Death Trap of Climate Change || Acharya Prashant, with Delhi University (2023)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl... ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information: 17.03.23, Delhi University (Online), Greater Noida  Context:  ~ What is the solution to global warming? ~ How can we control the increasing population? ~ How can spirituality solve the problem of global warming? ~ What is the most effective way of dealing with climate change? ~ How can population control help in dealing with climate change? ~ What is the solution to climate change? ~ How spirituality can stop climate change? ~ Climate change has no scientific solution  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Who is causing all the heat?

00:09Where are all the emissions coming from?

00:11The dinosaurs did that, the rats and the wolves and the birds and the fish and the trees,

00:18they are doing all this, the fields, the butterflies, snakes maybe, they are wild creatures, all

00:27the baddies, snakes must be causing climate change, who is causing climate change?

00:36We are causing climate change, that's what, full stop.

00:42And it's, even a class 4 student can see the obvious, number of people multiplied by per

00:53capita consumption, that's proportional to your greenhouse emissions, is that not simple?

01:03And once you do it, it's done, carbon dioxide or methane or water vapour released into the

01:11atmosphere stays there for very very long, long not in terms of weeks, not in terms of

01:18months, in terms of hundreds of years.

01:22It's done, very difficult to undo it.

01:26Also there are negative feedback cycles, you must have read of it, as informed young students.

01:32What are these feedback cycles?

01:36What are these feedback cycles, please tell me?

01:46It simply means that climate change will do something that will further aggravate climate

01:55change.

01:56For example, you have ice, let's say there is ice on the surface, what is the color of

02:02the surface?

02:03Dark color, let's say brown or black and there is ice on the surface and what is the color

02:08of ice?

02:10You very well know which color traps radiation and which color reflects radiation back.

02:21If there is ice on it and light falls, what does ice do to the light?

02:28Sends it back, right?

02:31Because of its color, ice cannot absorb too much light and if ice cannot absorb light,

02:37ice cannot absorb heat, correct?

02:40But what will climate change do?

02:44There was ice on the rock and climate change will melt away the ice, so the dark colored

02:49rock will be exposed and if the rock is exposed, the rock will absorb even more heat and if

02:55the rock absorbs even more heat, that will melt.

03:03That's a negative cycle, a negative feedback loop.

03:06Unfortunately for us, several of these negative loops have already been triggered and once

03:13triggered they cannot be stopped.

03:16It's like a stone rushing down a slope.

03:24Once it gets even a little bit of velocity, it cannot be stopped now.

03:35So that's what has happened and that's what we have done.

03:41It's futile and very dishonest to look for objective reasons to the climate crisis.

03:51Squarely, human beings, their tendency to proliferate and their tendency to blindly

04:00consume is the only and only reason.

04:08What does the common man want, I am asking you?

04:10Okay, let's look at what your parents want.

04:15You must be 18, 20, 25 something, right?

04:19Now, next 5 or 10 years, what is the picture that your parents envisage for you?

04:27What does that mean, settled?

04:31If I ask your parents, paint me a picture of your kid, 10 years from today, what will

04:40that picture consist of?

04:44Show me the elements in the picture, please, quickly and you will understand climate crisis.

04:51Which means consumption and what will that picture consist of, come on, yes and, so that's

05:07what is wanted from your life, that you produce more bodies to consume and those bodies should

05:15consume per capita more than what you currently do.

05:19Please understand what that means.

05:23One should become three, so on one hand, one is becoming three, on the other hand, today

05:29this one is consuming, let's say 10 units of something, let's say 10 units of electricity

05:35or coal, your emissions are proportional to your consumption, do you understand that?

05:41Irrespective of the technology involved, I understand that greener technologies can reduce

05:48per capita consumption, but still, we still do not have technologies that reduce emissions

05:56by a factor of 4 or 5 or 6, that doesn't happen.

06:00The reduction happens in percentage terms, 5 percentage, 10 percent, that kind of reduction.

