All language subtitles for 2040_after_cuts (540p) - EN

Carbon is a miraculous building block,

and for millions of years, our planet has been
part of a natural carbon cycle.

Some gets released, some gets stored, and if these
things are balanced, then equilibrium is maintained.

But since the Industrial Revolution, we've broken the balance,

and have been dramatically increasing the release
of the Earth stored carbon into our atmosphere.

For hundreds of thousands of years, we hovered

between about 182 and 180 ppm
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

But since the industrial revolution,

that number has shot up over 40%
to more than 400 parts per million,

trapping heat in our atmosphere.

More than 90% of the excess heat
being trapped is absorbed by our oceans.

The oceans also absorb much
of the extra carbon dioxide,

and so are now around 30% more
acidic than they were 150 years ago.

And this is impacting on biodiversity

as many sea creatures, such as oysters or clams,
are struggling to make their shells.

for the increased heat and
overall energy in the system

also leads to more intense weather events.

Hotter air can hold more moisture,

so rainfall, storms, hurricanes, floods,
even snowfalls can become heavier.

It is true that the climate has
always been changing.

It just hasn't changed this rapidly,
in at least 50 million years.

Unfortunately, the increasing heat
also means that our polar caps

and glaciers are rapidly melting,

which causes sea level. Rise threatens hundreds
of millions of people in coastal cities.

Earth is our collective home,

that we're actually renting
from future generations.

So we need to not only rapidly reduce our emissions,

but also find ways to sequester,

or draw down the excess carbon dioxide
that has already been put into the system.

Many scientists believe that getting down to 350 ppm

would be a terrific goal.

So I think
we're all pretty aware that
when it comes to predictions of the future,

they are almost entirely negative at the moment.

Any time you open your news feed or social media,

there's some kind of doom and gloom
story about the future of our environment.

and as a father, I think
there's room for a different story,

a story that focuses on the solutions
to some of these problems

So my plan is to go out and
find some of these solutions

and then create a vision of
a different future for our daughter.

I want to show her what the world would look like
if the solutions I find were implemented today.

So what would the world look like in 2040
if we just embrace the best that already exists?

But that's my only rule.

Everything I show her in this 2040 has to exist
today in some form. I can't make it up.

The first step in this exercise,

was to consult the generation who
will be sharing the future with our daughter.

Hi, everybody. Morning.

My name is Damon. Do you guys know where we've
come from? Do You know what country that I'm from?

We have animals called platypus.

kangaroo. Australia. Yeah,

We've been going all around the world and
talking to lots of different Children your age.

so we're going to ask you what kind of things
you want to see in the future.

Well, what would make me happy in the world is, Hmmm,

I think we should get this invention, which sucks up

all of the rubbish in the world and
puts it in an intergalactic dimension,

which is a rubbish dimension.

I'd like to see deforestation being stopped
because it's ruining the planet,

and animals are losing their home.

Cleaner water? That would really make me happy.

Well, I would like for the government to have done
something on global warming and pollution,

as of now I think they're not really
doing anything about it.

You know, just be respectful to Earth.

It was sobering to learn how preoccupied
the kids are with the state of the planet.

And what a big job
I had ahead of me.

So I began my search for solutions with energy.

I found myself in Bangladesh,

where the roads are chaotic and people
are openly peddling ice on the streets.

A country like Bangladesh has one of the largest
solar home system markets in the world.

Over five million solar home systems.

So most households in every rural area
in Bangladesh actually have a solar home system,

and that's their primary source of energy.

This charming 23-year-old is Neil Tammany,

who has studied alternative
energy technologies

and come home to help power his country.

Turns out, I wasn't the only one
who wanted to hear him talk.

So what we do is interconnect solar home systems

and we enable energy sharing between them,

which is basically trading,

and the customer chooses when
they want to trade and when they don't.

Instead of building large grids,
we're proposing a decentralized structure

where we start building grids bottom up.

The setup is quite simple.

Any home that has solar panels and battery

can buy this special box,

which connects them to another
house with the same setup.

