Not So Apologetic!
Welcome to the apologetics part of my site where I discuss some of my own beliefs and opinions concerning scientific issues of interest to the public. A common theme running through most of the topics covered at http://geologist-1011.net it that of catastrophism. It would seem that in most examples of pseudo-science, a catastrophe is invoked for the purpose of escaping scrutiny. More than being a powerful motivator, fear is a potent decoy and in this sense a powerful method of hiding contradictory evidence and the faults in the logic.
Some notable exceptions to the usual examples of catastrophic pseudo-theory, are the expanding earth theory and the the idea that the next magnetic reversal will end computerised civilisation as we know it. The Expanding Earth Theory was originally invoked to challenge the Plate Tectonics hypotheses that lacked evidence of subduction at the time of this challenge. The idea that a magnetic reversal may end computerised civilisation as we know it, is quite possibly probably wishful thinking on the part of its proponents!
How Deforestation Represents the Largest Anthropogenic CO2 Contribution
This article is a product of my investigation into the media hysteria surrounding global warming. Here, I show how deforestation dwarfs all other anthropogenic contributions to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations combined. This raises questions as to why we have a single-minded media obsession with fossil fuel combustion to the exclusion of what is by far, the biggest anthropogenic contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels? Let's face it, the Amazon basin is now becoming far more accessible to seismic trucks and land drilling rigs than ever before as a direct result of deforestation.
Climate Change Catastrophism: Intellectual Fascism for Science Pretenders.
As a petroleum geologist specialising in sedimentology, I've a a keen fascination with past environments, and palaeoclimate as indicated by aspects of the geological record is a substantial part of that fascination. It was with considerable interest that I observed the debate over global warming as it evolved. Initially, I thought I'd be fortunate enough to witness the first ever scientific assimilation of compound recursive analysis in the pursuit of understanding complex feedback systems such as climate and climate change mechanisms. I was to be bitterly disappointed. Like their Nineteenth Century counterparts, modern Catastrophists are all too keen to ignore the lessons of history. I wonder - I thought it was pretty obvious. Tight reservoirs & oil shales were once seen as our salvation from peak oil. It's just that the pressurisation of tight reservoirs can be a little expensive. With au$500,000,000.00 of government funding being poured into carbon sequestration research, the opportunity to pressurise tight reservoirs at tax-payers expense now avails itself to the petroleum industry.
Greenhouse Effect: An Example of the Legacy of Obsolete Science.
A cornerstone of modern climatology is the Greenhouse Effect. It was defined by Arrhenius more than a century ago as the transformation of light into heat and subsequent entrapment of that heat by the heat impervious bounding medium, such as the atmosphere. Having evolved in the days of aether, when it was considered that there was only one mode of heat transmission, this hypothesis soon fell prey to a simple experiment, conducted by Robert W. Wood in 1909. Not only did Wood's results demonstrate the two modes of heat propagation (proving that the atmosphere is not completely impervious to radiant heat), but his experimental results also proved that Arrhenius' supposed conversion of light into heat did not exist. The best explanation of the atmosphere's tendency to accumulate heat was offered by Gustav Kirchhoff 50 years before Wood. Known as Kirchhoff's Law, the fact that emissivity and absorbtivity of a body are always equal guarantees that a body of lower emissivity than its medium will always have a higher internal temperature than its surroundings at thermal equilibrium and in the presence of incident radiation. This was later quantified by Ludwig Boltzman, in 1884.
Volcanic CO2: The Hole in the Carbon Budget.
Volcanogenic sources of CO2 outpace human industry, producing at least 24 GtCpa; easily three times industrial emission. Given more than three million submarine volcanoes, this comes as no surprise and explains why inland lakes, reservoirs, dams, ponds, pools and aquariums do not acidify while oceans and seas are observed by some authors to do so. There is no magic fingerprint to identify industrial CO2 because volcanic CO2 is isotopically identical, rendering the Suess Effect inapplicable and the diversity of natural oxidation renders the molar ratio of O2 consumed to CO2 produced irrelevant. Moreover, the geographic distribution of recent volcanic activity also explains the more intense Polar Spring melts this decade. Additionally, the balance between photosynthesis and eruption of volcanic carbon dioxide may play the dominant part in determining atmospheric CO2 levels.
