Earth: The Climate Wars
The image of climate catastrophe has now taken on an almost religious rigidity. Just as the image of the cross is inextricably linked to Christian piety, so too is the contemplation of planetary doom inevitably accompanied by some familiar visual clichés. You’ll see glaciers plunging into the sea, polar bears looking sullen, smokestacks spewing smoke, and a jetliner soaring into the sky in a shudder of exhaust. All of these have been on Earth at one point or another: the climate wars, which you might see as a sign of your sect’s orthodoxy. But it started with a feint that seemed to imply otherwise.
Episode 1 – The Battle Begins. In the 1970s, the world seemed to be falling apart. From acid rain to overpopulation, ecological issues have always been top of mind. That’s when climate change first became a hot political issue. But it’s not global warming that scientists fear, it’s the exact opposite; a new ice age. Dr Iain Stewart traces the history of climate change and examines how the scientific community got so misunderstood about it in the 1970s.
Episode 2 – Frustration. Dr Ian Stewart examines the backlash from global warming skeptics in the 1990s. In the early 1990s, the world seemed united. At the Rio Earth Summit, the world signed up to a platform for action on climate change. Even George Bush was there. But the consensus didn’t last long. Ian examines the scientific arguments that have developed as global warming skeptics embrace the climate change consensus.
Episode 3 – New Challenges. Postdoc Dr Iain Stewart explains the science behind global warming and begins the series by addressing the arguments of climate change skeptics. In the third and final installment, Iain Stewart covers the biggest challenges climate scientists are currently facing. How can they accurately predict what changes will be brought about by global warming? It’s been a journey from early attempts to model the climate system using dishwashing dishes, to supercomputers, to today’s frontier of climate research: Greenland.
