Chapters 7-8

I thought that these chapters were much better than the ones of the past. The beginning for both were straight to the point. Chapter 7 started off with BAU (Business As Usual) and with Socolow, director of the Carbon Mitigation. I learned a lot of interesting facts about how Carbon Dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere. (like how 70 percent of our electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels). I was glad to see that there were actually plans or wedges on what we can do about climate change. I think nuclear power is a wedge that we shouldn't try though. It just seems to cause a lot of waste and I know other problems can arise if we were to invest more money in nuclear power. Plus, I didn't really understand how it stop the carbon and climate problem. It wasn't explained well how it could help.    

If mankind doesn't do something soon, it's going to be harder to keep the CO2 levels from getting too high. Both Socolow and Hoffert had completely different sides on carbon levels in the future. Socolow believes that they're going to decarbonize and Hoffert believes that the levels are going to recarbonize. There wasn't enough reason as to why they two scientists believe this in my opinion. Yet, I do agree with Hoffert. The way we keep causing more carbon emissions without any notice says that its only going to keep increasing. Even if the world naturally depletes some of the carbon in the atmosphere.

In chapter 8, there was a lot more information about politicians are saying about climate change. Of course, we all know Bush's stance on this issue. It's interesting how we refuse to be a part of the Kyoto Protocol even though we're the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The Bush Administration has been stubborn with their beliefs and even mentioned trying to focus on "greenhouse gas intensity." This makes no sense to me. How is this going to help us? But of course, Bush rejects the idea of global warming because he just wants to continue using up our resources so that our economy can continue to grow.

"A treaty that requires binding commitments for the industrial countries but not developing countries will create a very damaging situation for the American economy," said Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. This just shows how much of a selfish country we are. It seems our government is just ignoring the facts (or changing the facts like Philip Cooney did to government reports on climate change). There's so much we can at least try to do about climate change. Yet, our past president and other elected officials are too interested in making climate change look like some kind of a hoax so that our economy can continue to grow; but the world that we live in will continue to die.

Field Notes from a Castrophe: Chapters 5 & 6

I really didn't understand what the curse of Akkad has to do with global warming. The beginning of chapter 5 discusses all the reign Sargon and his sons had over Akkad. I don't understand all the history lessons that Kolbert likes to have. I think someone needs to remind her that her readers aren't students in her history class. I know she must have a point to this, but I fail to see what it is. And I've noticed most of her chapters always go off topic and then she tries to tie in climate change to her message. I just wish she would just get straight to the point.

Chapter 5 seemed to have a lot of useless information mixed in with some actual important facts. The climate models and research from GISS was very interesting. The research done by Hansen on the CO2 levels in Venus made me worry about what could happen to the earth with continuous increase of green house gases. Hansen had also made some predictions during the 1980s about Global Warming becoming a problem at the time. With the truth he had in his predictions and the fact that thousands people died in Europe in 2003 shows how much proof that climate change is really becoming a problem. I remember one of her sources, David Rind, was saying "We're really interested in adaptation to climate change. Well, what does 'adaptation' mean? It seems we're already having problems adapting to it right now. I question whether we should spend more time trying to reverse climate change (which is highly unlikely) or if we should spend more time trying to adapt to it. 

There was a lot of factual information in Chapter 5. I didn't know that average global temperatures were about ten degrees colder than they are today during the Last Glacial Maximum or about how water vapor can be considered a greenhouse gas. When I first read the chapter, I couldn't really understand how the curse of Akkad would have to deal with her point. Yet, I began to see it a bit more clearer at the end of the chapter. (And after reading it again. Ha ha.)

Chapter 6 was much shorter and more straight to the point. I liked the commercial ad in the beginning of the chapter. I thought that was quite funny even though be unfortunately true. The amphibious houses sound like a really good idea in terms of how to adapt with global warming. There was a lot of information in this chapter about the CO2 levels and the effects of climate change on the Netherlands. I loved the ending quote from Ann van der Molen. "The water is coming up, and we have to live with it, not fight it-it's just not possible." We've been continuously trying to fight this problem. Yet, not enough people seem to think that it may be too late to fight it; the only thing left to do might to just embrace it and learn to live with it. 

Is the world really going to end so soon? (Yea right)

I just wanted to share this article from the Huffington Post with everyone in case they were worried about 2012 and also to show how ridiculous these predictions are. ( I'm sure most of you aren't.)

2012: Mayan Year 2012 Stirs Apocalypse Predictions, Doomsayers

Chapter 4 of Field Notes from a Castrophe

In this chapter, I was able to learn a lot about the effects of global warming on some animals. At first, I couldn't understand why she would start the chapter off by talking about a butterfly. But I could later understand it was because of their change in migration most likely due to global warming. I found the section on the mosquites that bite people through their eyes very interesting. It seemed like this chapter was mostly about the changes in migration patterns and even of evolution that global warming has done to certain animal like the Wyeomyia smithii.

I think Kolbert wanted wanted us to see the dramtic effects global warming is having on various species. I found the information about how global warming can have effects on evolution  very interesting, but I wasn't sure I agreed with it. It seems that global warming does have drastic effects on how many animal species live. Yet, based on what she wrote, I couldn't really understand how it could change evolution. I liked the examples she used though. I thought it brought to light the changes that global warming has done to species over the years and what it may or may not do in the future.

Mother Nature Crying

I just thought I'd share this photo that Marine photographer and environmental lecturer Michael Nola took of an Ice shelf in Norway. Mother Nature must want to scold us too.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe Chapters 2-3

The next two chapters in this book were even more informative than the first. I learned even more information about what Global Warming is doing to the ice and how it's affecting people in Iceland. I thought the most interesting part for me was the fact that Iceland could lose all of their ice at the end of the next century. I also thought it was crazy how the people there have such a limited amount of time left there because of the speed of the melting ice.

I barely have any doubts after reading this, but I do still have some. There does seem to be a lot of scientific data to back up the idea of global warming. Yet, I question how they would explain this evidence to scientists who say the world is cooling. It seems the world has cooled years ago. The reading stated how farms were being buried under ice around 500 years ago. How do we know "global warming" isn't just a repeat of the past? Plus, I'm not sure I read enough information about what we're doing wrong to cause all these problems. I know about all the effects now, but really what are we doing that are causing them? What's different now than before? Kolbert touched on this, but I think she needs more information about what's so different about the world today to cause all this.

The writing was still good though. It was very informational and had good sources. It feels more like an interesting textbook than a journalistic piece. Yet, I like the writing style. I think science writing needs to be more scientific with the topic chosen rather than just straight facts. The information needs to delve in more into what we're reading about and that is exactly what the writer is doing.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe 1-34

The first chapter of this book was great. It was like reading a travel story almost, but there was a lot of science involved. I noticed that there was a lot of information about permafrost and carbon dioxide level increase in the Arctic. There's so much I didn't know about how global warming is affecting the Arctic. It seems whenever we hear about Global Warming, it's always about how it's going to affect the world as a whole. Yet, I never hear enough information about how it is affecting the Arctic.

There was so much science involved in the reading. I learned a lot about Alaska and about how global warming  is affecting the people that live there. Kolbert spoke to her readers in a very interesting and captivating way. It was easy to read along and understand the science behind what she was talking about. I really enjoyed reading it and it was hard to put down. It was very journalistic because she had some good reliable sources. I learned a lot reading this.