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Noted Brother Hank Green

2026-05-05 · letter vlog · John · 4:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, fundraising ask, self promotion

On Hank's 46th birthday John hails his accolades, says they only truly connected through their shared work since 2007, and argues Hank's great gift is imagining others complexly, as donors to the Sierra Leone project do; per Hank's wish, he plugs a Sun Basin Soap sale for the MCOE.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Birthday hype: Hank's 46th birthday and a mock-grand list of his titles and accolades

  • ★★ John marks Hank's 46th birthday: he was born 46 years ago today and survived childhood scarlet fever and other illnesses that a century earlier might have killed him. — 00:00:03 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John hails Hank as inventor of 2D Glasses, TikTok science guy, Crash Course, VidCon and Project for Awesome man, best-selling novelist, Billboard-charting musician and Emmy winner. (playful) — 00:00:13 · Hank Green, TikTok, Crash Course, VidCon, Project for Awesome

00:00:29 — John as a Hank fan; growing up apart, and how siblings connect through a shared site of interest, theirs since 2007

  • ★★ John says he is first and foremost a Hank Green fan, of Hank's brand-new website on rising colorectal cancer rates among young people and of his 1994 Mars exploration page. (playful) — 00:00:32 · Hank Green
  • ★ John jokes he was a fan before everyone else, back in the 1980s when Hank collected every nickel and penny he could in a gigantic bucket for fun. (playful) — 00:00:46 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John left for boarding school when Hank was 11 and they have never lived in the same city since; he knew Hank as a little brother tagging along, not as a person. — 00:01:03 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John always admired Hank: he worked far harder than John, admittedly a low bar, and was a really interesting thinker even in high school. — 00:01:14 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says siblings, especially entering adulthood, sometimes need shared problems and opportunities, a shared site of interest, to connect; he and Hank have had that since 2007. — 00:01:40 · Hank Green

00:01:56 — Sierra Leone donors, two young women met in Kono, bridging the empathy gap, and Hank's gift for imagining others complexly

  • ★★★ Often siblings connect over aging parents; for them it is Vlogbrothers, Crash Course, Dear Hank and John and more, and working with someone you trust all the way down is beyond a gift. — 00:01:56 · Hank Green, Vlogbrothers, Crash Course, Dear Hank and John
  • ★★ In Sierra Leone last week (week of 27 April 2026) John kept thinking of Hank and the thousands who donate monthly at pih.org/hankandjohn, most of whom have never been there. — 00:02:14 · Sierra Leone, Hank Green, Partners In Health
  • ★★ John says he is incredibly fortunate to glimpse up close the effects of radical health care and education inequity because he gets to travel all over the world. — 00:02:36 · health equity
  • ★★ Last week (week of 27 April 2026) John met two 20-year-old best friends who live together; one is being treated for tuberculosis alongside her one-year-old child. — 00:02:44 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ John says tuberculosis is a disease that shouldn't exist, let alone one slowly malnourishing an already impoverished child. — 00:02:52 · tuberculosis
  • ★★★ John says the two women sharing their stories helped him bridge the empathy gap: what feels distant collapses when sitting together, invited into their home. — 00:02:59
  • ★★★ John says those who have never been to Kono must bridge the empathy gap other ways: through imagination and believing people's stories, even through a screen. — 00:03:14 · perspective-taking
  • ★★ John says most of those, Hank and Katherine included, who raised over $30 million for the MCOE and other efforts against maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone have never been there. — 00:03:24 · Hank Green, Katherine Green, Maternal Center of Excellence, maternal death, child mortality, Sierra Leone
  • ★★★ John says what he finds most impressive about Hank is his ability to truly imagine the world, and the lives of people in it, complexly. — 00:03:38 · Hank Green, perspective-taking

00:03:53 — Hank's birthday wish: a Sun Basin Soap sale with all profit to the Maternal Center of Excellence

00:04:22 — A young nerdfighter's kind words about Dear Hank and John; thanks to Hank, friend of 46 years; sign-off

  • ★★ A young nerdfighter who recognized John said that, friendless after moving to the big city, she listened to Dear Hank and John and felt they were friends; one of the kindest things anyone has told him. — 00:04:22 · Nerdfighteria, Dear Hank and John
  • ★★ John says it reminded him how lucky he is to have had Hank as a friend for 46 years, and thanks him for everything. — 00:04:30 · Hank Green

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: perspective-taking

Also: People: Katherine Green

Projects: Crash Course · Dear Hank and John · Hank Green's Mars Exploration Page · Project for Awesome · Sun Basin Soap · VidCon

Works: 2D Glasses · Hank Green's colorectal cancer website

Organizations: Billboard · Emmy Award · Maternal Center of Excellence · Partners In Health · TikTok

Terms: doobly-doo

Concepts: child mortality · colorectal cancer · health equity · maternal death · scarlet fever · tuberculosis

Places: Kono District · Sierra Leone

Only in the description or credits: Good Store

Later videos replying to this one