It isn't progressive really, hydroelectricity is cheaper than fossil fuel energy and has been cheaper for the last century. Lots of states, especially small ones like Costa Rica have clean energy simply because of lucky geography.
This has to be one of the most inspiring TED Talks I have seen in a while | thank you Monica Araya, you are a great storyteller and a source of strength and imagination on this long journey toward s greener planet. Proud to be a fellow Latin American as well; gracias | LCA
Please do. We have Ad Astra Rocket here, the company who is working at the VASIMIR engine for space travels and to develop hydrogen production to remove normal vehicles. Just remember we're still a underdeveloped country, just so that you don't have too high expectations..
@@jeremyzapata8623 hello. Right now I am in my last year of my bachelor. I did do an internship in Costa Rica tho. I was there for 6 months. I enjoyed my internship as well as the country.
@@sportbikeguy9875 the thing that that surprises me is that the CIA never installed a dicatorship in this country under threat of "communism" as they did to most of Latin America
Such an interesting, important, and inspiring account in the context of sustainable development paradigm! Lots of applause to Costa Rica, especially its great hearts and hands that contributed in the materialization of the innovative approach!
I live in North America Quebec Canada.. in Quebec it is illegal to make electricity from falling water. even if it is falling off of my own roof.. it is called a monopoly.. electric street cars were ripped up and replaced with diesel buses. the commuter trains run on diesel. even though Quebec has one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world.... LG2.. that Powers up.. the Eastern Seaboard of North America.. but I cannot power up one LCD off of the falling water from my roof
as a 20 year old costarican tired of all the problems fossil fuels causes, Monica just show in a inspired way, that their is a solution and we the young people are responsable of this change. thanks.
She really should've added the relationship between fossil fuels and the military machine. It is because of oil that the modern, mechanized army exists. And it is also because of oil and natural gas that the US military machine is sprawled across Asia and Africa, killing hundreds of thousands over this finite source of energy. If we solve our energy problem, we are actually solving not only the climate change problem but also the problem of warfare, to a large extent. Human beings fight wars only for resources, and anyone who thinks fossil fuels are not a resource worth waging war over simply doesn't live in reality!
Really inspiring! countries and their people should come out once from comparing profit margins of environment friendly energy sources with the conventional ones and should establish clean energy power sources wherever possible.
The Design of cities creates the transportation needs. If the cities are designed so that people can easily travel either by public trasport or bikes or walking then that's the ideal. Else the existing cities have to be significantly modified which is enormous task.
Me encantó este TED Talk, muy buen trabajo. Apenas para discutirlo con mis estudiantes de inglés para que ellos también se unan al cambio generando sus propias ideas para una Costa Rica Limpia
For a second I thought the title was "How to get rid of a small country with fossil fuels." Either my brain is messed up or I'm secretly Saddam Hussein.
very inspiring talk. I hope every country can do the same because this idea means peace is kept between countries, and the world will heal from its cancerous pollution
it is not easy to abolish fossil fuels as long as money can buy us joy and comfort. but yes, I'm all in with you and I really do move with the flow that this fossil fuels consumption gets reduced to the minimum before it's too late. Let's all join our hands together for a better tomorrow. Live wise and innovative
they would loose money, if you insist on buying energy these are better solution: nuclear energy, hydro energy or buying oil are the only truly good and profitable solutions.
Is there only people outside on USA who understand how much the americans are going to war in order to control supply of energy and other crucial supply everywhere in the world ? Is there people in USA who actually understand that bringing the democracy to the world, means in reality going out there to control other countries ? I hope the people in the USA will wake up soon and understand how much they are part of destroying our planet, unfortunately it will probably be too late.
Burning biomass is not that "clean" or renewable, especially if artificial fertilizer (made from natural gas) was used in the growing process. Far better to compost it and return it to the land. Hopefully CR will move toward 100% organic and regenerative agriculture while they are moving to 100% electric transportation.
Put Military spending into Social Spending?, if only the rest of the world did this, we could developed a very advanced civilization without the to fight anyone.. She wants a better public transportation system?, then come here to The Netherlands and see how we do it.. We have probably the most advanced public transportation and road system ever developed.
People talk about emmissions but they do not talk about heat released to the environment. Huge heat is put into atmosphere by various machines. That heat can be harnessed and put to use for domestic and commercial use.
This is good for Costa Rica, but it isn't necessarily reproducible. It was able to abolish its armed forces, but that wouldn't work even for a relatively safe middle power (like Canada), and definitely not a larger states (like U.S. or Germany). There are other factors (Costa Rica's high renewable energy potential vs low consumption) gives it an advantage. That being said, a lot of what she's saying is relevant to a lot of countries, and her sentiments are solid.
6 років тому+1
Yes, low consumption was an advantage, but as the country develops, the consumption increases, every year, the clean energy goes from 100% to 99% and 98%, thats why we keep building new energy plants, the next one "el diquis" will give us 122% clean energy, and that extra 22% will last us for about 10 years. Costa rica was just exampling hydroelectricty, of course, other countries need to look for other ways, just like iceland uses geothermal instead of hydro.
Canada could abolish it's army, it's not like they stand a chance against the US anyways. In fact, abolishing the army would make it less likely the US ever invades Canada.
Good rhetoric is admirable, however, it is not everything. Also independent background information is essential. Within 3 hours, I can explain Monica Araya, what to do next, to reach Costa Rica`s sustainable targets for a really clean mobility. And also for a much better electricity infrastructure.
