1 00:00:19,041 --> 00:00:20,416 - I've got a question. 2 00:00:21,666 --> 00:00:23,458 How long do you think we humans have? 3 00:00:24,500 --> 00:00:26,333 - How long does the human race have? 4 00:00:26,375 --> 00:00:27,250 - Ooh. 5 00:00:27,291 --> 00:00:28,166 - Um. 6 00:00:29,250 --> 00:00:30,666 - Oh, wow. 7 00:00:30,708 --> 00:00:32,666 - I don't exactly know, but may be soon. 8 00:00:32,708 --> 00:00:33,750 - I have no clue. 9 00:00:33,791 --> 00:00:35,166 - No? 10 00:00:35,208 --> 00:00:36,916 - I hope I get me at least 50 more years. 11 00:00:36,958 --> 00:00:39,458 - I think there's infinite amount of time. 12 00:00:39,500 --> 00:00:40,541 - Infinite. 13 00:00:40,583 --> 00:00:41,916 It's infinite, yeah. 14 00:00:41,958 --> 00:00:43,166 - I give us a million. 15 00:00:43,208 --> 00:00:44,500 A million years. 16 00:00:44,541 --> 00:00:46,625 - Being kind, I would say probably about 10 years. 17 00:00:46,666 --> 00:00:47,833 - 10, 12 years. 18 00:00:47,875 --> 00:00:49,583 - Thousands of years. 19 00:00:49,625 --> 00:00:52,541 - 47 years, three months, five days. 20 00:00:52,583 --> 00:00:53,833 It's approximate. 21 00:00:53,875 --> 00:00:55,458 - We're kind of like cockroaches on the planet, 22 00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:57,500 no matter how much damage we'll do, 23 00:00:57,541 --> 00:01:02,208 enough of us will survive to procreate and keep it going. 24 00:01:02,250 --> 00:01:03,708 - Unless we can get to another planet, 25 00:01:03,750 --> 00:01:05,958 but then we're just gonna fuck it up like we did Earth. 26 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,041 - Well, I think that we will be here 27 00:01:08,083 --> 00:01:11,125 for a long time, but we will change. 28 00:01:11,166 --> 00:01:12,958 We're gonna turn back into apes. 29 00:01:20,500 --> 00:01:22,958 - Have you ever wondered what would happen 30 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,958 if a single species took over an entire planet? 31 00:01:27,958 --> 00:01:31,416 Maybe they're cute, maybe they're clever 32 00:01:32,958 --> 00:01:33,916 but lack a certain, 33 00:01:35,666 --> 00:01:38,125 shall we say, 34 00:01:38,166 --> 00:01:39,541 self-restraint? 35 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:44,541 What if they go too far? 36 00:01:46,666 --> 00:01:50,583 What if they go way, way, way, 37 00:01:50,625 --> 00:01:53,291 way, way too far? 38 00:01:55,875 --> 00:02:00,875 How would they know when it's their time to go? 39 00:03:31,041 --> 00:03:32,750 - Due to our release through factories 40 00:03:32,791 --> 00:03:34,416 and automobiles every year 41 00:03:34,458 --> 00:03:37,833 of more than six billion tons of carbon dioxide, 42 00:03:37,875 --> 00:03:40,583 our atmosphere seems to be getting warmer. 43 00:03:40,625 --> 00:03:41,666 - This is bad? 44 00:03:42,958 --> 00:03:45,125 - Well, it's been calculated a few degrees rise 45 00:03:45,166 --> 00:03:48,041 in the Earth's temperature would melt the polar ice caps. 46 00:03:51,916 --> 00:03:55,375 And if this happens, an inland sea would fill a good portion 47 00:03:55,416 --> 00:03:57,333 of the Mississippi valley. 48 00:03:57,375 --> 00:04:00,041 For in weather, we're not only dealing with forces 49 00:04:00,083 --> 00:04:01,750 of a far greater variety 50 00:04:01,791 --> 00:04:04,458 than even the atomic physicist encounters, 51 00:04:04,500 --> 00:04:06,458 but with life itself. 52 00:04:10,541 --> 00:04:12,833 - That was 1958. 53 00:04:13,916 --> 00:04:14,875 We've known about the dangers 54 00:04:14,916 --> 00:04:17,208 of climate change for six decades. 55 00:04:18,708 --> 00:04:20,833 Back then, there was so much air pollution 56 00:04:20,875 --> 00:04:22,875 it would actually block out the sun. 57 00:04:24,583 --> 00:04:28,000 There was so much water pollution, 58 00:04:30,750 --> 00:04:32,916 Forget throwing plastic bottles into the water, 59 00:04:34,041 --> 00:04:35,791 we tossed our cars in there. 60 00:04:37,833 --> 00:04:40,041 We also knew someday we'd run out of oil. 61 00:04:40,083 --> 00:04:41,458 - For millions of Americans, 62 00:04:41,500 --> 00:04:43,916 this may be the worst weekend they've ever faced 63 00:04:43,958 --> 00:04:46,791 for finding gasoline to give them the automobile freedom 64 00:04:46,833 --> 00:04:48,000 they take as their due. 65 00:04:49,416 --> 00:04:51,875 - I never doubted humans would find a better way 66 00:04:51,916 --> 00:04:54,791 and I wanted to be part of it. 67 00:04:54,833 --> 00:04:56,625 A scientist sounded the alarm 68 00:04:56,666 --> 00:04:58,833 and the modern environmental movement was born. 69 00:04:58,875 --> 00:05:01,583 - Unless we do bring these chemicals under better control, 70 00:05:01,625 --> 00:05:04,541 we are certainly headed for disaster. 71 00:05:05,541 --> 00:05:07,833 - Students all across the country 72 00:05:07,875 --> 00:05:09,375 organized the first Earth Day. 73 00:05:09,416 --> 00:05:11,500 - This point in time, it's very, very fashionable 74 00:05:11,541 --> 00:05:12,791 to talk about the environment 75 00:05:12,833 --> 00:05:15,208 but as every day proceeds, we find very, 76 00:05:15,250 --> 00:05:16,875 very little concrete being done. 77 00:05:18,958 --> 00:05:20,750 - As for me, you might say 78 00:05:20,791 --> 00:05:22,875 I was an early environmentalist. 79 00:05:24,541 --> 00:05:25,958 When I was nine years old, 80 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,333 a bulldozer began knocking down the woods near my home. 81 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,125 I retaliated by putting sand in its gas tank. 82 00:05:35,083 --> 00:05:38,416 When I grew up, I became a tree hugger and moved 83 00:05:38,458 --> 00:05:39,916 to the wilds of Northern Michigan 84 00:05:39,958 --> 00:05:43,166 to build a sustainable homestead and commune with nature. 85 00:05:44,833 --> 00:05:46,666 I wired my cabin for solar panels 86 00:05:47,583 --> 00:05:49,916 and heated with wood instead of fossil fuels. 87 00:05:51,916 --> 00:05:53,750 I wrote about sustainable living 88 00:05:53,791 --> 00:05:56,750 and environmental issues for the Mother Earth News 89 00:05:56,791 --> 00:05:58,583 and several news outlets. 90 00:06:01,833 --> 00:06:04,583 I traveled the country documenting invasive species, 91 00:06:07,458 --> 00:06:11,666 ecosystem collapse, 92 00:06:11,708 --> 00:06:13,791 and species threatened with extinction. 93 00:06:14,875 --> 00:06:16,250 - Come on, girls, boys. 94 00:06:19,458 --> 00:06:21,625 - I covered protests against destroying mountains for coal. 95 00:06:25,291 --> 00:06:28,416 And was once even confronted by the BP police. 96 00:06:29,833 --> 00:06:30,583 - Journalist. - You're a journalist? 97 00:06:30,625 --> 00:06:32,041 - Jeff Gibbs, yeah. 98 00:06:32,083 --> 00:06:33,458 - By all means, you can take all the pictures you want. 99 00:06:33,500 --> 00:06:34,791 - Okay. 100 00:06:34,833 --> 00:06:36,083 - We'll write a report and then we have to send it 101 00:06:36,125 --> 00:06:37,875 to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office 102 00:06:37,916 --> 00:06:38,875 they'll call you. 103 00:06:43,166 --> 00:06:45,833 - Through all of this, I kept wondering, 104 00:06:45,875 --> 00:06:48,125 why are we still addicted to fossil fuels? 105 00:06:50,125 --> 00:06:53,625 So I decided to begin following the green energy movement. 106 00:06:57,958 --> 00:06:59,291 What better place to check out 107 00:06:59,333 --> 00:07:01,958 how our renewable energy revolution is coming along, 108 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,041 than a solar festival 109 00:07:03,083 --> 00:07:05,125 in the Green Mountain state of Vermont 110 00:07:05,166 --> 00:07:07,875 powered by 100% solar energy. 111 00:07:09,833 --> 00:07:12,791 - Solar. 112 00:07:12,833 --> 00:07:14,250 - I was having fun 113 00:07:15,291 --> 00:07:16,625 and got a chance to ask 114 00:07:16,666 --> 00:07:18,833 about getting solar panels installed. 115 00:07:18,875 --> 00:07:20,625 - You can keep adding, so maybe every time 116 00:07:20,666 --> 00:07:22,833 you get a tax return, buy another solar panel? 117 00:07:26,083 --> 00:07:28,625 - But then, a little rain began to fall. 118 00:07:31,666 --> 00:07:32,708 ♪ Packed up my guitar 119 00:07:32,750 --> 00:07:34,250 ♪ Headed to the nearest bowling alley ♪ 120 00:07:34,291 --> 00:07:37,041 My camera man noticed some commotion behind the stage. 121 00:07:49,208 --> 00:07:50,958 - So the festival's run off 122 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:52,000 solar energy, primarily? 123 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:04,916 - Right. 124 00:08:06,083 --> 00:08:08,083 - But the biofuel generator wasn't enough, 125 00:08:08,125 --> 00:08:09,291 so they wound up plugging 126 00:08:09,333 --> 00:08:12,083 into the electrical grid that we all use. 127 00:08:12,125 --> 00:08:14,333 - The other inverter operating, 128 00:08:14,375 --> 00:08:16,666 it's actually pulling power in from the grid, 129 00:08:16,708 --> 00:08:18,833 charging the batteries. 130 00:08:18,875 --> 00:08:20,083 It's running backwards from the way 131 00:08:20,125 --> 00:08:22,625 we originally intended to do it, but. 132 00:08:24,958 --> 00:08:26,708 - That was disappointing. 133 00:08:28,958 --> 00:08:30,250 But after all, it had been raining. 134 00:08:32,500 --> 00:08:34,416 Maybe next time things would go better. 135 00:08:39,416 --> 00:08:42,250 Luckily for us, hope was on the way. 136 00:08:42,291 --> 00:08:45,500 - It's been a long time comin' but tonight, 137 00:08:46,375 --> 00:08:48,166 change has come to America. 138 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,375 - Green activists across the country cheered 139 00:08:54,416 --> 00:08:57,000 when newly elected president Barack Obama 140 00:08:57,041 --> 00:08:59,750 rolled out a trillion dollar stimulus package 141 00:08:59,791 --> 00:09:02,875 with nearly 100 billion dollars for green energy. 142 00:09:04,375 --> 00:09:06,666 Green was finally ramping up 143 00:09:06,708 --> 00:09:08,583 and everyone wanted to be part of it. 144 00:09:09,791 --> 00:09:12,916 President Obama brought in environmental 145 00:09:12,958 --> 00:09:15,791 from the Apollo Alliance, with shovel-ready projects. 146 00:09:15,833 --> 00:09:18,166 - They've gotta put up tens of thousands of wind farms, 147 00:09:18,208 --> 00:09:20,541 they've gotta put up millions of solar panels. 148 00:09:21,458 --> 00:09:23,208 - Former Vice President Al Gore, 149 00:09:23,250 --> 00:09:26,791 who had a few years earlier released an Oscar winning film, 150 00:09:26,833 --> 00:09:29,125 shared his ideas with the president. 151 00:09:29,166 --> 00:09:31,125 - We have the opportunity now 152 00:09:31,166 --> 00:09:34,541 to create jobs all across this country, 153 00:09:34,583 --> 00:09:38,291 in all 50 states, to repower America. 154 00:09:39,541 --> 00:09:41,291 - Al Gore had already encouraged 155 00:09:41,333 --> 00:09:44,500 billionaire airline owner Sir Richard Branson 156 00:09:44,541 --> 00:09:47,500 to invest big-time in green energy. 157 00:09:47,541 --> 00:09:50,125 - Branson is pledging future profits from his airline 158 00:09:50,166 --> 00:09:52,083 to the tune of perhaps three billion dollars. 159 00:09:52,125 --> 00:09:55,416 Three billion, that's with a B, to fight global warming! 160 00:09:55,458 --> 00:09:57,333 - Is Al Gore a prophet? 161 00:09:58,750 --> 00:10:03,166 - Ah, um, ah, how do you spell "prophet?" 162 00:10:07,583 --> 00:10:09,166 - Investors came forward. 163 00:10:09,208 --> 00:10:12,041 - Investor Vinod Khosla, known as the father 164 00:10:12,083 --> 00:10:13,750 of the clean tech revolution, 165 00:10:13,791 --> 00:10:17,000 has poured over a billion dollars of his own money 166 00:10:17,041 --> 00:10:19,750 into some fifty energy startups. 167 00:10:19,791 --> 00:10:22,916 - Major banks were eager to get involved. 168 00:10:22,958 --> 00:10:26,833 - By 2020, we think, renewables will require 169 00:10:26,875 --> 00:10:30,291 395 billion on an annual basis. 170 00:10:30,333 --> 00:10:32,208 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 171 00:10:32,250 --> 00:10:35,500 was both on the board of major environmental organizations 172 00:10:35,541 --> 00:10:38,333 and was leading a green energy investment group. 173 00:10:38,375 --> 00:10:41,041 - We build wind farms, we build solar farms, 174 00:10:41,083 --> 00:10:43,833 once you build our plant, it's free energy forever. 175 00:10:46,250 --> 00:10:47,625 - The Sierra Club received 50 million dollars 176 00:10:47,666 --> 00:10:49,708 from billionaire and former New York City mayor 177 00:10:49,750 --> 00:10:50,791 Michael Bloomberg. 178 00:10:50,833 --> 00:10:51,875 Their mission? 179 00:10:51,916 --> 00:10:54,500 Fight coal and promote clean energy. 180 00:10:54,541 --> 00:10:56,333 - So with the mayor's gift, here's what will happen. 181 00:10:56,375 --> 00:10:59,958 We'll have a large and aggressive 182 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,375 - It's time for America to find a new energy path. 183 00:11:03,416 --> 00:11:05,541 One that takes us beyond coal. 184 00:11:05,583 --> 00:11:06,416 - So funny-- 185 00:11:06,458 --> 00:11:08,291 - And then Bill McKibben, 186 00:11:08,333 --> 00:11:11,166 one of the nation's leading environmentalists 187 00:11:11,208 --> 00:11:13,291 and author of a breakthrough book called 188 00:11:13,333 --> 00:11:14,833 "The End of Nature," 189 00:11:14,875 --> 00:11:17,833 formed an organization called 350.org 190 00:11:17,875 --> 00:11:21,208 with the mission of igniting a global climate movement. 191 00:11:22,541 --> 00:11:24,958 - Can I show off my necktie for a minute 192 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,625 'cause they made it for me yesterday? 193 00:11:26,666 --> 00:11:28,000 It's got that 350 on it 194 00:11:28,041 --> 00:11:31,416 'cause it's the most important number in the world. 195 00:11:31,458 --> 00:11:33,166 - Things were looking up 196 00:11:33,208 --> 00:11:35,958 and the green energy revolution was under way. 197 00:11:38,208 --> 00:11:40,916 Michigan had been hit hard by the Great Recession 198 00:11:40,958 --> 00:11:42,625 and hundreds of millions of dollars 199 00:11:42,666 --> 00:11:45,041 in green stimulus money was arriving. 200 00:11:45,083 --> 00:11:48,625 Now, to do their part for the new green economy, 201 00:11:48,666 --> 00:11:52,125 General Motors introduced a new line of electric vehicles. 202 00:11:52,166 --> 00:11:54,083 When the Chevy Volt was ready for release, 203 00:11:54,125 --> 00:11:56,000 I attended their press conference. 204 00:11:56,958 --> 00:11:59,666 - So, these electric vehicles are ready 205 00:11:59,708 --> 00:12:02,666 for public consumption and we're ready 206 00:12:02,708 --> 00:12:04,375 with the infrastructure, with the rates, 207 00:12:04,416 --> 00:12:05,833 with the communications. 208 00:12:05,875 --> 00:12:08,750 - I am extremely grateful to be here today and in fact, 209 00:12:08,791 --> 00:12:11,958 this is a chance for me to say, thank you, more formally. 210 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,291 The Chevy Volt is upstairs. 211 00:12:13,333 --> 00:12:14,833 We'll be able to take a look at it. 212 00:12:16,333 --> 00:12:17,583 - You've got about 1,000 photos. 213 00:12:17,625 --> 00:12:18,458 - Yeah. 214 00:12:18,500 --> 00:12:19,583 - This is the plug. 215 00:12:24,875 --> 00:12:26,291 It's as simple as that. 216 00:12:27,416 --> 00:12:28,833 - The batteries are in the trunk? 217 00:12:29,375 --> 00:12:33,291 - No, the battery in this particular design is a T-shape, 218 00:12:33,333 --> 00:12:37,833 right down the center and across the backseat area. 219 00:12:39,833 --> 00:12:42,208 'Cause everybody thought we killed the electric vehicle. 220 00:12:42,250 --> 00:12:43,916 No, we didn't. 221 00:12:43,958 --> 00:12:45,416 It's alive and well. 222 00:12:45,458 --> 00:12:48,166 - So, what's charging the batteries right now? 223 00:12:48,208 --> 00:12:49,416 What's the source of electricity? 224 00:12:49,458 --> 00:12:50,833 - Well, here, it's coming from the building. 225 00:12:50,875 --> 00:12:53,458 - I mean, is it, what's their mix of power? 226 00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:56,125 - Oh, actually, Lansing feeds the building. 227 00:12:56,166 --> 00:12:57,208 - What's that? 228 00:12:57,250 --> 00:12:58,791 - Lansing feeds power to the building. 229 00:12:58,833 --> 00:13:00,833 So, I don't know-- 230 00:13:00,875 --> 00:13:02,416 - They're-- 231 00:13:02,458 --> 00:13:03,833 - I betcha they're a bit of coal? 232 00:13:03,875 --> 00:13:06,875 I think they're heavy on natural gas, aren't they? 233 00:13:06,916 --> 00:13:08,916 - Right now, the car's charging off your grid? 234 00:13:08,958 --> 00:13:10,458 - Right. 