We are in the Anthoropocene Epoch

The following time line after the table is of earth's average temperature since the last ice age, to see the time line in full size click here.  The importance of this time line is two fold. First it clearly shows the past fluctations in climate temperature, against the fluctuations we are seeing today. Second it demonstrates that we have not only created and entered into a new "Epoch" but we are deep into this era call the Anthropocene period. This is a geological age create and governed by human activity, as the timeline demonstrates, scientist are now trying to pin point the date the Epoch began.

This Anthropocene Epoch speaks not just to the things we are experiencing such as air pollution or the warming climate, but to the more serious crisis of earth's systems changing to the point were it could become unihabitable for human beings and civilization as we know it.

A Timeline of Earth's Average Temperature

Anthropocene Working Group Reports to IGC

The following summary was released just before Dr. Colin Waters of the British Goelogical Survey began the AWG's report to the International Geological Congress on Monday, August 29th, 2016.

Majority current opinion on the group indicates the following:

• The Anthropocene concept, as articulated by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000, is geologically real.  The phenomenon is of sufficient scale to be considered as part of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart, more commonly known as the Geological Time Scale.

• Majority AWG opinion is for assignation as an Epoch/Series.  This option is preferred over either a lower rank (e.g. Age/Stage, i.e. as a subdivision of the Holocene) or a higher rank such as a Period or Era.  In such a step, and in common with all other geological time units, the Anthropocene would comprise both a 'pure time' unit (an Anthropocene Epoch) and an equivalent unit of strata (an Anthropocene Series).

• If the Anthropocene is adopted as an Epoch, this would mean that the Holocene has terminated, but that we remain within the Quaternary Period and Cenozoic Era.

• Human impact has left discernible traces on the stratigraphic record for thousands of years -- indeed, since before the beginning of the Holocene.  However, substantial and approximately globally synchronous changes to the Earth System most clearly intensified in the 'Great Acceleration of the mid-20th century.  The mid-20th century also coincides with the clearest and most distinctive array of signals imprinted upon recently deposited strata.

• Hence, the mid-20th century represents the optimal beginning of a potential Anthropocene Epoch (and, simultaneously, the base of the Anthropocene Series).

• Changes to the Earth System that characterize the potential Anthropocene Epoch include marked acceleration to rates of erosion and sedimentation, large-scale chemical perturbations to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements, the inception of significant change to global climate and sea level, and biotic changes such as unprecedented levels of species invasions across the Earth.   Many of these changes are geologically long-lasting, and some are effectively irreversible.

• These and related processes have left an array of signals in recent strata, including plastic, aluminium and concrete particles, artificial radionuclides, changes to carbon and nitrogen isotope patterns, fly ash particles, and a variety of fossilizable biological remains.  Many of these signals will leave a permanent record in the Earth's strata.

• The Anthropocene beginning might conceivably be defined by a Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA), i.e. a numerical age that can be expressed as a calendar date such as 1945.  Or more, conventionally it could be defined by a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), which is more colloquially a 'golden spike', and is a physical reference point in strata at one carefully selected place.  Majority opinion on the AWG is to seek and choose a candidate GSSP, as this is the most familiar and widely accepted method of defining geological time units.

• The AWG has already begun the process of identification of potential GSSPs, by initial analysis of the general environments in which the best combinations of stratigraphic signals may be found (e.g. undisturbed lake or marine sediments, annually banded coral skeletons, polar snow/ice layers, speleothems and so on).

• This will lead to selection of sites for sampling and further analysis, to provide full descriptions of relevant signals in the strata, a process that we hope will lead to the identification of one or more suitable candidate sites for a GSSP.  We would hope to complete this process over the next 2-3 years.

• This would then form the basis for the preparation of a formal proposal, to our immediate parent body, the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), on defining a formal Anthropocene unit.  If the SQS recommends this by supermajority vote, the proposal will go on to its parent body, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) to be voted on, with any vote in favour still needing to be ratified by the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

• If all of these conditions can be fulfilled, then the Anthropocene would become a formal part of the Geological Time Scale.

