Niyah: Africa’s Energy Poverty | Leo & Layla's History Adventures | PragerU Kids

[Music] what do you think you're doing Leo drinking chocolate milk with a plastic straw am I the only one in this family who cares about the environment paper straws don't it's not about straws it's about the environment and I don't think you and Mom and Dad are worried enough about global warming and fighting climate change you're just mad dad shot down your idea to put solar panels on the roof he wouldn't even listen to me he did listen but you didn't have any good reasons his brother is an environmental scientist and like he told you Uncle will said those solar panels do more harm than good I know but it's really hard for me to believe I hear so much about being green I just want to do what's best for the environment can we use the history app and meet up with Uncle will he'll be able to clear things up about environmental stuff for you that's not a bad idea I don't think the history app will work but I've meaning to try this travel app but on the way we need to stop in central Africa I want you to meet this girl I WR about in a prageru digital magazine her name is Nia and nobody in her Village has electricity I want to see if she'll come with us to talk to Uncle will okay sounds [Music] good all right this is central Africa and there she is it's Nia hi can I help you hi Nia I'm Leo and this is this is my sister Ila uh how do you know my name we're from America I read about you and your family in a prageru digital magazine okay see we have this app on our phone Leila she might not know what a cell phone is hey this is Africa not Mars my parents actually have a phone we can't use it here in the village there's no electricity or sell service but we go visit my family in the capital pretty often and use it there this is why we've come to find you my brother told me how you and your cousins are pretty much like us and have similar hopes and dreams but that without reliable energy or any electricity at all well it makes your lives harder than they should be I love living here in the village it is peaceful and beautiful and we even have gorillas in our forest nearby but you are correct life would be better with electricity better for health better for Education everything I write about how it takes you hours and hours to do things that we do with the flip of a which that is why my cousin Joseph is in college studying to be a scientist he wants to help bring electricity to African villages like mine and improve electricity in the towns and cities where they have some energy but it doesn't work often and it's very expensive so our uncle will is an energy expert he's written books about all the different ways energy is created and I want to talk to him about solar and wind energy I thought you and Joseph could come with us well Joseph is busy with classes of at his university but I'm free I've collected enough water and gathered enough food for now I can go with you and tell Joseph what I learned I just need to be home before dark I have my evening chores just curious how long do your chores take you each day not too bad about 3 hours in the morning and 2 in the evening I have to bring water collect and chop wood wash clothes and help my mom make meals wow no washer and dryer for laundry no dishwasher nope no fridge no stove no air conditioning no heater let's go find Uncle will that was a wild ride yeah it's fun huh Leo Leila is that you what are you doing here hey Uncle will we brought our friend Nia to meet you she lives in central Africa and her Village doesn't have electricity hello sir I hear you are an energy expert I would like to gather information from you and take new knowledge back to my family and community I think I can help I'm an environmental scientist and I've written lots of books about different energy sources we need to know which energy source is the best so that Nia's life can be better let's start by sorting the different ways to produce energy into two groups reliable energy and unreliable energy one group already sounds bad you've got to be able to count on things when they're needed I don't like anything that's unreliable reliable energy comes from coal natural gas and nuclear power plants each of these takes a natural resource from the earth and can create energy for people to use around the clock year round that's why we say they're reliable because they can always be counted on it's also nice that they're not too expensive so which energy sources are known as unreliable those will be solar power from the Sun and energy produced from windmills they are unreliable because they only can make energy when Nature cooperates there's no sun at night and not every day is sunny where I live even on sunny days most more are foggy and Misty does your village get a lot of wind not really sometimes we have very nice pleasant Breeze but it is very rarely windy but Uncle will wind and solar are renewable forms of energy even if they're limited we're not going to run out of them and they don't harm the environment not so fast Missy it's true sun rays and wind don't harm the environment the solar panels wind Mills and the batteries needed for these types of energy are all made from materials that have to be mined from the Earth cannot be recycled and become hazardous