Nauru: Environmental Apocalypse in the World’s Smallest Republic

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Source/Further reading:
Britannica, overview: www.britannica...
MIT Press Reader, the dark history of Nauru: thereader.mitp...
Guardian, a Short History of Nauru: www.theguardia...
Guardian, Nauru’s Cursed History: www.theguardia...
Nauru civil war: militaryhistor...
Nauru under Japanese occupation: apjjf.org/-Yuk...
Nauruan Independence: www.smh.com.au...
www.rnz.co.nz/...
Nauru’s musical: www.independen...
www.abc.net.au...
Refugees: www.theguardia...
www.refugeecou...
Keeping the offshore facilities open: www.theguardia...
Deep sea mining:  www.scientific...
Nauru and deep sea mining: www.hakaimagaz...

[@geographicstravel]

Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/GEOGRAPHICS for 10% off on your first purchase.

[@poorlydunbarvideos1472]

Are ya congested? Sound a bit nasally...have you considered rest?

[@ziimoyake260]

Where’s the link to the new channel?

[@--enyo--]

I’m Australian. As soon as the ‘Abyss’ chapter came up I knew what was coming. Gods I hate our government sometimes. Or most of the time. It’s f*cking shameful. Thank you for this video.

[@GAndreC]

Why not bring in topsoil from new guine or Australia though?

[@teoleno4019]

Can we please stop saying "the arrival of Europeans", it was the Anglo Saxons who destroyed this island and many other countries!

[@masterchinese28]

The cautionary tale of Nauru has long fascinated me. Glad to see it get the Simon treatment.

[@stephaniemaloney4324]

Soon, ALL KZbin channels will be hosted by Simon.

[@beingexemplary06]

Hi

[@cheebsgod]

This is vsauce, Simon here

[@NiSM0pt]

Still waiting for Simon Tech Tips

[@Arirezz]

*SOON*

[@timmy2shoez]

I'm about it

[@vainoleppanen8971]

In Finnish "nauru" means "laughter". Seems a little ironic.

[@beingexemplary06]

Hello sir

[@stevencooke6451]

Irony is a sub-theme on the once "Beautiful Island" it seems.

[@bananapeaches6370]

Hahaha was coming to say that hahahha

[@Kay_S_1499_CODM]

Hi there I'm from the island in fact I'm on the as of right now 😂😂 and the name Nauru comes from the word nawero which means (I go to the beach) 👍

[@nooneyouknow9399]

Truk is the name for the lagoon. The island is properly known as Chuuk

[@dannyb7371]

Nah Chuuk Lagoon is just what it's called now. 5 main islands have different names. Good dive site.

[@m39fan]

How could you watch this and not want to cry?

[@somethinglikethat2176]

Because at some point you reach a limit. To paraphrase a remark by Jason Pargin on the Cracked podcast, if you truly had empathy for every tragedy in the world you'd be so overcome with grief that you wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.

[@Buglife.352]

Easy

[@joseybryant7577]

The Ziegfeld Theatre would be an interesting topic to cover. Pretty important in early 20th century show-business. Along with the Ziegfeld Follies.

[@brandongreen3401]

Great video. A video on Minami-Tori-shima would be cool. A tiny Japanese island that is way out in the ocean.

[@boodashaka2841]

Minamidaito-jima seems really neat too. It looks almost unreal as well. I know this is a super old comment but still

[@raycarl7933]

I stayed in Nauru twice in ‘79 and ‘80. Somewhere between bizarre and horrible. It was depressing.

[@Foiled_Foliage]

....what a horribly sad ending...hope its not about to get any worse.

[@ericagerrard2099]

Thankyou for making this Simon. I’m Australian and I’m disgusted by our treatment of Nauru and of people who are legally seeking asylum. This is an important story.

[@humanrightsadvocate]

The research done for this video is impressive.

[@dominusetdeus060644]

Fun fact: if you watch this video with the phone upside down Simon is clean shaved and has a great set of hair.