Results of AWG Vote (35 members):

• Is the Anthropocene stratigraphically real?  For: 34, Against: 0, Abstain: 1

• Should the Anthropocene be formalised?  For:30, Against: 3, Abstain: 2

• Hierarchical level of the Anthropocene?  Era: 2, Period: 1.5, Epoch: 20.5, Sub-epoch: 1, Age: 2, Sub-age: 0, None: 1, Uncertain: 3, Abstain: 4

• Base/beginning of the Anthropocene ? ~7ka: 0, ~3ka: 1.3, 1610 Orbis: 0, ~1800: 0, ~1950: 28.3, ~1964: 1.3, Diachronous: 4, Uncertain: 0, Abstain: 0

• GSSA .v. GSSP?  GSSP: 25.5, GSSA: 1.5, Uncertain: 8

• What is the Primary Signal?  aluminium: 0,  plastic: 3, fuel ash particles: 2, carbon dioxide concentration: 3, methane concentration: 0, carbon isotope change: 2, oxygen isotope change: 0, radiocarbon bomb spike: 4, Plutonium fallout: 10, Nitrate concentration / nitrogen isotope change: 0, Biostratigraphic: extinction/ assemblage change: 0, Other (lead, persistent organic pollutants, technofossils): 3, Uncertain: 2, Abstain: 6.

Guy McPherson Says We Are all Dead

Guy McPherson

Guy McPherson is a professor emeritus of natural resources, ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. At one time he believed if we put all our resources behind transitioning to renewable energy the planet might be saved. His view now is we are all in palliative care without any hope of being saved. In fact, he sees mankind going in extinct in 2060 through not only will we run out of food and water. The exponentially progressive and irreversible climate changes will increase that will increase in veracity, and will be irreversible as there is a lag of 40 years before the effects of carbon emissions kick in and they will create self-reinforcing feedback loops. So effectively today we are experiencing the impact of the carbon releases of the 70s before we accelerated the emissions significantly.
What are these feedback loops? One is the warming of the permafrost which releases methane, not carbon, which is 80 times more damaging to the climate than CO2. Hugh sinkholes and fissures are opening up in Russia that are exhausting this methane into the atmosphere. In 2010 these fissures were metres wide, today they are kilometres wide.
There are many other climate change impacts that were unknown but now are appearing:
- fountains of methane gas, some a kilometre wide, rising to the surface from the seabed in the Artic.
- Greenlands ice is darkening accelerating the melt of these glaciers.
- Forest fires that are on the increase emit CO2 but unlike normal CO2 emissions the particles emitted are coated soot that focuses sunlight and increases light absorption and therefore heat.
- As sea ice formation recedes in the Artic, more heat is transferred to the open body of water, warming the Artic.
He is not the only one sounding the alarm.
- Record floods from Canada and Russia send large pulses of silty water into the Artic waters turning the water brown, and warming the waters and increasing the melt rate of ice.
- The warming Artic causes the Jet Stream to slow down, this intern creates more extreme weather in the Northern Hemisphere such as droughts, flooding, cold spells and heat waves.
- The presence of white ice reflects heat, but as the ice greys and melts more heat is absorbed further warming the Artic more rapidly.

Poking a Beast with a Sharp Stick 

Image Courtesy CLIVAR

Wallace Broecker one of the world's leading geoscientist and oceanographers characterises climate as an animal capable of acting in unpredictable ways. "If you're living with an angry beast, you shouldn't poke it with a sharp stick," he says. He sounded the alarm in the 70s when he explained how the conveyor belt flow of the oceans could be changed with brutal consequences. His thermohaline circulation system (THC) demonstrated how all the oceans of the world are connected and these connections stabilise the climate by circulating heat. Any change in either temperature or salinity could have an impact on this system. These changes are now with us with CO2 and methane heating up the atmosphere causing massive melts of fresh water at the poles. In addition to this hotter temperatures could cause moisture that normally falls on continental areas to rise to higher altitudes only to rain on ocean bodies.

To Put it in Biblical Terms.