This is a good model for public speaking. She has a very clear structure and message, with sufficient use of slides and vocal variety. I think the only thing she can improve is her hand gesture. The way she puts her hand strikes me as a bit rigid. But overall, it is a good talk!
Monica, when all that you are advocating for is successful let us know. We have "developing" cities and towns all across the USA that struggle to implement what Monica's agena is even though they even have the richest cites in the world just down the road. I am sure those towns and cities would like to know the secret when you figure it out.
That would be a perfect solution for Cuba. They burn so much oil to produce electricity. Such a beautiful island with such a huge potential. It was sad to see power plants with huge clouds of black smoke going to the sky.
The problem with the talk is the fact that the speaker keeps repeating the same thing over and over again without developing idea. The idea is great though!
If Costa Rica can do what it plans to do, then I agree, the rest of the world would have to take notice of it and eventually feel pressure to do the same. We are always told it can't be done, and because no one has done it yet, I am inclined to suspect they are right. But I really don't know. I just figured the time would arrive one day when it could be done. Maybe that's today?
We are... cars in our country are taxed nearly 50% of what it is worth... and a ticket for driving without a license is nearly 300$... And gasoline is worth twice than city prices of a northamerican / european city... And you cant drive a car that will be about 25 years old... and since we SUCK at driving, you will most likely die from a 2 or 4 wheel motor vehicle than cancer (even if you were just walking). Let that sink in.
+Constantinus You have no idea what you're talking about. Iran is working to build reactors for generating electricity, and no country for high has ever had nuclear weapons has built them by using power plants as cover.
LOL, the US military spending for 2015 was $637 Billion. The next highest china at $215B. The US military spending accounts for just over 1/3 of the world's military spending. The US and EU account for over half.
***** Yes cutting back on the wasteful spending in the military is going to damage the military's fighting ability. It's not like the military has wasted a trillion dollars on a plane that we don't need and doesn't work.
the problem with not having a army...is the other countries. in the of my country Chile, it would get fucked without an army by peru and bolivia (argentina maybe) so untill we resolve all diplomatic problems and actually coexist as neighbours, chile could get rid of army (IT WOULD BE SO AWESOMEE)
According to your logic , Costa Rica should have vanished years ago. And there is another very successful country "without an Army", sort of. Switzerland does have a small Officer Corps, but their "Army" is Militiamen, who live at home , and don't get paid. Works fine. Even the Germans didn't bother them.
We kinda have Nicaragua as political enemies. (emphasis on political). But I do understand where you come from. Panama also has no military and it controls the Panama canal, which is very important to The Americas economy, making Panama a target for other countries.
Javier Bermúdez yes...BUT, in the 21 century a war is highly risky and rather than entering a war with the other is waaay more efficient make an economic treaty with him. so, why would you want to invade panama...when you could just be friends with them.
You guys know that wind turbines require lots of oil right(and they generally break all the time, releasing oil all over the ground)? And wind turbines up in northern states and countries have to have helicopters that burn hundreds of gallons of fuel just to de-ice the blades?
Biomass is not environmentally friendly. It's the same thing as fossil fuels, but just removes the fossilisation part. You are still burning plant oils, it's the same thing. Chemically very different, but the result is the same; greenhouse gases.
NeonsStyle, it is not the same at all. Seriously, I learned this in elementary school. CO2 from biomass is part of the natural CO2 cycle on earth. Fossil fuels OTOH is CO2 that was taken out of the cycle millions of years ago. When we burn fossil fuels we are putting back CO2 into the cycle which has not been there for millions of years. That means we are pushing ourselves back to climate conditions we had millions of years ago. That is the problem. It is not the climate that is the problem. It is climate CHANGE that is the problem. Ecosystems are not well adapted to rapid change.
Costa Rica renewable energy is simply a question of good geography for renewable energy. Outside of hydroelectric and Geothermal, both hugely geographically dependent, there is only 5% other renewable sources. Iceland has had ~100% renewable energy since 2004 because it had a lot of good geography for hydroelectric and geothermal power. Also, moving to all renewable energy would require a over tripling of Costa Rica renewable energy production according to the speaker. Change over from gas cars to electric cars is always going to be hugely costly both on the monetary side and on the environmental side. The CO2 production in building a new car is about the same as driving that gas car for 100,000 miles. So, really, if you do not have a real gas guzzler, the most environmentally friendly thing to do is to keep driving they car. On the monetary side, the cost of replace all ~1 million gas cars with the cheapest electric car on the US market ($22K), of ~$22 billion. Which would mean it the government spend money only on cheapest electric car, it would take ~5 years to buy those cars. No education spending, no police, no firefighters or anything.
