The most surprising bit of information to me in this interview was the discussion about “Techno fanaticism”. This is about the idea of beating climate change through some big technological breakthrough, avoiding having to take any other steps to address it. They compare this to the invention of nitrogen fertilizer allowing us to grow far more crops. This is because while these kinds of great inventions do happen they cannot be counted on to bail us out since they are rare. I found it surprising that they said if there is to be some big breakthrough like that for climate change, it would likely be nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is a new form of energy production (not yet successful) which comes from two nuclei forming together into one heavier nucleus. This would produce lots of energy in a much cleaner form than coal or oil (Department of Energy). However, this technology is complex and we cannot be certain that it will come in time to solve our climate change problems. It requires great precision and safety to properly function. In addressing climate change, I would not have thought it would be so important to just have new, clean energy production rather than addressing problems in old energy systems or improving the efficiency that we use energy.
I also found it surprising that Henderson said that she has never met someone from a large corporation who does not believe in climate change. With so many large corporations contributing greatly to climate change, it is surprising to hear that they all truly believe that it is a problem and that they will have to adjust to it. I would guess that as a corporation they are responsible for producing profits for shareholders and cannot be more concerned with climate change than the laws force them to be.
Information source:
https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainsnuclear-fusion-reactions#:~:text=Nuclear%20Fusion%20reactions%20power%20the,The%20leftover%20mass%20becomes%20energy.
Image source: https://byjus.com/physics/nuclear-fusion/