January 16, 2017 9:14 pm

New Season, New Channels: StarTalk All-Stars Premieres Tuesday with “Earth in Human Hands”

If you’re looking for black and white answers in tomorrow’s show, Earth in Human Hands, with David Grinspoon– StarTalk All-Stars, you’re going to be disappointed. You won’t hear that we’ve already gone off the cliff, or passed a specific point of no return.

In fact, our host David Grinspoon and guest science and environmental journalist Andy Revkin have each been accused of being too hopeful by extremists on one end of the climate change debate. Of course, on the other side of that debate, Rush Limbaugh once rhetorically told Andy Revkin to “…go kill himself and save the planet by dying.” (Our co-host, Chuck Nice, is a bit more definitive than either David or Andy, but that’s just Chuck.)

We couldn’t ask for better tour guides for the Anthropocene age, though. David has just published his latest book, Earth in human Hands – Shaping Our Planet’s Future. And Andy, who David calls ‘the Curator of the Anthropocene,’ has just finished a multi-decade run as the NY Times Dot Earth blogger, and is now the senior reporter for climate and related issues at ProPublica.

Instead of a demonization of climate change deniers, what you will hear is a sober, thoughtful discussion about the Anthropocene age, i.e., the age of humanity on Earth, and how we are dealing with ourselves as a planetary force. You’ll hear why both David and Andy think the climate change debate, and even the positions of extremists on both sides, may actually just be the way “our global mind looks like when it’s trying to figure things out.”

Another thing you won’t find tomorrow night: StarTalk All-Stars. At least, you won’t find it in the usual places. Starting with the premiere episode of Season 2 Tuesday night at 7pm EST, All-Stars will have its own RSS feed, and its own channels on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. (IMPORTANT: That means you’ll need to subscribe to the new channels on iTunes, SoundCloud, etc.) if you want to continue getting your weekly dose of StarTalk All-Stars.) We’re still pinning down a few details, and our show announcements tomorrow will include links to all the new channels. Never fear, though, because you can always find it right here on our website.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons