Global Warming Gets Very, Very Local
It's estimated that downtown Martinez could be underwater in 100 years.
Today is THURSDAY, July 7, 2011. Did you know that in 100 years, it's estimated that downtown Martinez will be under water? It was news to me, and not everyone believes it, but that was the scenario laid out by Jeremy Lowe of Environmental Science Associates. He was explaining to City Council members on Wednesday why the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, a state agency that regulates conservation and development along the shorelines, might extend its authority beyond its current boundaries. If the sea level rises, so do BCDC's boundaries, according to an amendment now being discussed by the agency. It's one of those convoluted issues that involves local, regional and state authority, and according to local attorney and downtown property owner Al Turnbaugh, it represents a BCDC power grab. But the interesting piece of information that came out of the presentation was the premise that the city will be underwater in 100 years because of global warming melting the ice caps and the sea level's subsequent rise. This brings up the entire question of the science of global warning, and what, if anything, we should do about it. The scientific community seems to stand pretty solidly behind the conclusions that we are entering a period of climate change, and need to prepare for the significant changes to our environment that will result. But others are just as sure that it's all hokum, a bunch of scientists trying to make money or grab headlines with scary stories about flooding and storms and droughts. Meanwhile, the general public is left to watch the debate and wonder who is right, and hope the leaders charged with making decisions make the correct ones. Because if they don't, there won't be any more outdoor dining on Main Street. Instead, we will have plenty of seafood choices. Very, very fresh seafood.
WEATHER:
Sunny with highs in the mid 80s to lower 90s, with winds 5 to 10 mph.
MEETINGS:
Today — The Marina Subcommittee (Mayor Rob Schroder and Councilman Mark Ross) lead several state agencies on a tour of the marina. The group meets at Martinez City Hall at 3 p.m., 525 Henrietta St.
EVENTS:
Animeals Food Bank Program Cat Food Drive
Summer Support Group for Teens With Eating Disorders
TODAY IN HISTORY:
1928 — Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Co. of Chillicothe, Mo.
1930 — Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam).
1954 — Elvis Presley made his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, "That's All Right."
1981 — President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
2005 — A series of four explosions occurs on London's transport system, killing 56 people, including four alleged suicide bombers, and injuring more than 700.
Chris Kapsalis
10:56 am on Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wild fires alone on earth make mankind's pollution look like nothing in way of C02 and air emissions. Throw in Volcanoes', under the sea and above,and just random earth fluctuations, yes mankind adds to green house gas, but green house gas is cleaned by nature over time, and the worst of our pollution for the 60's and 70's has long since dissipated. It is not as bad on earth now as it was 30 or 40 years ago in manmade emissions, yet now we are expected to cause global warming and the sea is going to jump up 100 feet. It could happen, but humans will not be the main reason.
Humans greatest harm to earth comes in way of toxins and poisons, and nuclear waste. Yes we should be careful, concentrated amounts of C02 and petro chemical exhaust is a toxin. Mercury, lead, asbestos, DDT etc. create havoc on earth. Green house gas causing global warming is the least of our worries. As I said, if you add up the fires each year around the globe, and the sheer amount they emit, our contributions a drop in that bucket. One large volcano can let out as much as we do in a year. The amount of fuel burned in one huge fire storm would probably equal what we burn in a month. Times that wild fire by thousands and you get the idea.
So I think we should still think about the Marina as a great place to invest in. And even a waterfront restaurant.
MIKE ALFORD
10:00 pm on Thursday, July 7, 2011
and a bridg over the tracks !
greenomic
2:03 am on Monday, July 11, 2011
The rising temperatures of global climate change are melting the world’s ice. Most notable are the shrinking ice sheets of Greenland and west Antarctica, which have shown dramatic loss in recent years. Travel to the glaciers of Greenland and to fossilized coral reefs of the Florida Keys, where earth scientists are studying geologic records of past warming to predict future ice loss and associated sea level rise.
I would like to share this documentary "Melting Ice Rising Seas"
watch it in online film festival "Green Unplugged"
Chris Kapsalis
5:57 am on Monday, July 11, 2011
Just look at tree ring evidence, both from living trees and old wood and fossil's and you will see the earth goes through massive dramatic changes in climate all the time. We recently had the worst tornado outbreaks in 60 years. Which means it was worse 60 years ago. Some point to the unusual weather as a sign or even proof the earth is doomed, when in fact there has always been droughts, famines, plagues, mega storms, periods of wet, dry, cold and warm even in earths recent history.
Some areas of the earth are warming, some cooling. Some mountains ice caps are shrinking, some growing.
Chris Kapsalis
5:57 am on Monday, July 11, 2011
Just don't leave out any inconvenient truths while gathering your evidence on global warnings and humans being the cause. Wild fires often went unchecked in nature until he rainy seasons, creating much more C 02 and greenhouse gas then is created today on earth, which might account for the patterns in the earths history of dramatic and sudden shifts in Earth Climate.
This does not mean we are not guilty of hurting the earth. Over fishing, deforestation , strip mining, slash and burn farming, what is happening in the Amazon, and yes pollution, just to name a few things, are reeking havoc on the earth.
It is not PC to question if global warming is happening, and especially question if humans are causing it. But we will learn nothing if people leave out facts that do not back up their claims, and even suggest otherwise. Get up close to just one huge forest fire, just one fire of the thousands on earth each year, and you will see the sheer impact these fires have on earth, in the amount of fuel they burn, blocking the sun for thousands of square miles. Now imagine them going unchecked for months strait in the past. I would argue there is less C 02 released into the earth atmosphere today then in the past.