How To Solve The Climate Crisis On A Normal Monday
[Music]
my name is lola campford
i’m not a climate scientist so i’m not
telling you about
melting glaciers burning forests or
other
apocalypses i’m an economist i’m talking
about
costs and benefits i’ve been working for
25 years on the topic of
energy economics and calculate the costs
of the different forms of energy
oil coal gas or even renewable energies
and i calculate what costs how much
for 25 years my message has been fairly
clear
the longer we delay the energy
transition the more expensive it will be
nevertheless far too little has happened
in the 25 years in terms of climate
protection
this must change urgently now that’s why
for over a year now
there have been protests worldwide on
fridays
for more climate protection this is a
talk for monday
that’s when the new week starts and we
all begin to work
the people are rolling up their sleeves
and getting started
do you want to help stop the climate
change crisis
yes or no no then goodbye
there’s a door don’t waste our valuable
time
for those who say yes i’ve put together
a few thoughts and ideas
because there’s a lot to do it’s time to
clean up
it’s time to set up some rules for our
global community
so that we don’t face a much worse
disaster next monday
are you with me you can do much
more than you probably think and not
only in your individual consumer
behavior
yes i don’t eat meat either and i like
to ride my bike
even if it’s rains and the wind comes
from the front
climate friendly consumer decisions are
a good start
but climate justice justice cannot be
bought in the supermarket
what we need are binding new green deals
by this i mean concrete agreements based
on the global climate treaties to
implement these goals
nationally regionally and locally
we need politically committed citizens
who are
committed to a different climate future
in their
own specific environment we need to make
decisions
set priorities continue what has been
tried and tested
but also dare to experiment every
company
every association every school every
neighborhood
is a core of a climate friendly world
there you and you and you
there you can all make a small but
effective green new deals
concrete climate protection contracts on
how to reduce your emissions to zero
as quickly as possible contracts
seriously i’m serious our whole life is
based on contracts
when you go to the cinema you sign a
contract with a cinema operator
he promises to show you a certain movie
at a certain time
if he doesn’t do that you get your money
back
when you get on the bus you sign a
contract with a bus company
you may never have read the terms of
conditions
but you know that you will have to pay a
higher ticket price
if you have not bought a ticket before
and you get on the bus there are already
billions of contracts with which
we organize our lives they are not
always made in
writing often verbally sometimes even
implicitly
these rules agreements and contracts
ensure
that in case of conflict our court
ensures
that they are respected however we have
far
too few climate contracts that means
contracts in which it says that whoever
harms the climate pays
and that those who protect the climate
are rewarded
such climate contracts create clarity
and transparency
also and above all about the cause of
our way of life
because the bitter truth is that fossil
energy has been costing us
a lot of money for decades politicians
would have to come
out in the front of the public and say
we have been covering
up the follow-up cost of oil gas coal
and nuclear power
for decades we have subsidized fossil
fuels and nuclear energy
with billions and we still do that would
be the truth
we have been discussing sustainability
worldwide for
decades and in the meantime the opposite
is still being subsidized
there are contracts that state that you
don’t pay energy tax or value-added tax
on carousine
for international flights there are
contracts
that state that a company car is
privileged or
a tax refund is granted for agricultural
diesel
there’s a rule that energy taxes reduced
when goods are transshipped in seaports
and that electricity intensive companies
receive subsidies to compensate for
increase
in electricity prices caused by
emissions trading
and there are still a lot of regulation
and subsidies
for new heating systems
such subsidies are absurd and the
opposite of what we need
they are relics of time long past
they are vested interests of a few who
are outraged when they are
asked to give up their absurd privilege
we must dissolve such contracts and
conclude
new meaningful contemporary ones
to the contractually unregulated
additional costs of the fossil
world belong also the destruction and
resettlement of
entire villages for coal mining the
destruction
of landscapes and biotopes through the
extraction and transport of oil and gas
and last but not least the health
consequences of climate change
billions of people around the world are
affected
these are costs that can hardly be
quantified but
which must be paid if not by stead state
health systems
than by the people themselves the whole
course truth is
even more bitter we are engaged in
over-exploitation
of nature without consideration of
consequences
and above all without paying for it we
shift the costs in two ways namely
spatially and temporarily spatially
in that we do not deposit the garbage we
produce in our
own garden but in the most distant
places possible
out of sight out of mind we protect the
domestic waters and landscapes
we forget and burden the distant ones
in addition the redistribution of the
cost in the time
comes the earth does not warm up
immediately when we board an airplane
but with a time lag
since we have been emitting greenhouse
gases for over 115 years
but particularly in intensively in the
last 40 years
a mountain of debt has been accumulated
we have been accumulating costs for
generations
which will have to be paid back
generations after
us today we are already paying the price
of the past
but in the meantime we are accumulating
further depths
it’s not just the baby boomer generation
that has
lived at the expanse of others it’s also
today’s generation
x y and z it is all of us who
whether we like it or not continue to
run up co2 dabs
simply because we are part of the
western industrialized world
this too belongs in the radical truth
about the real cause
that’s why we urgently need new
contracts
regulations and laws but do we still
have enough time
for such contract negotiations
yes yes we do the time
to stop climate change is urgent no
question
but there’s no reason to panic the
change of course is within reach
we are the turning point now is the
chance for a real
change in principle the german
population is very environmentally aware
and has been for a long time 87 percent
that means nine out of ten people
now want to implement measures against
climate change quickly
and 71 now even believe that
environmental protection should take
priority over economic growth if
we manage to change by 2030 we can still
prevent the worst from
happening every day that we reduce our
emissions earlier will save
us time that’s why we must now think
short
term and concentrate on developing
solutions
that will have an effect by 2030 and
preferably
not beyond we don’t need perfect
solutions for eternity
but quick solutions that get us over the
short distance
it’s all about clever improvisation
instead of
know it all perfection our task is to
create structures that make it
easy for people to act sustainably
for example by making it visible when
energy consumption is high
or how much co2 is in a product at the
same time we should
regulate through laws and prohibitions
that some products and offers do not
even come into circulation
or that certain behavior is punished
with penalties
if we really continue along this path
resolutely
from now on there should still be enough
time to slow down
climate change and to preserve the earth
roughly
as we know it today and as it has
offered us
a home worth living for the last
thousand years
we start we stand at a crucial tipping
point in history
the decisions we make now will have far
reaching consequences
the directions we set now will determine
our future
even decisions i make today has
consequences
whether it is a small after effect waves
in the water
permanent damage or even extreme weather
effects
we all share the same vision out of the
fossil fuel world
into the renewable future the momentum
is there
let’s stand up together for small large
fair
intergenerational climate treaties for
new
green deals if we get off to a good
start now
start acting with conviction and take
the lead then 2020
the year in which irreversible climate
protection began
could go down in history as the tipping
point
then we would really have made a
difference
we are the first generation to eliminate
global poverty
and the last to stop climate change
said united nations secretary general
ban ki-moon in 2015.
it’s 2020. let’s do it