On this episode of Twelve Thousand Bombs, you'll hear from climatologist Lili Xia of Rutgers University. Xia was the leading author on a landmark 2022 research paper in Nature Food detailing climate models and the potential for widespread famine in the aftermath of a nuclear conflict.
Xia employed various possible scenarios of nuclear war—such as a conflict between India and Pakistan, for example, or a more widespread global conflict instigated by Russia prompting a NATO response—to calculate the amount of soot such bombs would inject into the atmosphere. In the worst possible scenario, dropping temperatures and reduced light across the northern hemisphere could severely impact global crop, livestock and fishery production for years, with the most significant changes over the northern hemisphere.
Xia poses larger, unknowable questions, such as radiation fallout affecting soil quality and the possibility of a refugee crisis in the wake of severe famine—plus how countries less affected like Australia and South Africa react to a global humanitarian crisis.
In total, such an event could result in billions of people dying from famine. Can individuals prepare for such a possibility? Xia suggests reducing household food waste could help and have other positive impacts on climate change. But the only real answer is to avoid nuclear war altogether.
Listen to Twelve Thousand Bombs on the NPR App or wherever you get your podcasts. For a full transcript, visit this episode on Apple Podcasts.