The box allows buying or selling
of energy between the homes.

but it gets better.

There is still a segment of the population
that still can't afford to buy a solar home system.

So instead of doing that, if they can just buy a small
sole box, they can just buy energy when they need it.

You fill up your sole box with money.
As you keep using energy, it deducts money.

What this means is that all the boxes can connect
to each other to form a microgrid.

It's like a water tank of community
energy that people can give to or take from.

The beauty is that this micro grid can then
connect to the adjacent village's microgrid

and the network becomes stronger and stronger.

There's a mimicking of nature here, Isn't there?

like in
the way that cells multiply
and form something and strengthen?

Yeah, yeah, that's a great analogy.

You have one solar home system. You interconnect
with your neighbors. You make it 50.

Slowly, you interconnect villages. Once you've
collected hundreds, you can hook them up to the grid.

You can sell to the grid,
forget buying from it.

You become the primary energy
generation source for the country.

So the
ideas were like a swarm of bees
or a swarm of fish

that move together, pooling all our energies
together to run bigger loads.

As I left the village, I had a renewed sense of hope,

particularly when Neil told me this technology
is springing up in other countries.

This solution is great for our environment,

with so many cascading benefits
for any community that chooses to adopt it.

So sticking to my rule of only
showing what exists today,

here's what the future of energy
could look like for my daughter.

Crystal, Bring up energy.

Certainly. What would you like me to do?

Imagine if your house in
2040 is part of a microgrid

that helps power the economy throughout your city.

Imagine if your windows are
solar glass and come standard in new homes,

and your solar battery is cheap and recyclable.

This could allow you
to donate your excess energy.

- I'm going away for four days.
- Would you like to share or sell?

- Share. Hurricane relief?
- Done. You're a legend.

- Thanks.
- Humans are awesome.

Okay!

- That choice was good for your soul.
- Alright.

Every home is going to have a battery that's going
to store as much electricity as it possibly can store.

And all the governments in the world
cannot push back against that,

because folks are going to go buy it at the store., IKEA, Walmart, and at the supermarket,

and it's going to be very cheap, so cheap
that you're not even gonna notice.

If cheaper home energy systems

are combined with more people demanding
clean energy from their politicians, darling,

then there's a chance many countries
could be close to 100% renewable by 2040.

I'm going to invent a plane. Where you type in
the coordinates where you want it to go.

And in a split second,
you're there.

I think electric cars would help the environment
because they cause less pollution

and maybe, get electric cars if they can,

because that reduces like fossil fuels,
and then that also stops global warming.

And instead
of using cars, I would like to use rocket boots

to go around and they will be empowered by plants.

Oh, that would be so cool. That would be awesome.

And rocket boots, I think, would be really cool to
see people flying around the city.

And also I want them to go worldwide,
and I want to try and invent them.

in the US right now. Road vehicles
contribute to 20% of the emissions,

but our environment and sanity
will be severely tested,

with predictions of an extra
one billion cars worldwide by 2040.

A possible solution could be
replacing car ownership

with on-demand driverless vehicles.

the same way that we went from owning DVDs, CDs,
records, or whatever to having all of those on demand.

Essentially, Netflix and so on.

The same thing is going to
happen with transportation.

I wasn't sure I'd trust
a driverless car with my daughter.

So I subjected this prototype
to the surprise pedestrian test.

Ah, yes!

Robots one,
humans zero.

The next test was a little more challenging.

Traffic!

When I push this button,
this car will be driving itself.

Wish me luck.

Right.

So this is my first experience in a driverless vehicle,

and I'm a little bit nervous
because that wheel's turning by itself.

Siri, please look after me.

So, yeah, you can see that's our car tracking there,

and the little light is the radar on top
is reading out all the information.

I think about 50 meters
ahead of us and scanning the area

and determining what's around us,
what other obstacles, what it should look out for.

Pedestrians, bike riders, other cars.
So it's constantly ahead of us predicting.

Two things are gonna happen.

