Climate Cast

By Minnesota Public RadioScience Earth Sciences

Climate Cast episodes

February 06, 2020 These students were learning about energy resilience when a quake knocked the power out
The University of Minnesota students got a front-row seat to the kind of scenarios they’ll be planning for as future regional planners and civic leaders. The frequency and intensity of disasters such as storms, fires and flooding are expected to worsen under climate change.
8 min
January 24, 2020Climate Cast: A record-breaking year for ocean temperatures
This week, President Trump denounced “climate alarmists” during the global economic forum at Davos, Switzerland. But a new study shows Americans increasingly disagree with his assessment. Almost 6 in 10 Americans are either "alarmed" or "concerned" by global warming, an all-time high.
It follows the news that 2019 was the hottest year yet for the world’s oceans, part of a long-term trend. That benchmark is particularly alarming to oceanographers, because the majority of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gases is absorbed by the ocean.
Friday on a special edition of Climate Cast, MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner spoke with two climate scientists about how a rapidly warming ocean affects even those of us in landlocked Minnesota.
Guests:
John Abraham is a professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering.
Kim Cobb is a climate scientist and a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.
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49 min
January 16, 2020 In a changing climate, the work of botanical artists takes on new meaning
Railroad titan James J. Hill added a gallery to his sprawling 1891 house on Summit Avenue in St. Paul to showcase his expansive art collection. The room, with its high glass ceiling, still functions as a gallery to show off that collection. But starting Saturday, it will display new works.
The pieces, by ten Minnesota botanical artists, will be just as classic in style, but their subject matter will be a contemporary one: climate change.
“Normally we exhibit work here that focuses on our permanent collection, which consists of many images of [the Minnesota] landscape. So I thought it was an interesting contemporary bookend to our collection to focus on botanically trained artists who are taking a very scientific approach, in a very quiet in a sort of way, to our changing climate,” said Minnesota Historical Society curator Brian Szott.
The pieces in “Art from the Edge of the Boreal Forest: Reflecting Biodiversity” focus on the tree species in northern Minnesota that are most vulnerable to climate change and the wildlife species that depend on them. The trees include balsam poplar, the balsam fir and the jack pine.
Winters have warmed about five to six degrees in northern Minnesota since 1970, and that’s taken a toll on the boreal forest where those trees live.
“A boreal forest relies heavily on a long, cold winters and short, warm summers with ample rainfall,” Szott said. “When that balance starts to change, the trees and the ecosystem start to break down.”
Already, trees such as red maples that grow further south are moving into the region.
“That's what's so significant about this exhibition title, because it's ‘From the Edge of the Boreal Forest,’ which is that southern part of this great biome that spans most of northern North America. But it's also the boreal forest on the edge of some significant changes,” Szott said.
Artist Marj Davis and her colleagues featured in the exhibit spent 10 years on the project. In that time, she said, she’s noticed the hotter summers and more damaging storms associated with climate change.
“Sometimes when we look at big problems, it's hard to figure out what you can do as an individual,” Davis said. “But this gives me personally a lot of satisfaction.”
The exhibit runs through June 21 and is free with admission to the James J. Hill House.
5 min
January 09, 2020 St. Paul libraries want to foster a communitywide conversation about climate change
Australia's deadly wildfires is the latest climate crisis to shake people across the globe. Some are shaken to action while others are in stunned paralysis. So how do people in both camps move forward?
It's a conversation St. Paul Public Libraries is hoping to foster with its Read Brave program. The annual reading program and event series asks residents to collectively focus on a big issue, and this year it’s climate change.
“Our goal with this program is not to give any prescriptive solutions. We don’t have the answers. But what we know is that all of us together can probably figure this out,” said libraries Director Catherine Penkert. “We think this is a way we can play a role in sparking those conversations.”
Penkert offered book recommendations for all age groups on this week’s Climate Cast. And the author of one of those books weighs in on the deadly wildfires in Australia.
8 min
January 03, 2020 When it comes to ice melt, 'what happens in Greenland doesn't stay in Greenland'
A recent study in the journal Nature says the Greenland ice sheet is now melting seven times faster than in the ‘90s. Why should we care? Faster melt means faster sea level rise, and that puts an extra 400 million people at flood risk by 2100, according to the same study.
It was a hot topic among attendees at last month's American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. Two of them, University of St. Thomas professor John Abraham and world-renowned climate scientist Kevin Trenberth sent Climate Cast an audio postcard with their thoughts.
To hear it, click play on the audio player above.
0 min
December 26, 2019 The climate crisis is changing consumer demand — and corporate investments
Oil giant Chevron recently wrote down over $10 billion in fossil fuel assets — things like natural gas projects and oil fields that are losing value. Some analysts suggest a glut of natural gas supply is driving the move, but many observers see a deeper climate change connection: the need to cut emissions is changing consumer demand.
“Investors are quite concerned that companies like Chevron that are producing fossil fuels will continually be caught with assets that they can't sell. If utilities can buy solar at a cheaper rate than natural gas, that will impact Chevron,” said Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow.
