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No, this is Earth, not Mars -not yet |
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The first chapter of this book opens with the stunning revelation that the oxygen content of our atmosphere is declining. The ominous aspect of this decline is that it is greater than the expected decline caused by oxygen 'lock-up' in carbon dioxide. |
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Atmospheric Oxygen Decline
This significantly greater decrease in oxygen than the amount absorbed by carbon (in carbon dioxide) means that the net production of free oxygen (O2) is declining. And this does not come as a surprise, as we have been, and continue to decimate the forests of the Earth (fully 80% of the original complement are now gone), as well as poisoning the algae of the oceans, according to the authors, with chemical pollutants. And terrestrial and marine vegetation are the only sources of the free oxygen there are. There are no other sources; period; that's it - and we're hacking away at them like crazy.
Not surprisingly, and although the authors - John E. Brandenburg Ph.D. and Monica Rix Paxson - come from an entirely differently direction (comparative empirical planetology, rather than fundamental universal laws, as in these pages), they have come to exactly the same conclusions. Our biosphere will collapse in our time - to a lifeless desert Earth - just like Mars. The difference is that Mars' original atmosphere was blown away by a massive planetary impact - whereas in our case, we are in the final stages of busily turning the Earth into a treeless, oxygenless and lifeless desert.
Death By Soda Pop
To the now well known "greenhouse" and other effects, the authors have added another ominous chemical dynamic - one which is new to this author - to the collapse of our biosphere. They call it, somewhat colourfully "Death by Soda Pop". It has happened before, albeit on a much smaller scale. In 1986, 1700 people, and much more livestock, living near Lake Nyos in Cameroon were killed when the lake suddenly released a huge cloud of carbon dioxide, and in effect "burped".
Water readily absorbs carbon dioxide - the 'fizz' in soda pop. So did lake Nyos, in a trapped cold bottom layer under a warm surface layer. Suddenly, without any warning and for no apparent reason, there was a turn-over of the water in the dead of night, and a huge, dense cloud of deadly carbon dioxide sailed over and blanketed the downwind land from the lake. It smothered all living things in its path.
The cold bottom waters of the oceans also store immense amounts of carbon dioxide. The capacity of water to absorb carbon dioxide is greatest at 4 degrees C. And typically, the deep ocean water temperature is 3 degrees C, fed by cold melt water from the arctic which, because it is heavier than warmer water, promptly sinks to the bottom.
Citing this example, the authors suggest that the oceans could "burp" just as lake Nyos did, and suddenly release an immense cloud of concentrated carbon dioxide, when a certain - and still unknown - "threshold" of an as yet unknown factor is reached. It is, most probably and in this writer's view, a matter of "Change & Stabilty Dynamics", and a critical temperature differential between the top and bottom layers.
The authors state that such a deadly planetary "burp" of the oceans would also add immense amounts of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere, which would trigger a "run-away" greenhouse effect, which in turn would destroy all vegetation on Earth with its heat, followed by a plunge to a cold, UVB roasted, lifeless desert planet - just like Mars.
In this writer's view, such an oceanic "burp" can only occur if there is no circulation in the waters of the oceans. Currently, the sinking cold water from the arctic triggers a vast conveyer belt of water from the arctic to the equator, as the sinking cold water draws warm surface water up from the tropics (the sinking water has to be replaced by something). Consequently then, and fairly quickly - in a few weeks - the cold carbon dioxide-laden water reaches the tropics, is drawn up, warms up, and releases much of its cargo of carbon dioxide. Consequently, rather than a stagnant situation of trapped cold water and carbon dioxide, we presently have a constantly cycling flux of water - and of carbon dioxide - from the depths of the arctics to the surface of the equator and release into the atmosphere - and back again.
However, our current greenhouse effect has begun to warm the arctics and its waters, and it is now generally feared among scientists that this will end the temperature differential between arctic and adjacent waters, and consequently terminate the immense "conveyer belt" of cold bottom water towards the equator, as well as the influx of warm tropic waters towards the arctics. This could well result in a more or less stagnant carbon dioxide trap at the colder bottom of the oceans everywhere, and create the conditions for such a planetary oceanic "burp".
Indeed, the authors speculate that the most recent mass extinction on the Earth, about 55 million years ago, was caused by such a planetary "burp" of the Earth's oceans.
Predictions and Remedies
Like this writer, Brandenburg and Rix Paxon also foresee most, and the same inevitable consequences now leading to the collapse of our biosphere, if we blindly continue on our destructive path of eradicating the foundation of the oxygen-rich biosphere in which we and all current life on Earth has evolved. They also offer essentially the same remedies, most of them familiar, although in a somewhat different order of priorities.
John Brandenburg is a plasma physicist, working on cold fusion as a source of abundant energy. Consequently, his solutions put the development of cold fusion in first place, something which does not even show up in these pages, and reforestation in 9th place. We see the massive deforestation of the continents as the primary cause of the "greenhouse" and associated effects and, therefore, have reforestation in first place of our remedies.
Since it was his inspiration for delving deep into the study of Mars - and his consequent discovery of the troubling parallels of the fundamental planetary dynamics of the two planets - Brandenburg may be forgiven for his conjecture that the famous "Face On Mars" is an artefact, or "Martian made", just as the pyramids here on the Earth are man-made. Nevertheless, this inclusion in this book detracts a bit from what would otherwise have far greater impact.
Conclusions
Other than these niggling little distractions - none of us are perfect - the fact remains that this deeply informed and far-seeing stereoscopic comparative analysis of past and current planetary dynamics of Mars and the Earth stands out, in all of science, with its vast visionary scope - something which is, and as yet, the rarest of accomplishments in the sciences. Less than a handful of names with similar far reaching accomplishments, and of crucially vital importance to the survival of our biosphere, of our kind, and of its indispensible fabric of teeming life, stand out in this past century.
In the same vein as Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" - but on a far vaster scale - "Dead Mars, Dying Earth" warns us what lies ahead, if we continue in our blind and ignorant ways. "Dead Mars, Dying Earth" opens our eyes and dispels our ignorance in a lively and easily understood scientific journey between two planets, one dead and lifeless, the other well on its way to the same fate. An absolute 'must read' if we would like our kind and
selves, our children, and our children's children to survive and thrive on this Earth.
Finally, that the conclusions of "Dead Mars, Dying Earth" regarding the fate of our Earth and humanity are exactly the same as the conclusions reached in these pages - despite coming from totally different directions - adds profound and powerful validity to both accounts. This is highly valued in science; the same results from totally different approaches. For this reason, this writer sees these two accounts as powerful complements; one profoundly informs the other, and vice versa.
Peter Weis, author of this web site, July 6th, 2002.
"Dead Mars, Dying Earth", John E. Brandenburg Ph.D & Monica Rix Paxson, The Crossing Press, 1999
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