Four hundred glaciers globally have simply melted into Earth’s atmosphere. Water cannot remain suspended forever. It will return to Earth in the form of floods as we have seen over decades globally. The ocean is rising one inch per decade. In May 2019 the Mauna Loa laboratory in Hawaii registered unprecedented carbon dioxide levels at 415 parts per million(ppm). The present measure of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is 43% higher than pre – industrial levels of 380 ppm.
One hundred years ago the founder of physical chemistry Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) cautioned unlimited burning of fossil fuels will cause serious problems for Earth. His warning was repeated in 1905.Carbon dioxide levels have not been this high in millions of years. Climate scientist James Hansen tells of our behavior could bring a second Paleo-Ecocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The first PETM occurred 50 million years ago. We could not tolerate such a warm planet. Warnings are repeated – ignored.
Carbon dioxide coming into contact with water becomes carbonic acid. Such acidification has increased 30% since the industrial revolution. With increasing ocean acidification there is a decrease in oxygen (hypoxia) which is not conducive to healthy life in the ocean or anywhere on Earth.
Scientists believe half of Earth’s oxygen comes from the ocean. Phytoplankton are small marine creatures that generate oxygen. They are “the marine rain forest” which we are unable to see dying off from careless human behavior. Please read – Phytoplankton Panic (Atlantic Monthly July 30, 2010)
A friend in Lafayette speaks of his son on a US Navy nuclear submarine. The billion-dollar vessels have a device which takes in limitless water, splits off the hydrogen and produces abundant oxygen. When crew members become nervous and agitated the commander knows oxygen supply must be increased immediately or those enclosed in a relatively small space will become disoriented.
We “Earthlings” sense oxygen deprivation when caught in urban traffic jams. We are inhaling fumes from millions of cars as one gallon of gasoline pumps out 22 lbs. of carbon dioxide and harmful fumes.
General Eisenhower warned of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) in his 1960’s retirement speech. The MIC is nourished by our Carbon Combustion Complex (CCC). The MIC fights oil wars to perpetuate a ravenous CCC.
The CCC will awaken to renewable energy during history’s “petroleum interval.” Nothing on Earth survives without oxygen. When thinking sharpens all might join Einstein’s regret over atomic bombs.
“Be of good cheer” our favorite war-horse advises, the military-industrial state will soon collapse.” (Edward Abbey)
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) is a modern writer in tune with Thoreau’s reverence for the natural world.
Abbey was convinced “The greatest forces working in the world are stupidity driven by greed.”
Down The River (with Henry Thoreau) is Abbey’s 1981 book among eighteen.
Abbey’s passionate concern for diminishing nature is in sync with Kirkpatrick Sale’s astute and pessimistic observation of history: “If it had been the design of human history to bring Earth to the edge of ruin, there is no better mechanism than the free market economy.”