235 00:13:10,500 --> 00:13:14,875 It would be charging off our grid, which is about 95% coal. 236 00:13:16,291 --> 00:13:17,500 - How long do you think it will be 237 00:13:17,541 --> 00:13:20,958 before there's a solar and wind powered grid? 238 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:22,125 - Oh, golly. 239 00:13:22,166 --> 00:13:24,458 - To suggest that all of the power used 240 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:29,000 for these cars will be generated from wind and solar, 241 00:13:29,041 --> 00:13:32,083 in the very near future, would not be correct. 242 00:13:32,125 --> 00:13:34,125 In fact, these, we're talking about charging these up 243 00:13:34,166 --> 00:13:36,833 at night, so there won't be any solar at that time. 244 00:13:36,875 --> 00:13:38,708 So we're down to wind and very often, 245 00:13:38,750 --> 00:13:40,458 at night, the wind does fall off. 246 00:13:41,625 --> 00:13:44,666 - I don't think coal is bad. 247 00:13:44,708 --> 00:13:45,500 - The big battle-- The what? 248 00:13:45,541 --> 00:13:46,250 Mountain top removal. 249 00:13:46,291 --> 00:13:47,083 - Oh, mount... 250 00:13:47,125 --> 00:13:47,833 Oh yeah, oh yeah. 251 00:13:47,875 --> 00:13:49,458 - Yeah. 252 00:13:49,500 --> 00:13:53,000 - It's got lovely BTUs, it's got lovely energy value. 253 00:13:54,083 --> 00:13:56,708 How do you burn it more cleanly? 254 00:13:57,791 --> 00:14:00,541 I mean, do you see natural gas getting bashed? 255 00:14:00,583 --> 00:14:03,000 - We will be delivering power based 256 00:14:03,041 --> 00:14:05,041 on natural gas very shortly. 257 00:14:05,083 --> 00:14:10,666 And even with that mix, we intend to use 258 00:14:10,708 --> 00:14:12,375 - Have you gotten any support? 259 00:14:12,416 --> 00:14:14,666 - Oh, the environment groups are extremely supportive. 260 00:14:14,708 --> 00:14:16,916 - We did install the state's largest solar array 261 00:14:16,958 --> 00:14:18,750 at my company, The Board of Water and Light, it's 262 00:14:18,791 --> 00:14:20,875 just down the street from here a few miles 263 00:14:20,916 --> 00:14:21,750 if you want to take a look at it. 264 00:14:21,791 --> 00:14:24,375 What outfit are you with? 265 00:14:24,416 --> 00:14:25,875 - New World Media, we're doing a segment 266 00:14:25,916 --> 00:14:27,041 on the renewable energy... 267 00:14:27,083 --> 00:14:28,041 - Oh, excuse me, I gotta go for a second 268 00:14:28,083 --> 00:14:29,083 but thanks. 269 00:14:33,750 --> 00:14:35,541 - I decided to take him up on his offer 270 00:14:35,583 --> 00:14:38,458 to check out their football field sized solar array 271 00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:39,625 right down the street. 272 00:14:41,375 --> 00:14:43,000 - What we're trying to do with this kind of a tour is, 273 00:14:43,041 --> 00:14:44,708 get a sense for what they've already done, 274 00:14:44,750 --> 00:14:46,291 as an indication of what we could do 275 00:14:46,333 --> 00:14:47,958 to push the envelope even further. 276 00:14:49,291 --> 00:14:53,250 - We took a hard look at wind and determined that, 277 00:14:53,291 --> 00:14:56,583 around here, there's not really any real good wind coming 278 00:14:56,625 --> 00:14:57,791 through all the time. 279 00:14:57,833 --> 00:14:59,291 That's what we liked about solar. 280 00:14:59,333 --> 00:15:02,333 You would get the power when you most needed it. 281 00:15:02,375 --> 00:15:03,875 Pass these around, look at 'em. 282 00:15:03,916 --> 00:15:05,666 They are pliable. 283 00:15:05,708 --> 00:15:08,083 Made in Michigan, that was another good thing. 284 00:15:08,125 --> 00:15:09,500 Although, the efficiency 285 00:15:09,541 --> 00:15:12,791 of these panels is only about, just under 8%. 286 00:15:14,916 --> 00:15:16,666 If you happen to be NASA and you happen 287 00:15:16,708 --> 00:15:18,375 to own a rover running around Mars, 288 00:15:18,416 --> 00:15:20,625 they have very efficient panels. 289 00:15:20,666 --> 00:15:22,041 But, we can't afford those 290 00:15:22,083 --> 00:15:24,208 at about a million dollars a square inch. 291 00:15:27,833 --> 00:15:29,250 - The standard answer that we tell everybody is, 292 00:15:29,291 --> 00:15:30,500 we're providing enough to meet 293 00:15:30,541 --> 00:15:33,125 the peak requirements of 50 homes. 294 00:15:33,166 --> 00:15:36,083 However, for most of the people that look 295 00:15:36,125 --> 00:15:37,500 at it a little bit closer, 296 00:15:37,541 --> 00:15:41,125 we generate about 63, 64 thousand kilowatt hours a year. 297 00:15:41,166 --> 00:15:42,708 Our average customer uses 298 00:15:42,750 --> 00:15:44,833 about six thousand kilowatt hours a year. 299 00:15:44,875 --> 00:15:48,583 Six thousand into 64, it's just a little over 10. 300 00:15:48,625 --> 00:15:51,041 We can meet the energy requirements for 10 homes. 301 00:15:52,250 --> 00:15:53,583 Over a year. 302 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,708 - Will that be an incentive to put more solar on? 303 00:15:59,791 --> 00:16:01,291 - Well, if you wanted to make all 304 00:16:01,333 --> 00:16:05,375 of the energy required for the city of Lansing over a year? 305 00:16:05,416 --> 00:16:06,166 - Well, how about-- 306 00:16:06,208 --> 00:16:07,750 - You'd have a solar array 307 00:16:07,791 --> 00:16:09,583 that was three miles by five miles. 308 00:16:09,625 --> 00:16:10,583 - Right. 309 00:16:10,625 --> 00:16:11,875 But-- - We're not gonna do that. 310 00:16:11,916 --> 00:16:13,791 - But, but, I mean. 311 00:16:13,833 --> 00:16:15,750 - My friend from the Sierra Club wanted him 312 00:16:15,791 --> 00:16:19,291 to be more positive, but he was not interested. 313 00:16:23,500 --> 00:16:26,458 As a consequence of the big push for green energy, 314 00:16:26,500 --> 00:16:28,875 wind farms were rising around the nation, 315 00:16:28,916 --> 00:16:30,916 including near my home in northern Michigan. 316 00:16:32,208 --> 00:16:33,708 - We've done coal and nuclear for years. 317 00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:36,666 We've been trying to get in more into the renewable side. 318 00:16:36,708 --> 00:16:38,916 These are the largest in Michigan, 319 00:16:38,958 --> 00:16:41,041 I think it's 482 foot total. 320 00:16:41,083 --> 00:16:42,375 - How many yards of concrete? 321 00:16:42,416 --> 00:16:44,666 - It was 800 yards of concrete in the base, 322 00:16:44,708 --> 00:16:47,333 right around 140 tons of resteel. 323 00:16:47,375 --> 00:16:48,708 - What are the blades made out of? 324 00:16:48,750 --> 00:16:50,291 - That's all fiberglass and balsam. 325 00:16:50,333 --> 00:16:52,791 They're about 36,000 pounds a piece. 326 00:16:52,833 --> 00:16:56,750 This tower will weigh 800,000 pounds when we're done. 327 00:16:56,791 --> 00:16:59,083 Then the cell is 220,000 pounds 328 00:16:59,125 --> 00:17:01,750 and the hub and rotor assembly is another 160. 329 00:17:01,791 --> 00:17:03,541 It's pretty substantial. 330 00:17:05,791 --> 00:17:08,041 - They were impressive machines. 331 00:17:10,166 --> 00:17:12,333 But is it possible for machines made 332 00:17:12,375 --> 00:17:14,000 by industrial civilization 333 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,583 to save us from industrial civilization? 334 00:17:25,625 --> 00:17:27,791 In environmental leader Bill McKibben's home state 335 00:17:27,833 --> 00:17:30,375 of Vermont, the Green Mountain state, 336 00:17:30,416 --> 00:17:31,500 a site was being cleared 337 00:17:31,541 --> 00:17:33,875 for the installation of wind turbines. 338 00:17:33,916 --> 00:17:35,750 A group of citizens was concerned 339 00:17:35,791 --> 00:17:36,916 about how the construction 340 00:17:36,958 --> 00:17:38,791 might affect the mountains they love. 341 00:17:39,791 --> 00:17:41,416 I joined them for a tour. 342 00:17:41,458 --> 00:17:43,083 - It's going to be 21 turbines. 343 00:17:43,125 --> 00:17:44,000 - 21? 344 00:17:44,041 --> 00:17:45,916 - Yeah. - On this project? 345 00:17:45,958 --> 00:17:47,833 - In this project, yeah. 346 00:17:47,875 --> 00:17:51,791 The estimate was maybe there would be three full-time jobs. 347 00:17:52,958 --> 00:17:55,125 - If the goal is to try to make Vermont the leader 348 00:17:55,166 --> 00:17:57,875 in climate change, I appreciate looking 349 00:17:57,916 --> 00:18:00,208 to the sky in the hopes that we can do that. 350 00:18:00,250 --> 00:18:02,791 But more importantly, I'm personally looking 351 00:18:02,833 --> 00:18:05,333 at the ground thinking, this is not the kind of legacy 352 00:18:05,375 --> 00:18:06,833 I'd want to leave to my kids. 353 00:18:06,875 --> 00:18:09,541 When I was a kid we'd go hiking in these woods, 354 00:18:09,583 --> 00:18:11,375 we would be able to drink from the waters 355 00:18:11,416 --> 00:18:14,375 down the hill here, and now you have to question that. 356 00:18:16,250 --> 00:18:18,083 - And how long are these towers supposed to last? 357 00:18:18,125 --> 00:18:19,791 20-something years, 20-- 358 00:18:19,833 --> 00:18:22,291 - I know, it's just a nanosecond. 359 00:18:22,333 --> 00:18:23,541 - 20 years? 360 00:18:23,583 --> 00:18:25,541 - Oh, it's a nanosecond in the time of energy. 361 00:18:26,583 --> 00:18:27,750 - Has anybody considered 362 00:18:27,791 --> 00:18:30,000 that this is mountain top removal for wind 363 00:18:30,041 --> 00:18:31,916 - Yeah, and we've even had people say, 364 00:18:31,958 --> 00:18:34,041 "If you can do mountain top removal 365 00:18:34,083 --> 00:18:37,250 "in Kentucky and West Virginia for coal, 366 00:18:37,291 --> 00:18:39,791 "then it's about time the rest of the country shared 367 00:18:39,833 --> 00:18:41,833 "in mountain top removal, too." 368 00:18:42,833 --> 00:18:43,875 - Hello. 369 00:18:45,333 --> 00:18:46,000 - You think they're gonna tell us to move back? 370 00:18:46,041 --> 00:18:46,833 - Probably. 371 00:18:46,875 --> 00:18:48,166 The thing is that you've got 372 00:18:48,208 --> 00:18:51,666 to have a fossil fuel power plant backing it up 373 00:18:51,708 --> 00:18:53,958 and idling 100% of the time. 374 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,041 Because if you cycle up or cycle down, 375 00:18:56,083 --> 00:18:58,833 as the demand on the wind comes through, 376 00:18:58,875 --> 00:19:01,791 then you actually generate a bigger carbon footprint 377 00:19:01,833 --> 00:19:03,625 than if you just ran it straight. 378 00:19:03,666 --> 00:19:04,750 - Do you ever go to things where they just go, 379 00:19:04,791 --> 00:19:06,166 "That's not true. 380 00:19:06,208 --> 00:19:08,750 "It doesn't matter, we're gonna have a smart grid." 381 00:19:08,791 --> 00:19:10,583 - Doesn't make any difference, they still gotta 382 00:19:10,625 --> 00:19:11,958 have it idling. 383 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,916 Because, let's just say the wind stopped right now. 384 00:19:15,958 --> 00:19:17,916 Just stopped for an hour. 385 00:19:17,958 --> 00:19:19,500 You've got to have that power. 386 00:19:19,541 --> 00:19:20,916 - What do you do? 387 00:19:20,958 --> 00:19:22,791 - I'm an environmental health and safety consultant. 388 00:19:22,833 --> 00:19:25,291 I usually work with businesses to help them do things, 389 00:19:25,333 --> 00:19:28,916 but I would never work with scum like this. 390 00:19:31,250 --> 00:19:33,541 - You didn't get me on camera doing this, did ya? 391 00:19:34,458 --> 00:19:37,875 Not being judgmental or trying to play God, 392 00:19:37,916 --> 00:19:41,208 but we've got to deal with population growth 393 00:19:41,250 --> 00:19:45,375 and sustainable resources, we've all gotta cut back. 394 00:19:45,416 --> 00:19:48,750 All this energy's supposedly going to heat a water park. 395 00:19:48,791 --> 00:19:52,333 We can find unique and different ways to waste energy. 396 00:19:52,375 --> 00:19:54,500 This is not a Vermont company. 397 00:19:54,541 --> 00:19:58,333 Green Mountain Power will be bought out by Gaz Metro 398 00:19:58,375 --> 00:20:01,791 and Gaz Metro is owned by Enbridge, as I understand it, 399 00:20:01,833 --> 00:20:06,625 which is a big resource company in Canada 400 00:20:06,666 --> 00:20:08,291 which is exploiting the tar sands 401 00:20:08,333 --> 00:20:10,208 that wants to build the XL pipeline. 402 00:20:11,666 --> 00:20:12,833 See, it's-- 403 00:20:12,875 --> 00:20:15,958 - And they're all in bed together. 404 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,833 - Still we don't know the whole story. 405 00:20:17,875 --> 00:20:19,833 - Have you asked Mr. McKibben to come see this? 406 00:20:19,875 --> 00:20:22,833 - He thinks anything renewable is good. 407 00:20:22,875 --> 00:20:24,083 - Yeah. 408 00:20:24,125 --> 00:20:24,875 - At least that's what I've heard people say. 409 00:20:36,958 --> 00:20:38,708 - I am in a strange position. 410 00:20:39,958 --> 00:20:42,833 I'm against our addiction to fossil fuels 411 00:20:42,875 --> 00:20:44,916 and have long been a fan of green energy. 412 00:20:47,083 --> 00:20:49,125 But everywhere I encountered green energy, 413 00:20:50,125 --> 00:20:51,791 it wasn't what it seemed. 414 00:20:52,875 --> 00:20:56,333 - This is like a perpetual energy battery. 415 00:20:56,375 --> 00:20:57,750 - And where do you get the hydrogen from? 416 00:20:57,791 --> 00:21:01,500 - The hydrogen that's in, the hydrogen is sourced 417 00:21:01,541 --> 00:21:04,166 from any hydrocarbon material. 418 00:21:04,208 --> 00:21:08,958 So, you can get it from natural gas, you can get it 419 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,083 from any petroleum or oil based product. 420 00:21:13,541 --> 00:21:14,750 - I read about a zoo that was said 421 00:21:14,791 --> 00:21:16,333 to be powered by elephant manure. 422 00:21:17,791 --> 00:21:18,958 But it turned out the elephants 423 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,583 didn't even produce enough manure to heat 424 00:21:22,625 --> 00:21:23,916 - Yeah, we don't even really make enough 425 00:21:23,958 --> 00:21:26,791 in what we have, elephant wise, to even do that. 426 00:21:26,833 --> 00:21:27,833 We would need a lot more. 427 00:21:27,875 --> 00:21:29,166 - More elephants? 428 00:21:29,208 --> 00:21:29,833 - Yep, more elephants 429 00:21:29,875 --> 00:21:30,666 more manure. 430 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,291 - Ethanol plants also seem 431 00:21:33,333 --> 00:21:35,041 to have a secret ingredient. 432 00:21:35,083 --> 00:21:37,708 - This is the most productive farmland in the world 433 00:21:37,750 --> 00:21:40,833 and we're not that far west of the biggest coal mines 434 00:21:40,875 --> 00:21:42,333 in the world, as well. 435 00:21:42,375 --> 00:21:44,458 So, bring the two together and you have an ethanol plant. 436 00:21:45,583 --> 00:21:49,250 - Great, so ethanol was reliant on two things: 437 00:21:49,291 --> 00:21:52,666 a giant, fossil fuel-based, industrial agricultural system 438 00:21:52,708 --> 00:21:56,250 to produce corn, and even more fossil fuels 439 00:21:56,291 --> 00:21:58,375 in the form of coal. 440 00:21:58,416 --> 00:22:02,000 All of this in the attempt to replace fossil fuels? 441 00:22:03,833 --> 00:22:05,791 It was enough to make my head explode. 442 00:22:08,875 --> 00:22:10,791 I was getting the uneasy feeling 443 00:22:10,833 --> 00:22:12,875 that green energy was not going to save us. 444 00:22:13,833 --> 00:22:15,750 And I wasn't the only one. 445 00:22:15,791 --> 00:22:17,041 - I've counted something 446 00:22:17,083 --> 00:22:19,875 like 25 different alternative energy options. 447 00:22:19,916 --> 00:22:21,791 So surely, among all of those, 448 00:22:21,833 --> 00:22:24,458 there are enough sources 449 00:22:24,500 --> 00:22:26,791 of energy to keep us living basically 450 00:22:26,833 --> 00:22:28,708 the way we are in perpetuity. 451 00:22:29,625 --> 00:22:31,541 That's not the reality. 452 00:22:31,583 --> 00:22:34,333 Currently, we're getting, in some cases, 453 00:22:34,375 --> 00:22:37,666 no energy from these potential options. 454 00:22:37,708 --> 00:22:39,875 - Richard York, of the University of Oregon, 455 00:22:39,916 --> 00:22:42,208 published a study in the Journal of Nature 456 00:22:42,250 --> 00:22:45,666 in which he posed the question- do non-fossil energy sources 457 00:22:45,708 --> 00:22:47,833 actually replace fossil fuels? 458 00:22:47,875 --> 00:22:49,875 - What we implicitly assume, often, 459 00:22:49,916 --> 00:22:52,500 the substitute pushes out 460 00:22:52,541 --> 00:22:54,750 the thing you want it to substitute for. 461 00:22:54,791 --> 00:22:56,416 What you find is, 462 00:22:56,458 --> 00:23:00,750 nations that add non-fossil energy sources do not seem 463 00:23:00,791 --> 00:23:03,958 to see a particular suppression of fossil fuel use. 464 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,250 - That's pretty mind-blowing. 465 00:23:05,291 --> 00:23:07,208 We've got billions of dollars being spent 466 00:23:07,250 --> 00:23:10,000 and green energy is not even replacing fossil fuels? 