JRE #1259 – David Wallace-Wells

6-Mar-19

This podcast dives deep into the alarming realities of climate change, featuring David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor and climate columnist for New York magazine. Wallace-Wells, author of “The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming,” paints a vivid picture of the profound and irreversible effects of climate change. The podcast explores a range of provocative and controversial topics, highlighting the urgency of global action. Underlying themes address the challenges of comprehending the magnitude of the crisis, the human tendency to downplay immediate threats, and the need for a fundamental shift in our societal priorities.

Here are the major topics explored in the podcast:

California Wildfires: A Harbinger of Future Devastation

• California’s wildfires are becoming increasingly intense and frequent, fueled by rising temperatures and drier conditions. The state is on track to see wildfires 64 times worse by the end of the century.
• The fires are a stark reminder that even seemingly protected areas like Bel Air and Malibu are vulnerable to climate change, challenging the notion that wealth offers immunity.
• Firefighters are often unable to stop these powerful wildfires, their role shifting from extinguishing to containment and damage minimization.
• The fires serve as a powerful wake-up call, highlighting the interconnectedness of humans and nature. Climate change is affecting everyone, regardless of location or wealth.

Rising Temperatures and Uninhabitable Cities

• By 2050, cities in India and the Middle East could become uninhabitable during the summer months due to extreme heat and humidity, posing a risk of death simply from being outside.
• The podcast emphasizes the potential displacement of millions, potentially destabilizing global systems and prompting mass migration.
• The podcast discusses the potential for 6 simultaneous climate disasters in certain regions, highlighting the complex and widespread nature of the crisis.
• The discussion raises the question of whether we can adapt to these extreme changes, prompting reflection on our ability to live and thrive in a drastically altered world.

The Global Impact of Climate Change: Beyond Sea Level Rise

• The podcast expands beyond the common focus on sea level rise, demonstrating that climate change will affect every aspect of life.
• Climate change will cause a significant decline in economic growth, potentially impacting global GDP by 20-30%, a consequence twice as severe as the Great Depression.
• The podcast highlights the threat to agriculture, with potential grain yields halved by the end of the century, potentially leading to food scarcity and conflict.
• Increased temperatures are predicted to lead to a dramatic rise in conflict, with wars and violence intensifying due to resource scarcity, droughts, and unstable societies.

The Role of Scientists and the Importance of Data

• The podcast emphasizes the overwhelming consensus among scientists about the severity of climate change, with the vast majority of studies painting a bleak picture of the future.
• Wallace-Wells highlights the challenge of comprehending the magnitude of climate change, a “hyper object” so vast that we struggle to grasp its full implications.
• The podcast acknowledges past predictions that may have been inaccurate, but emphasizes that the totality of scientific evidence suggests a dire situation.
• The podcast advocates for taking scientific projections seriously, not as a prediction of precise outcomes, but as a warning of potential consequences that we must actively avert.

The Unforeseen Impacts of Climate Change: Diseases from the Ice and Shifting Biomes

• The podcast delves into the potential for the release of ancient diseases trapped in melting permafrost, a chilling prospect considering the presence of deadly pathogens like anthrax, the Bubonic Plague, and even the Spanish Flu.
• This raises the possibility of encountering diseases for which we have no immunity, potentially leading to global pandemics.
• Climate change could also alter the bacteria and viruses within our own bodies, potentially leading to new health risks.
• The podcast highlights the complexity of the human body and the potential for unforeseen consequences as climate change disrupts the delicate balance of our internal ecosystems.

Addressing the Climate Crisis: Solutions and Challenges

• The podcast explores potential solutions like carbon capture technology, solar geoengineering, and shifting agricultural practices, highlighting their potential but also their limitations and risks.
• The discussion raises the challenge of transitioning away from fossil fuels, emphasizing the need for rapid decarbonization, especially in emerging economies like China and India.
• The podcast highlights the potential for litigation as a tool for driving climate action, citing cases like Juliana vs. The United States, where children are suing the US government for failing to protect their future.
• The podcast underscores the need for global cooperation and a shift in societal priorities to address the climate crisis, emphasizing that individual actions alone are not enough.

The Future of Humanity in a Warming World

• The podcast discusses the need for a fundamental shift in our understanding of the world, acknowledging that the climate system is not static and will continue to change.
• The podcast emphasizes the potential for a transformed future, with societal, political, and economic structures adapting to the realities of climate change.
• The discussion highlights the need for a balanced approach, acknowledging the severity of the crisis while remaining hopeful about our ability to adapt and find solutions.
• The podcast encourages a sense of urgency and proactive engagement, highlighting the need to move beyond denial and complacency, and actively shape a more sustainable future.

Here are five memorable quotes from the podcast:

• “Half of all the carbon that we’ve put into the atmosphere in the history of humanity from the burning of fossil fuels has come in 30 years. The last 30 years. We have about one generation to save it.” – Wallace-Wells emphasizes the alarming pace of climate change and the urgency of action.
• “The planet is now warmer than it ever has been when humans were around to walk on it, which means to me it’s an open question whether humans would have ever evolved in the first place, and this is all from the industrial revolution. From then on.” – Wallace-Wells underscores the unprecedented nature of the current warming trend, suggesting that our current climate may be incompatible with human existence.
• “The main input in the system is how much carbon we put into the atmosphere. There are feedback loops that people are worried about, there are about climate that we can’t control, but at least at this point, the main driver of future warming is what we do. And so we could, if we get to a 4-degree hellscape with hundreds of millions or a billion climate refugees, that’ll be because of what we’re doing.” – Wallace-Wells emphasizes the human agency in driving climate change, highlighting our responsibility to mitigate its effects.
• “The UN says we need to have all of our global emissions by 2030 to have a chance of averting 2 degrees of warming, which they call catastrophic warming. And the projects that we need to put into place in those 11 years are just much bigger than I think we’re capable of pulling off.” – Wallace-Wells underscores the immense challenge of achieving rapid decarbonization, highlighting the scale of the task ahead.
• “We can’t continue orienting our perspective on the future on the world as it is today. We have to take seriously this range of temperatures, 2 degrees to 4 degrees that we’re on track for the century as a way of generating sufficient activity and response and adapting as we need to.” – Wallace-Wells emphasizes the need to acknowledge the potential for a drastically altered world, urging us to move beyond our current understanding and embrace a new reality.