Speaker 1: This week on Parts per Billion, We're all doomed or
Speaker 1: are we? Yes? Yes we are, but are we really? Yes?
Speaker 1: We are talking today about the future of climate change
Speaker 1: and also human civilization with a reporter who just got
Speaker 1: back from a pretty bleak climate conference, Bobby McGill, Jin Dobray.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Parts per Billion, the podcast from Bloomberg Environment.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, David Schultz. I hope you all have
Speaker 1: a lovely holiday season out there, because things are going
Speaker 1: to be getting pretty bleak today. We're going to be
Speaker 1: discussing the future of climate change with Bloomberg Environments Bobby McGill.
Speaker 1: Bobby just got back from an international climate conference in Poland,
Speaker 1: and based on his reporting from there, things aren't looking
Speaker 1: that great. We will see if Bobby can offer us
Speaker 1: some rays of hope later on in the program. But
Speaker 1: first we've got the famous Parts per Billion news quiz.
Speaker 1: As you probably know by now, the way this works
Speaker 1: is we bring in a couple of reporters and ask
Speaker 1: them a few questions about what happened in the news
Speaker 1: this week. This is a totally serious, not jokey quiz,
Speaker 1: so you guys better bring your a games very. The
Speaker 1: stakes are very high today. We actually today is the
Speaker 1: first for the news Quiz, and that we have not
Speaker 1: just reporters, but also an editor. Thank you for joining
Speaker 1: us to our editor, Chuck McCutcheon, and we also, of
Speaker 1: course have Bobby McGill. Let's get started. Question number one
Speaker 1: today is January eighth. We are now in the eighteenth
Speaker 1: day of the federal government shutdown. However, this is not
Speaker 1: the longest shutdown ever. How long was the longest federal
Speaker 1: government shutdown ever? Bobby is ringing in twenty one days.
Speaker 1: That is correct. That is a very very correct answer,
Speaker 1: twenty one days. The longest shutdown ever lasted from December fifteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five through January sixth, nineteen ninety six. This
Speaker 1: will become the longest shutdown ever if it goes past
Speaker 1: this Friday, and all signs are pointing to it doing
Speaker 1: just that. The score is one to zero. Question number two,
Speaker 1: there was some deal making in Congress this week. The
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixteenth Congress has convened and they're already
Speaker 1: cutting some deals. The EPA agreed to stop trying to
Speaker 1: repeal an Obama era protection on farm workers who are
Speaker 1: exposed to pesticides in exchange. Senate Democrats agreed to do
Speaker 1: what So the EPA said, we were trying to repeal
Speaker 1: these farm worker protections, but we're not going to do
Speaker 1: that anymore. The Exchange Democrats will do what Chuck McCutcheon
Speaker 1: move nominations forward. That is also correct. The Senate Democrats
Speaker 1: agreed to stop blocking two EPA appointees. One of them
Speaker 1: is Alex Dunn, the head of the Chemicals Office, which
Speaker 1: oversees farm worker protections, and the other one was Chad McIntosh,
Speaker 1: the head of International and Tribal Affairs. So it looks
Speaker 1: like Democrats are in a deal cutting mood at least
Speaker 1: comes to that, although not when it comes to reopening
Speaker 1: the government, although it doesn't seem like Republicans want to
Speaker 1: cut any deals there either. Question number three. The score
Speaker 1: is one to one. This question will determine who wins
Speaker 1: this week's quiz, and it has to do with where
Speaker 1: you just were. Bobby McGill. Marius Tcherikowsky holds the NHL
Speaker 1: record for most points scored by a Polish national. He's
Speaker 1: also from a town just seventy miles north of Katavisa,
Speaker 1: which is where the climate conference you were just at
Speaker 1: is held how many points did he score over his
Speaker 1: fourteen seasons in the NHL. And just to clarify this
Speaker 1: as prices right rules, which means that whoever wins will
Speaker 1: be the person who comes closest without going over. So
Speaker 1: you both get one of you both guess how many
Speaker 1: points did Mark Marius Tchikovsky, the leading NHL points scorer score.
Speaker 1: And also here's another you guys are looking a little puzzled.
