Jesse Sartain Historical View By David Greenfield.

Many people don’t seem to realize that climate changes have been with us for a very long time. A common watershed mark is the beginning of the industrial era. If we look at pre-1780 we can see the following “drivers” or “forces” contributing to climate change: changes in the Earth’s orbit, changes in the Sun’s intensity, volcanic eruptions, changes in greenhouse gas concentrations and changes in ocean currents.

The Earth’s orbit does change, in terms of tilt and what are called “eccentricity” and “precession”. These affect the amount of sunlight striking the Earth’s surface. There are known fluctuations in the Sun’s intensity. These can cause both warming and cooling effects.

Solar activity affects both global warming and cooling. For example, reduced solar activity from the 1400s to the 1700s was a key factor in what came to be known as the “Little Ice Age”. This resulted in a cooling of North America, Europe and probably other parts of the globe.

Volcanoes are another “natural” cause of climate changes. It
is interesting to note that volcanoes emit aerosols and carbon dioxide. We don’t generally think of aerosols existing before aerosol cans.

The heating or cooling of the Earth can cause fluctuations in the heating or cooling of the Earth’s surface; this is the impetus for the current concern over emissions which are thought to contribute to the greenhouse gas effect. When global temperatures warm, carbon dioxide is released from the Earth’s oceans. This combined with changes to the Earth’s orbit trigger a warm or interglacial period, thereby increasing concentrations or levels of carbon dioxide. These increased levels amplify the warming effect by exacerbating the greenhouse effect.

If we look at the last 2,000 years we can conclude that the climate has been relatively stable. There have been three notable exceptions to this stability which scientists have labeled “the Medieval Climate Anomaly,” “the Little Ice Age” and “the Industrial Era.”

The so-called Medieval Anomaly is described as follows: between 900 and 1300 A.D. evidence suggests that Europe, Greenland and Asia experienced relative warmth. The exact magnitude, geographical regions and timing of these warming periods are uncertain. It is documented that the American West experienced very dry conditions during this time.

The Little Ice Age, as it was called, was sort of a misnomer, because it was not a true “Ice Age.” Major ice sheets did not develop, however, between 1500 and 1850, the average temperature of the Earth was possibly up to 2 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than today, varying by region.

The Industrial Era is the anomaly we look at most closely today because another warming period has ensued over the last 100 years, coinciding with a substantial increase in emissions from human activity. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, starting around 1750, human activity began to add substantially to heat trapping greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Both the burning of fossil fuels and an increase in the Earth’s biomass, for example, has resulted in emissions of aerosols. These aerosols absorb and emit heat and simultaneously reflect light. The addition of greenhouse gases and aerosols in to the Earth’s atmosphere has created observed climate changes. Here are some of our current understandings as to why these changes have occurred:

First of all, land cover and land use change are cited. Changes in land surface can be just as important as changes to the atmosphere because of how much they affect the reflectivity of solar rays. Processes such as deforestation, reforestation, desertification and urbanization often contribute to changes in climate temperature, wind and precipitation. Changes in land cover and land use can also affect the amount of carbon dioxide taken up or released by the land surface. A whole science surrounding “carbon sequestration” has developed around these phenomena.

What is in store for the future? Greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to increase during the next century unless greenhouse gas emissions decrease significantly from present levels. These gas concentrations are expected to raise the Earth’s temperature, influence precipitation and create storm patterns which may raise sea levels. It is speculated that future climate changes will depend on the following: Whether there will be a continued increase in the production of greenhouse gases and aerosols. How strongly features of our climate respond to these concentrations. And lastly, how much the climate will vary due to natural influences such as the Sun’s intensity or volcanic activity. Another consideration is what is called the Earth’s “internal variability,” referring to random changes in the circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans.

We are currently producing virtual models of possible changes to the Earth’s atmosphere on computers. Climatologist calls these GCMs or General Circulation Models. According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) these models are thought to be “extremely important tools for simulating and understanding climate, and there is considerable confidence that they are able to provide credible quantitative estimates of future climate change, particularly at larger scales.

The entire subject of global warming is polarized between nations, political parties and economic interests. Even in the scientific community there is disagreement about man’s impact on the environment and what constitutes good science.

Experts are even disagreeing on points as basic as establishing a means for measuring either the global mean temperature or what is referred to as AGW, Anthropogenic Global Warming.

