Two Degrees

Two Degrees is a work of fiction, but the stories mirror real climate-related disasters that have occurred in the 21st century. Gratz chose these particular disasters to show the wide-ranging ways that a changing climate can affect humans and other animals; each story could take place in a wide range of environments around the world. Wildfires are increasing in nearly every forested environment and dangerous encounters between humans and megafauna are increasing as the animals become more desperate and people encroach more and more into their natural range. Hurricanes have always affected populations in coastal environments, but stronger storms and increased populations means that storms are more destructive every year.

The fictional Morris Fire shows the effects of “megafires,” gigantic wildfires that are now a regular feature of drought-ridden environments like California. As discussed in the book, fires are a natural part of a forest’s life cycle, and many trees and other plants rely on the heat from fires to survive. A combination of issues has contributed to forest fires becoming bigger and more destructive in recent years, though. Many of these issues are human caused, including but not limited to, dry conditions caused by diversion of water for agricultural purposes, unbalanced woodland ecosystems due to over-logging, and human habitation in locations at high risk for fires. Modern fire management techniques attempt to mitigate the effects of the most destructive fires by allowing small, remote fires to burn naturally, by reducing particularly hazardous fuel, and by intentionally starting controllable fires in at-risk areas.

Polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba, is real, and Owen and George’s story illustrates the increased risk of polar bear-human encounters as sea ice declines. Currently, the total ice load in the Arctic Ocean decreases by about 13% each decade. Polar bears rely on seasonal ocean freezes to provide hunting grounds and are one of the primary species at risk of extinction as the ice thins and disappears. With less opportunity to hunt seals, the bears are forced to stay in their summer territory, near humans, for longer each year. As they become cordoned off by the lack of ice, they are also increasingly desperate for food.

Like fires, hurricanes have become more intense in recent decades, largely due to disruptions in weather patterns caused by atmospheric and ocean warming. Coastal cities like Miami are particularly at risk, since much of the built world lies on natural floodplains at or below sea level. The dangers of large hurricanes in such areas are evident in the case of Hurricane Katrina, which engulfed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005 and from which the area has never completely recovered. Like the fictional Hurricane Reuben, Katrina’s effects were compounded by the economic disparity in the city, poor infrastructure, and by inefficient response from government organizations.

While the disasters found in Two Degrees appear unrelated, all are caused by human interference with natural systems. Pollution, especially from fossil fuels, has caused the atmosphere to become warmer, which contributes to all three crises found in the book. Likewise, human settlement in inhospitable areas, such as the Arctic and the Everglades, causes major disruptions to the natural landscape, which can make any natural disaster that occurs there much worse for both human and animal inhabitants.