An Inconvenient Truth -- 36 Years Ago!
A few months ago, entirely by accident, I came across a 1972 book in a little old antique/curio store in downtown Buda that's owned by my friend and terrific artist (and former Univ. of Texas art instructor) Jeanette. It's entitled Only One Earth -- The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet, and it's written by Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos. This book predated Al Gore's book, Earth in the Balance, by a full 20 years.
I thought it might be interesting to see if such topics as "climate change" and "global warming" were even in our lexicon thirty five years ago, because I suspect that many people believe that Al Gore is the first to really figure out the whole global warming conundrum.
Only One Earth is fascinating to read, even if it is somewhat dated. Looking through the index you won't find the phrase "global warming" anywhere -- maybe Al really did coin that phrase. However, you will find an entry for "Climate, global interdependence and" that points you to Chapter 13, "The Shared Biosphere."
Let me quote a key excerpt from that chapter:
In the field of climate, the sun's radiations, the earth's emissions, the universal influence of the oceans, and the impact of the ice are unquestionably vast and beyond any direct influence on the part of man. But the balance between incoming and outgoing radiation, the interplay of forces which preserves the average global level of temperature appear to be so even, so precise, that only the slightest shift in the energy balance could disrupt the whole system. It takes only the smallest movement at its fulcrum to swing a seesaw out of horizontal. It may require only a small percentage of change in the planet's balance of energy to modify average temperatures by 2 degrees C. Downward, this is another ice age; upward, a return to an ice-free age. In either case, the effects are global and catastrophic.
Sound familiar? Remember, this comes from a book written 36 years ago! This chapter is literally filled with other observations and predictions that are extraordinarily prescient. The climate change issues we're talking about all the time now were known about a long time ago by a whole lot of people in a whole lot of countries.
The co-authors of this report, who worked with 152 consultants from 58 countries, give real meaning to the word "distinguished" (check out their bios on Wikipedia: Barbara Ward, Rene Dubos). Ms. Ward was a pioneer of the field of "sustainable development" and also a strong proponent of "Christian values." Mr. Dubos was a microbiologist, environmentalist, humanist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Amazon.com lists the paperback version of this book, but provides very little information about it. There's only one review, from 1998, with a heading of "Eco-disaster book which struck me as unduly pessimistic." The reviewer only gave the book two out of five stars. I wonder what rating and comment he would give the book today, ten years later?
I guess if you're not ready yet to believe that something is true -- even if it is true -- the natural tendency is to write it (and the messengers) off as either alarmist or overly pessimistic. On this topic, some self-entertaining blowhards may even go so far as to label the information bearers "environmental wackos."
One thing I've learned from my "amateur Zen master" Jeanette, however, is that if something really is true it will eventually be shown to be true. (As William Shakespear said in the Merchant of Venice, "Truth will out.") In this case we're talking about Mother Nature whom, as the old axiom goes, you just can't fool.
It's just too bad -- for all of us, including the ditto heads -- that we have to wait that long to collectively figure out what's really going on before we can apply our creativity and inventiveness to this potentially catastrophic challenge.
Jerry
I thought it might be interesting to see if such topics as "climate change" and "global warming" were even in our lexicon thirty five years ago, because I suspect that many people believe that Al Gore is the first to really figure out the whole global warming conundrum.
Only One Earth is fascinating to read, even if it is somewhat dated. Looking through the index you won't find the phrase "global warming" anywhere -- maybe Al really did coin that phrase. However, you will find an entry for "Climate, global interdependence and" that points you to Chapter 13, "The Shared Biosphere."
Let me quote a key excerpt from that chapter:
In the field of climate, the sun's radiations, the earth's emissions, the universal influence of the oceans, and the impact of the ice are unquestionably vast and beyond any direct influence on the part of man. But the balance between incoming and outgoing radiation, the interplay of forces which preserves the average global level of temperature appear to be so even, so precise, that only the slightest shift in the energy balance could disrupt the whole system. It takes only the smallest movement at its fulcrum to swing a seesaw out of horizontal. It may require only a small percentage of change in the planet's balance of energy to modify average temperatures by 2 degrees C. Downward, this is another ice age; upward, a return to an ice-free age. In either case, the effects are global and catastrophic.
Sound familiar? Remember, this comes from a book written 36 years ago! This chapter is literally filled with other observations and predictions that are extraordinarily prescient. The climate change issues we're talking about all the time now were known about a long time ago by a whole lot of people in a whole lot of countries.
The co-authors of this report, who worked with 152 consultants from 58 countries, give real meaning to the word "distinguished" (check out their bios on Wikipedia: Barbara Ward, Rene Dubos). Ms. Ward was a pioneer of the field of "sustainable development" and also a strong proponent of "Christian values." Mr. Dubos was a microbiologist, environmentalist, humanist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Amazon.com lists the paperback version of this book, but provides very little information about it. There's only one review, from 1998, with a heading of "Eco-disaster book which struck me as unduly pessimistic." The reviewer only gave the book two out of five stars. I wonder what rating and comment he would give the book today, ten years later?
I guess if you're not ready yet to believe that something is true -- even if it is true -- the natural tendency is to write it (and the messengers) off as either alarmist or overly pessimistic. On this topic, some self-entertaining blowhards may even go so far as to label the information bearers "environmental wackos."
One thing I've learned from my "amateur Zen master" Jeanette, however, is that if something really is true it will eventually be shown to be true. (As William Shakespear said in the Merchant of Venice, "Truth will out.") In this case we're talking about Mother Nature whom, as the old axiom goes, you just can't fool.
It's just too bad -- for all of us, including the ditto heads -- that we have to wait that long to collectively figure out what's really going on before we can apply our creativity and inventiveness to this potentially catastrophic challenge.
Jerry
posted by Jerry Werner | 1:56 PM
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