Do the Math

Do the Math

2013, Environment  -   46 Comments
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Ratings: 8.37/10 from 166 users.

Like most people, Bill (environmentalist and co-founder of 350.org), is not an activist by nature. There's really not that many people whose greatest desire it to go out and fight the system. His theory of change was that he'll write his book, people will read it and they'll change. But that's not how change happens. What is required is to make a little noise, be a little uncomfortable, and push other people to be a little uncomfortable. The moment has come where we have to take a real stance, because we're reaching limits.

The biggest limit that we're running into may be that we're running out of atmosphere into which to put the waste products of our society, particularly the carbon dioxide that is the ubiquitous byproduct of burning fossil fuels. We burn coal, or oil, or gas, we get CO2 and the atmosphere is now filling up with it.

We know what the solutions for dealing with this trouble are; we know many of the technologies we need to get off fossil fuel and onto something else. The thing that is preventing us from doing it is the enormous political power wielded by those who have made and are making vast windfall profits off of fossil fuels.

One of the things that humanity is facing is the need to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint over the next 40 years. We're no longer at the point of trying to stop global warming. It's too late for that. We're at the point of trying to keep it from becoming a complete and utter calamity.

The most important climatologist, Jim Hansen, had his team at NASA do a study to figure out how much carbon in the atmosphere was too much. The paper they published may be the most important scientific paper of the millennium to date, said we now know enough to know how much is too much. Any value for carbon in the atmosphere greater than 350 parts per million is not compatible with the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.

That's pretty strong language for scientists to use. Stronger still if you know that outside today, the atmosphere is 395 parts per million CO2. And rising at about 2 parts per million per year. Everything frozen on earth is melting. The great ice sheet of the arctic is reduced by more than half; the oceans are about 30% more acidic than they were 30 years ago because the chemistry of sea water changes as it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. And because warm air holds more water vapor than cold, the atmosphere is about 5% wetter than it was 40 years ago. That's an astonishingly large change.

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Josh
Josh
4 years ago

I just don't understand how such smart people can be so stupid. The government isn't going to help us, they are the ones allowing this and profiting from it!

Environmentalist
Environmentalist
4 years ago

I can't still understand why 350.org is focusing the 2nd and 3rd problems of global warming (energy production, transportation) instead of addressing MAIN cause, which is ANIMAL AGRICULTURE. (i'll prove below)

The key points they mentioned are:
—"Let's get more renewable energy source" (The problem is that we need AT LEAST 20 years and AT LEAST 14 trillion dollars to develop. We don't have time and money tho)

—"without fossil fuels we can win this fight?? " (The problem is that ONLY raising and killing animals for food we will still exceed our maximum carbon emissions, 565 gigatons by 2030, without burning fossil fuels)

—"Fossil fuels companies are destroying the world??" (The problem is that we are destroying Earth by still driving car, using electricity or burning fuel to warm our houses. To solve this we MUST internalize those costs to make every person who buys fossil fuels pay part money for environmental damage, etc. )

To know more about MAIN problem and damage to our planet, I honestly recommend you to watch film "Cowspiracy".

For more questions please, comment down below.

GoodCO2
GoodCO2
5 years ago

I'm no fan of big corps but ADM had a slick way of making energy and using the CO2. Their Ethanol making process creates CO2 which they piped over to green houses which made stuff grow quite well.

What? Me worry about CO2? I like stuff to grow.

The nice thing about that ADM process is no heavy metals, oxides of nitrogen, Petrol Hydrocarbons, particulates, nor coal fly ash to deal with. Just some tasty food that you didn't need to spray INSECTicides on because the CO2 filled green houses suffocate any critters that snuck in.

Multiple wins because you can recycle the remnants of the food processing ...as well as the human effluent if you didn't depend on ridiculous city planners to hire those firms who design and install river polluting sewage systems.

Both likely get long term kickbacks from the chemical treatment companies those systems are tied to. Same for the chlorinated water systems.

DustUp
DustUp
5 years ago

From storyline: "The most important climatologist, Jim Hansen..."

Laughing. There is no most important anyone. If by chance a plane crashes into or a big truck runs over someone, like an agenda driven govt scientist who would get canned or defunded if he didn't stick with the global warming BS narrative, the climate will do what if this most important dude is gone? Clearly drivel in an attempt to add credibility to something that lacks it.

Also in the storyline they talk about things changing in 40 years. There are cycles that are longer than that.

The sad thing is that as we enter into another cold cycle or ice age, whatever the case may be, people are believing these so called "scientists" disproven claims of global warming (no, its not my job to waste my time citing opposing studies of yesteryear, you would ignore them anyway, and can easily find them yourself if you wanted rather than blaming your excuse filled mind on others). Significant areas on the coast would be under water by now if what Al Gore, supposedly quoting scientists, was true. Was found to be BS based on erroneous computer models, and they knew it.

