Climate Strikers Want to Know When the Earth Will Die. We Asked a Scientist.

Ever wondered “How long do we have until the Earth is dead?”

So has Sam Berliner, a 10-year-old who skipped school to be at the climate strikes in New York City. At the strikes, VICE News asked young people what they’d ask a climate scientist if they could.

And then we asked a climate scientist.

“I think one of the prevailing misconceptions is that after 10 years everything is going to collapse,” said Sonali McDermid, an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University. “It's really important that we don't think that way.”

The world won’t be dead soon — and probably won’t ever be completely “dead.” But that doesn’t mean that climate change won’t affect the lives of everything on this planet in one way or another if it continues unchecked.

Watch our segment, where we put the climate strikers' questions to a scientist.

Written by Alex Lubben. Video produced by Kathleen Caulderwood and Emma Fidel, and edited by Jessica Opon.