January 31, 2025 • 33 mins
Michael Kosta on the tragic Washington D.C. plane crash and Trump's baseless blame of DEI for the catastrophe. Plus, the Best F**kin' News team breaks down which of Trump's nominees was least qualified at their Senate hearings.
Lewis Black Celebrates the End of Dry January and Other Ridiculous Drinking Trends
Journalist and author Vince Beiser sits down to discuss the paradox of electric vehicles and renewable energy in his latest book "Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future." They talk about how preventing climate change has led to a rush for “critical” metals, how China has dominated the field of mining and manufacturing, the minerals and metals behind Trump’s Greenland obsession, recycling electronic waste, and the importance of reusing and repairing gadgets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
From the most trusted journalist at Comedy Central is America's
only sorts for news. This is the Daily Show with
your host Michael Costa.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Show him, Michael Fast. We have so much to talk
about tonight. Trump shows he's unqualified the comfort Nation, all
his nominees are unqualified for their jobs, and Lewis Black's
qualified to start drinking. So let's get to the latest
news on the Trump administration. In another edition of the
Second Coming of Donald J. Trump, I'm going to common
(01:09):
Trump's been busy these last few days, signing orders, reinstalling
the diet coke button, grabbing Panama by the canal, but
it was only a matter of time until he had
to start presidenting for real. This morning, he held a
press conference to address the tragic plane crash in Washington,
DC last night. And remember, one of the most important
(01:31):
things a leader can do in a rapidly developing difficult
situation is to calm people down, stick to the facts,
and keep your uninformed opinions to yourself.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
We did not know what led to this crash, but
we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I
think we'll probably state those opinions now.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I mean, or we can just speculate wildly.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Why not.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I get a little bit nervous when Trump has a
strong opinion, you know, it's it's never something unifying, like
sunsets are beautiful or love is the answer. But this
is a new term and he's only a few days in,
so let's give him the benefit of the doubt. What's
Trump's opinion about what happened in DC?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
The FAA's diversity push, A big push to put diversity
into the FAA's program, the agency's guidance and diversity hiring,
the fas diversity and inclusion hiring plant.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Damn you, diversity initiatives. Why are you responsible for every
historical tragedy? The fires in Los Angeles d EI, the
bridge collapse in Baltimore, d e I, the Irish potato
famine d EI, Slavery d e I. Did you ever
notice how many minorities were at slavery?
Speaker 5 (02:50):
It's all DI Just.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
To be clear, mister president, you have evidence that diversity
initiatives are responsible for this tragic crash. Saying this right right.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
I'm trying to figure out how you can come to
the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do
with this crash because they have common sense.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
There you go, No, no, no, there you go, there you go.
Here's common sense. It's just a coincidence that his common
sense happens to align with his long held prejudices. So
let's spin the big wheel of blame to see which
minorities are responsible for this crash. Who will it be
this time? Black people, lesbians, trans Armenians.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities,
psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a
diversity and Inclusion hiring initiative. They include hearing, vision, missing extremities,
partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, and dwarfism.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Dwarfism. I can't believe it's only day ten and Trump
is already this far down his list of scapegoats. He's
blown past race and gender and now he's hitting dwarfs.
Is he really suggesting there is a plane crash because
someone with dwarfism worked in air traffic control? Does Trump
(04:26):
think they couldn't see the control panel and they were
just reaching up and pushing bump and buttons hoping it
would work out. Hold on, I just want to say
that people with dwarfism are just like everyone else. In fact,
they're penises are normal size, which means proportionally they're huge.
(04:54):
So in a way you could say that I'm the
one looking up to them.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
That's a thinker.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
That's a thinker. Lot of different layers in there. You
might be thinking, well, that's progress. You know, he used
to blame everything on past administrations, but don't worry, he
got them in there too.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
We had a very good policy, and then Biden came
in and he changed it. And Biden went by a
standard that's the exact opposite the FAA, which is overseen
by Secretary Pete Buddhachek, a real winner. You know how
badly everything's run since he's run this Department of Transportation. Obama,
Biden and the Democrats they put politics at a level
(05:44):
that nobody's ever seen. I changed the Obama standards from
very mediocre at best to extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I'm sorry you're blaming Obama, the guy from three presidents ago.
Forget blaming a fart on your dog. This is blaming
the fart on your dog that died when you were eight.
And still think about you, Henry such stinky farts. You look,
(06:17):
mister president. I know you're scared that people might hold
you responsible now that you're president. Because you're the president,
mister president, and it's time to just be a man. Okay.
Real men don't point fingers. Real men find solutions, real
men show leadership, real men moisturized guys. You got to
(06:39):
take care of your skin. You got to take care
of your skin.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
The skin is the biggest organ on the body unless
you're a dwarf, and it's the second builder. Ye got
to it. All right, Let's move on, okay, because while
Trump is demanding meritocracy in government, he's trying to fill
his cabinet with a whole bunchh of just real geniuses. Today,
(07:13):
the Senate held hearings for Cash Bateel, who Trump wants
to lead the FBI because of qualifications like this.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
My name is Cashptel, and I have written the first
ever children's Russiagate book. It's called The Plot Against the King.
It is a fantastical telling by me, the Russiagate chief investigator.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Wow. I mean, that's a great reason to not teach
your kids to read. At the same time, the Senate
held hearings for Tulci Gobberd, who Trump wants as Director
of National Intelligence, even though she's friendly with dictators like
Bashar al Assad and looks like the head of the
Galactic Council in a bad sci fi movie. For more
(07:52):
on those Senate confirmation hearings, we go to Jordan Klepper,
Desi Leidik, and Josh Johnson.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Let's go first. Let's go first to Jordan. Let's go
first to Jordan.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Jordan, you've been covering the Cash Fattel hearing. How did
he come across?
Speaker 8 (08:13):
How do you think Costa Patel's a conspiracy theorist who
believe the twenty twenty election was rigged, follows QAnon, and,
most shockingly, thinks toddlers want to read a pop up
book about Russia. Gates, I mean, just listening to him
speak gave me brain damage so much that I think
listening to him speak gave me brain damage. Clearly, Cash
Patel is the least qualified of all of Trump's nominees.
Speaker 9 (08:37):
I'm sorry, but can I just can I butt in here?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yes? Does you're covering the Tulsa Gobert hearings? How did
she come across?
