Are We Heading To The Post Apocalyptic Era?
“Holiness comes from the other side” was said to me in my recent vision
By Sandra Principe, October 29th 2021
In early October 2021, Pope Francis gathered leaders from every faith at the Vatican. All agreed to sign a petition to the world’s powers to do everything to alleviate the increasing effects of climate change. They looked ahead to the United Nations conference on climate change, hosted by the U.K. at the end of October. Stirred by daily news reports of extreme and destructive weather in different parts of the world, I too am preoccupied with these matters. However, some very hopeful messages regarding ways of improving environments came to me from a place I call “the other side of earthly reality.” I was deeply impressed by a series of images of technical solutions to our problems in a vision granted to me in August of this year. Afterwards, I was seized with wonderment. Could it really be that there were angelic workers foreseeing ways to counteract the greenhouse gases?
Inspired by such imaginative possibilities, I decided to research scientists’ current ideas on what might ] limit, if not eradicate, the build up of carbon emissions. I found that concerning greenhouses gasses, carbon dioxide comprises some 60 % of pollutants. Moreover, as I read climatologists’ writings, I discovered that these emissions impact the whole planet.
Here is where global carbon emissions stand at present. Of the fossil fuels which generate carbon emissions, coal is considered the most detrimental to our environment. China is responsible for approximately 30% of the world’s carbon emissions, and the U.S. about half that amount. India adds to the issue by quarrying coal for energy. This September, the president of China, Xi Jinping, spoke at the United Nations, saying his country would not set up any new coal-powered plants outside of China. This may not be enough to reduce China’s carbon emissions by the necessary amount. Later, on September 30th, the BBC reported that cities in China were undergoing temporary black-outs due to Xi’s instructions to local power plants to reduce consumption of coal.
This is because as China emerges from a COVID-19 economy, the price of coal has skyrocketed. There is a similar problem in the West, where leaders of developed economies want to move away from their COVID-19 restrictions and boost economic growth. But where China’s supplies have increased in price, England simply doesn’t have those supplies. It faces a petrol shortage, and many gas stations are empty of petroleum. Britain attributes the problem to insufficient truck-drivers bringing gas supplies into the country. Perhaps this general problem says a lot about people’s reluctance to return to the labour market during an ongoing pandemic.
We understand how difficult it will be for systems to increase their reliance on greener energy for a greener, fossil-free economy. But, as Pope Francis exhorts in his encyclical, ‘Care for the Creation,’ we must finds ways to bring this world back into balance with Nature. We must be ready to replace fossil fuels, stop cutting down our forests and mining heating supplies from peatlands or face a planet that burns with global warming.
As mentioned, the imagery in my visions suggested that angelic scientists and technologists are working on technical applications that could be developed on earth to counteract excessive carbons. Their ideas are similar to what I subsequently read in scientific literature. In my visions, which I relate below, it seemed that their imagined technologies are best interpreted as “thought-ideas.” As such, they are not unlike the prototypes put forth in current scientific literature, enterprising but still preliminary and speculative.
Blueprint for Idealized Forms as the Higher World Envisions
Currently, we cherish this wonderful world, despite the peril it faces today. This recalled to me the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Socrates (5th-4th centuries BCE), who presumed that in the realms of the Spirits, there exist ‘ideal forms’ which are similar but superior to those on earth. In the words of Socrates in Plato’s Dialogue of Phaedo, he spoke of a more perfect, earthly environment, healthful and pure, which he called “the upper earth under heaven” since he anticipated seeing this place following his imminent death (Phaedo 1950: 149-155). Socrates extolled the ideal reality of that place as follows:
“In this fair region everything that grows – trees, and flowers, and fruits – are in a like degree fairer than any here; there are hills with stones fairer in colour than emeralds, jaspers and other gems, all the stones are like our precious stones…. The reason is that they are pure, and not like our precious stones, infected or corroded by corrupt briny elements… which breed foulness and disease both in earth and stones, as well as animals and plants… They are the jewels of the upper earth, which also shines with gold and silver… a sight to gladden the beholder’s eye…. (excerpted from 149-150)
Socrates spoke of how people live longer there, with no disease. He supposed their senses were sustained in greater perfection by air, “that is purer than water or other than air.” There, they live a blessed life among the gods.
