How the Rich REALLY Cause Climate Change

In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at how the rich really cause climate change. Specifically, I look at how the focus on the richest people in the world's consumption habits (i.e. our obsession with Taylor Swift's jet emissions) distracts us from how they make their money in the first place. It is through their control and power over production that the rich drive emissions through the roof in pursuit of profits. In order to understand the climate crisis, in order to understand what's driving the climate crisis, we need to look beyond individual footprints and toward the point of production. It is here where the rampant emissions stem from. At the point of production, a handful of individuals make choices that have dire ramifications for billions and dark consequences for the environment.

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Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:58 - How We Talk About Inequality and Climate Change
4:34 - The Inequality Behind It All
7:03 - How the Rich Really Cause Climate Change
10:50 - The Vicious Cycle
12:51 - Climate Action Without Class
15:02 - Controlling Production
18:02 - Sponsored by Nebula and CuriosityStream

Certain images and footage courtesy of Getty Images
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#capitalism #socialism #climatechange

[OurChangingClimate]

▫What are your thoughts on "carbon footprints." Do you think they're a useful metric?
▫Commenting on this video really helps this video reach more people! (let's try to get to 1000 comments!)

[potpu]

I just can't believe this is the world I'm living in. When I was 15 years old I decided I should be vegetarian because of my personal impact to the planet and ethical issues. I'm twice that age now and things have only gotten worse. I was naive to think people would fix the problem by making personal sacrifices like I did, but the ultra rich just don't care.

[fal_pal_]

Eyeing the mishandling of production over the damages of consumerism is certainly where our collective focus needs to be, but I also think that if we practice reducing waste in our individual lives it can strengthen our resolve to push for system change. We can reject individual consumerism and corporate greed at the same time

[christinel]

“People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage”.

John Galbraith

[iruns]

You're still missing a large chunk of the system: The financial sector.

Those CEOs, even if somehow they want to, can't just choose to pollute less. If polluting less = less money for shareholders, the CEO will be liable to answer to them, gets kicked out, or even get sued to oblivion. Then they'll just be replaced with a new one that will loyally protect the bottom line at all cost.

Unions is part of the answer of course, if the workers threaten to strike if they don't pollute less, then it makes polluting less can be the logical choice, and therefore won't get the CEO into trouble for choosing it. But on the other hand, the CEOs will logically also be required to fight unionizations at all cost to make sure that kind of threat won't happen in the first place. The second problem is this also only empower the workers of those particular companies to make the right choice, and not the larger population. While it's reasonable to put more trust on the workers making the moral choice than the execs, they're still human beings, and they might be enticed with concessions that will only benefit them, and not humanity as a whole.

The larger solution should also include these 2 factors: Financial sector and international rules and regulations.

A reform in the financial sector towards ethical investment hopefully can force execs to not just care about the bottom line, but also about the ethics of their decisions. And this empowers not just the workers, but the general public (with money to invest on).

And international rules and regulations would mean companies can't just move their polluting (and anti-union) businesses around the world to evade stricter local/national regulations. This one empowers even more people, which include basically everyone living in democratic countries.

This is a tall order obviously, but IMO just pointing out the fault of execs is still missing the mark. It's better than pointing out personal footprints of course, but not by that much. It's still moving from *our* fault to *their* fault, instead of focusing on the larger system.

[kazuesohma]

Community anger (towards polluting producers) >>>> individual despair (over one's own choices)

[andy]

Even if there was no hope for our climate being saved, I would still do what is right in saving the climate. I also think that vast gatherings and a togetherness against the rich and powerful are going to be important in creating the change that we need. Thank you for your educational videos.

[ErutaniaRose]

Two things environmentalist movements NEED to address: Class differences, and disability.

If someone even dares to mention the size of the human population...and says we have to dwindle it or blames disabled people for a lack of eco-friendly tools--1. They are wrong about who's to blame--and 2. They are eco-fascists.

We have plenty of materials to feed everyone on earth, and we have the technology to get it to everyone, but we don't work together enough to make it actually happen because of capitalism. We don't need fewer people, we need a better system. We need a system that will work with disabled people to make them assistance tools that are eco-friendly and affordable--if they cost anything at all.

[bicyclist]

The rich always blame others for the big problems that they create. For more proof of this read "Winners Take All" by Anand Giridharadas. The many Interviews with him are also very interesting and informative. The congresswoman Katy Porter is trying to hold many greedy CEO's accountable by having them testify before Congress. She uses a whiteboard to show statistics and other info. She's one of the only people in Congress doing this. This is a very important video. I hope that many more people see it. Thank you.

[misslil]

Honestly I ddin't think that the outrage over private jets was bad. Actually it sparked a conversation over outlawing private jets (and so a very polluting industry) in my country and I feel like it goes towards the thinking about production side of the problem. But of course the framing of the issue is not ideal to think about those structural issues first. Great video!

[zpettigrew]

I'm glad you finally took my suggestions from a year ago to heart. THIS is THE ISSUE. We have to address CLASS in order to address CLIMATE CHANGE. They are fundamentally tied to each other.

[Dasein]

Another way to say it: it’s not individual consumption, it’s power. Who has the control and makes the decisions about production?

[grmpEqweer]

There's CO2 neutral concrete formulations, that actually harden over time by absorbing CO2.

[pablouribe]

It is indeed a problem of framing, and in the production is the key to not only climate action but social justice and equality. Great video essay. I have participated in multiple communal cooperatives, and the power that it gives to the people to own the means of production is astounding. Nature thrives, people thrive and everything is more balanced.

[eskanderx]

When the "magician" tells you to look one way, the trick usually is happening the other way...

[EdeYOlorDSZs]

You're an amazing writer and narrator, I was hooked for the entire video.

I bet Hydrocarbon company board members are delighted that we are angered by Taylor Swift and not by their ruthless business practices.

[ns-hs]

Since Taylor Swift's private jet carbon emissions are trending again, you should redo this video with her name in the title or picture on the thumbnail.

[mclau]

The bible said it 2000 years ago, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"

[sierragibbas]

I’m so grateful to have come across your channel. This is the exact kind of conversation we need to be having if we want to make any progress. Thank you for posting!!

[InformatrIIcks]

I have an issue with just "framing emissions to the production" and completely ignoring the consumption part. Sure, the hyper rich making decisions purely based on profits have an order of magnitude more impact. Yet it seems like the video is saying that Taylor Swift's use of a private jet isn't an issue.

The change needs to come from the production, that's for sure. But if we don't change our consumption as well, it doesn't seems feasible ... Even Exxon switch to 100% electricity, and we electrify our means of transports, we can't have celebrities using electric private jets.

As Aurélien Barreau says, "with an electric bulldozer you can deforest the Amazonian forest" ... It's not just changing our production, nor our consumption... I think both go hands in hands.