We WILL Fix Climate Change!
Summary
TLDR视频剧本深入探讨了气候变化的严峻现实及其对人类文明的潜在威胁。尽管目前全球平均气温已较工业化前水平上升了1.2摄氏度,且我们可能无法实现巴黎协定中限制升温1.5度的雄心目标,但过去十年的积极进展表明,我们有可能避免灾难性的气候变化。可再生能源成本的大幅下降、电池价格的降低以及全球工业系统的转型,都为应对气候变化提供了希望。剧本呼吁人们保持希望,积极参与到减缓气候变化的行动中,共同推动社会向更可持续的方向发展。
Takeaways
- 🌍 我们的家园正在燃烧,气候变化正在破坏我们的世界。
- 🔥 我们的排放量可能无法迅速降低,以避免不可控制的变暖,我们可能很快就会达到导致生态系统和我们文明崩溃的临界点。
- 👨🔬 尽管科学家、活动家和年轻一代敦促采取行动,但大多数政治家似乎并未致力于采取有意义的措施,化石燃料行业仍在积极反对变革。
- 💔 人类似乎无法克服其贪婪和对短期利润和个人利益的迷恋,以拯救自己。
- 👶 年轻人感到特别焦虑和沮丧,他们不再期待一生的机遇,而是怀疑他们是否还有未来,或者是否应该将孩子带入这个世界。
- 🌑 这是一个充满绝望和无望的时代,放弃似乎是唯一明智的选择。
- 🚫 但这并不真实。你并非注定要失败。人类并非注定要失败。
- 📉 尽管情况严重,多年来积极的趋势已经积累,现在终于有一些好消息和明确的路径,朝着我们的集体气候目标前进。
- 🌡️ 截至2022年,全球平均气温比前工业时代上升了1.2摄氏度,限制升温到1.5度是巴黎协定中最具雄心的目标,但我们不太可能实现它。
- 🛑 即使在当前的变暖水平下,热的地方会变得更热,湿的地方会更湿,极端天气事件的风险和强度显著增加。
- 🌳 2度以上的升温会使所有极端情况更加极端,极端天气事件更常见,对生态系统造成更大的压力。一些生态系统可能无法存活。
- 📉 3度的升温可能使地球上的部分地区,特别是发展中国家,无法养活自己的人口。热浪将成为全球性问题,大规模自然系统将崩溃。
- 🌐 4-8度范围内,地球将变成一个“温室地球”,变化如此之快,以至于可能无法支持我们庞大的人类人口,数十亿人可能会死亡,剩下的人将生活在一个敌对的外星星球上。
- ⬇️ 幸运的是,这种版本的世界末日现在不太可能发生,如果当前的气候政策停滞不前,我们可能会在2100年达到3°C的升温。
- 🔄 过去十年,我们看到足够的进步,以至于大多数科学家现在认为我们已经可能避免了灾难性的气候变化。虽然仍有相当大的风险,但我们可以相当有信心地说,人类不会消失。
- 🚫 尽管缺乏气候政策和化石燃料行业的持续游说和误导信息,但仍取得了很多进展。
- 📉 2000年至2010年间,温室气体排放量增长了24%,是前一个十年增长的三倍。化石燃料补贴导致其消费量大幅增加。
- 🌿 自2015年以来,四分之三的计划中的燃煤电厂被取消,44个国家承诺停止建设它们。煤炭不再具有竞争力。
- 💨 我们认为会保持昂贵的技术迅速成熟。可再生电力显示出爆炸性的进展。在过去的十年中,风能成本降低了三倍,太阳能电力现在是原来的十分之一。
- 🔋 电池价格在过去30年中下降了97%,仅在过去十年中就下降了60%,这将服务于所有类型的绿色技术,如电动汽车。
