@@solsystem1342 it can but realistically speaking, most people are lazy don't care and are looking for any excuse to not care. If they have hope they can say to themselves "oh everything will be fine so now we don't have to do anything"
Spooky how in this video you anticipated and answered my questions like four times: "doesn't the West just outsource its emissions to China?", "aren't China's emissions just going up?", "what about the non-electricity sectors?", and "who else can I watch about this?". Pretty damn masterful, actually.
hearing positive things about climate change only motivates me further to do good for our planet. Constantly being bombarded by negativity can ruin any motivation I've built, because it all sounds pointless. But thank you for this video, this puts climate change into a new perspective that is honestly very helpful.
Someone actually talking about how far we have gone instead of how far we have left to go is really refreshing. So is someone actually seeing how far we have gone, most people seem to think everything in the world is bad and getting worse despite that not at all being the case, we are far better off than ever before and things are getting better.
It's also worth highlighting just how cynical people are. Yes, it was wise to be more cynical than average in the 1990s, but people nowadays conflate cynicism with wisdom (and therefore assume the most cynical conspiracy theorist is somehow intelligent).
CO2 emissions keep rising. That doesn’t show any sign of stopping and it’s our biggest issue. Why should I care about technology being more efficient if large governments will likely let a billion people die?
@@btf_flotsam478 pretty much every generation thought they would be the last, realistically, climate change will have negative effects but it wont be an end of the world event, its just easy to look at the negatives and extreames because we want to be the protaganist, finale apocalypse generation
At 4:22 my heart stopped. I paused the video, took my glasses off, and I immediately started to sob for about 3 minutes straight. I can't begin to tell you what it means to me seeing this. I have extreme depression and anxiety stemming from hopelessness surrounding climate change. I've had apocalyptic dreams for years. This is a drop in the bucket of change that is needed yes but my God I can't begin to tell you what this is doing to me. I'm trying to type through tears. Just thank you. I've become so cynical, I was so skeptical... I can't believe I clicked this on a whim.
Seeing your post makes me SO ANGRY that media and others berate the general public and cause them to fall into despair like this. I'm so sorry this has been bringing you down. You should know that human ingenuity will overcome this hurdle, as we have disease, famine, and full-scale war. We WILL fix climate change. I suggest you watch the Kurzgesagt video on this and follow a newsletter called Human Progress update. You'll feel a lot better, friend.
I'm not so otimistic giving that we need to do so much more, in a way it's pratically politically impossible, but it's useful to know that all have being done all this years was not in vain.
I just smiled at your comment, it was like I was fulfilled with calm and joy towards you... I really hope you will get all the help you need, you deserve it!
Oh dear rebecca sorry to hear you have been indoctrinated so badly by the irresponsible media ! They do like to create hysteria surrounding climate. All I can suggest you do is listen to some scientist not on the climate chnage government grant money payroll or even just read the official IPCC report and you'll learn that debate surrounding climate is neither settled let alone the end of the world. Take care.
I wish people would talk more about restoring the damaged land that is not used for anything now but was once forest. If we reforest all the degraded land in the world the problem would be so significantly less of an issue.
I agree but it is much harder to reforest damaged land than it is to destroy it, and I mean this with heart. You can't just plant trees and call it a day, you have to redevelop the microbiome, make sure native, local species are being reintroduced, and most importantly, give the soil the nutrients it has probably lost so all of this life can sustain itself and the microbiome can thrive. Something needs to be done but it has to be the proper way. Any time I see companies just planting the one type of tree and nothing else, and calling it land restoration, I die a little inside. We need to promote proper land restoration that works from the literal ground up.
@@zoruasnivy Of course and I also agree we shouldn’t just do random planting. It’s only the first stage that is the most difficult part. John D. Lui who has worked in regeneration of degraded land says you only need 10km of regenerated land for the local biome and microclimate to be re-established. For many parts of the world this is tiny. We would then just leave the land to do natural regeneration and believe me it goes really fast. For soil nutrient revitalisation, depends if you want to farm the land sure but the Amazon is actually some of most mineral poor soils in the world. Trees need first water then minerals. The Chinese have done it before with the loess plateau and Geoff Lawton and developed prototypes for reforestation of the entire Middle East and they work.
Bill Gates said a few months ago that planting tree's is irresponsible and increases Co2. he proposes cutting down forests of trees and burying them and not replanting new tree's.
Even though global warming can’t be blamed on individual consumption, there’s still some good news on the individual consumerist behaviours; trends on social media are moving towards anti-consumption behaviour. Boycotts, abstaining from Black Friday, and de-influencing (showing you why you don’t need certain products) are gaining popularity. I hope for a future of social media content flexing the creator’s ability to give old items a new life, by way of cleaning, repairing, sewing, furniture restauration, etc.
But, because most platforms are for-profit enterprises, and competing against each other makes them opt for ever more commercial advertising and sponsorship, you can see this on RUclips, and increasing advertising space on Amazon. Basically, I wouldn't look to social media for solutions, just more efficient greenwashing.
@@squirlmyunless the greenwashing happens to be replacing plastic. I’m all for it. I hate plastic and we need to go back to glass, wood, or better things
My weather app (im danish) is constantly bombarding me with "terrifying records" every day and its frankly only making me apathetic towards doing anything because a bombardment of "bad news" just comes across as "give up already"
It's important to talk about the good along with the bad cause if we just focused on the bad, people would give up and just let all this happen. Hope is a powerful weapon against such a crisis.
I disagree. Hope is not a strategy. When I was hopeful I assumed that someone else was going to fix the problem and I didn't take a lot of action. Now I realise the true nature of the problem, that it is in fact a predicament, and nothing I do is going to stop catastrophic climate change. I am neither hopeful nor hopeless, but I am taking action in my community with the stark truth at the forefront of my mind. The idea that we need hope in order to take the best action isn't true.
@@EmmaSolomano nah. If I thought there was no hope for tackling climate change I would probably just give up altogether. We need to believe that our efforts can make a difference, or what's the point?
@@robertwinslade3104 this is exactly my attitude. It's not hope alone I would advocate for but a combination of hope for a better tomorrow and righteous anger at the people stopping it from happening. It's disheartening to see people be like "you're wrong to want to believe that we can overcome this together" as though their solution is so much more palpable.
This video made me realise that I have been using "the climate crisis" as a shorthand for "the various ways that humans are messing up the planet". Decarbonification is essential for planetary wellbeing, but so is biodiversity, soil health, water availability. Thanks for making me think about both the progress we've made, and the areas in which measuring progress is trickier.
The 20% Simon was talking about at 4:37 wasn't saying that climate disruption is 20% of the overall planetary crises (biodiversity, soil health, water availability, air pollution, water pollution, persistent novel compounds, heavy metal pollution, ocean acidification, etc, etc, etc), but that electricity generation is roughly 20% of what has been driving climate disruption. Maybe you were already clear on that, but your comment made me wonder if you might be confusing a couple of things.
Climate change hurts biodiversity and water availability so I’d say climate change is what we should focus on fighting first then repair. The damage obviously doing all of these would be great but we know how stupid governments are
Progress? More politically unstable than ever. "WE have a global problem - the West is responsible for 80% of all GHG emissions so far" An American still eats 5 Earths a year. Coincidentally, that's where most of the deniers live. A little bit more progress. - and we have world war. In fact, we already have it. Hybrid wars aren't that loud.
@@MessagefromMichael Well, reproductive freedoms are great but, removing social pressures to have or not have kids are great imo. More people who want kids having them and less people who didn't want the kids in the first place having them is my goal.
I have to admit, I've been avoiding your videos because I've just been getting overwhelmed at all of the bad news in almost every corner of the media, and its been impacting my mental health. Lovely to hear a case for hope!
I highly recommend the book 'Not the end of the world' by data scientist, Hannah Ritchie. It doesn't play down the challenge, but explores how the big picture data on the environmental crises are not as apocalyptic as the headlines suggest.
I think this video genuinely made me feel... lighter. i've been watching and experiencing so much depressing stuff and i didn't realize how much that's impacted my general mood and mental strain until i watched this. thank you.
THE problem is the energy usage keeps going up. So we aren't actually lowering. The fossil fuel use, we are just using all the alternative energy on top of the fossil fuels
@@spongebobislyfe5906 Wind and solar power increase demand for fossil fuels because they're unstable energy sources. Our only option is nuclear energy for providing a stable energy supply.
@@steinarnielsen8954 The demand for energy is unstable, so a stable energy source will provide too much at some times and too little at others. That is actually why pumped hydro energy storage was first promoted. Stable nuclear power plants provided too much energy at night and not enough during the daytime. So people wanted to store some of the overnight power to use the following day.
Anecdotally I can tell that there has almost been a revolution in the way people in my close environment treat this topic. From "how cute is it that you care so much about trees" people have started to share my anger at government inaction as well as give up meat and fast fashion in their lives.
@@ybg... the "15%" is mostly because of animals living. from water for drinking, to the gasses that are emitted (except CO2) are all from livestock being alive and pooping/farting.
@@ybg... More can be done to make meat consumption better for the environment, which is likely the route that the world will go. People just aren't going to stop eating meat, but what we can do is eat less meat, make sure our meat is local and make sure the food sources of our animals are also local. Like, for example, Soya is the main protein source for chickens, but Soya doesn't grow very well in Europe, so most of it is imported from asia. The carbon cost of raising chickens is therefore artifically higher because we haven't found a better way to provide them the protein they need (yet) but research is looking into it.
