Forget the mission to Mars, and start thinking about the mission to the North Pole.
"Global warming is no laughing matter," says Laughter, a grandfather of four in his late 50s and a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force who was stationed in Japan and the Philippines, among other places.
"You know, I met a man just the other day who told me, who insisted,
that global warming is just
a myth," Laughter, author of ten sci-fi novels and a resident of Mounds, Oklahoma, told this reporter. "He saw a program on television that said it’s a scare tactic to direct people’s attention away from truly serious issues such as
the economy and the state of international affairs. He’s right about
one thing; it’s a scary subject. And if projections are correct about
the amount of carbon dioxide polluting our atmosphere, we’d better be scared. We may not be at the point of panic yet, but the day is coming when this is world is going to turn its back on us and invite us to
leave forever."
"So I'm putting my heart into this new book," Laughter added. "It's for my four grandkids. I hope it helps to wake the world up, too!"
"Polar City Red" is a not book written
by a scientist, ''since I am no scientist," Laughter is quick to add. "But I am approaching
the story as a family man concerned about the future of our planet. If my
sci-fi story can reach a small audience at first and later reach an
even greater
readership worldwide in translation, I'l be happy."
Laughter says ''Polar City Red'' is just a good old-fashioned yarn for the average lay person, but adds: "I’m sure scientists many times smarter than I am will read the
book and say, 'I could have said that better.' But I hope climate researchers will also enjoy the book, without being too critical. Hollywood screenwriters might want to take a peek, too. It's the day after 'The Day After Tomorrow' but based on global warming rather than global cooling. I think a visionary film director could have a field day with this."
Laughter says that as a fiction writer he is straddling the fence. "I hope the message I’m
trying to convey isn’t overshadowed by criticism and skepticism from climate denialists and skeptics," Laughter says. "You never know
when a scientist or activist studying global warming might read something in the
book and realize their life hasn’t been wasted trying to warn humankind of our folly
when we burn billions of tons of fossil fuels every year and expend dangerous
levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Global warming is no laughing matter."
Or so says Jim Laughter.
"I’m not smart enough to scientifically explain the intricacies of global
warming," Laughter adds. "But neither am I stupid enough to ignore the signs around me. I’ve
driven through a few stop signs and traffic lights in my life, only to be stopped by
policemen alert to the situation. The human race had better start paying attention
to the signs around us if we want to leave a habitable planet for generations to
come."
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