Environmental photojournalist Gary Braasch is interviewed and his new paperback edition of Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World is featured on Bloomberg News this week.
The interview is titled “Water Fights, Dying Forests, Roving Homeless Are Earth’s Future.” Please find this news item at “http://tinyurl.com/BraaschOnBloomberg“.
In the article, condensed from a longer conversation, some probable solutions to limit runaway rapid climate change and its effects are sketched:
“Every building should be covered in solar panels and have a wind turbine on the roof. Every vehicle should run on solar [and wind electrical] power. Mass transit should be fun and free. We should get rid of coal. All coastal areas should be moving schools, hospitals, fire departments, stores and other buildings to higher ground. Every product should say right on it how much carbon dioxide was created in its manufacture, and that amount should be taxed — the lower the amount, the lower the tax.
Earth Under Fire (University of California Press, April 2009) is freshly updated at the beginning of the Obama Administration and is a complete, illustrated view of climate science, effects, and solutions. It has one of the most complete inventories of fast-approaching changes for cities, corporations, governments and individuals — including implications for health, International relations, basic needs such as fresh water, and human rights. Braasch spent 6 years of field photography and reporting and a year and a half of research and writing to publish the first edition in October 2007. More than 170 scientists and policy experts were consulted and asked to check facts for this book. The new edition has 100 factual updates of science, technology and steps being taken to limit climate change. For the cover of the paperback edition Al Gore wrote: “The power of Gary Braasch’s personal witness to the climate crisis makes this essential reading for every citizen.”
Within this framework of eye witness reportage and journalism, Braasch’s opinions about the implications of rapid climate change and policy ideas are thoughtfully and clearly presented toward the end of the book. In the Epilog, he writes:
“Let me state the goal clearly: No policy should be promulgated, no program initiated, no alliance sealed, no purchase made, no machine designed or built, no land use permitted, no product introduced, no law passed, no politician elected unless the action is a step forward to reduction and reversal of the effect of greenhouse gases. … No more coal-powered plants until we have tapped every efficiency and renewable energy source.”
Gary Braasch is an Ansel Adams Award winning environmental photojournalist and nature photographer. His images of ecosystems and conservation issues have seen worldwide publication for 30 years. He has completed multiple assignments for National Geographic, Life, Time, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Natural History, BBC Wildlife and many other magazines. His photography was used exclusively by the United Nations for a set of 6 international postage stamps on the subject of climate change. Braasch also co-wrote a children’s book with Lynne Cherry, How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate, which has been honored 15 times for excellence in science writing and children’s educational literature. The documentary project from which Earth Under Fire and the children’s book sprang began in 1999 and maintains a website, http://www.WorldViewOfGlobalWarming.org that is highly ranked and a prime educational resource.
Earth Under Fire is an excellent choice for high school and college courses, public and staff education, NGO fundraising, resource lists and libraries.
For more information please visit www.EarthUnderFire.com or call Gary at +1 503 860-1228.
