How Realistic is Ocean Front Property in Arizona?

Posted on February 27, 2014 by mastadonzq

How Realistic is Ocean Front Property in Arizona?

Due to the melting of the polar caps and the various land-based glaciers all over the world, many islands across the globe are in jeopardy of being submerged. This isn’t a “could happen” scenario as Indonesia has already lost more than 20 of its 1500 islands since 2005. It is also projected that the Maldives will be nothing more than a tropical memory by 2050. As these levels continue to rise, could there really be ocean-front property in Arizona within the next century?

Elevation Matters – Arizona’s mean altitude is 4100 feet above sea level. According to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the levels have been rising at 0.12 inches per year since 1992. However, it has been reported that this has been a 50-percent increase since the recorded levels of the early 1900s. If the sea levels were to continue at just over one-tenth of an inch per year, it would take 410,000 years in order to submerge Arizona. That also is based on a formula assuming that there is no further increase.

Compounded Problems – At the current rate of melting, NOAA is predicting that the water levels will actually rise by six and one-half feet by 2100. This is a calculation based on the exponential rise of the levels over a period of time. This means that the water will rise approximately 83-percent faster than the 0.12 inches per year as stated above. At that rate, Arizona could become a shore-line state in 69,700 years – plenty of time to pack your sunscreen and surfboard.

Melting Polar Caps – When you see an iceberg in the ocean, it may not look very intimidating at first. When you realize that most of these chunks of ice hide 80-percent of their mass underwater, then you can get a better idea of how large they truly are. This inspires the term, “only the tip of the iceberg.” Although this mass displaces the ocean water around it, it’s also fresh water that is contained within those behemoths. When you consider how much ice was at the North and South poles of this planet that is an incredible amount of fresh water being added to the oceans. This doesn’t include the ancient glaciers that are land-based such as those found in Peru, Alaska and Canada.

Fresh Water Induction – Added large amounts of fresh water to the ocean causes changes in how the currents react. In the movie, “The Day After Tomorrow,” this caused massive storms to populate in a matter of days. In reality, that scenario isn’t far from the truth. According to RealClimate.org, there is scientific evidence to support that the Gulf Stream currents have been reduced by 30-percent. These oceanic streams assist in the weather patterns that can be felt globally. This isn’t including the fact that fresh water puts strain on fish and plant life including decreasing overall buoyancy.

Human Made or Natural Evolution? – There is great debate about the ice-melt as being human made or just natural evolution of the planet. We have scientific evidence that can provide stability for either argument. Scientific discoveries have shown humanity that there have been as many as five ice ages in the past 2.4 billion years. Every two to three hundred million years, the conditions are ripe for the planet to essentially freeze itself. Could the melting of the global ice sheets contribute to hastening our next ultimate winter by altering the weather patterns?

Currently, Arizona is safe from becoming a port city. Although the rising sea levels could displace more than 180,000 families by the end of the century, the state’s sheer altitude provides a great deal of protection. As long as the San Andreas doesn’t snap and sink California, Arizona residents won’t have to worry about donning flood pants.

Ken Myers is a father, husband, and entrepreneur. He has combined his passion for helping families find in-home care with his experience to build a business. Learn more about him by visiting @KenneyMyers on Twitter.

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Will Water Be a Commodity More Sought After then Gold?

Posted on December 18, 2013 by mastadonzq

Hollywood has done a decent job keeping us entertained over the years. Futuristic movies have grasped out imagination with tales of how water is scarce and survival after an apocalypse is anything but ideal. However, how much content from those movies are purely imaginative considering the world wide events of today? Will the world’s supply of fresh water become as precious to us as gold and oil?

Glaciers
For the inhabitants near glacier parks, as well as providing fresh water to rivers that span hundreds of miles, the reality of no water is a fact of life. Across the globe, glaciers are melting at an incredible rate pouring greater amounts of water into the oceans. This has, in turn, increased the sea levels at a rapid pace. Within our lifetime, island cities such as the Maldives will be submerged as could be several areas of Florida and other coastal states and cities. In Peru, 1600 years’ worth of ice has melted in less than three decades. How much more will we lose as a species before preventative measures are taken?

