Photographer: Olan Smith, all rights reserved.

Global Warming, Face the Facts

©2019, Olan L. Smith

When I studied weather at Northwest Missouri State University we were watching the spike in global temperatures in the 1980's. The warm global temperatures have increased suddenly since the industrial age first began, and according to ice core studies that go back thousands of years (the data is all there for anyone to read and interpret) the ice captured samples of air in its bubbles as it froze ages ago, layer after layer. It is a learning experience for humans, not to do the same thing twice. Eventually, the Earth's oxygen levels will not be breathable for humans, so we need to be thinking of our great-grandchildren; they will inherit out goof ups. Can we learn, is more of the question, or are we like the people of Easter Island; we use up every twig? Are we so set in our ways not to try new ideas? We are the ones responsible in what we believe. Do we accept change or contue to believe the reality that big money continues to propagandize against change?

Big oil is scared to death of switching over to electricity, and coal mining (and I come from a coal mining family) is afraid; then is wind the answer? Perhaps, or part of the cure? Solar is very much better than fossil fuels, but little changes can help like growing hemp to make paper, rope, clothing and wood products. It brings money into our area that was once known as the hemp capital of the world. That is a small change, but it will stop the cutting down of our forests and add oxygen to the atmosphere. If we don't go electric the rest of the world will, and then we are no longer the leaders or the innovators; we are followers; because is that what we want? China has plans to develop a solar array, build in geosynchronous orbit, to power its entire nation with electric power, and just for security reasons, we should, and must be the leader in space, not 2nd or 3rd or 5th. We can't think like our father's, "If it ain't broke don't fix it," innovators and leaders don't think that way, only followers do.

I don't think the video on what the Earth will look like after sea levels rising is used to blame one person; it is a result of the industrial age; perhaps you are looking at this from a political aspect. No one is to blame, it is just data that shows lowlands that will flood if sea levels rise; therefore what are we to do about it, ignore global warming or try to slow it? The other option is for our great grandchildren to move to another planet; it is just that video presentations are better for people to understand, because most people are visual learners, where as they don't understand statistics presented in environmental position papers.

Look at the world as a closed environment, which it is, or a spaceship, which it is. Then imagine you only have so much air, which you do, and now imagine something screwing up the 'scrubbers' on that spaceship. Do you change the scrubbers or do you leave the bad scrubbers in and take your chances? Trees and plants are Spaceship Earth's scrubbers. On a spaceship you constantly monitor the O2 levels to see if the scrubbers are working. Environmental scientists are our monitors, they have no reason to exist other than to monitor; they are not pro one side or another, and it is not political, and I dislike people who always politicize science)--it is just a matter of facts or data. You can check the data yourself, but it is no secret that it is hidden from the rest of the world. Now, you can ignore the monitors, you can turn off the alarms and go on about your merry way on the ship as though nothing happened, or you can change the faulty scrubbers. Change is always fought, change does happen whether we like it or not, as things change it is lead, follow, or get out of the way. Just remember look at the world from space; it is tiny and the atmosphere that protects us from the vacuum of space is just a thin layer. I vote for the people who are conservationists of the Spaceship Earth.

It is not an attack against political counter-jabs. You never win by counter jabs, because you are most likely off balance, I pay no attention to Trump or the people who spout his lunacy, they're not worth it, but I will state facts that come for scientific research, you can't argue with data you can only condemn it, or condemn the motives of the funders, for example research by tobacco producers against those of medical researchers, and here the example is big business against environmentalist. Who are you going to believe? Most people who dismiss the data of global warming have never read a single scientific position paper on global warming, not a single one. Position papers are boring, long, and filled with statistics, but the thesis is stated in the beginning and the conclusion is stated in the end, and the rest of the paper is math and statistics. People who attack a video like this are attacked for a political reason that has no basis in fact that they may have only looked at the cover photo, or are so upset about the publisher, Business Insider; they automatically dismiss it point-blank. The alarms are going off on this spacecraft Earth; we need to either change the 'scrubbers" or move.

When we look for an enemy we will find one around every bend, but if we are looking for a friend we will find them as well. Dr. Carl Jung diagnosed the world as paranoid after WWII. I would say it is schizoid. The right is afraid of everything, the left is afraid of the right, and the more we argue about politics, the more schizophrenic we become as a species. I suppose that labels me as a humanist, a person who chooses to solve human problems from the good of human beings not the worst of humanity, and people will have to decide who is good or bad, and lead accordingly.

A/N: I wrote this on Facebook in response to comments on the video article, "Animated map shows what the US would look like if all the Earth's ice melted," (Business Insider) that I reposted on my FB news feed.