The Earth Doesn’t Care - Page 2

Dave1 · #11 (**permalink**) 12-26-2010, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat

Besides you, who on this thread has said anything about the earth only being 6000 years old?
From what I've seen of your posts today, you remind me of a litterbug. You drop into a thread, leave some trash and then move on to the next thread.
You seem to be about as useful as the litter you are leaving in your wake.

I see the same bug........

Dave1 · #12 (**permalink**) 12-26-2010, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khandahar

Besides you, who else doesn't have a sense of humor? The implication was, sane equals Christian, I dispelled that notion

You did......?

Musta missed that.......

GottaGo · #13 (**permalink**) 12-26-2010, 07:22 AM

So, because the earth is not "intelligent", we should use up it's resources and pollute it? There are different degrees of "worship", and the word respect comes into play.

There is no need to dump your garbage on the road, spill chemicals into water ways, strip mine the mountains, and clear cut the forest, no matter your beliefs.

Because a person choses to believe in the power of nature and the elements, makes them a lesser person, insane, stupid or any other name tossed out there?

Interesting. Sad, but interesting.

AK Gandy · #14 (**permalink**) 12-26-2010, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GottaGo

So, because the earth is not "intelligent", we should use up it's resources and pollute it? There are different degrees of "worship", and the word respect comes into play.

There is no need to dump your garbage on the road, spill chemicals into water ways, strip mine the mountains, and clear cut the forest, no matter your beliefs.

Because a person choses to believe in the power of nature and the elements, makes them a lesser person, insane, stupid or any other name tossed out there?

Interesting. Sad, but interesting.

Well said.

.

Khandahar · #15 (**permalink**) 12-26-2010, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

You did......?

Musta missed that.......

Understandable, considering.

alan · #16 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011, 07:26 PM

More proof that the the earth doesn't care,

Bacteria gobbled methane from BP spill: scientists | Reuters

Quote:

Bacteria ate nearly all the potentially climate-warming methane that spewed from BP's broken wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico last year, scientists reported on Thursday.

Nearly 200,000 tons of methane -- more than any other single hydrocarbon emitted in the accident -- were released from the wellhead, and nearly all of it went into the deep water of the Gulf, researcher David Valentine of the University of California-Santa Barbara said in a telephone interview.

Bacteria managed to take in the methane before it could rise from the sea bottom and be released into the atmosphere, but the process contributed to a loss of about 1 million tons of dissolved oxygen in areas southwest of the well.

That sounds like a lot of oxygen loss, but it was widely spread out, so that the bacterial munching did not contribute to a life-sapping low-oxygen condition known as hypoxia, said Valentine, whose study was published in the journal Science.

What happens to methane has been a key question for climate scientists, because methane is over 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Like carbon dioxide, methane comes from natural and human-made sources, including the petroleum industry.

For two months after the BP blowout on April 20, 2010, methane was not being consumed in and around the wellhead, leading some scientists to suspect it might linger in the water and eventually make its way into the air, where it could potentially trap heat and contribute to climate change.

BACTERIA'S METHANE DIET

"If you have a very large release of methane like this, and it did make it into the atmosphere, that would be a problem," Valentine said. "There have been a number of ... large-scale methane releases in the past that have come from the ocean that have warmed the climate."

Those methane releases came from natural sources, and researchers like Valentine and his co-authors wondered what role bacteria might have had in those cases.

The BP spill offered an "accidental experiment" that showed particular bacteria with an all-methane diet multiplied quickly as the methane spread with the underwater plume from the broken well. Peak consumption of methane probably came in late July and early August, Valentine said.

Other organisms dealt with other hydrocarbons, including ethane and propane emitted in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The methane-eating bacteria were the last to the hydrocarbon banquet, and based on past observation, the scientists questioned whether they could do the job.

"Given observations about how slowly methane is normally consumed, we didn't think the (bacteria) population was up to the challenge at all ... we thought it would be a lot slower," Valentine said.

The fact the bacteria took in that large amount of methane could indicate that bacteria might absorb other large-scale deep ocean methane releases, the scientists said.

