Earth Changes

Survival Related                     

                   The following are science related notes of mine from two or three years ago that still seem pertinent. They could be called survival related. 
                   

                     We can be alert. Wecan learn. WE can adapt . We can survive and give our selves and others a better chance to thrive. We can act. To our list of appropriate actions we can benefit by adding co-operation collaboration, and love of reality. Yes "love" is active.

                    

                A very few years ago a 30,000 year old, non-dangerous, virus was revived. An 8 million year old virus is said to have been revived too. Recent studies suggest that some very old antibiotic resistant are reviving! Holy Moly! Still we have learned from the covid 19 pandemic and we have begun to realize that we have some more rapid Earth changes to adapt to.

Adaptations: 

                   We are making some adaptations to expected changes in the agricultural situation. Some of those changes may be so big that some of us may find ourselves growing wheat where bananas once grew. Some experts have been collecting and saving seeds and storing them in safe places. They expect that we may need them to replace lost seed and lost harvests. They suspect that some Earth changes now in progress may be so great as to lead crops that were once grown on one continent may no longer grow well there and need to be grown on another continent. Changes may not be that great in our time, but it looks like they will be big enough to call for major adaptations. We may see changes large enough to cause significant movements of crops and of people.

                    We may find it life-saving to have seeds which will produce crops where the people are. A large and famous sites set up to safely store seed for our use was once called the Doomsday Vault. That vault adapted to safely preserve seed in the far north was invaded by destructive melt water. Melting of snow, ice, and permafrost is melting faster than many have expected and has brought on the need for adaptations. We can benefit by more learning an better actions right now.

Useful Action:                 

  You can take useful action now by checking out our situation now and consider possible adaptations. It seems for enough valor to better understand what is happening to our Earth which will effect our social, economic, political and health situation much more and more rapidly than we have learned to expect. Not all is bad different parts of  our Earth are changing indifferent ways, perhaps many for the better. Some say that the expected happenings are mostly neither good nor bad, but just are.

                    Change seems to be a constant, but the changes of today are happening faster than they have in several hundred years. So expect changes to continue to quicken. It may be well to consider how we shall take care of ourselves. Some of us have been learning a lot and developing adaptive practices. But, perhaps most of us are not doing enough. More of us may come to suffer and die in rather short order. We speak of global warming, but parts of the globe may experience freezing which it has not seen in  a thousand years. Flooding and drying are already in the news.

                    A lot is happening which many of us have chosen to ignore. More metals are being released into our air and water. Mercury is among them. Mercury is among them. Mercury is toxic and causes brain damage. It accumulates in fish, fowl, cattle, etc. Once it gets into us it is difficult to get rid of. We have experience with mercury, but seem to be coming to experience much more than usual. We use seaweed for many things including fertilizer. We also use it to make ice-cream. Mercury accumulates in seaweed, I'm told. It is possible to adapt to the situation without taking ice-cream from kids and pregnant mothers. Our we could just have a generation of brain damaged ice-cream eaters. One of us or a few of us cannot do everything, but every one can do something and there are still a lot of us.

Adapt:                   

                 We can do little to effect the massive Earth changes occurring now. But we can consider how we shall adapt to them. We can survive. We may even thrive. We are the people responsible for us. We can help our children to a better chance to learn and thrive.

                    Frozen fungi spore, bacteria, virus, and and more is being released after being  frozen for 75 years, for 500 years, a 1,000 years, 10,000 years. Some life forms are reviving after being froze for 20,000 years, and 30, 40, and 50 thousand years of frozen sleep! Many are reviving! I could be wrong. Check it out for yourself and tell us about it. I believe that most of the reviving life is of no direct danger to us, even when they are very much alive. Some may prove to be of great value to us! A few others can kill us.

                We need to help each other to keep track of what researchers are learning now However, a very few years ago researchers experimenters experienced reviving a virus, in laboratory conditions, which had be frozen for more than 30,000 years. It was one which almost certainly was harmless to humans.

