40 Years Of Sounding The Alarm On Nuclear Winter
Science Friday
Science Friday and WNYC Studios
4.4 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | 40 years ago scientists sounded the alarm on nuclear winter and it changed the |
| 0:08.9 | world. Once you've saved the world from nuclear weapons what do you do with the rest of your life? |
| 0:14.0 | It's Monday, November 6th, but you guessed it, it's actually Science Friday. |
| 0:26.0 | I'm Cyfry producer Rasha Iridi. |
| 0:28.0 | In honor of this 40 year anniversary, Ira talks with someone whose work on nuclear winter went on to influence nuclear policy, |
| 0:36.1 | and it changed the course of nuclear warfare forever. |
| 0:39.9 | This week holds anniversaries for two important milestones in nuclear warfare. |
| 0:45.0 | In November 1952, 71 years ago, the U.S. detonated a terrible new weapon, a massive hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands. |
| 0:55.2 | It vaporized a whole island, leaving behind a mile-wide crater where the island once |
| 1:00.9 | was. It was around 700 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on |
| 1:06.0 | Hiroshima. Fast forward to almost 40 years ago today. On October 30, 1983, millions of Americans flipped open the Sunday paper to find a shadowy, |
| 1:17.6 | gray, very apocalyptic photo with the words, would nuclear war be the end of the world? It introduced the world to nuclear |
| 1:26.9 | winter, the terrifying climate changes that might be brought on by nuclear war. |
| 1:32.7 | And it was the iconic scientist, Carl Sagan, |
| 1:35.3 | that introduced the term. |
| 1:36.9 | He was an author of the first research on nuclear winter, |
| 1:39.9 | spent years warning politicians, world leaders, and the general public. |
| 1:44.7 | The idea that more nuclear weapons make you safer is an illusion beyond a certain point. |
| 1:49.8 | More nuclear weapons make you less farm. The threat of nuclear |
| 1:53.8 | winter has reduced since then but with thousands of nuclear weapons still in |
| 1:58.3 | existence that risk is not zero. My next guest is also a pioneer in nuclear winter research. |
| 2:05.0 | Dr. Alan Roebuck, climate scientist and distinguished professor at Rutgers |
... |
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