Can YOU Fix Climate Change?

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## General Information

**Can YOU Fix Climate Change?** is the 146th video of Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. The video explains about climate change and does your attempt at helping to fix it actually made any change. It was uploaded to the English channel on September 22, 2021.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, but human activities have been the main driver of climate change. But do our attempts make a significant change in solving it, and what can we do about it?

### Description

Sources & further reading:

https://sites.google.com/view/sources...

This video was supported by Gates Notes, the personal blog of Bill Gates, where he writes about global health, climate change, and more. Check out it out to learn more about ways the world can work together to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions:
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Climate-an...

To get some background on how we deal with sponsorships please read this blog post:
https://medium.com/@Kurzgesagt/kurzge...

Never before in human history have we been richer, more advanced or powerful. And yet we feel overwhelmed in the face of rapid climate change. It seems simple on the surface. Greenhouse gases trap energy from the Sun and transfer it to our atmosphere. This leads to warmer winters, harsher summers. Dry places become drier and wet places wetter. Countless ecosystems will die while the rising oceans swallow coasts and the cities we build on them.

So why don’t we just like… prevent all of that? Well, it’s complicated.

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### Video Explanation

Why is it so difficult to halt climate change? How can YOU alter your way of life to avoid it?

A More Complete View: The modern society that we have created in the last century is harmful to the environment. Even while the detrimental effects of electricity, cattle, and airplanes are widely known, many pollutants are seldom ever discussed. It is insufficient to just make minor repairs to the industrial system. The fight against climate change involves a lot of gray areas.

Pollution vs Poverty: Richer individuals often produce greater emissions. Even if we made the wealthy give up their lavish lives, it wouldn't make much of an impact because low-income nations account for 63% of emissions. Requesting that they reduce their emissions appears to be an attempt to deny them a nice existence.

Emit or Die: It is difficult to produce food with zero emissions as fertilizers are needed for food production. Even though they only account for 18% of global calories, foods derived from animals account for 57% of food emissions. 40% of the land on Earth is utilized to produce meat, which may be put to better use growing trees.

Costs vs. Solutions: Although there is technology that can remove CO2, it costs $10 trillion USD year, and the government does not want to pay for it; instead, they choose to subsidize the price of oil and gas. Everyday commodities are kept inexpensive by low gasoline prices, which has a significant influence on billions of people. This further complicates efforts to halt the development of fossil fuels.

Would YOU Kindly Make It Right? Climate change is our collective fault. Each person must do their share. The easiest approach to reduce CO2 emissions would be for every wealthy person on the planet to alter their way of life. While encouraging, individual efforts to reduce emissions pale in comparison to the primary drivers of climate change.

What Are Your Real Options? The emphasis on individual accountability is excessive. We must exert influence on those in positions of power if we are to see systemic changes of this size in the economy, politics, and technology. Politicians must understand the concerns of the public. Remove corrupt administrations and replace them with ones that value science.

### Language

This video was only published to the English channel.

* English: **Can YOU Fix Climate Change?**