Put a Hold on that Purchase of a French Country Chateau

Check out this podcast interview with the author of a novel called 50 degrees Below Zero, part of the "Mars" trilogy, I believe. The issue: environmental change. The conclusion: Oh Shit...

He focused less on atmospheric problems, which are contentious and difficult to model. Instead he talked about the oceans. It was fantastic--the most convincing presentation of the material (in short form) I've heard to date.

The two big factors he cited were:
1. Melting ice caps changing the salinity of ocean waters and redirecting the gulf stream (which would turn europe and the NE US into the yukon territory, perhaps as far south as DC);

2. Carbon precipitating into the oceans, increasing the acidity of the waters and challenging the environs for small creatures (whose shells are made of calcium) which are at the bottom of the food chain (bad idea).

He argued that, based on ice core evidence, such changes can alter our world rapidly (think Europe as an ice box in three years once the process starts in earnest). Think it's a bunch of hype to sell his book? Maybe, but he was remarkably level-headed and well spoken.

BTW--A group of scientists rated the possibility of such a change at 50% in the next 100 years...