Episode

Novel Solutions

Podcast
Marketplace All-in-One
Published
Jun 3, 2026
Duration seconds
1492
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/06/03/novel-solutions
Audio
https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/marketplace/how_we_survive_climate/2026/06/01/howwesurviveclimate_20260601_HWS_S9_E2_Stephenson_128.mp3?awCollectionId=mkp-AllNOne&awEpisodeId=01KSMYT92A8H6PEY220YRSADMM
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/marketplace-all-in-one-432449/episodes/novel-solutions
Markdown
/podcast/marketplace-all-in-one-432449/novel-solutions.md

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Summary

Talk to enough experts about geoengineering and the conversation eventually turns to termination shock. That’s the idea that if we were to start cooling the planet and then suddenly stop, the resulting “shock” of heat could be catastrophic. It’s also the title of a novel by bestselling sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson, who explores the science, politics, and unintended consequences of trying to engineer the earth’s climate. In this episode, we sit down with Stephenson to talk about what sci-fi can teach us about real-world climate solutions. But first: a climate idea so ambitious it sounds like it came straight from the pages of science fiction.