Data Points: A Podcast by Berkeley Earth Berkeley Earth

97% of the world is breathing air considered to be “unhealthy” according to the WHO’s 2021 updated guidelines. Responsible for a host of ailments ranging from lung cancer and heart disease to cognitive impairment, air pollution is one of the defining global health challenges of our generation.

In recognition of the 2022 UN International Day of Clean Air, we welcome back Christa Hasenkopf, Director of Air Quality Programs and the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) at the Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC) to discuss the current landscape of global action on air pollution, and how the AQLI and EPIC are creating impact by making the impacts of air pollution more tangible.

In this episode:

🫁How the AQLI connects air pollution exposure with life expectancy (2:26)
🌐The WHO’s significant 2021 update to global air quality guidelines (6:18)
🔎Changes to the AQLI following the 2021 WHO update (7:40)
🚬The many health impacts of PM2.5 air pollution… (10:59)
🚭…and how those impacts compare to other disease burdens (11:59)
🏭How our perception of “good” air may differ from what the AQLI shows (13:57)
🔥How wildfires are impacting wellbeing in areas with otherwise “good” air quality (16:03)
💰The opportunity for high-impact philanthropic funding to tackle air quality…(19:25)
☁️… and the opportunity for high-impact data solutions to tackle air quality (22:02)
✨The many reasons for optimism as the world tackles the twin challenges of air pollution and climate change (26:07)



Referenced in this episode:

The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI)

The AQLI 2022 Update Report

WHO’s 2021 updated air quality guidelines

Joined Up Action on Air Pollution and Climate Change - The Clean Air Fund

Air Pollution Kills Ten Million People Each Year: Why Do We Accept That As Normal? - David
Wallace Wells, New York Times

How can a $10million investment help address global air inequality? -Data Points Podcast (2021)

Berkeley Earth’s Searchable Air Quality Data





[Image courtesy of EPIC/University of Chicago]
[Music courtesy of Coma-Media via Pixaby]

Of all extreme weather phenomenon, heatwaves and extreme heat events are the most scientifically correlated to climate change; they are also the most deadly. Research conducted by the World Weather Attribution Group found that the Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021 would have been virtually impossible absent the effects of global warming. Additionally, studies have shown that the U.S. stands to lose up to $500 billion per year as a result of lost "workability" due to the impacts of extreme heat. 

Enter Eleni Myrivili. Appointed last year as the first Chief Heat Officer for the city of Athens, Greece, the first such role on the European continent, Ms. Myrivili is working to raise awareness of the impacts of extreme heat, in addition to implementing adaptive strategies to ensure that Athens and other cities around the world can build resilience to the impacts of extreme heat events. 

In this episode we discuss: 

🏙 Ms. Myrivili's journey from Anthropology to urban climate resilience (1:50)
🌡 The idiosyncratic nature of heatwaves (8:30)
🥵 The impacts of heatwaves on urban quality of life... (11:01)
📉 ...and how much extreme heatwaves impact GDP  (13:17)
🏛 How the built environment in Athens contributes to extreme heat island effects (18:08)
🌳 The symbiotic relationship between mitigation and adaptation, and the need for policy to address both (23:41)
🇬🇷 How climate and temperature data is being used to build resilience in Athens (32:48)
🌍 And how looking at climate change through the lens of anthropology can help improve climate outcomes (41:53)



Links to resources mentioned in this episode: 

Berkeley Earth's temperature data for Greece

Categorizing and naming heatwaves - Arsht-Rockefeller Resilience Center

Heat is killing us - and the economy too - The Atlantic Council 

Weather-related fatalities - NOAA

The world's first confirmation of global warming using actual temperature observations was published in 1938 when engineer Guy Callendar linked an observed 0.3°C warming to an increased atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Fast forward nearly 90 years and 1.3°C, and climate scientists are still using crucial environmental data to communicate the significance of - and urgency around - carbon emissions and global warming. But now with significantly better data, data that modern illustrative styles and communication tools are dispensing to a mass audience — none more recognized than the ubiquitous climate stripes, a colorful progression from blue hues to deep reds to show the world’s warming over time.



In celebration of Earth Day 2022, Data Points Podcast is thrilled to welcome climate stripes creator Professor Ed Hawkins for a conversation with Berkeley Earth Lead Scientist Dr. Robert Rohde about the importance of making climate science accessible, the ongoing efforts to “rescue” historic climate data, and why filling the gaps in the historical climate record is essential to increasing our resilience to climate change. 