“They have temples and sacred places in which the gods really dwell, and they hear their voices and receive their answers.. and hold converse with them; they see the sun, moon and stars as they truly are, and their blessedness is of a piece with this…” (150-151)
Socrates was about to take the hemlock poison and die. In accepting this judgment on himself by his fellow Athenians, he endowed Athenian democracy, despite its flaws and imperfections, with an enduring value. In the midst of his farewell speech, he wondered what might be his fate in the upper worlds? Here he revealed feelings for the sufferings of humans, though it occurred to him that those who lived “holiness of life …. are released from this earthly prison, and go to their pure home which is above, and dwell in the purer earth….” (Phaedo 154-155). While speaking his farewell, he envisioned what he would see in the upper earth, which he perceived as a “much fairer” place, full of beauties and wonders.
In Mahayana Buddhism (1st-2nd centuries CE), a cult arose as the invocation of the Lord of the Pure Land of Infinite Light, the Buddha, Amitabba, who has other names in Chinese and Japanese. If a dying person called upon this Lord, he could be reborn in a wonderful world, “rich in a great variety of flowers and fruits, adorned with jewel trees, which are frequented by flocks of various birds with sweet voices. Even the winds are pervaded with perfumes, which, on touching the beings in that world, bring them happiness as great as that of the monk who attains cessation of suffering.” (Novak, The World’s Wisdom,1994:84-85)
Let us look at Judeo-Christian traditions on earthly-heavenly matters, particularly, Daniel, Ch. 7 (quoted by Jesus in Matthew 24:30). Daniel’s epic poetry is dynamically alive as the Hebrew prophet’s vision of the powers of Heaven that rule the earth. He saw the grandeur of the Godhead called the ‘Ancient of Days.’ In age-old metaphor, Daniel describes His hair is like pure wool, and His clothing as white as snow – like the clouds – of such importance to people in the Ancient Near East. From His Great Throne of fiery flames streams of fire pour down on earth, hot enough to melt iron. Yet the promise is made to Daniel, 7:13-14, that when ‘the Son of Man Comes on the Clouds of Heaven,’ to him the Godhead will grant an everlasting kingdom on earth that will never pass away. This figurative imagery suggested the bountifulness of the rain-filled clouds which usually arrived in early Autumn to drench the thirsty, dried-up soil. Today, in some parts of the world, including the Middle East, the summertime sun bakes the soil and rocky landscapes solid, and all life longs for the autumnal cloudbursts of rain. In other places, lands and cities are drowned in the hurricane forces of storm winds driving clouds so full of water vapours it seems as though the sea is pouring its waters upon the land.
Climate Science has been predicting increases in such adverse weather extremes
According to Joseph Romm (Climate Change 2016:21), “A key pollutant that drives global warming is black carbon.” Black carbon, he says, is the “soot” that comes from transportation and wildfires. Since black carbon is light-absorbing, it enhances the heating effects of the solar radiation absorbed by snow and ice in places like the Arctic, Greenland and Antarctic. Moreover, when carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid, and acidifies marine environments (2016:17). Romm explains that the acidified waters in the oceans produce less of the chemical compound DMS. This important oceanic element is integral to the formations of the storm clouds that absorb evaporated sea water. Additionally, the acidification of some regions of the ocean is damaging coral reefs that serve as nurseries for various fish and sea creatures.
Another climatologist, Robert Henson (Guide to Climate Change 2019: 460), says experts recommend that croplands revert to grassland, along with the practice of ‘no-till-agriculture’ since ploughing unearths the carbons of dead vegetable matter in the soil. These practices would save water and avoid reduce farmers’ use of fossil fuels.
The greatest amounts of carbons are released from power plants, such as the afore-mentioned coal-fired plants in China and India. They’re also released by power plants that generate energy by burning other fossil fuels, like oil and gas. Likewise, industries that make steel and cement operate on energy derived from fossil fuels. Vehicles like cars also add carbon to the atmosphere since 90% of them burn petroleum. Romm (2016:229) provides further history behind this. Early in the 19th century, the first cars ran on electricity. By 1900, one third of U.S. cars were still electric. But the discovery of underground oil fields in the U.S. inspired the creation of the internal combustion engine, which consumes oil/gas for fuel.
It shocked to me to realize that Romm, who was writing in 2016, and Henson in 2019, had projected adverse weather events to come, events which are now happening! This past summer, 2021, wildfires broke out across western America and Canada, escalating the destruction beyond what usually happens seasonally. These forests now stand in drought-ridden lands in the midst of dried up masses of ground cover, fueling future fires. Moreover, those regions are subjected to such abnormally high summer temperatures that during the heat waves in the province of British Columbia, several hundred people died.
