by Les W Kuzyk
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Wheels touching the runway startled Tamanna awake. Invigorated by her light sleep, she focused on Niamey, the third Sahel city. In Niger. Sitting up straight she checked her hair. When the airliner fully stopped she grabbed her device carrier and stood to file out after other passengers from the plane. In runway heat no different than Mali, she followed African travellers through the terminal door. The queue was short but slow at the airport baggage claim. “Yes sir, I have two bags and my devices,” she told the attendant. With luck she would sleep well that night.
Riding a taxi to the Gaweye Hotel, she glanced at the people walking the streets of a world as threatened as that of her Bangladeshi cousins by a problem they had in no way caused.
She found her room, dropped her bags there and made her way to the hotel restaurant. Throughout her meal her mind wandered over further options on how to speak the science of the climate. Take watts. Everyone knows of watts from their monthly energy bill. The planet needed energy, just as any home. With an energy balanced planet, you had near 240 watts from the sun to power each square meter. That was your comfortable thermostat setting, but how does one tell that story? She needed a story teller.
She finished her meal, and ordered a coffee. Checking her device, she found an infogram from Jake. The link took her to an advert for, god, drone missile insurance. Rates varied, depending on your travel plans. The man had warped humour at times...his text read: Serious? Or bullocks? He posted a happy face in the image corner. She half smiled, and hit return—Yes, let’s buy!!
Storytelling. Say you imagine a 240 watt light bulb switched on at the centre of each square meter of the planet—most Westerners can picture a Christmas tree. Simple, she thought. Politicians would find value in a Christmas tree. Using this imagined light bulb world, one could describe to any person what the AR5 8.5 forcing did. Eight and half extra watts for each kitchen table sized area of your Christmas tree planet. You clipped on an extra 8.5 watt light bulb beside each 240 shining energy all across the globe. Still, that eight and a half read small. Right then, talk about degrees Celsius. Take three quarters of the eight and a half watts number and you had near 6.5 degrees. That much warmer. You should be hearing a deep rising scream at that figure. Recall, the temperature rose only 5 degrees after Britain melted out from under a kilometer of ice. And two degrees was the conservative IPCC danger line, way too hot with many arguing for lower.
She’d have to run the eight and a half watt Christmas tree lights idea by Nishat.
As she settled in her room, she checked her schedule on the meeting with the engineers and analysts of Niger. Their first encounter was early next morning. Another possibility.