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Genetics
December 2008 
Thank GOD for the shaft of HIGH GAS PRICES!!!!!
jeepdog
While high gas prices certainly put the pressure on low-income people, to which I am sympathetic, I am overjoyed about high gas prices.
You read that correctly. Obsolutely OVERJOYED.
You see, these prices are changing our behaviors. Quite frankly, behaviors that should have changed long ago. This is not a blog by a foaming-at-the-mouth environmentalist. If it more attention-getting for you, then know that I am sold on personal Liberties and believe in natural market corrections (capitalism) and a good faith that people take responsibilities for themselves and their communities that does not require federal legislation.
I am, however, in love with nature, and what I am seeing in the world pisses me off.
To hell with "global warming." We should call it something else. "Global warming" gets both the tree hugging granola munchers and the war-hawk industrialists all up on arms and battling their opposite counterparts.
Perhaps we could call it "living in our own crap, and it is expensive." I doubt there's any politically correct mumbo-jumbo that could be applied to that term. The only problem that I can discern with this terminology is that it really does not capture the fact that we are dragging the rest of living things into our (humanity's) sewer.
Yet, does it really matter?
I care about those living things, certainly, but I also care about me. As most of us do. I have flown very many "VIPs" in my lifetime, to which I am not enamored, and probably never shall be. Perhaps that is why they like flying with me. At any rate, once a pack of them got aboard, and as I was giving them a safety briefing, one of them said "fly safely, since you have some important passengers on this flight." To this I merely replied "well, sir, that is quite fine, but let me assure you that I have no intentions of anything going wrong on this flight," to this they all looked relieved, "since there's no ass on this aircraft more important than mine. I have every intention of having dinner tonight," which caused most of them to smile and nod in understanding, perhaps even agreement.
Is this not human nature? The whole survival gig?
So, let's review how our lifestyle on this planet causes us to live in our own crap, this unsanitary condition can cause health problems, and could be amazingly expensive.
First, the oceans are turning into a huge soda pop. Alright, more technically, carbonic acid is on the rise, which is the stuff that makes soda pop, well, be in a gloriously fizzy state. This is because the oceans are a great carbon dioxide sink, which means those salty waters absorb all of the industrial CO2 we are pumping into the atmosphere. One would think - thank GOD, since the CO2 is going into the oceans as opposed to causing more of this "global warming" problem.
Well, no. This is bad. Really bad. I know this from my landlubber experience.
What?
Yes, let us return to land, please, where I know a thing or two about rocks, due to extensive knowledge gained through study of geology. Once upon a time, I found myself teaching an Environmental Geology course at a community college. The less-than-brilliant students could not tell the difference between Marble (metamorphic) and Granite (igneous intrusive), so one day on a field trip I gave them a great clue. I started with limestone, and explained how the sample I was showing them was composed of calcium carbonate fossils (shell-based sea critters). I explained how calcium carbonate has a very low pH (that's the stuff in antacid - check it out - a derivative of the word "anti-acid", which neutralizes the acid in our tummies), which means it is the mortal enemy of acid, and vice versa. Unfortunately, though, by combating acid, calcium carbonate usually looses by being dissolved.
Alright, stay with me. This gets good, and gets back to the oceans.
So, I found some liquid with a good bit of carbonic acid in it - a can (aluminum, not plastic - see later in this blog!) of Dr Pepper Soda. I poured it on a sample of limestone, and the students gasped. The reaction between the acidic soda and the limestone was quite impressive, with popping, sizzling, bubbling, and other theatrics. The students clapped. Then, I took some water, cleaned the mess off, and showed the gouge left by the soda. The acid corroded the calcium carbonate.
Yes, yes, we are on to marble. My point about limestone and acid is made, and this is an extension side story, so feel free to skip this paragraph, unless you have marble countertops, in which case you may want to keep reading. Marble forms when sedimentary limestone is heated and squeezed by great Mom Earth's natural processes, causing the limestone grains to re-crystallize and lock more closely together. So, marble is still more or less sea critters' exoskeletons comprised of calcium carbonate. Granite is igneous intrusive rock that is course grained and made of quartz, feldspar, and silica type of materials.
Yeah, that's a mouthful - how about the fact it is relatively resistant to acid? So, I poured Dr Pepper on the granite, and nada. Zilch. No reaction. The students were sad. Then, on to a piece of marble - fizz, pop, sizzle, bubble, and - ta da! A gouge in the marble, since the carbonic acid reacted with the calcium carbonate in the marble. The students clapped and cheered to the destruction of the rock, and they finally could tell the difference between marble and granite. As a side note, I offered the rest of the Dr Pepper to them, and all declined the offer. Something about the acid demonstration got their brain gears turning.
