NEW VIDEO: Is It Too Late To Stop Climate Change? Well, it's Complicated.
Added 2020-09-29 14:03:11 +0000 UTCClimate Change is just too much. There is never any good news. Only graphs that get more and more red and angry. Almost every year breaks some horrible record, from the harshest heat waves to the most rapid Glacier melt. It’s endless and relentless. We have known for decades that rapid Climate Change is being caused by the release of Greenhouse Gases. But instead of reducing them, in 2019 the world was emitting 50% more CO2 than in the year 2000. And emissions are still rising. Why is that? Why is it so hard to just stop emitting these gases?
Comments
I'd like to see a video with the consequences and tipping points, an why it's like that. I think that would make it clearer for some people why, and that we have to do something. After that, this video can explain what we can do politicaly.
vactorio
2020-10-26 11:39:06 +0000 UTCYou miss the point of the video if you think it's point was to put forward solutions to climate change. Also your degrowth idea (and I maybe wrong here) seems to go against a lot of what kurzgesagt stands for which a future in which humanity colonises the stars(forgive me but that's what I take from their videos). Therefore I doubt kurzgesagt would promote a degrowth model because to colonise the stars would require growth. It is not for them to push one particular group of peoples solutions for/about climate change
harry banks
2020-10-06 14:42:13 +0000 UTCCompletely irrelevant. Kurzegasgt job is not to push a certain solution or world view. The video is about what is happening and what is more than likely to happen in the future. It does not matter if you have 100 percent of the correct solutions. The video is stating this is what is happening and is likely to continue happening. With what we know is it too late. Yes we could completely up end our social structute but you and I both know thst is unlikely. So the video is not 'simply not good enough' just because it does not talk about degrowth theory. It Is a 10 minute video based on the most likely courses of events.
harry banks
2020-10-06 14:39:22 +0000 UTCTo what extent do you understand climate change? Keeping it within 2, let alone 1.5 degrees requires nothing short of multiple moonshots. If you think we can comfortably add some solar panels to our roofs and fix it, you're dead wrong.
Armando
2020-10-06 14:23:43 +0000 UTCI am interested in the part of the video that talks about 'some evidence that some economies have decoupled their growth from co2 emissions. Is there not a lot of evidence for this looking at nations like the UK, France etc? A later video could investigate in more detail if it is just territorial emmisions decreasing for these nations or actually that nations entire global footprint (imports shipping etc) are decreasing? Greta Thunberg claims the UKs co2 footprint has decreased 10 percent since 1990 compared to the 44 percent the government claims. The UK is one of the fastest decarbonising countries in the world. So the question then becomes are other countries not decarbonising as quickly actually decarbonising? Would make a cool video
harry banks
2020-10-04 01:10:58 +0000 UTC@armando Considering growth has always been part of our society for all of history and is arguably built into our DNA saying its going to stop in the next 30 years is a bit of a moonshot. Even if there is research being done into it.
harry banks
2020-10-04 01:06:13 +0000 UTCSorry, but simpy mentioning growth (in the West) as an inevitability is quite unacceptable, frankly. You can't just continue as if our only option is to bet on technological implementation and innovation to outpace economic- and population growth. We've tried decoupling for 30 years, and time is running out. Green growth is russian roulette at best, suicide at worst, so - and I feel quite bad saying this - the least I expect y'all to do is to follow-up with a video on degrowth, showing that there is a path out. Because the only responsible option is to stop growing while continuing to innovate and implement (more) sustainable technology, not either or. There's some serious work being done in the field of degrowth, and this might even be coupled with a video explaining how such massive societal shifts can take place, or have taken place historically. And yes, I realise that this is a project that will not be funded by either Breakthrough Energy or the Gates Foundation, which is reminded me of the importance to stay funded by your viewers as much as possible. Signed up to Patreon just now because I love the work you're doing, but please - you can do better than this one.
Armando
2020-10-01 19:50:44 +0000 UTCHonestly, this is where Breakthrough Energy and the Gates Foundation come in. They're unlikely to fund anything that's radically speaking truth to power, which I'd say becomes problematic when Kurzgesagt is speaking of a topic as important as climate change.
