Among the issues most commonly discussed are individuality, the rights of the individual, the limits of legitimate government, morality, history, economics, government policy, science, business, education, health care, energy, and man-made global warming evaluations. My posts are aimed at intelligent and rational individuals, whose comments are very welcome.

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"The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice', but integrity." Ayn Rand

For "a human being, the question 'to be or not to be,' is the question 'to think or not to think.'" Ayn Rand

06 January 2009

Major Increase in Most Important Greenhouse Gas

The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area is undergoing a major increase in the average concentration of the most important greenhouse gas. We have all been bombarded with news that greenhouse gases are bad, including the very carbon dioxide we breathe out and is generated when we use fossil fuels, particularly coal. Methane is also widely recognized as an evil gas, since it is a greenhouse gas. This means that cows, humans, and the decaying plants of the forest are all harming the earth, simply by existing.

In the Baltimore-Washington area, the greenhouse gas with much the most impact on climate has definitely increased over the average concentrations of the recent past. As a result of previous low greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations, we have suffered traumatic climate change with too many clear skies and depleted reservoirs and rivers. Fortunately, this critical greenhouse gas has undergone a resurgence. We have water vapor saturated air, clouds everywhere, and rainfall. The plant life will prosper and humans will have better quality drinking water. The public water had taken on quite a smell before the rains. With the cloud cover, sunlight is being reflected back into space, so there should be some cooling.

Perhaps the lower than normal recent rains have been due to the cooling of the earth brought on by less solar sunspot activity, so that less water has been evaporated and the humidity required for rain could not develop. In any case, the recent increase in this greenhouse gas is most welcome. The increase in CO2 over the years should also be welcome. It also makes plants grow better, much as water does. Maybe greenhouse gases are good, rather than bad. It seems that the two most important ones, water and carbon dioxide, are both good. Even methane must be good, since animals would get strong stomach pains if they could not sometimes eliminate gas and since the soil needs replenishment by decaying plant matter.

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