Rain Forests
Rain forests are more important than merely providing a habitat for the creatures that live within them. Each year, rains produced within the forests have declined steadily as trees and plant life are removed to provide land for cattle and commodities. Shouldn’t the water produced by these forests be considered a greater commodity than cotton or corn?

United States
In a report completed earlier in 2013 by the Natural Resources Defense Council of Tetra Tech, more than two-thirds of the counties in the US will have reservoirs unable to sustain the population demand by 2050. Changes in the climate and irregular weather patterns will not be able to replenish reservoirs that are in use. An overwhelming amount of the population wants the government to step in and address the problem of water shortages, but very few trust that the government will do anything about the problem.

Wasted Water for Production
Did you know that it takes more than 39,000 gallons of water to produce a new car? If you consider that a single human can consume up to one gallon of water per day, this is enough water to hydrate a person for more than his or her lifetime. Industry exhausts a great deal of water between cooling, lubricating, cleaning and any other use that requires liquid. The more we consume products as a global population, the faster the water is used. The very thing that is keeping economies functional will be a major contributor to its demise if things don’t change.

Toxic Chemical Levels
Many skeptics don’t believe that humans are the cause of climate change due to higher levels of carbon dioxide that is produced through various means. While they focus the quality of air, not many look at the ground. Chemicals that we take for granted are being put into the Earth and poisoning our water supply. Whether this poisoning of the water tables is on accident or not is irrelevant. That fact is that humans are responsible for contaminating water supplies through inappropriate or negligent actions.

At the current rate of decline, it will only be a matter of a few decades before the lack of water can create situations similar to those apocalyptic movies we grew up with. Whether our governments believe in global warming or not shouldn’t be the focus of their attention. Dehydration of the population is a reality and more efforts should be involved to sustain the people of any area.

Author Bio:

Ken holds a master’s in business leadership from Upper Iowa University and multiple bachelor degrees from Grand View College.  As president of  morningsidenannies.com, Ken’s focus is helping Houston-based parents find the right childcare provider for their family. When he isn’t working, he enjoys spending time with his three children and his wife.

 

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Is Humanity to Blame for the Scarcity of Water?

Posted on August 9, 2013 by mastadonzq

wasting water

 

Although skeptics don’t believe humans are the cause of global warming, or climate change, we may be responsible for the scarcity of our own water supplies. Water does more for our community than simply keep us alive. We use this liquid component in a variety of tasks from flushing waste down to sewers to cleaning toxic chemicals to the excessive use each time we frack for gas. Instead of looking for alternatives and examining how our actions affect communities and the planet, humans are more drawn to the quick and easy way to accomplish goals.

1. Deforestation – Less rainfall in particular areas of the globe can be correlated with the loss of plant life within those areas. The Amazon Rainforest, while being a prime example, isn’t the only area that has seen diminished rainfall from the lack of trees and plants. Deforestation has been greatly impacted by humans because of the need for cattle ranches, paper and other materials that could have been produced using other methods.

2. Cleaning and Waste Removal – Depending on the style of your toilet, you can use 3.5 to seven gallons of water with each flush. In a family environment, more than 100 gallons of water can be flushed down the drain each and every day. The water that fills this receptacle is the same water that we drink. While this is aside from the installation of “low-flow” toilets, showers and baths can consume a great deal of water for the family environment as well. While this depends on the shower head that is installed, a single 10-minute shower can use up 50 gallons of water. In a family environment, more than 350 gallons of water can be consumed just in the bathroom on a daily basis.

3. Fracking – Millions of gallons of water can be used in any particular “fracking” job in order to improve drilling for oil and natural gas. Although some of this waste water is recycled, a large portion of it is lost. Instead of investing in improved ways to drive our automobiles or keep the steam turbine generators spinning for power, we squander the very component life depends on even though droughts run rampant across the plains.

4. Existing Technology – We have existing technology that can help drought-affected areas to support life, if not for the implications of a dollar amount. Large and small scale water condensers are being developed that can essentially pull the water right out of the air. Since it costs so much money to build these units, may don’t see them as a practical way to survive – as drought causes crops to suffer.

5. Lack of Effort – In areas that are affected by floods and where the humidity is so high, why can’t this extra influx of water be piped to areas that are suffering? Because it wouldn’t be cost efficient to do so. It would require effort by local and federal governments in order to provide a viable method to keep the populations alive with the one component that humans cannot survive without.