+StarK True, I love meat myself, but everyone becoming vegitarians isn't the only solution. Lab-grown meat could theoretically work. As long as the solution involves me eating something indistiguishable from bacon I'm happy
That would be incorrect. All of agriculture accounts for 13.5% of worldwide green house gas production, and 6.5% is from meat production. In the US it is just 6.2% for agriculture and 2.3% for meat production. Though not all meat is the same. Lamb is the most extreme with 40kg of Co2 for a Kg of meat, then beef with ~30kgCO2/kg, but Chicken is less the 7kg per kg. www.skepticalscience.com/how-much-meat-contribute-to-gw.html
+Loathomar The source says "cattle produce methane, which is a greenhouse gas about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The livestock sector is responsible for about 37% of human-caused methane emissions, and about 65% of human nitrous oxide emissions (mainly from manure)"
This is correct, but methane only accounts for 8% of US GHG protection. There is a real concern that if places like China and India start eat like the US and Europe, the methane production will sky rocket, which could make methane a much larger part of total GHG protection. But methane level in the atmosphere from the developed nations peaked in, which is way there was no increase in methane ppm between 1998 and 2008, but started increase after 2008 because of changes of diet in the developing world. Methane's half life is 12 years, so if methane product was the same 12 years ago, there is no change on the atmosphere. C02's half life is ~27 years, meaning to get the CO2 levels to be stable we need to be where we were 27 years ago.
Well in my country we dont have volcanoes, also winds here arent that strong too, rivers are the main source of electricity but arent enough so we import some from neighbor countries. Really good solar technology would be a good solution i think.
Costa Rica only has to worry about its neighbors: Panama and Nicaragua. If they had, say, Venezuela next door, they might have had to rethink that whole "no army" thing. As it stands Nicaragua has begun a small annexation along the Costa Rican border. While Costa Rica has an International Court ruling in their favor, they had one of those in 2012 and it didn't keep the Nicaraguans from coming back again. Who is going to remove them if they don't go on their own? Costa Rica tried to hastily pull together a defensive force and repel the invaders but found out the hard way that there's a lot of lessons that go into building an actual army that a hastily-assembled defense force doesn't know and learns the hard way out in the field.
6 років тому+1
well, as of today, nicaraguans had left the border, and all was done in a civilized way, venezuela and nicaragua aren't that different, the biggest difference is that nicaragua is the 3rd poorest country of americas. If we had an army, we could've begun a war and kill half the population of both countries which would make the whole point of "protecting" pointless. The reason USA can make wars without worrying about retaliation, is because USA is far away from most countries, so their population doesn't even know they are in war. If mexico was a superpower as an example, USA wouldn't be that reckless to make war with them.
at first I was like having no army probably dumbest thing a country can do. it's like leaving your money in the car with your doors unlocked. but why pay for an army when you have a treaty with the USA to protect you
This is actually a myth. There is not treaty with the USA. Our constitution also prohibits naval bases from foreign powers. We recently were invaded by Nicaragua, and Canada offered to intervene but our government declined their intervention , choosing instead to take the case to the international court of justice. We won the case and Nicaragua paid reparations.
Electric cars still need electricity and if it is derived from Fossil Fuels then it's huge waste. With technology the need to travel must reduce but if transport and tourism is promoted to such an extent that people donot need houses, feel stranger in their houses, ( then why build houses ??? ) then over-tourism must be curbed. People cannot travel endlessly neither they can be imprisoned in their houses endlessly. Not every country's situation is similar to Coasta Rica, the resources are different, people are different, needs are different and it should be that way.
If you go slow there will be very strong influence from the oil companies to refuse the change. This is why USA has become one of the worst countries in terms of air quality.
There is a good reason why you can't move away from fossil fuels incrementally: Solar and Wind COST too much. They are not "Energy Dense", and will always be useful only in marginal circumstances, NOT where most people live. Good Example: Germany is putting up a good show of getting power from "Renewables", but it is a costly Sham. Actually they buy nuclear powered electricity from France, and make up the difference with Coal plants. Marvelously ironic that they haven't done anything with Thorium LFTR power, since their Chancellor has a PhD in Physics.(!) Go figure. I guess it is the Power of Politics.
She already explained that point for those that listened. Changing from gas or diesel fueled cars to electric cars doesn't solve the core issue that traffic is already out of control in her country. You would wait the same 2 hours in electric car traffic as fossil fueled traffic. So, it isn't enough to just use the next decade or two to chance from fossil fueled cars to electric cars, you need to build cities around a better transportation system. That means, a city purposely build were you can walk or bike to work, to the store, etc. Don't build suburbs with downtown offices, build cities where people live AND work, and where you can get there using public transportation, biking, walking, etc. For that to happen, a core change in the philosophy on how cities are built is required. If you do it incrementally, you just end up chasing the train that left the station forever, from station to station, until you give up or pass out. So, it means, instead of adding cleaner cars, rip out streets, add buses and bike lanes, and remove cars from the equation altogether. That is a change that works. Incremental change is just a dog chasing its tail until it gives up.
OK, this is total dribble with no real solutions. As an engineer, I can tell you that our current society is enabled by a plethora of miracles of modern science. Our future society will need orders of magnitude more. None of which were offered or even understood by this presenter.
As a retired engineer, let me suggest to you that a LOT has changed over the last couple of generations. When Henry Ford was around, civilization WAS enabled by "miracles of modern science". Now , if you study it carefully, a lot of what passes as "wealth Creation" is actually fraudulent, and rather useless "Financial Inventions" of NO practical use, such as "Derivatives", CDOs, etc, The Financial world has experienced a sort of "Evolution" in reverse, favoring Swindles of all kinds , as well as a kind of Casino Gambling with Other Peoples Money, etc. It is not that science has failed, merely ignored. Have you heard of the Solution to the Energy Problem: The Thorium Liquid Fueled Reactor (LFTR) ? Look it up on UA-cam. Very educational.
