THE END OF THE WORLD?

THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

Before reading this blog, I recommend watching Planet of the Humans by Michael Moore Presents by clicking on this link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE

I have to admit that I was hesitant to watch anything presented by Michael Moore, a well-known left-wing ideolog. But I wanted to see exactly what it was that had upset my friend so much. The film is directed and narrated by Jeff Gibbs, a life-long environmentalist, and it turns out that it has a lot of well-researched information in it, and it explains how and why the modern environmental movement has failed.

Most of you know I have a PhD in environmental science and engineering, and I earned my living as a certified environmental professional and a registered professional environmental engineer (PE), and I love nature and animals of all kinds, but I never became an environmental activist. This film and my response to it explains why.

I watched this disturbing film through to the end. And yes, there is a lot of truth presented here. I can verify two major points that are made in the film:

First, It is an ecological fact that that species generally die off or even go extinct once they have exploited their niche. Second, the environmental movement has largely failed due to the fact that the people funding it are dependent on the very same system they are trying to fight.

However, the picture is not as black and white as the film paints it. For example, the forestry industry is not evil when managed properly. Trees are a renewable resource and older trees need to be removed periodically to maintain a healthy growth of younger trees. Nature gets rid of dead and dying trees by lightning strike fires and other natural phenomena. Death, of a plant, animal, or even a species is just part of the natural cycle of existence. Fear and hate are the real anathamas of conscious joy and bliss. The film feeds the fires of fear and hate by dividing us against ourselves, and sees no way out. However, many of the companies and groups that the film paints as inherently evil are not wholly evil.

But the most important thing missed by the producers of this film is something unique to the human species: the ability to see beyond the material, and to discover the potential to evolve spiritually. Unfortunately, the picture presented in this film totally ignores even the possibility that ultimately, God is in control. This atheistic view, that totally misses the meaning and purpose of life, is supported by the dead-end materialistic philosophy of mainstream science. But trusting science without God is like riding in a supercharged sports car at breakneck speed with no steering wheel.

So, in my opinion, the answer is: Don't give in to fear. The world is a place of constant change. In a sense, yesterday's world is gone today, and the end of the world as we know it is coming tomorrow, but it is not the actual end of the world. Don't forget God; He never forgets you! Fear destroys your immune system, and hate is a cancer that eats your soul. Love is the answer.

ERC 5/11/2020

GLOBAL WARMING

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

I spent most of my childhood here in Southern Missouri, and the kind of rainstorm with heavy downpour that we had this morning was typical of what we called “spring rains” which usually occurred in early April in the 1940s and 50s, not late June. Rain this time of the year was mostly occasional spotty showers from cumulus clouds building up in the afternoon, not the several hours of downpour at any time of day or night that we have experienced for several years now.

I am probably about as qualified to comment on global warming as anyone alive today, for two reasons: First, being more than eighty years old, I have lived through some of the greatest environmental crises in human history, and second, I have a PhD in environmental science and engineering, and my PhD thesis was on the environmental impact of human activity on water resources. I was one of seven charter members of the USGS Department of Interior Systems Analysis Group formed in 1967, and was involved in the modeling of environmental systems for more than 10 years. The Systems Group consisted primarily of PhDs from Harvard, Stanford and Johns Hopkins Universities, and we were involved in state-of-the-art modeling of environmental systems, including the modeling of storm cells developing and moving along cold fronts and cyclonic storm systems, as well as long-term effects of natural and man-made phenomena on the ecosphere of the planet.

I can tell you that there are many environmental trends indicating trhat global warming is happening, including the northward migration of animal species like the armadillo and the brown recluse spider. A study of historical records and physical evidence like tree-rings, polar ice-boring cores and geologic strata indicates that climate changes similar to, and even more dramatic than what we are experiencing now, have occurred many times in the past. That is not to say that human activities have not contributed to this warming trend, but the very real underlying natural cycles will not be denied, in spite of human activities.

