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Video Information: 10.04.23, TEDx talk, SVC-Delhi
Context:
~ Why our consumptions are destructive ?
~ What are the facts about destructive consumption?
~ What are causing global warming & climate change ?
~ How are food affective global warming & climate change?
~ How are we missing the obvious?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates?
Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work?
Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...
Want to work with Acharya Prashant?
Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...
~~~~~~
Video Information: 10.04.23, TEDx talk, SVC-Delhi
Context:
~ Why our consumptions are destructive ?
~ What are the facts about destructive consumption?
~ What are causing global warming & climate change ?
~ How are food affective global warming & climate change?
~ How are we missing the obvious?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00So, the topic was spinning yarns of epiphany.
00:10What's epiphany?
00:11A sudden realization or revelation of the truth, right?
00:17We say that facts are the door to truth and therefore one has to first talk of the facts
00:26before saying anything about truth or desiring an epiphanic moment.
00:36Are we really in touch with the facts, right?
00:40So we said, let's check that out and we named the presentation as missing the obvious.
00:48Let's see to what extent are we really grounded in the facts.
00:52We will be taking two sets of facts, facts that we are calling as far and wide that relate
01:01to something global, something macro and facts that are more personal, more micro, more related
01:08to our day to day lives, right?
01:10And we will see whether we really are in touch with them.
01:13So let's begin, yes.
01:16First thing, as you look at this slide, you must realize that this is needed to be shown
01:25here because it is not being normally shown elsewhere.
01:31We are talking of CO2 emission as a proxy for mindless consumption.
01:39Where do these emissions come from?
01:43They come from energy consumption when it comes to all countries, heat consumption when
01:50it comes to mostly the first world, cold countries, transport, industrial production and very
02:01very importantly food.
02:04Especially if you are a flesh eater, if you are someone who consumes a lot of so called
02:09non-vegetarian food, animal products, be it flesh or dairy, then you are contributing
02:18a lot to carbon emissions and what have those emissions done?
02:23Look at the stats.
02:25The pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were 280.
02:31Even till 1950, it was 310 ppm.
02:35Currently it stands at around 420 ppm, that's an increase of 50% over the pre-industrial
02:42levels and we know what carbon dioxide does, it traps heat, the familiar greenhouse effect.
02:50Global mean temperature rise as a result of the greenhouse effect has been 1.5, 1.6 degrees
02:59Fahrenheit and it's only increasing and increasing at an increasing rate.
03:06Forget about arresting the temperature rise, it's only accelerating.
03:13The projected temperature rise by 2050 is 1.6 degrees, not Fahrenheit but centigrade
03:21and that's an optimistic estimate, mind you.
03:25The sea level rise is already close to 100 mm and it can go up to 200-300 mm by 2050.
03:36These are not just numbers.
03:39These are warnings of an impending catastrophe and this is not something that we discuss
03:45in our daily lives.
03:46This is not a part of our daily discussions and the national discourse.
03:521.2 billion climate refugees by 2050 and that's not the worst thing to hear of.
03:59The worst thing is that we are probably already in the sixth mass extinction phase and out
04:04of the previous five, at least three were caused by an excessive presence of carbon
04:11dioxide in the atmosphere, the same thing that you are witnessing today.
04:14Do you understand what mass extinction means?
04:17It means that as a generation we have been so stupid that we are obliterating not just
04:23our own but probably all the species on this planet and that's happening within the next
04:28few decades.
04:30That's who we are and that's how oblivious we are to the very obvious present stunning
04:37facts.
04:39How can then there be an epiphany or truth?
04:41Next one please.
04:43Total, that's total.
04:48And we are talking of both Indian and international news channels.
04:50This is the kind of importance that we are giving to the all round destruction that awaits
04:56us.
04:57Next one.
04:59And then when it comes to consumption, we are not just consuming industrial goods, not
05:04just fossil fuels, not heat, not just energy, not just food but also something softer, subtler
05:10which is data.
05:12You look at the kind of GBs that we are consuming.
05:16The kind of GBs that an average mobile user in India is now consuming is close to 20.
05:22The average time that an average teenager is spending on his mobile screen is more than
05:308 hours now.
05:31And a lot of that is just social media trivia.
05:35That's what we are consuming.
05:37And the result is an exponential rise in misinformation, fake news, loss of creativity and even loss
05:46of IQ.
05:47We will come to that later.
05:50Now, we say because the global temperatures are rising and there is the climate catastrophe
05:57awaiting us, let's be do-gooders, let's recycle plastic, let's replace our old style electric
06:08bulbs and let's plant trees.
06:11The thing is planting trees is way too insufficient now, it's not going to help.
06:17You look at the data, you require a landmass much greater than the size of India to be
06:25forested, to be planted with trees if you are to make any substantial impact.
06:30Obviously, that's not going to happen.
06:31So these two trees, four trees that we are thinking of planting are not going to help
06:36because the cause is consumption, the cause is overpopulation.
06:41Who consumes?
06:42The people consume.
06:43And because there are so many of us, that's why the consumption levels are so high, yes.