He had me until "we live in a world governed by capitalism, and so the most important thing to governments is individual economic prosperity" instead of correctly observing the most important thing to capitalism and the capitalists that control our governments is short term profit. Concern over climate and individual prosperity is secondary and actually a non-factor until it starts eating into those short term profits because the exploited population becomes unruly and ineffective serfs.
@@billystronk4251I quit posting links to books about it but if you need some or strongly disagree with (I agree) my overly simplistic summary ... by all means I'm willing to listen
Posting 1) for engagement boosting good educational climate content, and 2) to say this is a very snappy, well-edited, smart video. Especially with how you reference your back catalogue to prompt viewers to go learn more. Props!
"The average person today is richer than the average person 10 years ago" very specific wording. That's around the time of the stock market crash. The average person's wealth is decreasing dramatically.
Same with using the data about decoupling emissions from economic growth. Sure, that's a nice looking graph, look at how much GDP per capita is going up! The inequality of that GDP increase is so absurd though, you can't use that to say the average individuals are getting so much better off. It's just the obscenely rich that are getting more so.
The fact is that people in he world that live in poverty has declined by 50% over the past 50 years. Clearly the average persons wealth in the world is not decreasing. And poor peoples income is increasing around the world. This is not an opinion - The documented statistics are available on line.
that is basically due to systematically underestimating inflation… real income is declining. If you own enough real estate and etfs that might be compensated. Otherwise you loose.
I live in Malaysia(tropical country) , every time we're talking about the weather, the sentence "we'll never know, weather is crazy nowadays" Will always come up. I dont know whether we are having the mandela effect or what, but sometimes we feel that the weather is not quite right, like moonsoon is not on schedule or how its raining too much or too little than its supposed to. I wonder, is anyone else having the same experience as us?
Yep same in the UK! We have mild weather compared to most countries but even then you can’t trust the weather app to predict the weather for the same day.
Aside from the fact that oil companies keep expanding their businessmodel whilst abandoning to even try to greenwash their business model, the issue that keeps me most pessimistic is the way the science goes on this topic. Because new studies keep coming out finding new details about the mechanics of climate change - and usually, those findings are pointing into a direction indicating that the impacts of climate change will become worse and start to show earlier then previously believed. Just now there was a paper indicating that the AMOC sea current system is heading into collapse. James Hanson just published a paper saying that this is going to get worse far faster than expected. I know this is disputed quite a lot, but my fear is that the science keps underestimating the timeline in which the impacts will occur. It seems to be going all much faster then estimated - and this is not a new trend.
A natural consequence of scientists’ conservatism I suppose. And partly due to feedback between systems that were only studied in isolation for a very long time. Our models really are still quite crude. One thing that really worries me is that several recent studies have shown just how quickly the climate has sometimes changed in the past. Really suggests that the climate as a system is very finely balanced and that small changes can and do lead to large variations over a short period of time. Unfortunately, these pesky non-linear feedback effects are the hardest part of any model to simulate correctly.
@@simontillson482 The irony is that event with those cautious prognosis which have shaped the IPCC reports, they're still called the doomists, that they're overly alarmist. It's the opposite.
@@yarodin the video itself says that 4+ degree is extintion, "but dont worry we're only probably hitting 2.5+". It amazes me how that is good news and we should be optimistic.
@@purplegoop1247I don't think he's saying that 2.5+ is good news. He states the estimates of a 4-5+ world happening are much lower than even 10 years ago, so if we can avoid that much we can certainly do more. I agree that 2.5 would be devastating.
"Greenwashing" is a process started by the climate movement. If you increase solar and wind you also have to increase fossil fuels. Because these energy sources are unstable and therefore requires a secondary power source which can easily be upregulated.
After only find articles saying the same the things, it's refreshing to hear how things are getting better. Obviously the takeaway is "We not out of the woods yet until we work it out". But it still gives hope because "Yes! We have made progress!" And the fact that more and more people care gives hope. The fact that only a decade ago the earth was predicted to be at 4.5 degrees by 2100, and that number has dropped into the 2.0s Idk, this video was the spark of hope I needed. You got a subscriber
There's also a video out there called "How to avoid climate change really fast" by "Acciona" I think, and goes deep down in that idea of how we've become numb to fear of climate change and that changing that for hope of a better future is way more effective and damn the ending of that video just gives me goosebumps.
I NEVER comment, but I’ve followed you since I was 12 and I’m 24 now. I absolutely love the thumbnail and (as another commenter said), judging just from the first 15 seconds - you’re absolutely smashing it. Keep it up Simon, I’m SO pleased to see you thriving.
News outlets live by bad news, because they sell better. That's why I stopped watching and listening to news 99% of the time. There's a lot of good in the world and a lot of heading towards the right direction 🙏🏻
Thank you for helping me against my climate anxiety. If we pass 2030 well, I'll be able to think again about having children. 🥺 In this season, my city was supposed to be 25°C, but we are facing 40-45°C for days! I can't barely do something outside without heating myself instantly. Last year we faced 60°C of thermal sensation while the air temperature was 50°C. 60°C!!!Borning poor in a tropical country is my personal hell.
There is so much you can do, even if you do decide to have children. Delaying kids until your 30s, limiting how many you have to one or two, planting trees, walking/cycling/using public transportation everywhere, getting involved in local environmental projects (or starting your own) eg finding a local stream to plant a riparian strip, pest control, etc.
I got a genuine good feeling from this video. When someone is finally talking about the positive sides and the improvements we’ve made. Everything doesn’t seem so bad and it actually motivates to keep on doing small things to improve your life in being more sustainable
People worry too much. Of course climate change is extremely serious, but there's ALWAYS an existential threat to humanity (e.g. nuclear annihilation, war, famine, plague etc etc etc). This is NEVER going away, so don't worry about these things. Always remember that humans are good at solving problems. This is one problem we're solving, like I knew we would. Stop worrying!
I really notice the change of style. You have always had good writing and content, now it is just more gripping. Really rooting for a continuation of your channel, I think you can do it. Never give up! XD
I needed this. To be honest, the reason I sometimes struggle with your videos is a sense of nihilism and inevitability. I know there are some positive stories but it feels tough beinf bombarded by the negatives. I know we need to be realistic, stuff is challenging and bad, but when it is difficult to do stuff as an individual that have material impact, it can be easy to lose hope.
@@maalikserebryakovThank you for your thorough and well-reasoned analysis. I have decided to become a doomer and proselytize Armageddon to everyone I come across.
This is so galvanizing. So many of us have been on board with this cause for decades. This is like a swimmer coming up for a huge gulp of air to keep moving himself forward.
I really needed this, thank you. Think i was in that climate despair mode you mentioned for a while now. Still not an optimist, but let's call it a wake-up to seeing what's helpful, rather than just being a downer on our future outlook.
There's an ongoing blog from EuroNews that details a number of positive eco news every month. As someone with anxiety surrounding climate change, it's been a genuine help in keeping my spirits up. I can't recommend it enough.
In China you could've mentioned nuclear to. Fastest buildout in the world. Another interesting detail is how heat pumps, EV's, better city planning and public transport the ammount of energy needed for the same results is stuningly lower. They are orders of magnitude more efficient. Even more, without fossil fuels there is no need to transport them (wich corresponds to 60% of shipping) neither of refining the fuel. So even less energy used. Lastly, generating eletricity with solar wind or hydro is far more efficient then thermic power plants, meaning more eletricity for the same energy. So its great that we don't have to replace all the energy used by fossil fuels
It's not so much that they are so much more efficient, simply there isn't really a way to univocally define the energy content of a gust of wind (??) compared to a kg of natural gas. Effectively, it translates in only part of the TES - total energy supply - needing to be replaced by clean electricity. But it's neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. Only a matter of definition.
@@StarryNightGazing, I have never see an actual measure of the available kinetic energy captured by a wind turbine. According to Betz's law (defined in 1919), no wind turbine of any mechanism can capture more than 16/27 (59.3%) of the kinetic energy in wind. In 2001, Gorban, Gorlov and Silantyev introduced an exactly solvable model (GGS), that considers non-uniform pressure distribution and curvilinear flow across the turbine plane. They utilized and modified the Kirchhoff model, which describes the turbulent wake behind the actuator as the "degenerated" flow and uses the Euler equation outside the degenerate area. The GGS model predicts that peak efficiency is achieved when the flow through the turbine is approximately 61% of the total flow which is very similar to the Betz result of 2⁄3 for a flow resulting in peak efficiency, but the GGS predicted that the peak efficiency itself is much smaller: 30.1%. Most wind turbines have a power rating based on the max power that can be generated under ideal conditions (which can vary by turbine, but is usually a steady wind speed at about10 m/s). The capacity factor (Cf) is calculated based on the percentage of that max power which is generated over a time period. At a good wind site, a capacity factor of 40% can be achieved for land-based turbines, 50% for fixed bottom offshore turbines and 60% for floating offshore turbines.
Yet the eroi is inferior on intermittent renewables. Same for materials usage. Intermittent renewables consume more steel, concrete and metals pet MWh produced. All these ressources need energy too... (Not even factoring in the environnemental consequences of mining said additional ressources per MWh)
@@etienne8110 And yet, you'll have to compare that to the emissions cost of pumping, refining, and transporting fuel to oil, natural gas, and coal plants _in perpetuity._ A wind turbine has an investment energy cost. An oil plant has an investment energy cost and an ongoing energy cost. And beyond that, a wind turbine generates a hundred million kWh over its lifetime. Is that not more energy than it takes to refine the materials for and build the turbine in the first place?
