Decoding the Weather Machine

Each year in the recent past has found Earth wracked by more frequent, severe, and destructive storms, hurricanes, and wildfires. Filmmaker Doug Hamilton’s PBS-aired NOVA documentary investigates changes in the world's "climate machine." Experts draw cores from Antarctica's glaciers, revealing escalating carbon dioxide levels in the compressed ice sheets, which date back thousands of years, while marine biologists study seashells and ancient mud found on deep ocean floors. The goal is to take a snapshot of today's climate versus the past, and the not-surprising conclusion is that fossil fuel burning is affecting the world's temperatures and heat distribution. However, the real alarm is just how fast the Earth's climate is changing. Coral reefs are dying, sea levels are rising, and low-lying areas like Norfolk, VA, and the Marshall Islands are threatened. In the near future, Miami could find itself underwater, creating massive population disruption and national security threats. As the film explains, current options are to suffer, adapt, or mitigate. Proposed alleviating ideas include reducing carbon dioxide emissions, "carbon capture" and recycling, increased planting of trees, and "no till" field farming. Sadly, we are gripped by an astonishing inertia on the political level. As scientists, including the conservative and former climate change skeptic meteorologist Paul Douglas notes, delays will only increase costs and make solutions more difficult. Although the world might well survive, life on Earth would radically change. Issuing a timely environmental warning, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)