There is an interesting prophecy in 2 Peter 3 which basically says that the earth was flooded in times past but the future destruction of the earth will be by fire.
2 Peter 3:3-7 (NIV) states: ‘First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and with water. By water also, the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.’
The difference here is this destruction by fire is being accelerated by mankind. One has only to look at the extreme fire events that are happening further and further north, into areas that are not usually subject to extended seasons of wildfires, to see the impact climate change is halving on forest fires. These forest fires are not only unseasonably early but enormous in size and putting immense amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Climate Change Will be a Never Ending Plague

A plague is a horrific event that kills indiscriminately and decimates populations, fortunately, they usually have a beginning and end. Climate change, unfortunately, may have the killing effects of a plaque but not the end point, it will likely go on killing with no real end in sight. Here is what the leading scientists around the world are saying.
1. In the United States scientist have projected that extremely hot and cold days brought on by climate change will impact 33 large US cities, and significant increases in mortality rates will occur.
2. Climate change mortality from extreme weather, especially cold extremes, is on the rise worldwide and there is a large difference between deaths that occur during normal weather and extreme weather. This will only increase as the impacts of what we have done to date continue to change the climate. Studies of the changes in mortality rates in Europe demonstrate this as well.
3. There is "growing evidence that demonstrates that climatic conditions can have a profound impact on the functioning of modern human societies." "...unmitigated warming is expected to reshape the global economy by reducing the average global income roughly by 23% by 2100..."
4. The warming of the oceans in Australia is worsening Queensland's floods claiming more lives, homes, and billions of dollars damage.
5. Increase atmospheric CO2 has reduced Australians river flows by 28 percent, straining local water resources.
6. The scientific evidence to date tells us man's impact on the climate has created higher CO2 levels, temperatures, sea levels, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, wildfires, ocean acidity, ocean heat content and atmospheric humidity.

Florida Is Even More Screwed Than We Thought

The US Army Corps of Engineers studying the problems brought on by climate change in Florida have suggested up to eight times as much flooding in the Miami-Dade county by 2045. They predict a 10-inch rise by 2030, and it is already impacting the area. The report also says 10,000 miles of coastline from North Carolina to the Mississippi is being impacted. 

Florida, America’s lowest-lying state, faces dire predictions thanks to the accelerated melting of the world’s ice sheets. But a new study says this future is coming sooner and faster than previously predicted, prompting a major survey by the US Army Corps of Engineers to shore up the state’s most vulnerable regions.

Another report on the North Atlantic Coast demonstrates similar issues and outlines extensive structural changes that need to be made to the coastline to deal with the flooding risks brought on by climate change.

A municipal park in Coral Gables, Florida is underwater at high tide. Image by QT Luong/terragelleria.com

In Florida, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported using Engineering Corp data that the Miami-Dade County’s communities would face 380 high-tide flood events per year. These floods would extend throughout the area bringing normal life to a standstill at times. In the end parts of the state would be rendered unusable perhaps up to one-fifth of the urban land in the state. Some estimate this permanent loss at 6.4 billion, which does not include the damage to power plants, drinking water, and many more severe problems.

Are Scientist Silenced?

Let me first say that among scientists who have been trying for years to warn us about climate change that they are an embattled lot and very sceptical about how much they can speak out. Often they are not eager to take on a discussion if they think it might bring on further denial attacks. In otherwords they have been silenced to some degree by the news media and some political parties.
The question is are the other scientist, despite the negative feedback, being irresponsible in not spelling out more clearly to the layman the real dangers we are facing? If a Doctor thought you might be dying it would be communicated in very clear terms to the patient, why does this not occur with the scientific community?
Another good question to ask is why are we not panicking and fully resourcing a solution to this problem? If we looked at climate change the same way we looked at terrorism, which is killing statistically a minimal amount of people compared to climate change, there would be a lot more resources directed to transitioning our energy.
How long will the scientist wait before they start ringing alarm bells with the veracity that it needs to be rung;  after all scientific studies linking climate change to fossil fuels were written in 1847?

Norway to Ban Gas Cars by 2025

Norway, despite the regressive views, of other countries like Canada and the US, is pushing toward a 21st-century energy economy. Their most recent move is to put forward legislation to ban the sale of gas cars by 2025. They are hoping by that year 100 percent of their cars will be running on clean energy, currently, 24 per cent of their cars run on electricity. In addition to this, they will commit themselves to zero deforestation.
Currently 99 percent of Norway's energy is produced by hydropower and they will be trippling their wind power capacity over the next 4 years.