Speaker 9 (08:43):
How do you think Costa I haven't been that uncomfortable
since Klepper asked if I liked his haircut. She wants
to be Director of Intelligence. Have you seen her friends?
Bashar Alisad, Vladimir Putin, Justin Baldoni, heartburn, upset, stomach diarrhea.
It's too much. She is clearly the least qualified Trump nominee.
Speaker 8 (09:04):
What are you talking about, Desi? First, my head looks fantastic,
and Tulci was at least in Congress. She spent time
in the government. The only thing Patel has spent time
in is the comments section of the Pizzagate subreddits. He's
the most unqualified.
Speaker 9 (09:19):
No, no way, you cannot trust Tulsi with state secrets.
I wouldn't even trust her with secret brand deodorant. CBS
blocked it up now because of her.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I'm sorry. Can I hop in here? Yes, Josh, you're
covering RFK Junior's hearing. Yeah.
Speaker 10 (09:32):
And obviously he is the least qualified candidate because he
is r F K Junior. He wants to run the
Department of Health and Human Services. He's not qualified for health.
He's barely qualified for human all right. He's basically a
leather bag full of coughs for someone who might be
(09:54):
in charge of all the drugs. He acts like someone
in charge of all the side effects nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset, stomach, diarrhea, Baldoni.
Speaker 8 (10:08):
No, no, look, my guy wrote a children's book about
Russia Gate. The only reason you write a children's book
about Russia Gate is you can't write an adult book
about Russia Gates. He used more exclamation points than a
white woman's email.
Speaker 11 (10:22):
I deleted that.
Speaker 9 (10:25):
And Tulsi is the least qualified. She couldn't be more
of a Russian mole if she was dangling from resputant's back. Josh,
do you really think RFK is less qualified than Tulsi?
Speaker 10 (10:36):
Does a bear carcass get dumped in the Central Park woods?
Speaker 8 (10:40):
Cash Pattel, if you're watching a bear is the one
that goes girl?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Please?
Speaker 9 (10:46):
Tulsi makes cash Pattel look like Stephen Hawking.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
Yeah, current day Stephen Hawking, because cash Pattel is brain dead.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
At least they have brains.
Speaker 10 (10:57):
RK Junger's brain got eaten by a war.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
In his head. Hey, guys, guy's hey, why are we
fighting over this? Okay, they're all unqualified. Why does it
matter who the least qualified?
Speaker 8 (11:10):
Is Michael because the reporter covering that specific hearing gets
the right to use a somber but serious Pulitzer contending
voice when they say, in the opinion of this reporter,
Cash Pattel is the least qualified nominee in American history.
Speaker 11 (11:28):
No no, no, no no no.
Speaker 9 (11:30):
Tulci Gabbert is the least qualified nominee in American history.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
You're both wrong. RFK Junior is the least qualified.
Speaker 10 (11:47):
Nominee in an American Ah, in American history.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Josh are you? Josh, are you putting in contacts?
Speaker 10 (11:55):
I don't have glasses, but I need to look smart. God,
I never touched my eye before this.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Look.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I don't think. I don't think any of you are
qualified for this job. Jordan, Desi and Josh everyone. When
we come back.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Lewis Black, we'll try not to drink it all the
right by.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Welcome back to the Davis. When our news story falls
through the cracks and Lewis Black catches it for a segment,
we call back in Black.
Speaker 11 (12:46):
Ah Alcohol, It's why I get up in the morning,
how my mom made it through her pregnancy, and why
I'm not allowed within fifty feet of a horse. Booze
is the committed relationship I'll ever have. But some people
know nothing about commitment.
Speaker 9 (13:06):
Dry January, the challenge of giving up drinking for the
first month of the year, is growing in popularity.
Speaker 11 (13:12):
Happy Dry January.
Speaker 9 (13:13):
It's the month where folks ditch the booze and go
alcohol free. One report found that twenty five percent of
American adults completed dried January last year.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
A lot of people are going to be doing dry January.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
I have done dry January every year now for or
three years.
Speaker 11 (13:29):
Well, goody, goody for you. It must be nice to
have the luxury of giving up booze while the rest
of us are trapped in reality wildfires, bird flu, crippling,
dambling debts. If you're not blacking out every single night,
(13:50):
you're not paying attention. And by the way, why are
we giving up alcohol in January? It's colder than Jack
Frost's debts. All your fat friends are posting Jim selfies,
and it gets dark faster than Justin Trudeau's face on Halloween.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Oh please.
Speaker 12 (14:14):
Me.
Speaker 11 (14:15):
I'd much rather give up booze in May. The weather
is warm and I'm already coked up for Sinka Demayo.
But for those of you not sure about dry January,
don't worry. There's something even dumber.
Speaker 12 (14:31):
For some people that looks dry.
Speaker 13 (14:33):
For others, it might look damp. A damp January would
mean only drinking on special occasions, adding more dry days
to your month, or consuming fewer drinks in each Sitting
damp January?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Are you shitting me?
Speaker 11 (14:49):
Damp January sounds like someone I paid for a lap
dance in the eighties. Just say drinking less. Not everything
needs a label. I'm an a shoe a team situationship. No,
you got a hand job from a co check girl,
(15:11):
Now move on with your life.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Quitting booze may seem.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
Like a good idea today, but once TikTok goes away,
you're gonna be getting hammered at Dave and Busters with
me and Pete hegxitt. Fair warning, I tend to shit
my pants on Dance Dance Revolution.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Now.
Speaker 11 (15:33):
I get it some of you don't like fun. But
if you're out with your dipshit friends and you can't
drink booze, surely there must be something you can drink.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
During dry January.
Speaker 13 (15:46):
People zip on mocktails, cocktails without any alcohol content.
Speaker 9 (15:50):
There are great non alcoholic wines, fears, and spirits that
are on the market.
Speaker 10 (15:54):
Today, global sales of no and low alcohol products reaching
more than thirteen billion dollars.
Speaker 12 (15:59):
Last companies are casting into stars releasing non alcoholic products
like Katie Perry's boot free beverage line, d Slaw a
Great Time and Tom Holland's non alcoholic beer Company Bureau.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
This is from Proxies. This is their Bubbly Rose.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Couldn't you add alcohol if you wanted to?
Speaker 12 (16:17):
You could?
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You could.