[@Oldwhiteguy]

Lol

[@brandondejong8080]

Yeah just nevermind the mouth on his forehead just flapping away

[@jarrodbarker5050]

And a mouth above his nose... 🤔

[@rogerszmodis]

Oh I’m sorry, I can’t divulge information about that customer's secret, illegal account.

[@elijahmorton4934]

Thanks Simon

[@snufkinhollow318]

Another excellent video from Whistler world and another feather in the cap of this writer who, for me, scripts some of the best material on your channels. Some people might disagree with me but one of the things this video makes clear is that Simon's oft made argument that capitalism is generally okay provided that those involved aren't dicks is grand in theory but in practice just doesn't hold water. The main problem being that 'being a dick' is, unfortunately, very much part of being human as regards the current context in which our species exists and interacts with each other, other species and our environment. So, whilst capitalism can be portrayed as, in theory at least, offering an equal playing field for all and having the long-term preservation of that playing field as one of its core values, this cannot work in practice when the players believe that social hierarchies, material wealth and access to natural resources are basic human urges/needs/rights. Indeed, if ever anything encapsulated this in a nutshell, it is this video. Hoisted by your own petard I fear, Mr Whistler, although I'm not expecting to change your mind with this comment. You'll probably just take the piss out of me and others who have made similar comments on Brain Blaze and then forget about it. :D

[@illitero]

Agreed. The whole premise of Capitalism's free market is as much of a pipe dream as Communism's thorough regulation due to the inherent corruption of the people that seek power.

[@snufkinhollow318]

@@illitero Absolutely.

[@Chris.Row1991]

Funny you mention "hoisted by your own petard", he dropped a brain blaze video this morning that talked a bit about it.

[@christophermclughlin9984]

Perhaps you should look at the story of Diago Garcia next

[@domtweed7323]

*sweats Britishly*

[@bartjohnson8139]

What an incredibly sad horrifying history. The earth will, someday, breathe a gigantic sigh of relief when the last human exhales for the last time. Humans need the earth, the earth doesn’t need humans.

[@alexander5207]

Make the Earth happy! Start with yourself and your family. Be the change you want to see.

[@moshieroo1010]

Thank you for this very informative video! I have an assignment on the Global Goals, and this helped me understand why certain things are this way. Thanks :)

[@Treeplanter73]

Have you ever done a video on the island, tristan de cuhna??

[@connorthompson4030]

That would be cool.

[@TomTheOwl68]

Thank you. The fate of that Island is incredibly sad.

[@edwardgilmour9013]

Aside from the ethical lobotomy of Australia's detention camps. It is possible to back fill Nauru with soil & coal ash from Australia. Return it to something habitable.

[@belindal4206]

If you haven’t already, can you do a video on North Sentinel Island / The Sentinelese Tribe?

[@SpaceMonkeyBoi]

It's sad knowing that there are places on earth that used to be beautiful, and now, hardly a sign of its former glory

[@gogglespisano24]

Simon, how do you have so many channels and how am I obsessed with them all? You're fantastic. Thanks!

[@lavo-ld4wm]

Besides alcoholism, lung deceases and diabetes, Nauruans also suffer from morbid obesity (firstly due to the excess, when they were a wealthy population; later by the poor nutrition as poor nation), as 80% of the population is overweighted (thus making Nauru the most obese country in the world).

[@antbereishit]

Nauru is a country version of what happens when a poor person wins a lottery.

[@trinfinitex5911]

How about a video on Mount Rushmore?

[@karfomachet7265]

there is actually a lot they can do using explosives to clear those coral peaks can be flattened and they have been in some places all so top soil can be brought in to fill in them to .

[@badgerello]

It’s not a politically secure discussion point to even mention Nauru in Australia. It’s one of our many dirty little secrets; most of them racial or environmental in nature… this one combines both!

[@graemebell8391]

Been to Nauru,5 years ago,just shows,what mess, humanity,can cause to nature,also, Sideline, western cultures on the local people.Time we should think!!

