This week we invited back one of our all-time favorite guests, a multiple time guest, and Green Circle award winner Steven Yates, to talk about Global Warming. Is it a myth? Is it real? Is it caused by humans, or is it just part of earth’s natural cycle? Find out all these answers and more at earwolf.com
We also played this clip:
You guys have developed a bad habit of saying that you will post a video to the web site and then not doing it. Not here and not on Earwolf. What in God’s name are you watching at about 15:37? Fine if you feel it’s immoral or unethical to post a link, but at least you should say so and not leave the rest of us in the dark.
BTW, I say that not out of a gruesome curiosity, but because my imagination is quite good at coming up with scenarios often worse than the reality. Just shed some light on the matter.
This must be it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuyXKHijX-M&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Came to see that video and wth was that guy doing?!?! He just stood there and watched the door close. Weird.
I got the feeling everyone wanted to tell Steven Yates he was crazy at the end when he said people can’t do anything about global warming, But no one could muster the intelectual stamina. I think that one is on you David, Even on the most basic karmic level doing something helps others to do something, or see something, or make a tiny realization.
P E A C E
I wonder if the guy in the elevator thought the leash would cause the doors to open up again once they hit it, because he seems pretty panicked as soon as he realizes he doors aren’t opening and the elevator is about to move.
Awesome show. Kyle: was the collar still on the dog? How did the leash break? We need evidence!
Also, Green Circle: I love the balanced dialog, but don’t make cheap arguments like we should ignore CO2 because it represents such a small fraction of our atmosphere. The figure of merit is the *impact* of this CO2, and there are reasonable calculations for this. If someone told me we should ignore all the nuclear explosives we’ve built because they amount to only 0.000…0003% of the earth’s crust, I would literally coat the inside of my diving suit with vomit. We would be deep-sea diving, too.
I revoke my earlier statements. Thanks for posting the clip. I am very relieved to see it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Don’t know what the hell was up with the guy walking the dog, but I’m super glad the dog appeared to be okay. From the sounds of Kyle and Tig I was sure the poor thing had gotten mangled or something.
Just when I had come to the conclusion the Professor Blastoff was my favorite podcast, you go and float a real turd that forces me to reconsider.
No, I’m not talking about Aaron Burell’s (gulp) “Star Trek” episode. I’m talking about the “Global Warming” episode which displayed a gross ignorance of science (especially by David Huntsburger). The episode also confirmed my impression from an earlier episode, that your guest Steven Yates, is a corporate hack and has no authority to speak on any environmental matters.
From a scientific perspective, the discussion of the subject was comparable to discussing human origins with a creationist or lung cancer with a cigarette manufacturer. Given that climate change is the most serious issue we face, your patter wasn’t funny.
And to reiterate, it’s clear that Huntsburger doesn’t know one damn thing about science. So to answer his dumb question about the most immediate effect of global climate change, that would be severe food shortages. Feel free to investigate the effects of rampant drought (ie, “warming”) on crop production.
THANK YOU. Steven Yates gives glib answers such as “we’ll just move north”. Forget the devastation of the coastal flooding and its damage to our infrastructure, forget the Billions of refugees fighting for survival, with disease running rampant, forget all those factors. Just jump in the car and drive north??
The problem isn’t the warming as much as it is the RATE of warming. An important difference that a scientist should have addressed.
Yates also claims that there is dissent in the scientific community about global warming. The vast majority of climate scientists have no such disagreement. It’s real and it must be addressed. To say that I “believe” this because I have an agenda is ridiculous. I don’t hate cars or heating oil or any such thing. I don’t want global warming to be true. Yet I am smart enough to let scientists in the field do their jobs.
Yes, move north where the top soil is . . . for shit.
I’ve got to add my agreement. The “debate” is not fair at all, and the financial and intellectual honesty imbalance between the two “sides” is completely misportrayed. Ask a real environmental scientist, atmospheric scientist, oceanographer, whatever, markers of climate change have shown up in every natural science discipline and a reputable scientist would tell you this.
Right, there is MASSIVE scientific consensus on global climate change. And it’s clear that Yates, who got some award for (I believe) insulating buildings eight years ago, is no scientist.
The science is as resolved as . . . .
the theory of evolution
the big bang theory
the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking.
Yes, there are well-funded organizations with an agenda who seek to propagandize the public. In this case, it’s the fossil fuel industry . . . which happens to be the wealthiest (and dirtiest) enterprise on the planet. It’s very sad that Professor Blastoff fell in with such efforts.
Here’s another analogy, the scientific merits of this discussion was comparable to discussing ethnic diversity with a eugenicist.
Thanks for sparing me the effort of saying all that.
I am genuinely dismayed that one of my favorite podcasts would give a fossil industry shill the platform to make his ridiculous case, and leave his obviously wrong statements unchallenged.
Next week: Senator Todd Akin unmasks the hoax of rape-pregnancies! don’t miss it, kids!
Great episode! It was cool to hear a shout out for the new artist, too. Can someone share the link to his website on the main page alongside Andie Main’s? I’d love to see what else Mr. Sanders does.
Did Yates really compare the ability of meteorologists to predict the daily weather with climatologists ability to forecast the climate? Yikes!
Yes he did. He CLEARLY doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
And the fact that his answer for “isotherm” was a guess based on etymology rather than a working knowledge of the term meant, once again, he had no business discussing climate change.
There’s a such thing as the “unsubscribe” button. Beat it. Scram. Go take a nap or something and work off that negative energy.
