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I've got a question.
2
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How long do you think we humans have?
3
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How long does the human race have?
4
00:00:28,540 --> 00:00:29,360
Ooh.
5
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Um.
6
00:00:31,390 --> 00:00:32,710
Oh, wow.
7
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I don't exactly know, but might be soon.
8
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I have no clue.
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No?
10
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I hope I get me at least 50 more years.
11
00:00:39,010 --> 00:00:41,530
I think there's infinite amount of time.
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Infinite.
13
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It's infinite, yeah.
14
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I give us a million.
15
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A million years.
16
00:00:46,490 --> 00:00:48,667
Being kind, I would say
probably about 10 years.
17
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10, 12 years.
18
00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:51,630
Thousands of years.
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47 years, three months, five days.
20
00:00:54,710 --> 00:00:55,580
It's approximate.
21
00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:57,520
We're kind of like
cockroaches on the planet,
22
00:00:57,620 --> 00:00:59,580
no matter how much damage we'll do,
23
00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:04,320
enough of us will survive to
procreate and keep it going.
24
00:01:04,420 --> 00:01:05,690
Unless we can get to another planet,
25
00:01:05,790 --> 00:01:08,133
but then we're just gonna
fuck it up like we did Earth.
26
00:01:08,233 --> 00:01:10,190
Well, I think that we will be here...
27
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...for a long time, but we will change.
28
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We're gonna turn back into apes.
29
00:01:22,580 --> 00:01:25,130
Have you ever
wondered what would happen...
30
00:01:25,230 --> 00:01:29,395
...if a single species took
over an entire planet?
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00:01:30,150 --> 00:01:33,805
Maybe they're cute, maybe they're clever...
32
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...but lack a certain,
33
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shall we say,
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self-restraint?
35
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What if they go too far?
36
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What if they go way, way, way,
37
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way, way too far?
38
00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,880
How would they know when
it's their time to go?
39
00:03:33,230 --> 00:03:34,950
Due to our release through factories...
40
00:03:35,050 --> 00:03:36,500
...and automobiles every year...
41
00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:40,040
...of more than six billion
tons of carbon dioxide,
42
00:03:40,140 --> 00:03:42,640
our atmosphere seems
to be getting warmer.
43
00:03:42,740 --> 00:03:44,520
This is bad?
44
00:03:44,620 --> 00:03:47,270
Well, it's been calculated
a few degrees rise...
45
00:03:47,370 --> 00:03:52,385
...in the Earth's temperature
would melt the polar ice caps.
46
00:03:54,100 --> 00:03:57,460
And if this happens, an inland
sea would fill a good portion...
47
00:03:57,560 --> 00:03:59,420
...of the Mississippi valley.
48
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,210
Foreign weather, we're not
only dealing with forces...
49
00:04:02,310 --> 00:04:03,750
...of a far greater variety...
50
00:04:03,850 --> 00:04:06,540
...than even the atomic
physicists encounters,
51
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,640
but with life itself.
52
00:04:12,610 --> 00:04:14,863
That was 1958.
53
00:04:15,930 --> 00:04:17,060
We've known about the dangers...
54
00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,305
...of climate change for six decades.
55
00:04:20,750 --> 00:04:22,850
Back then, there was so
much air pollution...
56
00:04:22,950 --> 00:04:26,265
...it would actually block out the sun.
57
00:04:26,660 --> 00:04:31,420
There was so much water
pollution, rivers caught on fire.
58
00:04:32,770 --> 00:04:36,110
Forget throwing plastic
bottles into the water,
59
00:04:36,210 --> 00:04:38,590
we tossed our cars in there.
60
00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:42,210
We also knew someday we'd run out of oil.
61
00:04:42,310 --> 00:04:43,520
For millions of Americans,
62
00:04:43,620 --> 00:04:45,900
this may be the worst
weekend they've ever faced...
63
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,790
...for finding gasoline to give
them the automobile freedom...
64
00:04:48,890 --> 00:04:51,100
...they take as their due.
65
00:04:51,430 --> 00:04:54,070
I never doubted
humans would find a better way...
66
00:04:54,170 --> 00:04:56,975
...and I wanted to be part of it.
67
00:04:57,050 --> 00:04:58,667
A scientist sounded the alarm...
68
00:04:58,767 --> 00:05:01,020
...and the modern environmental
movement was born.
69
00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,640
Unless we do bring these
chemicals under better control,
70
00:05:03,740 --> 00:05:06,885
we are certainly headed for disaster.
71
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:09,850
Students all across the country...
72
00:05:09,950 --> 00:05:11,480
...organized the first Earth Day.
73
00:05:11,580 --> 00:05:13,570
This point in time, it's
very, very fashionable...
74
00:05:13,670 --> 00:05:14,810
...to talk about the environment...
75
00:05:14,910 --> 00:05:17,323
...but as everyday procedure, find very,
76
00:05:17,423 --> 00:05:20,143
very little concrete being done.
77
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:22,970
As for me, you might say.
78
00:05:23,070 --> 00:05:25,790
I was an early environmentalist.
79
00:05:26,620 --> 00:05:27,650
When I was nine years old,
80
00:05:27,750 --> 00:05:31,890
a bulldozer began knocking
down the woods near my home.
81
00:05:31,990 --> 00:05:35,815
I retaliated by putting sand in its gas tank.
82
00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,500
When I grew up, I became
a tree hugger and moved...
83
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:42,100
...to the wilds of Northern Michigan...
84
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:46,760
...to build a sustainable homestead
and commune with nature.
85
00:05:46,860 --> 00:05:49,560
I wired my cabin for solar panels...
86
00:05:49,660 --> 00:05:53,655
...and heated with wood
instead of fossil fuels.
87
00:05:54,100 --> 00:05:55,950
I wrote about sustainable living...
88
00:05:56,050 --> 00:05:58,760
...in environmental issues
for the Mother Earth News...
89
00:05:58,860 --> 00:06:01,240
...and several news outlets.
90
00:06:03,860 --> 00:06:08,195
I traveled the country
documenting invasive species.
91
00:06:09,565 --> 00:06:11,606
Ecosystem collapse.
92
00:06:13,740 --> 00:06:17,055
And species threatened with extinction.
93
00:06:17,067 --> 00:06:19,067
Come on, girls, boys.
94
00:06:20,955 --> 00:06:25,715
I covered protests against
destroying mountains for coal.
95
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,225
And was once even
confronted by the BP police.
96
00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:32,623
Journalist.
- You're a journalist?
97
00:06:32,723 --> 00:06:33,456
Yep, yep, yeah.
98
00:06:33,556 --> 00:06:35,520
By all means, you can take
all the pictures you want.
99
00:06:35,620 --> 00:06:36,353
Okay.
100
00:06:36,453 --> 00:06:38,220
We'll write in our report
and then we have to send it...
101
00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,060
...to the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office.
102
00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,160
They'll call you.
103
00:06:44,940 --> 00:06:47,830
Through all of this, I kept wondering,
104
00:06:47,930 --> 00:06:51,500
why are we still addicted to fossil fuels?
105
00:06:52,290 --> 00:06:57,135
So I decided to begin following
the green energy movement.
106
00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:01,140
What better place to check out...
107
00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,930
...how our renewable energy
revolution is coming along,
108
00:07:04,030 --> 00:07:04,990
than a solar festival...
109
00:07:05,090 --> 00:07:07,260
...in the Green Mountain state of Vermont.
110
00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,116
Powered by 100% solar energy.
111
00:07:12,050 --> 00:07:15,000
Solar.
112
00:07:15,100 --> 00:07:17,100
I was having fun.
113
00:07:17,410 --> 00:07:18,660
And got a chance to ask...
114
00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:20,820
...about getting solar panels installed.
115
00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:22,650
You can keep adding,
so maybe every time...
116
00:07:22,750 --> 00:07:26,830
...you get a tax return,
buy another solar panel?
117
00:07:28,260 --> 00:07:31,490
But then, a little rain began to fall.
118
00:07:33,719 --> 00:07:34,502
? Packed up my guitar ?...
119
00:07:34,602 --> 00:07:36,380
...? Headed to the nearest bowling alley ?.
120
00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,985
My camera man noticed some
commotion behind the stage.
121
00:07:43,072 --> 00:07:43,967
What'd you guys set up here?
122
00:07:44,067 --> 00:07:46,860
This is for biodiesel generators...
123
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:51,103
...in case we lose power due to the rain.
124
00:07:51,203 --> 00:07:52,000
So the festival's going...
125
00:07:52,100 --> 00:07:54,409
...on solar energy, primarily?
126
00:07:54,509 --> 00:07:55,837
Primarily.
127
00:07:55,937 --> 00:07:57,242
We do need to bring some of this stuff...
128
00:07:57,342 --> 00:08:00,520
...in just 'cause we want to make sure...
129
00:08:00,620 --> 00:08:04,553
...we have enough power not
to kill our fancy toys...
130
00:08:04,653 --> 00:08:06,271
...that we have lighting the stage.
131
00:08:06,371 --> 00:08:07,413
Right.
132
00:08:07,513 --> 00:08:10,240
But the biofuel generator wasn't enough,
133
00:08:10,340 --> 00:08:11,400
so they wound up plugging...
134
00:08:11,500 --> 00:08:14,220
...into the electrical grid that we all use.
135
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,440
The other inverter operating,
136
00:08:16,540 --> 00:08:18,690
it's actually pulling power in from the grid,
137
00:08:18,790 --> 00:08:20,790
charging the batteries.
138
00:08:20,998 --> 00:08:22,220
It's running backwards from the way...
139
00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,720
...we originally intended to do it, but.
140
00:08:27,140 --> 00:08:29,140
That was disappointing.
141
00:08:30,731 --> 00:08:33,706
But after all, it had been raining.
142
00:08:34,570 --> 00:08:37,885
Maybe next time things would go better.
143
00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,380
Luckily for us, hope was on the way.
144
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,965
It's been a long time comin' but tonight,
145
00:08:48,470 --> 00:08:50,765
change has come to America.
146
00:08:54,090 --> 00:08:56,480
Green activists across
the country cheered...
147
00:08:56,580 --> 00:08:59,150
...when newly elected
president, Barack Obama,
148
00:08:59,250 --> 00:09:01,960
rolled out a trillion
dollar stimulus package...
149
00:09:02,060 --> 00:09:06,395
...with nearly 100 billion
dollars for green energy.
150
00:09:06,490 --> 00:09:08,710
Green was finally ramping up...
151
00:09:08,810 --> 00:09:11,920
...and everyone wanted to be part of it.
152
00:09:12,020 --> 00:09:15,100
President Obama brought in
environmental activist Van Jones,
153
00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,010
from the Apollo Alliance,
with shovel ready projects.
154
00:09:18,110 --> 00:09:20,313
They've gotta put up tens
of thousands of wind farms,
155
00:09:20,413 --> 00:09:23,450
they gotta put up millions of solar panels.
156
00:09:23,550 --> 00:09:25,327
Former Vice President Al Gore,
157
00:09:25,427 --> 00:09:28,990
who had a few years earlier
released an Oscar winning film,
158
00:09:29,090 --> 00:09:31,260
shared his ideas with the president.
159
00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,260
We have the opportunity now...
160
00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,587
...to create jobs all across this country,
161
00:09:36,687 --> 00:09:40,423
in all 50 states, to re-power America.
162
00:09:41,620 --> 00:09:43,390
Al Gore had already encouraged...
163
00:09:43,490 --> 00:09:46,550
...billionaire airline owner,
Sir Richard Branson,
164
00:09:46,650 --> 00:09:49,625
to invest big-time in green energy.
165
00:09:49,650 --> 00:09:52,250
Branson is pledging future
profits from his airline...
166
00:09:52,350 --> 00:09:54,220
...to the tune of perhaps
three billion dollars.
167
00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,510
Three billion, that's with a
B, to fight global warming.
168
00:09:57,610 --> 00:09:59,610
Is Al Gore a prophet?
169
00:10:00,785 --> 00:10:05,353
Ah, um, ah, how do you spell 'prophet?'.
170
00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,290
Investors came forward.
171
00:10:11,390 --> 00:10:14,190
Investor Vinod Khosla,
known as the father...
172
00:10:14,290 --> 00:10:15,970
...of the clean tech revolution,
173
00:10:16,070 --> 00:10:19,150
has poured over a billion
dollars of his own money...
174
00:10:19,250 --> 00:10:21,960
...into some fifty energy startups.
175
00:10:22,060 --> 00:10:24,900
Major banks were eager to get involved.
176
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,840
By 2020, we think,
renewables will require...
177
00:10:28,940 --> 00:10:32,390
...395 billion on an annual basis.
178
00:10:32,490 --> 00:10:34,330
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,
179
00:10:34,430 --> 00:10:37,550
was both on the board of major
environmental organizations...
180
00:10:37,650 --> 00:10:40,417
...and was leading a green
energy investment group.
181
00:10:40,517 --> 00:10:43,190
We build wind farms,
we build solar farms,
182
00:10:43,290 --> 00:10:47,540
once you build our plant,
it's free energy forever.
183
00:10:47,729 --> 00:10:49,650
The Sierra Club received
50 million dollars...
184
00:10:49,750 --> 00:10:51,720
...from billionaire and
former New York City mayor.
185
00:10:51,820 --> 00:10:53,000
Michael Bloomberg.
