Another YouTube list? Yes ;-)

I found myself watching YouTube a lot during the worst of the pandemic, and as I saw the world falling apart in many ways. YouTube has been something of a lifeline in the past years, helping me find stuff I actually want to watch, which (mostly) doesn’t have all the fake crap that’s on TV. I must say though, that I loathe and detest the apparent trend towards #shorts - I really don’t see the point of them!

The channels I chose at this time were to help me understand something of what was going on in the pandemic and in world politics, and a few gave me some distractions from it all.

This is a fairly short list that I’m sharing; I could list quite a few more, but I thought some of these recommendations might be of interest to the HPR audience.

Channels

Just Have a Think

Dave Borlace, the host, talks about climate and sustainable energy.

The episodes are well researched and explained clearly, and I find they can often give out some hope that we can lessen the effects of the climate change that is certainly coming.

Recent episodes have covered: the IPCC Survival Guide, plastic eating enzymes and CO2 removal from the oceans.

https://www.youtube.com/c/JustHaveaThink

Undecided with Matt Ferrell

Matt Ferrell, the host, looks at how smart and sustainable technology impacts our lives.

Another clear-sighted and well researched look at technology, particularly in the current world context. There’s also a podcast Still To Be Determined where Matt and his brother Sean have a conversation following on from the shows on YouTube.

Recent episodes have covered:

An improved method of generating green hydrogen

Using machine learning to boost renewable energy generation and reduce costs of wind farms

Plastic recycling is not as we’ve been led to believe.

https://www.youtube.com/c/UndecidedMF (with the podcast http://feeds.transistor.fm/still-to-be-determined)

Second Thought

A channel devoted to education and analysis of current events from a Socialist perspective.

My Socialist, anti-Capitalist sympathies fit well with the contents of this channel, and I’m learning from it. It’s very well done, and has obviously taken some effort to produce.

Some recent episode titles:

What if we just stopped working?

How Consulting firms secretly run entire countries

https://www.youtube.com/c/SecondThought

Democracy at Work

Channel description: Democracy at Work is a non-profit 501(c)3 that produces media and live events. Our work analyzes capitalism critically as a systemic problem and advocates for democratizing workplaces as part of a systemic solution. We seek a stronger, fuller democracy – in our politics and culture as well as in our economy - based on workers’ equal collaboration and shared leadership inside enterprises and throughout society.

The insights shared by Prof. Richard D. Wolff in pa