New UN Children's Book Promotes Global Warming Fears to Kids
Fact of the Day: Monday, November 13, 2006
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New UN Children's Book Promotes Global Warming Fears to Kids
Nairobi, Kenya - A new United Nations children's book promoting fears of
catastrophic manmade global warming is being promoted at the UN Climate
Change Conference in Kenya. The books main character, a young boy, is
featured getting so worried about a coming manmade climate disaster that
he yells "I don't want to hear anymore!" The new children's book,
entitled "Tore and the Town on Thin Ice" is published by the United
Nations Environment Programme and blames "rich countries" for creating a
climate catastrophe.
The book is about a young kid named Tore who lives in an Arctic village.
Tore loses a dog sled race because he crashes through the thinning ice
allegedly caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions. The book features
colorful drawings and large text to appeal to young children.
After the boy loses the dog sled race, he is visited by "Sedna, the
Mother of the Sea" in a dream. The "Sea Mother" informs the boy in
blunt terms that the thinning ice that caused his loss in the dog sled
race was due to manmade global warming.
"I'm the one who created and cares for the sea creatures - whales and
walruses, seals and fish," the "Sea Mother" explained to the boy. The
"Sea Mother" then tells the boy she will educate him about the reason
the ice is thinning.
The morning after his dream, Tore sets out on a quest for knowledge
about the dangers of catastrophic manmade global warming. A "snowy owl"
informs Tore that "the planet's heating up" and that both the Arctic and
Antarctica "are warming almost twice as fast as elsewhere." [EPW Note:
The Arctic, according to the International Arctic Research Center was
warmer during the 1930's than today and both the journals Science and
Nature have published studies recently finding - on balance - Antarctica
is both cooling and gaining ice.]
The "snowy owl" tells Tore that winning dog sledding races "might not be
your top worry" and the owl instead tells the boy that "lots of things
are changing fast. Some people who hunt for a living are already going
hungry because a lot of seals and walruses are heading north."
The "snowy owl" also asserts that "the great ice cap here in
Greenland-mountains of snow and ice up to about four kilometers thick-is
thawing." [EPW Note: A 2005 study by a scientist named Ola Johannessen
and his colleagues showed that the interior of Greenland is gaining ice
and mass.]
Next, a polar bear informs Tore that it is hungry because the ice is too
thin to stand on and hunt and the bear says that other bears have
"starved" because the sea ice went out to sea. The polar bear adds, "We
may not have much of a future." [EPW Note: In May of 2006, biologist Dr.
Mitchell Taylor from the Arctic government of Nunavut, a territory of
Canada, noted that "Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11
are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even
appear to be affected at present."
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The polar bear concludes by telling Tore, "It looks like many animals
and fish and birds will go extinct-die out-during your lifetime, partly
because of changes in climate."
The child is described "at a loss for words" after hearing this grim
news and just "stare[s] at the polar bear."
After a whale appears to present more climate fear, the boy finally
screams, "Listen, I've had all the bad news I can stand. Our world is
melting. Polar bears are starving and all sorts of animals won't
survive. I don't want to hear anymore!"
The whale responds, "That's the spirit! Get good and angry. You'll need
all that energy to make a difference." The whale then goes on to
describe computer model projections of massive coastal flooding in the
future and the potential destruction of human life in coastal areas
because of the projected sea level rise. [EPW note: Many scientists
dispute the notion that mankind has created a climate doomsday. See: (
HYPERLINK "http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777" \o "Open URL: http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777" \t "linkWin" http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777 )]
The whale continues, telling the child that more hurricanes and "other
things you call 'natural disasters' are on their way, too - and they're
getting harsher." [EPW Note: The relationships between global warming
and hurricanes is currently under debate, with the great majority of
scientists believing there is little connection. For instance, 2006 was
anticipated to be a record year for Hurricanes, but turned out to be one
of the calmest seasons in many, many years.]
Finally Tore has had enough and asks, "Is there anything at all a kid
like me can do?"
The "Sea Mother" tells him of the dangerous effects that an oil and gas
based energy system has on the climate and the "Sea Mother" singles out
the industrialized world as the cause of her predicted climate
catastrophe.
"Rich countries use-and waste-an awful lot of energy. Huge cars. Too
many cars instead of efficient trains and buses," the "Sea Mother
explains to Tore. [EPW Fact: Several developing world nations will soon
pass the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions. China alone will pass the
U.S. in emission in 2009. ]
Finally the "Sea Mother" tells Tore that the solution to the climate
crisis can begin in his Arctic village by "setting up solar panels to
get electricity from the sun, and modern windmills to capture the energy
of the wind."
The book ends with a section answering the question "What can you do?"
The books answer includes such suggestions as "Join or create an
environmental club," "only drive cars if you must," and "write to your
political leaders."