00:00Namaste, Ajay. I'm Samrat. I've been living in New York for 20 years. I switched from
00:09engineering to education about 14 years ago. And I've since been working as an educator
00:14with a special focus on climate education and advocacy. I have an NGO as well that works
00:22on environmental justice issues. My question today pertains to the situation that is a
00:28nightmare for all the environmentalists here in the US. Donald Trump is once again, president
00:33of the most powerful nation of the world. He represents an existential threat to pluralistic
00:39democracies. But additionally, I feel that his administration is a unique and unprecedented
00:45danger to our global climate goals. He's for the second time in history, withdrawn the
00:50US from the Paris Climate Accords. And also in just a few days, the first few days of
00:55his presidency, he has signed a series of executive orders, clearly meant to undo years
01:00of hard won progress in the US on climate issues. Now, I have a lot of thoughts on this
01:05as an environmentalist. But I'm very keen to hear your insight into this situation.
01:11How do you see this issue from the global perspective, especially from the vantage point
01:16of climate vulnerable nations like India?
01:23You see, that's the ego at play. It does not consider anyone or anything bigger than its
01:35own petty interests. America first. We have gold under our feet. Let's dig it out. Let's
01:48burn it. Let's export it. Let's make America great again. Why must we bother about the
01:56vulnerable state of countries like India? Why? Give me a reason. There is no reason.
02:04I stand for white supremacy. I stand for the global leadership of the American nation.
02:20Have I been elected to take care of the entire world? No. I'm for this limited number of
02:31people and I have to take care of their desires in the limited way that they express themselves.
02:45Have I been elected to educate them? No. I have not even been elected. I have been appointed
02:54to do what they feel doing like. I stand behind them actually, following their trail.
03:09They lead the way. That's it. Simple. Nothing more than that. Think of the person. We don't
03:22have that in the US, but we still have those things in India. The DG sets, the diesel generator
03:28sets using vintage technology, eight decades old. That pat pat, the ubiquitous sound in
03:41Indian weddings. You don't find them in the metros anymore, but you go to smaller towns
03:53or villages where power cuts are more frequent and public awareness is much lower. And this
04:05fellow is emitting as much smoke and carbon as he possibly can. And how does it matter
04:14to him that what he is emitting is something that others are going to breathe? Why must
04:26it matter to Trump that Americans constitute only 4% of the global population, but are
04:31responsible for 25% of the excess CO2 we have in the atmosphere? Why must it matter
04:40to me? You see, my DG set is supplying electricity to my own house. And my own house is all that
04:51I am concerned about. My field of concern does not exist beyond my limited acquaintances.
05:04That's happening everywhere. It's about the ego. It's about the fundamental human tendency
05:12to be animalistic. Just that this tendency can be challenged and overcome and ideally
05:21only those who challenge and overcome this animalistic tendency should be occupying the
05:29spots of power in the world. We have people of all kinds. Not all deserve to be at the
05:39driver's seat, especially not at positions where they have tremendous resources and power
05:49and capacity to destroy the world. The average American already emits 14 plus tons of carbon
06:03dioxide annually. Think of the average Indian. One by seven of that. Less than that. Less
06:12than one by seven. Even the global average is around four tons. And the global average
06:19includes America and Europe and Japan and the other members of the global north. And
06:30still the average is no more than four point something metric tons per annum. Why must
06:41that be a concern to me? If it is cold, I want to burn gas and oil. And China has been
06:52such a headache. I'm running trade deficits, huge trade deficits. So why should I not export
07:02gas and get some surplus? Myopic thought, self-centered behavior that you find in every
07:16household. That's what is being played out at a much grander scale. That's all. National
07:29energy emergency. We'll dig Alaska out. And the Arctic is not to be left untouched. Stop the
07:47subsidies given to green renewable energies like wind. Withdraw the subsidies. Don't incentivize
07:59EVs. Rather promote diesel and petrol vehicles. Because we have enough of those things. And as
08:10you said, withdraw first thing. Just as you assume the presidency, withdraw from all possible climate
08:17agreements. Not that you are anyway doing a great job as a nation in terms of meeting your climate
08:29obligations. Suspend the 360 billion dollars that the previous administration had committed to green
08:39energy and meeting the Paris goals. Not that we are anyway meeting the Paris goals. That's right.
