Radio Curious

In this, part two of our series on near term human extinction, we continue our conversation with Dr. Guy R. McPherson, Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. Professor McPherson is co-author with Carolyn Baker of “Extinction Dialogs:  How to Live With Death in Mind.” McPherson presents what appears to be overwhelming scientific evidence that our environment is headed for a swift apocalyptic collapse. This is the most disturbing conversation that I have had in past 25 years as host and producer of Radio Curious.

That said, imagine the human habitat in which we all live changing so rapidly that life as we know it is extinguished. Temperatures that are getting hotter than ever, decades long droughts, catastrophic fires, melting polar ice, rising sea levels, and unprecedented winter storms are expected to radically limit food production and availability of potable water.  Not only is this extinction likely, it is occurring every day. “How to live with death in mind” is the goal; living with urgency is the practice. 

In part one, Dr. Guy McPherson discusses the rise of global temperature by more than 1 degree centigrade, the likelihood of a continued global warming trend in the future and some of its affects on our planet.  In this, our second visit with Prof. McPherson he explains how this small rise in global temperature is leading to a large scale mass extinction on earth. Recorded on September 14, 2015, while he was traveling in New York state, we began I asked him what abrupt extinction will look like and what will occur that will end human life on earth.

The books Dr. Guy McPherson recommends are “Ms. Lady Bug and Mr. Honeybee: A Love Story at the End of Time,” by Pauline Panagiotou-Schneider and Guy McPherson.  He also recommends the books by Edward Abbey.

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Click here to listen to part one and here to listen to part three–a conversation with “Extinction Dialogues” coauthor Carolyn Baker.

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Imagine the human habitat in which we all live changing so rapidly that life as we know it is extinguished. Temperatures that are getting hotter than ever, decades long droughts, catastrophic fires, melting polar ice, rising sea levels, and unprecedented winter storms are expected to radically limit food production and availability of potable water. 

In this, the first of a series on near term extinction of the human species, we visit with Dr. Guy R. McPherson, Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. Professor McPherson is co-author with Carolyn Baker of “Extinction Dialogs:  How to Live With Death in Mind.”  Together they present what appears to be overwhelming scientific evidence that our environment is headed for swift apocalyptic collapse.  Not only is this extinction likely, it is occurring every day. “How to live with death in mind” is the goal; living with urgency is the practice. 

The point from which average global temperature rise is measured dates back to 1750, the beginning of the industrial revolution–the time at which the ever increasing use of fossil fuels began. Since 1750, the planet has warmed by more than 1 degree centigrade.  McPherson’s book “Extinction Dialogs:  How to Live With Death in Mind,” explains how this small global rise in temperature is leading to a large scale mass extinction on the planet.

When Guy McPherson and I visited by phone on September 14, 2015, while he was traveling near New York, we began our conversation when I asked him to describe the indicators that reveal we’re in an era of unstoppable climate change.

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Click here to listen to part two and here to listen to part three–a conversation with “Extinction Dialogues” coauthor Carolyn Baker.

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In this program we visit with David Ebershoff, author of “Pasadena,” a book about storytelling.  “Pasadena” is the story of Linda Stamp, a young girl born and raised on a rural coastal area near San Diego, California, beginning when she was born in 1903.  Linda learned the many different ways of the sea as she grew and married into a wealthy Pasadena family.

This is also a book about choices, some which we think through, and some which determine our fate even when we were unaware of the magnitude of the moment. 

With the novelist’s freedom to he uses his sense of story, where it begins and where it ends.  As the middle part of the story is built, so are the character’s lives, juxtaposing the times and places in their lives times.

In many ways, California itself is the novel’s main character. We get to see what the land must have been like when it was a wild, teeming frontier, just on its way to being transformed by fishermen, farmers, land developers and tourists.

David Ebershoff is currently an executive editor at Random House, and lives in New York City.  When and I visited by phone in July 2002, I asked him to describe the kinds of things in his life that prompted him to write his second novel “Pasadena.”

The book David Ebershoff recommends is “Middlesex,” a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides.

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We all know that there are various forms of air pollution that affect our health and the health of our environment, but what do we really breathe? What is in the air that we breathe?

