Often referred to as “Earths twin”, Venus is the 2nd planet from the sun, and the brightest visible object other than our moon in the night sky. It is very similar to Earth both in size and composition (rocks & minerals). Venus is named after the Roman Goddess of love. The primary land masses on Venus are named after Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love, and Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. As evidenced by these names, or perhaps due to its beauty as a brightly lit heavenly body, mankind has always had a romantic infatuation with Venus. Many classical poets (Homer, Blake, Frost, Virgil, Tennyson, and others) have written Odes to it. The centuries long romanticism brought with it optimistic beliefs life could exist there.
Alas, these hopes were dashed as interplanetary space probes, launched in the 1960’s through the early 2000’s presented increasing evidence of the inhospitable environment on Venus. Average daily temperature is about 800 degrees Fahrenheit. It is no coincidence the timeline of the interplanetary probes coincides perfectly with the birth of those who believe climate change on Earth is a problem.
In our previous blog, we discussed how there are two kinds of people, those guided by facts, and those guided by beliefs. At this point, those guided by facts, have given up on the dream of life on Venus. In sharp contrast, those guided by their beliefs, just won't let go. The wikipedia page on Venus suggests life exists in the "upper atmosphere" of Venus where average daily temperatures are a balmy 150 degrees Fahrenheit. So, flying cockroaches, I guess.
These same people believe the inhospitable environment on Venus is attributable to what climate change advocates call “The Runaway Greenhouse Effect”. The theory goes something like this: The planet is heated up by the sun, but has no way of cooling itself naturally, due to an overabundance of CO2 in the atmosphere. The excess CO2 acts as a one way shield, allowing sunlight in from the sun, but preventing the resultant heat from escaping out into space, hence the term “Greenhouse effect”. Science on this is far from settled, as there is some evidence both for and against this theory.
Speaking of science, throughout history, most scientific progress came from a simple 4 stage process:
1. Observing facts
2. Creating abstract theories which fit the facts
3. Testing those theories & making sure there is no discordant evidence
4. Deducing from those tested & proven theories, previously unknown facts.
All too often, scientific progress is thwarted because people are too quick to accept abstract theories as reality. Humanity has a nasty habit of skipping step 3, and proceeding directly to step 4. The reason for this is human nature. Mankind is the only species on the planet which perceives reality through abstractions; it is both a blessing and a curse. The runaway greenhouse effect is a perfect illustration of the curse side at work. So lets consider the scientific process as it applies today to the greenhouse effect:
1… We have the following facts: Venus is inhospitable - excess CO2 in the atmosphere contributes to the absurdly high daily temperature - Human beings here on Earth also emit CO2. Over the last 10,000 years, CO2 levels on Earth appear to be rising, albeit slightly.
2… Coalescing those facts leads to an abstract theory of …… OMG! Rising CO2 levels here on Earth means It is only a matter of time until we cook ourselves, just like on our dreamland, Venus!! This is the point where the worst of human nature takes over, and abstraction creates a distorted perception of reality.
3… No time for testing, this is too important
4… Now that we have accepted the reality we are cooking ourselves, we can deduce the following: There are too many human beings on earth, combustion engines, and the CO2 they generate is killing us, factories have to be shut down, life as we know it is coming to an end, yada yada yada.
The emotional hysteria is palpable. Had proponents of Global warming bothered to test their theory, you know, stage 3 - the paranoia around the inevitable end of the world, would not exist. Completely overlooked by the Global warming crowd is the fact Venus is much closer to the sun than Earth, which just guessing here, could explain the higher temperatures. Consider the following chart which covers the CO2 levels on Earth for the last 600 million years:
The climate change crowd looks at only the last 10,000 years (the bit in the lower right corner, to the right of the green arrow) and makes two bold claims. First, The CO2 levels here on Earth are rising, and secondly, mankind is to blame. Bagholder would dispute both of those claims, but for the sake of discussion, lets assume CO2 levels are rising as they claim. In the context of the last 600 million years, you can see on this chart CO2 levels are near all time lows!! Furthermore, we are blessed with a CO2 balancing mechanism here on Earth, which is not available on Venus. Bagholder is referring to the fact rising CO2 levels on Earth have always been met with an increase in plant life, as plants feed on CO2.
To put it bluntly, We here at Mytwocent$ are in favor of anything which will INCREASE the CO2 levels here on Earth. Combustion engines, factories, more people, aerosol cans, you name it - Bagholder is ok with it. Worst case, atmospheric CO2 levels rise for a short time blessing us here on Earth with moderately higher temperatures and more luxuriant foliage. Of course it would only be temporary, until the plant life brings the CO2 back into balance. But none-the-less, It would be a modest improvement over the current climate on Earth, as Bagholder has always had, well, a bit of a chill.
I sure enjoy reading what you write, thank you. Keep up the good work.
Dang, M. Bagholder, it's rare I got nothing to add or edit. Sweet read!