PBS has a four-part series looking at 4 major coastal cities and how they are dealing with rising seas in the age of Climate Change. These shows have been out for a while, but if you didn’t see them the first time, here’s your chance to see them now. It’s more important than ever to understand what’s at stake with the U.S. government under Donald Trump rolling back every environmental policy as fast as possible.
There’s also a show demonstrating how another global challenge was met — see it below — but first, the cities.
A Four-Part Series on the threat of Climate Change
The shows can be seen any time at the link above; they are each just under an hour.
The cities are Miami, London, Tokyo, and New York. The episodes look at the specific problems facing each, a range of possible responses, and estimates of the cost. This is about billions of dollars at stake, millions of lives affected, and decreasing time to do anything.
All of these cities are aware of the threat; plans are being examined, ideas are being explored. Is action being taken? Yes. Will it be enough?
Ask your children.
Take some time to see these. I’d suggest they would be an invaluable resource for teachers and other educators. Share them on social media. Get the word out.
For the people who say “I don’t live there — why should I care?” here’s a few rejoinders:
- The people affected by this will have to either find some way to cope with this, or move. Either way it’s going to be expensive — and the bill will fall on everyone.
- These cities are vital parts of the global economy. Their disruption will have a continuing effect on the world in ways we can’t imagine.
- This is centuries of human heritage at stake; landmarks, art, history, and more are all at risk as much as if someone was going to start dropping bombs on those cities.
- It’s like living on the slopes of an active volcano. The question is not if, but when — and how fast and how often.
- These cities are big stories — but climate change touches everyone in some way. This is about rising seas; Australia is suffering drought, heat, and fire. Individual stories in these episodes show no one is immune.
Here’s some 30 second promos:
The Gobal Threat We Didn’t Ignore
At just under an hour, this episode of NOVA (see it here) documents a bullet the planet dodged. It’s been about 40 years since scientists first realized chlorinated fluorocarbons (CFCs) were beginning to permeate the atmosphere. Used in all kinds of applications, from refrigerators to hair spray, they were first thought to be innocuous — “better living through chemistry.”
The problem was, these gases were accumulating in the upper atmosphere and they were destroying the layer of ozone that is the main protection against ultraviolet radiation. Possible consequences? Sunburn in minutes instead of hours, to start. Skin cancer becoming epidemic. Personal consequences… and more. It would have devastating effects agriculture, on all organisms on the planet.
The script follows the standard narrative. There was a lot of money riding on continued use of CFCs. The scientists who first sounded the alarm got push-back. They were ostracized. The chemical industry went on the offensive to protect a business worth billions. But other things happened.
The student protest movement was starting to heat up, along with social consciousness. The science kept building. “All In The Family” — the most popular show on TV at the time — did an episode on the problem, and that put it right in front of the public.
Ronald Reagan was President and hardly an environmentalist. By this point the science was saying the only answer was a total ban on CFCs — worldwide. His top science advisor suggested everyone should just start wearing hats. When that got out to the press, the response made that untenable.
News that a hole in the Ozone Layer had been found over Antarctica added to the urgency. (It was found that a NASA satellite to monitor ozone levels in the upper atmosphere had been detecting it — but the algorithm used to analyze the data had been ignoring it. It took an inquiry from scientists on the ground in Antarctica looking at their data to get them to take another look.)
As an outdoorsman — and someone who had had skin cancer — Reagan was convinced to go with the science. An international conference was set up in Montreal to work out a plan of action and how to implement it.
A key element came when Margaret Thatcher — who besides being a conservative was also a chemist and ready to accept science — made a speech committing the developed countries of the world to assist the developing countries in getting through the transition away from CFCs. Global problems need global solutions, and that helped get everyone on board.
The Montreal Protocol has been in effect ever since.
Science found a problem, the public was informed, politicians listened to the scientists, and engaged in international cooperation to address it, including getting industry to comply. That used to be how things worked.
It’s instructive to compare and contrast with climate change — which was also starting to be recognized as a problem at roughly the same time. Ironically, the chemicals that replaced CFCs are not detrimental to the ozone layer — but they turned out to be very powerful greenhouse gases. The apparatus developed by the Montreal Protocols is working on that now.
Sinking Cities gives us a look at the challenges facing us; Ozone Layer shows how they could be handled.
Take a look.