As early as 1989, the United Nations claimed that we were on a ten year countdown towards a “tipping point” wherein the global mean temperature was likely to rise above a 2 degree increase above pre-industrial levels, in which case, there was nothing we could do to reverse the eventual cataclysmic effects of global warming. Of course that was 21 years ago.

Russian critics of the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for cuts in CO2 emissions, say that the theory underlying the pact lacks scientific basis. The American Physical Society reports: There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution. Other detractors state that the global mean surface temperature has not risen since 1998 and may have fallen since late 2001.

Jesse Sartain Food Waste by Stephen William.

There’s a simple way to reduce global warming and save money at the same time – don’t waste food.

In his book, ‘Waste – The Global Scandal’, Tristram Stuart, calculates that British households consign 5.4 million tonnes of edible food to the bin each year. That’s 25% of all the food that Britons eat at home. It hits them in the pocket as well. That means that it costs each British household, on average, £8 ($14) a week.

Stuart quotes some more amazing British food waste statistics. Among other other perfectly-edible items that go in the bin annually are:

- 2.6 billion (yes, billion!) slices of bread;

- £370 million worth of bananas;

- 1.6 billion uneaten apples;

- 484 million opened pots of yoghurt.

Unfortunately, the message of food waste has been passed to our children – about a third of school packed lunches end up in the bin.

The repercussions of this waste are serious on a global scale. The developed countries’ demand for food pushes up global food prices. In 2007, average global food prices rose by 23 per cent. By the following year, prices had gone up by a staggering 54 per cent.

This matters. The result of increased food prices is that up to an estimated 100 million extra people were pushed into chronic hunger. Chronic hunger in turn increases the child mortality rate amongst this group. It’s estimated, according to Stuart, that the rate has risen to 25 per cent.

And waste food contributes to the pressure on scarce land resources. 8.3 million hectares of land are needed to produce just the products wasted in the UK and the US. That’s seven times the amount of Brazilian rainforest that was destroyed in 2008 to produce food.

As food prices rise, the greater the financial incentive to deforest the rainforests. But they’re vital to deal with global warming.

So what can you do to reduce your food waste?

Don’t buy too many meat and dairy products at once. These products are more perishable than other foods and take up to four times more land to produce and result in more greenhouse gas emissions (particularly from cattle).

Use a shopping list. With the massive variety of foods available in the supermarkets, it’s easy to make impulse purchases. Make a list and stick to it. Only buy ‘buy one, get one free’ deals if it’s something that you regularly use and will finish.

Keep an eye on what’s in the fridge. Much food is wasted because we’ve forgotten that it’s in the fridge or cupboard.

Do Something with Jesse Sartain By Cheryl Forbes.

It is time that we care about Mother Earth. Anything that happens to her, happens to all of us. Nobody is spared. This might be grim but it is the truth. One of the greatest worries of Mother Earth is global warming. Kids are taught about Global Warming in school. It can also be seen at children television shows. Integrated with the show’s theme. Even parks and museums show the devastating effects of global warming, informing not only the kids but the adults too.

Global warming is a large responsibility for one man to carry alone. But if all of us would care enough to change our lifestyles, then it would make a difference. Change it in such a way that our lifestyle will no longer contribute to the rising temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. We can make it happen. We can make a difference especially if we do it together.

A few of the effects of global warming are the increase in sea levels because of the melting ice over at the Antarctica region, erratic changes in the weather, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, forest fires, etc.

We need to be shaken awake from the deep slumber that we are in because even if we have been informed of the effects and causes of global warming. It would seem that we do not care enough to change our ways. Simple change in our lifestyle is all that would take to gradually decrease global warming. The past is behind us and we can no longer do something about it. The future we can still change. So let us do our part and be responsible not only to ourselves but to others too.

Humans and Jesse Sartain By Muhammad Haidir.

Humans and Global warming

Most of us have heard about global warming and how it is slowly chewing away into the life of our beloved mother earth, about how it has caused several noticeable changes in the weather patterns due to climate change resulting from the emission of green house gases. It has raised some environmental issues as well, both directly and indirectly from the pollution of these green house gases, be it from the rising sea levels due to the increased in the earth’s surface temperature or the susceptibility of the our health factor due to the irregular heat and cold exposure.

Doing our part, is it enough?

