“I don’t give a shit about the climate” – this YouTube documentary shows how the young, super-rich really tick

Documentation by the research collective StrgF is causing a stir. In the 29-minute video, which can also be viewed on YouTube, she illustrates a climate damage problem that is actually well known: the super-rich. According to the World Inequality Database, they are responsible for a large part of CO₂ emissions.

Due to their increased consumption and travel by private jets, the richest of the rich cause damage far greater than that of the rest of the population.

It also fits that more private jets are flying in Germany than ever before, according to the documentary. In the video, the journalists get to the bottom of this phenomenon and talk to young people with a lot of money. People whose climate awareness is apparently not or hardly at all. Ultimately, the argument goes, climate catastrophe is unstoppable. A mentality that many companies such as Volkswagen – despite greenwashing – apparently share.

Weird reasoning from the super-rich provokes violent reactions

The fact that the super-rich in particular do not care about climate protection is of course met with great displeasure. After the release of the CtrlF documentary, a real shit storm erupted on social media against the indifference of the super rich.

What they say in the YouTube video leaves some users in awe. For example, there is a man who has his say in the video and has just landed on Sylt with his private jet. When asked if he couldn’t also take the train, he replied: “No.” And why? He once took the train from Sylt to Hamburg. “That was terrible. This track is absolutely under all the sow.” The wagons are old.

When asked how to do something (Editor’s note: CO₂) can save, he laughs into the microphone. Then he says that everyone should just be less demanding. He cycles almost every day and even took it to the airport.

The Swiss communication scientist Marko Kovic shares the clip from the video on Twitter, apparently bewildered. He writes: “No satire”.

The comments under the clip are overflowing. “Preach water and drink wine. Belongs to the classics of hypocrisy’, writes a Twitter user about it. “He doesn’t give a fuck, he has enough money,” says another.

But there are also users who at least partially agree with the man. For example, one writes: “But he does have a point with the train: the train must be so attractive, affordable, reliable, punctual, clean and barrier-free that it attracts people and not discourages them as they do today.” He got a lot of encouragement for the comment.

Another posts a picture from the train and makes it clear: “I’ve already been to Sylt with the IC and the Regio, and they’re both good, clean, comfortable and modern trains.” It is striking that these “fairy tales are always spread by people who just want to defend their car or private jet use”.

The super rich deserve hatred and ridicule

Another super rich interviewee is now getting hate on social media. An 18-year-old who normally travels by private jet and apparently consumes unscrupulously. If you travel to Sylt, you need to make the right impression. Coming by train is ridiculous, he jokes.

He argues in terms of climate protection: “Yes, the topic is somehow not present with me, maybe that’s the problem. It needs to be explained more.” He gains little understanding for this argument. One user describes him as an “18-year-old brat,” writing in a sarcastic tone, “Of course. How could it be you?”

Another posted a comment below the video on YouTube, expressing his strong opinion of the young rich: “Nothing clever in life, just taking advantage of daddy’s money and then being ultra-arrogant.” More drastic words are also used: “The little pisser” means business.

The tenor on social media is clear: the majority is frustrated. About the fact that the super rich in particular have so many options to combat climate catastrophe. And about the fact that most people don’t care. This is also because they are the last to suffer the serious consequences.

The question that remains despite the shitstorm is the solution. A question to which the documentary probably does not have the right answer either, and which can perhaps be described as the greatest challenge of our time: “How do we save the climate if the most consuming people don’t care?”

In the video