The Stuff You Should Know Doin’ Science Playlist: How Global Warming Works

It's a confusing part of climate change when it seems winter is as cold as ever, but as global temperatures creep ever so slightly higher, a cascade of catastrophic events will almost surely follow. The ball is in humanity's court. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:04Josh Clark?

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• 1:02Josh Clark?

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• 1:33Speaker 02

  Hey, everybody. Chuck here with another one of our sciency playlist-curated podcast episodes. This one's on global warming, and it's appropriately titled, How Global Warming Works. Please to listen to it right now.

• 1:48Speaker 02

  Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com.

• 1:59Josh Clark?

  Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's the chipper cheery Charles W. Chuck Bryant.

• 2:06Speaker 02

  Howdy.

• 2:07Josh Clark?

  And there's Jerry over there. Say hi Jerry. No. How are you doing, man?

• 2:14Speaker 02

  I'm well, sir. How are you?

• 2:15Josh Clark?

  I'm pretty well myself. I'm feeling alright, feeling a little fit.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Yeah?

• 2:19Josh Clark?

  Yeah, yeah. A little sweaty, as you can tell, but I'm alright.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  That's gross.

• 2:26Josh Clark?

  It is. I don't smell, do I?

• 2:28Speaker 02

  No.

• 2:29Josh Clark?

  Okay, good.

• 2:30Speaker 02

  So, friends, listeners.

• 2:35Josh Clark?

  Countrymen.

• 2:37Speaker 02

  You're gonna notice a little something different in this week's feed. Tomorrow, this bears a little explanation. We are dropping Episodes 1 and 2 of my new movie interview show, Movie Crush.

• 2:50Josh Clark?

  Doin doon doon doo.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  We're dropping those into the Stuff You Should Know feed, something we've never done here at the network, but we're gonna... I guess I'm the lab rat on this one.

• 3:00Josh Clark?

  The guinea pig.

• 3:01Speaker 02

  The guinea pig?

• 3:02Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 3:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, I guess either one, right? The guinea pig doesn't die. The lab rat dies.

• 3:08Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I guess so. Let's go with the guinea pig for sure, then.

• 3:11Speaker 02

  Alright, well, either way, we are dropping those into the Stuff You Should Know feed, and we wanted to alert you. So, when you saw all these new things, you didn't rebel against us like everyone hated U2 when they delivered the World Free Album.

• 3:25Josh Clark?

  Right, right, yeah. I mean, this is like, this is not just, it's not a U2 album. It's your new show. It's more important than any U2 album.

• 3:32Speaker 02

  Oh, well.

• 3:33Josh Clark?

  You know?

• 3:33Speaker 02

  Appreciate that.

• 3:34Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 3:35Speaker 02

  So, yeah, that's why they're there. And Episode 1 is the great Janet Varney with, we talk about the movie Tron. And that's the nature of the show, is I talk to people about their favorite movie. And Episode 2 is Tig Notaro.

• 3:50Josh Clark?

  Wow.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  Talking about the movie Mask. And that one is a very special episode, and I'll tease it with this. We recorded that interview, or conversation, rather.

• 4:01Speaker 02

  Seconds after she got the call that she was cancer free at the five year mark.

• 4:07Josh Clark?

  Oh, wow.

• 4:08Speaker 02

  So, uh, she started crying at the beginning and I didn't know what was going on. I gave her some time. I was freaking out and it turned out to be good news, but, uh, and I explained that all at the onset of the episode, but it turned out to be a very special experience.

• 4:23Josh Clark?

  Man, Chuck, you're like Barbara Walters.

• 4:27Speaker 02

  I didn't get it out of her. It was just weird timing.

• 4:29Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 4:29Speaker 02

  But, uh, anyway, those are in there and, uh, it, it won't happen every week, uh, but I would love for you to subscribe.

• 4:36Josh Clark?

  Well, yeah, that's the way to get it, right?

• 4:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, just subscribe anywhere you, you listen to podcasts.

• 4:41Josh Clark?

  These are a couple of gifts, a little gems.

• 4:43Speaker 02

  That's right. And, uh, I appreciate your support on it.

• 4:46Josh Clark?

  Yeah. Well, way to go, man. Congratulations. I, I speak for me and the rest of the world when I say we are looking forward to this.

• 4:52Speaker 02

  Thanks, dude. And, you know, I'm gonna have you on as a guest. It's gonna be very strange and awesome.

• 4:56Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I think it'll be neat. I'll start crying too.

• 5:00Speaker 02

  Do you know what your favorite movie is that you would pick?

• 5:02Josh Clark?

  Uh, I got a couple I think I could choose from. Sure.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  All right. Well, hold on to that then.

• 5:06Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  And we'll just, we'll just pick that up later.

• 5:09Josh Clark?

  Okay. Well, congrats again, man.

• 5:11Speaker 02

  Thanks, pal. Uh, shall we warm the globe?

• 5:13Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 5:14Speaker 02

  All right.

• 5:15Josh Clark?

  So Chuck, um, I don't know if you've heard about this term recently, but it's been in the news lately. Global warming. Are you familiar?

• 5:27Speaker 02

  It, it does ring a bell.

• 5:28Josh Clark?

  Okay. Well, just in case you, for those people who aren't aware of global warming, global warming is what we're talking about today. And, um, a lot of people confuse it or use it interchangeably with climate change. And it turns out that's not actually fully accurate. Global warming is a symptom of climate change as a whole. And climate change is a whole bunch of differences to the earth's climate. And we'll get into what climate is in a second. And one of those is global warming. Also things like extreme weather events, increased drought, increased temperatures, sea level rises, all these things put together, that's climate change, right? Or the result of climate change. And global warming is one of them.

• 6:13Josh Clark?

  So global warming is climate change, but not all climate change is global warming. I just wanted to make sure we got that out of the way to begin with.

• 6:20Speaker 02

  It's like the square rectangle thing, which I can still never keep straight.

• 6:23Josh Clark?

  Well, and I think, uh, the what?

• 6:26Speaker 02

  Like every square is not a rectangle, but every rectangle is square, or the reverse of that, whichever it is.

• 6:31Josh Clark?

  I've never heard that before.

• 6:33Speaker 02

  What?

• 6:33Josh Clark?

  I even aced geometry the second time I took it.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  Well, it was clearly a class that didn't care about squares.

• 6:41Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I guess not. I mean, they always talked about rectangles, but squares were never brought up.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think it's, oh, you know, I'm not gonna dig myself a hole there.

• 6:51Josh Clark?

  That's probably best.

• 6:52Speaker 02

  So, global warming, if you want just a kind of a straight up definition, is the science community defines it as this, and they should know.

• 7:00Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 7:01Speaker 02

  It's a significant increase in the climatic temperature over a short, relatively short period of time as a result of activities of humans. And by increase in short, we're talking like one degree Celsius in a couple of hundred years is global warming.

• 7:23Josh Clark?

  Right, because the effects of climate are so pronounced on such a, like, with just small incremental changes.

• 7:32Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:32Josh Clark?