Get clear about that which we can do:                

    We can do much to protect ourselves, our children, and our children's children. We can get clear about that which we can do. We all have some common aims. We all have some useful information. We each have have some skill. Most of us have some knowledge of and experience with co-operation. We can use that knowledge and experience to establish a conversation about how we can collaborate in adapting to these faster than usual Earth changes. We can share information about the nature of those changes and of how we can best adapt to them. An ongoing dialogue makes our sharing and co-operation more effective. With co-operation we can do a lot; with co-operative origination we can do more. Family, friends, and neighbors can share information and even work together. We can connect with students of the problem. We could better understand the nature of the related problems by finding out what sociologist and scientists are are saying about them. We can clarify the questions we have. Questions like: What can we do with large undocumented migrations across national borders by people escaping droughts, floods, hunger? Or, How are such migrations likely to effect us right here? What can we do avoid bad effects from such migration?

                Climate changes and some other Earth changes have become more extreme than we have expected or experienced and are now expected to continue and worsen. Canada may soon have the best far north seaports seen in our history. The are experiencing competition from Russia. The south of Canada and Russia may become excellent places to grow tropical and semi-tropical fruit. should that happen what may happen to their wheat crops?

                I'll repeat some of that which know about that which is happening. For example, much of our Earth's surface is permafrost. Permafrost is what we call earth which has long been frozen to great depths. It is mixed with water and a lot of vegetable matter and other stuff. Permafrost has now melted more than it ever has in our history and longer

                 A while back we found that in shallow seas and not so shallow seas at their bottom there is soil and plant matter which has frozen deeply like permafrost. We believe that it has been frozen there for long and long. Now we find that it is melting quickly and releasing large amounts of methane gas and much else. The gases are bubbling up and mixing up with our air. Methane burns well. It does not seem likely that our sea or air will catch fire. You may hear of some cases. However co2, virus, bacteria, fungus heavy metals and more are being released. Much of the virus, bacteria, and fungus has revived and so is alive!

                Isn't this fun? It seems time to learn more. The sun shines east and the sun shines west. The sun shines best on that part of Earth tipped or turned most toward that good old sun. All the Earth is effected, each part a bit differently. The Earth tips, turns, spins, and wobbles continually. Over time the orientation of the Earth continues to change. The tip and wobble seem to change more and effect us more notably. The tip we are now experiencing is one of the more extreme for a long time and may continue for, what seems to us, a long time. We might take this as a learning experience. We could learn to better use our ability to adapt.

                We know there are massive emissions of co2 and methane here now and increasing! At this same time ancient and new sources of disease are being released. So, we may expect more health problems. The recent outbreak in covid virus could be called an early practice for what is to come. We have some learning to do. We have preparing to do. We have adapting to. We really have to do much of this together.                                                  

What is going on:                

Each one of us is limited I what we can do, but every one of us can come to understand more about what is going on. Fault finding and name calling does not help. Increased awareness can usually be very helpful, even life saving. No one can do everything. Each person can do something. Each doing is helpful. Even it is mistaken doing, it may inform many.

                There is a lot to learn just about melting and thawing. Northern ice in contact with sea water is melting and releasing ancient matter into the sea. Mercury is being released. Mercury accumulates in plants and animals and often does them harm. Some call us top feeders. We eat plants and animals. We eat fish and fish accumulate mercury from sea life. The process can do us greater greater harm. We can find out, or figure out, what to do bout that. By doing that promptly we prevent pain, sorrow, and death. We ought to share that which find out and figure out.

                There is plenty you and I can do right now.

                I the long run, with luck, we can help our interested youth to learn more about chemistry than we did. We could learn critical bit right now. There is a lot to learn much of it is interesting, useful, and good for us. There is a lot of chemistry going on in our sea and atmosphere right now. Whole lot of shakin' goin' on.

                    Methane and other stuff, being released mostly from melting permafrost, can be made useful. Methane is the main part of natural gas widely used for cooking and heating. Right now most of it is moving into our atmosphere and the air we breathe. It is colorless, odorless, and suffocating. Some say that it has already begun the suffocation of some of us. The fact is that the percentage of our air which is methane is increasing. I am pretty sure that our sky will not burn. However, I do remember it being called swamp gas and causing mysterious fires in swamps.

                Some of us know that things are mostly doings and most of us believe that one thing leads to another. Still we have a lot to learn, much of it pleasantly exciting and wonderous.