I have really liked the term "bättre men inte bra" or in English "better but not great" ever since I encountered it in Factfulness by Rosling and feels like it really fits this situation. Is it bad that we are still projected to go above 2 degrees of warming, yes. But the fact we have made significant progress is still really good and hopefully indicates that we can continue to push the number lower. Great video and I also want to say that I was happy to hear that you got some extra Patreon funding after the recent video.
Heard this stuff all the time in 7 years of marching band Band Director: that was better Band: *celebrates* Band Director: Hey, just because I said it was better doesn't mean it was GOOD. Run it again!
Sometimes you have to read from the gospel of good enough and keep slogging on towards a higher goal. Progress isn’t going to happen without acceptance of our smaller victories.
2 degrees of warming is very likely (although how _long_ we'll overshoot for is another factor -- there's no guarantee we have to stay there forever), but at least 3 degrees is increasingly unlikely, and 4 degrees is right out.
Simon should share the secret technology he's using to teleport between the rooms in his house and the park outside. Bamn, entire transportation industry decarbonized in a single swoop.
An alternative perspective: despair leads to anger, anger leads to stronger direct action. I think every possible strategy should be used with climate change though. There needs to be mass public policy pushes, technological innovation motivated by capitalism, "cold war/great power" competition (competitive action to increase energy self-sustainability through a national security perspective), and finally some folks who are willing to do the dirty work of protest and "other things". We need every aspect to work for us to achieve our goals.
I love all the references to your other videos! You didnt make them too obvious by interrupting the story and saying, "I made a video about that." You brought up interesting topics and hinted that you've talked about them already.
Here in algeria we already feel the climate change outcomes ....my town for example i remember we used to have a very cold winter and snow but in recent two years or three the heat record letterly rises to 30 degree in January 😢 and i can't tell you how much it is hotter in the summer .
I'm sorry that this happens to you. It's the most unfortunate thing that nations that contributed less to climate change historically get the worst impacts :/
It s felt everywhere for whoever observes nature. Areas where it was already dry are turning desertic, making it even more obvious. But really, no place is left unsullied.
On my family farm in England we have had drastically lower crop yields due to reduced rain at the times it's needed. My mother has observed this pattern over the last decade.
Even further north... Here in the semi-mountaineous Ardenne in Eastern Belgium (close to the German border), we used to have cold and snowy winters (with night temperatures commonly as low as - 15/- 20 celsius), and mild summers seldom exceeding 25 celsius during the day. For the last few summers we've had several heat waves largely exceeding 30 celsius. And this year, as we are in the middle of winter, the thermometer went up to to 15 celsius earlier this week, no night frosts, and spring flowers are already starting to bloom in the garden. At least we're saving on heating...
Thank you for this - I needed something to divert me from climate despair. I was feeling like nothing I did made a difference, so why bother? It can feel like we're heading towards inevitable disaster, especially when it's becoming less fashionable to care about this in politics, so it's good to know that there's a glimmer of hope.
This is just thing, if we don’t talk about the positives and the good everyone gets tired of always hearing about the bad. You get into the mindset of well we’re screwed anyway. There’s so much that’s being done in this sector that it should be talked about more so we can renew the faith in people that change is happening and we are improving.
7:22 100% agreed. Sure, we aren't there yet, and sure we can still do more. But a video like this is important, data like this is important. Because it shows that, while we still have ways to go, what we are doing is working. What we are doing and what is happening is moving forward, it's making a change, and a change for the better. And that is invaluable, especially for peoples moral. Feeling like there is nothing happening and like there is really nothing you can do is the primary reason people give up and fall back into old and easier habbits. But seeing that yes, you are making a change, things are getting better, gives hope and encouragement. It's always better to see us moving forward one step at a time rather than just standing there and stomping in one place. What we are doing is working, now we just need to keep going.
Really enjoyed this video. A much needed positive perspective! I think that when only the negatives of the situation are reported it really creates despair and apathy. The "why try if it is already doomed?"-mentality. But with videos like this, not only are you making people happier, you are also levitating that despair which cause harm on not just our mental health but also indirectly the environment. At least in my case it made me a bit more inspired and wanting to try harder. Finding a good balance of reporting on both the severity while keeping morale up is important and is really where science communicators like you can shine.
@@jozefwoo8079 It is. To nail the lightning difference the shadow, the different skin tone, not the least the projected distorted image on his forearm, would require a day in editing and a week 3D modelling.
I live in what used to be coal country (southwest PA, an area absolutely littered with hollowed-out “coal patch” towns), and I’ve been hearing an ad on the radio about how we are “rushing too fast” into renewable energy. It seems the coal industry is worried… 🤔
Yeah, I live in Alberta, Canada, and had to stop listening to the radio last year because the provincial government's anti-renewable-energy scare ads (they're owned by the tarsands companies) were making me so angry it was physically hurting me with the muscle spasms and fist-clenching and teeth-grinding when they came on, to say nothing of what I presume the stress was doing to me otherwise. I keep wondering if it's 'worth' listening to the radio again, if maybe they've given it a rest, but I don't want to experience that again.
As Dr. Katherine Hayhoe writes in her book "Saving Us" (HIGHLY recommend for anyone with climate anxiety), we don't have to move a boulder up a mountain. The boulder is going down and we just have to keep moving it forward faster.
This was some much-needed optimism. More than that, much-needed perspective on how much our actions matter and can have an impact on the future. I wish the best for your channel and I hope you can continue with it, even in part!
Simon this was perhaps your best made video ever. The old PhD vlogs are still my favorite but the quality of this one stands out in editing, story-telling and delivery. All the best :)
This almost made me cry because this is the first video I have EVER watched that gave me genuine hope for positive, real change. Because, for once, I feel like we may be able to save our planet in spite of the capitalist death march the older generations currently have us on.
thank you for putting this together... so much of my hesitancy to start a family is based around this climate crisis anxiety. we need hope. i need hope.
Thank you Simon for continuing your work after your recent concerns. So many of us value your voice and we’re grateful that you’re staying committed to using your voice to the very end. I immediately noticed the small changes in style compared to your previous videos, and I like them. Just make sure that whatever you’re doing is something you like and you’re proud of. Have you thought of doing interviews and cameos with other content creators and even on other platforms about the topics you have expertise in.
wow, this new style is crazy good. it's entertaining, informative and straight to the point. you've drastically improved within the span of just one video Simon
People need to hear this. So much climate discussion is around the effectiveness of the suggested solutions. People need to see that these solutions work.
The video looks great, I haven't seen many people use a projector to display graphics in these sorts of videos. And breaking up the varied settings from the projector, to the park, to your study looks great. I hope your channel is able to get out of this slump because your videos are great!
Definitely like the vibe of the video! If it helps your algorithm analysis at all, this was sitting as my top recommended video when I opened up the YT app, even though I haven't consumed similar videos in a while! May the algo-gods shine brightly upon your channel again
Your service is absolutely invaluable. Thank you! I never want you to stop making this content. It’s SO important to have an unbiased opinion when informing on this topic. I have my notifications switched on, never get notified! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
THANK YOU! THANK YOU YOU DO MUCH FOR YOUR WORK! I am currently studying to become a renewal energy engineer and everyday with the negative media has made it increasingly hard to focus on my studies. I love engineering and I have always wanted to do it since a young age, and my field of choice is due to my love for nature. I’m so happy to know that my efforts won’t be going to waste. Thank you!
Committed to support you. You got me through the hardest time. Used your videos as motivation in my A levels and now finishing my Law degree. Weird enough, I am currently doing a unit on climate change and law. So your video was very relevant. Helped to merge the practical things with my understanding of current laws in place and government policies being taken. I liked the part of young generation pushing for mitigation of climate change. There have been cases before the European Court, Philippines and other South American countries where young people have sued their governments for lack of care for the environment. Furthermore, how gen Z are boycotting companies that are not environmental friendly. However, greenwashing is still prevalent. But genuinely, great video!
I disagree, but your point is still valid to an extent. The opposite is also true, if people are pessimistic, people become hopeless. Thus do nothing and let corporations walk all over them as there is no other alternative. Optimism is good. We can do this. We can push further. If we made this far, we can make it farther. Keep fighting for better stuff!
I 100% agree. We will end at +3ºC, with no more metals in our mines, no more sand for concrete, no more fossil fueled industries. Our occidental neocolonial lifestyle will completely collapse and there will be wars and civil wars for food and shelters all around the globe. And we will be like: "Bwaaa! We did great! We sacrificed ourselves for the sake of equality and common good. People watching these optimistic videos are mostly climate spectators. Most are stuck behind a counter productive job that they can’t afford to quit anyway. "We successfully did not completely annihilated life on earth". Humans have kept failing to make peace and cooperate at larger scales for thousands of years. We are a failure as a species. Precisely because we refuse to acknowledge the MASSIVE problems we have to deal with and wait starving before acting. The most empowering thought to me is that this is not a binary problem. It’s not success or failure. Every CO2 emission we avoid benefits to many. Every person to whom we explain worlds issues makes it easier and less painful for society to shift toward a more durable lifestyle. Every little action we take toward peace, justice, equality and common good greatly benefit humanity in ways we cannot perceive. But the opposite is also true. Every person that accepts things as they are and doesn’t fight for a better world creates suffering. And many simply cannot fight for common good because the system is oppressing them. It’s so foolish to believe we can deal with a thousands year old issue that no civilization before us could deal with. Especially when we are clearly failing in a particularly tragic manner. We never got close for global peace but we clearly are getting further are further.