In coastal regions of the southern U.S., hurricane storms ad the end-of-August produced torrential downpours and powerful winds that flattened, for instance, a giant electrical transformer in Louisiana. The region was stricken for weeks on end by power outages. This meant no relief from air conditioning during high heat and humidity. After Hurricane Ida fell upon the U.S. Gulf region, it moved on a north-easterly trajectory until its torrential rain resulted in flash floods and even tornados for New York and New Jersey. A day or two before Ida hit New England, the area’s daily temperatures averaged approximately 68 or 71 degrees Fahrenheit. What this told me is well known to meteorologists; Storm systems move hot air towards regions in cooler temperatures, from high-pressure to low-pressure conditions.
Similarly, earlier this summer in western Europe, Belgium and Germany were in lower, moderate temperatures when overwhelmed by excessive downpours, floods and landslides. The television news showed that Eastern Europe, on the other hand, escaped the powerful rain storms since their temperatures remained fairly high.
Climatologists insist that such extreme weather events result from high concentrations of carbon dioxides and greenhouse gasses in our environments. They say there are no other geophysical causes, like increased volcanism or a brighter sun (Henson 2019:10). They see that current weather extremes are largely caused by the excessive carbons in our environments; our earth, seas and air are all super-saturated with carbon emissions and cannot absorb more greenhouse gases.
Technical Solutions of a Visionary Nature, from above
I would like to tell you of what I saw, in a vision from August 2021. The vision showed me a set of technical solutions to dealing with carbon emissions, which I presume are like ‘thought-ideas’ among angelic scientists and engineers in the place I call ‘the other side of this earthly reality.’ This place is similar to Socrates’ ‘upper earth under heaven.’
One day, in August 2021, the following sights appeared to me. As I relaxed with an audiotape, I envisioned myself lying on the grass next to our Lake Ontario, looking up into the sky. Hovering over me, I saw the Great White-Winged One with whom previously I had journeyed to various places. Larger than any bird, his spread of wings seems to merge with the fleecy clouds up above. He urged me, without speaking, to come with him. Together, we flew through boundless clouded and blue skies.
At one point he paused in flight. A brilliant circle of the whitest light I have seen issued from his body and held my attention. In that moment my perceptions opened up to the other side. A thought-voice fell upon my mind, saying: “Holiness comes from the other side.” I realized I was being told to look upon the things I would see, and surprisingly, they were recognizably earth-like in design.
I found myself standing in a place lit up by brilliant sunlight. It was a broad platform next to a monumentally-sized, curving wall built of little reddish-orange bricks, all neatly fitted together. I could only see one part of that curving wall. Nevertheless that part was windowless and imposing. This gigantic wall stood next to waters of deep blue with waves that swelled gently.
One could say the landscape I envisaged surpassed an ordinary Lake Ontario landscape in. This place on the other side bore the sense of timelessness; though earth-like, it was more real than ever my imagination could engender. Was something being ‘realized’ or ‘manifested’ in the solid edifice I saw? Was it a kind of scientific institute wherein angelic agents were working on instruments to reduce the excessive greenhouse gasses in our environment? As my vision proceeded, two major technological applications featured prominently. First, I saw apparatuses presumably designed to transform carbon dioxides into less harmful, but still useful bi-products. The second technology involved new methods for transporting commodities without relying so heavily on cars and trucks.
While still standing on the outdoor platform, I clearly saw a kind of suction machine with a hose attached to it. It looked like a rectangular-shaped, domestic vacuum cleaner. (Later we will look at nascent prototypes of fan systems constructed like the domestic vacuum cleaner, using giant fans to pull carbon particulates out of the air.) Next, I saw a long pipe or cylinder of shining, copper-tinged metal. It seemed to be cooking something. Was it for refining carbon dioxide particulates in other ways? (Later we examine electro-chemical methods of sub-atomic nano technologies that separate the carbon in carbon dioxide from other elements.)
A powerful torch light appeared up in the air, which seemed to project far away into a distant place. I believed it directed my attention to the South China Seas, where the Chinese have constructed man-made islands. I wondered: could Chinese scientists be experimenting there with methods of reducing the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere? (When, later, I read of algae platforms to be constructed on man-made islands, I recalled this part of my vision.) In the future, we may see algae plantations in the seas, which through photosynthesis, could help rid the atmosphere of the high levels of greenhouse gasses we currently experience.
The next image I envisaged through the torch light emphasized refashioning of our urban environments. Dangling down in the air, in a place designated in the vision as Japan, I saw a string of little metal clasps or hooks such as might form chains. I understood that these metal clasps were made of a metal stronger than any other. I could see small, light, electrically powered aircrafts, pilotless like drones. With these extraordinarily strong chains they could airlift materials over short distances to markets and stores. These robot-like aircrafts, furnished with such elegant and beautifully fashioned armatures (like arms and hands) could replace some of the petroleum-based, heavy trucks.