  That, that, that, that is climate change. Something that if you just look at it on paper, you're like, that's nothing. Who cares about one degree? Actually, the, the point of global warming is that when you have these, this increase in global temperatures, a whole basket of events starts to take place. That's climate change. Like, global warming is related to climate change, right? It can trigger other climate changes.

• 7:57Speaker 02

  That's right. And you hear a lot of people talk about, you hear a lot of numbskulls talking about weather as if it is climate.

• 8:05Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  Like, a, a very harsh winter might come, and they'll say, yeah, global warming, right?

• 8:12Josh Clark?

  That's a great numbskull.

• 8:15Speaker 02

  It's not the same thing. Weather is, is local, it's short term. Climate is long term. It's not even like the, the weather over a period of a year, or even a couple of years. We're talking about predictable, generally predictable, average weather conditions in a region over a long, long period of time. So, you can safely say, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, it is cold in the wintertime. That is the climate of Green Bay and that midwestern region as a whole.

• 8:45Josh Clark?

  Right, but if it snows in February, February of, you know, next year on a Tuesday, then that's just the weather.

• 8:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, or if it snows in Miami once, then that's not a refutation of what climate change means. That is a weird anomaly and those happen.

• 9:07Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and this is a, this is a Grabster and Strickland co-joint, by the way, so that's why it popped off the page, if you noticed. But one of the things they wisely pick, point out is what you just said, that yeah, some weather anomaly happens like that. Even if it happened three years in a row, I think a lot of scientists would pay attention to why it snowed in Miami three years in a row.

• 9:31Speaker 02

  Right.

• 9:31Josh Clark?

  But if it went back to normal or something like that, like that, that would not necessarily be climate change. It's just a weird occurrence, right?

• 9:39Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 9:40Josh Clark?

  Climate change is this, this change in predictable changes.

• 9:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that can take like thousands and 10,000s of years sometimes.

• 9:48Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 9:49Speaker 02

  Often, most times.

• 9:50Josh Clark?

  Normally, under natural circumstances, and here is where we come to the current use for global warming, right? Global warming can, can happen by itself naturally. The Earth, basically, as in its current present state, swings back and forth between glacial periods and interglacial periods. So, cool periods and warm periods. And for an ice age to occur, the global temperature only needs to drop by about five degrees Celsius on average, and all of a sudden we're in an ice age, right?

• 10:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, that doesn't mean the entire Earth is a big round cube, round cube. Wow.

• 10:25Josh Clark?

  That's like a square rectangle, but not at all the same.

• 10:28Speaker 02

  Well, you know, when you go to a fancy cocktail bar and they have those awesome round, I want to say ice cubes again, ice spheres?

• 10:36Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 10:37Speaker 02

  That's not what the Earth looks like necessarily during an ice age.

• 10:40Josh Clark?

  No, no, no, it's just much cooler and like, because it's cooler by, say, five degrees Celsius, like, a lot of stuff changes. It's the same thing as global warming, but on the opposite end, right?

• 10:53Speaker 02

  Correct.

• 10:54Josh Clark?

  Like, you have changes in migration patterns, you have changes in habitat for animals. Some things go extinct during the transition. Sea levels change. A lot of stuff happens, right? So, this is part of the normal process of the Earth. But the Earth's kind of got it like, hey, hey, I've got this under control. I don't need any help from you humans.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 11:15Josh Clark?

  And I, when I do do this, this is the Earth talking in first person. When I do change from a glacial period to a warm period, it takes many tens and tens of thousands of years, right?

• 11:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:28Josh Clark?

  You humans here, again, this is still me, the Earth. You humans are really messing with my program here and accelerating the process. And you know what? I'll even give you a clue as to what you're doing that's making it so bad. Carbon dioxide emissions, bam. Said the, the Earth and dropped its microphone and walked away.

• 11:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, and then it went back and picked up his mic and said, and maybe stop littering.

• 11:52Josh Clark?

  Yeah, that's another.

• 11:53Speaker 02

  And then it dropped the mic again.

• 11:54Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 11:56Speaker 02

  We should talk a minute about a wonderful group called the IPCC. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

• 12:03Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 12:04Speaker 02

  A lot of very smart people there.

• 12:05Josh Clark?

  Oh, man. Can, can I just say, it's, to me, the IPCC is one of the coolest things humanities ever come up with.

• 12:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:14Josh Clark?

  Cause it's, it's the world coming together, saying, we got a real problem on our hands. Let's get our smartest people together and create a database here of, of good science.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, and those people are specifically about 2,500, actually more, 2,500 scientists from around the world, meeting together in places like Paris, because why not, right?

• 12:35Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 12:37Speaker 02

  They did this about 10 years ago and came up with a lot of, well, sort of a lot of distressing observations. We'll, we'll just tick through a few of these. As far as temperature goes, and you know, like we said, like, one degree Celsius can make a big swing in what kind of changes we see on the planet.

• 12:58Speaker 02

  Between 1901 and 2000, the Earth warmed 0.6 degrees. So that's, if you, if you adjust that to 1906 to 2006, it climbs up to 0.74 degrees. So about three quarters of a degree in temperature rise during that 100-year period.

• 13:18Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  That's a lot.

• 13:20Josh Clark?

  It is a lot. And so a lot of people say, well, you guys just said the Earth tends to do this on its own. Maybe that's it. Well, actually, no, there's a lot of science that the IPCC has been able to come up with that shows pretty clearly that this is human-caused stuff that's actually creating this increase in temperature. And again, it seems to come back to carbon dioxide.

• 13:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, should we tick over a few of these other observations?

• 13:46Josh Clark?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 13:48Speaker 02

  Um, let me see, here's a good one. Uh, the ocean's temperature has increased to at least depths of almost 10,000 feet down. The ocean's temperature has increased.

• 14:00Josh Clark?

  Yep, not a good thing because that's how, um, like glaciers tend to melt is from underneath.

• 14:07Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 14:08Josh Clark?

  What else, Chuck?

• 14:09Speaker 02

  Uh, westerly winds have been growing stronger.

• 14:12Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 14:12Speaker 02

  Droughts have become more intense, uh, lasted longer, covered bigger swaths of land. Uh, what else here? Precipitation has increased in, uh, the eastern Americas, northern Europe, parts of Asia.

• 14:25Josh Clark?

  But it's decreased elsewhere.

• 14:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's, I mean, we'll get into this a little bit. Uh, a little bit of global warming can mean longer growing and better growing seasons in some parts of the world, but devastating to other parts of the world.

• 14:39Josh Clark?

  Exactly.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Uh, I guess I let the cat out of the bag there, but we'll go over that again later. Uh, and how, how about this? And the warming trend of the last 50 years is about double of the last 100 years. So what that means is the rate is increasing, the rate of warming is increasing.

• 14:55Josh Clark?

  Yeah, actually, so the, I think the IPCC has determined that each of the past 40 years has been warmer than the average temperature of the 20th century. And that 2016 was the hottest year on record and the 12 warmest years on record have occurred since 1998. Dude, you should see the, the, um, we'll get into it. Some of the charts that, that you can find, and again, like if you're even remotely interested in this, like just go look up the IPCC's stuff.

