The Weather Breakers?
A scientist from Down Under visits Florida
We walk on earth,
We look after,
Like rainbow sitting on top.
But something underneath,
Under the ground.
We don’t know.
You don’t know.
What do you want to do?
If you touch,
You might get cyclone, heavy rain or flood.
Not just here,
You might kill someone in another place.
You might kill him in another country.
You cannot touch him.
— Big Bill Neidjie,
“Gagadju Man”
This Aboriginal poem interprets how mining in the Australian outback poisoned their environment for subsequent generations. In saying “what do you want to do?” it implies that people today have the power to influences the lives of the next generation or even someone living halfway around the world. The trickle-down effects of altering ecosystems are global, as we are now learning with respect to climate change.
Professor Tim Flannery, Australian scientist, expands on the wisdom of this Aboriginal poem in his new book, “The Weather Makers.” Flannery, one of a new breed of planetary heroes, distilled the complex issue of global warming into a clear message when visiting Florida last month as part of his book tour. His Sarasota public lecture was sponsored by Sarasota News and Books, Selby Gardens and Sarasota Catering Co. He also spoke on radio station WSLR. Tony Blair, prime minister of Great Britain, said, “All who read ‘The Weather Makers’ will be left wiser and able to appreciate how fragile our climate is and how it is this generation who must act to protect it.”
Flannery hails from “Down Under.” When Flannery was only 8, a curator at the South Australian Museum put a dinosaur bone in his young hand. Bitten with the bug of scientific curiosity, he pursued a career as a paleontologist (a scientist who studies the past using fossils). Climate is one of the most important clues to life in the past, which probably explains why Flannery has dedicated his life to the history of climate. In his book, he claims that uncertainty in global climate can be summed up in two words: “air pollution.” Human beings have used our atmosphere as a “dumping grounds,” and now that has become what Flannery called “a polluted cesspool.”
Not only does air pollution cause health risks such as asthma and allergies, but it is also warming our planet. What once comprised the perfect composition of 280 ppm (parts per million) atmospheric carbon for creatures to thrive (before smokestacks and cars) has now reached 375 ppm and rising. So what?
It is easy to assume that the impacts of this warming trend are only occurring far away at the poles with isolated instances such as reported ice melts, starving polar bears and the inability of a few million penguins to reach their nesting grounds. In his book, Flannery writes that this is not the case. Climate change does not discriminate by race, creed, country, or economic status.
Flannery explains that the atmosphere inhales and exhales, almost like a living organism. Every spring with the onset of photosynthesis, which utilizes carbon dioxide, the global levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere decrease. In autumn when the leaves fall, the opposite occurs. These seasonal levels are part of the natural dynamics of our atmosphere. But with the advent of modern agricultural practices, clearing and burning of forests, and most recently industrialization, carbon dioxide has accumulated abnormally in the air.
A key data set in the history of climate change, illustrated in “The Weather Makers,” is a curve created by climatologist Charles Keeling, who mapped the annual levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere for more than 40 years. Flannery calls the Keeling curve “the ‘Silent Spring’ of climate change” because of its importance in illustrating the alarming, recent increases in greenhouse gases.
The book also explains the importance of Earth’s carrying capacity, a principle that defines how many people can be supported by our planet’s finite resources. In 1961, our population of 3 billion people used half the resources of Earth. By 1986, 5 billion people required 100 percent of our planet’s resources to survive, meaning that our carrying capacity had been reached. And by 2050, it is predicted that 9 billion people will require double the Earth’s resources to sustain current lifestyles.
Over-use of natural resources will eventually lead to serious problems, but increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will likely cause extinction first, Flannery contends. Many coral reefs are dying, because the water is warming. Flannery explains that at the poles, however, “climate change is occurring now at twice the rate seen anywhere else.” The drowning of polar bears on thinning ice caps is one example of death from rapid climate change.
Despite his dire predictions, Flannery brings a glimmer of hope with examples of how climate change can be reversed with existing technologies. He cited the fact that downsizing American cars could reverse the blanket of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. For example, drivers of the Toyota Land Cruiser who traded for a Toyota Prius would lower his or her carbon dioxide emissions by 70 percent, more than the level required to reverse climate change. If more institutions in Florida (and he called on churches to set an example) used solar panels, the extinction of many species would be averted. Wind is another exciting, non-carbon-based, source of energy for the future. If governments adopted carbon taxes, whereby industries paid a tax whenever they use our atmosphere to dump their industrial waste, then economic incentives would predictably drive the repair of our planet. In this case, many people will become rich from alternative energies!
During my radio interview with Flannery, he talked wistfully about his childhood when kids worshipped war heroes, admiring their stories of courage and valor in battle. He says that our children and grandchildren will likely base their definition of heroes by asking, “Grandpa, what did you do to reduce your carbon emissions?”
The heroes of this generation will be those people who acted quickly and with vision.The latest news from the British Antarctic Survey indicates that the world’s largest iceberg, the West Antarctic ice sheet, is showing initial signs of destabilization. If this iceberg melts, sea level would rise by at least 15 feet. Do the math. If Floridians hope to enjoy a coastal lifestyle in the future, carbon dioxide emissions need immediate reduction. If we can make that happen, our grandchildren may refer to us as “the real heroes of the planet.”