Some of us are doing our part to help the environment through various means from recycling our recyclable products, changing our wasteful habits to installing solar panels and harnessing wind power as an alternative source of energy for our house. Some big corporation and major industries are doing their part as well by promoting and sponsoring awareness campaigns, making sure their waste discharge, by products and their gas emission abide and comply by the health regulatory boards. These discharges go through several processes to be classified as environmentally friendly before being discharge and released into the environment. Some of them have also implemented various tactics, methods and technology to reduce their energy and resources usage. From installing water saving devices to researching new technologies to reduce carbon emission, all these in an effort to reduce our carbon emission the release of more greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

Renewable energies

Self sustaining and renewable energy sources holds great promises for a greener and cleaner future. Harnessing nature’s forces for our benefits such building dams, wind driven turbines and thermal generator to utilize geysers are just few of the examples. The latest technology introduce into the scene is the ability to be able to harness the energies of waves to generate electricity. Man kind are so desperately seeking alternatives for sources of renewable energy as each passing day we are pushing the supply limits of our natural gas and fossil fuels to the brink of extinction. The supply and demand balance will soon tip greatly as our supplies of energy continue to deplete and individual countries continues to increase their energy consumption.

Taking Turkey as a case study, Kaygusuz (2007) reported that the country have shown energy increased in energy consumption at an average of 4.3% annually since 1990. In comparison to its increased energy usage, its carbon dioxide emission has also whooped up to an alarming figure of 193 million tons in the year 2003. Multiply the figure with all the developed and developing countries and then we fast tracked it 10 years down the road. It is no longer a surprise that we our fossil fuels supplies will be facing depletion sooner then predicted by the experts.

We are to blame?

Are ‘we’ humans really to blame for the rise in the global temperature and the current condition of mother earth. We would question ourselves as we observe for the past few years as headlines in the news showcase stories of cities and countries being hit by early frost, late frost, sudden blitz, ice storms and hail storms. Notice are sometimes displayed and to alert people to prepare and brace themselves with the coming of snow storms, cyclones and many more of such similar examples. This can be used as environmental indicators and evidence as to how distorted our weather patterns have gone. At present carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are the main Green house gases deemed to be the culprits behind global warming.

However there are several ideologies out there calcimining that this is part of a natural cycle. They explain that as we see the trend in the rise of the global temperature for the past few centuries and how they have declined in recent times. Maybe that explains the unexpected surges in late and early frost.

Next Jesse Sartain Ice Age By Robert F Allison.

One major problem in the debate over climate change is a general lack of knowledge on the subject. People usually don’t think about where their electricity, gasoline, or toilet paper comes from. Part of this acceptance comes from the way industry separates products from the production process…When we turn on lights in L.A., we don’t see the plants and coal mines that generated the power…Only those paying careful attention make the connections. Another part of the problem is that we are reluctant to question science, which has such prestige that people rarely stop to question who is funding research and whether that could compromise findings. (Gibson 17)

Most people also don’t understand how the theory of global warming works. They think that a really cold winter is evidence that global warming is a myth. However, scientists that support the ideas of global warming are referring to long-term climate change. Climate refers to environmental patterns over a long period of time. Weather refers to short-lived events, and can have isolated extremes. One of the predictions of many scientists is that global warming will cause more extreme weather: hotter summers, longer droughts, colder winters, and stronger storms. According to their theories, Europe could be tossed into another ice age because of global warming, not turned into a tropical paradise. This is because of the effect global warming could have on ocean currents.

Skeptics will often find any opportunity to attack the views of scientists based on some isolated weather event, or the lack of such an event. If the scientists predict increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes, skeptics will point out that this last hurricane season was extremely mild, with the only intense storms hitting Mexico. Ultra-conservative commentator, Rush Limbaugh, doesn’t just consider global warming to be a myth; he calls it a hoax and a religion. “It’s got salvation, got everything in it. It has the primary ingredient of every religion: faith. Because none of it can be proved” (Limbaugh 4). Limbaugh also takes issue with the use of the word “consensus” by global warming activists, and is right to do so. “Consensus and science-I got blue in the face saying this-don’t and cannot mutually co-exist” (Limbaugh 4). If scientists had reached any sort of consensus, this would be a dead issue. Most scientists agree that the temperature of the earth has been gradually increasing, but that doesn’t mean they agree on the possible causes or consequences.