- 🌱 经济中的人们正在努力改进现有技术以降低排放。我们正在迅速用LED灯泡替换旧的白炽灯泡,LED灯泡的效率是原来的十倍。
- 🚗 2020年,挪威约70%的新车是电动或混合动力车——到2021年,这一数字已经是80%。
- 💡 从电热、更好的绝缘到减慢船只速度以节省燃料,无论你在哪里看,都会发现科学家、工程师和企业家正在尝试解决气候变化的某个方面。
- 📉 富裕国家的国内二氧化碳排放量在没有重大衰退的情况下正在下降。自2000年以来,欧盟整体减少了21%,意大利减少了28%,英国减少了35%,丹麦减少了43%。
- 🌱 但最好的消息可能是,排放量不再必然与经济增长挂钩。在过去,这是一个不便的事实——要变得更富有,你必须排放更多。
- 💼 发展中国家将从中受益,因为富裕国家为绿色技术的昂贵发展付费,他们可以更便宜地采用这些技术。他们可以跳过今天富裕国家经历的大部分高排放阶段。
- 🛠️ 不再脱碳是一个糟糕的商业决策。
- 🌿 我们甚至还没有真正谈论像碳捕获这样的解决方案。在2000年,它几乎不存在。到2022年,这项技术确实存在,并且每吨二氧化碳从大气中移除的成本约为600美元。
- 🌐 那么一切都好了吗?嗯,我们不要过于兴奋——所有这些过程都很棒,但速度远远不够。我们仍然做得太少,技术不会神奇地解决一切问题。
- 🏛️ 我们需要使用更少的资源,更长时间地使用它们,设计可修复和耐用的消费品,降低我们的能源需求。我们需要更好的基础设施、农业和城市。
- 📉 尽管如此,我们仍然需要努力工作,特别是要通过和实施正确的政策。
- 📈 但有史以来第一次,有一些趋势线明确指向正确的方向。
- 🌟 现在想象一下——如果所有这些在没有适当的财政和政治支持的情况下实现,尽管化石燃料游说——想想当气候变化最终获得它需要的政治关注和资金时,人类可以做什么。
- 🌱 那么,我们可以再次感到有希望吗?情况仍然严峻和严重,那么关注这个故事的这一面有什么意义呢?
- 😔 气候变化可能会让人感到不知所措,让你的未来看起来暗淡。许多人感到的悲伤和绝望是真实的,也是非常具有破坏性的,因为它会导致冷漠。
- 💣 冷漠只会服务于仍在尽可能拖延变革的化石燃料行业。从某种意义上说,他们已经将绝望武器化了。
- 🌐 我们现在正处于关于迅速采取气候变化行动的公共辩论的第四阶段:
- 📉 第一阶段是:气候变化不是真的。
- 📉 第二阶段是:气候变化是真实的,但不是人为造成的。
- 📉 第三阶段是:气候变化可能是由人类造成的,但没那么糟糕。
- 📉 第四阶段是:气候变化不再可以避免。我们注定要失败,我们做什么都无所谓。
- 🌱 如果我们想让世界改变,我们首先需要相信改变是可能的。我们有大量证据表明这是可能的。
- 🌐 我们的工业系统正在获得动力,技术变得更好、更便宜,气候变化已成为大多数自由选举的关键问题。
- 👶 随着越来越多的年轻人进入有影响力的职位,他们优先考虑气候变化并致力于新的解决方案。
- 🌐 2022年,大多数政府不仅承认了这一点,还设定了自己的净零目标——在民主和独裁国家。
- 🛑 多年来艰苦奋斗的结果现在清晰可见。需要不断增加压力,以确保今天做出的承诺真正得到兑现!
