Surviving Climate Change by way of Art & Science

December 3, 2013

By Doug Czor, Images from Doug Czor’s Art Notebook #1

During the early 1970s, Historical Geology classes in the School of Geology, University of Minnesota, forever changed my perspective on hope for the survival of humanity. The study of Geology is like reading the great history book of planet Earth. Each layer of sediment or rock became the pages and chapters in an account of Earth’s geologic changes, and how our environment arose to what it is today. As I read the book and listened to the lectures, I was astounded that each chapter seemed to end with a great planet-wide, mass extinction of life, apparently caused by some form of climate change. On a geologic time scale, major climate change can be caused by: geologic changes in Earth’s structure, its orbital position in relation to the Sun, the variable energy output of the Sun, impacts from interstellar objects, mega volcanic erruptions, or other cosmic events.

I suddenly realized how dangerous it is for humanity to live within this thin atmosphere, as well as orbiting so close to our own variable star, the Sun. Even though only a very few professors were writing about climate change during my college years, I considered how we might survive the next mass extinction event. Would we be hit by a comet, or suffer from a mega-volcanic blowout? I wondered how my own life and family might be affected by imminent climate changes. Could we survive?

Forty-two years have passed from the time I was first troubled by the mass extinction events found in the geologic record. Now everyone is talking about climate change. Humanity’s expansion to cover the Earth was not only due to cooperative intelligence, but also due to a plateau of temperature stability between the usual in geologic time rapid swings in the average atmospheric temperature. We were fortunate to arrive into the extremely stable and warm Holocene interglacial period (Table 1). I am not a climate change denier. I believe that Earth’s climate is warming, that humanity is partially responsible, but we must also consider the other causes because we are scientifically not sure if reducing humanity’s role alone will be enough. During my early college years, I speculated that, even if human engineering increased the temperature of the atmosphere only a few degrees, our extinction might inescapably be caused by the addition of another much larger, and unexpected environmental force. For instance, what might happen if we combine a lesser, human-engineered climate change with a major, planet-wide, geologic heating of the ocean floor? Might this combination trigger a massive release of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas, from the ocean floor? Long before civilization existed, sudden and large climate shifts are frequently found throughout the geologic record (Tables 2 & 3). In order for humanity to survive a mass extinction event as well as climate change, perhaps we must engage the situation on an entirely different level than we are attempting today.

The School of Geology, University of Minnesota, is especially suited for the study of recurring glacial ice ages. The northern Midwest and Canada have been re-sculptured many times over millions of years by the edge of an ice cap that extended and receded from the North Pole. The Great Lakes (Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario), were originally huge troughs gouged out of the bedrock due to a one-mile thick ice cap on-the-move. Due to a warming trend that started thousands of years ago, the ice cap thinned and receded northward. The result of this migration produced thousands of smaller, freshwater lakes that now cover the region. These smaller lakes were originally pockets of ice from the remains of landlocked icebergs, melting amid glacial sediment. The ancient soils of the region now produce a tremendous abundance of crops for modern farming. The Twin Cities, Chicago, and other Midwest cities became rapidly expanding hubs for one of the most successful agricultural regions in the world. The population boomed, and universities arose abundantly throughout the region. However, only a very few wondered how long this abundance would last. What pedagogical methods might we employ to inspire change in our society to a more scientific culture, thus to ensure survival during a mass extinction event as well as the resulting climate changes?

The flow and ebb of the northern polar ice cap in a series of ice ages, warm interglacial periods, and ages of desertification, are found in the rhythm of Earth’s symphony. I wondered what would happen to humanity, if the current interglacial period, in which we live, might become an age of desertification with the Arizona Sonora Desert marching eastward across southern United States. How could the typical family survive this scherzo movement of an age of deserts where Palm trees would thrive along the latitude of New York and the Twin Cities? How could the typical family survive Ages of desert, and then in allegro plunge back into another ice age? Will we move underground? (1)

Scientific researchers have identified only a few of the forces that change the temperature of our planet and its atmosphere. What if, as our Solar System orbits around the Milky Way Galaxy, it encounters massive, nearly invisible clouds of Dark Matter (2). As the Sun and the planets of our Solar System slam into clouds or waves of Dark Matter, might each of the planets warm from even this infinitesimally small interaction (Dark Friction?) with Dark Matter? Might also the Sun’s nuclear fires heat up, as it burns through a cloud of Dark Matter, or Earth’s core heat up due to Dark Matter Friction? Other researchers argue that high points in the fluctuation, or a flash of incoming cosmic rays (Miyake Event) slams into our atmosphere, seeding clouds to produce a worldwide cloud cover. Cosmic rays in the form of high speed charged particles can penetrate the atmosphere, leaving an ionized trail through the air which acts as cloud seeding. Imagine what would happen to our ability to farm, if we had continuous cloud cover for decades. It is uncertain the exact amount of an effect humanity has on Earth’s climate. It is also a death-defying way of thinking for us to ignore the other large-scale forces of our Sun and galaxy. Climate change was discovered to be happening on Mars and some of the outer planets. Why?