467 00:23:10,041 --> 00:23:13,541 - They don't even know that that's a question, yes. 468 00:23:13,583 --> 00:23:17,750 - The story that we're in, right now, is okay, 469 00:23:17,791 --> 00:23:19,916 we're in ecological hot water, 470 00:23:19,958 --> 00:23:21,833 but there are technological fixes 471 00:23:21,875 --> 00:23:23,708 and if we're just creative enough, 472 00:23:23,750 --> 00:23:25,375 if we're just ingenious enough 473 00:23:25,416 --> 00:23:28,541 and if we just work hard enough, we will triumph. 474 00:23:28,583 --> 00:23:31,791 Seeking technological fixes, one after another, 475 00:23:31,833 --> 00:23:35,500 is simply going to lead us to another level 476 00:23:35,541 --> 00:23:38,500 of catastrophe sooner rather than later. 477 00:23:38,541 --> 00:23:41,416 - We wanna believe that these things are gonna be available 478 00:23:41,458 --> 00:23:44,458 for us, so if we get a little worried 479 00:23:44,500 --> 00:23:48,708 and somebody comes up with a new thingy and promises 480 00:23:48,750 --> 00:23:54,208 that this will do it for us, we wanna believe. 481 00:23:57,791 --> 00:23:59,791 - Because we're a little worried, 482 00:24:00,875 --> 00:24:04,333 are we desperate to accept any idea that sounds alternative 483 00:24:04,375 --> 00:24:05,625 or green? 484 00:24:07,958 --> 00:24:09,750 Are we avoiding looking too closely 485 00:24:10,666 --> 00:24:12,916 because we don't want to know the answer? 486 00:24:16,291 --> 00:24:19,125 Ozzie Zehner, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley 487 00:24:19,166 --> 00:24:22,583 and Northwestern University was asking some 488 00:24:22,625 --> 00:24:23,875 of the same questions. 489 00:24:24,958 --> 00:24:26,625 - I mean, I thought that solar 490 00:24:26,666 --> 00:24:28,958 and wind were probably very good solutions. 491 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:30,625 It wasn't really even that long ago. 492 00:24:30,666 --> 00:24:34,291 One of the most dangerous things right now is the illusion 493 00:24:34,333 --> 00:24:37,666 that alternative technologies, like wind and solar, 494 00:24:37,708 --> 00:24:39,583 are somehow different from fossil fuels. 495 00:24:39,625 --> 00:24:41,875 Well I hear a lot of the time that solar cells 496 00:24:41,916 --> 00:24:43,375 are made out of sand. 497 00:24:43,416 --> 00:24:44,875 - Have you ever thought about solar panels? 498 00:24:44,916 --> 00:24:46,041 The main ingredient 499 00:24:46,083 --> 00:24:48,250 that makes them work is silicon, or sand. 500 00:24:48,291 --> 00:24:50,041 - This is the raw material chips 501 00:24:50,083 --> 00:24:51,916 are made of, sand. 502 00:24:51,958 --> 00:24:53,291 - They don't use sand at all. 503 00:24:53,333 --> 00:24:54,750 I'll show you what... 504 00:24:56,875 --> 00:24:59,958 So, this is one of the ingredients, 505 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:01,875 it's actually mined quartz. 506 00:25:06,833 --> 00:25:08,875 - Spruce Pine, North Carolina, 507 00:25:08,916 --> 00:25:12,000 regarded as the finest source of high purity quartz 508 00:25:12,041 --> 00:25:14,416 in the world, for semiconductor, solar 509 00:25:14,458 --> 00:25:16,833 and communication applications. 510 00:25:16,875 --> 00:25:19,375 - You can't use sand because sand has too many impurities. 511 00:25:19,416 --> 00:25:22,041 So, you start with a very high quality quartz 512 00:25:22,083 --> 00:25:24,708 and a very high quality coal, and then you put 513 00:25:24,750 --> 00:25:28,916 those two together into an arc furnace and you melt them. 514 00:25:28,958 --> 00:25:31,041 - The quartz is then melted with coal 515 00:25:31,083 --> 00:25:35,916 in a large furnace at temperatures of 516 00:25:35,958 --> 00:25:37,875 - And so you need more coal to do that. 517 00:25:38,916 --> 00:25:40,750 I'll get another coal out. 518 00:25:40,791 --> 00:25:42,833 When we melt these together, 519 00:25:42,875 --> 00:25:44,833 we get silicon metal and carbon dioxide. 520 00:25:44,875 --> 00:25:45,958 The carbon dioxide just goes off 521 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:47,041 and you got rid of the carbon 522 00:25:47,083 --> 00:25:48,958 and you're left with silicon metal. 523 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,208 This is not clean coal apparently. 524 00:25:50,250 --> 00:25:52,041 - Not clean coal. 525 00:25:52,083 --> 00:25:53,875 Ozzie Zehner said it was an illusion 526 00:25:53,916 --> 00:25:58,208 that renewables were replacing coal or any fossil fuel. 527 00:25:58,250 --> 00:26:01,333 Environmental groups continued telling a different story. 528 00:26:01,375 --> 00:26:04,208 - We've already seen more than 25% 529 00:26:04,250 --> 00:26:07,958 of the U.S. coal fleet has already either retired 530 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:09,916 or is on a schedule to retire. 531 00:26:09,958 --> 00:26:12,083 - Coal plants were closing, but Ozzie explained 532 00:26:12,125 --> 00:26:14,500 that well meaning people were being misled. 533 00:26:14,541 --> 00:26:16,916 - NV Energy's now gonna go ahead and shut down the plant 534 00:26:16,958 --> 00:26:17,791 and go with renewable. 535 00:26:17,833 --> 00:26:19,208 One of the largest solar plants 536 00:26:19,250 --> 00:26:21,208 and that's gonna happen right behind me. 537 00:26:21,250 --> 00:26:23,708 - Since you can't replace a coal plant with solar, 538 00:26:23,750 --> 00:26:25,541 they're actually replacing the coal plant 539 00:26:25,583 --> 00:26:27,041 with two natural gas plants, 540 00:26:27,083 --> 00:26:28,791 and natural gas is a fossil fuel. 541 00:26:28,833 --> 00:26:31,958 This is the Las Vegas Co-Gen natural gas plant. 542 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:33,458 This is one of the facilities 543 00:26:33,500 --> 00:26:35,875 that's replacing the coal plant that's being shut down. 544 00:26:35,916 --> 00:26:39,041 This is the Sun Peak generating facility. 545 00:26:39,083 --> 00:26:40,833 This is the second natural gas plant 546 00:26:40,875 --> 00:26:43,750 that was used to replace the coal plant. 547 00:26:43,791 --> 00:26:46,041 And you hear the same story in Iowa. 548 00:26:46,083 --> 00:26:48,041 - Instead of using energy generated 549 00:26:48,083 --> 00:26:49,875 by coal-fired power plants, 550 00:26:49,916 --> 00:26:51,541 the solar farm will now avoid 551 00:26:51,583 --> 00:26:54,750 about 2.1 million pounds of carbon pollution. 552 00:26:54,791 --> 00:26:57,916 - But then they're building a larger natural gas plant. 553 00:26:59,125 --> 00:27:02,083 This is a 650 megawatt natural gas plant. 554 00:27:02,125 --> 00:27:03,958 That's four times more megawatts 555 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,250 than the coal plant over there that it's replacing. 556 00:27:07,291 --> 00:27:09,166 And they're doing the same thing in North Carolina, 557 00:27:09,208 --> 00:27:10,375 which was the subject 558 00:27:10,416 --> 00:27:13,000 of that Years of Living Dangerously series. 559 00:27:13,041 --> 00:27:14,791 - Duke Energy operates a coal plant right 560 00:27:14,833 --> 00:27:17,125 outside of Asheville that is the biggest source 561 00:27:17,166 --> 00:27:20,333 of climate pollution in western North Carolina. 562 00:27:20,375 --> 00:27:22,166 And we are working to retire that plant 563 00:27:22,208 --> 00:27:23,500 and replace it with clean energy. 564 00:27:23,541 --> 00:27:24,958 - But what they don't tell you is 565 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,583 that we're also building a larger natural gas facility. 566 00:27:27,625 --> 00:27:31,916 - So, we'll be retiring a two-unit 376 567 00:27:31,958 --> 00:27:34,750 We'll invest $750 million 568 00:27:34,791 --> 00:27:37,166 to build a state-of-the-art natural gas plant. 569 00:27:37,208 --> 00:27:39,708 - When Michael Brune stands up and talks about clean energy, 570 00:27:39,750 --> 00:27:41,208 he's using solar cells and wind turbines. 571 00:27:41,250 --> 00:27:42,875 - This is the new world 572 00:27:42,916 --> 00:27:44,916 100% clean energy. 573 00:27:44,958 --> 00:27:46,250 - When Michael Bloomberg stands up and says, 574 00:27:46,291 --> 00:27:48,833 "Cleaner energy," he's talking about natural gas. 575 00:27:48,875 --> 00:27:52,708 - Create cleaner energy: solar, wind, and natural gas. 576 00:27:53,208 --> 00:27:55,750 - In fact, the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign 577 00:27:55,791 --> 00:27:58,833 actually coincides with one of the largest expansions 578 00:27:58,875 --> 00:28:01,125 of fossil fuel production that we've ever pulled off, 579 00:28:01,166 --> 00:28:03,041 most of that being natural gas. 580 00:28:04,291 --> 00:28:05,500 - Ozzie's assertion 581 00:28:05,541 --> 00:28:08,083 that renewables were not replacing fossil fuels, 582 00:28:08,125 --> 00:28:10,916 if true, would upend all of our assumptions 583 00:28:10,958 --> 00:28:13,541 about green energy and what was going to save us. 584 00:28:16,208 --> 00:28:18,375 What would happen if I asked the same question 585 00:28:18,416 --> 00:28:19,833 to industry insiders? 586 00:28:21,125 --> 00:28:23,250 Like, where do solar panels come from? 587 00:28:23,291 --> 00:28:25,625 - Well, you have to start with a mine. 588 00:28:27,250 --> 00:28:29,541 Or, what's stopping us from running the world 589 00:28:29,583 --> 00:28:31,583 on 100% solar and wind? 590 00:28:31,625 --> 00:28:34,291 - Well, intermittency is one of the major challenges. 591 00:28:34,333 --> 00:28:35,791 - Grid stability. 592 00:28:35,833 --> 00:28:38,166 - The sun's everywhere, except when it's not there. 593 00:28:38,208 --> 00:28:40,250 - There's a lot of developers that were flocking 594 00:28:40,291 --> 00:28:43,208 to California, wanting to connect their solar farms 595 00:28:43,250 --> 00:28:44,416 and wind farms. 596 00:28:44,458 --> 00:28:46,000 The utilities would turn to me and my team 597 00:28:46,041 --> 00:28:49,708 to help them look at what the impact to their grid would be. 598 00:28:49,750 --> 00:28:50,791 - When we add solar cells 599 00:28:50,833 --> 00:28:51,875 or wind turbines to a grid, 600 00:28:51,916 --> 00:28:53,708 do we get to shut off a coal plant? 601 00:28:54,625 --> 00:28:56,708 - That's certainly the goal, the problem is, 602 00:28:56,750 --> 00:28:59,708 or the difference is that renewables are intermittent. 603 00:28:59,750 --> 00:29:01,958 All of a sudden, a cloud cover could come over 604 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,125 and your solar generation could drastically decrease, 605 00:29:05,166 --> 00:29:06,666 and if you don't have something else there 606 00:29:06,708 --> 00:29:09,916 to meet whatever the load is at that moment, 607 00:29:09,958 --> 00:29:12,125 then you're gonna have power outages. 608 00:29:12,166 --> 00:29:13,166 - So, we don't get 609 00:29:13,208 --> 00:29:14,750 to turn a fossil fuel power plant off 610 00:29:14,791 --> 00:29:16,916 when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing? 611 00:29:16,958 --> 00:29:18,541 - Well, it's not that easy. 612 00:29:18,583 --> 00:29:21,166 We need to be able to back up that power 613 00:29:21,208 --> 00:29:24,458 to keep the system steady all the time 614 00:29:24,500 --> 00:29:25,958 so it doesn't collapse. 615 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,250 Most likely that's through fast-acting gas plants, 616 00:29:30,291 --> 00:29:33,000 but also what we call the baseload plants, 617 00:29:33,041 --> 00:29:35,500 either nuclear or coal that are on all the time 618 00:29:35,541 --> 00:29:38,625 but that maybe can be dialed down during the day 619 00:29:38,666 --> 00:29:42,083 and dialed up when demand starts rising. 620 00:29:42,125 --> 00:29:43,500 - Does it affect the efficiency 621 00:29:43,541 --> 00:29:45,958 to turn fossil fuel power plants on and off? 622 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:47,166 - Oh, yeah. 623 00:29:47,208 --> 00:29:49,125 They don't like to be dialed up and down. 624 00:29:49,166 --> 00:29:52,416 It does make, that's wear and tear for them. 625 00:29:52,458 --> 00:29:56,125 - Turning them on, turning it off, there's energy used 626 00:29:56,166 --> 00:29:57,750 and lost and any time, 627 00:29:57,791 --> 00:29:59,166 kind of like when you turn on your car on and off, 628 00:29:59,208 --> 00:30:00,250 you use a little extra gas 629 00:30:00,291 --> 00:30:01,625 to get it turned on. 630 00:30:01,666 --> 00:30:02,708 I do still think you have 631 00:30:02,750 --> 00:30:04,291 to maintain a baseload of some kind. 632 00:30:04,333 --> 00:30:05,625 - What's the solution then? 633 00:30:05,666 --> 00:30:06,916 - You need energy storage. 634 00:30:06,958 --> 00:30:09,916 - Without storage, you can't count on it. 635 00:30:09,958 --> 00:30:13,750 - If you can store the energy that's created off 636 00:30:13,791 --> 00:30:17,000 of things that are intermittent like solar and wind, 637 00:30:17,041 --> 00:30:20,291 you can store that, now you're reducing your need 638 00:30:20,333 --> 00:30:21,416 for a baseload. 639 00:30:21,458 --> 00:30:22,666 - But would adding storage 640 00:30:22,708 --> 00:30:24,833 like batteries increase the carbon footprint? 641 00:30:24,875 --> 00:30:26,208 - Yeah, absolutely. 642 00:30:27,791 --> 00:30:29,000 In a big way, actually. 643 00:30:29,041 --> 00:30:31,416 And as more energy storage gets on the grid, 644 00:30:32,666 --> 00:30:35,625 it has a mass scale implication. 645 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:38,000 - When I looked up how much battery storage 646 00:30:38,041 --> 00:30:40,125 there is, it was less than one-tenth 647 00:30:40,166 --> 00:30:41,916 of one percent of what's needed. 648 00:30:42,875 --> 00:30:45,000 In a couple years, they begin to degrade 649 00:30:45,041 --> 00:30:47,208 and need to be replaced a few years later. 650 00:30:48,166 --> 00:30:50,875 I learned that the solar panels don't last forever, either. 651 00:30:50,916 --> 00:30:53,916 - Some solar panels are built to last only 10 years. 652 00:30:53,958 --> 00:30:58,375 So, it's not as if you get this magic free energy. 653 00:30:58,416 --> 00:31:00,833 I don't know that it's the solution, 654 00:31:00,875 --> 00:31:05,166 and here I am helping to sell the materials 655 00:31:05,208 --> 00:31:06,791 that would go into photovoltaics. 656 00:31:08,791 --> 00:31:10,833 - And so to overcome profound limitations 657 00:31:10,875 --> 00:31:13,750 of solar and wind, rarely discussed in the media, 658 00:31:13,791 --> 00:31:16,000 a new generation of technology was rising 659 00:31:16,041 --> 00:31:17,500 in the California desert. 660 00:31:18,750 --> 00:31:19,875 - What is this? 661 00:31:19,916 --> 00:31:21,625 - What we're using is a field of mirrors 662 00:31:21,666 --> 00:31:23,916 to focus sunlight onto a tower. 663 00:31:23,958 --> 00:31:27,416 The power plant itself, at 377 megawatts, 664 00:31:27,458 --> 00:31:29,500 will be the largest of its kind in the world. 665 00:31:29,541 --> 00:31:31,750 - This will become the biggest solar plant in the world! 666 00:31:33,041 --> 00:31:35,500 There's some people that look out in a desert, 667 00:31:35,541 --> 00:31:38,708 and they see miles and miles of emptiness. 668 00:31:38,750 --> 00:31:42,166 I see miles and miles of a gold mine. 669 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,416 - But this next generation 670 00:31:44,458 --> 00:31:46,750 had a fossil fuel secret, too. 671 00:31:46,791 --> 00:31:49,041 - This solar facility burns natural gas pretty much 672 00:31:49,083 --> 00:31:51,666 every morning in order to get it started up. 673 00:31:51,708 --> 00:31:53,000 - How long do they have to burn it for? 674 00:31:53,041 --> 00:31:54,625 - Hours, usually. 675 00:31:54,666 --> 00:31:57,416 This is the incoming natural gas for the facility. 676 00:31:57,458 --> 00:31:59,583 This plant would work about as well without natural gas 677 00:31:59,625 --> 00:32:01,166 as I would without coffee in the morning. 678 00:32:01,208 --> 00:32:03,000 - Or maybe how you would be without food. 679 00:32:03,041 --> 00:32:04,625 - Or without food, yeah. 680 00:32:04,666 --> 00:32:06,833 They have to file for acid rain permits, 681 00:32:06,875 --> 00:32:08,833 permits for nitrous oxide emissions, 682 00:32:08,875 --> 00:32:12,000 they have to apply for carbon offset permits. 683 00:32:12,041 --> 00:32:14,000 Because they're producing carbon dioxide here, 684 00:32:14,041 --> 00:32:15,583 so they have to offset that. 685 00:32:15,625 --> 00:32:18,041 The whole thing is built using fossil fuel infrastructure, 686 00:32:18,083 --> 00:32:20,875 from the concrete to the steel to the mirrors, 687 00:32:20,916 --> 00:32:22,500 to the backing on the mirrors. 688 00:32:22,541 --> 00:32:27,208 The sun is renewable, but the solar arrays are not. 689 00:32:27,250 --> 00:32:28,333 - Oh, come on. 690 00:32:28,375 --> 00:32:29,291 There's got to be something renewable. 