meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Skeptoid

Skeptoid #785: Desalination vs. A National Water Grid

Skeptoid

Brian Dunning

Skeptic, Social Sciences, Skepticism, Paranormal, Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, Science, History

4.63K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2021

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A comparison of two popular ways to help cope with the new water reality of global warming.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

As global warming causes floods to worsen in the eastern US, it also causes droughts to

0:09.2

worsen in the west, a trend which will continue.

0:13.0

Today, we're going to look at the science behind two proposals to help with the west's

0:17.5

new water-starked normal.

0:20.2

De-salination and a National Water Grid that's coming up next on Skeptoid.

0:31.2

You're listening to Skeptoid.

0:32.6

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

0:36.4

De-salination versus a National Water Grid.

0:41.5

The Earth is warming due to human-caused climate change, and we're already deep into the severe

0:47.1

weather systems that causes.

0:49.3

Even if all carbon emissions were stopped today, and obviously ridiculous scenario, we'd

0:54.9

still be looking at a minimum of a century of increasingly drastic weather.

1:00.8

The Earth is warming for sure, but it's not drying up.

1:05.2

Warmer temperatures cause increased evaporation, more water in the atmosphere, and thus more

1:10.5

powerful storms.

1:12.4

So while places like the American Southwest are drying up and are in extreme drought every

1:17.5

year, other parts like the southeast can expect heavier rainstorms and higher annual precipitation.

1:24.5

Like all of Earth's land masses, the whole North American continent is too complex with

1:29.1

too many systems, with too many variables to provide an easy answer like, will we have

1:34.0

more or less rain overall in the coming century?

1:36.9

But what the climate models do all agree on is that whether events of all types will

1:42.0

become more frequent, more severe, and less predictable.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brian Dunning, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Brian Dunning and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.