New Twist on Merlin, Giraffe Hearts, What Carbon Neutral Means
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2021
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about “carbon neutral” policies; a new twist on the legend of Merlin; and the giraffe’s bizarre circulatory system.
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What does it mean for a company to be carbon neutral? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Jeff in Saint Paul)
- Bernoville, T. (2021, June 8). What is the difference between carbon-neutral, net-zero and climate positive? - Plan A Academy. https://plana.earth/academy/what-is-difference-between-carbon-neutral-net-zero-climate-positive/
- Nguyen, T. (2020, March 5). Starbucks, Microsoft, JetBlue, and other companies want to be carbon-neutral. What does that mean? Vox; Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/3/5/21155020/companies-carbon-neutral-climate-positive
- Umair Irfan. (2020, February 27). Carbon offsets, the popular climate change mitigation tactic, explained. Vox; Vox. https://www.vox.com/2020/2/27/20994118/carbon-offset-climate-change-net-zero-neutral-emissions
- Reuters Staff. (2020, January 6). JetBlue to become carbon neutral in 2020. U.S. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jetblue-environment/jetblue-to-become-carbon-neutral-in-2020-idUSKBN1Z5237
- Carbon Neutral vs. Net Zero: let’s get the terminology right! — ClimateSeed. (2015). Climateseed.com; ClimateSeed. https://climateseed.com/blog/carbon-neutral-vs-net-zero-let-s-get-the-terminology-right
We just found one of the earliest manuscript fragments of the Merlin legend, with a new take by Cameron Duke
- Bristol manuscript fragments of the famous Merlin legend among the oldest of their kind. (2021). Bristol.ac.uk. http://bristol.ac.uk/news/2021/september/bristol-merlin-update.html
- Schultz, I. (2021, September 3). Rare, Early Version of the King Arthur Legend Translated by Researchers. Gizmodo; Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/rare-early-version-of-the-king-arthur-legend-translate-1847610935
- Durn, S. (2021, September 16). Found: An Early Merlin Tale, Hidden for Centuries. Atlas Obscura; Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/medieval-merlin-manuscript-discovered
- Smithsonian Magazine, & Gershon, L. (2021, September 17). Rediscovered Medieval Manuscript Offers New Twist on Arthurian Legend. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rediscovered-medieval-manuscript-offers-new-twist-on-arthurian-legend-180978705
More from zoologist Bill Schutt:
- Pick up "Pump: A Natural History of the Heart" https://www.workman.com/products/pump
- Website: https://billschutt.com/
- Follow @BillSchuttBooks on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillSchuttBooks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BillSchutt1/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.4 | I'm Cody Gough. And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.6 | Today we'll answer a listener question about what it means for a company to be carbon neutral. |
| 0:14.0 | Then you'll learn about a new discovery that changes what we know about the legend of |
| 0:17.6 | Merlin, and zoologist Bill Shut will walk us through the giraffe's extremely bizarre circulatory system. |
| 0:25.5 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:28.6 | We got a listener question from Jeff H in St Paul, who asks, What do companies really mean when they say they're carbon neutral? |
| 0:36.0 | Great question, Jeff. |
| 0:38.0 | Well, you might assume that carbon neutral means a company isn't putting any more carbon into the atmosphere? That's not usually what it means. |
| 0:47.0 | Not only that, but carbon neutral isn't the only buzzword out there that consumers need to wrestle with. |
| 0:52.0 | There are also terms like carbon negative or climate positive, climate |
| 0:56.2 | neutral, net zero carbon emissions and net zero emissions, all of which means |
| 1:01.8 | slightly different things. |
| 1:04.2 | To understand what these terms mean, you have to first understand the different options that companies |
| 1:09.4 | have for helping the planet. |
| 1:11.9 | So say you own an airline, and you want to reduce your company's negative impact on the planet, |
| 1:17.5 | which is understandable since the aviation industry contributes to around 2% of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. |
| 1:25.0 | So you commit to start using lower carbon biofuels, taking more direct flight paths, |
| 1:31.0 | and investing in new more eco-friendly planes. |
| 1:34.8 | But it takes a lot of money and time to build a new plane, so in the meantime you keep up the |
| 1:40.2 | progress by paying for some other part of the world to cut down on its carbon emissions. |
| 1:45.9 | That could be by preserving sections of the Amazon Rainforest or by funding a wind power |
... |
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