A is for . . .

Image courtesy: Daniel Wehner

My theme this month is weird science, and to get the ball rolling, I've got a question for you. Who likes to breathe? WE DO! Where does that lovely, breathable stuff come from? The atmosphere!

The atmosphere is a protective blanket of nitrogen, carbon dioxide (for plants), oxygen (for animals--that includes you), and cyanobacteria for photosynthesis held to earth by gravity. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Without an atmosphere, our planet would look like this:

Image courtesy: Nigel Howe

Yep, the atmosphere keeps us from being flattened by meteors. They burn up in the layer called the mesosphere. Awesome, right? 

Now, you've probably heard about greenhouse gasses. They're not all bad. In fact, they're pretty darn important, absorbing the sun's heat and reflecting some of those rays toward the earth. Without an atmosphere, we'd freeze in the night and fry during the day. Consider the moon again. Night time: -280°F or 173°C. Day time: 212°F or 100°C. We'd have to live underground with that kind of business. Deep underground.

So why do the words greenhouse gas or greenhouse effect have a negative connotation? Because of us naughty human beans. Between farming and burning fossil fuels, we've increased the greenhouse effect to the point that the temperature of the planet is going up.

And that's not all. We've also damaged the ozone layer, increased acid rain, and are experiencing more intense hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, not to mention being forced to wear shorts during Christmas. Hairy, pale knees everywhere! It was terrifying.

This destructive path leads to some dark predictions for the future. One such vision is presented in the tale, EVER-TON, by Yolanda Renee. Here's a little snippet of her world:

In the 1970s, scientists had warned of the dangers of global warming, but nothing happened until the year 2000. President Al Gore couldn't get the legislation passed that would curb the dangers caused by fossil fuel, but he found the funding for the New World Aeronautical Organization - NWAO. They began the search for a New Earth. Terrifying storms, devastating droughts, and unimaginable diseases took the earth to the levels of an apocalypse that no one foresaw, not even President Gore. The building of survival units in the highest mountains became a top priority. Now, in 2050, the world's atmosphere had grown toxic. The city of Ever-Ton, meaning Everlasting Mountain, sat high in the Himalayas. We were the largest and last community of survivors trying to leave earth.

Image courtesy: Chris Hartford

Spooky, huh? EVER-TON will be published on May 3 in Parallels: Felix Was Here, along with nine other tales set in parallel universes.

Do you worry about climate change? What steps would you or do you take to help ease the burden of your carbon footprint?

Note: I will be away from my computer until Saturday afternoon/evening. That's when I'll post B and play catch-up on commenting.