What was Venus like three billion years ago?
What lessons can we learn on Earth from our next-door planetary neighbour?
Step aboard, it’s time to travel to our nearest planetary neighbour: Venus with this week’s episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. During its first billion years Venus was a paradise. The Ship of Imagination takes us to an idyllic beach during the last perfect day on Venus, right before the runaway greenhouse effect wreaked havoc on the planet. Now, the oceans are gone, the surface is scorching and thick clouds of sulphuric acid surround the planet, choking the atmosphere with CO2. Nature destroyed Venus without any help from intelligent life.
Back on earth, Neil deGrasse Tyson traces the surprisingly lengthy history of our awareness of global warming and alternative energy sources. Currently we are burdening our world with CO2, and the future if we continue, is uncertain. But there is hope, this episode concludes with a breath-taking vision of the magnificent future that is scientifically and technically within our grasp.
Tune into Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey ‘The World Set Free’ on Sunday 1st June at 7pm on National Geographic Channel.