Global Warming or Cooling...Which Is It?

Very interesting article if you're interested in archaeology.

In a nutshell, archaeologists digging on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia believe they may have found the lost civilization of Tambora. This civilization was believe to have been wiped out in 1815 by the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. (As a sidebar, Environmentalist Wackos fail to use that term correctly. You constantly hear, "Strongest hurricane EVER!" or "Warmest weather EVER". In all truthfulness, these propagan...um, reporters should clarify that these events are the strongest or most intense in RECORDED history. We haven't been recording weather events for the entire life span of the Earth so making such statements is ridiculous. But I'm digressing.)

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. In the article, the following paragraph appears:

The eruption shot 400 million tons of sulfuric gases into the atmosphere, causing global cooling and creating what historians call "The Year Without a Summer." Farms in Maine suffered crop-killing frosts in June, July and August. In France and Germany, grape and corn crops died, or the harvests were delayed.

What's that?!? Global Cooling and NOT Global Warming? But I thought volcanoes spewed all kinds of greenhouse and other toxic gases. Let's double check that.

From Wikipedia:

The principal components of volcanic gases are water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur either as sulfur dioxide (SO2) (high-temperature volcanic gases) or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (low-temperature volcanic gases), nitrogen, argon, helium, neon, methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Other compounds detected in volcanic gases are oxygen (meteoric), HCl, HF, HBr, NOx, SF6, COS, and organic compounds. Exotic trace compounds include methyl mercury, halocarbons (including CFCs), and halogen oxide radicals.

Hmmmm...just as I suspected, greenhouse gases and acid rain inducing pollutants.

To repeat, I still believe we as responsible (ok...marginally responsible) adults need to take care of the Earth we live on. Remember, we still have to eat and drink ya know. BUT, I'm still not convinced that the THEORY of Global Warming is based on solid science.

In fact...here's a trivia question for you. Who is the biggest polluter in the state of Washington? A power plant? Industrial production? Nope. It's actually Mt. Saint Helens - a volcano. But how do you legislate or stop a volcano from polluting the environment with greenhouse gases?

Check this list of polluters:

1. Mt. Saint Helens = up to 250 TONS per day of Sulfur Dioxide (BTW..all of the state's industries only produce 120 TONS per day.)
2. Mt. Etna in Italy = Up to 25,000 TONS per day of Sulfur Dioxide
3. Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii = 2,000 Tons per day per day of Sulfur Dioxide

Now if I remember my 7th grade science correctly, our planet has been much more volcanicly (if that's a word) active in the past. So..what did that cause environmentally? Yes, if you read the whole article I cite above, volcanic activity contributes to air pollution at a much smaller rate than human activity. BUT my point is, the planet has been more active in the past and when cataclysmic volcanic events have occurred, it has led to Global Cooling.

If the planet is warming, I think there's more to the equation that gas emissions from both natural and man-made sources. Could it be cyclical?


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global warming

Way To Go Steelers

Gosh this is late getting posted!

I watched the Super Bowl in San Diego. If you can believe it, I had an Annual Meeting and Expo that STARTED on Super Bowl Sunday. How odd is that? But I can't complain, I got to watch the game on 4 HUGE projection screens with plenty of food!

The game was great! The crowd of nearly 2,000 attendees was evenly split between the Seahawks and the Steelers so SOMEBODY always had something to cheer about. You should have seen the crowd when the Seahawks challenged the diving Touchdown. Boy that was tense. I believe both teams played very well and both won some close calls.

I'm just glad the Steelers won!! Maybe next year for the Panthers....

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