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scientists have been studying our climate for decades and together we've reached a single inescapable conclusion greenhouse gases are driving up Earth's average temperature and unchecked that's going to make our planet a lot harder to live on climate change has brought and will continue to bring extreme environmental events that will be hard to prepare for experience and recover from with effects that will continue to layer Upon

Our world's existing inequalities but there are things we can do each of us can do to help protect our planet ourselves and each other we can't change the past but together we can change the future and slow down and stop climate change in meaningful ways hi hi I'm M Jackson and this is the final episode of Crash Course climate and energy [Music] in 2015 countries around

the world Forge the historic Paris agreement in it they committed to taking decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep climate change in check for many countries that action became a pledge a pledge to reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. that means they've agreed to reduce emissions by as much as possible and make up for whatever they can't eliminate by removing greenhouse gases from

the atmosphere the goal of these pledges is to limit how much the average global temperature goes up specifically to limit warming by the end of the century to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial Revolution levels and ideally to stop at 1.5 degrees that half a degree might not sound like much but science has shown that it makes a world of difference for instance in parts

of southern Europe Central America and Australia which are already suffering occasional water shortages two degrees of warming would create intense and long-lasting droughts but when warming is kept to 1.5 degrees the situation is a lot less severe with some places experiencing half as many water shortages as in the worst case scenario and that's just one example everything from the vegetables you eat to the coral reefs

you want to visit someday would have a better chance at survival with just 1.5 degrees of warming ultimately it translates to better food security and higher quality of life for millions of people and for all life here on planet Earth that said staying under 1.5 degrees of warming will be really really tough as a society we're super invested in burning fossil fuels for energy to the

point where even an industry that seems unrelated on the surface like textile production releases roughly a billion tons of greenhouse gases every year so if we're going to keep our warming planet in check we're going to need to overhaul our ways of doing just about everything and soon as of the time we're posting this in 2023 we're on track for temperature rises between between two and

three degrees Celsius unless we make a big and Rapid change so limiting ourselves to 1.5 degrees is nothing short of a Monumental challenge still if we take immediate steps to transform every major industry it is possible to get to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 and in so doing keep warming in check a policy making organization called The International Energy agency has even given us a

road map full of possible milestones it involves things like stopping the sale of fossil fuel boilers to heat our water and homes by 2025 and stopping the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. by 2040 the whole world would be running on electricity with net zero emissions and half of all buildings would have systems in place to operate without releasing greenhouse gases by 2045 we would be

getting half of our heat from efficient low carbon heat pumps and finally by 2050 even manufacturing would be transformed with more than 90 percent of heavy industry like Machinery production and shipbuilding being considered low emission manufacturing processes are often especially hard to decarbonize so in addition to technological breakthroughs on the materials we use we would likely also rely on Technologies to capture the emissions released rather

than letting them Escape in the atmosphere so say you're 15 years old watching this in 2023 if we stuck to a plan like this then by your 42nd birthday party you'd be living in a very different world imagine it there'd be no more coalfield power plants belching smoke over cities the phrase gas guzzler would also be a thing of the past because there'd be no more

gasoline pumps instead you'd be rocking an electric hot rod Camry or hopping on public transit powered by carbon free electricity and in your home that same electricity would power all your devices from your phone charger to your robot Butler Greetings oh hey John greenbot thanks the incredible thing is this future it's not some sci-fi pipe dream well maybe you are John greenbot we've learned throughout this

series that there are many carbon neutral technologies that exist right now in every sector they just need to be made affordable to take off but to make this Net Zero future a reality we'll also need some serious technological advances for example we already have options for generating carbon neutral electricity wind solar nuclear hydroelectricity and more but to use them to power the whole world we'll need

big improvements in electricity storage and transmission so we can get power whenever we need it and wherever we need it and Technology won't be the only hurdle to overcome there are still a bunch of government policies subsidies and initiatives in effect that are designed to keep fossil fuels cheap they make various carbon-free options artificially expensive by comparison creating something called a green premium but if governments

can thoughtfully reduce and eventually eliminate fossil fuel subsidies they can help make carbon-free energy more affordable and make technologies that emit greenhouse gases look less appealing the money governments are currently spending to make fossil fuels cheap could also be used to make carbon neutral energy cheaper or to research new emissions-free technologies ultimately though when it comes to getting to Net Zero every emission sector and every

