"Bill Gates on tackling climate change and the ongoing pandemic response" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2021
Excerpt
SUMMARY: All of us face the risk that extreme weather events like the recent one in Texas will become more common and more destructive occurrences because of climate change. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has studied climate change for years, and he has prescriptions in his latest book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster." He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY: According to NASA, last month was the hottest June documented in the past 139 years. And the National Weather Service forecasts record highs, at potentially deadly levels, through the coming weekend. How is climate change related to the extreme heat, and how can individuals and governments prepare for more days of it? William Brangham talks to Astrid Caldas of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
SUMMARY: On Friday, the federal government released its most dramatic report yet on the effects of climate change. According to scientists, the country is already experiencing serious consequences from rising global temperatures, including more frequent and severe storms, fires and flooding. John Yang talks to Michael Oppenheimer, professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University.
SUMMARY: Fearing the complete depletion of their water supply amid an extreme drought, officials in South Africa’s second most populous city have limited water consumption to 13 gallons per resident a day. Police are also fining people for watering their lawns or washing their cars. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Martin Seemungal reports on how people are adjusting.
SUMMARY: Factors like population growth, income inequality and climate change have exacerbated water related issues around the world. Abuse and depletion of the natural resource has led to instability and violence in places like Iran, Syria, and Bangladesh as well as crises in the U.S. Jay Famiglietti, NASA’s senior water scientist, joins Hari Sreenivasan from Los Angeles to discuss the global pattern.
SUMMARY: When weather events like El Niño impose themselves, everybody on the planet feels it. Scientists are getting better at predicting El Niño, but there is still a lot they don't know amid an absence of data. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien follows along as weather scientists gather information in Hawaii by air and by sea.
Editor’s note: In the story we incorrectly identified the Jason-3 oceanography satellite as a partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency. It is in fact a four-partner mission between NOAA, NASA, France’s space agency CNES and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, with NOAA as the lead agency.
MILES O’BRIEN (NewsHour): It’s another beautiful day in sunny Hawaii. A Gulfstream G4 jet spools up its engines and taxis for departure.
The plane is the ultimate in business jet luxury, in this case minus the luxury. Nicknamed Gonzo, it is owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and the business is scientific research on one of the most significant weather patterns on the planet, El Niño.
They make a beeline from good weather to bad.
MAN: Positive rate. Gear up, gear up. Heading and altitude? Verified.
MILES O’BRIEN: The cabin is filled with researchers using sophisticated equipment. They are part of a scientific campaign on multiple fronts, deploying satellites, drones, planes, balloons, surface ships and buoys, all focused on the largest El Niño in nearly 20 years.
BILL PATZERT, NASA Climatologist: El Niños come small, medium, large and what I’m fond of calling is Godzilla.
MILES O’BRIEN: Veteran NASA climatologist Bill Patzert has studied El Niño his entire career. He watches the weather from a perch in space via the Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California. Launched in January, the Jason-3 oceanography satellite is the fourth in a series NASA and the European Space Agency have deployed to monitor El Niño and sea level rise since the early ’90s.
BILL PATZERT: When these events impose themselves on the climate system, everybody on the planet feels it. And the droughts, floods are spectacular and they’re global.
MILES O’BRIEN: Here’s what makes an El Niño tick: Normally, trade winds blow from the east westward across the Pacific Ocean. This creates a mound of water near Indonesia that is as much as 10 degrees warmer and 1.5 feet higher than the water off the coast of Ecuador.
During an El Niño year, the trade winds either stop, or blow in the opposite direction, transporting the mound of warm water to the east.
