Interesting article DurangoDan, thanks for sharing the link. I hadn't read much on this side of the argument before, but find it to parallel the area I've spent more time researching; Global Warming or rather Global Cooling. There are an increasing number of scientists coming out saying that global warming is a big hoax. If you accept Chris's position that any risk with a potential for a high negative impact, even if it has a relatively low probability, is worth preparing for, I would encourage you to take the time to give the case I'm about to outline some serious consideration.
This documentary called The Great Global Warming Swindle explains how the global warming position developed and why it's false here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Mx0_8YEtg A couple of the scientists with cameos in that documentary are featured in this one called the Svensmark: The Cloud Mystery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANMTPF1blpQ This documentary explains a decade of research by a Danish Physicist team on the relationship between cloud formation and the earth's atmospheric bombardment by cosmic rays, which create ions in the atmosphere, which in turn attract water molecules, that form into clouds. The shading of clouds play a much more significant role in affecting the earth's temperature than CO2.
In addition, CO2's light wavelength is within the same ultraviolet wavelength filtered by water vapor (clouds). The relationship to CO2 is explained in this scientific analysis of the Carbon Cycle which does a nice job of tying in why continually increasing CO2 alone can't move the global temperature more than a couple of degrees C over an amazing increase in CO2 concentrations. The author references four scientific journals which estimated the potential impacts of increasing CO2 and then makes his case for why the lower two potential estimates are likely the most accurate. Titled The Real Inconvenient Truth the article can be found here: http://junksciencearchive.com/Greenhouse/index.html This article was published on Junk Science in response to Al Gore's movie. It was this article that I encountered in 2008 that initially caused me to begin questioning Al Gore's widely accepted thesis.
Svensmark's research indicates that cosmic ray bombardment increases when the sun's solar wind declines, reducing the protection it provides the earth's atmosphere from cosmic ray penetration. This happens during what are known as solar minimums such as the Dalton and Maunder Minimums. In 2007, a retired NASA engineer, John L. Casey, Came out with a press release declaring that global warming had ended and we were entering a period of global cooling, based on what he called his RC theory of solar cycles. His subsequent books Cold Sun (a more technical analysis of the subject) and Dark Winter, (a version for consumption by a less technical audience), explains that we are heading into a global cooling period that will last into the 2030's. While Dark Winter was an easy read with 55 pages of material and over 150 pages of supporting documentation, the easiest way to digest this material is by viewing the 6 segments of the documentary found on Youtube. The first segment is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0W7m6_CwNw The remaining 5 will be displayed in the right margin when you view this first one. Each segment is between 6 and 10 minutes long, shorter if you move on when they begin to advertise the next segment. Casey further links the solar minimum cycle to higher incidents of seismic activity; major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Casey points out that 1816 was known as the year without a Summer due to the prior year's cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia, which was 100x more powerful than Mt. St.Helens in 1980. The volcanic aerosols blown into the atmosphere reduced the sun's ability to heat the surface of the earth, contributing to the unusual cold weather in the summer of 1816. Casey predicts we may see something similar in the coming decades with major crop failures in the primary food growing bands of the earth. While the cause may be different, the outcome would be no less devastating.
Another Youtube channel which provides interesting information on unusual weather and seismic activity is Adapt 2030. Check out a recent example talking about volcanic activity here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewXpV-vwcy0 Postings are not daily, but have documented unusual cold weather events happening in regions closer to the equator where snow and hail are extremely rare. This site also features news regarding volcanic eruptions. The post talks about how the number of volcanic eruptions as of March 7, 2016 were already at 42 while the long tern annual average is 52 per year. He notes that the last two years posted 80 and 87 per year, so the trend is statistically significant and increasing. He also mentions the Landscheit models which document when planetary alignments in various quadrants of the Sun create stronger magnetic influences that appear to affect the levels of activity on the side of the sun facing the Earth, and therefore, affecting our weather. I suspect this would correlate well with Casey's Relational Cycle (RC) Theory.
