April 19, 2020 8:00 pm

Monday, Neil deGrasse Tyson Investigates Coronavirus and Climate Change

Even though quarantine keeps us separated, that doesn’t stop scientists from doing research and keeping us informed on the latest developments from across the world. That includes the latest developments about the whole world in terms of climate change. How is coronavirus impacting the climate? Are we seeing a change to the air quality or pollution rates? On this episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice are here to investigate.

To start, they chat with Gavin A. Schmidt, PhD, who’s the Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Gavin gives us a little background on CO2 emissions and how they impact our atmosphere and the air around us. You’ll learn if the air has been cleaner due to the outbreak of the virus. Find out how much car and air travel influence the amount of global emissions. And we ask, is the cleaner air saving lives?

Discover more about the connectivity between climate modeling and modeling the spread of coronavirus. We discuss the advantages of “simple” modeling and “complex” modeling. Gavin explains why modeling is fundamental to scientific enterprise.

Our next guest, Katharine Hayhoe, is the Director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University and host of the YouTube show Global Weirding with Katharine Hayhoe. Katharine shares why the coronavirus outbreak can be seen as a microcosm of climate change.

We explore what governments can learn from dealing with the pandemic and Katharine explains why it’s not rocket science. You’ll also hear why, similar to climate change, the poorest people in the world are most impacted by COVID-19. Discover more about the political divides that rise up during a crisis and why democracy can be vulnerable in disaster situations. We investigate the spread of conspiracy theories about the pandemic which come from the same places that spread misinformation about climate change. Lastly, Katharine shares information about climatefeedback.org, a site dedicated to sharing scientist-reviewed articles and information. All that, plus, she gives us a hopeful message for the future.

Please join us tomorrow for Coronavirus and Climate Change, with Neil deGrasse Tyson at 3pm ET right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re a StarTalk+ Patron or an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 3pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
-Ian Mullen