The average American is now awash in pseudoenvironmentalist double-speak. There seem to be so many factoids in the propaganda campaign that no effective effort can counter the endless stream of lies. We forget, however, that Americans cannot begin to remember all of these details any more than we can begin to answer them. The enviros actually thrive on the establishment in the public mind of a few erroneous generalizations such as 'nuclear is bad', 'chlorine is bad,'and 'natural is good.' One of the more damaging falsehoods is that 'the environment of the earth is delicately balanced.' The slightest man-made perturbation (natural perturbations are OK) will throw the whole thing out of balance, and all will die. Our great good fortune is that, at this eleventh hour out of all recorded time, the enviros has arrived to warn us not to move lest chaos result. Science has now, of course, so much information about the past natural history of the earth that the enormous adaptability of our environment is an established fact. Moreover, experiments with small closed environments have shown that, while changes in complex natural systems are difficult to predict, killing a living environment is almost impossible. This would not surprise the French chemist Henry Louis Le Chatelier who lived between 1850 and 1936. Le Chatelier's Principle, as written in a beginning chemistry text I have at hand, is as follows: "If the conditions of a system, initially at equilibrium, are changed, the equilibrium will shift in such a direction as to tend to restore the original conditions, if such a shift is possible." Although rigorously tested and applicable only in defined chemical systems at thermodynamic equilibrium, this principle is seen operating in non-equilibrium environmental systems as well. For example, when the carbon in coal, oil, and natural gas is moved above ground, oxidized, and distributed as carbon dioxide, the amount Of CO2 gas in the atmosphere increases. CO2 is, however, exchanged with plants and animals through the complex chemical reactions of photosynthesis and metabolism and with ocean and fresh water through the reversible reactions: When the amount of CO2 rises in the atmosphere, these oceanic and biological equilibria shift so as to, in accordance with Le Chatelier, tend to restore the original conditions. Some of this carbon dissolves slowly in the ocean and some is incorporated into the tissues of plants and animals. The final result is a higher ocean concentration of simple carbon compounds, a higher but moderated atmospheric concentration of CO2, and more plants and animals. These processes are all temperature dependent as well. We now know that the earth's temperature has been fluctuating over a wide range for a long time. This has been causing comparable fluctuations in CO2 balance regardless of the effects of governmental environmental policies and industrial practices over the long history of the earth. One negative note: As below-ground carbon is released and transferred into plants and animals making the earth's biological environment more lush and diverse, we may experience an increase in enviro-agitator pollution. These creatures tend to avoid harsh climates where work is required for survival. They thrive in warm, moist areas where there is easy money, little work, and lots of plants and animals who cannot speak for themselves. If they could speak, their constituents would probably tell them to go away. Le Chatelier is a lot more dependable than a junk mail campaign with a pipeline into Gore's money machine.
CO2 + H2O2CO3
HCO3 HCO- + H+
HCO3- CO3- - + H+
|
|
Vol. 21, No. 1
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 21, No. 1 Date: September 01, 1993 04:42 PM (For actual publication date see newsletter.) Title: Petr Beckman
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
|