- Hey Shaheen, is it wrong to be an American?
- I don't know Ari?
(singing)
(excited music)
- There's potentially many reasons
why it's wrong to be an American,
but today we're going to be looking into
why it may be environmentally wrong.
- Well if it's wrong to be an American,
I never want a be you.
- Really that's it, that's your stance?
- You know, freedom.
I grew up in Iran and I moved here when I was 15.
And I got to invent myself
however I wanted to.
The fact that you have the ability to sit here right now
and even ask the question, is it wrong to be an American,
and to know that it's going to go online
and to not worry that you're going to be in prison for that,
is a huge deal and something to not be taken for granted.
- That's true.
I'm pretty bummed to be an American.
I feel like we're the Lindsay Lohan of the world.
We're a train wreck and
everyone's just excited to see us fail.
- That's rude. That's a rude thing to say about
us and Lindsay Lohan.
- Growing up in California, I am what they would call
a liberal elite in the coastal cities.
I'm bummed about our horrible track record
of imperialism, slavery, genocide.
I've compiled a list of facts,
of why it may be wrong to be an American.
(exciting music)
Despite the fact that the U.S. only makes up about 4%
of the world's population,
we make up about 17% of the world's
primary energy consumption.
Petroleum, which is made from crude oil,
is the U.S.'s largest energy source.
Additionally, we are the world's largest user
of petroleum with 20.2% consumption.
The nations that are polluting the most
are bearing the least of the burden.
Less developed countries,
they're the ones that are suffering
the brunt climate change, and they're the least responsible.
So it's very unjust.
(exciting music)
In the U S we produce about 4.9 pounds of trash
per person, every day.
We are the lead producers of trash in the world per capita.
While China makes the most trash,
their population is much larger than ours.
People living in the U.S.
produce three times as much trash as people in China.
We're number one, and in all the ways.
- That's good.
- No, it's not.
- Yeah, but if you stop the sentence
at just the part where you said number one.
- Number one, yeah, you're right.
- And maybe just don't say the rest of it,
think we could get Musk to like
start to shooting our trash into space?
(laughter)
I frankly don't care if there's a lot of trash in space,
do you?
- I guess not.
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The U.S. has a population of around 330 million people,
and we make up roughly 4% of the total world population,
but we use a lot more than 4% of the world's resources.
If the world's population
had the same environmental consumption patterns
as the average American lifestyle,
we would need five earths to sustain ourselves.
- That's nuts.
And you expect that when we leave here and go outside,
we're going to open the door to this like
ridiculous world where people are going around,
just shooting guns and throwing trash out of the windows
and things are on fire,
but it's really nice and lovely out there right now.
You know what I mean? For the most part,
where is this carnage, why don't we see it?
- The true cost is hidden.
There's an environmental cost
to all of these choices we're making.
and a human rights cost,
But as an American consumer,
that's hidden from us.
And we're not thinking about that.
And we don't discover that,
unless we actually dig deep and ask those questions.
- Now, the question is,
are we more for the 'wean ourselves off of this lifestyle',
Or are we the kind of people that are like, you know what,
'I'm going to just keep snorting America until I run out
and then I'll crash and burn'?
- I don't think anyone wants to give up
any modicum of comfort or privilege.
I think that's against the American way.
- Yeah. And I know what modicum means.
(laughter)
(exciting music)
- Despite the fact that Americans fall behind
the rest of the world in terms of sustainable behavior,
we are less likely to feel green guilt
when it comes to our impact on the environment.
But we are the most confident
that individual action can help.
We're the worst for the environment,
and we feel the least guilty about it.
Granted, these are figures from 2012,
but I think there is a kernel of truth there.
- Well, the American lifestyle also doesn't give us enough
downtime to actually be able to process and feel any guilt.
Unless we are actively thinking about this everyday,
we will get sucked up in life.
And we will have these moments
where we have to make choices that actively
kind of support this America
that we're talking against right now.
- Yeah.
We're all just people and bodies trying to do our best.
(exciting music)
Although China emits the most carbon dioxide currently,
the U.S. has emitted more carbon
than any other nation throughout history.
- Well that's terrible,
- We are the reason for climate change.
- We're like the big bad guy.
- Or the Lindsay Lohan of the world.
- What is this against Lindsay Lohan?
Like what do you have against Lindsay?
- No I don't, I like her.
I'm just saying like, kind of a train wreck,
just like us.
- I don't think she'd appreciate you saying this about her.
- I'm sorry Lindsay.
(exciting music)
Okay. So is it wrong to be an American?
- Clearly this American way of life
is a self-defeating way of life
that will eventually lead to its own extinction.
- It's just unsustainable.
- It's wrong to be the kind of American that finds this out
and kind of goes right back into the matrix.
We all need to take the red pill.
- We're sort of,
villainizing the average American consumer
but I think who really needs to take responsibility
is corporations and governments.
As an American, I want to
push politicians and corporations to
actually take action on the climate crisis.
- Obviously the average American can't just get up
and be like, you know what?
I'm going to change what it's like to be an American,
but you can work towards that
and you can find other people
and you can group up and not be persecuted for that.
There's a reason why so much of the world's artistic trends
and fashion trends and culture,
is born here because somewhere in between
the freedom of expression we have here,
and the friction of American life,
is the perfect sauce for a lot of
incredible creativity to happen.
And it's easy to see the bad stuff,
but it's also really easy to forget
all the amazing things that have happened here
and are still happening here.
- So, I do think it's wrong to be an American,
but I wouldn't stop there.
I would say that it's wrong to be in any developed nation
who built its economy on fossil fuels.
- Okay.
- It's not just us.
We are maybe the extreme example of something
that is happening in all developed nations.
We are consuming at a greater rate
than the earth can sustain us.
Continued economic growth forever is not realistic
because we have a finite amount of resources on this planet.
So I think we need to redefine success,
as not just profit, but also taking into account
human wellbeing and environmental wellbeing.
- I feel like we're like little ants,
talking about being ants,
and then we're like, hopefully.
- Yeah!
- Just so you know, I never think about Lindsay Lohan.
- Yeah.
- Just like I don't think about
the train wreck United States is.
So maybe I should be thinking more about
both of those things.
- Yeah you're right.
- Yeah.
(exciting music)