What would happen if cared about the climate change as much as we care about the pandemic?
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TVTranscript
00:00 It's unforgiving,
00:04 uncompromising,
00:06 and is devastating our planet.
00:09 It's annihilating upwards of 7 million people a year,
00:14 and it's changing 60 million lives forever.
00:20 Of course, we're talking about climate change.
00:23 What, you were thinking of a pandemic?
00:26 Well, that line of thinking
00:28 could help us solve this problem.
00:31 Think about it.
00:32 We saw how quickly the world reacted
00:34 to a catastrophic pandemic,
00:36 so what if we took a page from that book
00:39 and applied it to climate change?
00:42 Could we kick things into gear
00:44 if we approached climate change this way?
00:47 And what would life be like if we pulled it off?
00:51 This is WHAT IF,
00:53 and here's what would happen
00:55 if we treated climate change like a pandemic.
00:59 From AIDS to SARS,
01:01 we've seen the world come together
01:03 when facing medical crises.
01:05 During times of epidemics and pandemics,
01:08 the world works hard to create
01:10 concrete solutions to problems.
01:13 But even if we beat every single
01:15 contagious contender that picks a fight,
01:17 it means nothing if we don't have a planet to stand on.
01:21 Recent pandemics have had us glued to the screen,
01:24 watching the news about the confirmed cases,
01:26 and listening to the media
01:27 discussing doomsday scenarios.
01:30 But in 2019,
01:32 broadcast networks in the U.S.
01:34 covered news on climate change
01:35 less than 1% of the time.
01:39 Could it be that a pandemic
01:41 is seen as an imminent danger,
01:43 while climate change is viewed as
01:45 a problem happening in the future?
01:48 We've seen the world come together
01:50 in an effort to kick viruses
01:51 in their debilitating derrieres,
01:53 but it's harder to imagine
01:55 how bad a global temperature increase
01:57 of 1.5°C (104°F) would be.
02:00 So what if we were to use
02:02 what we've learned fighting the virus,
02:05 and came together to fight climate change?
02:08 It's time to get to work.
02:11 We could start by pressuring
02:12 the leaders of the world to admit
02:14 that climate change affects everyone.
02:17 This is a global problem.
02:18 No more procrastinating.
02:21 But then what?
02:23 Well, they would need to invest
02:25 in onshore wind power.
02:27 This is one of the best ways
02:29 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
02:32 If by the year 2050,
02:33 we increased the number of wind turbines,
02:37 they'd go from generating
02:38 4.4% of the world's electricity
02:41 to 26.9%.
02:43 This would reduce greenhouse gas emissions
02:46 by 147 gigatons.
02:50 For perspective, 147 gigatons
02:53 of carbon dioxide is 70 times more
02:56 than all of the CO2 emitted
02:58 by the U.S. transport sector during 2018.
03:01 And yes, we know it's a tall order.
03:04 This transition would cost $1,659 billion.
03:10 But get this,
03:11 the result would be a lifetime savings
03:14 of up to $10 trillion.
03:16 Sounds like a win to us.
03:19 And what if we kept this fight going,
03:21 and applied it to solar energy too?
03:24 Solar power could make 25%
03:26 of our electricity by the year 2050.
03:29 And that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions
03:32 by 119 gigatons.
03:35 But what can you do at home?
03:38 Well, if we choose to,
03:39 we could waste 75% less food
03:42 by the year 2050,
03:44 which would reduce CO2 emissions
03:46 by 18.8 gigatons of greenhouse gases.
03:50 This will also result in less deforestation,
03:53 preventing another 73.6 gigatons of emissions.
03:57 All this adds up to a whopping
03:59 438 gigatons of energy.
04:03 And that's just the beginning.
04:04 We would expand our mass transit services,
04:07 research and invest in geothermal energy,
04:10 and make going green really cool.
04:13 We know it seems like a lot,
04:15 but think about how fast we've acted
04:17 to take on the recent pandemic.
04:19 If we worked together,
04:20 we could really pull it off.
04:22 We could start fighting climate change today.
04:25 We have a lot of the knowledge
04:27 and technology we need.
04:29 And there's lots of solar, wind,
04:31 water and geothermal energy available to us.
04:34 We could do this.
04:36 So while we're brainstorming,
04:38 what else could we do for the Earth?
04:40 Could we share it more equally?
04:43 What if we set aside half of the planet
04:45 for wildlife?
04:47 Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.
04:51 ♪ MUSIC ♪
04:55 (whooshing)
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