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How will we tackle such extremeties? || Acharya Prashant, TedX (2023)
Prakrati
400 views
1 year ago
Climate Change
Biodiversity Loss
Extinction
Economic Inequality
Superstition
Flynn Effect
Female Labor Participation
Global Warming
Description

Acharya Prashant highlights the severe environmental and social crises currently facing the world, emphasizing that extreme weather events, such as record-breaking temperatures in the Arctic and massive floods, are already occurring. He points out an 83% increase in extreme weather events over the last two decades and warns of the immense human and economic losses that follow. He criticizes the tendency to seek hidden mystical realities while remaining ignorant of the obvious facts and physical truths that threaten human existence. He notes that while India ranks third in the number of billionaires, 80% of its population earns less than 10,000 rupees per month, and the poverty line is defined inhumanely based on bare caloric sustenance. The speaker further discusses the massive scale of violence against nature, noting that species extinction is occurring at 100 to 1,000 times the natural rate. He connects dairy consumption directly to beef production and the killing of cattle, urging young minds to stop being oblivious to these links. He also addresses gender-based violence and the declining female labor participation rate in India, questioning why cultural institutions drive many women to suicide. He explains that humans have monopolized the earth to the extent that only mammals useful to humans are allowed to survive and multiply, while millions of others are wiped out. Finally, Acharya Prashant links the loss of biodiversity to a decline in human creativity and intelligence, citing the Flynn effect and the drop in IQ scores since the advent of television and the internet. He warns that empathy, innovation, and intelligence are being lost alongside the natural world. He concludes by condemning the prevalence of superstitions and the denial of anthropogenic global warming, stating that a mind that does not care for the truth in small personal matters is the same mind that allows for global tragedies and extinction.