The planet is heating up, so why is the temperature going down?

Climate One conversations with oil companies and environmentalists, Republicans and Democrats

are recorded before a live audience and hosted by Greg Dalton.

Cities across the Midwest are scrambling to protect people from this deadly polar vortex that is blasting the region.

Plunging to as low as 70 degrees below zero in some cities. Tomorrow you'll be trading your t-shirts for a thick coat.

Recent low temperatures throughout the U.S. have hijacked everything from air travel to postal

delivery. With people bundling up across the country, awareness of climate change and what's

causing it is headed for the back burner. Maybe it's time for a refresher course.

When we put CO2 into the atmosphere, it's like a blanket around the surface of the Earth.

And we're switching now from a lightweight summer blanket to a down comforter.

And that effect is cranking up the temperature of the planet.

On today's program, we'll hear from climate scientists, communicators, and educators about why,

after one of the hottest years on record,

the country has suddenly gone into deep freeze. And later in the program, we'll bust some common

climate myths. We start things off with Catherine Mock, a senior research scientist at

Stanford University, and Ben Senter, a climate scientist with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Here's Greg Dalton.

So we're going to go through a list of basic questions about how this all works, starting

with Catherine Mock. Explain for us for people who are fuzzy or need a refresher or just not

sure. How does burning fossil fuels

heat the planet?

So when we burn fossil fuels, we put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

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