The magic washing machine | Hans Rosling

Translator: Louise Frilund Reviewer: Niels Justus

I was only four years old

Jeg var kun fire år gammel

when I saw my mother load a washing machine

da jeg så min mor fylde en vaskemaskine

for the very first time in her life.

for første gang i sit liv.

That was a great day for my mother.

Det var en stor dag for min mor.

My mother and father had been saving money for years

Min mor og far havde sparet op i årevis

to be able to buy that machine,

for at få råd til at købe den maskine.

and the first day it was going to be used,

Den første dag, den skulle bruges

even Grandma was invited to see the machine.

blev bedstemor endda inviteret

til at se maskinen.

(Laughter)

Og bedstemor var endnu mere spændt.

And Grandma was even more excited.

Throughout her life, she had been heating water with firewood,

Gennem hendes liv

havde hun varmet vand med brænde,

and she had hand-washed laundry for seven children.

og hun havde vasket tøj i hånden

for syv børn.

And now, she was going to watch electricity do that work.

Og nu skulle hun se

elektriciteten gøre arbejdet.

My mother carefully opened the door,

Min mor åbnede forsigtigt døren,

and she loaded the laundry into the machine,

og hun puttede vasketøjet

ind i maskinen,

sådan her.

like this.

And then, when she closed the door,

Og så, da hun lukkede døren,

Grandma said, "No, no, no, no!

sagde bedstemor: "Nej, nej, nej, nej.

Let me! Let me push the button!"

Lad mig, lad mig trykke på knappen."

(Laughter)

And Grandma pushed the button,

Og bedstemor trykkede på knappen,

og hun sagde, "Åh, fantastisk.

and she said, "Oh, fantastic!

I want to see this! Give me a chair! Give me a chair! I want to see it,"

Jeg vil se dette. Giv mig en stol.

Giv mig en stol. Jeg vil se det."

and she sat down in front of the machine,

Og hun sad ned foran maskinen,

and she watched the entire washing program.

og hun så hele vaskeprogrammet.

(Laughter)

Hun var tryllebundet.

She was mesmerized.

To my grandmother, the washing machine was a miracle.

For min bedstemor,

var vaskemaskinen et mirakel.

Today, in Sweden and other rich countries,

I dag, i Sverige og andre rige lande,

people are using so many different machines.

bruger folk

så mange forskellige maskiner.

Look -- the homes are full of machines.

Hjemmene er fyldt med maskiner;

I can't even name them all.

jeg kan ikke engang nævne dem alle.

And they also, when they want to travel,

Og når folk vil rejse,

bruger de flyvemaskiner

they use flying machines

that can take them to remote destinations.

som kan bringe dem til fjerne destinationer.

And yet, in the world,

Og alligevel, er der så mange folk i verden,

there are so many people who still heat the water on fire,

som stadig varmer vandet over ild,

og de laver mad på bål.

and they cook their food on fire.

Sometimes they don't even have enough food.

Nogen gange har de ikke engang nok mad.

Og de lever under fattigdomsgrænsen.

And they live below the poverty line.

There are two billion fellow human beings

Der er to milliarder mennesker

who live on less than two dollars a day.

som lever for under to dollars om dagen.

Og de rigeste folk --

And the richest people over there -- there's one billion people,

det er en milliard mennesker --

and they live above what I call the "air line" --

og de lever over det jeg kalder himmelgrænsen,

(Laughter)

because they spend more than 80 dollars a day

fordi de bruger mere end 80 dollars om dagen

på forbrug.

on their consumption.

Men det er kun en, to, tre milliarder mennesker,

But this is just one, two, three billion people,

and obviously, there are seven billion people in the world,

for der er jo syv milliarder mennesker i verden,

so there must be one, two, three, four billion people more

så der må være en, to, tre, fire milliarder mennesker mere,

som lever mellem fattigdoms- og himmelgrænsen.

who live in between the poverty and the air line.

De har elektricitet,

They have electricity,

but the question is: How many have washing machines?

men spørgsmålet er, hvor mange der har vaskemaskine?

I've done the scrutiny of market data, and I've found that, indeed,

Jeg har foretaget en granskning af markedet,

og har fundet ud af,

the washing machine has penetrated below the air line,

at vaskemaskinen har indtaget befolkningen under himmelgrænsen,

og i dag er der en ekstra milliard mennesker derude,

and today, there's an additional one billion people out there

som lever over vaskemaskinegrænsen.

who live above the "wash line."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And they consume for more than 40 dollars per day.

Og de forbruger mere end 40 dollars om dagen.

So two billion have access to washing machines.

Så to milliarder har adgang til vaskemaskiner.

And the remaining five billion --

Og de sidste fem milliarder,

hvordan vasker de tøj?

how do they wash?

Or, to be more precise,

Eller, for at være mere præcis,

how do most of the women in the world wash?

hvordan vasker flertallet af kvinder i denne verden tøj?

Because it remains the hard work for women to wash.

