The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - How Can We Reverse the Effects of Climate Change?

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

Toronto Grade 12 student Misstura asks: how can we reverse the effects of climate change? Dawn Bazely, a professor in the Department of Biology at York University, gives us her answer on the ways we can mitigate climate change, if we start now.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hello, my name is Ms. Stura Braima. I'm a grade 12 student. And my question is, is it possible if we start now, are we able to combat global warming and like reverse the effects of climate change? And the reason why I'm asking this is because I've always been kind of like, I like nature a lot and it really saddens me when I see like, you know, habitat loss and like the effects of like, you know, natural disasters that are caused by global warming and stuff. Like, what happened in BC, like, the forest fires were very, very sad. I just wanted to know, like, if it's possible, can we start, if we start now, like, the whole world as a collective, can we change and, like, revert, you know, the world back to where it was, like, 100 years ago?

Hello, fellow TV Ontario fans. My name is Dawn Baisley, and I'm a biology professor at York University in Toronto. I'm here to answer Ontario high school student Miss Dura's important question about climate change. I hope both she and you will find my answer helpful and hopeful. Before we talk about the whys of global warming and how people, especially women and children, without access to the cooling effects of trees or air conditioning, are feeling its effects the most, let's ask if there are science-based solutions. The short answer is yes.

Scientists have known about and studied climate change for decades. This is the Keeling curve, named for Charles David Keeling. He started monitoring atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in 1958, before I was even born. It's been rising since the Industrial Revolution. By burning coal, oil, and natural gas, which is another fossil fuel called methane,

we are putting that carbon back into the air. And it's heating up the Earth thanks to the greenhouse effect. Data-based global warming models show that we must drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions to avoid speeding up warming even more. Ironically, ancient photosynthesis got us here and it can now help to cool our world. The One Planet, One Health framework recognizes that everything is connected. Global warming, greenhouse gases, biodiversity, people, and pandemics. Young people know that action needs political will. Many of these photos are from the youth-led Toronto Climate March in 2019.

It was inspired by Greta Thunberg, who started the Fridays for Future movement. So, Ms. Dora, we have solutions to address climate change, but mobilizing the political will has not been and will not be easy. We have lost too many species to reverse the ecosystem changes that you asked about, but we can stop runaway ecosystem change caused by global warming and greenhouse gases. How? Well,

I'm a scientist who is working with artists to develop stories that help non-scientists imagine different futures, like in the novel The Ministry for the Future. The project is called Manufactured Ecosystems, and it welcomes everybody to work together, scientists and artists, because as a scientist, I know that people really don't want to know just the facts. Thank you.