- 💔 气候末日论是放弃的等价物,即使你仍然可以防止不仅仅是最坏的情况,还可以减轻大部分坏事,及时做出更好的适应变化,并防止最贫穷的人受苦。这就是为什么绝望和冷漠如此危险。
- 📉 如果说在许多方面被浪费的过去十年有什么启示,那就是正在取得进展,严峻的情景只是预测——不是我们注定的命运。
- 🌐 截至2022年,根据当前的全球政策,我们将进入一个3度的世界。
- 🚀 现在,我们的工作是再次证明预测是错误的——尽管情况多么严重和紧迫。将3度变成2度,然后看看我们能从那里走到哪里。
- 🌟 为此,我们需要希望。我们希望我们今天至少给了你一点希望。让你感到事情是严重的,但也让你有未来。你可以生孩子,而不会毁了他们或世界。今天采取行动是值得的。
- 🌱 尽管强大的行业尽一切努力拖延它,但社会正在改变。如果你需要一个更具体的个人行动路线图——我们正在制作一个后续视频,以更详细地讨论这个问题。
- 💔 末日论、不活动和武器化的绝望是不希望变革的力量所剩下的唯一王牌。不要让他们赢。
Q & A
气候变化对我们的世界产生了哪些影响?
-气候变化正在使我们的家园燃烧,它正在破坏我们的世界。它可能导致生态系统和我们文明的崩溃,以及极端天气事件的风险和强度显著增加。
为什么说我们可能无法迅速减少排放以避免失控的全球变暖?
-尽管科学家、活动家和年轻一代都在敦促采取行动,但似乎大多数政治家并没有致力于采取有意义的措施,化石燃料行业仍在积极反对变革。
为什么年轻人对未来感到焦虑和沮丧?
-年轻人感到特别焦虑和沮丧,他们不仅对未来的机会感到迷茫,还在怀疑是否应该将孩子带到这个世界上,因为他们担心未来是否还有希望。
为什么说人类可能无法克服贪婪和对短期利润的执着来拯救自己?
-人类似乎无法克服贪婪和对短期利润的执着,这阻碍了我们采取行动来拯救自己,即使面对气候变化的严重威胁。
为什么说尽管情况严重,但我们仍有希望?
-尽管情况严重,但多年来积极的趋势已经累积,现在有一些好消息和明确的路径指向我们共同的气候目标。
全球平均气温上升了多少,与巴黎协定的目标相比如何?
-截至2022年,全球平均气温比工业化前上升了1.2摄氏度。巴黎协定中最具雄心的目标是将升温限制在1.5摄氏度,但我们不太可能达到这个目标。
为什么说即使在3°C的全球变暖下,人类也不会灭绝?
-虽然3°C的全球变暖是可怕和悲惨的,但这种情景实际上比过去十年要好,因为大多数科学家现在认为我们已经可能避免了灾难性的气候变化。
过去十年中,哪些变化表明我们在应对气候变化方面取得了进展?
-过去十年中,可再生能源的成本大幅下降,电池价格大幅降低,以及经济体在降低排放方面的技术进步,这些都是我们在应对气候变化方面取得的积极进展。
为什么说煤炭不再是竞争性的能源?
-煤炭不再是竞争性的能源,因为可再生能源的成本已经大幅下降,使得煤炭或任何其他燃烧化石燃料的电厂相比之下变得不再经济。
为什么说即使在没有重大衰退的情况下,富裕国家的国内二氧化碳排放量也在下降?
-富裕国家的国内二氧化碳排放量正在下降,因为技术进步和经济结构的调整使得即使在经济增长的情况下,排放量也可以减少。
为什么说气候变化不再是经济增长的必然结果?
-气候变化不再是经济增长的必然结果,因为现在我们已经看到,即使在经济增长的情况下,也可以通过采用绿色技术和改进生产方式来减少排放。
为什么说希望和积极行动对于应对气候变化至关重要?
-希望和积极行动对于应对气候变化至关重要,因为它们能够激发人们采取行动,推动政策变革,并促进技术创新,这些都是实现我们气候目标的关键因素。
为什么说气候变化悲观主义是危险的?
-气候变化悲观主义是危险的,因为它会导致冷漠和放弃,这正是化石燃料行业所希望的,它们利用人们的绝望感来延迟变革。
为什么说即使在当前全球政策下,我们也有可能避免最糟糕的情况?
