carlsagandotcom
4 HN recommenders · recommended in 18 months, 2021–2026
16:54 · 4.5M views · Aug 19, 2021
Carl Sagan's December 1985 testimony to Congress on the greenhouse effect, about 15 minutes long. He lays out CO2 warming, the risk of runaway effects and the danger of continued coal burning.
HN commenters use it as proof that the climate problem was clearly explained decades ago, and as a model of clear communication to a broad audience.
20 comments from Hacker News
The address Carl Sagan made in 1985 is well worth watching for those who remember those times and especially for those who weren't alive back then [0] People knew about this before you were born and decided their best interests were more important and they acted in wilful disregard for your life and the lives of everyone on this planet. They weren't ignorant. No facts were hidden from them that they could be forgiven for being misinformed. They knew with certainty what the science was revealing and spent money to discredit the science, cut funding to their own researchers, bought politicians, funded PR campaigns, and continued building their fossil fuel empires. Everything Carl Sagan said in that address has come to pass. It's wild to watch. [0] this video
Look at how many details this guy (Carl Sagan) conveyed in his 15' speech: this video in a way that potentially everyone understood. I wonder if every explanation was like his, if nuance wouldn't be well communicated, even to large groups.
A quick google search gives us plenty of past published projections and how they fared: [LINK] You can also watch Carl Sagan break it down in front of congress back in 1985 for just 15 minutes of your time this video
Time to watch Carl Sagan, almost 50 years ago, explain how our coal usage would be a big problem: this video A slow train wreck that was avoidable.
That’s not correct. There are large emission issues that would should tackle first. How we generate electricity is one of them. Carl Sagan warned us almost 40 years ago that coal would be a future problem. this video That was clearly a large problem that could have been addressed, and still needs to be ASAP. Coal-fired power stations emit over 10 Gt of carbon dioxide each year,[4] about one fifth of world greenhouse gas emissions, so are the single largest cause of climate change. 8500 coal power plants in the world. “Coal-fired power stations emit over 10 Gt of carbon dioxide each year,[4] about one fifth of world greenhouse gas emissions, so are the single largest cause of climate change.” [LINK] So, we start the discussion with air travel, trying to reduce 2% to under 2%. While we’ve ignored 20% of global emissions. We actually cost ourselves decades. So many miracles needed by 2050, when we could be talking 2070. Now, let’s just tell everyone we need to do everything at once.