Alright, what about the oceans?
Well, I know that the pH balance of the ocean in the last 200 years or so (which just happens to be the period of industrialization) has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1. What's the big deal? Well, any pH below 7 is considered acidic, while above 7 is neutral. So, that .1 decrease equates to the oceans becoming more acidic, and since this little acidic version of a richter scale happens to be exponential, this equates to a 30 percent increase in the acidity! That got me thinking about all of those sea critters that are living now with a potential to become calcium carbonate rock millions of years from now. Pondering the fact that coral reefs, clams, oysters, lobsters, crabs, and even the little guys such as phytoplankton and zooplankton all have an exoskeleton comprised of comprised of calcium carbonate, a chill began running up the spine of my own skeleton.
Remember the Dr Pepper?
Well, I certainly did, and I began to realize that a more acidic environment would be corrosive to all of these sea critters. With visions of poor clams and crabs literally dissolving in this huge Dr Pepper bath, I then began reflecting on those little plankton chaps dissolving, too. Ah, big deal say the proponents of the "go ahead and let the ocean eat CO2, since it is better there than the atmosphere that will continue to do this global greenhouse thing, besides, the plankton will be replaced by carbon dioxide-chomping bacteria, and corals will be replaced by carbon-capturing seaweed."
Yet, another neuron in my pea brain fires with a memory of cetacians, and that the bigger cetacians eat these plankton and usually get the calcium carbonate shells stuck in their krill. Indeed, these bigger cetacians are commonly known as whales. I wonder if anyone has done a survey on how these whales will survive on a diet of bacteria? Extrapolating this big feast fest, I contemplate the corals, and further remember Little Nemo, and the life around a coral. In nature, little critters get eaten by bigger creatures that get eating by biggest creatures, which would be a domino effect on fisheries, too.
With Dr Pepper oceans, we could see a complete collapse in fisheries.
That would cause crazy price spikes in food (not just seafood, for remove the protein of seafood, and the resulting demand in other proteins will rise). Even if you do not like seafood, or meat, your tofu will be more expensive. So pay heed, you meat-eating Texans, for your one pound steak will set you back more than that monster Ford truck you drive. If none of this bothers you, then perhaps knowing Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" simply will not exist in the future. There, now are you mad? If you don't believe any of this Dr Pepper ocean theory, take a peek at: http://www.livescience.com/environment/050630_oceans_acid.html .
So, while we are contemplating what our own industrial excrement potentially can do to the price of food, perhaps we should consider some of the other crap with which we surround ourselves. As I think about the acid ocean problem, I encounter in this month's Discover Magazine an article about a plastic garbage floating thing the size of TEXAS (!), called an Alguita located between Hawaii and California. This thing, other than just being plain embarrassing to show off to the rest of the Kosmos, is leaching plastic chemicals into the ocean and also killing off critters in this dominoes of doom game we seem to be playing. Check out: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Moore-Trashed-PacificNov03.htm/ .
Ah, if you don't care about the food chain, once again, then perhaps you should care if you are a dude about your nuts shriveling or perhaps about growing some nice boobs.
No, I am not kidding. Plastic's bisphenol A and phthalates disrupt the way some hormones function in our bodies, which in turn poses risk to the developing fetus and young children. The short end of the stick is the anogentital distance decreases with an increased exposure of those fancy-named plastic disruptors. Oh, if I lost you with "anogenital distance," be informed that is a fancy term for the distance between the butthole and the penis on boys, which is typically twice as long in males as it is in females (gee, aren't you glad you know that?). So, a shorter distance equates to an obvious marker of feminization of males.
Now you know why some of the "modern" men are sensitive and compassionate, but do the math if we loose males altogether. Even if you are a die-hard feminist and do not particularly mind the plight of the male half of your species, then consider that these same plastic chemicals cause breast abnormalities that last a lifetime. Want to know more about this freaky plastic chemical stuff? Then check out - http://discovermagazine.com/2008/may/18-the-dirty-truth-about-plastic/ .
The link to gas prices? Plastic is made from - petroleum. With any luck, the increasing prices of plastic will force us into alternate packaging and conserve on the use where possible.
It is already apparent the high price of gasoline is causing some folks to change their perspective on driving inefficiently and unnecessarily large vehicles. With the observations outlined above, I already ditched the bigger Jeeps that I favor for the smallest of the line, finely tuned with some modifications that allow 30+ MPG and still has 4X4 capability for the exploration of the earth and adventure that I so love. In addition, I pedal a bike to and from work. Just doing my part in small ways to make a difference.