Down-to-Earth Considerations of Energy Alternatives to Fossil Fuels
Romm’s chapter on ‘The Role of Clean Energy’ (2016:193-250) includes his expert views on problematic aspects of each energy alternative. In this respect, science and technology have not yet arrived at ‘complete’ or ‘total’ solutions. It’s insufficient to promote one model without considering its impacts on existing infrastructure, or that the new system will require new, supplementary structures at incredible costs.
President Bided announced in August 2021 his plans to exert control over all forms of petroleum-based vehicles that release polluting carbon emissions. By 2030, his administration expects to see 50% of passenger cars converted into electric vehicles that use batteries charged by a grid of stations to be set up across the country. Even hydrogen fuel cells are under consideration. But Romm (2016:238-240) points out that hydrogen as a source of energy can be dangerous. When it leaks the fuel is odorless, invisible, and highly flammable. Can sufficient electricity be generated from low-carbon sources to sustain this major switch away from petroleum? No one is certain. Even these electric batteries will be supplemented by gas in case the vehicles runs low on charge.
Romm considers wind and solar energy as emitting the least amount of carbon. But it’s not always geographically possible. For example, Germany’s model of solar powering residences is less effective there than in sunnier, more desert climates. Nuclear generation does not release carbons, but has obvious and dangerous risks of reactive leakage. Romm says that ever since Chernobyl and Fukushima, few nuclear power plants have opened.
In my region, hydro-electric power has been generated for approximately one hundred years at Niagara Falls. But its hydropower produces less energy than the Pickering nuclear-powered station on Lake Ontario. Elsewhere, hydropower involved building dams, which deformed river courses and pose a flooding risk. Indeed, in drought-ridden areas, the reservoir behind the dam is empty.
Robert Henson (2019:424-425), discusses carbon capture and storage, sometimes called sequestration. The initial push for CCS by certain coal-powered plants has slowed due to the complexities of refining carbon yields, which requires tremendous amounts of energy. The aim to sequester 90% of captured carbon dioxide either underground or in the sea has been unacceptable to environmentalists, however, because it necessitates the subsequent dumping of carbons into oceans. This causes acidification problems. Two Norwegian gas plants injected tons of carbon dioxide into aquifers under the North Sea. In other cases, carbon was injected into depleted oil wells as storage sites. In power plants, technologies are proposed to obtain either post-combustion or pre-combustion management of carbons. Post-combustion uses chemical methods to remove any carbon dioxide emitted by the power plant. Pre-combustion involves gasification; the carbon dioxide is separated, and hydrogen, a bi-product, becomes available as a carbon-free energy source. Henson, like Romm, lists as renewables: wind, solar, hydro, tidal, geothermal, biomass and nuclear.
Romm also sees that power plants have difficulty disposing of carbons. He mentions, for instance, that offers of carbon for sale failed to attract buyers. He sees biofuels like corn-ethanol, which is added to gas, as repurposing cropland that could be producing food (2016:215). One thinks today of the extensive droughts in U.S. agricultural lands, and elsewhere, which are seriously afflicting farming and the ranching of livestock.
Romm ( 2016:12;15) speaks of the presence of carbons in ‘parts per million,’ or ‘ppm.’ Today’s carbons record values in excess of 400 ppm, where historically they hovered around 280-300 ppm. The last time the geological record shows such high ppm as 400+ was 800,000 years ago. Even during the last interglacial era, 115,000 years ago, despite sea levels and land temperatures higher than those today, ppm was less. Henson (2019: 276-277) summarizes the orbital factors that forced hyper-thermal conditions during that inter-glacial, 100,000 years ago. The earth’s more elliptical orbit drew it closest towards the sun. Also, at that time, northern latitudes were bathed in sunlight and heat because the axis of the earth was bent down at its greatest distance from the north pole.
Meteorology, an Advancing Science, especially during Global Warming
Two climate scientists, Mark Serreze (2018), who focuses on the changing Arctic, and Tim Woollings (2020), an expert on the global reaches of major wind systems, each deliver important observations about our climate’s future.
Serreze’s work is titled, Brave New Arctic, The Untold Story of the Melting North. For decades ,he carefully documented the variability of Arctic weather. He and his colleagues werefascinated by the Arctic Oscillation or ‘AO’ patterning that showed contrasting high or low pressured conditions throughout the north. If, for instance, the central Arctic region was high-pressure, fair weather, the adjoining Pacific and Atlantic regions would experience stormy and cooler conditions associated with low-pressure. Notwithstanding this pattern of variability, in 2007, the data revealed substantial amounts of hot air coming into the Arctic from the south. Serreze writes, “Hence a lot of ice melted.” In our current context, he says definitively, “The long suspected culprit behind the warming – us – has been fully revealed. “ (2018:186). He further observed that the steady loss of sea ice might be linked to “An unusually big pulse of ocean heat coming into the Arctic from the Pacific through the Bering Strait, related to strong winds in that region” (2018:194).