It's hard to believe... Look, I'm from Brazil, you know? Third World. And knowing how the world works... I don't know. My region has places reaching a thermal sensation of 50ºC, water coming out of the tap very hot on the worst days, and floods (which have always been a problem) are more frequent and affect places that have never been affected before.
Love the projector look!! And the never give up meme near the end made me smile. :) And the optimism - I remember another video I think you did about how framing the climate crisis despairingly or hopefully can have different effects on people. With so much going on in the world, we need that realistic but hopeful outlook to keep going. Thank you for that!
A breath of fresh air in this topic, I would love more of your videos like the one on concrete to understand what the options are for all of these processes to turn away from fossil fuels
Simon, Could you do a video on what would happen at all the different degrees? I never really hear that part of the story strangely, only that its bad. I understand that you might not want to focus on it but I honestly don't really have an idea of how things would unfold. Great video as always! Watched it on nebula and couldn't wait to comment here.
Well you do realize that the "degrees" are not some much degrees but rather rates of change, so its important to realize that to look at the impact of rate of change that you would also need to set the duration of time that the rate of time is experienced and how conditions were currently. Its also difficult to really know how society would really be affected, because you could theoretically have worse rates of impact, but if you significantly increased resiliency than the overall risk impact to society could be more similar to society if rates of change were more mild with less resiliency.
This is why I was so happy to discover solar punk books! It even inspired me to start gardening and that's helped me learn so much more about the ecosystem, plants and the human connection to it than I ever learned theoretically in school. I garden because I have hope for the future.
Your videos never fail to teach me something new. As a first year physics student who's looking into specialising in environmental physics and sustainability, I get motivated and inspired by these videos! Also, get a nebula sub kiddos, I've had it for ages and it's amazing.
The earth recycles every year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The rain, snow, wind and regeneration of the forests happens supernaturally. The Sun remains the light of the day and the Moon is the light of the night. Humans manufacture oxygen for space travel, healthcare and scuba diving so we don't need trees to provide oxygen or clean the air. We have the resources to clean up the pollution, recycle plastic, recycle paper and recycle steele, but we need to improve the management of our government. The Ozone layer is proven to replenish itself automatically. God will create a new heaven and a new earth when the scriptures are fulfilled first. Isaiah 65;17, Luke 24:44
That was a great video, as you said hopelessness just pushes people toward inaction and despair, and too much optimism pushes people to complacency. I think the video is in a good spot in that spectrum to push for action. Thanks a lot, Simon.
Could have should have would have. If we focus on what we should have done we lose track on the things we are doing and will be doing. People who say "Oh this is not good enough we should have done changes a long time ago" is blind.
It's so hard to notice any of this progress while constantly being bombarded with catastrophic headlines about this crisis. If you take a step back and look at what's happening currently vs what was happening 10 years ago, it's astonishing - electric cars were barely out of their infancy, renewables were a pipe dream, batteries and solar cost a fortune. The convergence of cheap high tech solutions is happening right before our eyes, and will unlock things in the next 10 years that were science fiction 10 years ago. We are at the beginning of the S curve of adoption for renewables, and although the pace of adoption seems slow currently, it's not linear. We're nowhere near calling this crisis solved, but it's starting to seem like we're acquiring the right tools in our toolbox for the first time.
The UK used to be warmer for the Romans. When the Romans ruled Britain, known as the Roman Warm Period or Roman Climatic Optimum, is characterized by evidence of warmer conditions. This period, approximately from 250 BC to AD 400, was marked by unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic. During this time, there are indications that the climate was mild enough to allow for the cultivation of grapevines in regions such as northern England, which would typically be too cool for such crops today. The warmth of the Roman period is supported by various types of evidence, including tree ring data, which suggest that the climate was warmer than previously thought, potentially making the cultivation of certain crops like grapes in northern England feasible.
Green Growth is a qualitative myth, don't be fooled by the single quantitative graph. Degrowth is the path that we need to develop further. Please read "A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part II: synthesizing the insights" (Haberl et al., 2020) in Environmental Research Letters, Volume 15, Number 6.
Exactly. Selective graphs may show that carbon emissions are decreasing, but that doesn't mean we should just keep on consuming and growing infinitely. There's no logic behind increased growth going hand in hand with decreased footprint. We HAVE to decrease our consumption and stop abusing our finite resources.
This. Just this. You nailed it. This popped up on my feed straight away. This is already better than what I've seen for a while from you and the key here: it's got YOU in it.
The problem is we could achieve net-zero emissions tomorrow and still be in for a world of hurt. For example: the ocean current that runs in the Atlantic which cycles cold water from the poles closer to the equator and vice versa is on the brink of collapse which, unlike many other effects of climate which are slower and easy to overlook, would be an instant and catastrophic event that cannot be reversed no matter what.
I have some bad news for you.....we could cut emissions to zero today, and we're still going to hit that mark. This is what happens when WE'VE ALREADY PASSED THE TIPPING POINT! Have you noticed every year sets a new record for the 10 hottest years on record? The reason should be clear to EVERYONE.
"Despair only limits future action"
Finally someone said it!
Hope can do the same tbf
also complacency limits future action. Hope is needed but realism is best.
Simon has said this in earlier videos and well. He has many good videos.
@@jeffersonclippership2588
Hope can generate complacency or anger at inaction leading to people doing something. History has showed us this yes
@@solsystem1342 it can but realistically speaking, most people are lazy don't care and are looking for any excuse to not care. If they have hope they can say to themselves "oh everything will be fine so now we don't have to do anything"
Spooky how in this video you anticipated and answered my questions like four times: "doesn't the West just outsource its emissions to China?", "aren't China's emissions just going up?", "what about the non-electricity sectors?", and "who else can I watch about this?". Pretty damn masterful, actually.
Yeah, major news to me on some of the existing successes!
Yes the West is outsourcing emissions to China...except China's industrial emissions are falling as well.
he brought up outsourcing before I could even think to bring it up in contrast, in the comment section
Hannah Ritchie: Not The End of The World, now in print.
No china permitido
hearing positive things about climate change only motivates me further to do good for our planet. Constantly being bombarded by negativity can ruin any motivation I've built, because it all sounds pointless. But thank you for this video, this puts climate change into a new perspective that is honestly very helpful.
yup. “what should we do” is much more motivating than “WE HAVE LIMITED TIME. BUY GOLD NOW!!!!! PREPARE FOR DOOMSDAY!!!” lmaoo
Yeah like who would’ve thunk it, CO2 being good for plants.
Nice Mellon Collie profile pic!
And yes, it is motivating to know that our efforts won't be in vain and that we can still make a difference.
@@thisxgreatxdecay Thank you! I love the album and Smashing Pumpkins in general
I presume you're off to sell your old gas-guzzler now, buy an electric car and get a heat pump installed (min. cost £7k)?
Someone actually talking about how far we have gone instead of how far we have left to go is really refreshing.
So is someone actually seeing how far we have gone, most people seem to think everything in the world is bad and getting worse despite that not at all being the case, we are far better off than ever before and things are getting better.
It's also worth highlighting just how cynical people are. Yes, it was wise to be more cynical than average in the 1990s, but people nowadays conflate cynicism with wisdom (and therefore assume the most cynical conspiracy theorist is somehow intelligent).
CO2 emissions keep rising. That doesn’t show any sign of stopping and it’s our biggest issue.
Why should I care about technology being more efficient if large governments will likely let a billion people die?
The Earth is far too tough for Humanity to kill her.
🦓💚
@@CREEPINGIRONWe won't kill Earth, we'll kill ourselves.
@@btf_flotsam478 pretty much every generation thought they would be the last, realistically, climate change will have negative effects but it wont be an end of the world event, its just easy to look at the negatives and extreames because we want to be the protaganist, finale apocalypse generation
When I hear good news, I don't think "sick, i dont have to do anything", i hear "these are rookie numbers soldier we gotta get even lower"
That's the spirit!
Yess!
At 4:22 my heart stopped. I paused the video, took my glasses off, and I immediately started to sob for about 3 minutes straight.
I can't begin to tell you what it means to me seeing this. I have extreme depression and anxiety stemming from hopelessness surrounding climate change. I've had apocalyptic dreams for years. This is a drop in the bucket of change that is needed yes but my God I can't begin to tell you what this is doing to me. I'm trying to type through tears. Just thank you. I've become so cynical, I was so skeptical... I can't believe I clicked this on a whim.
Seeing your post makes me SO ANGRY that media and others berate the general public and cause them to fall into despair like this. I'm so sorry this has been bringing you down. You should know that human ingenuity will overcome this hurdle, as we have disease, famine, and full-scale war. We WILL fix climate change.
I suggest you watch the Kurzgesagt video on this and follow a newsletter called Human Progress update. You'll feel a lot better, friend.
I'm not so otimistic giving that we need to do so much more, in a way it's pratically politically impossible, but it's useful to know that all have being done all this years was not in vain.
I just smiled at your comment, it was like I was fulfilled with calm and joy towards you... I really hope you will get all the help you need, you deserve it!
Oh dear rebecca sorry to hear you have been indoctrinated so badly by the irresponsible media ! They do like to create hysteria surrounding climate. All I can suggest you do is listen to some scientist not on the climate chnage government grant money payroll or even just read the official IPCC report and you'll learn that debate surrounding climate is neither settled let alone the end of the world. Take care.
