2024-12-31
6 分钟The Economist Hello, this is Alok Jha,
host of Babbage, our weekly podcast on science and technology.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
We've chosen an unmissable article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Please do have a listen.
is a wonder.
When the astronauts of Apollo 8 saw their bright cloud-girdled home rise over the barren lunar horizon,
they recognised at once that it was dynamic,
beautiful and exceptional, something to be cared for.
But the view from space does not only inspire, it also informs.
Satellites reveal how Earth is changing, and thus what sort of care it needs.
And the latest such diagnostic information is that although Earth remains as beautiful as ever,
it has been getting a little less bright.
Satellite data show that since the turn of the century, Earth's albedo,
the amount of incoming sunlight it reflects, has been dropping.
Because light not reflected is absorbed,
that adds heat to the system and exacerbates global warming.
It is part of the reason why the rate at which the planet is warming until the 2010s,
around 0.18 degrees Celsius a decade,
now appears to be well over 0.2 degrees Celsius a decade.