| Listen up. This is very important. The global warming fanatics have fingered rising levels of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - a so-called greenhouse gas alleged to be in the process of shoving the planet in a global microwave and raising sea levels to the point where the world's coastal regions will be submerged.
They blame the rise of CO2, now about 370 parts per million and rapidly climbing, on us evil humans for using fossil fuels, driving SUVs and barbecuing frankfurters on our backyard grills. They ignore the proven fact that over millions of years, every time CO2 levels have risen above 200 parts per million, an ice age has occurred. And in past ice ages, we weren't around to cause the levels to rise. Mother Nature did it on her own, and she doesn't drive an SUV. Some 19,000 of the world's scientists and experts on climatology have signed declarations saying that rising CO2 levels are mankind's fault is garbage - junk science at its worst, and insist that all the available evidence proves their contention.
In fact, the global warmiacs couldn't be further from the truth. As I argued in my January 12 column last month and in my 1997 investigative report, Global Warming or Globaloney, high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are indeed a dire warning that something very unpleasant is about to befall our planet and those of us who reside here, but it has nothing to do with global warming but precisely the opposite - it is both the harbinger and the cause of coming new ice age. Now comes Robert W. Felix who in his book Not by Fire But By Ice - the Next Ice Age Now argues persuasively that it is not global warming but ocean warming that has kicked up the levels of carbon dioxide.
It's not global warming, he writes, it's ocean warming that is pushing CO2 levels through the roof. Moreover, those skyrocketing levels of CO2, are bringing on a new ice age which is sitting at our front door right now. Here's how he puts it: "On a related subject, let me ask you. If today's rising carbon dioxide are caused by humans, then what caused the dramatic rise in CO2 levels at the dinosaur extinction?
"Research shows that there was 'a sudden and dramatic rise' in carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere at the dinosaur extinction of 65 million years ago ... today's rise in CO2 levels can be attributed to our warming oceans. After all, the oceans are known as a carbon dioxide "sink," especially when tthe water is cold.
"But as the water warms up, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere. This happens in much the same way that a warm bottle of home-brewed root beer will release CO2. And if you give that CO2 no way to escape, the bottle will explode. We've got it backwards. We've got cause and effect in reverse. The CO2 is not causing global warming. Instead, our warming oceans are releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. It's not global warming, it's ocean warming, and it's leading us into an ice age." According to Felix, the oceans are warming as the result of widespread underwater volcanic activity which he thoroughly documents is happening. He adds that "We’ve forgotten that this isn’t the first time our seas have warmed. Sea temperatures also shot upward 10º to 18ºF just prior to the last ice age. As the oceans warmed, evaporation increased. The excess moisture then fell to the ground as giant blizzards, giant storms and floods (Noah's Deluge type floods), and a new ice age began."
And he warns, "The same thing is happening today. Underwater volcanic activity in the Arctic Ocean far stronger than anyone ever imagined!
"German-American researchers have discovered more hydrothermal activity at the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean than anyone ever imagined.
"The Gakkel ridge is a gigantic volcanic mountain chain stretching beneath the Arctic Ocean. With its deep valleys 5,500 meters beneath the sea surface and its 5,000 meter- high summits, Gakkel ridge is far mightier than the Alps."
"Two research icebreakers, the 'USCGC Healy' from USA and the German 'PFS Polarstern,' recently joined forces in the international expedition AMORE (Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition). In attendance were scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and other international institutions.
"The scientists had expected that the Gakkel ridge would exhibit "anemic" magnetism. Instead, they found "surprisingly strong magmatic activity in the West and the East of the ridge and one of the strongest hydrothermal activities ever seen at mid-ocean ridges."
"The Gakkel ridge extends about 1800 kilometers beneath the Arctic Ocean from north of Greenland to Siberia, and is the northernmost portion of the mid-ocean ridge system."
"To their surprise, the researchers found high levels of volcanic activity. Indeed, magmatism [extremely hot magma flowing fron eruptions] was "dramatically" higher than expected.
"Hydrothermal hot springs on the seafloor were also far more abundant than predicted.
"We expected this to be a hydrothermally dead ridge, and almost every time our water measurement instrument came up, they showed evidence of hydrothermal activity, and once we even 'saw' an active hot spring on the sea floor," said Dr. Jonathan Snow, the leader of the research group from Munich's Max Planck Institute in a 2003 press release.
