Can We Cool the Planet? FULL SPECIAL | NOVA | PBS America

As global temperatures rise, scientists are exploring solutions from planting trees to sucking carbon out of the air to geoengineering. But would they work? And what are the risks of engineering Earth's climate?
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[@toni4729]

I'll have a lot more trees as well. They're really pretty and do a great job, feed birds and grow fruit etc.

[@AryanKumar-ng7py]

Finally I can say that we can cool the planet. 😊🌎🌍

[@vthilton]

Save Our Planet - Cool

[@paulwood2329]

Find a way to transform deserts. Plant a lot of trees there.

[@sirbollocks5147]

desserts play a role in the overall environmental health of the planet.more trees yes absolutely but we need to be careful how we tinker with nature.

[@collinstanton]

Extremely informative, thank you all. As stewards of this amazing planet, we all need far better education regarding our world,💚

[@tristanmiguelosteria7162]

On an individual level, the top things we can do to cool down our planet include utilizing the power of the sun; reducing heating, ventilation and air conditioning; make Recycling as a habit, it reduces wastage; you can return the repaired electronics to the respective manufacturers; creating new products from the e-waste; recycle and manage clothes; wash clothes softly for a long life and use less detergent; buy new clothes only when the old one is torn; reducing water usage in our daily activities; move back to the good old habits of hanging washed clothes in the backyard and let them dry in natural air; create a garden by gathering neighbours and town peoples and plant saplings in a spaced manner, to try and forest our town; prefer non-wood products; use carbon readers to calculate the daily carbon emission from your home apparatus and vehicles; prepare food for the required quantity and let’s not make food to reach the waste bin; give a try to vertical farming or terrace farming. So, start farming at your home and become an eco-friendly contributor to this earth; reduce carbon emission from vehicles, start walking start cycling, use on-demand transport, utilize public transit, fix carbon reducers in every vehicle; try to use clean fuel and maintain the vehicle in a good condition by planning your vehicle services; let’s go green and use cloth bags or some degradable and recyclable bags for all our shopping and daily usages. And don’t forget to hold a bag when you go for shopping tomorrow; switching into electric vehicles; we must contribute one tree every year and make the environment green. (www.helloleads.io/blog/all/work-and-life/top-15-things-to-cool-down-our-planet/. Karthick. “Top 15 Things We Can Do To Cool Down Our Planet”. Hello Leads| Blogs & Insights)

[@tamarrajames3590]

Also avoid plastic wherever possible, put your produce into cloth bags, you don’t need a separate plastic bag for each type. Reuse glass and metal containers . Dig leaves and garden waste into the soil, and carry a metal water bottle with you from home.🖤🇨🇦

[@sirbollocks5147]

all the remedy’s you mention are good common sense things to do. But i don’t think you can cool the planet with any or all of them the sun has the final word on that.

[@tamarrajames3590]

@@sirbollocks5147 Oh, I agree completely, It won’t be altered just by people adopting common sense waste reduction. That said, the less stress we can put on our environment, and the other life forms we share it with, the better.🖤🇨🇦

[@stephanieellison7834]

