This week in development related YouTube videos: economist bashing, an Amnesty International campaign, Robert Redford, a Greenpeace educational and – drumroll – actual MDG people... some of them on real TV.
#5 Climate change YouTube activist comments on the economy
Greg, a “high school science teacher in the process of burning out”, is wonderingmind42 on YouTube. As his alter ego he has starred in a number of extremely successful climate change videos – most notably How It All Ends about the risk analysis matrix for climate change decision taking (which I also wrote a version of for TH!NK2: How to save the world from global warming – an introduction).
This week Greg commented on the “expert” reactions on recent stock market fluctuations.
Dear Wall St. & Washington: "Fat Finger" My A**!
As he himself comments now most likely he'll get attacked by people who believe in some kind of capitalism natural law and are equating that with the status quo of the market. In this light, how clever is it really to make this video? However, the climate and the market has many things in common: they are both complex, chaotic, non-linear systems. There is another good example of economy-climate punditry cross-over: Nassim Nicholas Taleb. A quote:
“My position on the climate is to avoid releasing pollutants in the atmosphere, on the basis of ignorance, regardless of current expert opinion (climate experts, like banking risk managers, have failed us in the past in foreseeing long term damages and I cannot accept certainty in a certain class of nonlinear models). This is an extension of my general idea that one does not need rationalization with the use of complicated models (by fallible experts) to the edict: 'do not disturb a complex system' since we do not know the consequences of our actions owing to complicated causal webs. (Incidentally, these ideas also makes me anti-war). I explicitly explained the need to 'leave the planet the way we got it'.”
- from My Letter Addressing the Guardian's Distortions, my bold added.
I just had the fear that if the alledged progress on reducing poverty is based on borrowed money this new found wealth could quickly evaporate.
#4 Michael Moore pirating ABC News
Michael Moore just posted a short news clip about urban agriculture. Pretty cool!
'Good Food Revolution' - Urban Famer Gets Attention of White House
#3 Celebrities
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) using the celebrity trick to raise awareness for the logical conclusion to the recent “oilpocalypse”.
Robert Redford calls for Clean Energy Now
Also, the World Food Programme had Christina Aguilera lend her voice to Haiti.
#2 NGOs
Greenpeace International uploaded a video about one of the aspects of global warming that could use some more publicity: how CO2 becomes acid when entering the oceans.
Ocean Acidification... in a nutshell
Amnesty International need no introduction, I assume! This week they put a video out about the arms trade and they had an ad rejected by Financial Times. First the video:
Demand a Bullet-Proof Arms Trade Treaty
...second, the ad:
There is a campaign to support as well as a one-year-old video from Amnesty International UK to watch (brilliant):
Welcome to Shell
#1 Actual UN & MDG stuff – really!
Yes, the UN MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN has a YouTube channel. This week they present two clips from “real” TV. But notice the channels...
Millennium Campaign Deputy Director for Policy Discusses April 2009 G-20 Summit
Millennium Campaign Director Speaks about Accountability of Rich Countries to Poor Countries
Of course, the United Nations itself also has a channel. It brought us the “8 goals for Africa” music video already featured at TH!NK3. On a bit more serious note and with way too few views:
UN names Costa Rican as new climate change chief
"I like to think of the [Copenhagen] Accord as a big step for the community of nations but a very small step for the planet."
Global efforts for sustainable development must stay on track, UN panel stresses
Stop Rape Now
All just from this past week.
Putting this collection together was perhaps not as time consuming as one might think. Because I have a YouTube account and I use it to subscribe to interesting channels. So basically, I just went to the youtube.com/my_subscriptions page and clicked a couple of recent videos. I recommend the above mentioned channels of course. Along with the 350.org, greenman3610 channels (both climate change) and the WWF.
Having a YouTube account is as free and easy as most other things on the internet. In fact, you can log in with your Gmail if you got one of those. What are you waiting for? Once you have that you might as well connect your YouTube account to your Facebook and Twitter - so that when you click 'like' on the above videos they are immediately posted on those platforms as well. Get moving, MDG soldier!
Of course, YouTube is full of crap. They say 24 hours of video is uploaded every second. And when I searched for “United Nations” the top hit was a trance music video called, I kid you not, “Out of touch” (1.3 million views). Complete with scantily clad beautiful young women in the process of losing a strip poker game with a cheating young man. That theme would no doubt generate more traffic (some of the official UN videos has two digit views) – but would probably also distort the anti-rape message a bit.
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This is great Benno! Thank you!
I loved the Amnesty ad. FT is supposed to be a solid paper, but hey - it’s for people who have money and who make even more money. But this is kinda self-censorship, don’t you think?
The oceans.. I agree, the acid topic should get much more attention. The importance of oceans seems to be seriously underestimated.
And I think I’m getting a YouTube account…
Censorship, freedom of speech… you can draw the prophet Mohammed but you can’t tell the truth about oil. Go figure…
I like the ad. It says a lot. Truth is - I always like good ads.
It’s quite scary actually that FT takes on the role of censor. Great sum up as always Benno
Just subscribed to Brian Merchant who has made some short videos from the BP oil spill/disaster.
Please comment with your fave YouTube channels!
I just received an email from Financial Times and guess it’d be fair to post their version of the story here too:
“Dear Benno,
Many thanks for your e mail, and I note your concerns. However please understand that the Financial Times was more than willing to run the Amnesty International advertisement on editorial grounds. The FT has run many pieces about gas flaring and pollution in the Niger Delta and elsewhere. And it will continue to do so.
However, the FT sets high standards of accuracy and reliability covering everything we publish – whether our own journalism, contributed articles or advertisements. Furthermore, we will always put our editorial standards above revenues.
In this case we had several questions about Amnesty International’s claims against Shell and were unable to verify their accuracy in time.
Part of the reason was that Amnesty International’s own lawyers appeared not to have seen the advertisement until late on the afternoon of publication. Amnesty’s lawyers were not completely comfortable with the copy because they had not had time to digest the accompanying 100 page report.
Amnesty informed us that they would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement, but the indemnity would have been invalid without the appropriate assurances from Amnesty’s lawyers.
As a result, and in line with the procedures we follow for any advertisement, we decided, with regret, that we could not publish.
I hope this explanation addresses your concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Dominic Good
Commercial Director EMEA
Financial Times”
Fair enough, it’s nice of them to answer your questions. However, are they saying they are checking the accuracy of every single ad they print? It’s not really convincing.