Episode 89: Into the Clear Blue Sky with Dr. Robert Jackson

In this episode of the Plant-Based Canada Podcast, we talk to Dr. Robert Jackson -- one of the world’s leading climate scientists. Dr. Jackson is Douglas Provostial Professor, Chair of the Earth System Science Department, and Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford. He and his lab study how people affect the Earth, and look for ways to reduce our environmental footprint and improve health and well-being. Dr. Jackson is a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the Ecological Society of America. He currently chairs the Global Carbon Project, an international group of hundreds of scientists who track greenhouse gas emissions and communicate science to the public and policymakers.

Recently, the Global Carbon Project released a study that found methane concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere increased at record speed over the past five years. At least two-thirds of annual methane emissions now come from human activities, including fossil fuel use, agriculture, and landfills and other waste. Atmospheric concentrations of methane are now more than 2.6 times higher than in pre-industrial times – the highest they’ve been in at least 800-thousand years.

Dr. Jackson’s new book on climate solutions, Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere   examines ways in which we can redefine our climate goals. He argues that instead of fixating on maintaining the Earth’s temperature at an arbitrary value, we should be working to restore the atmosphere itself. That means reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the air to pre-industrial levels — starting with super-potent methane.

Resources

Dr. Robert Jackson’s profile
Study: “Human activities now fuel two-thirds of global methane emissions”
Dr. Jackson’s book: Into the Clear Blue Sky: the Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere
Study: “Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades

Bonus Promotion

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