• 15:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:29Josh Clark?

  And some of it, like you, you have to be a climatologist to understand what in the name of God they're talking about. But other stuff, if, especially if you read like executive summaries of studies and, and reports and stuff.

• 15:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:42Josh Clark?

  Like that's meant to, for like a non-scientist, specifically often like policymakers to read and understand, right? So the average person can understand that, um, and they have some really Great stuff that's showing like all of the changes that the world is going through. Thanks to these increases in the global temperature. And again, some of the charts that they have are just stunning when you see them.

• 16:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:06Josh Clark?

  Cause it's like going along fine, going along fine, everything's fine. And then, oh my God, what the hell just happened?

• 16:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:13Josh Clark?

  Basically.

• 16:15Speaker 02

  And it was the industrial revolution.

• 16:17Josh Clark?

  It was, but also one of the things that they found recently, especially in the last like three, four years, I believe. Is that, um, is that I think you, like you were saying, the increase in global temperatures, but also again, the increase in carbon dioxide. Has really shot up over the last like 50 years. Like from, from the beginning of the industrial revolution, I think they usually start that about 1750 to maybe 1800 at the latest. Up to like 1950 or so, 1960. Like there's a pretty surprising increase, but it is just skyrocketed in the last like 50 or 60 years.

• 16:56Josh Clark?

  So, um, they're, they're seeing like this, this, the science is bearing out the, the kind of the general theory of global warming. Which we should probably talk about this, this theory of global warming, right? Because like we said, it's not just, um, human caused, a human caused mechanism. Like basically it's an already existing natural, natural mechanism that basically keeps the earth. Nice and toasty for, um, life and water.

• 17:27Speaker 02

  It keeps us from being Mars.

• 17:28Josh Clark?

  But we have, we have started messing with it big time because of our, um, our contributions to this normal cycle.

• 17:36Speaker 02

  Yeah. So should we talk about the greenhouse effect a little bit?

• 17:38Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 17:39Speaker 02

  The greenhouse effect is literally what keeps us from being Mars. It is a good thing when it occurs naturally, because like you said, it keeps us on, you know, it makes earth habitable and lovely and nice. For the most part.

• 17:53Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 17:54Speaker 02

  So they, Strickland and the Grabster, uh, I'm not sure who came up with the car analogy, but it's a pretty good one.

• 18:00Josh Clark?

  I agree.

• 18:02Speaker 02

  If you go into your car on a hot summer day and you get in your car, it's been sitting out the sun for a little while, it's a lot hotter than it is outside. It's kind of a no-brainer, but you might not have thought about why that happens. It's not magic. What's happening is the, the sun that's coming in through your car windows gets absorbed by the interior of your car, whether it's your seats, or the dashboard, or basically kind of everything in the car, absorbs that heat, and that heat is then eventually emitted back out and radiated out from the seats and things like that.

• 18:36Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 18:37Speaker 02

  But it's at a different wavelength than that initial sunlight that came in. So some of it might get back out of the window, but most of it stays kind of trapped in that car. So the end result, the net-net, as they would say in a corporate meeting, is that there's less energy going out than, than coming in.

• 18:56Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 18:56Speaker 02

  So your car's gonna get hotter.

• 18:58Josh Clark?

  So pretend your car is the planet Earth, basically.

• 19:01Speaker 02

  Which would be great.

• 19:02Josh Clark?

  And the windshield is the atmosphere, right?

• 19:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:05Josh Clark?

  So that's the greenhouse effect in a nutshell. As it, as it relates to the actual Earth, about 70% of the solar energy that is directed toward Earth, right, stays on the planet, right? And instead of it being absorbed by car seats and floor mats and stuff like that, it gets absorbed by the ocean, or land, or plants, or you, right?

• 19:32Speaker 02

  Right.

• 19:33Josh Clark?

  And so about 30% of that stuff that, that didn't make it through, it was reflected back by clouds, particles in the atmosphere, a bunch of other stuff, right? But as you're sitting there getting warmed by the sun, you actually have the potential to re-emit that heat. And so that stuff starts to go back through the atmosphere out of space. Some of that stuff makes it out into space, but there are other particles that take that, that solar energy, usually in the form of heat, and absorb it. And when they absorb it, they re-emit heat, and then they direct it back down at Earth. And the process continues. And in some of that, some cases, some of the stuff that they re-emmit, they end up reabsorbing themselves.

• 20:18Josh Clark?

  So that there is more heat that's being trapped and sustained on Earth than is being allowed to escape back into space at any given time.

• 20:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, just like your car.

• 20:28Josh Clark?

  Right. And again, this is what, this is like a positive feedback cycle that creates the atmosphere. It also sustains the atmosphere. It also keeps water here on Earth. Because water tends to heat up and rise, but then it will, it will cool off in the atmosphere and fall back down as precipitation. And as long as it can fall back down in the atmosphere and nucleate around some of these particles that are trapped in the atmosphere, we've got water here on Earth.

• 21:00Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 21:01Josh Clark?

  So it's all thanks to the wonderful glorious greenhouse effect.

• 21:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, so that feels like a good place to pause. Let people, let that soak in a minute, like a hot sun on a black car seat.

• 21:13Josh Clark?

  Like a warm chutney on your forehead.

• 21:17Speaker 02

  My god. And we'll be back a little bit to talk about the, these gases in the atmosphere that we're talking about here.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  First thought is like, wow, how are we gonna do all this?

• 21:42Josh Clark?

  Hey, this is Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know.

• 21:45Speaker 02

  That's Alan Goya, planning engineer at AT&T. And he's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, redefining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible.

• 22:01Speaker 03

  It was gonna rival anything that was already built. And that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page.

• 22:08Josh Clark?

  That includes field services manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day.

• 22:15Speaker 04

  Through what Alan's whole crew designed, we connected the event visitors to the world.

• 22:20Speaker 02

  And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night.

• 22:24Speaker 04

  To actually see the whole stadium light up and data's flowing is a beautiful thing.

• 22:28Speaker 03

  What the fans experience, it's incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.

• 22:32Josh Clark?

  AT&T, connecting fans to what they love.

• 22:35Speaker 05

  Connecting changes everything. AT&T.

• 22:41Speaker 02

  You know, you're never done decorating your home. You know what I mean?

• 22:44Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 22:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, because it's a process. There's always something you could do, or buy, or update. The only question is, what's next? For us, our animals just wear out our rugs so quickly. It's usually a new rug.

• 22:55Josh Clark?

  Well, Chuck, whether you need a rug, or whatever is next for you, you can go to Wayfair. It's the smart place to get it.

• 23:02Speaker 02

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• 23:13Josh Clark?

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• 23:39Josh Clark?

  Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours? The moment you met your partner, landed that promotion? For people living with a rare disease, life can feel divided into before the diagnosis and all the after moments that follow. On Voices of VivGart, VivGart is also known as its generic name, Efgartigimod alfa Fcab, you'll hear powerful stories from people facing challenges and embracing a life with a rare disease.

