Can Sucking CO2 Out of the Air Solve Climate Change?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2018
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Carbon dioxide levels are far higher than at any other point in human history, thanks to our reliance on burning fossil fuels. But having pumped huge amounts of CO2 into the air, are there ways to get it back out again? If so, where would we put it all? And the big question: can that help solve our climate change problem, or is it a distraction from the urgent task of reducing our emissions?
When CrowdScience delved into ancient carbon dioxide levels last year, it sparked a flurry of emails from our listeners asking these questions and more, so this week we investigate our options for restoring equilibrium to our atmosphere. Since the CO2 came from deep underground - in the form of coal, oil and gas - can we put it back there? We travel to Iceland where they’re capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air - and turning it into rock. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Cathy Edwards
(Photo: Nesjavellir geothermal power plant in Iceland. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.0 | My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career. |
| 0:12.0 | That's the thing I love about podcasts. |
| 0:14.4 | You start with just a good idea, but then you have the space to see where it goes. |
| 0:18.4 | And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories |
| 0:21.9 | while developing the most unique audio talent. |
| 0:24.8 | So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of podcast we've got on BBC Sounds? |
| 0:30.8 | Hello, this is Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. I'm Marnie Chesterton, and this week we've come to Iceland to see carbon dioxide being sucked out of the air. |
| 0:42.0 | So producer Kathy and I are in a car, |
| 0:46.0 | and as you can probably hear it's raining quite hard. |
| 0:50.0 | We're driving through this amazing foggy Icelandic landscape. |
| 0:58.0 | She said we'd know where to find it because there's steam rising out of the ground. |
| 1:02.0 | Is this fog actually steam rising out of the ground. Wait, is this fog actually steam rising out to the ground? |
| 1:05.0 | I think it is steam. |
| 1:06.4 | Look, because you can see... |
| 1:07.8 | I can smell sulfur. |
| 1:09.5 | I thought that was a you. |
| 1:10.8 | Right, the car has got very eggy. We're trying to sniff out a geothermal power plant because it's |
| 1:18.7 | one of the places that's pioneering a system for removing carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere. |
| 1:25.0 | Now this crowd science mission has its roots in a program we made last year about our current high |
| 1:30.1 | levels of carbon dioxide and the effects that could have on our climate. |
... |
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