The Catskill Chronicle

By Mort Malkin

The three principal greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor – are taking over the Earth’s atmosphere. Bill McKibben’s organization, 350.org, reports that CO2 is now at 400 ppm. Ironically, Australia, which exports more coal than anyone, is now experiencing a record heat wave and hundreds of wildfires.

Senator Inhof of Oklahoma and Governor Perry of Texas, among other global warming/climate change denialists, have finally admitted it’s really not a myth. But, they say, “We didn’t do it. It’s caused by natural cycles of the earth and sun, not the fossil fuel industries.” Some of their clan have even welcomed the warmer temperatures, claiming longer growing seasons and increased farm production. How convenient is their memory loss – they remember neither the drought across the midwest in 2012 nor the dust bowl of the 30s. Finally, when it was grudgingly acknowledged that temperatures are rising and the cause is human activity, they became arrogant, “Bring it on. We can deal with the worst that Nature throws our way. After all, we’ve invented the computer, digital cameras, gene transfers between species, and mad cow disease. We can surely do a little geo-engineering. If all else fails, artificial intelligence will surely work out something.”

With all the floods, super storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires – matters have reached a state where we ought to change the terminology and call it global heating and climate chaos if not climate collapse. We can keep climate catastrophe or calamity handy for 2014.

The climatologists, geologists, oceanographers, atmospheric scientists, and devotees of the Mayan calendar tell us how terrible things will be by 2050 or the end of the century – major cities on the east and west coasts will be drowning, Texas will be largely dusty desert, and Kansas will be aswirl in tornados. What no one is talking about is the more immediate danger of eight or so climate mechanisms with feed back loops that will become self perpetuating cycles of ever increasing global heating – even if we were to stop using coal, oil, and gas completely.

Let’s look at some of these climate mechanisms and their terrorist feed back loops.

• Glaciers, sea ice in the Arctic, and permafrost of northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, being white, reflect the sun’s rays back into space and keep the planet cool. But, when these white surfaces melt during the summer weeks, the dark ocean over the North Pole and the dark earth of Arctic lands soak in more of the sun’s heat. And, the carousel of global heating goes round.
• Half of the CO2 released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the waters of oceans and lakes. As more CO2 is absorbed, these waters become more acid and less able to absorb further CO2. Another feed back loop.
• The coral reefs around the world are dying from: acidity of the seas, extreme storms (cyclones, typhoons & hurricanes), record heat waves, industrial & agricultural pollution …. Ordinarily, growing coral reefs absorb a huge amount of CO2 from the dissolved sea water which, in turn takes it from the atmosphere. It is a huge carbon sink. Without the reefs, CO2 builds up in the atmosphere.
• Terrestrially, warmer soils accelerate the bacterial decay of organic matter (fallen leaves, dead trees, goose  droppings …) to release the carbon as CO2. Yet another feed back loop.
• As the permafrost of the Arctic regions of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia warm and thaw during the summer, frozen methane is released as a gas. Methane (CH4), too, is a greenhouse gas, but 25 times as potent as CO2. We’re talking a total of more than a thousand giga-tons.
• Associated with global heating, we are experiencing chaotic climate changes. There are more record high temperatures and droughts, which result in more forest fires. The widespread fires add both direct heat and CO2 to the environment — a double whammy of a feed back loop.
• Along with higher temperatures globally, we are seeing migration of insects from the tropics to temperate zones, bringing tropical parasitic diseases to more people and trees. Dead trees decay and add CO2 to the atmosphere. People don’t succumb so easily. They first have to go to a hospital, the largest polluter in a community. Neither do ambulances get very high mileage per gallon of gasoline.
• With the melting of glaciers in Iceland and Greenland and decreased formation of sea ice, the water of the north Atlantic becomes less salty. Added to the warming of the ocean generally, this water has less tendency to sink and so, provides less power for the great conveyor belt of the Gulf Stream. Officially, it is called the thermo-haline circulation and the Atlantic Deep Water Current. With less north Atlantic water traveling south, the tropical waters of the Atlantic just sit in the hot sun and heat up even more. Hotter water evaporates faster and forms more water vapor, which in turn, acts as yet another greenhouse gas. An eighth self-perpetuating cycle, bringing us closer to a tipping point.

Most of the above climate mechanisms are well under way and will accelerate. How much time do we have to change our wanton ways? Two or three years, maybe five at most. Not 20 or 50.

Just as we’ve changed the name of global warming to global heating and climate change to climate chaos, let us change from tipping point to the point of no return and feed back loops to a chain reaction. There’s no time left for self delusion.

We cannot afford to stand around and just wring our hands. Nor can we waste time blaming the Communist Chinese for building more coal fired power plants or US capitalists for their profligate lifestyles – hot air will just make things worse. Part 2 of this mini-series will enumerate many actions that must be taken immediately, and suggestions from readers will be welcome. We can even have a little fun along the way. Good planets are hard to find.