CLIMATE WARS: Because we've always needed reasons to kill each other

Posted by John McGrath @ Grist.

Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, has just finished airing the three-part series Climate Wars, based on the Gwynne Dyer book of the same name.

As if we didn't have enough "to worry about in a melting world, there's the sad fact that we'll have more reasons to kill each other over dwindling water and food supplies. When you consider that the 20th century was bloody enough as economic and industrial opportunities were expanding, the 21st century is looking mighty depressing if you believe that wars can start over resource scarcity."

Global warming is moving much more quickly than scientists thought it would. Even if the biggest current and prospective emitters -- the United States, China and India -- were to slam on the brakes today, the earth would continue to heat up for decades. At best, we may be able to slow things down and deal with the consequences, without social and political breakdown. Gwynne Dyer examines several radical short- and medium-term measures now being considered -- all of them controversial.

Climate Wars - Part One January 19, 2008

Climate Wars - Part Two January 28, 2008

Climate Wars - Part Three February 2, 2009

............

NHNE's Climate Change Resource Page

NHNE's 1000 Most Recent Climate Change Articles

So how effective are arts in communicating about climate change and environmental issues in general?

We can’t know for sure. But what is certain is that art has the potential to move us. As Karen Raney, editor of engage: the international journal of visual art and gallery education writes, “One reason art can work so powerfully on our perceptions is that artists tend to link different spheres and orders of experience.”

As we struggle increasingly to bridge the gaps between urgent, planetary crises and public engagement and political inertia, the turn to arts as a viable mode of communication makes sense. It’s not about being didactic; it’s about trying to make coherent that which is, on some levels, unthinkable.

On a related note, in lieu of the class canceled on Wednesday October 15th, you will read Learning Deficiency by Joel Towers [PDF] and write answers to the questions posted on Blackboard by Friday October 17th.