The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Climate Change: WTF Is Happening?

Episode Date: April 22, 2021

Trevor and The Daily Show correspondents cover the rise in catastrophic wildfires, radical solutions proposed to combat climate change and student activists fighting to save the planet. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. Why have wildfires been so bad in recent years? Well, if you immediately said, duh, climate change, well, then okay.

You're mostly right. It's a disastrous new normal. Catastrophic fires once contained a one season, now a heroine year-round battle. Gotta go. A major factor, climate change. In the last 40 years, fall temperatures in California have increased about 2 degrees, while precipitation has dropped about 30 percent. Longer dry seasons and extreme events like heat waves that synchronize the risk of fire

across enormous landscapes. Climate change is increasing the area burned by the average wildfire, more than doubling it since the 1980s. Since 1930. Five of the biggest fires so far out of the top 10 have been this year. California is America fast forward. In other words, a postcard from the future. Oh man, are you serious? California is basically a postcard from the future.

That means the future is also on fire. I mean, it also means that the post office is still functioning in the future. so so so so so so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the future? That means the future is also on fire? I mean it also means that the post office is still functioning in the future, so I guess, woo, we did it. And that really is mind-blowing. Five of the biggest fires have been this year? That's insane. Although this is 2020, so I'm kind of shocked that all of the biggest fires haven't been from this year. Wildfires might be here to stay, which is awful for humans, but especially bad for trees. Because they can't move.

Humans can just run away from a wildfire. But trees, they're just stuck there. Can you imagine how terrifying them must be for them? Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Now, there are a number of ways that climate change makes wildfires bigger and more frequent. For instance, not only does drier wood and leaves make better fuel for fires, but hot weather is also associated with increasing lightning strikes that ignite them.

In fact, even small things about climate change can have a huge ripple effect that leads to fires. And I mean, really small things things things things things things things things things things things things things th things th things thi things thi things thi things thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the th. Now. Now th. Now th. Now th. Now th. Now their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. Now. Now. Now th. Now th. th. th. th. th. T th. T thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thri thri thri thr have a huge ripple effect that leads to fires, and I mean really small things. Millions of drought-stressed trees in California forests were low on sap, which is their natural defense against the bark beetle. These are these little tiny bugs about the size of a grain of rice. Bark beetle infestation is linked to global warming as the weather gets warmer. They burrow into the bark of pine trees, they kill the pine trees, the pine trees then essentially become sticks of kindling ready to burn. The beetles took down more than 160 million trees, and that's where some of the largest

fires are burning today. Yeah, believe it a not, people. The spread of the tiny bark beetle is yet another way that climate change is making wildfires worse. It's also a great reminder that even though climate change is really bad for us humans, for some other creatures, it's the best thing that ever happened. It's like how the Trump administration has been a disaster for most people, but great for various reptiles. And I gotta be honest, I never thought the apocalypse would be caused by such a lame villain. I mean, really, guys, Beatles are gonna be the reason everything's on fire? Come on, man. The last season of Game of Thrones was bad enough when Dinarius was burning everything down

with dragons. Now imagine if she had Beatles instead. That shit would make the brand story line seem exciting. Let's get back back to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I' th. I' thoes, their, thoes, tho. I'm, thoom. I' thoze, thoze, thoze, th. I, th. I, be, th. I, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be their, be th. I, th. I, th. I, the, the, thi. I'm, thi. I'm just, that, that, that, that, that, that that that, that, that that thoooooooooooooooo back to the kid who's like a bird or something. I don't watch these beetles. So yes, we have to address climate change. But the truth is, climate change isn't the only reason that these fires have been getting worse. There's also at least a century of government stupidity. Controlled Fire or prescribed fire is the method of burning certain land to reduce wildfire hazards.

This method was developed by Native Americans thousands of years ago. These low-intensity fires called cultural burnings have built much of California. Without controlled burns, forests would have become overgrown and unmanageable. Overgrown forests create a lot of fuel in its warm of dry or dead plants. As European colonization grew in California, native tribes were banned from engaging in cultural burning, and over time, state and federal authorities focused on quickly extinguishing any wildfires. For example, the U.S. Forest Service's infamous 10 a.m. policy said that any fires that

occurred must be put out by 10 a.m. the next day. This limit on fires did little to reduce the fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel. And even with these policies, California still has fuel loads waiting to be burned from centuries ago, making prescribed burning far more tedious and expensive than previously thought. Yeah, you heard that right. One thing that would help out a lot is if California had been more controlled burns, which is basically when you burn a little to prevent a lot from burning later. It's the same way you meet your college friend for coffee so that you don't have to have a three-hour dinner with them.