                We already know a lot that seems somewhat interesting. We are pretty sure that burning releases stuff. We have seen smoke rise from a fire. Old wives that some woods released a lot of soot which blackened their kettles and more.  the burning of gas, oil and wood sends soot into the atmosphere. Volcanic activity may do the same. What goes up must come down. A significant amount of that black soot comes down on white snow and ice. It may not blacken the ice and snow but it can darken them. The darker they get the more heat from the sun they absorb and then more they melt. The melt runoff mostly goes into the sea. That runoff can do more than raise the level of the sea. There are books about that; Youn Tube videos too. Oh, much of this process, effects permafrost too, and methane that not only traps sunlight to warm our atmosphere and also suffocates us. Ah, the wonders of chemistry!

                Haven't we heard that methane burns releasing co2, our biggest greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases lead to warming of the earth which leads to more rapid melting of our snow, ice, and permafrost. Which continues a great round of cause and effect. Many of us have heard the saying, "don't" mess with mother nature." The balance of nature is to be protected because it helps us to a safe and comfortable life. But there are other forces beyond humanity which effects that balance too. So humans need to adapt to changes which they cannot control.

                So what can we do to help our youth to a comfortable life or at least to survive? Talk with another or others about our Earth condition and situation. There is a "comments" app available just below this essay. Use it to make suggestions, ask questions, tell us something interesting and useful, say something to help me to correct the errors and mistakes I have made in writing  this essay, or make a comment of some kind. We need all the help we can get.

                I will publish this and will write more soon along similar lines. I am nearly praying for some volunteer proof reading type help. Even my spell check app has disappeared.

                Thank you for reading.

                                                                                             rcs

More Than Virus Its Us

                     The water's ten foot high and rising; seems a good time to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and not mess with mister in between.
                    

                    We see some thought provoking happenings and doings around us these days. Some few trained expert observers, some few men and women are keeping an expert eye on the happenings in our arctic and sub arctic around what we have called the north pole and they are saying that what they see happening there is happening more than twice as fast as are the worldwide changes. Did you get that last sentence?
                  

                     I have checked out some of what we have been being told for many, many decades. It seems that since the early '70s a significant number of began to hear and even understand what was being said. I began to pay better attention just before the first Earth Day when I was asked to write an appropriate paper. I even recalled my 7th and 8th grade science teachers telling us that we were living in calm and mild times on Earth and to expect greater and more rapid change in the future. Without scaring us they seemed to be that they were saying that we had best consider ways of adapting. Anyway when I started this paper three or so years ago I began to think that it may be useful to sound a definite alarm now. An alarme our great grandfathers might have sounded is "High water! Its ten foot high an risen'!"  "High water" Meant it was time to get the women, children, and stock to high ground. They probably ought to have already put the homestead on high ground. But the did already have a way to safety in mind.
                    

                    Here I am trying to say that now may be a very good time to consider ways to safety for our families and our culture. I began to write briefly and sensibly about how to put the "homestead on high ground" and what to do if it is too late to do that. It is not too late to seriously considering what we do now. It is not easy because the changes to are Earth may be sooner and bigger than many of us expected. We are already seeing  big ongoing change. We are seeing the biggest changes in 100 years. We may come to see the biggest changes in 1000 years or more. The changes are so big and life changing that people are leaving their homes for safety. The food crops that have been harvested in county may no longer grow well enough in your country. Adaptation is necessary for survival. Our adaptation may be necessary. 
                    

                    In the US the new settlers had much adapting to do.
                    

                    The changes we see may be bigger and more life changing than anyone of us likes to believe.
                    

                    It may be pleasing to know that many of the changes, perhaps most of them, are not our fault. The fact seems to be that we don't have s snowball's chance in hell of changing many of them. Perhaps we can't change most of them. We can adapt. We are very adaptable beings. Humanity has adapted to many changes. We can adapt and we can even co-operate in doing so. We can consider what we can do to help are children and youth survive and thrive. We can help them to do much for themselves. 
                    

