Nauru: Environmental Apocalypse in the World’s Smallest Republic

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@iwaitforher]

Hi

[@cheebsgod]

This is vsauce, Simon here

[@NiSM0pt]

Still waiting for Simon Tech Tips

[@Arirezz]

*SOON*

[@timmy2shoez]

I'm about it

[@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).

[@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] ❤️😁

[@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.

[@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...

[@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.

[@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.

[@sonifer7692]

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

[@NeutralGenericUser]

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

[@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.

[@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!

[@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 🇳🇷?

[@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

[@vainoleppanen8971]

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

[@iwaitforher]

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) 👍

[@gabrielfestini]

I've been watching all your channels forever and this is one of the best videos! Learning about a passionating story and exploring the societal effects of a place I had never heard is why i love you guys 😊

[@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.

[@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….

[@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

[@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

[@TheMAXAnswer]

Always have been interested in the republic smaller than my very humble home"town", but never heard of its history in such detail! Yet another very interesting video!

[@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.

[@kezza6133]

Never got to comment so early on your videos but thank you dude , very educational and entertaining to watch 👌

[@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.

[@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.)

[@joseybryant7577]

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

[@princessmarlena1359]

This is definitely an interesting story, and excellent cautionary tale.

[@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.

[@senseofstile]

It all goes back to what Lee Kwan Yew did when Singapore became a country. He put stiff penalties on politicians if they decided to steal the money. That is why Singapore is a success and Nauru isn't.

[@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.

[@thomasglessner6067]

Simon, I am not going to sleep well tonight after watching this video. Thank you for the video. Really sad history. TG

[@1003JustinLaw]

I was thinking "nice quiet retirement location" until I heard the part about respiratory diseases... sigh, so hard to find somewhere relatively ignored by the wider world.

[@DonBair]

Hey, that was pretty good, Simon!

[@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

[@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.

[@SpectacularDisaster]

Love the variety of these channels

[@humanrightsadvocate]

The research done for this video is impressive.

[@PaladinOfNerds]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@rachitaroy6621]

Simon, my man... Good to see you again 😄

[@patmurphy6849]

Thank you Simon. I never knew anything about this poor island. Everyone needs to know what disrespecting the environment can do. Very sad indeed.

[@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 :)

[@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...

[@muzzer5327]

Yes! Thank you! Been asking for this!

[@Bambisgf77]

That was absolutely riveting 😮… God bless those poor little children who have never known anything but despair.

[@MR2Davjohn]

It is so sad what things people do when greed, avarice and selfishness go unchecked.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

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

[@spencerthompson1049]

Great Geographics video! Never heard of this place, and what a history!

[@rogerszmodis]

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

[@29blazehead]

One thing I've noticed with some former colonies is they protest the controlling nation for its exploitation, but then they turn around and do similar things once they are independent. Shows they are very similar in thought, they just wanted to be the big guys.

[@IRosamelia]

Botswana being a notable exception 🇧🇼

[@blaznskais2048]

I was thinking something similar. It’s hard for me to feel much sympathy for Nauru when they turned around and not only continued the strip mining but ramped it up. And then had the Gaul to try and sue Australia for damages caused by the mining they continued.

[@francisbergeron4334]

It's just the natural laws of civilisation at work. Independence, anarchy or any revolutions in a power structure just creates a power vacuum that gets filled by the strongest autoritharian around. So when Nauru became independent, and the previous ''leaders'' left, the most adept opportunist around took power. And the skillset that alowed them to gain their power led them to the same practices as the previous government. It's human nature, sadly.

[@dannydetonator]

Have you thought of the bigger picture though? Like, if they were not colonized, ethnically clensed, their habitat, way of life and governance half destroyed in the first place? The rest is just the consequence of that initial trauma, or countless traumas in this case, as i see it. Human nature, yes, but annihilation of balance brings on human nature, and then some. Power and money corrupts accordingly, no doubt about it. Just who is to say, that the majority agreed on mining their own island to hell? Or if they, population, or even their ever corrupt new-baked leaders new the consequences, even if they cared? Ignorance while giving powers to reap quick rewards will always result in tragedy, sooner or later. Just from our morally unfounded 'western' view, lot of you have hardship seeing the hypocrisy saying 'it's their own fault' in the end, no sympathy required. After all, somehow they managed to stay sustained, without killing each other off, living in what's now assumed as unspoiled paradise for millenias, just until the 'civilization' arrived. Funny, that.

[@IRosamelia]

@@dannydetonator true, the problem is colonization isn't just economic but cultural. Natives mostly everywhere started living like westerners and having the same desires and behaviors. Hence in post colonial times developing countries have mostly become Animal Farm style dystopias.

[@kkloikok]

Sounds like a nice gunnery Target for the US Navy

[@Nupagade246]

Great one. Thankx our bearded friend

[@Foiled_Foliage]

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

[@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.