Yet, so many others were not, but now, thank goodness for high gas prices, some are forced into making a difference, and others see the utility of preserving their precious profits by downsizing their vehicles.
So, HOORAY! for these higher gas prices. They just may save the plankton's skeletons, prevent the Albatross from having a belly full of plastic, and keep a healthy distance between males' butthole and penis.
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Access: Public
the scary thing is how much people are still driving everywhere, including places like Europe with much much higher gas prices… thank you for this, Kit, this is so well done.
actully in the month of april people drove somthing like 2 billion miles less then the year before!
CO2 is plant fertilizer. Drilling is necessary to replace today's reserves. There is roughly 40 years of conventional oil Reserves (capital R) left. Subtly speaking, however, there are enormous equivalent resources (lower case r) that back up the 40 years of reserves. Resource categories are measured, indicated, probable, and proven depending on the level of confidence of the engineer. These resources are backed up by truly enormous Speculative or Inferred resources that may be indicated by limited drilling, geophysics, or geology. You see, the definition of a (capital R) Reserve is based upon the O&G that is economically feasible to recover. Oil companies budget to drill a certain amount each year based upon corporate necessity and economics - demand/supply oil prices (These are not swearing words except to the environmental lobby groups).
“BIG OIL” is actually responsible for your prosperity, whether you realize it or not. As long as there is inflation, resources (lower case r) can be leveraged and be economically upgraded to reserves and produced. However, all this is too boring for the liberal politician to pronounce even if they actually knew it. In fact, elevated current prices are not too bad adjusted for the time value of money. The elevated unit price for gasoline, however, is actually determined, not by demand but by the bottleneck created by environmental NIMBY, lobby groups that make it impossible to build or expand refineries. There is plenty of O&G and kerogen shale and there is a shortage of communication and a huge optical illusion. A Saudi Oil Minister once said that the Stone Age did not end due to humanity running out of stone. The stone is in the liberal mind set between its collective ears. Keep voting for CHANGE but please be careful what you wish for!
From a Message in a Bottle Washed up on a Beach
The report on my imminent death is premature. I have been sloshing around in the basins on the crust for more than four billion years. I now cover nearly 71 per cent of the planet. Since the last ice age, I have lifted myself out of the basin by 120 metres and scared the tribes of Noah to the higher ground. During deep time, I became the universal solvent for the volcanoes and the clouds. I have taken up as much salt as required by local circumstances and sometimes give it back in hot shallows and desert areas of my world. I have given man the salt in his blood. I have absorbed as much gas as I need to maintain balance with the organic world within me and on land. Your CO2 output is infinitesimally small. The exchange is so peaceful that science calls it equilibrium. I can absorb more CO2, if the plants do not need it, and it does not give me acid imbalance. My pH will remain basic no matter what you say. The variations you measure have come and gone many uncountable times on the planet and your baseline is too small to know the truth. What you do not get is that warming of the oceans releases CO2 and other gasses from my water, while cooling my water allows me to take up CO2 in vast amounts to nestle with the other molecules in my coldest most remote realms. I can absorb all that man can produce because your impact is feeble compared to my capacity.
Please watch me with humility for you cannot change me. I am the ongoing sink for the planet, and I am huge and my heat content is beyond your estimation. Measure me here and there with your microscopes but know that I will never be that way in that place again. Open your mind to the infinite cycles of chemistry and physics and kneel on my beach. You can only hurt me by not respecting my infinite ability to change chemistry and temperature in all the corners of the seas. My CO2 feeds your plants and your plants provide all the oxygen you breathe. Your base line is infinitesimally small yet your mouth is wide open. Stop sending me your plastic water bottles.
Poseidon, the King
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I am mostly invisible, but not space. I am the wind you breathe, the 20 km thick shell around your sphere. I am bigger than Poseidon's realm by many times. I am oxygen, and I am 80% nitrogen. I am both water vapour and humidity. I am carbon dioxide, methane, laughing gas and ozone. Argon, neon helium, and hydrogen make my fireworks in the lightening. I heat you by convection like an oven, cool you with my wind chill, and bury you in my microscopic hexagonal crystal frost. From the poles to the equator and from your caves to Kathmandu, I cover you, feed, and water you and your plants: no wind, and there is no food worth eating, for plants or man. Over four billion years and more, I practiced my cycles. My ozone protects you from your sun's blue rays; my methane warms your coldest nights. Your green plants whirl out my oxygen all night trading it for my CO2 in the sunshine. When you walk in your forest, be thankful for the bargain.
