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The Problem with Consumerism - YouTube

Channel: Our Changing Climate

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this video was made possible by the

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people who support me on patreon

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in 2009 south korea did something

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remarkable

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the country poured 2 percent of its gdp

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some 38.1 billion us dollars into

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environmental projects

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hoping to create 1 million green jobs

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over the next

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5 years the goal was to spur growth

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in a slumping economy while

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simultaneously creating a low carbon

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society

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in one sense the plan worked south

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korea's economic system

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did eventually recover but in a more

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important sense

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the plan failed from 2009 to 2014

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korea's emissions rose 11.8 percent

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so despite massive investments in clean

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energy

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railway expansion and energy efficiency

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south korea's emissions still climbed

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what happened why didn't south korea's

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green growth strategy

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work today we'll answer that question

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and more

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in order to understand one of the

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insidious specters

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that haunts the green energy revolution

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consumption

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it's december and the streets of new

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york city are filled with christmas

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stores trees lights bags

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packages and trash christmas

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in america is a sacred capitalist

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holiday wherein the average american

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explodes their average yearly emissions

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footprint

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by roughly 650 kilograms of co2

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equivalent

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while spending a cumulative 2.6 billion

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dollars on wrapping paper

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up until around 150 years ago however

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the holiday rarely saw a wrapped present

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in sight

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but then unofficial holidays like black

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friday

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and department stores like macy's

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started to encourage

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shoppers to fill their carts with tech

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and trinkets

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as a means of expressing care and love

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now christmas shopping epitomizes the

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consumer

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experience in the united states it's

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driven by a complex mix

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of personal desire social pressures

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status signaling

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stress and propaganda that work in many

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instances

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not to increase personal well-being but

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to pad the pocketbooks

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of corporations advertisements on

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instagram and billboards in times square

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bombard us with visions of what we could

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be if

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only we had that watch or phone which

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locks us

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into a world where in order to find

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happiness

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or comfort or political change we need

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to buy

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stuff but a range of studies

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consistently found

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that once a person's needs are met extra

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consumption does not increase

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their well-being and buying new phones

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clothes and gadgets

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all have an environmental price tag

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despite the fact that 100 companies were

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found to be the root cause of 70

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of global emissions the reality is that

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the people using those companies

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products and burning their fuel are us

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or rather i should say primarily rich

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communities and

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countries because consumption levels are

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not equal

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across the world the average american

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uses over 100 times the energy

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as someone from india and if everyone in

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the world were to live

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in the same way the average german does

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right now global emissions

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would double so as those in rich

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countries gorge on luxury items

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and the newest tech they use energy and

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emit at much higher rates than countries

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in the majority

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world which often are the ones feeling

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the brunt

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of climate disasters

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the blame for overconsumption should not

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and cannot be placed

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solely on individuals companies and

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corporations have a vested

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interest in making you buy more stuff

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because if they don't

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they go bankrupt which is why they slap

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green labels onto their products and

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advertised

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everywhere indeed the whole idea of a

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personal carbon footprint

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is a propaganda campaign created by the

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fossil fuel giant bp

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the move allowed them to lock in decades

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of fossil fuel use by turning the

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attention

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away from their complicity in climate

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change

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and instead blaming the individual for

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not living a low-carbon lifestyle

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or not buying the right thing

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the natural conclusion in a system

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riddled with ads and cultural norms

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imploring all of your senses to buy more

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is that your dollar is your vote an idea

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which stands in stark contrast to the

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democratic ideal of

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one person one vote we are led to

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believe that growing the economy

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which for the individual means buying

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more whether it be supporting new green

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tech

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or wearing sustainably made clothing is

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how we stop

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climate change but the reality is that

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this capitalist growth model

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counteracts the work being done to

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decrease emissions

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over the last 40 years global emissions

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have skyrocketed despite

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dramatic expansions of renewable and

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energy

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efficiency technologies yes growth does

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lead to an expansion of new sustainable

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innovations but it also

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leads to the expansion of fossil fuel

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intensive industries

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just one percent growth in gdp leads to

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0.5

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to 0.8 percent increase in carbon

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emissions

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and if we continue to grow at 3 percent

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per year by 2043 the global economy will

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two times larger than it is now which

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means

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energy consumption will be larger and

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the task of transitioning towards a zero

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carbon world

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will be much harder so something's got

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to give

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and that something is consumption in

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rich countries

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[Music]

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the unfortunate reality is that

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expanding zero carbon technologies to

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meet global energy demands

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or what's known as decoupling emissions

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from growth

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will be an extremely difficult task

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a task that south korea attempted back

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in 2009

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and ran head first into the consequences

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of a growth-centered economy

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the reason why south korea's emissions

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still rose

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11.8 percent over five years is that

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their total

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energy consumption outpaced renewable

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installation

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and energy efficiency projects so the

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emissions they saved with green

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technology

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were nullified by their overall increase

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in consumption levels so then what

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options

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do we have one recent study modeled that

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by 2050

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the world could support the equivalent

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of three times the current global

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population if global consumption levels

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dropped

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60 percent back down to 1960 levels

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most notably though the paper claims

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that this is possible

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while still maintaining or even

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improving a decent

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lifestyle for all and within their

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definition of a decent living

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the researchers include laptops

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comfortable climate control

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access to robust transportation networks

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and

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universal healthcare and in order to

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achieve this world wherein

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everybody is able to enjoy a decent

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lifestyle while also

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avoiding a climate emergency the

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researchers suggest

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a dual-pronged approach on the demand

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side consumption levels must drop by as

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much as 95

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in countries with today's highest per

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capita consumers

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that means no more second houses or

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eating red meat

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every single day of the week this then

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must be simultaneously coupled with

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massive roll outs of advanced technology

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in energy efficiency renewable energy

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and other sectors

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together the model predicts that these

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scenarios could allow the global

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population

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to live well in a zero carbon world

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and if all that sounds scary hope jaren

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author of the story of

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more compares this future lifestyle to

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that of someone living in switzerland

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in the 1960s which to me doesn't sound

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that bad

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especially considering that everyone in

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the world would be able to live

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the 1960s swiss life

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the key point here is that reducing

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emissions or what's known as decoupling

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emissions from growth

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is not enough to quickly prevent the

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worst case climate change scenario

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reducing consumption has to be

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integrated into

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our solutions toolkit if we are to

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quickly tackle the climate crisis before

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2050 but the burden of this task should

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not

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be laid upon the individual it's the job

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of governments and the very corporations

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who created the mess

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in the first place to facilitate this

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drop in consumption

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imagine for a moment if instead of

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lobbying for fossil fuel subsidies

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and spending millions telling us to

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decrease our carbon footprint bp

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was required to address its complicity

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in climate change by leaving fossil

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fuels in the ground

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and developing renewable energy rapid

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public transportation

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and energy efficiency technologies i'd

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imagine the task of reducing our

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own consumption and emissions would

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probably be a lot

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easier ultimately d growth is a path

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we need to take seriously if we are to

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tackle the climate emergency

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while i can't pretend to predict the

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far-reaching consequences

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reducing growth would create i do know

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one thing the smaller our global needs

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the easier the transition will be

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hey everyone charlie here if you've been

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watching our changing climate for a

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while

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or just stumbled across this video and

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are wondering how you can help me make

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