Researchers found "Naturally occurring bubbles of liquid carbon dioxide were observed rising from the ocean floor, according to the Associated Press. "For the first time ever, scientists using a camera-equipped submarine have been able to witness an undersea volcano during an eruptive episode.
"Exploring the ocean floor in an area known as the Mariana Trench, last year researchers found bubbles of liquid carbon dioxide being released into the sea, enlarging up to a thousand times and turning to gas as they drifted upward." El Niño is related to ocean warming "Ice ages looked like El Niño" according to the July 12, 2002 issue of Nature. "During past ice ages," the article says, "the tropical Pacific Ocean behaved rather as it does today in an El Niño event ...Shifts between warm and cool global average temperatures look like super El Niños." Our seas, heated by underwater volcanism, are leading us directly into the next ice age . . . and we don’t even know it. "That's what El Niño is all about. Warmer seas send excess moisture into the sky, leading to increased precipitation.
"Worldwide flood activity is the worst since before Christopher Columbus. In Poland, it's the worst in several thousand years. In the U.S., precipitation has increased by more than 20 percent just since 1970. This is no coincidence. "When that precipitation begins falling in the winter, you have the makings of an ice age." The book is an easy read, even though it is crammed full of technical detail which he manages to explain even to scientific dunderheads like me. He goes into great detail, for example in explaining why a reversal of the earth's magnetic field helps cause ice ages, as it has in all past ice age onsets, and points out that all previous magnetic reversals were preceded by declining geomagnetic field intensity which is falling. "During the past 2,000 years geomagnetic field intensity has plummeted more than 50 percent. Five percent of that decrease occurred in the past 100 years "- a sign he writes, experts warn may be a precursor to a new reversal attempt.
Felix emphasizes that the record proves that we are on on the verge of the onset of a new ice age. "Ice ages begin and end abruptly every 11,500 years. First comes an enormous flood, a Noah's Deluge type of flood, which ends the previous ice age. The comes a period of warmth similar to today's ... which lasts about 11,500 years. Then the next ice age begins - catastrophically. "That 11,500 year cycle of warmth followed by an ice age has returned like clockwork for millions of years. To hope it won't happen again just because humans now inhabit this planet would be wishful thinking." On his website www.iceagenow.com Felix tracks the number of incidents building up to the onset of an ice age including charting current underwater volcanic eruptions heating the oceans, rainfall (think California), temperature, and earthquake records now being broken.
He emphasizes over and over again that the onset of an ice age is both sudden and violent, lasting about 20 years and anyone paying attention to what is happening to our planet will understated that we are probably somewhere in that 20-year period now. When it ends, huge numbers of us will go extinct, just as did the dinosaurs, and as rapidly and as violently. Let me recap: Felix has demonstrated convincingly that rising levels of CO2 are the result of ocean warming, not because of human activities, and that high levels of CO2 cause vastly increased precipitation which results in vastly increased snowfall in moderate temperature zones and in the polar regions which in turn brings on ice ages. In short, he has told us the reason why CO2 levels have gone through the roof, what caused those levels to increase and what the result will be. Anyone who reads this blockbuster of a book and pays attention to his regularly updated website will understand just what we face, and will come away with a feeling of absolute contempt for those politically inspired global warming advocates who are lulling many of our fellow human beings into dangerous complacency. The threat is here; the threat is now. Let me close with something I wrote last month: "If the current geological holocaust now underway is the result of a natural cycle - in this case as I argue in my study another needed regeneration of the planet, it's not an act of God but an act of nature. Sure God - the author of nature could put a stop to it, but it could well be that He wants us to sit up and take notice - to use the disasters to warn us to straighten up and fly right while there's still time - bad times are a'commin and we had better be ready spiritually. "We're on notice. Christ told us that those with eyes better see, and those with ears better hear. We had better keep our eyes and ears open. Time's a'wastin."
Deus exaudi nos |
The coming of the next ice age, June 30, 2002
Moreover its surprisingly active volcanism could include a field of undersea vents, ("black smokers") which could in turn support previously unknown species of marine life, reporters have been told.
"We found more hydrothermal activity on this cruise than in 20 years of exploration on the mid-Atlantic Ridge" said Charles Langmuir, co-chief scientist on Healy from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) at Columbia University. 