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Join host Andra Stratten as she guides listeners through honest conversations about life after diagnosis. You'll hear how each guest worked with her care team on their treatment plan, as well as their personal challenges, setbacks, progress, and moments of connection.

• 24:16Josh Clark?

  These stories reveal that life is bigger than a moment, a condition, or a tough day. Listen to Voices of VivGart on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 24:42Speaker 02

  All right, so we're back. I think everyone probably understands the greenhouse effect. If you remember your hot car.

• 24:48Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  It's kind of a nice, easy way to think about it.

• 24:50Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 24:51Speaker 02

  So when you were explaining the more, like, the Earth's version of that with getting absorbed, hitting things in the atmosphere.

• 25:00Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:00Speaker 02

  We're talking largely about three things: carbon dioxide, methane gas, actually four things, nitrous oxide, and water vapor.

• 25:12Josh Clark?

  And there are a lot of others, but as far as like, stuff that, that really has the biggest impact on, on global warming, it's these guys.

• 25:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, so we'll start with CO2, because that's the one you hear about most often, carbon emissions. Gets all, all the glory in the headlines these days. Carbon, CO2 is colorless, it's gas, it is a, a byproduct of the combustion of organic stuff, and it makes up a very small part of the Earth's atmosphere, 0.04%, and most of it that's up there was, has been there for a long, long time. It's from volcanic activity. However, we are pumping lots and lots of CO2, additional CO2, and remember, there's a delicate balance going on up there as it is.

• 25:59Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 26:00Speaker 02

  So, like you said, Mother Earth doesn't need us adding to this, and we have been adding CO2 like it's gangbusters.

• 26:07Josh Clark?

  Yeah, so like that, that, you remember when I was talking about how water, water turns into vapor and rises and then falls back down? That's the rain cycle. There's also a carbon cycle, where carbon molecules just kind of go back and forth between the atmosphere and the Earth, and apparently, every year, 230 gigatons of carbon are released into the atmosphere from the Earth, from plants, from rocks, from us, and then about the same amount, another 230 gigatons, comes back down and is locked into Earth from the atmosphere, right? And it's, like you said, Chuck, like, a pretty, pretty nice balance, the Earth. That's got this, please don't mess with it. But when we take carbon and unlock it from these carbon sinks, like, you know,

• 26:52Josh Clark?

  we bust up rocks in mining operations, we burn fossil fuels that have carbon locked into them. We cut down trees and burn those things as fuel. That releases more carbon and it it messes up that delicate, um, pretty much even exchange between the atmosphere and the earth.

• 27:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's a big problem because carbon has a knack for absorbing infrared radiation. So that energy that escapes the atmosphere, that that's the form that it comes in. So all this extra CO2 means basically like your car, just an overall increase in temperature.

• 27:26Josh Clark?

  Right, and and so not only does it um absorb infrared heat and hang on to it. It um, it, there's a lot of it. There, we just finally, in the first time in the history of the human race, all of humanity, not since the industrial revolution, but ever since humans have been around. The earth reached um, four hundred parts per million. Meaning that out of every million molecules that you just snatch out of the air and count, you're going to come up with four hundred of those as carbon atoms, right?

• 28:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:01Josh Clark?

  Or carbon dioxide.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:02Josh Clark?

  Molecules. So that's new, that's, that's a big deal. And the problem with that is, is not just that there's a lot of carbon dioxide in the air, but it's like you said, the more carbon dioxide there is, the more radiative heat that comes back down to earth that doesn't escape into space and the higher the global temperature gets.

• 28:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, and just to put in a perspective, uh, four hundred parts per million now, and that's 2017 numbers, I guess?

• 28:29Josh Clark?

  Uh, I think in 2015, we hit four hundred and we're up to like four hundred and four now.

• 28:34Speaker 02

  So that uh, pre-industrial revolution was about two hundred and eighty parts per million. So it has swelled.

• 28:42Speaker 02

  By about 124 parts per million since the Industrial Revolution, which is pretty staggering.

• 28:48Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and there's apparently a way that you can tell when you're actually measuring the the carbon dioxide molecules themselves, where they came from. And ones that are introduced into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels have a specific signature that we can detect. And we have seen that as the global temperature has increased and more and more carbon dioxide has been introduced into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, so too has the concentration of that specific type of carbon dioxide. So there's a strong correlation between the fossil fuel burn carbon dioxide that we humans have put in the air with rising global temperatures.

• 29:32Speaker 02

  All right, moving on to nitrous oxide, into which we did a whole podcast on this, right?

• 29:38Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 29:39Speaker 02

  It was a good one.

• 29:40Josh Clark?

  It was a great one.

• 29:42Speaker 02

  Mainly because of that tank that we had here in the studio.

• 29:45Josh Clark?

  I know, like, we're method podcasters. That was, that definitely enhanced the whole thing.

• 29:51Speaker 02

  So N2O is another greenhouse gas, super important, and we are not releasing, like, human activity is not releasing nearly as much as we are CO2, but N02, or I'm sorry, N2O absorbs a lot more energy, like 270 times as much as CO2. So that makes it something we really need to pay attention to, and we are paying attention to it. It just doesn't get all the headlines.

• 30:16Josh Clark?

  No, it definitely doesn't. Just because there's so, so much less of it, right? And whereas it takes like 10, 10s of thousands of years for, you know, the 20% of any given carbon dioxide emission to leave the atmosphere, it takes about 114 years for a full emission of nitrous oxide to leave the atmosphere.

• 30:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, as far as man-made, it's, it is also a byproduct of combustion and a lot of fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer that they use on crops is releases the N2O into the atmosphere as well.

• 30:49Josh Clark?

  See, to me, all you have to do is like seed the atmosphere with a bunch of hippies and let them huff all the nitrous oxide right out of it. Problem solved.

• 30:57Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 30:58Josh Clark?

  Because you've also gotten rid of-

• 30:59Speaker 02

  Great fish concert in the sky.

• 31:00Josh Clark?

  Exactly.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  What else we have methane?

• 31:04Josh Clark?

  Methane's a big one, and this is super overlooked, but I remember hearing about this when people first started realizing like, oh, that's a really big problem. It's um, it's, there's very little amount of it, whereas like, there's 404 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere these days. We can measure about 1.7 parts per million of methane.

• 31:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:26Josh Clark?

  But it absorbs and emits thermal energy like gangbusters as well. Um, far more than CO2. Um, I think about 20 times more. And there's, there's a lot of different places where it comes from, like when we um, mine coal, it releases methane.

• 31:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:44Josh Clark?

  When our ample herds of livestock fart.

• 31:49Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 31:50Josh Clark?

  Um, they release methane, no joke, that's actually a huge contributor of greenhouse gases.

• 31:55Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, we talked about that like, I feel like years ago in another episode.

• 31:58Josh Clark?

  Surely we have.

• 31:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:00Josh Clark?

  Um, another one Chuck was, do you remember our um, plasma waste incineration?

• 32:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:06Josh Clark?

  Episode?

• 32:07Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 32:07Josh Clark?

  Well, remember one of the things we talked about was that the average landfill gives off methane. Um, and that's a huge problem too.

