What do you do when your Radiator Overheats?

Do you just keep driving,
and pretend there is no problem?


that course of action could end your "road trip"
rather abruptly, and leave you stranded far from home.


OR should you pull over and pop the Radiator Cap,
and just wait for the all that "reserve heat build up" to escape?

that choice, though the more annoying one,
is also the most rational one.
(how long you have to wait,
depends on the state of your coolant, is it new or worn out?
and just how Overheated your Radiator really is.
How long have you been driving anyways,
without any stops to let the engine cool off?)



Well now, What do you do when your Planet's Radiator Overheats?

Do you just keep driving forward, turning up the Radio
and cranking the AC, casually pretending there really is No Problem?


If you do that is a recipe for "massive system failure"!
The ultimate result for that decision is a "mechanical breakout",
which will abruptly change your plans, and could ruin your whole day.


The only problem is, whereas you can always
call a tow truck or mechanic to fix your car's Radiator system,
there's NO ONE to call, who can fix your planet's system.


The Planet's Raditor is Heating up:
Latest Sea Surface Temperature (SST) monthly anomaly.


The Engine's Temperature Guage is approaching Red-line:
ENSO the most important coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon to cause global climate variability...


The Heat Build Up runs Deep:
in some places the waters can peak at more than 10°F higher than normal (up from the low 70s Fahrenheit, to the high 80s...


The planetary Ecological, Oceanographic, and Climate Systems
have taken EONS to reach a stable balance.
They interact with a finely-tuned equilibrium, each
keeps the other in check.
These systems keep the Planet running and habitable,
and even comfortable most of the time.


Yet over the course of a few centuries,
the activities of human progress, combined with
the reckless disregard for these Planetary Systems,
which make life possible, has led modern society
to the very verge of a catastrophic Radiator break down.

That progress may grind to an abrupt halt,
in the event these interwoven Systems start falling,
like dominoes.


And our response?
just turn up the Radio and crank up the AC
and just keep trucking...
Oh that dashboard warning light? it doesn’t mean anything.
(It always does that, I just ignore it,
and it usually goes away by itself.)


Afterall, it's not MY problem is it,
if the Planet's Cooling System breaks down?
Someone else will call a mechanic and try to fix it, won’t they?
And WHAT IF it's NOT fixable, afterall is said and done???
Well, when all else fails, we can always run down to the showroom
and just buy a new Vehicle, can't we? ... (What, a new planet?)

I hear Mars will be ready soon, in about a century or two!


We may be running out of Coolant:
going ...
going ...
GONE !!!

the largest break-up of an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic in 30 years ... the sea ice that normally presses along the north coast of Ellesmere Island, even in summer, was replaced by an open water ...


As far as future stability of our global cooling system
is concerned, when the gauges are "starting to redline"
the rational course action is to PULL OVER!
take a time out … stop for lunch and conversation …
and STOP over-taxing that cooling system.

Otherwise the ultimate result is,
it WILL reach its "boiling point".
(It’s only Physics afterall--which always demands
“an equal reaction for every action”)


Most mechanical systems require "routine maintenance" of some sort, on a regular basis in order to keep running smoothly
(maintenance like "tune ups" and "oil changes").

Isn’t is about time this "Vehicle" called Planet Earth
finally gets scheduled for its "Tune up"?

Seems like that "10-Point Inspect" IS long overdue !


============= some Links on El Nino =============

• climate experts are warning, World faces hottest year ever in 2007, as El Nino combines with global warming



• A three dimensional look at the El Nino of 1997/1998



• A three dimensional look at the El Nino of September 1997,
  stretching a quarter of the way around the planet



• NASA Reference: What is El Nino?



• NOAA: Earth System Research Laboratory: ENSO Index



• The Basics of ENSO (plus some historical animations)



• Climate variability and El Niño, including risks to Agriculture



• Wikipedia: ENSO and global warming--More recent results (e.g. Collins et al) tend to suggest that the projected tropical warming may follow a somewhat El-Niño like spatial pattern



• El Nino, Global Warming, and Anomalous U.S. Winter Warmth



• the Walker circulation should form an intrinsic part of thinking about how global warming will affect El Nino



• Scientific Study: theories suggest that global warming will reduce the strength of the mean tropical atmospheric circulation, known as the Walker circulation



• Wikipedia: the Walker circulation, is responsible for creating ocean upwelling off the coasts of Peru and Ecuador, which keeps the Pacific cool. A weakening of this circulation, could lead to ... Overheating. (Indeed some think this is already happening!)
  


• Surface Temperature Analysis, Global Temperature Trends, from NRDC


• Geophysical Research Letters: Arctic Ocean could be ice-free as early as 2040



• Arctic Sea Ice Shrinking, Greenland Ice Sheet Melting, According to Study



• Greenland Melt Extent, 2005 -- from (CIRES) Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences



• NASA: Watches the Arctic Sea Ice (with Animation and Satellite Photos)



• Scripps Institute: The Oceans and Global Change



• In 2002, the Larsen B ice shelf broke away from the Antarctic Peninsula. 500B tons of ice floated off into the sea, breaking up into thousands of vast icebergs. This collapse dumped more ice into the Southern Ocean than all the icebergs over the previous 50 years put together ...