I think I've never seen a healthier comment section before! This is very nice
I wish people would talk more about restoring the damaged land that is not used for anything now but was once forest. If we reforest all the degraded land in the world the problem would be so significantly less of an issue.
I agree but it is much harder to reforest damaged land than it is to destroy it, and I mean this with heart. You can't just plant trees and call it a day, you have to redevelop the microbiome, make sure native, local species are being reintroduced, and most importantly, give the soil the nutrients it has probably lost so all of this life can sustain itself and the microbiome can thrive. Something needs to be done but it has to be the proper way. Any time I see companies just planting the one type of tree and nothing else, and calling it land restoration, I die a little inside. We need to promote proper land restoration that works from the literal ground up.
@@zoruasnivy Of course and I also agree we shouldn’t just do random planting. It’s only the first stage that is the most difficult part. John D. Lui who has worked in regeneration of degraded land says you only need 10km of regenerated land for the local biome and microclimate to be re-established. For many parts of the world this is tiny. We would then just leave the land to do natural regeneration and believe me it goes really fast. For soil nutrient revitalisation, depends if you want to farm the land sure but the Amazon is actually some of most mineral poor soils in the world. Trees need first water then minerals. The Chinese have done it before with the loess plateau and Geoff Lawton and developed prototypes for reforestation of the entire Middle East and they work.
10 sqkm or a 10km strip?@@numma9424
Bill Gates said a few months ago that planting tree's is irresponsible and increases Co2.
he proposes cutting down forests of trees and burying them and not replanting new tree's.
Cite? Where did your hear this? or are you just repeating something you heard on social media?
Even though global warming can’t be blamed on individual consumption, there’s still some good news on the individual consumerist behaviours; trends on social media are moving towards anti-consumption behaviour. Boycotts, abstaining from Black Friday, and de-influencing (showing you why you don’t need certain products) are gaining popularity. I hope for a future of social media content flexing the creator’s ability to give old items a new life, by way of cleaning, repairing, sewing, furniture restauration, etc.
But, because most platforms are for-profit enterprises, and competing against each other makes them opt for ever more commercial advertising and sponsorship, you can see this on RUclips, and increasing advertising space on Amazon. Basically, I wouldn't look to social media for solutions, just more efficient greenwashing.
@@squirlmyunless the greenwashing happens to be replacing plastic. I’m all for it. I hate plastic and we need to go back to glass, wood, or better things
Don't forget limiting the consumption of animal products.
My weather app (im danish) is constantly bombarding me with "terrifying records" every day and its frankly only making me apathetic towards doing anything because a bombardment of "bad news" just comes across as "give up already"
There are still climate change deniers, so the weather people have to do this. The climate is abstract, but everybody cares about the weather.
Well, we just got our first (in recorded history) storm that reached avg. wind speed of 33,5 m/s (category 1) in Finland. Take that how you want...
This is the first time since a long time that I actually felt hopeful and not powerless in regards to the climate crisis. Thank you for making this
It's important to talk about the good along with the bad cause if we just focused on the bad, people would give up and just let all this happen. Hope is a powerful weapon against such a crisis.
Wrong
@@Azamat421 Whatcha gonna do then, bro? Give into the despair? join the side of climate change? I'd hate to have your perspective.
I disagree. Hope is not a strategy. When I was hopeful I assumed that someone else was going to fix the problem and I didn't take a lot of action. Now I realise the true nature of the problem, that it is in fact a predicament, and nothing I do is going to stop catastrophic climate change. I am neither hopeful nor hopeless, but I am taking action in my community with the stark truth at the forefront of my mind. The idea that we need hope in order to take the best action isn't true.
@@EmmaSolomano nah. If I thought there was no hope for tackling climate change I would probably just give up altogether. We need to believe that our efforts can make a difference, or what's the point?
@@robertwinslade3104 this is exactly my attitude. It's not hope alone I would advocate for but a combination of hope for a better tomorrow and righteous anger at the people stopping it from happening. It's disheartening to see people be like "you're wrong to want to believe that we can overcome this together" as though their solution is so much more palpable.
This video made me realise that I have been using "the climate crisis" as a shorthand for "the various ways that humans are messing up the planet". Decarbonification is essential for planetary wellbeing, but so is biodiversity, soil health, water availability. Thanks for making me think about both the progress we've made, and the areas in which measuring progress is trickier.
The 20% Simon was talking about at 4:37 wasn't saying that climate disruption is 20% of the overall planetary crises (biodiversity, soil health, water availability, air pollution, water pollution, persistent novel compounds, heavy metal pollution, ocean acidification, etc, etc, etc), but that electricity generation is roughly 20% of what has been driving climate disruption.
Maybe you were already clear on that, but your comment made me wonder if you might be confusing a couple of things.
Climate change hurts biodiversity and water availability so I’d say climate change is what we should focus on fighting first then repair. The damage obviously doing all of these would be great but we know how stupid governments are
Progress? More politically unstable than ever.
"WE have a global problem - the West is responsible for 80% of all GHG emissions so far" An American still eats 5 Earths a year. Coincidentally, that's where most of the deniers live.
A little bit more progress. - and we have world war.
In fact, we already have it. Hybrid wars aren't that loud.
so is having CONSCIOUSNESS IN HAVING HUMAN CHILDREN
STOP having babies unless you havre money, intelligence, time and love.
@@MessagefromMichael
Well, reproductive freedoms are great but, removing social pressures to have or not have kids are great imo.
More people who want kids having them and less people who didn't want the kids in the first place having them is my goal.
I have to admit, I've been avoiding your videos because I've just been getting overwhelmed at all of the bad news in almost every corner of the media, and its been impacting my mental health. Lovely to hear a case for hope!
I think this was sorely missing from the videos before. It´s great to have a reminder after records are shattered every year.
It's called Climate Anxiety, don't worry it's quite common...
Kurzgesagt has a similar video with the same perspective and I recommend for a pick me up
@@Gouldsonuk unfortunately it seems really .... Too optimistic. Kurzgesagt has been criticised heavily for some of their takes
I highly recommend the book 'Not the end of the world' by data scientist, Hannah Ritchie. It doesn't play down the challenge, but explores how the big picture data on the environmental crises are not as apocalyptic as the headlines suggest.
I think this video genuinely made me feel... lighter. i've been watching and experiencing so much depressing stuff and i didn't realize how much that's impacted my general mood and mental strain until i watched this. thank you.
THE problem is the energy usage keeps going up. So we aren't actually lowering. The fossil fuel use, we are just using all the alternative energy on top of the fossil fuels
fr, data without context can be anything. Data shows that people are more happy when where they live there are more bird species.
That's better than using fossil fuels for the energy usage increase.
@@spongebobislyfe5906 Wind and solar power increase demand for fossil fuels because they're unstable energy sources. Our only option is nuclear energy for providing a stable energy supply.
@@steinarnielsen8954 we can store the electricity coming from renewable sources
@@steinarnielsen8954 The demand for energy is unstable, so a stable energy source will provide too much at some times and too little at others. That is actually why pumped hydro energy storage was first promoted. Stable nuclear power plants provided too much energy at night and not enough during the daytime. So people wanted to store some of the overnight power to use the following day.
Anecdotally I can tell that there has almost been a revolution in the way people in my close environment treat this topic. From "how cute is it that you care so much about trees" people have started to share my anger at government inaction as well as give up meat and fast fashion in their lives.
That's really nice. Well except for meat, that doesn't really matter, but if you don't like meat then whatever anyways.
Animal Agriculture accounts for roughly 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions so it’s worth changing that.
@@ybg... the "15%" is mostly because of animals living. from water for drinking, to the gasses that are emitted (except CO2) are all from livestock being alive and pooping/farting.
@@vilmiswow just cuz you like meat don't mean it doesn't matter xD
@@ybg... More can be done to make meat consumption better for the environment, which is likely the route that the world will go.
People just aren't going to stop eating meat, but what we can do is eat less meat, make sure our meat is local and make sure the food sources of our animals are also local.
Like, for example, Soya is the main protein source for chickens, but Soya doesn't grow very well in Europe, so most of it is imported from asia. The carbon cost of raising chickens is therefore artifically higher because we haven't found a better way to provide them the protein they need (yet) but research is looking into it.
The optimistic perspective in this video is so cathartic. Thank you.
He had me until "we live in a world governed by capitalism, and so the most important thing to governments is individual economic prosperity" instead of correctly observing the most important thing to capitalism and the capitalists that control our governments is short term profit. Concern over climate and individual prosperity is secondary and actually a non-factor until it starts eating into those short term profits because the exploited population becomes unruly and ineffective serfs.
If you want to feel good about doing nothing.
@@PaulThronsonif you continued watching, he did mention that
@@PaulThronson Don't leftists ever get tired of regurgitating the same oversimplified analysis on every topic?
@@billystronk4251I quit posting links to books about it but if you need some or strongly disagree with (I agree) my overly simplistic summary ... by all means I'm willing to listen
Posting 1) for engagement boosting good educational climate content, and 2) to say this is a very snappy, well-edited, smart video. Especially with how you reference your back catalogue to prompt viewers to go learn more. Props!
"The average person today is richer than the average person 10 years ago" very specific wording. That's around the time of the stock market crash. The average person's wealth is decreasing dramatically.
