Jan 30, 2020
Dr. Bruce Monger is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University. His research involves the use of satellite remote sensing methods to study environmental controls of ocean primary production at global scales. He currently serves as a member of NASA’s Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Science Team. I discovered him while I was doing my Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University. While I've been eating plant-based for nearly 7 years, I was amazed with what I learned from his lectures and I immediately asked him to come on the show. Global climate change is a huge issue. If you've been watching the news lately, the financial markets and large companies and taking steps to offset their carbon emissions. While I think this is great, a lot of our daily choices and what we consume as individuals make a huge difference. I don't think it's a problem we can buy our way out of and the first step comes with education of how dire this situation actually is. Dr. Monger says that we are either going to be the generation that essentially is responsible for turning ou r back on the planet and how future generations will be forced to live, or we can be the generation that created a paradigm shift and saved the planet for future beings. There is a finite amount of CO2 that can be released into the air before Earth's temperature increases to a point where things like fresh water, the ability to even grow food, and extreme weather incidents will occur. Our choices in the next decade or two will forever impact the planet and how all beings exist moving forward.
Topics Discussed in the Podcast
- career as an oceanographer
- key elements of climate change and what you can do
- consequences of global warming
- what happens if Earth's temperature increases by 2 Degrees Celsius
- Definition of net-zero carbon emissions
- nutrient pollution & Nitrogen fertilizer
- government policy, industrialized farming
- why one person can make a difference
- fish consumptions and better choices
- the health of ocean linked to climate change & freshwater consumption
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Resources
- Cornell's Plant-Based Nutrition Studies Course
- Dr. Monger at Cornell
- Mentioned: Robert Howarth's work
- King Corn documentary
- Seafood Watch app to choose what fish to eat if any
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
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