Interview with Sy Garte, author of "Where We Stand"

Situated mid-block on a relatively quiet street just minutes from Times Square, the Algonquin Hotel is the perfect site for me to meet friend and writer, Dr. Seymour Garte. “Sy” is author of Where We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of our Planet.

  I stayed at the Algonquin back in 2005 during a two-day stopover on the way to Europe and learned of the hotel’s literary history. The hotel is famous for the Round Table, a group of writers who met there every day from 1919 to 1929. The fabric chairs and richly decorated lobby and lounge inspired me to write a chapter of Dream War well into the wee hours of the morning.

And of course there is Matilda the cat - check out her story through the link.

Apparently accustomed to taking the crazy New York traffic into account, Sy is waiting for me when I arrive at the Algonquin. A warm and gracious handshake later, I almost regret all of the bad things I’ve said about him behind his back.  KIDDING!  (just making sure you’re all paying attention)

He’s already ordered a Martini, and wanting to impress my esteemed colleague, I order the same.  After all, it’s Manhattan. When they arrive, we toast to best sellers and I begin firing questions before the gin begins to kick in.

Steve Prosapio:  Writing a book is a large undertaking. Was there a single moment that you committed to it, or did the feeling evolve over time? Tell me about your process.

Sy Garte:  Actually I was approached by the publisher, which was looking to expand their offerings from mostly business books into science. I had been thinking off and on about a book describing the positive changes that have gone on in the environment, but I had not been serious about it until I got the query from an agent (I know, this is the reverse of the normal situation.)

SP:  Recruited by an agent? Impressive!  What is your writing process? Do you handwrite and make notes or do you always work at the computer? Do you go outside or inside only? Outlines or no?

SG:  A non fiction book like mine is different than a fiction book because of the great deal of research and documentation that must be done. This is especially true for a book with a controversial theme like mine. If I say that air pollution has been decreasing around the world for decades, I had better have the facts to back it up. I probably spent a third of the time doing the research, which included lots of online searching, but I also used lots of book and published material. It turns out the internet is great for current information, but not so hot for historical stuff.

I tended to work on one chapter at a time, writing on the computer in bursts, followed by long breaks. I did use outlines, and lists, and of course a tremendous amount of editing rough drafts. Like in fiction, there were times when the book wrote itself, and other times when I just had to struggle to find the right way to put the words down. Some chapters were truly awful after the first draft, and some were eliminated. 

SP:  How long did it take you to write Where We Stand? Were there any periods during its writing that you stalled?

SG:  I spent a full year writing the book. I started with pulling together some material I had already, modifying it, and using that as a base. I wrote about half the book during the summer, and then spent three months filling in, editing and trying to put it all together as a coherent whole.

SP:  What has been the most challenging part of having a book on the market?

SG:  For me, the marketing has been a struggle. I had no idea how tough it is to get a new book from a new author noticed. I have done lots of radio interviews, some TV, and of course some online marketing, and the book has done OK, but I was surprised at the amount of time I spent on the book in the two or three months after publication.

SP:  Are you writing another book, if so, what is it about? How far along are you with it and when do you hope to have it completed?

SG:  I am. It is on a totally different topic, but one that I have also been interested in as a scientist for some time. The subject is the scientific basis (or lack thereof) of racial categorization. I think it is a timely topic thanks to Senator Obama, and there are not many books out there that cover the issue from the population genetics angle which I will focus on. I have just started thinking about this, although I do have (as for my first book) lots of material in the form of research papers, slide talks and even internet articles that I will use as the basis for the book, as well as for a proposal to a publisher.

SP:  In your first chapter you write “When different experts say things that seem completely contradictory, how is it possible to judge the truth?” – Nowhere more so than climate change do we get more mixed messages. What’s going on?

SG:  Not a simple question Steve. As I say in the book, the best bet if you are not an expert in the area (and I am not) is to follow the consensus opinion, once you have satisfied yourself that ulterior motives other than good science are not involved. This is not always easy to do. Consensus has been wrong many times, so it is always important to keep an open mind. As far as climate change, the evidence is pretty strong that we are in a warming trend and that human production of greenhouse gases are contributing to this. What we don’t know is how bad things will be. I will say, that it is very clear that historically speaking cooling trends have been much more deadly for humanity and the Earth ecosystems than warming trends, but that is not much use for the current unknown situation.

SP:  What 3 simple things can people do in our daily lives to help the environment?

SG:  I think the key issue is to do all we can to use and promote alternate energy sources, from wind and solar power to the use of cellulose based biofuels, and all other potential non-fossil fuel burning sources of energy.

Although I document in the book the fact that we have made great progress in saving endangered species in the US, we must do all we can to move faster on saving the Amazon and other rain forests.

And finally we need to avoid allowing changes in the regulatory framework that has been so vital to the recovery of our planet from the brink of catastrophe 50 years ago. Efforts to roll back the Clean Air act and other such successful laws should be strongly resisted.

I know this is not exactly the question you asked, since none of these things usually fall into the category of daily life. Instead they are mostly political issues, and I think people should continue, as they have been doing for decades, to be involved in political environmental activism.

Of course saving water and energy when possible is very useful, and there are many books and articles that focus on this aspect of personal individual steps that people can take. And it is true that what might seem to be a small thing, like turning off lights and recycling the trash can be magnified tremendously when everyone does it.

SP:  Your book covers more than just Global Warming, what other threat in today’s world do you feel isn’t being given enough attention? What do people need to know of it?

SG:  We have made tremendous strides in human health all over the globe, and have seen a steady rise in life span, nutrition and health over the past decades. But we are facing some new potentially serious challenges, which include the obesity epidemic that threatens to reverse some of these gains. We must also deal with the issue of the emergence of new diseases and the resurgence of old ones like TB.

SP:  Having battled an eating disorder myself, I can attest to the obesity problem as well as the anorexic epidemic among young people.  Okay, so speaking of young people, in High School, we were required by our chemistry teacher to read “Silent Spring.” You mention its positive effects in your book. Why shouldn’t I hate my teacher for having made me read it?

SG:  Silent Spring is not only the first, but also one of the best of the environmental books. Dr. Carson was a scientist (like me) and not a journalist or politician, and her arguments are scientific and rational. She identified the problem, found its cause and suggested solutions. I have no idea why you hated it Steve, maybe you were too young to appreciate it.

SP:  Well that, and the DDT situation had already been eliminated and that at 17 years old in the 80’s we had zero power to affect governmental policy. It probably didn’t help that the teacher refused to answer questions other than to tell us to read our textbook, or that his Extra Credit involved attending hockey games since he was also the hockey coach. Let me have another Martini and I’ll REALLY tell you what I think of Mr. McPartlin.  Anyway, enough of the literary questions. Tell us what it’s like to live in New York City.

SG:  Well I am Nu Yawka by birth, so I have always felt natural living in the city. In fact I never understood what all those nice Midwesterners meant after they moved to NY, when they would say that they loved all the excitement and energy of NY. To me it was just the way it was. Then I lived in the Midwest, and now I understand. The key feature of being in NY is freedom. You can find anything here, and pretty much do anything that’s legal. You will find at least one group of other folks doing it also. And I do mean anything.

Steve Prosapio:  On that note, thanks for appearing on my blog, Sy. I hope that people take the time to read your book and educate themselves on some of the planetary issues we’re dealing with.

Sy will be able to check in today to answer any specific environmental questions you may have. The news yesterday/today involving the collapsed antarctic ice shelf occurred after my interview.  I encourage you to leave questions and/or comments; we’ll be raffling a copy of his book on Friday to those that do!