The Nightmare of Nuclear Energy

In March of 2011 an earthquake in Japan sent in play a tsunami, not an uncommon occurance in the Pacific Ocean, that began the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the planet. Unlike Chernobyl which was a land and air based release of massive amounts of radiation, Fukushima also released and is still releasing massive amounts of radiation into the Pacific ocean. In Chernobyl's case the world received a significant increase in radiation amount to 21 additional days of normal radiation, but Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Norway Bulgaria, Switzerland, Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Moldova and many other surrounding countries were contaminated by weather systems and radioactive rain. This radiation among other things caused increased mutations in animals and human beings and has contaminated much of the foods in these countries. In the case of Fukushima not only did the release into the air set off monitoring stations around the world but it sent a radioactive plume into the Pacific ocean that is spreading at an alarming rate.

Complete Meltdown of the Core

As a result of the tsunami three nuclear cores went into meltdown, in fact a 100% meltdown! This means a molten core or corium is missing under the containment devices that failed. It is unknown  whether or not it is continuing to bury into the ground. If is is travelling underground what are the implications for the ground water and the release of these waters into the Pacific. Currently the Japanese government is claiming they have the situation under control, which runs contrary to the opinion of experts and even the previous Prime Minister who says the current governments statements are "a lie." In otherwords, the contamination continues to be out of control.

How Permanent is the land Contamination

The big problem with nuclear plant disasters is that the damage or contamination is effectively permanent. The area evacuated around the Chernobyl plant will continue to be uninhabitable for hundreds and hundreds of years. Currently the rivers in the Fukashima area have radiation levels over 200 times higher than it should be. The river bank samples measure at 29,800 Bq/kg for radioceasium, when safe drinking water threasholds are set at 200 Bq/kg. Even in the estuaries that lie 90 km north of the reactor the levels are measured at 6,500 Bq/kg and this is only 5 years after the accident. Furthermore setting up a containment area does not prevent water, weather, plant and animal migration of the containation outside of the area. In fact nuclear reactor accidents are like being contaminated by the dropping of a nuclear bomb.

Nuclear Energy should be Banned

Given the enourmous dangers inherit in the use of nuclear energy, the inadequate methods of storing spent fuel and the availability of clean alternatives, many countries are moving to ban the use of this form of energy. Austia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Philippines, Sweden and Switzerland are all moving to phase out nuclear energy. In the Netherlands, Europe, Australia, Asia, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and the US either discussions of a ban are under way or they have strong anti nuclear movements putting pressure on the government.

To quote The Guardian's article. "The inherent risk in the use of nuclear energy, as well as the related proliferation of nuclear technologies, can and does have a disastrous consequences. The only certain way to eleimate this potentially devastaing risk is to phase out nuclear power altogether." The article goes on to talk about the gross under estimates the industry puts forward for construction, operation, decomission and storage of contaminated materials, which suggests that this energy may be one of the most expensive in the world.

Pivots Toward Geothermal to Save Big Money

In places, all around the world cities and cantons are dismissing the myths around geothermal energy, perpetuated by the fossil fuel industries and other pundits, and setting about the production of clean renewable energy that will save them millions. One obvious beneficiary of this transition is Kenya who has cut the energy cost in half and is now seeing geothermal energy as an exportable commodity. Then there is Iceland who has used it to heat and power their cities as well as stop any further expansion of hydro dams.

Roma Queensland Embraces Geothermal

Now in Roma Queensland, they are proposing to build a geothermal plant that should save the Maranoa council  $20 million dollars over 20 years.

A diagram explaining how geothermal energy is turned into electricity. Photo: A diagram explaining how geothermal energy is turned into electricity. (Wikimedia Commons: Energy.gov)

This south-west Queensland council says plans to build two clean energy plants at a cost of 3 million dollars, that will power all of its city assets. The savings, of course, may, in fact, be greater as energy prices are constantly rising and there is also always pressure to bring down operating costs.
In addition to this facility nearby a 2.3 million solar panel farm in underway covering three square kilometres.

Canton Vaud to Getting 2/3 of its Heating from Geothermal

In Geneva and canton, Vaud studies have confirmed great geothermal heating potential. These resources would allow the canton to heat two-thirds of households in the region.

Geneva, Switzerland (source: Flickr, Dennis Jarvis, creative commons)

Vibrator trucks, for the past two years, have been mapping the geothermal capacity of the region.  This exploration has identified five very conducive heat zones at the medium depth which could be exploited at a minimal cost. It is expected that the next phase involving drilling will start next year.
They are very optimistic that the geothermal reserves can be developed to heat and cool buildings using local resources in an environmentally friendly way. It will also significantly reduce the region's reliance on foreign fossil fuels and save a great deal of money.
It is also anticipated that deeper drilling to create wells for geothermal electrical production could follow the initial exploitation for heating purposes.