[@KalmoK]

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

[@MrNicefash]

In Scotland it means " Green Anus"

[@gogglespisano24]

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

[@jackfitzgerald2955]

Fun fact: "The white King" left Nauru and went north of the wall

[@nathanj3114]

"So you say it's all circling the drain. Had to end sometime."

[@joeyr7294]

I was just re-watching all the khan vids....but a new post take presence!

[@veggieboyultimate]

There needs to be a reforestation program in the island. It could help solve at least one part of its problem.

[@somethinglikethat2176]

The amount of rehab work and the complexity might make it not viable.

[@dannydetonator]

@@somethinglikethat2176 Check out holistic farming. If that don't work, big part of Earth will be screwed.

[@sknkwrksowner]

It's not that type of ground and one of the main points is NOTHING can grow in the aftermath. It's like copper mining in the US. The ground is basically toxic and damaged beyond repair.

[@mpd2022]

Very fascinating. Ever considered a video on Tuvalu? Might be a good one to do while the nation still exists :/

[@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.

[@raycarl7933]

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

[@fidelio9301]

The Nauru in the 90s sounded awesome. No questions. Boom.

[@louise8001]

I'm Australian, and what my country's government (both past and present) has done to Nauru is disgusting and embarrassing.

[@cowtown9437]

so youre the type of person who voted yes 🤔😆 some people may get it

[@TomTheOwl68]

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

[@luvondarox]

13:43 My gosh. I thought my phone had jumped to a That Chapter episode. 🤣

[@antbereishit]

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

[@Rashed1255]

Sounds a bit like a speed run of Earth

[@uningenieromas]

This easily would go to Into The Shadows series.

[@zkuysal]

Nauru is a microcosm of what will eventually happen to the planet. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon enough. I'm convinced that we will never be able to stop it, it's only a matter of time.

[@clumsycapy]

hell naw i got faith in humanity, bet you 100 bucks we’ll be on the path to recovery in 50 years

[@zkuysal]

@@clumsycapy we will try, and there will be just as many people trying as people who cling to old ways of doing things and making it much harder to recover. We may be able to save humanity but the planet will be forever scarred, and definitely will not be anything reminiscent of what we had a hundred years ago, much less what we have now.

[@heatherjones6647]

As a Canadian, I am ashamed of our international mining actions, period, but this one has to be one of the more disgusting. Our government does nothing. We even sold asbestos to developing countries when it was banned in our own because not one politician dared piss off Quebec. Now a "compromise" on coal has been reached. My country and a world gone mad and suicidal with it.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@cullyx2913]

Excellent episode

[@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.

[@dieseltoe]

14:55 Nauruans were offered to be resettled on Fraser island (which was a choice of 2 islands off the coast of Oz, dunno the other island).

[@TheNadnerb]

5:49 "So anyway, I started blasting."

[@jo3d1rt391]

My mind went straight to the Futurama episode where everybody tries to save the penguins on Neptune I think it is, but in the end the penguins end up blasting each other with guns left behind

[@styx4947]

Love that line "there are no excuses Available with Square Space" I don't know why. But I do

[@resileaf9501]

We're going to have to put a stop to this rampant greed that is quickly destroying our environment and our ability to survive on the only planet we have. Otherwise we're all going to be in the same situation as Nauru.

[@iriswaterford8881]

Don't fly or drive a car. Ride a bike or walk. Compost, compost. Grow your own. Don't grumble. Damn I am channelling my mother. Our compost heap grew the best pumpkins, cows give milk, cream & then you can make ice cream (Dad was the best maker), butter. We had some fruit trees, neighbours grew others. Resileaf you are correct greed is destroying this planet.

[@bobwilliams899]

I hope so Simon is the best

[@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.

[@belindal4206]

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

[@NickGiffin]

Have you done a video on Love Canal in New York? It would be an interesting topic.

[@ShionWinkler]

"It was a paradise on earth... Then Europe happened..." This seems to be a recurring theme around the world.

[@nicholasaudy6064]

Better than Japan who massacred a quarter of the population through forced starvation and execution

[@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

[@roberttorres8477]

Good morning Simon.

[@angelarch5352]

this video should be taught in schools.

[@hbeachley]

Simon reviews pop culture would be my favorite. 😆

[@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

[@larryforrest4627]

Not at all, buddy. You are definitely not the only one that watches Simons' channels. I love all of his shows and how he goes about presenting them!!! I love his accent. I'm American, so I've got just a regular boring accent. English chick accents are DEFINITELY 🔥 HOT 🔥. God bless you and your family. Tobby

[@DougGrinbergs]

16:16 Nauru House tower in Melbourne, Australia 18:50 offshore banking 20:52 Tampa Affair detention center 24:12 deepsea mining plans ☹️😡

[@daviddenley3512]

Absolutely Shocking!