Plant Trees!! August 12, 2022 The more trees who die, the less oxygen you will have, and the hotter the temperatures will be because there will not be leaf coverage to cover over the height of human habitation to reduce temperatures. You must remember that unlike trees, man-made objects, like metal boxes to cars to buildings, absorb solar energy and release it as heat into the air. It is not just the gases from combustion and the heat from hot motors (petroleum and HVAC motors), but ALSO the heat-radiating characteristic of man-made object surfaces that raise the temperature of the air. A great example of this are cars and trucks standing outside in the sunlight. How hot is the body surface? What about leaves and branches of a tree - are they hot to the touch?? Whatever solar energy man-made objects absorb, they will radiate it. That includes solar panels. THAT is what is happening right now. You will probably have to disassemble and destroy a lot of heat radiating technologies such as cars, trucks, buildings, AND the blacktop/sidewalk surfaces by deconstituting the elements and returning them to mine sites and reburying them, and put trees back in those places in order to bring temperatures down (and bring in rainfall). It is getting to where trees are treated as ornaments of beauty instead of living beings who provide numerous critical functions while alive - cooling the air at human height by providing shade, providing oxygen, and making rainfall more likely to happen through transpiration of water vapor during photosynthesis. Trees brings rainfall activity, while deserts take it away because there is NOTHING to contribute to the formation of rain clouds, bringing rain. Also, the presence of moisture and trees will narrow down the range of temperature fluctuations that happen over a 24-hour period. Essentially, entire cities act as small deserts, since there is relatively little vegetation/tree coverage. Cities are even worse than deserts in this regard ALSO because of man-made objects' heat-radiating characteristic. What can we do in the meantime? Can we grow trees to cover narrow roads and grow vines that grow leaves during spring to cover the roads overhead ahead of the summer months? Can we build vine structures over the majority of buildings for a similar reason? We have to have a way of bringing temperatures down by removing as many man-made objects from contact with the sun as possible in any way we can. It is ridiculous to see 120+ degree F temperatures. Kuwait is starting to become unliveable because of these temperatures. You'll see the Ethiopian Desert normally hit 122 degrees, and it has hit 140 degrees. Even worse is the Lut Desert in Iran, which see temperatures of nearly 160 degrees! American Meteorological Society claims a reading of about 177 degrees. There, electronics stop working very quickly, and you can only be out of the car for two minutes maximum. ACs in many cars quit working. Shoes melt. Assuming that we have started to take apart the technologies such as cars, vehicles, etc. and started planting trees and covering up buildings and roads to shield them from the sun, how then would we deal with the nature of "green energy?" The fact is, if we carry out these actions, then solar energy could become unreliable for substantial power generation because the vegetation, including trees, would then bring on more periods of rain, which would in turn impact the number of days of availability of full sunshine. It remains to be seen what would be the impact on winds by such vegetation, even if the windmills are built with propellers far above the tree tops because of the potential for the moderation of the Earth's temperature across its surface relative to today's present scenario. We may have to examine what wind conditions were like thousands of years ago through descriptions of such in ancient writings in areas that were not yet deforested. I recognize that this might not resemble the scenario in which we regreen as much of today's deforested areas as possible. This may also have an unseen impact on wind energy as a reliable source of energy. I believe the key is reducing the level of technology we have, which can reduce the impact of mining, drilling, and harvesting on the Earth, as well as remove sources of heat generation as described earlier.

[@philipmcdonagh1094]

Considering we didn't try to heat up the planet, and see where we are. I think we should leave well enough alone. We can adapt to heating better than to an ice age. The Earth will sort itself out once its got rid of us.

[@CrochetCrimeAndCommentary]

Thanks I enjoyed this documentary

[@area420canada]

Scientifically we can change our climate by how we landscape the Earth with Hardscape material and plants and water. But spiritually if the whole entire population of earth we’re on the same page with their thoughts we can cool the planet overnight. In order for that to happen though everybody has to be on the same page and what I mean by that is everybody has to wake up to who they really are you are souls in a human body that has multiple abilities wake up we can do this!❤

[@picklerick814]

this is how "snowpiercer" started

[@Anuchan]

Desert reclamation is another underutilized resource.

[@stephanieellison7834]

Right! Here's my article, updated yesterday. Plant Trees!! August 12, 2022 The more trees who die, the less oxygen you will have, and the hotter the temperatures will be because there will not be leaf coverage to cover over the height of human habitation to reduce temperatures. You must remember that unlike trees, man-made objects, like metal boxes to cars to buildings, absorb solar energy and release it as heat into the air. It is not just the gases from combustion and the heat from hot motors (petroleum and HVAC motors), but ALSO the heat-radiating characteristic of man-made object surfaces that raise the temperature of the air. A great example of this are cars and trucks standing outside in the sunlight. How hot is the body surface? What about leaves and branches of a tree - are they hot to the touch?? Whatever solar energy man-made objects absorb, they will radiate it. That includes solar panels. THAT is what is happening right now. You will probably have to disassemble and destroy a lot of heat radiating technologies such as cars, trucks, buildings, AND the blacktop/sidewalk surfaces by deconstituting the elements and returning them to mine sites and reburying them, and put trees back in those places in order to bring temperatures down (and bring in rainfall). It is getting to where trees are treated as ornaments of beauty instead of living beings who provide numerous critical functions while alive - cooling the air at human height by providing shade, providing oxygen, and making rainfall more likely to happen through transpiration of water vapor during photosynthesis. Trees brings rainfall activity, while deserts take it away because there is NOTHING to contribute to the formation of rain clouds, bringing rain. Also, the presence of moisture and trees will narrow down the range of temperature fluctuations that happen over a 24-hour period. Essentially, entire cities act as small deserts, since there is relatively little vegetation/tree coverage. Cities are even worse than deserts in this regard ALSO because of man-made objects' heat-radiating characteristic. What can we do in the meantime? Can we grow trees to cover narrow roads and grow vines that grow leaves during spring to cover the roads overhead ahead of the summer months? Can we build vine structures over the majority of buildings for a similar reason? We have to have a way of bringing temperatures down by removing as many man-made objects from contact with the sun as possible in any way we can. It is ridiculous to see 120+ degree F temperatures. Kuwait is starting to become unliveable because of these temperatures. You'll see the Ethiopian Desert normally hit 122 degrees, and it has hit 140 degrees. Even worse is the Lut Desert in Iran, which see temperatures of nearly 160 degrees! American Meteorological Society claims a reading of about 177 degrees. There, electronics stop working very quickly, and you can only be out of the car for two minutes maximum. ACs in many cars quit working. Shoes melt. Assuming that we have started to take apart the technologies such as cars, vehicles, etc. and started planting trees and covering up buildings and roads to shield them from the sun, how then would we deal with the nature of "green energy?" The fact is, if we carry out these actions, then solar energy could become unreliable for substantial power generation because the vegetation, including trees, would then bring on more periods of rain, which would in turn impact the number of days of availability of full sunshine. It remains to be seen what would be the impact on winds by such vegetation, even if the windmills are built with propellers far above the tree tops because of the potential for the moderation of the Earth's temperature across its surface relative to today's present scenario. We may have to examine what wind conditions were like thousands of years ago through descriptions of such in ancient writings in areas that were not yet deforested. I recognize that this might not resemble the scenario in which we regreen as much of today's deforested areas as possible. This may also have an unseen impact on wind energy as a reliable source of energy. I believe the key is reducing the level of technology we have, which can reduce the impact of mining, drilling, and harvesting on the Earth, as well as remove sources of heat generation as described earlier.