-即使在当前全球政策下,我们也有可能避免最糟糕的情况,因为技术进步、经济增长与减排的脱钩以及政策的逐步改进都为我们提供了避免灾难性气候变化的可能性。
为什么说我们需要保持希望,即使面对严峻的气候变化挑战?
-我们需要保持希望,因为希望能够激励我们采取行动,推动社会变革,并寻找创新解决方案,这对于应对气候变化至关重要。
Outlines
🌍 气候危机与希望
第一段主要讨论了全球气候变化的严峻形势,指出我们的排放量可能不足以避免气候失控,而政治家和化石燃料行业对此缺乏行动。尽管如此,作者强调人类并非注定失败,积极的趋势正在积累,我们有明确的路径来实现我们的气候目标。提到了巴黎协定的目标和当前全球平均气温上升的情况,并指出虽然我们可能无法达到1.5度的目标,但科学家们认为我们已经避免了灾难性的气候变化。
🌱 隐形转变与科技进步
第二段讲述了过去十年中,尽管缺乏气候政策,但技术进步和市场变化已经显著改变了能源领域。新兴国家的煤炭使用已经减缓,而发达国家的煤炭消耗量大幅下降。可再生能源的成本大幅降低,尤其是太阳能和风能,电池价格也大幅下降,这为绿色技术如电动汽车提供了支持。此外,经济中的其他领域也在努力降低排放,例如LED灯的普及、电动汽车的增加以及各种节能措施的实施。发达国家的二氧化碳排放量正在下降,而且经济增长与排放量的增长不再必然相关。
🚀 希望与行动的必要性
第三段强调,尽管取得了进步,但我们仍然做得不够,技术和政策需要进一步发展。我们需要更有效地使用资源,设计耐用且可修复的消费品,减少能源需求,并改善基础设施、农业和城市规划。作者提出,尽管情况严峻,但有迹象表明我们正在朝着正确的方向发展。作者还讨论了绝望感和无望感如何导致冷漠,这对化石燃料行业有利,因为它延迟了变革。作者呼吁,为了实现改变,我们需要相信改变是可能的,并强调了保持希望的重要性,以及社会正在发生变化,我们需要继续努力,以防止最坏的情况发生。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡气候变化
💡温室气体排放
💡巴黎协定
💡可再生能源
💡能源存储
💡碳捕获
💡经济脱碳
💡希望与绝望
💡政策与行动
💡净零排放目标
Highlights
我们的家园正在燃烧。气候变化正在破坏我们的世界。
尽管科学家、活动家和年轻一代敦促采取行动,但大多数政治家似乎没有致力于采取任何有意义的行动。
化石燃料行业仍在积极反对变革。
人类似乎无法克服其贪婪和对短期利润和个人利益的迷恋来拯救自己。
年轻人感到特别焦虑和沮丧。
但那不是真的。你不是注定的。人类不是注定的。
尽管情况严重,多年来积极的趋势已经累积,现在终于有一些好消息和明确的路径朝向我们共同的气候目标。
全球平均气温比工业化前上升了1.2摄氏度。
限制升温至1.5度是巴黎协定中最雄心勃勃的目标,但我们不太可能实现它。
即使在当前的变暖下,炎热的地方会变得更热,潮湿的地方会更潮湿,极端天气事件的风险和强度显著增加。
如果当前气候政策停滞不前,我们可能会在2100年达到3°C的变暖。
但这是实际上是好消息——为什么呢?在过去的十年里,我们已经看到了足够的进步,大多数科学家现在认为我们已经可能避免了灾难性的气候变化。
在过去的十年中,我们看到了足够的进步,现在可以自信地说:煤炭正在消亡。
可再生电力显示出爆炸性的进展。在短短十年内,风能便宜了三倍,太阳能现在是以前的十分之一便宜!
