{"id":14294,"date":"2016-03-17T12:51:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T16:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=14294"},"modified":"2016-03-17T12:51:35","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T16:51:35","slug":"alice-the-zeta-cat-and-climate-change-a-fairytale-about-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/alice-the-zeta-cat-and-climate-change-a-fairytale-about-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAlice, the Zeta Cat and Climate Change\u201d: A fairytale about the truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alice_2_150\"<\/a>Unhappily there isn’t an English edition available yet! Somebody translate it, quick!<\/p>\n

Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)<\/p>\n

03\/17\/2016<\/p>\n

\u201cAlice, the Zeta Cat and Climate Change\u201d: A fairytale about the truth<\/strong><\/p>\n

On a school field trip to Potsdam\u2019s Telegraph Hill, Alice runs after a white rabbit \u2013 and falls into a hole, sliding down the ventilation shaft of a climate research institute\u2019s supercomputer. From here on follows a journey through the virtual world of computer models, from tropical rainforests to the ice of Antarctica. This is the rather unusual beginning of a new publication from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in very free adaptation of Lewis Carroll\u2019s philosophical children\u2019s book classic \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d. More than 50 scientists provided their expertise for this work by Margret Boysen, which is being presented at this year’s Leipzig Book Fair and is now available in book shops.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lovely book, which should have the widest possible reach, tells the epic climate-change story in terms of a \u2018fairytale about the truth\u2019,\u201d says Lord Martin Rees, former President of the Royal Society and Master of Trinity College in Cambridge.<\/p>\n

The story starts with little calculation steps in the snow, culminates in a chaotic climate conference which transmutes into a tribunal, and even lands Alice in prison, where gravitation physics fortunately provides a liberating formula. Never before has the science on human-made global warming and its impacts \u2013 from record weather extremes to sea-level rise \u2013 been presented in this kind of literary manner. \u201c\u2019Alice, the Zeta Cat and Climate Change\u2019 is an accomplished, highly creative and linguistically sophisticated allegory that contributes to and enriches science communication\u201d, says Joachim M\u00fcller-Jung from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading German daily newspaper.<\/p>\n

Logic and poetry alone do not suffice \u2013 compassion is needed<\/p>\n

The author, a geologist by training, leads PIK\u2019s Artist in Residence programme which regularly brings writers or artists to Potsdam for a few months\u2019 exchange between the arts and science. \u201cIt has been a pleasure to turn the already absurd tale of \u2018Alice in Wonderland\u2019 upside down, and to build a bridge from there to some of the most exciting scientific insights of our times,\u201d comments Boysen about her book. \u201cCarroll\u2019s Cheshire Cat only tells Alice that right and left do not matter: wherever the girl turns, she\u2019ll meet lunatics. The mathematical-metaphorical cat Zeta, however, tells Alice about paths that lead out of the catastrophe,\u201d Boysen says, alluding to the cat\u2019s ability to make any scientific fact or phenomenon easy to understand by explaining it in a visual way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince logic and poetry alone do not suffice to avoid dangerous global warming, but can only describe them, my book is also about compassion or indifference. We humans will only choose the right paths if we can empathise with the fate of others \u2013 this is what my protagonist does.\u201d Whether it’s about Professor Glazival who drowned in a flood of data, an abducted walrus or the albatros lady Molly Mauk who\u2019s under suspicion of \u2018terraism\u2019 \u2013 Alice decides to show her colours.<\/p>\n

Book: Boysen, M. (2016): Alice, der Klimawandel und die Katze Zeta<\/em>. Edition Rugerup (ISBN 978-3-942955-52-2, 21,90 Euro)<\/p>\n

Weblink to the book: https:\/\/www.edition-rugerup.de\/?product=alice-der-klimawandel-und-die-katze-zeta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unhappily there isn’t an English edition available yet! Somebody translate it, quick! Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) 03\/17\/2016 \u201cAlice, the Zeta Cat and Climate Change\u201d: A fairytale about...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,31],"tags":[1828],"class_list":["post-14294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-launch","category-climate-change","tag-margret-boysen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14294"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14297,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294\/revisions\/14297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}