Speaker 11 (16:19):
Wowy an alcohol free drink that you can add alcohol too.
If only Thomas Edison were alive to see this.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Look.
Speaker 11 (16:33):
If I ever order an Elderberry Hibiscus Fizz, be sure
to garnish it with a loaded gun. These drinks sound
almost as fun as getting an ammo enema, which, by
the way, you can also add alcohol too. It's called
booping come coect.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
But listen.
Speaker 11 (16:56):
If the eighth best spider Man can cash in on
the mocktail boom, so can I introducing Lewis Black's Dry
January Vodka. It's just regular vodka and you can sit
in the corner and watch me drink it. It even
(17:17):
comes with a blanket to throw over me once I
pass out. Now that's what I call a situation ship.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Wow, Louis Lewis Black every long when they come back,
it's visor we're going to be on the show.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
We don't go along.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Welcome back to the the other show. My guest tonight
is an award winning journalist and author whose latest book
is called Power Metal For the Resources that Will Shape
the Future. Please welcome Vince Biser for us Power Metal.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yes, power Metal.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
You sure this isn't a book about metallica.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Or you know, going for the broadest audience I can get.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
What is power Metal?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So what it's about is, uh, it's about the terrible
paradox of electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
That's all the time we have for tonight, Please continue,
all right. So the paradox is this.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So we are moving towards those things, right, evs and
renewable energy, which is great because we need those things
to avoid climate change, which is the biggest threat that
we face. But there's a catch. Yeah, and the catch
is metal because build all those things. To build all
those there's millions of electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines
and by the way, all of the digital gadgets that
(19:06):
we all rely on our phones and our laptops. Everything
about the phone has metal in it. Your phone has
metal in it, my friend, I don't know about your
phone personally.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, I actually have a wooden phone with a row. Okay,
so even our everybody here has metal on themselves right now.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, So we need billions of tons of those metals.
So there's a worldwide rush on to get those. They're
called critical metals, the same basket of metals that we
need for renewable energy and for digital tech.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And as a result of that, we are cutting rainforests
to the ground. Children are being put to work in minds.
Oligarchs are going.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Fine with the children, but the rainforest stuff, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
So are you thrown out a list?
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Are you? Are you telling me honestly, I have young
kids and I would love for them to have a job.
I mean, it's like, that's funny because of you know,
we know my kids are a okay, But when you
see the footage and you read about these minds, it's
it's really fixed up. It's really really and it's even
more when you go, oh, I might be contributing to
(20:09):
that in a way.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You might the the cobalt that those kids mind might
be in your pocket right now, not yours because your
phone is wooden.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Right, but everyone else you're essentially saying there's no such
thing as clean energy? Correct, What liberal friend you're trying
to piss off?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Well, I'm just you know, I'm a journalist. So my
job is to just try to tell the truth as
best as I can, and there is you know, renewable
energy is much better than the fossil fuel power energy,
but it comes with its own cost has its own
serious downsides. Which is not to say that you know,
you shouldn't buy an ev that we shouldn't be turning
onto renewables. We should be. We have to understand they
(20:49):
come with serious costs and we have to do what
we can to minimize those costs.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Let's talk about China a little bit, because every single
chapter of your book shows up, are they better than us?
With I say us meaning North Americans, with their mining,
with their let me start over, let me let me
ask a better question. Sure, China go. It's such a
(21:19):
big topic because it's a big country. It's hard to
really pinpoint.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So in a nutshell, what's happened is so every single
one of these metals that we're talking about that we
absolutely need for evs, for renewables, and for digital tech.
China dominates the entire supply chain of these things from
when they're from digging them out of the ground to
refining them into metals, to building the actual to manufacturing
them into the actual you know, car batteries and digital
(21:43):
gadgets and all the rest of it. That is a
big problem because it gives them enormous geopolitical leverage. Right,
They've really got us over a barrel with this stuff.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
You tell a great story. You follow a man around
Vancouver who essentially scraps metal and what did we talk
what are the more valuable metals that are around? Cobalt nickel?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Cobalt nickel yep, so for copper. So for a guy
like Steve Nelson, who's this scrapper that I did have
followed around in Vancouver, Canada, I think.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
My pieces were tough. I mean, you're literally in Vancouver
following a guy in a dumpster picking up metal, sexy stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
That's right, that's right, that's the glamorous world of journalism
in the front.
Speaker 7 (22:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, So for those guys, copper is the most valuable thing.
But Steve is a guy. He's a super entrepreneurial guy
who has basically been spending the last twenty years or
so just digging through dumpsters in the back alleys of
Vancouver for any kind of metal that he can find
and sell and recycling. Not just like raw metal, but
like old toasters, old light fixtures. He can look at
(22:50):
practically any you know, electronic thing and tell you, oh,
there's going to be you know, this much aluminum. There's
probably about six ounces of copper. I can get two
bucks for it at today's price. He carries it all
on his bicycle. He's got a little cart hooked up
to his bike, and he just rides around collecting all
this metal and then taking it to a scrapyard.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I don't think about metal every day. I don't think
I want to, But now I think I have to.
Metals should be more on the forefront of our brains.
Should we be more concerned with reusing or refurbishing the
American consumer, this doesn't seem to match up. There's only
so much metal we can use right there.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Turns out there's pretty much no limit to how much
stuff we can buy and use exactly exactly. But this
is where we get into how we can do things better.
So we need metals, right, that's what our so much
of our civilization depends on. But we can be way
more efficient with how we use. We can do a
lot more recycling, which is exactly what a guy like
Steve is doing. We can also be reusing and repairing
(23:50):
our gadgets, right, Like, for a long time, all these
the manufacturers have deliberately made their things difficult to repair.
So now there's a movement on too worse them to
basically make Apple and Samsung and everybody else to make
it easier to fix their stuff so that it lasts longer.
And you know, as consumers, we can also take some responsibility, right,
You don't have to get a new iPhone every single year. Well,
(24:13):
you've got that wooden one.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I understand. You need to recycling, man, is recycling perfect?