电池价格在过去30年中下降了97%,仅在过去十年就下降了60%。
经济中的人们正在努力改进现有技术以降低排放。
在捷克共和国,排放量下降了13%,而GDP增长了27%!
即使当我们考虑到我们所有的进口商品时,数字仍然看起来是积极的。
我们现在处于这样的一个点:不脱碳是一个糟糕的商业决策。
在2000年,碳捕获技术几乎不存在。到2022年,这项技术确实存在,并且每吨CO2从大气中移除的成本大约是600美元。
但我们仍然做得远远不够,技术不会神奇地解决一切问题。
我们需要使用更少的资源,更长时间地使用它们,设计可修复和耐用的消费品,并降低我们的能源需求。
但现在,有几条趋势线坚定地指向正确的方向。
如果我们想要世界改变,我们首先需要相信改变是可能的。
在2022年,大多数政府不仅承认了气候变化,而且设定了自己的净零目标。
气候末日主义等同于放弃,即使你仍然可以防止不仅仅是最坏的情况,还可以减轻大部分的坏事,及时做出更好的改变。
基于当前的全球政策,我们将最终走向一个3度的世界。现在,我们的工作是再次证明预测是错误的——尽管情况多么严重和紧迫。
为此,我们需要希望。我们希望我们今天至少给了你一点希望。
Transcripts
Our home is burning. Rapid climate change is destabilizing our world.
It seems our emissions will not fall quickly enough to avoid runaway warming and we may
soon hit tipping points that will lead to the collapse of ecosystems and our civilization.
While scientists, activists and much of the younger generation urge action,
it appears most politicians are not committed to do anything meaningful
while the fossil fuel industry still works actively against change. It seems humanity
can’t overcome its greed and obsession with short term profit and personal gain to save itself.
And so for many the future looks grim and hopeless. Young people feel particularly
anxious and depressed. Instead of looking ahead to a lifetime of opportunity they
wonder if they will even have a future or if they should bring kids into this world.
It’s an age of doom and hopelessness and giving up seems the only sensible thing to do.
But that’s not true. You are not doomed. Humanity is not doomed.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, for years positive trends have accumulated and there
is finally some good news and a clear path towards our collective climate goals. Welcome to our Ted
talk, please watch this video to the end – check out our detailed sources afterwards to learn more.
Ok! Let’s start with the scariest things.
Canceling the Apocalypse
Some of the most widely shared stories about Climate Change are that it is an existential
threat – the end of human civilization and maybe even our own extinction event. And
that it is basically unavoidable now. But what does science actually say?
As of 2022 the global average temperature
has risen 1.2 degrees celsius compared to preindustrial times.
Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees was the most ambitious goal of the Paris agreement
but we are not likely to meet it. Already with the warming we have today, hot places will get hotter,
wet places wetter and the risk and strength of extreme weather events increase significantly.
Warming beyond 2 degrees makes all of these extremes more extreme, extreme weather events
more common with more ecosystems under major pressure. Some will not survive.
At 3 degrees significant parts of earth, especially in developing countries,
might become unable to feed their populations. Heat waves will become a major global issue.
Large scale natural systems will break down. The scale and frequency of hurricanes,
fires and droughts will further increase and cause trillions in damage. Poor regions and subsistence
farmers will be hit the hardest. Hundreds of millions of people will need to leave their homes.
In the 4-8 degree range the apocalypse begins – the hothouse earth, where things change
so quickly, that it may become unable to support our large human population
and billions may perish, leaving the rest on a hostile alien planet.
A decade ago, for lack of action and perspective, many scientists assumed a 4+ degree world was our
future and a lot of public communication focused on exactly this future path.
Luckily, it's much less likely that this version of the apocalypse will come to pass.
If current climate policies stagnate, we’re likely to end up with warming 3 °C by 2100.