In this episode we discuss: 

📚 The origin of Professor Hawkins’ famous climate stripes
🎨 The importance of creativity and innovation in making climate science accessible and approachable
⚓️ Why 16,000 volunteers across the U.K. worked with www.weatherrescue.org to digitize data from 19th century ship logs
🌊 How historical climate data is being used to craft infrastructure legislation and prepare for future impacts of climate change
🌋 Why increasing our understanding of the period between 1780 and 1850 is crucial to understanding the climate impacts of fossil fuels
💰 And why investing in historic climate data is essential to building resilience to climate change.



Join the effort to rescue historic climate data by visiting www.weatherrescue.org.

Find the climate stripes for your region at www.showyourstripes.info

🌎 Donate Now: Support independent climate science with an Earth Day contribution to Berkeley Earth at www.donate.berkeleyearth.org. 

The UN IPCC's late February publication Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, looking specifically at the socioeconomic impacts of climate change, was described by UN Secretary General António Guterres as, "an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership." The report issued a strong call-to-action to lower emissions and mitigate climate change while recognizing the urgent need to ramp up funding streams for adaptive measures. 

Taking a deeper look at the relationship between investing in climate data and building adaptive capacity, we are thrilled to welcome Abubakr Salih Babiker, Erick Otenyo, and Marta Baraibar from the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center, also known as ICPAC for the first episode of our 2022 Earth Month series for Data Points. Leveraging climate and environmental data from a number of sources including Berkeley Earth, their East Africa Hazards Watch platform serves as a crucial early warning system to help increase adaptive capacity in an 11-country region across eastern Africa. 

In this episode we discuss: 

🌍An overview of ICPAC and their impact as a climate services provider

🌨How a single extreme weather event accounted for a 14% loss of GDP for one East African country

🌊The strengthening of the Indian Ocean dipole and it's impact on weather patterns across the continent

🌪How a tropical cyclone in the Saudi Arabian desert created an ongoing locust infestation across East Africa

📈The importance of filling crucial climate data gaps to improve adaptive capacity

📡The significance of science communications in reaching last mile users and improving outcomes



🔵 Want to help support independent climate science? Leave us a review below and subscribe to Data Points on your favorite podcast platform. To make a tax-deductible donation visit donate.berkeleyearth.org.   



Links to papers and resources mentioned in this episode: 

📚 IPCC Working Group II Report -  Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability

📰 Time is running out to avert a harrowing future, climate panel warns - New York Times

📄 WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970–2019)

📎 How extreme weather is - and is not - linked to the effects of climate change



#EarthMonth2022 #InvestinData #InvestinClimateData #InvestInTheEarth 

What does a world below 1.5°C actually look like? 

Ahead of the beginning of the much-anticipated COP26 climate change conference, in this episode of the Data Points podcast Berkeley Earth Chief Scientist Dr. Robert Rohde, and Research Scientist Dr. Zeke Hausfather dive into your questions about COP26 and the climate science of a world below the Paris Agreement targets. 

Topics covered include equitable emissions reductions and industrialized vs developing nations, methane and melting permafrost, climate models and warming forecasts, climate feedback loops, global emissions caps and climate dividends, climate disinformation, housing policy in the context of climate change, and how actual emissions reductions can be measured and enforced.

Again, we can't thank you enough for your outstanding questions. Be sure to follow Robert, Zeke, and Berkeley Earth on Twitter for the latest from the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

This week marked the publication of the much anticipated IPCC Working Group I Report, a global, multi-year effort on the part of more than 200 scientists worldwide to describe the physical science underlying the current state of climate change and global warming. 

In this episode of Data Points, Berkeley Earth Lead Scientist Dr. Robert Rohde and Research Scientist Dr. Zeke Hausfather answer your questions regarding the IPCC report. The conversation includes discussion of carbon cycle and carbon cycle feedback loops, emissions and various emissions scenarios, net-zero and net-zero commitments, as well as discussion of sea level rise and ice sheet behavior. 

Many thanks to everyone who submitted questions for this Q&A; unfortunately we weren't able to answer all of the questions that were submitted, but hope to do additional Q&A's in the future. 

The full text of the IPCC Working Group I Report can be dowloaded here.