| ME |
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I am using this web site, among other things,
to post a lot of stuff on war and global
warming. Not just that, of course. There
are my train, glacier, and flood pictures as
well as some short stories that were fun to
write. But if I am going to sound off on
controversial subjects, you might wonder just
who I am that anyone should believe me.
Well, here is a little background.
I am a retired physics teacher from a
community college. Besides 32 years at the
community college, I taught high school a little
bit and did the assistantship thing in graduate
school. Also, I spent a little bit of time at an
engineering college.
Then there were two years when I was
teaching in a German gymnasium. As a note to
English-speaking people, that has nothing to do
with athletics, it was a college-prep school
starting with grade 5 and continuing through
what we Americans would call high school and a
little bit beyond.
Check the Alps in the picture just above and
to the left.
Many years ago I did manage to get
educated. High School in Mattoon, IL (1960),
BS in ED. from Eastern Illinois University in
1964, and PhD from Ohio University in 1971.
Physics major - both colleges.
Much of what I am putting on this site grew
out of my classroom work.
About twice a year, I was invited to give a
talk to a Humanities class called "Living with
Space, Time, and Technology". My talk was
on the technology of war, and I became more
aware each time I gave it of the horribly
rapid pace at which this technology is
improving. Of course "improved" war
technology is designed to be very lethal to
more people, more rapidly, more accurately,
over longer distances. We have been getting
much better at that as the years have gone
by.
This kind of technology is not always set loose
to do its work all over the world at once.
Thats nice. But you have to wonder what will
happen the next time we all decide to repeat
the Second World War.
Anyway, that is what I am trying to get at on
that part of my web site.
Then there is global warming.
When I went to work at the community college
in 1974, I was aware of this idea. It was one
of many environmental and other warnings
about the future. I did not pay too much
attention to it at first given the crush of
other topics to teach. It just seemed like a
theoretical projection into the distant future
based on some fairly crude computer models.
The general idea of the theory seemed sound
to me though, so I tried to keep up with what
the researchers in the field were doing.
Then a funny thing happened as the years
passed. Global warming gradually turned into
an actual experimental and observational
science, and the theoretical models kept
improving. As the science improved, the
consequences of loading the atmosphere with
greenhouse gas started looking more dangerous
-- not because the most severe warnings were
becoming credible but because the credible
ones are still dangerous.
For example, I watched the 1995 movie
"Waterworld" in which the whole world was
covered with water, due, it was said, to the
poles melting, and only one patch of dry land
remained. That, of course, would be Mt.
Everest. At 29,035 ft above sea level it is
the highest land in the world. But the water
would have to be above 28,255 ft (5.35
miles), the height of K2, the second highest
peak, located in Pakistan.
Just think, Everest climbers along the
Southeast Ridge encounter a bit of level land
called "the Balcony" at 27,600 ft. In the
movie, it would be underwater. But the South
Summit, at 28,700 ft, would at least be dry.
Climbers on the Northeast Ridge now encounter
the near vertical rock faces called the "First
Step" at 27,890 ft, the "Second Step", at
28,140 ft, and the "Third Step" at 28,510
ft. In the movie only the Third Step would
remain dry.
But where would that much water come from?
Antarctica and Greenland have a lot of ice,
which is piled up a couple of miles high in some
places. But they are only a small part of the
world. How do you translate 2 miles of ice in
these small areas to over 5 miles of water
everywhere? You don't. So there is one
extreme that won't happen.
Actually, only a few feet of sea level rise are
expected in the 21st century, maybe 3 feet,
more or less. But here is the problem. Even
that much sea level rise could affect some
island nations and many populated coastal
areas. Around 100 million people live at a low
enough altitude to be affected by a rise of
about 3 feet. Therefore it causes massive
dislocations anyway. Add to that changes in
weather that could make agriculture more
difficult amidst a growing world population,
and the real effects are bad enough.
I taught several classes for non-science
students. In fact most of my students were
not majoring in science. So I could work up
material to teach this subject in a way that (I
hope) is accessible to people without scientific
backgrounds. I followed the work of climate
scientists more closely all the time as I
worked on this and tried to improve it each
year.
Now that I am retired,I am still at it. I
even tried to check things out in Alaska and
Antarctica. Now I am trying to use this site
to show that there is a lot of science, not just
hot air (haw! haw!) behind the warnings now
current about global warming and climate
change.
So why should you believe me? Well, maybe
you shouldn't. There is a lot to be said about
thinking for yourself. But that is hard work,
and to do a good job of it, you need to at
least take an occasional peek at what others
are thinking.
So at least let me offer something to think
about. And while we are at it, maybe you can
return the favor.
Here is my feedback page. If you have read
this far, maybe this is a good time to use it,
and give me something to think about. If I
get a lot of response, I might turn that
feedback page into a blog someday.
to post a lot of stuff on war and global
warming. Not just that, of course. There
are my train, glacier, and flood pictures as
well as some short stories that were fun to
write. But if I am going to sound off on
controversial subjects, you might wonder just
who I am that anyone should believe me.
Well, here is a little background.
I am a retired physics teacher from a
community college. Besides 32 years at the
community college, I taught high school a little
bit and did the assistantship thing in graduate
school. Also, I spent a little bit of time at an
engineering college.
Then there were two years when I was
teaching in a German gymnasium. As a note to
English-speaking people, that has nothing to do
with athletics, it was a college-prep school
starting with grade 5 and continuing through
what we Americans would call high school and a
little bit beyond.
Check the Alps in the picture just above and
to the left.