691 00:32:29,333 --> 00:32:30,666 Glass is renewable. 692 00:32:30,708 --> 00:32:31,625 - Glass. 693 00:32:31,666 --> 00:32:32,916 Glass is not renewable. 694 00:32:32,958 --> 00:32:34,208 - Iron's renewable. 695 00:32:36,041 --> 00:32:36,791 Aluminum? 696 00:32:36,833 --> 00:32:37,833 That's renewable. 697 00:32:37,875 --> 00:32:38,958 I recycle my soda cans. 698 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,958 I know it's renewable. 699 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:42,750 - Yeah, the problem with all of these materials is 700 00:32:42,791 --> 00:32:46,583 that it takes an incredible amount of energy to mine 701 00:32:46,625 --> 00:32:48,833 and process all of the materials 702 00:32:48,875 --> 00:32:50,750 that go into building something like this. 703 00:32:50,791 --> 00:32:53,291 You use more fossil fuels to do this 704 00:32:53,333 --> 00:32:56,041 than you're getting benefit from it. 705 00:32:56,083 --> 00:32:57,750 You would have been better off just burning the fossil fuels 706 00:32:57,791 --> 00:33:01,125 in the first place, instead of playing pretend. 707 00:33:01,166 --> 00:33:02,583 - That green energy has nothing 708 00:33:02,625 --> 00:33:05,500 to do with fossil fuels is apparently a story 709 00:33:05,541 --> 00:33:07,666 only meant for you and me. 710 00:33:07,708 --> 00:33:09,125 Here is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 711 00:33:09,166 --> 00:33:12,208 speaking to oil and gas company insiders. 712 00:33:12,250 --> 00:33:15,791 - It's a combination solar gas plant. 713 00:33:15,833 --> 00:33:18,083 It's a turbine that we just take from a gas plant, 714 00:33:18,125 --> 00:33:20,708 suspend it from a big scaffolding, a tower, 715 00:33:20,750 --> 00:33:22,875 and surround it by giant mirrors in the desert. 716 00:33:22,916 --> 00:33:24,875 The plants that we're building, the wind plants 717 00:33:24,916 --> 00:33:26,750 and the solar plants, are gas plants. 718 00:33:26,791 --> 00:33:29,000 - What kind of game is being played? 719 00:33:30,166 --> 00:33:34,708 - Well we're basically just being fed a lie. 720 00:33:34,750 --> 00:33:35,875 For instance, you'll hear 721 00:33:35,916 --> 00:33:37,833 about Germany running on wind and solar. 722 00:33:37,875 --> 00:33:39,125 - They were getting 50% of their power 723 00:33:39,166 --> 00:33:41,125 coming from the sun. 724 00:33:41,166 --> 00:33:43,000 - There were days this past summer 725 00:33:43,041 --> 00:33:44,958 when the Germans were generating 80% 726 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,416 of their power from the sun. 727 00:33:46,458 --> 00:33:47,666 - But Germany 728 00:33:47,708 --> 00:33:49,583 is still Europe's largest consumer of coal. 729 00:33:56,125 --> 00:33:57,125 - Uhh. 730 00:33:57,166 --> 00:33:58,458 - Only a small fraction 731 00:33:58,500 --> 00:34:01,041 of their energy actually comes from wind and solar. 732 00:34:01,083 --> 00:34:03,833 In fact, Germany is pushing forward with a large terminal 733 00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:06,041 that could import natural gas from the United States. 734 00:34:07,750 --> 00:34:09,041 Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, 735 00:34:09,083 --> 00:34:10,958 when he announced his Gigafactory battery plant, 736 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,833 he said it would power itself with wind and solar energy. 737 00:34:13,875 --> 00:34:17,541 - Through a combination of geothermal, wind and solar, 738 00:34:17,583 --> 00:34:19,750 it will produce all the energy that it needs. 739 00:34:19,791 --> 00:34:21,541 - But in fact, it has lines connecting it 740 00:34:21,583 --> 00:34:24,333 to the same electrical grid that we're all connected to. 741 00:34:31,916 --> 00:34:33,000 Electric cars, wind turbines 742 00:34:33,041 --> 00:34:35,083 and solar panels use rare earth metals. 743 00:34:35,125 --> 00:34:36,583 And in fact, a rare earth mine is 744 00:34:36,625 --> 00:34:38,750 right up the street from here. 745 00:34:38,791 --> 00:34:41,833 In mining these deep deposits, about 90% 746 00:34:41,875 --> 00:34:44,833 of what they pull up out of the ground contains uranium, 747 00:34:44,875 --> 00:34:48,458 thorium and low level of other radionuclides. 748 00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:51,291 Radioactive waste that has to be disposed of somehow, 749 00:34:51,333 --> 00:34:53,750 they kind of turn it into a paste and spread it 750 00:34:53,791 --> 00:34:55,208 over the desert floor. 751 00:34:55,250 --> 00:34:56,500 - Well, that's good for the desert, right? 752 00:34:56,541 --> 00:34:58,083 - Yeah, the desert loves that. 753 00:35:00,583 --> 00:35:02,166 Tesla's electric cars are built with aluminum, 754 00:35:02,208 --> 00:35:03,833 which uses eight times more energy 755 00:35:03,875 --> 00:35:05,375 to manufacture than steel. 756 00:35:05,416 --> 00:35:08,791 They use lithium, which also relies on toxic mining. 757 00:35:08,833 --> 00:35:10,875 And even more graphite, which is one 758 00:35:10,916 --> 00:35:12,541 of the rarest forms of carbon. 759 00:35:13,541 --> 00:35:14,750 In fact, the investors wanted 760 00:35:14,791 --> 00:35:16,583 to open several new graphite mines 761 00:35:16,625 --> 00:35:19,291 after Tesla announced the Gigafactory. 762 00:35:19,333 --> 00:35:21,083 Apple claims to be 100% renewable. 763 00:35:21,125 --> 00:35:24,041 - We never stop thinking about what's best for the planet. 764 00:35:24,083 --> 00:35:27,708 We now run Apple on 100% renewable energy. 765 00:35:27,750 --> 00:35:32,000 All of our facilities, worldwide. 766 00:35:32,041 --> 00:35:33,500 - And they did chop down a forest 767 00:35:33,541 --> 00:35:36,500 to put up solar panels near their North Carolina plant. 768 00:35:36,541 --> 00:35:39,000 But they didn't disconnect from the grid and they can't. 769 00:35:39,041 --> 00:35:41,166 - Duke says energy hungry companies 770 00:35:41,208 --> 00:35:44,166 like Apple can never go entirely off the grid. 771 00:35:44,208 --> 00:35:46,333 - They're still hooked up to our grid. 772 00:35:47,458 --> 00:35:48,791 - Despite all of the claims, 773 00:35:48,833 --> 00:35:51,500 I haven't found a single entity anywhere in the world 774 00:35:51,541 --> 00:35:55,041 that's running on 100% solar and wind alone. 775 00:35:57,375 --> 00:36:00,000 - It turns out, you don't just need fossil fuels 776 00:36:00,041 --> 00:36:04,166 to run a place like Ivanpah, you need the devil himself, 777 00:36:04,208 --> 00:36:06,958 or in this case, themselves. 778 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,416 - All of the mirrors that you see there are built 779 00:36:09,458 --> 00:36:11,916 by the Koch brothers, Guardian Glass Industry, 780 00:36:11,958 --> 00:36:13,375 a company that they control. 781 00:36:13,416 --> 00:36:15,708 Koch Carbon creates a lot of the inputs that are used 782 00:36:15,750 --> 00:36:18,375 to create the cement and the concrete and the steel. 783 00:36:18,416 --> 00:36:20,583 And not only that, they build the plants 784 00:36:20,625 --> 00:36:22,708 that builds polysilicon for solar cells. 785 00:36:22,750 --> 00:36:23,875 They have, actually, 786 00:36:23,916 --> 00:36:26,000 their own solar line called Solar Molex. 787 00:36:26,041 --> 00:36:29,458 From every step of the process, the Koch brothers are there. 788 00:36:29,500 --> 00:36:31,416 - But, they're the evil doers. 789 00:36:31,458 --> 00:36:32,875 - Yeah , the funny part is 790 00:36:32,916 --> 00:36:35,000 that when you criticize solar plants like this, 791 00:36:35,041 --> 00:36:37,416 you're accused of working for the Koch brothers. 792 00:36:38,500 --> 00:36:40,416 That's the idiocy in all of this. 793 00:36:40,458 --> 00:36:42,916 This absolutely can not extend civilization's life. 794 00:36:42,958 --> 00:36:45,916 This relies on the most toxic and industrial processes 795 00:36:45,958 --> 00:36:47,208 that we've ever created. 796 00:39:10,125 --> 00:39:11,833 - The beauty of a solar facility, 797 00:39:11,875 --> 00:39:13,125 and particularly this technology, 798 00:39:13,166 --> 00:39:15,791 is that it is so environmentally benign. 799 00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:38,541 I, too, had once thought 800 00:39:38,583 --> 00:39:40,875 deserts could be sacrifice zones. 801 00:39:42,916 --> 00:39:44,333 I was wrong. 802 00:39:44,375 --> 00:39:45,666 Deserts are not dead. 803 00:39:46,875 --> 00:39:48,875 They are, in fact, full of ancient life. 804 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,416 In the desert, the Joshua tree stands, waiting, 805 00:40:05,791 --> 00:40:08,000 waiting for the giant ground sloths 806 00:40:08,041 --> 00:40:10,416 and the mammoths that shall never return. 807 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,083 The Joshua tree depended on the giant mammals 808 00:40:15,125 --> 00:40:17,833 to reach up high and eat their seeds, 809 00:40:17,875 --> 00:40:20,875 and thus disperse the Joshua tree. 810 00:40:23,791 --> 00:40:27,041 But now, stranded in time and space, 811 00:40:27,083 --> 00:40:30,333 the Joshua tree awaits a new fate. 812 00:40:30,375 --> 00:40:31,625 To be sacrificed 813 00:40:32,625 --> 00:40:33,875 in the name of progress. 814 00:40:35,416 --> 00:40:38,708 - Joshua trees are torn down to make way for solar projects. 815 00:40:38,750 --> 00:40:40,666 23ABC's Cassie Carlisle travels 816 00:40:40,708 --> 00:40:42,875 to the Mojave Desert to talk to neighbors. 817 00:40:42,916 --> 00:40:44,750 - They're not your usual tree. 818 00:40:44,791 --> 00:40:46,250 More like something from fiction, 819 00:40:46,291 --> 00:40:48,791 but these Joshuas are causing quite an uproar. 820 00:40:48,833 --> 00:40:51,458 - No, it makes me sick that they're clearing them off, 821 00:40:51,500 --> 00:40:53,250 killing them real quick, 822 00:40:53,291 --> 00:40:54,833 and now they're grinding them up, 823 00:40:54,875 --> 00:40:56,416 getting rid of all the evidence. 824 00:41:04,666 --> 00:41:06,958 - Not far from Ivanpah Solar, 825 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:08,541 Daggett, California was home 826 00:41:08,583 --> 00:41:11,291 to several generations of solar arrays 827 00:41:11,333 --> 00:41:13,875 including some of the first on the planet. 828 00:41:18,250 --> 00:41:20,125 Ozzie and I thought we would take a trip 829 00:41:20,166 --> 00:41:21,916 to see where it all began. 830 00:41:35,916 --> 00:41:38,125 - This is one of the sunniest places in the planet, really, 831 00:41:38,166 --> 00:41:41,458 and it's the center of the solar industry 832 00:41:41,500 --> 00:41:42,875 and they've been building and dismantling 833 00:41:42,916 --> 00:41:46,833 and building arrays here for about 40 years. 834 00:41:48,208 --> 00:41:49,250 - Then we happened to run 835 00:41:49,291 --> 00:41:51,083 into the mayor of Daggett. 836 00:41:51,125 --> 00:41:53,500 - And then the solar plants out there, my husband, 837 00:41:53,541 --> 00:41:58,000 back in, I'd say '83, '84, they worked out there building 838 00:41:58,041 --> 00:41:58,916 that solar plant out there. 839 00:41:58,958 --> 00:41:59,875 - Yeah, the SEGS. 840 00:41:59,916 --> 00:42:02,458 - And everybody here worked. 841 00:42:02,500 --> 00:42:03,333 - How's that held up? 842 00:42:03,375 --> 00:42:04,875 Is it, are the jobs still here? 843 00:42:04,916 --> 00:42:05,916 - No. 844 00:42:05,958 --> 00:42:07,666 Jobs went bye-bye. 845 00:42:07,708 --> 00:42:09,625 They have their normal people that run the plant, 846 00:42:09,666 --> 00:42:11,541 the plant operators and stuff like that, 847 00:42:11,583 --> 00:42:13,833 the big wigs, you know, they have that. 848 00:42:13,875 --> 00:42:15,833 Where that energy's going, I don't know. 849 00:42:15,875 --> 00:42:17,750 - Were you originally optimistic 850 00:42:17,791 --> 00:42:19,916 that the solar would bring more jobs 851 00:42:19,958 --> 00:42:21,041 and development for people? 852 00:42:21,083 --> 00:42:22,500 - Yeah, we really did, we really did. 853 00:42:22,541 --> 00:42:25,125 A lot of things come into this town, they come and go. 854 00:42:25,166 --> 00:42:26,750 They go really fast. 855 00:42:29,791 --> 00:42:30,916 - Do you see this? 856 00:42:32,666 --> 00:42:34,166 - Then Ozzie and I discovered 857 00:42:34,208 --> 00:42:37,000 that the giant solar arrays had been razed to the ground. 858 00:42:38,583 --> 00:42:40,125 - Oh, my God. 859 00:42:41,291 --> 00:42:42,958 - I mean, this was huge. 860 00:42:46,708 --> 00:42:49,000 It suddenly dawned on me what we were looking at. 861 00:42:50,416 --> 00:42:51,791 A solar dead zone. 862 00:42:53,583 --> 00:42:55,125 Look at the blowing sand. 863 00:42:55,166 --> 00:42:56,166 - Yeah. 864 00:42:56,208 --> 00:42:57,416 There's sand everywhere, 865 00:42:57,458 --> 00:42:59,666 there's sand dunes forming around this area. 866 00:42:59,708 --> 00:43:00,500 - Wow. 867 00:43:15,541 --> 00:43:16,958 So, after all the mining, 868 00:43:18,208 --> 00:43:20,166 the fossil fuels, 869 00:43:20,208 --> 00:43:21,750 the toxins, 870 00:43:21,791 --> 00:43:23,708 the environmental destruction, 871 00:43:24,916 --> 00:43:26,875 here's what happens next. 872 00:43:28,125 --> 00:43:30,708 Only a few years after it was built, 873 00:43:30,750 --> 00:43:33,000 things at Ivanpah began to fall apart. 874 00:43:35,875 --> 00:43:37,875 Broken mirrors littered the desert. 875 00:43:42,291 --> 00:43:43,875 Yes, these giant solar 876 00:43:43,916 --> 00:43:46,916 and wind technology installations may last 877 00:43:46,958 --> 00:43:48,458 only a few decades, 878 00:43:50,708 --> 00:43:52,958 then tear it down and start all over again. 879 00:43:57,333 --> 00:43:59,000 If there is enough planet left. 880 00:44:04,916 --> 00:44:06,416 It was becoming clear that 881 00:44:06,458 --> 00:44:09,125 what we have been calling green, renewable energy 882 00:44:10,041 --> 00:44:13,083 and industrial civilization, are one and the same. 883 00:44:14,958 --> 00:44:17,875 Desperate measures not to save the planet, 884 00:44:19,375 --> 00:44:21,333 but to save our way of life. 885 00:44:24,708 --> 00:44:28,125 Desperate measures rather than face the reality, 886 00:44:28,166 --> 00:44:32,208 humans are experiencing the planet's limits 887 00:44:32,250 --> 00:44:34,125 all at once. 888 00:44:34,166 --> 00:44:37,708 - Every different perspective I look at 889 00:44:37,750 --> 00:44:41,250 and imagine, well, we could do more of this, 890 00:44:41,291 --> 00:44:44,458 or go to a larger area or use more of that. 891 00:44:44,500 --> 00:44:46,833 Well, it turns out, there isn't more. 892 00:44:46,875 --> 00:44:49,875 I looked at marine production and fish production 893 00:44:49,916 --> 00:44:52,333 and found that peaked 20 years ago. 894 00:44:53,708 --> 00:44:57,166 More and more of what we eat is from fish farming. 895 00:44:58,083 --> 00:45:01,416 The current acres of actively farmed land, 896 00:45:01,458 --> 00:45:03,416 that has peaked also. 897 00:45:03,458 --> 00:45:05,958 The rivers are already being irrigated 898 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:09,083 to about the limits of what they can sustain. 899 00:45:09,125 --> 00:45:13,583 The Colorado River doesn't get to the ocean anymore. 900 00:45:13,625 --> 00:45:16,083 Well, then you start looking at ground water, 901 00:45:16,125 --> 00:45:18,000 the Southern Great Plains, 902 00:45:18,041 --> 00:45:21,166 and I think they can almost predict when they will run out 903 00:45:21,208 --> 00:45:23,791 of ground water and it's in a decade or two. 904 00:45:25,375 --> 00:45:29,333 A human vulnerability at the global scale, 905 00:45:29,375 --> 00:45:33,083 that any one of them we could maybe compartmentalize, 906 00:45:33,125 --> 00:45:34,958 but we're seeing them propagating 907 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:40,000 across topic after topic of society and the earth system. 908 00:45:41,083 --> 00:45:43,750 And I don't think the people 909 00:45:43,791 --> 00:45:46,000 in charge are near nervous enough. 910 00:45:51,958 --> 00:45:53,083 - Though each 911 00:45:53,125 --> 00:45:54,791 of them takes climate change seriously, 912 00:45:54,833 --> 00:45:56,833 every expert I talked to wanted 913 00:45:56,875 --> 00:46:00,000 to bring my attention to the same, underlying problem. 914 00:46:00,041 --> 00:46:04,875 - There are too many human beings using too much, too fast. 915 00:46:04,916 --> 00:46:07,166 - As a global community, we really have got 916 00:46:07,208 --> 00:46:09,833 to start dealing with the issue of population. 917 00:46:09,875 --> 00:46:13,166 - Population growth continues to be the, 918 00:46:13,208 --> 00:46:16,833 not the elephant, the herd of elephants, in the room. 919 00:46:16,875 --> 00:46:18,125 - Can a single species 920 00:46:18,166 --> 00:46:19,875 that's come to dominate an entire planet-- 921 00:46:19,916 --> 00:46:24,875 - Be smart enough to voluntarily limit its own presence? 