I mentioned in my last post I was going to ignore the 2024 election as much as possible. It is difficult with the deluge of emails, postal mail, radio and television advertising, and perhaps skywriting at some point. But sanity demands it.
So what am I going to do?
I’ve decided I’m going to focus on geology – at least geology videos and a few roadside geology books.
Out here there have been short segments on PBS called “Nick on the Rocks” – with each 5-7 minute episode covering a geological feature of the Northwest.
The host is Nick Zenter – a geology instructor and outreach speaker at Central Washington University in Ellensburg WA.
His presentations are intended for a general audience, with few technical terms (even those can be quickly researched on Google).
One of his videos was about the terminal glacial moraines in south Puget Sound where I live – sure made me think about paying more attention to the various land forms in the area I live. The story of the planet we live on is everywhere if we actually see what we’re looking at.
Today I walked north along the beach in Narrows Park. The fishing wasn’t great, but I spent time focused on the exposed cliffs and landslides behind the beach. Evidence of glacial till, with multiple layers of varying thickness – and many with captured stones, was everywhere.
The evidence of the great glaciers, some 3,000 feet deep, that spread over Puget Sound was there to see.
I just watched one of his public presentations where he talked about the Spokane Floods; a presentation that challenged the standard narrative about the flood from glacial Lake Missoula.
The Lake Missoula flood theory in brief:
At the end of the last Ice Age (approximately 15,000 years ago), there was a large lake filling the valleys of western Montana. It was created by an ice dam 2,000 feet high. The lake size was estimated to be that of a combined Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Periodically, estimated to be at least 40 times, the dam ruptured and Lake Missoula drained, creating great cataclysmic floods that carved the Grand Coulee (site of Grand Coulee dam) and other canyons through Idaho and eastern Washington before draining through the Columbia River gorge and flowing out past Astoria Oregon.
Live or visit anywhere in Washington, Idaho, or western Montana and you’ll eventually encounter the tale of glacial Lake Missoula.
But what if the Grand Coulee and other features were not carved by the outburst floods but rather a much earlier (perhaps up to 1,000,000 years ago) glacial advance out of Canada?
Nick cites the work of a geologist named J. Harlan Bretz who was developing this theory in the early 1920s. Without going into all the conflicts, he faced ridicule and disbelief as most do who challenge accepted orthodoxy. But recent field work and scientific analyses support his theory – with Nick expressing hope that some PhD students will pick up the theory and work further to prove it.
Now you may not be interested in geology. But there must be something that has piqued your interest but you have had little time to investigate.
The online world – both paid and free – offers opportunities to find and listen to people who are experts in their fields. They can teach, provoke thought, and maybe even cause you to change your thinking.
Spending time on your field of interest – if even for only 15 minutes per day – will be much more valuable and rewarding than listening to any political commentator – or worse, listening to a politician, or reading an article or post on some contrived issues. This is particularly true if you live in a state where the election results could be written today.
Otherwise, have fun with your election.
