If you have questions about climate change, please e-mail them
to All Things Considered or call the show at 202-898-2395. When
the subject is global warming, our mood is usually "uh-oh."
Which makes sense, because a warmer Earth will lead to all kinds
of disruptions and expensive adjustments that we could do
without. NPR and National Geographic take a year-long journey
around the globe to explore how climate is shaping people and
people are exploring climate. But there is another way to think
about all of this. What we have done here is a chemistry lesson,
one that begins with the elemental cause of global warming: the
behavior of the carbon atom. And since carbon atoms are rather
small, we have turned our atom into a cartoon. Just so you can
see it better. This is the introductory segment of a five-part
series that explains how carbon atoms form bonds, break apart
and create the conditions that can lead to global warming. Since
most of us are beginners when it comes to elemental chemistry,
this is a lesson i