Elizabeth Kolbert on Unintended Consequences
On this episode of Free Range, Mike Livermore speaks with Elizabeth Kolbert, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and writer for The New Yorker. In this episode, Kolbert examines the unintended consequences of human attempts to control the natural world. She discusses the themes from her book, Under a White Sky, about technologies like synthetic gene drives and climate engineering. While these technologies could do a lot of good such as gene drives helping combat malaria, they could also unleash serious, unforeseen environmental havoc.
Episode is an appropriate teaching tool for but not limited to the following topics & courses: Journalism, climate technology, geo-engineering
Discussion Questions
- Why is travel and in-person reporting still important for certain types of stories, according to Kolbert? Do you agree?
- What does Kolbert say about the rise of misinformation and “tribal epistemology” on the internet? How does this impact environmental issues?
- Kolbert discusses her fears about gene drive technology. How can we compare this technology to phosphorus and fertilizers, as Kolbert writes about in her article (see Further Reading). What is the appropriate attitude for governments and policymakers to have towards novel technologies like this?
- Does Kolbert believe gene drives for conservation or malaria eradication will become a reality? Why or why not?
- How does Kolbert articulate the difference between carbon dioxide removal and solar geoengineering? What are the risks of each?
- Why does Kolbert argue we have moved from “good choices to bad and worse choices” on climate change? Do you agree?
- What does Kolbert say is wrong with the idea we can continue emitting carbon while relying solely on geoengineering as a solution?
- Why does Kolbert refuse to provide a “happy ending” in her recent book? Do you think this is an appropriate choice?
- What does Kolbert say should be motivating greater climate action at this point? Do you find her perspective compelling?
- How might insights from journalism help inform environmental law and policy? What connections do you see?
Additional Readings
- Kolbert, Elizabeth, Phosphorus Saved Our Way of Life—and Now Threatens to End It, The New Yorker (Feb. 27, 2023).
- De La Garza, Alejandro, A Controversial Technology Is Creating an Unprecedented Rift Among Climate Scientists, Time Magazine (Mar. 17, 2023).
- “An open letter regarding research on reflecting sunlight to reduce the risks of climate change” (public letter written and co-signed by numerous scientists in early 2023).
- Cobb, Matthew, Gene Drives Could Fight Malaria and Other Global Killers but Might Have Unintended Consequences, Scientific American (Jan. 13, 2023).
- Matthew C. Nisbet, “The Trouble With Climate Emergency Journalism,” 35 Issues in Science and Technology 23-26 (2019).
- Daniele Fulvi et al., “Gambling On Unknown Unknowns: Risk Ethics for a Climate Change Technofix,” The Anthropocene Review (2023).
- James Rising et al., “The Missing Risks of Climate Change,” 610 Nature 643-651 (2022).
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