If I had it my way, one of the liberal arts requirements in every college would be an environmental science course, probably environmental chemistry. HUH? Liberal art requirement, a science-based course? Yes! What a concise way that would be to teach history, ethics, science, politics, economics, and natural resource management! I think it would help our affluent understand how to become more ethical consumers and citizens which would in turn help earth and humans. We struggle to live sustainably in our modern household every single day, and it is not an easy feat. Often, there is not a good solution or the better choice is not the perfect choice. Regardless, here're some fantastic facts about our atmosphere in all its complexity. I'll spare you the details and focus on two big ticket items you've heard of: global warming and ozone. But, I'll tell you what the papers don't.
Climate Records. Global Warming. Is it real? Yes, we are experiencing an interglacial period, as there have been MANY glacial (cold) and interglacial (warm) periods in history. In fact, we are experiencing the longest warm period in the last 420,000 years they've recorded, or so is revealed by Antarctica ice core data (D/H isotope ratios). Is this warm period of time longer than the others because of us humans and our consumption of fossil fuels OR is it longer just because it's longer? They don't know. Does the interglacial temperature increase (due to orbital forcing + solar insolation + earth's blackbody radiation + greenhouse effect) cause carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to increase? Or do CO2, CH4, H2o, and other greenhouse gases come first and then cause the temperature to increase? They really don't know. So, yes, there is global warming, but are our electric bills (coal, oil, gas --> electrical devices and CO2) and SUVs (gas --> independent transport + CO2) to blame or is it mostly just natural fluctuation?
Scientists don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg. But, they do know that we are not helping matters and if we don't stop ourselves, we are in for one hell of a weather pattern, both cold and hot, and wet and dry. In fact, even if we stop now, the CO2 that we've added to our atmosphere already has such a long mixing time with the oceans that it's going to stick around in presumably "too high" of concentrations for about 500 years. No kidding. But, it's not the CO2 we have to worry about, it's the H20 that evaporates during the warm times. H20 is itself a potent greenhouse gas and its latent heat is worrisome. Latent heat? H20 eventually has to condense from the sky, but can't do so without releasing massive amounts of energy. This makes horrific weather.
How can we reduce our carbon footprint so we can feel better about the affect we're having on our children's future not to mention the evolution of our dying biodiversity? Very grim, unless you would like to move into a teepee. Already, I can't change the fact it will soon be too warm for my beautiful white spruce trees to survive in this high ground and too hot and dry for my garden to grow in the the summers in the interior of Alaska. Well, at least right here we do not have to worry much about tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, or too much about flooding.
Albedo. You've probably heard of libido, but not albedo. Well, without albedo, you ain't got no libido because you're dead. Ha ha. Albedo is what regulates our temperature here on earth. Everything we see has a certain degree of reflectivity. The ice, snow, clouds, and desserts are the best at diverting the sun's rays away from us. Without albedo, we'd be burning up in here. So, what does that mean? If we melt the glaciers or if by chance the glaciers are melted by some unknown force, we've got less albedo, but where does the water go? Into oceans and into clouds, which increase albedo (cool us) by reflecting sunlight back into space. But, water vapor (clouds) is also a greenhouse gas, which absorbs both solar radiation and blackbody radiation from earth thus keeping us warm. Clouds increase temps at earth's surface by trapping radiation and radiating it downward but also decrease temps by reflecting sun back into space, you say? Oh no! Confusing. Yes, small shifts in cloud cover will inevitably cause significant changes in heat balance, but, which will win, albedo or the greenhouse effect? No one knows.
And to complicate things. We do know that sulfur dioxide is also great for albedo. So, if we were to stop burning fossil fuels we would surely decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide, which would decrease warming, but we would also decrease sulfur dioxide, which would increase warming because of the loss of albedo. Which would win? Again, the race is so tight that no one can say for sure.
Gosh, I'm starting to sound like a bad documentary. But, seriously, do you give any thought to ordering that item with free shipping and having it sent from Malaysia to the U.S. to save $5 when you could buy it locally? Driving a rig that produces with 30 vs 40mpg? Cranking up the heat 5 degrees? Taking a 20 minute shower? Or leaving a light or a computer on all night long? A diaper is only 20c, but have you thought about how much it REALLY costs in terms of resources and pollution to make one of those things? What about your food; do you think about the amount and type of chemicals that were required to grow it, the energy required to process it and create any other additives or ingredients, the location it is shipped from, the type of packaging it has? Yes. Maybe. Sometimes. No. I don't care.
Let's get off of wastefulness, warming, weather and talk about ozone. It's more uplifting. If you put ozone (O3) at earth's surface (1 atmosphere of pressure and 25 C), it'd be only about 3 millimeters thick. Not too many molecules of O3, you say. Well, that's why our CFCs made such a big dent. This ozone hole was quite unexpected, actually. They chose CFCs specifically for many uses because they are quickly destroyed in the troposphere. But, SURPRISE, the strotosphere, where O3 lives, is a whole another ball-game. So, nowadays we have to wear sunblock, becuase as we move toward the equator (and toward the poles at certain times of the year), our skin is damaged because there isn't enough ozone to keep the harsh rays out. Too bad plants and phytoplankton can't wear sunblock also . . . although, the stuff is toxic so maybe they're better off! Well, it's all well, because due to gradual phase-out of CFCs and another 100 or so ozone-destroyers the chlorine concentration is expected to hit 1970s levels by about 2040 and half that by 2100, and that is good news for our skin assuming something else doesn't hit ozone first. The HCFs we sometimes use now in place of CFC's . . . guess what . . . they're not much harm for ozone, BUT they are greenhouse gases. 11,700 times in fact more potent than CO2 because their removal mechanism from the atmosphere is so complicated. Oh no! More warming? Well, the refrigeration business is seeking new technology, it turns out.
Anyway, I don't think it's any shocker that my 2 year old son plays garbage truck pretty much all day long every day. Kids reflect what they see. And he sees a whole lot of garbage. After all, we are as a whole a pretty consumptive and wasteful society.
