Science and Nature

Hot Mess

Hot Mess is a show about how climate change impacts all of us, and about how we can create a better future for our planet and ourselves. Premiering April 19th, 2018!

Are You Scared Enough? feat. David Wallace-Wells

9m 45s

The conventional wisdom on how to talk about climate change and inspire people to do something about it has always been "don't scare people". At least until recently. In the past couple years climate scientists and climate journalists have started talking in scarier and more worst case terms than ever before. Why? And is this a good thing? I talked to author David Wallace-Wells to learn more.

Episodes

  • Can We Get Solar Power To Everyone Who Wants It?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Can We Get Solar Power To Everyone Who Wants It?

    S1 E23 - 5m 20s

    By the end of 2016 in the U.S., over 1 million homes had solar panels, with four times as many installed that year compared to just four years earlier. But if you don’t own the roof over your head, or can’t afford this kind of upgrade, are you left out of the solar energy revolution?

  • Coral Reefs Are Dying. But They Don’t Have To.: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Coral Reefs Are Dying. But They Don’t Have To.

    S1 E22 - 5m 42s

    Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the seafloor, and yet they’re home to a quarter of all marine life, making them some of the most biodiverse places on Earth. But their future looks bleak. Decades of environmental threats like warming waters and ocean acidification have pushed reefs to the brink. Can we use science to bring them back?

  • Can Farms and Forests Coexist?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Can Farms and Forests Coexist?

    S1 E20 - 4m 59s

    Deforestation is a big problem for the climate. This kind of land use releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any single country, besides the United States or China. And most of the deforestation in the world today happens because people want to put farms where forests are. So, figuring out how to farm with trees instead of just chopping them down could help us fight climate change.

  • How Much Energy Does the Internet Use?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How Much Energy Does the Internet Use?

    S1 E19 - 3m 24s

    About half the world has internet access. That’s 3.6 billion people surfing the web. How much energy is that using? And what is our online world doing to our planet’s climate?

  • What if Carbon Emissions Stopped Tomorrow?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    What if Carbon Emissions Stopped Tomorrow?

    S1 E17 - 5m 14s

    Imagine that aliens landed and gifted us a clean, limitless energy source. Instead of killing each other over this technology, we decided to transform the world into a carbon-free society. This wondrous source would power our homes, industries, cars and planes, and humanity’s annual rate of carbon pollution would almost instantly fall to zero. What would that mean for global warming?

  • Could climate change make you allergic to meat?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Could climate change make you allergic to meat?

    S1 E16 - 2m 26s

    Thanks to climate change, disease carrying critters are expanding their ranges, and their seasons are getting longer -- meaning they have more space and more time to take a bite out of you or me.

  • What's actually the worst greenhouse gas?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    What's actually the worst greenhouse gas?

    S1 E15 - 4m 30s

    Earth’s atmosphere naturally contains greenhouse gases. Without them, the world would be way too cold for humans. But we are adding extra greenhouse gases, which are causing Earth to heat up and disrupting weather patterns worldwide. So which of these many gases is heating Earth the most?

  • Climate change will push millions out. Where will they go?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Climate change will push millions out. Where will they go?

    S1 E14 - 4m 33s

    In 2017, storms, floods, and droughts displaced 18 million people from their homes worldwide. And by some estimates, over the next three decades, 200 million people may need to leave their homes to escape the same kind of disasters, made worse by climate change. Where in the world will all these people go?

  • Why Are Hurricanes Getting Stronger?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Why Are Hurricanes Getting Stronger?

    S1 E13 - 3m 19s

    It’s impossible to say that climate change is responsible for any individual storm or hurricane, but climate change is making these storms stronger. How much stronger? It turns out, Hurricane Harvey is the ideal test case to measure how a warming planet and warming oceans, amplify our worst storms.

  • Could Space Mirrors Cool The Globe?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Could Space Mirrors Cool The Globe?

    S1 E12 - 3m 59s

    We're putting more and more carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, which are trapping the sun's energy, and lo and behold, our planet is heating up in response. To fix this, we could cut carbon dioxide emissions, but that’s been hard. What if there were a shortcut? What if we could reflect some of the sun’s energy away before it had a chance to get trapped? Like… with space mirrors!?

Extras + Features

  • Welcome to Hot Mess!: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Welcome to Hot Mess!

    39s

    Hot Mess is a show about how climate change impacts all of us, and about how we can create a better future for our planet and ourselves.

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