Wildfires and CO2

I have read a number of articles, blog posts, op-eds, etc., declaring that timber harvesting is not the answer to the problem–timber harvesting is the problem. Well the old axiom about a picture holds,  a picture is worth a thousand words. With that in mind, check out Tom Knudson’s article, Fire, climate and thinning overContinue reading “Wildfires and CO2”

2009 Fire Season Outlook for Western US

Northern California Again Poised to Add Millions of Tons of Carbon Dioxide to the Atmosphere Due to Wildfires Northern California saw nearly a million acres burned last summer. This year may see a repeat of last season. That assessment comes the National Interagency Fire Center‘s (NIFC) Predictive Services, which, in its assessment, evaluated the conditionContinue reading “2009 Fire Season Outlook for Western US”

The Copenhagen Consensus

On one of my post the other day, Anne asked in a comment, “What, other than cost, is the downside of reducing our carbon footprint [to prevent global warming]?” There are steps that we can take to reduce a footprint, carbon or otherwise: Move to a metropolitan area. Urban areas, due to their compactness, areContinue reading “The Copenhagen Consensus”

Happy Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, I, along with 20 million others that day, attended one of the first Earth Day celebrations (Read the history of Earth Day here, written by the founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson). The one I went to was held at Santa Monica City College (yes, Dustin Hoffman’s and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s alma mater). InContinue reading “Happy Earth Day”

Reading the Rocks in Time's Basement

Paul Sheehan at the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote an overview of the book Heaven and Earth by Ian Plimer. His article is titled Beware the climate of conformity. He says that he has been guilty of conformity in the past. I think the 500 pages (230,000 words with 2311 footnotes) will be interesting to read.Continue reading “Reading the Rocks in Time's Basement”

Reading the Rocks in Time’s Basement

Paul Sheehan at the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote an overview of the book Heaven and Earth by Ian Plimer. His article is titled Beware the climate of conformity. He says that he has been guilty of conformity in the past. I think the 500 pages (230,000 words with 2311 footnotes) will be interesting to read.Continue reading “Reading the Rocks in Time’s Basement”

Perhaps some other laws have been ignored too?

I mentioned a scientific paper the other day that is making its way through peer review titled, Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics by Gerhard Gerlich and Ralf D. Tscheuschner. It seems there may be other laws of physics that have been slighted, see On the First Principles ofContinue reading “Perhaps some other laws have been ignored too?”

Drat, that pesky second law of thermodynamics

Authors Gerhard Gerlich and Ralf D. Tscheuschner argue that within the frame of physics there can be no greenhouse effect. Abstract: The atmospheric greenhouse effect, an idea that many authors trace back to the traditional works of Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896), and which is still supported in global climatology, essentially describes aContinue reading “Drat, that pesky second law of thermodynamics”

The trouble with Hemp

… there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong. Any time there is a discussion about forests, someone brings up the possibility of substituting hemp for paper and for petroleum products. I read on one discussion forum, “[Industrial hemp] can be harvested every four months while traditional varieties of trees are allowed toContinue reading “The trouble with Hemp”

Samboja Lestari

Willie Smits is working to turn the deforestation, caused by palm oil plantations in Indonesia, around. His district had been deforested because of the desire for palm oil to make bio-diesel (download a BOS report on the threat from palm oil). His organization, Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), has created 3,000 jobs through reforestation at SambojaContinue reading “Samboja Lestari”