In search of particles
Envirozealots are now moving against street sweepers, burning firewood and wood floors, claiming they emit dangerous aerosols. Expect microscopic aerosols to become the next environmental catastrophe.
The Swiss online news magazine Die Weltwoche has a report by journalist Alex Reichmuth called Environmental Protection Ad Absurdum (in German).
Environmental protection in Switzerland, like much of Europe, has fallen into the hands of envirozealots. European ministries of environment are increasingly becoming armies of white-gloved snoopers in search of single molecules of contaminants. And the envirowacko journalists are chiming in, of course.
In Switzerland the latest environmental catastrophe are airborne microscopic aerosols ( now joining biodiversity, ocean acidification, water consumption and climate change). It’s gotten so bad that now even environmental groups are now getting annoyed.
For example since 1988 it has been a tradition for environmental awareness group Alps Initiative to light a bonfire every August to remind people to protect the Alps from air pollution. This year, however, the event has been banned by the local environmental authorities. The reason, reports Reichmuth:
The bonfire would harm the climate and pollute the air with microscopic aerosols.
The Alps Initiative reacted:
This is making a mountain out of a molehill.
Indeed it is. But modern environmentalism has always been about making molehills into mountains, hasn’t it? Just look how life-giving CO2 has been made the culprit for the coming global Armageddon.
Reichmuth serves up more ad absurdum cases.
Another example: residents in small villages in Graubünden and in Tessin have been discovered to be suffering from microscopic aerosols emitted by homes burning wood in fireplaces in the wintertime. Yes, it’s about time to close up them romantic fireplaces in Swiss chalets.
Even street sweepers are now deemed a microscopic-aerosol producing problem. A local newspaper wrote:
When sucking up dirt, dangerous fine particles are emitted into the air by the sweeper’s air exhaust. And depending on the manufacturer, at alarming rates!
Wait, it gets worse! That beautiful flooring you have in the rooms in your home? It may be emitting fine aerosols that are dangerous to your health too. Reichmuth writes:
Anyone with wood or wood laminate floors is living dangerously. According to a German study, rooms with smooth floors produce concentrations of microscopic aerosols that are considerably higher than rooms with carpeting. Concentrations on average were even higher than Swiss daily limits. Taking into account all the victims who have died as a result of the aerosols, then we have to call manufacturers of natural wood floors and wood laminate mass murderers.
Sounds loony, but let it be a warning of what can happen if you don’t stand up and push this movement back. Although Cap & Trade is in a coma in the US, waiting to wake up after the November elections, the EPA is waiting to swoop down and run every aspect of your lives.
The next epidemic? Asthma. The next generation of children will not have had their immune systems challenged by ANYTHING. Watch out for unintended consequences!
When I read the above, I thought b*****ks, but then thought about some whingeing which has been going on in the British press. They are going on about the harm from chemical particulates from lavatory cleaners and house fresheners. We don’t use lavatory cleaners, as they disturb the working of the septic tank (very ‘green’ before the idiot term was invented)and air fresheners are, to me, the work of the devil. I would rather open a window, than have my home smelling like a tart’s boudoir. But smoke? How do many people cook or heat? And everything gives off some emissions, so where are these idiots coming from? Yup, I think it’s back to a fascistic attitude of control of other folk; sadly.
They are taking to heart and applying with a vengeance the adage, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” It’s a form of Cloward-Piven-ism; demand adherence to impossibly extended and exaggerated literal versions of policies already on the books, and you can force a system into collapse, whence it is far easier to take over as self-styled purist Rescuers.
Chinese curse: My you live in interesting times.
These are indeed desperate days for climate alarmists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7908604/Desperate-days-for-the-warmists.html
Here is (IMO) a fine, tight analysis which integrates water, clouds, CO2, IR and highlights the significance of the Tropopause and Mesopause:
How Greenhouse gases work – Robert Clemenzi 2009. (.DOC download).
His summary:
This document has described how Greenhouse Gases actually work. Near the surface
Greenhouse gases release heat stored in the atmosphere
Because some of that heat comes from conduction, convection, and the evaporation of water, Greenhouse gases always release more heat than they capture via IR radiation
As a result, increasing the Greenhouse gas concentration will not make the atmosphere warmer
The primary effect of Greenhouse gases in the lower troposphere is easily seen in the morning temperature inversions. The fact that the temperature of the bulk of the Troposphere does not vary between day and night provides primary evidence that the atmosphere is IR opaque at the frequencies that Greenhouse Gases absorb. The actual saturation distance can be seen by simply looking at the morning temperature inversions. The knee between 100m and 800m above the surface is proof that IR radiation only travels that far before being completely absorbed.
The maximum surface temperature is smaller when liquid water is available (Jacksonville), higher when it is not (Tucson). The daily surface temperature variations are smaller when water vapor is present (Jacksonville), and greater when it is not (Tucson). This is because
Liquid water absorbs lots of energy when it evaporates
At night, atmospheric water vapor returns more heat to the ground (via dew, fog and frost) than IR emissions return
The daily surface temperature variations are smallest when clouds are present.
The plots show that the height and temperature of the Tropopause are related to the amount of water vapor at the surface. Higher water vapor (Jacksonville) produces a lower temperature (demonstrating that water vapor is the main Greenhouse Gas) than a very dry atmosphere (Anchorage).
Because both the Troposphere and the Stratosphere are warmer than the Tropopause, none of the IR radiation released by CO2 located in the Tropopause is released to space or returns to the surface. Instead, CO2 in both the Troposphere and the Stratosphere transfer energy to the CO2 located in the Tropopause and that heat is released to space by the water molecules located there.
Additional heat is released to space at the mesopause by CO2.