Climate change on a global scale may be caused by a natural occurrence of the planet, but humans do their part to be as detrimental to their own survival. Instead of being a species that cares for survival, we have become one that depends on the size of the pocket book. If it’s not profitable, it must not be the correct path, right?

 

 

This article is contributed by Madoline Hatter. Madoline is a freelance writer and blog junkie from ChangeOfAddressForm.com. You can reach her at: m.hatter12 @ gmail. com.

 

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Climate Change Impacts On Wildlife

Posted on March 6, 2013 by mastadonzq

bears

Guest post by Maria Kruk, an author for Species.com

Global awareness of climate change is obvious. The atmosphere is full of greenhouse gases, hurricanes and storms “attack” more regularly, sea level shifts proportionally to ice melting and more species are getting vulnerable and endangered. Specifically, animal world might experience severe damages in the nearest decades and polar bears, which have already recognized the most threatened because of the Arctic Meltdown, might be not the only victims of global warming process.

  1. Giant pandas are likely to remain without bamboo leaves and, therefore, main food ration. Regardless high speed of bamboo shoots’ growth, this plant species reproduces very slowly and is unlikely to adapt to climate change issues. According to scientific estimations, bamboo areas in Qin Mountains may disappear by the end of this century, so does one of the primary habitats of giant panda bears.
  2. Notwithstanding high speed of reproduction among bats’ species, these winged mammals might suffer from temperature cataclysms, especially in Europe and North America. Warm weather and possible drought lead to evaporation from bats’ wings, which are the only mean to accept moisture for bats. These animals are major agents of fertilization and extinction of some bat species is a potential reason of plants’ reproduction decline. Climate change, in addition, threatens to bats’ dormancy periods and meal search.
  3. Ice melting is an obvious consequence of temperature increase, and walrus species can hereby confirm this. Absence of ice blocks in the Sea of Okhotsk forces these marine animals to come to Alaska shores, in unaccustomed time period for offspring fostering. Previously deserted coasts of Alaska are a shelter for 20 thousand walruses for the fourth year in a row, which come here along with their children. Hence, rapid and wide-scaled meltdown has affected not only Arctic terrestrial species, as it could seem earlier.
  4. It is a fact of common knowledge that animals possess some adherence to biological clocks, which is why they know when it is the period of reproduction, vegetation, dormancy, etc. It is much influenced by the length of photoperiod and, eventually, the local temperature. Climate change might force wildlife and plant species to reload the biological hours in order to adapt to temperature shifts in their habitat. Especially, it is referred to animals dependent on daytime and sunlight, which comprise the most of animal species.
  5. Biological diversity and environmental changes are straight consequences of climate change. According to scientific forecasts, the variety of animal and plant species might decrease on 30-40% that will clearly affect food and metabolism chains and energy exchange. Ice melting in the Arctic is a top issue at present, but what about mountainous areas, reduction of forest zones and shores’ flooding? These natural alterations also lead to animals’ extinction and destruction of their common habitat.

walrus-mother-pup_13704_600x450

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Siemens Performance on Renewable Energy Market

Posted on February 28, 2013 by mastadonzq

Guest post by Maria Kruk, an author for Patentsbase.com

Siemens is one of the companies, which are focused on the innovative fields, as well as on markets with a good potential for expanding. These features are essential for renewable energy industries. In this context, Siemens finds it as an attractive market to invest money and technologies. Production of renewable energy and electricity became one more industry the company works in, along with electronics, IT technologies, medicine and urban infrastructure. Siemens is interested in specific branches of renewable energy sector, related research and innovations, which, by the way, receive nearly 4 billion dollars annually. Energy-saving technologies are of big priority, being the company’s goal all over the world.

Siemens Wind Power is the most advanced alternative energy branch of the company. About 7000 wind power generators are operated globally with total capacity of 6000 MW. The statistics features that such energy production can provide for 7 million households and prevent 8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Especially, Siemens is focused on European countries, putting its projects into operation in Denmark, Germany, Northern Ireland, etc. Much of attention was paid to company’s innovative project, executed in collaboration with Hydreo, – floating wind power stations that can alter their location in order to get matching air flows. In addition, Siemens is engaged in construction of such wind farms as Teesside (UK), Cape Wind and Block Island (USA), Meerwind Sud/Ost (Germany), Horns Rev II (Denmark) and may others.