This next segment is an explanation from the American Astronomical Society's solar observations in 2011, concluding that we are in fact heading into a solar minimum with great technical analysis and explanation of the changes developing in the Sun's activity levels at that time which confirm what Casey and many others are claiming, that we are headed into a solar minimum as part of the Sun's normal cycles. Others are saying that the alignment of the orbiting planets relative to each other and the sun affects the level of activity experienced by us on Earth. Here's the link to the ASA presentation on a range of sun studies which cumulatively point to a solar minimum emerging at this time as evidenced from the declining number and magnetic strength of sun spots based on scientific telescope observations from a range of astronomers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s5c-JfGibc
On the topic of how the Sun impacts earth seismicity, Suspicious 0bservers has a Youtube channel with daily blogs where they explain how solar magnetic storms emanating from coronal holes on the sun's surface can trigger seismic activity when it bombards the earth's surface over known fault lines. The Youtube channel corresponds to the website www.spaceweathernews.com The authors have documented where their predictions of major seismic activity (Magnitude 6.0 or greater) correlate with the sun's surface map and how storms projecting hits the surface of the earth using generally available solar mapping provided from government websites. This post documents one such prediction and the resulting 7.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Sumatra following their prediction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqzfAfVVF5w The author Ben Davidson, has been collaborating with Dr. Kongpop U-Yen from the Ohio State University and a frequent collaborator with NASA on space research, in developing their predictive models. S0 publishes a daily post on their Youtube channel explaining what's occurring with related graphics and earth maps of weather patterns. Their predictive capacity is high enough that they recently completed a highly successful kick starter campaign to notify people of high risk areas for earthquakes and potential tsunamis. The subscriptions far exceed the goal and the application is forecasted to be available by the end of calendar 2016 or early 2017 on iphone and android devices.
Finally, here's an International History Channel documentary called Little Ice Age, Big Chill explaining how the Little Ice Age impacted world history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwuO4cXghBo If we have the potential to experience crop failures as described with today's world population, the levels of death and despair could be great indeed.
Please understand that I'm not saying the earth is not being impacted by anthropogenic activity, but I do find the evidence provided sufficient to make me doubt the legitimacy of the climate scientists claiming that CO2 is the greatest contributing factor deserving of our utmost attention and treasure. As the author of The Real Inconvenient Truth points out, deforestation, methane production, concrete jungles, chlorofluorocarbon emissions damaging the ozone layer, and a wide range of manmade pollutants have been devastating to our environment and are having an impact that is a contributing factor to the geometric growth curves that Chris documents in the Crash Course. A continually growing population coupled with the emergence of third world economies have the potential to vastly outstrip any emissions reducing initiatives we may take in the developed and emerging world. I'm not saying it isn't worth addressing, but I am saying we need to take the most appropriate actions to reduce our environmental impacts and advance the technologies needed to improve the global situation, but it's possible that CO2 is far from the worst offender for us to concentrate our efforts and investments on.
All that said, I've been following Chris's site since 2008 and began to take action in 2011 as soon as we were able to complete our move into our new home and sell our prior one. I bought a Nissan Leaf in 2013, have invested in high efficiency appliances, LED lighting, new windows, insulation improvements, and installed enough solar panels to cover our annual consumption. I ride a bicycle to work when weather and schedule permits. We've also planted fruit trees, berry bushes, raised garden beds, and have a laundry list of other initiatives planned as time and funds are available to continue reducing our carbon footprint and prepare for the eventual economic collapse we all know is coming.
There are literally thousands of posts you could review on Youtube and thousands of additional websites and sources regarding the topics I've outlined above. However, I've tried to provide a sampling of the ones I found to be most compelling, educational, and entertaining. While I've provided hours of content in the links above, I've easliy reviewed well over 100x that content in the last 8 years on both sides of the arguments. I look forward to seeing the responses to this post.