For det er hårdt arbejde for kvinder at vaske tøj.

They wash like this: by hand.

De vasker sådan her: i hånden.

It's hard, time-consuming labor,

Det er hårdt, tidskrævende arbejde,

som de hver uge må bruge timevis på.

which they have to do for hours every week.

Og nogen gange må de også hente vand langt væk fra,

And sometimes they also have to bring water from far away

for at vaske tøjet derhjemme.

to do the laundry at home,

or they have to bring the laundry away to a stream far off.

Eller de må bringe vasketøjet til en flod langt borte.

And they want the washing machine.

Og de vil gerne have en vaskemaskine.

They don't want to spend such a large part of their life

De ønsker ikke at bruge så stor en del af deres liv

doing this hard work

på dette hårde arbejde

with so relatively low productivity.

med så relativt lav produktivitet.

Og deres ønske er ikke anderledes end det,

And there's nothing different in their wish

min bedstemor havde.

than it was for my grandma.

Se, for to generationer siden i Sverige --

Look here, two generations ago in Sweden --

picking water from the stream,

da hentede vi vand fra floderne,

heating with firewood and washing like that.

varmede op vha. brænde, og vaskede tøj på den måde.

They want the washing machine in exactly the same way.

De ønsker en vaskemaskine af præcis de samme grunde.

But when I lecture to environmentally concerned students,

Men når jeg underviser miljøbekymrede studerende,

they tell me, "No, everybody in the world cannot have cars and washing machines."

siger de til mig, "Nej, ikke alle i verden kan have biler og vaskemaskiner."

How can we tell this woman

Hvordan kan vi sige til denne kvinde,

that she isn't going to have a washing machine?

at hun ikke skal have en vaskemaskine?

And then I ask my students -- over the last two years, I've asked --

Og så spørger jeg mine elever,

jeg har spurgt dem -- gennem de sidste to år har jeg spurgt,

"How many of you don't use a car?"

"Hvor mange af jer bruger ikke en bil?"

And some of them proudly raise their hand and say, "I don't use a car."

Og nogen af dem rejser stolt deres hånd

og siger "Jeg bruger ikke nogen bil."

And then I put the really tough question:

Og så stiller jeg et rigtig hårdt spørgsmål:

"How many of you hand-wash your jeans and your bedsheets?"

"Hvor mange af jer

vakser jeres jeans og dynebetræk i hånden?"

And no one raised their hand.

Og ingen rejser deres hånd.

Selv de allermest hardcore i den grønne bevægelse

Even the hardcore in the green movement use washing machines.

bruger vaskemaskiner.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So how come [this is] something that everyone uses

Så hvorfor er det noget, som alle bruger,

and they think others will not stop it?

hvad er det, der er så specielt ved det?

What is special with this?

I had to do an analysis about the energy use in the world.

Jeg foretog en analyse om verdens energiforbrug.

Here we are.

Her er vi.

Look here. You see the seven billion people up there?

Se her, I kan se de syv milliarder mennesker heroppe:

The air people, the wash people,

himmelfolket, vaskefolket,

the bulb people and the fire people.

pærefolket og brændefolket.

One unit like this

En enhed som denne

is an energy unit of fossil fuel -- oil, coal or gas.

er en energi-enhed af fossil brændsel --

olie, kul eller gas.

That's what most of the electricity and the energy in the world is.

Sådan er det meste af verdens elektricitet og energi.

And it's 12 units used in the entire world,

Og det er 12 enheder brugt i hele verden,

and the richest one billion, they use six of them.

og den rigeste millard bruger 6 af dem.

Half of the energy is used by one seventh of the world population.

Halvdelen af energien bruges af hver syvende person i verden.

And these ones, who have washing machines

Og dem som har vaskemaskiner,

men ikke et hus fuld af andre maskiner,

but not a house full of other machines,

de bruger to.

they use two.

This group uses three, one each.

Denne gruppe bruger tre, en hver.

Og de har også elektricitet.

And they also have electricity.

Og derovre bruger de slet ikke en hver.

And over there, they don't even use one each.

That makes 12 of them.

Det giver 12 i alt.

But the main concern

Men den største bekymring

for the environmentally interested students -- and they are right --

for de miljøinteresserede studerende -- og de har ret --

is about the future.

er fremtiden.

Hvad er tendenserne? Hvis vi bare forlænger tendenserne,

What are the trends?

If we just prolong the trends, without any real advanced analysis,

uden nogen særligt avanceret analyse, til 2050,

to 2050,

er der to ting som kan øge energiforbruget.

there are two things that can increase the energy use:

1: befolkningstilvækst.

first, population growth; second, economic growth.

2: økonomisk vækst.

Population growth will mainly occur among the poorest people here,

Befolkningstilvækst vil hovedsagligt finde sted blandt de fattigste folk,

fordi de har en høj børnedødelighed,

because they have high child mortality

og de får mange børn per kvinde.

and they have many children per woman.