                    There is that we cannot stop or even change. We may not be able to stop the truck coming toward us. but we may very well be able to get out of its way. We can act. We can adapt. We have made crosswalks, and pedestrian over- passes and underpasses to! We can make preparations for the future, even a fast approaching future.
                    

                    Many changes are celestial. To us many of us, those changes seem very slow some, others very fast. Most of them we cannot change. We can adapt to a great many of them.
                   

                     It may be pleasant to know that many problematic changes are not our fault. Still we causing ourselves trouble by avoiding even thoughts of some problems we can take care of or make corrections for. If we will, there is much we can do. There is that which each one of us can do, which we can do now. We are adaptable and able, each of us. 
                    

                    There are climate changes we do not welcome and which are causing more and more problems. However, there are problems which do not seem directly related to climate changes or our lack of understanding. What about volcanoes. There are times of more volcanism and times of more.There are times of less earthquakes and times of more. There are times when it is not easy adapt more. Major changes to the Sun ocure which we cannot, but have adapeted to. Large comets and asteroide seem to have had times of being more or less active. There are happenings which we have been unable to stop, but we have often had the ability to adapt before or after the effects of such happenings. 
                                     

                For now I just offer a view of that which seems to  have begun to cross our path.
    

                To avoid being overwhelming, I'll restrict myself to telling a bit about melting ice and thawing permafrost, and that which is being released.
     

                    Here goes, to begin with its water, a lot of it. Ten feet high and rising. Not surprising, but true.
   

                     A few years ago some 75 year old anthrax was released and it killed about twenty reindeer and one boy. Merry Christmas. Some snow and ice was bulldozed over it. That snow and ice is melting. 
    

                    Some radioactive waste has been exposed. And oh, oh. Some think more is being exposed.
   

                    Some very old antibiotic resistant bacteria is being released and no one is stopping that release. And, other bacteria are reviving.

    

                    Happenings keep happening.
   

                     Who is to blame. Not me. A fair number of good scientists say that slow and not so slow shifts, and wobbles, and such of our Earth's axis have been causing changes in our climate since long before Noah. Right now the best of them are saying that such axial tipping has led to a warming of our northern hemisphere, because we are tipping so as to get a bit more sunshine each year. That's probably not the fault of anyone we know.
     

                    Now that you might be semi-stunned, I'll put out some more thoughts, information, a couple of questions and a suggestion that you begin to check some of this out for yourself.
    

                    There is now a rapid release of antique methane gas from arctic and subarctic melts and thaws. Could that include the release of  ancient virus?
    

                    Could such melting and thawing turn out to be an existential threat to humanity?
   

                     May pay us to wake up and be more aware.
     

                    Permafrost, by the way, is frozen wet soil and plant matter that has frozen many yards down. Its been frozen so long that it has been called permafrost and houses and airports have been built on it.
   

                     Among the matter being released from thawing permafrost are gases including CO2 and methane. We have a lot to learn. You may have to look stuff up. I did.
    

                    Methane burns and causes burning which puts more CO2 in our atmosphere--which is our "greenhouse gas." Greenhouse gas causes warming of the Earth which causes the melting of  Earth's ice and permafrost which releases ... Of course  burning causes  the release of other stuff too. Like soot. Black soot covers white snow and frost and being as dark as soot, absorbs heat from the sun and so causes the melting of snow, ice, and permafrost which releases... You can start to figure it out.
   

                    Methane and other stuff being release can be useful. Methane's the main part of "natural gas" widely used for cooking and heating.
    

                    Then again methane is  suffocating, colorless, odorless and is increasing as a percentage of our atmosphere. I remember it being called swamp gas and as causing mysterious fires in swamps.
    

                     I hope our youth find more time to learn more about chemistry than we did. There is a lot to learn. We might end up learning a thing or two ourselves. This "new" world may be a tough place for an old man and not so easy for an older woman either.
     

                    Just about thawing and melting there is much more to learn. For example, northern ice in contact with warming sea water is melting and releasing  ancient matter into the sea and that includes mercury. Mercury accumulates in plants and animals and often does them harm. Top feeders, like humans, get harmed a lot.
    

