I’ve never denied global warming but was skeptical for awhile about the cause. But one simply can’t deny the correlation between the industrial revolution, past and present, and CO2 Levels.

The reason why I’m posting this is because of the protest against the mooring of an Arctic drilling rig at a Seattle pier. The protesters are literally crying, saying we are “murdering the planet”. The Seattle city council is giving it’s full support by attempting to block permits for Shell oil.

The solution, according to them, is to force the Untied State through Government regulation to quit producing and using fossil fuels. This is the sated reason for fighting the Keystone pipeline, Shipments of Montana coal to China, and the mining of oil sands and shale.

Their alternative- subsistence farming and the horse and buggy. Kinda romantic actually. Simpler times.

The sad fact is that currently 93% of our electricity is produce by coal, oil, nuclear and hydro power. That leaves a 7% contribution from solar, wind, and biomass. I’d love to see our energy needs met by electricity alone but it’s not happening anytime soon. Last year California compete a desert solar farm which produces enough power to power 160,000 home but- it required 4000 acres. Technology is changing but not fast enough for us to give up oil and coal.

But back to are we “murdering out planet”? C02 has increased from 300ppm to a record (since “recorded” history) of 400ppm. 500 million years ago the CO2 level was 6000ppm. This was during the “Cambrian Explosion”, a period in time where the presence life exploded in the shallow seas. C02 dropped off but rose again to around 2000ppm in the Triassic period which saw the emergence of the dinosaurs.

So maybe the Earth won’t crumble just yet but we’re already seeing hardships including droughts, floods, and blizzards. Seas are turning acidic, species will be at risk. In the future when sea levels rise, there will be loss of real estate including the disappearance of a handful of island nations.

There is hope on the horizon, something I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere- peak oil. Supposedly supplies crested in 2000 and we could be starting a steep decline with reserves dropping off rapidly. I’m not sure if they considered new production techniques and deposits in the equation but we will start to run out of oil. When this happens, say in 100 years or less, prices will rise, quantity demanded will fall and the price of substitutes like electric vehicles and alternative power will become more attractive. CO2 might be at a 600ppm level. We humans can function at that level but we’ll have to do what we’ve always done, adapt to our environment.

Come on Cold Fusion.