One way that we might improve the survivability of humanity during an extinction event and/or climate change is to increase the number of creative and scientific young people among our populations. It is easier now for someone to be a scientist. One no longer needs an advanced degree in order to be a scientist, only an interest in our surroundings and the ability to be logical. Citizen Scientists are presently contributing on many levels, but is this enough?

Previous to the 1970’s, the definition of science and physics was constrained to subjects that could only be described mathematically. A few researchers were beginning to discover unusual mathematical patterns that appeared to be biological or life-like, rather than ordered or geometric. During the mid 1980s, a revolution in science was triggered when the Santa Fe Institute (3) brought together the top researchers of these mathematical phenomena. Complexity Theory was born and soon spread throughout the scientific community. Today, with the discovery of complexity theory, fractal dynamics, chaos theory, synergy, and quantum entanglement the definition of science and physics has expanded beyond what can only be described mathematically to include what is life and a spiritual or metaphysical universe. Thus, the cultural walls surrounding science and physics have been reduced, providing a gateway to a much larger percentage of our populations the opportunity to truly embrace science. Even if the student has not yet graduated from High School, they can be a scientist. Stay-at-home moms and dads can be scientists. The more scientific people become in a society, the more likely they will engage in preparations for climate change. They will be more successful at modifying their covenants, ignoring Fake News, replacing inefficient architecture, obsolete transportation, food, and energy production systems. It is now possible that a more scientific society might also develop systems resilient to an unforeseen extinction event.

Cultures that mistrust the Scientific Method place all of humanity in danger of extinction. Previous to Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642 AD), scientists were mistrusted, and sometimes burned as heretics. Had the advancement of science during the proceeding classical period (8th century BC through the 5th century AD) continued without interruption, we might now have advanced eco-cities and a thriving space economy. Commercializing space for raw materials would have given us space tugboats and barges operating in the Earth-Moon-Mars system ready to capture comets and asteroids for raw materials. This shipping commerce would have given us the ability to seize and secure planet-killing asteroids and comets. Today, we have only begun to track the orbit of the more than 20,000 near-Earth asteroids and comets. At this time, it is very doubtful that we have the ability to prevent an impact from a planet-killing object. Considering the frequency with which large objects were found in geologic time to have struck the Earth, and the very slow development of space technology, it is appropriate to say that we have unwittingly subjected ourselves to the possibility of extinction. This is only part of the problem. Mega-volcanoes can also cover the Earth’s atmosphere with a blanket of dust that darkens the sky for years. Imagine for a moment a ten-mile wide hole in Earth’s crust opening to expel a white hot, vaporized rock geyser that shoots from sea level up to the top of our atmosphere where millions of tons of dust spread out like a black umbrella, covering the Earth, and stopping all agricultural production for years. How could nations prepare their city-farm technologies to weather such an extinction event? One way might be to first greatly increase the numbers of creative scientific-thinking people through the use of Art & Science as well as Art & Technology in order to create a new, globally-networked, scientific and technological culture.

Themes of Art & Science and Art & Technology could provide a way for many cultures to become more confident with the ideas of science and technology. The amalgamation of art (4), science (5), and technology blends the creative spirit from all three, forming a special pedagogical tool that could be used for the advancement of new technologies, innovation, and change. Furthermore, when the storyteller overlaps the mythos side of art with the logos side of science and technology, one is able to achieve a synergy of thinking that can catapult students into cultivating alternative strategies, technical competencies, and new critical thinking skills. Students equipped with this synergy can better catalyze cross-fertilization between disciplines; thus, accelerating their technological aptitude, as well as mobilize the spread of a global scientific methodology. Might this encouragement also lubricate both the freedom to think logically and nurture the imagination necessary to disband the same cultural walls that presently obstruct our survival?

