Climate Change & The Video that has Me Thinking About It

Weeks ago I saw a promo for Showtime’s new “Years of Living Dangerously” and knew I had to watch it. Then last week I went through the DVR menu to find the show and be sure the series was set. Then Sunday night I was glued to the TV as the show aired, featuring three different story lines around climate change. I really urge you to watch it — thankfully Showtime is making it available via YouTube so you don’t need the Showtime subscription! It’s below for your viewing pleasure, first a few thoughts from me on why days after I’ve watched it is still in my head!

Personally, I was most connected to the thread that Don Cheadle was exploring with drought in Texas. With lots of friends farming in that part of the world and a lot of customers from work out there trying to figure out how to keep producing food & fiber, I have personally seen how this is working on the plains. And I think most of us can identify with it since we’ve had such variable weather at home. You learn as Cheadle talks to the other people about the issue. You get a chance to see it first-hand. It is fantastic.

But the other two stories were every bit as interesting too and lots of connection points. And they run deep.

Thomas Friedman, the incredible NY Times foreign affairs columnist who wrote a couple of my favorite books The World is Flat and That Used To Be Us, studies the impact of climate change and drought in Syria, especially as it has to do with drought as a driver for civil unrest. He sits down and talk to a cotton farmer after crossing into Syria… wow.

The other thread is Harrison Ford serving as the learner/reporter and looking at deforestation. He has a chance to see what is going on in Indonesia as people continue to cut down the rainforest to produce palm oil. I remember years ago as when I was visiting friends in Malaysia, there were some really overcast days. But friends said it was actually smoke from deforestation. I have to say it is depressing to see it goes on and yet nice to know more are beginning to hear about it.

We need a lot more people aware of the realities climate change and acting to do something about it. We need to personally, and as organizations and countries do things to reduce our impact. At the same time, we need more scientists looking at how we are going to deal with the problem. I am lucky enough to work with people who are focused on how we continue to produce crops.