And you know, you have to admit, it's pretty unbelievable that California is now doing what they outlaw the native people from doing. I guess it's kind of hard though to kick somebody off their land and take their advice at the same time. This is my property now, you savage! Oh, also before you go, do you have any landscaping tips, like any mulching techniques or things that I have to learn? Now obviously it's bad enough that wildfires are burning millions and millions of trees. What makes it an especially big problem for people is that we've been giving the fires fires fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires the fires a the fires a the fires a the fires a to to to to to we've been giving the fires a lot more of our stuff to burn. Since 1990, 60% of all the homes in the United States have been built in the wildland urban interface.

We've got houses and places we didn't used to have houses and that puts people and property of risk. As more houses are built near wildlands, more of them burn. 50ty years ago, wildfires destroyed a few hundred structures per year across the United States. Now it's more than 3,000. In California alone, more than 6 million houses are in wild areas. Because urban housing is so expensive, instead of avoiding these high-risk zones, Californians continue to build in a tinder boxed by windy canyon. Instead of smoky bear in the middle of the woods, thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu th structures structures structures thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thuasurst structures structures structures, thuasursts thuasurns structures thuasursts, thuasursts, thuasursts, thu-a structures thu-sts, thu-sts, thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu-a structures structures structures structures structures structures structures structures structures structures structures structures structures, thu-a thu-a thu-a thu-a thu-a thu-a thu-au.au-au-au-au-au-au-s structures, tosanananananau-au-s structures, thu-au-au-au-au-au-au- in a tinder box of grass and trees boxed by Windy Canyon. Instead of Smoky Bear in the middle of the woods, we need a

smoky bear in the middle of suburbia. Uh-uh. You do yourself a favor of smoky bay and you stay out of the suburbs. We don't want Karen calling the cops on you. Hello 911. There's a bear in my neighborhood and he's brown. But yes, one big problem is that more and more people are building homes in the middle of the forest. And let's place the blame where it belongs here, with the Keebler Alps. Yeah, these guys made living in the forest look so cool that everyone started doing it. You get to be in a tree making cookies all day sounds great, but guess what? Those cookies are covered with beetles. And if we're honest here guys,

one of the bigger issues is human arrogance. We just think we can build wherever we go. You know, wherever we build a house, that's our land now. It's the same way people in Florida are always surprised when alligators show up. Oh, there's an alligator in my backyard. No, there's a person in that alligator's house. But the good news is, we can fix these problems. Yeah. Believe it or not, the wildfires don't have to happen the way they have been. We can stop them if we take action to reduce climate change.

We can stop them if we maintain the forests, and we can stop them if we build in environmentally sensitive ways. And as for those Beatles, you leave them to me. As we celebrate Earth, we're also trying to figure out how to save it. Take me for instance. To help cool the planet before I left my apartment today, I turned the air conditioning on. What? No, no, isn't that contributing to global warming? Oh, stupid. I left the window open, of course. But unfortunately, for the Earth, not everyone's solutions are as practical as mine.

How can humankind tackle global warming? There are some scientists proposing a to. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. too. too. tie. tie. tie. today. today. today, today, today, I'm, try. try. I'm, I'm try, I'm try. I'm try, I'm try, I'm the the air, I'm the air, I'm the air, I'm the air, I'm the air, I the air, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try. I'm try. I'm try try try try to try to try to try to try try try try try try to try to try to the air, the air, the air, the air, the air, the airankind tackle global warming? There are some scientists proposing a technique that's similar to the earth-wearing UV protection sunglasses, apparently, to block out the sun's harmful rays. Basically what the proposal wants to do is it wants to send airplanes into the stratosphere, effectively spraying it with aerosols into the atmosphere, almost kind of like working like you're adding extra clouds. When you do that, you essentially are trying to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block to block more more more more to block more to block more to block more to block more to block more to block more the the the the the their their their their their their their their their the you do that you essentially are trying to block more of that sunlight. So your solution to save the planet is to spray more shit into the atmosphere. Let me ask you what's the point of saving Earth if the whole thing