Working as a professional scientist or physicist is truly a challenging position in our world. The love of learning and the quest for knowledge that a scientific person strives for must be protected with careful awareness of political, religious, and economic forces. Naturally, all of us are consciously and subconsciously swayed by political, religious, or racial forces during our attempts to solve some dilemma. The most difficult idea that a true scientist encounters is how to begin working on a problem with an open mind and without bias. In addition, our Ego misleads us at times into thinking we are superior and really able to understand the real world. We try to understand, but the world is far more complex than we are even able to imagine. We are born into an apparent finite world where we measure everything in small units, so we think and problem solve in finite concepts. Even the lightyear is a small unit. Most scientists believe in the “Big Bang Theory”, as well as the universe is a certain size and age. However, the opposite is just as likely the situation – that the universe has always been here forever, and it extends outward from us without end. The astrophysicist points to the Red Shift, as evidence the universe is expanding, but what if the Red Shift is a side effect from the mass of Dark Matter? We must be careful not to worship the Ego, as it leads us away from logic and the Scientific Method. Because we cannot truly experience infinity, we probably never will understand an infinite universe, and that the Big Bang might only be a local Little Bang, one among many which are constantly happening all over the universe. It is possible that neither the biological, digital, nor the quantum brain will ever be capable of grasping the meaning of an infinite universe.

One evening with a telescope, wondering the number of stars that hold planets with life, the farther out I looked the more expansive space became. In that moment I felt an ascending displacement. Rising from my telescope eyepiece, I stumbled out the back door, and fell into the pine needles, laughing. There is so much more to the composition of our world and universe than we will ever fathom. I believe that it is only with great humility, a spiritual belief, and the gift of art & science that humanity will have any chance to survive the combination of climate change, globalization, and some unexpected extinction event.

There is not a good reason to be against people who believe in a spiritual realm because something mysterious has been happening around us all over the planet probably from the beginning. No mater what ancient peoples we study, all have artwork indicating the sense that something beyond our realm is communicating with us. In order for these many diverse peoples in an attempt to understand it, they created their own spiritual belief system, a religion for their society. It’s not that one religion is wrong and another is right. The important thing instead is that we sense something beyond our understanding of nature. Before microscopes were invented many cultures ascribed sickness due to spiritual entities. Thousands of years passed before we figured out that illness was caused by microorganisms. Perhaps the same is true for our present day spiritual experiences – that in the future we might discover scientifically that nature and the universe has intelligence and to some degree cares for us. Some physicists have speculated that the universe is an information storage system that is functioning and capable of intelligence. If this is true, because we are part of the universe and the information flows through us, might we be interconnected with this intelligence on some level. So, before you intellectually throw the concept of God out the window, try for a communication with nature and the universe. Try it. See if God will help you. I believe that science and religion are brother and sister in the same family, and one without the other is the hallway that leads to an early end for humanity.

Another survival method for humanity might be found in the arts as modes to improve our ability to think and advance understanding. What are the important mental effects of art upon our minds? Do we recognize patterns in the world that we didn’t before the study of some artworks? If an artwork, a poem, or a metaphor is somewhat abstracted, different possibilities are opened up and this stimulates new ways of looking at the world. There can be much more in a work than what was originally intended. Thus, it can persuade us to see that there are always many possibilities to a problem, freeing us from artificial constraints, and allowing us to be open and developing. The search for a precise definition isn’t the guarantee of truth.

From the beginning, humanity has invented machines that reduce the personal cost of our labor and gave us more time to raise a family, obtain education, and among other things, to be creative. We are now inventing thinking machines. I do not yet fear the rise of thinking machines. I believe that these machines are giving us even more time to be creative. But then the President of Microsoft, Brad Smith, 26 May 2021, on BBC’s “Panorama” said, “I’m constantly reminded of George Orwell’s lessons in his book ‘1984,’” Smith said. “The fundamental story was about a government that could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time.” The misuse of AI is another hallway we should not enter because a futuristic robots may act human, but they will definitely not be human.

Finally, I believe that an inspired artistic and scientific citizenry that is not Ego aggressive is probably the most dependable of the many pathways for humanity to recover from our shortfalls and help us solve planet-size problems. The inspiration generated by a love for art, science, as well as technology are among the most powerful tools a people can assemble in the case for rescuing humanity. If the present movements of Art & Science and Art & Technology succeed in spreading their message worldwide, humanity might one day avoid being extinguished, and discover that infinite space of being. Aristotle wrote in Nicomachean Ethics, one of his most influential works. “Men become builders by building and lyre players by playing the lyre; so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

“Fortune favors the prepared mind”, Louis Pasteur

Here is a partial list of organizations at the forefront of this movement:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/
http://www.leonardo.info/
https://www.khanacademy.org/
http://www.societyforscience.org/
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/
http://www.learningscience.org/
http://www.usfirst.org/
http://www.explora.us/en/
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/
http://iaaa.org/
http://www2.fi.edu/
http://www.iteea.org/Networking/networking.htm
http://www.engineeringforkids.net/home
http://www.dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/inspire/ser-inspire.htm