Our World and Everything in It

If you ever had any questions about a anything relating to earth and its functions, how it all happened, how our climate is changing and why, how we know this stuff, and many other things, watch National Geographic’s presentation “Planet Earth.” This is family stuff, enlightening, interesting, and a little bit scary.

Some of the presentations are explosive. It’s a little mind boggling how they are able to present prehistoric earth with video footage of events and places from the present. I watched the one about ice mass, and last night was about earthquakes, ending with volcanic eruptions. There is as much action as the latest Rambo movie. My husband was perturbed we changed channels from the movie “Mash,” but said it was really a great presentation and he wants to see more of it now. You’ll find yourself saying “Wow”  and “I didn’t know that!” more than once.

I know some people don’t get the National Geographic Channel, but the DVD set of “Planet Earth” is available. It’s better than any encyclopedia books I was brought up with. Maybe if they had this type of learning tool back then more of us would have went into science.

“Planet Earth” is on every night this week, beginning at 9:00 pm on the National Geographic Channel. Tune in.

So Monroe, MI, how about that weather last night?  Monroe doesn’t usually get anything that bad, especially my area near Lake Erie. Usually the lake just sucks out the storm, but last night blew the shingles off my roof. And they were only 2 years old! Straight-line winds just dropped in out of nowhere. I actually went to sit in the bathroom with my bird and one cat that doesn’t like storms. I wasn’t thinking tornado, but I was thinking scary thoughts. My only clue that it wasn’t going to be too bad is that there were birds, and mallard ducks eating under my bird feeder up until the moment that wind hit.

It could have been worse. Bloomfield Hills and counties North of us really got walloped with trees landing on houses and no power since Friday for some.

It’s no wonder weather events are extreme. Our country is experiencing some pretty diverse climate conditions all at once. Washington state was in the 30’s and expecting snow today. Places like Racine, WI got flash floods. Racine is bewildered because that NEVER happened before. And parts of Arkansas and N. Carolina are drought stricken. Mix snow, floods, heat, and droughts together and it’s little wonder we have climate explosions where bad weather just drops in like the 117 mph winds that ran through the Columbus, OH area last night.

We’re already greeted with a pretty wicked windy season and it’s only June 10^th.  I’ve lost some shingles. I just hope I can hang onto my new awning until windy season is over, and I hope no one suffered anything worse.

In 1880, Leadville, CO was a silver mining town with a population of about 40,000 people. By 2005, Leadville had less than 2700 citizens but as a part of Lake County with close to 8000 residents, the area and its citizens are in serious danger from those old mining camps. I wanted to find out more about Leadville so I looked at Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia Leadville was full of lead about 1 million short tons but also produced over 2.9 million ounces of gold, 240 million ounces of silver, 785 thousand short tons of zinc and 53 thousand short tons of copper.

Many years of mining left behind substantial contamination of the soil and water, so that the EPA designated some former mining sites in Leadville as Superfund sites designated for clean up. Wikipedia stated that according to authorities, the town is now 98% cleaned up and the Superfund designation is about to expire. Well guess again.

The Lake County Commissioners declared a state of emergency in Colorado today. As I understand it, because mines are hollow, the water that seeps down the walls and across the floor may carry with it toxic contaminants like lead. If allowed to run free as surface water runoff, it poses a hazardous waste problem to the area. During WWII the Bureau of Mines dug drainage tunnels to direct and contain the runoff.  The Leadville mines tunnel was later sold to the Bureau of Reclamation as many of them were. According to an article in the Vail Daily News, “in 1992, a lawsuit by the Sierra Club prompted the construction of the tunnel treatment plant.” And everyone was supposed to live happily ever after.

However, there is a cave in somewhere in that mine now blocking the tunnel, and water is building up on the one side of the cave-in due to heavy snowfall and ice melt. It’s building up to a tune of “over a billion gallons of toxic acid and metal-laden water to form a pool at the headwaters of the Arkansas River, according to Commissioner Hickman. He explained that the water is now nearly 200 feet high and continues to apply pressure against the cave-in.” The same Vail Daily article said that the Denver Post stated “snow pack levels in the Upper Arkansas Valley are 163 percent of normal,” so more water than ever is going to continue to apply pressure. Commissioner Hickman said that he is afraid that the environmental degradation of the Arkansas River will be beyond anyone’s comprehension if the whole thing explodes. Lately, there appears to be a back-up situation from Leadville’s mine tunnel to the California Gulch tunnel treatment plant also.

