{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"123 | A Science Paradox: Would Francis Bacon Have Survived Greenpeace and Exxon?","description":"A tree grows out of the ground. But does it come from the ground? Four hundred years ago, Jean-Baptiste van Helmont planted a willow tree in a carefully weighed pot of soil to find out. His experiment produced evidence he couldn\u2019t fully explain\u2014and helped open a trail of discovery connecting forests, fuels, and the atmosphere. In this episode of Bionic Planet, I revisit the prehistory of the voluntary carbon market, from the ancient Greeks\u2019 four elements to Francis Bacon\u2019s assault on dogma and the experiments that helped turn alchemy into chemistry. Along the way, we meet people who got the experiment right and the explanation wrong, discovered gases they couldn\u2019t identify, and challenged theories that had seemed to explain everything. Their stories bring us to two recurring themes on Bionic Planet: the science behind climate change and the challenge of acting under uncertainty. Right-wing climate science deniers exploit uncertainty to undermine trust in climate science. Left-wing opponents of carbon markets exploit it to undermine trust in climate solutions. The targets differ, but the maneuver is familiar: turn the limits of knowledge into an excuse to dismiss what we do know. In The Carbon Paradox, my co-authors and I explore a related dilemma we call the Science Paradox: methods improve, evidence accumulates, and yesterday\u2019s best practices can become tomorrow\u2019s targets. Waiting for the perfect methodology means waiting forever\u2014while the forests we\u2019re trying to protect disappear. This episode explores: Francis Bacon\u2019s challenge to dogma, bias, and distorted public discourse. Van Helmont\u2019s willow experiment and the mystery of where trees get their mass. Joseph Black\u2019s \u201cfixed air,\u201d now known as carbon dioxide. Phlogiston, Joseph Priestley, and Antoine Lavoisier\u2019s competing explanations of combustion. Jan Ingenhousz and the role of sunlight in photosynthesis. The connection between Black\u2019s work on latent heat, steam engines, and modern heat pumps. Read further The Carbon Paradox, by Renat Heuberger, Steve Zwick, and Marco Hirsbrunner\u2014a story of three young idealists confronting the practical and political contradictions of climate finance. Novum Organum, by Francis Bacon\u2014free to read through Project Gutenberg. The Life and Letters of Joseph Black, M.D., by William Ramsay. Lavoisier in the Year One, by Madison Smartt Bell. Help support independent reporting on climate and biodiversity finance: become a Bionic Planet patron. For sponsorship inquiries, contact steve@bionic-planet.com. ","author_name":"Bionic Planet: Reversing Climate Change by Restoring Nature","author_url":"http:\/\/www.bionic-planet.com\/","html":"