The Case for Mars

Global Climate Change is consuming this planet alive. The way I see it, humans have no chance of surviving on this planet anymore within my lifetime because of this fact alone. The climate is changing dramatically. The ice caps are melting. This is a fact. This is causing the oceans to rise. True sea level is rising every day. This will cause the displacement of all coastal cities on the planet. The controversy on a masque being constructed near ground zero? In less than two decades, that controversy will be irrelevant because ground zero -- as well as the entirety of New York City -- will be under water. Hurricanes are hitting all over the coasts of America, Asia and Africa more frequently and with much more of a vengeance. Tsunami's are devastating entire countries. It's only a matter of time before the Mid-West -- And California, and all earthquake spots -- feel the biggest earthquakes on record. The food chains of this planet are slowly dying. Soon enough, there won't be enough food in the global food chains to supply the occupants of this state, much less this entire planet. The more I read and hear about the slow pace of change regarding the advancements and dispursing of green technologies and us fixing this hell hole of a planet, the more I am convinced that in order for the family blood lines of the entirety of the occupants of this planet to continue on, we cannot stay here on this planet. Therefore, we need to find another planet to permanently colonize. For the good of National Security of America -- and each and every single nation on this ball we call Earth -- we need to fix the planet or get the fuck off of it. In order for the wealthy and the middle class to keep staying alive to enjoy their money and make more of it, we need to fix this planet or get the fuck off of it. In order for the common people to spite the governments they supposedly represent, they need to fix this planet of get the fuck off. In order to survive, in order to make more money, in order to propigate, in order to be human... we need to either fix this place, or move the fuck off of this ball of dust. And in order to colonize Mars, we need to teraform the fuck out of it. We need to make it habitable. And at this point, I think making Mars habitable is easier to do than fixing this place. And cheaper. And less time consuming. Take that as you will. -[alpha]{BETA}[delta]

Bush's Push for Off-Shore Drilling

Tomorrow, President Bush plans to renew his push to get Congress to revoke the ban on off-shore drilling for oil, a ban in which was put into place more than 25 years ago. "He will explicitly call on Congress to ... pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "He wants to work with states to determine where offshore drilling should occur." Truth be told, evidence since industrial drilling of oil has shown that it is environmentally hazardous. In practice, drilling for oil uses enough energy to pump about half of a ton (1,000 pounds) of carbon dioxide into the air a day. This figure is while drilling for oil on dry land. The figure, I am sure, would be greater if drilling were to occur in under water sources. What is the definition of environmentally friendly? According to dictionary.com, it is "having minimal impact on the natural environment." So any of you reading this particular blog, give me one way drilling for oil anywhere is environmentally friendly in this sense that is actually being practiced, because I see no example of it. Then again, there is another definition on dictionary.com, one that Perino must be using in the quote above; "using as well as maintaining natural materials." Now we can all agree that oil is a natural resource, being the byproduct of long-deceased plant matter. So, in this sense of the phrase, it is "environmentally friendly." But, then again, it is misleading, since this definition has a different denotation then the connotation of the phrase. In my last post, I argued that we need to quickly find and utilize domestic sources of fuel. Drilling for oil in American waters at least appears to be the case. However, there needs to be equipment put into place before pumping can commence. That would take two to three years. On a dry land drilling project. Since this is an under-water source, it would take at least another 2 years on top of that before we can tap those reserves. This 4 to 5 year estimate is a conservative one. Oil, in the form of petroleum, would also add to the CO2 emissions to the air. CO2 that it hasn't taken out of the air in over a million years. So, when oil is used for a domestic form of energy consumption, it is doing more harm than good. Though, I will give you the fact that economically, when it is produced, it will procure financial relief in this country. My thing is, you have to weigh the positive with the negative and see whether it is worth having. So, given the fact that it will take at least 4 to 5 years to produce this oil and it's affect on the environment, I still hold to my belief that biofuels are the best short term relief of gas prices. At least they are only adding as much CO2 as they took out of the air since 2000. Take that as you will. -[alpha]{BETA}[delta]

Biofuels in Las Vegas

First of all, I would like to say Happy Fathers Day to all of you dads out there. This world wouldn’t be the same without you. Today, I am going to take a wee bit of a look at the pros and cons of biofuels. First, we need a definition and a commonly heard example of a biofuel. According to wikipedia, a biofuel is a fuel derived from life, typically plant-life, in which has recently died as opposed to a plant that has died thousands, if not millions of years ago. The most common example typically seen in the news is ethanol, usually derived from corn. There are a few pros and cons of biofuels. For the immediate future, biofuels are a necessity. There are many reasons in which the price of a barrel of oil (and, as a direct consequence, gasoline) has increased from about 25 American dollars per barrel to over 130 American dollars per barrel. One of those reasons is the drastic decrease in the amount of unrefined oil fields in the world. There is no immediate risk of running out of oil, but it will come soon. Also, the ability to tap oil due to low oil fields is becoming much more difficult. Therefore, the price of tapping that oil in and of itself is going up, thereby increasing the price of a barrel of oil globally. Another reason has to do with the waning ability to refine oil, especially locally in the United States. Before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, a good solid half of the refineries in the U.S.A. was in that area, particularly the Texas region of that coast. Hurricane Katrina leveled those refineries, thereby decreasing our ability to refine oil, increasing our need to import refined oil, and increasing the cost America spends on oil drastically. So, on those counts, one would have to deduce that we, as Americans, have to find a way to reduce, if not eliminate, our dependence of foreign sources of fuel. At this point, the best way to do so as far as motorized vehicles is biofuels such as ethanol. Because, let’s face it, our Alaskan oil field won’t hold us for as long as we’d like. However, I am of the opinion that we also need to find a way to eliminate hydrocarbon-based fuels, because that is, in fact, what biofuel is; hydrocarbon-based fuel. It will still wreck havoc on our planet in much the same way gasoline is right now. So, not only do we have to find an internal source of fuel, but we also need to find one that doesn’t hinder the planet. That, though, is for another post. So, the way I see it, biofuels are great for our short term problems, but for the long term it is just as bad as gasoline. Take that as you will. -[alpha]{BETA}[delta]