The Bureau of Reclamation knows about the problem, has taken some steps but is moving too slowly for the commissioners. The commissioners should be on edge. This administration is not known for its quick action during human disasters, or for their prevention. The Bureau of Reclamation has been accused of failing to warn citizens when the Teton Dam in Idaho gave way in 1976. Fourteen people died and 300,000 acre-feet of water surged through the area causing one billion dollars in damages. A couple of Senators, Salazar and Wiens, have voiced their concern over the Leadville tunnel. Salazar accused the Bureau of not cooperating with the EPA or Colorado’s Dept. of Health. Other than that nothing much has been done as the water continues to build. There is a trailer park situated right where the water will rush through if the dam gives way.

All I can think of is the recent push to mine all over the country again eventually leaving more void pockets like the existing abandoned mines in Leadville. Mountain top strip mining, coal mining, and even in Michigan, mining for copper is on the agenda once again. Look at the age of the mines in Leadville that are still causing a problem and costing millions from the Superfund to clean up or contain. The U.S. hasn’t fully remedied the problems from mines that over 100 years old, but is willing to invest in new mining all over the country again? Add to that the Bureau of Reclamation’s failure to act on the behalf of citizen’s safety as it has in the past, and even though the EPA has pressured them with concern about this particular tunnel for years. Since, I don’t have much faith in the Bush EPA, this must be really bad for them to pay attention. It’s bad enough for us to pay attention and keep a watchful thumb on excessive mining in the future, especially for filthy fossil fuel like coal.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080214/NEWS/972891293.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadville,_Colorado.

The Northwest is getting beat up by the weather again this winter season. I started to write a blog on Dec. 22 last year about El Nino, but didn’t actually publish it until April. It talked about El Nino but did not mention that when El Nino leaves La Nina arrives and that is what beats up the northwest. The east coast got beat up by a noreaster in the spring, and this summer the southeast dried up. We’re in for more of the same with the arrival of La Nina.
 
This is all confusing to me also. But some of the predicted hurricanes didn’t appear in 2006 and 2007 because of El Nino’s sudden reappearance. La Nina usually follows El Nino where cooler water surface temperatures kick up hurricanes to the gulf, and where La Nina may last up to 3 years. It looks like global warming is certainly causing a rise in more El Ninos. We’ve not had any big hurricanes because of El Nino’s reappearance.  

Predictions that are made within proper predictions for both El Nino and La Nina are still true to form. But global warming is having an impact on the occurrence of both. I read my blog that related the predictions of the scorching dryness in the southeast we had this summer. La Nina brings about drenching rain and floods and wind in the northeast, while the southeast dries up. The northeast gets really lousy spring weather. Last year New York flooded with high winds.

Still confused? I listed a couple of good websites with good explanations about El and La, LOL, and my blog from last year. And confused or not, our fellow Americans in Washington and Oregon are going through hell from weather we’re finding quite comfortable. Five people have died, and the National Guard and Coastguard have rescued over 160. Those states suffered 100 mph winds, torrential rain (compliments of La Nina), mudslides and flooding. People evacuated to hotels and then got stranded in those hotels. A four-lane highway in Washington, I-5, is under 10 feet of water in places. There is a 20-mile closure and detours across half the state. 

The good news is all the rivers have peaked, and the rain has stopped as the system moves on to the Midwest where it’s turned to snow. N. Dakota may get 9 inches. That’s a pretty strong system that just holds on, keeps moving and changing.   

http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc99/10_30_99/fob5.htm

http://www.globalcomsatphone.com/articles/el_nino.html

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=53

Just a reminder to people that say global warming won’t affect them, and for people who think global warming is only a theory and the increasingly troubling weather patterns are just a fluke, one year ago on Friday the 13^th, Buffalo, New York was hit by a so-called fluke. Call it what you want, 3 people died, 400,000 had no power, and 100 miles of interstate highway came to a halt stranding thousands because 2 feet of heavy snow snapped tree limbs, power lines, and telephone lines.

There has never been a fluke like this in Buffalo’s weather history since weather record keeping began 140 years ago. And Buffalo has some pretty messed up weather, so this is quite a statement! We’re having an awful lot of flukes that seem to be appearing closer and closer together. Pay attention as Mother Nature ups the ante. Bad weather may not be hitting your neighborhood right now, but eventually environmental conditions will change everywhere. We’re going to experience the very bad before it gets better and that’s only if we act immediately, which doesn’t seem to be the case.