06:52And when it comes to consumption, see how we deceive ourselves, we say we will plant
06:59trees and that's another aspect of deception, very personal.
07:05We do not have money to study, we do not have money to invest in entrepreneurship,
07:11we do not have money for research and development, but we have all the money for bridal jewellery.
07:16India stands at number two there and see the striking contrast.
07:22Number 150, number 190, what are the ranks in the last three points, 142, 144, 146?
07:29And what's the rank up there, first point?
07:32Number two, education, per capita income, health spending, we are nowhere.
07:41But when it comes to gold, when it comes to weddings, we are right at the top.
07:47That's who we are.
07:49And are we in touch with these facts or we take these things as normal?
07:53If we really are in touch with these facts, we would be astounded, we would be shocked,
07:57we would be stirred into action.
07:59But are we acting?
08:00When we are not even realising, not even paying heed, how will we act?
08:03Next one please, extremes, an example of extremes here.
08:08Can you imagine roaming around in a t-shirt on Antarctica or on the Arctic?
08:16But that's what is happening.
08:17Look at the temperatures and there is no typo there, we have not missed out on a minus sign,
08:24that's 38 degrees, yes, not minus 38 and that's the kind of extreme weather events
08:36that we are already into, we are not forecasting.
08:41Nobody is acting as a doomsday warner or something.
08:4783% increase in extreme weather events.
08:52Remember the Australian forest fires, remember the European heat waves, remember what is
08:57happening in Pakistan and Bangladesh next door, the floods and remember what is happening
09:04in India as well, the frequency of cyclones and 83% increase over just the last one or
09:10two decades, that's where we are.
09:15Flood and other water related, that's just a number, dollar 5.6 trillion by the next
09:20decade or by 2050.
09:23To put things in perspective, that's more than the current GDP of India, we are not
09:28yet even at dollar 4 trillion completely.
09:32But the economic loss comes later, it's the human loss that's the worst tragedy and we
09:39are yet to fathom the magnitude of what we are already into and neck deep into.
09:47But we talk of other truths, we talk of metaphysical realities, we talk of knowing the unknown
09:55and even the unknowable, when we do not know even that which is present right in front
10:00of our eyes, we do not know the obvious facts that stare at us and would destroy our lives
10:05but we want to know of some hidden mystical reality, how will that work?
10:10Extremes, just as we saw extreme weather events, look at the extremes here as well.
10:18We are contrasting the far and wide with the up and close, the near thing and saying that
10:24be it the distant reality or the immediate one, we are equally in oblivion.
10:30Look at these extremes and we are talking of dollar billionaires here, mind you.
10:36India ranks third when it comes to the number of billionaires in the world and 80% of Indians
10:43earn less than rupees 10,000 per month.
10:46If you earn rupees 20,000, 25,000 a month, you are in the top 10 percentile in India,
10:51that's where we stand.
10:52The percentage of population below the poverty line is still 20% and that's when we have
10:57defined the poverty line on bare sustenance terms.
11:01We have taken the minimum number of calories a person needs to survive and then we say
11:06for these calories what is the minimum amount of food grains etc that you need to consume
11:10and based on that we have drawn the poverty line which is a very inhuman way of drawing
11:15the poverty line and still 20% of us are below the poverty line and yet we have a vulgar
11:22accumulation and display of wealth going on.
11:25The inequality is increasing continuously.
11:28You know of the Gini coefficient, right?
11:31And you know of how it has only been increasing in the world and also in India.
11:36Yes, now, killing, violence, there is a violence that is happening on a global scale, on a
11:46macro level and there is a violence that is happening right in our households.
11:50Let's first look at the former one.
11:55Fish gone, number of species that are getting extinct every day, do you know that is more
12:02than 100 times the natural rate.
12:06The natural rate is that one or two species will go extinct every day and that's a natural
12:12thing that has been happening since the last millions of years.
12:16But today we have exceeded that rate by 100 times.
12:21Some studies say 1000 times, even as we speak a few species have gone extinct.
12:28Can you imagine the devastation, the total obliteration of life itself?
12:33That's what we are doing and we remain blissfully ignorant.
12:37We behave as if nothing is amiss.
12:41All the fisheries gone, would we survive?
12:432048, it's as if fisheries are out there somewhere, isolated, disconnected from us.
12:49Would we survive if they are gone, please tell me.
12:54And India, relate the last two points.
12:58Very few people realize that milk and beef are synonymous.
13:04Very few people realize that.
13:06We do not bother to inquire what happens to all the cattle after they stop yielding milk.
13:13As young educated inquisitive minds, should we be that complacent, that ignorant, that
13:21oblivious?
13:22Isn't there a direct relation between our dairy consumption and our beef production
13:28and subsequent export?
13:31But we don't mind.
13:32Next.
13:33Yeah, killing them.
13:36So we are not just killing the cows, the buffalos, the fish, the entire wildlife.
13:42Look at who else is being killed.
13:44189, that's rock bottom.
13:47I wonder if there is any country below us.
13:50920 is the ratio.
13:52Where are those missing 80 girls?