Nope. Google it. Constitution does not allow it. Instead of hiring (why should we) - we happily trade bananas, coffee and other fun stuff to the world.
Geothermal only works in small parts where the underground geology has a good heat source. Biomass is a dead end and simply is not scalable, nor is modern agriculture good for soil (it basically strip-mines the soil). Environmentalists are wildly opposed to large hydro and nuclear. Wind and solar will not cut it. Where possible, we should use geothermal and if we can get the environmentalists to support hydro and nuclear, great. Biomass is not going to work and neither is solar or wind.
Well Costa Rica isn't very big and I guess there is no real strategic point in taking it over nowdays. However is the reason you can get by without an army because you are essentially protected bigger countries and their interests or because no one cares about you yet? What happens if someone do take an interest in taking you over for whatever reason? Will you be able to defend yourself, do you have to call for help and will the help even show up? You might be able to work without an army in a country with 4,9 million people but how will that work with a country of like 10 million or 50 million people that also happen to have a better strategic location and resources?
They are under the "NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY", with the US. So long as they stay in good standing with the US, they should have little concern of invasion. Unless Russia or China has plans to invade, it should be a non issue. Even then, it is not that the US could not win, but just that Costa Rica would not be worth the fight.
Do you really think a country can get away with invasion in this century though lmfao. This is the most peaceful era the world has been in. We literally don't bother anyone. Do you think a country can just decide to attack us and the U.N and the world in general will be okay with it? lolz.
Loathomar Exactly. They are nothing worth invading as that will just stir up more problems then you get from it. Ofc they can avoid having a army as they have other countries that will protect them with theirs. They have an army, not just manned by their own people.
Cloud Seeker LMFAO. We're not in the middle east, if the U.S wanted to invade us they wouldn't have the "terrorist" excuse. And it's pretty stupid to think we'd be in some kind of danger when we don't have oil or anything that would require "democracy" to pay us a visit. Again, we don't bother anyone. You cannot compare the middle east, who has literally been in war since forever, to the american continent. Starting a war here, invading a western world country (which is part of the U.N and several continent organizations), doesn't make sense.
Marisol1711 So many excuses for not wanting to see what is infront of you. Are you seriously not going to call that US drones are dropping bombs in another country they haven't officially declared war on not an invasion? You can say you are fight terrorism all you want, it is still an invasion. You are invading and you have in the last 10 years regardless of what the UN had to say about it. Russia have invaded regardless of what the UN had to say about it. You claimed no one dares to invade anymore yet they do, you will always find ways to rationlize an invasion as no invasion will be out world domination like a comic villain.
I am CR right now. This visit was not only recreational but also educational. I really appreciate CR as a country. Thank you!
Never knew how progressive Costa Rica is, incredible!
It isn't progressive really, hydroelectricity is cheaper than fossil fuel energy and has been cheaper for the last century. Lots of states, especially small ones like Costa Rica have clean energy simply because of lucky geography.
@@zolikoff Costa Rica is progressive
Been to Costa Rica recently, such an inspiring country with great people
For how long you have been there, you were there as Tourist or Work?
My god so many cynical and hateful comments on a truly inspiring TED video! Educate yourselves, little elves!
i wish all countries would do the same, destroy military powers and arms, care about our world, our mother that feeds us, and care about each others.
The problem is as long as the US Russian and China exist we won’t have peace.
This has to be one of the most inspiring TED Talks I have seen in a while | thank you Monica Araya, you are a great storyteller and a source of strength and imagination on this long journey toward s greener planet. Proud to be a fellow Latin American as well; gracias | LCA
i am going o costa rica as soon as i have my enginering degree. period
Please do. We have Ad Astra Rocket here, the company who is working at the VASIMIR engine for space travels and to develop hydrogen production to remove normal vehicles. Just remember we're still a underdeveloped country, just so that you don't have too high expectations..
Remy Buitenhuis Yo did you do it?
@@jeremyzapata8623 hello. Right now I am in my last year of my bachelor. I did do an internship in Costa Rica tho. I was there for 6 months. I enjoyed my internship as well as the country.
@@remybuitenhuis2433 Glad to hear that :D congrats
The US needs to spend less on its army!
if the US army were a country, its carbon emissions would rank in the top 30 of all countries in the world...
@@sportbikeguy9875 the thing that that surprises me is that the CIA never installed a dicatorship in this country under threat of "communism" as they did to most of Latin America
Mónica Araya próxima Presidenta de Costa Rica!
An inspiring and necessary talk...
but I'm glad for UA-cam's Speed control.
True story, only I, on the contrary, slow down the video, because I don't understand English well🇷🇺🗿
Such an interesting, important, and inspiring account in the context of sustainable development paradigm! Lots of applause to Costa Rica, especially its great hearts and hands that contributed in the materialization of the innovative approach!
I live in North America Quebec Canada..
in Quebec it is illegal to make electricity from falling water.
even if it is falling off of my own roof..
it is called a monopoly..
electric street cars were ripped up and replaced with diesel buses.
the commuter trains run on diesel.
even though Quebec has one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world.... LG2..
that Powers up..
the Eastern Seaboard of North America..
but I cannot power up one LCD off of the falling water from my roof
Just more proof that big oil is in control. It is all about the money, man. No one cares about the environment.
