The climate crisis we are in is a problem that we need to give more focus to as a society. I think being a YouTuber provides a really great opportunity to get the message across about important issues such as climate change and what we can do to live more sustainably. However, I have a problem with climate change being talked about on YouTube. Here is what I mean:
First of all, I am small. I think one of the biggest problems I have with sustainability on YouTube is that all of the effort I am putting into my YouTube channel does not feel extremely useful. At least right now, with just 53 subscribers I feel like I am impacting no one's life. That is not my goal. Even if I managed to grow, I have noticed a pattern on YouTube: None of the sustainability channels I follow have 1,000,000 subscribers or even close to half of that. Although YouTube is great for accessing a variety of people, it is not easy to get those people to want to watch your content. This doesn’t give much hope to us YouTubers trying to spread the sustainability message.
Speaking of the people who want to see your content, my viewers are people that care about climate change. That is great… keep caring please. However, it is very difficult to get the word out to people who have no interest in sustainability. This is simply how the algorithm works. It is very unlikely that your video will find someone who is not interested in anything related to saving the planet unless you somehow go viral. None of this is to say sustainability YouTubers are bad or make bad content, I just think it is a hard niche to grow on YouTube-- especially where I am at. When I first started my YouTube channel, I was stuck at around seven subscribers for many weeks. I feel like I have been stuck at 53 subscribers for a significant amount of time and it is hard to stay motivated with low numbers. (That is just a general rule for any YouTuber.)
We need the world to get to other types of people. I think one of the biggest world-wide problems is that not enough people care about the planet because it does not affect them. It’s not like they live here or anything… Just kidding, we all need to care. This is one of the many reasons why I loved the documentary Kiss The Ground. I, myself, can’t spread the message to everyone. In Kiss The Ground they involve famous people such as singers and sports players, a very effective way of intriguing people who typically wouldn’t care much about sustainability or climate change. Ultimately, I think we need more of this. Famous people who already have huge platforms need to be role models for sustainability. You don’t need to be an environmentalist to make a sustainable choice. Some of the people included in the video were Tom Brady and Gisele, Jason Mraz, Ian Somerhalder, Gavin Newsom, Pashon Murray, John D Liu, and more!
So, ultimately, I think sustainability needs to be a bigger “trend” on YouTube. A trend that doesn’t end. It is great that people use YouTube to spread this important message and I think we really just need more of that. Thanks for reading. Until next time, peace.
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