Covid-19 & AGW: Misinformation Is Deadly

 “False information about the pandemic is rampant, but seasoned defenders of climate science can offer tips for how to fight it.”

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/10/guide-to-overcoming-coronavirus-misinformation-infodemic/

Note: In my county there are 1.2 million people. The number of confirmed Covid cases stands at 45,070 as of  today (12-19-20). I calculate that to be 3.8% (.038) of the population. Considering the stats on asymptomatic, mild and under reported cases, I estimate that the actual case count to be as high as three-to-five times that, which could be almost a one-in-five ratio. Though a person doesn’t remain contagious forever, I hardly find that reassuring when I see restaurant parking lots full like I did last night when I went for curbside pick up. I’d worried that curbside spaces might be full, but there were only two other people like me there. And this, despite the fact that my county just went to stage 5 because of the post-Thanksgiving Covid jump in numbers. 

This and other observable behaviors gives me great pause when I consider the odds of our mitigating global warming. 

Search: 

“indoor venues are coronavirus hotspots”

“convert fractions to percentages”

Humor:

“Uh-Oh...He’s got that ‘thinning the herd’ look again...”

https://i2.wp.com/agoodgoodbye.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/nonsequitur-thinning-herd-look.jpg?ssl=1

"We have a software glitch on Earth. The smart people are full of doubts, and the stupid ones are full of confidence."
https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=mlyn3059

“What Did You Think Was Going To Happen?”...

 ... is a phrase my dad would occasionally bring up when me or my siblings would experience the ‘natural consequences of our actions’, but were slow to take personal responsibility for our choices involved. Since, when you are more fully cognizant of this, you begin to better appreciate the Law of Cause and Effect, the cause-and-effect chain, the stimulus-response domino effect of how the past influences the future. The degree of what you own up to ‘in the now’ establishes your learning parameters. In other words, learning life’s lessons.

Ideally, good effects reinforce the good choices you made and poor choices result in the negative reinforcement needed to diminish future similar choices (that is, if one has learned from them).

Other expressions that are helpful:

> Everybody pays the piper sooner or later (karma).

> You can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

> If you don’t change direction, you’ll wind up where you’re headed.

> Life is easier when you plow around the stumps [Note: Do remember to work on clearing them between growing seasons, and plant nuts from special trees where you want windbreaks and wildlife to thrive for your descendants to enjoy. In other words, self-improvement is an ongoing process.]

Do take the time to self monitor occasionally and ask yourself, “What will happen if....” as based upon past learning experiences and observations of the experiences of others. Be not overly harsh with yourself or others. Allow yourself to appreciate the irony and the entertainment value in what you observe about yourself and others.

For example: 

> when the headlines are about people testing positive for Covid who have heckled those of us who value the use of face masks, I think, “Hmmm, what did they think would happen...”

> what do we think will happen if we don’t control our borders and pass ‘Medicare for all’ at the same time...

> what do we think will happen if we don’t mitigate global warming...

> when Katrina swamped New Orleans and interviews of those flooded out revealed that many did not realize they were living ‘below sea level’, I asked myself, “Why didn’t they know?” Then I ask myself what is it in life that I don’t know, and “why don’t I know”?

Related reading:

https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/life/the-importance-of-self-responsibility/#

Humor:

https://images.app.goo.gl/cb9rXRWfLB987pK28

AGW: The First Photosynthesizers Caused ‘Snowball Earth’

During Earth’s early geologic history, even long after the crust had cooled, the environment was torrid (despite the sun being weaker than it is now) due to very high levels of methane and carbon dioxide. However, Cyanobacteria eventually evolved, became prolific, and thru photosynthesis began consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen (which had not existed as a free gas in the biosphere previously). This oxygen reacted with the methane to yield carbon dioxide which was a much less powerful greenhouse gas, while simultaneously the global exposure of silicate rocks to weathering produces calcium carbonate which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — and these processes repeated themselves on and on until the greenhouse gas levels were so low that not enough thermal radiation could be trapped to keep the planet from freezing solid into Snowball Earth. Eventually, however, an ‘oxygen carbon dioxide biochemical cycle’ stabilized the greenhouse effect and an ozone layer was established, thus plant and animal life evolution became possible.

Recap: Photosynthesis releases oxygen that then reacts with methane which yields carbon dioxide that then fuels more photosynthesis which releases more oxygen that then breaks down more methane, ad infinitum... 

Meanwhile, exposure of silicate rocks to weathering produces calcium carbonate which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere....

Thus, an atmosphere once laden with methane and carbon dioxide is almost totally replaced with oxygen (which is not a greenhouse gas).

Photosynthesis = Sunlight + 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Cyanobacteria are ‘oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria’. They harvest the sun's energy, absorb carbon dioxide, and emit oxygen. Like plants and algae, cyanobacteria contain chlorophyll and convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar through carbon fixation.