We're all going to have a massive fleet of cars
that are going to pick you up at home,

take you to work, take you
to the supermarket and so on.

the other one, even if you already
own a car that you already paid off.

It's gonna be four times
more expensive just to own that car

than it is to access transportation as a service.
So autonomous electric vehicles.

I do like the freedom of my own car.

So the big question is,
are enough of us willing to give that up

and embrace shared transportation?

If we did embrace on-demand transport,

much
like we now require fewer CDs or DVDs.

We also require fewer vehicles,

and almost no parking space.

Two-thirds of LA is parking and roads.

You could fit three cities the size of San Francisco

in the empty parking space left by
the autonomous vehicle disruption.

So, as a society, we need to make decisions.

What do we do with all that
parking space that's gonna be vacant?

All the cars your mom and I ever owned
were stranded assets,

meaning that 96% of the time they
were parked or unused.

But now, in 2040 with driver cost is gone
and the rideshare explosion,

fewer people actually own cars.

They get around in luxurious pods
like this for next to nothing.

But I secretly hope darling that Rocket Boots Girl has
achieved her ambition of worldwide domination,

So this is a huge disruption of
a massive part of the labour force.

Inevitably, there will be
debates around this technology.

But if enough of us embraced rideshare,

we could reclaim our cities for humans
instead of vehicles.

and generate millions of new jobs.

This is a big vision. We just
need to have that vision now.

A lot of people want to be working on something
that they can see s actually helping to regenerate

and innovatively recreate the world.

The extra space in our cities could
allow the building of more low-cost,

sustainable homes.

and we could see the growth
of remanufacturing industry,

which might convert existing vehicles to electric.

But most exciting could be the urban food
farms that spring up in empty parking lots,

or inside disused car parks.

Imagine having fresh local food growing on our rooftops.

This would also contribute to
a much healthier environment.

It's unbeatable to grow food in your own backyard.

It's unbeatable to grow food all through and around your city,

it's unbeatable to grow food on your roof.
Those are the absolute gold standard of emissions

if you
do choose to live in a city though,

I hope it's a bit like this.

a city where so many
of the public parks, urban food projects

and cleaner transport networks

all contribute to a healthier environment
while fostering a greater sense of community

and a heck of a lot less road rage.

But the bonus is that you can now actually
hear birds singing in the middle of the city.

If we ceased all emissions today, if we cut
emissions to zero, human emissions to zero,

we would still be toast.

We're still already over a tipping point and
on our way to a point of no return.

So we have to reduce the emissions

that we're producing today,

and we also have to sequester carbon. We have to
remove excess carbon from the atmosphere and store it.

With an increased sense of urgency,
I met with Paul Hawkin,

who thankfully, isn't afraid of heights.

He's the founder of Project Drawdown,

the first comprehensive plan
to reverse global warming.

Paul suggested I first explore food and
agriculture for drawdown opportunities.

When you change agricultural practices related to
food, you can do two things, one is you stop emitting CO2,

which also sequestering carbon. So it's one of those sectors

- Yeah.
- that actually does both. It's a twofer,

which not only does it start putting it up,
but actually brings it down.

so you're flipping a whole sector.

Coal helps farmers around the world.

Use plants to pull carbon from the atmosphere
and put it into their soils.

Because our constant ploughing of the soils has
released billions of tonnes of the stuff

over the last 10,000 years of agriculture,

the degradation of soils has been one of
the leading causes of climate change.

It's actually, as of right now, a larger cause
of climate change than burning fossil fuels.

I asked Cole to strike a farming calendar pose

to explain how he brings the carbon back Home.

plants use carbon dioxide and energy
from the sun to create simple sugars.

The plant uses some of these sugars to grow.

The rest is pumped into the soil through the roots.

These sugars feed soil microbes,
which interact with the plant,

and the carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere
is sequestered into the soil as carbon.

When it rains,
the soil on the left,

with more carbon and organic matter,

absorbs the water.

Unless it runs off the top.