Many years ago I did manage to get
educated. High School in Mattoon, IL (1960),
BS in ED. from Eastern Illinois University in
1964, and PhD from Ohio University in 1971.
Physics major - both colleges.
Much of what I am putting on this site grew
out of my classroom work.
About twice a year, I was invited to give a
talk to a Humanities class called "Living with
Space, Time, and Technology". My talk was
on the technology of war, and I became more
aware each time I gave it of the horribly
rapid pace at which this technology is
improving. Of course "improved" war
technology is designed to be very lethal to
more people, more rapidly, more accurately,
over longer distances. We have been getting
much better at that as the years have gone
by.
This kind of technology is not always set loose
to do its work all over the world at once.
Thats nice. But you have to wonder what will
happen the next time we all decide to repeat
the Second World War.
Anyway, that is what I am trying to get at on
that part of my web site.
Then there is global warming.
When I went to work at the community college
in 1974, I was aware of this idea. It was one
of many environmental and other warnings
about the future. I did not pay too much
attention to it at first given the crush of
other topics to teach. It just seemed like a
theoretical projection into the distant future
based on some fairly crude computer models.
The general idea of the theory seemed sound
to me though, so I tried to keep up with what
the researchers in the field were doing.
Then a funny thing happened as the years
passed. Global warming gradually turned into
an actual experimental and observational
science, and the theoretical models kept
improving. As the science improved, the
consequences of loading the atmosphere with
greenhouse gas started looking more dangerous
-- not because the most severe warnings were
becoming credible but because the credible
ones are still dangerous.
For example, I watched the 1995 movie
"Waterworld" in which the whole world was
covered with water, due, it was said, to the
poles melting, and only one patch of dry land
remained. That, of course, would be Mt.
Everest. At 29,035 ft above sea level it is
the highest land in the world. But the water
would have to be above 28,255 ft (5.35
miles), the height of K2, the second highest
peak, located in Pakistan.
Just think, Everest climbers along the
Southeast Ridge encounter a bit of level land
called "the Balcony" at 27,600 ft. In the
movie, it would be underwater. But the South
Summit, at 28,700 ft, would at least be dry.
Climbers on the Northeast Ridge now encounter
the near vertical rock faces called the "First
Step" at 27,890 ft, the "Second Step", at
28,140 ft, and the "Third Step" at 28,510
ft. In the movie only the Third Step would
remain dry.
But where would that much water come from?
Antarctica and Greenland have a lot of ice,
which is piled up a couple of miles high in some
places. But they are only a small part of the
world. How do you translate 2 miles of ice in
these small areas to over 5 miles of water
everywhere? You don't. So there is one
extreme that won't happen.
Actually, only a few feet of sea level rise are
expected in the 21st century, maybe 3 feet,
more or less. But here is the problem. Even
that much sea level rise could affect some
island nations and many populated coastal
areas. Around 100 million people live at a low
enough altitude to be affected by a rise of
about 3 feet. Therefore it causes massive
dislocations anyway. Add to that changes in
weather that could make agriculture more
difficult amidst a growing world population,
and the real effects are bad enough.
I taught several classes for non-science
students. In fact most of my students were
not majoring in science. So I could work up
material to teach this subject in a way that (I
hope) is accessible to people without scientific
backgrounds. I followed the work of climate
scientists more closely all the time as I
worked on this and tried to improve it each
year.
Now that I am retired,I am still at it. I
even tried to check things out in Alaska and
Antarctica. Now I am trying to use this site
to show that there is a lot of science, not just
hot air (haw! haw!) behind the warnings now
current about global warming and climate
change.
So why should you believe me? Well, maybe
you shouldn't. There is a lot to be said about
thinking for yourself. But that is hard work,
and to do a good job of it, you need to at
least take an occasional peek at what others
are thinking.
So at least let me offer something to think
about. And while we are at it, maybe you can
return the favor.
Here is my feedback page. If you have read
this far, maybe this is a good time to use it,
and give me something to think about. If I
get a lot of response, I might turn that
feedback page into a blog someday.
| Hi. Let me introduce myself. My name is Tom Gibbons. I am a retired physics, astronomy, and computer teacher. |
| This is me a very long time ago. 9th grade, I think. |
| This is me a long time ago, in the Alps in Southern Germany, during the time when I taught over there . |
| This is me a few years ago in the picture from my official web site at Clinton Community College, which was still there last time I looked. It is a bit out of date now. |
| This is me somewhat more recently. |
| OK, OK, so I used to smoke like a chimney. Well, "everybody else was doing it" when I first went to college, and I had to work hard to train myself to get that smoke down without gagging. Jeeeez, I had the wit of a nit. That pipe got me off of cigarettes, and it only lasted a couple of years. In other words, I gave it up OVER 40 YEARS AGO. And I am staying off. |
| Celebrating my retirement |
| Interrupted by a photographer while teaching a class. That overhead projector didn't do my carbon footprint any good. I told you (in the right hand column) that I didn't pay attention to climate change for a long time. Then I got set in my ways. Just like everyone. |
| Giving a talk on leadership. At least I wasn't using a 600-watt bulb here. |
| Visiting a quarry near Cedar Rapids, IA. See my first global warming slide show for some things that I found on these quarry tours. |
| Teaching astronomy (a young, thin me on the left) with our old, 3-inch refractor. We got a better telescope later. |
| And finally, the youngest me I ever saw |
| A very, very young me, from the World War II era. By the way, I am the little one. The other one is my dad, and he was the one in the navy. |
| It is a good thing I am retired or I would have missed class on this Alaska trip. This is near Ketchikan on a trip on that yellow boat-like-thing from which I must have been planning to fall in. See my glacier pages. |