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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

The climate crisis is an oceans crisis

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.511.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2019

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to episode 2 of our climate cluster. The more I prepared for this series, the more I realize there was a big blue gap in my understanding of climate change. Oceans cover 70% of the earth, absorb 93% of the heat from the sun, and capture 30% of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forty percent of the world’s population lives within 60 miles of the coast, and half a billion people rely on oceans as their primary food source. As go the oceans, so goes humanity. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is the founder of the Urban Ocean Lab and the Ocean Collectiv, she’s held positions at the NOAA and the EPA, and was named by Outside Magazine as the most influential marine biologist of our time. And she’s able to do something a lot of people aren’t: communicate not just the science of climate change from the ocean perspective, but the role oceans play in the human story. This is not a dry, complex disquisition on climate science. This is a vivid tour of the way oceans shape our lives, and the costs and consequences of reshaping them. Book Recommendations: Eat like a Fish by Bren Smith  Water in Plain Sight by Judith D. Schwartz Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown My book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com. Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com You can subscribe to Ezra's new podcast Impeachment, explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app. Credits: Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld Researcher - Roge Karma Engineer - Ernie Erdat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

When you drive a Chevy electric vehicle, you're getting more than a way to get from point A to point B.

0:06.0

You're saying goodbye to gas stations and how low to open roads.

0:09.0

With the growing network of public charging stations, you'll be able to charge your EV while you shop, work, or do whatever you want to be doing with your time.

0:17.0

Chevy is making EVs for everyone, everywhere. Go to chevrelay.com slash electric to learn more.

0:25.0

First, sweet tarts dare to combine sweet and tart. But they didn't stop there.

0:33.0

Now they've combined soft and bouncy to bring you new sweet tarts, gummies fruity splits.

0:39.0

A uniquely delicious dual-sided gummy with one side that's sweet and the other side that's tart.

0:46.0

But entirely smooth and squishy. A powerfully perfect combo.

0:52.0

Sweet tarts dare to combine.

0:55.0

The thing that blows my mind the most, given how enormous the ocean is that we've actually managed to change the very chemistry of the entire thing.

1:05.0

Hello, welcome to the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is episode two of our climate change series.

1:24.0

The thing I found when I began really trying to build a better model of climate change and its politics is that the simplified version of it that I had,

1:35.0

and the suns raised come into the earth and then they bounced back off and there's a semi-permeable thing happening around the earth called the atmosphere and how much of it gets out is how warm we get.

1:44.0

I mean, it is a little bit out works, but it's not how it works. The thing that talking to scientists really shows you here is that this is first and foremost a story about oceans.

1:54.0

It is first and foremost a story about those blue things that cover 70% of the world and hold 93% I think it is percent of the heat.

2:03.0

What is happening to the globe, to the climate, but also to where humans live, what they eat, the kinds of jobs it can have.

2:11.0

It is a story of oceans and oceans have different dynamics, have different needs, have both different problems and potentials than the story on land.

2:20.0

But of course, they're harder for us to grasp right here, glaciers melting. I find it too, right? It's hard to connect to a place you don't live.

2:29.0

But it's crucial. It is crucial to understanding the story. And as I was talking to people about who understood this and who could communicate it.

2:36.0

Iana Elizabeth Johnson kept coming up. She's been named by outside magazine, the most influential marine biologist of our time.

2:43.0

She's a CEO of the Urban Ocean Lab of ocean collective. She's taught at New York University, won all kinds of awards, been all kinds of lists.

2:49.0

But she's just somebody who really does this work has helped communities prepare and rethink how they manage their oceans.

...

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