                    Now I find that shallow seas and not so shallow seas have at their bottom earth and vegetative matter frozen to great depths much like permafrost. And now like permafrost it has begun to melt and release methane and much else. There in the sea depths CO2, virus, bacteria, and uncounted other materials are being released into the water and air.
    

                    The sun shines east and the sun shines west. The sun shines best on that part of the Earth tipped toward it. That's us here in our northern hemisphere. Earth's axis slowly and not so slowly wobbles and tips a bit differently each year. The tip we are now experiencing is one of the more extreme tips of recent centuries. Lucky us.  
    

                    Changes are a bit more extreme than we have experienced in our history. So, for example, Canada may soon have the best far north year round sea ports seen in our time on Earth. They can expect some competition from Russia. Canada may grow tropical fruit in their south. However they may both hundreds of years before either grows another good wheat crop. I may be exaggerating a bit but, great climate changes lead to great changes in growing patterns
   

                     Some of this stuff needs to be repeated to sink in. From the thaws and melts in our north come massive emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases, and also a variety of microorganisms. These emissions lead to other changes. 

    

                    Metals are being released, among them, mercury. Mercury is toxic, causes brain damage and it accumulates in human bodies as well as in fish, fowl, cattle, etc. Mercury accumulates in seaweed I'm told. We use a seaweed product to make ice-cream.  So, one way we may help our children is to take away their ice-cream.
    

                    Sorry, but stuff is happening and more shit is coming. Its a good thing that we can learn, We have a lot of learning to do. We still have the job of taking care of ourselves and our children. There are not only massive emissions of CO2 and methane already here, but ancient and new sources of disease are also being released. And we are still having trouble protecting ourselves from one weak little c19 virus.
     

                    Frozen fungi, spore, bacteria, and virus are being released from 500 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, 20,000 years, 30, 40, an 50 thousand years of frozen sleep! Many are reviving. Some have been revived. Most are of little danger to us even when they are very live. Some are of value to humanity. Some others would sicken and kill us. Where did C19 come from. Weak little bugger.
   

                     Researchers have revived one virus which had been frozen for more than 30,000 years. It was reactivated, revived right before their eyes. It is one, it seems, which does us no harm.
     

                    There are things we can do to protect ourselves and our children. You can think of a thing or two yourself. With friends and neighbors, more. With the help of students of the problems and of scientists, even more. With cooperation we can do a lot. We can organize, We can handle these dangerous changes. Trying seems a lot better than calling one another names.
    

                    Some few persons began to do what they can some years ago. They have been doing what they can to protect themselves and others. Some have been collecting and saving seeds and storing them in 'safe'' places. Crops that were once grown on one continent may no longer grow there. That's a big change which can cause massive movements of people and crops. Some people will find it useful to have seeds which will grow where they are. One of the largest and most famous of these 'safe' sites for seeds came to be called the Doomsday Vault. That vault for preserving seed has been invaded by melt water. Melting is proceeding faster than anticipated.
         

                    Change continues at a faster rate then we have been accustomed to.
    

                    Bacteria dormant for many centuries and trapped in permafrost and ice are reviving with warming and melting, and thawing. This release is happening much more rapidly than we were prepared for. Time to get busy.
    Some good things may happen automatically. Perhaps one of the few bacteria that can be deadly to humans will kill enough of us so that we will no longer feel the need to kill so many of one another as we have for so long.
    We know that vectors for anthrax, smallpox, Spanish flu have long been trapped in ice and permafrost. And now that some are reviving. Might we be able to learn something from our public health expert that we can use to help one another.
    We were once accustomed to cooperate to protect one another. I bet that there are some truly helpful things we can do. We could try killing fewer foreign health experts. I'm willing to try.
     Recently history seems to be catching up with us. A couple of years ago a 30,000 year old non dangerous virus revived. An 8 million year old virus is said to have revived. A giant virus has revived. Potentially dangerous virus are reviving. Recent studies suggest that antibiotic resistant bacteria many millions of years old are reviving. Holy Moly!
    It might be good to start some conversation about practical doings for interested parties to take up. We could ask experts what's what. We can get ourselves taught. We could try to arrange to cooperate to live.
    Do you think that this has been less than a pile of words. Check it out for veracity. If you don't know how to check it out, this might be the time to learn.

