This site has discussed at length chicanery, hypocrisy and distortions of all stripes in the free-for-all on climate. This blog entry was to be another revelation of more drivel from news sources, more science grist for the mill and so on. That is until my editor, my son with whom I am well pleased, pointed out how tiresome the whole climate slog has become.

Numerous municipalities and states (two examples above) are working toward zero-emissions so that they might claim the moral high ground in the climate wars. Conversely the EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, is aggressively working to reverse the prior administration’s climate initiatives.

Of two things on climate we can be certain, there can be no serious debate on whether the climate is changing, of course it is, it has been for eons and it will continue. No sane voice in the fray denies that. Second, the pitched battles on the science, measures to be taken, costs and government action (or inaction) have no end in sight.

Given those, what’s the point in beating this again, and again? There is none. Thanks son! I am swearing off CDS as well as Liberal News Derangement Syndrome (LNDS).

The PolicySmith is supposed to be taking some down time, not ginning up rants. So to honor that semi-pledge, I herewith offer a nugget – albeit a painfully detailed and technical one – for the readership’s edification.

The PolicySmith came across a NASA study that concluded that a large portion of West Antarctica, generally the 620,000 square-mile ice-covered Marie Byrd volcanic region is underlain by an active heat-flowing plume. Hmmm, okay…so?

The West Antarctic Rift/Fault System fuels this “Mantle Plume.” Analysis of the NASA study and other findings were published in January, 2018 by James E. Kamis, a professional geologist who holds an M.S. in Geology from Idaho State University.   That analysis published in Climate Dispatch can be found here.

This highly detailed, extensive and complex geologic analysis of NASA’s findings, combined with other studies, advance global climate theories that do not align with the “settled science” of man-made global warming. Mr Kamis, by contrast, advances a Plate Climatology Theory, positing that the Earth’s Heat Flow Engine, which drives the outer crustal plates, is an important driver of the Earth’s climate.

Earth’s continents continue to drift and change, just as the climate shifts and varies. The rift/fault system illustrated here is rending the Antarctic Continent with its 149 erupting and semi-active volcanoes. The NASA study and analysis by Mr. Kamis are a deep dive into drivers of Earth’s evolution and possible future directions for our climate.

Antarctic-averaged long-term (50 years) surface temperature map (credits: Eric Steig (UW), NASA, and J.Kamis).

The point is, just as in any study of the universe, humanity continues to uncover what was previously unknown. Do the Kamis theories and the NASA study PROVE the source of climate variability is in the oceans and their dynamic geology? Of course not. But they provide motivation for further inquiry.

Climate Derangement Syndrome was front and center in responses to the article from those with vested interests in the manmade climate change game. Regardless, scientific inquiry will continue – down this path and others leading to greater knowledge and understanding.

Here at PolicySmith winter quarters in the desert southwest, there recently was much handwringing that less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation had accumulated since the beginning of 2018. Just as this blog post was in the works, the rain began here. It cools the brain, soaks the vegetation and turns the desert green. And in the bargain, it chills Climate Derangement Syndrome!

The entire climate matter is thorny. Claims of settled science, prescriptions for staggering expenditures, dire warnings and use of the issue as a political cudgel by both conservatives and liberals are exhausting and non-productive. Certifiable proof on one side or the other of the matter would be welcome – the complexity of climate indicates such proof will be a long time coming, if ever.

Then again, the Chicago Cubs DID win the World Series. Even the PolicySmith’s Cubs Derangement Syndrome has mellowed!