There is a great divide in Princeton that I navigate across at least weekly. It runs approximately along Nassau Street. On the university side, scholars are seeking solutions to the world's deepening problems, like climate change and coming shortages of food and water. On the community side, life goes on as usual, unfazed by the looming abyss.
Sometimes it seems like a subtle form of torture is being perpetrated. It's the scholars' job and passion to come up with possible solutions, while the world, indifferent and unresponsive to warnings, keeps making the scholars' task ever more vexing and Herculean.
Graphs seldom if ever seen by the public, like the one showing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rocketing upward, tell an alarming story, while the scientists' voices maintain professional calm.
One speaker, as in these slides from a powerpoint, is helping develop a list of solutions to reduce food shortages and climate change that can be ready and waiting just in case any government entity is finally moved to act. The political tendency to ignore the findings of science comes at a time when scientists' computer-enhanced powers of analysis and prediction continue to make tremendous strides. What an exciting world it would be if we were using those hard-won insights to take on the challenges of our time.
In this context, it's heartening to see that a crossing of the divide from university to town is scheduled to take place tomorrow, March 15, at the Princeton Public Library, when Stephen Pacala and Michael Lemonick lead a "Conversation on Climate Change". The event is being organized by the Friends of the library as a fundraiser. I was told by the library that it's sold out, but I just checked the website and it looked like tickets could still be bought. These are two of the most engaging speakers on the world's most compelling problem.
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