Og med det får vi to ekstra,

And that will get you two extra,

men det vil ikke ændre energiforbruget særligt meget.

but that won't change the energy use very much.

Det, som vil ske, er økonomsik vækst.

What will happen is economic growth.

The best of here in the emerging economies --

De bedste af de frembrusende økonomier,

jeg kalder dem New East --

I call them "the New East" --

they will jump the air line.

de vil ryge over himmelgrænsen.

"Wopp!" they will say.

"Wopp!", vil de sige.

And they will start to use as much as the Old West are doing already.

Og de vil begynde at bruge lige så meget, som det Gamle Vesten allerede gør.

(Laughter)

Og disse mennesker, de vil have vaskemaskiner.

And these people, they want the washing machine.

Jeg sagde det jo. De kommer dertil.

I told you. They'll go there.

And they will double their energy use.

Og de vil fordoble deres energiforbrug.

And we hope that the poor people will get into the electric light.

Og vi håber at de fattige folk vil bruge elektrisk lys.

And they'll get a two-child family without a stop in population growth.

Og de vil få en familie med to børn, uden et stop i befolkningstilvæksten.

Men det totale energiforbrug

But the total energy consumption will increase to 22 units.

vil stige til 22 enheder.

Og af disse 22 enheder

And these 22 units --

vil de fleste stadig blive brugt af de rigeste folk.

still, the richest people use most of them.

Så hvad skal vi gøre?

So what needs to be done?

Because the risk,

For risikoen,

the high probability of climate change is real.

den store sandsynlighed for klimaforandringer, er reel.

It's real.

Det er reelt.

Of course, they must be more energy efficient.

Selvfølgelig må de være mere energieffektive.

They must change their behavior in some way.

De må ændre opførsel.

They must also start to produce green energy,

De må også begynde at producere grøn energi,

meget mere grøn energi.

much more green energy.

But until they have the same energy consumption per person,

Men indtil de har det samme energiforbrug per person,

bør de ikke rådgive andre --

they shouldn't give advice to others --

what to do and what not to do.

om, hvad man skal og ikke skal.

(Laughter)

(Bifald)

(Applause)

Here, we can get more green energy all over.

Her kan vi få mere grøn energi over det hele.

Det er, hvad vi håber vil ske.

This is what we hope might happen.

Det er en stor udfordring i fremtiden.

It's a real challenge in the future.

But I can assure you that this woman in the favela in Rio,

Men jeg forsikrer jer, at denne kvinde i slummen i Rio,

hun ønsker sig en vaskemaskine.

she wants a washing machine.

Hun er meget glad for energiministeren,

She's very happy about her minister of energy

that provided electricity to everyone --

som sørgede for elektricitet til alle --

so happy that she even voted for her.

så glad, at hun endda stemte på hende.

Og hun blev Dilma Rousseff,

And she became Dilma Rousseff,

the president-elect of one of the biggest democracies in the world,

den valgte præsident,

i et verdens største demokratier --

fra at være energiminister til at være præsident.

moving from minister of energy to president.

Hvis der er demokrati,

If you have democracy, people will vote for washing machines.

vil folk stemme for vaskemaskiner.

De elsker dem.

They love them!

(Laughter)

And what's the magic with them?

Og hvad er det magiske ved dem?

My mother explained the magic with this machine

Min mor forklarede magien ved den maskine,

the very, very first day.

den aller, aller første dag.

Hun sagde, "Så Hans,

She said, "Now, Hans.

vi har puttet vasketøjet ind;

We have loaded the laundry.

maskinen gør arbejdet.

The machine will make the work.

And now we can go to the library."

Og nu kan vi gå på biblioteket."

Fordi dette er magien:

Because this is the magic: you load the laundry,

man putter vasketøjet ind,

and what do you get out of the machine?

og hvad får man ud af maskinen?

You get books out of the machines,

Man får bøger,

børnebøger.

children's books.

And mother got time to read for me.

Og min mor fik tid til at læse for mig.

She loved this.

Hun elskede det. Jeg fik "ABC"-bogen.

I got the "ABC's" -- this is why I started my career as a professor,

Det var her, jeg startede min karriere som professor,

when my mother had time to read for me.

da min mor fik tid til at læse for mig.

And she also got books for herself.

Og hun fik også bøger til sig selv.

She managed to study English and learn that as a foreign language.

Hun studerede engelsk,

og lærte det som et fremmedsprog.

And she read so many novels,

Og hun læste så mange romaner,

so many different novels here.

så mange forskellige bøger her.

And we really, we really loved this machine.

Og vi elskede virkelig denne maskine.

(Laughter)

And what we said, my mother and me,

Og vi sagde, min mor og jeg,

"Thank you, industrialization.

"Tak skal du have, industrialisering.

Thank you, steel mill.

Tak, stålmølle.

Thank you, power station.

Tak, elværk.

And thank you, chemical processing industry

Og tak, kemi-industri,

that gave us time to read books."

som gav os tid til at læse bøger."

Thank you very much.

Mange tak.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)