writeaboutwarming

The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change is Al Gore’s twelfth book, his fourth since having lost the presidential election of 2000.   I guess I always knew the former vice president was a pretty smart guy, but his burst of productivity since that epochal event has surprised both cynics and supporters, I suspect.    An academy award and the Nobel Peace Prize - in the same year, no less?   A fortune valued at $300 million, grown from $2 million in 2000?   Co-founder of Generation Investment Management and Chairman of the Climate Reality Project?     To re-iterate: four books? DIVORCED FROM TIPPER?? Talk about your late bloomer!   Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by The Future , but I do think it stands apart from his previous work.   Where Gore seems   to have “toned down” his prior attempts at impressing his audience with the seriousness of climate change (I am purposely avoiding use of the term “dumbed down,” because I...

October 29, 2012 - Considering that there's an 800 pound gorilla occupying all the available space, I guess we better pay attention to her.  She's big, she's bad, she's ugly: Hurricane Sandy.  From all appearances, she's on target to live up to her advance billing.  Storm of the Century, and then some.  Anything to celebrate here?  Maybe. First of all, a closer look is in order.  Hurricane Sandy is 1,000 miles across, with sustained winds of 90 mph.  Storm surge will be her worst aspect.  Sandy, moving at a snail's pace, is scooping up and pushing water out ahead of her that may create a water wall 15 feet in height in New York City.  Should subways flood, as they are likely to do, clean up and repairs could take weeks. Furthermore, this hurricane's storm surge will last throughout three - count them, three - high tides, thereby significantly magnifying the effect. Did you know that a cubic yard of water weighs nearly a ton?  Sm...