Winter Solstice Letter

Another year, and another winter solstice letter. What has happened in the last year? And welcome to the exciting show coming up in the next few years as we face reality.

First, I regret to inform those who do not already know that I have become a raving atheist. I always was a bit that way anyway, but now that I am retired, I have had time to study this and examine reality, sciences, and the like. It can be the most fair of the belief systems, everything is hypothesis, there are no absolutes, but much is bloody unlikely. We live in a time of rapid change and as a result tradition needs to take a hinder seat. We need to learn to think our way through these troubling years ahead. Oh well. Much is beyond our power, but in the power of others to achieve the necessary results. 

The causes of climate change have passed the point of no return; carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is over 400ppm in the atmosphere, and methane is over 1600 ppb in the atmosphere. In 1960 these numbers were 280 and 500. The Arctic is 20 degrees C warmer, the September sea ice is down to 25% of 1960 levels, and methane hydrate is melting, releasing more methane about 200 times the rate it was in 1980. By 500 ppm Co2, we will be suffering. The second whammy will be methane at 3000 ppb. The third will be nuclear winter. Few others care so why should I? Oh well.    

The world cannot support this level of population, and nobody will voluntarily reduce their life style. We all are becoming protectionist, which is not a bad thing, I think. We have gone too far in trading, and not in producing everything we can ourselves. Oh well, the carbon dioxide and methane will likely finish us baby boomers off.   

   

Fort McMurray fire, 240 miles direct away, produced a bit of smoke, and a lot of evacuees around here, something like 125,000. It will require a lot of labor to rebuild, if and when that happens. There should be a requirement for clear space around towns and cities like that. But then there should be a requirement to control the size of trees in all cities on high plastic soils, but there is not. In fact the stupid City of Edmonton promotes trees that cause high plastic lacustrine clay soil shrinkage from drying and that damage houses. Oh well, that is politics as opposed to reason.

I am not going to take on any of these issues, but knowing the obvious, sit back and watch the young whirl away. Until there is a government in power that places the people first, the problem will not be resolved. Note that I did not say solved, for the only solution is reduction in world population back to 3.5b or so and stabilized industry of profitable carbon fixing established. We are the species at risk, if this is not done soon. We current humans do not do well in a methane rich atmosphere. The next sapient species may be able to breath in a methane rich atmosphere. The lesson endith here. Oh well. 

My sister, Merris and her husband, David came for a visit in mid August from Wyoming. It was her 50 high school reunion.  Other than that I did not lay eyes on any relatives in the last year. Oh well. I have been in a period of not wanting to do much of anything, other than what needed to be done… garden, grass, fix, repair, patch, paint, restore, etc, and there is just too much of that. 

The garden was poor, it was dry until the end of June, then wet. Tomatoes and cucumbers froze off on June 25 this year. Reseeded the cucumbers, and got two tomatoes from Sue’s nephew Robert’s, so they were late, but we got enough. Climate change is real, and dramatic weather shifts are occurring. Carbon dioxide is rising too high.  

I am fully retired except for three stupid legal cases where I am an expert witness on. All these are hang overs from 2009, 2011, and 2015. Defence, defence and quiz-government prosecution. The legal system is as stupid as the political/government system.  

We were to Saskatchewan twice and BC twice, and Sue made one more trip each way, no two extra to BC. Her family is getting old, and her cousins are dying off. I guess we are doing our part to address overpopulation. Sue is planning a trip to Houston USA in December. Burn that carbon fuel.

I will close at this point, and wish you all seasons greetings.