186
00:10:53,100 --> 00:10:54,010
Their mission?
187
00:10:54,110 --> 00:10:56,570
Fight coal and promote clean energy.
188
00:10:56,670 --> 00:10:58,430
So with the mayor's gift,
here's what will happen.
189
00:10:58,530 --> 00:11:02,130
We'll have a large and
aggressive presence in 46 states.
190
00:11:02,230 --> 00:11:05,480
It's time for America
to find a new energy path.
191
00:11:05,580 --> 00:11:07,590
One that takes us beyond coal.
192
00:11:07,690 --> 00:11:08,423
So funny--.
193
00:11:08,523 --> 00:11:10,400
And then Bill McKibben,
194
00:11:10,500 --> 00:11:13,300
one of the nation's
leading environmentalists...
195
00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,407
...and author of a
breakthrough book called...
196
00:11:15,507 --> 00:11:17,020
'The End of Nature,'
197
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,840
formed an organization called 350. org...
198
00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:24,512
...with the mission of igniting
a global climate movement.
199
00:11:24,612 --> 00:11:26,940
Can I show off my necktie for a minute...
200
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:28,660
'cause they made it for me yesterday.
201
00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:30,150
It's got that 350 on it...
202
00:11:30,250 --> 00:11:33,490
'cause it's the most
important number in the world.
203
00:11:33,590 --> 00:11:35,300
Things were looking up.
204
00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:39,225
And the green energy
revolution was under way.
205
00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,100
Michigan had been hit hard
by the Great Recession...
206
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:44,670
...and hundreds of millions of dollars...
207
00:11:44,770 --> 00:11:47,190
...in green stimulus money was arriving.
208
00:11:47,290 --> 00:11:50,660
Now, to do their part for
the new green economy.
209
00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:54,280
General Motors introduced a
new line of electric vehicles.
210
00:11:54,380 --> 00:11:56,240
When the Chevy Volt was ready for release.
211
00:11:56,340 --> 00:11:59,050
I attended their press conference.
212
00:11:59,150 --> 00:12:01,710
So, these electric vehicles are ready...
213
00:12:01,810 --> 00:12:04,690
...for public consumption and we're ready...
214
00:12:04,790 --> 00:12:06,460
...with the infrastructure, with the rates,
215
00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:07,950
with the communications.
216
00:12:08,050 --> 00:12:10,750
I am extremely grateful to
be here today and in fact,
217
00:12:10,850 --> 00:12:13,920
this is a chance for me to
say, thank you, more formally.
218
00:12:14,020 --> 00:12:15,390
The Chevy Volt is upstairs.
219
00:12:15,490 --> 00:12:17,026
We'll be able to take a look at it.
220
00:12:17,126 --> 00:12:18,390
(banging metal).
221
00:12:18,490 --> 00:12:19,646
We got about 1,000 photos.
222
00:12:19,746 --> 00:12:20,537
Yeah.
223
00:12:20,637 --> 00:12:22,637
Here is the plug.
224
00:12:27,099 --> 00:12:29,099
It's as simple as that.
225
00:12:29,851 --> 00:12:31,420
The batteries are in the trunk?
226
00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:35,390
No, the battery in this
particular design is a T-shape,
227
00:12:35,490 --> 00:12:39,868
right down the center and
across the backseat area.
228
00:12:41,850 --> 00:12:44,332
'Cause everybody thought we
killed the electric vehicle.
229
00:12:44,432 --> 00:12:45,907
No, we didn't.
230
00:12:46,007 --> 00:12:47,510
It's alive and well.
231
00:12:47,610 --> 00:12:50,315
So, what's charging
the batteries right now?
232
00:12:50,415 --> 00:12:51,148
What's the source of electricity?
233
00:12:51,248 --> 00:12:53,040
Well, here, it's coming from the building.
234
00:12:53,140 --> 00:12:55,532
I mean, is it,
what's our mix of power?
235
00:12:55,632 --> 00:12:58,250
Oh, actually, Lansing feeds the building.
236
00:12:58,350 --> 00:12:59,083
What's that?
237
00:12:59,183 --> 00:13:00,816
Lansing feeds power to the building.
238
00:13:00,916 --> 00:13:03,038
So, I don't know--.
239
00:13:03,138 --> 00:13:04,510
They're--...
240
00:13:04,610 --> 00:13:05,830
I betcha they're a bit of coal?
241
00:13:05,930 --> 00:13:08,856
I think they're heavy on
natural gas, aren't they?
242
00:13:08,956 --> 00:13:10,890
Right now, the car's charging off your grid?
243
00:13:10,990 --> 00:13:12,040
Right.
244
00:13:12,140 --> 00:13:17,090
It would be charging off our
grid, which is about 95% coal.
245
00:13:18,411 --> 00:13:19,319
How long do you think it will be...
246
00:13:19,419 --> 00:13:23,140
...before there's a solar
and wind powered grid?
247
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:23,973
Oh, golly.
248
00:13:24,073 --> 00:13:26,530
To suggest that all of the power used...
249
00:13:26,630 --> 00:13:31,100
...for these cars will be
generated from wind and solar,
250
00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,220
in the very near future,
would not be correct.
251
00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,270
In fact, these, we're talking
about charging these up...
252
00:13:36,370 --> 00:13:39,030
...at night, so there won't
be any solar at that time.
253
00:13:39,130 --> 00:13:40,720
So, we're down to wind and very often,
254
00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:43,625
at night, the wind does fall off.
255
00:13:43,690 --> 00:13:46,707
I don't think coal is bad.
256
00:13:46,807 --> 00:13:47,540
The what?
- The big val--.
257
00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:48,373
Mountain top removal.
258
00:13:48,473 --> 00:13:49,206
Oh, mount...
259
00:13:49,306 --> 00:13:50,039
Oh yeah, oh yeah. (laughing).
260
00:13:50,139 --> 00:13:51,540
Yeah.
261
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,890
It's got lovely BTUs, it's
got lovely energy value.
262
00:13:56,260 --> 00:13:58,980
How do you burn it more cleanly?
263
00:14:00,030 --> 00:14:02,600
I mean, do you see natural
gas getting bashed?
264
00:14:02,700 --> 00:14:05,170
We will be delivering power based...
265
00:14:05,270 --> 00:14:07,210
...on natural gas very shortly.
266
00:14:07,310 --> 00:14:12,325
And even with that mix, we
intend to use biofuels if we can.
267
00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:14,463
Have you gotten any support?
268
00:14:14,563 --> 00:14:16,700
Oh, the environment groups
are extremely supportive.
269
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,090
We did install the state's
largest solar array...
270
00:14:19,190 --> 00:14:20,980
...at my company, The Board
of Water and Lights,
271
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:22,866
just down the street
from here a few miles...
272
00:14:22,966 --> 00:14:23,970
...if you want to take a look at it.
273
00:14:24,070 --> 00:14:26,460
What outfit are you with?
274
00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:27,870
New World Media,
we're doing a segment...
275
00:14:27,970 --> 00:14:28,800
...on the renewable energy.
276
00:14:28,900 --> 00:14:29,971
Oh, excuse, I gotta go for a second.
277
00:14:30,071 --> 00:14:30,804
Okay, sure.
278
00:14:30,904 --> 00:14:32,904
Thanks.
279
00:14:35,770 --> 00:14:37,600
I decided to take him up on his offer...
280
00:14:37,700 --> 00:14:40,530
...to check out their football
field sized solar array...
281
00:14:40,630 --> 00:14:42,755
...right down the street.
282
00:14:43,490 --> 00:14:45,150
What we're trying to do
with this kind of a tour is,
283
00:14:45,250 --> 00:14:46,720
get a sense for what they've already done,
284
00:14:46,820 --> 00:14:48,400
as an indication of what we could do...
285
00:14:48,500 --> 00:14:51,320
...to push the envelope even further.
286
00:14:51,420 --> 00:14:55,415
We took a hard look at
wind and determined that,
287
00:14:55,450 --> 00:14:58,620
around here, there's not really
any real good wind coming...
288
00:14:58,720 --> 00:14:59,790
...through all the time.
289
00:14:59,890 --> 00:15:01,400
That's what we liked about solar.
290
00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:04,420
You would get the power
when you most needed it.
291
00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,080
Pass these around, look at 'em.
292
00:15:06,180 --> 00:15:07,710
They are pliable.
293
00:15:07,810 --> 00:15:10,220
Made in Michigan, that
was another good thing.
294
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:11,560
Although, the efficiency...
295
00:15:11,660 --> 00:15:15,655
...of these panels is only
about, just under 8%.
296
00:15:16,907 --> 00:15:18,690
If you happen to be
NASA and you happen...
297
00:15:18,790 --> 00:15:20,480
...to own a rover running around Mars,
298
00:15:20,580 --> 00:15:22,650
they have very efficient panels.
299
00:15:22,750 --> 00:15:24,210
But, we can't afford those...
300
00:15:24,310 --> 00:15:26,590
...at about a million dollars a square inch.
301
00:15:26,690 --> 00:15:27,590
How many homes would...
302
00:15:27,690 --> 00:15:29,900
...this array provide electricity for?
303
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:31,353
The standard answer
that we tell everybody is,
304
00:15:31,453 --> 00:15:32,560
that we're providing enough...
305
00:15:32,660 --> 00:15:35,280
...to meet the peak
requirements of 50 homes.
306
00:15:35,380 --> 00:15:38,220
However, for most of the people that look...
307
00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:39,190
...at it a little bit closer,
308
00:15:39,290 --> 00:15:43,280
we generate about 63, 64
thousand kilowatt hours a year.
309
00:15:43,380 --> 00:15:44,720
Our average customer uses...
310
00:15:44,820 --> 00:15:47,044
...about six thousand kilowatt hours a year.
311
00:15:47,144 --> 00:15:50,580
Six thousand into 64, it's
just a little over 10.
312
00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,290
We can meet the energy
requirements for 10 homes.
313
00:15:54,390 --> 00:15:56,390
Over a year.
314
00:15:57,060 --> 00:16:00,970
Will that be an incentive
to put more solar on?
315
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:03,170
Well, if you wanted to make all...
316
00:16:03,270 --> 00:16:07,470
...of the energy required for the
city of Lansing over a year?
317
00:16:07,570 --> 00:16:08,303
Well, how about--...
318
00:16:08,403 --> 00:16:09,770
You'd have a solar array...
319
00:16:09,870 --> 00:16:11,640
...that was three miles by five miles.
320
00:16:11,740 --> 00:16:12,473
Right.
321
00:16:12,573 --> 00:16:13,306
But--
- We're not gonna do that.
322
00:16:13,406 --> 00:16:15,790
But, but, I mean.
(woman's voice fades out).
323
00:16:15,890 --> 00:16:17,980
My friend from the Sierra
Club wanted him...
324
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:22,245
...to be more positive, but
he was not interested.
325
00:16:25,580 --> 00:16:28,520
As a consequence of the
big push for green energy,
326
00:16:28,620 --> 00:16:30,870
wind farms were arising around the nation,
327
00:16:30,970 --> 00:16:34,240
including near my home
in northern Michigan.
328
00:16:34,340 --> 00:16:35,283
We've done coal and nuclear for years.
329
00:16:35,383 --> 00:16:38,710
We've been trying to get in
more into the renewable side.
330
00:16:38,810 --> 00:16:40,890
These are the largest in Michigan.
331
00:16:40,990 --> 00:16:43,190
I think it's 482 foot total.
332
00:16:43,290 --> 00:16:44,087
How many yards of concrete?
333
00:16:44,187 --> 00:16:46,700
It was 800 yards of concrete in the base,
334
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,420
right around 140 tons of resteel.
335
00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:50,720
What are those blades made out of?
336
00:16:50,820 --> 00:16:52,400
That's all fiberglass and balsam.
337
00:16:52,500 --> 00:16:54,785
They're about 36,000 pounds a piece.
338
00:16:54,885 --> 00:16:58,750
This tower will weigh 800,000
pounds when we're done.
339
00:16:58,850 --> 00:17:01,220
Then the cell is 220,000 pounds...
340
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,780
...and the hub rotor
assembly is another 160.
341
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,920
It's pretty substantial.
342
00:17:08,031 --> 00:17:10,581
They were impressive machines.
343
00:17:12,330 --> 00:17:14,420
But is it possible for machines made...
344
00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,890
...by industrial civilization...
345
00:17:16,990 --> 00:17:20,645
...to save us from industrial civilization?
346
00:17:27,690 --> 00:17:29,790
In environmental leader
Bill McKibben's home state...
347
00:17:29,890 --> 00:17:32,480
...of Vermont, the Green Mountain state,
348
00:17:32,580 --> 00:17:33,580
a site was being cleared...
349
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,070
...for the installation of wind turbines.
350
00:17:36,170 --> 00:17:37,780
A group of citizens was concerned...
351
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:38,910
...about how the construction...
352
00:17:39,010 --> 00:17:41,700
...might affect the mountains they love.
353
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:43,500
I joined them for a tour.
354
00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:45,240
It's going to be 21 turbines.
355
00:17:45,340 --> 00:17:46,180
21?
356
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:47,900
Yeah.
- On this project?
357
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,850
In this project, yeah.
358
00:17:49,950 --> 00:17:54,880
The estimate was maybe there
would be three full-time jobs.