Which is scary and tragic and far from acceptable. But this is actually good news – how? In the last
decade, we have seen enough progress that most scientists now think that we have likely avoided
apocalyptic climate change. Although substantial risk still remains, we can pretty confidently say
that humanity isn’t going anywhere. Civilization might have to change, but it will endure.
Which begs the question: What has changed over the last ten years and is this really good news?
## The Invisible Shift
You probably know this story: The last decade has been an immense
failure for climate policies around the world.
Instead of passing comprehensive, binding bills that would meaningfully reduce emissions
we mostly did: nothing. A lost decade with one negative record after another. And this story
is true and it is one reason why so many people are giving up. But it is not the whole picture.
Despite the lack of climate policies and ongoing
lobbying and misinformation campaigns from the fossil fuel industries,
there was a lot of progress. Let us go back 20 years to see why today is so different:
Between 2000 and 2010, greenhouse gas emissions had grown by 24%,
three times as much as the increase in the previous decade. Subsidies for fossil fuels
aimed at promoting economic growth, caused a colossal increase in their consumption.
For emerging countries like China and India coal was the cheapest fuel for growth
while rich countries showed little interest in changing their ways.
In 2010, many people expected these trends to continue. Instead of decreasing fossil
fuel use its consumption would rise. The next decade turned out to be very different though.
First of all, coal burning in emerging countries like India has been slowed down or leveled off,
like in China. And it has plummeted in rich countries like the UK and US.
Since 2015 three-quarters of planned coal plants have been canceled and 44 countries
have committed to stop building them. Ten years ago that would have seemed like wishful thinking,
but today we can say with confidence: Coal is dying. It is just not competitive anymore.
Because technologies we thought would remain expensive matured rapidly instead. Renewable
electricity has shown explosive progress. In a mere decade wind energy got three times cheaper.
Solar electricity is now ten times cheaper! Cheaper than coal or any other fossil-fuel burning
power plant, despite the massive subsidies and global infrastructure propping up fossil fuels.
25 times more solar and nearly 5 times more wind electricity is produced today compared with ten
years ago, which is of course not nearly enough. One of the biggest obstacles is the variability
of their power output. Renewables need a lot of energy storage to be a reliable power source,
like expensive batteries. Amazingly battery prices have decreased by 97% in the past 30 years,
60% in the last decade alone – which will serve all kinds of green technology like electric cars.
You might say, well that’s great but didn’t Kurzgesagt’s last climate video
say that while wind and solar are nice, we need nothing less than a fundamental transition of
our global industrial system? Yes but luckily the shift goes beyond just the energy sector.
Throughout the economy people are working on improving current technology to lower emissions.
We’re rapidly replacing old incandescent light bulbs with LEDs that are ten times more efficient.
In 2020 about 7 out of 10 new cars in Norway were electric
or hybrid – In 2021 it was already 8 out of 10. And the list goes on,
from electric heating and better insulation to ships traveling at half speed to save fuel.
Wherever you look you find scientists,
engineers and entrepreneurs trying to solve some aspect of climate change.
Enormous amounts of human ingenuity are being brought to bear on this problem
with more and more people deciding to prioritize preventing rapid climate change. Solutions for
low-carbon production of cement, electronics and steel, and innovations like artificial meat and
carbon capture are in the works. The more of these technologies we deploy; the cheaper new
and better technology gets. The cheaper they get, the more people use them. And so on.
We can see the impact already:
The domestic CO2 output of rich countries is falling without a major recession.
Since the year 2000, the EU as a whole shows a 21% decrease, Italy 28%, the UK 35%, Denmark 43%.
But the best news may be that emissions are no longer necessarily coupled with economic growth.
In the past this was an inconvenient truth – to get richer, you had to emit more. Which
led to fierce arguments between developing and developed countries about the fairness
of reducing emissions while their populations were still poor. But in the last decade we have
seen that it IS possible to increase prosperity without increasing emissions. Emissions in the
Czech Republic dropped 13% while their GDP grew by 27%! France reduced their CO2 emissions by 14%
while increasing GDP by 15%! Romania saw an 8% decrease and 35% growth! And even the
largest economy on earth - the USA - decreased emissions by 4% while growing their GDP by 26%!