922 00:46:24,916 --> 00:46:26,416 - Is there any precedence for that in nature? 923 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:29,375 - Wow. 924 00:46:29,416 --> 00:46:32,958 - We have to have our abilities to consume reined in. 925 00:46:34,125 --> 00:46:37,000 Because we're not good at reining them in 926 00:46:37,041 --> 00:46:40,833 if there are seemingly unrestrained resources. 927 00:46:40,875 --> 00:46:44,750 - Species hit the population wall a lot and then they crash. 928 00:46:44,791 --> 00:46:47,791 I mean, that's a common story in biology. 929 00:46:47,833 --> 00:46:49,916 If that happens to us, in a way, 930 00:46:49,958 --> 00:46:51,541 it's the natural order of things. 931 00:46:51,583 --> 00:46:54,250 And I don't think we're gonna find a way out of this one. 932 00:46:55,666 --> 00:46:56,375 I don't. 933 00:46:56,416 --> 00:46:57,375 - As a scientist, 934 00:46:57,416 --> 00:46:58,750 what leads you to that conclusion? 935 00:46:58,791 --> 00:47:03,416 - Well, because right now, a large percentage 936 00:47:03,458 --> 00:47:07,500 of that number is supported by industrial agriculture, 937 00:47:07,541 --> 00:47:09,500 which is heavily subsidized by oil, 938 00:47:09,541 --> 00:47:10,791 and it's not sustainable, 939 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:15,458 and there's no going back. 940 00:47:15,500 --> 00:47:18,541 Without seeing some sort of major die-off in population, 941 00:47:18,583 --> 00:47:19,791 there's no turning back. 942 00:47:21,208 --> 00:47:22,541 - What's the thing that nobody ever asks you 943 00:47:22,583 --> 00:47:23,791 that you want-- 944 00:47:25,833 --> 00:47:27,791 - Nobody's ever asked me if I'm scared. 945 00:47:28,916 --> 00:47:29,666 - Yeah. 946 00:47:29,708 --> 00:47:30,458 - And, I am. 947 00:47:30,500 --> 00:47:31,375 I actually am scared. 948 00:47:31,416 --> 00:47:34,166 I lose sleep over all of this. 949 00:47:40,791 --> 00:47:42,500 - It took modern humans tens of thousands 950 00:47:42,541 --> 00:47:45,541 of years to reach a population of 700 million. 951 00:47:46,708 --> 00:47:48,458 And then we tapped into millions of years 952 00:47:48,500 --> 00:47:51,500 of stored energy, known as fossil fuels. 953 00:47:51,541 --> 00:47:53,333 Our human population exploded. 954 00:47:54,208 --> 00:47:58,083 It increased by 10 times in a mere 200 years. 955 00:47:58,125 --> 00:48:00,375 Our consumption has also exploded, 956 00:48:00,416 --> 00:48:02,875 on average ten times per person, 957 00:48:02,916 --> 00:48:05,208 and many times more in the Western world. 958 00:48:06,125 --> 00:48:07,958 You put the two together, 959 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:11,875 the result is a total human impact 100 times greater 960 00:48:11,916 --> 00:48:14,125 than only 200 years ago. 961 00:48:16,875 --> 00:48:20,958 And that is the most terrifying realization I have ever had. 962 00:48:23,500 --> 00:48:27,041 We humans are poised for a fall from an unimaginable height. 963 00:48:28,791 --> 00:48:30,375 Not because of one thing, 964 00:48:31,416 --> 00:48:32,916 not climate change alone, 965 00:48:34,208 --> 00:48:36,333 but all the human-caused changes 966 00:48:36,375 --> 00:48:37,875 the planet is suffering from. 967 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,250 So, why are bankers, industrialists 968 00:48:44,291 --> 00:48:46,083 and environmental leaders only focused 969 00:48:46,125 --> 00:48:48,416 on the narrow solution of green technology? 970 00:48:50,333 --> 00:48:51,708 Is it the profit motive? 971 00:48:53,291 --> 00:48:56,291 And why, for most of my life, have I fallen 972 00:48:56,333 --> 00:48:58,958 for the illusion green energy would save us? 973 00:49:04,250 --> 00:49:05,833 Clearly, to answer this question, 974 00:49:05,875 --> 00:49:08,125 I needed professional help. 975 00:49:08,166 --> 00:49:09,458 - Keep my stuff. 976 00:49:09,500 --> 00:49:11,541 No, I never heard... 977 00:49:11,583 --> 00:49:13,375 - I'll just be honest with you about my dilemma. 978 00:49:13,416 --> 00:49:17,750 You can be my clinical social psych-- 979 00:49:17,791 --> 00:49:20,666 It's like, the right has religion, 980 00:49:21,708 --> 00:49:24,250 and they have a belief in infinite fossil fuels. 981 00:49:24,291 --> 00:49:27,833 Our side says, "Oh, it's gonna be okay, 982 00:49:27,875 --> 00:49:29,041 we're gonna have solar panels, 983 00:49:29,083 --> 00:49:31,250 we're gonna have wind towers." 984 00:49:31,291 --> 00:49:33,333 Soon as I heard you talk about our denial of death, 985 00:49:33,375 --> 00:49:35,958 I'm like could that be it? 986 00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:38,458 Could it be that we can't face our own mortality? 987 00:49:38,500 --> 00:49:40,750 Could we have a religion that we're unaware of? 988 00:49:40,791 --> 00:49:42,125 - Absolutely. 989 00:49:42,166 --> 00:49:44,750 I think you've hit the proverbial nail on the head. 990 00:49:44,791 --> 00:49:48,916 What just differentiates people from all other forms 991 00:49:48,958 --> 00:49:51,458 of life is that, we're not only here 992 00:49:51,500 --> 00:49:52,916 but that we know that we're here. 993 00:49:52,958 --> 00:49:57,041 If you know that you're here, then you recognize, 994 00:49:57,083 --> 00:50:00,333 even dimly, that you'll not be here someday. 995 00:50:00,375 --> 00:50:03,958 And on top of that, we don't like that we're animals. 996 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:05,750 So we don't like that we're gonna die someday, 997 00:50:05,791 --> 00:50:07,791 and we don't like that you could walk outside 998 00:50:07,833 --> 00:50:09,875 and get hit by a fuckin' meteor. 999 00:50:09,916 --> 00:50:11,916 What human beings did back 1000 00:50:11,958 --> 00:50:15,083 in yesteryear is to envelop ourselves 1001 00:50:15,125 --> 00:50:17,958 in culturally constructed belief systems. 1002 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:19,250 You know, call them cultures, 1003 00:50:19,291 --> 00:50:23,125 call them world views, schemes of things. 1004 00:50:23,166 --> 00:50:27,125 Whatever you call them, every human community has them. 1005 00:50:27,166 --> 00:50:31,333 Every culture has an account of the origin of the Universe. 1006 00:50:31,375 --> 00:50:32,875 Every culture has a prescription 1007 00:50:32,916 --> 00:50:34,916 for how you're supposed to behave while you're here. 1008 00:50:34,958 --> 00:50:38,833 And every culture offers its denizens hope of immortality, 1009 00:50:38,875 --> 00:50:42,833 either literally or symbolically. 1010 00:50:42,875 --> 00:50:45,375 Then the question is, well, what happens when you bump 1011 00:50:45,416 --> 00:50:49,083 into people who don't share those beliefs? 1012 00:50:49,125 --> 00:50:51,958 Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, 1013 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,333 that's undermining the confidence 1014 00:50:54,375 --> 00:50:57,375 with which you subscribe to your own views, 1015 00:50:57,416 --> 00:50:59,875 and exposing you to the very anxiety 1016 00:50:59,916 --> 00:51:02,000 that those beliefs were constructed 1017 00:51:02,041 --> 00:51:04,208 to eradicate in the first place. 1018 00:51:04,250 --> 00:51:07,041 If we're to make progress, whatever that word means, 1019 00:51:07,083 --> 00:51:10,666 or even to persist as a form of life, we're gonna need 1020 00:51:10,708 --> 00:51:15,708 to radically overhaul our basic conception 1021 00:51:16,750 --> 00:51:20,166 of who and what we are, and what it is that we value. 1022 00:51:21,208 --> 00:51:23,875 Because the people that you referred to earlier, 1023 00:51:23,916 --> 00:51:27,375 both on the left and the right 1024 00:51:27,416 --> 00:51:32,791 that think we're gonna be able to discover more oil, 1025 00:51:32,833 --> 00:51:37,958 or solar panel ourselves into the future, 1026 00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:41,291 where life will look pretty much like it does now. 1027 00:51:41,333 --> 00:51:43,500 You know, only cleaner and better. 1028 00:51:43,541 --> 00:51:45,083 - Either with more oil or greener or both. 1029 00:51:45,125 --> 00:51:46,250 - Correct. 1030 00:51:46,291 --> 00:51:49,000 I think that's just frankly delusional. 1031 00:51:49,041 --> 00:51:51,916 - What I'm hearing is that, if I haven't come to grips 1032 00:51:51,958 --> 00:51:55,791 with my own anxiety about death and life, 1033 00:51:55,833 --> 00:52:00,333 and presented with a reminder of that, I'm highly likely 1034 00:52:00,375 --> 00:52:05,166 to make some tragic decisions for the community. 1035 00:52:05,208 --> 00:52:06,708 - Yes. 1036 00:52:06,750 --> 00:52:12,000 The only solution in principle is, as Albert Camus put it, 1037 00:52:12,041 --> 00:52:15,333 he said, "There's only one liberty, to come to terms 1038 00:52:15,375 --> 00:52:18,958 with death, thereafter anything is possible." 1039 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,291 I find that downright inspiring. 1040 00:52:23,958 --> 00:52:25,791 - As for our environmental leaders, 1041 00:52:25,833 --> 00:52:27,958 who dwelled in comfortable illusions, 1042 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:30,541 how tragic of decisions were they capable of making? 1043 00:52:32,791 --> 00:52:34,041 I was about to find out. 1044 00:52:49,666 --> 00:52:52,125 - They claim they're just using forest residues, 1045 00:52:52,166 --> 00:52:55,333 but actually a great deal of what the McNeil facility, 1046 00:52:55,375 --> 00:52:58,333 and lots of biomass facilities burn, is whole trees. 1047 00:52:58,375 --> 00:53:00,500 As you can see by this pile that's stacked right 1048 00:53:00,541 --> 00:53:03,208 outside of the facility, these are trees. 1049 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:06,416 - It turns out that the biggest source 1050 00:53:06,458 --> 00:53:09,791 of green energy in Vermont is something called biomass. 1051 00:53:10,875 --> 00:53:12,958 Burning trees to create electricity. 1052 00:53:14,750 --> 00:53:16,875 - This is definitely not the way. 1053 00:53:16,916 --> 00:53:19,250 At the first step is actually looking at our lifestyles, 1054 00:53:19,291 --> 00:53:21,791 how we can reduce our energy consumption. 1055 00:53:23,208 --> 00:53:28,541 This is all the ash that has varying levels of toxic metals, 1056 00:53:28,583 --> 00:53:30,041 a great deal of radiation 1057 00:53:30,083 --> 00:53:31,500 because these trees have been absorb... 1058 00:53:31,541 --> 00:53:32,541 Oops, there's the... 1059 00:53:36,625 --> 00:53:38,500 - You're in uh forbidden territory here. 1060 00:53:38,541 --> 00:53:39,958 - Are we? 1061 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:41,958 - May I ask both of you to come up to our office, okay? 1062 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:43,208 - Is that something you're interested in doing? 1063 00:53:43,250 --> 00:53:45,833 - It's not an interest, you've got five seconds 1064 00:53:45,875 --> 00:53:46,875 or I'm calling 911. 1065 00:53:46,916 --> 00:53:48,208 - Okay. 1066 00:53:48,250 --> 00:53:50,750 - We've got two individuals here-- 1067 00:53:52,125 --> 00:53:53,958 The police will be down here in about two minutes. 1068 00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:55,833 - But you asked us to leave and we're doing so. 1069 00:53:55,875 --> 00:53:57,000 - I'm not asking you to leave, 1070 00:53:57,041 --> 00:53:59,000 I'm asking you to come up to the office. 1071 00:53:59,041 --> 00:54:00,583 - Okay, thanks for the offer. 1072 00:54:00,625 --> 00:54:01,541 Maybe next time. 1073 00:54:05,208 --> 00:54:06,583 You got everything here. 1074 00:54:07,541 --> 00:54:10,000 You have the number one polluter in the state 1075 00:54:10,041 --> 00:54:12,666 that people think emits magical fairy dust 1076 00:54:12,708 --> 00:54:14,583 from the smokestack. 1077 00:54:14,625 --> 00:54:16,416 Reality is what you have is a facility 1078 00:54:16,458 --> 00:54:20,333 that burns 400,000 green tons a year of trees. 1079 00:54:20,375 --> 00:54:23,375 This facility burns thirty cords of wood per hour. 1080 00:54:23,416 --> 00:54:24,916 - That's a hell of a lot of wood. 1081 00:54:24,958 --> 00:54:26,083 - And on top of that, 1082 00:54:26,125 --> 00:54:28,541 it actually burns natural gas, as well. 1083 00:54:28,583 --> 00:54:29,958 - And to think you would have to have 10 1084 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:32,916 of these to replace one average coal-fired power plant. 1085 00:54:32,958 --> 00:54:34,416 It's just not gonna work. 1086 00:54:34,458 --> 00:54:35,833 - It's just nuts. 1087 00:54:35,875 --> 00:54:37,500 It takes a great deal of fossil fuels 1088 00:54:37,541 --> 00:54:40,000 to cut down all these trees, 1089 00:54:40,041 --> 00:54:42,000 to truck 'em in, to use the big machinery 1090 00:54:42,041 --> 00:54:43,750 to dump the wood chips everywhere. 1091 00:54:43,791 --> 00:54:46,375 So, the idea that somehow this is not anything to do 1092 00:54:46,416 --> 00:54:49,083 with fossil fuels just doesn't even make any sense. 1093 00:54:49,125 --> 00:54:51,916 It couldn't happen without fossil fuels, in fact. 1094 00:54:51,958 --> 00:54:53,416 - How did the environmental groups 1095 00:54:53,458 --> 00:54:54,625 get pulled into this? 1096 00:54:54,666 --> 00:54:57,000 - Obviously, the main factor is delusion. 1097 00:54:57,041 --> 00:54:59,833 A lot of these environmental groups have been saying 1098 00:54:59,875 --> 00:55:01,916 that all we have to do is, for instance, 1099 00:55:01,958 --> 00:55:04,000 switch our fossil fuel economy over 1100 00:55:04,041 --> 00:55:06,000 to a few solar panels and windmills, 1101 00:55:06,041 --> 00:55:09,666 and we can continue living life as normal. 1102 00:55:09,708 --> 00:55:11,833 Some of the environmental groups have been, 1103 00:55:11,875 --> 00:55:15,875 for years, touting facilities like this saying that, 1104 00:55:15,916 --> 00:55:18,875 number one, it's carbon neutral. 1105 00:55:18,916 --> 00:55:22,625 That this will actually help us fend off climate change 1106 00:55:22,666 --> 00:55:25,958 because there are no CO2 emissions. 1107 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:27,958 It actually emits over 400 thousand tons 1108 00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:30,666 per year of carbon dioxide. 1109 00:55:30,708 --> 00:55:33,250 "Oh, but once we cut 'em, they'll grow back." 1110 00:55:33,291 --> 00:55:36,958 They'll grow back over a period of decades to centuries 1111 00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:38,916 but if we cut every tree in the United States, 1112 00:55:38,958 --> 00:55:41,750 it would be able to power the country for a year. 1113 00:55:41,791 --> 00:55:44,625 Then what happens when, you know, those trees are gone? 1114 00:55:51,166 --> 00:55:52,875 - I discovered biomass plants 1115 00:55:52,916 --> 00:55:55,208 were not even always biomass plants. 1116 00:55:56,166 --> 00:55:58,458 - This is actually a solid waste incinerator 1117 00:55:58,500 --> 00:56:00,583 that's posing as a biomass plant. 1118 00:56:00,625 --> 00:56:04,916 The impact in this community is severe. 1119 00:56:04,958 --> 00:56:09,125 The plant is right next to a Head Start school 1120 00:56:09,166 --> 00:56:10,750 for preschool kids. 1121 00:56:10,791 --> 00:56:12,750 There is Green Hill Manor and 1122 00:56:12,791 --> 00:56:16,750 that's an assisted living senior residence. 1123 00:56:16,791 --> 00:56:20,083 And there's also a Catholic elementary school 1124 00:56:20,125 --> 00:56:21,833 right next door. 1125 00:56:22,958 --> 00:56:23,875 - How do you know they're polluting? 1126 00:56:23,916 --> 00:56:24,916 Can you see it ever? 1127 00:56:24,958 --> 00:56:25,916 - We can see it. 1128 00:56:25,958 --> 00:56:28,041 The snow at the elementary school 1129 00:56:28,083 --> 00:56:32,875 and at the preschool is covered with black, 1130 00:56:32,916 --> 00:56:34,791 some kind of black soot. 1131 00:56:34,833 --> 00:56:36,250 We just had it analyzed 1132 00:56:36,291 --> 00:56:41,833 and it came back as mostly tire chips. 1133 00:56:41,875 --> 00:56:45,000 They have to add tire-derived fuel 1134 00:56:45,041 --> 00:56:47,250 to raise the temperature of the fire, 1135 00:56:47,291 --> 00:56:50,875 because anybody who's tried to burn green wood or wet wood, 1136 00:56:50,916 --> 00:56:52,833 knows that it doesn't burn very well. 1137 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:55,375 - But this biomass plant had 1138 00:56:55,416 --> 00:56:56,833 yet another surprise. 1139 00:56:58,208 --> 00:57:01,833 - They admit that they burn 20.1 tons per hour 1140 00:57:01,875 --> 00:57:04,250 of creosote treated railroad ties. 1141 00:57:04,291 --> 00:57:09,250 Besides that, they are allowed to burn 500 pounds per hour 1142 00:57:09,291 --> 00:57:13,125 of PCP treated railroad ties. 1143 00:57:13,166 --> 00:57:15,000 These are shipped in from Canada. 