The Arctic Oscillation is controlled, according to Serreze, by whatever is going on in the upper stratosphere, which in the north, starts five miles above the earth (6-8 miles at mid-latitudes). There is the circumpolar stratospheric vortex, which sends winds from west to east around the north pole. Any change in the stratospheric vortex controls the switch into whichever phase of AO is active in the Arctic regions. Serreze notes that the highest stratospheric levels of ozone absorb ultra-violet solar radiations coming towards the earth. Is this pertinent to reports of the expanding hole in the ozone over Antarctica? Below the stratosphere lies the troposphere, where winds also blow from west to east, but also meander north and south. Consequently, the winds known as Jet Streams are much wavier than upper circumpolar winds. The waviness of the Jet Streams, as Serreze describes another distinctive weather phenomenon, is because typically they break up into individual ‘whorls’ known as ‘cyclones’ for cold fronts, as opposed to ‘anti-cyclones’ referring to warm fronts. (2018:182-183).
Some meteorologists have suggested that the North American Jet Stream sometimes overreaches its 60 degree N. latitude, extending into the Arctic Circle. The recent deep freeze imposed on most parts of North America in recent winters may be due to the Jet Stream weakening and allowing Arctic cold to descend into mid-latitudes.
Tim Woollings (2020) shows a map inside his book-cover of the major Jet Stream that covers North America. It looks like a rollercoaster as it spreads across various elevations of land and sea. It starts in the Pacific, climbs over the Rocky Mountains, slopes down towards the interior Great Lakes, and then curves upwards to the northeast and crosses the Atlantic, heading towards Europe. According to Woollings, the four Jet Streams, north and south of equator represent the “domain of active weather.” Now the Jets are undergoing latitudinal changes. He predicts that subtropical zones, e.g. relevant to Jets at 30 degrees north and south of the equator, will become even more prone to desert and drought. Mid-latitude wet-zones like Western Europe will get wetter. Woollings calls this the “Wet getting wetter rule.”
Woollings pays particular attention to weather ‘blockages’ that dominate a particular latitude for a long period of time. The high-temperature anti-cyclonic seen in western North America this past summer is an example of such a blockage. When the Jet encounters conditions on the ground, be it anti-cyclonic or cyclonic, it slides around them and becomes even wavier. Supposedly, these latitudinal shifts, which the Jet Streams experience as a result of extreme ground-level events, contribute to more climate derangements.
Romm (2016:42-43) speaks of the severe, long-lasting drought in California as unprecedented; “The reduction in precipitation is the worst on record in past thousand years.” He refers to its “blocking patterns” which, he says, climate change creates whenever weather patterns become stuck or blocked by high-pressure systems. The abnormally high temperature conditions then dry out the soil. Romm tells us (2016:90-91) that 90% of the heat from global warming ends up in the oceans, and primarily in the surface waters, which weaken as carbon sinks. As mentioned, Romm also describes the effects of carbon acidification of the oceans. These warmed up, acidified waters generate less of the chemical compound that seeds the formation of rain-clouds.
Amazon Rainforests imperilled by drought – also the Boreal Forests to the North
Reportedly, the Amazon Basin of rainforest is suffering serious drought, especially in the north. Trade Winds, as depicted in Woollings’ map (2020:13), located close to the surface of the seas, are well known to generations of sailors of the Atlantic. Two Trade Winds blow towards Amazonian coastlines, one from the tip of South Africa, which is below the equator. The other Trade Wind starts from the northern-western coast of Africa, and deflects right over the Atlantic towards the Amazon. Both Trade winds ordinarily come from the east and bring seasonal rainstorms to the mouth of the Amazon River. But, where the Amazon now experiences drought, the BBC shows scenes of dead trees in the Amazon.
The onset of annual rainfalls and rainforest flooding started when plant leaves released their stores of water vapour into the atmosphere at the end of the dry season. This process is called “evapotranspiration.” NASA Observatory (May 2007) explains, ‘The Amazon’s Seasonal Secret;’ that at the end of the dry season leaves of vegetation release water vapour, which is called ‘evapotranspiration.’ Then, as the moister ascends into the air, there is a seasonal change in wind directions. Consequently, easterly Trade Winds from the Atlantic deliver ample rainfalls into the Amazon. But now, according to NASA, ‘Drought-Stressed Forests Fueled Amazon Fires’ (Nov. 2019), from NASA’s space station, they see that when they measure degrees of water-stressing amongst the Amazon’s forests, the results show that the tallest trees in the canopy have died, resulting in a loss of leaves and available water vapour. When overly-heated, those forests do not release water vapor, but conserve it, and are vulnerable to fires as we saw in August, 2019. NASA blames human land clearing and deforestation in the Amazon for the rainforest no longer serving as a carbon sink.
