Russell Schnell oversees atmospheric observatories for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. He says what humans put into the air has a big impact on our atmosphere.
Russell Schnell: There’s not much air. So we are affecting the atmosphere very dramatically. The atmosphere is extremely thin.
That is, compared with the size of the globe, the atmosphere is thin. Dr. Schnell went on to explain that five atmospheric observatories stretch across the Pacific region to monitor Earth’s air. They each take 300 to 400 different types of measurements, daily. It’s Schnell’s job to oversee these observatories, and he spoke about the one at Mauna Loa, Hawaii:
Russell Schnell: The air that comes there is well mixed, meaning that it doesn’t have any local pollution. So it’s kind of the background, the purest, the most stable air you can measure.
He said this stable background helps in monitoring the global changes happening in our atmosphere. For example, long-term data from the observatories show that carbon dioxide concentrations – now known to be responsible for driving climate change – are increasing. Schnell added that if countries set requirements to cut carbon dioxide emissions, these observatories would serve as a kind of atmospheric fact checker.
Russ Schnell: We will be able to, through our measurements, see if these are effective. We’ll be able to tell if in fact the U.S. is able to cut down CO2 production, if China is, or if they’re increasing.
Dr. Schnell explained that the atmospheric observatories he oversees provide baseline data. That means, their data can serve as a reliable comparison to data over other times, or places. He said that’s why it’s important that atmospheric measurements are extremely precise and consistent.
Russell Schnell: The idea of an observatory is that the measurements you made in 1960 should be exactly comparable to the ones you make in 2060. Over 100 years, you want to be sure that your measurements are not changing so that any changes you see are the atmosphere. We calibrate instruments constantly, sometimes two or three times a day. You calibrate it with standards, some of which are 50 years old. A lot of the work is making sure the equipment is working and putting out data that’s valuable, and valid, and will be valid for many, many years.
He said that collecting information about the atmosphere by measuring the contents of the air is like collecting information about people from the garbage they throw out.
Russell Schnell: If I went to your apartment every week and collected your garbage, and you didn’t know that I was collecting your garbage, I would take it to a warehouse and lay it all out and study it. I would get it next week, and then next week. After a period of about 2 or 3 years, I would know an awful lot about you and your health, your financial situation, and whatever, by looking at what you throw away. That’s what happens with cars. We drive, we throw CO2 and other gases out the tailpipe. We discard a refrigerator and the chemicals leak. Power plants put out materials all the time. All this stuff goes into the atmosphere. It doesn’t disappear. It goes mixing around. We look at that and study the changes and correlations between the changes. We start understanding where the atmosphere is changing, how it’s changing, and where the sources for these changes are.
Our thanks today to NOAA Pacific Services Center – linking culture, science, and people to build resilient Pacific Island communities.
What if climate destabilization is a practical and actual result of the overconsumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities of the human species on Earth in our time? But for whatever reasons or excuses, no one is willing to talk about these human-driven threats because some imagined danger. So what?
There are courageous people actually engaged in dangerous situations in many places on the surface of Earth this very day. Sometimes there is work worth doing that requires individuals to directly confront danger. I cannot imagine living a worthwhile life and not having to facing danger, at least occasionally. And if the cause justifies coming face to face with danger, then mere danger cannot be allowed to serve as a basis for willful blindness, hysterical deafness, elective mutism and cowardice.
Let us imagine for a moment that the current gigantic scale and skyrocketing growth of absolute global human population numbers on Earth represent the “mother” of all looming global ecological threats to future human wellbeing and environmental health. Would a cause like protecting life as we know it and preserving the integrity of Earth’s ecology not be a cause to which people respond ably by choosing to face whatever dangers may attend such a confrontation?
Could we merely begin speaking out with a bit more precision about what are the dangers that are to be derived from the open discussion of human population dynamics and the human overpopulation of Earth?
“There is not much air”…. Really? The air pressure at sea level on this earth is approximately 14.7 psi. That means the column of air above every square foot of earth’s surface weighs over 2116 pounds. Yes, over a ton of air for each and every foot of the earths surface. Now, what is this atmosphere made of? 78% in nitrogen, a fairly inert gas. It is carried into the soil as ammonia as a result of lightning causing it to ionize. This nitrogen is the source of protein in plants (and by that definition in animals.) Legumes have bacteria on their roots that allow the fixing of atmospherical nitrogen as well. Anyhow, back to the air. Oxygen comprises about 21% of the atmoshphere. ALL of the other gasses comprise the balance.
Now, we must realize that Oxygen is a very reactive element. It is always “trying” to share electrons with other substances. Ie, to “oxidize” them. Without oxygen constantly being returned to the atmosphere, it would quickly be bound up in compounds. Life on earth as we know it would cease. So, where does the constant oxygen recharge come from?
CO2. Yep, CO2. You see, photosynthethis of plants absorbs CO2 from the air and H2O from the soil and rips the molecular bonds apart. The carbon and hydrogen are combined to form carboyhydrates. The remaining O2 is released into the atmosphere for us to breathe.
If we did manage to get the CO2 level down below 250 parts per million, plant growth would be badly stunted. If we get it down to 150 ppm, plants and us, die.
Back to the “thin” air. Remember, air in earth at sea level weighs 14.7 pounds per square inch. That is over 2116 pounds per square foot. That means that one square mile has over 294,953,472 TONS of air sitting on it. Now, the earth has an approximate surface area of 196,939,900 square miles. Multiply that by the tons per mile and you have an idea of the true magnitude of the atmosphere. It is an huge mass of what we call air. Our emmissions are miniscule and the plants are working all the time.
The sky is not falling. Life is not in danger of having to die from CO2 poisoning. You are in much more danger from the statists trying to destroy the western lifestyle.
I encourage you not to take my numbers for granted. Get out your calculator and encyclpedia (or use the internet). Check my numbers. Check out the equations for photosynthesis. Then, get out a history book and read what Malthus, Keyenes and Marx wrote. Look at history and science and sit down and think. Remember that facts are not exciting. But they are still facts.
Scientist are not some form of exalted persons. They are humans and live to serve themselves. They provide the “results’ that their benefactors require. Otherwise, they are back to working slinging burgers. Always, follow the money. That is where the motivation lies.