CORZER0 the land of the free the home of the slave
Kaoss Comkaoss
Plus one, brother.We're all fucked.
no that's not true it's environmentalists who are against construction of dams.
change the law, go with ngo
as a 20 year old costarican tired of all the problems fossil fuels causes, Monica just show in a inspired way, that their is a solution and we the young people are responsable of this change. thanks.
very proud of my country C.R.!!
This woman is right and beautiful.
She really should've added the relationship between fossil fuels and the military machine. It is because of oil that the modern, mechanized army exists. And it is also because of oil and natural gas that the US military machine is sprawled across Asia and Africa, killing hundreds of thousands over this finite source of energy. If we solve our energy problem, we are actually solving not only the climate change problem but also the problem of warfare, to a large extent. Human beings fight wars only for resources, and anyone who thinks fossil fuels are not a resource worth waging war over simply doesn't live in reality!
That's why people are looking for alternative resources to keep everything in balance.
GREETINGS FROM COSTA RICA.! 🇨🇷
Ojalá lleguemos ahí algún día!! Inspiring talk
Really inspiring! countries and their people should come out once from comparing profit margins of environment friendly energy sources with the conventional ones and should establish clean energy power sources wherever possible.
43 petrol producers watched this
The Design of cities creates the transportation needs. If the cities are designed so that people can easily travel either by public trasport or bikes or walking then that's the ideal. Else the existing cities have to be significantly modified which is enormous task.
Me encantó este TED Talk, muy buen trabajo. Apenas para discutirlo con mis estudiantes de inglés para que ellos también se unan al cambio generando sus propias ideas para una Costa Rica Limpia
For a second I thought the title was "How to get rid of a small country with fossil fuels."
Either my brain is messed up or I'm secretly Saddam Hussein.
why not both?
why not both?
jorge rivera
True true
jorge rivera if he was sadam he would have a messed up brain.
WOW se me salieron las lagrimas ..Gracias Monica por tu trabajo ❤️
very inspiring talk. I hope every country can do the same because this idea means peace is kept between countries, and the world will heal from its cancerous pollution
it is not easy to abolish fossil fuels as long as money can buy us joy and comfort. but yes, I'm all in with you and I really do move with the flow that this fossil fuels consumption gets reduced to the minimum before it's too late. Let's all join our hands together for a better tomorrow. Live wise and innovative
such a great talk!! so proud to be Costa Rican.
Wonderfully spoken Costa Rican. Love her!
imagine if american spent half as much on their military and invested it back into renewable energy
It would not be possible. The NATO allies would fall apart and most of the money would just be wasted.
I appreciate your country for the substantial efforts
your country would be extinct
they would loose money, if you insist on buying energy these are better solution: nuclear energy, hydro energy or buying oil are the only truly good and profitable solutions.
Is there only people outside on USA who understand how much the americans are going to war in order to control supply of energy and other crucial supply everywhere in the world ?
Is there people in USA who actually understand that bringing the democracy to the world, means in reality going out there to control other countries ?
I hope the people in the USA will wake up soon and understand how much they are part of destroying our planet, unfortunately it will probably be too late.
Burning biomass is not that "clean" or renewable, especially if artificial fertilizer (made from natural gas) was used in the growing process. Far better to compost it and return it to the land. Hopefully CR will move toward 100% organic and regenerative agriculture while they are moving to 100% electric transportation.
How can I help? I genuinely want to know
I had no idea costa rica is the world i want to live in
what about manufacturing ? especially of these clean energy generators and storage, and imports
Put Military spending into Social Spending?, if only the rest of the world did this, we could developed a very advanced civilization without the to fight anyone..
She wants a better public transportation system?, then come here to The Netherlands and see how we do it..
We have probably the most advanced public transportation and road system ever developed.
15:22 Pretty sure Costa Rica is where the Galactic Empire was formed.
We need someone like Monica Araya to run for president in the United States to tackle real problems like this. Great speech!
People talk about emmissions but they do not talk about heat released to the environment. Huge heat is put into atmosphere by various machines. That heat can be harnessed and put to use for domestic and commercial use.
This is good for Costa Rica, but it isn't necessarily reproducible. It was able to abolish its armed forces, but that wouldn't work even for a relatively safe middle power (like Canada), and definitely not a larger states (like U.S. or Germany). There are other factors (Costa Rica's high renewable energy potential vs low consumption) gives it an advantage.
That being said, a lot of what she's saying is relevant to a lot of countries, and her sentiments are solid.
Yes, low consumption was an advantage, but as the country develops, the consumption increases, every year, the clean energy goes from 100% to 99% and 98%, thats why we keep building new energy plants, the next one "el diquis" will give us 122% clean energy, and that extra 22% will last us for about 10 years.
Costa rica was just exampling hydroelectricty, of course, other countries need to look for other ways, just like iceland uses geothermal instead of hydro.
Canada could abolish it's army, it's not like they stand a chance against the US anyways. In fact, abolishing the army would make it less likely the US ever invades Canada.
Good rhetoric is admirable, however, it is not everything.
Also independent background information is essential.
Within 3 hours,
I can explain Monica Araya, what to do next, to reach Costa Rica`s
sustainable targets for a really clean mobility.
And also for a much better electricity infrastructure.
This is a good model for public speaking. She has a very clear structure and message, with sufficient use of slides and vocal variety. I think the only thing she can improve is her hand gesture. The way she puts her hand strikes me as a bit rigid. But overall, it is a good talk!
Excellent Speech ! !