1144 00:57:16,166 --> 00:57:20,166 It's not green, it's not renewable, it's 1145 00:57:20,208 --> 00:57:22,500 it's not anything that they claim it to be. 1146 00:57:22,541 --> 00:57:26,166 Yet, they got $11.5 million grant 1147 00:57:26,208 --> 00:57:28,875 because it was classified as renewable. 1148 00:57:29,958 --> 00:57:31,500 The plant owner told us 1149 00:57:31,541 --> 00:57:36,166 that they were having trouble getting enough wood chips. 1150 00:57:36,208 --> 00:57:39,916 And he even asked us if we had any scrap wood 1151 00:57:39,958 --> 00:57:42,833 where we lived, would we call the plant 1152 00:57:42,875 --> 00:57:45,708 and let them know so they could come up and pick it up. 1153 00:57:45,750 --> 00:57:46,583 - We're not talking 1154 00:57:46,625 --> 00:57:48,791 about some old industrial site, 1155 00:57:48,833 --> 00:57:50,208 we're next to one of the most beautiful places in the world. 1156 00:57:50,250 --> 00:57:52,916 - We're next to Lake Superior, this is Keweenaw B... 1157 00:57:52,958 --> 00:57:56,125 this is actually L'Anse Bay, it's part of Keweenaw Bay. 1158 00:57:57,458 --> 00:58:03,250 It's Lake Superior, our lake. 1159 00:58:03,291 --> 00:58:06,625 So, it's a very sacred place to many people. 1160 00:58:11,875 --> 00:58:13,125 - Are you with the news? 1161 00:58:13,166 --> 00:58:14,000 - No, there's supposed 1162 00:58:14,041 --> 00:58:14,833 to be a climate change rally. 1163 00:58:14,875 --> 00:58:16,625 - Oh. 1164 00:58:20,458 --> 00:58:22,750 - Michigan State University students, 1165 00:58:22,791 --> 00:58:26,166 inspired by 350.org, were holding a rally 1166 00:58:26,208 --> 00:58:29,125 for the clean energy future they'd been promised. 1167 00:58:34,416 --> 00:58:35,958 - Imagine when I found out 1168 00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:39,583 that it is the largest on-campus coal plant in the nation. 1169 00:58:39,625 --> 00:58:42,041 The goal is to get the whole world moving 1170 00:58:42,083 --> 00:58:43,500 beyond fossil fuels. 1171 00:58:45,541 --> 00:58:49,916 - Who wants to do a 350 sign on the steps? 1172 00:58:49,958 --> 00:58:51,833 - But it turned out Michigan State had a form 1173 00:58:51,875 --> 00:58:54,958 of green energy in mind the students did not support. 1174 00:58:56,041 --> 00:58:57,375 - The university contracted 1175 00:58:57,416 --> 00:59:00,208 with an energy contracting company. 1176 00:59:00,250 --> 00:59:01,875 They put together a modeling tool. 1177 00:59:01,916 --> 00:59:03,416 The first two or three months 1178 00:59:03,458 --> 00:59:06,458 that the steering committee was using this modeling tool, 1179 00:59:06,500 --> 00:59:09,125 it didn't even contain data for wind or solar. 1180 00:59:09,166 --> 00:59:10,375 So there was 1181 00:59:10,416 --> 00:59:11,708 - Adam told me they were planning on 1182 00:59:11,750 --> 00:59:14,375 substituting coal burning with biomass burning. 1183 00:59:14,416 --> 00:59:16,333 - But the permit that is currently being considered 1184 00:59:16,375 --> 00:59:20,875 by the state is a permit for 24,000 tons of biomass, 1185 00:59:22,916 --> 00:59:24,208 I think per year. 1186 00:59:24,250 --> 00:59:26,458 And the plan is to do that in all four boilers. 1187 00:59:26,500 --> 00:59:28,083 Unfortunately, the steering committee considers 1188 00:59:28,125 --> 00:59:30,333 biomass renewable at the moment, 1189 00:59:30,375 --> 00:59:32,875 which we're not happy with. 1190 00:59:34,916 --> 00:59:36,958 - Michigan State wasn't the only university 1191 00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:37,833 to go green. 1192 00:59:39,250 --> 00:59:41,666 - I'm happy to announce that Carolina will be going 1193 00:59:41,708 --> 00:59:44,791 beyond coal in the next decade. 1194 00:59:44,833 --> 00:59:48,125 Now, as we begin to wean ourselves on coal, we are about 1195 00:59:48,166 --> 00:59:52,000 to try another alternative energy source, biomass. 1196 00:59:52,916 --> 00:59:54,125 - And who was here 1197 00:59:54,166 --> 00:59:55,291 to help the University of North Carolina switch 1198 00:59:55,333 --> 00:59:57,500 from burning coal to burning trees? 1199 00:59:58,791 --> 01:00:01,416 - So, it is a great pleasure to be here today 1200 01:00:01,458 --> 01:00:03,333 to celebrate the remarkable step 1201 01:00:03,375 --> 01:00:05,833 that the university is taking to say, 1202 01:00:05,875 --> 01:00:07,750 "We're gonna do our part." 1203 01:00:08,875 --> 01:00:10,583 - A remarkable step, indeed. 1204 01:00:11,875 --> 01:00:13,583 We're to do our part by getting out 1205 01:00:13,625 --> 01:00:15,750 of bed with coal companies 1206 01:00:15,791 --> 01:00:17,875 and into bed with logging companies? 1207 01:00:19,791 --> 01:00:21,875 Where did the idea of colleges going green 1208 01:00:21,916 --> 01:00:23,958 by burning trees come from, anyway? 1209 01:00:25,166 --> 01:00:28,916 A little college called Middlebury in the heart of Vermont. 1210 01:00:30,583 --> 01:00:32,875 - Welcome to the celebration of the opening 1211 01:00:32,916 --> 01:00:36,625 of Middlebury's new biomass gasification system. 1212 01:00:36,666 --> 01:00:38,833 It's now my great pleasure to introduce 1213 01:00:38,875 --> 01:00:40,875 this afternoon's speaker, Bill McKibben. 1214 01:00:42,791 --> 01:00:45,541 - What powers a learning community? 1215 01:00:45,583 --> 01:00:48,333 And as of this afternoon, the easy answer 1216 01:00:48,375 --> 01:00:50,916 to that is wood chips. 1217 01:00:50,958 --> 01:00:53,958 It's incredibly beautiful to stand over there 1218 01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:57,000 and see that big bunker full of wood chips. 1219 01:00:57,041 --> 01:00:59,875 You can put any kind of wood in, oak, willow, 1220 01:00:59,916 --> 01:01:01,291 whatever you want. 1221 01:01:01,333 --> 01:01:03,750 Pretty much anything that burns we can toss in there 1222 01:01:03,791 --> 01:01:06,041 if we can chip it down to the right size. 1223 01:01:06,083 --> 01:01:08,791 And there are very few similar cases anyplace 1224 01:01:08,833 --> 01:01:12,291 in this country of that kind of change over that scale. 1225 01:01:12,333 --> 01:01:13,958 But it shows it could happen anywhere 1226 01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:15,625 and it should happen anywhere. 1227 01:01:15,666 --> 01:01:18,875 In fact, it must happen everywhere. 1228 01:01:18,916 --> 01:01:21,083 - It must happen everywhere. 1229 01:01:24,041 --> 01:01:25,791 And now it's time for a nature break, 1230 01:01:25,833 --> 01:01:28,916 enjoying our sustainably managed Michigan forests. 1231 01:01:30,625 --> 01:01:31,791 - If you walk through here and you look, 1232 01:01:31,833 --> 01:01:34,333 there's virtually nothing growing. 1233 01:01:34,375 --> 01:01:36,875 A little bit of grass occasionally. 1234 01:01:38,541 --> 01:01:40,541 - And it seemed that biomass plants, indeed, 1235 01:01:40,583 --> 01:01:41,916 were suddenly everywhere, 1236 01:01:42,875 --> 01:01:44,833 like this one in Cadillac, Michigan. 1237 01:01:47,791 --> 01:01:49,125 In Detroit, an incinerator 1238 01:01:49,166 --> 01:01:51,500 that burned garbage was considered green. 1239 01:01:53,083 --> 01:01:56,125 - The Detroit incinerator is known to emit horrible smells 1240 01:01:56,166 --> 01:01:58,833 and pollutants that neighbors say make them feel sick 1241 01:01:58,875 --> 01:02:00,000 and put their health at risk. 1242 01:02:00,041 --> 01:02:03,208 - It's a stink, it's a horrendous stink. 1243 01:02:03,250 --> 01:02:04,750 - A proposed biofuel plant 1244 01:02:04,791 --> 01:02:07,750 for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan would consume trees 1245 01:02:07,791 --> 01:02:10,458 from tens of thousands of square miles. 1246 01:02:10,500 --> 01:02:13,416 - In order to create 40 million gallons of ethanol, 1247 01:02:13,458 --> 01:02:15,458 they were going to have to use up 1248 01:02:15,500 --> 01:02:17,541 over a million tons of green wood. 1249 01:02:17,583 --> 01:02:19,083 We pointed out that they were gonna be using 1250 01:02:19,125 --> 01:02:22,250 more natural gas than they were gonna be creating ethanol 1251 01:02:22,291 --> 01:02:23,875 to displace the natural gas. 1252 01:02:23,916 --> 01:02:24,958 If you continue to do this, 1253 01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:26,791 you're gonna be fertilizing the forests. 1254 01:02:26,833 --> 01:02:28,958 - Fertilizing forests with? 1255 01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:29,833 Fossil fuels? - Fossil fuel 1256 01:02:29,875 --> 01:02:31,416 based fertilizers. 1257 01:02:31,458 --> 01:02:32,208 - Made from natural gas? 1258 01:02:32,250 --> 01:02:33,000 - Yeah. 1259 01:02:34,208 --> 01:02:35,708 Then came a ballot proposal backed 1260 01:02:35,750 --> 01:02:39,750 by Bill McKibben and nearly every major environmental group, 1261 01:02:39,791 --> 01:02:43,375 requiring Michigan to get 25% of its electricity 1262 01:02:43,416 --> 01:02:46,625 from renewable sources by the year 2025. 1263 01:02:46,666 --> 01:02:49,333 - This year, Michigan voters have a choice: 1264 01:02:49,375 --> 01:02:52,416 keep burning dirty coal and oil, or move Michigan 1265 01:02:52,458 --> 01:02:55,625 to clean, renewable energy like wind and solar. 1266 01:02:55,666 --> 01:02:57,875 Vote 'Yes' on Proposal 3. 1267 01:02:57,916 --> 01:02:59,708 - Surprisingly, Proposal 3, 1268 01:02:59,750 --> 01:03:04,125 also known as 25 by '25, was the brain child 1269 01:03:04,166 --> 01:03:09,083 of an organization that was 100% biofuels and biomass. 1270 01:03:09,125 --> 01:03:11,750 - Allowing America's farms, ranches and forest lands 1271 01:03:11,791 --> 01:03:14,291 to be active participants in contributing 1272 01:03:14,333 --> 01:03:16,333 to America's energy future. 1273 01:03:16,375 --> 01:03:17,750 - These are the biomass 1274 01:03:17,791 --> 01:03:20,333 and biofuel plants across the U.S. 1275 01:03:26,125 --> 01:03:27,125 How did this happen? 1276 01:03:28,916 --> 01:03:30,958 And it wasn't just the U.S.A., 1277 01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:33,333 it was all around the world. 1278 01:03:33,375 --> 01:03:37,625 Wood chips, which is just a euphemism for trees, 1279 01:03:37,666 --> 01:03:40,375 are being exported to Europe from America, 1280 01:03:40,416 --> 01:03:44,416 British Columbia, Brazil, and Indonesia. 1281 01:03:44,458 --> 01:03:46,583 Wherever they can get them from. 1282 01:03:47,833 --> 01:03:50,708 Biomass, especially when you add in biofuels, 1283 01:03:50,750 --> 01:03:54,166 is by far the largest portion of green energy 1284 01:03:54,208 --> 01:03:56,958 around the world, even in Germany, 1285 01:03:57,000 --> 01:03:59,041 source of the solar miracle. 1286 01:04:01,875 --> 01:04:03,791 But maybe I was missing something. 1287 01:04:03,833 --> 01:04:05,583 Maybe I had it all wrong. 1288 01:04:07,125 --> 01:04:10,500 I decided to ask people protesting fossil fuels 1289 01:04:10,541 --> 01:04:14,833 how they felt about biomass and biofuels as green energy. 1290 01:04:14,875 --> 01:04:16,583 Would you say we don't need to do biofuels 1291 01:04:16,625 --> 01:04:18,375 and food and forests for energy? 1292 01:04:18,416 --> 01:04:19,916 - No, no, definitely not. 1293 01:04:19,958 --> 01:04:21,916 Of course not, of course not. 1294 01:04:21,958 --> 01:04:23,625 - Burning biomass, any kind of combustion, 1295 01:04:23,666 --> 01:04:25,875 is something we just need to move away from. 1296 01:04:25,916 --> 01:04:27,291 - The more trees we have, the better. 1297 01:04:27,333 --> 01:04:28,666 - A lot of that didn't grow overnight. 1298 01:04:28,708 --> 01:04:30,833 If we cut it down, we don't know the impact of that. 1299 01:04:30,875 --> 01:04:31,875 - You're here as an oak tree? 1300 01:04:31,916 --> 01:04:32,583 - Yes. 1301 01:04:32,625 --> 01:04:33,833 - If I had a chainsaw, 1302 01:04:33,875 --> 01:04:34,541 that wouldn't be saving the planet, would it? 1303 01:04:34,583 --> 01:04:35,333 - No, it's a painful, 1304 01:04:35,375 --> 01:04:36,208 it's a painful way to go. 1305 01:04:36,250 --> 01:04:37,958 I can tell you that right now. 1306 01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:39,041 - It would take you a while to regrow. 1307 01:04:39,875 --> 01:04:41,083 - Yeah, oh yeah. 1308 01:04:41,125 --> 01:04:43,791 And it wouldn't be me, it'd be an off-spring. 1309 01:04:43,833 --> 01:04:46,625 - With so many people doing it on such a massive scale, 1310 01:04:46,666 --> 01:04:50,750 all of a sudden at once, that's pretty serious. 1311 01:04:50,791 --> 01:04:52,791 - No, I think we should not be burning trees. 1312 01:04:52,833 --> 01:04:54,166 - No, no. 1313 01:04:54,208 --> 01:04:55,958 - Why would we cut down trees? 1314 01:04:56,000 --> 01:04:58,250 - We shouldn't replace one terrible way of getting energy 1315 01:04:58,291 --> 01:04:59,750 with another terrible way of getting energy. 1316 01:04:59,791 --> 01:05:01,500 Because it's one thing. 1317 01:05:02,750 --> 01:05:05,000 - Clearly, most citizens are opposed 1318 01:05:05,041 --> 01:05:06,750 to biomass and biofuels. 1319 01:05:08,666 --> 01:05:11,291 But what about environmental leaders? 1320 01:05:11,333 --> 01:05:15,916 At times, they have promoted biomass but other times, 1321 01:05:15,958 --> 01:05:18,125 they sound like they are against biomass. 1322 01:05:19,250 --> 01:05:21,458 Like this Sierra Club policy, 1323 01:05:21,500 --> 01:05:23,833 "We are deeply concerned about the implications 1324 01:05:23,875 --> 01:05:27,125 of wood-to-energy for native forests." 1325 01:05:27,166 --> 01:05:30,791 Or this statement signed on by 75 environmental groups, 1326 01:05:30,833 --> 01:05:33,250 "Burning forests for energy will destroy one 1327 01:05:33,291 --> 01:05:36,666 of our best defenses against climate change." 1328 01:05:36,708 --> 01:05:39,916 But then again, their language leaves loopholes 1329 01:05:39,958 --> 01:05:41,833 that enable biomass. 1330 01:05:41,875 --> 01:05:45,875 The NRDC says you must use the "right types of biomass." 1331 01:05:46,750 --> 01:05:47,750 The Dogwood Alliance says 1332 01:05:47,791 --> 01:05:50,416 maybe small biomass plants are okay. 1333 01:05:51,791 --> 01:05:53,916 And the Sierra Club flat out states, 1334 01:05:53,958 --> 01:05:56,166 "biomass can be sustainable." 1335 01:05:57,958 --> 01:05:59,666 Which side are they really on? 1336 01:06:01,541 --> 01:06:03,250 I thought for sure with the camera rolling, 1337 01:06:03,291 --> 01:06:05,750 environmental leaders would speak for the trees. 1338 01:06:05,791 --> 01:06:08,333 - No frackin' way. 1339 01:06:08,375 --> 01:06:10,333 - Where's the science, where's the science? 1340 01:06:12,625 --> 01:06:15,958 - We're here to tell a story about what the forests 1341 01:06:16,000 --> 01:06:20,041 of this state, of our commonwealth, mean to us. 1342 01:06:20,083 --> 01:06:22,500 - Does your organization have any stance on that? 1343 01:06:22,541 --> 01:06:24,833 - I'm not sure I would say we support it as much 1344 01:06:24,875 --> 01:06:27,666 as we can wrap our heads around it. 1345 01:06:27,708 --> 01:06:30,208 We've almost made a peace with the timber industry. 1346 01:06:30,250 --> 01:06:32,000 - I'm just curious, what's your group stance 1347 01:06:32,041 --> 01:06:34,916 on using forests for biomass? 1348 01:06:34,958 --> 01:06:40,583 - Biomass is renewable, biomass is sustainable. 1349 01:06:40,625 --> 01:06:43,833 - And I'm with Clean Water Action, 1350 01:06:44,791 --> 01:06:47,041 we don't really have a stand on it. 1351 01:06:47,083 --> 01:06:49,750 If the director of the Sierra Club was here, 1352 01:06:49,791 --> 01:06:53,666 she'd be able to talk your ear off about it. 1353 01:06:53,708 --> 01:06:56,833 - I'm the director for the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania. 1354 01:06:56,875 --> 01:06:57,958 - Does the Sierra Club support 1355 01:06:58,000 --> 01:06:59,833 or not support biomass? 1356 01:07:02,791 --> 01:07:04,416 - Um... I'm not totally prepared to talk 1357 01:07:04,458 --> 01:07:06,375 about our policy on biomass today. 1358 01:07:06,416 --> 01:07:08,916 Our position is somewhat nuanced, 1359 01:07:08,958 --> 01:07:11,833 so I just want to be careful not to... 1360 01:07:14,416 --> 01:07:15,416 - So, you're with 350? 1361 01:07:15,458 --> 01:07:16,458 - I am. 1362 01:07:16,500 --> 01:07:17,875 - Do 350 have a position on biomass 1363 01:07:17,916 --> 01:07:18,958 'cause I'm kind of actually-- 1364 01:07:19,000 --> 01:07:21,250 - I can't really speak for 350. 1365 01:07:21,291 --> 01:07:22,916 - Do you personally have an opinion about 1366 01:07:22,958 --> 01:07:26,125 whether we should be burning trees for green energy? 