The planet is heating up, every plan to stop it has fallen short, and growing group of scientists has started to ask a stranger question: what if we grabbed the thermostat ourselves?
Ben Bradford investigates geoengineering — the science of deliberately manipulating Earth’s climate — from space mirrors and ocean fertilizers to fleets of planes mimicking a volcano. Some of it sounds like cartoon villainy. Some of it might actually work. And that raises the thornier question: if humans can cool the planet on purpose, who decides whether we should?
Guests:
Kate Ricke, climate change scientist at UCSD
Alan Robock, atmospheric scientist at Rutgers
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*Become a supporter and get an extra episode a month: https://buymeacoffee.com/arewedoomed
*Listen to audio only: https://pod.link/1893359212
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*Follow along on Instagram: / arewedoomedpod
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New episodes every Tuesday at 9AM PT / 12PM ET
Is the world ending? Are We Doomed? is the animated, video podcast (NPR Network) exploring nukes, AI, climate change, pandemics, and angry hippos, sorting catastrophic risks from fantasy.
Asteroids. Supervolcanoes. Autocracy. Mosquitoes. Teeth clenched, curiosity engaged, and quips ready, this “slightly narrative” series explores everything from the existential and the unexpected to the over-indexed. Award-winning public radio journalist Ben Bradford hosts wild true stories, high-production sound design, and world-class experts answering the questions they never prepared for (“Why is the Earth doing this to us?”).
By looking back at history and delving into science, technology, and politics, we help you separate legitimate world-changing risks from doomsday fantasies.
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What you’ll find on this channel:
*The Science of Survival: Deep dives into the Yellowstone Supervolcano and planetary risks; the history of fallout shelters and what living through nuclear war, and other post-apocalypses, would really be like.
*Expert Insights: Interviews with world-class thinkers on the future of humanity, technology, and … the moon.
*Narrative Stories: Wild true tales of human survival and ridiculous near-misses.
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Come for the apocalypse, stay for how our brilliant, bumbling species could chart a path through its own terrifying adolescence. Subscribe for weekly episodes and investigative deep dives.
Produced by NuanceTales and distributed by the NPR Network.
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TAGS: Ozone, stratosphere, SAI, Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, Carbon Pulling, climate change, cloud brightening, global warming, carbon emissions, Paul Crutzen, nuclear winter, Lyndon Johnson, LBJ
