PG10: Can Politics Save The Planet?

In honor of the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, the Politics Guys focus on the environment. Our air and water are much cleaner than they were in 1970, and there’s no longer a gaping hole in the ozone layer. Today, the big concern is the threat of global warming. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which they shared with Al Gore) has concluded that climate change is real, it’s almost certainly caused by human activity, and if we keep on doing what we’re doing we’ll be in Big Trouble before long.

In this episode, we discuss:
– How much we can trust climate scientists.
– If working to minimize climate change is the best way to spend scarce resources.
– Why we’re still subsidizing coal and oil.
– Whether it would be smart to increase subsidies for renewable energy.
– What types of energy are the most cost-effective (there are some surprises here).
– Building more nuclear reactors: Smart move, or disaster waiting to happen?
– Whether technology will save us from ourselves.

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