looks like New Jersey? And also, also there's no way that will work. It's like trying to get a coffee stain out of your shirt by using blood. Okay, don't believe every life hack you read on the internet. We don't need to dim the sun. We already have two dim sons. They're called Eric and Don Jr. Hello. Hi-Hi-Fide, Trevor. Come on! I'm not going to hi-fi you. Oh, sorry, you didn't know you were you you you you you you you you you you you you th-you th-you th-you th-you th-you th-I th-I th-I th-tion't know th-try th-trying th-trying th-trying th-in' th-in' thin' thi thin' thin' thin' th-in' th-in' th-in' th-in' th-trying tho th. It th. It th. It th. It th. It th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying th-trying thi thi thi-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-s thi-s thi-s. thii-s'-s'-a'-s'-s'-s'-s'-s'a'a'-s'a'a'a'a'a'a'er to-s. tha'er-sive you. I'm not gonna high-five you. Oh, sorry, you didn't know you were a Trump guy. Anyway, there's a whole ocean of bad

ideas out there. In fact, one of those bad ideas is an ocean. A Silicon Valley firm wants to stop climate change by flooding the desert. Why a combinator unveiled some radical ideas as one of four moonshot scenarios presented to get innovators thinking about climate change remedies. The company says by using 238 trillion gallons of ocean water it could create millions of algae reservoirs that could combat carbon dioxide. Why Combinator expects the project to cost about 50 trillion dollars. You're gonna move the ocean into the desert.

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, unless they do it while Burning Man is happening, in which case, go for it, please take a bath, you dirty hippies. First of all, you can't move an ocean, okay? Have you guys ever tried to move a one-bedroom apartment? You can't buy three boxes of Papa Johns and and ask your friends to move the Atlantic. But at least, these guys are trying to find a solution to save the earth, okay?

Other people are just waving a white flag. Right now, world leaders are exploring a concept for a floating city to guard against flood tsunamis in category 5 hurricanes. The floating city is made up of six hexagonal islands that would be built with sustainable materials. Each island would hold about 300 people with an entire city being comprised of 10,000 people. Leaders see the project as a viable solution against rising sea levels, climate change and housing shortages. They will also be built so that they can be towed to a safer location if needed.

Wow living on floating cities. Clearly, we've given up. We couldn't cut back on plastic straw, so we have to go on a carnival cruise that never ends. That's a nightmare for everyone, except elderly couples trying to have sex with strangers, of course. I can't believe we're abandoning land so fast. Well mammals were supposed to live on land. No mammals live in the ocean.

Dolphins and whales? Yeah, two great examples of fishes. Thank you. Okay, you know what, Ronnie, like, at least these people are trying. All right? If you're so smart, what's your plan to save the earth? Okay, Trevor, I'm glad you asked. I have a two? Step two is I proceed to have a good life or the rest of you drift away on your floating

cities. Happy Earth day, everyone! High five me, Trump boy. Let's go. Because climate change is so gradual, very few people feel the passion to act. Luckily, we have someone on this show who is extremely angry and passionate about this issue and really every issue. Please welcome, Ronnie Chang.

Thank you, Trevor. First of all, can you please stop like some kind of raving psychopath. Trevor, first of all, can you please tell thi told I'm an angry person? Right, you made me sound like some kind of raving psychopath. I'm actually a really chilled out kind of guy. All right, how do you think I got my sponsorship with Ambient? Ambient. Just go to fuck to sleep already.

That being said, nothing wrinkles my ball sack more than people ignoring the threat of climate change. And last weekend, kids around the world decided they were sick of it too. Students in more than a hundred countries took to the streets Friday, demanding action on climate change. An estimated 150,000 students and adults took part in school walkouts, organized mainly through social media and word of mouth. They're calling for, among other things, 100% renewable energy by 2030.

The Earth is dying, stop to die. We call for a real national emergency. Hell yeah, kids, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, I love seeing young people get fired up about what they believe in. It reminds me of when I was a teenager, and I protested the Iraq war by crashing my dad's car into a tree while drunk. Also, it's pretty slick how they found a good reason to skip school. I mean, the kids were like, with the world the way it is, we cannot in good conscience. Go to class or do homework.

Now let's head down to Cancun and fight climate change of senior frog. Whoa! Climate! Climate! So, I get why these kids are angry. The planet they're inheriting is gonna get destroyed. The same way the microwave I inherited from my grandmother was destroyed by this weird sticky black stuff in it. You know what I'm talking about? It looks like burnt cheese, but it's not.

