How to Save Our Frozen Worlds

saving the polar regions isn't a question of what can we do it's can we do it in time what we do in the next ten years will determine the next thousand no generation before us has ever been faced with the challenge on such a planetary scale or such an immense opportunity for this is much bigger than ensuring polar bears and walrus have a place on our planet this is about creating the world we ourselves want to live in we are of course talking about climate change caused by the greenhouse gases we've released into our atmosphere two-thirds of these are caused by the burning of fossil fuels in homes power stations by industry and in vehicles so that means a planet-sized solution is already within reach and it boils down to two words clean energy [Music] the energy transition we need is already underway the cost of solar power has fallen more than 70 percent in seven years the cost of producing energy from some renewable sources is already undercutting fossil fuels in the u.s. employment in solar energy is growing at nine times faster than the rest of the economy while for every dollar the u.s. invests into clean energy China invests - by 2040 more than half of new cars sold will be electric there is no question in the future everything we do will be powered by clean renewable energy but the question remains can we get there fast enough to keep turbo warming within safe limits we need to reduce our carbon emissions by half every decade for coal that's the equivalent of closing to power plants every week for the next 20 years if that sounds impossible consider the power of exponential change to replace fossil fuels with renewables if we start with a small change but double it every few years it soon becomes enormous in practice it means every time we reach a clean-energy target we need to double our ambition if our governments and businesses accelerate this transition to clean energy with every decision they make and if we all choose clean energy whenever we have that opportunity we could pull off one of the most remarkable human feats of all time that's not all we can do keeping global temperature within safe limits also requires that we capture the carbon we've been releasing into the atmosphere it's another immense task but in nature we have a powerful ally if we stop cutting forests and allow cleared land to recover the growing plants will actually draw carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it back up in themselves and the soil allowing other habitats to recover contributes to from wildflower meadows to seagrass beds mangroves to marshlands all can lock away carbon and help us achieve our goal [Music] rewilding our planet is no longer just a nice thing to do it's essential if we are to reduce the carbon in the atmosphere and stabilize our climate this is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced but when we all pull together achieving the almost impossible is what we humans do best and the rewards go far beyond stopping the polar ice from melting [Music] renewables will drive down the cost of electricity create millions of jobs and stimulate our economies electric vehicles will transform the way we travel and make our streets safer and quieter and we will eliminate air pollution currently the greatest environmental threat to human health so we will even live longer [Music] imagine stepping out onto the street and breathing deeply clean fresh air and of course we'll have secured the future for walrus and polar bears to [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: WWF International

Views: 82,337

Keywords: wwf, conservation, environment, sustainability, our, planet, netflix, original, documentary, nature, wildlife, david, attenborough, op, streaming, now, forests, jungles, coastal seas, high seas, oceans, freshwater, fresh water, frozen, frozen worlds, our planet, polar bears, polar, walrus, ice, arctic, antarctic, penguin, climate, climate change, renewables, energy

Id: 0QUy5-eg-dU

Length: 6min 17sec (377 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2019