A Scientist's Sadness At Telling Her Child She's Responsible For Climate Change

How do climate-conscious people, and in particular climate scientists, perceive the impending disaster that anthropogenic global warming means for them and their children? How do they raise their kids? Why don't they take the radical actions they know we need to avoid catastrophic climate change? What's their psychological process?

These questions could be answered in many ways. You could conduct a survey or a focus group. You could find case studies and interview them. You could organize a panel at a conference.

Or, and this is almost always a great idea, you could listen to Kate Marvel.

In this blog post (the first one I've ever recommended here), climate scientist Kate Marvel answers these questions in the most beautiful and sad text I've read in a long time.

Dr. Marvel talks about the sea and her toddler son's relationship with it. The oceans, she explains, are intricately intertwined with the atmosphere, as the two systems whisper to each other. One day, she says, the sea will return us what we've done to the atmosphere.

But, for now, everything's fine. Her toddler plays on the beach, still too young to understand the monsters that lurk beneath the surface, just like he's still unaware of the legacy that our generation, and those before us, are leaving for him. But she'll have to warn him soon:

He is too young to know the sea gets deeper, that eventually it rises above your head and you must swim so as not to drown. I am prepared for nightmares as he grows and learns about the vastness of the ocean and the monsters real and imagined that swim there. He will soon know that evil things lurk in the deep.

This text is not a lecture. It's not going to tell you that you should give up flying or quit meat. Quite the opposite, actually. It's a sincere, sad and lyrical reflection on why we don't take those choices, and what this means. For us, and for those who'll come after us.