Perhaps a broader cause of the Amazon’s drought is that the seas to the east, which are over-heated and probably overly-acidified, no longer stimulate the Trade Winds to drive seasonal rainclouds towards the Amazon. Is there less low to high pressure contrasts between the ocean and the land as a result of global warming? Thus air masses are reluctant to move.
Recently, the region of Central Canada experienced episodes of heavy rain, thunder and lightening during the warmer seasons of spring, summer and early autumn. There are harbingers of a coming rainfall. For instance, tree leaves are turning back. Whenever I see the leaves of different deciduous trees turned back, I expect a rainfall within a few days. Invariably that is what happens. Unfortunately, in the Amazon, much of the bountiful rainforest has died, and lacking renewed flooding, not only is nothing growing, but what is still growing can no longer call up the Trade Winds to bring seasonal rain.
Our boreal (sub-Arctic) forests, which stretch from Canada to Alaska, as well as Scandinavia over to Russia and Siberia, constitute the northern equivalent to the vast Amazonian rainforest. We think of a variety of coniferous species: white and black spruce and jack pine. Growing in their midst are various deciduous varieties of balsam poplar and the white-limbed birch. Wildfires throughout these forests are clearly adding to atmospheric carbons because of the black soot the fires generate. It floats around in the winds and ultimately, ascends into the atmosphere. Romm notes (2016:85-86) that boreal forests rest on permafrost and peatlands, as in Siberia which is prone to peat fires. These peatlands release enormous amounts of carbon dioxide whenever they burn. He quotes “mega-fire expert, Guillermo Rein” on the global impact of wildfires: “Smouldering peat fires already are the largest fires on Earth in terms of their carbon footprint.
How can we begin to counteract the effects of greenhouse gasses, and especially carbon dioxide on our planet to reduce global warming and preserve our seas, lands and air? How can we help people inhabiting places afflicted with exceedingly high summer temperatures like the western North America and the Amazon region during this era of global warming? And how are we to save our precious stores of forests, boreal and southern rainforest, which participate in the seasonal rainfalls that irrigate all vegetal growth?
Extracting Carbons from the Environments
Developed nations like China, the U.S. and the European Union are keenly interested in an Icelandic collaboration with the Swiss Company ‘Climeworks’ to lower carbon emissions. Featured on the BBC television news in September 2021, and reported earlier in February on the website, ‘Iceland is Sucking Carbon Dioxide from air and turning it into Rock,’ is the description of eight shipping containers, each equipped with powerful fans for suctioning carbon dioxide particles out of the air. The carbons collected are pushed through special filters and the resulting material is driven deep underground into layers of rock. Since Iceland sits atop volcanoes, volcanic energies enable this project to derive thermal energy-power from the ground. On the above-mentioned website, they observe that despite the expense of setting up such projects for carbon extraction, the resultant move towards protecting world-wide strands of forest makes it a worthwhile endeavour.
According to recent science, there are other ideas for refining carbon dioxide through electro-chemical processes. The hope is that these will yield renewable energy bi-products. Such promising enterprises need to be conducted on an industrial scale if we are to successfully meet the demand of our age and get rid of some of the excessive carbons. I selected three articles from the internet touching on a variety of engineering solutions for further reading.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 2021 on the Internet): ‘Transforming carbon dioxide into industrial fuels,’ is an article by Haotian Wang of Harvard, and others (first published back in November 2018), which begins. “Imagine a day… when gases from power plants and industry will be fed into reactors that can chemically transform carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gasses into industrial fuels that emit only oxygen.” Their proposed method involves using a small amount of water vapor into which carbon dioxide is pumped; then this system uses “ion exchange membranes to move the ions around.” They report they have been able to absorb single nickel atoms (positively charged) in ‘carbon black nanoparticles,’ the material selected for carbon dioxide reduction. This system entails the eventual production of carbon monoxide, though they acknowledge, “Carbon monoxide is not a particularly high value chemical product.” But the third author in this collection, Ramya Vishwanath, refers to the usefulness of carbon monoxide in the manufacture of certain acids needed in tanning and poultry industries.
