Lost Futures: How greed is destroying our planet | Dying Earth: E1 | Featured Documentary

"We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost-effective" - Kurt Vonnegut.

A while back a super bright young man told the folks at the world economic forum that greed would destroy the planet. They, of course, never invited him back.

Understand it's not the Earth that will be wiped out, it's us.

Money wasn't one of our best ideas. All the other animals on the planet have managed quite well without it.

It's beyond greed,it's outright stupidity and negligence...

I am 71, living in the U.K. My professional background was education and I.T. The main observation I now have, thinking about my life journey, is that government is not our friend. It used to be that governments engaged with voters and policy emerged from those in public service. Government is no longer a public service vocation, but a private profit model. In the U.K an MPs salary in 2024 is a minimum of £84,000. Compare that to the average wage in the U.K, and it's plain to see the massive disconnect. Uncontrolled Capitalism exploits people and all other Earth resources to drive profit for a small number of greedy individuals, who control the levers of power. No turkeys voting for christmas here.

At 60 years old, I've seen greed destroy many friendships.

We're making the planet uninhabitable for ourselves. The planet itself will be just fine long after we're gone

The fundamental measure of success in the world needs to change from profits to wellbeing.

the problem of this world , too many powerful narcissistic people with the simple philosophy: give me that , it is mine !

Lived all my life with father the breadwinner and lived in dignity even having money to hire a help for my mother who was a home maker. Dont recall having homes decorated with artificial things or having our kitchens cluttered with utensils made of factory manufactured. Now I live in Australia and realize I live with clutter. CARS, Electronics, Homes filled with manufactured goods and streets cluttered with signages. The earth is groaning with the rubbish we need to survive. See the garden tools in just one home and multiply that x million, toys like yachts and aircrafts x millions, ginormous homes that are occupied with single divorcee but hospitals packed with sick people like sardines. Life is ruined by manufacturing

This is 100% spot on. The greed of a very few destroying Earth for us all. Earth will survive. The greedy will not.

My mother told my brothers and I about what’s happening today back in 1977. She was no scientist or anything she just was very observant.

Greed is a disease that needs to be addressed

For some, the realization that climate is changing happens when it most likely kills you.

Thank you so much for presenting this video. With this climate catastrophe, I can barely eat or sleep. My heart breaks. I'm not concerned about myself because I'm in my mid-sixties. What plays on my mind are the babies being born all over the world. They will live through the utter devastation that will come more quickly than most people believe. The little kids will live through this. The teenagers and young adults are completely aware that their world is being destroyed. Yet, no one will do what is required to stop this climate emergency. Not enough people have spoken up. Scientists can't speak out. Our world is coming to the end but there is still the greed of the oil companies. All of the major oil company executives were told that climate change would occur if fossil fuels continued to be used. Edward Teller, a physicist who worked with J. Robert Oppenheimer, told them this in 1959. They hid the fact that they knew and they lied. They still lie. Studies have been done that showed that many business leaders are psychopaths. The heads of the oil companies are psychopaths. What they have done is crimes against humanity. Yet, they have no concern for what they have caused. They have no concern for the millions of people who will die because of their actions. They have no conscience. Their selfish greed is all that they care about. That is psychopathy. We actually need to prepare for the worst to come much sooner than 100 years from now or even 50 years from now. It could be anytime. On January 23, 2023, a 1,550 square kilometer iceberg broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The temperatures at the poles are increasing more than in other parts of the earth and they are increasing exponentially. Absolute devastation will come very soon. I know because, although scientists are not allowed to speak out, they do report their findings in peer-reviewed journals. I have studied these journals. At some point soon, the doomsday glacier, the Thwaites Glacier, will break free from the Antarctic. When this happens, millions of gallons of water will come rushing out. This will raise sea levels by 2 feet and will stop the jet stream which will bring about the next ice age. But this glacier isn't the only one. In both the Arctic and the Antarctic, glaciers are melting quickly. When most have melted, sea levels will rise by 100 feet or more. Some scientists have stated that our future Great Flood will be worse than 11,000 years ago. It will be as bad as 200,000 years ago. This will entirely flood many areas of the world. It will devastate the earth because many cities are located on or near coastlines. Meanwhile, people will keep dying from extreme heat, fires and powerful storms. All of this frightens me. Yet, I don't know what I or anyone else can do to stop this. As you reported, politicians receive money from the oil companies. They, too, are committing crimes against humanity because they are aiding and abetting the oil companies. Even though we are supposedly heading toward tipping points, I know that we have already reached the point of no return. We have already exceeded the tipping points. Yet, the psychopathic oil executives still lie. They do pay unscrupulous scientists to report that fossil fuels are not impacting the earth. I am absolutely sick to see such evil being played out. They are no different than psychopathic serial killers. They are just as heinous with the exception that they are murdering many more people than the worst serial killers in history.

Consumption and fuel needs will always exist. The problem we have now is not that we are consuming and using fuel for NEEDS, but we, the world, are consuming and using for DESIRES; endless desires for pleasure and to impress others. We eat, use, and waste so much that we are destroying the earth in that process. Some call it progress; some call it a good life; some call it that's what we're supposed to do. Nope! Instead, we should all live a low foot print and low consumption lifestyle. Don't waste resources and don't keep buying new stuff after stuff! Don't chase money; learn to live below means and learn what is enough.

Excellent journalism - thank you.

I've been telling kids for a while now that my generation had a great party...they're getting the bill. Most of them still ask me what am I on about. I'm no scientist, but my father and uncles fly-fished and pointed out the undeniable effects of agribusiness on our rivers before the planetary warming was even flagged. I've nearly three quarters of a century clocked. The downhill rush seems to be about to hit the off-ramp.

I hope a future episode will focus on our greed for animal products, which requires huge amounts of land, water and fossil fuels to produce and emits vast amounts of GHGs.