area of the world will need a different approach there's no one-size-fits-all strategy meanwhile the stakes keep getting higher so if you're feeling like all of this is overwhelming you're not alone government subsidies emerging Technologies many of the solutions to climate change might seem like they're happening on a level way above your head and the things you can do like Walker cycle make thoughtful purchasing decisions eat

less meat vote all of these are awesome by the way but they can feel discouraging or maybe small it's hard to beat just one person trying to make a difference especially when you consider the impacts of what you can do versus the impacts of major corporations from 1965 to 2017 just 20 companies were responsible for a whopping 35 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions globally so

where do people like you and me fit into that part of the story well companies governments and research centers developing new technologies they all have one thing in common they're made by people supported by people and can be changed by people and in a lot of big ways young people are leading this charge you've probably heard of Greta tunberg a Swedish environmental activist who has led

School strikes and spoken at Global Climate conferences and while she might be the most famous she's far from the only young person to stand up for the climate at 18 years old Rwandan student Joseline irocose noticed piles of electronics thrown away in a local landfill so he invented an app that helps people figure out where they can recycle them locally at 12 years old emrati Canadian

student kakashabasu started a company to get young people involved in local sustainability efforts and today she leads people in planting mangrove trees in Tidal habitats that have suffered deforestation at 16 years old Delaney Reynolds founded a program in Florida to educate youth in her community about the dangers of sea level rise and that's just to name a few examples of young people entrepreneurs Educators and activists

have inspired people of all ages all over the globe to take action against climate change getting involved in climate change doesn't only mean making speeches staging strikes or going to marches whether you're into storytelling or gardening engineering or educating there's something there for all of us because whatever you're into and whatever you're up to climate change intersects with it way back in the first episode of

the series we learned how climate change normally happens over centuries and Millennia throughout Earth's long history it's been a drawn out process driven by things like volcanoes and splitting continents but now driven by burning fossil fuels and greenhouse gases climate change is happening over decades over individual human lifetimes since climate is all about long-term patterns and things like rainfall and temperature climate change can be hard

to point to it's everywhere all around us all the time and once you learn how the climate is changing and what's fueling it you can start to connect the dots see how it intersects with everything in your life climate change is the storm made more powerful by a warmer ocean the wiped out the lettuce crops a made your favorite salad more expensive it's the apartment complex

being built down the street from cement and steel made by burning fossil fuels it's the late season snowfall that knocked out your power the fumes from a diesel-powered tractor and the lack of accessible public transportation in your town on the flip side climate change is also the electric pickup truck your neighbor just bought and the solar panels sparkling on those new apartment roofs and the falling

cost of batteries and activists pitching their governments on policies that make heat pumps more affordable it's people and organizations coming together to try and slow the damage that's already been done to the climate and prevent things from getting worse so Engineers storytellers artists Farmers business owners students you name it we're all a part of the story of Earth's changing climate and once you learn what to

look for you can see how climate change weaves throughout your entire life when you hear stories about people fighting against climate change it can sometimes sound like it's just one person standing up on their own facing down a whole government but almost always change happens because a group of people often from different backgrounds and walks of life team up for something they care about and there's

a lot of people to team up with surveys have shown that the majority of people on Earth are concerned about climate change and are willing to do something about it at the end of the day it human creativity can put a plane in the sky an unthinkable magic trick at the time then human creativity like yours and mine can when joined together see us out of

this mess I like to think of it like this we have 8 billion people on this planet that's eight billion people coming up with eight billion possible solutions forward climate change is everywhere and so too are the ways to solve and stop it this involves talking to community members designing new technologies passing new laws protecting natural spaces and caring for people and Landscapes most affected by

our shifting world and of course there's a lot of learning involved too so hey thanks for being here for this series ultimately reducing emissions by 2050 will take a huge effort on the part of scientists governments corporations and individuals especially individuals banding together other as groups and communities sometimes that effort just looks like talking to each other about climate change helping one another see how it

impacts Our Lives who we are our futures this can be enough to tip the first Domino to start a Cascade of hope that changes this generation the next one and all the ones to come special thanks to Claire Golding this episode's robot Butler technician you programmed him to bring me coffee exactly when I needed it also thanks for supporting us on patreon Crash Course climate and

energy is produced by complexly with support provided by breakthrough energy and Gates Ventures this episode was filmed at castlegarity studio and was made with the help of all of these nice people if you want to help keep crash course free for everyone forever you can join our community on patreon