Thomas Wenzel’s perspectives on inevitable, natural climate cycles [STAR, July 30] are well presented but incomplete. They ignore the reality that populous technological societies can and do exacerbate such cycles – and even alter them, as would occur with nuclear winter.
Back when I worked at the University of Arizona Poetry Center and took extra classes (already had a Master's in English Lit), I audited a course taught by "stellar" planetary scientist Brad Smith, in charge of planetary imaging for Voyager and with an armload of national and international awards. He was also a fantastic teacher.
When talking about first life on earth, Smith remarked these simple organisms were all anaerobic, consuming carbon dioxide from the early atmosphere and spewing out oxygen, profoundly (and negatively) affecting their surface survival.
Dr. Smith added a polite warning, already manifest in the late 1980's – that this was the first case on earth of an organism's poisoning its own atmosphere.
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Thank you, Brad Smith.
Ila Abernathy
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
