. Systems that convert methane to fuel for heating and cooking are already being used around the globe. Waste, specifically human waste, is a sustainable source of energy.

Solar panels are well on the way to reducing our dependence on electricity which is generated from hydroelectric plants or gas-powered plants. 

Wind farms have been used over the centuries for grinding grains and lifting water, but electric power generation is a new role for windmills. Block Island off the state of Rhode Island receives most of its power from windmills! 

Solar chimneys make use of the natural draft that exists between a ground base covered collection area surrounding a chimney and the top of the chimney. A turbine installed at the base the chimney serves as the generator. 

The main thing we can do is fundamentally change our attitude away from consumption and toward conservation and sustainability BEFORE we reach the tipping point.

And, of course, pray to the God that made all this wonderous world and gave us stewardship over it.

Tags: global warming, greenhouse gas, extinction level event, permafrost melting, glaciers disappearing, drinking water diminishing, rising sea levels