What Causes Climate Change?

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Commercial: Hey parents, Trusty Narrator here and I’m super excited to tell you about a brand new podcast from the creators of Who Smarted? called Mysteries About True Histories. It’s full of adventure, riddles, jokes. We even snuck some secret math into each episode, including the title of the show. If your kid likes to laugh and learn, then they’re going to love Mysteries About True Histories. Out now, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Commercial: Hey there, it’s Trusty. And you know I love sitting at home listening to a good podcast as much as I love going on adventures. And do I have a great one to recommend to all you Smarty Pants and smarty parents from the award-winning Go-Kids-Go team. It’s called Snoop and Sniffy. What happens when Snoop, an experienced dog detective from London gets sent to small town, Pflugerville, to train clueless puppy Sniffy as an undercover agent, mystery, adventure, and chaos. Seriously, the town of Pflugerville isn’t Dullsville like Snoop expected, and he quickly realizes that he can’t handle all the action without Sniffy by his side.
Even when they’re able to turn a blind eye to the alien superheroes and villains battling it out for control of Pflugerville, Snoop and Sniffy have their paws full, solving wild and wacky mystery cases on Bark Street. Do you love to laugh? Do you love animals? Do you have the brightest mind since Sherlock Holmes? Then tag along. There are already eight seasons of hilarious canine crimes to solve. Search for Snoop and Sniffy on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Narrator: Psst. Hey, Smarty Pants. I don’t know what the weather’s like near you, but here where I am, the sun is shining brightly and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. So a few friends of mine have decided to get together to play some basketball. That wasn’t me, that was someone else on the court. I’m more like this. But I make up for it by being a really good passer and oh no, I see one of my teammates sitting off to the side looking kind of sad. Hey Hannah, what’s up?
Hannah: Oh, hey Trusty. I don’t think we can play basketball today.
Narrator: Really? Why not? Is it because of that last shot I took, I promise my passing makes up for it.
Hannah: It’s not your playing, it’s the weather report.
Narrator: Oh, what did it say?
Hannah: You didn’t hear it?
Narrator: No. Luckily I’m best friends with a weather reporter.
Chet: This is Chet Nickerson reporting live at the basketball courts where today promises to be very, very hot.
Narrator: Thanks Chet.
Chet: I mean a scorcher. I’m talking record breaking heat.
Narrator: Okay, Chet
Chet: Hotter than a jalapeño doused in ghost pepper sauce, then lit on fire.
Narrator: I think we get the picture Chet.
Chet: And now sports. Trusty Narrator is back on the court where he’s still looking to make his first basket.
Narrator: Okay,
Chet: I’ll be back with more breaking news as it happens.
Hannah: Now do you get it? Today’s game, it’s just not going to happen and I really wanted to play.
Narrator: Well, I do have lots of water so we can all stay hydrated, which is always important to do on hot days. Plus it’s still early in the day. We could get our game in before it gets too hot.
Hannah: It’s not just that, it’s our teammate. Who?
Narrator: Chet?
Chet: Oh, this is Chet Nickerson reporting live from the basketball court where he has just sunk a record. 39 straight free throws. Make it 40.
Hannah: No, not Chet Nickerson. Climate.
Narrator: Oh
Hannah: Yeah, Climate used to be cool and all, but these days he’s acting way out of whack. Just listen. Hey, Climate.
Climate: Hiya folks.
Hannah: Pass me the ball.
Climate: Here you go. Whoops.
Hannah: I’m telling you Trusty, he’s changed.
Narrator: Smarty Pants, what have you noticed. Where you live are days getting hotter? Are storms becoming more powerful? Is there more talk of fires, floods or tornadoes? Does it seem like the weather’s getting a little…
Climate: Crazy! Waka, Waka, Waka.
Narrator: Yeah, it’s a thing. So what exactly is climate change? What’s causing it and is it possible to change it back? It’s time for another whiff of history and science on
Theme song: Who Smarted? Who Smarted? Who’s smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science or history? Listen up everyone. We make smarting lots of fun on Who Smarted?
Narrator: Hey, Smarty Pants. As you probably know, the earth is a very complex place with various parts working together. Not unlike a basketball team. There are organisms such as plants and animals, bodies of water such as oceans, lakes, and rivers, landscapes such as mountains and deserts and of course climate.
Climate: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Narrator: And when one of these parts stops working right, it hurts the rest of the team. The simple truth is our climate is changing and everywhere on earth, people and animals are feeling the impact.
Climate: Whoops, sorry.
