Over the weekend, Taylor Swift who is, of course, in the middle of a massive worldwide concert tour, decided to postpone one of her shows in Rio de Janeiro after a 23-year-old fan of hers tragically passed during the performance. Ana Clara Benevides Machado died during the Friday night show, and [00:00:17] every detail that I read after that makes it even more tragic. The statements from friends and family of Ana, but the fact that she had taken her first flight ever to travel there to see Taylor Swift, who was her favorite musician. She created a WhatsApp group to keep her family updated, sending photos and [00:00:35] videos of her journey. It's just an absolute tragedy, and I'm sure that Taylor Swift must be devastated that this happened at one of her shows. She had posted this on Instagram saying, I'm writing this from my dressing room in the stadium. The decision has been made to postpone tonight's show due to the extreme temperature in Rio. [00:00:51] The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first, and here's the personal tragedy. And then there is the quest for answers, did this have to happen? Why did this happen? And there are allegations flowing around that an investigation needs to look into, [00:01:09] but allegations that people were not allowed to bring their own water into the concert hall. Now, there are counter-allegations saying that Ana and her group had been given some water, but it's still incredibly hot, and we don't know what accommodations were being made. [00:01:25] Every year is hotter than the year before. Are our policies keeping pace with the effect that we're having on our planet? And could that have potentially influenced this? So that is absolutely devastating on an individual level. In a second, we're gonna zoom out and talk about how this is playing out at a much wider scale. [00:01:43] But, Francesca, I'm not sure if you'd seen that news, but it's devastating to think that someone would die during such a great experience that they were supposed to be having. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I did see the news, and I also didn't know, however, that Taylor Swift stopped the show, and I understand that to some that might seem like a no-brainer. [00:02:00] I don't think it is actually a no-brainer that you would stop your show, I mean, this is a massive stadium. These are tens of thousands of people, and if some person has to be often might be taken to the medic because it's a massive crowd, there's a swell, they faint, it happens, right, in concerts all the time. [00:02:20] But the fact that she stopped it, I mean, look, I'm not a Swifty, but I'm starting to become a little bit of a Swifty, because Taylor continues to do stuff that not every massively famous celebrity would necessarily do that. That's number one. But number two is yeah, man, I mean, [00:02:37] we talk about it in this country when it comes to Ticketmaster and the way that venues are super greedy, but not giving people water affordably or not allowing them sort of safe passage to get water. And for sure, if you're in the front there, yeah, [00:02:53] you should be given a lot of water because you can't really leave to go get water. That's just something and it's like yeah, man, if they're gonna charge you $12 a bottle, they will, if they can, they will. If they cannot give you safe passage, again, these are greedy-ass venues, [00:03:09] and it's around the world that they behave like this. I mean, the other thing is flying gets you incredibly dehydrated, and she had flown for the first time. Who knows, she must have been super excited, it sucks, it's awful. >> Speaker 1: Yeah, just look, even absent our increasingly hot world, again, [00:03:27] these are allegations, I don't know for sure, we will see. But if they are stopping it, and if they are, the reason you would do that is because you wanna make money off of it by jacking up the price. How does it not seem inevitable that with a population that large that [00:03:42] that would have these sorts of consequences? Again, absolutely devastating, but this is a case study inside of a world in which we can expect to see a lot more of this, because the world is getting hotter and our infrastructure is not set up to accommodate that. And the infrastructure can be as specific as your water policies at [00:04:01] a massive stadium, and this is not a one in a million thing. There are many events like this happening constantly throughout the year in the hottest periods, not just in Rio de Janeiro, in the United States as well. But it also goes all the way up to how our literal infrastructure is not set [00:04:16] up for this. The roads, the buildings are not set up to keep people safe, people at concerts, people working. We saw people in the summer in southern United States dropping in the streets, and when they'd hit the street, second degree burns from how hot it is. [00:04:32] That is the world that we have created. It is not the world that we're looking to 2075 for. We are there right now, 2075's gonna be worse, trust me, but what we're in right now is not acceptable and so something needs to be done. [00:04:48] And I just wanted to let people know that when trying to take stock of responsibility, because I instantly thought of how responsible would I feel as Taylor Swift for this? And I came to the conclusion, not at all, it isn't down on you, but in a larger sense, who is responsible for this? [00:05:05] Well, you're not that responsible for the heating of the globe, but there are some individuals who are. The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%. >> Speaker 2: Jesus. >> Speaker 1: This is just 77 million people that make up billionaires, [00:05:23] millionaires, and those paid more than $140,000 US a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019. Enough to cause more than an estimated million excess deaths due to heat, and here's the weird way that the world works. [00:05:40] I bet hearing the million figure naturally affects you less than hearing about Ana's tragic death. That one tragic death from heat, well, there's 1 million a year off of that, and it is only getting worse, so bear that in mind. Francesca, what do you think? [00:05:56] >> Speaker 2: Yeah, just imagine all of those people were at a Taylor Swift concert and they, was their first time seeing Taylor Swift, and then maybe we can start [LAUGH] to have more empathy for this incredible problem. And yeah, look, I mean, Taylor's part of the 1%, let's be real, I'm imagining. [00:06:13] >> I think, quite thoroughly, yeah. >> Speaker 2: So, yeah, I'd be interested in seeing. I think she and other celebrities could potentially lead in terms of, not offset, but actually reversing course on the damage that they do, [00:06:28] even by their private jets and their massive tours. >> Speaker 1: 100%, by the way, really fast, if we go to graphic three, you're gonna see a chart of the climate emissions of billionaires. Do you understand how much you'd have to zoom in to see us or you in the audience? [00:06:44] Literally, our entire audience and everyone that our audience knows, by the way, would not merit on there. But these individuals, those 12 people you saw on that list, produce more greenhouse gas emissions than the annual energy emissions of 2 million homes, 12 people. [00:07:00] So when someone tries to make you feel bad about the state of the environment, look, it is right to care and it is right to make certain changes to the extent that you can, but you don't do that because success or failure depends on you. That is not how it works. Larger structural changes are the only thing that's gonna fix that. [00:07:17] We can participate, we can be a part of it, I hope that we will. But these individuals, their individual actions do actually matter on that level and you almost never hear about it. [MUSIC]