Peace and love and positive vibes💚💚💚 Im tired of being an oil company air filter!!! Thanks for this video
This gives some hope...
...until you turn on the TV
Well it seems they have developed past us. We are now the developing!
The strategies to beat climate change are available, it's just a cases of how many people act in time.
Yup.
Nope
maybe
Yee
Maybe.
Monica, when all that you are advocating for is successful let us know.
We have "developing" cities and towns all across the USA that struggle to implement what Monica's agena is even though they even have the richest cites in the world just down the road. I am sure those towns and cities would like to know the secret when you figure it out.
That would be a perfect solution for Cuba. They burn so much oil to produce electricity. Such a beautiful island with such a huge potential. It was sad to see power plants with huge clouds of black smoke going to the sky.
We need to reduce our usage with the new technology! For health and sustainability!
Thank you Monica for sharing.
This is why we can't have nice things, if someone came up with a cure for cancer today, people would still complain, it's our national sport.
This gave me chills (the good kind)
The problem with the talk is the fact that the speaker keeps repeating the same thing over and over again without developing idea. The idea is great though!
The pathos in her voice as she speak about her country...
It is wonderful to listen to sadness and grief? You're weird.
+CORZER0 it's not sadness.. it's seeing someone passionate about make the world better
MrAguasey
Not an argument.
She sounds proud.
If Costa Rica can do what it plans to do, then I agree, the rest of the world would have to take notice of it and eventually feel pressure to do the same. We are always told it can't be done, and because no one has done it yet, I am inclined to suspect they are right. But I really don't know. I just figured the time would arrive one day when it could be done. Maybe that's today?
We are... cars in our country are taxed nearly 50% of what it is worth... and a ticket for driving without a license is nearly 300$... And gasoline is worth twice than city prices of a northamerican / european city... And you cant drive a car that will be about 25 years old... and since we SUCK at driving, you will most likely die from a 2 or 4 wheel motor vehicle than cancer (even if you were just walking).
Let that sink in.
WOW this video is just AMAZING
Imagine if the USA's defence spending was all reallocated to health and education....
They would probably get invaded...
+abraham lincoln C:
+Constantinus You have no idea what you're talking about. Iran is working to build reactors for generating electricity, and no country for high has ever had nuclear weapons has built them by using power plants as cover.
LOL, the US military spending for 2015 was $637 Billion. The next highest china at $215B. The US military spending accounts for just over 1/3 of the world's military spending. The US and EU account for over half.
***** Yes cutting back on the wasteful spending in the military is going to damage the military's fighting ability. It's not like the military has wasted a trillion dollars on a plane that we don't need and doesn't work.
the problem with not having a army...is the other countries. in the of my country Chile, it would get fucked without an army by peru and bolivia (argentina maybe) so untill we resolve all diplomatic problems and actually coexist as neighbours, chile could get rid of army (IT WOULD BE SO AWESOMEE)
According to your logic , Costa Rica should have vanished years ago. And there is another very successful country "without an Army", sort of. Switzerland does have a small Officer Corps, but their "Army" is Militiamen, who live at home , and don't get paid. Works fine. Even the Germans didn't bother them.
+disgny no...the diference with costa rica is that they dont have enemies, chile does.
We kinda have Nicaragua as political enemies. (emphasis on political). But I do understand where you come from. Panama also has no military and it controls the Panama canal, which is very important to The Americas economy, making Panama a target for other countries.
Javier Bermúdez yes...BUT, in the 21 century a war is highly risky and rather than entering a war with the other is waaay more efficient make an economic treaty with him. so, why would you want to invade panama...when you could just be friends with them.
What can Militiamen do against tanks, airplanes, artillery, missiles?
Making that kind of a decision on a national versus an international level is very different...
The existing transport can be modified to use Compressed gas, biofuels, hydrogen.
I loved how she threw in a little spanglish there XD, also i loved the topic could hear her talk for hours
ohhhh we are very good idea, because we can make use of material environmentally friendly, so good
If a country was surrounded by ocean for example Australia, they should use wave energy
You guys know that wind turbines require lots of oil right(and they generally break all the time, releasing oil all over the ground)? And wind turbines up in northern states and countries have to have helicopters that burn hundreds of gallons of fuel just to de-ice the blades?
Biomass is not environmentally friendly. It's the same thing as fossil fuels, but just removes the fossilisation part. You are still burning plant oils, it's the same thing. Chemically very different, but the result is the same; greenhouse gases.
NeonsStyle, it is not the same at all. Seriously, I learned this in elementary school. CO2 from biomass is part of the natural CO2 cycle on earth. Fossil fuels OTOH is CO2 that was taken out of the cycle millions of years ago. When we burn fossil fuels we are putting back CO2 into the cycle which has not been there for millions of years. That means we are pushing ourselves back to climate conditions we had millions of years ago. That is the problem. It is not the climate that is the problem. It is climate CHANGE that is the problem. Ecosystems are not well adapted to rapid change.
fantastic speech buddy
Costa Rica renewable energy is simply a question of good geography for renewable energy. Outside of hydroelectric and Geothermal, both hugely geographically dependent, there is only 5% other renewable sources. Iceland has had ~100% renewable energy since 2004 because it had a lot of good geography for hydroelectric and geothermal power. Also, moving to all renewable energy would require a over tripling of Costa Rica renewable energy production according to the speaker.
