Watch this TED Talk about the fastest way to slow global warming today

The fastest way to slow global warming is to cut emissions of methane — a highly potent, short-term greenhouse gas. Watch EDF Senior Scientist Daniel Zavala-Araiza explain in this TED Talk what it will take to make the drastic cuts needed.

“I grew up in Mexico City, and as a little kid, I had no clue about global climate change,” Zavala-Araiza says, “but I did know air pollution.” He soon learned that pollution doesn’t just cause health problems. It causes climate change too. 

With the right data, governments can shape policies that reduce pollution as they did in Mexico City, where in fewer than 30 years, the city’s ranking dropped from number one most polluted city on Earth to number 917. 

Today, Zavala-Araiza uses data from multiple satellites — including MethaneSAT, an EDF-developed methane-detecting satellite — to provide governments, companies and nonprofit groups the data they need to slash methane emissions globally.

Despite big challenges, he’s hopeful for the future, “because we’re using data not only to understand the methane problem, but to actually fix it.”