00:00I'm Samrad. I've been living in New York for 20 years. I switched from engineering to education
00:10about 14 years ago. And I've since been working as an educator with a special focus on climate
00:17education and advocacy. I have an NGO as well that works on environmental justice issues.
00:24My question today pertains to the situation that is a nightmare for all the environmentalists
00:29here in the US. Donald Trump is once again president of the most powerful nation of the world.
00:36He represents an existential threat to pluralistic democracies. But additionally, I feel that his
00:42administration is a unique and unprecedented danger to our global climate goals. He's for the second
00:49time in history withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Accords. And also in just a few days,
00:54the first few days of his presidency, he has signed a series of executive orders clearly meant to
00:59undo years of hard-won progress in the US on climate issues. Now I have a lot of thoughts
01:05on this as an environmentalist. But I'm very keen to hear your insight into the situation.
01:10How do you see this issue from the global perspective, especially from the vantage point
01:15of climate-wonderful nations like India? You see, that's the ego at play.
01:29It does not consider anyone or anything bigger than its own petty interests.
01:37America first. We have gold under our feet. Let's dig it out. Let's burn it. Let's export it. Let's make America
01:51great again. Why must we bother about the vulnerable state of countries like India? Why? Give me a reason.
02:01There is no reason. There is no reason. I stand for white supremacy. I stand for the global leadership
02:15of the American nation. Have I been elected to take care of the entire world? No.
02:24I am for this limited number of people and I have to take care of their desires in the limited way
02:39that they express themselves. Have I been elected to educate them? No.
02:47I have not even been elected. I have been appointed to do what they feel doing like.
03:03I stand behind them actually, following their trail. They lead the way.
03:10That's it. Simple. Nothing more than that. Think of the person. We don't have that in the US, but we still have those things in India.
03:26The DG sets, the diesel generator sets, using vintage technology, eight decades old.
03:34That put put put. The ubiquitous sound in Indian weddings.
03:41You don't find them in the metros anymore, but you go to smaller towns or villages where power cuts are more frequent and public awareness is much lower.
03:50And this fellow is emitting as much smoke and carbon as he possibly can and how does it matter to him that what he is emitting is something that he is emitting as much smoke and carbon as he possibly can.
04:13Why must it matter to Trump that Americans constitute only 4% of the global population but are responsible for 25% of the excess CO2 we have in the atmosphere?
04:38Why must it matter to me? You see, my DG set is supplying electricity to my own house.
04:45And my own house is all that I am concerned about. My field of concern does not exist beyond my limited acquaintances.
05:01That's happening everywhere. It's about the ego. It's about the fundamental human tendency to be animalistic.
05:13Just that this tendency can be challenged and overcome. And ideally, only those who challenge and overcome this animalistic tendency should be occupying the spots of power in the world.
05:30We have people of all kinds. Not all deserve to be at the driver's seat. Especially not at positions where they have tremendous resources and power and capacity to destroy the world.
05:55The average American already emits 14 plus tons of carbon dioxide annually. Think of the average Indian. 1 by 7 of that. Less than that. Less than 1 by 7.
06:13Even the global average is around 4 tons. And the global average includes America and Europe and Japan and other members of the global north.
06:28And still the average is no more than 4 point something tons metric tons per annum. Why must that be a concern to me? If it is cold, I want to burn gas and oil.
06:48And China has been such a headache. I am running trade deficits. Huge trade deficits. So why should I not export gas and get some surplus?
07:06Myopic thought. Myopic thought. Self-centered behavior. That you find in every household. That's what is being played out. On a much grander scale. That's all.
07:26National energy emergency.
07:30National energy emergency. Wow.
07:32We'll dig Alaska out.
07:35In the Arctic.
07:39Is not to be left untouched.
07:44Don't touch.
07:45Stop the subsidies given.
07:47Green, renewable energies like wind.
07:55Withdraw the subsidies.
07:58Don't incentivize EVs.
07:59Rather promote diesel and patrol vehicles.
08:03Because we have enough of those thing.
08:06We can...
08:08And as you said, withdraw first thing.
08:13Just as you assume the presidency, withdraw from all possible climate agreements.
08:22Not that you were anyway doing a great job as a nation in terms of meeting your climate
08:29obligations.
08:30That's right.
08:32Suspend the 360 billion dollars that the previous administration had committed to green energy
08:41and meeting the Paris goals.
08:44Not that we are anyway meeting the Paris goals.
08:47That's right.
08:48Even that wasn't sufficient.
08:49It wouldn't have met our goals.
08:53In some sense, it is ironical that probably the withdrawal of the US isn't going
09:02to make much of a difference.
09:05Because the national deliverables that we had, even if we met them fully, that would have
09:14amounted to only around a 2.6% reduction compared to the 2010 levels.