waste no one ever likes to talk about that I just hear that solar and wind are the way to save the planet unfortunately many of the people who talk about how great they are for the environment give misleading information and leave out very important facts like what for starters even when the sun shines bright and windmills spin fast wind and solar just aren't powerful enough to power the modern world the energy from them just isn't danc and robust enough places that have invested billions of dollars on wind and solar still have to use reliable sources for most of their power sounds like a giant waste maybe those places want to be green Leo maybe they want to set a good example what was that was that a bird ew gross did that bird just get killed by a windmill yes did like many people Ila you've been misled about renewable energy and their impact on the environment I never thought about windmills killing birds windmills kill so many birds it's hard to track how many but that's just a start of how negative wind and solar are for our natural environment look around does this look natural to you wind farms and solar Farms disrupts huge amounts of natural habitat causing harm to plants and animals I never thought about how much space they take up and the materials needed to create windmills solar panels and the batteries required to store these forms of energy have to be dug up taken from the earth so wind power and solar power require mining of Natural Resources similar to coal and natural gas but the power created is less powerful and can't be relied on H hm is right and young lady it gets worse because windmills and solar panels can't be recycled once they wear out and they all do they just end up in giant metal trash heaps some European countries claim to be helping your Homeland by donating their used solar panels to Africa they then quickly wear out and Africans are are left with nothing but mountains of useless metal and wires that's really messed up I do not want any more wind or solar energy coming to Africa we need reliable energy and we need to maintain as much of our beautiful nature as possible Uncle will is there an energy source that is best for Africa there certainly is let me see that traveling Contraption of yours hey what a ride is that a nuclear power plant my cousin has told me that they might be the best option Africa I think nuclear is the best there have been massive improvements to coal and natural gas but nuclear energy is cheap and it's more environmentally friendly than any other option really when I hear nuclear I think of hazardous waste and radiation yeah and I don't want to grow a third eye Uncle will the truth is kids nuclear creates massive amounts of energy with zero pollution and all are requires is a small amount of uranium a natural resource that is found all over the world will you please EXP further it takes dozens of wind and solar Farms cover and thousands of acres of land to match the energy produced from a single nuclear plant that sounds very good and nuclear energy is so dense and Powerful that it only takes this much uranium to provide all the energy that a person will need in their entire life waa that's it that's tiny and the amount of waste is Tiny too America has been creating nuclear energy for almost 50 years and all of the waste so far are all of it can safely be stored in an area the size of one football field what about scary accidents at the power plants well they're very rare and get less and less frequent as we improve safety technology but it's also important to know that the world's biggest nuclear accidents haven't been nearly as scary as reported about 10 years ago a nuclear power plant in Japan was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami but all the damage to people in the environment was from the natural disaster not nuclear radiation and the biggest new nuclear accident in US history happened over 40 years ago no one was hurt and the amount of radiation that leaked was equal to a chest x-ray Leo knows all about chest x-rays really Leo did you have a bad illness no I swallowed a Lego when you were a baby no like 2 months ago let's change the subject so Uncle will is there any negative to nuclear energy there really isn't it's reliable all the time it's cheap and it's safe but probably most importantly it is by far the best energy option for our environment with nuclear energy Nia and her family would have all the electricity they ever need and it would be the best way to preserve Africa's wildlands open spaces and natural beauty and our birds will be safe thank you for your time Mr will I have learned so much and can't wait to share my new knowledge I'm going to share what I've learned too I love the environment and want to do what's best for the planet it isn't with solar and wind energy go nuclear well until my Village has electricity from any Source I have many evening chores I must do so my mom can make dinner tonight I need to get back thanks a bunch Uncle will come on Leo let's drop na off and go see if our mom needs our help for dinner bye kids bye if you are interested in time traveling again please subscribe to prageru.com kids and watch more of our adventures thank you for watching this video to keep prageru videos free please consider making a tax deductible donation