The way we have it now? I throw it in
a blue bin. I'm a hero. I don't have to
think about it ever again. But talk a little bit
about the depth you go in on how it what
it costs, and the resources it takes to recycle.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, so recycling too turns out to have some serious
downsides to it. It's really energy intensive, it's really polluting,
and it's often done on the backs of the poorest
people in the world. So one of the places I
went was Legos, Nigeria, the biggest city in Africa, and
I spend some time there with guys who are recycling
digital junk right our old cell phones, laptops. These are
guys sitting around with hammers and screwdrivers, just cracking open
(24:56):
those things like walnuts and picking out the little bits
of metal.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Can you tell a story about people burning standing around
burning electrical wire to be able to later dig into
the metal that's in the all those charging courts.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Exactly all our cables. You know, they've got plastic and
rubber outside and copper inside. They want the copper, they
burn the rest of the stuff. And these guys are
just standing around this incredibly like thick, toxic oily reaking smoke.
And you know, I asked one of them, I was like, well,
aren't you worried? I mean, these guys are just like
in flip flops and T shirts, no safety equipment, nothing,
And I asked one of them, aren't you you know,
(25:32):
aren't you worried about breathing in all this smoke, and
he just said, like, you know, it's a job. I'm
living in Nigeria. This is the only job I've got.
And I said, well, how long have you been doing it?
He said since I was eight Jesus, I said, how
old are you now? He was thirty five years old.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Right, man, I have a drawer at home that has
one hundred wires in it, six iPhones. And don't judge
because you have the same drawing. We all have this
draw I don't know what to do with the phone.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Right, this is such an North American problem, right, but
it is a rich guy problem. Well it is.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It's a real problem for the world, right because all
that stuff is just going to waste. Right, we should
be we could be recycling it, right, But the problem
is there just isn't an easy way to do that.
So the good news is like actually, in places like
Nigeria and the developing world, turns out they're way more
efficient at it. They recycle something like ninety percent of
their e waste, whereas here one out of only one
(26:25):
out of every six cell phones gets recycled, recycled gets junked.
So there's a lot we can learn from those places.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, it's an easy punchline Trump wanting to take Greenland.
Then I read your book. Then I read about Greenland's
vast resources of minerals and metals, and I go, oh,
this might not be a joke. Is this what America
has to do to keep up so we can all
get the new iPhone? All the time, it's do you
(26:53):
support Trump taking over Greenland through military form?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
I do not because I'm from Canada. My friend and
I know we're next after Greenland.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
No, you you wrote like a Canadian, this has hope
and sympathy and.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
It's color with a yeah, this.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Might not be a joke about Greenland. We need these metals.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
There's things we need these metals for sure, yea, And
Greenland does have an awful lot of them. There are
there are other places in the world we can get them.
So the thing about Greenland, though, it's chock full of
especially a bunch of metals called rare earths, which we
need for wind turbines, We need them for electric car motors.
We also need them for our cell phones. The color
red in your cell phone is thanks to one particular
(27:49):
metal called europium.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
No europium.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
No red in your cell phone anyway? What Yeah, europium europium.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
That's so funny. Now that sign makes sense that said
europium free self on for sale. No, I've never seen
such a thing.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Anyway. But Greenland.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Editors, please edit out that entire set.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So problem that there are a lot of these metals there,
but number one really hard to get them. Greenlands really
far away. The weather's incredibly harsh. Also, the people living
in Greenland aren't really that hard on the idea. They've
already shot down one rare earth. Mind that folks tried
to open up there because they didn't want all the
you know, all the environmental chaos that comes with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
There was a few things in this book that were
promising to me. One of them was that there have
been successful communities that have pushed off or fought off mining.
At least that you mentioned. You might have been lying
some really cool things, like experimenting with plants that absorbed metals.
(28:56):
And then also this whole idea of someone mining in space.
This was some cool shit. Which one of those you
want to talk about, Well, let's talk about the plants,
because I love if plants are the answer to all
of us. Isn't that a great? That is so cool?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So I absolutely love this. It's one of the many,
you know solutions that I talk about. And basically there's
there are several dozen kinds of plants which suck up
different kinds of metal, nickel and other stuff from the soil.
And in theory, like who knew, right.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Who know?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But so in theory, you can plant a bunch of
these plants in a place where we have that metal,
especially like places that are already like polluted, like where
there used to.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Be a mine or whatever.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
They draw it up and then you like burn the
plants or you somehow pull the metal out of the plants,
and it can be done. There are a couple of
startups and a couple of research labs working on it.
I love the idea so far. Sad to say, it's
a long way from you know, any kind of commercial scale.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And you talked about how that was planted somewhere and
then the plant took over and screwed up the whole arm.
So that's a bummer.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, it's always always a downside somewhere.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
How would we mine in space? And how is this
not a movie yet?
Speaker 11 (30:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:03):
But there is someone trying to mine in space.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
There are some there are quite a few people trying
to mine in space.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Glad, do you hate your family if you're like, honey,
I got this new idea. I'm going to mine in space. Okay,
last question, how can I how can you be a
better consumer? So I can't take on a mining company,
but how can I do this better? I mean, this
(30:28):
is really scary shit you're talking about here.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, So, I mean, so all those things we've been
talking about, which is really what you know, most of
the second half of the book is about. But also
the number one thing that we as individuals can do is,
if possible, don't buy a car.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I know that was that was a that was a
heavy sentence I read. I know, as a man who
has six cars and nine motorcycles, that's not true. Why
why should we not buy a car?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Well, because cars are by far the most material and
energy intensive thing that most of us own, unless except
for your house, if you own a house. And I'm
not saying you're a bad person if you own a car,
even if you own nine cars. I own a car myself.
What I am saying is we need to get to
a place we need to reduce the number of cars
that are out there, because if we swap all one
(31:14):
billion gas cars that are already out there for one
billion electric vehicles, we're gonna swap one set of problems
for another. Much better is we got to reduce the
number of cars by giving people the freedom to choose
whether or not to have a car. Because right now,
most places in America, you've got to have a car,
you need one. But if we can promote things like bicycling,
public transit, getting around by foot so that fewer people
(31:37):
need to own cars, so that more people can choose
whether or not they want to own a car, we'll
all be much better off.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Thank you for writing a great book. It's a great power.
Metal is a bail of one out Vince Biser. We're
gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back after this.
