SpaceBit

See where we have been. Look where we can go.

I was particularly interested in the last few minutes of the Obama acceptance speech last night when he discussed a 106 year old black female voter from South Carolina. He went over all the major events that she had witnessed our country had overcome, setting a stage for what we are capable of doing.

I was interested because it draws significant parallels to another motivational speech many of us have seen, and one I give frequently. As Obama did last night, the last few minutes of An Inconvenient Truth mentions slavery, women’s suffrage, the World Wars, segregation, MLK, cars and planes and the Moon, Berlin, Communism, and a few other environmental-specific events. Obama adds a “Yes We Can” between each event, and he is a better orator than Gore or I. But the examples and reasons for presenting them like that are the same.

I think I will be a bit embarrassed next time I give my version of AIT because it seems silly to try to compete with Obama as a motivational speaker. But I also realize I have a new event to discuss, one that can perhaps motivate people more than all the other historical images combined.

…Now I just need to have a discussion with Obama about this whole “clean coal” thing…

Civil Disobedience

My source at the Clinton Global Initiative spent the morning in a room with Clinton, Gore, Bush Sr., Bono, and a bunch of other interesting people. Apparently Gore called for civil disobedience, specifically by young people, to stop construction of new coal plants. An impressive request from a respected figure, but I’m not sure why he made it a generational issue. I think a disobedient grandmother would be more impressive than a disobedient teenager.

I’ve heeded the Gore call to action (pics) in the past. As I write this I’m debating if I’m willing to chain myself to something and get arrested for this cause. I am aware that any future astronaut applications would be disqualified by this action.

South Pole

I just found out I have been invited to the South Pole to present a customized live oral version of An Inconvenient Truth.

I met Al Gore almost one year ago, in January 2007, when I was trained by him to present his movie. He gave me all of the slides from the movie, several hundred more, and instructed me to help him educate people, change their behaviors, and help reduce the impacts and effects we are creating on our planet.

That meeting has led to an incredible and diverse set of circumstances. I have spoken in the U.N. General Assembly Room (twice) and to heads of international banks, spent an evening with Gwenyth Paltrow and Jade Jagger, made some new and unique friendships, and was invited to Egypt, New Zealand, Thailand, and Lincoln, Nebraska, among many other places*. My work with The Climate Project helped get me to Antarctica with ANDRILL ARISE, and now I’ve been invited to the South Pole.

I’m really excited to go to the Pole because it is the edge of the map. Being a computer scientist we are trained to look at “edge cases” as that is where the bugs most often occur. All sorts of strange things can happen when you approach an edge. For example, I can stand in all the different time zones at the same time. I can walk “around the Earth” so to speak too. Anyone can do that anywhere, but usually it’ll take a few years and a few pairs of shoes. I can also walk North for 10m, East for 10m, South for 10m, and end up right where I started! In EdGCM the two poles require a lot of special code and cases for the software to simulate climate physics in and across those grid boxes. I can do a hand-stand, have someone take a picture, rotate the picture 180 degrees, and it’ll look like I’m hanging off the bottom of the planet. Oh the possibilities! They are limitless.

* I’ve turned down many travel requests and instead recommended local speakers in order to reduce my travel carbon footprint (and due to time constraints and scheduling conflicts).

Al Gore & Al Nobel

Gore just won the Nobel Peace Prize!

Here is a picture of Al Gore reading me a poem he wrote for me.

Just kidding.

But in all seriousness, this is a good thing for the climate. I'll be presenting An Inconvenient Truth (customized with my work and experience and tailored to the audience) to McMurdo Base sometime during my stay down here, and will continue to lecture on this topic in the future. Contact me if you are interested in a presentation.

Sea Level Rise Maps in Google Earth

To make a sea level rise map in Google Earth, follow these steps. Caveats are a) quality is only as good as the 3D terrain in Google Earth and b) the layer is flat while the earth is curved so it will only work for small areas

1) Open Google Earth. Make sure you have Terrain turned on (bottom left panel) and optionally, turn up the vertical exaggeration (Preferences)

2) Select the Add menu then Polygon

3) On the map window, draw a box around your region of interest. Four clicks works optimally

4) In the Info window, enter a description

5) Select the Altitude tab

6) Enter the desired sea level rise (1-7m)

7) Select Absolute

8) Select OK to close the Info window

Your layer is now complete.

جمهورية مصر العربية (Egypt)

In order to prepare for sleeping outside in Antarctica I figured I'd better store up on some heat. It will be -30C or so down there, so I went to Egypt last weekend (for a conference) where it was around +35C.

The conference was great, but better yet was the stuff done in my free 48 hours:

• Snorkeling in the red sea
• Driving across the desert to Mt. Sinai from midnight to 3AM (I got to drive the taxi!) listening to Bob Marley
• Climbing Sinai from 3AM to 6AM, watching the sunrise from the top
• Sleeping on the beach. More snorkeling. The mountains of Saudia Arabia in the background
• 10 hour bus ride from the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula to Cairo
• Camel rides at sunrise around the Pyramids
• Haggling and negotiating over prices. Lots and lots of negotiating

I carried a GPS TrackStick II with me most of the way. The KML files can be viewed in Google Maps (cut-and-paste address of KML file into Google Maps (example below)) or Google Earth (simply click on file) and are available here: http://edgcm.columbia.edu/~mankoff/KML/egypt/

Climbing down Mt. Sinai after sunrise as viewed by the TrackStick: