Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas: more of it = more extreme weather.
Watch the full conversation: tdc.video/programs/how-earths-climate-system-is-changing
Dr. Jennifer A. Francis: jenniferafrancis.com
woodwellclimate.org/staff/jennifer-francis
My new member-video website: tdc.video/catalog
Video by Bryce Plank
Subscribe to TDC:
youtube.com/TheDailyConversation
One of the strongest connections between climate change and extreme weather events like record storms, wildfires, droughts, floods, and heatwaves is water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas.
Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas: more of it = more extreme weather.
Watch the full conversation: tdc.video/programs/how-earths-climate-system-is-changing
Dr. Jennifer A. Francis: jenniferafrancis.com
woodwellclimate.org/staff/jennifer-francis
My new member-video website: tdc.video/catalog
Video by Bryce Plank
Subscribe to TDC:
youtube.com/TheDailyConversation
One of the strongest connections between climate change and extreme weather events like record storms, wildfires, droughts, floods, and heatwaves is water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas.





![Criminal Investigation, Part 1: How Russia Helped Trump Win
A criminal forensics examination of the mounting evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. Putin’s fingerprints are everywhere.
Watch part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoUAIiHBeA0
Subscribe to TDC: https://www.youtube.com/TheDailyConversation/
Video by Bryce Plank and Robin West
Music:
Dark and Cinematic Ambient, TDC Remix by Motion Array
Long Note Two by Kevin MacLeod
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=electro+sketch&Search=Search
Like our page on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/thedailyconversation
Script:
For years, Moscow has dreamed of undermining the US-led liberal democratic order that it views as a threat to its oligarchy and the regime of Vladimir Putin, but its 2016 election activity demonstrated a significant escalation compared to previous operations.
In September 2015 — a few months before Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders squared off in the Iowa caucus - the FBI notified a cyber-security contractor working for the Democratic National Committee that it had been infiltrated by a Russian cyber-espionage group.
It was the opening move in a hacking and information warfare campaign whose capabilities Russia had been developing for decades.
Twenty years earlier, it launched the first major international cyber attack. Russian hackers infiltrated computer systems across the US government and stole so many files that if all the documents were printed and stacked, they would be taller than the Washington Monument. They also broke into networks in Canada, the UK, Brazil, and Germany.
Despite this intrusion, the U.S. was mainly concerned with fending off the Chinese, whose headline-grabbing attacks did more damage.
Toward the end of George W. Bush’s second term in 2007, Russia began using hacking for political purposes. First, it punished Estonia for joining the NATO military alliance. Then, Moscow shut down Georgia’s Internet before invading the small country—the first time in history cyber-weapons had been used in an actual war.
President Obama’s Secretary of Defense put Russia and China on notice that any moves against America’s critical infrastructure would not be tolerated and warned that the United States would consider a serious cyber attack an act of war.
[Leon Panetta] “Attackers could also seek to disable or degrade critical military systems and communication networks. The collective result of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber Pearl Harbor.”
In 2014 and 2015, as the US sanctioned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, a Russian hacking group systematically infiltrated the State Department, the White House, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. State had to repeatedly shut down its systems to expel the intruders. While in Vienna, Secretary Kerry’s team had to use Gmail to communicate.
President Obama received briefings on all of these attacks, but the White House thought retaliating too strongly could start an all-out cyberwar or even a real war.
But the Russians became more emboldened. They intercepted and broadcast a phone call of an Obama administration official expressing frustration with Europe. Then they stole documents from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation and released doctored versions to make it seem Soros was funding Putin’s opposition.
Still, they were met with little resistance for crossing the line, so they crossed it even more. On the day a French TV network debuted a new channel, its entire system was shut down by malicious software that began to rapidly destroy its computers. A quick-thinking tech identified the infected machine and disconnected it. The Russians behind the attack tried to make it look like the work of terrorists, calling themselves the Cyber Caliphate.
Next, the Kremlin ordered the first known successful cyber attack on another nation’s power grid, disrupting the electricity supply of 230,000 Ukrainians.
Which brings us to the operation to interfere in the election—the first time a foreign government has acted so boldly against American democracy.
Seven months after he was first notified by the FBI of the Russian intrusion in the DNC’s computer system, the cyber-security contractor finally confirmed that an unauthorized user was inside the network.
It’s unclear exactly why it took him so long to take a closer look. Part of the problem was a lack of follow-through by the FBI agent who had warned him the year before. But the Democratic National Committee - a non-profit - also hadn’t spent enough money on cybersecurity. The party would pay dearly for that mistake.
It then brought on leading cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and within a day it was confirmed that the breach had originated in Russia and was the work of two different hacking groups: Cozy Bear — believed to be either Russias Federal Security Service or its Foreign Intelligence Service, and Fancy Bear — thought to be Russias military intelligence agency, GRU. Criminal Investigation, Part 1: How Russia Helped Trump Win](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xCf6qkRJuy4/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Mission To Destroy The Worst Greenhouse Gasses
One companys quest to find and destroy CFCs, HCFCs, and HFC refrigerants - and methane-leaking wells - as fast as possible. These gases superheat the atmosphere much more than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Tradewater: https://tradewater.us/offsetnow/
Subscribe to TDC: https://www.youtube.com/TheDailyConversation/
Refrigerant animation courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/@GeniusEngineering
Information sources:
CA.Gov High GWP Fact Sheet https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/high-gwp-refrigerants
EPA Refrigerant Phaseout https://www.epa.gov/ods-phaseout#:~:text=Class%20II%20substances%20are%20all,phased%20out%20as%20of%202020.
EPA HCF Phasedown https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/frequent-questions-phasedown-hydrofluorocarbons#:~:text=Consistent%20with%20the%20AIM%20Act,listed%20in%20the%20AIM%20Act.
Difference between refrigerants https://www.coldroommaster.com/cold-room-refrigerant-system/
EPA: How to Properly dispose of refrigerants https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ConstrAndDemo_EquipDisposal.pdf
EPA: Understanding Global Warming Potential https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials#:~:text=Methane%20(CH4)%20is%20estimated,27%2D30%20over%20100%20years.
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 Report https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter_07_Supplementary_Material.pdf
0:00 The Problem
1:00 Acquiring Refrigerants
3:40 The Destruction Process
4:49 Founding Tradewater
5:30 A Climate-First Mission
6:35 Going International
8:26 Capping Methane Leaks
Script:
The secret sauce inside this heat pump, your fridge, and air conditioner, is the refrigerant that circulates inside, expanding and compressing to move heat from one space to another.
But if this chemical escapes it’s a problem because it heats the atmosphere much more than an equivalent amount of Carbon Dioxide. [show how many times CO2]
So, when an appliance reaches the end of its life cycle, the refrigerant is - hopefully - recovered into canisters that often get left around to degrade and leak.
[Show clip from Honduras of canister leaking]
Few people understand how big of a disaster it is when this happens.
Luckily, the most potent warming gasses are no longer produced or are being phased down, but because there’s no easy way to properly get rid of it, there are probably many million appliances and tanks full of it still out there.
Fortunately, one company has made it their mission to hunt down these canisters - these climate grenades - and safely disarm them.
To learn more, I visited them in Chicago.
“There’s no regulatory obligation to destroy this stuff, and that’s a role we can come in and help fill.”
Valeria leads a team that travels across America finding refrigerants and paying people cash for them. She took me along on a quick local pick-up.
We didn’t want to freak the customer out by filming them in front of their house, but back at the warehouse, I saw the goods.
Inside, I found Moises working on the next step.
How refrigerant gases are destroyed.
The team stores the refrigerants in these larger tanks until they’ve aggregated enough to fill this beast.
That happens at a facility like this one that superheats the refrigerant.
“Rotary kiln incineration…we are literally burning this gas to break down the chemical bonds and rendering the component parts essentially inert.”
When I sat down with Tradewater’s founders at Jackson Park, I learned this work started on a much smaller scale.
[Explaining carbon offset credit, California Cap and Trade, and how the company makes money]
[Gabe discusses how refrigerants are usually collected and destroyed, and how TW’s climate-first approach is different]
[Tim discussing growth]
With its US operation set up and scaling quickly, the team is working internationally to make an even bigger impact, but that comes with some serious challenges.