5 min
December 19, 2019 Minnesota among 25 states on track to meet Paris climate goals
Many climate observers are frustrated world leaders at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid failed to get on the same page when it comes accountability in emissions reductions.
But 25 U.S. states — including Minnesota — are on the same page, and they're reducing greenhouse gas emissions faster than the rest of the country. They’re part of the U.S. Climate Alliance and have pledged to work toward the United Nations’ emissions reduction targets with or without the federal government.
A new progress report from the alliance show member states reduced emissions by 16 percent between 2005 and 2017, compared to 7 percent for non-member states. And they did it while growing their economies three times faster than those states.
The report also says member states are on track to reduce emissions 20 to 27 percent below the 2005 baseline by 2025. The U.S. government had agreed to a 26 to 28 percent reduction when it signed the Paris climate agreement, which it is currently in the process of leaving.
5 min
December 12, 2019 Minnesotans in the mix at UN climate summit in Madrid
Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change Patricia Espinosa kicked off this final week of the COP25 climate summit in Madrid by urging delegates to lay the groundwork needed to make progress on the Paris climate goals starting next year.
“Each year at the COP, we’re told that window of opportunity could close soon. Ministers, the window of opportunity is closing now,” she said. “We need your decisions. We need your leadership. We are out of time.”
The summit comes on the heels of new research showing the earth has continued to warm, and just ahead of 2020, when signatories on the Paris accord promised to reverse emissions trends.
So what kinds of decisions do leaders need to make at this summit?
Sarah Goodspeed is the youth and policy manager at Minnesota’s Climate Generation, and spoke with Climate Cast from the meetings in Madrid.
“Well, there are a lot of different working groups trying to work out the rule book on the Paris agreement,” Goodspeed said. “So this includes how countries will be counting their emissions reductions, what kinds of projects count, and what kinds of regulations those projects need in order to safeguard communities and to effectively reduce emissions, rather than just counting projects that folks may already be doing.”
5 min
December 05, 2019 Doctor's advice: Forget the climate change deniers, focus on the 'passive allies'
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres upped the urgency for reducing global emissions this week. He told attendees at the COP25 climate meeting in Madrid that stalled progress means countries now need to be even more ambitious than what’s outlined in the Paris climate agreement.
So how can climate advocates get that message out to climate change deniers? Dr. Laalitha Surapaneni says, “Don’t.”
She’s a doctor at the University of Minnesota and a member of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. She recently wrote on the nonprofit climate news website Ensia about motivating “passive allies” instead.
“I am an internist and so the ‘why’ of any action is central to my practice,” she told MPR chief meteorologist and Climate Cast host Paul Huttner. “So I started thinking about why we would want to convince someone [that climate change is human-made]. And if the answer is because we want them to take action, then we need a different strategy.”
Surapaneni argues climate advocates should instead focus on the people who don’t need convincing that their actions play a role in climate change. She likened the problem to a doctor helping someone quit smoking.
”Even when we start in a shared reality that smoking is bad for our health, it takes a long time for someone to go from what we call the pre-contemplative stage, where people are not even thinking about quitting smoking, to the action phase,” she said. “So when we translate this to climate, first we have to convince people it's real, then we have to convince them it's man-made, then we have to convince them to take action, which basically requires them to overhaul their lifestyle.”
Surapaneni said it’s a better use of advocates’ time to skip past the pre-contemplative stage and identify those who know there’s a problem but have yet to act. A Yale study estimates that represents some 47 percent of Americans. Surapaneni suggested focusing conversations with these “passive allies” on the concrete, immediate st...
5 min
November 21, 2019 Trade dispute with China could slow transition to low-carbon power
In his article this month in Science, Jonas Nahm says China — and improving trade relations with China — is critical to meeting global emissions goals.
China manufactures much of the world’s low-carbon energy technologies, including solar panels, wind turbine parts and batteries. Today, it produces 66 percent of all solar panels. That’s up from 1 percent in 2001.
“We need to reduce carbon emissions very quickly if we have any hope of meeting the Paris targets,” said Nahm, an assistant professor of energy, resources and environment at Johns Hopkins University. “China can help us meet these goals, and we won't be able to do it without them.”
Nahm said while U.S. companies can develop low-carbon technology, the labor market here lacks capacity to mass-manufacture that technology at the scale and price needed. He urged U.S. elected officials and companies to overcome existing conflicts and partner with China.
“The trade situation right now is not looking great from a climate perspective. If we are not buying Chinese solar panels or wind turbine components or batteries, these technologies are going to be more expensive here, which is going to make it harder for American consumers or American utilities to decarbonize,” Nahm said. “On the Chinese side, the unsettled trade relationships are causing problems in the economy domestically, and so China is also being more cautious about investing in new kinds of technologies.
“And the latest plans from the Chinese central government show that there might be a possibility of China shifting back to coal because it's worried about the economy,” he added.
5 min