13:57And if you are a killer, why would you spare your own daughter or wife?
14:03That's the worst kind of genocide going on in India.
14:06But we don't bother.
14:07We behave as if we are an educated, enlightened, empowered country, especially when it comes
14:16to empowering the other gender as well.
14:20Think of killing.
14:21Killing happens everywhere because the killer is the same.
14:25The fellow who can kill an innocent animal just for his pleasure and profit, why would
14:33he spare an innocent girl?
14:36She would be killed because he knows there is a cost to bear and then there is a dowry
14:41to gift and all such things.
14:46Education and labor participation rate 25%, worse still, it is falling.
14:52Education levels among women are increasing, their labor participation rate is falling.
14:55Over the last 20 years it has actually fallen.
14:59More women were at workplaces than they are today, two decades back.
15:06The proportion of women working was more than what it is today.
15:11Women are withdrawing from workplaces.
15:1473% of them, even if they continue to work, they leave their jobs after work.
15:19And that's not really an informed and voluntary choice.
15:23It is to do with the social conditions and the cultural conditioning a lot.
15:32We talk of farmer suicides and that's a very tragic thing, right?
15:35The newspapers are all full of farmer suicides and that is something we must address, obviously.
15:41But what about the housewives?
15:43Does anybody bother to inquire what our cultural institutions are doing to the woman to the
15:51point that she is compelled to die by suicide?
15:57And we are missing that.
15:58As young students, when you talk to each other, I am asking you, do you take up these issues?
16:03Do these form a part of your daily conversations?
16:06They hardly do.
16:09Loss of biodiversity and we'll be talking of another kind of loss next, right?
16:16This is a loss far and wide, as is biodiversity.
16:20This is biodiversity loss.
16:21I just addressed that.
16:24The extinction rate has exceeded the natural rate not by percentage points, but by manifold,
16:31but by multiples.
16:35One million animal and plant species threatened with extinction, do you understand?
16:39Threatened with extinction.
16:40They are not just threatened, their numbers are not just reducing, they are going extinct.
16:47We understand what extinction means, they'll never return.
16:50We are not talking of a few members of the species, we are talking of the last member
16:55of the species.
16:57It's gone forever, never to return.
17:00And we are talking of not one such species, we are talking of a million such species.
17:07Look at the third point, let it sink in.
17:12The only mammals that are surviving today are the ones that we use.
17:17All other mammals we have wiped out.
17:21So if you want to survive on this earth, we have colonized, monopolized it to such an
17:25extent that if you want to survive on this earth, you have to be usable to human beings.
17:30If you are not usable, you will be killed.
17:33So goat, cow, buffalo, sheep, camel, only such mammals that are of use to us have been
17:43allowed to not just survive, but multiply.
17:46We forcibly multiply them, that's the reality of the animal farms, we forcefully multiply
17:51them and all other animals, think of the millions of mammal species, we have completely wiped
17:56them out.
17:57That's how we are.
17:59Wild mammals represent only 4% obviously, yes next.
18:03We talked of loss of biodiversity, here is the corresponding loss of creativity.
18:09Have you heard of something called the Flynn effect?
18:12Do you know that each generation is significantly lower on IQ than the preceding one?
18:20And that has been happening since the last 40-50 years, since the advent of television.
18:25And now that has been compounded with the internet.
18:28We are losing IQ at the rate of 3-5 points every decade.
18:34Isn't that astounding?
18:36Look at the other points.
18:40Newspaper reading, magazine reading, declining sharply.
18:45When was the last time you came across a great new poetry book, a great new publication?
18:53Who cares for poets now?
18:55Innovation, creativity, intelligence, empathy, all of these things are being lost just as
19:03we are losing biodiversity.
19:05The loss outside is also the loss inside and we are not seeing that.
19:14Yes.
19:1850%, almost 50%, you add up those numbers, that's 10, 24, 14, that's almost 50%, 50%
19:27people still do not completely believe that global warming is happening and it's anthropogenic.
19:34Which means they won't really participate in any climate activism.
19:41Isn't that superstition of the worst kind?
19:43And that same kind of superstition is reflected in something else.
19:49Look at what is happening on social media these days.
19:54Superstition rules and if you can propagate superstition, you will very soon be a superstar.
20:01Is that not the rule now?
20:04Look at this.
20:05Miracles, yes, they do happen.
20:07And that's not just something that Indians believe in.
20:09Faith healings, no, no, no, the scientific system of medicine won't help you.
20:18Come to all the other kind of mumbo-jumbo and the number of deaths that is causing,
20:23that's going largely unreported.
20:25So a mind that does not care for the truth is what is called a superstitious, right?
20:31We do not care for the truth when it comes to macro events and we also do not care for
20:35the truth when it comes to things in our personal life.
20:40So, small things, you want to proceed for an examination, somebody tells you, well,
20:45you know, you should wear this thread or take some yogurt before you leave.
20:51And that same kind of harmless looking thing is what becomes the climate tragedy and subsequent
20:57extinction as well.
20:59So please don't take those little superstitions lightly.
21:02They are killing us.
21:04Good.