• 32:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:14Josh Clark?

  So like, if you go to a landfill and you see that there's flames around it, they're actually burning that stuff off because the CO2 it releases after it's burned is actually preferable in that case to the methane just being allowed to escape.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, and there are.

• 32:31Josh Clark?

  That's bad news.

• 32:31Speaker 02

  It is bad news. Um, and there are scientists who have even posited that maybe like, you know, tens and hundreds of thousands of years ago, that large scale venting of methane into the atmosphere, like if a, if a big uh, block of ice cracked open and unlocked a big methane uh, bubble from, from under the ocean, that could have caused like, maybe a mass extinction.

• 32:56Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 32:57Speaker 02

  Like, because it was released so quickly into the atmosphere.

• 32:59Josh Clark?

  Yeah, like, like we're doing now, basically.

• 33:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, on a slower basis. I don't think anyone's saying that's gonna happen.

• 33:06Josh Clark?

  No. No, I don't, well, I don't know. I think like, that is a concern that as Arctic, Arctic ice melts, that methane bubbles could be released, which would just be a nightmare on top of a catastrophe.

• 33:17Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 33:18Josh Clark?

  Um, there's another problem with methane too, that in the atmosphere, it frequently converts to CO2. So it just not only contributes itself, it also contributes to the CO2 emission problem. There's also, Chuck, another thing called short-lived climate pollutants, SLCPs. They don't get a lot of press either, but a lot of people think that if we focused on these, we could really see some real results in the short term. Supposedly, SLCPs account for something like 30 to 40% of global warming, but they are particles like black carbon, methane counts as one of them, hydrochlorofluorocarbons.

• 34:02Speaker 02

  Nice.

• 34:04Josh Clark?

  And they can live in the atmosphere from, say, like, days to tens of years, and then they go away. And if we really cut down on some of those emissions, it would, we would see the effects of that very quickly.

• 34:19Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 34:19Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 34:20Speaker 02

  So, speaking of effects, I guess we should kind of talk about what this all could mean and does mean.

• 34:26Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 34:26Speaker 02

  And is meaning.

• 34:27Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 34:30Speaker 02

  Number one, we can talk a little bit about sea level, or sea levels. Glaciers and ice shelves are melting all around the world. And losing large chunks of ice like this can accelerate this warming because there's less of the sun's energy. You know, we talked earlier about it being reflected by ice sheets and things like that.

• 34:49Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 34:50Speaker 02

  These reflective surfaces. Less reflective surface means less is getting reflected away. So, just at, like, the very base level, that's going to be an increase in temperature.

• 35:00Josh Clark?

  Yes. Also, depending on where the glacier is, it could contribute to sea level increases too, as we'll talk about.

• 35:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, we might as well hit that, huh?

• 35:13Josh Clark?

  Okay. So, if, one of the things that I learned from this that I just absolutely did not know, but makes total sense, is that the Arctic sea ice, if it melts, it will contribute zero to a sea level increase.

• 35:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, interesting.

• 35:29Josh Clark?

  I had no idea, but it makes total sense because it turns out that Arctic sea ice in particular floats on the sea. So, it's already in the sea, and it's already contributed to the sea. Sea level rise. If anything, if that stuff, if we went through an ice age and all that stuff froze into basically a frozen landmass, then you'd see a sea level decrease. But the way it is right now, there wouldn't be a sea level rise if it melts completely. There are other places around Earth where the glaciers and ice caps are basically land masses. And if they did melt, then you would see a sea level rise just from that melted water, right?

• 36:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, we're talking about Antarctica there, and the likelihood of Antarctica thawing out is not great, which is good.

• 36:17Josh Clark?

  Well, not all of it, but there's certainly parts of it could.

• 36:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, for sure.

• 36:20Josh Clark?

  And then same with Greenland, too.

• 36:23Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, Greenland's a problem because it is much closer to the equator. So temperatures are higher there anyway. It's not like negative thirty seven degrees on average like it is in Antarctica.

• 36:34Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 36:35Speaker 02

  So I feel like I have to say that so specifically.

• 36:37Josh Clark?

  Antarctica, yeah. And the other problem, too, with this, this loss of ice, like people might say like, no, it's crazy. Like, there's, I see plenty of glaciers there still. But if every season, a little more melts off than is replenished by snowfall in the winter, you have a net loss of ice. And then over time, if you look at it on a scale of a decade, or two decades, or three decades, that's a substantial amount of lost ice. And that is what increases the sea level. That leads to sea level rise.

• 37:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, so as far as IPCC is concerned, they estimate that sea levels rose about a little over six and a half inches in the twentieth century.

• 37:24Speaker 02

  Doesn't sound like much, but it is a lot. Like, sea level rise in low-lying coastal areas can mean pretty bad flooding at just mere inches.

• 37:34Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 37:34Speaker 02

  They proposed that if things continue to go this way, they could rise by as much as twenty-two inches, almost two feet, by the year of twenty-one hundred. And brother, if that happens. We're gonna have to redraw the world map.

• 37:48Josh Clark?

  That's true. I was looking, I was like, how to, how high is Miami Beach? Miami Beach is apparently just under four feet above sea level.

• 37:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:55Josh Clark?

  New Orleans is like zero feet. I think it's, it's maybe at two feet, basically.

• 38:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:02Josh Clark?

  There's a lot of coastal cities, Singapore, I think Copenhagen, they're all, they're all like very,

• 38:12Josh Clark?

  very close to sea level or just slightly above sea level. And so, yeah, two feet rise. I know the Maldives is frequently mentioned as like being under real threat from sea level rise. But if, even if you don't necessarily live in a coastal area that's two feet, you know, just two feet above sea level, consider this. If the sea level rose just six inches like they were saying, that means that when you have extreme weather events, which go hand in hand with global warming and are part of climate change, where it rains really hard and there's more like more major flooding than before, then it's already working with an extra six inches than any flood that you've been used to before.

• 38:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 38:54Josh Clark?

  So the floods are much more extensive. And that's a really good example of how interconnected this, this, the, the global climate system is. Where if one thing gets messed up a little bit, it has all these other widespread effects around the world and on, on regions too.

• 39:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, cuz I think they found that there are not necessarily more frequent like tropical storms and hurricanes and things, but they're, they are becoming much more intense and that's, that's the issue at hand.

• 39:21Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and that one in particular has to do with the surface temperature of the oceans increasing as the temperature of the world increases because that's where those storms, hurricanes and cyclones get their, their energy from is from the warm surface of the sea.

• 39:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:36Josh Clark?

  So if it's warm, that, that's like, you'll see them like hit land and, and like lose steam. And then when they go back over the ocean, they'll start to like regather their strength. That's because they're over warm water again. And that's where, that's where they get it all from.

• 39:50Speaker 02

  Yeah. Plus there is, I don't think we mentioned this yet about the density of water.

• 39:55Josh Clark?