In this archive edition of Radio Curious, recorded in the Radio Curious studios on January 9, 2009 we visit with Dr. Dean Wolbach, a former Air Pollution Control Officer for Mendocino County. Our conversation focused on the different types of air pollution and how they affect us both globally and at the local level.  We began by asking Dr. Wolbach to provide an overview of air quality issues across history, through to the present day, here, in Mendocino.

The books Dr. Dean Wolbach recommends are “Dreams Of My Father,” and “The Audacity Of Hope,” by President Barack Obama, “Samuel Adams: A Life,” by Ira Stoll and “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

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To many of us who live along the coast of California, earthquakes are a living legend. That legend is closely associated with the San Andreas Fault, an earthquake line which runs roughly 800 miles through California forming the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.  More than just a legend, earthquakes over the millennia have rattled the world in multiple events close in time are referred to as “earthquake storms.”  These storms are close in geological time, not so much in human time.

As you might expect, this edition of Radio Curious is about earthquakes.  Our guest is John Dvorak, Ph.D., a geophysicist and author of “Earthquake Storms:  The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault.”  He is currently employed by the United States Geological Survey, working for the Institute for Astronomy in Hilo, Hawaii, after having taught at the University of Hawaii, UCLA, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Smithsonian Institute.

In our visit, recorded on October 31, 2014, from his office in Hilo, Hawaii, we began our conversation when I asked him to describe what an earthquake storm is.

The book John Dvorak recommends is “Daughters of Fire,” by Tom Peek.

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The Oregon Caves, located about 70 miles northeast of Crescent City, California in the Oregon Caves National Monument, are a place full of interest, mystery, and history. 

The caves were located in 1874 when Elijah Davidson chased his dog into the caves.

The Oregon Caves are very unique—possibly due to the fact that it is one of the few cave systems located on tectonically active ground, known as a subduction zone.   Their uniqueness may also be due to the fact an old growth Douglas fir forest grows directly above the caves, or the fact that they were created from what used to be a tropical reef that was pushed about 12 miles below the surface of the earth and then brought back up to its current location, and is still rising. I visited the Oregon Caves in 2006 and knew at once it would be a first-time, unique experience.

I spoke with Roger Brandt, the manager of visitor services and education of the Oregon Caves in June, 2006.  We began when I asked him about the Oregon Caves and what they represent.  

The book Roger Brandt recommends is “Golden Days and Pioneer Ways” by Ruth Phefferle.

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Wind Cave National Park, the eighth National Park established in 1903 and located in the Black Hills of southwest South Dakota, is the subject this edition of Radio Curious. Our guest is Tom Farrell, Chief of Interpretation at Wind Cave National Park.

Lakota stories speak of a hole in the Black Hills that blows air which is a sacred place for their people. The tipi rings, near the present day elevator building at Wind Cave National Park, indicate that Indians camped in the area and knew about the cave’s small natural entrance. Sitting Bull’s nephew is quoted as saying that “Wind Cave in the Black Hills was the cave from which Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, sent the buffalo out into the Sioux hunting grounds.”  

One of the stories tell of a beautiful woman, known as the buffalo woman, who came out of the cave and gave the bison to the Lakota people.

In 1881 a couple of non Lakota deer hunters happened on to the cave when one of them was following a wounded deer up a ravine and heard a loud whistling sound. The hunter noticed grass caught in a strong breeze on what otherwise was a calm day. Investigating, he found a small hole blowing with such force that it blew his hat off.  Returning to show what he thought was a phenomenon to some friends, one of them put a hat in front of the hole which was sucked into the cave because the wind had switched directions.

The direction of the wind is in fact related to the difference in atmospheric pressure between the cave and the surface. To understand this phenomenon it’s important to understand barometric or atmospheric pressure.

At sea level gravity is strongest and air pressure is greatest. And because gravity weakens as you go up, air pressure is lower at higher altitudes. However, the barometric pressure at any given location on the earth is constantly changing. On the surface, weather is driven by the sun, which heats some areas of the earth more than others. Temperature differences lead to pressure differences which produce winds, bring in clouds, or clear skies. Understanding barometric pressure readings help forecast the weather. A rising barometric pressure often suggests clearing skies and fair weather where falling pressure indicates that wet or stormy weather may be on the way. Areas of very low pressure are associated with severe storms, such as tornadoes or hurricanes.

