About

The author is Wayne Hird, a New Zealander.

As an engineer with experience in industrial heating machinery and manufacturing, his career has allowed experience to be gained in a number of developed and undeveloped countries.

We asked him, “So why this paper when so many authoritative, scientific and opinion-led articles on global warming are available?”

“Many years ago, someone once told me that “the amount of water going over Niagara Falls was about the same as the fossil fuels we are consuming”. It sounded astounding and I mentally added it to my ‘Check It Out One Day’ list.
Meantime, whenever someone pointed out a billowing chimney I would look and often
say “Oh that one’s OK – it’s not pollution, it’s just water vapour – it will dissipate into the
atmosphere”

Well guess what? I just checked and YES Niagara Falls is comparable.
And then to completely blow me away, I found that those benign chimneys billowing water vapour into the air are actually significantly contributing to global warming! How can something as benign as water vapour (and we all know how essential water is to life) be a pollutant destroying the earth?

Most people I spoke with had heard about CO2 as a pollutant and were also ‘doing their bit’ for the environment by choosing efficiency rated appliances etc but few had any idea about our constant addition of heat and water to the atmosphere and the impact that is having!
The magnitude of this activity is alarming. In fact I was so alarmed that I created the web site and associated blog. I felt people needed to become aware of these unnoticed pollutants that no-one seems to talk about.

Since I have been around long enough to know politicians and big business won’t enact legislation or change company policies of their own accord, I hope more awareness will ultimately lead to more public discussion and pressure. I hope people will start to appreciate that the move away from visible pollutants to the invisible (heat and water vapour whether emitted directly as part of manufacturing processes etc or emitted as part of burning fossil fuels to produce electricity) has not removed the escalating problem, started when we let loose the industrial age. We are digging ourselves into an ever deeper hole.

The web page discusses many issues you may want to read, be shocked by (I hope) and offers ways in which individuals can help change this. I am also keen to have others contribute, debate and add greater understanding of any of the issues raised…hence the blog page. What I don’t want is for readers to be side tracked into arguing the detail – to argue whether it is 1 trillion or 1.5 trillion doesn’t alter the fact and is a futile exercise that is tantamount to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

We can do it. We can make change happen. There is so much going on that directly addresses these issues, the planet could be rescued tomorrow and we could all walk a little taller for knowing future generations will inherit a sound, balanced ecosystem that will support them. But we are fighting the vested interests of big money. That’s why this web page”.

 

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