A website entitled: ‘Renewable Carbon Dioxide recycling and synthetic fuel production in a marine environment’ (first published in Feb. 2019) is by a group of Swiss authors and their Norwegian colleagues, with the Laboratory for Advanced Analytical Technologies. They refer to a site in Iceland where methanol is being produced by the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide. Methanol, commonly known as ‘rubbing alcohol,’ is similar to ethanol which is already added to gasoline fuel. Their concept involves the production of hydrogen out of carbon dioxide extracted from seawater “on clusters of artificial, marine-based photovoltaic (PV)- powered solar methanol islands.” First, they desalinate seawater. The research here refers to Israel’s industrial plants. Mention is also made of a U.S Naval Research Laboratory developing ion-exchange membranes to extract carbon dioxide using electro-chemical acidification and desalinated water, in order to produce a hydrogen fuel cell. The Swiss and Norwegian authors envision that by the year 2050, PV (photovoltaic) technology will have developed PV modules that can be spaced out on floating islands. The electrical output of such installations would match electrolytic cells at varying levels of solar radiation. They are hoping to establish the solar methanol islands by as early as 2025. In the first, early years, these islands capacity would be approximately 270 islands and would help limit further carbon dioxide emissions.
In his article on ‘Recycling and Reusing Carbon Dioxide: A Solution to Global Warming,’ Vishwanath writes of recycling carbon dioxide into less harmful energy bi-products. For instance, in his section entitled ‘Electrolytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide,’ he sees that when reducing carbon dioxide there are two useful end products. When processing the carbon to create hydrogen, it forms ‘methane’ which can be further refined to generate heat and electricity, and then it becomes a renewable energy source. The other useful end-product in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is ‘carbon monoxide.’ In his section, ‘Transcritical Carbon Dioxide,’ he discusses the potential benefits of the liquification of carbon dioxide. When carbons are captured as flue-waste from heavy industries such as iron, steel, petrochemical and cement-making, subjecting them to high pressure liquifies them. This liquified form of carbon dioxide is now considered “harmless” and can serve as refrigerants in many different settings, food-processing, supermarkets, skating rinks, etc. Its unique value in this regard is that it can replace chlorofluorocarbons that are harmful to the ozone level in the upper atmosphere.
In discussing ‘Carbon Dioxide to Biomass by Using Algae,’ Vishwanath sees this form of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as “ A particularly interesting and valuable concept of Bio-CCS.” Certainly, it looks more favourable for the environment than does storing carbons in underground geological formations or dumping them into the oceans. As he wrote earlier in his article,
“Many researchers believe that the reason for the rise of carbon dioxide in atmosphere is that there is nowhere left for the carbon dioxide to go. The Earth is provided with several natural carbon sinks (like the oceans and plants) that may be growing saturated.”
Now let’s look at what Vishwanath says regarding the use of algae to produce carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. When the process of stimulating algae growth combines with ’bioreactors,’ “the algae is 400 times more efficient than a tree at eliminating excess carbon dioxide.” The ‘photobioreactors’ he speaks of, use “light sources,” presumably adequate sunlight, and in the process the algae consume dioxide and light to manufacture biomass. The latter bi-product can become valuable sources of energy as biofuels, which he says are non-hazardless and biodegradable. In other words, they are substitutes for fossil fuels. To illustrate his point he uses and example where microalgae cultivated in photobioreactors helped revive some oyster reefs in Maine.
In her critique of industrialism and capitalism which have wreaked so much environmental devastation, Naomi Klein (On Fire ..2019:104-109) includes “rogue geo-engineering ideas.” For example, an entrepreneur, Russ George, dumped 120 tons of iron dust into the ocean to create an algae bloom for capturing carbons. But “Ocean fertilization could trigger dead zones and toxic tides,” she writes. And Intellectual Ventures, which Bill Gates sponsors, proposes sending up sun-blocking sulfur dioxide particles into the skies.
“If we start tinkering with the earth’s thermostat, turning our oceans murky green to soak up carbons and bleaching the skies hazy white to deflect the sun, we take our influence to a new level…. [eg] this could put India’s annual monsoon in jeopardy.”
Are there other natural, harmless forces we can harness for electrical power besides wind, sun, hydro, tidal and thermal? Japan’s space agency thinks there could be. It’s currently speculating about sending a solar-paneled satellite into the stratosphere to wirelessly beam down powerful energies to a power station on earth, potentially delivering electricity to 300,000 homes.
Some Conclusions
Technological examples from the other side of this reality reinforce experimental ideas of our own about how to transition into a greener economy. Among these is the compelling need to develop more installations for suctioning carbon out of the atmosphere. We could reduce the need to keep excavating fossil fuels by reusing and recycling carbon effectively. Also, instead of injecting carbon materials underground or into the sea, our aim should be to convert them into new renewable energy sources. We also need new inventive technologies to transform our transportation industry, beyond electrification. The photosynthesis principle is well served by algae ponds set up in islands in the oceans, so long as these are self-enclosed. Their biomass end-products can serve as fuels, saving us from further deforestation of the planet.
