POST # 214
California dreamin'. Yes, the California tour is now just a memory to be savoured. It all happened so fast, but then again, a week of time spent at the age of 61 is such a small percentage of my total life span, that of course it went by fast. At least I had it to spend, and I am glad that I made the effort to go in the first place.
I met up with Guy in Chico, California, and we travelled together for just three days, stopping in Middletown, Sebastopol, and finally Berkeley, California. Along the way, in between the first two places just mentioned, and just outside of the town of Calistoga, we had an opportunity to visit with Jack Martin for about an hour. Jack was the man who offered a place to stay to Mike Ruppert, after Mike had left Colorado. It was also the place where Mike spent his final hours. Guy and I appreciated the time we had with Jack, as we talked and reminisced about Mike. I think I would enjoy spending more time with Jack in the future, however, the odds are slim that I will ever be back in the Calistoga area, but one never knows for sure.
JACK & GUY
Aside from Jack, there were many interesting people that we met during my visit to California, including the two people in the image below. Herb (aka Benjamin the Donkey) and Jenny. Herb is the king of the limerick, and Jenny was the event coordinator for the Berkeley gathering.
The photo of Herb and Jenny was taken at the Berkeley talk, and not long afterwards, I would begin my journey back north.
It was a strange coincidence that on the week that I would be on a tour discussing "Abrupt Climate Change", that all hell would break loose in my former home province of Alberta, specifically in and around the city of Fort McMurray. A wildfire began on May 2nd, and as of this writing is still burning uncontrolled. The entire city of Fort Mac had to be evacuated, and so far, no one has been able to return. Of course, for those of us who have been following the story regarding the climate, an event such as this was to be expected, sooner rather than later. In fact, things are heating up so much now, especially in the northern latitudes, that it could be a very long hot summer, so hot that perhaps this will be the year when we have what is called a "blue ocean event", in other words, the Arctic ice cap will be gone completely. Once that happens, whether this year or in the near future, the volume of methane which is currently escaping from the tundra and under the shallow waters in the sea bed will really ramp up. That will only make matters worse for fires in the future. An ice free Arctic, and huge amounts of methane escaping are just two of the many things that are now totally out of human control. In relation to the Fort McMurray wildfire, it would be like trying to quench the fire with a garden hose. Tesla cars and solar panels aren't going to fix the situation, but yet the green hype continues unabated. After all, we must provide the people with "hope" that the future will be even better than it is now. I suspect that some percentage of the 90,000 climate refugees from Fort McMurray are now having second thoughts about that.
In spite of all the dire news on the abrupt climate change front, I still like to think more like the dog than the human in the cartoon below.
Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
PS: Here is one person's take on what the future may hold in store. This is from Dr. Malcolm Light, a retired earth systems scientist.
Most natural processes on the Earth are run by convection including plate tectonics that moves the continental and oceanic plates across the surface of the planet. Mother Earth has been able to hold its atmospheric temperature within certain limits and maintain an ocean for more than 3 billion years because each time there was a build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which produced a global fever, Mother Earth it eliminated the living creatures with a massive Arctic methane firestorm that fried them alive. This giant Arctic methane firestorm is a natural antibiotic the Earth uses to rid itself of those creatures that have overproduced carbon dioxide and caused a global fever.
Essentially mankind has again caused a massive build up of fossil fuel carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and Mother Earth has already started to respond with the predicted massive Arctic methane blow out (since 2010) which will lead to an Earth engulfing firestorm in 5 to 8 years.
The giant fires in the Fort McMurray region are a result of atmospheric methane induced heating of the Arctic and 93.5% global warming of the oceans that has generated a massive El Nino event this year. Hot winds moving away from these high pressure areas have generated high temperatures and massive fires in Alberta which is a giant fever spot on Earth where mankind has produced the maximum amount of dirty fossil fuel extraction and pollution in Canada.
Mother Earth will continue to respond more vigorously with her Arctic methane antibiotic to eliminate the humans from her system as we represent nothing more to her than a larger version of an influenza virus which has seriously retarded her oceanic and atmospheric temperature range functioning systems.
If we do not immediately stop fossil fuel extraction worldwide and control the Arctic methane emission sites we will all be stardust before a decade is past.
