writeaboutwarming

June 28, 2010 – While the mid-section of the United States swelters, and Arizonan’s endure the resumption of the wildfire season, let’s take a pass on the self-pity and talk about folks with REAL problems. It’s off to southern China we go …. MSNBC.com carried a story dated June 23, filed by Reuters news service from Fuzhou , China . It began raining in southern China on June 13. Ten days later, provinces and regions hardest hit by calamitous rainfall include Fujian , Jiangxi , Hunan , Guangdong , Sichuan , Guizhou and Guangxi. All of these places have been on the receiving end of more than 39 inches of rain in “a few days” time, with more in the forecast. I’m unable to imagine that much rainfall, but I can comprehend the results: at least 211 people dead and 119 missing. Rivers have broken their banks, dykes have collapsed, landslides have severed road and rail links. Highways have crumbled. Two-and-a-half million people have been evacuated. Millions of acres ...

October 4, 2009 – Why is it that the American media do such a poor job of reporting about the effects of global warming, especially in places other than the United States? It is, after all, global warming, a phenomenon that is, by definition, happening everywhere. To what degree will they be held culpable, when the American people say, “But I didn’t know that … ?” While it is true that Americans have shown an appalling lack of interest in righting this horrific wrong (for which they bear an enormous burden of responsibility), can it not be argued that it is the media’s job to heighten awareness, thereby creating a climate (!) of concern and urgency? Perhaps even more to the point, how is it that the British do such an exemplary job of bringing home the really significant stories of the day? Time and again I find myself impressed by their unflinching pursuit of a story – whatever it may be about – without regard to whom it may please or where it may ultimately lead. Permit me an ex...

September 21, 2009 – Last week, I recommended a couple of radio stations to you that broadcast what I believe are important shows about global warming. While I did not discuss Radio Ecoshock, a Canadian program originating in Vancouver with host Alex Smith, I will now. First let me say that Smith does a superlative job of not interrupting his interviewee’s, and of selecting the most important questions in need of asking. Back in June of this year, he hosted a show he called “American Climate Change.” The show was broadcast on June 18, two days after the release of a “State of the Climate – National Overview” report by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States. The report was released, with some degree of fanfare, by Dr.’s Jane Lubchenco, Thomas Karl, and Jerry Melillo. Each made lengthy comments with regard to the various impacts of global warming described in the report. (Let me suggest you visit http://www.ecoshock.org/ if you would care to hear ...