[@ashali111]

​​@@stephanieellison7834 THANK YOU FOR BEING SO HELPFULL AND CONSIDERATE ❤❤❤ . For this advanced knowledge . I think every person who read your comment will agree to your point of view. Trust me I will impliment this in my area.

[@AORD72]

@@stephanieellison7834 you can hardly say what temperature is normal when you have only had accurate recordings for 50-100 years. If you look at the total history of Earth you will probably find the average has zero glaciers.

[@seanreid349]

Look at California,that was desert

[@tamarrajames3590]

@@stephanieellison7834 I live in the city of Toronto, and 35 years ago my Husband and I bought an Arts and Crafts era house. In the yard was an oak tree that is older than the house, an apple tree, and two mulberry trees. We removed the lawns, more than half of the driveway, and the concrete walk. We conditioned the soil with compost from the park (which is available every year). we planted five more fruit trees, and 11 other trees, as well as15 shrubs. The front yard is a forest edge with early indigenous plants, followed through the seasons by other native plants and ground cover. The back yard produces berries, herbs, and vegetables, while the side yard is planted with fiddlehead and asparagus ferns. We shifted from oil to natural gas for heating after changing the windows to double pane argon filled from the original single pane partially leaded windows. We redid the foundation and weeping tiles, and insulated the third floor and roof. Our house cannot be seen from google’s aerial map application from late Spring to leaf fall. Walking along the sidewalk, there is a significant drop in temperature as you arrive at our property in Summer, and we have never needed air conditioning, even on the hottest days. We do not rake the leaves, but allow them to decompose naturally in the front, and tilled into the soil in the back. We had a still pond dug to deny habitat to mosquitoes, but seeded it with water from every healthy natural pond within a one hour drive from home. We made wild bee hotels and bat houses, and kept two hives of honey bees until two years ago. As our yards matured, most of our neighbours did away with their lawns as well, and planted more trees and shrubs. We almost never need to water the gardens (only the food plants occasionally in drought years). Our city has a pollination corridor, (we are in the centre of it), numerous large parks and green spaces, and regulations against cutting trees down. If a tree must be removed for safety…it must be replaced, and the city will provide a medium sized tree to replace it. Many of the high rise buildings in the city core have green roofs, and trees are planted on all sidewalks. The transit system (even for commuters) is good enough that there is little need to bring a car into the city. Viewing Toronto from above, (in Summer), it is hard to realize you are looking at a large modern city. A great deal of effort and money went into keeping Toronto green, and many home owners do what we have (to the degree they are able). There are even cycling stations, where you can take a bike to ride into city centre, and places to drop them off while doing your shopping…and take another to cycle home again. If every urban setting were to do the same, it would make a noticeable difference in both temperature and air quality. I liked your paper, and while I agree with the logic of your reasoning…you will never get people to give up their cars. The best we can hope for there is that people will choose electric or battery powered vehicles painted white. I hope these kind of measures become more popular everywhere.🖤🇨🇦

[@rubenverheij4770]

STRUGGLE (forward) IS PROGRESS! 🇳🇱

[@A_Lesser_Man]

@15 minutes, 11 seconds...you show one of these capture devices. why are they not just attached to the top of the smoke stacks? like... seems so easy

[@AmyWinehouse.914]

I thought re -greening dessert land was a good idea. I also thought trees and leaves release the carbon again when they die.

