The potential for disaster due to climate change is so great that we should err on the side of caution, stressed Linda Harrar '71 in addressing the President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) April 1 on campus. When the stakes are so high, she said, we need to "act in spite of uncertainties."

Documentary filmmaker Harrar, talking to a filled Ives Hall audience, focused on environmental issues in her presentation, "Sex, Lives and Holes in the Sky: A Filmmaker's View of the State of the Planet."

Harrar, an independent executive producer, director and writer of documentaries that look at the interactions of science, technology, nature and society, has produced and directed 17 one-hour documentaries, filming in 35 nations. She has worked on a variety of projects for the Public Broadcasting Service, including the series "Six Billion and Beyond," about reproductive health, population and environment, and "Hole in the Sky," a series on ozone depletion.

In her talk, she highlighted the growing consensus that the climate change problem must be addressed, pointing out that the solution to the fossil fuel emissions problem differs from the ozone problem because chlorofluorocarbons now are produced largely from a few primary industrial sources, while fossil fuels are used by a variety of industries and individuals.

Harrar also talked about the media and suggested that public confusion over climate change was in part the fault of the people in her business who seek to appear even-handed toward both sides of the debate. Harrar also suggested that the public should be made aware of the sources of the funds that support the various viewpoints.

The group peppered Harrar with questions about personal choice, such as purchasing a 900-square-foot house for only two people, about energy savings and the value of using public transportation.

The discussion also turned to the economic costs of global warming and response technologies and how the United States arrived late at the table for developing and producing hybrid cars. The group also discussed reducing waste by retrofitting diesel engines used for public transportation. Some participants felt that given existing systems, retrofitting was the cheapest, and therefore most likely to be adopted, environmental improvement practice.

Graduate student Hannah Rogers is a writer intern at the Cornell News Service.