359
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,260
If the goal is to try
to make Vermont the leader...
360
00:17:57,360 --> 00:17:59,870
...in climate change, I appreciate looking...
361
00:17:59,970 --> 00:18:02,329
...to the sky in the hopes we can do that.
362
00:18:02,429 --> 00:18:05,010
But more importantly,
I'm personally looking...
363
00:18:05,110 --> 00:18:07,430
...at the ground thinking, this
is not the kind of legacy.
364
00:18:07,530 --> 00:18:08,837
I want to leave to my kids.
365
00:18:08,937 --> 00:18:11,610
When I was a kid we'd go
hiking in these woods,
366
00:18:11,710 --> 00:18:13,480
we would be able to drink from the waters...
367
00:18:13,580 --> 00:18:18,340
...down the hill here, and now
you have to question that.
368
00:18:18,378 --> 00:18:20,240
And how long are
these towers supposed to last?
369
00:18:20,340 --> 00:18:21,810
20-something years, 20--...
370
00:18:21,910 --> 00:18:24,410
I know, it's just a nanosecond.
371
00:18:24,510 --> 00:18:25,243
20 years?
372
00:18:25,343 --> 00:18:28,546
Oh, it's a nanosecond in the time of energy.
373
00:18:28,646 --> 00:18:29,429
Has anybody considered...
374
00:18:29,529 --> 00:18:32,170
...that this is mountain top
removal for wind instead of coal?
375
00:18:32,270 --> 00:18:33,887
Yeah, and we've even had people say,
376
00:18:33,987 --> 00:18:36,197
'If you can do mountain top removal...
377
00:18:36,297 --> 00:18:39,357
'in Kentucky and West Virginia for coal,
378
00:18:39,457 --> 00:18:42,007
'then it's about time the
rest of the country shared...
379
00:18:42,107 --> 00:18:44,742
'in mountain top removal, too.'
380
00:18:45,047 --> 00:18:46,785
Uh-oh.
381
00:18:46,885 --> 00:18:47,918
You think he's gonna tell us to move out?
382
00:18:48,018 --> 00:18:48,751
Probably.
383
00:18:48,851 --> 00:18:49,790
The thing is that you've got...
384
00:18:49,890 --> 00:18:53,710
...to have a fossil fuel
power plant backing it up...
385
00:18:53,810 --> 00:18:55,930
...and idling 100% of the time.
386
00:18:56,030 --> 00:18:58,210
Because if you cycle up or cycle down,
387
00:18:58,310 --> 00:19:01,020
as the demand on the wind comes through,
388
00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:03,800
then you actually generate
a bigger carbon footprint...
389
00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:05,650
...than if you just ran it straight.
390
00:19:05,750 --> 00:19:06,767
Do you ever go to
things where they just go,
391
00:19:06,867 --> 00:19:07,667
'That's not true.
392
00:19:07,767 --> 00:19:10,750
'It doesn't matter, we're
gonna have a smart grid.'
393
00:19:10,850 --> 00:19:12,619
Doesn't make any
difference, they still gotta--...
394
00:19:12,719 --> 00:19:13,600
They're using it.
- Have it idling.
395
00:19:13,700 --> 00:19:18,110
Because, let's just say
the wind stopped right now.
396
00:19:18,210 --> 00:19:20,110
Just stopped for an hour.
397
00:19:20,210 --> 00:19:21,570
You've got to have that power.
398
00:19:21,670 --> 00:19:22,587
What do you do?
399
00:19:22,687 --> 00:19:24,810
I'm an environmental
health and safety consultant.
400
00:19:24,910 --> 00:19:27,400
I usually work with businesses
to help them do things,
401
00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:31,155
but I would never work with scum like this.
402
00:19:33,384 --> 00:19:36,450
You didn't get me on
camera doing this, did ya?
403
00:19:36,550 --> 00:19:39,880
Not being judgmental or trying to play God,
404
00:19:39,980 --> 00:19:43,330
but we've got to deal
with population growth...
405
00:19:43,430 --> 00:19:47,470
...and sustainable resources,
we've all gotta cut back.
406
00:19:47,570 --> 00:19:50,780
All this energy's supposedly
going to heat a water park.
407
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,450
We can find unique and
different ways to waste energy.
408
00:19:54,550 --> 00:19:56,550
This is not a Vermont company.
409
00:19:56,650 --> 00:20:00,430
Green Mountain Power will
be bought out by Gaz Metro...
410
00:20:00,530 --> 00:20:03,790
...and Gaz Metro is owned by
Enbridge, as I understand it,
411
00:20:03,890 --> 00:20:08,650
which is a big resource
company in Canada...
412
00:20:08,750 --> 00:20:10,388
...which is exploiting the PowerSands...
413
00:20:10,488 --> 00:20:13,600
...that wants to build the XL pipeline.
414
00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:14,577
See, it's--.
415
00:20:14,677 --> 00:20:18,120
And they're all in bed together.
416
00:20:18,220 --> 00:20:20,030
Still we don't know the whole story.
417
00:20:20,130 --> 00:20:22,040
Have you asked Mr.
McKibben to come see this?
418
00:20:22,140 --> 00:20:25,030
He thinks anything renewable is good.
419
00:20:25,130 --> 00:20:25,863
Yeah.
420
00:20:25,963 --> 00:20:29,108
So that's what I've heard people say.
421
00:20:38,950 --> 00:20:41,245
I am in a strange position.
422
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,829
I'm against our addiction to fossil fuels...
423
00:20:44,929 --> 00:20:48,669
...and have long been
a fan of green energy.
424
00:20:49,090 --> 00:20:52,170
But everywhere I
encountered green energy,
425
00:20:52,270 --> 00:20:54,395
it wasn't what it seemed.
426
00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:58,430
This is like a perpetual energy battery.
427
00:20:58,530 --> 00:20:59,780
And where do you get the hydrogen from?
428
00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,570
The hydrogen that's in,
the hydrogen is sourced...
429
00:21:03,670 --> 00:21:06,310
...from any hydrocarbon material.
430
00:21:06,410 --> 00:21:10,920
So, you can get it from
natural gas, you can get it...
431
00:21:11,020 --> 00:21:14,420
...from any petroleum oil based product.
432
00:21:15,630 --> 00:21:16,760
I read about a zoo that was said...
433
00:21:16,860 --> 00:21:19,920
...to be powered by elephant manure.
434
00:21:20,024 --> 00:21:20,970
But it turned out the elephants...
435
00:21:21,070 --> 00:21:24,630
...didn't even produce enough
manure to heat the elephant barn.
436
00:21:24,730 --> 00:21:25,640
Yeah, we don't even really make enough...
437
00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:28,810
...and what we had, elephant
wise, couldn't even do that.
438
00:21:28,910 --> 00:21:29,834
We would need a lot more.
439
00:21:29,934 --> 00:21:30,904
More elephants?
440
00:21:31,004 --> 00:21:31,850
Yep, more elephants...
441
00:21:31,950 --> 00:21:33,950
...or manure.
442
00:21:33,980 --> 00:21:35,390
Ethanol plants also seem...
443
00:21:35,490 --> 00:21:37,200
...to have a secret ingredient.
444
00:21:37,300 --> 00:21:39,730
This is the most productive
farmland in the world...
445
00:21:39,830 --> 00:21:42,850
...and we're not that far west
of the biggest coal mines...
446
00:21:42,950 --> 00:21:43,683
...in the world, as well.
447
00:21:43,783 --> 00:21:47,420
So, bring the two together
and have an ethanol plant.
448
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,260
Great, so ethanol was reliant on two things.
449
00:21:51,330 --> 00:21:54,710
A giant, fossil fuel based,
industrial agricultural system...
450
00:21:54,810 --> 00:21:58,380
...to produce corn and
even more fossil fuels,
451
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,480
in the form of coal.
452
00:22:00,530 --> 00:22:04,780
All of this in the attempt
to replace fossil fuels?
453
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,070
It was enough to make my head explode.
454
00:22:11,090 --> 00:22:12,800
I was getting the uneasy feeling...
455
00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:15,958
...that green energy was
not going to save us.
456
00:22:16,058 --> 00:22:17,950
And I wasn't the only one.
457
00:22:18,050 --> 00:22:18,990
I've counted something...
458
00:22:19,090 --> 00:22:21,880
...like 25 different
alternative energy options.
459
00:22:21,980 --> 00:22:23,987
So surely, among all of those,
460
00:22:24,087 --> 00:22:26,530
there are enough sources...
461
00:22:26,630 --> 00:22:29,000
...of energy to keep us living basically...
462
00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:31,570
...the way we are in perpetuity.
463
00:22:31,670 --> 00:22:33,560
That's not the reality.
464
00:22:33,660 --> 00:22:36,430
Currently, we're getting, in some cases,
465
00:22:36,530 --> 00:22:39,660
no energy from these potential options.
466
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,050
Richard York, of the University of Oregon,
467
00:22:42,150 --> 00:22:44,320
published a study in the Journal of Nature...
468
00:22:44,420 --> 00:22:47,697
...in which he posed a question,
'Do non-fossil energy sources...
469
00:22:47,797 --> 00:22:50,040
'actually replace fossil fuels?'
470
00:22:50,140 --> 00:22:51,880
What we implicitly assume, often,
471
00:22:51,980 --> 00:22:54,560
the substitute pushes out...
472
00:22:54,660 --> 00:22:56,773
...the thing you want it to substitute for.
473
00:22:56,873 --> 00:22:58,490
What you find is,
474
00:22:58,590 --> 00:23:02,780
nations that add non-fossil
energy sources do not seem...
475
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,930
...to see a particular
suppression of fossil fuels.
476
00:23:06,030 --> 00:23:07,370
That's pretty mind blowing.
477
00:23:07,470 --> 00:23:09,330
You've got billions of dollars beings spent...
478
00:23:09,430 --> 00:23:12,160
...and green energy is not
even replacing fossil fuels?
479
00:23:12,260 --> 00:23:15,560
They don't even know that
that's a question, yes.
480
00:23:15,660 --> 00:23:19,760
The story that we're in, right now, is okay,
481
00:23:19,860 --> 00:23:21,910
we're in ecological hot water,
482
00:23:22,010 --> 00:23:23,850
but there are technological fixes...
483
00:23:23,950 --> 00:23:25,740
...and if we're just creative enough,
484
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:27,470
if we're just ingenious enough...
485
00:23:27,570 --> 00:23:30,590
...and if we just work hard
enough, we will triumph.
486
00:23:30,690 --> 00:23:33,810
Seeking technological
fixes, one after another,
487
00:23:33,910 --> 00:23:37,550
is simply going to lead us to another level...
488
00:23:37,650 --> 00:23:40,580
...of catastrophe sooner rather than later.
489
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,500
We wanna believe that these
things are gonna be available...
490
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,530
...for us, so if we get a little worried...
491
00:23:46,630 --> 00:23:50,720
...and somebody comes up with
a new thingy and promises...
492
00:23:50,820 --> 00:23:55,770
...that this will do it for
us, we wanna believe it.
493
00:23:59,833 --> 00:24:02,468
Because we're a little worried,
494
00:24:02,900 --> 00:24:06,440
are we desperate to accept any
idea that sounds alternative?
495
00:24:06,540 --> 00:24:08,540
Or green?
496
00:24:09,950 --> 00:24:12,620
Are we avoiding looking too closely...
497
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,460
...because we don't want
to know the answer?
498
00:24:18,420 --> 00:24:21,270
Ozzie Zehner, a visiting
scholar at UC Berkeley...
499
00:24:21,370 --> 00:24:24,640
...and Northwestern
University was asking some...
500
00:24:24,740 --> 00:24:26,865
...of the same questions.
501
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:28,660
I mean, I thought that solar...
502
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,120
...and wind were probably
very good solutions.
503
00:24:31,220 --> 00:24:32,650
It wasn't really even that long ago.
504
00:24:32,750 --> 00:24:36,400
One of the most dangerous
things right now is the illusion...
505
00:24:36,500 --> 00:24:39,690
...that alternative technologies,
like wind and solar,
506
00:24:39,790 --> 00:24:41,373
are somehow different from fossil fuels.
507
00:24:41,473 --> 00:24:43,880
What I hear a lot of times is solar cells...
508
00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:44,910
...are made out of sand.
509
00:24:45,010 --> 00:24:47,060
Have you ever thought about solar panels?
510
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:47,980
The main ingredient...
511
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,350
...that makes them work is silicon, or sand.
512
00:24:50,450 --> 00:24:51,216
This is the raw material chips...
513
00:24:51,316 --> 00:24:53,890
...are made of, sand.
514
00:24:53,990 --> 00:24:55,410
They don't use sand at all.
515
00:24:55,510 --> 00:24:57,510
I'll show you what...
516
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,140
So, this is one of the ingredients,
517
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,535
it's actually mined quartz.
518
00:25:09,060 --> 00:25:11,050
Spruce Pine, North Carolina,
519
00:25:11,150 --> 00:25:14,160
regarded as the finest
source of high purity quartz...
520
00:25:14,260 --> 00:25:16,490
...in the world, the semiconductor, solar...
521
00:25:16,590 --> 00:25:18,830
...and communication applications.
522
00:25:18,930 --> 00:25:21,480
You can't use sand because
sand has too many impurities.