[@melusine826]

As an Australian, I've never heard any of the previous history.... this is horrifying on so many leavels

[@dieseltoe]

As a Nauruan that's why now, I can't live without Vegemite on toast and VB!

[@iriswaterford8881]

Modern education must not tell you about the islands in the Pacific. We had the Solomon Islands as the country we had to write to, draw pictures etc.

[@izzi7438]

As an Australian, I'm ashamed of what our government has done.

[@111111hakar]

What about it? at the time of Australia leaving over 2/3 of the islands Phosphate reserve wher estill in place and Australia payed out $100million in damages to a nation with all of 10000 people living in it. Nauru did this to themselvs as uncomfortable an idea as that might be.

[@izzi7438]

@@111111hakar I was referring to turning a blind eye to the human rights violations of asylum seekers and being proud of it

[@111111hakar]

@@izzi7438 It's officialy not Australias fault of the government of Nauru agrees to house refugees they cant actualy support.

[@dannydetonator]

@@111111hakar Oh yes it is, you God-damn genocide accomplice.

[@johntom_fnq]

@@dannydetonator genocide? Get a grip mate

[@ollie2sik]

In the late 80’s I remember they used to send a private jet to Sydney to get Pizza.

[@PeterOlson]

There is a great This American Life episode about Nauru

[@gts-fan-man6771]

Yesss moar glorious beardy fact boi content!

[@StamfordBridge]

I hear phosphate has just been discovered in his beard.

[@davidhuffman8352]

Wow, crazy story. Didn't know anything about this island. What a tragedy.

[@bobwilliams899]

I hope so Simon is the best

[@rogerszmodis]

Dollar store Stalin would still be one of the worst people in history. The beach guy couldn’t have been that bad.

[@cullyx2913]

Excellent episode

[@arposkraft3616]

if only you could dump a layer of topsoil and have brush and trees growing back within a decada... o wait you can

[@Abbadon3232]

Yes but it could cost billions of dollars. This tiny nation can't even properly feed themselves. This is a profoundly sad story.

[@arposkraft3616]

@@Abbadon3232 at one point they were the second richest nation per capita, its called planning, and nah would be around 1 to 1.5 billion including shrubbery and trees,its more the lack of political will of anyone to say 'well do it' and by now the island itself couldnt even if they wanted, it would suit uk aus and new zealand to do it as they were the ones in custody of the island, goes to show again how useless the UN is

[@Captainridiculousawesomesauce]

So, in other words, they didn’t learn a thing from their previous mining disaster. Great.

[@thumpyloudfoot864]

Not gonna lie that island looks like sideboob... and thats pretty cool....

[@benburgess9428]

I think Nauru’s best bet would be to completely dissolve and let the brush do it’s thing. If brush country can take hold, an ecosystem will arise.

[@glenbehan1028]

wooo! go australia, getting in on the death toll like champs

[@frankchan4272]

Cancer of greed claims another victim, as so many other places & people.

[@dumbledoreous3080]

We should all pray that future KZbin videos on all of our respective places we call home do not include the line "But this was not enough for the Germans".

[@lh3540]

How's their situation with rising sea levels?

[@ericmattinen4728]

Where are sea levels rising?

[@HannahDanii]

I don’t want to take away from the subject, but I’m distracted, is your beard getting… Beardier?

[@WesStacey]

drugs and guns...what could possibly go wrong?

[@philliprobertson2594]

Wow. Humans. There are endless tales of islands being corrupted. We need to remember that our Gaia is an island in its own way.

[@jonlamontagne]

Why is there a neighborhood in the center of the mine and why is it green and looks like a few much bigger properties compared to the rest of the country?

[@alexisjordan9055]

If only the triple administration had had Square Space, they could’ve learned how to get those resources without destroying the island 😔😔😔

[@mikezadow4208]

This will be the whole world eventually. We are screwed if big big thing don’t change

[@rickespanish1945]

Ya. But they got theirs in the end. The definitely felt the pain of total obliteration.