                    Some blame for our state of affairs may correctly be placed on us, but a large number of good scientists suggest some causes are universal or, at least, solar systemic. The speak of slow and not so slow shifts, wobbles and such, of our Earth's axis have been causing changes in the Earth's climate since long before Noah and to this day.Right now the best of them are saying that it is clear that such axial tipping has led to warming of our northern hemisphere, because we are being tipped so as to get more sunshine here. Others say the results may be complicated by other factors. That's probably not the fault of anyone we know.

Still, if we want to be comfy here on Earth we need to make some adjustments in our lives.

                    I suggest that it would be useful for more of us to continue checking this stuff out. We can learn how to do so.

                    We know that one thing leads to another. There is now a rapid release of antique methane gas from arctic and subarctic melts and thaws, and that leads to other changes. As an example methane gas has a stronger greenhouse effect than does co2. An interesting side effect is that the melts and more specifically the thaws lead to the release of reviving ancient virus.

                    So melting arctic ice causes a number of threats to humanity. I also means that Canada and Russia are getting some new sea trade routes.

                    It is healthy for us and our youth to keep up on that which is going on with a bit more understanding of what it means for our well being. It pays for us and ours to be aware of our situation so as to be more ready to adapt.

                    I have probably already said that permfrost is no longer permanent and is made up mostly of frozen soil and plant matter which has been frozen deep into the earth and even deep into the earth below the sea. That matter releases microbes, methane, co2 and more, most of which has deleterious effects on us. The permafrost seemed so permanent that constructed buildings and airports on it. It is now quickly changing from cement like ice to slush and the remains of  ages.

                    We have a lot to learn. Many of us are just hearing about  the nature of co2 and methane. You can tell us what you are learning by using the "comments" app below.   

                    Methane can catch on fire with no help from us. That fire releases co2 which leads to climate warming. That will be good to know when another Ice Age begins. We have come to know co2 as a greenhouse gas which causes warming of the Earth which causes the melting of polar ice leading to a rise in sea level and the release of methane,etc.

                    Of course burning causes the release of other stuff too. Stuff like soot which is damaging to lungs. Black soot also lands on white snow and frost. being dark it absorbs heat from the sun and so transmits heat to snow and ice melting it; that melting has is own effects and around we go.

                    There is probably a way to capture some of the released methane. We can use it for cooking and heating, but that releases co2. Methane is the main portion of the natural gas we use in our homes. We know it as a colorless suffocating gas. The percentage of methane in our atmosphere is increasing. I do not think that our sky will burn, but I do remember that what we called swamp gas is methane and it caused mysterious fires in swamps.

                    I hope our youth will have time to learn more chemistry than we did. There is a lot to learn. Much of it good and interesting. We could do some learning on our own. This new world may be a tough place for a old man and not easy for an older woman either.

                    There is a lot to learn just about melting and thawing. Polar ice in contact with sa water is melting and releasing ancient matter faster than ever.

Just the addition of so much fresh water so quickly causes problems for sea life and even so changes the flow of sea water so much that it causes other climate changes. The matter released includes mercury. Mercury accumulates in plants and animals doing them harm.We eat sea life. Top feeders like humans can get harmed a lot. We can find out what to do about that.

                    Not very long ago, I learned that in shallow seas and in some not so shallow, that there is soil, plant matter, and more which has frozen deeply into the earth at the bottom of the sea. It is subsea permafrost and it is melting, quickly. It has been frozen long and long. That melting permafrost is releasing methane and much else. I don't think the sea will burn, but the gas might as it bubbles to the surface.Among other things being released are co2, virus, bacteria fungus, and heavy metals like mercury. Ancient life is reviving. 

                    The sun shines east and the sun shines west. The sun shines best on that part of the Earth tipped or turned moat toward it. That seems to be us in our northern hemisphere. Although here in the Colombian highlands the sun does shine but its often cold and rainy. All the Earth's climate is affected by our changing relationship with the Sun, bit each part a bit differently. Over time the orientation of the Earth changes; sometimes slowly at other times not so slowly. The tip we are experiencing is one more extreme for a long time. Lucky us. We are having a learning experience.