523
00:25:21,580 --> 00:25:24,200
So, you start with very high quality quartz...
524
00:25:24,300 --> 00:25:26,720
...and a very high quality
coal, and then you put...
525
00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:30,900
...those two together into an
arc furnace and you melt them.
526
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,190
The quartz is then melted with coal...
527
00:25:33,290 --> 00:25:38,090
...in a large furnace at temperatures
of up to 1,800 degrees.
528
00:25:38,190 --> 00:25:41,019
And so you need more coal to do that.
529
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:42,780
I'll get another coal out.
530
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,040
When we melt these together,
531
00:25:45,140 --> 00:25:47,030
we get silicon metal and carbon dioxide.
532
00:25:47,130 --> 00:25:48,360
The carbon dioxide just goes off...
533
00:25:48,460 --> 00:25:49,210
...and you got rid of the carbon...
534
00:25:49,310 --> 00:25:51,130
...and you're left with silicon metal.
535
00:25:51,230 --> 00:25:52,338
This is not clean coal. (laughing).
536
00:25:52,438 --> 00:25:54,210
Not clean coal.
537
00:25:54,310 --> 00:25:56,060
Ozzie Zehner said it was an illusion...
538
00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,330
...that renewables were replacing
coal or any fossil fuel.
539
00:26:00,430 --> 00:26:03,430
Environmental groups continue
telling a different story.
540
00:26:03,530 --> 00:26:06,330
We've already seen more than 25%...
541
00:26:06,430 --> 00:26:10,120
...of the U.S. coal fleet
has already either retired...
542
00:26:10,220 --> 00:26:11,890
...or is on a schedule to retire.
543
00:26:11,990 --> 00:26:14,240
Coal plants were
closing, but Ozzie explained...
544
00:26:14,340 --> 00:26:16,550
...that well meaning people
were being misled.
545
00:26:16,650 --> 00:26:18,910
NV Energy's now gonna go
ahead and shut down the plant...
546
00:26:19,010 --> 00:26:19,743
...and go with renewable.
547
00:26:19,843 --> 00:26:21,329
One of the largest solar plants...
548
00:26:21,429 --> 00:26:23,340
...and that's gonna happen right behind me.
549
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:25,740
Since you can't replace
a coal plant with solar,
550
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:27,600
they're actually replacing the coal plant...
551
00:26:27,700 --> 00:26:29,200
...with two natural gas plants.
552
00:26:29,300 --> 00:26:31,010
And natural gas is a fossil fuel.
553
00:26:31,110 --> 00:26:33,920
This is the Las Vegas
Co-Gen natural gas plant.
554
00:26:34,020 --> 00:26:35,280
This is one of the facilities...
555
00:26:35,380 --> 00:26:38,060
...that's replacing the coal
plant that's being shut down.
556
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,190
This is the Sun Peak generating facility.
557
00:26:41,290 --> 00:26:43,049
This is the second natural gas plant...
558
00:26:43,149 --> 00:26:45,950
...that was used to replace the coal plant.
559
00:26:46,050 --> 00:26:48,210
And you hear the same story in Iowa.
560
00:26:48,310 --> 00:26:50,200
Instead of using energy generated...
561
00:26:50,300 --> 00:26:51,867
...by coal-fired power plants,
562
00:26:51,967 --> 00:26:53,600
the solar farm will now avoid...
563
00:26:53,700 --> 00:26:56,970
...about 2.1 million pounds
of carbon pollution.
564
00:26:57,070 --> 00:27:01,170
But then they're building
a larger natural gas plant.
565
00:27:01,270 --> 00:27:04,220
This is a 650 megawatt natural gas plant.
566
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:05,930
That's four times more megawatts...
567
00:27:06,030 --> 00:27:09,360
...than the coal plant over
there that it's replacing.
568
00:27:09,460 --> 00:27:11,310
And they're doing the same
thing in North Carolina,
569
00:27:11,410 --> 00:27:12,300
which was that subject...
570
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,160
...of that Years of Living
Dangerously series.
571
00:27:15,260 --> 00:27:16,990
Duke Energy operates a coal plant right...
572
00:27:17,090 --> 00:27:19,250
...outside of Asheville that
is the biggest source...
573
00:27:19,350 --> 00:27:22,420
...of climate pollution in
western North Carolina.
574
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,290
And we are working to retire that plant...
575
00:27:24,390 --> 00:27:25,570
...and replace it with clean energy.
576
00:27:25,670 --> 00:27:26,650
But what they don't tell you is...
577
00:27:26,750 --> 00:27:29,620
...that we're also building a
larger natural gas facility.
578
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:34,090
So, we'll be retiring a
two-unit 376 megawatt coal plant.
579
00:27:34,190 --> 00:27:36,750
We'll invest $750 million...
580
00:27:36,850 --> 00:27:39,290
...to build a state-of-the-art
natural gas plant.
581
00:27:39,390 --> 00:27:41,740
When Michael Brune stands up
and talks about clean energy,
582
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:43,340
he's using solar cells and wind turbines.
583
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:44,860
This is the new world.
584
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:46,960
100% clean energy.
585
00:27:46,990 --> 00:27:48,277
When Michael Bloomberg
stands up and says,
586
00:27:48,377 --> 00:27:51,020
'Cleaner energy,' he's
talking about natural gas.
587
00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:55,370
Create cleaner energy,
solar, wind and natural gas.
588
00:27:55,390 --> 00:27:57,760
In fact, the Sierra
Club's Beyond Coal campaign...
589
00:27:57,860 --> 00:28:00,850
...actually coincides with one
of the largest expansions...
590
00:28:00,950 --> 00:28:03,270
...of fossil fuel production
that we've ever pulled off.
591
00:28:03,370 --> 00:28:06,005
Most of that being natural gas.
592
00:28:06,420 --> 00:28:07,250
Ozzie's assertion...
593
00:28:07,350 --> 00:28:10,240
...that renewables were not
replacing fossil fuels,
594
00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:12,900
if true, would upend all
of our assumptions...
595
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,335
...about green energy and
what was going to save us.
596
00:28:18,350 --> 00:28:20,460
What would happen if I
asked the same question...
597
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,600
...to industry insiders?
598
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:25,370
Like, where do solar panels come from?
599
00:28:25,470 --> 00:28:26,843
Well, you do have to start with a mine.
600
00:28:26,943 --> 00:28:28,943
Wait till you see my--.
601
00:28:29,370 --> 00:28:31,610
Or, what's stopping us
from running the world...
602
00:28:31,710 --> 00:28:33,630
...on 100% solar and wind?
603
00:28:33,730 --> 00:28:36,390
Well, intermittency is
one of the major challenges.
604
00:28:36,490 --> 00:28:37,800
Good stability.
605
00:28:37,900 --> 00:28:40,310
The sun's everywhere,
except when it's not there.
606
00:28:40,410 --> 00:28:42,370
There's a lot of
developers that were flocking...
607
00:28:42,470 --> 00:28:45,320
...to California, wanting to
connect their solar farms...
608
00:28:45,420 --> 00:28:46,153
...and wind farms.
609
00:28:46,253 --> 00:28:47,820
The utilities would turn
to me and my team...
610
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,720
...to help them look at what the
impact to their grid would be.
611
00:28:51,820 --> 00:28:52,810
When we add solar cells...
612
00:28:52,910 --> 00:28:53,950
...or wind turbines to a grid,
613
00:28:54,050 --> 00:28:56,590
do we get to shut off a coal plant?
614
00:28:56,690 --> 00:28:58,740
That's certainly the goal, the problem is,
615
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,730
or the difference is that
renewables are intermittent.
616
00:29:01,830 --> 00:29:03,940
All of the sudden, a cloud
cover could come over...
617
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,280
...and your solar generation
could drastically decrease.
618
00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:08,710
And if you don't have
something else there...
619
00:29:08,810 --> 00:29:12,100
...to meet whatever the
load is at that moment,
620
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:14,250
then you're gonna have power outages.
621
00:29:14,350 --> 00:29:15,083
So, we don't get...
622
00:29:15,183 --> 00:29:16,950
...to turn a fossil fuel power plant off...
623
00:29:17,050 --> 00:29:19,090
...when the sun is shining
or the wind is blowing?
624
00:29:19,190 --> 00:29:20,600
Well, it's not that easy.
625
00:29:20,700 --> 00:29:23,310
We need to be able to back up that power...
626
00:29:23,410 --> 00:29:26,520
...to keep the system steady all the time...
627
00:29:26,620 --> 00:29:28,140
...so it doesn't collapse.
628
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,405
Most likely that's through
fast-acting gas plants,
629
00:29:32,450 --> 00:29:35,160
but also what we call the base load plants,
630
00:29:35,260 --> 00:29:37,580
either nuclear or coal
that are on all the time...
631
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,650
...but that maybe can be
dialed down during the day...
632
00:29:40,750 --> 00:29:44,220
...and dialed up when demand starts rising.
633
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:45,580
Does it affect the efficiency...
634
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,130
...to turn fossil fuel
power plants on and off?
635
00:29:48,230 --> 00:29:48,963
Oh, yeah.
636
00:29:49,063 --> 00:29:51,250
They don't like to be dialed up and down.
637
00:29:51,350 --> 00:29:54,500
It does make, that's wear and tear for them.
638
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,250
Turning them on, turning
it off, there's energy used...
639
00:29:58,350 --> 00:29:59,760
...and lost and any time,
640
00:29:59,860 --> 00:30:01,290
kind of like when you
turn on your car and off,
641
00:30:01,390 --> 00:30:02,360
you use a little extra gas...
642
00:30:02,460 --> 00:30:03,670
...to get it turned on.
643
00:30:03,770 --> 00:30:04,560
I do still think you have...
644
00:30:04,660 --> 00:30:06,410
...to maintain a base load of some kinds.
645
00:30:06,510 --> 00:30:07,650
What's the solution then?
646
00:30:07,750 --> 00:30:08,910
You need energy storage.
647
00:30:09,010 --> 00:30:12,110
Without storage, you can't count on it.
648
00:30:12,210 --> 00:30:15,760
If you can store the
energy that's created off...
649
00:30:15,860 --> 00:30:19,160
...of things that are intermittent
like solar and wind,
650
00:30:19,260 --> 00:30:22,410
you can store that, now
you're reducing your need...
651
00:30:22,510 --> 00:30:23,510
...for a base load.
652
00:30:23,610 --> 00:30:24,343
But would adding storage...
653
00:30:24,443 --> 00:30:27,020
...like batteries increase
the carbon footprint?
654
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,120
Yeah, absolutely.
655
00:30:29,820 --> 00:30:31,080
In a big way, actually.
656
00:30:31,180 --> 00:30:34,620
And as more energy
storage gets on the grid,
657
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,651
it has a mass scale implication.
658
00:30:37,751 --> 00:30:38,490
(piano music).
659
00:30:38,590 --> 00:30:40,080
When I looked up
how much battery storage...
660
00:30:40,180 --> 00:30:42,260
...there is, it was less than one-tenth...
661
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,800
...of one percent of what's needed.
662
00:30:44,900 --> 00:30:47,150
In a couple years, they begin to degrade...
663
00:30:47,250 --> 00:30:50,210
...and need to be replaced a few years later.
664
00:30:50,310 --> 00:30:53,080
I learned that the solar panels
don't last forever, either.
665
00:30:53,180 --> 00:30:55,910
Some solar panels are
built to last only 10 years.
666
00:30:56,010 --> 00:31:00,480
So, it's not as if you get
this magic free energy.
667
00:31:00,580 --> 00:31:02,850
I don't know that it's the solution,
668
00:31:02,950 --> 00:31:07,310
and here I am helping to sell the materials...
669
00:31:07,410 --> 00:31:10,470
...that would go into photovoltaics.
670
00:31:10,820 --> 00:31:12,840
And so to overcome profound limitations...
671
00:31:12,940 --> 00:31:15,980
...of solar and wind, rarely
discussed in the media,
672
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,170
a new generation of
technology was rising...
673
00:31:18,270 --> 00:31:20,650
...in the California desert.
674
00:31:20,790 --> 00:31:21,720
What is this?
675
00:31:21,820 --> 00:31:23,680
What we're using is a field of mirrors...
676
00:31:23,780 --> 00:31:26,090
...to focus sunlight onto a tower.
677
00:31:26,190 --> 00:31:29,500
The power plant itself, at 377 megawatts,
678
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,580
will be the largest of its kind in the world.
679
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,033
This will become the biggest
solar plant in the world.
680
00:31:35,133 --> 00:31:37,583
There's some people that
look out in a dessert,
681
00:31:37,683 --> 00:31:40,730
they see miles and miles of emptiness.
682
00:31:40,830 --> 00:31:44,920
I see miles and miles of a gold mine.
683
00:31:45,020 --> 00:31:46,510
But this next generation...
684
00:31:46,610 --> 00:31:48,960
...had a fossil fuel secret, too.
685
00:31:49,060 --> 00:31:51,200
This solar facility burns
natural gas pretty much...
686
00:31:51,300 --> 00:31:53,700
...every morning in order
to get it started up.
687
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,180
How long do they have to burn it for it?
688
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:56,680
Hours, usually.
689
00:31:56,780 --> 00:31:59,490
This is the incoming natural
gas for the facility.
690
00:31:59,590 --> 00:32:01,620
This plant would work about
as well without natural gas...
