So, you think you are not so special?

A couple of blessings writing a column each week is it allows me to open my mind to science, and to look back on my personal experiences.

When looking back at my North Slope flying experiences in Alaska I usually remember flying in fog, high winds, blizzards, and icing. It is not much fun to recollect.

But there is one pleasant experience that always comes back to me. It was a mission to resupply an oil rig on an Arctic Ocean island called Tigvariak. It was in late fall and the cold temps were freezing up the Arctic Ocean.  It was night which meant I had to use my instruments to remain right side up since there was no horizon. Out my right door and ahead it was completely black.

The Bell 212 helicopter with its dependable and powerful PT 6 engines bored us smoothly through the night. The needles of the dimly lit gauges were steady, all reporting systems normal. Mercifully, even the heaters were working. I zipped down my insulated flying gear and relaxed.

To the left the heavens started to illuminate the Arctic Ocean which had recently weakly frozen over. The currents of the Arctic Ocean were struggling against old man winter. Long leads cracked open the ice and ran in a dark erratic zig-zag fashion towards the North Pole. Lighting the ocean from above were stars as thick and bright as I can ever remember. It was vast, abstract, black and white art. I was overwhelmed by my insignificance and the immensity and beauty of nature.

Just a minute or two later, straight ahead far in the distance, the lit oil rig came into view. These two images gave my imagination room to roam.

I wondered if another alien somewhere out in the vastness of space was completing a resupply mission. “Tigvariak Oil Station, Planet Earth, this is Bell Two-Twelve, ten minutes out.”, I reported on the radio.

Is there life out there? How unique is planet Earth and, if so, what makes it unique? Is there the possibility an alien pilot is landing his ship somewhere out there on a beautiful planet like ours?

Scientists know of no life outside planet earth. With all the hundreds of telescopes and listening devices man has, we have not found anything alive outside of Earth.

Scientists call earth the Goldilocks Planet because Earth has many critical features making it possible for us and all the other earthling creatures to exist.

For instance, we have a strong magnetic field that prevents the solar wind from stripping away our atmosphere.

Additionally, we have an ozone layer in the upper atmosphere that protects us from 98% of harmful medium frequency ultraviolet light.

The land we stand on is a floating chunk of rock called a tectonic plate. It slowly drifts about smacking into other plates pushing plates down to be melted by the red-hot core. This destruction and recreation of earth is, in immense geologic time frames, what gives us our basic benign atmosphere.

There are two more, very critical elements. These closely interrelated critical factors allow us to live on a planet teeming with life. One is we need some but not too much carbon dioxide. The other is we need a temperature where water is in liquid form. It just so happens we orbit the sun at the perfect distance. This gives us the potential to have water in a liquid state. But this is not the only factor that gives us liquid water because the primary heat regulator of our planet is carbon dioxide. It is the concentration of CO2 that keeps us just warm enough.

Mars, for instance, is not much farther away from the sun. It has only 1% of the atmosphere we have. The readings from the Gale Crater inform us the temperatures run from a high of 68 degrees Fahrenheit to as low as minus 197 F and alternate violently each Martian day.

Venus, which is not too much closer to the sun than us, is thick with heat trapping carbon dioxide. Even a camel would have trouble on Venus. The temperature on the surface is 872 F.

The carbon dioxide concentration we depend on is the one we are rapidly altering by burning carbon-based fuels. We exacerbate this by cutting, and not replanting, forests.

You must see where I am going. Life on our planet is nurtured by a long list of good fortune we often take for granted.

Even our moon, which we think was created so we have something to look at in the evening with our lover, is essential to the smooth revolution of our home planet stabilizing Earth’s climate.

Do you need to fly a helicopter in the arctic to recognize the great blessing we have been given? Heck no! At night, just walk out to the edge of town, or hike up Mount Zion, or stroll along Lake Superior at the mouth of the Black River. Look up at the heavens. Take a kid. Somewhere, out there, there may be life. Ask them what they think. You may want to tell them, whether there is life out there or not, they are special. Right now, we and all our other earth creatures are the only creation we can call alive.

Next time you dig up a shovelful of lawn soil, think for a second about it. You will probably find some worms, maybe a bug, or a dandelion. For sure you uncovered millions of microbes. As far as anyone knows, your shovelful of dirt has more life in it than all the universe scanned on any nighttime walk.

And that life depends on the thin layer of air, unique in the known universe, the atmosphere which embraces our sacred mother planet.

If you are feeling luck has shortchanged you, think again. If you have, or even had a pulse, you miraculously won the universe’s toughest lottery. And as far as we know, this lottery only takes place on Earth.

Column 102

  For more on how to save the atmosphere:

  www.citizensclimatelobby.org

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