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New Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson Destroys Climate Deniers

by ChelseaDown Posted on May 28, 2014

Mother Jones

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For 11 episodes now, the groundbreaking Fox and National Geographic Channel series Cosmos has been exploring the universe, outraging creationists, and giving science teachers across the nation something to show in class every Monday. In the process, the show has been drawing more than 3 million viewers every Sunday night, a respectable number for a science-focused show that is, after all, a major departure from what primetime audiences are used to.

Cosmos certainly hasn’t shied from controversy; it has taken on evolution and industry-funded science denial, and it has been devoting an increasing amount of attention to the subject of climate change. And apparently that was just the beginning. This coming Sunday, Cosmos will devote an entire episode to the topic. Here’s the episode description from National Geographic:

Our journey begins with a trip to another world and time, an idyllic beach during the last perfect day on the planet Venus, right before a runaway greenhouse effect wreaks havoc on the planet, boiling the oceans and turning the skies a sickening yellow. We then trace the surprisingly lengthy history of our awareness of global warming and alternative energy sources, taking the Ship of the Imagination to intervene at some critical points in time.

Courtesy of National Geographic, above is a clip from the new episode, which should have climate deniers fulminating. In it, host Neil deGrasse Tyson uses the analogy of walking a dog on the beach to helpfully explain the difference between climate and weather (pay attention, Donald Trump) and to outline why, no matter how cold you were in January, that’s no argument against global warming.

We’ve seen the rest of the episode already, and won’t spill the beans. But suffice it to say that it contains some powerful refutations of a number of other global warming denier talking points, as well as some ingenious sequences that explain the planetary-scale significance of climate change. It also contains some in situ reporting on the impacts of climate change, straight from the imperiled Arctic.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson travels to the Arctic to explain global warming, and its effect on thawing permafrost, in this Sunday’s Cosmos episode. Fox/National Geographic

Back in November, I observed that if Carl Sagan, the creator and host of the original Cosmos series, were alive today, he would have been a leader in the charge to address global warming. After all, Sagan, who made his scientific mark studying the greenhouse effect of Venus, was deeply concerned about the mega-forces that determine planetary fates.

In covering climate change so extensively then, the new Cosmos is living up to the legacy of its original creator.

Note: For those who miss it on Sunday, Cosmos also airs Monday, June 2nd at 9 pm on National Geographic Channel with additional footage.

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New Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson Destroys Climate Deniers

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Stellar warming will turn Earth into Venus (eventually)

by Sang N. Jones Posted on September 24, 2013

Stellar warming will turn Earth into Venus (eventually)

By

NASA

For a snapshot of Earth’s future, look to Venus.

Assuming life on Earth survives humanity’s fossil-fuel binge (it probably will), it will nonetheless inevitably be doomed by climate change of even-more-epic proportions. We’re talking about stellar warming.

Life is only possible on planets that orbit stars inside a particular band of space that enables things like moderate temps, liquid water, etc. Earth currently sits within our sun’s habitable zone, but that won’t be the case forever: As the sun ages and grows hotter, its so-called habitable zone creeps outward by about a yard every year.

Research published in the journal Astrobiology projects that Earth could slip out of the sun’s habitable zone somewhere between 2 and 3 billion years from now. Earth’s water will evaporate, leaving The Rock Formerly Known As The Blue Planet as sterile as Venus. Nature explains:

The luminosity of a typical star increases as its composition and chemical reactions evolve over billions of years, pushing the habitable zone outward. Researchers reported in March that Earth is closer to the inner edge of the Sun’s habitable zone than previously thought.

The inner edge of the Sun’s habitable zone is moving outwards at a rate of about 1 metre per year. The latest model predicts a total habitable zone lifetime for Earth of 6.3 billion–7.8 billion years, suggesting that life on the planet is already about 70% of the way through its run.

All we need to do now is tackle the global warming problem and make sure that life stays habitable for humans for as many of those billions of years as possible. And if we manage to do that? One of the scientists involved with the study thinks we should book it for the next planet over.

“If we are still around, and the optimist in me likes to think we would be, I hope we’d be away from the Earth, perhaps on Mars, or spread out in a huge galactic family across the Milky Way,” University of East Anglia’s Andrew Rushby told The Guardian.

Step one: Solve anthropogenic global warming. Step two: Move to Mars. Seems easy enough.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Climate & Energy

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Stellar warming will turn Earth into Venus (eventually)

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Here’s an Incredible Image of Venus Passing in Front of the Sun

by 41laowo Posted on August 20, 2013

The sun is not a planet, but if it was it would probably be your favorite. Just look at this incredible image that NASA released recently.

Image: NASA

What you’re seeing is a strange solar eclipse, in which Venus passed in front of the sun. The tiny black dot on the top lefthand side is Venus. The giant psychedelic fireball is the sun, imaged in three colors of ultraviolet light.

NASA captions the image more technically:

An unusual type of solar eclipse occurred last year. Usually it is the Earth’s Moon that eclipses the Sun. Last June, most unusually, the planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by the Moon, the phase of Venus became a continually thinner crescent as Venus became increasingly better aligned with the Sun. Eventually the alignment became perfect and thephase of Venus dropped to zero. The dark spot of Venus crossed our parent star. The situation could technically be labeled a Venusian annular eclipse with an extraordinarily large ring of fire. Pictured above during the occultation, the Sun was imaged in three colors of ultraviolet light by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory, with the dark region toward the right corresponding to a coronal hole. Hours later, as Venus continued in its orbit, a slight crescent phase appeared again. The next Venusian solar eclipse will occur in 2117.

More from Smithsonian.com:

An Amazing Look at Solar Flares
NASA’s Inflatable Spacecraft Heat Shield

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Here’s an Incredible Image of Venus Passing in Front of the Sun

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