MELTING GLACIERS ? PEOPLE UNDERSTAND ATOMIC BOMBS BETTER

 

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October 14, 2012

 

Bill Moyers

If you think the consequences of climate change can't be seen in action, think again. This week, photographer James Balog talks about the erosion of glaciers in Switzerland, Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska; his transformation from climate change skeptic to true believer; and what his amazing footage tells us about the state of our planet.

Phyllis Carter

 

What is really shocking is the fact that, although most people with a basic education are aware that the glaciers are melting and our earth is in peril, most people still choose to say nothing and do nothing.

Most people won't get excited unless they think the danger is immediate. They expect someone else to do something.

In October, 1962, when we realized there were atomic bombs ready to strike us from Cuba, many people got serious. In the office in Montreal, Canada,  where I was working at the time, men were signing up with the American Armed Forces for immediate action. We were all terrified. It was real and it was immediate. We didn't really fathom how real and how immediate. But we got the message. We felt the fear. 

With melting glaciers far away, people just do not relate. They have to be hit with a bomb to get real.