Speaker 1: Here another hint. Wayne Gretzky has the all time record
Speaker 1: with eight hundred and fifty seven points. Marius Tchikowsky is
Speaker 1: significantly worse than Wayne Gretzky. He does not approach two
Speaker 1: eight hundred fifty seven. I'll say two hundred, two hundred,
Speaker 1: Chuck goes to two hundred, three hundred and fifty two,
Speaker 1: three hundred fifty two. Your experience in Poland must have
Speaker 1: helped you out, because you are right, Bobby McGill. Marius
Speaker 1: Tchikowsky scored four hundred and thirty five points in his
Speaker 1: sixteen seasons in the league. He played for Boston, Edmonton,
Speaker 1: the New York Islanders, Montreal and Toronto. Congratulations, Bobby, Sorry, Chuck,
Speaker 1: you look really crestfallen there. We are not going to
Speaker 1: take a quick break and come back with more of
Speaker 1: Bobby's thoughts on what went down in Poland and maybe
Speaker 1: whether Marius Tchikowsky thinks that climate change is real. Stay
Speaker 1: tuned and we will be right back, and we're back
Speaker 1: with Bloomberg Environments. Bobby McGill, who just got back from
Speaker 1: Katavica where he was Cataviza, catavitza, sorry rhymes with pizza,
Speaker 1: kata Viza. Thank you Bobby for some context here. At
Speaker 1: the twenty first conference. A few years ago the world
Speaker 1: reached the landmark Paris Climate Agreement. So this UN Climate
Speaker 1: Group is a pretty big deal. But before we get
Speaker 1: into what happened in Poland, tell me about the place
Speaker 1: where it was held, this kata Viza. Yeah. So Kataviza
Speaker 1: is a city west of Krakow and about twenty five
Speaker 1: miles north of Auschwitz, actually in southern Poland. It's a
Speaker 1: coal producing region and the site of COP twenty four
Speaker 1: was literally on top of a closed coal mine and
Speaker 1: the city of Katavitz, you know, everybody at the you know,
Speaker 1: countries and the city had these exhibits at COP twenty
Speaker 1: four and Kataviatz's exhibit was all about coal and they
Speaker 1: had like piles of coal in a case, and you
Speaker 1: could go and they showed you how to order a
Speaker 1: like jewelry made of coal nuggets, which and we should
Speaker 1: mention coal is one of the primary contributors of greenhouse
Speaker 1: gases to the environment, the burning of coal. It sounds
Speaker 1: like the the air pollution or the air quality in
Speaker 1: this at this conference was not great. From what you mentioned, well,
Speaker 1: it varies. The city of Katavitz's air quality is actually
Speaker 1: a bit better than the surrounding regions. But you know,
Speaker 1: most southern Polish households burn coal in their in their
Speaker 1: furnaces to heat their homes, and you know, you can
Speaker 1: walk down the street and you can see it billowing
Speaker 1: out of the out of their chimneys and it's a
Speaker 1: you know, the air quality there is pretty choking. So
Speaker 1: speaking of coal, you know, the US was sent some
Speaker 1: representatives to Poland, and it seems like they were talking
Speaker 1: about coal, but I get the sense they didn't get
Speaker 1: a very warm reception. Can you talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about that, Well, you know COP twenty four and the
Speaker 1: Paris Climate Agreement are we should say, sorry to interrupt
Speaker 1: their COP Well, let's explain what COP is. COP is
Speaker 1: an accurate in the stands for it's the Conference of
Speaker 1: the Party twenty fourth Conference of the Parties to the
Speaker 1: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP twenty four
Speaker 1: COP COP is a much easier way to say that.
Speaker 1: And so the twenty fifteen Paris Climate Agreement was struck
Speaker 1: at COP twenty one. Yeah, and this conference solidified, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the rules for implementing that agreement. Right anyway, sorry,
Speaker 1: getting back to the US. At COP twenty four, which
Speaker 1: was in Poland, the US sent some representatives over to
Speaker 1: Poland to you know, participate in this conference, but it
Speaker 1: seemed like, based on your reporting, they mainly wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about coal what was going on there. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: keep in mind that this is the globe's primary coordinated
Speaker 1: effort to solve a you know what happens to be
Speaker 1: a you know, a crisis facing humanity, right, and the
Speaker 1: Trump administration walks in and they did this the previous
Speaker 1: year as well, at COP twenty three in Bond and
Speaker 1: they basically wanted to talk about coal and and the
Speaker 1: wonders of fossil fuels. You know, wells Griffith, the uh,
Speaker 1: you know, one of Trump's energy and climate advisors walks
Speaker 1: in and he stands up before a room full of
Speaker 1: activists and journalists and said, alarmism should not silence realism.
Speaker 1: And their attitude is it's not realistic to wean ourselves
Speaker 1: away from fossil fuels. So they want to They were
Speaker 1: promoting the idea that we can burn fossil fuels cleanly.
Speaker 1: And how did the activists and journalists react to that?
Speaker 1: Did they didn't carry them out on their shoulders, did they? No?
Speaker 1: They tried to stop the proceedings, and you know, this
Speaker 1: was a side event, It wasn't the actual negotiations obviously,
Speaker 1: and they they demanded that they you know, that the
Speaker 1: US keep it in the ground, referring to oil and coal,
Speaker 1: and Griffith's response was, you know, it's it's not realistic
Speaker 1: to keep it in the ground. We have to burn it. Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's get to the actual conference itself. You know,
Speaker 1: we mentioned COP twenty one that was in Paris where
Speaker 1: the Paris Agreement was reached. That was this huge landmark agreement.