[@tamarrajames3590]

If the tree is permitted to lay where it fell, and return to the Earth, the carbon it sequestered goes into the ground. If it is burned, the carbon returns to the air.🖤🇨🇦

[@julescaru8591]

When was this program originally released? I’m sure I’ve seen this before. Still interesting nevertheless. All the best Jules

[@jamesfriel5511]

If the temperature of the world dropped by 10 degrees tomorrow that wouldn't go down well with most people in the world

[@AORD72]

Exactly, like the Younger Dryas event. Or the normal glacial minimum which drops average global temperatures by ~10 degrees. Right now the temperature is fine. Fossil fuel usage will be finished in the next 50 years because cheaper alternatives like wind turbines solar and batteries will dominate.

[@CAM-fq8lv]

What about aerosol masking effect?

[@yyy.y_copyright]

You need to automate production flow in order to increase productivity per square meter and to maximize efficiency out of every unit of your technological process. Some invention would help if you don't lack credit ' Still' . Good luck.

[@claudelebel49]

Trees, who would have thought 🙂

[@bobross6593]

AND.... they love carbon!!! gee a win , win

[@saulsavelis575]

they are cutting at the increasing rate, besides they wanna stop Earth from spinning...they are a bunch of deluded morons

[@neilbond2483]

Humans can accomplish anything we put our minds to . The problem here is not enough people care enough to change their selfish behaviors and sickening greed

[@AORD72]

How many more people are dying from a warmer climate? Probably less are dying from the warmth than the cold. The planets average temperature is only 15 degrees C, less than the World Health Organization recommended optimum human health temperature of 20-22 degrees.

[@eddyr1041]

When fusion nuclear will help this out?

[@desertstar223]

What! Are you drunk? What the hell is fusion nuclear?

[@janklaas6885]

no, its still 30 years away

[@toni4729]

We can't afford to wait thirty years. Thirty years is too late. We'll be dead by then.

[@kevintaunt4385]

Beyond Analysis….

[@madkiwi62]

We can all help with planting Trees and population control and this will take generations of years, and this will be a hard task over the divers cultures of the planet, this knowledge needed to be taught generations ago

[@kaptainkush4351]

LOL " population control " Why doesn't anyone who advocate this crap ever lead by example? 🤔

[@Moonstorms]

I’ve got an idea limit one car per household😂

[@babakgholian3467]

Yet money hungry people around the world are cutting threes like there is no tomorrow .

[@seymourdrummond9083]

We can use the sun refrigerator the earth and use the sun as the energy to power the refrigerator

[@v.prestorpnrcrtlcrt2096]

The irony. "Manipulation of the Earth's atmosphere on a huge scale. What happens if things go wrong?" I've know of some interesting tests we can do that could answer this question; 🤔 Hmm 🤔. • Let's try eating a lot of cows • Let's monoculture until their's no more culture • Let's make it so the only way to get basic human biological needs is to triple wrap all of them in plastic & double bag it for • The drive home • And finally, shift the Shame, Blame & Accountability back to those that Drive Weaponized Cows to their Mono-Double-Triple Billion $$ Politically Influenced Big Opaque Companies. What could go wrong?

[@benjaminkinney1803]

With Co2 we suck up with those co2 machines we could make diamonds and different to ) all more trees is the way to go

[@John-sp9kw]

Chuck a bucket of ice over it and See what happens

[@bibiayube677]

What?cool the planet I am canadian right now it's 20 below zero lol

[@edibbesirevic6356]

You can cool the planet but on Facebook only 😂

[@toni4729]

I'll buy anything made of Co2 as long as you don't ask me to eat it.😂😂

[@seanreid349]

If you eat veggies,you eat co2

[@tamarrajames3590]

We could ALSO choose NOT to double the human population over the next decade. Instead of seeking even more food production from an already overburdened Planet (both land and sea), we could work toward a balance of population the Earth can sustain. Fertility issues are already much more common than in the past (within my lifetime), and humans are living longer lives. Perhaps the rise of infertility is Nature attempting to reset the balance. Our planet has reset more than five times already, and easily could again. If we do not learn to live connected to everything else…we will ensure our own extinction. The Earth can live and thrive without our species, but WE cannot survive without this living planet, of which we are only a small part among others.🖤🇨🇦

[@bobross6593]

geo engineered weather.... you know....HAARP!!

