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Video: A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels (by Monica Araya)

 Transcription of A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels:

0:12   How do we build a society without fossil 1._________?

0:17   This is a very complex challenge, and I believe developing countries could take the lead in this transition.And I'm aware that this is a contentious statement, but the reality is that so much is at stake in our countries if we let 2.___________ fuels stay at the center of our development. We can do it differently. And it's time, it really is time, to debunk the myth that a country has to choose between development on the one hand and environmental protection, renewables, quality of life, on the other.

1:00   I come from 3.___________, a developing country. We are nearly five million people, and we live right in the middle of the Americas, so it's very easy to remember where we live. Nearly 100 percent of our electricitycomes from renewable 4.___________, five of them.

1:25   (Applause)

1:29   Hydropower, 5.__________, wind, 6.____________, biomass.

1:38  Did you know that last year, for 299 days, we did not use any fossil fuels in order to generate all our 7.___________? It's a fantastic achievement, and yet, it hides a paradox, which is that nearly 70 percent of all our energy consumption is oil.

2:10   Why? Because of our transportation system, which is totally dependent on fossil fuels, like it is in most countries. So if we think of the 8._________ transition as a marathon, the question is, how do we get to the finish line, how do we decarbonize the rest of the economy? And it's fair to say that if we don't succeed,it's difficult to see who will. So that is why I want to talk to you about Costa Rica, because I believe we are a great candidate in pioneering a vision for development without fossil fuels.

2:50    If you know one thing about our country, it's that we don't have an army. So I'm going to take you back to 1948. That year, the country was coming out of civil war. Thousands of Costa Ricans had died, and families were bitterly split. And yet, a surprising idea won the hearts and minds: we would reboot the country, and that Second Republic would have no 9.___________. So we abolished it. And the president at the time, José Figueres, found a powerful way by smashing the walls of an army base. The following year, 1949, we made that decision permanent in the new constitution, and that is why I can tell you that story nearly 70 years later. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful they made that decision before I was born, because it allowed me and millions of others to live in a very stable country.

4:00    And you might be thinking that it was good luck, but it wasn't. There was a pattern of deliberate choices.In the '40s, Costa Ricans were given free education and free health care. We called that social guarantees. By abolishing the army, we were able to turn military spending into 10.___________ spending, and that was a driver of stability. In the '50s —

4:28   (Applause)

4:33    In the '50s, we started investing in 11._____________, and that kept us away from the trap of using fossil fuels for electricity generation, which is what the world is struggling with today. In the '70s we invested in national parks, and that kept us away from the deeply flawed logic of growth, growth, growth at any costthat you see others embracing, especially in the developing world. In the '90s, we pioneered payments for ecosystem services, and that helped us reverse deforestation and boosted ecotourism, which today is a key engine of growth. So investing in environmental protection did not hurt our economy. Quite the opposite.

5:18   And it doesn't mean we are perfect, and it doesn't mean we don't have contradictions. That's not the point. The point is that, by making our own choices, we were able to develop resilience in dealing with development problems.

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