[@Dank-gb6jn]

The most salient point: invest smartly and soundly. If you’ve got the resources, go for them, mine them efficiently and sparingly to maintain stocks; and for Christ’s sake: INVEST SMARTLY! Don’t hemorrhage money on stupid plays, or free education, invest in hard infrastructure and proper industry. Invest in things guaranteed to set your people up for generations, and not short term vanity projects or rampant “buy now” spending.

[@personzorz]

Free education seems a good investment

[@somethinglikethat2176]

@@personzorz index funds are the safest bet. A country like Nauru would suffer from brain drain due to the limited opportunities that a small population place can provide.

[@shonenjumpmagneto]

I feel bad for skipping the ad lol

[@omenlaxmi]

Great doco, loaded with sacrasm 😂

[@gabrielpacheco6383]

Watching this video makes me want to visit Nauru and help the people who are suffering there. I honestly feel terrible for everything that has happened to them, and I wish I could help to give Nauruans better lives.

[@CASTIEL93]

Fofo

[@echodelta9]

Are we being too polite, what that island is covered with is bird s--- guano! Ages of it. A time tested toilet for terns. You should do an episode on the Guano Wars. We Americans have the claim to that war. A pigeon dropped one on me once, I wanted to go war. I actually called in a coopers hawk on that same 9th & Main corner sometime later twice.

[@powwowken2760]

Indigenous people: Live in relative harmony for thousands of years Europeans: We come bearing culture! ... Also known as booze and guns War: My time to shine

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

I'm mean...err...indigenous people were not living in relative harmony. Maori people, for example, had quite a lot of wars, as well as slavery and a one notable genocide. Easter Islanders as well. Which isn't to say anyone was a 'savage' or justify colonialism. It's just this idea that indigenous peoples were generally more peaceful is not true. At most, it's just we don't really know the histories of conflicts between groups, partly because of colonialism but mostly because they didn't write.

[@notmaireelneim]

13:44 What's that soundtrack?

[@kostas6621]

Lord have Mercy! The horror! Colonization is horrible! This island is eventually going to collapse and just sink.

[@MBrainspaz]

Man I love this info-dump channel. It’s like blending up a dozen wiki articles and pouring them directly into my brain-with a charming voice!

[@stevencooke6451]

I do like his voice.

[@jasonwright1687]

Except Simon actually uses sources (not just opinion articles that are written for the sole purpose of providing content for a yet-to-be-written article).....

[@MadGunny]

@@jasonwright1687 I just read the Wikipedia article on Nauru and it was pretty spot on with this video with its information and timeline.

[@nunyabiznesse6917]

UwU

[@arthas640]

@@MadGunny Wikipedia is generally really good with their sources. The days when some random dumbass wrote whole articles is thankfully almost entirely in the past. Just thumbing through the sources on Wikipedia and I see a government office in Nauru, the CIA, the US State Department, and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs as the first few sources.

[@Kay_S_1499_CODM]

Hi there I'm from the island 👋👋and I just want to say thank you for shearing the good and the bad things that happened to my small island home [LOVE FORM NAURU] ❤️😁

[@BugnBuddysMom]

I cannot be the only person who watches Simon's channels and then goes on research benders. My family still curses the day I watched a Biographics video on Lavrentiy Beria... Now to plan my post COVID family vacation...

[@yvettemoore1228]

I think Beria was my first one too. What a prince!

[@budnelson2495]

There is no chance for a post-covid anything. Governments and corporations involved in outright control of ALL THINGS will never allow it to be. This is a permanent solving of the egos of mankind.

[@Hughj87]

This is very interesting, my Father grew up on the island and he told me all the amazing and wonderful times he had, when he was old enough he was shipped to a boarding school in New Zealand, and he never returned.