No, I'm not a fan of pollution. I view Hydrocarbons, Heavy metals, Toxic chemicals, Radioactivity, etc. as pollution. CO2 not so much. The plants seem to like it. If you cut back on spewing the bad stuff, there will be much less CO2 being spewed as well, if that is your concern.

When you finally figure out that their modus operandi is to scare you into giving them more central power and control over you... more socialism-communism you will no longer be confused about what the New World Odor is about and how they are incrementally getting you to fall for it. Same for gun control. They really cannot do to you what they really desire until they get the guns.

Don't wait for scientists to save you. They won't. They already have sold you out. Make your own energy via an old Nikola Tesla or similar patent or make your own fuel via an ethanol still. Much cleaner burning, carbon neutral, mixes with water, takes power out of the hands of the big corporations.

mikem
mikem
6 years ago

j stuf
ur not smart

Jay Steff
Jay Steff
6 years ago

Cimate change has been part of the environment since the begining of time. It shows in geology!!!! That is long before there were HUMMERS or other SUV'S or back yard fire pits. Grow up and don't let environauts convince you otherwise!

ally
ally
6 years ago

yes, the planet will refresh and take care of itself. Unfortunately that refresh constitutes an extinction event, the human race will be wiped out. Its a misnomer to say we are saving the planet, we are not, we are saving the human race. Yes the planet has warmed before and the oxygen levels have grown and fallen but always as a consequence, once again the planet is warming and once again oxygen levels will change and in doing so we will die. It is that simple. We can control the CO2 we add to the green house gas effect which has no natural effect to counter it. The rest of the CO2 levels and green house gas levels are a perfect symbiotic balance with what is naturally created naturally cleaned. The human effect unfortunately has no natural way to be cleaned. Its all very simple but people are being misled by a very strong powerful group who are only interested in their monetary gains and we or more likely our children will pay the ultimate price.

Thomas Lee
Thomas Lee
8 years ago

Global warming IS the #1 problem facing the planet, and going after the CEO's of big oil are fair game...They must be stopped. The fundamental problem with our government (US) is the private bank called the Federal Reserve. You revamp this back into a government controlled gold-backed system and it will be an excellent start. Cutting military spending by about 80% is another. Now you can have free medicine, infrastructure fixes, and an education system for all who want/.need it. We might do a lot better if we begin to have employee-owned businesses rather than corperation giants with CEO's having little or no regard for the little guy or the environment.

Redd
Redd
8 years ago

This Climate Change Propaganda is just one of the propaganda's of the these "Elites" designed....just like Terrorist Propaganda to create Wars....Inflation Propaganda to create financial collapse...etc. they are designed to make humanitary crisis in the whole world....to achieve their goal, to control the world under "New World Order" Policy.
Climate Change is a part of the "Earth's Life Cycle"....which means self self healing process by means of balancing. Just like H2O cycle....Carbon cycle....even every living thing's life cycle.

Bubba Bong
Bubba Bong
9 years ago

typical al gore propaganda film. carbon credits are not the answer. legalize hemp and the worlds problems will be solved.

Colleen Farrell
Colleen Farrell
10 years ago

Great video! This was the first one I watched from this site. Thanks!

truk
truk
10 years ago

Any idea of a "movement " needs to be updated; the only movement is one where we all find ourselves paying a lot more for fossil fuels during this transition. Together, all of us are going to be a lot poorer for awhile. How's that for solidarity?

Divestment? Who buys up all that stock when you sell yours off? Divestment is a new transfer of wealth and power that we will have to contend with during this transition. I think the emotional idea of a "movement" is a distraction, and quite false, and perhaps more about nostalgia for a movement that never really happened. The young people I know don't buy it. They see a world of deep contradictions , where talk is cheap.

Where is the conversation about our complicity in supporting big oil? Why is it us against them? Until this complicity and responsibility is dealt with, this message is just superficial and relatively meaningless. These types of messages have a new function, but its not to deal with the gravity of the issue.

Now I am going to go back to using all the cheap fossil fuels and materials that are readily available in my immediate environment. My wealth as an American has made it so hard choices are difficult to even consider. I, like everyone reading this, take the path of least resistance, continuing to enjoy relative peace and prosperity-detached from the actual consequences of my actions, regarding our current economic/energy paradigm.

Wayne Siemund
Wayne Siemund
10 years ago

Every year Kansas has more and more wind turbines installed and capturing the gift from Canada and the Gulf. That interaction of cold northern air with the warm southern air.

