At the time it made a lot of sense since these systems were explicitly targeting office automation, and so documents on an electronic desktop matched the functionality being offered and users’ conceptualization of what they were doing.

But these days, usage of PC’s has gone far beyond documents on a desktop. Usage today centers around communications, sharing, and web access. The current metaphor is vestigial and provides little benefit. WorldView is a new approach.

It's our experience that most people have little idea what the actual effect on human life will be. Virtually all the material that’s available focuses on (1) the Physical Science – CO2 traps heat in the atmosphere, so much CO2 means so much temperature rise, and (2) the Earth Science or Climatology – so much temperature rise will mean an increase in droughts, increase in flooding, a rise in sea level, bigger storms and so forth.

It’s all abstracted from “here’s what life will be like for your kids and grandkids” – the consequences in concrete human terms. What will it mean for people around the country (world) if many coastal cities have to be abandoned? What will it mean for people around the country (world) if large numbers of climate refugees come looking for places to live and needing support? What will it mean if food and water becomes very expensive (in the US) or unavailable (poor countries)? There are many such questions that are little discussed. This is intentional – conventional wisdom in environmental circles is that you don’t want to scare people, you need to “present opportunities”.

We believe that you need educate people directly about the realities which are scary and alarming. We think this is critical in order to generate the political will to put in place the carbon regulations necessary to adequately address the problem.

Coming soon: www.lifewithglobalwarming.org

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