Maya Lin's "Unchopping a Tree" from "What Is Missing?"

A few years ago, Maya Lin told me about a project she was conjuring. She said it would be her last memorial. I've been amazed and privileged to see it develop over the years.

Maya takes a complex subject and makes it simple. In her words:

What is Missing? will make the critical link between global warming concerns and habitat protection: if 20% of global warming emissions are caused by deforestation then What is Missing? will integrally connect these issues, asking the question:

Can we save two birds with one tree?

The project will have a number of components, including sound and media installations, permanently installed sculptures at select science institutions, and even some branded products.

With all the brouhaha going on at Copenhagen, it is refreshing to just let an artist challenge our way of thinking about this subject.

Here is Maya Lin's video "Unchopping a Tree," which premiered at the Copenhagen Climate Summit this week:



Maya Lin - Unchopping a Tree from What is Missing? Foundation on Vimeo.

For more information, visit What is Missing?

And here is a link to the poem by W.S. Merwin that inspired the title "Unchopping a Tree"

"Hide the Decline" Sends Up ClimateGate

As the Copenhagen Climate talks begin, this video send-up of the ClimateGate issue came across my in box.

Regardless of your position on global warming, you ought to get a chuckle out of this:

Why I'm Not Going to Copenhagen

Why am I not going to Copenhagen? Because it's a waste of time, money, and CO2.

Seriously. Over the years, these large gatherings of nations, NGOs, scientists, policy brokers, lobbyists, celebrities, and demagogues has continued to spiral into irrelevance in my mind.

The result is always the same: a bunch of hot air, posturing, and agreements to agree to meet again, while everyone scrambles around vying for attention and trying to make their position the leading argument.

Copenhagen promises to be more of the same, and now there will be even more drama with President Obama, fresh from his Nobel Prize acceptance, showing up like Santa Claus bestowing presents to the delegates. Or not.

But the real reason I have no interest in being in Copenhagen next week is that I think the delegates there will be focused on the wrong things.

More than ever, I'm convinced that the climate crisis campaign has given way to climate chaos and that it has led to two very bad trends revealed in the news media of late: the "Climategate" scandal, which reveals some climate scientists behaving badly and the steep decline in public sentiment about whether global warming is really happening.

As I've said elsewhere, I do believe the climate is changing and there is a genuine risk posed by potentially escalating changes. Some of the dangers could be catastrophic, especially for some coastal and island communities or for any community that relies on glacier-fed streams.

The poor and vulnerable may be at the greatest risk, because there is very little safety net for them, but they are often forgotten in the debate.

What I'm not convinced about is whether anyone really knows what extent the changes will be, despite the dire predictions we all hear about and that are often represented as the "consensus" view.

I think it's time for a change in the way we think about global warming and climate change. We need to get beyond the doom-and-gloom hysteria and focus on adapting to a range of changes that will likely happen, investing in innovations that will help adapt and even mitigate some of those changes, and looking for creative ways to help people change their behavior that will facilitate both adaptation and innovation.

That last point is illustrated by The Fun Theory, a web site that was brought to my attention by Kim Larson, who is a leader in bringing healthier food to school children around the country.

The Fun Theory is a program developed by Volkswagen (yes, a car company) "dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that its change for the better."

How much better Copenhagen would be better if it was about creating fun, innovative ways of reducing CO2 rather than prescriptions.

But it won't happen; so I'll stay home next week.

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• Ed Miliband to answer climate questions in Obama-style phone-in (guardian.co.uk)
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• Copenhagan: On the climate change front line in Bangladesh (telegraph.co.uk)
• Obama shifts Copenhagen visit to boost deal (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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The Green Skeptic on Fox Business: Paying for Green Demands

Here's a link and video from my appearance on Fox Business today with Eric Bolling:

Red Ink Watch: Paying for Green Demands