That's right, the radical environmentalists with nothing better to do, august representatives of academia and your cozy little fuzz ball politicians, have ginned up a new crisis. This time it is the ocean. It seems that our man-made CO2 we have been churning out for the last 200 years, is turning the ocean acidic and that is going to melt all the shells of those little crustaceans who are part of the ocean food chain .......... they think ..... maybe ..... perhaps ..... well it's possible, isn't it? You can just tell their absolute certainty that another calamity is headed our way and the politicians can't wait to return to Washington and submit a new funding bill to fund the research on this impending doom.

According to the scientists, during surveys on the Pacific Coast last year, they discovered the natural upwelling that occurs along the West Coast each spring and early summer is pulling the acidified water onto the continental shelf. Until now, researchers believed the most acidified water was confined to the deep oceans. Cold water, which holds more carbon dioxide, sinks. Really! Deep waters also are naturally high in carbon dioxide, which is a byproduct of the decay of plankton. Hmmm! So there already is a high concentration of CO2 in deep seawater due to plankton decay. What then is the ratio of contribution of CO2 to seawater between airborne CO2 and deep water CO2 from plankton decay? Do they know! Probably not. Who are we to blame for the ocean turning acidic? People or plankton?

"The operative word in the article is "upwelling". Not only has the ocean along our coast been getting cooler due to global cooling that has been occurring since 2000 (some argue since 1998) but upwelling has been stronger since then. Since deep ocean water is naturally more acidic, ph will go down with strong upwelling currents. In places where the "horizontal" ocean currents cause stagnation such as the Santa Barbara Channel or the shallow basin on the Oregon Coast east of the Stonewall and Hecate Banks, that acidity can cause kills. This is all good news for salmon since the strong upwelling promotes increased plankton productivity. There is no free lunch in nature either."

"This article assumes a static environment in order to create hysteria (generate new grant money) just like the Endangered Species Act which assumes anything that changes is our fault, plus always negative."

"Just as with the 'ozone hole' hysteria, there is no historical baseline data in the article from prior to 1976 which was the start of the recent warming cycle that ended in 2000 or 1998. I would be willing to bet that ph was lower in 1968-70 in the same areas if that data was available."

But our politicians are really smarter than the rest of us. One of them said in the article, "....... from an acidification standpoint, the ocean is on fire". Now there is a highly qualified statement by an educated idiot that is sure to scare the pants off of everyone. But than that's the point, isn't it? Scare us into agreeing to pay more money to study this phenomenon, especially since WE caused it. Make us feel guilty for our decadent life style that is killing all the little sea creatures. A grant writer's dream come true.

One of the researchers said, "....... We don't know at this point what the impacts will be, but in my opinion, those impacts are very unpredictable at this point." Unpredictable indeed! Besides repeating himself, you can just read in his words how convinced he is that this is a crisis that requires immediate attention and study, and of course requires your tax dollars to fund it. Another of these researchers, chomping at the bit for grant money to study this earth-ending malady, says, ".......the potential biological consequences of these new findings need to be assessed immediately." Translation ..... he wants your money now and he'll probably get it.

Then there is this almost laughable quote from the owner of a shell fish growing business. ".......I heard about it last week; I haven't forgotten about it since. I am scared." He's scared because some scientists have told him, without qualification, that carbonic acid in the seawater is going to dissolve his shell fish and he will be out of business. The owner may have a streak of yellow running down his back, if that is what scares him.

So let's get this straight! According to the all-wise pundits, man-made CO2 is rising into the upper atmosphere and is causing global warming. That's somewhat interesting in that CO2 is heavier than air and should sink, not rise. Physics 101. But wait! That same man-caused CO2 that doesn't rise into the upper atmosphere to cause global warming, sinks to the bottom of the atmosphere, right down here where we live. According to these highly educated academes, the CO2 is being absorbed by the ocean and reacts with seawater, creating carbonic acid. But wait! The scientists have already stated that the deep ocean is already high in CO2 concentrations from the decay of plankton. So when seasonal upwelling of seawater occurs along the continental shelf, it brings the CO2 and carbonic acid with it. Hmmm! Sounds like a natural event to us, but not to the scientist lusting over your tax dollars.

There are some significant conclusions to be drawn from all this costly scare tactics, hype and propaganda. First, there are way too many scientists chasing ambulances to uncover possible environmental crisis so that they can write grant proposals to get government to fund their university department. Second, there way too many politicians who can't wait to spend your money on nefarious research so that they can tell the folks back home why they should be re-elected for all their good environmental works. The rationale for all of this is, you caused it, you should feel guilty and you shouldn't mind spending your money on research so the researchers and the government can scare your pants off with their research, that always requires more federal dollars to complete, but is never completed. And after they scare your pants off, they pass laws, acts and regulation to restrict your lives even further than they are now, while thumbing their elevated noses at constitutional guarantees.

Are we the only ones (and we aren't scientists, just common-sense thinkers) that continues to pierce the veil of these kinds of fraud? Are we the only ones that apply logic and reason to this fear mongering, that is camouflaged in societal guilt, motherhood, apply pie and Chevrolet? We can smell a con from Washington State to Washington DC and this my friends ranks right up there with the man-caused global warming debacle. Buy into it at your peril.

Ron Ewart, President

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RURAL LANDOWNERS

P. O. Box 1031, Issaquah, WA 98027

425 222-4742 or 1 800 682-7848

(Fax No. 425 222-4743)

Website: www.narlo.org