09:20Whereas what the agreement stipulates is a 44% reduction.
09:25And if you don't have a 44% reduction and net zero by 2050, then you cannot stay within
09:33the 1.5 degrees centigrade limit.
09:38And the 1.5 degrees numbers is not something popping up from nowhere.
09:44Beyond 1.5 degrees, we know that uncontrollable feedback cycles get activated.
09:52And then there is no limit to temperature rise.
09:58Once those cycles get activated, then you may even come to a net zero situation and yet
10:05find the temperature continuously rising.
10:09Because a vicious cycle is now in action.
10:12And that does not depend on human activity anymore.
10:17So far, we say the whole thing is anthropogenic.
10:21We say we did it and so we can undo it.
10:25The threat is that the matter is slipping out of our hands now.
10:29Yes, we did it, we initiated it, but the monster is assuming a life of its own now.
10:36And that life begins at 1.5 degrees.
10:42But you see, at the cost of being nasty, let me say when you are nearing 80, you anyway don't
10:50have to, you don't have much of a future to look at.
10:54And when you know it's your second term, you know there is no third term possible as per
11:01the US Constitution.
11:04So you can do a lot of stupid and very dangerous things and be never accountable for that.
11:10You won't be around to pay the price.
11:17I just hope that other nations don't reciprocate in kind.
11:26I just hope that just as the previous withdrawal was rescinded, the same thing would happen
11:37even after, let's say, four years, though that would obviously be too late.
11:42I mean, in the US, there is a response, like we created the US Climate Alliance, which was
11:48a bipartisan alliance of states and governors who wanted to meet the Paris climate goals.
11:54So I think more, like, it's funny because more than half of Americans actually want real
11:59climate action.
12:01And yet more than half will vote for someone who will not give us climate action.
12:06It's a bizarre situation.
12:07I don't know the name of the gentleman who, in the course of the campaign, equipped that,
12:17you know, anyway we are not going to pay much of a price for the climate results that unfold.
12:29White would turn green and that would give us more pleasant weather and more land to cultivate
12:36and build upon.
12:37It's countries like India that are going to really pay the price.
12:43Another matter that Trump has a large fan base even in India.
12:47Right.
12:48That's very bizarre, right?
12:50His closeness to the Indian government and the fan base that I heard that somebody built
12:56a temple in India or something for Trump or they were worshiping him at a temple.
13:00Very likely.
13:01Very likely.
13:02Very likely.
13:03Very likely.
13:04I don't know of that, but likely.
13:05You see, and the ones who are admiring him in all possible ways, the irony is that these
13:13would be the ones most severely affected by the climate tragedies coming upon us.
13:22We have a population, 60-65% of us as Indians are still dependent on agriculture in some way.
13:33US the number is 2%.
13:36You include all agro related industries 5%.
13:40India it is 65% and our irrigation is all natural.
13:49We depend on the monsoons and the monsoons depend on a very delicate balance of temperature
13:56between the sea and the land.
14:00If the right pressure differential is not there, you will either have excessive rain or no rain
14:05at all.
14:08Similarly, our rivers, they are not rain fed.
14:14Our rivers are glacial and the glaciers are all shrinking.
14:21Initially, we will have situations where the rivers would be flooded and the adjoining plains
14:30would suffer and as the glaciers withdraw, we would be losing our rivers.
14:37We would be losing the rain, at least the rain patterns and we would be losing the perennial
14:44supply of water in the form of our rivers, the Himalayan rivers.
14:50And yet, we are not waking up.
14:57When it comes to the absolute numbers that are going to be affected, India is going to
15:01be the number one sufferer in the world.
15:05That's right.
15:06And yet, there is so much apathy, just indifference.
15:11You talk to 10 people here about climate change and two or three of them would say, you know,
15:16it does not matter to us.
15:18One of the special ones might even say it's a hoax.
15:22That's right.
15:23Yeah.
15:24And I find the same apathy in American Indians here.
15:29Like, 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.
15:39Yes, yes, yes, yes.
15:41The Indian subcontinent, if one goes through the reports, and one does not really need to
15:48be trained in science to understand those reports.
15:51The whole thing is pretty obvious.
15:52The Indian subcontinent is going to be the worst sufferer.
15:56One of the reasons is its unique geography, then there is poverty, and then there is the
16:03population load.
16:04These three things combine and under the impact of the climate crisis, we'll have a huge humanitarian
16:13disaster unfolding in front of us.
16:15Mass migrations are possible, mass migrations.
16:18That's right.
16:22One can only work harder to disseminate information and raise awareness.
16:28And that's what we are doing and we'll continue to do.
16:33And thank you.
16:34And that's like, it's in dark times like this.
16:36I think it's your teachings that give me the strength to continue doing the work that
16:40I'm doing.
16:41I'm glad.
16:42I'm glad.
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