How To Cool The Planet: Geoengineering And The Audacious Quest To Fix Earth’s Climate
Given that we can’t accurately predict tomorrow’s weather, why should anyone believe that we’re able to redress the effects of global warming by manually lowering the earth’s temperature? To celebrate the release of How To Cool The Planet: Geoengineering And The Audacious Quest To Fix Earth’s Climate (Thomas Allen Publishers), author Jeff Goodell will discuss the controversial field of geo-engineering with Ziya Tong, co-host of the Daily Planet on the Discovery Channel. There will also be a screening of short films curated by The Planet In Focus International Film and Video Festival. Marc Glassman, Executive Director of This is Not A Reading Series (TINARS) will host the evening – A TINARS event co-presented by The Planet In Focus International Film and Video Festival, Thomas Allen Publishers, NOW Magazine, Torontoist.com, and Take Five On CIUT.
How To Cool The Planet Right now, a group of scientists is working on ways to minimize the catastrophic impact of global warming. But they’re not designing hybrids or fuel cells or wind turbines. They’re trying to lower the temperature of the entire planet. And they’re doing it with huge contraptions that suck CO2 from the air, machines that brighten clouds and deflect sunlight away from the earth, even artificial volcanoes that spray heat-reflecting particles into the atmosphere.
This is the radical and controversial world of geoengineering, which only five years ago was considered to be “fringe.” But as journalist Jeff Goodell points out, the economic crisis, combined with global political realities, is making these ideas look sane, even inspired. Goodell himself started out as a skeptic, concerned about tinkering with the planet’s thermostat.
What if a wealthy entrepreneur shoots particles into the stratosphere on his own? Who gets blamed if something goes terribly wrong? And perhaps most disturbing, what about wars waged with climate control as the primary weapon?
There are certainly risks, but Goodell believes the alternatives could be worse. In the end, he persuades us that geoengineering may just be our last best hope—a Plan B for the environment. His compelling tale of scientific hubris and technical daring is sure to jump-start the next big debate about the future of life on earth.
Jeff Goodell is the author of the New York Times bestseller Our Story, an account of nine Quecreek miners who were trapped underground in 2002, among other books. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine, and his work has appeared in the New Republic, Wired, and GQ.
Ziya Tong is the co-host of the Daily Planet, Discovery Channel¹s daily science show. Before joining Discovery, Ziya served as host and field Producer for the PBS national primetime series, Wired Science. Notable amongst her many Canadian credits, Ziya hosted the CBC's Emmy-nominated series ZeD, for which she received a Gemini Viewer's Choice Award nomination. In 2003, she launched the Ethical Media Division for Cowie and Fox, one of Vancouver's leading advertising agencies, to promote green branding for non-profit and environmental groups
Planet In Focus Since 1999, Planet in Focus has been producing Canada’s preeminent international environmental film and video festival and now also presents programs throughout the year across Canada and around the globe. Our mission is to encourage the creation and exhibition of a broad spectrum of films and videos exploring environmental themes that celebrate, question and establish varied ways of viewing the state of our world. Planet in Focus: International Environmental Film & Video Festival runs October 13-17, 2010
Media/Info
Jeff Goodell: Jenna Illes, Jenna.Illies@t-allen.com, (416) 361-0233 ext 5
Planet In Focus, Kathleen Mullen, kathleen@planetinfocus.org, (416) 531-1769
This Is Not A Reading Series: Chris Reed, coordinator@tinars.ca, (416) 598-1447
