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Time English (United States) Language 2 Action
00:00
If you want to start living more sustainably, it’s simple, really. All you’ve gotta do is turn off
00:03
the lights when you leave your house – actually, when you leave the room. And don’t just turn off
00:07
your devices. You have to actually unplug them, too. So they don’t do that vampire energy thing.
00:11
Recycle that plastic bottle. Actually, get a reusable water bottle. And cover it with lots
00:16
of stickers to show just how climate conscious you are. And stop using straws. But if you must
00:20
use a straw, make sure it’s one of those reusable ones. Sure, they’re kind of a pain to clean, but
00:24
at least they won’t get stuck in a sea turtle’s nose. You know, we-we-we need to save the turtles!
00:28
Put solar panels on your house, but make sure they’re not the kind that
00:30
leach PFAS into the groundwater, and make sure the copper and lithium in
00:33
your batteries was mined sustainably, cause that’s a whole other problem.
00:36
And get a bike! I don’t care if you have kids, or live in one of those places that’s far away
00:39
from everything. You have got to stop driving your car places. Think of the polar bears!
00:44
Okay, maybe it’s not quite so simple, really. And if you’re like a lot of people,
00:47
you might start to wonder whether any of that stuff actually even matters.
00:50
Hi, I’m Miriam Nielsen. I’m a climate scientist who studies how droughts and extreme rains are
00:54
changing with warming, a bicycle enthusiast, and your host here at Study Hall: Sustainability.
01:06
Sometimes it can be hard to tell what actually matters when it comes to Sustainability.
01:09
Like maybe you’ve been told that it’s super important to make your carbon footprint smaller.
01:13
But then you’ve also heard that actually, the whole idea of a carbon footprint came from an
01:17
ad campaign by BP to try to take the heat off themselves and put it on everyday people instead.
01:22
Or maybe you’ve heard the stat that between 1988 and 2015,
01:25
just 100 companies were responsible for 71% of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions.
01:30
Which makes it sound like those big bad companies are to blame for climate change. But really,
01:34
those companies are mostly producing all the fossil fuels that the rest of us use.
01:37
And then there’s countries. In general, the people who live in the places that are the
01:40
most unsustainable are the ones who’ll be the least threatened by the changes
01:43
their actions make to the world. While places like the United States, China,
01:47
and Western Europe create by far the most emissions and pollution,
01:50
it’s poorer places that suffer the most extreme weather, disease, and food and water shortages.
01:54
Even in those wealthy countries, it's the poor and marginalized people who
01:57
are more vulnerable to environmental crises. And there’s a huge difference
02:00
in the greenhouse gas emissions of different people, too. Like in 2021,
02:04
the average person emitted about 4.7 tons of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, the people responsible
02:09
for the most energy-related carbon dioxide around the world emitted about 50 tons each.
02:13
So whose actions really matter here? Is it the energy companies? The wealthiest
02:17
countries? The wealthiest people? If my carbon footprint is only a fraction of the
02:21
size of any of those big bad fossil fuel burners with their massive bank accounts,
02:24
global influence, and private jets, how does my little reusable tote bag matter?
02:28
Well it doesn’t, really. Not unless it comes with a lot of other actions
02:31
and changes by a lot of other people. But that’s not to say that individual
02:35
action is meaningless. Over the years, we have plenty of examples of individuals who
02:39
have made a big impact on the sustainability of our world.
02:42
Like in the 1960s, marine biologist Rachel Carson used her expertise to
02:45
write Silent Spring. It clued the world into the dangers of chemical pesticides,
02:49
and led to a nationwide ban on DDT that brought bald eagles back from the brink of extinction.
02:53
Then in the 1970s, Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai saw a connection between environmental degradation
02:58
and human suffering in her country. She pioneered a campaign called the Green Belt Movement to plant
03:02
trees and help reduce poverty and conflict in the area. The campaign not only planted more than 30
03:07
million trees in Kenya, but also helped support over 900,000 Kenyan women who sold seedlings.
03:11
And in 2021, a group of activists from the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin
03:15
called for a global pact to protect 80% of the Amazon Rainforest by 2025 – a motion
03:20
that was passed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
03:23
Today, across the world, people are coming together to build intentional,
03:26
sustainable communities that share cultures and resources, and to make sure that they’re ready for
03:30
the climate changes to come. These movements, and so many more, have advanced the field of
03:34
sustainability, and shown the world what’s still possible in the face of our changing climate.
03:38
They were started by people like you and me, who took the time to learn about sustainability and
03:41
identify problems in their communities. They used their creativity, expertise, activism and
03:46
political pressure to come together and make real, important change that matters a lot.
03:50
So, yeah, we’re up against massive, powerful companies and countries producing tons of carbon
03:54
emissions. We can all find someone with a bigger carbon footprint than us. And maybe that makes
03:58
you want to throw up your hands, leave all the lights on, use plastic shopping bags, and add a
04:02
few more plastic straws to the trash island. But what would that accomplish? There’s no specific
04:07
formula or action that’s going to magically fix everything. And feeling guilty and powerless
04:11
about plastic straws and reusable shopping bags isn’t going to fix everything either.
04:14
But being mostly blameless isn’t the same as being mostly powerless. The unsustainability
04:18
of our world isn’t really any of our fault. But it’s still our responsibility. So there’s
04:23
nothing wrong with making changes to your individual lifestyle. Biking instead of driving,
04:27
or building your own solar field are great ways to live more sustainably.
04:31
If those changes feel possible, do them! And you should definitely use at least
04:34
one of those water bottles cluttering your cupboards. But you can also find
04:38
ways to work together with other regular people to change things for the better.
04:41
Because sustainability isn’t about us vs. the big bad companies and
04:45
governments and wealthy people in their private jets. We share the planet with
04:48
both the people with much bigger carbon footprints and much smaller ones. And we
04:52
all have to live with the consequences of each other’s unsustainable choices.
04:56
So sustainability has to be bigger than any individual. It’s as big as all of the systems,
05:00
countries, companies, governments, and neighborhoods contributing to
05:03
and fighting against climate change. And addressing all of those things is a lot.
05:07
Which means that along with everything else, sustainability is about a shared belief that
05:11
the future of the planet and its inhabitants are worth the effort, and that it matters.
05:15
So stay with us as we explore the huge world of sustainability,
05:18
and all the different ways you can actually be a meaningful part of it.
05:21
If you’re enjoying this series and are interested in taking the
05:23
full Study Hall Sustainability course and earning college credit from ASU,
05:26
check out gostudyhall.com or click on the button to learn more. And if you want to help us out,
05:30
give this video a like, comment what you’re looking forward to learning from this series,
05:34
and smash that subscribe button! Thanks for watching, see you next time!