Whereas the chemical-ridden soil on the right
absorbs almost no water,

and allows it to run off,

taking the chemicals with it into
nearby rivers and waterways.

it's actually impossible to maintain
the resources we're using.

So we're going to have to transition,
and it's going to be a little bit awkward

if we're gonna give our kids a better future.

Storing carbon in our soil will go
a long way to solving our problem.

There is a limit to how much carbon soil can hold,

so we're gonna need another
leg up from Mother Nature.

Make sure cobble looks okay,
because it normally looks like a rainbow in the sea

with all the fishes.

But sometimes if you litter,
it looks a bit not good.

It looks like
a big, big mess.

at the beach. It would just not be the same
if you can't swim in the water.

And also all the really amazing marine animals,

like the acquittal whales, sea fish,

If they were all gone, then it just
wouldn't be the same in the world.

I want the oceans to be cleaner.

One of the coming attractions that
I think could have the biggest impact

is what is called marine permaculture.

It's just another way of farming in the ocean.
But this is more wild farming

because it actually sets up the context
for the oceans to regenerate themselves.

Dr. Brian Von Herzen, a physicist,

used to fly to Europe every year, and he saw
how quickly the Greenland ice sheet was melting

and decided to change his whole life in 2006

to restore living systems
and focused on the ocean.

With 93% of global warming going
into the ocean today each year,

the problem is that the waters are getting
too warm without enough overturning circulation,

and there aren't enough nutrients,
and the result is we lose the life in the ocean.

Understandably, there has been
reluctance to meddle with our oceans.

But the fact that they are getting warmer,
becoming acidic

and many fish species
are now in danger of collapse,

means that they actually need our help.

Brian's solution is seaweed.

Marine permaculture
is a regenerative technology

that works like this.

A frame made of recycled material becomes
a platform for the seaweed to grow on

it sits just below the surface and sinks lower
as the seaweed grows and gets heavier.

A pump-powered, simply,
by the rise and fall of the ocean,

brings the cold, nutrient-laden waters from below

and disperses them over the
seaweed in the upper warmer layer.

The seaweed can be regularly harvested
and used for a range of purposes.

Seaweed is good for food,
animal feed, fertilizer, fiber, and biofuel.

There's so much we can do with seaweeds.

The permaculture tests that Brian and
his team have conducted in the South Pacific

have seen marine life return,

and the seaweed, transformed
the quality of the water itself.

Seaweeds actually draw down
carbon dioxide from the ocean waters.

and they restore the alkalinity of the ocean,

that enables shellfish
and other creatures to thrive.

at this point of the trip, I felt for the first time,

like we genuinely have a chance at a better future,

if we choose to take it.

So, Velvet,

this was my story of a future
I hope you get to experience

your story, and the one that transpires,

maybe completely different.

But what I now understand is that
not only are there so many people

who want to take
part in telling a new story.

But we have everything
we need right now

to make it happen.

When you go beyond the dominant media discourse

and get closer to the ground, you will see

everywhere you look, incredible reasons for hope.

Over the next few years, you may notice
less red meat for dinner,

more trips to the compost bin,

better search engines,

and potentially a new
dashboard in your classroom.

If enough of us make these sorts
of small changes when combined,

they will make a difference.

But of equal importance is strong leadership.

Wouldn't it be terrific if new leaders emerge
who can navigate us to a better 2014?

Coupled with more and more people
finding a defining role within it?

What we can do is see where you get lit up.

Maybe it's a girls education group.
Wow, I had no idea.

Or it can be food, farming,
or energy. It can be housing, transport,

I mean, there are so many areas where you actually
probably do have influence where you are working

where you can affect change in a way that actually
is demonstrable and meaningful to you and others.

And it just unleashes the power of innovation,
imagination, and creativity.

This is within all people.

But I want homeless people
to have their own homes

with their own money to buy their own food
and have their own jobs.

I'd like it to be human instinct

to just look after the world and to care for the world.

I would like to see everybody have equal rights
and the same living opportunities.

I just want the future to be good.