We've been working on a show about fish (really, no tall, big fish tales). There's a book coming out in the spring by "Invisibilia" co-founder Lulu Miller called "Why Fish Don't Exist" — a quirky story about a turn of the century scientist who gathers as many fish specimens as he can. We'll also turn to a modern fish expert who says fish have memories and can feel pain. And we wanted, of course, to bring you some sound from a fishing expedition. So my colleague Charles Monroe-Kane volunteered to go ice fishing for sturgeon on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin and record the experience.
This is where our future planning dovetails with this week's show, a re-airing of the third part of our Hope series, "Hope: Are We Really Doomed?" It turns out it's too warm in Wisconsin for Charles to get out on the ice safely and bring us his fish story, at least for now. While last year at this time we were battling the polar vortex of temperatures (not just wind chills) in the negative twenties, it's supposed to be 48 degrees this weekend. Some recent research tells us why the ice cover is changing.
In this week's show, journalist Roy Scranton gives us a multi-layered meditation on what climate change means for our future. He says we are facing the end of civilization as we know it, but also that he has hope in the face of this inevitable devastation, in part because he's become a parent.
He paints a very bleak picture of our future. But he also says "To have a child is to commit oneself to a deep emotional and psychological investment in what happens over the next 50 years. It grounds you in a way that not having a child doesn't." says Scranton.
"I do have faith in human resilience and the human ability to adapt to difficult situations and still find ways to lead meaningful and rich lives."
How is climate change affecting your life? Let us know at listen@ttbook.org.
In the meantime, we'll get back out on the ice when we can.
–Shannon