Heat Wave

Keith’s corner

Heat Wave

We are in the middle of a heat wave. We hit 99 July 16, 2023. Most of the west is suffering. It was 105 in Boise, Idaho and of course Vegas was over 100. It was 115 in Bullhead City, AZ. 115 in Houston and many other places. Is it global warming? Well it is warming, but there are other parts of the globe that are not so hot. Nevada recorded some of its highest temps in the middle 30s. Also, remember the Dust Bowl ? It was hot and dry back then. Here is a question, there was a period of 4-6 years in modern history that the planet was subjected to possibly the most carbon ever put into the sky by mankind. I lived through those years and I don’t remember anyone hollering about global warming. I do remember talk about a new ice age coming upon the world.

What years do I mean? 1939-1945 of course. The world was at war and all the industrial nation’s factories were belching out smoke 24 hours a day. Cities were being bombed and set on fire. Large ships were burning on the seven seas. Huge ammo dumps and fuel dumps were torched and spewed smoke in large quantities. Most cities, towns and individual homes were heated with coal. I remember my Uncle, Dr. Reed Anderson telling me that during those years he said that the collars on his white shirts were always blackened by the coal smoke that hung over Salt Lake City. We don’t have that now. The power plants used coal. I remember huge forest fires burning in the NW states. There were thousands of planes in the air burning gasoline. Steam engines all over the world running on coal. Great ships in the oceans burning coal or diesel. Just think of the great armies and their tanks and trucks . The list is endless. And throw in several atomic bombs. That all tallies up to a lot of pollution in the atmosphere. We didn’t worry about the ozone hole or acid rain etc. etc. we were more interested in saving our way of life and our lives, to be exact.

Yes, there are a lot more people on this old mud ball, but we also have lots of pollution controls and engines that burn cleaner. Power plants use nuclear power, burn cleaner coal, use clean natural gas and many other things. With the exception of China and India, most industrial nations of today have air quality controls.

Speaking of WWII, brings to mind WWI. I am sure there was a lot of stuff spewed into the air during those years.

Maybe, there is global warming coming or maybe another ice age, or the end of the world. Who knows?? Well, the Shadow knows and he is not saying anything at this time.