StarTalk Live – Climate Science, with Neil deGrasse Tyson

About This Episode

Climate Change is real, it’s urgent, and it’s time we make some changes. On this special edition of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson is coming to you live (virtually!) with our special guests Katharine Hayhoe, PhD, climate scientist and host of Global Weirding, and, Peter Mahaffy, PhD, chemist and co-director of King’s Centre for Visualization in Science. (This live event took place during Climate Week 2020 and was sponsored by Pocketlab.) 

We start with the basics: When scientists speak of climate change, what are they actually talking about? Katharine tells us how climate and weather are different, but, how they interact with each other. Find out the difference between climate change and global warming. Katharine tells us why she likes to call it “global weirding.” 

You’ll learn more about The Paris Agreement and the attempts to limit the global temperature change. We explore the main sources that are causing the Earth’s temperature to rise. How much does deforestation and animal agriculture contribute to climate change? How does climate change impact our insect population? We discuss the importance of using your voice to help solve climate change and having “active” hope instead of “passive” hope. 

Then, Peter brings some chemistry to the conversation. We investigate how chemical companies can be a part of the solution. Find out the behavior of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and their impact on climate change. We explore the permafrost and where we’ll find large methane deposits across the globe. Peter tells us about the citizen science initiative Blue Sky Zero. All that, plus, we discuss the biggest challenges and biggest opportunities to mitigate climate change. 

Thanks to our Patrons Brennon Russ, Tony Marulli, Evan Konikoff, Gabriel Picard, Bryan Poole, Dominic Wells, Maggie Danger, and Ruud van der Linden for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free. To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.