Chapter 5 – The Earth’s Energy Budget by Michael Belsick As noted in chapter 3, science indicates that the TSI (Total Solar Irradiance) of 340 W/m2 (watts per square meter) is the average level of solar radiation (sun’s energy) reaching the top surface of the Earth’s atmosphere. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Figure 13 is a depiction of the Earth’s energy balance from NASA. Figure 13. Earth’s Energy Budget This energy balance depiction is complicated mainly because of a closed loop feedback back system where energy is bounced around a bit between the ground Read more…
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Chapter 4 – The “Relativity” of Time and Temperature By Michael Belsick This chapter about time may seem irrelevant to a discussion about climate change. I have included it because it may provide a better comprehension of time with respect to the Earth’s climate over the eons. In the previous chapter, we discussed how orbital mechanics of the Earth’s rotation around the sun changes every 100,000 years. That is an extremely large number to comprehend. The birth of Jesus Christ was just over 2,000 years ago and that seems to us a very long time ago. So how can anyone Read more…
Chapter 3 – The Sun is the Source of All Heat for the Earth By Michael Belsick If we do not count periods when the Earth’s molten rock escapes to the surface with volcanoes, the sun is our only source of heat for us on the Earth’s surface. The question to be addressed in this chapter is whether this heat is constant. Let me start with an analogy. Anyone that has ever gone camping and sat around a campfire understands the basics. After you built your fire and set up your chair at a comfortable distance from the fire for Read more…
Chapter 2 – Carbon Dioxide Is Not a Pollutant By Mike Belsick While it is true that increasing industrialization is generating more carbon dioxide over pre-industrial ambient levels, the increase is a very modest percentage. Keep in mind that the industrialized burning of fossil fuels adds two different components to the atmosphere: soot or other particles and carbon dioxide. It is the soot that causes smog. Carbon dioxide is invisible. However, the Left talks as though carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pollutant formed from burning fossil fuels. That is a very misleading description. Another source of CO2 is you. In Read more…
By Mike Belsick Chapter 1 – 97% Agreement ???? To lead off my climate change discussion, I would like to address the claim from the Left that 97% of all climate scientists believe in anthropogenic climate change. Let me ask you a simple question. When, in your experience, have you ever found that 97%, basically everyone, agree on something? I am not just talking about just a small group of friends or family. I am asking about the entire US and even the entire world. Ask people what their favorite ice cream flavor is, and you may get more than Read more…
Climate Change Articles By: Mike Belsick Introduction The Democratic Left is pushing the notion that made-made (anthropogenic) carbon dioxide (CO2) from the burning of fossil fuels is heating the climate to the detriment of all life on Earth. This notion started in the 1960s but greatly expanded later. Interesting that in the early 1970s, there were some scientists predicting a pending ice age with temperature data like Figure 1. Personally, I do not recall any ice age occurring after this prediction. Figure 1. Recorded Changes of Annual Mean Temperature of the Northern Hemisphere In the April 28, 1975 edition of Read more…
Election Integrity Jeannette Hormuth, who many of you know through “Clean Water Fred”, along with Fredericksburg resident, Jerry Farley, has filed a lawsuit contesting results of Fredericksburg Charter Amendment Election. It is alleged that election officials recounted votes that were legally insufficient, failed to recount legal votes, made mistakes and/or engaged in illegal conduct. We need to be able to trust that our vote counts. We need to have a fair and accurate vote in the upcoming primary, and even to a greater extent, in the most important general election of all time coming this November. Below is a link Read more…
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Everything is bigger in Texas. No, Texas doesn’t have the highest concentration of millionaires, but in terms of raw numbers, only California has more than the Lone Star State’s 622,065 millionaire households. Heck, Texas is so big it not only has two of the smallest towns with the most millionaires in the U.S. — Andrews and Fredericksburg — but it’s also home to four of the cheapest U.S. cities in which to live. (Those would be Brownsville, Wichita Falls, Harlingen and McAllen.) On average, the cost of living in Texas is 8.7% lower than the U.S. average. Texas is a Read more…
Boot Ranch water consumption is “excessively wasteful”, “not fair to the city taxpayers”, “not economical to city”, and if continued it would place “unsustainable demand on city” This is what Mo Saiidi has been telling Fredericksburg City Counsel. He has been studying this issue for years. Now he has compiled the data to back it up. The following link is a .pdf of Mo’s work. You will not get this information from The Standard or City. Do you really want to subsidize Boot Ranch? Open