When we talk about climate change and global warming and saving the planet, what are we really talking about? I think we need to be clearer about that. Clearer to ourselves. (I know I am pretty confused by it all.) So I am going to think out loud here (provoke some reactions/comments?) and maybe risk sounding like I don’t care about climate change, global warming, etc.

Let me back up a bit: On September 6th, I attended the Common Reading faculty (plus one student) panel discussion over in Gamble, and listening to Joe Smith, Vinnie Ferraro, Jill Bubier, Marjorie Fisher, and the various students asking questions and making comments, it struck me that, as so often with complex topics, things/discussions easily get muddled. The matter at hand is so huge and complex that to make it real for each of us, we each tend to focus on some aspect of the issue to make it more manageable/comprehensible. But then we also talk about it using the same terms and things get muddled.

Similarly, we (many people, main-stream media, environmentalists, etc.) have started talking about the issue of climate change/global warming in very black-and-white terms. Suddenly being green, saving the planet/Earth, being concerned about climate change and global warming, etc. is cool, is right, is smart. But is it really that simple? Climate change = bad. Using CFL Bulbs = good. etc.

The following questions may seem pretty basic and obvious, but when I think about them, really start thinking about them, it helps me re-focus and widen my perspective again–which I think is a good thing. Because while, on one level, it has to be about me and my actions and the choices I make, on another level, it is so not about little me.

So here goes:

Why are we talking about climate change/global warming? Does it really matter in the scheme of things? Are there more pressing, bigger problems out there that we should be more concerned about? Can we as individuals do anything about it? How much? What about it am I concerned about? Why? What is motivating me? … I wouldn’t mind a shorter winter. Maybe it is just our time, as a species, to come to an end. … But if it does matter, to whom does it matter and why? Whom will it/does it affect? Obviously, not everyone in the world in the same way. Whom will it affect in a positive way? (For example, when I look at a map of the Arctic ice receding, I can imagine the Russians are not too upset.) Whom in a negative way? (The focus seems to be primarily on whom it will affect in a negative way: coastal regions, low-lying lands, areas/countries that will experience extreme drought, etc.) … How do I know? Where am I getting my information from? What is their agenda? … Will/does global warming/climate change affect me in a positive or negative way? Whom will it affect positively or negatively in the future/in the long run? Are we (Americans) just trying to maintain the status quo? Are we/should we be more afraid of the geo-political effects than the actual local-environmental ones?

I am pretty sure the Earth cares less. She is neither happier with us or without us. She just is; that is, she is on a different time-scale and constantly changing in any case. We will neither destroy her, nor can we save her (from what?). Heck, according to a recent piece in the New York Times, she may even survive the Sun’s demise (in 5 billion years).

So it is really about saving ourselves. (But who is ‘ourselves’?)

FYI (because this is a LITS/RIS sponsored blog)

Two books that have recently come to my attention and have to do with my above muddlings:

1. Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. New York: St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Book, 2007.

Dean of the College Lee Bowie also mentioned the book in his opening remarks on September 6th at the panel discussion. Moreover, Mr. Weisman will be in the area speaking about his book later in October and at the beginning of November (Oct. 25, 7 p.m. across the street at the Odyssey Bookshop, and Nov. 5, 7.30 p.m. at Amherst College).

2. Lomborg, Bjorn. Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming. New York: Random House/Knopf, 2007.

Maybe there are more pressing problems that we should be focusing on and putting money into solving than global warming just now?!

Both authors gave very interesting interviews on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday and Morning Edition respectively. Check’m out: interview with Alan Weisman & interview with Bjorn Lomborg