Deadly Hothouse Earth, OR a human “stabilized” planet. My 2018 interview with the late Professor Will Steffen about where the planet is going. Then we search for tipping points leading the climate to hot-house Earth. Top Swedish scientist Johan Rockstrom explains “Planetary Boundaries” on Radio Ecoshock.
Listen to/download this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
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“Look up. Our skies are full of the ghosts of forests.”
– Alex Steffen
Canada is basically on fire, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The wild fire season starting so early in Spring is brand new, driven by climate heat. Asia experienced temperatures too hot to work outside. Last week Shanghai set it’s highest temperature ever recorded. Add in humidity and countless millions are hiding inside or living in hot misery, or dying in it. Western media hardly reports this major event. The Caribbean is also rocket hot, with Puerto Rico enduring temperatures beyond human endurance. All this comes before El Nino, the great change in Pacific currents leading to hotter years and even more fire weather.
Climate change is here, years early, with a vengeance. We were warned. This week we go back to two classic interviews that revealed the future of our age.
The 19th Century German philosopher Friedrick Nietzche said some idea are so huge and different, so consequential, they may travel like light from a distant sun, taking hundreds of years to reach the broader public understanding. But we don’t even have five years before disaster is sealed in. I ask you as a listener to learn these essential facts about our planet and it’s climate. Then find ways, clever ways, to teach those around you and those on social media. This program contains basic information that will determine our future.
I’m back with two new programs starting next week. We talk with the German scientist who said it is too late to save summer sea ice in the Arctic, no matter what we do. Is it a big deal? Then we get an insider look at the global natural gas industry as flocks of countries accelerate off the bridge to nowhere.
Thank you for listening, and supporting Radio Ecoshock!
Alex Smith
You can watch the first half hour of the program in this YouTube video.
WILL STEFFEN 2018
HOT HOUSE EARTH
Posted on September 13, 2018
JOHAN ROCKSTROM 2016
Climate: Misunderstood Impacts
Posted on February 4, 2016, by Radio Ecoshock
Download, listen to, or share this 23 minute Radio Ecoshock interview with Dr. Johan Rockstrom in CD Quality or Lo-Fi.
There are limits to what humanity can do on this planet and still survive. Johan Rockstrom led a team that mapped out those Planetary Boundaries. Rockstrom is the Executive Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He teaches at Stockholm University, and holds many roles in the scientific community. We talk about his latest book, written wtih Mattias Klum, “Big World, Small Planet” – and many other questions we all have about climate change.
EARLIER ROCKSTROM 2012, TALKING PLANETARY BOUNDARIES
Planetary boundary talks at Rio+20 w. Oxfam’s Kate Raworth, & Johan Rockstrom of Stockholm Resilience Institute.
This talk was recorded live by independent journalist Stephen Leahy, who sent the audio directly to Radio Ecoshock.
No doubt you’ve heard scientists led by the Stockholm Resilience Institute have compiled a chart of 9 planetary boundaries we must not cross, if our civilization is to survive. The citation for the original article published in Nature in 2009 is here. Get the real goodies direct from the Stockholm Resilience Institute here.