Carnival Buzz

We don't often stray beyond the realm of blog carnivals here at Carnival Buzz. Please indulge us while we stray into the topic of global warming in this post. Don't worry, though, we'll bring it home by the end of the post.

Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe, spoke at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books last night. We highly recommend her book, which originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine, because it reports on global warming from many perspectives. It tells the story of the Indian village in Alaska that has to move its entire population due to shrinking ice fields. It tells the story of scientists measuring increasing glacial melting and movement. It tells the stories of how different governments around the world are reacting to developments in climate change. (If you live below sea-level in Holland, you think about rising sea levels a lot these days).

Kolbert spoke two days after the 60 Minutes report about the U.S. government's censorship of James Hansen, a leading climatologist who works at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Who censored Hansen? Phil Cooney, the chief-of-staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, made edits to Hansen's work that changed the meaning of the Hansen's report from global warming is happening to something like the jury is out on global warming. Cooney was a former oil industry lobbyist.

So, we got to thinking, if the U.S. government doesn't want to do anything about climate change, well, what can we do? It's an incomprehensible problem in some ways. Climate change is taking place and it's measurable. Carbon dioxide levels have increased from 316 parts per million to 377 parts per million from 1959 to 2004, well above levels measured over the past 400,000 years. The physics of CO2 and the Sun's radiation have been well understood for over 100 years (see this FAQ for lots of the science behind carbon dioxide and warming). The only questions are really 1) how bad will it get? and 2) what can we do?

No one knows the answer to the first question. As Kolbert pointed out last night, there is a tough dynamic between figuring out how to avert a climate catastrophe and planning for a climate catastrophe at the same time. The worst case is oceans rising 300 feet (100 meters) over the coming 100-200 years with substantial human dislocation and political collapse. The best case is something better than that, but believing things won't change is simply wishful thinking.

So, what can we do. We're doing a few things. Besides trying to consume less energy (more walking and bicycling, checking tire pressure, turning off lights, etc.), we added a new Climate Change category to our Hurricane! blog. And, of course, since we think blogs and blog carnivals are a great way to promote good thinking and change, we're hoping that some kind blogger will start a Carnival of Climate Change. Any takers?