The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Count On It with Dulce - The Cost of Climate Change

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Dulce Sloan talks to Stanford University climate economist Marshall Burke and activist Delaney Reynolds about the staggering economic costs of a do-nothing approach to the climate crisis. Originally aired November 2020. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. You're listening to Comedy Central.

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 nothing at all. The best estimates suggest 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 $100 billion is a Jeff Bezos, so a trillion is like 10 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 US alone.

And Miami will be underwater and not in a fun way. If we go past that, the world's GDP drops by 20% and the pirates of the Caribbean 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 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-ringing about the Green New Deal has focused on its potential cost. Imagine you have a loved one who's been diagnosed with a serious illness. So do we say, oh it's going to 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, is 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. But what do you do if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do if you do if you do if you do if you do if you do if you the lazy, if you the lazy, if you the lazy, if you're 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 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th.. th. th. th. thi. the. the. thean thean thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. the. the. the. 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 hardened 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? thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. I I I I th. I thi. I th. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thoes thoes thoes thus. thus. thoes. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I the th. I the th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I the. I am the. I am to to toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes. I t. I t 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 sue 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 the the the the the the the the thagagagagagagu? the weather? thagu? thoe? thoing. thoing, thoing, thoing, thoing, thoing, thi, thi, thoing, thoing, th. th. thi, thi, thi, th th th th th th th th th th th th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi? thi? thin, thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo? th. to th 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 is 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 to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be so to be candid, if there's no change, if we don't do anything to solve our climate change crisis,

Florida faces extinction. On the one hand, if Florida 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 instead of nothing, because I still th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th I like th th I like th I like th I th I th I th th th th th th th th th th to to to to to to to still do something to save 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 Bezos in the world. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition.

Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast. 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 on Apple podcasts starting September 17.