Why Wind & Solar Power Options Fall Short of Viability In seeming defiance of the second law of thermodynamics, living organisms on Earth actually organize energy. More specifically, they concentrate energy and leave it in a concentrated form after they have died. Of course, this is not an abrogation of the second law or anything…
Along the lines of the theme posted in “Left is Right” down the page from here, the current polarization of the world’s politicos and the manner in which they style themselves deserves more than a little scrutiny and critical thought. The two main groups of combatants-via-proxy, the Republicans and the Democrats, assign epithets to themselves,…
High School Physics! What person, other than those who go into science, engineering or medicine EVER uses it? What average 35-yr-old can explain to you the equation for the force of an impact – probably the most basic of physics equations; or acceleration; or something so mundanely ordinary as gravity. And I don’t mean being…
The Age of Petroleum is in its infancy In 1973, and again in 1979, the world was subject to ‘energy crises’ as they were termed at the time. Many readers are too young but those of us who were around recall sitting in long lines in the cold of winter (1973) or the blistering heat…
Well it is certainly a busy time for a blogging Earth scientist with a mission to explore human (mis)understanding of the Earth and its systems. In addition to the current desire to put the general interests of the global public weal dead last in the struggle for existence, with protective preference provided to just about…
There’s a single-minded fascination with glaciers. A sort of atavistic, prickling-behind-the-neck connection people seem to have with the ice ages. In Europeans, it seems to be more a vestigial connection – a sort of cultural memory. Perhaps it’s why the western populace is so consumed with the idea of global warming and the loss of…
You can’t ‘save’ the Earth. At least not in the sense that it should be preserved in its current state – the status quo. That’s what ‘saving’ something is. When we talk about saving the Earth, what we mean is that we should stop changing it – we should preserve it. OK – so is…
I really like the latest “Green” thing in the form of these stainless steel water bottles people carry around with them rather than buying “Spring water” in throw-away plastic. I want to talk about spring water, but first I want to address the bottle issue. These bottles are marketed by Sigg out of Switzerland. For…