Video showing the beginnings of how and when photosynthesis first became established:

https://youtu.be/chOXnnT7eEk

Video about resulting Snowball Earth:

https://youtu.be/qERdL8uHSgI

Related posting:

https://samslair.blogspot.com/2020/12/agw-too-hot-too-cold-juuust-right.html?m=1

Related search parameters:

‘anaerobic aerobic bacteria early earth’

‘early earth photosynthesizing microbes’

AGW: More Higher Order Thinking Skills Needed

Though I’m baffled by those who do not appreciate the level of danger that life upon this planet is facing from ‘anthropogenic global warming’, I’m almost envious of their blissful unawareness of the inevitable consequence that the escalating levels of greenhouse gases holds in store for us. Up until now, the muted extinction levels of plant and animal species from human overpopulation has been from varied environmental stressors such as pestilence, environmental degradation, resource depletion, food shortages, threats of war, etcetera; but now, AGW will eventually trump them all. Our global biosphere is already so clogged with problems that there will be no livable solution. And to think: it’s all due to our general inability to comprehend the 8th grade science of the greenhouse effect.

Note: “If it were not for greenhouse gases, Infrared Radiation (heat) would freely escape thru the atmosphere and into space resulting in a planet frozen solid.”

https://samslair.blogspot.com/2020/12/agw-too-hot-too-cold-juuust-right.html?m=1

Note: Einstein is thus quoted:

"a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move to higher levels." 

AGW: When Too Much or Too Little Of A Good Thing (CO2) Is Not Good

 “If it were not for greenhouse gases, Infrared Radiation (heat) would freely escape thru the atmosphere and into space resulting in a planet frozen solid.”

The above statement can be used as an online search request for whenever someone wants to independently gain a better understanding of global warming and cooling. To receive the most pertinent results, use DuckDuckGo privacy browser. 

Snowball Earth — In Earth’s early history, global temperatures were very high for a very long time despite the sun being dimmer than it is today. This was due to the ‘greenhouse effect’ being strengthened by very high levels of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. At this time, no oxygen existed in the atmosphere and only simple anaerobic life forms existed; but, Cyanobacteria evolved and photosynthesis began releasing oxygen which breaks down methane (which is 30x more potent than CO2) into carbon dioxide. The weathering of fresh basaltic surfaces from tectonic plate rifting then drastically reduced the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Eventually, methane and carbon dioxide levels were reduced to such low levels that the Earth’s surface was frozen solid for over a hundred million years. 
Search:
‘Cyanobacteria Snowball Earth’
Also:
http://www.snowballearth.org/end.html

Hothouse Earth — Then about 250 million years ago, a “large igneous province” (LIP) in Siberia erupted huge and greatly prolonged volcanic basaltic flows for over two million years and dumped so much CO2 into the biosphere that the oceans acidified and atmospheric temperatures soared causing an extinction event called The Great Dying. Other LIPs occurred later causing CO2 levels and temperatures to again spike and, thus, induce other extinction level events.
Search:
‘large igneous provinces + extinction events’
Also:
https://phys.org/news/2015-10-large-igneous-provinces-linked-extinction.html

Related postings:
https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?q=AGW&max-results=20&by-date=false&m=1

AGW: Global Warming Stronger Than Milankovitch Cycle

Global Temperatures During Last 11,000 Years

https://www.climate.gov/sites/default/files/styles/inline_all/public/marcott2-13_11k-graph-610.gif?itok=HrOTBQaE

When you look at the global temperatures for the past eleven thousand years, you can see that temperatures had been steadily decreasing for the past several thousand years until we started started burning fossil fuels to power the Industrial Revolution. The Milankovitch Cycle, that says we should be at the start of a new ice age, is being thwarted by mankind’s activities. This sounds as though it might not be so bad — until you realize that ‘anthropogenic global warming’ is taking us to new interglacial temperature heights and beyond despite the fact that it’s having to counteract both the Milankovitch Cycle and a Solar Minimum in order to do so. Meanwhile, atmospheric greenhouse gas levels keep increasing despite the oceans having been soaking up most of them; but, as ocean temperatures increase, they’ll be able to absorb less and less and will eventually start off gassing after methane releases from ocean hydrates and permafrost become dramatically more noticeable. 

Note: There’s little need to draw a timeline for any of this. There are too many variables for that. Besides, we’ve known all of this all along and we’re still ‘dragging our feet’ as far as proactive measures are concerned.

Milankovitch Cycles:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2948/milankovitch-orbital-cycles-and-their-role-in-earths-climate/

Solar Minimums:

https://climate.nasa.gov/blog/2953/there-is-no-impending-mini-ice-age/

Related posting —

“Helping Someone to Understand Global Warming”

https://samslair.blogspot.com/2020/11/helping-someone-understand-global.html?m=1