First Commercial Geothermal Power from Oil and Gas Well

In the Western North Dakota, the first commercial began producing electrical energy from in late April from an oil and gas well. Although initially the thought is to offset the cost of having to install transmission lines, it will not be long before they many need to do this to deliver power to the grid from the wells. The potential for oil wells to produce renewable clean energy to the grid is completely untapped at the moment.

Oil wells in North Dakota (source: Flickr Tim Evanson, creative commons)

This technology uses the hot fluid, a by-product of oil, gas, and other material harvesting processes. Low-temperature geothermal resources between 66 and 148 degrees Celsius are widely available through these wells. In addition, wells could be drilled simply to run geothermal plants. Through this 100-year-old technology, electrical installations throughout North America could become a significant if not sole power source for our electical energy needs.  This would be extremely desirable as geothermal is emission-free, renewable, the lowest environmental footprint on our landscape and the cheapest form of energy on the planet.

San Francisco law requires new buildings to be topped with solar panels

Although San Francisco's law requires all new buildings below 10 stories to have solar panels installed on their rooftops. Which will hopefully make these buildings "net zero" if they also require the battery storage to facilitate this transition. What they have not done is addressed the buildings higher than 10 stories which are a much greater environmental problem not only from an energy standpoint but a waste management perspective (the higher the building the lower the recycling rate). What the city needs to do is pass another law requiring all buildings over 10 stories to be net zero. This is not difficult to do if you combine solar, passive energy systems, and geothermal heating and cooling systems into the building.

The CIS Tower in Manchester, England was clad in PV panels at a cost of £5.5 million. It started feeding electricity to the National Grid in November 2005.

The CIS tower in England integrated photovoltaic (PV) cells into its facade and now generates approximately 180,000 kWh (average of 20 kW) of electricity per year. The work was completed by Arup and at that time was the largest commercial solar façade in Europe. Out of sight on the roof are 24 wind turbines generating 10% of the tower's electricity. This could be a model that could be used in San Fransico.

San Fransico with its new law joins other countries such as India and Dubai where cities are passing similar laws. They should be congratulated on getting this far, even though there is much more work to be done.

Fresh Food Grown in the North Using Geothermal Resources

The Fridheimar geothermal greenhouse in Reykdal, Iceland uses geothermal heating to run its greenhouse. One source of geothermal heating is directly from geothermal wells and the other is the hot water from the geothermal plants. In both cases, fresh fruit and vegetables can be grown in the most northerly regions. In the case of this greenhouse, they are specializing in tomatoes.

Fridheimar greenhouse, Iceland (source: Flickr/ Christophe PINARD, creative commons)

In other greenhouses in Iceland, they have also been able to produce bananas. Many of their greenhouse operations are still developing expertise as they have only recently started looking at the grow lights use in the production of marijuana which they hope will improve production. These lights would be powered by the clean energy coming from the geothermal electric plants.

Russ Finch holds up half of a Cara Cara orange grown in his geothermal greenhouse in Alliance, Neb.
Courtesy of Grant Gerlock/Harvest Public Media

In the United States Midwest where the winter is long and cold, there are geothermal greenhouses producing fresh fruit and vegetables. In Nebraska, there is a geothermal greenhouse operator who is growing oranges, figs, lemons, grapefruits, and grapes. The greenhouse cost $22,000 to build and cost a $1 a day to operate its electrical fan system. The operator Russ Finch suggests a number of advantages: the land he is using is cheaper than traditional growing areas, there are no shipping costs, the produce is fresher and no burning of fossil fuel to transport over long distances.
In Southern Alberta, Canada town councils are partnering with a company to create geothermal greenhouses that will provide the community with jobs, year-round fresh produce, and also an indoor community garden. The company initially will build 20 acres of greenhouses, over shallow geothermal zones that have temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees Celcius. The company hopes to build out over time 70 greenhouse facilities in Southern Alberta. All operation on the cheapest cleanest energy on the planet
Geothermal allowing us to grown fresh food in the coldest of winters, with no carbon footprint and it is a major break though in food production which boosts local economies with jobs and providing increased food security.