Climate Change (Audio)

Scripps Ocean Atmosphere Research Simulator (SOARS) is a unique installation that's changing the way oceanographers study and understand processes that occur at the boundary between the ocean and the atmosphere. Join oceanographer Dale Stokes for an insider’s look at this one-of-a-kind ocean research laboratory. Learn how SOARS allows scientists to simulate varying ocean environments by controllin...

What's the future look like with a changing climate? And who will lead the way to help us mitigate the environmental, economic and social impacts? In this program, internationally acclaimed author Kim Stanley Robinson talks about what motivates him to write science fiction that focuses on the environment. Robinson is author of more than 20 books, including "The Ministers for the Future," the "Mars...

Modern slavery, which encompasses 45 million people around the world, is intricately linked to the economy, politics, violence and war, gender and the environment. In this panel discussion, Kevin Bales, professor of contemporary slavery and research director of the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, talks about the impact of contemporary slavery with three UC Berkeley professors, Arlie Ho...

There are 45 million enslaved people in the world today. The links between slavery, conflict, environmental destruction, economics and consumption began to strengthen and evolve in the 20th century. The availability of people who might be enslaved dramatically increased in line with population growth. According to Kevin Bales, professor of contemporary slavery and research director of the Rights L...

UC San Diego's School of Biological Sciences presents another event in their Deep Look series focusing on Earth Day. UC San Diego researchers will offer perspectives from a range of scientific disciplines relevant to the planet and its future. How are wildflowers adapting to climate change? How can humans sustainably co-exist with one of the world’s largest vertebrates, the Asian elephant? How is...

Just a hundred miles to the east of San Diego, one of the largest inland lakes in the West is drying up as a result combined human activity and climate change. The exposed lake bed is rapidly turning into a source of dust, worsening the frequent dust storms that impact the people who live in the surrounding areas. Learn about the intersection of architecture and science in this stark but magnifice...

Increasingly frequent and intense wildfires in California and the western US are impacting communities across the state. Even areas not prone to fires suffer from degraded air and water quality – direct consequences of these extreme events. ALERTCalifornia combines a state-wide fire camera network with state-of-the-art sensor technology to support data-driven decision making before, during, and af...

Scripps Institution of Oceanography marine biologist Stuart Sandin illuminates his work leading the 100 Island Challenge, a project that uses high tech ecological surveys to capture snapshots of coral reef ecosystems found in the tropical waters of the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian oceans. His team uses large-area imaging and 3-D visualizations to make unprecedented detailed observations of how c...

Coastal regions are susceptible to a host of threats to the natural environment and our quality of life as a result of climate change. Our beaches and coastal bluffs are being eroded by ocean storms and sea level rise, ongoing drought leaves us vulnerable to wildfires and habitat and wildlife loss, and our dependence on water from distant sources puts us at risk for severe water restrictions. Alth...

As part of the 2022 Carbon Sequestration Symposium at California State University, Bakersfield, Climate Now founder and host James Lawler moderates a panel discussion on how to capture and store carbon dioxide in order to meet climate action goals. The panelists are Ken Haney, California Resources Corporation Bakersfield, Lorelei Oviatt, director of Kern County Planning and Natural Resources and S...

Climate change is an existential threat. The U.S. will face more frequent and extreme disasters in the coming years due to climate change. How can we harness the power of technology and indigenous knowledge to reduce risks to save lives and property, especially for the most vulnerable communities? This program looks at wildfires, one of California’s biggest climate threats, how to optimize the sta...

The ocean is a critical component of climate solutions. Not only does the ocean have the potential to provide food security, but it can provide critical minerals for the energy transition, species with biopharmaceutical and biotechnology potential, a source of income through sustainable tourism, and innovation of renewable power technologies. Samantha Murray, Executive Director of the Marine Biodi...

Through the Earth Microbiome Program and complementary efforts, we have sampled a broad range of microbiomes from across the planet. All microbiomes that have been studied are impacted by human activity — the effects of industrialization on the human microbiome are best characterized, but capture of animals in zoos, domestication, modification of soils through agricultural practices, and modificat...

The State of California has been steadfast in battling climate change and has passed several pieces of legislation including the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 which established a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state. California is at the forefront of working towards 100-percent renewable energy by 2045. Siva Gunda, the Vice Chair of...

The 2022 Carbon Sequestration Symposium at California State University, Bakersfield, focuses on engaging the community, industry, policymakers, and academia in the topic of carbon sequestration. According to several studies, Kern County has been identified as a prime location for the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Roger Aines, Ph. D., and Kim M...

The United States Southern Command's (USSOUTHCOM) is responsible for providing contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation for Central and South America, and the Caribbean. USSOUTHCOM is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the Department of Defense. While regional security is an important aspect of its mission, climate change is having an affect on its area of responsibi...

In California, the car is king. Most travel is conducted by car across all socio-economic groups and has been incentivized by massive government investment in roads, infrastructure, and sprawling land use developments. Will gas-fueled cars continue to dominate the roads or do we need an alternative transportation future? How can we redesign our transportation system to reduce chronic traffic conge...

Spanning nearly 63 million square miles from California to China, the Pacific Ocean is by the far the largest of the world's ocean basins. The Pacific contains more than half of the free water on the planet and is the deepest ocean on Earth. Climate change impacts are being felt around the globe, but what do we do about it? Much of the ocean is still waiting to be explored, but human activities li...

Using carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies to mitigate climate change is a land-intensive endeavor. To capture one gigatonne of CO2 through direct air capture requires a facility & energy production footprint of at least hundreds, but potentially tens of thousands of square kilometers. To capture one gigatonne of CO2 via reforestation requires about 862,000 square kilometers of arable land (nea...

Soil - that mixture of degraded bedrock, decomposing organic matter, and microorganisms that nourish the root systems of plants and trees - holds 4x more carbon than vegetation. By changing how we manage our soils, we can increase the rate of CO2 trapping from the atmosphere into the soil carbon bank, while at the same time enhancing the agricultural productivity of a region. Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Be...

Humans now annually add more biologically available nitrogen to the Earth’s land surfaces than do all natural processes. For 3 billion years, available nitrogen had been the major limiting currency for life on Earth. The recent human disruption of the global nitrogen cycle is causing major environmental harm, including water and air pollution, marine dead zones, 10% of global greenhouse gas emissi...

Climate economists have created a value called the "social cost of carbon" in order to better understand the cost/benefit relationship of climate policies and regulations. The social cost of carbon is the cost to society from damages caused by a ton of CO2 emissions. This value is difficult to quantify, with factors such as future societal wealth and global climate damages (such as species extinct...

In order to reach global net-zero emissions by 2050, we must remove CO2 from the atmosphere as well as prevent further emissions. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) can be accomplished naturally -- through forests, soil sequestration, or mineralization -- and technologically. In fact, we will need both natural and technological CDR methods to get to net-zero. So what methods exist that remove carbon fro...

Humans have adapted to meet their water needs across disparate environments over time using behavioral adaptations. Yet, as temperatures rise and freshwater sources become depleted, it is critical to understand 1) how populations modify their environments to meet their water needs, and 2) the consequences of these anthropogenic - or human caused changes - on the environment and further on human he...

California is a pioneer in researching the impacts of and solutions to climate change. Getting to carbon neutral - or net zero carbon emissions - is key to curbing our increasingly warming planet. Dr. Roger Aines of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory talks with Climate Now's James Lawler about the latest research on ways to capture carbon. Series: "Sustainable California" [Public Affairs]...