Thank you. That's our show for today. But before we go,
(32:09):
this Sunday, I'm headed to Asheville, North Carolina, to participate
in a charity tennis event support Hurricane Helen relief efforts
in western North Carolina. You can support this cause by
going to the link below to make a donation or
bid on great auction items like even an autograph book
from me available now now here. It is your moment
(32:30):
of zen Chair You're a wise man, mister chair Thank you,
mister Chairman, mister Chairman, before we go to the leash, Chairman, Yes,
what do you want?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 11 (32:51):
Watch The Daily Show weeknights at eleven.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Ten Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime
on Paramount plus
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Paramount Podcasts
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
From the most trusted journalist at Comedy Central is America's
only sorts for news. This is the Daily Show with
your host Michael Costa.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Show him, Michael Fast. We have so much to talk
about tonight. Trump shows he's unqualified the comfort Nation, all
his nominees are unqualified for their jobs, and Lewis Black's
qualified to start drinking. So let's get to the latest
news on the Trump administration. In another edition of the
Second Coming of Donald J. Trump, I'm going to common
(01:09):
Trump's been busy these last few days, signing orders, reinstalling
the diet coke button, grabbing Panama by the canal, but
it was only a matter of time until he had
to start presidenting for real. This morning, he held a
press conference to address the tragic plane crash in Washington,
DC last night. And remember, one of the most important
(01:31):
things a leader can do in a rapidly developing difficult
situation is to calm people down, stick to the facts,
and keep your uninformed opinions to yourself.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
We did not know what led to this crash, but
we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I
think we'll probably state those opinions now.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I mean, or we can just speculate wildly.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Why not.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I get a little bit nervous when Trump has a
strong opinion, you know, it's it's never something unifying, like
sunsets are beautiful or love is the answer. But this
is a new term and he's only a few days in,
so let's give him the benefit of the doubt. What's
Trump's opinion about what happened in DC?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
The FAA's diversity push, A big push to put diversity
into the FAA's program, the agency's guidance and diversity hiring,
the fas diversity and inclusion hiring plant.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Damn you, diversity initiatives. Why are you responsible for every
historical tragedy? The fires in Los Angeles d EI, the
bridge collapse in Baltimore, d e I, the Irish potato
famine d EI, Slavery d e I. Did you ever
notice how many minorities were at slavery?
Speaker 5 (02:50):
It's all DI Just.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
To be clear, mister president, you have evidence that diversity
initiatives are responsible for this tragic crash. Saying this right right.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
I'm trying to figure out how you can come to
the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do
with this crash because they have common sense.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
There you go, No, no, no, there you go, there you go.
Here's common sense. It's just a coincidence that his common
sense happens to align with his long held prejudices. So
let's spin the big wheel of blame to see which
minorities are responsible for this crash. Who will it be
this time? Black people, lesbians, trans Armenians.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities,
psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a
diversity and Inclusion hiring initiative. They include hearing, vision, missing extremities,
partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, and dwarfism.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Dwarfism. I can't believe it's only day ten and Trump
is already this far down his list of scapegoats. He's
blown past race and gender and now he's hitting dwarfs.
Is he really suggesting there is a plane crash because
someone with dwarfism worked in air traffic control? Does Trump
(04:26):
think they couldn't see the control panel and they were
just reaching up and pushing bump and buttons hoping it
would work out. Hold on, I just want to say
that people with dwarfism are just like everyone else. In fact,
they're penises are normal size, which means proportionally they're huge.
(04:54):
So in a way you could say that I'm the
one looking up to them.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
That's a thinker.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
That's a thinker. Lot of different layers in there. You
might be thinking, well, that's progress. You know, he used
to blame everything on past administrations, but don't worry, he
got them in there too.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
We had a very good policy, and then Biden came
in and he changed it. And Biden went by a
standard that's the exact opposite the FAA, which is overseen
by Secretary Pete Buddhachek, a real winner. You know how
badly everything's run since he's run this Department of Transportation. Obama,
Biden and the Democrats they put politics at a level
(05:44):
that nobody's ever seen. I changed the Obama standards from
very mediocre at best to extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I'm sorry you're blaming Obama, the guy from three presidents ago.
Forget blaming a fart on your dog. This is blaming
the fart on your dog that died when you were eight.
And still think about you, Henry such stinky farts. You look,
(06:17):
mister president. I know you're scared that people might hold
you responsible now that you're president. Because you're the president,
mister president, and it's time to just be a man. Okay.
Real men don't point fingers. Real men find solutions, real
men show leadership, real men moisturized guys. You got to
(06:39):
take care of your skin. You got to take care
of your skin.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
The skin is the biggest organ on the body unless
you're a dwarf, and it's the second builder. Ye got
to it. All right, Let's move on, okay, because while
Trump is demanding meritocracy in government, he's trying to fill
his cabinet with a whole bunchh of just real geniuses. Today,
(07:13):
the Senate held hearings for Cash Bateel, who Trump wants
to lead the FBI because of qualifications like this.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
My name is Cashptel, and I have written the first
ever children's Russiagate book. It's called The Plot Against the King.
It is a fantastical telling by me, the Russiagate chief investigator.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Wow. I mean, that's a great reason to not teach
your kids to read. At the same time, the Senate
held hearings for Tulci Gobberd, who Trump wants as Director
of National Intelligence, even though she's friendly with dictators like
Bashar al Assad and looks like the head of the
Galactic Council in a bad sci fi movie. For more
(07:52):
on those Senate confirmation hearings, we go to Jordan Klepper,
Desi Leidik, and Josh Johnson.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Let's go first. Let's go first to Jordan. Let's go
first to Jordan.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Jordan, you've been covering the Cash Fattel hearing. How did
he come across?
Speaker 8 (08:13):
How do you think Costa Patel's a conspiracy theorist who
believe the twenty twenty election was rigged, follows QAnon, and,
most shockingly, thinks toddlers want to read a pop up
book about Russia. Gates, I mean, just listening to him
speak gave me brain damage so much that I think
listening to him speak gave me brain damage. Clearly, Cash
Patel is the least qualified of all of Trump's nominees.
Speaker 9 (08:37):
I'm sorry, but can I just can I butt in here?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yes? Does you're covering the Tulsa Gobert hearings? How did
she come across?
Speaker 9 (08:43):
How do you think Costa I haven't been that uncomfortable
since Klepper asked if I liked his haircut. She wants
to be Director of Intelligence. Have you seen her friends?
Bashar Alisad, Vladimir Putin, Justin Baldoni, heartburn, upset, stomach diarrhea.
It's too much. She is clearly the least qualified Trump nominee.