Same with using the data about decoupling emissions from economic growth. Sure, that's a nice looking graph, look at how much GDP per capita is going up! The inequality of that GDP increase is so absurd though, you can't use that to say the average individuals are getting so much better off. It's just the obscenely rich that are getting more so.
The fact is that people in he world that live in poverty has declined by 50% over the past 50 years. Clearly the average persons wealth in the world is not decreasing. And poor peoples income is increasing around the world. This is not an opinion - The documented statistics are available on line.
that is basically due to systematically underestimating inflation… real income is declining. If you own enough real estate and etfs that might be compensated. Otherwise you loose.
“the average person today is wealthier than the average person is 10 years ago” *uses GDP chart*
Even if it was per capita, an average is misleading since the top 1% skews the line.
Even if you use real median household income yes average person has become richer from what they were in 10 years ago
Awesome idea with the projector - much more immersive than the green screen.
Yes i agree! Some finetuning with the color correction might be needed, Simon looks a little blueish in the projector shots :)
I like it too
Terrible for your eyes though.
I live in Malaysia(tropical country) , every time we're talking about the weather, the sentence "we'll never know, weather is crazy nowadays" Will always come up.
I dont know whether we are having the mandela effect or what, but sometimes we feel that the weather is not quite right, like moonsoon is not on schedule or how its raining too much or too little than its supposed to.
I wonder, is anyone else having the same experience as us?
It s not mandela effect. It is proved by meteorological records.
This year was +1.5°c on average, so of course a lot of things are different.
same in Croatia
Same in the states, the temperature fluctuates wildly and rain falls heavy and sporadically
Same in maryland and we got 4 seasons
Yep same in the UK! We have mild weather compared to most countries but even then you can’t trust the weather app to predict the weather for the same day.
Aside from the fact that oil companies keep expanding their businessmodel whilst abandoning to even try to greenwash their business model, the issue that keeps me most pessimistic is the way the science goes on this topic. Because new studies keep coming out finding new details about the mechanics of climate change - and usually, those findings are pointing into a direction indicating that the impacts of climate change will become worse and start to show earlier then previously believed.
Just now there was a paper indicating that the AMOC sea current system is heading into collapse. James Hanson just published a paper saying that this is going to get worse far faster than expected. I know this is disputed quite a lot, but my fear is that the science keps underestimating the timeline in which the impacts will occur.
It seems to be going all much faster then estimated - and this is not a new trend.
A natural consequence of scientists’ conservatism I suppose. And partly due to feedback between systems that were only studied in isolation for a very long time. Our models really are still quite crude.
One thing that really worries me is that several recent studies have shown just how quickly the climate has sometimes changed in the past. Really suggests that the climate as a system is very finely balanced and that small changes can and do lead to large variations over a short period of time. Unfortunately, these pesky non-linear feedback effects are the hardest part of any model to simulate correctly.
@@simontillson482 The irony is that event with those cautious prognosis which have shaped the IPCC reports, they're still called the doomists, that they're overly alarmist. It's the opposite.
@@yarodin the video itself says that 4+ degree is extintion, "but dont worry we're only probably hitting 2.5+".
It amazes me how that is good news and we should be optimistic.
@@purplegoop1247I don't think he's saying that 2.5+ is good news. He states the estimates of a 4-5+ world happening are much lower than even 10 years ago, so if we can avoid that much we can certainly do more. I agree that 2.5 would be devastating.
"Greenwashing" is a process started by the climate movement. If you increase solar and wind you also have to increase fossil fuels. Because these energy sources are unstable and therefore requires a secondary power source which can easily be upregulated.
After only find articles saying the same the things, it's refreshing to hear how things are getting better. Obviously the takeaway is "We not out of the woods yet until we work it out". But it still gives hope because "Yes! We have made progress!" And the fact that more and more people care gives hope. The fact that only a decade ago the earth was predicted to be at 4.5 degrees by 2100, and that number has dropped into the 2.0s
Idk, this video was the spark of hope I needed. You got a subscriber
I think the four degrees was an extreme possibility and as we get further into the century, less likely. This video spins this as good news.
There's also a video out there called "How to avoid climate change really fast" by "Acciona" I think, and goes deep down in that idea of how we've become numb to fear of climate change and that changing that for hope of a better future is way more effective and damn the ending of that video just gives me goosebumps.
I NEVER comment, but I’ve followed you since I was 12 and I’m 24 now. I absolutely love the thumbnail and (as another commenter said), judging just from the first 15 seconds - you’re absolutely smashing it. Keep it up Simon, I’m SO pleased to see you thriving.
It's a good breath to hear some good news once in a while.
News outlets live by bad news, because they sell better. That's why I stopped watching and listening to news 99% of the time. There's a lot of good in the world and a lot of heading towards the right direction 🙏🏻
Thank you for helping me against my climate anxiety. If we pass 2030 well, I'll be able to think again about having children. 🥺 In this season, my city was supposed to be 25°C, but we are facing 40-45°C for days! I can't barely do something outside without heating myself instantly. Last year we faced 60°C of thermal sensation while the air temperature was 50°C. 60°C!!!Borning poor in a tropical country is my personal hell.
LOL!
Where?
There is so much you can do, even if you do decide to have children. Delaying kids until your 30s, limiting how many you have to one or two, planting trees, walking/cycling/using public transportation everywhere, getting involved in local environmental projects (or starting your own) eg finding a local stream to plant a riparian strip, pest control, etc.
Listen to the facts. Climate change is a problem but it’s not life threatening for 99,99% of the world. Have kids they’ll be fine.
I got a genuine good feeling from this video. When someone is finally talking about the positive sides and the improvements we’ve made. Everything doesn’t seem so bad and it actually motivates to keep on doing small things to improve your life in being more sustainable
People worry too much. Of course climate change is extremely serious, but there's ALWAYS an existential threat to humanity (e.g. nuclear annihilation, war, famine, plague etc etc etc). This is NEVER going away, so don't worry about these things. Always remember that humans are good at solving problems. This is one problem we're solving, like I knew we would. Stop worrying!
I really notice the change of style. You have always had good writing and content, now it is just more gripping. Really rooting for a continuation of your channel, I think you can do it. Never give up! XD
Simon definitely changed the format. he's putting the effort. it is showing. and..
I'M HERE FOR IT.
WELL DONE
I needed this. To be honest, the reason I sometimes struggle with your videos is a sense of nihilism and inevitability. I know there are some positive stories but it feels tough beinf bombarded by the negatives. I know we need to be realistic, stuff is challenging and bad, but when it is difficult to do stuff as an individual that have material impact, it can be easy to lose hope.
Its over
For me, life and the world
@@maalikserebryakovThank you for your thorough and well-reasoned analysis. I have decided to become a doomer and proselytize Armageddon to everyone I come across.
This is so galvanizing. So many of us have been on board with this cause for decades. This is like a swimmer coming up for a huge gulp of air to keep moving himself forward.
Decades? Weren't we all supposed to be dead by now?
@@jennifersmith4864 Good one.
But I’m a 90s conservationist. I don’t think we’re all gonna die.
@@vitaligent
Conservation & climate change hysteria don't actually go together.
It’s human nature, we ignore ignore ignore then when things get going and we all finally recognize it we go ALL IN VERY FAST
Love the use of the projector Simon, is a really nice addition
Nice video! Liked the varied settings and also incorporating some outdoor scenes.
I really needed this, thank you. Think i was in that climate despair mode you mentioned for a while now. Still not an optimist, but let's call it a wake-up to seeing what's helpful, rather than just being a downer on our future outlook.
Same, I've been feeling a bit too much like private Hudson in Aliens lately...
There's an ongoing blog from EuroNews that details a number of positive eco news every month. As someone with anxiety surrounding climate change, it's been a genuine help in keeping my spirits up. I can't recommend it enough.
You don't how useful this video to fight against climate anxiety and despair. Thank you so much for it. You are so right, despair inhibits action.
In China you could've mentioned nuclear to. Fastest buildout in the world.
Another interesting detail is how heat pumps, EV's, better city planning and public transport the ammount of energy needed for the same results is stuningly lower. They are orders of magnitude more efficient. Even more, without fossil fuels there is no need to transport them (wich corresponds to 60% of shipping) neither of refining the fuel. So even less energy used. Lastly, generating eletricity with solar wind or hydro is far more efficient then thermic power plants, meaning more eletricity for the same energy. So its great that we don't have to replace all the energy used by fossil fuels
It's not so much that they are so much more efficient, simply there isn't really a way to univocally define the energy content of a gust of wind (??) compared to a kg of natural gas. Effectively, it translates in only part of the TES - total energy supply - needing to be replaced by clean electricity. But it's neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. Only a matter of definition.
@@StarryNightGazing, I have never see an actual measure of the available kinetic energy captured by a wind turbine. According to Betz's law (defined in 1919), no wind turbine of any mechanism can capture more than 16/27 (59.3%) of the kinetic energy in wind. In 2001, Gorban, Gorlov and Silantyev introduced an exactly solvable model (GGS), that considers non-uniform pressure distribution and curvilinear flow across the turbine plane. They utilized and modified the Kirchhoff model, which describes the turbulent wake behind the actuator as the "degenerated" flow and uses the Euler equation outside the degenerate area. The GGS model predicts that peak efficiency is achieved when the flow through the turbine is approximately 61% of the total flow which is very similar to the Betz result of 2⁄3 for a flow resulting in peak efficiency, but the GGS predicted that the peak efficiency itself is much smaller: 30.1%.