1367 01:07:26,166 --> 01:07:28,041 - No, I don't have an opinion on that. 1368 01:07:29,166 --> 01:07:31,333 I like a fire. 1369 01:07:31,375 --> 01:07:32,875 - One of my biggest concerns 1370 01:07:32,916 --> 01:07:34,458 as an environmentalist is that we're trying to burn trees, 1371 01:07:34,500 --> 01:07:36,458 there are tree burning power plants. 1372 01:07:36,500 --> 01:07:38,625 Are you aware of the problems with biomass or biofuels? 1373 01:07:38,666 --> 01:07:41,791 - Yeah, yeah, I'm not as aware of that 1374 01:07:41,833 --> 01:07:43,583 as I could be or I should be. 1375 01:07:43,625 --> 01:07:45,583 - Jeff Gibbs, working on a documentary. 1376 01:07:45,625 --> 01:07:47,000 In Michigan where I live, where I'm from, 1377 01:07:47,041 --> 01:07:49,875 there's large plants that burn trees for energy 1378 01:07:49,916 --> 01:07:51,208 and pretty much whole trees chipped up. 1379 01:07:51,250 --> 01:07:52,500 Do you have a thought about whether 1380 01:07:52,541 --> 01:07:55,208 that should be a part of green energy or not? 1381 01:07:55,250 --> 01:07:57,000 - The great thing about green energy is 1382 01:07:57,041 --> 01:07:58,791 you don't have to pick a favorite. 1383 01:07:58,833 --> 01:07:59,583 - Jeff Gibbs. 1384 01:07:59,625 --> 01:08:01,041 - Oh, hello. 1385 01:08:01,083 --> 01:08:02,875 - My biggest concern is that in Germany, for instance, 1386 01:08:02,916 --> 01:08:04,708 they're moving towards solar and wind 1387 01:08:04,750 --> 01:08:07,958 but 60% of their actual energy is coming from biomass. 1388 01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:10,375 60% of what's considered renewable energy. 1389 01:08:10,416 --> 01:08:11,708 Burning trees for energy? 1390 01:08:11,750 --> 01:08:13,500 - I don't know the details out of Germany. 1391 01:08:13,541 --> 01:08:15,250 What Germany's really doing is a lot 1392 01:08:15,291 --> 01:08:17,958 of sun and wind and that's really powerful to see. 1393 01:08:18,000 --> 01:08:19,083 - I'd like to see us come out 1394 01:08:19,125 --> 01:08:20,208 against any burning of trees- 1395 01:08:20,250 --> 01:08:21,000 - All right, well go ahead and do it. 1396 01:08:21,041 --> 01:08:21,875 - for clean energy. 1397 01:08:21,916 --> 01:08:23,125 Would you- 1398 01:08:23,166 --> 01:08:25,875 - Although I confess I stoke my wood stove 1399 01:08:25,916 --> 01:08:27,083 almost every night of the winter, 1400 01:08:27,125 --> 01:08:28,333 so I'm not really the right person to ask. 1401 01:08:28,375 --> 01:08:30,291 - But designating green energy for power plants? 1402 01:08:30,333 --> 01:08:32,958 - Yeah, yeah, I don't know. 1403 01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:34,833 It's not what this day's about. 1404 01:08:34,875 --> 01:08:36,458 - But if we're burning trees 1405 01:08:36,500 --> 01:08:38,500 instead of fossil fuels. 1406 01:08:39,833 --> 01:08:40,875 from Taiwan. 1407 01:08:40,916 --> 01:08:42,333 - Oh, good. 1408 01:08:42,375 --> 01:08:45,291 - We're wondering what role do you want 1409 01:08:45,333 --> 01:08:46,916 to play in this 1410 01:08:46,958 --> 01:08:48,916 - I think the biomass question's a non-starter. 1411 01:08:54,166 --> 01:08:56,375 I found only one environmental leader willing 1412 01:08:56,416 --> 01:08:58,791 to reject biomass and biofuels. 1413 01:09:00,416 --> 01:09:01,458 - So we are talking 1414 01:09:01,500 --> 01:09:05,666 of the old oil economy trying 1415 01:09:05,708 --> 01:09:07,500 to maintain itself now 1416 01:09:07,541 --> 01:09:11,541 through another raw material, the green planet. 1417 01:09:11,583 --> 01:09:15,250 The only reason corn and soy has been planted for biofuel 1418 01:09:15,291 --> 01:09:18,041 in this country is the subsidies make it profitable. 1419 01:09:18,083 --> 01:09:20,791 I think the big crisis of our times is 1420 01:09:21,791 --> 01:09:25,750 our minds have been manipulated to give power to illusions. 1421 01:09:25,791 --> 01:09:28,208 We shifted to measuring growth, 1422 01:09:28,250 --> 01:09:32,375 not in terms of how life is enriched 1423 01:09:32,416 --> 01:09:34,958 but in terms of how life is destroyed. 1424 01:09:37,041 --> 01:09:38,791 - Her honesty was refreshing. 1425 01:09:40,875 --> 01:09:43,708 But as for the rest of them, I wondered, 1426 01:09:45,875 --> 01:09:47,000 what are they hiding? 1427 01:09:48,708 --> 01:09:49,916 And why are they hiding it? 1428 01:09:52,208 --> 01:09:53,375 Is it their ignorance? 1429 01:09:55,541 --> 01:09:57,041 Or is it something else? 1430 01:09:59,041 --> 01:10:01,958 What if they, themselves, had become misguided? 1431 01:10:03,875 --> 01:10:05,750 What if they've made some kind of deal 1432 01:10:05,791 --> 01:10:06,833 they shouldn't have made, 1433 01:10:08,958 --> 01:10:12,250 and are leading us all off the cliff? 1434 01:10:20,791 --> 01:10:22,500 It was long past time for me to come to grips 1435 01:10:22,541 --> 01:10:24,833 with the other elephant in the living room. 1436 01:10:25,875 --> 01:10:26,791 The profit motive. 1437 01:10:29,125 --> 01:10:31,125 The only reason we've been force-fed the story, 1438 01:10:31,166 --> 01:10:35,416 climate change plus renewables equals "we're saved!", 1439 01:10:35,458 --> 01:10:37,333 is because billionaires, bankers, 1440 01:10:37,375 --> 01:10:39,458 and corporations profit from it. 1441 01:10:40,833 --> 01:10:43,833 And the reason we're not talking about over-population, 1442 01:10:43,875 --> 01:10:47,541 consumption, and the suicide of economic growth is 1443 01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:51,666 that would be bad for business. 1444 01:10:51,708 --> 01:10:53,791 Especially the cancerous form of capitalism 1445 01:10:53,833 --> 01:10:55,750 that rules the world, 1446 01:10:55,791 --> 01:10:58,500 now hiding under a cover of green. 1447 01:10:58,541 --> 01:11:00,208 - Today Bloomberg Philanthropies is making, 1448 01:11:00,250 --> 01:11:02,833 I'm happy to announce, a new investment 1449 01:11:02,875 --> 01:11:06,250 of $30 million in the Beyond Coal campaign. 1450 01:11:09,041 --> 01:11:09,791 We have more. 1451 01:11:09,833 --> 01:11:11,041 I'm glad to say that more 1452 01:11:11,083 --> 01:11:13,333 than a dozen additional funders have committed 1453 01:11:13,375 --> 01:11:15,291 to match that $30 million. 1454 01:11:18,083 --> 01:11:20,125 - And who were these new partners? 1455 01:11:20,166 --> 01:11:21,916 One of them was Jeremy Grantham. 1456 01:11:21,958 --> 01:11:25,750 Billionaire, world's leading timber investment advisor. 1457 01:11:27,250 --> 01:11:28,958 They were not investing in trees 1458 01:11:29,000 --> 01:11:30,833 to turn them into nature preserves. 1459 01:11:32,166 --> 01:11:33,791 Which might answer another riddle, 1460 01:11:35,583 --> 01:11:38,708 why is this name redacted on the Sierra Club's tax return? 1461 01:11:39,875 --> 01:11:42,750 Would they be embarrassed to take three million dollars 1462 01:11:42,791 --> 01:11:44,875 from a man who made his living selling the forests 1463 01:11:44,916 --> 01:11:45,958 of the world? 1464 01:11:47,708 --> 01:11:50,625 Bloomberg, bringing a timber investment billionaire 1465 01:11:50,666 --> 01:11:53,625 to the party, was no coincidence. 1466 01:11:53,666 --> 01:11:56,083 Bloomberg sponsored a U.N. climate session 1467 01:11:56,125 --> 01:11:57,750 to discuss ramping up biomass 1468 01:11:57,791 --> 01:11:59,541 and biofuels around the world. 1469 01:12:01,958 --> 01:12:04,208 Billionaires were in love with the idea of turning 1470 01:12:04,250 --> 01:12:06,833 what was left of nature into green profits. 1471 01:12:08,666 --> 01:12:10,791 Remember when Al Gore had gotten Richard Branson 1472 01:12:10,833 --> 01:12:13,625 to invest billions into saving the planet? 1473 01:12:13,666 --> 01:12:16,125 - Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, 1474 01:12:16,166 --> 01:12:19,416 powered a Boeing 747 from London to Amsterdam 1475 01:12:19,458 --> 01:12:22,125 on a coconut oil mixture to highlight the potential 1476 01:12:22,166 --> 01:12:24,958 of this amazing oil as a clean energy biofuel. 1477 01:12:26,750 --> 01:12:29,958 - Branson had actually invested in biofuels. 1478 01:12:30,000 --> 01:12:31,666 He was attempting to replace the jet fuel 1479 01:12:31,708 --> 01:12:33,916 damaging the planet with biofuels 1480 01:12:33,958 --> 01:12:36,416 that required the consumption of the living planet. 1481 01:12:37,875 --> 01:12:40,500 And it was game-on for the airline industry. 1482 01:12:40,541 --> 01:12:41,583 Dozens of researchers 1483 01:12:41,625 --> 01:12:42,916 from all over the northwest gathered 1484 01:12:42,958 --> 01:12:44,958 in Missoula the past two days to explore the idea 1485 01:12:45,000 --> 01:12:46,833 of converting the region's mass of reserves 1486 01:12:46,875 --> 01:12:48,500 of wood into jet fuel. 1487 01:12:48,541 --> 01:12:50,833 Especially with the demand for aircraft fuel expected 1488 01:12:50,875 --> 01:12:53,750 to grow by a billion gallons in the northwest alone. 1489 01:12:53,791 --> 01:12:56,583 - United Airlines will buy a $30 million stake 1490 01:12:56,625 --> 01:12:59,083 in biofuel company, Fulcrum BioEnergy. 1491 01:12:59,125 --> 01:13:04,083 The airline used 3.9 billion gallons of fuel last year. 1492 01:13:04,125 --> 01:13:07,541 - What technology was Silicon Valley billionaire 1493 01:13:07,583 --> 01:13:10,375 Vinod Khosla hoping to profit from? 1494 01:13:10,416 --> 01:13:14,333 - Nature takes a million years to produce our crude oil. 1495 01:13:14,375 --> 01:13:16,916 KiOR can produce it in seconds. 1496 01:13:16,958 --> 01:13:19,375 - The company took over this old paper mill 1497 01:13:19,416 --> 01:13:22,625 where logs are picked up by a giant claw, 1498 01:13:22,666 --> 01:13:26,625 dropped into a shredder and pulverized into wood chips. 1499 01:13:26,666 --> 01:13:27,666 Clean gasoline? 1500 01:13:27,708 --> 01:13:29,458 - Clean, green gasoline. 1501 01:13:29,500 --> 01:13:31,041 - There must be a downside. 1502 01:13:31,083 --> 01:13:32,791 - There is no downside. 1503 01:13:33,875 --> 01:13:35,708 - The bank that crashed the economy, 1504 01:13:35,750 --> 01:13:38,416 ruined millions of lives and has their tentacles 1505 01:13:38,458 --> 01:13:40,500 on the levers of power, 1506 01:13:40,541 --> 01:13:43,458 what would their favorite form of green energy be? 1507 01:13:43,500 --> 01:13:44,916 - One of the very interesting markets 1508 01:13:44,958 --> 01:13:46,625 that we deal with is Brazil. 1509 01:13:46,666 --> 01:13:49,500 It's unlike any other market in that today, 1510 01:13:49,541 --> 01:13:51,583 alternative energy isn't really alternative energy. 1511 01:13:51,625 --> 01:13:54,791 It's so much a part of the fabric of the society. 1512 01:13:54,833 --> 01:13:58,333 The country began to utilize its vast resources 1513 01:13:58,375 --> 01:14:00,041 of sugarcane to produce ethanol. 1514 01:14:01,291 --> 01:14:03,125 - There was a man from Goldman Sachs 1515 01:14:03,166 --> 01:14:05,000 who was particularly in love 1516 01:14:05,041 --> 01:14:07,875 with turning forests into profits. 1517 01:14:07,916 --> 01:14:10,000 - Has everybody got enough coffee? 1518 01:14:10,916 --> 01:14:12,791 Might want to get some more. 1519 01:14:12,833 --> 01:14:15,000 - Meet David Blood, former CEO 1520 01:14:15,041 --> 01:14:17,791 of Asset Management for Goldman Sachs. 1521 01:14:18,833 --> 01:14:20,791 How much money did Mr. Blood believe should 1522 01:14:20,833 --> 01:14:22,583 be invested in green energy? 1523 01:14:22,625 --> 01:14:25,708 - A natural alignment for something in the order 1524 01:14:25,750 --> 01:14:29,041 of $40-50 trillion worth of capital. 1525 01:14:29,083 --> 01:14:30,541 - $40-50 trillion. 1526 01:14:32,250 --> 01:14:35,708 And who was going to help the man from Goldman Sachs, 1527 01:14:35,750 --> 01:14:38,208 help him raise that astronomical amount of money? 1528 01:14:39,291 --> 01:14:41,375 - A gentleman some of you may recognize 1529 01:14:41,416 --> 01:14:43,833 and know, Bill McKibben. 1530 01:14:43,875 --> 01:14:46,500 - It's entirely dependent on what kind 1531 01:14:46,541 --> 01:14:48,416 of political will we can muster. 1532 01:14:48,458 --> 01:14:51,916 And if we do not get this done very fast, 1533 01:14:51,958 --> 01:14:53,791 then we're not gonna get it done. 1534 01:14:54,916 --> 01:14:57,000 - And so Bill McKibben went forth 1535 01:14:57,041 --> 01:14:59,666 to generate the political will for trillions 1536 01:14:59,708 --> 01:15:01,541 of dollars in green investments. 1537 01:15:02,416 --> 01:15:03,625 - Our next guest has been called 1538 01:15:03,666 --> 01:15:05,875 our nation's leading environmentalist. 1539 01:15:05,916 --> 01:15:07,125 - And you are, in some sense, 1540 01:15:07,166 --> 01:15:09,958 the Grand Poobah of the environmental movement. 1541 01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:14,083 - My guest tonight is on a global crusade. 1542 01:15:14,125 --> 01:15:16,583 - On a global crusade for what? 1543 01:15:16,625 --> 01:15:18,708 - Commit to divesting from fossil fuels. 1544 01:15:18,750 --> 01:15:21,875 We can't justify investing our money in companies 1545 01:15:21,916 --> 01:15:24,666 that are basically running Genesis backward. 1546 01:15:24,708 --> 01:15:27,416 - So when you divest from fossil fuels, 1547 01:15:27,458 --> 01:15:31,000 and invest in green funds, what are you investing in? 1548 01:15:31,875 --> 01:15:34,333 I took a deep dive into Securities 1549 01:15:34,375 --> 01:15:37,291 and Exchange Commission filings to find out. 1550 01:15:38,166 --> 01:15:41,000 For instance, in the Green Century Funds, 1551 01:15:41,041 --> 01:15:45,250 recommended by 350.org and Bill McKibben, 1552 01:15:45,291 --> 01:15:48,375 I found less than one percent solar and wind 1553 01:15:48,416 --> 01:15:51,750 and 99% things like mining, 1554 01:15:56,958 --> 01:15:59,416 oil and gas infrastructure companies, 1555 01:16:00,875 --> 01:16:03,041 including a tar sands exploiter, 1556 01:16:04,500 --> 01:16:07,666 McDonald's, one of the companies driving meat consumption 1557 01:16:07,708 --> 01:16:08,791 across the planet, 1558 01:16:10,375 --> 01:16:11,875 Archer Daniels Midland, 1559 01:16:11,916 --> 01:16:14,791 one of the world's largest producers of biofuel, 1560 01:16:16,125 --> 01:16:18,791 Coca Cola, the largest creator 1561 01:16:18,833 --> 01:16:20,291 of plastic pollution on earth, 1562 01:16:21,791 --> 01:16:24,833 logging and paper companies including one 1563 01:16:24,875 --> 01:16:29,875 that brags about biomass burning. And banks. 1564 01:16:32,000 --> 01:16:33,125 Lots of banks - 1565 01:16:35,916 --> 01:16:39,041 including BlackRock, the largest financer 1566 01:16:39,083 --> 01:16:40,958 of deforestation on earth. 1567 01:16:42,083 --> 01:16:44,500 - The business that they're engaged in 1568 01:16:44,541 --> 01:16:47,875 is actually destroying our life support system. 1569 01:16:49,666 --> 01:16:51,333 - The Sierra Club, also partners 1570 01:16:51,375 --> 01:16:53,791 with a green fund called Aspiration. 1571 01:16:54,958 --> 01:16:58,958 Aspiration also includes dozens of companies profiting 1572 01:16:59,000 --> 01:17:00,666 from the destruction of the planet, 1573 01:17:02,750 --> 01:17:08,458 including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Chesapeake Energy. 1574 01:17:08,500 --> 01:17:10,833 - In order to maximize the 1575 01:17:10,875 --> 01:17:12,208 of the well, 1576 01:17:12,250 --> 01:17:14,916 the shale formation will be hydraulically fractured. 1577 01:17:14,958 --> 01:17:17,541 - The Russian gas giant, Gazprom. 1578 01:17:18,416 --> 01:17:20,208 - Gazprom owns the world's largest 1579 01:17:20,250 --> 01:17:24,291 explored gas reserves, 36 trillion cubic meters. 1580 01:17:25,250 --> 01:17:28,166 - And in perhaps the most bizarre twist of all, 1581 01:17:28,208 --> 01:17:32,708 the Sierra Club's green fund's biggest holding is in Enviva, 1582 01:17:32,750 --> 01:17:35,041 the world's largest consumer of forests, 1583 01:17:35,083 --> 01:17:37,791 to be incinerated in green energy biomass plants. 1584 01:17:44,916 --> 01:17:47,791 Of course, one investment option is a green fund, 1585 01:17:47,833 --> 01:17:50,166 run by Bill McKibben's buddy, David Blood. 1586 01:17:51,125 --> 01:17:53,375 And who was the chairman of this fund? 1587 01:17:54,541 --> 01:17:56,166 Someone familiar. 1588 01:17:56,208 --> 01:17:59,208 - Use capitalism, it gives incentives 1589 01:17:59,250 --> 01:18:02,166 for people to do their best. 1590 01:18:02,208 --> 01:18:04,541 - Al Gore and David Blood partnered 1591 01:18:04,583 --> 01:18:07,416 to form a company called Blood and Gore. 1592 01:18:09,166 --> 01:18:13,250 No, scratch that, Generation Investment Management. 1593 01:18:14,166 --> 01:18:16,791 And within this fund, Blood and Gore designated 1594 01:18:16,833 --> 01:18:21,958 a special investment category targeting $650 million 1595 01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:24,000 of biomass and biofuels. 