A survey of more than 530 climate scientists from 27 different countries showed that 82% of the scientists agreed that global warming is occurring. Only 2.6% said they “strongly disagree.” When asked if current scientific knowledge can allow for a reasonable assessment of greenhouse gases, two-thirds of the scientists disagreed with the statement.

The question most people are most keen to ask climate scientists is probably “do you agree or disagree that climate change is mostly the result of anthropogenic (man-made) causes?” Slightly more than half (55.8%) of climate scientists surveyed agreed, 14.2% were unsure, and 30% disagreed. Interestingly, more scientists “strongly disagree” than “strongly agree” that climate change is mostly the result of anthropogenic causes. The survey clearly shows that the debate over why the climate is changing is still underway, with nearly half of climate scientists disagreeing with what is often claimed to be the “consensus” view. (Bast 4)

The study goes on to clarify that the question wasn’t whether humans have any effect on climate, but whether they are mostly to blame. It’s certainly quite possible that humans are having at least some effect on the climate, but nothing can be proven with any certainty.

Some skeptics believe that mankind is too insignificant and could not possibly have so much influence on the environment. S. Fred Singer is a well-known climate change skeptic. He has been trying to gain support for the theory that climate change is a natural, cyclical process. He believes the earth has a 1,500-year cycle of warming and cooling, with minor ice ages interspersed with interglacial periods. Singer claims that his research shows this cycle going back at least one million years, often with abrupt changes. At one time, Greenland was quite green, with crops and livestock farming. Warm waters were abundant with fish and seals. There were two thriving settlements, but they were eventually lost to glaciers, malnutrition, and starvation. Dairy farmers were even forced to eat their cows. This was due to a 1.5 degree Celsius drop in average temperatures between 1100 and 1400. “Denmark would not re-colonize Greenland until 1721, when the Little Ice Age was losing its grip on the huge island. Today, 150 years into the Modern Warming, Greenland has 50,000 people” (Singer xii). Singer believes that these cycles are caused by solar changes, not greenhouse gases.

Jesse Sartain Effect Of Green House Gases By Eleanor B. Jhonsons.

Earth, the only planet in our solar system or as far as evidence indicates the only planet in the whole Universe that supports life, was not like as we see it now since its beginning. Earth has been able to give a safe home to life because of its unique place in the solar system; it’s neither too close to the Sun nor too far away. As Earth is situated away from the Sun preventing it from being a hell of a warm place, there was the possibility that it may have been freezing cold for life to form and flourish here. But thanks to the greenhouse gases present in Earth’s atmosphere that play their role in keeping it warm enough.

Greenhouse gases are those gases residing in Earth’s atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation and thus, keep Earth warmer. The ‘Greenhouse Effect’ is the natural process through which these atmospheric constituents absorb sunlight. Sun, the only star in our Solar System, emits light that reaches Earth’s atmosphere. The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb the long wave radiation emitted by Sun which warms the atmosphere and these long wave radiations are emitted both upward and downward; the downward emission of radiation by atmosphere is called the ‘Greenhouse Effect’.

The greenhouse gases present in Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone. Water vapor is the most abundant gas and plays the lead role in warming earth causing 36-70% of ‘greenhouse effect’. Carbon dioxide contributes 9-26%, methane 4-9% while ozone’s share is about 3-7%. Some of the other greenhouse gases present in much smaller quantities are sulfur hexafluoride, hydro fluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons and nitrous oxide. Two of the major components of Earth’s atmosphere, oxygen and nitrogen are thankfully not greenhouse gases otherwise earth’s atmosphere would have been far warmer than it is now.

Although, these greenhouse gases have been playing a major role in providing life on Earth the perfect temperature to survive, since the Industrial Revolution human activities have caused increase in quantity of green house gases in the atmosphere. More greenhouse gases will trap more and more heat from Sun giving rise to the Global Warming phenomenon. Rising temperatures can be potentially hazardous to all kinds of life forms on Earth and a major cause for rapid melting of glaciers which in turn will cause sea level to rise submerging many coastlines worldwide. Although, environmentalists are forcing the issue and many Governments are taking steps in the right direction, it is not the greenhouse gases but human intervention in nature that is to be blamed.

A Brief Jesse Sartain Introduction By: Simon Rosser.

