As we have gone about this course we have discussed many aspects of climate change fiction, but what do others in society think. This weekend I called a friend of mine who is an English major to hear what she thinks of this newer genre of climate change fiction. She had only heard of the genre because I have told her about this course that I have been taking. She said that she had never put much thought into climate change and the effects that it would have on the lives of people. I explained to her a few of the stories that we have read in class such as “The Tamarisk Hunter.” We discussed how in this society the world basically became a desert and the need for water when someone does not have water rights. She found it very interesting that they would pay someone in water in order to kill plants that take up water. This was when she realized how important water is to society, to life, and how much we take for granted the water supplies we have. We then discussed what the Mark Maslin book, Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction, says about adaptation to climate change as a ‘solution’. She said that she has always heard about the sea levels raise and that the weather is getting warmer, but not that we may have to change our lifestyles or move where we live in order to adjust to climate change. She suggested jokingly that someday we may just have to start hoarding water in preparation to the possible great droughts. This of course got a few laughs, but if we look at many of the themes of climate change fiction, if they were to come true, water becomes a rare resource and may need to be on hand once the climate change has created a new type of environment. This conversation really showed me how much people do not realize how climate change can change how we live our lives and the world around us. As someone who is extremely into looking into different aspects of literature she now plans on looking into more climate change fiction and seeing what other aspect of life authors of this genre have warned about the changing climate. It felt great to spread the information about how climate change can affect our lives. Even I did not understand until reading some examples of climate change fiction just how climate change can affect our lives. We can learn about the facts of how the climate is changing, of warming sea temperatures, but until it was put into perspective for me though climate change fiction, just as with my friend Melissa, it was not clear just how climate change can affect our lives. Climate change fiction has the ability to help us have a better understanding of the effects of climate change, and how it can affect our lives in a greater way than one may realize or understand.
Author: kgr
Preparing for Flooding
In class this week we have been reading the novel “Odds Against Tomorrow” by Nathaniel Rich which has brought to my mind what would happen if different areas were to flood. In the novel a class three hurricane hits New York City, and then the two main characters wonder around the city in a canoe viewing different parts of the city and the devastation that the storm has brought. We see that the subway system is completely submerged, many buildings destroyed, and much of life has been destroyed, including that of people.
I grew up on a small town that was built originally next to a lake, which has been since drained and turned into farm land. Mitchell, the main character in this novel discussed how New York City was built on top of what used to be many water ways, which is what made me think of my home town. Every winter what used to be the lake bottom floods again, and in its way also floods some homes. This happens just about every year, and so the people in the area are prepared for when the rains come, and nature reclaims its land. However cities such as New York City that was also build on water ways does not expect this water to come and devastate all that exists. This brings to mind, how do other areas react to flooding and if they are prepared for the floods or not.
When looking at large storms a real storm that took place that many of us are familiar with is that of Hurricane Katrina. After Hurricane Katrina there was large areas of New Orleans that was flooded, and knowing that this area—being near the Gulf Coast is a possible area for large storms or hurricanes one would thing that they would have a plan against flooding, and after viewing what occurred it is hard to think that there was a plan in place. Experts say though that “The flood protection system in New Orleans was flawed from the start because the model storm it was designed to stop was simplistic, and led to an inadequate network of levees, flood walls, storm gates and pumps”1. Here we see that the city did have a plan in place but that it was flawed. The system if not having been flawed may have helped after the hurricane to decrease the damage done, but this does show that other cities are thinking of what might occur and are preparing for flooding.
Flooding is a topic often brought up when discussing climate change which is why it is important for at least coastal cities to have a plan in place for flooding. Flooding is brought up with climate change because of the discussion of the ice caps melting causing the ocean levels to raise, causing flooding. Although we cannot predict what will cause the next flood in the world, flooding will occur again and again and so cities need to have a plan in place. Do many in the class live in coastal cities and know what their plan is for flooding or if they have a plan?
Tar Sands and Deforestation
During this week in class we looked at the Alberta tar sands. As it is obvious that the chemicals that are being taken out of this area is dangerous to the environment, there are other effects on the environment that these tar sands have that I would like to discuss. The first thing done to the land in this area is that it is cleared of vegetation and swamps so that the soil can be reached. This is a form of deforestation, which is devastating to the environment. Deforestation’s effect on the land as stated in the book, “Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction” by Mark Maslin is that, “Deforestation and over working of the soils had started to reduce fertility, so farmers were cutting down more trees to open up more land to produce enough food to survive” (158). The soil in the area where deforestation takes place because useless especially when the land is being used for tar sands, then those in the area that are wishing to farm have to move elsewhere and clear land to find an area to grow crops. With the tar sands, the soil is what the people are after, and so lack in fertility of the soil is not as much of a worry. Then comes into play the other effects of deforestation. Deforestation takes away the plants that are pulling carbon out of the atmosphere, and in this case the land is being used to get a fossil fuel that is going to add large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere. The tar sands are a ‘double whammy’ when it comes to the amounts of carbon in the atmosphere.
In the article “New Map Shows Dramatic Time Lapse of Tar Sands Deforestation” by Kevin Grandia, we can see just how vast the deforestation of the tar sands areas are. Contine reading
Climate Change Concerns
This class brings up many arguments about climate change. Climate change is a serious subject that is often times pushed aside as something that is not a worry at the moment and that people will worry about it when it gets worse. This however is not the case. As we saw in the global weirding project and discussed in class, even if everyone was on board and acted the best they could to prevent further pollution and greenhouse gasses going into the environment, the results of global warming are not reversible by these actions. As we discussed, the greenhouse gasses that are already in the environment will continue to warm the atmosphere, damage has already been done. There are ways though to slow the amounts of the greenhouse gasses that are going into the environment, and we as humans need to do as much as we can. Last Sunday I read an article in the newspaper about the disregard for this need written by Alan Journet titled, “Jordan Cove Analysis Ignores Climate Change”. In this article he discussed a new pipeline that a group wants to build to carry natural gas.
The author of the article is clearly one who is concerned about global warming, but he explains other reasons as to why this pipeline is a bad idea to build other than the environment, showing that it should not be built. He explains that the pipelines that exist are not being used to full capacity, and that there is no new sources of natural gas being made so there is no need for a new pipeline. As far as the environment is concerned he argues that the pipeline would endanger the environment more than do any help for humans. He explains that natural gas is methane which is a greenhouse gas, so if there is any leak then a green house has is escaping straight to than environment. He uses this to argue that natural gas pipelines are much more dangerous than coal or oil because natural gas is already in the state of a greenhouse gas where coal and oil have to go through a chemical reaction first before they are a greenhouse gas.