[@Hughj87]

@@boringbastard4920 well im not so thanks for the reply

[@alecblunden8615]

@@boringbastard4920 You certainly live up the tag.

[@yvettemoore1228]

@@boringbastard4920 what a bizarre comment! We’re you born there too? How could you know what the OC said isn’t true? 🤔

[@boringbastard4920]

@@yvettemoore1228 forget about it

[@sknkwrksowner]

Curious (after watching the video), was he like most kids are and 'oblivious' to the adult nature of conditions overall? I'm assuming your grandparents moved there from elsewhere for work, no? I honestly had never heard of the place until the video (thought it was going to be an island in the Marshall Islands chain).

[@alexkay3448]

Nauru's near neighbour, Banaba (which is part of Kiribati) was even more brutally destroyed by phosphate mining. It also suffered severely under Japanese occupation in WWII. Most of the island's inhabitants were evacuated before the Japanese reached them, but 200 remained. On August 20th 1945, the Japanese massacred all but one. After the war, phosphate mining had left the island so uninhabitable that the British moved almost the entire population to an island in Fiji, where most stay today, forcibly disconnected from their ancestral homeland of thousands of years. The population of Banaba went from 2706 in 1963 to just 46 in 1985. Some Banabians have travelled back since then, and the population sits around 300 today, in the three small villages that are still habitable - but only surviving off of imported food and water. Banaba and Nauru, like many Pacific islands, also risk destruction from climate change and rising sea levels. The populations of both islands live entirely in the thin zone of life around the edges, right up against the sea.

[@akextremerickert]

Wow crazy

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

We'd best strip mine them bare before they sink then! (sarcasm on western attitudes)

[@DanielS-zq2rr]

They will become climate change refugees

[@sladeb6036]

I was with you till the climate change. The worlds climate has always been changing and always will be. It's a power grab.

[@arthas640]

Being disconnected from their homeland is if anything preferable. Those islands used to have very, VERY small populations since without modern technology they cant get enough water or food. Some islands like that may get 2 inches of rain per month, even without the strip mining they have almost no arable land, and global fish stocks have been declining so they have very little ability to feed themselves, even before modern times those islands struggled to get enough food and water to sustain a small population. Meanwhile modern technology has lead to population booms: Nauru for example had a steady but low population of under 2000, but exploded up to 10,000 in a few decades which is well beyond what they could sustain on the island. That means tons of expensive food imports and desalination equipment as well as careful rationing, not a big deal for islands like Fiji with plenty of tourism, exportable and renewable natural resources, and some ability for local food production but for tiny flat island like Nauru or Banaba they simply cant sustain their population. If they remained on the island they'd just be dirt poor, largely unemployed, and reliant on food aid or some other form of subsidy.

[@Maaike2356]

"*some far away location* was doing alright, but things would soon take a turn for the worst." *insert the British*

[@108hindu]

and Australian’s, Germans, Japan…..

[@108hindu]

@Mod Zilla Erkle IS evil…..

[@somethinglikethat2176]

@@108hindu I feel like the British were the least morally questionable in this affair.

[@angelarch5352]

that one guy who found the phosphate was to blame for all of this not the UK..., oh also greedy corporations that came after (big surprise)

[@108hindu]

@@angelarch5352 someone would have found it….

[@dtaylor10chuckufarle]

On the bright side... at least the US didn't use it as a nuclear test range, so there's that.

[@gregraines1599]

For enough money Nauro probably would have let them.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

or France, which did a lot of nuclear testing in the Pacific.

[@Chris.Row1991]

Or England which just used outback Australia. There's an old thunder box out there as a kind of monument to the tests.

[@iriswaterford8881]

@@Chris.Row1991 and the surviving first nations mob have been robbed of their country. Can't go there or die.

[@thomasmarkwylie5688]

I stay in Namibia and there is currently a huge fight about whether or not to allow phosphate mining in our ocean. Right now fishing is a huge employer and money maker, so they are fighting against the phosphate mining. Though, the companies that want to mine are international and high ranking government officials have already gotten huge payments to make it happen

[@arynasabalenka3173]

If you are Namibian, why do you have an English name? Aren't Namibians only black Africans, Dutch and German?

