Most of our efforts to fight climate change, from electric cars to wind
turbines, are about pumping fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But
what if we could pull out the gases that are already there? Akshat Rathi, a
reporter at Bloomberg with a doctorate in chemistry, knows more about this
technology, called “direct air capture,” than just about anyone. He follows
companies like Carbon Engineering and Climeworks that are trying to figure out
how to take regular air and pull carbon dioxide out of it. If their plans
work, they could mean a world with net negative emissions: less carbon in the
sky than there is right now, and a cooler planet. But his reporting has also
highlighted how elusive carbon capture can be, and how tricky it can be to
make the tech work at an affordable price. Rathi and Vox’s Dylan Matthews
discuss how direct air capture works, how it’s different from capturing carbon
at a fossil fuel plant, and the struggles of one direct air capture company in
particular.     Read more of Akshat’s work here: Inside America's Race to
Scale Direct-Air Capture Technology - Bloomberg Crushed Rock Could Capture
Billions of Tons of Carbon Dioxide - Bloomberg Britain Is Getting Ready to
Scale Up Negative-Emissions Technology - Bloomberg Planting Trees Isn’t a
Simple Climate Change Solution It Seems - Bloomberg The story behind the
world’s first large direct air capture plant — Quartz (qz.com) The ultimate
guide to negative-emissions technologies — Quartz (qz.com)   Host: Dylan
Matthews (@DylanMatt), senior correspondent, Vox  Producer:  Sofi LaLonde
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