Climate Special on National Geographic

"Six Degrees that Could Change the World" is showing on the National Geographic Channel tonight. The program shows what could happen as the temperature increases, degree by degree, due to global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that by 2100, global temperatures will have risen to somewhere between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees above 1990 levels. 6 degrees is a doomsday scenario. Unfortunately, there is a significant problem with all of this information, as with much information in the field of climate change. Explaining a crisis is useless without translation. Scientists, along with much of the world, measure temperatures in Celsius. Americans measure temperatures in Fahrenheit, and most have NO CLUE of the conversion rate. They assume 6 degrees means Fahrenheit, which means they think it's about half as bad as it actually is. No wonder so many 'climate skeptics' seem to be Americans. (Disclaimer: I'm an American, born and bred. I also grew up in Washington, DC, where an increase of even 6 degrees FAHRENHEIT in the summer could increase the death rate pretty significantly based on the heat alone.) I suppose my point here is that before blaming Americans for ruining the planet, make sure that you aren't ignoring less-intuitive aspects of American culture that might make even communication on the topic harder. Another example of this is our heavy reliance on cars. I've hated cars since I was in a nasty accident a while back. I still need to use them, because our public transportation system is simply insufficient, even in areas where people live in higher concentrations. I'd be glad to pay higher taxes for better infrastructure, but I can't do it by myself. If there were fewer tractor trailers on the roads where she lives, my mom wouldn't drive an SUV. (The nurses in the hospital after my SUV was T-boned by a pickup truck said that my partner and I probably would have been dead had we not been driving one.) We could have more long distance freight rail. But we don't. And not all Americans can afford to live in cities. The ones who can, can afford to tell everyone else how good it is for the earth, but they're idiots if they think people live in Delaware and drive to DC for work because they LIKE the 4-hour commute. (Yes, I met someone who does this every working day, God bless him.) We need to involve people in change rather than lecturing them. Maybe then we can get something done.