  No, no, I don't want to go anywhere near it. You take this one.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  Well, very simply, water is most dense at four degrees Celsius. So that's its kind of a homeostasis of where it needs to be. Anything above or below that temperature, and the density is going to decrease. So the overall temperature of the water is going to increase naturally. And this is not like human cause. But that will also cause the oceans to rise. I mean, that's just a natural thing.

• 40:24Josh Clark?

  Right. Well said.

• 40:26Speaker 02

  All right. I'll just leave that one. I'll park it right there.

• 40:29Josh Clark?

  I'm glad you mentioned that, though, because you don't see that really ever. Like, no one ever mentions like, oh, yeah, water is just going to expand as it warms. I've never thought about that one either.

• 40:38Speaker 02

  Or cools, I think, right?

• 40:40Josh Clark?

  Yeah, or cools. It's a weird, weird thing. Weird, weird material. So let's take another break and we'll get back to explaining why global warming is a real pain.

• 41:10Josh Clark?

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• 43:14Josh Clark?

  All right, Chuck. So we talked about the ice caps melting, we talked about glaciers melting, we talked about sea level rise.

• 43:20Speaker 02

  Correct.

• 43:21Josh Clark?

  There's also, I mean, people are out there saying like, that's great, but how does it impact me?

• 43:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:28Josh Clark?

  A human? That's what I want to know about. Well, there's tons of ways because as technologically clever as we humans are, we are extraordinarily dependent on the Earth. So as this climate change happens due to global warming, we're going to see all sorts of problems. And we already are starting to see problems.

• 43:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, so we did mention earlier that if you live in a temperate area, if you've got like four kind of lovely seasons, like let's say Atlanta, Georgia, for instance, you may have a longer growing season, you might have a bit more rain. It might be actually good for the crops here in Georgia in some ways. But other parts of the world, less temperate zones are going to see big temperature increases, way less rain, and longer droughts, worse droughts, bigger deserts. It's not going to be so good for those places.

• 44:19Josh Clark?

  No, they apparently have found that every trillion tons of CO2

• 44:26Josh Clark?

  It contributed to the atmosphere, raises the global temperature average by about three quarters of a degree Celsius.

• 44:34Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 44:34Josh Clark?

  And then they went and correlated that that each one degree Celsius increase in temperature equals an evaporative increase of about seven to 15% here on planet Earth in the soil, right? So as temperatures increase, there's going to be less water in the soil, which affects crops and leads to things like droughts and even desertification as well. But and man, every time I throw out one of these terms, I'm like, we did an episode on that. We did an episode on that. And droughts.

• 45:06Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 45:07Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 45:08Speaker 02

  We've been dancing around this one for a while.

• 45:09Josh Clark?

  We have. I'm glad we finally tackled that, man.

• 45:11Speaker 02

  Agreed.

• 45:12Josh Clark?

  You're doing great, by the way. Well, hold on, hold on. So is as the the water evaporates from the soil and goes up and is locked into the atmosphere.

• 45:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:21Josh Clark?

  Again, it's eventually going to come down. And when it does, you're going to have far more severe flooding and precipitation than you would have normally when it was just going up and coming down and going up and coming down like on its normal cycle.

• 45:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:37Josh Clark?

  So that's one way that it can affect you because while it's turning to droughts, you got wildfires. And then when the soil gets degraded and there's suddenly a lot of rain, you've got flooding. And people get carried away in their cars because they think it can drive across a flowing river.

• 45:52Speaker 02

  That's not funny at all, by the way.

• 45:55Josh Clark?

  I guess not.

• 45:56Speaker 02

  Just the way you put it was. So one of the other devastating effects, and this one is kind of tougher to predict because we've don't haven't really seen what can happen with our living human eyeballs, but ecosystems. And I think we did, did we do on ecosystems as a whole or just have we talked about it forever and everything?

• 46:18Josh Clark?

  I think it's just popped up in so many of them, it seems like it.

• 46:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, we definitely covered coral reefs and things like that. We're talking about living ecosystems and we all know they're very delicate and the delicate balance of the ecosystem is what makes it worse. And we've talked ad nauseam over the past nine years about how little.

• 46:36Speaker 02

  Just little things can happen in an ecosystem that will create this chain reaction. It's all interconnected and we don't know what might happen in terms of global warming in our living ecosystem. Sure, some animals might adapt, some might move.

• 46:54Speaker 02

  But there would also be, you know, massive amounts of extinction.

• 46:58Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 46:59Speaker 02

  Coral reefs are already dying. We're seeing that with our eyeballs.

• 47:02Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 47:03Speaker 02

  Forests are dying off and turning into grassland. And it's not just like, oh, well, there they go. Uh, now we have grassland instead of a forest.

• 47:12Josh Clark?

  Let's make some hula skirts.

• 47:14Speaker 02

  Yeah. Uh, again, it's just, it's, it's that that domino effect that we're gonna see. It's just, no one knows what it's gonna mean in the end. It's really troubling.

• 47:26Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and I was, um, I was, I was like, well, how are ecosystems interconnected? I know they are, but how? So I looked up a good example and, um, found salmon. So salmon are born in like little streams and they end up like traveling down into bigger streams and eventually rivers and then estuaries. And then they actually go and mature out in the ocean, which I hadn't really thought of. And then when it's time for them to go breed, they swim back upstream, back into the rivers, back in, back into the streams themselves. Actually, they go back to where they were born to breed and then die. And as they're doing it, they're basically acting as nutrient transport systems between all these different ecosystems each step of the way.

• 48:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like a seed being scattered in the wind.

• 48:10Josh Clark?

  Yeah, very much so, but a seed that can actually come back home and bring all the nutrients that it gathered like out in the ocean back into its home ecosystem where it was born.

• 48:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:19Josh Clark?

  So it's pretty interesting. And I mean, like, that's just a great example. Let's just salmon, you know? So yeah, the ecosystems are, uh, very much connected. So if something happens with one, it's gonna have an effect on all the other ones. And like you said, some things will survive, some things won't. But the, the, the thing that I think most of us here on earth are agreeing to agree about is we should probably do something to stop those extinctions as best we can, even if we'll probably survive, you know?

• 48:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, and you know, we're, this is a very, uh, USA centric show for the most part, because that's where we're based. We try to think outside that, uh, that box as much as we can. And in the case of global warming, it is The poorest nations of the world are the ones that are going to be hit the hardest. They're the ones in, a lot of times in the less temperate zones that are going to be hit with more devastating crop loss. But crop loss is going to be a big deal all over the world. It already is. There's something called the Carnegie Institution that estimates about $5 billion in crop losses per year. Due to global warming is already going on.

• 49:28Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 49:29Speaker 02

  Right now, and farmers are seeing a decrease of about 40 million metric tons of wheat, barley, corn, other cereal grains every year. So just one degree Fahrenheit, an average temper of an increase could result in 3% to 5% drop in crop yields.

• 49:46Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 49:47Speaker 02

  So it's a global issue. Sure, some of the poorest nations might be affected earliest and the worst, but it is going to touch every nation.

• 49:57Josh Clark?

  It definitely will. It doesn't necessarily have to just be the poorest nations. It can be the poorest people of rich nations.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, true.

• 50:03Josh Clark?