[@thomasmarkwylie5688]

@@boringbastard4920 insightful.

[@thomasmarkwylie5688]

@@arynasabalenka3173 Nope, there are many different cultures in Namibia.

[@thomasmarkwylie5688]

@@boringbastard4920 I didn't say I live or have an association with the island .... I said I live in Namibia. Which is in southern Africa.

[@boringbastard4920]

@@thomasmarkwylie5688 then i take it back.

[@ianharvey4406]

I think Simon cloned himself several times. One went crazy though and does brain blaze.

[@somethinglikethat2176]

I'm guessing someone spilled a little cocaine and vodka in that test tube.

[@poiwytlee]

A close friend of mine was born on Nauru in the 70s. He was really lucky to have been born close enough to those local elites who mined the phosphate to afford to send him to boarding school and to get an international pilots liscense. I'm not sure exactly how it all works but it makes it so he has a unique ability to go a whole lot of places in the world. He currently works in dispact and pilot support for a small international shipping company he's worked for for 25 years. On his days off, he often helps with shipping fresh food and water and basic living and medical supplies into Nauru. He's fascinating, so intelligent, and considers himself lucky to have had the opportunity to leave that he did. He says that to be an international pilot for a lot of Nauraun boys is like how being a Dr is a huge aspiration for a lot of American kids...because one you can leave and two, you can actually (literally) bring home the produce to put on your kitchen table. He has a huge family there (no kids of his own on Nauru). When he brings shipments in just for his family, he accounts for something like 50-100+ people. And he's one of the few people in his family, let alone local community, who are employed and makes reasonable enough currency to feed anyone. It's so fucked up.

[@sonifer7692]

As an Australian: - absolutely spot on - thanks so much for making this one.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:30 - Chapter 1 - Pleasant island 5:15 - Chapter 2 - My war 8:25 - Mid roll ads 10:00 - Chapter 3 - Age of empires 13:50 - Chapter 4 - The age of excess 17:20 - Chapter 5 - Decline & fall 20:50 - Chapter 6 - Abyss

[@dapperden4129]

Thank you.

[@FatBlockOfHash]

This comment doesn't have enough like imo...

[@NeutralGenericUser]

Thank you for the excellent research. What happened to Nauru is really sad.

[@doggolovescheese1310]

My old friend's wife was from there. He met her when he was in Peace Corps. It's so sad :( She immigrated to America with him and they had a son. The things I remember most about her was her giant heartfelt smile, the natural joy that shined from her and shone through with her son. They all loved to laugh and I don't remeber ever seeing her upset. The Australian "detention center' is beyond criminal and Australia government should be charged with crimes against humanity...even some of Aboriginal population has been sent there >:(

[@iriswaterford8881]

When were first nation people sent to Nauru 🇳🇷?

[@Bubbaist]

I remember reading a blog by a tourist who had been there. He said that a tour of the entire country lasted an hour and a half.

[@jo3d1rt391]

I remember the same thing. For kicks and giggles I tried looking up the price and how to get there and couldn’t find anything.

[@markwilkins8314]

@@jo3d1rt391 I’ve flown with them,the oldest and well used 737

[@VanillaMacaron551]

@@jo3d1rt391 Visit Australia illegally with even slightly brown skin and we'll send you there to live for years in inhumane detention! Waiting for an international flight at Brisbane Airport one night, I heard repeated calls for passengers who hadn't shown up at the gate for a flight to Nauru. I don't think they wanted to go!

[@IbnShahid]

Wow, that’s an incredible amount of violence, greed and stupidity for such a tiny place. Like Nauru is a microcosm of all the worst aspects of human civilisation.