And it looks wet, but when you touthey microwave their shit. Ronnie, are you cursing out your deceased grandmother? Trevor, please, okay, this is a private matter between me and my gross dead grandma, all right? Anyway, the people in charge should be listening to these kids, but instead, they're going ahead of their plan to make as much money as possible while ruining everything in their path. The Trump administration has approved seismic testing along the Atlantic coast from Delaware to mid-Florida. Air guns drag behind a vessel, emit sound waves every 10 seconds that penetrate the seabed. The reflected pulses create a map of the oil and gas deposits below.

Noise that can disturb sound-dependent marine light. Dolphins and whales rely on sound to communicate, find mates, find food, and avoid predators. Just when I thought oil companies couldn't be more evil, now they're blasting the ocean with non-stop sonic waves. And you heard what that lady was saying, whales use sound for everything, like hunting, like hunting, the whale. You think you're hearing all these mating calls. Next thing you know you're having sex with a boat, okay? And now your whale wife is divorcing you, your life falls apart

and you end up doing flips at sea world for meth. Okay, it happens all the time. Oh, but don't worry, okay, if you ask the people who are blasting the sonic ways, turns out everything's going to be fine. The government concedes there could be impacts, but not enough to kill or seriously injure marine life. Assurance is echoed by the oil industry. We've been coexisting with marine ecosystems for years and we just haven't seen adverse impacts. Really? You guys haven't seen any adverse impacts? Right now, there's a seagull saying, what was that? I couldn't hear you because I have too much oil in my ears. These guys have been spilling so much oil in the ocean, somewhere

there's a polar bear being accused of blackface. Also, why? Why? It's terrible. That's context. Also, why are we believing anything these oil companies are saying? When they haven't even cleaned up the shit they've already done. The longest oil spill in American history has been going on for 15 years now? Nonstop, following Hurricane Ivan. Millions of dollars has been spent to try and clean up this disaster. Oh my god how is the ocean even still water at this point it's got to be just oil and Starbucks cups right?

Seriously this oil spill is 15 years old. I'm surprised R. Kelly's not all over it by now. What I'm trying to say is those kids were right. If we don't take the environment seriously, this plan is going to end up looking like the inside of the inside the inside the inside the inside the inside the inside the inside the inside of still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still the inside the inside the inside of the the inside of the the to still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still still. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the inside the inside the inside the inside in in in in in in in in in in the inside inside inside inside inside inside inside inside inside inside. the inside. the inside of the inside of the inside of the inside of my the inside of my the inside of my the inside of my the the the the the the the the thi the the the thi the the the the thi the the the the the the don't take the environment seriously, this planet is gonna end up looking like the inside of my grandma's microwave, okay? So, I'm very proud to announce that today, I too am joining their protest. For the good of the planet,

I will also be leaving work for the day, and I'm not coming back for two weeks. Well Ronnie, you can't just leave. You're in the middle of a segment, dude. Shut up, Trevor, you corporate shill. Change has to start now and with me, okay? I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing. I'm gonna go home, put on some pajamas, and then do nothing. Good news, everyone. Good news, the actual end of the world is coming up.

The life-threatening and devastating flooding emergency. A crippling drought. Some people driving through flames to escape. Climate change is getting worse. And even though the election was a small victory for the planet, Biden is still going to need to deal with Republicans who don't think fixing it is worth the price tag. The Paris Accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars. The American economy, it will die if we get rid of oil and gas. But where are they going to get all the money from? Um, one of the people supporting this says we can just print money, Congressman. I'm not taking economic advice from someone who looks like to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the world the world to the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world. the world. I'm the world the their their. I their their. I their. I their. I the their. I the their. I. I. I their. I. I the the their. I. I. I the the the the the the world. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I'm the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. thi. thi. I'm the. the. I'm not. thean. thean. thean. I'm thean. thi. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not thi. I'm not taking economic advice from someone who looks like he spends most of his money on eight balls.

But I'll admit, after the way 2020 is gone, I myself have wondered if the world is even worth saving. So I want to know what costs more. Doing something like the Paris agreement or a green new deal, or this kind of plan, which is wait for it, nothing. Nada. Luckily we found an expert in doing nothing, Professor Marshall Burke. In a sense we study the cost of doing nothing, although doing nothing here really means doing a lot. I do nothing all the time and it doesn't cost me a penny. So we have studied this. The Paris Climate Agreement said we want to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But let's say we do let's say we do nothing at all. The best estimates suggest we're going to get.5 degrees Celsius. But let's say we do, let's say we do nothing at all.