  And it can be people who are very rich who end up living in areas that are hit like Houston. Saw a lot of increase in waterborne illnesses because of the flooding from Hurricane Harvey. That's something that they otherwise wouldn't have had to have dealt with.

• 50:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:20Josh Clark?

  There's like that whole crop loss thing and starvation that it leads to. Like, there's a lot of ways people can be affected. And just like salmon, like we're connected to other people as well, even if they're on the other side of the world. And, you know, we're not really talking to them or don't really know them personally. We're still connected to them. So if they suffer a crop loss, it'll affect us all. And if they die of starvation, it ends up affecting us all.

• 50:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, this, I really like this computer model thing. Did you see that?

• 50:50Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 50:51Speaker 02

  That was pretty. Pretty cut and dried, you know?

• 50:55Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 50:56Speaker 02

  So the IPCC, they used a computer model. What they did was, they tried to simulate climate change. And what they found was, the only models, the only models that looked like today's climate that equaled, hey, well, this looks like what's going on today, were models that included the human contribution to global warming.

• 51:16Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 51:17Speaker 02

  When they did not plug in the human contribution, the answer that it spit out was, no, that climate doesn't look like what's going on right now.

• 51:25Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 51:26Speaker 02

  So that is basically proof that humans are contributing to this.

• 51:31Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 51:32Speaker 02

  Straight up.

• 51:32Josh Clark?

  Yep. That combined with, you know, the signature of the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, all that jazz, yes. And we should probably get to this part. Like, there's a tendency among naysayers to be like, you know, there's not even like scientific consensus. They're not 100% certain that it's us creating this global warming, right? And so, science has really kind of taken it upon itself in the last like decade or so to address this and say, yes, that's true. There's basically no such thing as settled science. But there has been so much, like, we've made it our business

• 52:14Josh Clark?

  to create and conduct so much research and study all of this so closely over the last like 10, 15, 20 years, that we have basically come up with a scientific consensus. That basically, if you take any scientist on the street, there is pretty close to 100% chance that that person is going to say, yes, climate change is real. Yes, global warming is happening, and yes, humans are causing it. Right?

• 52:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, because they use words differently than we use words. And you sent this great article, "Certainty Versus Uncertainty: Understanding Scientific Terms About Climate Change."

• 52:53Josh Clark?

  You know it's smart when there's a colon in it.

• 52:55Speaker 02

  I know. And for the average Joe or Jane walking around on the street, if you say the word uncertain, that means, well, you just don't know.

• 53:03Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 53:04Speaker 02

  Scientists, when they use the word uncertain, they mean how well you might know something or not.

• 53:09Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 53:10Speaker 02

  So, that's a big difference. It sounds like word games, but there is no, very rarely is there absolute certainty in science. So their job is to research and research and limit that uncertainty as much as possible.

• 53:24Josh Clark?

  No, and that uncertainty and their public broadcasting of that uncertainty has been used against them. It's been hijacked and used against them to fight doing anything about climate change, right? So, so they, they have started to use, especially if you go through like the IPCCs, like policymaker executive summaries, everything that they're stating, they will put like how confident they are that what they're, they're saying is true.

• 53:50Speaker 02

  They have a structure to that now.

• 53:51Josh Clark?

  Right, and so most of the stuff that they're, they're releasing as in their reports has something like a 90% chance or greater of being correct. So they call it like a very likely outcome or a very high confidence. And I've even seen something called an extremely high confidence, which indicates 95% or greater, and then the come on, which is 99% or greater.

• 54:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, so there are these, there are five points which they have,

• 54:25Speaker 02

  quote, "very high confidence," end quote, about, or even greater. So at least 90% or greater certainty that the following.

• 54:32Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 54:33Speaker 02

  "Human-induced warming influences physical and biological systems everywhere. Sea levels are rising, glaciers and permafrost are shrinking, oceans are becoming more acidic, and ranges of plants and animals are shifting." So that's between 90 and 100% certainty on those things.

• 54:50Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they also say they're, they're comfortable saying with certainty that the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They say there is no uncertainty about that. They also say that they've learned that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap heat through the greenhouse effect. They say, again, there is no uncertainty about this. And that the earth is warming because these gases are being released faster than they can be absorbed by natural processes. And then they say it's very likely, greater than 90% probability, that human activities are the main reason for the world's temperature increase in the past 50 years in particular. And so they're, they're saying like, we are scientists, we're the ones who are studying

• 55:34Josh Clark?

  this. No, we're not a hu- we can't say with unequivocal cer- certainty that this is the case. But what really, people, what more do you need? Like, we have studied this so closely.

• 55:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:47Josh Clark?

  We are so close to 100% certainty that, that, like, what's the problem here? Let's just get on board. And there was actually a study done in 2007 by this economist. It, it, it made the news, uh, made the news cycle. His name was Dr. Peter Sagaris. And he basically said, if you look at the cost of doing something and the cost of doing nothing, statistically speaking, it makes way more sense to take steps to mitigate climate change and be wrong about the fact that it was us humans.

• 56:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:25Josh Clark?

  Than it would to take no steps at all, um, and be wrong about, actually, no, it actually was us humans.

• 56:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, that's where I get, I don't want to get too much on the soapbox, but I get angry that there are people out there that say, well, you're not, there's that 10% or less chance.

• 56:44Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 56:44Speaker 02

  So let's just gamble humanity, the future of humankind on that 10% or less chance, because we don't want to get with the program and get behind green initiatives.

• 56:58Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 56:58Speaker 02

  Because there's a chance, you're not 100% certain. I just, I, I, I don't, that short sightedness just is staggering to me.

• 57:05Josh Clark?

  Well, plus also that it's been proven, um, I've mentioned that book before, The Merchants of Doubt, that think tanks have been set up to basically influence public thought and point out, like, scientists aren't 100% certain, scientists aren't 100% certain. And they're not looking out for you or the earth or your family, they're looking out for their business interests, because it's the fossil fuel industry. They're, they're, they're the ones who are, who benefit the most from not taking steps against climate change. Um, but even if you look at, um, some of the, some of these fossil fuel industry companies, um, they, they're, they're like, no, we should probably do something, we can figure this out.

• 57:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:46Josh Clark?

  Even some of them are saying this now.

• 57:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:48Josh Clark?

  And as of 2014.

• 57:52Speaker 02

  Amazing.

• 57:52Josh Clark?

  So Chuck, speaking of 2014, there was something big that happened, the Paris Accords.

• 57:59Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 58:01Josh Clark?

  And in 2014, I think 195 countries came together and said, you know what, we're going to do something. We're going to do everything we can to keep the global average temperature from increasing two degrees above normal, two degrees Celsius, I should say. Because that was kind of a largely agreed upon tipping point, that there would be a lot more extreme weather, sea level rise, we would feel the effects of climate change from a two degrees Celsius increase in global temperature. And so they took this really interesting approach where they said, instead of us coming up with a multi-government group that decrees stuff, we're going to just decentralize the whole thing.

• 58:45Josh Clark?

