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Aja Bogdanoff

Online Community Manager, TED

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Happening Now: Live Q&A with TED Books Author Daniel Grossman on "Deep Water" and the Science of Rising Sea Levels

*** Live Q&A with Author Daniel Grossman: Tuesday, August 21st, 1pm-2pm EDT (New York Time) ***

We're starting a regular TED Book discussion group here on TED Conversations. Would you like to join us?

For the next two weeks, we'll be using this space to discuss Daniel Grossman's new book on the science of rising sea levels, "Deep Water". The TED Books are designed to be read in a single sitting, so it should be a quick read, and it will give us a good shared starting point for a broader discussion on climate change and what the future holds for our planet.

These are short eBooks, available for Kindles, Nooks, and iPads/iPods/iPhones. I believe you can also read Kindle books on your Mac or PC now, and if you have an iOS device, there's a new TED Books app.

Download options: http://www.ted.com/pages/tedbooks_library
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008R8U1LU/

At the end of our two-week discussion, author Daniel Grossman will be joining in for a Live Q&A session to share his thoughts and answer any questions we might have.

Topics: climate change environmental science sea levels ted books
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Closing Statement from Aja Bogdanoff

Many thanks to Daniel Grossman and all our participants! This was an interesting and educational journey. To learn more about Dan's work, you can visit his website here: http://dangrossmanmedia.com

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    Ken brown 30+

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    Aug 21 2012: I thought Heat Waves are the quiet mass murderers.

    • Daniel Grossman

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      TED Books author
      Aug 21 2012: It is true that the increased incidence of heat waves is an important source of concern. I produced a documentary program about the 2003 heatwave in Europe where more than 10,000 died. (see http://bit.ly/OVnNOA) In Paris about 1000 extra people died. No heat like that had occurred in 500 years and researchers have since proven that the intense heat would have been much less likely had not the planet been warming. There are many ways that climate change is changing the conditions that ecosystems have evolved around and that we have built our societies around. Even the more intense rainstorms that are predicted will cause problems. It's not just that intense rainstorms are a problem per se. It's that we have built our world to withstand certain amounts of rain and not much more. When we have more, it overwhelms bridge abutments and culverts, casing roads and bridges to fail. There will be many unexpected instances of these where altered conditions resulting from climate change will surprise and perplex us.
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        Aja Bogdanoff 20+

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        TED StaffHostTED Attendee
        Aug 21 2012: What's the mechanism for bringing the overall temperature back down? How does the climate cycle usually go from peak temperatures back to ice age?
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          Ken brown 30+

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          Aug 21 2012: An idea only.

          We force a mini ice age to come on an begin building huge oxygen plants and try an bring oxygen levels back up.total speculation only but to me i thought we were past the tip of the spear and now it's just damage control?

        • Daniel Grossman

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          TED Books author
          Aug 21 2012: Ken coud we right. I don't think we know. There are some who suggest we try massive engineering projects to cool the plant. Thinks like giant reflectors in space. Or that we put particulate matter in the atmosphere to cool the planet down artificially. This might work, but there are bonafide concerns that we'd be tampering with a system we didn't understand, and would make matters worse. There are also concerns that the existence of such solutions would be used as an excuse for not engaging in sensible prevention (creating less carbon dioxide).
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        Ken brown 30+

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        Aug 21 2012: Yes you're right Daniel.

        In Auckland we have had instances of flash downpours of rain that has caused flooding in the CBD,though it is uncommon as i can't remember a time where it has happened it could become a common occurrence.

        We've had two instances of waterspouts,one which i witnessed from my suburb,i wished i had my camera as i saw a huge very low vortice of cloud over the city yet the touch down was off to it's side and wasn't continuous,it would come down,recede,come back down over a period of half an hour to 45 minutes.What had me entranced was the great mass of frozen swirling cloud above the CBD,Aucklands cloud cover can drop as low as 500 meters and on this day i would say it was close, a rare sight for us.

        Yes i can see where flash flooding will cause us havok as we have allowed housing to be built in areas that have been deemed flood plains and some areas of our city are below sea level,it dosen't take much imagination to envision possible land slips due to an overworked storm water system not designed for extreme weather though i'm no expert.

        • Daniel Grossman

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          TED Books author
          Aug 21 2012: Ken:

          What I've come to realize is that just about any significant change is bad. Not because those conditions are bad per se, but because we've optimized our build world for the conditions that exist today. The same could be said for ecosystems. It's not that life could not exist in changed circumstances. But the ecosystems that exist might not be able to.

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