Once again, awesome episode! And thanks so much for the shout out at the end!
i’m glad youre doing such good work jacob! I like to know the title of the podcast, and muse to myself “huh i wonder what i would have made” and then look at the site and think to myself “huh, he did it better than me!”
Thanks for the kind words, Andie! As you know, these themes are very fun but also very challenging. You did an amazing job of conceptualizing and delivering great paintings each week, so I’m just trying to carry the torch now. But I couldn’t think of a better podcast to make art for, so I’m constantly thrilled.
yeah, you got to get started right when things got really difficult for topics. the only advice i can offer is, when all else fails, paint a monkey
I am relieved to read that other PB listeners were dumbfounded by this last episode. It is the first time that I was dismayed by what I was hearing. Yes, there is historical evidence that the planet has undergone extreme weather changes but the rate at which the planet is heating up is exponential compared to previous changes. Even if you choose not to believe in climate change the impact of pollution from fossil fuels is detrimental to respiratory health. Is that not reason enough to do something about it?
WoW! Look @ all the trolling that’s going on up in here!?! I for one enjoyed Mr. Yates’ scientific opinions on this topic. Everyone is entitled to their own theories, and even though this is not the first I’ve heard of this, it is refreshing to hear this take on Global Warming. Remember folks, even Einstein questioned himself …so with this said Mr Humidity; unless you’re smarter than the indisputable greatest mind of this past century, I suggest you re-evaluate your previous post. peAce
Rob,
I’m not smarter than Einstein, but I am clearly smarter than you.
LOL! That’s cute. What evidence may you sir have to support your claim of being intellectualy superior to yours truly? If that even matters at all, which in my opinion does not, because intellect is not the issue here. The issue here is the grand disrespect you have expressed towards your hosts’ opinions AND just like the religious zealots you seem to despise do, instead of choosing to be objective with this episode’s information you chose to take the time to rant your strong views on the subject insulting the inteligence of two guys you don’t even know, JUST BECAUSE you don’t agree with them. Furthermore, your reply takes merit away from everything you have posted, because instead of choosing to rationalize and/or object to what I posted you simply took the illogical route and attacked me. Thanks for proving me right. peAce
I agree with RoB’s comment. It’s never helpful to be disrespectful and refuse to allow anyone to question an idea. Steven Yates is not the first scientist to question how much control we have regarding global warming, and stating so is not the same thing as encouraging people to waste fossil fuel and live selfishly and frivolously. I also thought the point that Aaron brought up about the amount of resources allocated towards climate change research was an interesting perspective.
I like the podcasts with noncomediens as guests. It’s really nice and probably a little brave for people to participate who aren’t used to putting themselves out in public, so its a bummer to see people saying hurtful things like this. All that Professor Blastoff claims to be is a group of nice funny people discussing topics they find interesting. (I know this because they say so at the beginning of every single episode, sometimes more than once). Steven Yates seems nice and to have a good sense of humor and be interested in things, so he fits the bill just fine. The podcast on sustainability was one of my favorites.
To go back to global warming – Wallace Broecker (one of the first earth scientists to start writing about global warming) spoke in Brooklyn a few years ago about other ways to handle the increase in carbon emissions. His point was that even if everyone on the planet decreased their energy use, we will never be able to reduce CO2 emissions enough to stop global warming. That is NOT the same thing as saying that we should not be respectful of the planet and try to live sustainable lives. The population on earth will continue to grow and globalization will lead to more development in third world countries, and as a result we have a higher carbon footprint as a planet.
I can’t pretend to know the answer to any of these debates, but I just wanted to offer another perspective. Climate change is a complicated science that has turned into a political debate. Simplifying the debate into “people who believe in global warming are good and intelligent” and “people who don’t believe in global warming are bad and must be being paid off by evil fossil fuel companies” is a little bit too intolerant for a group of adults in the 21st century.
Yeah, I don’t want to pile on because most of your guys episodes are great… but yeah this was a bit of a face plant to anyone that knows about climate science.
It sort of sounded like you guys recorded this a few years back, or maybe you just haven’t kept up to date with the mountains of information. There have been so many updates this last year. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/2012-global-temperatures-10th-highest-record
There is now no one under the age of 36 that has experienced a year that was below the 20th C average global temperature. I could go on and on, but this conversation just sounded like a group of people trying to desperately reassure themselves and justify inaction.
There was also a very insane misconception. It’s Climate CHANGE not Warming. The global average is warming, but the truly disastrous thing is that the climate is changing in ways that will become increasingly unpredictable and extreme.
Warmer temps = More Melting = More moisture in atmosphere = more extreme snow and rain. The danger is that weather will become too much for ecosystems we rely on to handle the yearly changes. It’s not that Canada will become Miami.
I think both Mr Humidity and RoB are a little, uh, intense. Insulting really isn’t the best way to argue, which kind of goes for both of you. The guest is certainly misguided, but I’m wary of assuming conspiratorial intrigue. Knowing how idiotic the ‘Climategate’ attempt to claim climate scientists are operating a global conspiracy is, I’m wary of making too many assumptions the other way. It’s likely Mr Yates is in as much denial as David Huntsburger appears to be (though it may have been Morbot, they’re really hard to tell apart).
The reason why this episode was so disappointing is because whether it is happening or not, or whether we’re causing it, is SO beyond this discussion. If you are skeptical of man caused global warming, you have to be a skeptic of all science as a means of inquiry. There isn’t a debate, only a battle against the 5 stages of trauma. These guys sound like they’re stuck in Denial.
Hope you guys can work past this one
we R kinda intense aren’t we??? … I wonder if saying that “ppl are stuck in denial” counts as insulting?