There was once a fairyland of a garden at the northernmost point of Scotland. This was Findhorn, where people like me learned to commune with the devas who oversee plants, and others to speak with the animals (as I was privileged to do on rare occasions). The dream today of some protestors in London is to “rewild” all the Royal estates. Since the Royal Family is the largest landowner in the country, these estates are the obvious place to start realising that dream. People want to see these large preserves turned over to the animals and the wildlife desperately in need of natural habitats. Many of us in North America would like to see wildernesses returned to their natural states, and the forests to re-grow. In China President Xi recently announced the government’s donation of a huge sum of money to support all forms of wildlife. The implication puts a hopeful end to the wet-markets selling wild creatures that might carry communicable viruses.
When Jesus lived on this earth in the luscious scenery of Galilee with its orchards, the Jordan River ran through the central valley and was was much wider than is the little stream today. Jesus walked everywhere through those landscapes, at his ease, relaxing and appreciating what people could learn from Nature. As he said (Mat. 6:28):
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them….. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”
During these pandemic seasons of spring and summer in Ontario, we saw Nature re-bounding because of reduced transportation and economic activities. Even today, in this cooling autumn, greenery is everywhere. Flowers and bushes sprung up in people’s front yards, and empty lots are filled with wildflowers. In these fortunate cyclonic weather conditions we enjoyed cooler temperatures and adequate rainfalls.
Let us envision for every place possible in the world that Nature be given the chance to work on de-carbonizing our environments by the principle of photosynthesis since vegetation loves to consume carbons. Let us encourage all kinds of gardening be it in rooftops on tall buildings, vertical greenhouse farms in cities, in backyard vegetable patches, flourishing parks and more wildernesses everywhere for wild vegetation and creatures of the wild. Let us help realise the dream of those London protesters. Rewild our cities, our earth, and help save our planet.
Not only humanity as a whole, but the world, needs to find the inner strength and moral integrity to thoroughly and completely reorganize our way of life. We now know from Science that the earth cannot sustain the ever-increasing indicators of global warming our overconsumption of greenhouse gases has caused. We have to re-organize our ways of living socially, and that means reducing the economic engines. This is particularly true of the financial sector, which has long-enabled the over-production of goods for a consumerist society. But, hardship and adversities lie ahead for the next generation unless we turn away from the old economic ways of sustaining individual and familial livelihoods. We need to scale down many things, as we have done throughout the pandemic. At the same time, the people advancing science and technology are forging ahead, debating alternatives to fossil fuels and how remediate the worst effects of climate changes.
I believe my heavenly-like visions are approving the efforts made by scientists and technologists, through their current envisioning of idealized forms, such as are comparable to ideas that come from the “Holiness that lies on the other side of this earthly reality.”
Sources on Climate Changes
Robert Henson, The Thinking Person’s Guide to Climate Change, Boston, Mass: American Meteorological Society, 2019.
Naomi Klein, On Fire, The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, Alfred A. Knopf, Canada, 2019.
Philip Novak, The World’s Wisdom, Sacred Texts of the World’s Religions, HarperCollins Publishers, 1994
Plato, Phaedo in Dialogues of Plato, Jowett Translation, Edited with Introduction by J.D. Caplan, The Pocket Library, New York, 1950:63-160.
Joseph Romm, Climate Change, What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford University Press, 2016
Mark Serreze, Brave New Arctic, The Untold Story of the Melting North, Princeton and Oxford: The Princeton University Press, 2018.
Tim Woollings, Jet Stream, A Journey through our Changing Climate, Oxford University Press, 2020.
Main Internet References
NASA Observatory, ‘The Amazon’s Seasonal Secret,’ May 2007.
NASA, ‘Drought-Stressed Forests Fueled Amazon Fires,’ Nov. 2019.
Haotian Wang et, al, ‘Transforming carbon dioxide into industrial fuels,’ ScienceDaily,Nov. 8, 2018.
Bruce Patterson et.al, Laboratory for Advanced Technologies, Swiss Federal Laboratories, ‘Renewable Carbon Dioxide, recycling and synthetic fuel production in a marine environment,’ first published Feb. 22, 2019.
Ramya Vishwanath, University of Delhi, ‘Recycling and Reusing Carbon Dioxide: A Solution to Global Warming,’ in Intersect, Vol. 14 No.1 2020
Historical Visions 