Change over from gas cars to electric cars is always going to be hugely costly both on the monetary side and on the environmental side. The CO2 production in building a new car is about the same as driving that gas car for 100,000 miles. So, really, if you do not have a real gas guzzler, the most environmentally friendly thing to do is to keep driving they car. On the monetary side, the cost of replace all ~1 million gas cars with the cheapest electric car on the US market ($22K), of ~$22 billion. Which would mean it the government spend money only on cheapest electric car, it would take ~5 years to buy those cars. No education spending, no police, no firefighters or anything.
Since when does Pharah do TED talks?
Fossil fuels does nothing to the enviroment compared to the meat industry. If we can figure out how to stop cows from farting etc we should be golden.
+StarK True, I love meat myself, but everyone becoming vegitarians isn't the only solution. Lab-grown meat could theoretically work. As long as the solution involves me eating something indistiguishable from bacon I'm happy
That would be incorrect. All of agriculture accounts for 13.5% of worldwide green house gas production, and 6.5% is from meat production. In the US it is just 6.2% for agriculture and 2.3% for meat production. Though not all meat is the same. Lamb is the most extreme with 40kg of Co2 for a Kg of meat, then beef with ~30kgCO2/kg, but Chicken is less the 7kg per kg.
www.skepticalscience.com/how-much-meat-contribute-to-gw.html
+Loathomar The source says "cattle produce methane, which is a greenhouse gas about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The livestock sector is responsible for about 37% of human-caused methane emissions, and about 65% of human nitrous oxide emissions (mainly from manure)"
This is correct, but methane only accounts for 8% of US GHG protection. There is a real concern that if places like China and India start eat like the US and Europe, the methane production will sky rocket, which could make methane a much larger part of total GHG protection. But methane level in the atmosphere from the developed nations peaked in, which is way there was no increase in methane ppm between 1998 and 2008, but started increase after 2008 because of changes of diet in the developing world. Methane's half life is 12 years, so if methane product was the same 12 years ago, there is no change on the atmosphere. C02's half life is ~27 years, meaning to get the CO2 levels to be stable we need to be where we were 27 years ago.
Loathomar I stand myself corrected! I didn't check my facts correctly.
Well in my country we dont have volcanoes, also winds here arent that strong too, rivers are the main source of electricity but arent enough so we import some from neighbor countries. Really good solar technology would be a good solution i think.
What country do u live in???
My name is Vlad
run 350 MW Dynamos in a cascade
Costa Rica only has to worry about its neighbors: Panama and Nicaragua. If they had, say, Venezuela next door, they might have had to rethink that whole "no army" thing.
As it stands Nicaragua has begun a small annexation along the Costa Rican border. While Costa Rica has an International Court ruling in their favor, they had one of those in 2012 and it didn't keep the Nicaraguans from coming back again. Who is going to remove them if they don't go on their own?
Costa Rica tried to hastily pull together a defensive force and repel the invaders but found out the hard way that there's a lot of lessons that go into building an actual army that a hastily-assembled defense force doesn't know and learns the hard way out in the field.
well, as of today, nicaraguans had left the border, and all was done in a civilized way, venezuela and nicaragua aren't that different, the biggest difference is that nicaragua is the 3rd poorest country of americas.
If we had an army, we could've begun a war and kill half the population of both countries which would make the whole point of "protecting" pointless.
The reason USA can make wars without worrying about retaliation, is because USA is far away from most countries, so their population doesn't even know they are in war. If mexico was a superpower as an example, USA wouldn't be that reckless to make war with them.
Use trolley-buses! Invented long ago. Trams as well. Subway ffs.
Why everyone is obsessed to stick a battery everywhere?
keep this idea going.... a step at a time.
at first I was like having no army probably dumbest thing a country can do. it's like leaving your money in the car with your doors unlocked. but why pay for an army when you have a treaty with the USA to protect you
This is actually a myth. There is not treaty with the USA. Our constitution also prohibits naval bases from foreign powers. We recently were invaded by Nicaragua, and Canada offered to intervene but our government declined their intervention , choosing instead to take the case to the international court of justice. We won the case and Nicaragua paid reparations.
Not with with USA but with the TIADR
Electric cars still need electricity and if it is derived from Fossil Fuels then it's huge waste. With technology the need to travel must reduce but if transport and tourism is promoted to such an extent that people donot need houses, feel stranger in their houses, ( then why build houses ??? ) then over-tourism must be curbed. People cannot travel endlessly neither they can be imprisoned in their houses endlessly. Not every country's situation is similar to Coasta Rica, the resources are different, people are different, needs are different and it should be that way.
This is a very good video, though, I'm not sure what the basis for saying, around 11:00, that you can't more away from fossil fuels incrementally is.
If you go slow there will be very strong influence from the oil companies to refuse the change. This is why USA has become one of the worst countries in terms of air quality.
There is a good reason why you can't move away from fossil fuels incrementally: Solar and Wind COST too much. They are not "Energy Dense", and will always be useful only in marginal circumstances, NOT where most people live. Good Example: Germany is putting up a good show of getting power from "Renewables", but it is a costly Sham. Actually they buy nuclear powered electricity from France, and make up the difference with Coal plants. Marvelously ironic that they haven't done anything with Thorium LFTR power, since their Chancellor has a PhD in Physics.(!) Go figure. I guess it is the Power of Politics.