691
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:03,310
...as I would without coffee in the morning.
692
00:32:03,410 --> 00:32:05,168
Or maybe how you would be without food.
693
00:32:05,268 --> 00:32:06,670
Without food, yeah.
694
00:32:06,770 --> 00:32:08,850
They have to file for acid rain permits,
695
00:32:08,950 --> 00:32:11,030
permits for nitrous oxide emissions,
696
00:32:11,130 --> 00:32:14,160
they have to apply for
carbon offset permits.
697
00:32:14,260 --> 00:32:16,160
Because they're producing
carbon dioxide here,
698
00:32:16,260 --> 00:32:17,640
so they have to offset that.
699
00:32:17,740 --> 00:32:20,210
The whole thing is built using
fossil fuel infrastructure,
700
00:32:20,310 --> 00:32:22,870
from the concrete to the
steel to the mirrors,
701
00:32:22,970 --> 00:32:24,550
to the backing on the mirrors.
702
00:32:24,650 --> 00:32:29,330
The sun is renewable, but
the solar arrays are not.
703
00:32:29,430 --> 00:32:30,163
Oh, come on.
704
00:32:30,263 --> 00:32:31,410
There's got to be something renewable.
705
00:32:31,510 --> 00:32:32,690
Glass is renewable.
706
00:32:32,790 --> 00:32:33,660
Glass.
707
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:34,910
Glass is not renewable.
708
00:32:35,010 --> 00:32:37,010
Iron's renewable.
709
00:32:38,220 --> 00:32:39,003
Aluminum?
710
00:32:39,103 --> 00:32:39,836
That's renewable.
711
00:32:39,936 --> 00:32:41,147
I recycle my soda cans.
712
00:32:41,247 --> 00:32:42,930
I know it's renewable.
713
00:32:43,030 --> 00:32:44,780
Yeah, the problem with
all of these materials is...
714
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,620
...that it takes an incredible
amount of energy to mine...
715
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,030
...and process all of the materials...
716
00:32:51,130 --> 00:32:52,770
...that go into building something like this.
717
00:32:52,870 --> 00:32:55,393
You use more fossil fuels to do this...
718
00:32:55,493 --> 00:32:58,190
...than you're getting benefit from it.
719
00:32:58,290 --> 00:32:59,980
You would have been better off
just burning the fossil fuels...
720
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,280
...in the first place,
instead of playing pretend.
721
00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:04,620
That green energy has nothing...
722
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,560
...to do with fossil fuels
is apparently a story...
723
00:33:07,660 --> 00:33:09,690
...only meant for you and me.
724
00:33:09,790 --> 00:33:11,270
Here is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,
725
00:33:11,370 --> 00:33:14,330
speaking to oil and gas company insiders.
726
00:33:14,430 --> 00:33:17,810
It's a combination solar gas plant.
727
00:33:17,910 --> 00:33:20,220
It's a turbine that we
just take from a gas plant,
728
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:22,730
suspend it from a big scaffolding, a tower,
729
00:33:22,830 --> 00:33:25,070
and surround it by giant
mirrors in the desert.
730
00:33:25,170 --> 00:33:26,867
The plants that we're
building, the wind plants...
731
00:33:26,967 --> 00:33:28,970
...and the solar plants, are gas plants.
732
00:33:29,070 --> 00:33:31,960
What kind of game is being played?
733
00:33:32,310 --> 00:33:36,730
Well we're basically just being fed a lie.
734
00:33:36,830 --> 00:33:37,870
For instance, you'll hear...
735
00:33:37,970 --> 00:33:39,830
...about Germany running
on wind and solar.
736
00:33:39,930 --> 00:33:41,280
35% right now.
737
00:33:41,380 --> 00:33:43,260
50% of their power.
738
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,180
They were days this past summer...
739
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:46,930
...when the Germans
were generating 80%...
740
00:33:47,030 --> 00:33:48,510
...of their power from the sun.
741
00:33:48,610 --> 00:33:49,343
But Germany...
742
00:33:49,443 --> 00:33:53,353
...is still Europe's largest consumer of coal.
743
00:33:58,295 --> 00:33:59,280
Uhh.
744
00:33:59,380 --> 00:34:00,430
Only a small fraction...
745
00:34:00,530 --> 00:34:03,190
...of their energy actually
comes from wind and solar.
746
00:34:03,290 --> 00:34:05,840
In fact, Germany just built a large terminal...
747
00:34:05,940 --> 00:34:09,670
...to import natural gas
from the United States.
748
00:34:09,770 --> 00:34:11,010
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla,
749
00:34:11,110 --> 00:34:13,130
when he announced his
Gigafactory battery plant,
750
00:34:13,230 --> 00:34:16,020
he said it would power itself
with wind and solar energy.
751
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:19,590
Through a combination of
geothermal wind and solar,
752
00:34:19,690 --> 00:34:21,960
it will produce all energy that it needs.
753
00:34:22,060 --> 00:34:23,610
But in fact, it has lines connecting it...
754
00:34:23,710 --> 00:34:28,640
...to the same electrical grid
that we're all connected to.
755
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:35,160
Electric cars, wind turbines...
756
00:34:35,260 --> 00:34:37,240
...and solar panels use rare earth metals.
757
00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:38,640
And in fact, the rare earth mine is...
758
00:34:38,740 --> 00:34:40,960
...right up the street from here.
759
00:34:41,060 --> 00:34:43,820
In mining these deep deposits, about 90%...
760
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,040
...of what they pull up out of
the ground contains uranium,
761
00:34:47,140 --> 00:34:50,530
thorium and low level
of other radionuclides.
762
00:34:50,630 --> 00:34:53,402
Radioactive waste that has
to be disposed of somehow,
763
00:34:53,502 --> 00:34:55,950
they kind of turn into
a paste and spread it...
764
00:34:56,050 --> 00:34:57,340
...over the desert floor.
765
00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:58,570
Well, that's good for the desert, right.
766
00:34:58,670 --> 00:35:01,050
Yeah, the desert loves that.
767
00:35:02,660 --> 00:35:04,310
Tesla's electric cars
are built with aluminum,
768
00:35:04,410 --> 00:35:05,820
which uses eight times more energy...
769
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:07,460
...to manufacture than steel.
770
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,010
They use lithium, which
also rely on toxic mining.
771
00:35:11,110 --> 00:35:13,060
And even more graphite, which is one...
772
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,530
...of the rarest forms of carbon.
773
00:35:15,630 --> 00:35:16,750
In fact, the investors wanted...
774
00:35:16,850 --> 00:35:18,620
...to open several new graphite mines...
775
00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:21,410
...after Tesla announced the Gigafactory.
776
00:35:21,510 --> 00:35:23,240
Apple claims to be 100% renewable.
777
00:35:23,340 --> 00:35:26,200
We never stop thinking about
what's best for the planet.
778
00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:29,733
We now run Apple on
100% renewable energy.
779
00:35:29,833 --> 00:35:34,180
All of our facilities, worldwide.
780
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:35,500
And they did chop down a forest...
781
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,560
...to put up solar panels near
their North Carolina plant.
782
00:35:38,660 --> 00:35:41,180
But they didn't disconnect
from the grid and they can't.
783
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:43,310
Duke says energy hungry companies...
784
00:35:43,410 --> 00:35:46,310
...like Apple can never
go entirely off the grid.
785
00:35:46,410 --> 00:35:49,218
They're still hooked up to our grid.
786
00:35:49,318 --> 00:35:50,750
Despite all the claims.
787
00:35:50,850 --> 00:35:53,580
I haven't found a single
entity anywhere in the world...
788
00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:57,590
...that's running on 100%
solar and wind alone.
789
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,170
It turns out, you don't
just need fossil fuels...
790
00:36:02,270 --> 00:36:06,290
...to run a place like Ivanpah,
you need the devil himself,
791
00:36:06,390 --> 00:36:09,140
or in this case, themselves.
792
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:11,500
All of the mirrors
that you see there are built...
793
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,090
...by the Koch brothers,
Guardian Glass Industry,
794
00:36:14,190 --> 00:36:15,300
a company that they control.
795
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:17,726
Koch Carbon creates a lot
of the inputs that are used...
796
00:36:17,826 --> 00:36:20,470
...to create the cement and
the concrete and the steel.
797
00:36:20,570 --> 00:36:22,620
And not only that, they build the plants...
798
00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:24,720
...that builds polysilicon for solar cells.
799
00:36:24,820 --> 00:36:25,553
They have, actually,
800
00:36:25,653 --> 00:36:28,150
their own solar line called Solar Molex.
801
00:36:28,250 --> 00:36:31,520
From every step of the process,
the Koch brothers are there.
802
00:36:31,620 --> 00:36:33,490
But, they're the evil doers.
803
00:36:33,590 --> 00:36:35,080
Yeah (laughing), the funny part is...
804
00:36:35,180 --> 00:36:37,170
...that when you criticize
solar plants like this,
805
00:36:37,270 --> 00:36:40,480
you're accused of working
for the Koch brothers.
806
00:36:40,580 --> 00:36:42,510
That's the idiocy in all of this.
807
00:36:42,610 --> 00:36:44,890
This absolutely can not
extend civilization's life.
808
00:36:44,990 --> 00:36:48,110
This relies on the most toxic
and industrial processes...
809
00:36:48,210 --> 00:36:50,505
...that we've ever created.
810
00:39:12,270 --> 00:39:13,830
The beauty of a solar facility,
811
00:39:13,930 --> 00:39:15,250
and particularly this technology,
812
00:39:15,350 --> 00:39:18,750
is that it is so environmentally benign.
813
00:39:39,587 --> 00:39:40,610
I, too, had once thought...
814
00:39:40,710 --> 00:39:44,195
...that deserts could be sacrifice zones.
815
00:39:45,130 --> 00:39:46,420
I was wrong.
816
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:48,520
Deserts are not dead.
817
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,280
They are, in fact, full of ancient life.
818
00:40:03,190 --> 00:40:07,100
In the desert, the Joshua
tree stands, waiting,
819
00:40:08,010 --> 00:40:10,150
waiting for the giant ground sloths...
820
00:40:10,250 --> 00:40:13,870
...and the mammoths that
shall never return.
821
00:40:13,970 --> 00:40:17,230
The Joshua tree depended
on the giant mammals...
822
00:40:17,330 --> 00:40:20,040
...to reach up high and eat their seeds,
823
00:40:20,140 --> 00:40:23,030
and thus disperse the Joshua tree.
824
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,190
But now, stranded in time and space,
825
00:40:29,290 --> 00:40:32,180
the Joshua tree awaits a new fate.
826
00:40:32,500 --> 00:40:34,500
To be sacrificed...
827
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:36,975
...in the name of progress.
828
00:40:37,050 --> 00:40:40,730
Joshua trees are torn down
to make way for solar projects.
829
00:40:40,830 --> 00:40:42,710
23ABC's Cassie Carlisle travels...
830
00:40:42,810 --> 00:40:45,080
...to the Mojave Desert to talk to neighbors.
831
00:40:45,180 --> 00:40:46,760
They're not your usual tree.
832
00:40:46,860 --> 00:40:48,360
More like something from fiction,
833
00:40:48,460 --> 00:40:51,000
but these Joshuas are
causing quite an uproar.
834
00:40:51,100 --> 00:40:53,520
No, it makes me sick that
they're clearing them off,
835
00:40:53,620 --> 00:40:55,360
killing them real quick.
836
00:40:55,460 --> 00:40:56,820
And now they're grinding them up,
837
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,640
getting rid of all the evidence.
838
00:40:59,820 --> 00:41:03,320
(powerful dramatic music).
839
00:41:06,710 --> 00:41:09,130
Not far from Ivanpah Solar.
840
00:41:09,230 --> 00:41:10,610
Daggett, California was home...
841
00:41:10,710 --> 00:41:13,400
...to several generations of solar arrays.
842
00:41:13,500 --> 00:41:17,070
Including some of the first on the planet.
843
00:41:20,370 --> 00:41:22,280
Ozzie and I thought we would take a trip...
844
00:41:22,380 --> 00:41:24,845
...to see where it all began.
845
00:41:37,921 --> 00:41:40,260
This is one of the sunniest
places in the planet, really,
846
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,540
and it's the center of the solar industry...
847
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:45,060
...and they've been
building and dismantling...
848
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:49,155
...and building arrays
here for about 40 years.
849
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:51,383
Then we happened to run...
850
00:41:51,483 --> 00:41:53,242
...into the mayor of Daggett.
851
00:41:53,342 --> 00:41:55,550
And then the solar plants
out there, my husband,
852
00:41:55,650 --> 00:42:00,170
back in, I'd say '83, '84,
they worked out there building...
853
00:42:00,270 --> 00:42:01,100
...that solar plant out there.
854
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:02,070
Yeah, the SEGS.
855
00:42:02,170 --> 00:42:04,540
And everybody here worked.
856
00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:05,373
How's that hold up?
857
00:42:05,473 --> 00:42:07,060
Is it, are the jobs still here?
858
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:07,893
No.
859
00:42:07,993 --> 00:42:09,700
Jobs went bye-bye.
860
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:11,650
They have their normal
people that run the plant,
861
00:42:11,750 --> 00:42:13,600
plant operators and stuff like that,
862
00:42:13,700 --> 00:42:15,820
the big wigs, you know, they have that.