Speaker 1: Was there any new agreements that were reached at this
Speaker 1: most recent one in Poland? Or was this just kind
Speaker 1: of an incremental type thing. Well? Cop twenty four was
Speaker 1: about finalizing the rule book for implementing the Paris Climate Agreement,
Speaker 1: which means that you know, the the Paris Agreement can't
Speaker 1: go into force really without these rules, and this was
Speaker 1: the next step in the process. So they accomplished that
Speaker 1: to a point. There were a couple of you know,
Speaker 1: emissions accountability questions that they punted to COP twenty five
Speaker 1: sometime in the next year, and which, by the way,
Speaker 1: is going to be in Santiago, Chile, right in Chile. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but we don't know exactly one yet, So it sounds like,
Speaker 1: you know, they maybe made some decisions, but not really
Speaker 1: that many. Well it's significant, but I think what may
Speaker 1: be more significant or just as significant. On top of
Speaker 1: the rule book was this idea of ambition and trying
Speaker 1: to this political movement to encourage countries to go above
Speaker 1: and beyond their commitments to cut climate pollution that they
Speaker 1: made as part of the twenty fifteen Paris Agreement. So,
Speaker 1: you know, you had Euan Secretary General Antonio Gutera standing
Speaker 1: up and you know, framing this is an urgent crisis
Speaker 1: that needs to be solved, and he sort of framed
Speaker 1: it in moral terms as well. But and that actually
Speaker 1: leads me really nicely into my next question, which is
Speaker 1: that you know, we all know that the US has
Speaker 1: pulled out of the Paris Agreement. I mean, I think, well,
Speaker 1: we haven't pulled out. You haven't pulled out, You're right.
Speaker 1: I was about to mention that we haven't technically have
Speaker 1: not pulled out yet, we've signaled our intent to correct
Speaker 1: pull out of the agreement. Given that, is this the
Speaker 1: conference of the parties? Is this un you know, can
Speaker 1: mention on climate change? Is this becoming sort of irrelevant?
Speaker 1: If the US doesn't participate in this and it's just
Speaker 1: every country except for the US and a few others,
Speaker 1: does this really matter anymore? Or could this actually still
Speaker 1: make a big impact on the issue of climate change
Speaker 1: even if the US is not a part of it.
Speaker 1: I think if other countries come together and cut their
Speaker 1: own emissions, despite you know, the potential absence of the US,
Speaker 1: I think it's better than nothing. But you know, the
Speaker 1: next administration could could bring the US back into the agreement.
Speaker 1: So it's important for the agreement to be there, for
Speaker 1: the for this process to be ongoing. Because I mentioned,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, this really is the the only
Speaker 1: the globe's only UH coordinated effort to take to address
Speaker 1: climate change. So this is where we get into the
Speaker 1: UH possibly depressing UH section of the podcast, because the
Speaker 1: I've been was reading your dispatches from Poland, and one
Speaker 1: of the things that really, you know, they reminded me,
Speaker 1: or really highlighted for me, is just how little time
Speaker 1: the uh you know, world has to address climate change
Speaker 1: before we see some really significant, kind of scary impacts.
Speaker 1: Do you do you see any reasons to believe that
Speaker 1: that will happen, or that could happen, or that we
Speaker 1: can avoid you know, the worst of the consequences of
Speaker 1: climate change, or based on what you heard in Poland
Speaker 1: and what you've been reading, do you see the the
Speaker 1: you know, all signs point to things getting worse before
Speaker 1: they get better, if they ever get better, Well, things
Speaker 1: are going to get worse before they get better. The
Speaker 1: science says that, Yeah, I guess maybe let me rephrase that,
Speaker 1: will things ever get better? There's there's a significant amount
Speaker 1: of warming that's that's sort of baked into the system, right.
Speaker 1: The question is can humanity prevent it from getting significantly worse?
Speaker 1: And I think that's an open question, you know, there's
Speaker 1: there's obviously you know, momentum in uh some parts of
Speaker 1: the world too to take this seriously and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: to cut to cut emissions as much as palatable. But
Speaker 1: you know, people are still you know, fossil fuels are
Speaker 1: still an integral part of the global economy and that's
Speaker 1: not going to change anytime soon. But companies are making
Speaker 1: announcements to cut their their uh their carbon footprint. Local
Speaker 1: governments are doing the same. A number of countries are
Speaker 1: taking this seriously. That's a positive step. So you think
Speaker 1: that maybe that you know, the the rate the rate
Speaker 1: of hope in as much as they are rays of
Speaker 1: hope or come from you know, maybe smaller countries other
Speaker 1: than the US and companies, the private sort of industry. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, as the impacts of climate
Speaker 1: change become more evident to average people, when they see
Speaker 1: extreme weather affecting them in ways that it never used to,
Speaker 1: you know, they're going to be demanding action at some point,
Speaker 1: and some of them already are. And I think that
Speaker 1: when politicians hear that, that that may make a difference.
Speaker 1: All Right. That was Bloomberg Environments. Bobby mcguil talking about
Speaker 1: the UN Climate conference in Kadaviza, Poland. For more of
Speaker 1: his reporting, visit our website at news dop Bloomberg environment
Speaker 1: dot com. That website once again is news dop Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Environment dot com. And this episode of Parts Pavilion was
Speaker 1: produced by myself with help from Jessica Coomes. Our editor
Speaker 1: is Marissa Horn and our audio engineer is Nicholas and Zelata.
Speaker 1: The music for Parks Pavilion this week is a Message
Speaker 1: by Jazarre and Polsky Obertoski by Metislaw Kazowski. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening. M