Climate Change

Climate Change - By Bill Jones.

Bill is an Electrical Engineer, having worked in research and Advanced Development for his entire career. He has worked for companies such as General Electric and Honeywell, and startup companies in Silicon Valley. He has designed and built numerous systems both military and commercial. He has done many designs for computer hard disc drives. He has ten patents in his areas of engineering. He is a Professional Engineer (N.Y.). He is an airplane pilot; instrument.

The words “Climate Change” cover an area of Global concerns that were once called “Global Warming”. Global Warming suffered from the possibility that data had been presented that was not correct. This led to questions about the probability of Global Warming, and the words “Global Warming” were then changed to Climate Change. To be clear about Climate Change, it is with us. Climate Change has always been with us. It will be with us as it comes with our planet as made by God.

Climate Change has been a movement taken up by politicians and the media. The movement should be studied and explained by scientists. It should not be be a movement controlled by politicians or the press.

We presently have little leadership in the area of Climate Change. The information regarding the Earth should come from those of Science. That is to say, those who seek to understand the Earth and how it works as a system. The Earth is a beautiful system. The Earth has an inherent system using what is called-feedback. For example, when the Earth warms it can produce an excess of clouds that will slow the warming. When the Earth cools, the cloud production is reduced and this slows the cooling of the Earth. The Earth will give us time to adapt to climate change. Change in our Earth System is inevitable. There are many intricate parts to our system.

The long term heating and cooling of the Earth is controlled with negative feedback. It is noted that our ancestors have survived a half-million years of drastic heating and cooling. This would suggest that they were given time to adjust to these cycles. While this is soft data, one might study the Vostok Ice Core Data, which goes back some 400,000 years and shows the maximum and minimum Earth temperatures to be quite close. While the belief that negative feedback dominates our Earth System there are random inputs to our system that cause drastic and deadly Climate Change. These random inputs, for example, may be volcano eruptions, and asteroids.

The present warming is temporary. Temporary may mean many years. The cause of the warming is the Sun.

The Earth receives energy from the Sun and the dark side of the earth emits energy. If the dark side emits less energy than received from the Sunny side, the Earth warms. Then if the dark side emits more energy than received from the Sun the Earth cools.

The Earth receives large amounts of heat from the Sun. The heat (Energy) is from the Sun. In one Hour the Energy received from the Sun is Greater than all the Energy produced by Human activity by use of Oil, Natural Gas Coal and all other sources - for Over a Year. That is to say –with or without humans on earth Climate Change would be the same - it comes with the Earth. The energy from the Sun is huge. The numbers show that the Earth receives about 10,000 times more energy in an hour, from the Sun, than humans produce in a year.

While we should make an effort to use less energy there is an expense to consider. Presently it is less expensive to use hybrid vehicles compared to electric vehicles. It is necessary to consider the power grid when using all electric. It is less expensive to use Nuclear Energy compared to Wind or Solar. Hybrid vehicles and Nuclear Energy will have a insignificant effect on Climate change. Unfortunately, our choice of energy usage will not result in less warming.. Our efforts to cool the earth are not measurable.

There are local problems with air pollution in large cities and even some small cities. These problems can be improved by various means. Controls may be necessary. The cost of these controls can be a concern. There are many cities world wide of densely populated areas. These cities are often important areas and may need pollution controls. .

The population density of New York City is a little more than 500 square feet per person. The population density of Austin Texas is is about 9ooo square feet per person. There is a large difference between populated areas and the preference of life style lies with the person. The population density may determine the air pollution. Some nations are not willing to apply normal controls because of cost and some local areas suffer.

We should not have the massive world wide Forest fires that we now have. We can control these fires in the US. The severity of the pollution caused by fire should be given study by those with appropriate knowledge. Considering the size of the earth these fires are often considered a local problem, but large areas can be affected by smoke. Climate change is with us and will always be with us. But,Forest fire controls should not be a problem.

About half of our Forest is managed by the US Dept of Agriculture and States. The rest is mostly private control. Some areas are not doing a great job-world wide. The problem may be political.

There is concern for our health due to Forest fires but it is not often voiced. Forest fire particles can have a dramatic affect on life span.

Attention should be given to Forest fire health concerns. The Forest fires may be controlled. The means of control exist and the means can make lumber available. Climate change produces excellent conditions for forest growth. But, there is presently little desire to provide the proper distances between forest and trees. We are in an era of Climate change, but fires may be reduced by those who know the rules of cost versus the probability of loss.

Forest controls are less expensive than the alternative. There are many that do not like to have trees cut down – even when it can save lives. Removal of trees and making lumber available is less expensive than putting out forest fires. The loss of life and property is often extreme. The removal of shrubbery should be a normal occurrence. Otherwise, because of fire there will be loss of life plus material loss. While these fires will not have an affect on Climate change it may seriously affect those close to the fire. It can also affect those far from the fire. There are States that have regulations on tree removal. The State can make control of the Forest difficult.

The work required to control Forest fires is dangerous and expensive. We should consider the material loss of the trees in the Forest. The trees could have been lumber for building or rebuilding. For those interested in Climate, we will have many more large Fires without control. Control will reduce the fires and put people to work. It will increase the size of Forests and the lumber will reduce the expense. The lack of control cause Forest fires, smoke, property loss and loss of

lives.