The term Global Warming has been in common usage for some time and usually refers to recent warming of Earth’s atmosphere,which also implies a manmade or human influence.

Earth’s atmosphere comprises many gases: oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide (hereafter abbreviated to CO2) and water vapour, to name a few. These gases are collectively called greenhouse gases and they keep the Earth’s temperature at a comfortable 15°C. Without them Earth would be a freezing -18&degC.

Since pre-industrial times, usually taken to be before 1750, we know from ice-core records that CO2 levels were about 280 ppm,that’s 280 parts of CO2 per million parts of air. As industrialisation got underway humankind started to farm the land more intensely than ever before, which included deforestation for agriculture and settlements. Later – since about 1850 or so – the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transport has added considerably to greenhouse gas levels, particularly CO2.

This has resulted in CO2 levels increasing to about 385 ppm, a rise of about thirty-seven per cent from pre-industrial levels – mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels.

How do we know this?

Well, data from ice-core records that go back at least 650,000 years now show us that CO2 levels have fluctuated naturally during this time between 280 and 300 ppm. CO2 levels have also been measured accurately from the top of Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii since 1958, and results show an increase in CO2 levels from 315 ppm to 385 ppm since that time.

Therefore CO2 is now at eighty ppm more than it has been for at least 650,000 years of Earth’s history. It is a known scientific fact that higher levels of greenhouse gases will lead to higher temperatures, which appears to be happening now. The world has warmed by an average of 0.74 degrees during the last 100 years or so. As a result of this warming, polar ice has started to decrease and melt, and so have Earth’s land-based glaciers. This in turn is causing sea levels to rise, which is putting low-lying islands at risk of flooding or total submersion, and will eventually threaten more and more of the world’s coastal cities and regions.

Things may get worse, however, because once Earth’s atmosphere starts to warm, the warming itself may cause further positive feedback mechanisms to kick in. A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour, which is itself a powerful greenhouse gas. This will in turn cause further warming, and so on.

Melting ice results in more sunlight being absorbed by the surrounding ‘darker’ water and land, and that results in further warming, and more melting ice. Methane deposits currently held in a frozen but stable state under the sea and under the permafrost may be released as the oceans warm and permafrost melts, which will cause further warming. This is very worrying as methane is a potent greenhouse gas and around twenty times more powerful than CO2 when talking about it’s ability to warm the Earth’s atmosphere.

This is global warming in a nut shell, however there are of course far more complex issues involved as global warming will not affect the whole planet in the same way at the same time. Some parts will experience more drought, some parts more rainfall, and some parts more extreme weather such as floods and heatwaves.

Fact or Jesse Sartain Fantasy By Duane Flowers.

In this article I’d like to look at global warming and whether in reality it is fact or fiction or fact or fantasy, as indeed the case may be.

There have been a lot of reports in the newspaper over the last few years about global warming and frankly I just don’t see it. Looking around me for the last two years, we’ve had the shortest summers that we’ve had in a long time and while the winters may have little less snow than I remember as a kid they are far from anything resembling the doom and gloom being prophesied.

This year we barely had a summer August which is generally our hottest month surrounded by September and July being pretty hot themselves, this year it just didn’t happen. We had a couple weeks of what I’d call summer, reminiscent of the hot and humid summers of 10 years ago, but it basically it just wasn’t there and now it seems we skipped directly into winter.

Praying Mantis

The praying mantis here in Japan has always been a good indicator of what’s to come, at least as far as natural indicators go, in that they lay their eggs on the ground when they are expecting a mild winter and they lay their eggs high up in the trees when they’re expecting colder winters. The higher up they go the colder the winter they’re expecting and for the first time in many, many years the praying mantis has laid its eggs up high in the trees which means this winter is going to be a cold one.

So with the new influenza peaking right about now and winter right around the corner with the old influenza coming on its heels I think the especially cold winter that’s coming is one to be very careful about and it also tends to goes against all these warnings of doom and gloom and global warming, at least from the evidence I’ve seen so far.

Michael Crichton

The latest and unfortunately last Michael Crichton book called “State of Fear” talks about global warming from a very interesting aspect. In my opinion Michael Crichton was a genius, he really understood science and medicine and all the things he wrote about. He actually understood them more deeply than most of us. For those not familiar with the name right off the bat Michael Crichton wrote “Jurassic Park”, “Rising Sun”, “Timeline”, “Congo”, “Sphere” and a slew of other bestsellers that became blockbusters as well.