Without my parts per million CO2, you would choke. Without my parts per million CO2, you would freeze. As your people grow in numbers and size, I need more CO2 to fertilize your food. In my opinion, the more fat children, the merrier, because the earth does not laugh enough. Do not pump my CO2 underground or earth will quake from the wrong as it did under Denver on August 9th1967. When you sequester, be prepared to scavenge for food, and perhaps burn your oxygen for warmth
I am Aeolus
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Vulcan - god of fire said, “All the gasses from the mantle of the earth drive my fire and push up my liquid rock. Water affects my temper. When I foam, I am deadly. My carbon dioxide is colourless, and difficult to detect. It is heavy. It sinks and has killed many camped near Lake Nyos, in Cameroon. My sulphur dioxide is a killer too. At more than 20 ppm, it irritates, burns your eyes and is dangerous to breathe. When inhaled, most becomes sulphuric acid. My hydrogen sulphide is easy to smell, like rotten eggs. People are generally able to notice the odour; it can kill you at 50 ppm. My radon is colorless, odourless, tasteless, and radioactive. It can creep into your basement. My hydrochloric acid is colorless, but with an ‘acidic' odour and taste, My HCl is common around blowholes and in eruptions. It can and will destroy the ozone when it blows to the top of the atmosphere. Just like the liquid acid, my vaporous acid will burn anything it touches - especially the breathers. My sulphuric acid comes in shades of brown and is odourless; exposure results in quick burns and dissolves the outer layers of the teeth. However, my worst most painful acid is hydrofluoric. It is also invisible and will cause deep burns and permanent blindness if not flushed with water. Death by hydrofluoric acid is horrible. Ask the people of Iceland in 1783.
My chimneys are scattered around the planet and one big puff like Krakatau or Pinatubo can ruin your air and cool your world. Between expulsions, my gasses are usually scattered. You will never know when I will speak and kill you because your lives are too short. My CO2 is my most benevolent gas, and I have given you parts per million for you to feed your plants. Use it carefully and do not abuse it. It is weak to fear me and not prosper. I come when I want.
I do not respond to human sacrifice.”
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Finally, Gaia - the earth element said:
“Among the ancient elements of Aristotle, the earth element was both cold and dry. He thought I occupied a place between water and fire. Aristotle lived a short span, just a moment ago in universal time, and he did not ask me. I am wet and dry, hot and cold, light and dark in all the rainbow colours. Gaia is rich and overflowing with goodness. My sphere vibrates with the gravity of the solar system. I ring like a bell when I quake, and if gravity dropped me, my sphere would splash like a tear. When my skin slides, I create wealth and prosperity in your copper mines. You dress to match me at your atomic scale with treasures from your tiny mines.
I must admit, your choices of where to cluster astonish me. I guess you do not know me yet.
I condensed more than four billion years ago as stardust gathered at my core. In all that time continuing tomorrow, I am sorting out the stardust into separate useful solids and liquids. I give most of the vapours to Vulcan and Aeolus and most of the fluids to Poseidon and they all share.
So far, you have found only enough gold to fill one house and enough diamonds to fill one truck. There is more where that came from. Find where I have hidden it in the mountains and under the waters. It is good for you to quest - good luck.
Man is late to the life that began in the salty wet clay. You have the salt of Poseidon, the gills of fish, and the brains of monkeys; you have the muscles of babies and the lips of giants. Your eyes magnify everything and what you see scares you. You must place your optical illusions in the perspective of prosperity, health, food, shelter, and clothing. Please listen to your science and not your demagogues[1]. Your footprint is light. How many of you have seen a mine or a well? None! They are rare like diamonds.
Do what you need to do. Make all your people happy. You have wit enough to do it cleanly. Dig my coal and burn it; make it into plant food again and water. Pump my oil and burn it. There is more where you have not looked. There is much where you have already looked in billion tonne layers of rock in Colorado. It is for man to use and recycle. Do not hesitate to scratch me; I do not bleed; I give.
I do not want to be alone. Gaia and man belong together, and you do not know why. Much of my surface is empty of man. Perhaps illusions are the answer to the riddle. There is always more room for the children. Oh yes, the sunspots will be back when the lying stops. ”
[1]Demagogue - a political leader who gains power by appealing to people's emotions, instincts, and prejudices in a way that is considered manipulative and dangerous.
