My name is Peter Kalmus. I’m a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the father of two happy boys. I also grow food and largely avoid burning fossil fuels, which requires some creativity in today’s world. I now emit about 1 tonne of CO2 per year, down from 19 tonnes per year, which is about the U.S. average.
A few years ago, my awareness of global warming reached the point where I had no choice but to respond in some meaningful way. But this is a tall order: global warming is intertwined deeply with our lives, physically, socially, and spiritually. How can we respond, as individuals? What can we do, right here, right now, and with what we have? How can we live happy and fulfilling lives in the shadow of global warming?
I’ve written a book about how normal people can respond to global warming, based on my own experience. Our predicament has deep roots in our society, our structures of thinking and belief, and the ways we relate to the biosphere, each other, and ourselves. More info at beingthechangebook.com.
Here’s an interview on the RootSimple podcast with Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. Here’s another.
Here’s an article on the climate cost of flying I wrote for YES! Magazine.
I speak on my own behalf, not on behalf of NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or Caltech.