The U.S. government filed a civil suit last month against BP and its partners for damage caused by the spill. The White House commission on the oil spill said on Wednesday that BP and its partners made a series of cost-cutting decisions that ultimately contributed to the spill.

Imagine that, the earth managed to "just handle it" in an effective manner.

Coyote · #17 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat

More proof that the the earth doesn't care,

Bacteria gobbled methane from BP spill: scientists | Reuters

Imagine that, the earth managed to "just handle it" in an effective manner.

Yes, it did eventually handle it - but a lot of damage was caused in the meantime.

The earth handles almost anything thrown at it - the problem is, the resulting re-balancing may not be amenable to human life.

alan · #18 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coyote

Yes, it did eventually handle it - but a lot of damage was caused in the meantime.

The earth handles almost anything thrown at it - the problem is, the resulting re-balancing may not be amenable to human life.

I don't see much about "damage" in the article.

Mike · #19 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011, 07:44 PM

The earth is a much more resilient lady than some tend to think she is. It has zipped along just fine for over four billion years with no help from us whatsoever. That said, I have to jerk my knee and defend against the other side of the coin before it even hits the table: whenever someone voices opinions such as I have, or Pat has, someone--or several someones--inevitably comes along to accuse us of wanting to use the planet for a gigantic trash can. The trouble is, I don't see anyone proposing that.

What a lot of people are tired of is a band-wagon mentality where realistic common sense, basic observations, and thinking in terms of geologic time are gagged and bound to the back-seat in order to forward a well-intended agenda that feels good but may be no more than exactly that--a feel-good fairy tale. (I'll completely skip over the irony of liberals wanting to give the go-ahead to mandating policy based on fact-bending and assumption yet scream "Foul!" when any law or rule can be even remotely construed as "forcing religion down someone's throat.") The earth is not a desperate maiden crying out for a calvary of liberal paladins to come save her; she could wipe her geologic brow and wipe us all out. The earth chugged along just fine without us for billions or years. Odds are she can do it again. In other words, we are a blip on her surface as well within the geologic time-frame of her existence. Our observations of changes are equally infintesimal. The earth changes. It always has; it always will. Furthermore, it probably always should. Instead of worrying over forcing policy into effect that as of yet still relies on woefully unsubstantiated absolutes perhaps those same worry-warts should take a moment and consider what effect toying with the earth's natural cycles could have.

Coyote · #20 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike D.

The earth is a much more resilient lady than some tend to think she is. It has zipped along just fine for over four billion years with no help from us whatsoever. That said, I have to jerk my knee and defend against the other side of the coin before it even hits the table: whenever someone voices opinions such as I have, or Pat has, someone--or several someones--inevitably comes along to accuse us of wanting to use the planet for a gigantic trash can. The trouble is, I don't see anyone proposing that.

What a lot of people are tired of is a band-wagon mentality where realistic common sense, basic observations, and thinking in terms of geologic time are gagged and bound to the back-seat in order to forward a well-intended agenda that feels good but may be no more than exactly that--a feel-good fairy tale. (I'll completely skip over the irony of liberals wanting to give the go-ahead to mandating policy based on fact-bending and assumption yet scream "Foul!" when any law or rule can be even remotely construed as "forcing religion down someone's throat.") The earth is not a desperate maiden crying out for a calvary of liberal paladins to come save her; she could wipe her geologic brow and wipe us all out. The earth chugged along just fine without us for billions or years. Odds are she can do it again. In other words, we are a blip on her surface as well within the geologic time-frame of her existence. Our observations of changes are equally infintesimal. The earth changes. It always has; it always will. Furthermore, it probably always should. Instead of worrying over forcing policy into effect that as of yet still relies on woefully unsubstantiated absolutes perhaps those same worry-warts should take a moment and consider what effect toying with the earth's natural cycles could have.

Like I said: The earth handles almost anything thrown at it - the problem is, the resulting re-balancing may not be amenable to human life.

Where did anyone accuse you or Pat of wanting to use the planet for a gigantic trash can? Or did you just make that up?

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