Hydro power production is one more industry Siemens is interested in. To provide some details, construction of hydro power stations is more expensive, but energy prime cost is lower. Therefore, energy demand outranges company’s expenses on hydro power projects. Since late 1970s hydroelectric power has become one of the investment items of the company. To be more précised, Siemens AG started to supply generators to the biggest hydro power station in the world – Itapúa, on Brazilian-Paraguayan border. To date, Siemens deals with technological developments for small hydropower plants up to 30 MW, as well as with reconstruction of existing power plants. In fact, in recent years Russian rivers alerted an attention of company’s executives. Depending on the power plant, Siemens offers to equip the turbine with adjustable or fixed blades of all currently available designs. Technologies introduced by the company ensure a high safety margin of small hydroelectric power stations and low operating costs.

Naturally, solar power is a crucial part on renewable energy market, but not for Siemens as once could guess. The key thing is that solar power was much of company’s priority during decades, until the 2012, when Siemens refused to succeed on the solar power market. In particular, the company refused to manufacture solar panels m and to convert solar energy into electricity, mainly because of price pressure on the market. Since then wind and hydro power remain primary renewable energy targets of Siemens, which are promised to provide 30 per cent of energy worldwide by 2030.

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Tidal Power Then and Now

Posted on July 31, 2012 by mastadonzq

A while back I wrote a post on Tidal Barrages (https://lifekills.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/tidal-power-barrages-and-ebb-generation/). Here is another way to generate energy from tides.

Probably, everybody is aware of possibilities of energy production in case of extinction and depletion of fuel deposits.  The solution is found in renewable energy due to multiple opportunities provided by natural and environmental conditions. Tidal energy is the one secured by both cosmic gravitation of the Sun and the Moon, and oceanic spaces, of course. However, not all the regions on Earth can boast of favorable and promising tidal indicators. That is why it is better to feature on France and the English Channel as an area where tidal energy generation was organized for the first time and where the most powerful tidal station is going to be constructed this year.

It is interesting to know that the first registries of tidal energy usage are dated back to the 10th -11th centuries. There were lots of windmills and sawmills in England and France, which used tidal energy in industrial purposes. However, only one of these two states might be marked with erection of the first tidal energy system in the world. It was Rance Tidal Power Station, constructed on the estuary of Rance River (Brittany Peninsula) in 1966. Its capacity is pretty astonishing – 240 MW produced by 24 tidal generators, – which is preconditioned by comparatively high tides reaching 13,5 meters. The significance of Rance station is still of high value even nowadays, contributing 0,012% to energy demand in the country. Most of the power generated by the station is used during peak seasons (544 million kWh per year in total). However, high prices obstruct the enlargement of tidal energy industry. Speaking of energy production in France, nuclear power production keeps the lowest cost. In this case, the renovation of the Rance station is getting more appropriate and promising.

On the contrary, in 2012 Frenchmen might see the most powerful tidal project actualized. In particular, it is associated with the station near the coast of Paimpol-Bréhat in Brittany. The project was assigned to Irish company OpenHydro Group Ltd. and French company EDF, which already accomplished some magnificent and profitable projects on tidal energy in North America and the United Kingdom. Paimpol-Bréhat power station was designed in 2004 (estimated cost was 55 million dollars) and in 2008 the construction was started.

The basis of new tidal station is comprised of four large turbines with a weight of nearly 850 tones each. They are going to be established near the coast, attached to an anchor on the depth of 115 meters. The diameter of each turbine is 21, 5 meters. It is appropriate to note that tidal turbines have certain advantages in opposite to wind and solar cells, including invisibility under the water, quiet operation and less impact on environment. And, besides, a new station can provide energy for more than 4 thousand houses in the region of Paimpol-Bréhat.

Maria Kruk, an author for Patentsbase.com

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Natural Gas to hydrates for transport and back to gas

Posted on September 12, 2010 by mastadonzq

A while back I wrote a post HERE and HERE on collecting natural gas hydrates from the sea floor.  I was not really in favor of the idea because of the possible/probable dangers.  For good or bad like drilling at 5000ft for oil, extracting these frozen naturals gasses is going to happen so might as well examine the effects..

