Earth Song

Michael Jackson Earth Song Live (1997)

Michael Jackson mixes care for earth, animals and people in an evocative and dramatic performance of "Earth Song" in Munich, Germany.

 Video Source  YouTube | Kelly Gentili

Earth Song and this performance skims past complex realities and conflicts where humans harm one another and the earth.  They spotlight hope rather than an actual way to change the situation.  But this is performance art, not academic research or environmental policy.

The human responses of the audience and stage actors offer a reminder that people of seemingly opposite circumstances may share a similar desire for peaceful co-existance--a desire that may either be visible at the surface or deeply supressed.  The video is posted here as a high-energy reminder of commonalities that may, if harnessed, fuel actions that can advance progress on the interconnected challenges of earth-human relations, and relations among peoples.

The song "Earth Song" was released November 27, 1995 on Michael Jackson's album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.

Links

Wikipedia  Earth Song

MetroLyrics  Earth Song Lyrics

YouTube | Gina Trixiii  Earth Song Live in München (1999)

1820-1930: Fourier to Arrhenius

 Climate Science Discoveries: 1820 - 1930

Source Image  SKS CC3.0   |   German Translatiion  Large or Small

Part 1 of 3

200-Years of Scientific Discovery About Global Climate Change

Adapted from John Mason's article at SkepticalScience.com

In the 1820s in France, Jean Fourier was investigating the behaviour of heat when his calculations revealed that the earth should not be as warm as it is.  That is, the earth is too small and too far from the sun for it to be as warm and livable as it is.  On its own, solar radiation is not enough.  So what was warming the earth?  As he pondered this question he came up with some suggestions.  Among them is the idea that heat energy from the sun penetrates the earth's atmosphere, and that some was not escaping back into space.  The warmed air, he suspected, must be acting as a kind of insulating blanket.  He had described what now is commonly known as the Greenhouse Effect.  Fourier was the first to do so.

In the 1820s, Fourier did not have the technology to make the measurements needed to explore his hypothesis.  Decades later, the Victoria natural historian, John Tyndall, brought a fresh perspective to Fourier's question and suggestion.  As an avid mountain climber, Tyndall observed evidence of climate-induced changes in ice caps, and he conducted experiments to measure the heat trapping propertities.  This led to his discovery that water vapour and carbon dioxied are good at trapping heat.

Tyndall's insights captured the interst of a Swedish scientist.  Svante Arrhenius figured out that earth's temperature is not regulated by water vapour because it recycles rapidly in and out of the atmosphere.  Rather, he saw that carbon dioxide regulates temperature directly as it is a long-lived resident of the atmosphere that changes relatively slowly over time.

As Arrhenius explored these issues, he worked with his colleage Arvid Hogbom, a Swedish geologist who was studing natural carbon dioxide cycles.  Hogbom had discovered that CO2 emissions from coal-burning factories were similar to emissions from some natural sources.  The two investigators asked what would happen if emissions from human sources increased and accumulated over centuries.  Arrhenius calculated that doubling the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere would raise the global average temperature by 5 to 6°C.   His conclusion was challenged and not accepted.  Confirmation would take decades.

>> Part 2

Full Series

CO₂.Earth  Part 1: 1820 - 1930 | Fourier to Arrhenius  [SKS 1]

CO₂.Earth  Part 2: 1931 - 1965 | Hulburt to Keeling  [SKS 2]

CO₂.Earth  Part 3: 1966 - 2012 | Manabe to present day  [SKS 3]

SKS  History of Climate Science (1820 to present day | Long version)

Related

AIP  Weart | The Discovery of Global Warming (online book)

CO₂.Earth  Weart | The Discovery of Global Warming

1931-1965: Hulburt to Keeling

 Climate Science Discoveries: 1931 - 1965

Source Image  SKS CC3.0   |   German Translatiion  Large or Small

Part 2 of 3

200-Years of Scientific Discovery About Global Climate Change

Adapted from John Mason's article at SkepticalScience.com

The previous article introduces the early observations, questions and scientific reasoning of Fourier (France), Tyndall (England) Arrhenius (Sweden) and others.  These early contributions started to shed a light on the important role of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as a direct regulator of earth’s temperature and climate.   But legitimate objections remained unanswered, and work on these questions remained intermittent.

In 1931, an American physicist, E.O. Hulburt, took a fresh approach to calculate the global average temperature increase that would result from a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 level.   Hulbert refuted objections by x Angstrom that heat convection needed to be accounted for.  His calculation focussed on the escape of infra-red radiation to space, and it included the known increase in water vapour (7% per 1°C).  The result was a prediction of 4°C.

Later that decade, an English meteorology enthusiast...summary to be continued...

 Part 1 <<  |  >> Part 3

Full Series

CO₂.Earth  Part 1: 1820 - 1930 | Fourier to Arrhenius  [SKS 1]

CO₂.Earth  Part 2: 1931 - 1965 | Hulburt to Keeling  [SKS 2]

CO₂.Earth  Part 3: 1966 - 2012 | Manabe to present day  [SKS 3]

SKS  History of Climate Science (1820 to present day | Long version)

Related

AIP  Weart | The Discovery of Global Warming (online book)

CO₂.Earth  Weart | The Discovery of Global Warming