Even that is only a beginning. Wind turbine technology and energy storage technology are advancing every year. It is also ironic that the effects of climate change on the jet stream may be assisting the production of electricity from these turbines by stalling and keeping the wind circulating in the same area at greater speed.
Tornado alley may offer a greater source of energy than the coal plants in the area.
It also seems the migratory effects that we were warned of has not happened. Birds are not being killed by those blades in great numbers. In fact, it appears birds are adapting to their motion and using the backwash as flight assistance.

Ilija Prentovski
Ilija Prentovski
10 years ago

For centuries, real value has been extracted from the Earth and converted into a fiction called money. Depleted tangible resources cannot be further monetized, so a new “ingenious” idea is brought into spotlight – let’s cover up our bulls*it and make everyone pay for an invented threat. Check out "The Story of Cap & Trade" online to see what I mean.

Hence a massive disinformation campaign, that has been going on for at least a decade, and no mention of the REAL dangers:
- Wide scale contamination of the food supply from GMOs
- Clandestine weather modification and geo-engineering programs
- Disruption of eco-systems and food chains on a massive scale
- Ongoing destruction of all life in the Gulf of Mexico, Alberta/Canada, and elsewhere
- Grave worldwide pollution from depleted uranium and nuclear power-plants

Capitalism, socialism, communism... or any other "ism" are mind constructs, made by tossing around meaningless words. They are all based around raping our habitat, extracting every last bit of life-supporting value and not giving anything in return. What is different is the distribution of that value among the rapists.

Let us not fight each other. Let us not be distracted from the single most important task we all have in common - unf--king our world! Today is a great day to start. The “visionary leaders” of yesterday are gone down the memory hole. It is up to us. All of us.

systems1000
systems1000
10 years ago

I admire optimism but I think (and by no means all alone) that any renewable source of energy will only be par for the course.To little to late.

systems1000
systems1000
10 years ago

There is no renewable source of energy. At least not to sustain the high living and simple thinking of the west,not to mention the emerging nations. dog,your life is slowly trickling away like an opened vein in the wrist.

john ford
john ford
10 years ago

That Corporate interests are destroying the environment for a quick profit shows the psychotic mindset that rules at the top.
Rape a planet for profit and see what you get..

fhade
fhade
10 years ago

Co2 is good for the plants increases their growth rate.

RickRayFSM
RickRayFSM
10 years ago

We're running out of fresh water to drink! It's wasted for nothing and the fact that we'll all die of thirst will come before we can't breathe anymore. We know the oceans are being polluted alongside the air. Hell, bottled water is much more expensive than gasoline.

Grant Connolly
Grant Connolly
10 years ago

This is NOT about politics. It's about our survival. Why do people always bring politics into the discussion? I want my children to have a home and a good opportunity to stay breathing. What's so difficult to understand about that. If I have to learn to speak pig Latin to do so I will.

systems1000
systems1000
10 years ago

@Exton: Enjoy both your flood & drought.

ChefBryn
ChefBryn
10 years ago

Isnt it disgusting a few people rule what happens in our society. Never understood lobying, surely its fundamentally wrong as all it does is protect the Company and not the civilian. US politics is very very corrupt

Exton
Exton
10 years ago

This video is about BIG GOVERNMENT. The government spends over $5 billion on pushing this garbage. This is just Marxist propaganda.

“No matter if the science is all phony; there are collateral environmental
benefits... [C]limate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world.”

—Christine Stewart, Canadian Environment Minister.
[Environmentalism equals changing the world.]

“I think if we don’t overthrow capitalism, we don’t have a chance of saving the world ecologically. I think it is possible to have an ecologically sound society under socialism. I don’t think it’s possible under capitalism.”
—Judi Bari, Earth First! member.
[Environmentalism equals replacing capitalism with socialism.]

“[W]e have to offer up scary scenarios [about global warming and destruction of the environment], make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts one might have... Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”

—Stephen Schneider, Stanford University environmentalist.
[Environmentalism equals lies “if necessary.”]

“I would freely admit that on [global warming] we have crossed the boundary from news reporting to advocacy.”

—Charles Alexander, Time magazine science editor.
[Environmentalism equals indoctrination.]

1concept1
1concept1
10 years ago

Good Doc.!

One never wins over a mind set by first stating, "Your a s*upid id*ot, now let me tell you why" The mind shut down at "your a st*pid i*iot", and could hear nothing else, (are you listening),

Yes big oil etc. is about money! Its also about how meany people are employed in this industry? The oil company's are entideled, (they like this word now, don't they:-) to compensation or should be the system in force that process the Alternative energy supply? Now we TOGETHER protect the vested interest of the stock holders and many jobs? plus the ECOSYSTEM!

This is one big ship were in together and if we continue to punch holes in our own boat.............

This does not fall under "The Haves And The Have Not's this falls under

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

My concept above is not carved in stone?

So can we start from here? I am all ears:-) xxxXXXxxxoooOOOooo..... ... .. .