Climate change, Earthquake hazard reduction, Plate tectonics, and Public Warning

The Effects of Sulfur Dioxide on Global Climate Change

Earthquake Hazard Reduction

In 1990, I conceived of, wrote, produced, and published a magazine entitled "The Next Big Earthquake May Come Sooner then You Think. Are You Prepared?" A total of 3.3 million copies were distributed in 41 newspapers throughout northwestern California and by request. The magazine was printed in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Braille. Creation of this magazine won me the Public Affairs Award of the Department of Interior and the highest award of the National Association of Government Communicators.

Plate Tectonics

Tectonics is the study of earth's structural features. I wrote several papers relating the structural features of western North America to the motion of ocean plates in the northeast Pacific. These papers provide new insight into the origin and structure of major silicic volcanic provinces whose roots form the granite batholiths such as those seen today in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The papers provide insight into how subduction zones go through cycles, the origin of hot spots, and the origin of the California Central Valley.

Public Warning

People at risk from natural or terrorist hazards can take appropriate action saving lives and property when they are warned in a timely manner. Numerous technologies exist to reach only the people at risk no matter where they are or what they are doing. What is missing is coordination by the federal government fostering national and international standards. From 1997 to 2005, I led several groups exploring the problems and needs of such a system. It could have easily been implemented after 9/11 but was not.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) absorbs solar energy strongly in the near-ultraviolet spectrum where the atmosphere is normally quite transparent to sunlight. This absorption warms the atmosphere and dims the sunlight reaching the earth. Increasing emissions of SO2 during the 20th century by humans burning fossil fuels appear to have caused global warming. When emissions were decreased 18% between 1979 and 2000 in an effort to decrease acid rain, global warming stopped but carbon dioxide concentrations continued to increase.