Category Archives: Climate

A Very Dry Season in California

The pre-Columbian California native people had a mystical and cultural relationship to the climate that did not involve measuring rainfall. The Franciscan fathers were on their own spiritual quest, and while they sometimes recorded wine production at the missions, they didn’t record … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Geography, San Francisco Rainfall | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Photon Food Fight

The fact that more energy cycles between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere than the earth receives from the sun strikes me as one of the great marvels of nature. This is the earth’s energy budget according to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Energy Budget, Photon Food Fight | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Paving It Won’t Save It (The Planet, That is)

The oceans are the energy bank for the planet. They receive energy to great depth from the sun. Continents cool the planet. Daedalus suggested in jest that if we increased the area of the continents 5%, we could reverse the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Geography, Geology, Global Warming, Plate Tectonics, Serpentine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Science and Government

We have become so accustomed to science by public institutions of higher education, and publicly funded science at private institutions , we easily forget that a century and a half ago this practice was unheard of. Charles Darwin was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Beggaring Science, Climate, Government Industry | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Science and Government

The Dinosaurs Died for our Sins

The original sin, secondary, tertiary, quaternary sins. Hurricanes, tornadoes are upon us. Quick! Find a witch to burn. Well, at least he saved the weed eater. Not to minimize the tragedies, just the sensationalism. Nobody wants their house trashed and … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, Climate, Climate Change, History of Life | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

YGBFkiddinme, Low Emissions Grass?

From Nature Magazine this pearl of pulchritude: “The solution, says Michael Peters, an agronomist at CIAT and leader of the team that has developed the low-emissions grass, is to encourage ammonium to persist in the soil for longer, by suppressing microbial … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Carbon Cycle, Climate, Climate Change, History of Life, Microbial Dark Matter, Paleoclimate, Salvation from Cows, What's going on here? | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dude, It’s Not About Carbon Dioxide

We know a lot about Carbon dioxide in a jar. We know the wavelengths it prefers to absorb and emit photons. We know it tends to mix efficiently with other gasses. We know it has a nearly magical affinity for … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Cycle, Carbon Dioxide Loves to Swim, Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, Paleoclimate | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Deny

“Denier!”, in the tone of apostasy. Well, call me the apostate, because I deny. I deny that there is any reasonable scientific evidence that Carbon dioxide will cause catastrophic global warming. I deny this as a naturalist and serious student … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Carbon Cycle, Carbon Dioxide Loves to Swim, Carbon Prohibitionists, Carbon Theology, Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, Global Warming Denial, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A bit About Adiabatic, (Without the Devil)

Air does basically two things; either it warms and rises , or it sinks and cools. Winds follow the pressure gradients that emerge between these regimes. Ironically, cold air masses are warming and rising and warm air masses are sinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Carbon Theology, Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, History, River | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Something In Us Loves a Witch

Something in us loves a witch. We’ve already explored the irrational behavior demonstrated by Prohibition and the Salem Witch Trials. See “Global Warming and Prohibition”. The nature of the human condition is that we are constantly confronted with forces beyond … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, History, Metaphor | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment