Petroleum Truths and Global Warming, etc.

This is from an e-mail I sent to a friend who is, basically, a teabagger who doesn't believe in global warming. He just found out about a theory of petroleum, that it is made deep in the earth,m and not by biological processes. He seemed to think this would now solve all our problems)

Yes, this discovery(that petroleum in not formed from decaying plant and animal matter under pressure, but instead is made deep in the earth under high heat and pressure)is heartening, but it is hardly new - Whitley Strieber discussd it years ago. This doesn't mean we are saved, and we can start burning the stuff with abandon. Heres why:

1. As stated in your memo, we are too efficient at withdrawing it from the ground. Just like fields of corn or hay have to lay fallow for a season, for the earth to replenish its nutrients, an oil field needs to lay fallow for a while, to allow the seepage from deep under to replenish the reserves. This fact alone would slow down world production.

2. We cannot, with present technology, drill 60 miles down. There was a project in the 1960's, called Project Mohole, named for the Mohovicic Discontinuity. Using an untethered ship as a drilling platform, they went through 11,700 feet of ocean water, and managed to drill down 601 feet below the ocean floor, before the drills were stopped by layers of basalt. The crust is thinnest under the oceans - and there's no way we're going really deep anytime soon. On land, the crust is thicker, and at great depths, heat from the interior will damage and deform drills. We're not gonna be swimming in oil from great depths. Face it.

3. The use of petroleum as fuel is one of the main factors for the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, along with water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. It is in fact essential to the earth's ecosystem, as the earth's surface would be, on average, 59 degrees colder than present without it. It comprises .038% of the atmosphere by volume. Since the beginning of the Age of Industrialism, the percentage of CO2 has risen by more than 35%.
Besides adding to global warming, it is a threat to the oceans. The oceans can safely absorb about 50% of the carbon dioxide, but they reach a saturation point, and carbonic acid is formed, which lowers the Ph of the oceans, acidifying them, which in turn dissolves calcium in the shells and bones of sea creatures, along with coral.
a. CO2 is a waste product. It is essential for photosynthesis, but is harmful to humans above a certain concentration. 1% causes drowsiness. 7-10% cause dizziness, headaches, visual and hearing impairment, unconsciousness in 5 - 10 minutes. Death then ensues, if the human is not removed from the CO2. In 1984, 37 people died when a huge gas bubble of CO2 erupted from the depths of the volcanic Lake Monoun in Cameroon. In 1986, 1700 died, along with all other animal life, when the same thing happened to Lake Nyons, also in Cameroon. To those anti climate-changers - if you think CO2 is so harmless, how about sitting in a box, with CO2 at 8% concentration, and see how long you last? Again, it's a waste product - you wouldn't drink your urine, or eat your excrement, would you? You don't want more of this stuff in the atmosphere! Look at Venus - its runaway greenhouse is from massive amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, which has raised surface temps on the planet to greater than 800 degrees.

b. Yet, CO2 has many valuable and essential industrial applications, and even provides the fizz in soft drinks. It's a good/bad dichotomy.

c. Anti-climate changers are crowing about the "demise" of of greenhouse warming, as "evidenced" by the cold winter and massive snowfalls in eastern US and Western Europe. In fact, this follows the climate model in The Day After Tommorrow. Warming has accelerated the glacial melt from Greenland and the Canadian arctic islands. This massive amount of freshwater sits on the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean. Fresh water is much lighter than regular, salty seawater. It refuses to sink. The whole climate belt, the machine that warms the east coast and Britain and Western Europe by the Gulf Stream, is coming to a screeching halt. Normally, cold water up north sinks to the ocean bottom and slowly travel down to the Tropics, where the water is heated, and is forced north, into the Gulf Stream, where it warms Europe, then slowly cools, sinks down in great colums of water miles across, where the process continues. Now, however, It is stopping, for the fresh water doesn't sink, and the whole "belt" is nearly stopped. No warm Gulf Stream, no mild climates in Britain and West Europe, or the east coast, either. Temperatures drop, erratic weather increases, and winters get worse - from GLOBAL WARMING!!!


4. Most of the reserves of petroleum that we can get at are in the hands of countries totally inimical to the US. We are held hostage by these countries because of our excessive reliance and consumption of petroleum for fuels. There are many alternatives to increased petroleum use - including, wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, fuel cells, etc., as I already outlined in a previous communication. Of course, even if we totally stopped using petroleum as a fuel source, we would still need it for fertilizers, medicines, dyes, plastics, etc. Or would we? Almost all of these can be synthesized from plant sources - in fact. Henry Ford once made a Model T completely out of hemp and hemp products - including plastics, "leather", fabrics, paint, rubber, fuel in the tank, etc. To tell the truth - Petroleum is a dangerous and expensive luxury we don't really need!!



So, don't break out the champagne and party hats just yet. I hope the theory is true = but even if it is, it's not our salvation. John