Speaker 8 (09:04):
What are you talking about, Desi? First, my head looks fantastic,
and Tulci was at least in Congress. She spent time
in the government. The only thing Patel has spent time
in is the comments section of the Pizzagate subreddits. He's
the most unqualified.
Speaker 9 (09:19):
No, no way, you cannot trust Tulsi with state secrets.
I wouldn't even trust her with secret brand deodorant. CBS
blocked it up now because of her.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I'm sorry. Can I hop in here? Yes, Josh, you're
covering RFK Junior's hearing. Yeah.
Speaker 10 (09:32):
And obviously he is the least qualified candidate because he
is r F K Junior. He wants to run the
Department of Health and Human Services. He's not qualified for health.
He's barely qualified for human all right. He's basically a
leather bag full of coughs for someone who might be
(09:54):
in charge of all the drugs. He acts like someone
in charge of all the side effects nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset, stomach, diarrhea, Baldoni.
Speaker 8 (10:08):
No, no, look, my guy wrote a children's book about
Russia Gate. The only reason you write a children's book
about Russia Gate is you can't write an adult book
about Russia Gates. He used more exclamation points than a
white woman's email.
Speaker 11 (10:22):
I deleted that.
Speaker 9 (10:25):
And Tulsi is the least qualified. She couldn't be more
of a Russian mole if she was dangling from resputant's back. Josh,
do you really think RFK is less qualified than Tulsi?
Speaker 10 (10:36):
Does a bear carcass get dumped in the Central Park woods?
Speaker 8 (10:40):
Cash Pattel, if you're watching a bear is the one
that goes girl?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Please?
Speaker 9 (10:46):
Tulsi makes cash Pattel look like Stephen Hawking.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
Yeah, current day Stephen Hawking, because cash Pattel is brain dead.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
At least they have brains.
Speaker 10 (10:57):
RK Junger's brain got eaten by a war.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
In his head. Hey, guys, guy's hey, why are we
fighting over this? Okay, they're all unqualified. Why does it
matter who the least qualified?
Speaker 8 (11:10):
Is Michael because the reporter covering that specific hearing gets
the right to use a somber but serious Pulitzer contending
voice when they say, in the opinion of this reporter,
Cash Pattel is the least qualified nominee in American history.
Speaker 11 (11:28):
No no, no, no no no.
Speaker 9 (11:30):
Tulci Gabbert is the least qualified nominee in American history.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
You're both wrong. RFK Junior is the least qualified.
Speaker 10 (11:47):
Nominee in an American Ah, in American history.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Josh are you? Josh, are you putting in contacts?
Speaker 10 (11:55):
I don't have glasses, but I need to look smart. God,
I never touched my eye before this.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Look.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I don't think. I don't think any of you are
qualified for this job. Jordan, Desi and Josh everyone. When
we come back.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Lewis Black, we'll try not to drink it all the
right by.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Welcome back to the Davis. When our news story falls
through the cracks and Lewis Black catches it for a segment,
we call back in Black.
Speaker 11 (12:46):
Ah Alcohol, It's why I get up in the morning,
how my mom made it through her pregnancy, and why
I'm not allowed within fifty feet of a horse. Booze
is the committed relationship I'll ever have. But some people
know nothing about commitment.
Speaker 9 (13:06):
Dry January, the challenge of giving up drinking for the
first month of the year, is growing in popularity.
Speaker 11 (13:12):
Happy Dry January.
Speaker 9 (13:13):
It's the month where folks ditch the booze and go
alcohol free. One report found that twenty five percent of
American adults completed dried January last year.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
A lot of people are going to be doing dry January.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
I have done dry January every year now for or
three years.
Speaker 11 (13:29):
Well, goody, goody for you. It must be nice to
have the luxury of giving up booze while the rest
of us are trapped in reality wildfires, bird flu, crippling,
dambling debts. If you're not blacking out every single night,
(13:50):
you're not paying attention. And by the way, why are
we giving up alcohol in January? It's colder than Jack
Frost's debts. All your fat friends are posting Jim selfies,
and it gets dark faster than Justin Trudeau's face on Halloween.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Oh please.
Speaker 12 (14:14):
Me.
Speaker 11 (14:15):
I'd much rather give up booze in May. The weather
is warm and I'm already coked up for Sinka Demayo.
But for those of you not sure about dry January,
don't worry. There's something even dumber.
Speaker 12 (14:31):
For some people that looks dry.
Speaker 13 (14:33):
For others, it might look damp. A damp January would
mean only drinking on special occasions, adding more dry days
to your month, or consuming fewer drinks in each Sitting
damp January?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Are you shitting me?
Speaker 11 (14:49):
Damp January sounds like someone I paid for a lap
dance in the eighties. Just say drinking less. Not everything
needs a label. I'm an a shoe a team situationship. No,
you got a hand job from a co check girl,
(15:11):
Now move on with your life.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Quitting booze may seem.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
Like a good idea today, but once TikTok goes away,
you're gonna be getting hammered at Dave and Busters with
me and Pete hegxitt. Fair warning, I tend to shit
my pants on Dance Dance Revolution.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Now.
Speaker 11 (15:33):
I get it some of you don't like fun. But
if you're out with your dipshit friends and you can't
drink booze, surely there must be something you can drink.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
During dry January.
Speaker 13 (15:46):
People zip on mocktails, cocktails without any alcohol content.
Speaker 9 (15:50):
There are great non alcoholic wines, fears, and spirits that
are on the market.
Speaker 10 (15:54):
Today, global sales of no and low alcohol products reaching
more than thirteen billion dollars.
Speaker 12 (15:59):
Last companies are casting into stars releasing non alcoholic products
like Katie Perry's boot free beverage line, d Slaw a
Great Time and Tom Holland's non alcoholic beer Company Bureau.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
This is from Proxies. This is their Bubbly Rose.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Couldn't you add alcohol if you wanted to?
Speaker 12 (16:17):
You could?
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You could.
Speaker 11 (16:19):
Wowy an alcohol free drink that you can add alcohol too.
If only Thomas Edison were alive to see this.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Look.
Speaker 11 (16:33):
If I ever order an Elderberry Hibiscus Fizz, be sure
to garnish it with a loaded gun. These drinks sound
almost as fun as getting an ammo enema, which, by
the way, you can also add alcohol too. It's called
booping come coect.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
But listen.
