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YourHub.com \\ Arvada \\ Stories \\ Holidays \\ New Year's Day

Wonders, Warming and Winter

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Contributed by: Stan Dyer on 1/5/2007

It's good to welcome the New Year at a gathering of friends. Such events are also great opportunities to listen and observe. I took part in a conversation at a recent soiree on the eve of the New Year that I thought worth mentioning and sharing. The subject started with the Seven Wonders of the World, changed to Global Warming, and ended in a discussion of winter. I'm not sure if I really learned anything, or shared any knowledge, but I did make a connection. After it was over, it occurred to me how peculiar it can be when history repeats, and how many things tie together.

I can't be certain how the subject came up, but I watched as a group of people took guesses at just which wonders of the world comprised the well-known "Seven Wonders of the World". There were a number of good guesses, but none of them correct. I guess they aren't as well known as I thought.

For the record, the Seven Wonders of the World began as a list of "must see" tourist attractions in the ancient Mediterranean area. The origin of the list is credited to a number of people, but Herodotus was first, although Antipater was first to write them down. The list is as follows:

1) The Great Pyramid of Giza
2) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3) The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
4) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
5) The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
6) The Colossus of Rhodes
7) The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Of course, many more wonders existed, but who knew? Herodotus didn't know of China, the Pyramids in Mexico, or any of the natural wonders such as Victoria Falls. Even if he knew, how would he get there? Hence, his list was relatively short. Since those humble beginnings, however, the list expanded greatly and continues to expand yearly. Now, we all have our own favorites, and I know my girlfriend is my personal list of wonders, but how could anyone today limit the list to only seven? It can't be done. Additionally, any modern list isn't likely to include many from the first list, since the only wonder surviving from the original list is the Giza Pyramid in Egypt. Natural disaster, war, and fire claimed the rest. That takes us to the second subject of the evening. Since many of the wonders were in or near seaports, the talk soon changed to Global Warming.

Modern theory claims the Earth temperature is increasing due to "greenhouse" gasses. These gasses, particularly Carbon Dioxide, come from burning the fossil fuels Coal, Oil, and Gas. We all do plenty of that. The tons of greenhouse gasses spew into the atmosphere, trap the heat of the Sun and warm the surface of the Earth. The warmth, in turn, melts the polar ice caps and increases the amount of water in the oceans. As the oceans rise from the addition of water, beachfront property soon becomes lost under the surf, or so the theory goes. It is certainly something to think about, but it is still only a theory. That led talk to another theory about climate change. This theory was from 1816.

Few history books record the "Year Without a Summer", but it happened and Napoleon's armies knew about it. From fall 1815 through late fall 1816, the heat of the Sun failed to warm the planet adequately as it had every year in the past. Crops died, people starved, and snows fell in June. The great scientific minds of the time put their heads together and decided it was Benjamin Franklin's fault. That's right, good old Ben Franklin, the inventor of the lightning rod.

One theory claimed Franklin's lightning rods "interrupted" the Earth's process of "re-heating" itself and doomed us all to eternal winter. The other main theory also centered on the lightning rod, but claimed that it pulled the heat of the air out of the sky along with the lightning. They were, of course, completely wrong, but it makes you wonder about modern theory. What seems perfectly logical to one Generation, may soon seem perfectly ridiculous to the next.

As it turns out, the weather of 1815-1816 resulted from the eruption of Mount Tambora on April 5, 1815. The eruption blasted 25 cubic miles of debris into the stratosphere in a cloud of fine dust that encircled the globe and affected world weather for years. How wrong we can be, but it helps us see how things can tie together, and how no one is immune to error.

The great minds of ancient times weren't wrong about the Seven Wonders, they were only limited in their scope. Modern minds may or may not be right about Global Warming, but how will we know? How limited is our scope? As for winter, it will always come, and we cannot change that. We just have to deal with it no matter how short or how long. No matter whose lightning rod we blame, it won't make the temperatures any warmer. As we begin the New Year with a fresh start, think about the Wonders, the Warming, and the Winter. Life goes on in the fishbowl and it's peculiar how so many things are linked. Have a Happy New Year! and stay warm.

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Stan Dyer

Arvada , CO

Stan Dyer has posted 916 stories and 113 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Stan Dyer 's average story rating is 4.35.

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