Rethinking Global Warming an Essay by Esteban Erik Stipnieks
When I wrote The Backroads Buzzard's Cafe in the late 1990s Global Warming still very much widely accepted. Since then things have changed. The evidence against man caused global warming has been growing steadily. In 1998 the peak of average world temps has occurred. The simple data shows that when account for instrument error temps have at least stabilized and started going down. My personal feelings about man made global warming have shifted into at best agnosticism about man made global warming if not out and out hostility. As an aviator I learned the amount of energy that could be transferred in the atmosphere with the simple processes of evaporation and condensation. The development of a day time heating shower is a powerful example of this, hurricanes are exponentially another dramatic example of this. I have recently spent more then a year in the construction industry http://www.amazon.com/Unstoppable-Global-Warming-Every-Years/dp/0742551172 that has pushed me more in the direction of that. As a passenger on Amsterdam to Houston flight Jan 1 1990 I witnessed the staggering amount of reflective power of clouds. Securing houses some with tech shield some without checking to verify windows are locked on the second story in July before ACs are installed and started one quickly learns about radiant heat. Metal roofs or Tech Shield roof decking is a thing of beauty....back to the point of this essay. Cloud cover and tech shield have the same effect on different scale. A cloud reflecting solar energy back into space is little different then a few sheets of tech shield roof decking. It is easier to discount the hypothesis of man made global warming now. The evidence in opposition to it is growing not shrinking.
On another level my views about personal obligations to the planet we are stewards of has hardened. My residence is an example showing organic methods in action. There is a collection of wasps nests on both sides of the duplex the other half is rented out. What is noticeable now is that there are no bag worms or web worms in the oak trees on the property and there is an island of web and bag worm free. There is also the absence of being stung by wasps. Lets be blunt organic gardening has become a technology. Howard Garret and Malcolm Beck along with others have been in the forefront by understanding the complex web of biological relationships between bacteria fungus, and plant roots in the soil then you add the biological relationships between plants and insects the technology has become about minor adjustments in this complex web of relationships you can grow food and have a stronger yard. What is also being discovered when it comes to mulches and yard care seems back to the future. Their is an old adage waste not want not is being shown to be true. The brush you cut from your property should be shredded and used as mulch for your trees and garden. Native tree trimming mulch with compost added has been shown to be the best stuff. On the organic front Malcolm Beck has pointed out that the best water strategy is increasing naturally occurring organic material in on the property in the yard. Having witnessed what recycling what would have been waste (grass clippings was stunning) half inch of what would have been thrown away grass clippings over a section turned soil that was once rock hard into something I could jab my finger in and sink it in without much effort. As the material decomposed dead fungi and bacteria got in between soil particles increasing the water holding capacity of the soil. The lake model of water retention has been pointed out to increase dramatically the water loss of evaporation. The real life experiences at Tierra Verde and at Texas Tech . Also point to the effectiveness of going organic and reducing water usage. The solutions to local water problems may not be massive water projects but local people using rain water catchment, and organic lawn care. Never underestimate the power of multiple small smart decisions. Bob Webster owner of Shades of Green San Antonio and Local organic gardening talk show host related how listner of his program got a ticket from the Kerrville water police because they could not believe her yard taken care of by organic methods could be so green in the midst of drought.
Personal tragedies has entered my life some of it linked to exposure to toxic chemicals. My niece and my uncle both are suffering from diseases that are potentially linked to chemical exposure. Reducing waste of resources and reducing chemical consumption starts on the individual level. Simply put it is the person that has to say no to round up but switching to that great organic weed killer orange oil and vinegar. It is the person who learns how use composting and recycling of their own food waste then supplementing with organic fertilizers to reduce the use of toxins. Bags of yard waste while being abhorrent to me have found themselves on my compost heap. Coffee grounds are multi purpose fertilizer a dual use product I love coffee my garden loves it. Growing your own organic produce is indeed living light.
Ok now lets look at cap and trade. The EPA has spiked data that polar bear populations are increasing and oh by the way temps have been decreasing since 1998 (Watergate). While the US automotive manufacturers have been subject to cafe standards commercial airplane builders have not been. Where have the greatest leaps in fuel economy been? They have been occurring on those magic aluminum winged beasts. The Triple 7 has replaced classic 747. The latest generation 737s hauling for Southwest airlines have progressively gotten more thrust for the molecule of jet fuel burned. Simply put all this extra fuel efficiency has been market driven. Even the leap between the first and second generation 737 saw the amount of fuel burned from San Antonio to Dallas drop 500lbs. Where has government been involved in all of this(nowhere). My senior at Schreiner saw work on a thesis about the Cold War on the edge of space. Aviation breakthroughs have occurred by mavericks who were shunned by government institutions such as NACA or when they were embraced by government it was only the military who was interested. The modern house sticks on slab has grown to be significantly more energy efficient then a house built in the 1950s. Sticks on slab have been around roughly the same amount of time as the jet airliner has. The form similarly has been refined by individual mavericks as surely as the form of the airliner has. Tech shield energy film on windows, window framing technology, along with insulation have been driven by market forces. The amount of energy required to cool a Gailer built with tech shield is substantially lower then to cool a house with the same square footage built in the 1950s with that technology. Breaththroughs do not occur by government fiat. Solar technology has remained stagnant since the 1960s. Government funding seems to be a black hole. Capitalism fuels the greatest tech breakthroughs IE the cyber revolution, commercial aviation.
So now what? Well we may not be superheating the atmosphere but we need to reduce oil consumption. Eating organically grown produce from your own place is hardly suffering. Flavor from your own garden comes by using organic techniques even if you are caught stealing your neighbors yard waste for your compost heap. In the last 70 years mankind has subjected themselves to massive chemistry experiment. We are now finding out its bad effects. Personal behavior the shift towards organic lawn care in Texas has grown. http://www.dirtdoctor.com has been great resource. Stewardship remains a Christian obligation as we discover more about God's design we are figuring how to work within it to produce better results. The old statement born in the 1960s of think globally act locally remains true.