Narrator: So Smarty Pants, what exactly is climate? If you’re thinking it has something to do with the weather, you’re on the right track. Hey Chet, can you give us the latest weather report?
Chet: Sure thing Trusty. Right now you can expect high temperatures that will melt your ice cream cone before you can even take a bite. There’s also a 55% chance of thunderstorms.
Hannah: See, I told you the game can’t happen today and that climate report proves it.
Narrator: Ah, but Smarty Pants, true or false, was that actually a climate report? If you said false, you are right. Hey, Climate, what’s your report?
Climate: Here we go. Yesterday was super hot. A year ago was also hot. 10 years ago, a little cooler. 25 years ago was cooler than that. And when your parents were kids it was downright pleasant.
Narrator: Okay, Smarty Pants. Did you notice a difference between a weather report and a climate report?
Hannah: Yeah, the weather report was like the thing I hear on the news while the climate report was like super cray cray.
Narrator: True, but there’s more to it than that. When we talk about weather Smarty Pants, we’re covering a brief period of time. A rainstorm yesterday, the heat today and whatever might happen next week. Climate covers a much larger period. It’s how the weather behaves over 30 or more years. With the help of satellites and other instruments, scientists can get a better understanding of the global climate and by studying the insides of trees, rock layers, coral reefs, ocean floors, and ancient ice in Antarctica and Greenland, they can figure out the earth’s climate millions of years ago. And by looking at the big picture, scientists know the climate is changing,
Hannah: Like global warming is making it hotter today than it was a bunch of years ago?
Narrator: Smarty Pants, true or false? Global warming is the same thing as climate change. The answer is false.
Global warming is a major contributor to climate change, but it’s only a part of it. You see, climate change also refers to shifting weather patterns, intensified storms, polar ice melt, rising sea levels and other effects of the hotter temperatures. And all of these things can lead to floods, fires, droughts, and other natural disasters, including more powerful cold weather events like blizzards. Even worse, certain animals might die out, places might become too dangerous to live in, and some of the food you take for granted might just disappear.
Hannah: Oh, Trusty. How did this happen?
Narrator: Smarty Pants, what started changing the climate? Is it:
A. The sun.
B. Deforestation
C. The burning of coal, oil and gas, collectively known as fossil fuels.
Hannah: Oh boy. Are you about to say humans did this to Climate?
Climate: What?
Narrator: Actually the answer is A, the sun.
Hannah: Yes. I’m so glad we had nothing to do with this.
Narrator: Not so fast. Humans are definitely contributing, but the climate has been changing for millions of years, even before humans could impact it. At certain times, the climate was frosty.
Climate: I never really liked shooting hoops with you. You can’t shoot, you can’t dribble and you run like a tortoise.
Hannah: Dang, that’s not frosty, that’s cold.
Narrator: At other times, solar activity would cause the climate to warm up.
Climate: Oh, I just love you all. It’s so much fun playing this wonderful game with you Trusty. Nobody passes like you, my friends. You complete me.
Hannah: Aw.
Narrator: After shifting many times between cool and warm, over millions of years, Earth’s climate took a drastic turn as temperatures rose without the help of the sun. Smarty Pants, when do you suppose this started happening? Is it:
A. In the past 20 years.
B. During the 1900s.
C. During the 1800s.
If you said C, you’re right. Scientists believe the climate change we’re experiencing today has been caused by human activity since the mid 1800s.
Hannah: That can’t be right. It hasn’t been crazy like this for more than a hundred years.
Narrator: No, it did take some time to grow. I’d say more recently in the 1950s and 60s, the climate was just a little crazy.
Climate: Ooh, I have an idea. Pineapple on pizza.
Narrator: Yeah, like that level crazy. But it still had scientists concerned. Back in the 1800s, some had realized too much of a certain gas in the atmosphere could trap the sun’s heat like a greenhouse does for plants.
Smarty Pants, do you know what gas this is? Is it:
A. Carbon dioxide.
B. Oxygen.
C. Neon.
The answer is A, carbon dioxide. In the fifties and sixties, scientists warned of increasing carbon dioxide in the air, but few people listened and by the 1980s the climate was changing even more.
Climate: I’m jumping on the water bed with a porcupine.
Narrator: Yeah, that kind of crazy. Temperatures went up, scientists made louder warnings, but people still didn’t listen. And now today, we’re in a situation where almost every year is the hottest on record and we’re seeing storms and glacier melt like never before.
Climate: Look at me, I’m a star.
Narrator: Yep. Right now climate is crazy,
Hannah: But Earth has been through warm times before. Won’t it go back to being cool again?
