20150219_PC
Source: BBC2: Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe: Moments of Wonder
URL: N/A
Date: 19/02/2015
Event: Philomena Cunk: "how can we stop ourselves from turning into steam?"
Credit: BBC2: Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe
People:
- Philomena Cunk: Diane Morgan, actress and comedian
- Professor Andrew Watson: Climate scientist, School of Environmental Sciences, UEA
Philomena Cunk: Our planet is changing, and not in a good way, like into a butterfly or a giant magic shoe. And we're all to blame. I'm talking about climate change. Nineteen centuries ago, there was an industrial revolution which used coals - coals is a fossil fuel, which means setting fire to dinosaurs. It's this dirty dinosaur gas which has been blamed for climate change.
What's more, so many dinosaurs were burned for steam trains that nowadays, there's almost no dinosaurs left. Rising temperatures are a world-wide problem. Experts say they're responsible for making the North Poles melt, meaning too much sea. Not everyone wants to live in the sea, you don't have to be a scientist to know that, you just have to have seen The Little Mermaid. She hated it.
The government says we need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But if, like me, you don't have a greenhouse, they say you can reduce your carbon footprint by not flying, and walking more. But my feet swell up when I walk, which is why I came here in a car.
Storms battering the coast, tornados, blizzards, rain, women in bikinis, floods. If we keep discussing climate change at such an alarming rate, scientists predict the world stock of weather footage will be exhausted by 2050. But not everyone thinks climate change is real. This hot topic has split the science community straight down the middle, 90/10. To hear both sides of this debate, once and for all, I found one climate expert. Good afternoon. What are you?
Andrew Watson: My name's Andy Watson, I'm a marine, atmospheric and climate scientist.
Philomena Cunk: How does weather actually work? And if you could make it snappy, because it's going to be on iPlayer.
Andrew Watson: Um, well, the atmosphere's constantly in motion, and this motion means that you get winds, if the air is rising -
Philomena Cunk: Yeah, I'm going to need you to be a bit more snappy.
Andrew Watson: Um, you get rain, you get snow...
Philomena Cunk: Snappy.
Andrew Watson: Er, er...
Philomena Cunk: In one word.
Andrew Watson: Er, energy.
Philomena Cunk: Energy... yeah. The world's getting hotter, isn't it. But how can we stop ourselves from turning into steam? What do we do? Shall we just start eating more salad and stuff like that?
Andrew Watson: It's certainly true, we will have to adapt to a warmer climate. And we will probably have to eat different things, er, because -
Philomena Cunk: Ice cream and stuff.
Andrew Watson: Um, well, certainly as the world gets warmer, you know -
Philomena Cunk: Probably there's going to be an ice ban, though, isn't it, so we can't have ice lollies.
Andrew Watson: I don't think so, it's not - it's not that bad.
Philomena Cunk: How hot is too hot? You know, I mean, will we be, like, going "Ow" all the time?
Andrew Watson: If global warming happens really slowly, then the world could probably adapt to being quite a lot warmer -
Philomena Cunk: We'll be long gone, by then, so...
Andrew Watson: Well, that's true, but you've got to think about, you know, our children and our children's children.
Philomena Cunk: I'm not going to have kids, I don't think.
Andrew Watson: Um, well, some people, er, will want to have children -
Philomena Cunk: Yeah, some people will. But not until like their children's children, so... We don't, sort of, care, do we, about that.
Andrew Watson: Well...
Philomena Cunk: There's a difference between thinking climate change is man-made and thinking climate change is made up, but I can't remember it, because I'm too hot. And that might be a warning to us all - a Global Warning.