Armando
2020-10-01 19:48:22 +0000 UTCWhile a good video, it did seem to put a lot of weight on population pressure and individual consumers rather than the corporate behemoths largely responsible for emissions globally. I'd like to see that bit addressed at some point! :)
Tombfyre
2020-09-30 20:33:37 +0000 UTCKey to the discussion of reducing fossil fuel use is the nature of capitalism and its "greed drive" that promotes personal profits from extraction of fossil fuels (easy money) over environmental good (difficult to incentivize). I would like to see you address this aspect of our climate crisis, but I know it's a very touchy point with the current world governments.
Thomas Craig
2020-09-30 19:42:11 +0000 UTCI would love to know more on the progress and current status of nuclear fusion and carbon capture technologies.
Bart Spiesschaert
2020-09-30 11:44:13 +0000 UTCYou are amazing! Thank you for making this video
Ben Merryman
2020-09-29 22:01:12 +0000 UTCPlastics wouldn’t lead to carbon emissions specifically; of course plastics are terrible in other ways, but other than the energy demands behind manufacturing leading to sourcing energy from fossil fuels, just not sure where else carbon would be released into the atmosphere when fabricating and using renewable power sources.
Christopher B Kaehny
2020-09-29 21:19:40 +0000 UTCPlease show how much carbon emission is currently being avoided by using nuclear and how much could be avoided. What if we went full nuclear? (I think France is at 80%). And how long would it take to replace fossil fuels with 4th generation nuclear (thorium) reactors? Finally, can we make hydrocarbon fuels for airplanes with the energy from nuclear power plants?
Mike Spalding
2020-09-29 21:06:46 +0000 UTCAll plastic, many medicines, etc.
Mike Spalding
2020-09-29 21:04:26 +0000 UTCEven quicker than regenerative agrictulture and permaculture is boycotting animal products and palm oil products like prepared foods and personal care items to force those industries to come up with alternatives. animal agrictulture actually produces over 50% of the problem (https://www.climatehealers.org/animal-agriculture-position-paper) when you include deforestation, huge amounts of feed needed. this land could grow forest, grass that is hugely carbon seqesting as well as using much smaller amounts of land to fed humans. Also dont forget the water destruction from run off. much of our fresh oxygen is created by ocean plankton. forest adn grasslands are not the only carbon sequestering elements.
Zoe Zuniga
2020-09-29 20:35:59 +0000 UTCWhich products/components are exclusively fabricated with fossil fuels?
Christopher B Kaehny
2020-09-29 19:47:18 +0000 UTCNo, there are many situations where you need actual combustion. Many products that can only be made with oil, coal or gas. Carbon capture still requires energy, and so solving the energy problem is more important than solving the carbon capture problem. As the video said, policy is very important. We won't get anywhere unless we properly account for the cost of carbon, and ensure polluters pay to emit it. This requires a carbon tax.
Felix
2020-09-29 19:36:50 +0000 UTCMORE OF THIS! I would love to see you guys do a video on the forces of climate legislation around the world, the reasons bad climate legislation is still in place, and the impact that these would have OVER individual behavior change. Make a video we can send out elected officials!
Nick Schwanz
2020-09-29 18:48:49 +0000 UTCThe quickest short-term action that can easily sequester carbon is regenerative agriculture and forestry, we already see the seasonal impact of agriculture in carbon capture. If agriculture shifts to a model focusing on soil health instead of chemical inputs, soil itself can be the largest carbon sponge as organic matter directly correlates to carbon absorption.
David Martel
2020-09-29 14:48:51 +0000 UTCYes! I've been eagerly awaiting this series!! I hope my area of research (biorenewable feedstocks) gets a little more love than usual. The general public is always so obsessed with nuclear/solar/wind energy, they forget that spicy electrons - uh... I mean electromotive force can't replace our pharmaceuticals and plastics.
Manar Alherech
2020-09-29 14:43:30 +0000 UTCShouldn’t it be possible to get renewable energy sources to zero emissions? Tracking that manufacturing is where they get dinged, but couldn’t renewables eventually supplant emissions in manufacturing? Couldn’t carbon capture be used in the mean time?
Christopher B Kaehny
2020-09-29 14:22:02 +0000 UTC