A Locals View on Global Warming

First off, I would like to say that this blog is decidedly taking a turn from it's intended course. There is a reason for this. It is my opinion now that people need to know the full logic behind the political opinions in which I hold more than they need to know my life story. So, it's still the the Vegas View story, but without the boring story of my life. That being said, I must start my next topic. One of my friends have suggested that I do my next topic on global warming, seeing as to how I live in the Nevada Desert (Las Vegas decidedly being within the confines of said desert). So that's what I am going to do. I am of the opinion that global warming is not only real, but will have -- in fact, is currently having -- a great impact on our planet, in more ways than the news organizations is letting us in on. Here, I am going to give a full explanation on my opinions on all the sub-topics of global warming. First and foremost, how does carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere? There are typically six types of radiation that the earth receives from the sun: radio, gamma ray, infrared, visible, ultra-violet (UV), and x-rays. The ground typically absorbs UV rays and visible light radiation, and bounces the vast majority of the other forms of radiation back into space. The thing is, carbon dioxide [CO2 (g)], ozone [O3 (g)] and water vapor [H2O (g)] are the three dominant greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and all three of them absorb infrared radiation. The growing amount of one of these gases in the upper atmosphere -- carbon dioxide -- is giving a rise in the temperature of the planet, albeit be an average of one degree every 50 years at this point. Now, when I emphasis the word average, I mean to put an emphasis on the fact that the word average does not necessarily mean the same everywhere. For those of you who smoke, the best way to explain what I mean by average is to say that when you have a cigarette lit, the average temperature of that particular cigarette is less than the temperature of the cherry, but greater than the temperature of the butt (or, for those of you who smoke non-filters, the end you hold when you smoke; when I refer to the butt, I merely mean the end you hold when you smoke). If the entire cigarette were to be the same temperature as the average temperature of the cigarette, you would not be able to smoke it, for either the butt would be too hot ho hold in your hand or put your lips on to inhale, or the cherry end would be too cold to burn (as in when it's not lit). That's the same concept with average global temperature change. The temperature may be going down or may remain stagnant where you live, but the temperature would rise extensively elsewhere to compensate for the difference. In this case, this biggest upwards temperature change going on is at the polar regions of this planet. First, I will need to explain the differing heat-absorbing properties of H2O in it's liquid state (water) and H2O in its solid state (ice). Ice, being typically a sort of barely transparent white color when it is as thick as, say, the glacier that sank the Titanic, has the innate ability to reflect the energy apparent in radiation. White is really a combination of all colors, so typically, all colors are reflected off of anything white. Water, on the other hand, is a more transparent, very light blue color, and absorbs energy in radiation more redily, especially from an infra-red source. So, this being the case, the more the polar caps melt, the more infra-red radiation they absorb. The more infra-red radiation the caps absorb, the quicker they heat up. The quicker they heat up, the faster they heat up. And the vicious cycle repeats itself. This is the reason for each of the so-called "ice ages" of the past. So the average change in temperature is merely add the temperature of every location on the planet, and divide that cumulative sum by the number of entries. That, apparently, comes to approximately 1. And how does the melting of the ice caps affect me in the Nevada Desert? It really doesn't; at least not directly. The thing is, H2O in its liquid state is less dense than the solid state, so the more water there is and the less ice there is in the oceans, the higher the tides will become. The higher the tides become, the more the coastal cities of the world will become flooded, and will need to evacuate. And so, given the fact that Southern California will have to evacuate, where is the closest major city eastward? Las Vegas, NV. This city is overly crowded and growing too fast as it is; the last thing we need is to be a big displacement center. There are still a few questions left unanswered by this particular blog about global warming. You may be wandering why, if ozone is a major factor for absorbing and reflecting inwards towards the planet, then why did we not want it to go away back in the day (about a decade to 3 decades ago)? Well, if there were absolutely nothing in the atmosphere to reflect infra-red inwards, then the temperature on the planet would not exceed the freezing point of water, so we need some form of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The question though is "What amount of greenhouse gases is ideal to have?" Because we cannot have too little, for then the planet would become too cold; we cannot have too much, lest the planet burn. Another question left unanswered is "How does global warming affect weather patterns?" Well, weather patterns depend upon the coastal drift among the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The natural flow of these oceans depends on the temperatures towards the equator as well as towards the polar regions. The warmer the air gets in the Polar Regions, the warmer the water gets in those areas. The warmer the water gets, the less likely they will create the natural flow of the oceans. Those ocean patters are the primary reason why we have hurricanes, general rain, and coastal winds. The less able the oceans are of having a general cycle, the more local cycles there are, and therefore the more hurricanes there will be. Well, what about finances? Surely, our economy will be snowballed if we attempt to fix this problem. Okay, sure, you won't get any arguments from me. I'm not a really big financial guy, so I'm going to let this guy explain the situation. Take that as you will. -[alpha]{BETA}[delta]