Clyde Burnett, Boulder County.  Today I will speculate about the origin of life and predictions of climate change. My qualifications about origin of life are limited to some familiarity with physical science; my remarks are only slightly authoritative but perhaps entertaining. And there is the famous Yogi Berra-type quote about predictions: They are difficult, especially with regard to the future.

There are temperature limitations about life. Very high temperatures do not permit complex structures beyond atoms and fundamental particles; low temperatures are perhaps limited by the availability of energy. In our solar system, the planets Venus, Earth and Mars have historically been candidates.

CS Lewis’ “The Space Trilogy” imagined life on these planets without benefit of facts. Mars (Malacandra)was given a similar climate as Earth (Thulcandra), but Venus (Perelandra) was covered with water, and telescope observations by Percival Lowell imagined canals on Mars.

Earth is unique in its design for human life. It has abundant water and just the right amount of oxygen for complex structures. Its stable climate in the recent past was favored with a surface temperature warmed 60 F above energy balance, due to the atmospheric greenhouse effect of water that is controlled by CO2 and other infrared absorbing trace gases. These temperatures produced a stable climate with 10 day water evaporation-precipitation cycles and gave humanity, and other life, complex structures with organic molecules like methane, and photosynthesis with CO2,

Mars and Venus may once have had water and a livable climate for humans, but now exhibit negligible amounts of water and no evidence of human life. NASA finds a very thin Mars atmosphere with no greenhouse effect, resulting in a cold surface. Venus has also lost its water and has a thick CO2 atmosphere with heat trapping to nearly 500 C surface temperature. These conditions were generated by nature: lack of magnetic shielding on Mars and Venus’ orbit proximity to the sun.

Large human populations have become a critical part of Earth’s life forms; it has become a major responsibility for us to make intelligent policies regarding the environment. The human constructs of economics, politics, and even religion must coexist with the climate. These human constructs controlling climate input are frequently in competition with the laws of natural science.

Unfortunately, the present CO2 perturbation from 280 to over 400ppm is much greater than any recent historical stress. Our scientists have been able to predict the resultant global warming and the Earth’s response in ice melt, sea level rise, and episodes of extreme weather. Our intelligent human species has the scientific facts to make predictions of continued climate change. Almost all of the human nations and leaders have agreed on an international course of climate action in the Paris Accord. One wonders about the climate policies of those in Washington and their electors. Their plan to destroy the planet rivals the natural history of the climate of Mars and Venus. (See photo.)

Jefferson said a democracy needs an informed electorate. We need to understand the facts of global warming and climate change; we should not vote based on science fiction or the propaganda of economic profit.

We have clearly demonstrated the capability for action when we recognized the danger; our responses in wartime were prompt and successful. There is the scientific fact that our incoming solar energy is 14,000 times our total electric power generation. Last year in the U.S. we had a slight decrease in CO2 emissions due to continued expansion in solar and wind energy generation, despite a blatant exception in federal policy. We can do it! So vote to protect our home. ”Ain’t it awful” is not good enough.