06:07So there is this one person who consumes 10 units today, what's his dream?

06:14Tell me of your dreams, if you consume 10 units of something today, your dream is to

06:18consume at least 100 units tomorrow.

06:21Now even if you involve green technology in between, what will the poor technology do?

06:28The technology can mean that the reduction comes by 10, 20, 30 percent, 40 percent, but

06:35you want to increase your consumption 10 times, that is 1000 percent.

06:41Now in front of this 1000 percent, what can a technology driven 30-40 percent reduction

06:47do?

06:48So first of all you want to raise your consumption level from 10 to 1000 because that's what

06:52means progress and happiness to you, right?

06:56How do you determine that a person is successful?

06:59He is consuming more, that's the definition of success, right?

07:02Do you see that definition of success is what has become the climate crisis?

07:08As long as our happiness means consumption, you will have climate crisis and this climate

07:14crisis is the end of the world.

07:19Not only this one person is targeting to increase his consumption from 10 to 100 units or 1000

07:25units, he is also aiming to produce 3 kids and all 3 of them, each of them will consume

07:33100 units, right?

07:36So what is the total consumption after 10 years?

07:40400 units.

07:42What is the consumption today?

07:4410.

07:45So from 10 your dream is to raise consumption to 400 units and the emission, the carbon

07:51emission will proportionately increase, correct?

07:56So it's our dreams that have become the curse of this planet.

08:01Unfortunately we live for our dreams.

08:04Unfortunately we are produced to fulfill dreams.

08:07If you do not live by these dreams, even your society and your family will not spare you.

08:14You tell them that if I do all these things, then I am really literally destroying the

08:19earth.

08:20Still they would not listen, they will say no, no, no, but you should, you should, please,

08:26please do that and anyway what can you do by fighting as a lone wolf, a solitary warrior?

08:35Even if you do not consume, even if you do not proliferate, still everybody else is doing

08:41the same thing.

08:43See your cousin Dhanno, she just gave birth to her fourth one, you can at least have three.

08:55That's what is killing the planet and any numbers of summits or conferences or declarations

09:01or agreements are not going to help.

09:06All that is simply eye wash, we are fooling ourselves.

09:12If you do not challenge the very philosophy, it's a very pedestrian philosophy, it's a

09:17very foolish philosophy, it's not a philosophy worth the name philosophy, yet it is a philosophy

09:25the entire population of the world lives by.

09:28That philosophy is eat more, eat more, have more and you are successful.

09:35The purpose of life is consumption, be happy, consume more, be happy.

09:39Just as our friend was asking, what's the problem?

09:45If I consume and be happy, what's the problem if I have been given fake dreams but that

09:50makes me happy?

09:51This is the problem.

09:53You are solidly into the sixth mass extinction phase, we are getting killed and nobody is

10:01talking about it.

10:03The entire planet is getting killed for good.

10:08For millions of years to come, there would be nothing but barrenness and nobody wants

10:13to talk about it because if you talk about it, then your dreams will go unfulfilled and

10:18our dreams, our intoxications, they are so dear to us that we are prepared to destroy

10:24this planet.

10:25For the next millions of years, there will be nobody and we don't bother.

10:32Do you know that the rate of extinction of species per day rate is today 1000 times more

10:39than what it used to be just 40 or 50 years back?

10:42Do you understand the enormity of that?

10:46The massive tragedy.

10:49Do you see that?

10:50There is a natural rate of extinction of species, all kinds of species, from little bacteria

10:55to the biggest whale.

10:56There is a natural rate at which species get extinct.

11:00Today they are getting extinct at 1000 times the natural rate.

11:05And that is all man-made, we have done that because we have dreams.

11:10And the ones who have dreams don't even feel guilty.

11:14In fact, they will want to impose their dreams on you.

11:17Dreams, hopes, desires, ambitions, whatever name you want to give.

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