863
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,030
Where that energy's going, I don't know.
864
00:42:18,130 --> 00:42:19,950
Were you originally optimistic...
865
00:42:20,050 --> 00:42:22,084
...that the solar would bring more jobs...
866
00:42:22,184 --> 00:42:23,080
...and development for people?
867
00:42:23,180 --> 00:42:24,442
Yeah, we really did, we really did.
868
00:42:24,542 --> 00:42:27,250
A lot of things come into
this town, they come and go.
869
00:42:27,350 --> 00:42:29,350
They go really fast.
870
00:42:32,010 --> 00:42:34,010
Do you see this?
871
00:42:34,730 --> 00:42:36,080
Then Ozzie and I discovered...
872
00:42:36,180 --> 00:42:40,540
...that the giant solar arrays
had been razed to the ground.
873
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:42,640
Oh, my God.
874
00:42:43,410 --> 00:42:45,410
I mean, this was huge.
875
00:42:48,740 --> 00:42:52,420
It suddenly dawned on me
what we were looking at.
876
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:54,520
A solar dead zone.
877
00:42:55,660 --> 00:42:57,280
Look at the blowing sand.
878
00:42:57,380 --> 00:42:58,310
Yeah.
879
00:42:58,410 --> 00:42:59,370
There's sand everywhere,
880
00:42:59,470 --> 00:43:01,710
there's sand dunes
forming around this area.
881
00:43:01,810 --> 00:43:03,810
Wow.
882
00:43:17,630 --> 00:43:19,755
So, after all the mining,
883
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:22,360
the fossil fuels,
884
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:23,950
the toxins,
885
00:43:24,050 --> 00:43:26,600
the environmental destruction,
886
00:43:26,930 --> 00:43:29,055
here's what happens next.
887
00:43:30,290 --> 00:43:32,740
Only a few years after it was built,
888
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:36,070
things at Ivanpah began to fall apart.
889
00:43:37,900 --> 00:43:40,875
Broken mirrors littered the desert.
890
00:43:44,430 --> 00:43:46,070
Yes, these giant solar...
891
00:43:46,170 --> 00:43:49,100
...and wind technology
installations may last...
892
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:51,200
...only a few decades,
893
00:43:52,740 --> 00:43:56,395
then tear it down and start all over again.
894
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,075
If there is enough planet left.
895
00:44:06,930 --> 00:44:08,500
It was becoming clear that...
896
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:12,130
...what we have been calling
green, renewable energy...
897
00:44:12,230 --> 00:44:16,650
...and industrial civilization,
are one and the same.
898
00:44:17,150 --> 00:44:20,720
Desperate measures not to save the planet,
899
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,860
but to save our way of life.
900
00:44:26,740 --> 00:44:30,270
Desperate measures rather
than face the reality,
901
00:44:30,370 --> 00:44:34,330
humans are experiencing
the planet's limits...
902
00:44:34,430 --> 00:44:36,270
...all at once.
903
00:44:36,370 --> 00:44:39,770
Every different perspective I look at...
904
00:44:39,830 --> 00:44:43,360
...and imagine, well, we
could do more of this,
905
00:44:43,460 --> 00:44:46,520
or go to a larger area or use more of that.
906
00:44:46,620 --> 00:44:48,840
Well, it turns out, there isn't more.
907
00:44:48,940 --> 00:44:51,880
I looked at marine production
and fish production...
908
00:44:51,980 --> 00:44:55,210
...and found that peaked 20 years ago.
909
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:59,925
More and more of what we
eat is from fish farming.
910
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:03,510
The current acres of actively farmed land,
911
00:45:03,610 --> 00:45:05,610
that has peaked also.
912
00:45:05,610 --> 00:45:08,120
The rivers are already being irrigated...
913
00:45:08,220 --> 00:45:11,230
...to about the limits of
what they can sustain.
914
00:45:11,330 --> 00:45:15,665
The Colorado River doesn't
get to the ocean anymore.
915
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,240
Well, then you start
looking at ground water,
916
00:45:18,340 --> 00:45:20,160
the southern great plains,
917
00:45:20,260 --> 00:45:23,300
and I think they can almost
predict when they will run out...
918
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:27,395
...of ground water and
it's in a decade or two.
919
00:45:27,470 --> 00:45:31,450
A human vulnerability at the global scale,
920
00:45:31,550 --> 00:45:35,230
that any one of them we
could maybe compartmentalize,
921
00:45:35,330 --> 00:45:37,120
but we're seeing them propagating...
922
00:45:37,220 --> 00:45:42,235
...across topic after topic of
society and the earth system.
923
00:45:43,265 --> 00:45:45,970
And I don't think the people...
924
00:45:46,070 --> 00:45:49,215
...in charge are near nervous enough.
925
00:45:54,150 --> 00:45:54,933
[Jeff] Though each...
926
00:45:55,033 --> 00:45:56,790
...of them takes climate change seriously,
927
00:45:56,890 --> 00:45:59,040
every expert I talked to wanted...
928
00:45:59,140 --> 00:46:02,160
...to bring my attention to the
same, underlying problem.
929
00:46:02,260 --> 00:46:07,060
They're too many human beings
using too much, too fast.
930
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,310
As a global community,
we really have got...
931
00:46:09,410 --> 00:46:12,020
...to start dealing with
the issue of population.
932
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:15,350
Population growth continues to be the,
933
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:18,820
not the elephant, the herd
of elephants, in the room.
934
00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:20,260
[Jeff] Can a single species...
935
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:21,880
...that's come to dominate
an entire planet--...
936
00:46:21,980 --> 00:46:26,860
Be smart enough to voluntarily
limit its own presence?
937
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:28,488
[Jeff] Is there any
precedence for that in nature?
938
00:46:28,588 --> 00:46:30,120
(laughing)...
939
00:46:30,220 --> 00:46:30,953
Wow.
940
00:46:31,053 --> 00:46:35,303
We have to have our
abilities to consume reined in.
941
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,180
Because we're not good
at reining them in...
942
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:43,020
...if there are seemingly
unrestrained resources.
943
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:46,980
Species hit the population
wall a lot and then they crash.
944
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,800
I mean, that's a common story in biology.
945
00:46:49,900 --> 00:46:51,910
If that happens to us, in a way,
946
00:46:52,010 --> 00:46:53,610
it's the natural order of things.
947
00:46:53,710 --> 00:46:57,600
And I don't think we're gonna
find a way out of this one.
948
00:46:57,700 --> 00:46:58,483
I don't.
949
00:46:58,583 --> 00:46:59,316
[Jeff] As a scientist,
950
00:46:59,416 --> 00:47:00,970
what leads you to that conclusion?
951
00:47:01,070 --> 00:47:05,490
Well, because right now,
a large percentage...
952
00:47:05,590 --> 00:47:09,550
...of that number is supported
by industrial agriculture,
953
00:47:09,650 --> 00:47:11,550
which is heavily subsidized by oil.
954
00:47:11,650 --> 00:47:13,775
And it's not sustainable.
955
00:47:15,976 --> 00:47:17,111
And there's no going back.
956
00:47:17,211 --> 00:47:20,590
Without seeing some sort of
major die off in population,
957
00:47:20,690 --> 00:47:22,730
there's no turning back.
958
00:47:23,340 --> 00:47:24,223
[Jeff] What's the thing
that nobody ever asked you...
959
00:47:24,323 --> 00:47:25,790
...that you want--...
960
00:47:25,890 --> 00:47:27,890
...(laughing)...
961
00:47:27,910 --> 00:47:30,810
Nobody's ever asked me if I'm scared.
962
00:47:30,910 --> 00:47:31,693
[Jeff] Yeah.
963
00:47:31,793 --> 00:47:32,526
And, I am.
964
00:47:32,626 --> 00:47:33,470
I actually am scared.
965
00:47:33,570 --> 00:47:36,120
I lose sleep over all of this.
966
00:47:36,364 --> 00:47:38,947
(somber music)...
967
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,560
...[Jeff] It took modern
humans tens of thousands...
968
00:47:44,660 --> 00:47:48,740
...of years to reach a
population of 700 million.
969
00:47:48,750 --> 00:47:50,530
And then we tapped into millions of years...
970
00:47:50,630 --> 00:47:53,550
...of stored energy, known as fossil fuels.
971
00:47:53,650 --> 00:47:56,200
Our human population exploded.
972
00:47:56,340 --> 00:48:00,240
It increased by 10 times
in a mere 200 years.
973
00:48:00,340 --> 00:48:02,480
Our consumption has also exploded.
974
00:48:02,580 --> 00:48:04,860
On average, ten times per person,
975
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:08,180
and many times more in the Western world.
976
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:10,120
You put the two together,
977
00:48:10,220 --> 00:48:14,080
the result is a total human
impact 100 times greater...
978
00:48:14,180 --> 00:48:16,257
...than only 200 years ago.
979
00:48:16,357 --> 00:48:18,830
(mellow music).
980
00:48:18,930 --> 00:48:23,945
And that is the most terrifying
realization I have ever had.
981
00:48:25,570 --> 00:48:30,585
We humans are poised for a fall
from an unimaginable height.
982
00:48:31,010 --> 00:48:33,135
Not because of one thing.
983
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:35,645
Not climate change alone.
984
00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:38,430
But all the human-caused changes...
985
00:48:38,530 --> 00:48:41,250
...the planet is suffering from.
986
00:48:41,618 --> 00:48:43,130
(slow tempo music).
987
00:48:43,230 --> 00:48:46,350
So, why are bankers, industrialists...
988
00:48:46,450 --> 00:48:48,230
...and environmental leaders only focused...
989
00:48:48,330 --> 00:48:52,155
...on the narrow solution
of green technology?
990
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:54,480
Is it the profit motive?
991
00:48:55,430 --> 00:48:58,390
And why, for most of my life, have I fallen...
992
00:48:58,490 --> 00:49:00,930
...for the illusion green
energy would save us?
993
00:49:01,030 --> 00:49:04,397
(waves lapping on shore)...
994
00:49:05,371 --> 00:49:06,154
...(squeaking door).
995
00:49:06,254 --> 00:49:08,040
Clearly, to answer this question.
996
00:49:08,140 --> 00:49:10,250
I needed professional help.
997
00:49:10,350 --> 00:49:11,520
Keep my stuff.
998
00:49:11,620 --> 00:49:13,620
No, I never heard...
999
00:49:13,700 --> 00:49:15,480
I'll just be honest
with you about my dilemma.
1000
00:49:15,580 --> 00:49:19,950
You can be my clinical
social psych-- (laughing).
1001
00:49:20,050 --> 00:49:22,940
It's like, the right has religion.
1002
00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:26,370
And they have a belief
in infinite fossil fuels.
1003
00:49:26,470 --> 00:49:30,027
Our side says, 'Oh, it's gonna be okay,
1004
00:49:30,127 --> 00:49:31,197
'we're gonna have solar panels.
1005
00:49:31,297 --> 00:49:33,360
'We're gonna have wind towers.'
1006
00:49:33,460 --> 00:49:35,420
Soon as I heard you talk
about our denial of death.
1007
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:37,917
I'm like, 'Could that be it?
1008
00:49:38,017 --> 00:49:40,537
'Could it be that we can't
face our own mortality?
1009
00:49:40,637 --> 00:49:42,780
'Could we have a religion
that we're unaware of?'
1010
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:43,613
Absolutely.
1011
00:49:43,713 --> 00:49:46,960
I think you've hit the
proverbial nail on the head.
1012
00:49:47,060 --> 00:49:50,900
What just differentiates
people from all other forms...
1013
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:53,540
...of life is that, we're not only here...
1014
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:55,090
...but that we know that we're here.
1015
00:49:55,190 --> 00:49:59,270
If you know that you're
here, then you recognize,
1016
00:49:59,310 --> 00:50:02,440
even dimly, that you'll
not be here someday.
1017
00:50:02,540 --> 00:50:05,930
And on top of that, we don't
like that we're animals.
1018
00:50:06,030 --> 00:50:07,960
So, we don't like that
we're gonna die someday.
1019
00:50:08,060 --> 00:50:10,000
We don't like that you could walk outside...
1020
00:50:10,100 --> 00:50:12,080
...and get hit by a fuckin' meteor.
1021
00:50:12,180 --> 00:50:14,090
What human beings did back...
1022
00:50:14,190 --> 00:50:17,220
...in yesteryear is to envelop ourselves...
1023
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:19,920
...in culturally constructive belief systems.
1024
00:50:20,020 --> 00:50:21,350
You know, call them cultures,
1025
00:50:21,450 --> 00:50:25,280
call them world views, schemes of things.
1026
00:50:25,380 --> 00:50:29,280
Whatever you call them, every
human community has them.
1027
00:50:29,380 --> 00:50:33,450
Every culture has an account
of the origin of the Universe.
1028
00:50:33,550 --> 00:50:35,060
Every culture has a prescription...
1029
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:36,910
...for how you're supposed to
behave while you're here.
1030
00:50:37,010 --> 00:50:40,820
And every culture offers its
denizens hope of immortality,
1031
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:44,830
either literally or symbolically.
1032
00:50:44,930 --> 00:50:47,460
Then the question is, well,
what happens when you bump...
1033
00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:51,220
...into people who don't
share those beliefs?
