Books & Music...

As someone who has become involved in the environmental movement, I become concerned when I listen to people passionate about the issue of climate change fail to understand the interconnectedness of our world. Without thoughtful consideration, "fixing" one problem may only result in creating many others somewhere else.

Last week, I attended the RE:FORM Conference in Boise, ID, and heard stories that both made me apprehensive about our world's future and very hopeful. Yet, it was how connected so many of our world's problems are that really gave me moment to pause and consider the implications of some green efforts. 

Bjorn Lomborg's book Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming gives everyone reason to take a deep breath and think about the scope of environmental issues such as climate change. You may not agree with everything Lomborg writes, but it's definitely good food for thought for anyone deeply immersed in any crusade:

"The green group Earth Policy Institute, which first totaled the deaths, tells us that as “awareness of the scale of this tragedy spreads, it is likely to generate pressure to reduce carbon emissions. For many of the millions who suffered through these record heat waves and the relatives of the tens of thousands who died, cutting carbon emissions is becoming a pressing personal issue.”

"While 35,000 dead is a terrifyingly large number, all deaths should in principle be treated with equal concern. Yet this is not happening. When 2,000 people died from heat in the United Kingdom, it produced a public outcry that is still heard. However, the BBC recently ran a very quiet story telling us that deaths caused by cold weather in England and Wales for the past years have hovered around 25,000 each winter, casually adding that the winters of 1998–2000 saw about 47,000 cold deaths each year. The story then goes on to discuss how the government should make the cost of winter fuel economically bearable and how the majority of deaths are caused by strokes and heart attacks.

"It is remarkable that a single heat-death episode of 35,000 from many countries can get everyone up in arms, whereas cold deaths of 25,000 to 50,000 a year in just a single country pass almost unnoticed. Of course, we want to help avoid another 2,000 dying from heat in the United Kingdom. But presumably we also want to avoid many more dying from cold."