Global Warming...

A couple of years ago, I took a science class where we had to write a paper about Global Warming.  Specifically, the paper had to address the question whether or not global warming is caused by man.

I found a page on the Internet that included an experiment to measure how CO2 trapped heat in the air. It involved a gallon glass jar, heat lamp, Alka-Seltzer and foil. There is a major flaw in the experiment in the fact that the amount of Alka-Seltzer used stimulates 700 PPM of CO2 in the air and the Earth's atmosphere actually contains less than 400. Most scientists agree that the rise of CO2 in the air is caused by mankind's influence.

I broke the Experiment down into 3 parts. One testing no CO2, one testing ½ of the original experiments CO2 (stimulating the natural CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere) and the original 700PPM CO2, representing man's additional CO2. In order to recreate the rise in CO2 for this experiment, I first set the standards without any CO2 in the "atmosphere" of the gallon jar, by heating the jar with the heat lamp. It took 4 minutes for the air temperature in the jar to go from 70° F to 85° F.

Once the temperature reached 85° F, I turned off the heat lamp and recorded the progress of the gallon jar returning to 70° F. (See Figure 6.) It took 25 minutes for the Jar's temperature to drop back to 70° F.

Next, to stimulate the amount of CO2 in the air in the year 1000, I dropped ½ of the amount of Alka-Seltzer recommended on the web page to stimulate ½ of the 700PPM of CO2 for which the experiment called (0.00415gm, which admittedly I estimated, as even my balance scale would not measure it properly) . It took 3 minutes for the air in the jar to heat up to 85° F.

Then, I turned off the heat lamp and waited for the temperature to drop. At first, it appeared that the temperature was dropping even faster than it had with no CO2. It dropped three degrees in just three minutes. It took more than 34 minutes for the temperature in the glass jar to drop back down to 70° F. As a matter of fact, I ran out of room on my chart. Good thing I was keeping track on two different pieces of paper.

For the final piece of the experiment , I stimulated an atmosphere of 700PPM. It only took two minutes for the air to rise to 85°. I was pretty impressed. It took me longer than that to write down my findings then it did for the jar to heat up to 85° F.

Then, I turned off the heat lamp and waited. And waited and waited. The air seemed like it was taking forever to cool down. Actually, the initial cool down period of 3 minutes saw a drop in temperature of 3 degrees. After that the drop went about one degree for every two minutes, until the 9th minute. Then, the temperature dropped only one degree for every five minutes and steadily hit this mark until reaching the final cooling point of 70° F at 54 minutes.

So, what's my point?

This is my point.  Apparently, Global Warming exists -- man made and earth made.  So, why is it that when I hear newscasts there's always someone out there that debates this?  Or, ignores it?  Or, just brushes it off?

I don't have the answer to Global Warming, but it seems to me that we need to lower the amount of CO2 we put in the air.  Saving the environment is a pile of crap and we all know it.  Mankind can't save the earth, but we can make the earth inhabitable for all of us.  If we don't stop our pollution, the earth will -- in the worlds of Carlin -- "Shake us off like a bad case of the fleas."

God Bless