[@sknkwrksowner]

After watching the video then your comment, "Which time?!?" was the first thought I had! lol Had they not apparently had a BUNCH of fertile women, they would have been wiped out 3 or 4 times over given the population size after guns/civil war, then the Japanese occupation. (not trying to be gross, but seriously looking at the remoteness, conditions, and native population drops after civil unrest, etc.)

[@Vollification]

19:27 **jaw dropped** Other countries might look at you angrily if you launder money but issuing diplomatic passports for cash is basically like selling nukes from a diplomatic point of view. This is the stort of thing that could make the international community (even the most lowly tinpot banana republic) "unrecognize" a state because the international community would have no idea who's representing said state. You are literally selling your credibility as a state.

[@flushedphoenix81]

Sobering and well balanced as usual Mr Whistler et al. A timely reminder that although resources might be available it isn’t always a good idea to push ahead to get them

[@TM-yn4iu]

Ms McIntosh, your comment displays an example of a beautiful, zen like, reaction that I find exemplary. Sobering is a term used looking through a window, but the best to describe what we can't control looking through that window. Again, great!

[@TM-yn4iu]

Just my thoughts and words

[@fateunleashed9680]

Exactly this in my opinion is why it's especially important to remind ourselves of Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle in that order!

[@somethinglikethat2176]

Probably a lesson about how not to run a sovereign wealth fund too.

[@FatBlockOfHash]

Not seen those words "et al" since my college books, god that brings a world of hurt 😂😂 don't miss those days of assignments seeming to be due every other day hahaha

[@bluegold1026]

Goes to show that, once again, the love of money is the root of all evil.

[@somethinglikethat2176]

Really? I thought it was demonstratively false and idiotic cliches.

[@dannydetonator]

@@somethinglikethat2176 It's actually ignorance. Money, power and unbridled means to get it stems from that.

[@somethinglikethat2176]

@@dannydetonator I can think of plenty of terrible things that have been done free of ignorance and that were in the objective best interest of the perpetrators. Unfortunately for comment sections everywhere, blanket, one sentence, one size fits all summary to complicated issues are rare.

[@iriswaterford8881]

Greed of any kind. Is the root of all evil, whether for money, power, avarice.

[@seanb.6793]

Hey Elon Musk! Want to settle Mars? Try fixing Naru and making it liveable and beautiful again.

[@somethinglikethat2176]

What will that solve? Realistically it would only add about 20km² of liveable space to the planet. Compare that to becoming a multi-planet species. The whole "billionaires should fix this problem" mentality is deeply flawed.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

Rising sea levels will put it underwater within decades. Like Tuvalu, Kiribati and other Pacific nations, the entire populations will have to evacuate to NZ, Australia or elsewhere. These are tiny, sandy islands barely above sea level.

[@togia111]

Love you highlighting the Pacific issues. Thank you from Samoa. But you gotta know. Nothing empty about the Pacific. Should do one on the history of overfishing I'm the Pacific.

[@Anonymity4LDAF]

How has no one made a movie about this? It’s stranger than fiction!

[@TheGoldenPig.]

It feels like this should be an into the shadows video

[@PaladinOfNerds]

And that, children, was the saddest little island in the world...

[@Ace5665]

I always feel bad for the Japanese in WW2, until I hear about yet another one of their countless horrendous war crimes, and then I wonder why we stopped at the second bomb.

[@remi6733]

if we bombed nations for every war crime they've committed we wouldn't have any nations left

[@cryptidcrow282]

that’s- a very disturbing notion. would you say the same about germany?

[@remi6733]

@@cryptidcrow282 I mean assuming op is from the U.S. I've seen places teach WW2 in a fun way where regular German citizens were just poor uninformed people who didn't realize how bad Nazism was meanwhile the mean Japanese had their citizens committing warcrimes left and right for shits and giggles so probably not. And by places I mean that seems to be the general viewpoint. Probably helps there's all those movies about Germans who helped ppl escape concentration camps but none about the Japanese folk who did similar things.