Some of you may call this a numbers trick. That rich countries are just exporting emissions to
poorer nations by moving the dirty parts of their economies like manufacturing. But even
when we account for all of our imported goods, the numbers still look positive! It’s no longer
a matter of having to choose between prosperity and the climate as it seemed to be a decade ago.
Developing countries will profit from that because as rich countries pay for
the expensive development of green technologies, they can adopt them more cheaply. They can skip
most of the high emission phase that today's rich countries went through.
We are at the point where not decarbonizing is a bad business decision.
And we haven’t even really talked about solutions like carbon capture.
In 2000 it didn't really exist. In 2022 that technology does exist and costs around $600 to
remove one ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. As investment pours in and the technology matures
and begins to scale, it is likely that these costs will plummet over the next few decades.
So everything's fine then? Well let us not get carried away here - all of these processes are
great but not nearly fast enough. We are still doing way too little and technology will not
magically solve everything. We need to use fewer resources and use them longer, design
consumer goods that are repairable and durable and decrease our energy requirements. We need
much better infrastructure, agriculture and cities. It will still be hard work,
especially to get the right policies passed and enacted.
But for the first time ever,
there are a few trendlines pointing solidly in the right direction.
And now imagine – If all of this was achieved without proper financial and political support
and despite fossil fuel lobbying – just think what humanity can do
when climate change finally gets the political attention and funding it needs.
So is it ok to feel hopeful again? The situation is still dire and serious,
so what is the point of focusing on this side of the story?
The Trap of Hopelessness
Climate change can feel overwhelming and make your future seem bleak. The sadness
and hopelessness that many people feel is real and very destructive because it causes apathy.
Apathy that is only serving the fossil fuel industry that is still delaying
change however it can. In a sense they have weaponized hopelessness.
We are now in phase 4 in the public debate about rapid climate change action:
Phase 1 was: Climate Change is not real.
Phase 2 was: Climate Change is real but not caused by humans.
Phase 3 was: Climate Change may be caused by humans but it’s not that bad.
Phase 4 is: Climate Change is no longer avoidable. We are doomed and it doesn’t matter what we do.
If we want the world to change, we first need to believe that change is possible. And we have
an abundance of evidence that it is. Changes to our industrial system are gaining momentum,
technology gets better and cheaper, climate change has become a key issue in most free elections.
As more and more younger people move into influential positions,
they prioritize climate change and work on new solutions. In 2022 most governments not
only acknowledge it but set their own net zero goals – in democratic and autocratic countries.
The results of years of fighting a steep uphill battle are now clearly visible. The
pressure needs to keep increasing, to make sure that the promises made today are actually kept!
Climate doomerism is the equivalent of giving up even though you can still prevent not just the
worst case but also mitigate most of the bad things, make changes in time to adapt better
and prevent the poorest from suffering. That is why hopelessness and apathy are so dangerous.
If the last, in many ways wasted decade, has shown anything,
then it’s that progress is being made and that dire scenarios are just predictions – not our
sealed fate. As of 2022, based on current global policies, we will end up in a 3 degrees world.
Now it is our job to yet again prove the predictions wrong – despite how serious and
urgent things are. To turn that 3 degrees into a 2 degrees and then see where we can go from there.
For that we need hope. And we hope we gave you that today, at least a little. That you feel
that things are serious but also that you have a future. That you can have kids without dooming
them or the world. That taking action today is worth it. And that despite powerful industries
doing everything to delay it, society is changing. If you need a more concrete roadmap of what you
can do personally – we are working on a follow up video to talk about that in greater detail.
Doomerism, inactivity and weaponized hopelessness
are the only trump cards left for the powers that don’t want change. Don’t let them win.
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