  And how about every country come up with what their country can do on their own to fight, to fight global warming? And then we'll bring them all together and everybody will take a pledge and we'll go do it. And it was hugely successful, like out of 195 countries, 168 have ratified it. And the US had had a pretty good plan as well. I think we were going to, we were going to pledge that we would reduce our climate emissions, something like 26, 28% by 2025, which would be a huge, significant contribution to fighting global warming.

• 59:27Josh Clark?

  But we got pulled out of that one, I think in 2017.

• 59:32Speaker 02

  That's correct.

• 59:33Josh Clark?

  So now, the rest of the world seems to be carrying on without us, fighting climate change through their own decentralized plans. But that's where the United States stands right now. We have said, we're not going to be taking part in that.

• 59:48Speaker 02

  That's right, but that's not to say that the citizens of the United States can't do everything they can on their own, in their own lives, by doing some of the following things. First and foremost, decreasing your carbon footprint.

• 1:00:01Speaker 02

  And I'm going to put out a call for us right now to go ahead and do one soonish on carbon offsets. Because we're a few years into, a few years down the road from when carbon offsets first became a thing. And it's much more understood now.

• 1:00:17Josh Clark?

  Didn't we do one on those?

• 1:00:19Speaker 02

  I don't think so.

• 1:00:20Josh Clark?

  We did, we've done them on, on some.

• 1:00:22Speaker 02

  Did we?

• 1:00:22Josh Clark?

  Oh, I know what it was. We talked about that kind of cap and trade scheme in the Acid Rain.

• 1:00:27Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:00:28Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, we should do one on carbon offsets though, because they're much better understood now and then.

• 1:00:32Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 1:00:32Speaker 02

  You, it's pretty clear now, like, the best ways to go about doing something like that.

• 1:00:36Josh Clark?

  Cool.

• 1:00:37Speaker 02

  So, we're not going to cover it too much here, but you can buy carbon offsets. Look for future podcasts. But reducing your carbon footprint is the biggest thing. I mean, it's really simple. The stuff that generates the greenhouse gases, if we create less of it, that's a good thing. So, you doing that on a local level can make a big impact if a lot of people are doing that. Using less energy, obviously, is just a sort of a no-brainer.

• 1:01:04Speaker 02

  And this is just period in life, like, just being less wasteful.

• 1:01:07Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:07Speaker 02

  Whether it's water, or your, your lights that you're turning on, or riding your bike instead of driving your car. Like, all of that makes a big difference.

• 1:01:18Josh Clark?

  And, but, and with electricity in particular, one thing we always mention, always mention, is that even though it seems like your light bulb is fine, it's getting its power most likely from burning coal. So.

• 1:01:32Speaker 02

  So is that electric car that you bought?

• 1:01:34Josh Clark?

  That's plug-in, for sure.

• 1:01:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, and your electric car is only as good as the energy that it's, where it gets its energy from.

• 1:01:42Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:43Speaker 02

  And we can, that's a whole rabbit hole into itself, hybrids and electric cars. And how green they are, but the, the research I did today roundly says that in the end, a hybrid, an electric car is, has a much smaller carbon footprint than a combustion engine.

• 1:02:02Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 1:02:02Speaker 02

  And I know about the batteries and I know where they get the stuff, and this is considering all the costs that go into making these cars and what happens to these cars over the years. There are a lot of smart people that put this all together. And it's still a better option than, you know, a combustion gas engine.

• 1:02:19Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 1:02:20Speaker 02

  But that's, you know, I'm not here to say go out and get a hybrid or an electric car, that's up to you.

• 1:02:24Josh Clark?

  Well, that that kind of raises one of the issues, too, is like it can be expensive to be eco-friendly, you know, which really sucks, but

• 1:02:33Speaker 02

  You can also save money, though.

• 1:02:34Josh Clark?

  You, yeah, in the end, it's just the upfront costs are sometimes, you know, greater, which is a problem for, you know, for people who can't afford like a more expensive car. It's the same thing with like food, you know, like the better your food, the more expensive it is, which sucks, too.

• 1:02:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, but you can use less energy in your home and pay less of a energy bill.

• 1:02:55Josh Clark?

  Yeah, no, no, there's plenty of things you can do, like it doesn't cost anything to recycle, you know?

• 1:03:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. And all this stuff like recycling, you think, well, I mean, I know that's good because there's no trash, but no trash means it's not going to that landfill and that means it's not releasing bad gases into the atmosphere. So this all affects your carbon footprint, recycling to how long you take a shower because you're using hot water and that water has to be heated somehow.

• 1:03:21Josh Clark?

  Yep. And I mean, if this has become like an issue for you, then then make it one of the things you vote on, too, like vote for people who care about this and we'll make sure that that regulations are put into place that that fight climate change.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:37Josh Clark?

  It's a big one.

• 1:03:38Speaker 02

  There are politicians out there that care very much about this.

• 1:03:41Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I remember after we pulled out of the Paris Accord, like a few cities said, we're still doing this, we're going to stick to it regardless.

• 1:03:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah, you can do it, your city can do it, other people can do it, the rest of the world is doing it. Except for Nicaragua and Syria. If I remember correctly, you remember?

• 1:04:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:01Josh Clark?

  If you want to know more about global warming, just step outside. And since I said that, it's time for listener mail.

• 1:04:12Speaker 02

  I'm going to call this so smart, I don't get it. But remember during the Buildering podcast, we read a listener mail about we asked why you get sleepy when you read?

• 1:04:22Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 1:04:23Speaker 02

  Well, we had a chiropractor write in and he says he has the answer. And I don't know if this is right or not, but it's it certainly sounds good to me. So he's a chiropractor and he studied functional neurology in school. And he said, the answer is that when you're reading, your eyes move laterally as they scan the page. This involves the lateral rectus muscle of the eye, which is innervated by the sixth cranial nerve, the abductions.

• 1:04:52Speaker 02

  So the abductions originates in the pons and the brainstem. And what happens is that as you activate this nerve through reading, you also activate the pontomedullary reticular formation, or PMRF. One job of the PMRF is to dampen the sympathetic response of the interomedial lateral cell column in the spinal cord, which activates the sympathetic nervous system. In short, reading dampens the sympathetic response and relaxes you.

• 1:05:23Josh Clark?

  Nice.

• 1:05:24Speaker 02

  I think that's the takeaway. I hope you find this interesting. Love your podcast. Use a lot of your knowledge you teach for Trivia Tuesday that my coworkers and I play at my clinic. And that is from Dr. Michael Hilton in good old Washington DC.

• 1:05:39Josh Clark?

  Nice.

• 1:05:40Speaker 02

  Or the district.

• 1:05:41Josh Clark?

  Thanks, Dr. Michael, the chiropractor from DC.

• 1:05:47Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:05:48Josh Clark?

  If you want to get in touch with us, like Dr. Michael did, you can tweet to us at Josh Umlark or S Y S K Podcast. Both me and Chuck are on Facebook and you can go to our official page at facebook.com/stuffyoushouldknow. You can send us an email to [email protected]. And as always, join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushouldknow.com.

• 1:06:17Speaker 00

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