It seems that we keep hearing all this talk about global warming and it is caused by changes in the atmosphere of Earth. That's right, the problem is in the air. If that is the case, then why is it that we seem to know so little about the atmosphere. To qualify my readers so that they do not waste time reading the rest of the blog, take this simple test. What is the atmospheric pressure at sea level in terms of psi? If you don't know that, stop reading and go get a beer. I am not an expert on this subject, but I know that 99.999% of the population is not either, so I am going to go on.
First questions, where did our atmosphere come from? Has it always been made up of these same gases? Was the air pressure always the same as it is now? If not, how would that make things different here on earth. We can tell that some planets once had water and an atmosphere, so where did they go and why? My point is that we don't really know much about the atmosphere of Earth, yet we are willing to starve our kids to save the planet. If this whole thing is not crazy, I don't know what is. I do know that humans have done very stupid things like this in the past. You only have to look at Easter Island to see how stupid us humans have been when we get into some kind of "group think" in an area where we are totally unqualified. Here are some simple observations.
Did you read the book or see the movie about Jurassic Park? If you did, recall the flying reptiles? At one time, I think that we can agree, we had much bigger flying birds than we do today and those in the movie are a good example. Why are they all gone now? Here is what I think. I have an airplane and fly all the time. One thing that I always check before I fly is the "density altitude". Never heard of that? What it is is an "index" that takes into account different aspects of the atmosphere. Things like air pressure, temperature and humidity. It turns them all into one number called "density altitude" which tells you what elevation under standard conditions would have the same "lift". Example, some place at sea level that was very hot may not have the lift for your plane as a place at high elevation where the air was cold and more dense. I think you can follow this. So what?
If historically, we had a lot denser atmosphere, it would have been a lot easier for those big birds in the movie to fly than today. I contend that the atmosphere of Earth has gotten thinner and thus birds have gotten smaller and much more efficient so that they could still fly. These big birds who could not adapt died off or just got smaller. If the lift on a bird is a function of "density altitude" and ability to fly is a function of the surface area of the bird, it follows simple physics that the bird had to get smaller. If they get smaller, they have more surface area per pound of body weight.
Now another point. Back in the beginning, the solar system was a lot more dense too. At the time of the big bang, all the mass in the universe was in "one" place. As it has blown out and expanded, the density of matter has gone down. In this environment of dense particles, a small body like the Earth cold collect a lot of dust and gas faster than it was being pulled away into the less dense space. As space got less and less dense, the Earth and all other planets found it more and more difficult to keep up with the loss of atmosphere. Some that had both water and atmosphere are now without both. I feel that this is just what is happening to the Earth and there is nothing that we simple humans can do about it. Like Easter Island who did not, in the end, have wood to make boats, our atmosphere will become so thin that planes will not be able to fly and it will be like living on top of a tall mountain.
Right now, the gravity of the Earth is so weak and space is so thin that we can not keep Hydrogen in our atmosphere. If you pop a Hydrogen filled balloon, the gas goes right up into the air and to outer space. If by chance some connects with Oxygen and forms water, it will stay here in our atmosphere and some day come down as rain or snow.
I guess my point in this blog is to point out some of the simple things about our atmosphere that we do not seem to be talking about, but are hell bent on getting rid of Carbon and Carbondioxide no mater how much it costs. I would feel a lot better if these global warming nuts were out there in the desert with hammers and chisels carving big heads and leaving me alone.