Speaker 11 (16:56):
If the eighth best spider Man can cash in on
the mocktail boom, so can I introducing Lewis Black's Dry
January Vodka. It's just regular vodka and you can sit
in the corner and watch me drink it. It even
(17:17):
comes with a blanket to throw over me once I
pass out. Now that's what I call a situation ship.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Wow, Louis Lewis Black every long when they come back,
it's visor we're going to be on the show.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
We don't go along.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Welcome back to the the other show. My guest tonight
is an award winning journalist and author whose latest book
is called Power Metal For the Resources that Will Shape
the Future. Please welcome Vince Biser for us Power Metal.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yes, power Metal.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
You sure this isn't a book about metallica.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Or you know, going for the broadest audience I can get.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
What is power Metal?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So what it's about is, uh, it's about the terrible
paradox of electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
That's all the time we have for tonight, Please continue,
all right. So the paradox is this.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So we are moving towards those things, right, evs and
renewable energy, which is great because we need those things
to avoid climate change, which is the biggest threat that
we face. But there's a catch. Yeah, and the catch
is metal because build all those things. To build all
those there's millions of electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines
and by the way, all of the digital gadgets that
(19:06):
we all rely on our phones and our laptops. Everything
about the phone has metal in it. Your phone has
metal in it, my friend, I don't know about your
phone personally.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, I actually have a wooden phone with a row. Okay,
so even our everybody here has metal on themselves right now.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, So we need billions of tons of those metals.
So there's a worldwide rush on to get those. They're
called critical metals, the same basket of metals that we
need for renewable energy and for digital tech.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And as a result of that, we are cutting rainforests
to the ground. Children are being put to work in minds.
Oligarchs are going.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Fine with the children, but the rainforest stuff, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
So are you thrown out a list?
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Are you? Are you telling me honestly, I have young
kids and I would love for them to have a job.
I mean, it's like, that's funny because of you know,
we know my kids are a okay, But when you
see the footage and you read about these minds, it's
it's really fixed up. It's really really and it's even
more when you go, oh, I might be contributing to
(20:09):
that in a way.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You might the the cobalt that those kids mind might
be in your pocket right now, not yours because your
phone is wooden.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Right, but everyone else you're essentially saying there's no such
thing as clean energy? Correct, What liberal friend you're trying
to piss off?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Well, I'm just you know, I'm a journalist. So my
job is to just try to tell the truth as
best as I can, and there is you know, renewable
energy is much better than the fossil fuel power energy,
but it comes with its own cost has its own
serious downsides. Which is not to say that you know,
you shouldn't buy an ev that we shouldn't be turning
onto renewables. We should be. We have to understand they
(20:49):
come with serious costs and we have to do what
we can to minimize those costs.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Let's talk about China a little bit, because every single
chapter of your book shows up, are they better than us?
With I say us meaning North Americans, with their mining,
with their let me start over, let me let me
ask a better question. Sure, China go. It's such a
(21:19):
big topic because it's a big country. It's hard to
really pinpoint.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So in a nutshell, what's happened is so every single
one of these metals that we're talking about that we
absolutely need for evs, for renewables, and for digital tech.
China dominates the entire supply chain of these things from
when they're from digging them out of the ground to
refining them into metals, to building the actual to manufacturing
them into the actual you know, car batteries and digital
(21:43):
gadgets and all the rest of it. That is a
big problem because it gives them enormous geopolitical leverage. Right,
They've really got us over a barrel with this stuff.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
You tell a great story. You follow a man around
Vancouver who essentially scraps metal and what did we talk
what are the more valuable metals that are around? Cobalt nickel?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Cobalt nickel yep, so for copper. So for a guy
like Steve Nelson, who's this scrapper that I did have
followed around in Vancouver, Canada, I think.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
My pieces were tough. I mean, you're literally in Vancouver
following a guy in a dumpster picking up metal, sexy stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
That's right, that's right, that's the glamorous world of journalism
in the front.
Speaker 7 (22:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, So for those guys, copper is the most valuable thing.
But Steve is a guy. He's a super entrepreneurial guy
who has basically been spending the last twenty years or
so just digging through dumpsters in the back alleys of
Vancouver for any kind of metal that he can find
and sell and recycling. Not just like raw metal, but
like old toasters, old light fixtures. He can look at
(22:50):
practically any you know, electronic thing and tell you, oh,
there's going to be you know, this much aluminum. There's
probably about six ounces of copper. I can get two
bucks for it at today's price. He carries it all
on his bicycle. He's got a little cart hooked up
to his bike, and he just rides around collecting all
this metal and then taking it to a scrapyard.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I don't think about metal every day. I don't think
I want to, But now I think I have to.
Metals should be more on the forefront of our brains.
Should we be more concerned with reusing or refurbishing the
American consumer, this doesn't seem to match up. There's only
so much metal we can use right there.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Turns out there's pretty much no limit to how much
stuff we can buy and use exactly exactly. But this
is where we get into how we can do things better.
So we need metals, right, that's what our so much
of our civilization depends on. But we can be way
more efficient with how we use. We can do a
lot more recycling, which is exactly what a guy like
Steve is doing. We can also be reusing and repairing
(23:50):
our gadgets, right, Like, for a long time, all these
the manufacturers have deliberately made their things difficult to repair.
So now there's a movement on too worse them to
basically make Apple and Samsung and everybody else to make
it easier to fix their stuff so that it lasts longer.
And you know, as consumers, we can also take some responsibility, right,
You don't have to get a new iPhone every single year. Well,
(24:13):
you've got that wooden one.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I understand. You need to recycling, man, is recycling perfect?
The way we have it now? I throw it in
a blue bin. I'm a hero. I don't have to
think about it ever again. But talk a little bit
about the depth you go in on how it what
it costs, and the resources it takes to recycle.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, so recycling too turns out to have some serious
downsides to it. It's really energy intensive, it's really polluting,
and it's often done on the backs of the poorest
people in the world. So one of the places I
went was Legos, Nigeria, the biggest city in Africa, and
I spend some time there with guys who are recycling
digital junk right our old cell phones, laptops. These are
guys sitting around with hammers and screwdrivers, just cracking open
(24:56):
those things like walnuts and picking out the little bits
of metal.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Can you tell a story about people burning standing around
burning electrical wire to be able to later dig into
the metal that's in the all those charging courts.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Exactly all our cables. You know, they've got plastic and
rubber outside and copper inside. They want the copper, they
burn the rest of the stuff. And these guys are
just standing around this incredibly like thick, toxic oily reaking smoke.
