Global warming story

An acquaintance of Boris and Leonid has been killed in a bear attack. In January.

...

Boris: He was just taking a two-day holiday.

Leonid: We know that. And he was killed by bear. What we don’t know is how he came to be walking where he was and what a bear was doing out of hibernation in January.

Boris: We’re piecing it together. He goes skiing the first day. Then he goes back in the evening and says, “I’m getting too old for all this downhill speed. And these skifields are not very ecologically friendly. They cut down the trees and run those lifts. Isn’t there a gentler winter sport?” And the lodge-owner says, “I’m sixty, like you. Let me suggest an eco-friendly activity. Snowshoeing.”

Leonid: And that’s what he was doing when the bear jumped him?

Boris: Right. So he sets off snowshoeing through the forest on the second day. The winter is warmer than usual and a bear comes out of hibernation in January. Never been seen before. The bear is hungry and jumps him.

Leonid: Bears run fast, even through snow. And he can’t run away on snowshoes.

Boris: Double punch. He's trying to do his bit to reduce levels of CO2 and gets caught by one of the results of global warming.

...

Kamishibai remix

Atsuko borrows some techniques of kamishibai for an audition.

Oliver: Why is she moving back and forth?

Ned: Well, first she speaks one part and then she speaks the other.

Oliver: She’s telling a story?

Ned: Through dialogue, yes.

Oliver: And pictures too.

Ned: It almost looks like she has done a remix, putting together a ventriloquist act with kamishibai.

Oliver: Kamishibai?

Ned: A story told using pictures and a frame.

Oliver: Refreshing change from the gravity of Gore, but she could use a little coaching on voices and maybe a couple more pictures.

Atsuko's performance here >

...

Sunrise

You were up early.

Too right. Lots to do today. Early bird and all that.

Before sunrise?

I saw it. Nice colors. Before 4:00 AM

You'd think they'd adopt a daylight saving system. But they never do.

Won't be long before the government starts citing daylight saving as a factor in global warming.

What?

...

Fly and cut down a tree

Here’s a way you can fly without feeling guilty about flying.

Guilty about flying?

Don’t you feel guilty about taking a flight?

Why?

The effect flying has on global warming.

Ah, a bit. Yes. I don’t fly when I don’t have to.

You really need to attend that conference in Ho Chi Minh?

You think I should attend by videoconference? Like last year? Look.

You’re always saying that. “Look.”

OK. Well, listen. Could it be just another fad? This tree hugging thing? Certainly it is devastating to the planet to lose its rainforests and the biodiversity that these shelter, but just saying if you take a flight, plant a tree?

Only put you back ten quid.

There’s man of science, Govindasamy Bala, who argues that planting trees in certain temperate areas, like Wales, would accelerate global warming, while cutting down trees in certain areas could help reduce it.

Hmm, knotty problem.
...

global warming

What is this TV show? CO2 is the sole cause of climate crisis?

Listen!

But climate change is much more complicated than simply CO2 issues. There's nitrogen, mercury...

Stop trying to ruin the evening.

OK. Sorry. It's just that it annoys me when TV shows try to turn a serious, very complicated issue into a game show, an entertainment, simply to attract more viewers.

It's not an entertainment. It's serious. You don't care about the environment.

I do care. It's just that when you read Nature articles instead of watching these, these oversimplified, overdramatized game shows in the name of global warming consciousness raising, I get a little irritated.

But it might help some people to think about the environment a bit more. Turn off lights. Use a car less.

And buy fewer shoes.

Probably.

But no one is sure if we are headed for global warming or an ice age. There is no consensus on what we face or how to deal with it.

An inconvenient truth

It was the first movie I've watched at home after dinner and not fallen asleep.

That says something. What kept you awake?

Three scary numbers. 10, 40, 1 billion.

Ten?

Ten years is all we have.

Before?

Before the sea levels reach 40 feet above what they are now.

Forty feet? Why?

Ice cap and Greenland meltdown.

That will rewrite the maps.

Darn right. Maldives going under is minor. Think no Holland, no Bangladesh, no coastal areas of major world cities, all bubbling underwater.

And the one billion?

One billion displaced and bedraggled people knocking on doors to migrate.

Scary.