July 23, 2018 8:54 pm

Tuesday, Get the Facts on Climate Change from Seth Shostak, Eugene Mirman, and Ken Caldeira.

On this week’s episode of StarTalk All-Stars, we continue our re-visitation of classic episodes from previous seasons. This week, veteran StarTalk All-Stars host Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, and comic co-host Eugene Mirman sit down with Ken Caldeira, climate scientist at the Carnegie Institute of Science, to get real about climate change.

It’s been roughly a year and a half since this episode came out and some can say that our fight against climate change gets stronger and stronger every day. However, others will say we haven’t made any progress from where we were. With Ken in the house, we offer up a sharp discussion on all aspects of climate change.

You’ll hear how the future of climate science involves not studying the problem of climate change, but experimentation and discoveries about how to fix it. We explore the short-term and long-term consequences of rising sea levels. You’ll also learn about the U.S.’s history of involvement and leadership in the development of climate-friendly infrastructure…until now. Also, Ken reveals how many trees it would take to reverse the damage already done by the destruction of the rain forests (hint – it’s a lot).

You’ll find out how the acidity of the oceans is impacting coral reef systems. You’ll also hear why carbon capture and storage is one of the most promising ideas on how to slow the rate of climate change. Then we talk about when things really get bad! It involves creating an atmosphere similar to when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. And I’m talking the real atmosphere, not creating a fun, thrilling Spielbergian atmosphere like that of Jurassic Park.

As always here on StarTalk All-Stars, it’s not just doomsday science and no fun. You’ll hear Eugene’s new appreciation for the film Waterworld. Eugene also pitches ideas on different ways to use coal, oil, and gas…like a hand cream. He also reveals that he’s quite fine with Florida succumbing to the rising sea levels of the future. All that, plus we answer your fan-submitted Cosmic Queries on climate change!

Please join us tomorrow night for Get Real About Climate Change, with Seth Shostak (Repeat) at 7pm ET right here on our website, as well as on our All-Stars channels on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

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