Most wind turbines have a power rating based on the max power that can be generated under ideal conditions (which can vary by turbine, but is usually a steady wind speed at about10 m/s). The capacity factor (Cf) is calculated based on the percentage of that max power which is generated over a time period. At a good wind site, a capacity factor of 40% can be achieved for land-based turbines, 50% for fixed bottom offshore turbines and 60% for floating offshore turbines.
Yet the eroi is inferior on intermittent renewables.
Same for materials usage. Intermittent renewables consume more steel, concrete and metals pet MWh produced. All these ressources need energy too... (Not even factoring in the environnemental consequences of mining said additional ressources per MWh)
China is the worst example to use. They are still the leading cause of climate change no matter what they do.
@@etienne8110 And yet, you'll have to compare that to the emissions cost of pumping, refining, and transporting fuel to oil, natural gas, and coal plants _in perpetuity._ A wind turbine has an investment energy cost. An oil plant has an investment energy cost and an ongoing energy cost.
And beyond that, a wind turbine generates a hundred million kWh over its lifetime. Is that not more energy than it takes to refine the materials for and build the turbine in the first place?
I have really liked the term "bättre men inte bra" or in English "better but not great" ever since I encountered it in Factfulness by Rosling and feels like it really fits this situation.
Is it bad that we are still projected to go above 2 degrees of warming, yes. But the fact we have made significant progress is still really good and hopefully indicates that we can continue to push the number lower.
Great video and I also want to say that I was happy to hear that you got some extra Patreon funding after the recent video.
Heard this stuff all the time in 7 years of marching band
Band Director: that was better
Band: *celebrates*
Band Director: Hey, just because I said it was better doesn't mean it was GOOD. Run it again!
Sometimes you have to read from the gospel of good enough and keep slogging on towards a higher goal. Progress isn’t going to happen without acceptance of our smaller victories.
2 degrees of warming is very likely (although how _long_ we'll overshoot for is another factor -- there's no guarantee we have to stay there forever), but at least 3 degrees is increasingly unlikely, and 4 degrees is right out.
Simon should share the secret technology he's using to teleport between the rooms in his house and the park outside. Bamn, entire transportation industry decarbonized in a single swoop.
even that has emissions.
@@Sal3600 There was a joke in Hydde's comment. I can feel it.
You cannot decarbonize anything. That’s a gross failure to understand physics, chemistry and biology.
That’s like saying we’re gonna remove all the Argon from the universe, what utter nonsense.
@@abloogywoogywoo There's a specific meaning to the word "decarbonize" that you're not quite graaping, I can feel it.
An alternative perspective: despair leads to anger, anger leads to stronger direct action. I think every possible strategy should be used with climate change though. There needs to be mass public policy pushes, technological innovation motivated by capitalism, "cold war/great power" competition (competitive action to increase energy self-sustainability through a national security perspective), and finally some folks who are willing to do the dirty work of protest and "other things". We need every aspect to work for us to achieve our goals.
Thats like 5% of people though, most people just give up and do nothing.
@@Smile200-z4y So then try to get that percentage as high as possible
Really happy about the high view count for this video after the unfortunate situation you presented recently. Nice work💪
I love all the references to your other videos! You didnt make them too obvious by interrupting the story and saying, "I made a video about that." You brought up interesting topics and hinted that you've talked about them already.
Here in algeria we already feel the climate change outcomes ....my town for example i remember we used to have a very cold winter and snow but in recent two years or three the heat record letterly rises to 30 degree in January 😢 and i can't tell you how much it is hotter in the summer .
I'm sorry that this happens to you. It's the most unfortunate thing that nations that contributed less to climate change historically get the worst impacts :/
@@zyzxzsgedr actually we are the most polluter per Capita in Africa...but as you said we don't even compard to usa and europe
It s felt everywhere for whoever observes nature.
Areas where it was already dry are turning desertic, making it even more obvious. But really, no place is left unsullied.
On my family farm in England we have had drastically lower crop yields due to reduced rain at the times it's needed. My mother has observed this pattern over the last decade.
Even further north... Here in the semi-mountaineous Ardenne in Eastern Belgium (close to the German border), we used to have cold and snowy winters (with night temperatures commonly as low as - 15/- 20 celsius), and mild summers seldom exceeding 25 celsius during the day. For the last few summers we've had several heat waves largely exceeding 30 celsius. And this year, as we are in the middle of winter, the thermometer went up to to 15 celsius earlier this week, no night frosts, and spring flowers are already starting to bloom in the garden. At least we're saving on heating...
Thank you for this - I needed something to divert me from climate despair. I was feeling like nothing I did made a difference, so why bother? It can feel like we're heading towards inevitable disaster, especially when it's becoming less fashionable to care about this in politics, so it's good to know that there's a glimmer of hope.
This is just thing, if we don’t talk about the positives and the good everyone gets tired of always hearing about the bad. You get into the mindset of well we’re screwed anyway. There’s so much that’s being done in this sector that it should be talked about more so we can renew the faith in people that change is happening and we are improving.
7:22 100% agreed. Sure, we aren't there yet, and sure we can still do more. But a video like this is important, data like this is important. Because it shows that, while we still have ways to go, what we are doing is working. What we are doing and what is happening is moving forward, it's making a change, and a change for the better. And that is invaluable, especially for peoples moral. Feeling like there is nothing happening and like there is really nothing you can do is the primary reason people give up and fall back into old and easier habbits. But seeing that yes, you are making a change, things are getting better, gives hope and encouragement. It's always better to see us moving forward one step at a time rather than just standing there and stomping in one place.
What we are doing is working, now we just need to keep going.
Really enjoyed this video. A much needed positive perspective!
I think that when only the negatives of the situation are reported it really creates despair and apathy. The "why try if it is already doomed?"-mentality. But with videos like this, not only are you making people happier, you are also levitating that despair which cause harm on not just our mental health but also indirectly the environment. At least in my case it made me a bit more inspired and wanting to try harder. Finding a good balance of reporting on both the severity while keeping morale up is important and is really where science communicators like you can shine.
Some sick special effects to make it look like you are displaying the graphics via a projector. You really upped your game
Theyre not sick, theyre good!!!
Is it not just a real projector? 😂
@@jozefwoo8079 It is. To nail the lightning difference the shadow, the different skin tone, not the least the projected distorted image on his forearm, would require a day in editing and a week 3D modelling.
😂
@@jozefwoo8079 No, the projector is fake. The steaks in the tree, however, are real.
I live in what used to be coal country (southwest PA, an area absolutely littered with hollowed-out “coal patch” towns), and I’ve been hearing an ad on the radio about how we are “rushing too fast” into renewable energy. It seems the coal industry is worried… 🤔
Yeah, I live in Alberta, Canada, and had to stop listening to the radio last year because the provincial government's anti-renewable-energy scare ads (they're owned by the tarsands companies) were making me so angry it was physically hurting me with the muscle spasms and fist-clenching and teeth-grinding when they came on, to say nothing of what I presume the stress was doing to me otherwise.
I keep wondering if it's 'worth' listening to the radio again, if maybe they've given it a rest, but I don't want to experience that again.
@@05Matz💀
You need carbon based technology to make wind turbines and solar panels. Oh and child slavery in Africa rare Earth metal mining.
@@abloogywoogywoolike you don't need those things for existing fossil fuel power sources.
@@epsilon752 the world sucks doesn't it? as we use carbon or so called "green" energy to talk to each other.
As Dr. Katherine Hayhoe writes in her book "Saving Us" (HIGHLY recommend for anyone with climate anxiety), we don't have to move a boulder up a mountain. The boulder is going down and we just have to keep moving it forward faster.
As every decade we’re getting closer to being a type 1 civilization
This was some much-needed optimism. More than that, much-needed perspective on how much our actions matter and can have an impact on the future.
I wish the best for your channel and I hope you can continue with it, even in part!
"I think that was impartial enough." GOLD!
Simon this was perhaps your best made video ever.
The old PhD vlogs are still my favorite but the quality of this one stands out in editing, story-telling and delivery.
All the best :)
This almost made me cry because this is the first video I have EVER watched that gave me genuine hope for positive, real change. Because, for once, I feel like we may be able to save our planet in spite of the capitalist death march the older generations currently have us on.
thank you for putting this together... so much of my hesitancy to start a family is based around this climate crisis anxiety. we need hope. i need hope.
Thank you Simon for continuing your work after your recent concerns. So many of us value your voice and we’re grateful that you’re staying committed to using your voice to the very end. I immediately noticed the small changes in style compared to your previous videos, and I like them. Just make sure that whatever you’re doing is something you like and you’re proud of. Have you thought of doing interviews and cameos with other content creators and even on other platforms about the topics you have expertise in.
wow, this new style is crazy good. it's entertaining, informative and straight to the point. you've drastically improved within the span of just one video Simon
I'm so happy that you still can make this great videos. Trank you for everything
People need to hear this. So much climate discussion is around the effectiveness of the suggested solutions. People need to see that these solutions work.
Happy this video has gained so much traction for you Simon, hopefully these record views will keep coming with your new model of doing things
If we don't acknowledge our progress and celebrate it, we will just maintain a negative mindset. What is very demotivating.
Probably the best video I've seen with a positive take on action against climate change. I think on some level I needed this, thank you!
Thanks. I needed a bit of good news after a bad day.
The video looks great, I haven't seen many people use a projector to display graphics in these sorts of videos.
And breaking up the varied settings from the projector, to the park, to your study looks great.
