To Solve the Climate Crisis, Focus on Methane

KQED's Forum

Most climate action today focuses on zeroing out carbon emissions, but Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson wants us to take a hard look at methane. It’s a byproduct of animal agriculture and fossil fuel extraction, and pound for pound it’s a greenhouse gas 80 to 90 times more potent than carbon dioxide. That means the upside of reducing methane emissions is significant: Jackson says that no other greenhouse gas provides such an immediate opportunity to slow climate change. We learn more and hear why Jackson’s hopeful about curbing methane emissions in our lifetimes. His new book is “Into the Clear Blue Sky.”

Guests:

Rob Jackson, professor of earth system science; senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy; author, "Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere"