Interview by Zinta Lundborg June 8 (Bloomberg) — In one photo, flood-plagued Bangladeshis crowd onto a speck of road surrounded by rising water. Another image gives an aerial view of Florida’s Delray Beach, where luxury high-rise buildings cluster on a thin strip of eroding sand. Gary Braasch, an award-winning environmental photojournalist, captured those shots and their embedded warning of global catastrophe. His book Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World combines field experience, scientific reporting and stunning pictures of what’s already happening as the planet warms. An updated version of the 2007 edition has been issued by the University of California Press. President Barack Obama has appointed a strong team of scientists and others who understand the issue, headed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. The U.S. may take the lead on global warming at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. For Braasch, it’s simple: Pay now, or pay a much higher price later. We spoke at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. Lundborg: In the two years since the book came out, have you become more optimistic or more pessimistic? Braasch: I’m more pessimistic. One of the most troubling things is that we haven’t slowed down the amount of carbon being put in the atmosphere at all. Last year we emitted more carbon by actual volume and by parts per million than we ever have before. Plus scientists say now the dangerous effects will be felt sooner. …
Water Fights, Wandering Homeless Are Planet’s Future
