As the water level rises

…I was reassured to see climate change on the agenda – explicitly or implicitly – at so many different events here. It was a big part of Naomi Klein’s “shock doctrine” analysis – the idea that rapacious corporations can come in after hurricanes and other climate disasters and impose a kind of neo-liberal collective punishment on “shocked” populations. It was naturally a part of the “Petropower and Geopolitics” session (featuring, among others, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, energy analyst of the Economist) as the contributors discussed “peak oil” and whether the high oil price could help us – somewhat involuntarily – reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And, of course, it has come up in each of George Monbiot’s “In the Green Corner” sessions – no sign of climate fatigue with Hay’s favourite “eco-firebrand” (to quote the festival programme).


No sign of climate fatigue either at my own event, which was – somewhat to my relief – fully booked. I showed 45 minutes of the documentary film National Geographic made from my book Six Degrees – a production which has received mixed reviews from academic audiences I have shown it to, due in large part to the Hollywood-style voiceover from Alec Baldwin and the dramatic musical score. But the sacrifice made in apparent scientific authoritativeness (though I vouch without hesitation that the underlying science is not just sound, but conservatively interpreted) by a populist production style has paid audience dividends: on its first transmission in the US, the film pulled in an audience of 7.6 million – which is (I regret to say) a lot more people than have bought the book.

Guardian