Tough Questions with Bill Nye

Nobody knows how to make complicated concepts easier to understand than Bill Nye The Science Guy. In this episode, he and Chris break down tough questions about the science of global heating and how to communicate the answers to others. 
Show notes from Chris:

 

• A big take home message from this week’s show is there is almost complete scientific agreement that global heating is caused by us (humans, if you’re wondering). Recent work looking at nearly 90,000 scientific studies shows that more than 99.9% of scientists agree! Here’s a great summaryfrom Cornell University.
• There are some big myths out there about effective climate action. We really need everyone pulling in the same direction to get the biggest return on all our efforts. Check out this fascinating myth-busting article in The Washington Post, “You’re doing it wrong: Recycling and other myths about tackling climate change”. But remember, recycling does make a real difference to the environment. It’s just that on its own, recycling is not going to get us to where we need to be with cutting carbon pollution. Closer to home, I’m incredibly honored to serve on the Board of the Environment Protection Authority in the  state of New South Wales. The EPA is leading the charge in Australia on climate action and recycling. You can learn more about why it matters by clicking here.
• To help keep the planet from dangerously overheating, we will have to drawdown billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere. What’s known as “carbon capture” will be terrifically important in the future. There is a lot of confusion about what this means. An eye-watering amount of public money has been wasted failing to show it’s possible to capture carbon at the source of the pollution – think fossil fuel power stations and gas fields – and then bury it underground. But carbon dioxide removal is going to be a big part of the solution. Friends of mine at Common Capital have written a fabulous report on this approach for the New South Wales Government that is free to download. Full disclosure, I’m affiliated with the Climate Recovery Institute (CRI) who supported some of the research.
• You can learn about the short-lived but potent greenhouse gas methane from Bill Nye and the Environmental Defence Fund (including a fantastic video) by clicking here. 
• And finally, Maggie mentioned a great article on why humor is so important for engaging people on climate action. Click on this link to find out more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.