Meet a Climate Gadfly: 34 Questions We Asked Him

From life in the slow lane, to the rise of the 'cli-fi' meme, Dan Bloom talks about where we are headed 30 generations from now

By the Staff Writer

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1. What do you do? I monitor the rise and development of the cli-fi meme in literature and cinema.
2. What is your dream job? I have it.
3. What academic focus most interests you? The important ways cli-fi novels and movies communicate climate change risks and awareness.
4. What are your intellectual strengths? Critical thinking, effective communications, problem solving and crisis management.

5. What will you never understand? Climate denialists.
6. What qualities do you most admire in a person? A moral compass, a strong sense of values, determination, drive and humility.
7. What is your most marked characteristic? My never-give-up attitude.
8. What angers you? Nothing angers me. What disappoints me? Climate denialists disappoint me, but they are getting fewer and fewer.
9. What is currently on your mind? ''The Cli-Fi Report.'' It's a new and opinion portal to the cli-fi world. I'm working on it 24/7.
10. What historical figure do you admire? James Lovelock.
12. What movie has had the biggest impact on your life? ''The Day After Tomorrow,'' despite it getting the science wrong.
13. Who are some of your favorite authors? L. Frank Baum, Franz Kafka, Ilija Trojanow.
14. What music are you into at the moment? I listen to everything. Including ''Kero Kero Bonito.''
15. What is your favorite place on the internet?  Andrew Revkin's DOT EARTH blog at the New York Times.
16. What is your favorite meme?  First, I want to know how to pronounce it? ''Meem'' or ''mem''?
17. Where do you take most of your selfies?  I have never taken a selfie.
18. Who is your favorite person to follow on Snapchat?  I don't use that platform.
19. What is your favorite Instagram account?  I don't use that platform.
20. What is your most treasured possession?  A second-hand blue bicycle. I don't own a car or a motorscooter. I bike around town every day.
21. What is your favorite alcoholic beverage?  A delightful sour beer from Belgium, specifically Duchesse de Bourgogne.
22. What is your typical outfit?  Blue jeans, and a t-shirt in the summer, sandals. In the winter, a few warm additions.
23. What is your favorite place to eat?  The local vegetarian buffet shop.
24. What's a secret talent of yours?  I can touch my nose with my tongue.
25. Where do you want to go most in the world?  I'm there. I don't want to go anywhere else. My travelling days are over.

26. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Be more patient, even though my middle name is "patience."
27. What is your definition of failure? I don't accept failure.
28. If you were to have children, what would you name them? I will leave that up to them!
29. Where would you be if not where you are? I'd be right where I am now now..
30. What makes you nervous? The future of humankind, 30 generations from now.
31. What is your biggest indulgence? Sour beer from Belgium.
32. What living person would you most like to meet? James Lovelock.
33. What is important to you right now? The future of humanity in regards to unspeakable global warming impact events in 500 years.
34. What is your greatest achievement? I am still working on it, and am not anywhere close yet.
35. What is your motto? "​Curious, empathetic, compassionate: What we should be as human beings."