[@rubenverheij4770]

Some tech. isn't supposed to talk about, such as H.A.A.R.P. (Nikola_Tesla_technology), + HAUNEBU(Na-Zi_technology).

[@domenicoonorati566]

99 percent of all earth's species That ever existed are extinct You think we'll not be Good luck

[@Anuchan]

Humans going extinct would be the best thing for the planet.

[@AORD72]

More importantly we need to colonise other planets and moons to ensure survival of intelligence. Right now the only life we know of is on Earth and it all could be wiped out by as asteroid, supernova, disease etc.

[@robsimons4097]

Are you serious ? The moon and Mars are the only 2 reachable celestial bodies for mankind. Neither have the three essential requirements for human survival. An atmosphere to breathe; water to drink, and food to eat. Mars is too far for other than a few highly trained astronauts to potentially reach at the cost of billions of dollars.and hundreds of scientists and engineers to support their ‘mission’ from Earth [which begs the question: if these scientists are on an unliveable planet Earth how will they execute this mission?] All NASA’s expertise and funds were needed just to send and operate a small Mars Rover. Once reached after 6 months there is no infrastructure, air, water or food other than what their craft can carry. How long could recycled piss last? Even if they could survive a week or two how could they stay warm, breathe, outside their Rocket? All the above logistical problems apply to the Moon. Which just confirms that we have no alternative than to stop our planet Earth becoming unliveable in the near future. Threat from Asteroids, are minimal but rising temperature extremes, floods, sea levels, wildfires, overpopulation, food and clean water are real problems that only mass cooperation, funding and political will can hope to succeed. Climate change seems remote in most 1st world countries but for the poor majority it is already at crisis point. Whether devastating floods, famine, disease, food shortage, overfishing, air pollution and so on. If humans can’t overcome these threats then the last thing we need is for this “intelligence” to survive. I’d say foolishness, short sidedness, greed, and selfishness are more appropriate terms.

[@MikeMusicandMotivation]

This is isn’t new this special was done 2 years ago

[@janklaas6885]

This whole video is about a pipedream as annidote for the terrible future to come.

[@bobross6593]

oh please..

[@janklaas6885]

@@bobross6593 wait and see, fool were not able to solve this predicament

[@thinginthewoods1414]

The planet is about to cool itself, regardless of what we do.

[@desertstar223]

And where did you get that idiotic idea from? Can you please point me to your source/s. Because I cannot think of ONE climate scientist that would support your moronic statement. Did you leave school a bit too early?. How far did you get? Kindergarten?

[@janklaas6885]

fool

[@paulflinn3521]

Am I in Russia ?

[@prishan2482]

what i dont get is u spend power and water to clean co2 in the process u making co2 and wasting water is sooo stupit if u say you r using renewal energy then u can put the use in someother places.

[@tamarrajames3590]

There is a lot of CO2 released in the process of making solar panels and windmills…not to mention the habitat destruction caused by mining for rare earth minerals needed for solar panels and batteries.🖤🇨🇦

[@muhammedbaloch2053]

Wasn't the planet a lot hotter before?

[@jocimocilo]

i LOVE global warming and climate change...in other words the WEATHER....

[@rebinaro]

do not cool the planet. Our worst periods in history were when the planet cooled: the end of the bronze age, the end of the Roman empire and great migrations, the little ice age of the midle ages...Let the planet warm

[@missphilosophie]

Lies, all lies.

[@tylerdurden4006]

Roflmfao, the planet is gonna cool itself and does not need our help, maybe you should learn about ice ages on our planet and how we are starting one right now.

[@deanfowles3707]

Oh yeah ooooo look out every scientific institution on earth, some guy off KZbin has found something you missed. Some guy that started his post with Roflmfao so he's clearly a really smart guy and doesn't sound like a m0ron at all.

[@desertstar223]

Your ignorance is beyond the level of human comprehension. Can you point to ANY evidence the earth is entering an ice age.

[@deanfowles3707]

@@desertstar223 because drumpf said its a Chinese hoax or summin

[@thinginthewoods1414]

It's actually the Sun that started it in 1859.

[@desertstar223]

@@thinginthewoods1414 No, you're wrong. It was 1722. And it was not the sun that started it, it was a volcanic eruption on the moon.