by Jim Swanson
Progressive News Radio

Running Time – 18:20

 

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Environmentally, most of us know that if we don’t do something to stop or slow down the amount of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere, we are all in deep trouble. A climate bill is stalled as legislation in Congress, but the action WE as citizens of the United States must do is act now.

Fortunately, we do have some help. Earth itself works to cool itself by creating more hurricanes, storms, rain, flooding, snow, etc. to stave off a mammoth heatwave.

This is where Melanie Lenart comes into the picture. Melanie has a new book that has just been published by The University of Arizona Press titled “Life In The Hothouse: How a Living Planet Survives Climate Change”.

Melanie’s scientific accounts and explanation of this phenomena are easy to understand in her book and make for some compelling reading and learning about Earth’s own “thermostat”. “Life In The Hothouse” gets a little bit scientific, but Melanie does a stellar job in helping us to get a grasp on the concept and simply understand it.

We recently spoke with Melanie about her book and the Earth’s efforts to cool itself. (Podcast of the interview is above)

Have a listen to the interview and then buy her book and see how we can help Earth help itself.

Melanie’s book is also available at The University of Arizona Press bookstore HERE.

Melanie Lenart’s Biography:
Melanie Lenart is an environmental scientist and writer. Since 1996, she has dedicated most of her time to understanding how the planet changes with climate — and conveying this information to the public.

After receiving her Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Global Change (2003) from the University of Arizona in Tucson, she took a postdoctoral research position with the UA’s Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, now the Institute of the Environment (IE). In this position, Lenart worked to inform a variety of stakeholders throughout the Southwest on climate variability and change.

Lenart also holds a master’s degree in forestry (1992) from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a bachelor’s degree in journalism (1984) from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Her scientific research has involved studying carbon cycling, the effect of high carbon dioxide levels on plants, tree-ring dating and tree uprooting dynamics. She has explored both physical and social questions working in subtropical, temperate and tropical forests.

From 1982 through 1996, she worked primarily as a newspaper reporter and editor, including at Puerto Rico’s English-language daily newspaper The San Juan Star and several papers in the Chicago area. Since then, she has continued to report on climate and its impacts for a variety of venues, including Landscape Architecture and Nature Reports Climate Change. She teaches environmental writing at the university and in workshops.

Tags: "Life In The Hothouse", Climate Change, Melanie Lenart, Progressive News Radio Interview, University of Arizona, University of Arizona Press