[Gabe on navigating each country’s different systems]
Back in the US, Tradewater has begun partnering with state governments to stop another dangerous gas from escaping: the methane spewing out of millions of uncapped, orphaned oil and gas wells, emissions that have a warming potential 81.2 times that of CO2 over a 20 year period.
The team is leveraging the skills of former oil and gas industry workers who get this specialized job done right.
[These gasses cannot be sequestered once released]
Thanks for watching, make sure you’re subscribed here to catch the next climate solution I profile. The Mission To Destroy The Worst Greenhouse Gasses](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xDwH4u4hbYw/mqdefault.jpg)



![How America Changed Under Obama [A Data Analysis]
A data-driven look at how the U.S. changed under the presidency of Barack Obama.
FB for daily news: http://www.facebook.com/thedailyconversation
http://www.twitter.com/thedailyconvo
Subscribe to TDC: https://www.youtube.com/TheDailyConversation/
Data courtesy of Pew Research Center: http://pewrsr.ch/2jzFOHy
Researched, written, narrated and produced by Bryce Plank
Video edited by Robin West
Music: Particles Unfolding by Glimpse: https://soundcloud.com/glimpse_official/particles_unfolding
Electro Sketch by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=electro+sketch&Search=Search
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Script:
In 2008, Barack Obama was the change candidate. This is a data-driven look at how much America transformed during his eight years as our President. Pause or rewind the video if you need more time with any of the data.
After spiking during the Great Recession, the unemployment rate is below 5% today.
And the stock market has more than doubled.
Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, plunged the percentage of adults without health insurance to the lowest level in history.
While the share of income going to the top 1% has continued to increase, average Americans saw the biggest jump in their household income ever in 2015, and the biggest drop in poverty since the great society programs of the 1960’s.
The violent crime rate is down almost 20% from when Obama took office.
America’s image abroad was lifted as President Obama turned away from the policies of George W. Bush and toward a more active pursuit of diplomacy to solve problems.
Today, there are less than 15,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to the 175,000 when he took office.
But this was coupled with Americans themselves becoming more wary of international engagement.
On energy, the Obama administration has reduced carbon emissions by 9.4%, greatly expanded wind and solar power, and cut America’s dependence on foreign oil by more than half.
In 2015, for the first time since at least 1980, the number of inmates in federal prisons actually declined.
8 states have now legalized marijuana and - for first time - a majority of Americans overall support legalization.
A majority of Americans also favor the Supreme Court’s ruling that essentially legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Culturally, the biggest change came when Apple released the first iPhone during Obama’s campaign for the democratic nomination in 2007. In the decade since, smartphone use has exploded and about half of all Americans now own a tablet too.
But all that technology has led to a constant stream of stories and images of violence and victimization, especially at the hands of police, seen all over the social media feeds of many Americans, that’s led to a widespread perception that race relations have deteriorated.
Millennials are now the nation’s largest living generation and the biggest potential voting block.
For the first time in 2013, the majority of newborn babies were racial or ethnic minorities, and a record-high 12% of newlyweds married someone of a different race.
Despite some people’s perception, the past seven years has seen little change in the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, there was actually a net loss of over 100,000 immigrants who went back to Mexico.
The biggest religious trend during Obama’s presidency is the rise of those claiming no religion at all a group now making up a quarter of the population, and 35% of millennials.
As you can see from President Obama’s approval ratings among democrats and republicans, modern America has never been so divided along partisan lines.
Far more democrats than republicans now say immigrants strengthen the country; and when it comes to guns, far more republicans now think we should prioritize gun rights over gun control.
For various reasons, both democrats and republicans have much less faith in government. Most Americans didn’t think the government’s actions after the financial crisis helped them.
On national security, after the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, for the first time since 9/11, the government’s job rating on terrorism turned negative.
And, driven by the campaign of Donald Trump, Republicans have suddenly become anti-free trade and globalization. As you can see, Democrats’ views have remained roughly the same.
Only one-third of Americans used social media in 2008, but by 2015 that rate was 75%.
Obama was also the first Internet video president, as this media genre came of age during his time in office. YouTube now has over a billion users.
In 2016, more American adults learned about the presidential election through social media than through print newspapers, with seven-in-ten getting their news through a mobile device. How America Changed Under Obama [A Data Analysis]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/y3uuX8Jtqxw/mqdefault.jpg)