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Project for Awesome: The Nature Conservancy

2009-12-17 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Global development · advocacy activism

Hank celebrates becoming an uncle, then makes his P4A 2009 case for the Nature Conservancy, which buys land to save it because the Earth keeps us alive better than we can, pledging $1,000 and auctioning his So Jokes cover art; he closes with a song arguing that hating the world's problems motivates us to fix them.

What is said

00:00:00 — Hank will be an uncle; Song Wednesday line about John's baby; this is his P4A video

  • ★★★ Hank excitedly announces that he is going to be an uncle. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says it is Song Wednesday, but he expected John's announcement tomorrow rather than yesterday, so he has no song about John's baby, only a line: 'John Green loves John Green's baby.' (playful) — 00:00:00 · Song Wednesday
  • ★★★ Hank says this is his Project for Awesome video and this year his money goes to his all-time favourite environmental charity, the Nature Conservancy. — 00:00:00 · Project for Awesome

00:00:33 — The Nature Conservancy: dad was Florida director; buying land to save it; the Earth keeps us alive; the Biodome; $1,000 pledge

  • ★★ Hank says the brothers' dad worked for the Nature Conservancy when they were growing up, as its Florida State Director. — 00:00:33 · Florida
  • ★★★ Hank explains the Nature Conservancy's mission: buying land across the world so it is not destroyed and saving it forever, 'the last best places'. — 00:00:33 > «that's the Nature Conservancy's one and only job, to save the last best places»
  • ★★★ Hank argues the Earth is much better at keeping us alive than we are: we could not even replicate it in an enclosed experiment, so we must not destroy it. — 00:00:33
  • ★★★ Hank says he will give a thousand dollars of his own money to the Nature Conservancy, and some of viewers' money too. — 00:01:03

00:01:25 — Auctions: So Jokes cover art, the signed John Green bobblehead; where the money goes

  • ★★★ Hank is auctioning on eBay the original hand-drawn cover of So Jokes and the pen drawings for the CD, by the album artist and signed by both; links are in the sidebar. — 00:01:25 · So Jokes
  • ★★★ Hank says a single John Green bobblehead signed by both brothers is also being auctioned; his auction money goes to the Nature Conservancy, and John's (glasses, bobblehead) to stopping malaria. — 00:01:25

00:01:54 — Sign-off, then the song 'I Hate This World': anti-intellectualism, extinction, climate change, Darfur, cosmetic surgery, dieting; hate as motivation

  • ★ Hank says this is what the Project for Awesome is about and he is extremely excited. — 00:01:54 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ In his song, Hank says that though happy, he is mad most people can't do eighth-grade math and that reading is treated as uncool: 'since when did being smart start being a disgrace?' (playful) — 00:01:54
  • ★★★ Hank's song argues that hating the world's problems is good: there is nothing like hate to motivate us to make the world better, so viewers should hate it with him. (playful) — 00:02:28 > «there's nothing like hate to motivate us to make this world more great»
  • ★★ Hank sings that three species go extinct every day, and that he is scared of climate change. — 00:02:51 · climate change
  • ★★ Hank sings that 300,000 people died in Darfur and no one tried to stop it. — 00:02:51
  • ★★ Hank sings that 'we' spend a million per year on cosmetic surgery, money that could feed many hungry children. — 00:02:51
    • number check: a million — doubtful
  • ★★ Hank sings that American girls start dieting at eight. — 00:02:51 · United States

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