Dr. Jonathan Harrington

Welcome to the new Earthscan blog. In coming decades, the greatest challenge we face as a species is global warming. For years scientists, politicians and industry have been arguing about how we can solve the climate crisis, but temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions just keep rising. In 2007, CO₂ emissions rose more than 3% and show no signs of abating.

One of the missing links in debates about to deal with global warming is public outreach. Most consumers in developing countries, through small lifestyle changes, can easily make significant reductions in their own emissions. Some believe that public outreach programs are largely a waste of time, favoring only large scale industrial or governmental projects. But, in the United States, around 40% of all emissions are directly linked to household consumer behavior. So, why are we not doing more to educate the public about why they should care about climate change and what they can do to reduce emissions of the GHGs that are warming our world?

Scientists and policy experts need to do a much better job of communicating their research findings to the public. Yes, it may be true that writing readable, jargon free articles on climate change science will not win professional accolades. However, we cannot meaningfully reduce emissions without greater public participation through supporting climate friendly politicians, policy initiatives and personal actions to reduce our collective carbon footprint. At present, there is no magical end-of-pipe solution to this pressing challenge. So, the main purpose of this blog is to encourage intelligent jargon-free discussion about global climate change; why we should care, and what we (especially individuals and organizations) can do to overcome it.

Comments are welcome.

 
Cheers,

Dr. Jonathan Harrington

Associate Professor of International Relations

Troy University

Author of The Climate Diet (Earthscan 2008). For more information about the book, visit www.climatediet.com, or check out the publisher’s website.