The Profound Power Of The Natural World Should Humble Us

I have always been interested in the natural sciences. Before my chiropractic course, I took university astronomy, meteorology, physics and cosmology courses. These subjects have always fascinated me, and when travelling, I try to incorporate some of these areas. 

So, I have done astronomy tours on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Broome in Western Australia. Storm chasing has been a part of my travel adventures because I get to see the incredible power of nature.

Ten years ago, when I was in Arizona, my wife and I decided to visit the iconic Barringer Crater. We had been to the Grand Canyon several times on previous occasions, so we missed it this time. 

The Barringer Crater is easy to get to, along I-40 east of Flagstaff. It is probably the most recognizable meteor crater in the world, though not the largest. The meteor is almost a mile across and hit the earth at 26,000 miles per hour 50,000 years ago. The largest meteorite fragment from the collision sits in the visitor museum, open for anyone to touch, and weighs 1600 pounds (727 kilos). The crater is almost a mile across and two and a half miles in circumference. 

The land upon which the crater sits is owned by descendants of Daniel Barringer, an engineer who searched the crater site for mineral riches but found little. The largest meteorite fragment was located 10 miles away; that's how powerful the impact was. The crater's rim is raised and filled with rocks propelled outward from the depths of the impact.

While the Barringer Crater is impressive, it pales in comparison to the Tunguska.

The Tunguska event was the biggest asteroid impact in recorded history

This was believed to be an asteroid that collided with the earth's atmosphere in 1908. The energy it generated was so great that it flattened eight million trees in 830 square miles. The explosion that resulted was detected hundreds of miles away. 

At first, it was believed that it created a local lake. Still, recent evaluation of the sediments in the lake shows that they are much older than those from the event in 1908. So, what happened to the initial fragments remains a mystery.

Krakatoa: The loudest sound in recorded history

The Krakatoa volcano erupted in 1883. The explosion was so loud and heard thousands of kilometres away, even as far as Perth, West Australia. Unfortunately, the violence of the eruption killed more than 36,000 people. The result was also a planet cooling over the following two years.

We like to think of the power of an atomic bomb as being devastating. Still, the Krakatoa explosion was equivalent to 10,000 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

So, we have astronomical and geological events that can devastate our planet. Yet, we go on about how man-made climate change is an existential threat to humanity.

In September 2023, President Joe Biden stated the following at a press conference:

"The only existential threat humanity faces even more frightening than a nuclear war is global warming going above 1.5 degrees in the next 20 — 10 years."

Here is a list of some prognostications by so-called experts that have never resulted:

• America will be subject to water rationing by 1974 and food rationing by 1980. - Dr Paul Ehrlich, Redlands Daily Fact California, October 6 1970

• U. S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming by 2070 - Washington Post, July 9, 1971

• 'No End in Sight' to 30-Year Cooling Trend - New York Times, January 5, 1978

• Maldives completely under water in 30 years - Agence France Press, September 26, 1988

• New York City's West Side Highway underwater by 2019 - Jim Hansen, Salon.com, October 23, 2001

• "Children just aren't going to know what snow is." - Dr David Viner, The Independent, March 20, 2000

• "In five to 10 years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer" - Dr James Hansen, Associated Press, June 24, 2008

• Al Gore predicted the North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice-free in five years. - December 14, 2008, COP 15 Climate Conference

• "Just 96 months to save the world." - Prince Charles, The Independent, July 9, 2009

• "We have fewer than fifty days to save our planet from catastrophe." - Gordon Brown, The Independent, October 20, 2009

• Ice-free Arctic in two years heralds methane catastrophe - Professor Peter Wadhams Nature Journal Paper, The Guardian, July 24, 2013

• US Navy predicts summer ice free Arctic by 2016 - The Guardian, December 9, 2013

Source: RealClimateScience.com

…and the list goes on and on.

It's incredible how many predictions by so-called reputable people have gone awry. Yet, we are turning our whole world upside-down for a climate catastrophe that never occurs. The "experts" got it so wrong with COVID-19, and we're supposed to believe that all the machinations of the climate change crowd are going to alter the climate?

The focus should be on improving the state of the rocket industry because, in some ways, they haven't advanced much from the 1960s. Launching rockets and landing craft on the moon have been beset by some failures in recent times.

You want a viable rocket available in case the next huge asteroid hurtles towards us. If it crashes into the earth, it could drastically alter the climate for years, not to mention the loss of life from such an impact.

We've heard that often repeated statement attributed to several different people. "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and it becomes the truth." Repeating a statement multiple times may result in familiarity, but it may still be wrong.

Unless there is compelling scientific evidence to the contrary, we are being conned, and the rationale, as always, is money and power.