08:48Even that wasn't sufficient. It wouldn't have met our goals. In some sense, it is ironical
08:58that probably the withdrawal of the US isn't going to make much of a difference. Because the
09:06national deliverables that we had, even if we met them fully, that would have amounted to only
09:15around a 2.6% reduction compared to the 2010 levels. Whereas, what the agreement stipulates
09:22is a 44% reduction. And if you don't have a 44% reduction and net zero by 2050, then you cannot
09:32stay within the 1.5 degree centigrade limit. And the 1.5 degrees numbers is not something popping
09:42up from nowhere. Beyond 1.5 degrees, we know that uncontrollable feedback cycles get activated.
09:52And then there is no limit to temperature rise. Once those cycles get activated, then you may
10:02even come to a net zero situation and yet find the temperature continuously rising. Because a
10:09vicious cycle is now in action and that does not depend on human activity anymore. So far, we say
10:18the whole thing is anthropogenic. We say we did it and so we can undo it. The threat is that the
10:26matter is slipping out of our hands now. Yes, we did it. We initiated it. But the monster is assuming
10:32a life of its own now. And that life begins at 1.5 degrees. But you see, at the cost of being nasty,
10:46let me say when you are nearing 80, you anyway don't have much of a future to look at. And when
10:56you know it's your second term, you know there is no third term possible as per the US Constitution.
11:02So you can do a lot of stupid and very dangerous things and be never accountable for that. You
11:10won't be around to pay the price. I just hope that other nations don't reciprocate in kind. I just
11:26hope that just as the previous withdrawal was reskinded, the same thing would happen even after
11:38four years. Though that would obviously be too late. In the US, there is a response like we
11:46created the US Climate Alliance, which was a bipartisan alliance of states and governors who
11:51wanted to meet the Paris climate goals. So I think it's funny because more than half of Americans
11:58actually want real climate action. And yet more than half will vote for someone who will not give
12:03us climate action. It's a bizarre situation. I don't know the name of the gentleman who,
12:10in the course of the campaign, equipped that, you know, anyway we are not going to pay much
12:20of a price for the climate results that unfold. White would turn green and that would give us
12:33more pleasant weather and more land to cultivate and build upon. It's countries like India that
12:40are going to really pay the price. Another matter that Trump has a large fan base even in India.
12:47Right. That's very bizarre, right? His closeness to the Indian government and the fan base. I heard
12:55that somebody built a temple in India or something for Trump or they were worshipping him at a
13:00temple. Very likely, very likely. I don't know of that, but likely. You see, and the ones who are
13:08admiring him in all possible ways. The irony is that these would be the ones most severely affected
13:17by the climate tragedies coming upon us. We have a population, 60-65% of us as Indians are still
13:28dependent on agriculture in some way. US, the number is 2%. You include all agro-related industries,
13:385%. India, it is 65%. And our irrigation is all natural. We depend on the monsoons and the
13:52monsoons depend on a very delicate balance of temperature between the sea and the land. If the
14:00right pressure differential is not there, you will either have excessive rain or no rain at all.
14:08Similarly, our rivers, they are not rain-fed. Our rivers are glacial and the glaciers are all
14:18shrinking. Initially, we will have situations where the rivers would be flooded and the adjoining
14:29plains would suffer and as the glaciers withdraw, we would be losing our rivers. We would be losing
14:39the rain, at least the rain patterns and we would be losing the perennial supply of water in the
14:46form of our rivers, the Himalayan rivers. And yet we are not waking up. When it comes to the
14:57absolute numbers that are going to be affected, India is going to be the number one sufferer in
15:03the world. And yet there is so much apathy, just indifference. You talk to 10 people here about
15:13climate change and two or three of them would say, you know, it does not matter to us. One of
15:18the special ones might even say it's a hoax. That's right. I find the same apathy in American
15:28Indians here. In the environmental movement, most of the people that I work with are not Indians
15:34and it's very bizarre to me because as Indians, we should really be working on this. Yes, yes, yes.
15:40The Indian subcontinent, if one goes through the reports and one does not really need to be
15:48trained in science to understand those reports, the whole thing is pretty obvious. The Indian
15:53subcontinent is going to be the worst sufferer. One of the reasons is its unique geography. Then
16:01there is poverty and then there is the population load. These three things combine and under the
16:08impact of the climate crisis, we'll have a huge humanitarian disaster unfolding in front of us.
16:15Mass migrations are possible. Mass migrations. That's right. One can only work harder to
16:25disseminate information and raise awareness and that's what we are doing and will continue to do.
16:31And thank you. It's in dark times like this, I think it's your teachings that give me
16:38the strength to continue doing the work that I'm doing. I'm glad, I'm glad. Thank you.
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