Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Northward ho?

IPS: Dan Bloom thinks it's time to figure out how to build self-sustaining cities in the polar regions because climate change will eventually make most of Earth uninhabitable. These polar cities may be "humankind's only chance for survival if global warming really turns into a worldwide catastrophe in the far distant future," Bloom told IPS.

Bloom isn't a scientist or any other kind of expert. A U.S. citizen in his late fifties living in Taiwan teaching English, he's lived all over the world as a reporter-editor, teacher-translator and author. And now Bloom wants to shake people out their everyday indifference to the great emergency of our age: climate change. "Life goes on as usual here in Taiwan. No one is doing anything and they don't want to talk about it," he says. And sadly inaction begets inaction.

…His Quixotic quest began less than a year ago. Having heard various conflicting news reports about climate change, Bloom decided to research the subject as thoroughly as he could. The genesis of the polar cities idea came from a dire op-ed by the eminent British scientist James Lovelock in January 2006 in the Independent newspaper.

Lovelock wrote that the Earth will heat up far faster than any scientist expects due to many positive feedbacks such as melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice. "... Before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable," he wrote.

...But polar cities is an idea that many climate change experts refuse to consider. Most of the climate scientists IPS contacted for this story declined to comment. Those who did respond said imagining such a future was not productive when humanity needs to focus on "how the world can drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions". "It's silly to think 200 or 300 years into future, it's more useful to think 20 or 30 years out," said Ross Gelbspan, a former Washington Post-Boston Globe reporter and author of several books on climate change.

Gelbspan has done a great deal of thinking about the near future as the impacts of climate change take hold. There is no stopping the future deaths of millions of people from climate change, he believes. The only question is how many millions. His future scenarios range from a totalitarian nightmare in response to climate-driven mass migrations and social chaos to real world peace. His best guess today is we will see those extremes, and everything in between. "We need to start talking about the kind future we want to have," Gelbspan told IPS.

Talking to young people is especially important, since it is their future. And it's important to offer alternatives and solutions. Wind farms, for example, could easily replace all of the U.S. energy produced by coal and oil, he says. "What's the resistance to widespread use of renewables?" Gelbspan wonders.

In the U.S., he says the answer is to get the money out of politics. Oil, coal and other industries make major financial contributions in a country where presidential candidates spend tens of millions of dollars to get elected. As a result, the next U.S. president is unlikely to make the necessary drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Dan Bloom doesn't have answers. He knows there is a serious problem that we aren't addressing. "Life on Earth is very fragile but we're screwing things up," he told IPS. "I'm going to spend the last years of my life pushing this idea of polar cities to wake people up. I don't care if people call me crazy."

4 comments:

DANIELBLOOM said...

Brian, thanks for posting this IPS article by Stephen Leahy. It was the first print article about polar cities ever reported. Most people think the idea is off the wall and undoable and not even worth thinking about. What's your take on the idea? Email me or leave comments at my blog: -- Dan Bloom

One activist told me:

"Building on permafrost is a very tricky business. There's also the matter of enough energy for a city. I don't think the polar regions could sustain entire cities. My guess is that humans would adapt to living in warmer climates just as they have done so far. Besides, I'm not above the arctic circle, but I live pretty close to it and we had 80 degree summer days here. It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it's very workable."

Another said:

"Dear Danny -- I seriously doubt if any humans will be alive on Earth in 2500 A.D. or so. I really don't have time or energy for speculating about this. My work is to prepare for collapse, talk about it, encourage other people to talk about it, feel their feelings about it, and make their own preparations. Speculation about life on Earth 500 years from now is a 'crap shoot' for which I have no time, energy, or interest."

Brian Thomas said...

Dear Dan,

Much appreciated -- thanks for your interesting comments. I was struck by the novelty the idea, and I wondered why we haven't heard more about the idea. If you hear of anything else on this topic, please let me know, since I'd like to spread the word.

Unknown said...

NOW THIS
DANNY

http://gizmodo.com/344551/polar-cities-for-day-after-tomorrow-survivors-will-save-us-all-from-horrible-deaths


Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All ...
Gizmodo Australia, Australia - 9 hours ago
In the event of catastrophic global warming events in the far distant
future, humankind might have to find refuge in a group of polar cities
lying within ...

Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All ...
Gizmodo.com - 13 hours ago
In the event of catastrophic global warming events in the far distant
future, humankind might have to find refuge in a group of polar cities
lying within ...

Unknown said...

BRIAN

PLS DO SPREAD THE WORD

SEE GIZMODO STORY

NOW THIS
DANNY

http://gizmodo.com/344551/polar-cities-for-day-after-tomorrow-survivors-will-save-us-all-from-horrible-deaths


Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All ...
Gizmodo Australia, Australia - 9 hours ago
In the event of catastrophic global warming events in the far distant
future, humankind might have to find refuge in a group of polar cities
lying within ...

Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All ...
Gizmodo.com - 13 hours ago
In the event of catastrophic global warming events in the far distant
future, humankind might have to find refuge in a group of polar cities
lying within ...