1596 01:18:25,000 --> 01:18:26,916 Funny thing was, they partnered 1597 01:18:26,958 --> 01:18:29,041 before Al Gore's film came out. 1598 01:18:30,958 --> 01:18:35,791 Was that movie just about climate change 1599 01:18:35,833 --> 01:18:39,041 - On one side, we have gold bars. 1600 01:18:39,083 --> 01:18:43,125 Mm, mm, mm. 1601 01:18:43,166 --> 01:18:44,500 Don't they look good? 1602 01:18:44,541 --> 01:18:47,083 I'd just like to have some of those gold bars. 1603 01:18:47,125 --> 01:18:51,333 On the other side of the scales, the entire planet. 1604 01:18:53,541 --> 01:18:55,166 If we do the right thing, 1605 01:18:55,208 --> 01:18:57,291 then we're gonna create a lot of wealth. 1606 01:18:58,333 --> 01:18:59,916 - And when it came time for Al Gore 1607 01:18:59,958 --> 01:19:04,833 to choose between the entire planet and getting him some 1608 01:19:04,875 --> 01:19:08,958 of them gold bars, what choice did he make? 1609 01:19:09,000 --> 01:19:11,750 Here's Al Gore earning his keep by pretending to care 1610 01:19:11,791 --> 01:19:14,166 about the rain forest while lobbying Congress 1611 01:19:14,208 --> 01:19:17,375 on behalf of the sugarcane ethanol industry. 1612 01:19:18,291 --> 01:19:19,916 - Let me come in on the Brazilian effort here 1613 01:19:19,958 --> 01:19:22,125 with the issue of the possibility of expanding into 1614 01:19:22,166 --> 01:19:25,458 that Amazon River basin with further deforestation 1615 01:19:25,500 --> 01:19:27,666 to produce more ethanol out of sugarcane is a worry. 1616 01:19:27,708 --> 01:19:29,666 And apparently you're not as concerned about that. 1617 01:19:29,708 --> 01:19:32,583 - No, no, I am, I simply forgot. 1618 01:19:36,791 --> 01:19:41,541 What's been going on there, it is really very troubling. 1619 01:19:46,875 --> 01:19:49,458 And with your permission, I'll show you a very quick example 1620 01:19:49,500 --> 01:19:52,750 of it over a period of 25 years. 1621 01:19:56,833 --> 01:19:58,750 - The invasion of sugarcane monocultures 1622 01:19:58,791 --> 01:20:00,250 in the region clashes 1623 01:20:00,291 --> 01:20:03,208 with the indigenous people's right to land. 1624 01:20:03,250 --> 01:20:05,791 These are images of a last ditch attempt 1625 01:20:05,833 --> 01:20:08,625 by the Guarani-Kaiowá to resist eviction. 1626 01:20:08,666 --> 01:20:11,333 - Important to note that the exploitation 1627 01:20:11,375 --> 01:20:16,625 of the sugarcane growing areas in Brazil does not have 1628 01:20:16,666 --> 01:20:20,500 to inevitably have the knock-on consequence 1629 01:20:20,541 --> 01:20:24,833 of causing destruction in the Amazon. 1630 01:20:26,416 --> 01:20:28,541 - Sugarcane fields are burning. 1631 01:20:28,583 --> 01:20:30,541 They're set alight before the harvest 1632 01:20:30,583 --> 01:20:32,791 to eliminate the leaves and tops of the plant, 1633 01:20:32,833 --> 01:20:34,958 which makes cutting more efficient. 1634 01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:38,916 Environmentalists blame the seemingly 1635 01:20:38,958 --> 01:20:42,500 endless sugarcane fields for air and water pollution 1636 01:20:42,541 --> 01:20:44,250 on an epic scale. 1637 01:20:44,291 --> 01:20:47,333 And along with deforestation, the threat it poses 1638 01:20:47,375 --> 01:20:49,833 to the environment is becoming clear. 1639 01:20:51,333 --> 01:20:53,958 Once the indigenous families were expelled, 1640 01:20:54,000 --> 01:20:57,000 the land owners set their homes on fire. 1641 01:21:04,125 --> 01:21:05,958 - Is there anything too terrible 1642 01:21:06,000 --> 01:21:07,375 to qualify as green energy? 1643 01:21:09,833 --> 01:21:12,666 - Thank you very much Secretary Mabus, and the U.S. Navy for 1644 01:21:12,708 --> 01:21:14,916 once again, inviting me to speak with you today. 1645 01:21:14,958 --> 01:21:16,625 The Navy's work to help launch 1646 01:21:16,666 --> 01:21:19,875 this new fuels industry is invaluable. 1647 01:21:22,583 --> 01:21:24,541 - The U.S. Navy has a special message 1648 01:21:24,583 --> 01:21:25,333 this year. 1649 01:21:25,375 --> 01:21:27,500 It is time to turn green. 1650 01:21:27,541 --> 01:21:29,958 Joining the vessels is what the U.S. Navy calls, 1651 01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:31,750 it's great green fleet of warships, 1652 01:21:31,791 --> 01:21:34,958 powered by fuel from renewable sources like algae, 1653 01:21:35,000 --> 01:21:36,958 grass and animal fat. 1654 01:21:37,000 --> 01:21:38,833 - Animal fat? 1655 01:21:46,375 --> 01:21:47,958 - The next time you fill up 1656 01:21:48,000 --> 01:21:49,750 at your neighborhood gas station, 1657 01:21:49,791 --> 01:21:52,833 you might find yourself pumping a little alligator 1658 01:21:52,875 --> 01:21:54,000 into your tank. 1659 01:21:54,041 --> 01:21:55,791 That's right, U.L. Lafayette researchers 1660 01:21:55,833 --> 01:21:57,458 have developed alligator fat 1661 01:21:57,500 --> 01:22:00,125 into a renewable source for biofuels. 1662 01:22:02,500 --> 01:22:06,541 - And once we run through the animals, what's next? 1663 01:22:06,583 --> 01:22:10,458 GE, who brings you nuclear energy and wind turbines, 1664 01:22:10,500 --> 01:22:11,750 is ready with a plan. 1665 01:22:13,083 --> 01:22:16,125 - I believe that liquid fuels, chemicals, 1666 01:22:16,166 --> 01:22:19,166 are eventually gonna have to be made 1667 01:22:20,583 --> 01:22:22,500 from sustainable raw materials. 1668 01:22:22,541 --> 01:22:24,416 We believe that seaweed is one 1669 01:22:24,458 --> 01:22:26,208 of the most attractive opportunities. 1670 01:22:37,125 --> 01:22:38,250 - Better hurry. 1671 01:22:40,916 --> 01:22:45,083 One year after it was filmed, this seaweed forest was dead. 1672 01:22:53,416 --> 01:22:56,291 You might ask yourself, how could men destroy 1673 01:22:56,333 --> 01:22:59,041 what remains of nature to enrich themselves? 1674 01:23:00,416 --> 01:23:04,250 Well, that's why they're billionaires and you're not. 1675 01:23:07,833 --> 01:23:09,916 The takeover of the environmental movement 1676 01:23:09,958 --> 01:23:12,541 by capitalism is now complete. 1677 01:23:12,583 --> 01:23:14,750 Environmentalists are no longer resisting those 1678 01:23:14,791 --> 01:23:17,791 with a profit motive, but collaborating with them. 1679 01:23:18,916 --> 01:23:22,833 The Nature Conservancy is now the logging conservancy. 1680 01:23:22,875 --> 01:23:27,666 - We will capture the most important pieces biologically 1681 01:23:27,708 --> 01:23:30,750 and there will be another large block sold 1682 01:23:30,791 --> 01:23:32,916 to timber investment groups. 1683 01:23:32,958 --> 01:23:36,250 The Union of Concerned Scientists has become the union 1684 01:23:36,291 --> 01:23:39,250 of concerned salesmen, having taken millions, 1685 01:23:39,291 --> 01:23:40,666 not for science, 1686 01:23:40,708 --> 01:23:44,416 but to create markets for electric cars. 1687 01:23:46,083 --> 01:23:48,083 The Sierra Club sells electric cars 1688 01:23:48,125 --> 01:23:50,333 and solar panels right from their website. 1689 01:23:51,416 --> 01:23:52,875 - The best thing about Sungevity is 1690 01:23:52,916 --> 01:23:54,666 that they make it easy for you. 1691 01:23:54,708 --> 01:23:57,041 All that you have to do is to say yes. 1692 01:23:57,916 --> 01:24:00,791 - The New York Times partners with ExxonMobil 1693 01:24:00,833 --> 01:24:03,250 to bring you the good news about biofuels. 1694 01:24:03,291 --> 01:24:04,250 - Algae derived fuel 1695 01:24:04,291 --> 01:24:05,916 could help us meet growing demand. 1696 01:24:06,875 --> 01:24:08,875 - Treehugger.com, which claims 1697 01:24:08,916 --> 01:24:12,125 to be the largest single source of environmental news, 1698 01:24:12,166 --> 01:24:15,750 was founded and funded by Georgia Pacific, 1699 01:24:15,791 --> 01:24:17,541 a logging company. 1700 01:24:17,583 --> 01:24:19,041 In fact, they are neighbors. 1701 01:24:20,958 --> 01:24:24,291 Georgia Pacific is owned by our friends, the Koch brothers, 1702 01:24:24,333 --> 01:24:26,458 who are likely the largest recipient 1703 01:24:26,500 --> 01:24:29,750 of green energy biomass subsidies in the United States. 1704 01:24:32,166 --> 01:24:34,416 Yes, the merger of environmentalism 1705 01:24:34,458 --> 01:24:37,333 and capitalism is now complete. 1706 01:24:37,375 --> 01:24:39,166 But maybe it's always been complete. 1707 01:24:40,166 --> 01:24:43,000 - How is 350.org funded? 1708 01:24:43,041 --> 01:24:44,875 - Well, not very well. 1709 01:24:44,916 --> 01:24:47,250 - Who are your funders? 1710 01:24:47,291 --> 01:24:48,875 - To the degree that we have any money at all, 1711 01:24:48,916 --> 01:24:50,958 it's come from a few foundations in Europe and U.S. 1712 01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:53,125 - Which ones? 1713 01:24:53,166 --> 01:24:54,625 - Ah, let's see. 1714 01:24:54,666 --> 01:24:59,416 The, uh, I'm trying to think who the biggest funders are. 1715 01:25:00,791 --> 01:25:01,791 Ah... 1716 01:25:03,958 --> 01:25:08,875 There's a foundation in, based in Sweden called, 1717 01:25:10,791 --> 01:25:13,000 I think it's called the Rasmussen Foundation 1718 01:25:14,416 --> 01:25:16,541 that I think has been the biggest funder. 1719 01:25:16,583 --> 01:25:19,000 - So you don't get money from Pew or Rockefeller 1720 01:25:19,041 --> 01:25:20,708 or any of those big foundations? 1721 01:25:20,750 --> 01:25:22,041 - No, we did. 1722 01:25:22,083 --> 01:25:24,375 Rockefeller Brothers Fund gave us some money right 1723 01:25:24,416 --> 01:25:25,416 when we were starting out. 1724 01:25:25,458 --> 01:25:26,708 That's been useful, too. 1725 01:25:27,666 --> 01:25:29,958 - But they no longer fund you? 1726 01:25:30,000 --> 01:25:32,333 - I don't know, I don't have this sort of- 1727 01:25:32,375 --> 01:25:34,583 - Really? 1728 01:25:34,625 --> 01:25:36,333 - Funders sitting in front of me. 1729 01:25:36,375 --> 01:25:38,333 - That's usually something that people know. 1730 01:25:38,375 --> 01:25:41,958 - Rockefeller's been one of our, is one of the, 1731 01:25:42,000 --> 01:25:44,000 is a great ally in this fight. 1732 01:25:44,541 --> 01:25:48,125 - You just sold your TV network to Al Jazeera. 1733 01:25:48,166 --> 01:25:49,583 - Right. 1734 01:25:49,625 --> 01:25:51,083 - And that government is basically nothing 1735 01:25:51,125 --> 01:25:52,416 but an oil producer. 1736 01:25:52,458 --> 01:25:53,958 - Gas, mainly and oil. 1737 01:25:54,000 --> 01:25:56,791 - Your take on that, about a hundred million dollars pre-tax 1738 01:25:56,833 --> 01:26:00,916 from a country that bases it's wealth on fossil fuels. 1739 01:26:00,958 --> 01:26:02,833 Isn't there a bit of hypocrisy in that? 1740 01:26:02,875 --> 01:26:05,958 - Well, I get the criticism, I just disagree with it. 1741 01:26:06,000 --> 01:26:07,791 I'm proud of the transaction. 1742 01:26:07,833 --> 01:26:10,916 - You couldn't find, for your business, 1743 01:26:10,958 --> 01:26:12,750 a more sustainable choice? 1744 01:26:12,791 --> 01:26:14,750 - What is not sustainable about it? 1745 01:26:14,791 --> 01:26:17,000 - Because it is backed by fossil fuel money. 1746 01:26:17,041 --> 01:26:19,458 - I get it, I get it, I get it. 1747 01:26:19,500 --> 01:26:20,958 - And so, if you got yourself 1748 01:26:21,000 --> 01:26:23,875 an environmental movement and environmental leaders, 1749 01:26:23,916 --> 01:26:26,458 why not buy the holy day itself? 1750 01:26:26,500 --> 01:26:27,750 Happy Earth Day! 1751 01:26:31,416 --> 01:26:33,583 ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 1752 01:26:33,625 --> 01:26:36,916 ♪ You make me want to say 1753 01:26:36,958 --> 01:26:40,416 ♪ Ah, you make me want to say 1754 01:26:40,458 --> 01:26:43,958 - Now we are facing the greatest sets of issues 1755 01:26:44,000 --> 01:26:45,958 that we've seen in my lifetime. 1756 01:26:46,000 --> 01:26:48,500 It's time now for a new generation to jump up 1757 01:26:48,541 --> 01:26:51,416 on the stage and create a habitable country, 1758 01:26:51,458 --> 01:26:54,541 a habitable planet, that we can all enjoy. 1759 01:26:54,583 --> 01:26:56,250 Are you that generation? 1760 01:26:59,416 --> 01:27:01,416 I need to thank Building Energy 1761 01:27:01,458 --> 01:27:04,291 which provided so much solar power to this 1762 01:27:04,333 --> 01:27:07,666 that we powered the entire event with solar energy. 1763 01:27:11,166 --> 01:27:12,875 - But when I went backstage to see 1764 01:27:12,916 --> 01:27:14,208 what was really going on. 1765 01:27:15,083 --> 01:27:16,833 - It ain't running this whole thing on that, Jack. 1766 01:27:16,875 --> 01:27:17,916 I can tell you that. 1767 01:27:17,958 --> 01:27:21,750 For a toaster is 1200 watts. 1768 01:27:21,791 --> 01:27:25,125 So, that run right there could run a toaster. 1769 01:27:25,166 --> 01:27:27,375 - I found the installer. 1770 01:27:27,416 --> 01:27:28,875 - Hi. 1771 01:27:28,916 --> 01:27:29,875 - Are they running the festival 1772 01:27:29,916 --> 01:27:31,208 on these solar panels? 1773 01:27:31,250 --> 01:27:35,500 - The concert is run by diesel generation system. 1774 01:27:36,791 --> 01:27:41,500 They didn't ask us to energize the concert. 1775 01:27:41,541 --> 01:27:42,833 - Oh, okay. 1776 01:27:42,875 --> 01:27:44,000 - And we'd also like 1777 01:27:44,041 --> 01:27:46,166 to thank our incredible corporate sponsors 1778 01:27:46,208 --> 01:27:48,750 who've been behind the movement to end extreme poverty 1779 01:27:48,791 --> 01:27:51,333 and tackle climate change since the very beginning. 1780 01:27:51,375 --> 01:27:52,791 I want to thank Toyota. 1781 01:27:55,875 --> 01:27:56,666 Citibank. 1782 01:27:59,958 --> 01:28:01,791 We want to thank Caterpillar. 1783 01:28:01,833 --> 01:28:03,583 - We're standing at the construction site 1784 01:28:03,625 --> 01:28:05,750 of the Dakota Access Pipeline. 1785 01:28:05,791 --> 01:28:07,250 It looks like there are 1786 01:28:07,291 --> 01:28:11,750 at least three bulldozers actually bulldozing the land. 1787 01:28:15,000 --> 01:28:16,625 People have gone through the fence, 1788 01:28:16,666 --> 01:28:18,333 the bulldozers are still going 1789 01:28:19,833 --> 01:28:22,958 and they're marching over the dirt mounds. 1790 01:28:24,166 --> 01:28:25,666 Get the fuck off! 1791 01:28:25,708 --> 01:28:27,000 Get the fuck out of here! 1792 01:28:27,041 --> 01:28:28,333 - Without these partners, it wouldn't be possible. 1793 01:28:28,375 --> 01:28:30,125 Let's give them a round of applause, everyone. 1794 01:28:43,166 --> 01:28:45,833 - Now I know this all might seem overwhelming. 1795 01:28:47,791 --> 01:28:48,958 It's a kind of thing 1796 01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:51,750 that we normally don't try and think about. 1797 01:28:55,375 --> 01:28:56,916 But by not thinking about it, 1798 01:28:58,291 --> 01:29:00,458 it stands a good chance of doing us in. 1799 01:29:03,083 --> 01:29:05,916 I truly believe that the path to change 1800 01:29:07,041 --> 01:29:08,833 comes from awareness. 1801 01:29:10,791 --> 01:29:14,875 That awareness alone can begin to create the transformation. 1802 01:29:19,708 --> 01:29:21,041 There is a way out of this. 1803 01:29:22,875 --> 01:29:26,041 We humans must accept that infinite growth 1804 01:29:26,083 --> 01:29:29,541 on a finite planet is suicide. 1805 01:29:31,083 --> 01:29:34,083 We must accept that our human presence 1806 01:29:34,125 --> 01:29:36,791 is already far beyond sustainability, 1807 01:29:38,416 --> 01:29:40,500 and all that that implies. 1808 01:29:43,000 --> 01:29:46,250 We must take control of our environmental movement 1809 01:29:46,291 --> 01:29:49,791 and our future from billionaires 1810 01:29:49,833 --> 01:29:52,375 and their permanent war on Planet Earth. 1811 01:29:54,250 --> 01:29:56,291 They are not our friends. 1812 01:29:58,916 --> 01:30:00,791 Less must be the new more 1813 01:30:02,208 --> 01:30:04,250 and instead of climate change, 1814 01:30:04,291 --> 01:30:06,041 we must at long last accept 1815 01:30:07,291 --> 01:30:09,166 that it's not the carbon dioxide molecule 1816 01:30:09,208 --> 01:30:10,333 destroying the planet, 1817 01:30:12,125 --> 01:30:13,625 it's us. 1818 01:30:17,833 --> 01:30:21,916 It's not one thing, but everything we humans are doing. 1819 01:30:23,833 --> 01:30:27,125 A human-caused apocalypse. 1820 01:30:27,166 --> 01:30:31,833 If we get ourselves under control, all 1821 01:30:35,583 --> 01:30:36,500 And if we don't... 1822 01:31:30,916 --> 01:31:33,000 ♪ Ah-Ooh 1823 01:32:29,916 --> 01:32:34,916 ♪ Ah-Ah-Ooh 1824 01:32:36,791 --> 01:32:41,791 ♪ Ooh-Ooh 1825 01:32:43,916 --> 01:32:46,041 ♪ Ah-Ooh 1826 01:33:05,166 --> 01:33:06,875 - Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1827 01:33:09,958 --> 01:33:13,791 ♪ Ah-Ah-Ah 1828 01:33:16,166 --> 01:33:20,750 ♪ Oh-Oh-Ah 1829 01:33:20,791 --> 01:33:25,791 ♪ Ooh-Ah 1830 01:33:26,708 --> 01:33:31,416 ♪ Oh-Oh-Oh 1831 01:33:31,458 --> 01:33:33,250 ♪ Ooh