1034
00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:54,130
Whether you know it or not,
whether you like it or not,
1035
00:50:54,230 --> 00:50:56,450
but that's undermining the confidence...
1036
00:50:56,550 --> 00:50:59,480
...with which you subscribe
to your own views.
1037
00:50:59,580 --> 00:51:02,060
And exposing you to the very anxiety...
1038
00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:04,160
...that those beliefs were constructed...
1039
00:51:04,260 --> 00:51:06,320
...to eradicate in the first place.
1040
00:51:06,420 --> 00:51:09,210
If we're to make progress,
whatever that word means,
1041
00:51:09,310 --> 00:51:12,710
or even to persist as a form
of life, we're gonna need...
1042
00:51:12,810 --> 00:51:17,760
...to radically overhaul
our basic conception...
1043
00:51:18,780 --> 00:51:23,260
...of who and what we are, and
what it is that we value.
1044
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,050
Because the people that
you referred to earlier,
1045
00:51:26,150 --> 00:51:29,470
both on the left and the right...
1046
00:51:29,570 --> 00:51:34,520
...that think we're gonna be
able to discover more oil.
1047
00:51:35,040 --> 00:51:40,040
Or solar panel ourselves into the future,
1048
00:51:40,170 --> 00:51:43,410
where life will look pretty
much like it does now.
1049
00:51:43,510 --> 00:51:45,580
You know, only cleaner or better.
1050
00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:47,220
Either with more oil or greener oil.
1051
00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:48,053
Or both.
1052
00:51:48,153 --> 00:51:51,160
I think that's just frankly delusional.
1053
00:51:51,260 --> 00:51:54,100
What I'm hearing is that,
if I haven't come to grips...
1054
00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:57,990
...with my own anxiety about death and life,
1055
00:51:58,090 --> 00:52:02,420
and presented with a reminder
of that, I'm highly likely...
1056
00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:07,290
...to make some tragic
decisions for the community.
1057
00:52:07,390 --> 00:52:08,380
Yes.
1058
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:13,430
The only solution in principle
is, as Albert Camus put it,
1059
00:52:14,230 --> 00:52:17,427
he said, 'There's only one
liberty, to come to terms...
1060
00:52:17,527 --> 00:52:21,140
'with death, thereafter
anything is possible.'
1061
00:52:21,240 --> 00:52:24,403
I find that downright inspiring.
1062
00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:27,810
As for our environmental leaders,
1063
00:52:27,910 --> 00:52:29,920
who dwell in comfortable illusions,
1064
00:52:30,020 --> 00:52:34,355
how tragic of decisions
were they capable of making?
1065
00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:36,840
I was about to find out.
1066
00:52:51,731 --> 00:52:54,280
They claim they're
just using forest residues,
1067
00:52:54,380 --> 00:52:57,440
but actually a great deal
of what the McNeil facility,
1068
00:52:57,540 --> 00:53:00,440
and lots of biomass facilities
burn, is whole trees.
1069
00:53:00,540 --> 00:53:02,560
As you can see by this
pile that's stacked right...
1070
00:53:02,660 --> 00:53:06,400
...outside of the facility, these are trees.
1071
00:53:06,980 --> 00:53:08,350
It turns out that the biggest source...
1072
00:53:08,450 --> 00:53:12,970
...of green energy in Vermont
is something called biomass.
1073
00:53:13,070 --> 00:53:16,130
Burning trees to create electricity.
1074
00:53:16,770 --> 00:53:18,870
This is definitely not the way.
1075
00:53:18,970 --> 00:53:21,380
At the first step is actually
looking at our lifestyles,
1076
00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:24,965
how we can reduce our
energy consumption.
1077
00:53:25,350 --> 00:53:30,365
This is all the ash that has
varying levels of toxic metals,
1078
00:53:30,650 --> 00:53:32,190
a great deal of radiation...
1079
00:53:32,290 --> 00:53:33,560
...because these trees have been absorb...
1080
00:53:33,660 --> 00:53:35,660
Oops, there's the...
1081
00:53:38,670 --> 00:53:40,557
You're in unforbidden territory there.
1082
00:53:40,657 --> 00:53:41,390
Are we?
1083
00:53:41,490 --> 00:53:44,120
May I ask both of you to
come up to our office, okay.
1084
00:53:44,220 --> 00:53:45,050
Is that something
you're interested in doing?
1085
00:53:45,150 --> 00:53:47,830
It's not an interest,
you've got five seconds...
1086
00:53:47,930 --> 00:53:49,061
...or I'm calling 911.
1087
00:53:49,161 --> 00:53:49,894
Okay.
1088
00:53:49,994 --> 00:53:53,033
We've got two individuals here--.
1089
00:53:54,272 --> 00:53:56,340
Police will be down here
in about two minutes.
1090
00:53:56,440 --> 00:53:57,840
You asked us to leave and we're doing so.
1091
00:53:57,940 --> 00:53:59,030
I'm not asking you to leave.
1092
00:53:59,130 --> 00:54:01,160
I'm asking you to come up to the office.
1093
00:54:01,260 --> 00:54:02,620
Okay, thanks for the offer.
1094
00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:04,720
Maybe next time.
1095
00:54:07,350 --> 00:54:09,390
You got everything here.
1096
00:54:09,620 --> 00:54:12,160
You have the number one
polluter in the state...
1097
00:54:12,260 --> 00:54:14,710
...that people think, and
it's magical fairy dust...
1098
00:54:14,810 --> 00:54:16,620
...from the smokestack.
1099
00:54:16,720 --> 00:54:18,490
Reality is what you have is a facility...
1100
00:54:18,590 --> 00:54:22,420
...that burns 400,000 green
tons a year of trees.
1101
00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:25,800
This facility burns thirty
cords of wood per hour.
1102
00:54:25,900 --> 00:54:26,900
That's a hell of lot of wood.
1103
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:27,733
And on top of that,
1104
00:54:27,833 --> 00:54:30,600
it actually burns natural gas, as well.
1105
00:54:30,700 --> 00:54:31,810
And to think you would have to have 10...
1106
00:54:31,910 --> 00:54:35,110
...of these to replace one
average coal-fired power plant.
1107
00:54:35,210 --> 00:54:36,510
It's just not gonna work.
1108
00:54:36,610 --> 00:54:37,840
It's just nuts.
1109
00:54:37,940 --> 00:54:39,570
It takes great deal of fossil fuels...
1110
00:54:39,670 --> 00:54:42,180
...to cut down all these trees,
1111
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:44,180
to truck 'em in, to use the big machinery...
1112
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:45,980
...to dump the wood chips everywhere.
1113
00:54:46,080 --> 00:54:48,483
So, the idea that somehow
this is not anything to do...
1114
00:54:48,583 --> 00:54:51,240
...with fossil fuels just
doesn't even make any sense.
1115
00:54:51,340 --> 00:54:53,900
It couldn't happen without
fossil fuels, in fact.
1116
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:55,510
How did the environmental groups...
1117
00:54:55,610 --> 00:54:56,550
...get pulled into this?
1118
00:54:56,650 --> 00:54:59,160
Obviously, the main factor is delusion.
1119
00:54:59,260 --> 00:55:01,830
A lot of these environmental
groups have been saying...
1120
00:55:01,930 --> 00:55:03,890
...that all we have to do is, for instance,
1121
00:55:03,990 --> 00:55:06,170
switch our fossil fuel economy over...
1122
00:55:06,270 --> 00:55:08,160
...to a few solar panels and windmills,
1123
00:55:08,260 --> 00:55:11,690
and we can continue living life as normal.
1124
00:55:11,790 --> 00:55:13,840
Some of the environmental
groups have been,
1125
00:55:13,940 --> 00:55:17,860
for years, touting facilities
like this saying that,
1126
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:21,060
number one, it's carbon neutral.
1127
00:55:21,160 --> 00:55:24,670
That this will actually help
us fend off climate change...
1128
00:55:24,770 --> 00:55:28,000
...because there are no CO2 emissions.
1129
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:30,120
It actually emits over 400 thousand tons...
1130
00:55:30,220 --> 00:55:32,770
...per year of carbon dioxide.
1131
00:55:32,790 --> 00:55:35,360
Oh, but once we but
them, they'll grow back.
1132
00:55:35,460 --> 00:55:38,920
They'll grow back over a
period of decades to centuries.
1133
00:55:39,020 --> 00:55:40,900
We cut every tree in the United States,
1134
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:43,780
it would be able to power
the country for a year.
1135
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:47,535
Then what happens when
those trees are gone?
1136
00:55:53,320 --> 00:55:54,880
I discovered biomass plants...
1137
00:55:54,980 --> 00:55:58,295
...were not even always biomass plants.
1138
00:55:58,330 --> 00:56:00,530
It's actually a solid waste incinerator...
1139
00:56:00,630 --> 00:56:02,620
...that's posing as a biomass plant.
1140
00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:06,910
The impact in this community is severe.
1141
00:56:07,010 --> 00:56:11,250
The plant is right next Head Start school...
1142
00:56:11,350 --> 00:56:12,980
...for preschool kids.
1143
00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:14,760
There is Green Hill Manor and...
1144
00:56:14,860 --> 00:56:18,770
...that's an assisted living senior residence.
1145
00:56:18,850 --> 00:56:22,230
And there's also a
Catholic elementary school...
1146
00:56:22,330 --> 00:56:24,330
...right next door.
1147
00:56:24,950 --> 00:56:26,060
How do you know they're polluting?
1148
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:26,893
Can you see it ever?
1149
00:56:26,993 --> 00:56:27,760
We can see it.
1150
00:56:27,860 --> 00:56:30,190
The snow at the elementary school...
1151
00:56:30,290 --> 00:56:35,050
...and at the preschool
is covered with black,
1152
00:56:35,150 --> 00:56:36,800
some kind of black soot.
1153
00:56:36,900 --> 00:56:38,350
We just had it analyzed...
1154
00:56:38,450 --> 00:56:43,400
...and it came back as mostly tire chips.
1155
00:56:44,090 --> 00:56:47,235
They have to add tire-derived fuel...
1156
00:56:47,260 --> 00:56:49,360
...to raise the temperature of the fire,
1157
00:56:49,460 --> 00:56:52,870
because anybody whose tried to
burn green wood or wet wood,
1158
00:56:52,970 --> 00:56:56,115
knows that it doesn't burn very well.
1159
00:56:56,190 --> 00:56:57,480
But this biomass plant had...
1160
00:56:57,580 --> 00:56:59,620
...yet another surprise.
1161
00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:03,820
They admit that they
burn 20.1 tons per hour...
1162
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:06,360
...of creosote treated railroad ties.
1163
00:57:06,460 --> 00:57:11,440
Besides that, they are allowed
to burn 500 pounds per hour...
1164
00:57:11,540 --> 00:57:15,260
...of PCP treated railroad ties.
1165
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:18,165
These are shipped in from Canada.
1166
00:57:18,330 --> 00:57:22,310
It's not green, it's not
renewable, it's not carbon-neutral,
1167
00:57:22,410 --> 00:57:24,560
it's not anything that they claim it to be.
1168
00:57:24,660 --> 00:57:28,310
Yet, they got $11.5 million grant...
1169
00:57:28,410 --> 00:57:31,860
...because it was classified as renewable.
1170
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:33,550
The plant owner told us...
1171
00:57:33,650 --> 00:57:38,290
...that they were having trouble
getting enough wood chips.
1172
00:57:38,390 --> 00:57:41,900
And he even asked us if
we had any scrap wood...
1173
00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:44,850
...where we lived, would we call the plant...
1174
00:57:44,950 --> 00:57:47,740
...and let them know so they
could come up and pick it up.
1175
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:48,573
We're not talking...
1176
00:57:48,673 --> 00:57:50,790
...about some old industrial site,
1177
00:57:50,890 --> 00:57:52,250
we're next to one of the most
beautiful places in the world.
1178
00:57:52,350 --> 00:57:55,110
We re next to Lake Superior,
this is Keweenaw B...
1179
00:57:55,210 --> 00:57:59,465
This is actually L'Anse Bay,
it's part of Keweenaw Bay.
1180
00:57:59,565 --> 00:58:04,565
It's Lake Superior, our lake.
1181
00:58:05,420 --> 00:58:09,160
So, it's a very sacred place to many people.
1182
00:58:13,877 --> 00:58:15,275
Are you with the news?
1183
00:58:15,375 --> 00:58:16,108
No, there's supposed...
1184
00:58:16,208 --> 00:58:17,020
...to be a climate change rally.
1185
00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:19,120
Oh.
1186
00:58:22,540 --> 00:58:24,970
Michigan State University students,
1187
00:58:25,070 --> 00:58:28,300
inspired by 350. org, were holding a rally...
1188
00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:32,735
...for the clean energy future
they'd been promised.
1189
00:58:36,520 --> 00:58:37,920
Imagine when I found out...
1190
00:58:38,020 --> 00:58:41,630
...that it is the largest on-campus
coal plant in the nation.
1191
00:58:41,730 --> 00:58:44,200
The goal is to get the whole world moving...
1192
00:58:44,300 --> 00:58:46,300
...beyond fossil fuels.
1193
00:58:47,611 --> 00:58:51,884
Who wants to do a 350 sign on the steps?'
1194
00:58:51,984 --> 00:58:53,830
But it turned out Michigan
State had a form...
