Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Earth- Photo Worth A Thousand Words


I'm into pictures now, and on a more serious note I'm including an incredible picture of planet Earth taken from space. Centered in the photo is a nearly clear North American continent, and just so you know, I live right about in the middle.


The photograph is notable in many ways; look how the clouds are swirling around, curved and turning because of the rotation of the Earth. Imagine the clouds moving, the Earth turning, the sun shining, day into night, warming then cooling, and repeating the cycle. Think of water evaporating from the oceans, condensing into clouds, then falling as rain and snow. This happens every day, 365 days per year, for hundreds, thousands, and millions of years.
Look at the polar ice cap. Imagine that ice covering all of North America as far south as Chicago, as thick as 5,000 feet. It has melted and retreated as far north as where it is today. Think of those continental glaciers advancing and retreating many times, as they did. Try to imagine the last ice retreating just 10,000 years ago. Now that is global warming! And long before man was burning significant amounts of fossil fuels. These are facts we know. Nobody disputes them. Yet somehow, now we are supposed to believe that man's activities in just the last 100 or so years are drastically changing this system, this massive cycle of ongoing events. The idea is ludicrous.
The weather is constantly changing, as you can see in the picture. So is the climate. What causes these dramatic climate changes? We can only speculate. Do you want to bet billions upon billions of dollars that it is caused by man burning fossil fuels? I don't think so.


1 comment:

Peter said...

Thinking about the Earth just gets me all excited. I mean, for example, I love the "Dixie Chicks" music, but if they are ashamed because President Bush is from their state of Texas, I am horrified that Al Gore is an American.......nothing political mind you.....just the facts.....I don't like saying anything bad about Americans....I'm just trying to present the facts....