[@cryptidcrow282]

@@remi6733 I don’t even think the Japanese citizens were as complicit as the soldiers. Would they have even be able to do the same heroism that Germans could when the main shit happened abroad in other areas? I’m not defending the Japanese actions but I think it’s shit to act like they deserved absolute decimation with nuclear bombs. The first was enough

[@somethinglikethat2176]

Because they surrendered. And unlike their two primary opponents, the Allies weren't aiming at genocide.

[@KalmoK]

Fun fact: 'nauru' is a finnish word and means laughter in english

[@MrNicefash]

In Scotland it means " Green Anus"

[@HashtagNashtag_]

Would be interesting to do a follow-up video in a few years about how the deep sea mining has gone and what if Nauru has improved

[@elisabethwestner3953]

Well, this is just about the most depressing thing I've ever heard.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

The phosphate stuff is shameful but Australian politicians cruelly incarcerating refugees there to win votes is beyond the pale. "We will decide who comes to our country" said little Johnny Howard PM before he lost government and his own seat, but his totally misnamed Liberal Party kept the whole "tough on refugees" thing going. So they're about to be turfed out of office again (May 22). Meanwhile after realising it was no longer a vote-winner, just this week (April 22) they have released some of the last asylum-seekers into the Australian community after up to a decade in detention. These people are mental and physical wrecks and will probably never recover. Many refugees committed suicide on Nauru. Australia has had an appallingly corrupt and awful govt for the past seven years.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

Actually it is a quite common story of what happens when a natural resource is monetized.

[@Rashed1255]

Sounds a bit like a speed run of Earth

[@siggy6044]

Always love hearing interesting tales of places I've never heard of! Any word on a possible video on the Salton Sea? I remember you said it sounded interesting, just curious if there's enough for a video there

[@JonMahn]

I thought he did one quite a while ago, but I guess that was the Aral Desert maybe.

[@SevCaswell]

aht he Second World War, where two nations competed to be the most inhumane and evil...

[@gladlawson61]

Have you done the shell / oil damage done to I think congo? It would be another good lesson on what not to do. Also can u do ... how they find oil.. drill for it vs fracking. Why we still need it but still need green alternatives at the same time

[@gunnargunnarsson5963]

I think that was in Nigeria

[@gemahgiouba8312]

Very well researched topic. I learn alot from this video. I am a Nauruan but I don't even know my own history😅 Thank you for making this video, our leaders need to learn from past mistakes to avoid history from repeating itself.

[@saifchowdhury3581]

The same shit keeps happening in so many countries in Africa and South America where selected politicians and businessmen become super rich by selling rights of land and resources without proper precautions and plans

[@somethinglikethat2176]

How much of the blame belongs with the people? To use Argentina for an example, they elect a woman recently as Vice-president who has an outstandingly bad record of corruption in the past, even by Argentine standards. At what point are the people voting to blame? It's also not limited to the likes of Africa and South America. In Australia a mining lease was sold extremely cheap. It since came out that significant corruption was involved in the deal.

[@bwktlcn]

Nauru is our future...with the ultra rich fighting for the last seats on a spaceship off the dusty lifeless ruin of earth

[@Zacccc-m8p]

What about the way the jungle recovered the Aztec cities or shoot how about Detroit and all the old car factories zero plant life right. Go try to rid a large parking lot from plants. Look up gold rush and watch the show you will see the regrowth 🤔

[@Andrea.1tree]

@@Zacccc-m8p What you seem to forget is that in order for nature to reclaim what humans destroyed, (in the examples you gave), the humans were absent for one reason or another. ✌🏼

[@Zacccc-m8p]

@@Andrea.1tree well with the way society is going....

[@Andrea.1tree]

@@Zacccc-m8p You may have a point…😉

[@GravityGrave]

we'll be done for before we can support human life permanently outside of civilization on earth

[@cesarferraz7807]

Pitcairn next! I mean there is even that movie Mutiny on the Bounty. But then with all the rapes and prision building. What a dark and interesting story...