5th Threat: Biospheric

This threat to life is the second of three ‘Local’ threats; a good example of the fact that you not only need to live in a safe neighborhood, but a safe home as well. Never mind the more immediate danger from earthquakes, tsunamis, and super volcanoes, we can’t take the air we breathe and the water we drink for granted. The Moon and Mars have lost (or mostly lost) theirs—and Venus is an example of a good thing gone bad.

                 http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/venus/atmosphere.html

                With an atmosphere of 96% carbon dioxide, Venus is a greenhouse with little free oxygen.  It’s too hot for surface water, and even if there was any, it would be laced with sulphuric acid. And in case you think the 5^th Threat is esoteric, this, or something similar is where we’re headed.

                First up: atmospheres can change. Earth is on its third. In fact, for much of history, our air wasn’t much better than that of Venus.

http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/history.html

                Second, organisms can change atmospheres. To wit, we wouldn’t have oxygen without bacteria, and humans (simply larger symbiotic bags of bacteria) are now pumping carbon dioxide into the air.

No one denies this, but those that are doing the most damage ignore scientists and pretend it doesn’t make any difference. Availing themselves of science—they gladly crank up the AC in their pickups and SUV’s, pop open a cold one from the fridge, or fire off a couple of rounds from their AK47’s—but tell them something they don’t want to hear and suddenly they’re smarter than Einstein. Saying there are two sides to the ‘Climate Debate’ is like saying there are two sides to the Holocaust.

Anyway, it may already be too late.

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2013/05/climate_change_400_ppm_carbon.html

 

            I hope there is a hell for nay-sayers and do-nothings.  I guess it would look like Venus.

The 4th THREAT of NINE

 

This is what I’ve called Geologic, the first of the Three Local Threats not from the sky above our heads, but the ground below our feet.

First up, Earthquakes. Like the big one in Japan in 2011, or in Sumatra in 2004, of course here, the one San Fran in 1906 … and ‘the beat goes on.’  Arguably, despite better building codes and warning systems, we are more vulnerable because we are so dependent on our infrastructure. It’s the collateral damage to buildings, nuclear power plants, electricity, gas lines, sewage pipes, etc.  We’ll be up to our proverbial in it and aftershocks. Then there always the chance of Tsunamis. Anyway, we know the next big one is coming … we just don’t know when or where.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/the-10-biggest-earthquakes-in-recorded-history.htm

Worse are Super Volcanoes, thousands of times larger than ‘normal ones.’  And yes, they do go off on a regular basis.  The largest confirmed such eruption was some 28 million years ago … in Colorado … about 2000 times larger than Mt. St. Helens. And we think there may have been larger still about 130 million years ago when South America and Africa were joined at the hip as part of Gondwana. Talk about a messy divorce!

Anyway, the damage here is not just to nearby flora and fauna from massive lava flows and hot gases, but worldwide from volcanic ash pumped into the atmosphere in huge quantities. Carried by high level winds, this eventually blankets the Earth blocking the sunlight and killing plants that support the food chain. Of course, the temperature drops so we’ll freeze in the dark with nothing to eat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_Explosivity_Index

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_volcanic_eruptions

And we know a big one is coming soon. Yellowstone has been super-erupting every 600-700 thousand years for the last two million years. The last one was about 620 million years ago!

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/supervolcano-yellowstones-fury.html

Then there’s always the Magnetic field! We’re living next to an unshielded nuclear power plant (the sun) with only a ‘magnet’ for protection. Eventually this runs out; the Moon and Mars have already (mostly) lost theirs if you get my drift. Of course, this will take a while yet for us, but ours flips periodically between the North and South poles and in the process we lose protection for some period of time. Signs point to the fact that we’re overdue! How do you like your chicken … extra crispy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/03/earths-magnetic-field-overdue-for-a-chaos-causing-possibly-life-altering-flip/

Threat # 3 of 9

 

The last of the three threats from beyond our world I’ve labeled ‘Planetary’ because these involve collisions between planets and planetoids; moons, asteroids, comets etc. These smaller hunks of rock and ice are found in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter and in the Oort cloud from the orbit of Neptune to the outer reaches of our solar system. They’re the leftovers of the grand buffet that filled in the planets … but they can still cause a ‘food fight.’

The Earth was formed from the torrid union of a well hung planetoid and a stoned tramp.

 

                                              

 

And early on our world was rocked. Eventually, like marriage, things calmed down. But the cosmos can still get its rocks off … just ask the dinosaurs.

Scientists say it is just a matter of time before we have another extinction event. Lately, both our moon and Jupiter have been struck.

 

 

Closer to home, earlier this year one exploded in our atmosphere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y66OHiB_p4I

Fortunately it was small. NASA tracks NEOs (Near Earth Objects) … but their budget just got cut! Heads up … we’re due.

Next up, the first of the Three Local Threats.

 

 

The Second of Nine Threats

This threat is all about the life and death of stars, and precisely where you happen to be when it happens.

In five billion years, give or take a billion, in its death throes the sun will bloat like a gassy balloon … maybe as far as Mars. Unfortunately, Earth is in the way. Sayonara sapiens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9L7SMoT3RM

But we won’t have to wait that long. In about a billion years, give or take a few hundred million, the sun will be unbearably hot. It’s already about 30% hotter than in its youth. Talk about climate change.  http://io9.com/what-the-death-of-the-sun-will-look-like-471796727

But maybe even before that, solar storms will get us. 1859 was the year of the last big one. http://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html

To the point, we’ll be gone long before the sun dies. But it doesn’t even have to be our star that does the job. Every 225-250 million years we complete an orbit of the galactic center. While there are currently no candidates for supernovae in our neighbourhood, if we wait long enough, like the weather, that’ll change. Do you know where your sun has been? http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/12/are-we-entering-the-danger-zone-the-solar-systems-250-million-year-orbit-through-the-milky-way.html

Next blog, Threat #3.