Narrator: Well before it was the sun warming Earth. Now the atmosphere is warming on its own. Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons known as greenhouse gases are warming the planet faster than we’ve ever seen before.
Hannah: Greenhouse gases?
Narrator: Yep. Just like a greenhouse traps heat and humidity to grow plants and vegetables, Earth’s atmosphere traps the heat of greenhouse gases through what’s known as the greenhouse effect.
Hannah: And these greenhouse gases, they come from us humans?
Narrator: I’m afraid most do.
Hannah: So why don’t we stop putting them into the air?
Narrator: It’s not that simple. Smarty Pants, what releases greenhouse gases? Is it:
A. Cars, trucks and airplanes.
B. Power and manufacturing plants.
C. Farming and food production.
D. Trash landfills.
E. Burping cows.
The answer is all of them. It turns out most modern human activity creates greenhouse gases and people just don’t want to give those up.
Hannah: Wait, did you say burping cows?
Narrator: I did.
Hannah: How?
Narrator: Any ideas Smarty Pants? Well, when cows burp, they release the greenhouse gas methane. Thanks to higher demand, cattle farming has grown massively since the 1950s and now there are over a billion cows worldwide burping methane gas. And just like the number of cows, there’s been a huge increase in the number of cars, trucks, airplanes, and industrial plants which burn fossil fuels, releasing the other major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
Hannah: But trees breathe in carbon dioxide. Can’t they take it out of the air?
Narrator: They could, but there aren’t enough trees on the planet to do the job. Not to mention humans have been cutting lots of trees down.
Hannah: Yikes. Isn’t there anything we can do about it?
Narrator: There is.
Hannah: Really, what?
Narrator: I’ll tell you right after this quick break.
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Narrator: Hannah, are you still sad about the basketball game?
Hannah: Oh no. It’s much bigger than that now. This climate change thing, it’s a big problem. Can anything be done to stop it?
Narrator: The answer is yes. There’s still hope. You know how we said Earth is like a basketball team? Well, the team needs to work together to get Climate back to normal
Climate: Whoopsie!
Hannah: But how?
Narrator: Well, we’re already seeing changes on a larger scale with an increase in solar and wind power. But there are little things you can try too. Smarty Pants, any ideas?
Hannah: I guess I could ride my bike more instead of being driven everywhere.
Narrator: That’s a start. What about in your home?
Hannah: Maybe shut off the lights when I leave a room or turn off the TV or computer when I’m done.
Narrator: Yes. Reducing electricity helps. Talk to your parents about energy saving lights and appliances. These might seem like small steps, but if enough people do it, power and manufacturing plants won’t have to burn so much fuel.
Hannah: But this has been going on for a long time.
Narrator: True, but during the fifties and eighties, people weren’t listening to climate warnings like they are today. You Smarty Pants listening get it and you can make a difference. For the first time ever there’s lots of people working to fix climate change. It’s a challenge, but this team is energized to meet it.
Hannah: Sounds good. Now let’s play some ball.
Narrator: You are on.
Climate: Trusty knocks down a three from way downtown. Yes. See kids, anything’s possible.
Narrator: Thanks pal. A big shout out to John C. in Lafayette who loves smarting with us every day on the way to school. We’re so glad you find Who Smarted? so fun and educational. We’re also psyched to hear how much you loved C Camp. Hopefully we’ll get to do more Smarty Camps together in the future. Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam “Tex” Davis and Jerry Kolber. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
Theme song: Who Smarted?
Commercial: Hey there, it’s Trusty. And you know I love sitting at home listening to a good podcast as much as I love going on adventures. And do I have a great one to recommend to all you Smarty Pants and smarty parents from the award-winning Go-Kids-Go team. It’s called Snoop and Sniffy. What happens when Snoop, an experienced dog detective from London gets sent to small town, Pflugerville, to train clueless puppy Sniffy as an undercover agent, mystery, adventure, and chaos. Seriously, the town of Pflugerville isn’t Dullsville like Snoop expected, and he quickly realizes that he can’t handle all the action without Sniffy by his side.
Even when they’re able to turn a blind eye to the alien superheroes and villains battling it out for control of Pflugerville, Snoop and Sniffy have their paws full, solving wild and wacky mystery cases on Bark Street. Do you love to laugh? Do you love animals? Do you have the brightest mind since Sherlock Holmes? Then tag along. There are already eight seasons of hilarious canine crimes to solve. Search for Snoop and Sniffy on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
[End of transcript 00:21:50]