One of the often cited problems with natural gas as an energy source is that they are hard to safety transport over long distances because of the volatile and hazardous properties of the fuels.  A proposed solution is to turn the fuel back into a solid by freezing and applying pressure like at the bottom of the ocean where fuels like methane are in a solid and thus more stable state.

My concern in using this method of freezing and unfreezing is how much energy will be needed to convert a gas like methane into a solid.  The melting point of methane is about -297 F(162.5C) so an extremely cold environment would be need to convert and keep methane as a solid.  The other problem is that natural gas is another limited resource so putting lots of energy into collecting it is not a good long term energy strategy.

However, just like coal and oil, we will take natural gas as long as we can get it and so having a viable fuel transportation strategy is an important development.

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Savor your shrimp as it may be your last, Oil is the new seaweed

Posted on May 19, 2010 by mastadonzq

I have been wanting to write about the disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico but whenever I tried to learn about the impacts of the oil, the more irritated I got.

So now that I am in a more objective emotional state of mind I will try to asses the future term impacts.  This is just the start as ridiculous amounts of poison gasses liquid, and solids will be pumping into the ocean for several more months.

The oil we see washing ashore and being burnt up on top of the water is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. What is coming out of the bottom of the gulf is a diverse mixture of petroleum with different densities and thus buoyancy.  The vast majority is under the surface mingling with the fishes and shrimp.

Dispersants makes even more oil go underwater but is necessary to protect the coastlines. Either way most of the oil will collect in The Gulf and then the ocean currants will take it around the world, first the North Atlantic, then the South Atlantic, and then on to the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Pacific.

The politics surrounding this event are also very disconcerting. This was not a completely unanticipated event.  There has always been the possibility that offshore rigs can be compromised. It is unfortunate that is takes a real disaster to wake people up.

The best shrimp came from the Bayou but I believe those days may already be over.

The Mississippi Meets the oil

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Pollution in the Charles River

Posted on September 15, 2009 by mastadonzq

chales 2

pollution

I just read a book called Zodiac by Neal Stephanson and I liked it very much mostly because it takes place in Boston, the rivers and harbor which I know quite well.

It made me realize how different things are now in terms of pollution. In the eighties even the Charles and the Inner harbor were totally toxic, and I remember seeing the remnants.

44 Pleasant street in Watertown and behind all buildings to the west of there was poison. The small waterfall directly to the east had shopping cart, plastic bags, and all sorts of unidentifiable trash. I saw a large transistor and battery once.

Me and my friends played in the extensive muck  surrounding the beginning of the smooth Charles, past the tiny waterfall in Watertown.

Creepy trees growing out of slime

All still water a magic petroleum of rainbow colors

sink to the knees take many showers

But now like many places in Boston, IE Southie and the Combat Zone, the river has been gentrified.

Rich folks lead to clean rivers and corners and I suppose it’s not a bad thing, the Charles River in Watertown smells good and in the former combat zone there is nary a hooker or coke dealer to be seen.

The point is that at least in North America (excluding Mexico) the populous seems to have a proper outrage at being poisoned and so at least on the surface, plants can grow again.

charles-river-in-watertown5

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Conflicting results

Posted on August 14, 2009 by mastadonzq

SeaLevelSatellite2000_12we21

I got some harsh feedback from the last post, particularly because of the idea that sea levels are not rising. The UN hired some scientists to research levels rising and when they found no positive results they were fired and replaced with scientists who found results more in line with the rest of the report.

don’t overestimate our knowledge of the global climate, particularly it’s influences and reactions, very little about the climate is intuitive

the earth is on a much larger time scale, we have existed for the smallest fraction of time and may not be as powerful as we think…I hope not.  Take a look at scenarios showing t what would happen if humans disappeared instantly.

The tides are mysterious, oddly enough in the 19th century we had the tides down to the minute but that’s a secret lost in the modern age.  Perhaps this is because it isn’t necessary  to sail on the tides anymore, I’ve had to do that when a motor broke and it’s quite a pain in the ass.

-we know more about the moon than the ocean

–this is not a reason to think emissions and pollution are not dangerous

at this point all sides of the political debate are throwing out a lot of BS…lots of spin on both sides.

find the studies by Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner, he’s an expert in the field despite the slander of fools.

sea level fall morner

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