The thing with the movies is that a lot of the science was taken out, the research the technical details, etc. were all made into something that non-technical movie watchers would enjoy. But if you read the books you’ll find all that detail. In Jurassic Park you can learn all about DNA and details about how that kind of DNA cloning is theoretically quite possible.

But in his latest book, “State of Fear” he goes deeply into the research about global warming. He suggests that many of the facts that are out there about Global Warming are just wrong and are not at all based on the research. The doctors and/or scientists that are putting forward a lot of this research are basically quacks, which is basically what he is saying, and that many of them are the kind of researchers that will write whatever you want if they’re paid enough. Whether this is true or not I don’t know in that I haven’t read any of the research myself, but for someone like Michael Crichton to suggest it, it is definitely food for thought.

Jesse Sartain About Coming Crises of Climate Change by Jonathon Hardcastle.

While many contend that there are different reasons behind the changing of our climate, few can deny that our planet is going through a period of immense changes. While some may discredit the science, global warming is one of the main hypothesis for why our planet is heating up. In this article, we’ll try to explain some of the science behind global warming so that you can understand the problem more clearly.

According to numerous scientific studies, our planet’s surface temperature has increased by about 1 degree Fahrenheit within the last century. Most of this change has occurred in the past two decades, prompting the question: are our lifestyles accelerating this global change? The evidence definitely seems to point in that direction.

Many scientists point to the emission of greenhouse gases as one of the leading reasons that we are undergoing this global change. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are some of the main compounds that we are releasing more and more, causing something known as the ‘Greenhouse Effect’. This occurs due to the fact that these gases tend to trap heat, and when they are released into our upper atmosphere, they trap some of the heat energy that would normally be reflected by our earth’s natural processes.

It’s an undisputed fact that there is more greenhouse gas in our atmosphere due to humanity. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, it is estimated that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by as much as thirty percent. While a little greenhouse gas helps to keep our planet warm, the more and more that we release, the hotter the planet is going to get. That is an important fact to consider, being that our biosphere is finely tuned to live at the temperatures at which our planet currently operates. Many forms of both plant and animal life run the risk of extinction should the temperature change be accelerated. Fossil fuels are primarily responsible for the amount of greenhouse gases that we are releasing, and to help fix the problem, we are going to need to find an alternate source of energy, and quick. Research into alternative fuels has yielded several possible options, including the use of corn in the production of ethanol, which has already had proven usage in places such as Venezuela. The most accelerated period of temperature change has occurred in the past twenty years, and it’s clearly evident that we need to address this problem while we still can.

Jesse Sartain Talking About the Greenhouse Effect by Ken Charnly.

Lately, we have all been talking about the greenhouse effect. This effect relates to the expected warming of our planet resulting from changes to the composition of our atmosphere. There is mounting evidence that our own activities, most significantly the burning of fossil fuels, are a major contributor to this effect.

The predicted consequences are quite sever, including major changes in climate which will have impact on food production, and rising sea levels which will submerge coastal and other low lying communities. Lurking in the background hauntingly are the facts we have discovered about our near neighbor, the planet Venus. Because of its dense atmospheric gases, Venus has what has been described as having a runaway greenhouse effect, giving surface temperatures of about 8000F. Now I love the warm summer weather, but that is a little too hot for me.

The usual villains in the greenhouse scenario are gases such as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, which, incidentally, we all exhale, has the unusual habit of absorbing infra-red radiation. Infra-red radiation for those of you less scientifically minded is actually heat radiating away from a warm object. During the day, sunlight warms the earth and during the night the Earth cools by radiating heat into space in the form of infra-red radiation. Carbon dioxide, and to a lesser extent other gases, absorb this radiation, limiting its exit out into space, and thus limiting the natural cooling effect.

Would it be safer if we had no greenhouse effect at all? Well, no, we do not want that either. There is another member of the heat absorbing clan. This is water vapor. There is a large amount of water vapor in the atmosphere at any time, which is why we have rain. The presence of water vapor as a heart absorbing gas keeps the Earth comfortably warm. Without this warmth, the planet would freeze, and life as we know it would not be possible. We therefore do need some greenhouse effect, just not too much. Mother Nature is again telling us what we should already know; in any situation, both of the extremes are harmful.