The eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull (I-jaf-jalla-jokull) volcano on April 14, 2010, is being compared to Krakatoa’s famous eruption on August 27, 1883 which had a great effect on weather patterns for the next few months. It seems that its Icelandic equivalent might have the same effect — creating a period of global cooling. This invalidates all of those computer models created by climate-change fanatics warning us of an earth becoming unbearably hot with oceans rising and covering all coastal cities. So Al Gore must be worried.
But maybe, at this point, he just doesn’t give a volcano. After all, he’s got his Nobel Prize, a Hollywood Oscar, and has made tons of money with lectures and a bogus film that scares the daylights out of school children. He’s the same former vice president who thought they speak Latin in Latin America. And of course he invented the Internet. What it all means is that even the dumbest of politicians in America can make millions by peddling horse manure.
As for Krakatoa, one local historian who witnessed the eruption wrote: “There came an explosion so loud, so violent, and with such far-reaching effects, that it made all that had gone before seem as child’s play in comparison, and made all other explosions known to earth in historic times dwindle into insignificance.”
Apparently he wasn’t around to witness the eruption in 1815 of Mount Tambora, also in Indonesia, which resulted in an extremely cold spring and summer in 1816. New England and Europe were exceptionally hard hit with snowfalls and frost occurring in the summer months. Destruction of the corn crop forced farmers to kill their animals.
Krakatoa’s eruption produced equally uncomfortable and but scenically spectacular results. The world experienced unseasonably cool weather, brilliant sunsets, and prolonged twilights due to the spread of aerosols throughout the stratosphere. The brilliant sunsets are typical of atmospheric haze.
So what can we expect from Eyjafjallajokull? It interrupted air travel for several weeks from Europe to the United States, and the month of May has become almost autumnal in New England. Its volcanic ash, high in the air, is bound to effect climate wherever it moves. But already global climate fanatics are telling us that it can’t compare with the damage human beings are doing to mother earth and the ozone layer with their hydrocarbons. In a website entitled “How Volcanoes Work,“ they write:
Although volcanic aerosols provide a catalyst for ozone depletion, the real culprits in destroying ozone are human-generated CFCs. Scientists expect the ozone layer to recover due to restrictions on CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals by the United Nations Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. However, future volcanic eruptions will cause fluctuations in the recovery process.
You don’t say! I wonder how the climate-change “scientists” will deal with future volcanic eruptions. They know how to deal with the “real culprits”: cap-and-trade them to death; produce smaller cars with reduced emissions, but higher rates of accident deaths; build more windmills; lower home-heating temperatures. But what about the volcanoes? Maybe they’ll get the United Nations to ban them.
I guess a volcanic eruption, like an oil spill, can create a crisis that ought not to be wasted. But at least we foolish mortals in the months ahead can enjoy the beautiful sunsets and prolonged twilights. Yes, the weather may be cooler, but the sky will be a brilliant sight to behold.
Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of nine books on education including NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, The Whole Language/OBE Fraud, and The Victims of Dick & Jane and Other Essays. Of NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, former U.S. Senator Steve Symms of Idaho said: “Every so often a book is written that can change the thinking of a nation. This book is one of them.” Mr. Blumenfeld’s columns have appeared in such diverse publications as Reason, The New American, The Chalcedon Report, Insight, Education Digest, Vital Speeches, WorldNetDaily, and others.