I can tell you, from direct experience from the 1930s until the present, and from the study of government data, that the effects of human activities were much greater from the 1920s until the 60s than they are now. I can remember “red mud” rain falling in Southern Missouri from wind-blown dust carried from the “dust-bowl” of Kansas and Oklahoma, caused by over-farming of the land and years of  drought. Coal was the major fuel for heat in the Midwest in the 1940s because much of the timber had been clear cut in the 20’s to build cities in the East. A layer of black soot covered everything in cities like St. Louis and Chicago. I remember staying with relatives in St. Louis for a while when I was five, and my father had a construction job in St. Louis County. When I played outside even for a few minutes, I would be covered with the black soot that was everywhere and my mother would have to wash my clothes and I would have to bathe to get rid of the grime. I can still remember the smell of coal smoke. Many people died of tuberculosis from breathing the polluted air.

Less than 100 years ago, people died in droves around the world from air pollution. Because of industrial development in the US and Europe, from the late 1800s until the middle of the 20th century, air and water pollution were rampant. In 1948, industrial air pollution created a deadly smog that asphyxiated 20 people in Donora, Pennsylvania, and made 7,000 more very ill. Smog and soot had many serious health impacts on the residents of the world’s large cities. Only 66 years ago, when I was in high school in 1952, pollutants killed at least 4,000 people in London over the course of several days. Acid rain, first recorded in the 1850s, was another problem resulting from the burning of coal in plants and homes. The release of sulfur and nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere negatively impacted plants, fish, soil, forests and some building materials. Some Eastern US and European rivers were so polluted with industrial waste that almost nothing could live in them, and they were clogged with floating debris.

I worked as an actuarial mathematician in downtown Los Angeles in 1960, when the smog was so thick, you could see it hanging under the efflorescent lights in the office building where I worked. A deep breath was almost always followed by an involuntary cough! Smog alerts were common, during which the elderly and very young were warned to stay indoors.

We’ve come a long way since 1960, and the majority of  people alive today have no idea how bad air and water pollution was in those days, and therefore have no idea what tremendous progress has been made over the last 60 years in the cleanup of our environment. Despite the progress, global warming has not only continued, it has accelerated. The data show that human activities don’t have as much effect on global trends as we thought they did in the 1960s. Natural cycles are still dominant. But politicians will magnify or minimize the effect of the contribution of human activities on global climate change, depending on their political agendas.

ANOTHER ADVENTUROUS TRIP

Madain Saleh, also called Al-Hijr

MEMORIES, 6^th Installment
(Scroll down for the previous installments, or type 'Memories'  in the search box.)

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AND ANOTHER WEEKEND TRIP

©Edward R. Close 2018  

My immediate supervisor continued to try to make life miserable for me. I’m sure he thought I would fold and ask to be shipped back to the states. I learned from co-workers that this had happened several times before. I decided that I would not succumb to the pressure. The Saudis wanted me here, even if my employer did not. I had saved the mangroves, and there were other environmental issues that needed redressing.

There was a concrete batch plant located just outside the eastern boundary of the construction area with no air pollution controls, belching out dust and smoke that often hung over the construction site like a dark cloud, causing workers to cough and wheeze. There was raw sewage flowing from irrigation pipes that were supposed to be carrying clean recycled water in residential housing areas. There were two thousand North Korean workers in a camp designed for one thousand. Raw sewage was running into the desert from their over-burdened sewage treatment plant. There was a huge illegal excavation pit just outside the northern boundary where sub-contractors were stealing fill dirt. The workers called it the “Grand Canyon”. And I was sure these were just tips of the iceberg, as the Company pushed to finish on schedule and get the most out of the situation, even if it meant devastating the environment behind the Saudi’s backs. 

My supervisor continued to try to get me off track by sending me on wild goose chases and assigning meaningless busy-work projects. But I was on to him. From a technical engineering point of view, he didn’t have a clue! I also began working on a set of environmental regulations based on USEPA regulations adjusted for the climate and conditions here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The paperwork for getting my family over was continuously delayed. Multiple reasons were given. When about twice the time they had originally promised had passed, I decided it was time to go over their heads again. I went to my friend Hassan. After hearing my complaints, he asked if my wife and son were requesting 90-day visitor’s visas or residence visas. When I answered that we wanted residence visas for the entirety of my contract, he said there should be no problem. He picked up the phone, spoke rapidly in Arabic to someone at the Ministry of Immigration in Jeddah, and then to someone in Company administration. When he hung up, he said: “Your family’s Visas will be sent to Pasadena tomorrow.”

With this problem solved at last, I relaxed a bit and Giorgio, Doug and I planned another trip out of camp for the next weekend.

