Understanding the Atmosphere | Essentials of Environmental Science

Welcome to our new special series about the essentials of environmental science
More info below…

The air we breathe is this extremely precious thing. Especially, because there is so little of it - the atmosphere is really thin, it’s like if you wrapped a single layer of plastic wrap around a basketball. That thin sheet is what makes this tiny little planet in the vast solar system, and as far as we know - universe - able to sustain life. In this episode of the Essentials of Environmental Science, we’re going to look at some ways in which human beings have negatively affected the thin layer of earth’s atmosphere by filling it with pollutants, how we study the atmosphere, and how we can protect it.

Hey, we messed up at 2:24. UVC has a shorter wavelength (higher energy) than UVB and UVA. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!

Welcome to our Learning series about the essentials of environmental science. We’ll have more from this series in the following videos, so stay tuned!

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Host/Writer: Miriam Nielsen
Editor-in-chief: Joe Hanson
Creative Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Editor/Animator: Sara Roma

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Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Theme Music: Eric Friend/Optical Audio
Music: APM

[HotMessPBS]

Hey, we messed up at 2:24. UVC has a shorter wavelength (higher energy) than UVB and UVA. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!

[philipdmiller]

This is why The Pale Blue Dot speech by Carl Sagan should be taught in every school, around the world (yep it's round), to every school child. Capture their imagination and hope they will take the time to learn all of this. Because we all live "on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam" on "the only home we've ever known"

[green]

Glad Hot Mess is still going strong. I had thought it had ended some time ago, found this in my subscriptions feed. You guys are awesome.

[TroyEagan]

Minor correction:
UVC has a shorter wavelength than UVA and UVB, not longer. Shorter wavelengths correspond with higher energy levels.

[IstasPumaNevada]

Other important takeaways for CFC's: The ban was in 1987, and we're only now, 33 years later, starting to see recovery. This is partly because it takes a really, really long time for the chlorine to disperse, and partly because it takes time to implement policy (especially if things are phased out instead of instantly stopped).
But also relevant, use never dropped to 0, and there was a recent increase of CFC emissions from eastern China, and possibly other sources, around the middle-to-late part of the last decade.
These are two more reasons why it's so important to get more serious about climate change NOW, and not later. Especially since the CO2/heat balance takes much longer to even out.

[GuitarLegendvideos]

Awesome video thankyou!
Although I'm sure you want to make the video shorter not longer... I would love it if there were slightly longer gaps between your spoken paragraphs.
It's easy to listen to a fast talker normally. But if it's alot of new information, suddenly a fast talker becomes difficult to process 🤣

These videoa are so helpful though!! But the average person like me especially, helps me understand everything better

[lemonboiyoutube]

Wow, everyone hears about air pollution causing cold and hot weather, but after this video, I've learned that it's much more than that.

[ryko]

This is the best Hot Mess video I have ever seen! A lot of videos that talk about CC feel repetitive, but this was fascinating

[Celosten]

The description says that Joe Hanson is the host. He looks a little different today.

[matthewbasnett]

You mentioned that CO2 was not considered an air pollutant but what about it’s affects on cognition at high ppm’s such as indoor spaces, bedrooms and classrooms?

[alial-fatlawi]

Great video, I just want to point out that the situation we're in is very dire. We still pollute way to much

[MortyMortyMorty]

It's great to have you back guys :D

[suhrdjoshi]

Shorter wavelengths have higher energies, the narration had an error. If UVC is more harmful than UVA, then it is bluer and not redder, as correctly shown in the graphic.

[andreaswagner]

At least in Germany the cooling towers nowadays also emit the other pollutants. The old chimneys are mainly not used anymore.

[jbw]

To get an idea of how thin the atmosphere, you can look up at a plane in the sky. Theyre up at 30k ft. Everest is about the same height. You cant breath ar half that high. Gives you a metric you can see everyday.

[jbw]

Excellent. Ask s denier a single thing about the atmosphere and they dont have a clue.

[omegamagna]

This is a great video! I cannot wait to watch more of your videos.

That being said, you talk really fast.

[alexandrereyes]

Very good video !
Although I would've loved to see the sources of some plots. I am a little bit surprised by the decrease of NOx particules considering the large increase on the number of Disel engines in the US.

[DragomirSangeorzan]

Unfortunately, it takes a pandemic or economic crisis to decrease fossil fuel use. See: Jevons paradox... gains in efficiency are used for increasing output and consumption, not for reducing the footprint.

[kapekape]

im gonna like every comment just beacause i had a good day today