Tribue to Kermit: It’s Not Easy Being Green

I am going to do something in this Blog post that may brand me as a heretic, but here goes:

I AM GROWING WEARY OF THE “GO GREEN” MOVEMENT!

There. I said it. And I feel better for having said it.

But why did I say it? Because I have seen this sort of marketing fad before. I was a freshman in college when the first Earth Day took place (April 22, 1970) and I recall the silly hype about how we were killing the planet back then. Nothing has changed. We are still talking silly hype about how our chemicals, our buildings, our cars, are killing Mother Earth. (You want a shock? Google Isaac Asimov’s essay, “The Nightmare Life Without Fuel” and read it. Then note when it was written.)

I am an amateur astronomer. I run around with people who are astronomers and geologists. And contrary to what people with a doting press that fawns over every word they say would have us believe, the scientific community as a whole is NOT buying into global warming as a result of human activity. (The term is “anthropogenic.”)

Did  you know that about 70% of the thermometers that are used around the globe for reporting local temperatures (and hence “proving” global warming) are within a few feet of asphalt, concrete, or (heaven forbid!) building exhaust fans? The protocol for climatological measurement calls for such thermometers to be many feet from such sources of artificial heat (about 100 feet to be precise). When most of those thermometers are relocated to a spot that meets the protocol, they read about 2 to 3 degrees C lower than they did before. Yet, the global warming Chicken Littles tell us that the earth’s temperature has risen between 1 and 2 degrees C. If that is true, we may actually be seeing a global cooling cycle!

A colleague of mine is a geologist at Arizona State University and on NASA’s payroll as a planetary geologist. (His name is Paul Knauth. He has done major work on the Mars Lander projects, especially the Phoenix mission.) He has done calculations that show a strong correlation between an isotope of oxygen in a rock known as chert and global temperatures. His research suggests that we may be heading into a prolonged cold earth phase (the earth has had many such phases in its history). In fact, at one time, the entire planet was covered with thick ice (like the planet Hoth in the Star Wars series). It has also been hotter than today-a lot hotter.

The point is that the earth goes through climate changes fairly frequently (in terms of geological time). But we humans have been on this planet as a civilized species (and some would argue with that!) for only about 10,000 years-a mere snap of the fingers geologically. We just happened to come along at a warm phase in the planet’s history.

Another friend of mine, an astronomer at the Lunar and Planetary Lab at Arizona University, points out that our current warming trend began 10,000 years ago (about the time we came on the scene!) and that deep caves in Arizona are still warming inside from the last ice age cold snap.

Did you know that Mars is slowly warming right now too? Who is up there putting all that carbon into their atmosphere, wrecking their planet?

Hmm, the only thing I can think of that Mars and earth have in common is… the Sun. A major source of heat (or its lack, when it dims a bit, which it does from time to time-again, on those long geological time scales, not day to day).

One fellow who participates in an on-line forum I belong to blasted my ideas by saying that the Pacific Island nations are slowly submerging as the ice caps in Antarctica melt. He is wrong. Those islands are actually sinking. The Pacific has not risen appreciably.

People go ga-ga over hybrid vehicles. Have you ever studied the overall impact a hybrid has on the environment? If you look at the total cycle-from production, to distribution, to ownership, and recycling (or scrap)- what is called its “resource utilization factor” or RUF- hybrids are no better for the earth than internal combustion engines. They just make those who drive them feel better because they aren’t harming the earth with carbon dioxide emissions as much.

Hey, wake up. Your very presence on this planet has an impact on it. There is no getting around that. And as more and more of us live, we’re going to create more and more pollution.

But cause global warming? I don’t think so. Unless we can find a way to change the energy output of the Sun.

I am not against conservation or being wise with the use of our resources. I camp out often in Arizona’s deserts and forests for astronomy weekends and I am very careful to leave the environment just as I found it (or better, as I often pack other people’s trash out). I have an energy efficient heating and cooling system in my home. I drive energy-efficient vehicles. My home is full of CFL lighting (despite the fact that they will eventually end up putting mercury in our landfills). And I think everyone who is considerate of life (human or otherwise) will do likewise.

But enough of this “go green” rubbish! If you want to use bio fuels or environmentally friendly chemicals in your car or on your lawn, do so. But don’t think you are averting global warming by doing so.

And don’t pass laws that make us pay for carbon emissions so we’ll pollute less. If the government wants to benefit from global warming economically, it should tax the Sun.

For those who want to dig a little deeper, check out this web site (www.climate-skeptic.com) or this blog post (www.coyoteblog.com).