Volcanic CFCs: A Matter of Denial.
It is widely accepted that CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) are not volcanic, CFCs are not naturally occuring, and that CFCs are not natural in any way. This popular perception has lead to endeavours as serious as the underpinning of methodology and accusations of error. Yet as it turns out, experimental data and direct scientific measurement have shown on many occasions that CFCs and other halocarbons are not only of human origin but halocarbons and CFCs are naturally occuring as well. Such unfounded and false assumptions raise serious questions about the science behind the Montreal Protocol
The Expanding Earth Alternative to Plate Tectonics Theory
Plate Tectonics is a grand unifying theory setting the framework in which geological activity occurs and defining the specific geological setting from which we may accurately make broad predictions about volcanic geochemistry and behaviour. According to plate tectonics, the crust of the earth is made up of a number of mobile plates, floating on a relatively fluid mantle. These plates are pushed out and away from rift zones where new crust is extruded, and according to plate tectonics, where plates collide, the denser plate generally is forced beneath the lighter plate in a process called subduction. Mountains typically occur along convergent plate boundaries. This plate motion was believed to be caused by mantle convection whereby heat from the earth's core is transferred to the earth's surface. In the formative years of plate tectonics, Professor Carey identified a key weakness in the idea. At the time, there was little if any evidence of subduction occurring as a modern process and Carey suggested that an equally viable idea was that the earth was expanding. Although Carey's mechanisms of earth expansion were equally ephemeral to that of mantle convection, scientific evidence for both convective and subductive processes has since emerged in the results of cosmogenic isotope studies and direct GPS measurement of subduction rates.
Magnetic Reversals: Prognosis for the Biological and Technological Impacts
Several times every million years, the magnetic poles swap places. We know this from the alternation of magnetic particles in strata and bands of rifting crust. Although some have made dire predictions about the biological effect of magnetic reversals, mass extinctions are not correlated with this phenomena. Professor Ian R. Plimer has suggested the possibility that a future magnetic reversal may lead to the end of technology as we know it. However, by calculating the flux from the most rapid magnetic reversal in the geological record and comparing this with more common magnetic phenomena such as solar storms, we can determine that a magnetic reversal poses no risk to computers and electronic equipment.
Matters Beyond Faith: What is Science Anyway?
Science is not the monopoly of the "intelligentsia". We all conduct scientific experiments every day. Science is repeatable, independently verifiable, and as Professor Ian R. Plimer is so fond of saying, science is wed to evidence. What is so hard about that? Yet we have an army of journalists and organisations obsessed with "scientific consensus", a veritable "non-turbulent turbidite" that can only be described as an oxymoron. In fact I'd go as far as saying that the inference that consensus is relevant at all to science is fraudulent in the extreme because it redefines the last standing evidence-based discipline as a meagre political philosophy.
Some Beliefs and Opinions of a Geoscientist
The existence of an all powerful God is a matter of belief which, ironically depends on you. I believe in the human conscience, and recognise no higher authority than that sense of empathy; commonly expressed as the idea that "God is love". See? I do believe in God, I just don't believe in the Assyrian storm god, King Henry VIII, or for that matter the Prime Minister! My politics are centred on equitable individualism; that idea that the only legitimate function of society is equitable safeguarding of individual life and expression; to safeguard such rights & expression as does not relatively disadvantage any individual or group.
Genesis, Possible Origins, Cult Abuse, Irony, & More Mission Analysis.
Telling Lies for God documents an example of the kind of "ends justifying the means" or "the cause is more important than the victims" behaviour of cults. It is also the title of a book by Professor Ian R. Plimer recording the fraudulent basis for Creationism. However, simply bailing out the incoming seawater doesn't patch the hole in the sinking ship. So with a quick look at theological, scientific, and literary rebuttals of Creationism, I'm tempted to ask, "What's in it for the shock troops?"
Fallacy & Style Survey of Several Key Creationist Texts
Further to my obsession with the phenomenon of pseudoscience (pretend-science), I will be surveying the use of deceptions and fallacies in a number of Creationist texts in search of common patterns that can be used to identify fraud independently of evidence verification. Seeing as Tim Ball has had his life threatened by the idiots pushing the Climate Change Catastrophism scam, I'll include for comparison, an analysis of anti-sceptic guide from a science glossy.
