Could a giant vacuum that sucks dangerous greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere really be effective in reversing climate change, or is this just a thing of science fiction?

Humans release 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, and that number will continue to grow unless the global community makes serious efforts to reduce carbon emissions. We’ve long known that forests are “carbon sinks” that remove carbon from the atmosphere for photosynthesis, but man-made technology that can artificially trap and store carbon could be essential to mitigating the effects of climate change in the future.

In this episode of Big World, Nicholson explains carbon removal and why scientists are looking to this emerging technology as a potential solution to the world’s carbon woes (2:24). He discusses whether scientists (4:43) or environmentalists (5:57) have come to any consensus on the need or feasibility of technology-based carbon removal strategies, and if technological advances got earth into the climate change mess to begin with (8:45). Grounding the carbon removal conversation, Nicholson hypothesizes about what a carbon vacuum in Bangkok might look like and why any effort to mitigate climate change has global, not just local, effects (16:37).

What would Nicholson do to reduce carbon in earth’s atmosphere? Hear his top five policy suggestions for mitigating climate change in our segment “Take Five” (12:15).