“Why don’t we ask Admin for our documents: igammas (Saudi work permits) visas, etc. so if we get stopped, they won’t throw us in jail?” I suggested. 

The Company took all of our travel documents, for “safe keeping” when we arrived in the Kingdom.

“No,” Giorgio replied, “I tried that, when I first got here. They keep our passports, so they can control us. They just say no and warn you to stay close to the work site. They do allow us to go to Yanbu Al-Bahr, to shop or eat in the Al-A’rish French–Lebanese restaurant and to the Sharm without papers.”

Doug and I weren’t as brave as Giorgio, but we did want to get away from the job site!

“I know what we can do!” Giorgio exclaimed. “We can drive up to the Sharm, put on Bedouin garb and drive all the way to Petra, if we want! Are you guys game?”

Giorgio could pass for an Arab. He was dark with black hair and moustache. Doug, maybe … But me? I’m very noticeably white.

Giorgio laughed. “Haven’t you ever heard of makeup? And, anyway, not all Arabs are dark.”

So, we hatched a new plan, and the next Friday we carried it out. North of the Sharm was the village of Umm Lajj, from there, we could see some beautifully rugged mountains, looking like the exaggerated dorsal fins on a dragon’s back, stretching from near the Red Sea into the Hejazi range. I was excited to see what those mountains were like.

We stopped at the Sharm and donned our Bedouin clothes, -supplied by Giorgio. Giorgio was about four inches shorter than me, so my thobe was a bit short, but because desert wear is intentionally loose-fitting, it wasn’t a problem. The Saudi head gear, the ghutra, could cover my Northern European complexion, and sunglasses hid my blue eyes.

As we were driving north, past Umm Lajj, I shouted over the engine and wind noise:

“Can we really go to Petra?” I asked. “Petra is across the border in Jordan. Don’t we need a passport with exit and entry visas?

“I bet there’s no border guard or check point there.” Giorgio responded. “It’s in the middle of nowhere, a desolate area, sparsely populated with wandering nomads, and if there is a check point at the border, we’ll just turn back, and go off-road around the check point.”

I thought about the "wandering Nomads" that had chased us out of the mountains a couple of weeks earlier. Doug and I looked at each other. I could see some concern in his eyes.

“Petra is too far.” Doug declared. “I’ve looked at the map, and it’s still five or six hundred kilometers from here. We have to be back in our offices in Yanbu tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, I’ve disappeared for a couple of days before;” Giorgio grinned, “they didn’t send out a search party.”

“Yes, Giorgio,” Doug replied, “but you’re known for not playing by the rules. If the three of us go missing, they may well become suspicious.”

“Yeah, if I’m discovered to be AWOL, my supervisor will use it to get me sent home,” I ventured, “I’d really like to see Petra, but I think we need to be back in Yanbu before morning.”

We ventured on toward Jordan, but after dark we took a wrong turn and were lost for a time, somewhere northeast of Tabuk.  I judged that we were still about a hundred kilometers from the Jordanian border. At one point, we drove past a monolithic rock outcrop standing apart from the mountains in the desert. We pulled of the road and aimed the headlights at it. There was an ornate edifice carved into the rock face. “Had I miscalculated our position? Could we already be in the out-skirts of Petra?” I wondered.

We tried to climb up to the shadowy entrance, but we only had one flashlight, and the jumble of rock in front of the edifice made it too dangerous. We climbed back into the jeep and drove on for fifteen minutes or so. Finally, as Doug and I expressed concern, Giorgio agreed to turn back. After a long, tiring drive, we were back in our bunks before daybreak, with just enough time for a short nap before starting our next ten-hour day, six-day work week.

I learned later that what we saw was probably part of Madain Saleh, also called Al-Hijr, a site within the borders of Saudi Arabia, much smaller than, but similar to Petra, and believed to be the southern-most remains of the Kingdom of the Nabateans, the people who built Petra as the hub of the Frankincense Trail, almost 2,000 years ago. Looking at the maps, I determined that we had probably been within one hundred kilometers of Petra. So close, and yet so far away! Something about the stately edifices carved into the sandstone cliffs fascinated me and beckoned to me. But it would be nearly 40 years before I would get another chance to see the Ancient City of Stone!