She already explained that point for those that listened. Changing from gas or diesel fueled cars to electric cars doesn't solve the core issue that traffic is already out of control in her country. You would wait the same 2 hours in electric car traffic as fossil fueled traffic.
So, it isn't enough to just use the next decade or two to chance from fossil fueled cars to electric cars, you need to build cities around a better transportation system.
That means, a city purposely build were you can walk or bike to work, to the store, etc. Don't build suburbs with downtown offices, build cities where people live AND work, and where you can get there using public transportation, biking, walking, etc.
For that to happen, a core change in the philosophy on how cities are built is required. If you do it incrementally, you just end up chasing the train that left the station forever, from station to station, until you give up or pass out.
So, it means, instead of adding cleaner cars, rip out streets, add buses and bike lanes, and remove cars from the equation altogether. That is a change that works. Incremental change is just a dog chasing its tail until it gives up.
The leading cause of deforestation in Costa Rica is to clear land for animal agriculture
How bout local farms?
"Ms Amazed" is in the audience again!
We should listen to Spock. Vulcans are more logical than us humans.
I personally think that thorium nuclear power along with fossil fuels in specialized locations is the solution to our energy problems.
OK, this is total dribble with no real solutions. As an engineer, I can tell you that our current society is enabled by a plethora of miracles of modern science. Our future society will need orders of magnitude more. None of which were offered or even understood by this presenter.
As a retired engineer, let me suggest to you that a LOT has changed over the last couple of generations. When Henry Ford was around, civilization WAS enabled by "miracles of modern science". Now , if you study it carefully, a lot of what passes as "wealth Creation" is actually fraudulent, and rather useless "Financial Inventions" of NO practical use, such as "Derivatives", CDOs, etc, The Financial world has experienced a sort of "Evolution" in reverse, favoring Swindles of all kinds , as well as a kind of Casino Gambling with Other Peoples Money, etc. It is not that science has failed, merely ignored. Have you heard of the Solution to the Energy Problem: The Thorium Liquid Fueled Reactor (LFTR) ? Look it up on UA-cam. Very educational.
I like your idea ❤
Nuclear power plants with *modern* thorium salt reactors.
You’re welcome.
Tesla Model 3
Pura vida, mae ;)
If only people would listen. Also what about tires, tar and all that stuff to make roads a such? that's made of oil is it not?
amazing
Bravo.
Costa Rica has a contract with the U S military for defense. How would that work if there were no armies for hire?
There's any contract
Nope. Google it. Constitution does not allow it. Instead of hiring (why should we) - we happily trade bananas, coffee and other fun stuff to the world.
hope this is happen in Indonesia..
btw, when i see Monica Araya i see Lisa Simpons :p
Progressives loves demand side policies. How expensive is electricity and reliable is it in Costa Rica?
Great..
Wait until we have fusion power reactors in 30 years.
Geothermal only works in small parts where the underground geology has a good heat source. Biomass is a dead end and simply is not scalable, nor is modern agriculture good for soil (it basically strip-mines the soil). Environmentalists are wildly opposed to large hydro and nuclear. Wind and solar will not cut it. Where possible, we should use geothermal and if we can get the environmentalists to support hydro and nuclear, great. Biomass is not going to work and neither is solar or wind.
Well Costa Rica isn't very big and I guess there is no real strategic point in taking it over nowdays. However is the reason you can get by without an army because you are essentially protected bigger countries and their interests or because no one cares about you yet? What happens if someone do take an interest in taking you over for whatever reason? Will you be able to defend yourself, do you have to call for help and will the help even show up?
You might be able to work without an army in a country with 4,9 million people but how will that work with a country of like 10 million or 50 million people that also happen to have a better strategic location and resources?
They are under the "NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY", with the US. So long as they stay in good standing with the US, they should have little concern of invasion. Unless Russia or China has plans to invade, it should be a non issue. Even then, it is not that the US could not win, but just that Costa Rica would not be worth the fight.
Do you really think a country can get away with invasion in this century though lmfao. This is the most peaceful era the world has been in. We literally don't bother anyone. Do you think a country can just decide to attack us and the U.N and the world in general will be okay with it? lolz.
Loathomar Exactly. They are nothing worth invading as that will just stir up more problems then you get from it. Ofc they can avoid having a army as they have other countries that will protect them with theirs. They have an army, not just manned by their own people.
Cloud Seeker LMFAO. We're not in the middle east, if the U.S wanted to invade us they wouldn't have the "terrorist" excuse. And it's pretty stupid to think we'd be in some kind of danger when we don't have oil or anything that would require "democracy" to pay us a visit. Again, we don't bother anyone. You cannot compare the middle east, who has literally been in war since forever, to the american continent. Starting a war here, invading a western world country (which is part of the U.N and several continent organizations), doesn't make sense.
Marisol1711 So many excuses for not wanting to see what is infront of you. Are you seriously not going to call that US drones are dropping bombs in another country they haven't officially declared war on not an invasion? You can say you are fight terrorism all you want, it is still an invasion.
You are invading and you have in the last 10 years regardless of what the UN had to say about it. Russia have invaded regardless of what the UN had to say about it. You claimed no one dares to invade anymore yet they do, you will always find ways to rationlize an invasion as no invasion will be out world domination like a comic villain.
You should run for president!
We have a president that's trying the exact same thing
Bravo
So self driving cars? Checks all the boxes.
Pura Vida 2020
Hydropower is bad for fish