I hope your channel is able to get out of this slump because your videos are great!
The weather is already wild. It's like Earth's been hitting the 'shuffle' button on the weather app
Definitely like the vibe of the video! If it helps your algorithm analysis at all, this was sitting as my top recommended video when I opened up the YT app, even though I haven't consumed similar videos in a while!
May the algo-gods shine brightly upon your channel again
Loving the new video style. Fast pace and high energy. You have been able to keep my ADHD zoomer brain focused. Keep it up!
Your service is absolutely invaluable. Thank you! I never want you to stop making this content. It’s SO important to have an unbiased opinion when informing on this topic. I have my notifications switched on, never get notified! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
THANK YOU! THANK YOU YOU DO MUCH FOR YOUR WORK! I am currently studying to become a renewal energy engineer and everyday with the negative media has made it increasingly hard to focus on my studies. I love engineering and I have always wanted to do it since a young age, and my field of choice is due to my love for nature. I’m so happy to know that my efforts won’t be going to waste. Thank you!
In the beginning we were completely screwed. Now we are some what screwed. We are working to not being screwed.
loved it, good news are always welcome! thx a lot for all the years Simon, and I wish you all the best!
Committed to support you. You got me through the hardest time. Used your videos as motivation in my A levels and now finishing my Law degree. Weird enough, I am currently doing a unit on climate change and law. So your video was very relevant. Helped to merge the practical things with my understanding of current laws in place and government policies being taken.
I liked the part of young generation pushing for mitigation of climate change. There have been cases before the European Court, Philippines and other South American countries where young people have sued their governments for lack of care for the environment. Furthermore, how gen Z are boycotting companies that are not environmental friendly. However, greenwashing is still prevalent.
But genuinely, great video!
People shouldn't be optimistic. As by being optimistic they will be put to a false sense of security, making them complacent and they will do nothing.
I disagree, but your point is still valid to an extent. The opposite is also true, if people are pessimistic, people become hopeless. Thus do nothing and let corporations walk all over them as there is no other alternative.
Optimism is good. We can do this. We can push further. If we made this far, we can make it farther. Keep fighting for better stuff!
I 100% agree.
We will end at +3ºC, with no more metals in our mines, no more sand for concrete, no more fossil fueled industries.
Our occidental neocolonial lifestyle will completely collapse and there will be wars and civil wars for food and shelters all around the globe.
And we will be like: "Bwaaa! We did great! We sacrificed ourselves for the sake of equality and common good.
People watching these optimistic videos are mostly climate spectators.
Most are stuck behind a counter productive job that they can’t afford to quit anyway.
"We successfully did not completely annihilated life on earth". Humans have kept failing to make peace and cooperate at larger scales for thousands of years. We are a failure as a species. Precisely because we refuse to acknowledge the MASSIVE problems we have to deal with and wait starving before acting.
The most empowering thought to me is that this is not a binary problem. It’s not success or failure. Every CO2 emission we avoid benefits to many. Every person to whom we explain worlds issues makes it easier and less painful for society to shift toward a more durable lifestyle. Every little action we take toward peace, justice, equality and common good greatly benefit humanity in ways we cannot perceive.
But the opposite is also true. Every person that accepts things as they are and doesn’t fight for a better world creates suffering.
And many simply cannot fight for common good because the system is oppressing them.
It’s so foolish to believe we can deal with a thousands year old issue that no civilization before us could deal with. Especially when we are clearly failing in a particularly tragic manner.
We never got close for global peace but we clearly are getting further are further.
@@raphaelnej8387
Lol i just farted and contributed to the world’s end
hehe
@@alejandrocespedes1544 That's a fair point, I should have called it "blind optimism" or something like that.
It's hard to believe... Look, I'm from Brazil, you know? Third World. And knowing how the world works... I don't know. My region has places reaching a thermal sensation of 50ºC, water coming out of the tap very hot on the worst days, and floods (which have always been a problem) are more frequent and affect places that have never been affected before.
Love the projector look!! And the never give up meme near the end made me smile. :)
And the optimism - I remember another video I think you did about how framing the climate crisis despairingly or hopefully can have different effects on people. With so much going on in the world, we need that realistic but hopeful outlook to keep going. Thank you for that!
A breath of fresh air in this topic, I would love more of your videos like the one on concrete to understand what the options are for all of these processes to turn away from fossil fuels
Simon, Could you do a video on what would happen at all the different degrees?
I never really hear that part of the story strangely, only that its bad.
I understand that you might not want to focus on it but I honestly don't really have an idea of how things would unfold.
Great video as always! Watched it on nebula and couldn't wait to comment here.
Some the things that happen are included in his episode called 2100
I want it too
Well you do realize that the "degrees" are not some much degrees but rather rates of change, so its important to realize that to look at the impact of rate of change that you would also need to set the duration of time that the rate of time is experienced and how conditions were currently.
Its also difficult to really know how society would really be affected, because you could theoretically have worse rates of impact, but if you significantly increased resiliency than the overall risk impact to society could be more similar to society if rates of change were more mild with less resiliency.
It's important to discuss the dangers of climate change, but it's also important to show the good stuff that is happening. It's motivating.
This is why I was so happy to discover solar punk books! It even inspired me to start gardening and that's helped me learn so much more about the ecosystem, plants and the human connection to it than I ever learned theoretically in school. I garden because I have hope for the future.
I'm really pleased to see this video performing well in terms of views, Simon. 🙂
Your videos never fail to teach me something new. As a first year physics student who's looking into specialising in environmental physics and sustainability, I get motivated and inspired by these videos!
Also, get a nebula sub kiddos, I've had it for ages and it's amazing.
The earth recycles every year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The rain, snow, wind and regeneration of the forests happens supernaturally. The Sun remains the light of the day and the Moon is the light of the night. Humans manufacture oxygen for space travel, healthcare and scuba diving so we don't need trees to provide oxygen or clean the air. We have the resources to clean up the pollution, recycle plastic, recycle paper and recycle steele, but we need to improve the management of our government. The Ozone layer is proven to replenish itself automatically. God will create a new heaven and a new earth when the scriptures are fulfilled first. Isaiah 65;17, Luke 24:44
That was a great video, as you said hopelessness just pushes people toward inaction and despair, and too much optimism pushes people to complacency. I think the video is in a good spot in that spectrum to push for action. Thanks a lot, Simon.
Im so happy to see this video has gained traction! proud of you man
Could have should have would have.
If we focus on what we should have done we lose track on the things we are doing and will be doing.
People who say "Oh this is not good enough we should have done changes a long time ago" is blind.
My first thought was, "oh hey Simon Clark does memes now!" Loving this new format and looking forward to future releases!
Hi Simon, been a long time follower of yours, I just want to thank you for including references, I read them and appreciate them! :)
Man ranting in front of projector is my favorite genre
Ye
It's so hard to notice any of this progress while constantly being bombarded with catastrophic headlines about this crisis. If you take a step back and look at what's happening currently vs what was happening 10 years ago, it's astonishing - electric cars were barely out of their infancy, renewables were a pipe dream, batteries and solar cost a fortune. The convergence of cheap high tech solutions is happening right before our eyes, and will unlock things in the next 10 years that were science fiction 10 years ago. We are at the beginning of the S curve of adoption for renewables, and although the pace of adoption seems slow currently, it's not linear. We're nowhere near calling this crisis solved, but it's starting to seem like we're acquiring the right tools in our toolbox for the first time.
The UK used to be warmer for the Romans. When the Romans ruled Britain, known as the Roman Warm Period or Roman Climatic Optimum, is characterized by evidence of warmer conditions. This period, approximately from 250 BC to AD 400, was marked by unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic.
During this time, there are indications that the climate was mild enough to allow for the cultivation of grapevines in regions such as northern England, which would typically be too cool for such crops today. The warmth of the Roman period is supported by various types of evidence, including tree ring data, which suggest that the climate was warmer than previously thought, potentially making the cultivation of certain crops like grapes in northern England feasible.
Green Growth is a qualitative myth, don't be fooled by the single quantitative graph. Degrowth is the path that we need to develop further. Please read "A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part II: synthesizing the insights" (Haberl et al., 2020) in Environmental Research Letters, Volume 15, Number 6.
Could you give a tldr so I can get the gist of what it's conclusions are?
Exactly. Selective graphs may show that carbon emissions are decreasing, but that doesn't mean we should just keep on consuming and growing infinitely. There's no logic behind increased growth going hand in hand with decreased footprint. We HAVE to decrease our consumption and stop abusing our finite resources.
This was a bloody great video mate, loved the editing and it defo feels different from the usual. And, I've loved your channel for years.
Agreed!
This. Just this. You nailed it. This popped up on my feed straight away. This is already better than what I've seen for a while from you and the key here: it's got YOU in it.
The problem is we could achieve net-zero emissions tomorrow and still be in for a world of hurt. For example: the ocean current that runs in the Atlantic which cycles cold water from the poles closer to the equator and vice versa is on the brink of collapse which, unlike many other effects of climate which are slower and easy to overlook, would be an instant and catastrophic event that cannot be reversed no matter what.
This video sends the perfect message. Saying the progress we made so far but without being dangerously optimistic.
I have some bad news for you.....we could cut emissions to zero today, and we're still going to hit that mark. This is what happens when WE'VE ALREADY PASSED THE TIPPING POINT! Have you noticed every year sets a new record for the 10 hottest years on record? The reason should be clear to EVERYONE.
Thanks Simon! Loved your political inpartiality