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The Problem with Consumerism | Our Changing Climate | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Problem with Consumerism
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Summary
Core Theme
South Korea's "Green Growth" strategy failed to reduce emissions because it prioritized economic growth and increased consumption over actual reduction, highlighting that decoupling emissions from growth is insufficient; reducing consumption is crucial for tackling the climate crisis.
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people who support me on patreon
in 2009 south korea did something remarkable
remarkable
the country poured 2 percent of its gdp
some 38.1 billion us dollars into
environmental projects
hoping to create 1 million green jobs
over the next
5 years the goal was to spur growth
in a slumping economy while
simultaneously creating a low carbon society
society
in one sense the plan worked south
korea's economic system
did eventually recover but in a more
important sense
the plan failed from 2009 to 2014
korea's emissions rose 11.8 percent
so despite massive investments in clean energy
energy
railway expansion and energy efficiency
south korea's emissions still climbed
what happened why didn't south korea's
green growth strategy
work today we'll answer that question
and more
in order to understand one of the
insidious specters
that haunts the green energy revolution consumption
consumption
it's december and the streets of new
york city are filled with christmas
stores trees lights bags
packages and trash christmas
in america is a sacred capitalist
holiday wherein the average american
explodes their average yearly emissions footprint
footprint
by roughly 650 kilograms of co2 equivalent
equivalent
while spending a cumulative 2.6 billion
dollars on wrapping paper
up until around 150 years ago however
the holiday rarely saw a wrapped present
in sight
but then unofficial holidays like black friday
friday
and department stores like macy's
started to encourage
shoppers to fill their carts with tech
and trinkets
as a means of expressing care and love
now christmas shopping epitomizes the consumer
consumer
experience in the united states it's
driven by a complex mix
of personal desire social pressures
status signaling
stress and propaganda that work in many instances
instances
not to increase personal well-being but
to pad the pocketbooks
of corporations advertisements on
instagram and billboards in times square
bombard us with visions of what we could
be if
only we had that watch or phone which
locks us
into a world where in order to find happiness
happiness
or comfort or political change we need
to buy
stuff but a range of studies
consistently found
that once a person's needs are met extra
consumption does not increase
their well-being and buying new phones
clothes and gadgets
all have an environmental price tag
despite the fact that 100 companies were
found to be the root cause of 70
of global emissions the reality is that
the people using those companies
products and burning their fuel are us
or rather i should say primarily rich
communities and
countries because consumption levels are
not equal
across the world the average american
uses over 100 times the energy
as someone from india and if everyone in
the world were to live
in the same way the average german does
right now global emissions
would double so as those in rich
countries gorge on luxury items
and the newest tech they use energy and
emit at much higher rates than countries
in the majority
world which often are the ones feeling
the brunt
the blame for overconsumption should not
and cannot be placed
solely on individuals companies and
corporations have a vested
interest in making you buy more stuff
because if they don't
they go bankrupt which is why they slap
green labels onto their products and advertised
advertised
everywhere indeed the whole idea of a
personal carbon footprint
is a propaganda campaign created by the
fossil fuel giant bp
the move allowed them to lock in decades
of fossil fuel use by turning the attention
attention
away from their complicity in climate change
change
and instead blaming the individual for
not living a low-carbon lifestyle
the natural conclusion in a system
riddled with ads and cultural norms
imploring all of your senses to buy more
is that your dollar is your vote an idea
which stands in stark contrast to the
democratic ideal of
one person one vote we are led to
believe that growing the economy
which for the individual means buying
more whether it be supporting new green tech
tech
or wearing sustainably made clothing is
how we stop
climate change but the reality is that
this capitalist growth model
counteracts the work being done to
decrease emissions
over the last 40 years global emissions
have skyrocketed despite
dramatic expansions of renewable and energy
energy
efficiency technologies yes growth does
lead to an expansion of new sustainable
innovations but it also
leads to the expansion of fossil fuel
intensive industries
just one percent growth in gdp leads to 0.5
0.5
to 0.8 percent increase in carbon emissions
emissions
and if we continue to grow at 3 percent
per year by 2043 the global economy will be
be
two times larger than it is now which means
means
energy consumption will be larger and
the task of transitioning towards a zero
carbon world
will be much harder so something's got
to give
and that something is consumption in
rich countries [Music]
[Music]
the unfortunate reality is that
expanding zero carbon technologies to
meet global energy demands
or what's known as decoupling emissions
from growth
will be an extremely difficult task
a task that south korea attempted back
in 2009
and ran head first into the consequences
of a growth-centered economy
the reason why south korea's emissions
still rose
11.8 percent over five years is that
their total
energy consumption outpaced renewable installation
installation
and energy efficiency projects so the
emissions they saved with green technology
technology
were nullified by their overall increase
in consumption levels so then what options
options
do we have one recent study modeled that
by 2050
the world could support the equivalent
of three times the current global
population if global consumption levels dropped
dropped
60 percent back down to 1960 levels
most notably though the paper claims
that this is possible
while still maintaining or even
improving a decent
lifestyle for all and within their
definition of a decent living
the researchers include laptops
comfortable climate control
access to robust transportation networks and
and
universal healthcare and in order to
achieve this world wherein
everybody is able to enjoy a decent
lifestyle while also
avoiding a climate emergency the
researchers suggest
a dual-pronged approach on the demand
side consumption levels must drop by as
much as 95
in countries with today's highest per
capita consumers
that means no more second houses or
eating red meat
every single day of the week this then
must be simultaneously coupled with
massive roll outs of advanced technology
in energy efficiency renewable energy
and other sectors
together the model predicts that these
scenarios could allow the global population
population
to live well in a zero carbon world
and if all that sounds scary hope jaren
author of the story of
more compares this future lifestyle to
that of someone living in switzerland
in the 1960s which to me doesn't sound
that bad
especially considering that everyone in
the world would be able to live
the key point here is that reducing
emissions or what's known as decoupling
emissions from growth
is not enough to quickly prevent the
worst case climate change scenario
reducing consumption has to be
integrated into
our solutions toolkit if we are to
quickly tackle the climate crisis before
2050 but the burden of this task should not
not
be laid upon the individual it's the job
of governments and the very corporations
who created the mess
in the first place to facilitate this
drop in consumption
imagine for a moment if instead of
lobbying for fossil fuel subsidies
and spending millions telling us to
decrease our carbon footprint bp
was required to address its complicity
in climate change by leaving fossil
fuels in the ground
and developing renewable energy rapid
public transportation
and energy efficiency technologies i'd
imagine the task of reducing our
own consumption and emissions would
probably be a lot
easier ultimately d growth is a path
we need to take seriously if we are to
tackle the climate emergency
while i can't pretend to predict the
far-reaching consequences
reducing growth would create i do know
one thing the smaller our global needs
the easier the transition will be
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or aren't financially able to then no worries
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i hope you enjoyed the video and i will
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