Bravo jeepdog!! Bravo, for calling a spade a spade….yes, we are spoiled and need to learn to live on our own plot of ground, at home with our families and all of the blessings that God has given and that we have worked for…we need to cherish our land and to help it out…had we listened to God in the command to keep one day holy from refraining from all work, a sabbath day, then the earth and we would not be in this position…no, we would have had 5000 years of weeks, of which one day each week would have given the land a rest…and us too.. have you ever experienced a sabbath rest? It is awesome when one really does it..and it is so RESPECTFUL of the land, of God and of creation…much better than the condition that we have now…which is the antithesis of beauty, rest, and regeneration…We have destroyed our families, destroyed our land, destroyed our relatinships with our flighty, lack of appreciation, and now you are right, we are indeed paying the price…with the quality of air we breathe, the water we drink, the chemicals we are immersed in…etc. etc. etc…and suffering with all the demagogues to boot.
Artesian -
I am painfully aware of “Big Oil” the wizard behind the curtain on my prosperity. For awhile, I supported more drilling to ease the pain of those folks who have been duped into reliance on the oil for survival, and now do not have the means (in theory) to pay for the higher prices we have seen.
You see, ANWR was, and still is, a viable opportunity. Yet, at what cost? Not to Alaska or ANWR, since I have never met a more rabid group of environmentalist proponents than my friends and neighbors when I lived in Alaska. Even in the '70s, there were much cheaper alternatives than what we now know as the “pipeline,” yet the desire to protect the environment paved the way for the current infrastructure there. So, if ANWR can be safely drilled with minimal (if any) environmental impact, the Alaskans will say “yea, verily.”
One thing that gets my blood boiling is media conducting a “survey” to prove that “everyone” is against drilling in ANWR. They do this by interviewing a bunch of people in New York City - one of which got me hollering at my satellite radio where some blonde chick in the city (I surmised the blonde part, a friend later told me I was spot-on with the “intuition”) who has barely made it past New Jersey in her lifetime to visit a “different” Starbucks franchise, state “I don't support Alaska drilling since it would hurt the environment.”
My hollered response was classical “me” - “What the hell do you know, have you ever BEEN there?” My friends, that is what a REPUBLIC is all about - avoiding a bunch of opinionated idiots who know nothing about a specific region being capable of levying their un-informed opinion upon folks and lands 4000 miles distant.
All this being said, I do not think ANWR drilling is appropriate. As Artesian states, there's only 40 years of the big R left remaining, so we have to do something sooner or later. Sooner is better, since our reliance and impact today is an exponential repair in the future.
yaffie -
Thanks for leaving a comment!
Well, I rarely have any problem stating what I observe, and also have little fear as to how I am “judged” based upon that observation. Hence, “calling a spade a spade” is probably my MO.
Holy not-so-sacred cow (pun intended) in regards to the Sabbath comment! I have not thought that one through, but from an anthropological perspective, cultures (generally) and religions (specifically as part of culture) have mechanisms that have “logic” to them as far as survivability and order is concerned. Perhaps the Sabbath is indeed a God-directed day of respect that also gives this planet a break. Absolutely brilliant - but you know that.
So much wisdom to consider - in all cultures, some of them being lost to the great assimilation of Western society and capitalism.
Alaska: Thanks to horizontal drilling, the 2000 acres of Alaska requested from the ANWR have a footprint of 4.7 x 10-4 % or 0.00047% of Alaska. The existing pipeline could be used.
I have worked in the high arctic many times. We have done very litttle to disrupt the pristine environment. Our footprint is very small. Anyone who has worked there has been very respectful and careful not to leave a trace. I am certain that I could not find my campsites, were I to return. The environmental destruction cited by environmental lobby groups is de minimis. The Athabasca tar sands footprint is 6/10,000 of Alberta and may reach 0.10% (1/1000) of Alberta. Ultimately one of nature's major oil spills will be remediated as clean sand is returned to the pits following reclamation. The media report an optical illusion.
atesian -
Again, just because we can drill safely in ANWR does not mean that we should. It is not ANWR destruction that I fear - it is the carbonic acid in the oceans and our current gluttonous utilization of the petroleum, and the prices will force us into alternatives.
I was at a museum on Sunday, with vintage aircraft and some vintage cars. It was very interesting how the vehicles, or at least the imports, got very tiny and fuel efficient in the 70's. Then, as soon as the prices dropped, we resumed our wasteful ways, as evidenced in the autos growth in size (both of the vehicle and of the engine) that correlated with the price of gas.