THE ‘HOT’ CONVERSATION

Poisoning the Well
Wen Stephenson, February 4, 2011 (NY Times)

"I haven’t had the talk yet with my…11-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter….But then, we grown-ups haven’t had the talk yet…[T]he topic is apparently too big and scary…[or] not scary enough.

"…Mark Hertsgaard’s Hot…raises the emotional stakes while keeping a clear head…[M]any, many things have to happen by 2020 if..storms, droughts, rising sea levels and mass extinctions of species are to remain within ‘manageable’ limits…For all the justifiable fears about flooded coastlines, [Hertsgaard] writes, the ‘overriding danger’ in the coming years is drought…Within two decades, the number of people in “water-stressed countries” will rise to three billion from 800 million."

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"And yet Hertsgaard also knows that we cannot allow fear or despair, or even anger, to be our only response. To face this challenge, we need reasons to believe the task is doable. Hertsgaard makes a valiant effort to provide them. He presents a strong case that there is still time to make an enormous difference. We know what to do, and much of the technology already exists. But we must act now.

"…Interviewing David King [in October 2005], at the time Britain’s chief climate scientist, [Hertsgaard] realized that human-caused climate change is not a distant threat but already upon us…What’s more, given our current trajectory — economic, cultural and, most important, political — it’s guaranteed to get a lot worse before it gets any better. (Significant impacts like sea-level rise are now “locked in.”) And it won’t get any better — indeed, it will become truly unmanageable — if we don’t make the necessary cuts in global greenhouse emissions."

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"This leads Hertsgaard to what he calls the new “double imperative” of the climate fight…[D]eep emissions cuts (what experts call “mitigation”) remain the top priority…[but] that alone is no longer enough. We also have to do everything we can to prepare…Adaptation — strengthening levees and sea defenses, safeguarding water and food supplies, preparing for more intense heat waves — has long been a touchy subject…[because] it signals resignation, or a false sense of security…[and] steals resources from…. mitigation. But the debate is shifting…

"…Hertsgaard advocates…a 'Green Apollo' program with an economy-wide price on carbon, vastly increased energy efficiency, huge investments in clean-energy technology, and other mainstream ideas…[and reports] on adaptation efforts around the world…All the stories are sobering, but many are also surprisingly hopeful…[T]he ability to adapt to climate change depends…Wealth and technology clearly matter, but politics and culture may trump them…The American social context too often remains the largest obstacle, Hertsgaard observes, not only to adaptation at home but to cutting emissions globally. It’s not clear how to change this…"