Climate Change... the Apocalypse?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2017

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Less than half of Americans think climate change is caused by humans, but scientists are sure about it. So, how do they know that humans are to blame? We also look into the climate change crystal ball to figure out are we doomed? Is the apocalypse nigh? We speak to Prof. Ralph Keeling, Prof. Chris Field, and Dr. David Pierce to find out. UPDATE 12/10/20: An earlier version of this episode incorrectly said that Svante Arrhenius came up with the idea that rising carbon dioxide levels could warm the planet. Scientists including Eunice Newton Foote had this idea before Arrhenius. The episode has been updated. Science Vs Live! Come see our live show on the science behind red wine, coffee and chocolate - could our favorite treats actually be good for us? Thursday 3/23 at the Bell House. Get your tickets here: http://bit.ly/2mnNNpv Credits: This episode has been produced by Wendy Zukerman, Dr Diane Wu, Shruti Ravindran, and Heather Rogers. Senior Producer is Kaitlyn Sawrey. Production assistance from Ben Kuebrich. We’re edited by Annie Rose Strasser. And a big thanks to Eric Mennel, Pat Walters, Caitlin Kenney and Alex Blumberg. Fact Checking by Michelle Harris and Ben Kuebrich. Sound engineering, music production and original scoring by Bobby Lord. Even more thanks to Dr Alexander Robel, Dr. Ted Scambos, Dr Pieter Tans, Prof. Jason Box, Ass. Prof. Martha Buckley, Assoc Prof. Zanna Chase, Sarah Shackleton, and Stevie Lane. Our Sponsors: Audible Channel's Sincerely X - Go to audible.com/sincerelyx to listen. Audible and Amazon Prime members can listen for free. Selected References:David Keeling on his life’s work: “I too pondered the significance of returning a half a billion years’ accumulation of carbon to the air”.National Academy of Sciences Report on Climate Change in 1983National Academy of Science Report on Climate Change in 2014EPA Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions and SinksIPCC Evaluation of Climate Models Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Versus from Gimlett Media.
0:18.4	On today's show, Science Versus Climate Change, we're putting facts against our future.
0:24.1	I'm walking on a pier in San Diego, California with Ralph Keeling.
0:28.2	He's a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
0:31.1	Oh, look at the school of fishes.
0:33.1	The dolphins went right by them. They must not be hungry.
0:35.6	Maybe they felt bad interrupting them while they were at school.
0:39.5	I can't touch that.
0:42.7	Yep, just two nerds to hang it out.
0:45.6	Ralph has taken me out on the pier to do something that his family has been doing for decades.
0:52.0	Collecting air samples.
0:54.8	You see, Ralph's dad was a scientist too. His name was David Keeling and David took the very first
1:01.8	precise measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
1:06.4	Ralph tells me the air has to be pretty damn clean to get a good reading.
1:11.2	So that's why we're out on the pier to get as far away from traffic as possible.
1:16.4	We even have to hold our breath when taking the sample.
1:20.1	Because when humans breathe, we breathe out carbon dioxide.
1:24.4	You wait until you're ready to take a sample and then you hold your breath and you walk into the wind.
1:32.8	Ralph whips out something that looks like a glass balloon.
1:35.9	All the air has already been sucked out of it so it creates a vacuum inside.
1:41.2	And when Ralph carefully opens the vessel, air gets sucked in.
1:51.0	Now I close it off and we have an air sample.
	...

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