Global Warming Alarm Clock Pop Up Book

Global Warming Alarm Clock Pop Up Book

published by US publishing company, 2009
US$9.95, cardboard pop-up book, children and adults

IN THE SHAPE OF AN ALARM CLOCK! WITH BELL ON TOP

Open it up and when you do, a voice chip goes off with the sound of an alarm bell!

The text:

Good morning. Time is running out. The clock is ticking. You must act now. Never give up. Never give up hope. Persevere. Persist. Insist. Change your life in ways both small and big. Together, we can fight global warming. The clock is ticking.

SAVING REMNANTS

[letter from a fellow blogger today]

Hi Danny,

I very much enjoyed your excellent, thoughtful—and sometimes
humorous—replies RE POLAR CITIES idea....

I understand one of the Scandinavian countries is currently assembling
a world seed bank, [THE DOOMSDAY VAULT], for precisely the survival
purposes you outline in your project description......

In the early
1950s , Lewis Mumford used the phrase "saving remnants," referring
to small groups of people who would act as cultural seed-groups in the
post-apocalyptic future. His immediate concern at the time was the
destruction of civilization by nuclear warfare—which danger, we should
note, has not diminished one whit— but he was also well aware of other
ecological threats growing out of our mostly unconscious worship of
all technologies great and small.

I find myself thinking often about that phrase, "saving remnants,"
since I think it may just come to that — and well before 2500. (You must
be an optimist!)


It is stunning to me to see how few people even want to think about
the "intolerable" future you and I are contemplating. I still hear
people saying that "global warming" is a natural climate fluctuation
not caused by human activity. Amazing.

So, I applaud your conscientiousness and wish you great success in
your project.

Thanks again,

P.

A SECRETARY OF THE FUTURE!

From an interview with the late great Kurt Vonnegut:

DAVID BRANCACCIO: The planet is sort of trying to shed us as if we are some sort of toxin.

KURT VONNEGUT: Look, I'll tell you. It's one thing that no cabinet had ever had, is a Secretary Of The Future. And there are no plans at all for my grandchildren and my great grandchildren.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: That's a great idea. In other words a Cabinet post--

KURT VONNEGUT: Well, it's too late! Look, the game is over! The game is over. We've killed the planet, the life support system. And, and it's so damaged that there's no recovery from that. And we're very soon going to run out of petroleum which powered everything that's modern. Razzmatazz about America. And, and it was very shallow people who imagined that we could keep this up indefinitely. But when I tell others, they say; Well, look there's-- you said hydrogen fuel. Nobody's working on it.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: No one is working seriously on it is what you're saying.

KURT VONNEGUT: That's right. And, and what, our energy people, presidents of our companies, energy companies never think. All they wanna do is make a lot of money right now.

[LINK: Perry Barlow to explore the future workings of American democracy. Expanding on the genius of Kurt Vonnegut, Barlow draws forth Vonnegut's insight and wit from his last major interview on NOW in 2005. While Vonnegut spoke about the end of the world, he also had ideas about the future of America's government. A co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization dedicated to "defending rights in the digital world," Barlow expands on Vonnegut's idea for a "Cabinet Secretary of the Future" that would watch over current policy and make sure it wouldn't have adverse effects on future generations.]

Edvard Munch: THE SCREAM: Polar Cities

Photo by Deng Cheng-hong
Stylist: Edvard Munch
Lighting: overhead

ORIGINAL PAINTING: 1898