YEC ARGUMENTS BURIED IN DEEP DOO-DOO -- The Natural Historian has written a post I wish I had written: Dino Doo-Doo (Coprolites) and the Genesis Flood. Coprolites are pieces of fossilized excrement (and back when I was in graduate school, also the name of my geology department's intramural softball team). The fossil record has an abundance …
Category: Energy
Less oil and more oil
Two petroleum articles from Yahoo News... The first article is about declining petroleum outputs from Saudi Arabia: WikiLeaks: Saudis running out of oil The latest startling revelation to come via documents leaked to Julian Assange's muckraking website and published by The Guardian should give pause to every suburban SUV-driver: U.S. officials think Saudi Arabia is …
Renewable by 2030?
From National Geographic: Going "All the Way": With Renewable Energy? In a world where fossil fuel provides more than 80 percent of energy, what would it take to go completely green? Could the world switch over to power from only the wind, sun, waves, and heat from the Earth in only a few decades? The …
Operation World — missions and the Earth and environmental sciences
One of the most significant influences that directed me into missionary service (my family served with ReachGlobal---the international mission of the Evangelical Free Church of America---from 2002 to 2008) was when we purchased a copy of Operation World back in the early days of our marriage. This book is a day-by-day prayer guide to the …
Continue reading Operation World — missions and the Earth and environmental sciences
Gulf Oil Spill map
ESRI has a nice map showing the current extent of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, along with other themes such as wind and ocean currents. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Situational Awareness Viewer Grace and Peace
What Obama has done right (or at least better than the Republicans have done)
I go to a Republican church, and I vote almost exclusively Republican. When I lived in St. Louis, I also went to a Republican church, but the church next door was a Democrat church. You could tell by bumper stickers on the cars. This kind of bothers me. Would a Democrat feel comfortable in my …
Continue reading What Obama has done right (or at least better than the Republicans have done)
Nuclear challenges
Here are two challenges for using nuclear energy as part of our world's energy future: Uranium, like fossil fuels, is a limited, non-renewable resource. It is mined from the Earth, and consumed by nuclear fission. Breeder reactors can make some additional fuel, but that too is of a limited quantity. In Arizona, uranium could be …
Climate change survey
From CNN: Surveyed scientists agree global warming is real. The results of a University of Illinois survey of scientists include the following: 90% of the scientists surveyed agreed that global temperatures have risen compared to levels from before 1800. 82% agreed that human activity been a significant factor in this increase of mean global temperatures. 97% of …
Global warming and solar cycles
If you are a regular reader of The GeoChristian, you know that I lean towards the validity of anthropogenic global warming (AGW), which is the idea that human activities are causing the Earth to become warmer. Much of the debate--on both sides--is driven by ideology more than science, but I have found the scientific arguments …
US gasoline prices by county
From gasbuddy.com: USA Gas Temperature Map -- Red is high, green is low. I saw gasoline here in Denver for $1.299 last week, though it has gone up a bit since then. Grace and Peace
Catastrophic space storms
Livescience.com: Perfect Space Storm Could be Catastrophic on Earth, Study Concludes Solar activity has just passed the low point in its 11-year cycle, and is expected to peak again around 2012. It is believed that about every 100 years or so, there is a particularly intense solar storm, which could disrupt power supplies on Earth …
The Environmental Case for John McCain
The attacks against John McCain by some environmental groups (such as the Sierra Club) are unfair. McCain has a well-integrated energy and environmental policy, that reflects his years of environmental leadership, not only in the Republican Party, but in the senate as a whole. From Republicans for Environmental Protection: The Environmental Case for John McCain …
Clean coal
The phrase "clean coal" came up in all three presidential debates. So what is clean coal? The Christian Science Monitor has a brief article describing the concept. The concern now, of course, isn't just that burning coal releases acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, or that burning coal is a major source of mercury …
More Pickens
Pickens plan video -- a plan to use natural gas for transportation, wind power for electricity generation, and to reduce the U.S. expenditures for imported petroleum by hundreds of billions of dollars per year. HT: Geology News Grace and Peace
Green elephants
In my previous post, I explained that I was born a Republican. If you know me at all, you know that I am also a strong advocate for the environment. I like clean air, clean water, biodiversity, sustainability, alternative energy sources, simple life styles, and wild places. Is "environmentalist Republican" an oxymoron? By no means! …
Natural gas-powered cars
Geology News recently pointed to two articles about using natural gas (CNG -- compressed natural gas) to power cars: Toyota Looks to Embrace Natural-Gas Hybrid Cars Chesapeake Energy Corporation Unveils National Campaign to Encourage Switch From Foreign Oil to American Natural Gas in U.S. Transportation Sector -- From Chesapeake Energy, includes a video Some advantages …
Out with mpg?
In Europe, gas mileage is expressed in liters per 100 km. Growing up with miles per gallon (mpg), this was a double assault on my abilities to convert units, and it never made sense to me. RealClimate has a post on the case for going to the same concept in the United States: The mpg …
The role of fission nuclear power in our energy future
I am somewhat cautious about fission nuclear power and its role in America's energy future. It may play a temporary role, but it is not a long-term solution to our energy needs. There certainly are advantages to fission power, such as no emissions of greenhouse gases or other pollutants. Those opposed to nuclear power often …
Continue reading The role of fission nuclear power in our energy future
Should we be Picken wind or natural gas?
I wrote a few weeks ago about the Picken plan (which is being promoted extensively by T. Boone Picken, oil and gas billionaire). Basically, Picken's proposal is to use natural gas for automobiles rather than for generation of electricity, and to use wind power to replace gas-powered power plants. There are many merits to this …
Picken an alternative
The over-dependence of the United States on foreign oil is bad for our economy and for our national security. This week, I read several plans for significantly reducing our oil imports. One of these was from billionaire T. Boone Pickens. He would have us invest a trillion dollars in wind energy, installing thousands of wind …
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