Reading and Language 08 Aug 2005 07:13 pm
Gretel Ehrlich’s The Future of Ice
The Future of Ice, notes and sources:
“To educate yourself about climate change, its causes, and how it affects us biologically and culturally, is simple, and there is no excuse for ignorance.”
“Harper’s Index”, July 2005:
“Tons of CO2 emissions that would be replaced each year by a proposed windmill project on Long Island: 235,000.
“Tons produced each year by a single jumbo jet making a round-trip trans-Atlantic flight daily: 210,000.”
The Future of Ice, xiv:
“My six-month chronicle took me to both ends of the earth: to the tip of Tierra del Fuego, where I found winter in summer, and to the top of the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) archipelago, where winter was giving way to spring, then returning again.”
Northwest Environment Watch, referencing the International Panel on Climate Change:
“Air travel has a disproportionate short-term effect on climate. Carbon dioxide has the same effects on the climate no matter when or where it is injected into the atmosphere. But other aircraft emissions—such as nitrogen oxides—have potent, climate-changing effects because of the elevation at which they are released. Over the short term, they more than double the effects of the CO2 alone. Over time, these other pollutants disappear, but the carbon dioxide remains aloft capturing heat for decades.”
The Future of Ice, p. 178:
“We hear about the fragility of the upper atmosphere, how sensitive it is to environmental changes…. In a few hours we’ll be flying back to London.”
Dr. Patrick Minnis, NASA News, April 27 2004:
“Increased cirrus coverage, attributable to air traffic, could account for nearly all of the warming observed over the United States for nearly 20 years starting in 1975, but it is important to acknowledge contrails would add to and not replace any greenhouse gas effect.”
The Future of Ice, notes and sources:
“Every conversation we can have about the beauty and vigor of the world and the damage being done to it is vitally important.”
Emmeline Pankhurst and others:
“Deeds, not words.”
The Future of Ice, biographical note:
“She divides her time between California and Wyoming.”
on 08 Aug 2005 at 9:34 pm 1.Wim said …
I’ve read that it’s significantly more efficient for a jetliner to make a stopover in Iceland if flying from here to Europe, since it has to carry less fuel (yay exponential rockey equation). I’ve been keeping this in mind in case I visit Europe again: it will also give me an excuse to visit Iceland, which I’ve been wanting to do.
On the other hand, if traveling by tramp freighter, Iceland is probably very much out of the way.
on 08 Aug 2005 at 9:58 pm 2.Josh said …
She reminds me a little of the Crocodile Hunter, only for the ecosystem. “Crikey, here’s a beaut! Look at these cirrus formations; you don’t see those every day–these lovelies are endangered. Now, I’m going to very carefully sneak up behind… and… *poke* Oooh, he didn’t like that!”
on 09 Aug 2005 at 9:47 am 3.Josh said …
In a similar vein: I present to you the case for the abolition of the “No War For Oil” bumper sticker on automobiles
on 02 Jul 2007 at 11:24 pm 4.paul said …
Well, it’s possible to get from Wyoming to California by train, though I suspect that’s not how she does it.
I don’t want to sound like those mindless idiots who claim that Al Gore’s flights to educate people about climate change are undoing his work but it does make it hard to take people seriously when they take an “austerity for thee but not for me” attitude. I realize Gore has made an effort to mitigate things with carbon offsets, etc. Dare we hope everyone who talks the talk does the same?
on 02 Jul 2007 at 11:31 pm 5.paul said …
sorry, this {
“We hear about the fragility of the upper atmosphere, how sensitive it is to environmental changes…. In a few hours we’ll be flying back to London.”
} just kills me. Reading that aloud would have surely underscored the absurdity of that juxtaposition.
Yeaarccgh.