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Don’t Engineer Climate, Engineer Yourself?

By Andrew C. Revkin

During 2005 talks over the climate treaty in Montreal, for example, the National Center for Public Policy Research, a group opposing emissions restrictions, tried to illustrate its view of carbon markets by handing out mock emissions credits. These are the chits created under a cap-and-trade system for controlling pollution that allow businesses that make cuts beyond requirements to sell the extra tons to others. In this case, the mock credits were printed in five languages on rolls of toilet paper. Environmental groups responded in kind. The National Environmental Trust distributed custom-printed noise-making rubber whoopee cushions printed with a caricature of President George W. Bush and the words “ Emissions Accomplished.”

Now comes Survivaball. Until now, I was too busy covering the United Nations climate summit meeting and related activities to track the latest unconventional efforts to make points related to global warming, undertaken by the Yes Men, a clever group that started by passing out thousands of free copies of a fake edition of The New York Post blaring “We’re Screwed” in huge type. Then they followed up with the rollout (almost literally) of a new survival technology, Survivaball, intended to give residents of planet Earth everything needed to endure global warming. An arrest was involved. The video above says it all.

Some are trying climate art, some climate-related ceramics, some green music. Can you think of other ways to avoid the “ blah, blah, blah, bang” response to slow-drip issues like accumulating greenhouse gases?