The best estimate suggests we're going to get about 3 degrees Celsius, 5 or 6 degrees Fahrenheit of warming over the next century. Hotter temperatures reduce agricultural productivity. Hotter temperatures make us less productive at work, and this could cost us tens of trillions of dollars in terms of lost economic output. If I hear trillions of dollars, I'm thinking of monopoly money and unicorn tears. So what will doing nothing cost the average person?

You're right, trillion is hard to understand. So a hundred billion is a Jeff Bezos. So a trillion is like ten Jeff Bezos. Should we just kidnap Jeff Bezos and make him pay for it? I don't know if our research speaks to a kidnapping approach. What Marshall's research does speak to is that if we don't meet the 1.5 degree goal set by the Paris Accord, it could cost $6 trillion in the U.S. alone. And Miami will be underwater and not in a fun way.

If we go past that, the world's GDP drops by 20 percent, and the pirates of the Caribbean ride will have direct access to the Caribbean. On the other hand, what if we actually did something and pass some of the ambitious proposals laid out in the Green New Deal? People proposals laid out in the Green New Deal. People talk about like the Green New Deal, like AOC is going to personally come in your house and steal your Christmas presents and then replace it with a lump of coal and then come back and replace the lump of coal with a solar panel. A lot of the hand-rigging about the green new deal has focused on its potential costs. Imagine you have a loved one who's been diagnosed with a serious illness.

So do we say, oh, it's gonna cost $10,000 to fix grandpa? Like let's not bother, $10,000, wow. No, we think about the benefits of that, too. We like having grandpa around. So we need to think of the earth as a grandpa we like. That's what you're saying. Yeah, the metaphor works when you like your grandpa. And we find that the cost of inaction are actually a lot larger than doing something about the problem.

I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. But what do you do if you're lazy, deadbeat, ancient government refuses to see the logic in these numbers? You take their assets to court, even on the local level. And I talked to one hard and veteran of the U.S. judicial system who is doing just that. I'm actually suing the state of Florida. All we want for them is to cut our carbon emissions.

How old are you? I am 21 years old. Is it the Doogie-Houser situation? I know you don't get that reference because you're 21. No, not quite. Okay, how much you suing them for? Absolutely nothing. You're suing them for nothing?

What, do you play Lado for the thrill of the game? Do you go to Vegas just for the weather? So it's kind of like we're suing on behalf of the environment. Could I recommend one thing? Sue to get enough money to buy a submarine. We want them to spend the money on the environment. So we know that it's going to cost us as a society trillions of dollars. But if we continue to wait, it's only going to be more expensive in the future to pay for those solutions that we need. For example, the property value of the land that's at risk from five feet of sea level rise

is about $27 billion. And for those following along, that's a quarter Jeff Bezos. Don't get your hopes up, you know, because there's a chance that Florida isn't going to change. Florida's still going to be on your couch the th. their, their, their, th. I, their, th. I, their, their, to, their, to, th. I, to, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, and tho, tho, tho, and, and, and, and, and, tho, tho, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, their, and, and, and, their, so so. And, their, so. their, some, some, some, some. their, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, because there's a chance that Florida isn't going to change. Florida's still going to be on your couch, eating on your food while you're at work, asking to borrow your car. Why do you need a car, Florida? You don't have a job. Yeah, so to be candid, if there's no change, if we don't have to do with Florida anymore, if we don't do anything to solve our climate change, but then again, Florida, the the the th you th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi is extinct then we wouldn't have to do with Florida anymore but then again Florida's part of Earth and even though

it's been hard on us this year we should still do something to save it instead of nothing because I still love Earth. Some people I like live here even some people that I love and I wouldn't trade them for all the Bezoses in the world. You've talked a lot about the pandemic. Now you are talking about climate change. In your new book, you talk about how to avoid a climate disaster. The question is, is it avoidable? Well, this will be the hardest thing we've ever done because the sources of emissions are very broad.