Because Wind Cave is so large and has a lot of space, it also has an air pressure system. That air pressure system is always working to be equal to the air pressure system on the surface. So if a high pressure system is on the surface, air will be forced into the cave to create a high pressure system in the cave. When there is a low pressure system on the surface, the high pressure in the cave forces air out so the cave will have a low pressure system also. This is referred to as cave breathing.

Barometric airflow through the natural entrance of Wind Cave not only gave the cave its name, but also provides an opportunity for determining the approximate volume or size of the cave passages. Monitoring and recording the barometric airflow through the cave’s natural entrances help us understand the volume of air in the cave and that can be used to calculate the total volume of cave passage. By using the amount of air that comes from the cave we can determine the volume of space in the cave. At this time it has been estimated that than 10% of the caves volume has been found.  That does not mean however that the mileage of the cave is identifiably known. There could be many, very small passages or one great huge one. But it does give us an idea of how big the cave could be.

Many caves are big enough to have barometric winds. However, the wind at Wind Cave is noticeable because of its very small, natural entrance. Wind Cave, one of the longest caves in the world, is also one of the most complex caves known. Currently most all of the cave lies beneath about a 1 mile square area of land.

Wind Cave became the eighth National Park in 1903.

When Radio Curious visited Wind Cave National Park on September 23, 2014, we met with Tom Farrell, the Chief of Interpretation, and began our conversation when I asked him to describe the discovery of the Wind Cave. 

The book Tom Farrell recommends is “Wind Cave:  An Ancient World Beneath the Hills,” by Art Palmer.

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Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is located in southern Idaho in the middle of the Snake River Plane halfway between Yellowstone National Park and Boise, Idaho.  It encompasses about 11,000 sq. miles, an area about the size of the State of Rhode Island.  In this special and unique part of the earth, lava has flowed regularly from 50 mile long deep, open, rift cracks approximately every 2000 years beginning 15,000 years ago.  With the last flow occurring about 2,100 years ago, another eruption is considered by many knowledgeable people to be due.

The area is so much like the surface of the moon that the astronauts who prepared for the second lunar landing in 1970 went to Craters of the Moon to train. 

I visited the Craters of the Moon on September 18 and 19, 2014, meeting first with Ted Stout, Chief of Interpretation and Education and then with Doug Owen, a geologist and National Park Ranger.

When Ted Stout and I met at the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve headquarters I asked him to begin with a description of the land within the Preserve.

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California wildfires present a serious public safety concern, create fear of serious loss for many and cost millions of dollars to fight. In California each fire is given a name, as is done for hurricanes. We devote this edition of Radio Curious, to the Lodge Fire that occurred in Mendocino County, California in August 2014.  We visit with four Mendocino County people who meet the public need at times of crisis.

We begin with Mary Aigner, program director of KZYX and KZYZ, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, the public radio station where Radio Curious was originally broadcast beginning in 1991.  She describes what local public radio is able to do at a time of crisis. We then hear from Chris Rowney, the Mendocino Unit Chief for Cal-Fire, the California fire protection agency, who explains what Cal-Fire does when confronted with a wildfire. We also hear from Mendocino County Sheriff, Tom Allman, whose responsibility it is to order a mandatory evacuation if a crisis so requires. Finally we hear from Dr. Sharon Paltin, a family physician in Laytonville, California, the community closest to the Lodge Fire.  She describes the public health effects of exposure to the extraordinary amount of smoke created by a wildfire.

We begin our conversation, recorded on August 29, 2014, with Mary Aigner from Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, describing the role of community radio when a wild fire occurs.

The book Mary Aigner recommends is “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus,” by Charles C. Mann. The book that Chris Rowney recommends is “Young Men and Fires,” by Norman McClean. The book Dr. Sharon Paltin recommends is “A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster,” by Rebecca Solnit.

This program was recorded on August 29 and September 1, 2014.

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