And you know, I asked one of them, I was like, well,
aren't you worried? I mean, these guys are just like
in flip flops and T shirts, no safety equipment, nothing,
And I asked one of them, aren't you you know,
(25:32):
aren't you worried about breathing in all this smoke, and
he just said, like, you know, it's a job. I'm
living in Nigeria. This is the only job I've got.
And I said, well, how long have you been doing it?
He said since I was eight Jesus, I said, how
old are you now? He was thirty five years old.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Right, man, I have a drawer at home that has
one hundred wires in it, six iPhones. And don't judge
because you have the same drawing. We all have this
draw I don't know what to do with the phone.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Right, this is such an North American problem, right, but
it is a rich guy problem. Well it is.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It's a real problem for the world, right because all
that stuff is just going to waste. Right, we should
be we could be recycling it, right, But the problem
is there just isn't an easy way to do that.
So the good news is like actually, in places like
Nigeria and the developing world, turns out they're way more
efficient at it. They recycle something like ninety percent of
their e waste, whereas here one out of only one
(26:25):
out of every six cell phones gets recycled, recycled gets junked.
So there's a lot we can learn from those places.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, it's an easy punchline Trump wanting to take Greenland.
Then I read your book. Then I read about Greenland's
vast resources of minerals and metals, and I go, oh,
this might not be a joke. Is this what America
has to do to keep up so we can all
get the new iPhone? All the time, it's do you
(26:53):
support Trump taking over Greenland through military form?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
I do not because I'm from Canada. My friend and
I know we're next after Greenland.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
No, you you wrote like a Canadian, this has hope
and sympathy and.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
It's color with a yeah, this.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Might not be a joke about Greenland. We need these metals.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
There's things we need these metals for sure, yea, And
Greenland does have an awful lot of them. There are
there are other places in the world we can get them.
So the thing about Greenland, though, it's chock full of
especially a bunch of metals called rare earths, which we
need for wind turbines, We need them for electric car motors.
We also need them for our cell phones. The color
red in your cell phone is thanks to one particular
(27:49):
metal called europium.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
No europium.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
No red in your cell phone anyway? What Yeah, europium europium.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
That's so funny. Now that sign makes sense that said
europium free self on for sale. No, I've never seen
such a thing.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Anyway. But Greenland.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Editors, please edit out that entire set.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So problem that there are a lot of these metals there,
but number one really hard to get them. Greenlands really
far away. The weather's incredibly harsh. Also, the people living
in Greenland aren't really that hard on the idea. They've
already shot down one rare earth. Mind that folks tried
to open up there because they didn't want all the
you know, all the environmental chaos that comes with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
There was a few things in this book that were
promising to me. One of them was that there have
been successful communities that have pushed off or fought off mining.
At least that you mentioned. You might have been lying
some really cool things, like experimenting with plants that absorbed metals.
(28:56):
And then also this whole idea of someone mining in space.
This was some cool shit. Which one of those you
want to talk about, Well, let's talk about the plants,
because I love if plants are the answer to all
of us. Isn't that a great? That is so cool?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So I absolutely love this. It's one of the many,
you know solutions that I talk about. And basically there's
there are several dozen kinds of plants which suck up
different kinds of metal, nickel and other stuff from the soil.
And in theory, like who knew, right.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Who know?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But so in theory, you can plant a bunch of
these plants in a place where we have that metal,
especially like places that are already like polluted, like where
there used to.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Be a mine or whatever.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
They draw it up and then you like burn the
plants or you somehow pull the metal out of the plants,
and it can be done. There are a couple of
startups and a couple of research labs working on it.
I love the idea so far. Sad to say, it's
a long way from you know, any kind of commercial scale.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And you talked about how that was planted somewhere and
then the plant took over and screwed up the whole arm.
So that's a bummer.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, it's always always a downside somewhere.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
How would we mine in space? And how is this
not a movie yet?
Speaker 11 (30:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:03):
But there is someone trying to mine in space.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
There are some there are quite a few people trying
to mine in space.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Glad, do you hate your family if you're like, honey,
I got this new idea. I'm going to mine in space. Okay,
last question, how can I how can you be a
better consumer? So I can't take on a mining company,
but how can I do this better? I mean, this
(30:28):
is really scary shit you're talking about here.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, So, I mean, so all those things we've been
talking about, which is really what you know, most of
the second half of the book is about. But also
the number one thing that we as individuals can do is,
if possible, don't buy a car.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I know that was that was a that was a
heavy sentence I read. I know, as a man who
has six cars and nine motorcycles, that's not true. Why
why should we not buy a car?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Well, because cars are by far the most material and
energy intensive thing that most of us own, unless except
for your house, if you own a house. And I'm
not saying you're a bad person if you own a car,
even if you own nine cars. I own a car myself.
What I am saying is we need to get to
a place we need to reduce the number of cars
that are out there, because if we swap all one
(31:14):
billion gas cars that are already out there for one
billion electric vehicles, we're gonna swap one set of problems
for another. Much better is we got to reduce the
number of cars by giving people the freedom to choose
whether or not to have a car. Because right now,
most places in America, you've got to have a car,
you need one. But if we can promote things like bicycling,
public transit, getting around by foot so that fewer people
(31:37):
need to own cars, so that more people can choose
whether or not they want to own a car, we'll
all be much better off.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Thank you for writing a great book. It's a great power.
Metal is a bail of one out Vince Biser. We're
gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back after this.
Thank you. That's our show for today. But before we go,
(32:09):
this Sunday, I'm headed to Asheville, North Carolina, to participate
in a charity tennis event support Hurricane Helen relief efforts
in western North Carolina. You can support this cause by
going to the link below to make a donation or
bid on great auction items like even an autograph book
from me available now now here. It is your moment
(32:30):
of zen Chair You're a wise man, mister chair Thank you,
mister Chairman, mister Chairman, before we go to the leash, Chairman, Yes,
what do you want?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 11 (32:51):
Watch The Daily Show weeknights at eleven.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Ten Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime
on Paramount plus
Speaker 5 (33:04):
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