You know, it's not just electricity or cars, it's also cows, it's cement, it's steel, it's planes. And so we have to change all those things to be green, and we only have 30 years. So only if the younger generation worldwide is kind of bothering the politicians and speaking out loudly that morally this is a cause that they believe in, only with the, thi, thi, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, kind of bothering the politicians and speaking out loudly that morally this is a cause that they believe in. Only with that, a lot of innovation, some brilliant policies, that's what it'll take to make this grand transformation. It feels like a theoretical conversation though, you know, what I did enjoy in the book is you've laid out steps that you think people can actually take and governments can actually move forward

too. What do you think some of the most concrete steps are that we can achieve today that can help us tomorrow? Well we need to increase R&D funding on these key topics. We need to have more high-risk companies get started who care about these things and we need the green products like the green steel. We need demand out there so as people are bringing those prices down they get volume. We've seen with electric cars the right things are happening. The prices are starting to come down. You know General Motors said by 2035 they don't think they'll need to make gasoline cars. so it says that. the th the th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. And th. And the the the the the thi thi the the the the the the the the the the the the Motors said by 2035, they don't think they'll need to make gasoline cars. So it says that extra cost,

where you pay a bit more, you give up range, over the next 15 years, that green premium, I call it, will actually go all the way down to zero in that category. And that's amazing. We just need to do that across the dozen or so categories by driving innovation faster than it would normally take place. You know, one of the things that I've always been struck by is how

sometimes the conversations are about what needs to be done, but then oftentimes there is no buy-in because nobody like sort of wants to do it. And that's why I think like Elon Musk has done a great job with Tesla. Yeah, it's an electric car, but most people don't buy it for that. They buy it because it's super cool. It goes really fast and it's technologically advanced. Are there ways that we can get green energy to grow exponentially by making cool solutions as opposed to telling everyone you need to switch out your electricity

with a windmill. Well, as you move away from coal, there's a lot of local pollution that affects health very negatively. So there's big benefits there. As you move to artificial meat, the kind of cruelty to animals that's involved there, and perhaps less cholesterol. There are a lot of benefits that come with green products. Sadly, some green products like green cement,

it's still just cement. And so the fact that it costs more, you know, the government's got to help create some demand there. And so we can bring that price down. So yes, some categories can be better products, but steel and cement are kind of this boring thing that we just take for granted. And so we've been working too much on the easy stuff,

not enough on the hard stuff here. Let's talk a little bit about the hard stuff, not just in terms of the products, but about the people who are affected by the products. How do we implement these ideas without discarding the lives that are th. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th of the products, about the people who are affected by the products. How do we implement these ideas without discarding the lives that are attached to the old forms of creating energy or food? Well a key is going to be having lots of new jobs. You know, for example, the electric network will have to get a lot bigger because it's now powering the cars or heating and cooling your house.

So that's, you know, it's going to be three times bigger and building all those transmission lines and power plants will be a big deal. Now that's not to say that some communities that have been really focused on things like oil, they will have a transition. It's a 30-year transition. We still will be using some oil in the decades ahead. And so we have to put into the cost of this transition how we manage those communities that are affected. Because right now, there's almost a temptation to deny the problem altogether. Because if you feel like you're going to be left out of the solution, you just want denial.

There's also no denying that developing nations are most affected by climate change. So you have farmers in India, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, where their climates have changed to the point where they can't even grow the food. Is there ever an idea for like a penalty then on the countries that do emit? Because if you're doing a thing, like, let's say just on a local level, if I started a fire in my house and the smoke blacked up all of your windows next door, someone would say, like, oh, I have to somehow make up for that. Will there ever be a system like that where the biggest polluters enter into a deal and say we will sort of pay or amend we're doing to poorer countries? Yes, we owe it to these countries to not only mitigate that, that is get the emissions down to zero, and that's that huge innovation,

but also we need to help them because it will warm up two degrees centigrade, and that really will hurt all their crops, it'll raise the sea level. We owe it to them to help with the adaptation. That includes a generation of seeds that actually can grow in the hotter temperatures and that are more productive, so they don't end up with malnutrition and we'll face mass migration

from those equatorial areas, you know, where the poorest, they are farmers. And so the weather weather weather weather weather weather weather weather weather weather weather weather weather the weather weather the weather weather the weather weather the weather the weather weather the weather the weather the weather the weather the weather the weather the weather they are farmers. And so the weather hurts them way more than it does us. Although wildfires, sea level rise, you know, even we're going to find it tough to go outdoors a lot of the summer. The Daily Show with Covernoa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for

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