(Stronger El Nino's, may end up being the Symptom, NOT the cause of Global Warming ... so the latest studies seem to be saying ... can we afford to wait for the ultimate outcome here? )

Please check my other blog: CO2 Offsets
Please check my other blog: The 25 Million Dollar Idea

Oil is only one Natural Resource

CNN money discusses "Peak Oil"

----------------------------------------------------

Sooner or later the "Age of Oil" will come to its final chapter.
What Energy Source will rise up to take its place?

Here are a few others that might be worth tapping, perhaps even now.

• Solar Energy resource map


US PhotoVoltiac Solar Radiation -- Annual



• Wind Energy resource map


http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_potential.html




• Wave Energy resource map


http://www.tridentenergy.co.uk/renewable_energy.htm

These Other "Natural Energy Resources" are limited by only our ingenuity.

None of them contribute to Global Warming
(nor to Global Instability, nor the funding of radical foreign governments.)

Could it be the "Age of Renewable Energy" has finally arrived?

Given the ever-increasing price of a Gallon of Gas,
such "alternative sources" are suddenly becoming very cost competitive, on a per kilowatt-hour basis.

Recently, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7%, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of the US energy mix.

Silicon Valley startup Nanosolar Inc. is on the cutting edge of a clean-tech boom. "We can achieve a cost reduction that will ultimately enable us to deliver grid-parity solar power so that solar electricity does not cost more than power from the electricity grid."
-----


According to economist.com,
the End of the Oil Age is near

It's 2007 and it may be about time to think about
what kind of future world we want to leave behind ...
will it be marked by chaos, or creativity?

we all must decide.


======= some Links on Clean Energy =======

• Ocean Wave Energy


• How Wind Energy Works, from Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions


• GE's 3.6 Megawatt Wind Turbine


• Solar America Initiative


• Solar America Initiative: Workshop Proceedings


• Boeing Spectrolab Achieves 40% Solar Cell Efficiency


• Accelerating widespread commercialization of clean solar energy technologies...while reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels and improving the environment


• Concentrated Solar Power Generation Systems


• Zero Energy Home


• Photovoltaic Basics: how is solar electricity produced?


• Why PV is Important to the Environment


• The Solar Energy Industries Association


• Renewable Energy Sources -- Current Developments: For stand-alone power systems for industry and consumers, integration of PV and BOS components in the construction of a system.


• Montana is a "Green State"


• DOE's Wind Energy Program


• "Wind Farms" are becoming a hot topic


• Sharp is Creating Energy from the Sun


• GE Energy is tapping Power From the Sun


• NanoSolar: Printing Solar Film Like Paper


• Industry Report: Thin Film and Organic Photovoltaic Market To Reach $2.3 Billion in 2011


• End of an Era

• for the planet's sake, maybe the Oil-Carbon Era can't end soon enough?

CO2 levels Today are higher than levels recorded over the past 650,000 years!

the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere today far exceeds levels at any time in the past 160,000 years—indeed, in the past few million years

NOVA: Warnigns from the Ice: Nature's Time Machine

(geologically speaking, we are treading out onto thin ice ...)

Global Warming Matters .......... ( Duhh! )

Greetings fellow world inhabitants:

Here's what I've been pondering.

Global Warming is a serious issue,
and deserves serious attention and action.

90 F. Temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico is NOT normal.

Climate effects most other systems: ecological, agricultural, and economics, among others.

Scientists are not mis-informed or stupid.
And they have said Global Warming is real,
and is occurring NOW.

During the last hundred plus years of progress
we have improved "standards of living" for many,
while building up CO2 in the atmosphere to a point
where TOO much heat from the Sun gets trapped
and cannot be reflected back into space.

The world is now a Greenhouse.
The Oceans are warming too.

This change took time,
any corrective solution will take time.
We just can't change weather systems,
by "initiating more studies".

Ignoring the problem will not help.
Discounting the science will not help.
Leaving it to others to solve will not help.

Individuals and Businesses need to take action
to forestall this pending Global Crisis.

If you think Katrina and Rita are tragedies,
you haven't seen nothing yet.

If you think El Nino's are disruptive,
you haven't seen nothing yet.

Ice Caps are melting.
Glaciers are receding.
Deserts are growing.
Droughts are destroying crops.
Corral reefs are being cooked.
Hurricanes are intensifying
Floods are more damaging.
Heat waves are longer.
Records keep getting broken.

And this is just the beginning...

What can you do that will make a difference?

1) get educated
2) buy "green" products
3) minimize driving
4) invest in hybrid cars
5) use public transportation
6) wear more sweaters in winter
7) support alternate energy research
8) demand solutions from representatives
9) plant more trees
10) insulate your home
11) ride a bike
12) car pool
13) turn down hot water thermostat
14) turn down refrigerator thermostat
15) keep your vehicle tuned-up
16) let businesses know you will pay more for clean technologies
17) join environmental organizations
18) speak up when others dismiss the threat
19) read the latest conclusions by scientists
20) err on the side of caution

and the Union of Concerned Scientists recommends:
Ten Steps to Reduce Your Global Warming Impact

individually, we can each make a difference.

other are speaking out ...
you can too

check out:

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org