1195
00:58:53,930 --> 00:58:58,110
...of green energy in mind the
students did not support.
1196
00:58:58,210 --> 00:58:59,480
The university contracted...
1197
00:58:59,580 --> 00:59:02,330
...with a energy contracting company.
1198
00:59:02,430 --> 00:59:04,060
They put together a modeling tool.
1199
00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:05,500
First two or three months...
1200
00:59:05,600 --> 00:59:08,540
...that the steering committee
was using this modeling tool,
1201
00:59:08,640 --> 00:59:11,270
it didn't even contain data for wind or solar.
1202
00:59:11,370 --> 00:59:12,150
So there was.
1203
00:59:12,250 --> 00:59:13,500
Adam told me they were planning on...
1204
00:59:13,600 --> 00:59:16,460
...substituting coal burning
with biomass burning.
1205
00:59:16,560 --> 00:59:18,430
But the permit that is
currently being considered...
1206
00:59:18,530 --> 00:59:23,120
...by the state is a permit
for 24,000 tons of biomass.
1207
00:59:24,920 --> 00:59:25,710
I think per year.
1208
00:59:25,810 --> 00:59:28,541
And the plan is to do that in all four boilers.
1209
00:59:28,641 --> 00:59:30,230
Unfortunately, the steering
committee considers...
1210
00:59:30,330 --> 00:59:32,420
...biomass renewable at the moment.
1211
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:35,121
Which we're not happy with.
1212
00:59:36,910 --> 00:59:38,920
Michigan State wasn't the only university...
1213
00:59:39,020 --> 00:59:41,020
...to go green.
1214
00:59:41,390 --> 00:59:43,690
I'm happy to announce
that Carolina will be going...
1215
00:59:43,790 --> 00:59:46,800
...beyond coal in the next decade.
1216
00:59:46,900 --> 00:59:50,260
Now, as we begin to wean
ourselves on coal, we are about...
1217
00:59:50,360 --> 00:59:54,780
...to try another alternative
energy source, biomass.
1218
00:59:54,930 --> 00:59:55,713
And who was here...
1219
00:59:55,813 --> 00:59:57,410
...to help the University
of North Carolina switch...
1220
00:59:57,510 --> 01:00:00,740
...from burning coal to burning trees?
1221
01:00:01,030 --> 01:00:03,500
So, it is a great pleasure to be here today...
1222
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:05,450
...to celebrate the remarkable step...
1223
01:00:05,550 --> 01:00:07,837
...that the university is taking to say,
1224
01:00:07,937 --> 01:00:10,147
'We're gonna do our part.'
1225
01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:12,890
A remarkable step, indeed.
1226
01:00:13,900 --> 01:00:15,640
We're to do our part by getting out...
1227
01:00:15,740 --> 01:00:17,750
...of bed with coal companies...
1228
01:00:17,850 --> 01:00:21,165
...and into bed with logging companies?
1229
01:00:22,010 --> 01:00:24,080
Where did the idea of
colleges going green...
1230
01:00:24,180 --> 01:00:27,230
...by burning trees come from, anyway?
1231
01:00:27,330 --> 01:00:32,260
A little college called Middlebury
in the heart of Vermont.
1232
01:00:32,640 --> 01:00:34,870
Welcome to the celebration
of the opening...
1233
01:00:34,970 --> 01:00:38,670
...of Middlebury's new biomass
gasification system.
1234
01:00:38,770 --> 01:00:40,830
It's now my great pleasure to introduce...
1235
01:00:40,930 --> 01:00:44,585
...this afternoon's speaker, Bill McKibben.
1236
01:00:44,810 --> 01:00:47,615
What powers a learning community?
1237
01:00:47,690 --> 01:00:50,420
And as of this afternoon, the easy answer...
1238
01:00:50,520 --> 01:00:53,110
...to that is wood chips.
1239
01:00:53,210 --> 01:00:56,140
It's incredibly beautiful to stand over there...
1240
01:00:56,240 --> 01:00:59,160
...and see that big bunker
full of wood chips.
1241
01:00:59,260 --> 01:01:02,080
You can put any kind of
wood in, oak, willow,
1242
01:01:02,180 --> 01:01:03,040
whatever you want.
1243
01:01:03,140 --> 01:01:05,970
Pretty much anything that
burns, we can toss in there...
1244
01:01:06,070 --> 01:01:08,210
...if we can chip it down to the right size.
1245
01:01:08,310 --> 01:01:10,810
And there are very few
similar cases anyplace...
1246
01:01:10,910 --> 01:01:14,400
...in this country of that kind
of change over that scale.
1247
01:01:14,500 --> 01:01:15,947
But it shows it could happen anywhere...
1248
01:01:16,047 --> 01:01:17,660
...and it should happen anywhere.
1249
01:01:17,760 --> 01:01:21,070
In fact, it must happen everywhere.
1250
01:01:21,170 --> 01:01:23,380
It must happen everywhere.
1251
01:01:26,210 --> 01:01:27,990
And now it's time for a nature break.
1252
01:01:28,090 --> 01:01:31,089
Enjoying our sustainably
managed Michigan forests.
1253
01:01:31,189 --> 01:01:32,620
(classical piano music)...
1254
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:34,007
If you walk through here and you look,
1255
01:01:34,107 --> 01:01:36,440
there's virtually nothing growing.
1256
01:01:36,540 --> 01:01:39,515
A little bit of grass occasionally.
1257
01:01:40,630 --> 01:01:42,600
And it seemed that biomass plants, indeed,
1258
01:01:42,700 --> 01:01:44,825
were suddenly everywhere,
1259
01:01:44,890 --> 01:01:47,950
like this one in Cadillac, Michigan.
1260
01:01:49,817 --> 01:01:51,250
In Detroit, an incinerator...
1261
01:01:51,350 --> 01:01:54,980
...that burned garbage
was considered green.
1262
01:01:55,080 --> 01:01:58,250
The Detroit incinerator is
known to emit horrible smells...
1263
01:01:58,350 --> 01:02:00,850
...and pollutants that neighbors
say make them feel sick...
1264
01:02:00,950 --> 01:02:02,154
...and put their health at risk.
1265
01:02:02,254 --> 01:02:05,320
It's a stink, it's a horrendous stink.
1266
01:02:05,420 --> 01:02:06,760
A proposed biofuel plant...
1267
01:02:06,860 --> 01:02:09,770
...for the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan would consume trees...
1268
01:02:09,870 --> 01:02:12,520
...from tens of thousands of square miles.
1269
01:02:12,620 --> 01:02:15,490
In order to create 40
million gallons of ethanol,
1270
01:02:15,590 --> 01:02:17,520
they are going to have to use up...
1271
01:02:17,620 --> 01:02:19,590
...over a million tons of green wood.
1272
01:02:19,690 --> 01:02:21,220
We pointed out that
they were gonna be using...
1273
01:02:21,320 --> 01:02:24,360
...more natural gas than they
were gonna be creating ethanol...
1274
01:02:24,460 --> 01:02:25,870
...to displace the natural gas.
1275
01:02:25,970 --> 01:02:27,070
If you continue to do this,
1276
01:02:27,170 --> 01:02:29,000
you're gonna be fertilizing the forest.
1277
01:02:29,100 --> 01:02:31,225
Fertilizing forests with?
1278
01:02:31,239 --> 01:02:32,040
Fossil fuels?
- Fossil fuel...
1279
01:02:32,140 --> 01:02:33,510
...based fertilizers.
1280
01:02:33,610 --> 01:02:34,343
Made from natural gas?
1281
01:02:34,443 --> 01:02:35,959
Yeah.
1282
01:02:36,059 --> 01:02:37,720
Then came a ballot proposal backed...
1283
01:02:37,820 --> 01:02:41,750
...by Bill McKibben and nearly
every major environmental group,
1284
01:02:41,850 --> 01:02:45,480
requiring Michigan to get
25% of its electricity...
1285
01:02:45,580 --> 01:02:48,660
...from renewable sources by the year 2025.
1286
01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:51,420
This year,
Michigan voters have a choice:
1287
01:02:51,520 --> 01:02:54,510
keep burning dirty coal
and oil or move Michigan...
1288
01:02:54,610 --> 01:02:57,660
...to clean, renewable energy
like wind and solar.
1289
01:02:57,760 --> 01:02:59,860
Vote yes on Proposal three.
1290
01:02:59,960 --> 01:03:01,720
Surprisingly, Proposal three,
1291
01:03:01,820 --> 01:03:06,270
also known as 25 by 25,
was the brain child...
1292
01:03:06,370 --> 01:03:11,230
...of an organization that was
100% biofuels and biomass.
1293
01:03:11,330 --> 01:03:13,760
Allowing America's farms,
ranches and forest lands...
1294
01:03:13,860 --> 01:03:16,400
...to be active participants in contributing...
1295
01:03:16,500 --> 01:03:18,430
...to America's energy future.
1296
01:03:18,530 --> 01:03:19,770
These are the biomass...
1297
01:03:19,870 --> 01:03:23,015
...and biofuel plants across the U.S.
1298
01:03:28,280 --> 01:03:30,280
How did this happen?
1299
01:03:31,110 --> 01:03:32,920
And it wasn't just the U.S.A.
1300
01:03:33,020 --> 01:03:35,420
It was all around the world.
1301
01:03:35,520 --> 01:03:39,660
Wood chips, which is just
a euphemism for trees,
1302
01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:42,470
are being exported to Europe from America.
1303
01:03:42,570 --> 01:03:46,490
British Columbia, Brazil and Indonesia.
1304
01:03:46,590 --> 01:03:49,310
Wherever they can get them from.
1305
01:03:49,850 --> 01:03:52,740
Biomass, especially when
you add in biofuels,
1306
01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:56,310
is by far the largest
portion of green energy...
1307
01:03:56,410 --> 01:03:58,930
...around the world, even in Germany,
1308
01:03:59,030 --> 01:04:01,410
source of the solar miracle.
1309
01:04:03,890 --> 01:04:05,990
But maybe I was missing something.
1310
01:04:06,090 --> 01:04:08,215
Maybe I had it all wrong.
1311
01:04:09,270 --> 01:04:12,560
I decided to ask people
protesting fossil fuels...
1312
01:04:12,660 --> 01:04:16,840
...how they felt about biomass
and biofuels as green energy.
1313
01:04:16,940 --> 01:04:18,640
Would you say we don't
need to do biofuels...
1314
01:04:18,740 --> 01:04:20,463
...and food and forests for energy?
1315
01:04:20,563 --> 01:04:21,890
No, no, definitely not.
1316
01:04:21,990 --> 01:04:23,890
Of course not, of course not.
1317
01:04:23,990 --> 01:04:25,680
Burning biomass, any kind of combustion,
1318
01:04:25,780 --> 01:04:28,050
is something we just
need to move away from.
1319
01:04:28,150 --> 01:04:29,390
The more trees we have, the better.
1320
01:04:29,490 --> 01:04:30,690
A lot of that didn't grow overnight.
1321
01:04:30,790 --> 01:04:32,850
If we cut it down, we don't
know the impact of that.
1322
01:04:32,950 --> 01:04:33,868
You're here as an oak tree?
1323
01:04:33,968 --> 01:04:34,701
Yes.
1324
01:04:34,801 --> 01:04:35,534
If I had a chainsaw,
1325
01:04:35,634 --> 01:04:36,480
that wouldn't be saving
the planet, would it?
1326
01:04:36,580 --> 01:04:37,400
No, it's painful.
1327
01:04:37,500 --> 01:04:38,233
It's a painful way to go.
1328
01:04:38,333 --> 01:04:39,942
I can tell you that right now.
1329
01:04:40,042 --> 01:04:41,995
It would take you a while to regrow.
1330
01:04:42,095 --> 01:04:43,011
Yeah, oh yeah.
1331
01:04:43,111 --> 01:04:45,800
But it wouldn't be me,
it'd be an off-spring.
1332
01:04:45,900 --> 01:04:48,670
With so many people doing
it on such a massive scale,
1333
01:04:48,770 --> 01:04:52,760
all of a sudden at once,
that's pretty serious.
1334
01:04:52,860 --> 01:04:54,810
No, I think we should not be burning trees.
1335
01:04:54,910 --> 01:04:56,290
No, no.
1336
01:04:56,390 --> 01:04:57,940
Why would we cut down trees?
1337
01:04:58,040 --> 01:05:00,360
We shouldn't replace one
terrible way of getting energy...
1338
01:05:00,460 --> 01:05:01,950
...with another terrible
way of getting energy.
1339
01:05:02,050 --> 01:05:04,050
Because it's one thing.
1340
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:07,160
Clearly, most citizens are opposed...
1341
01:05:07,260 --> 01:05:09,555
...to biomass and biofuels.
1342
01:05:10,725 --> 01:05:13,350
But what about environmental leaders?
1343
01:05:13,450 --> 01:05:18,110
At times, they have promoted
biomass but other times,
1344
01:05:18,210 --> 01:05:21,270
they sound like they are against biomass.
1345
01:05:21,370 --> 01:05:23,537
Like this Sierra Club policy,
1346
01:05:23,637 --> 01:05:25,837
'We are deeply concerned
about the implications...
1347
01:05:25,937 --> 01:05:29,270
'of wood-to-energy for native forests.'
1348
01:05:29,370 --> 01:05:32,787
Or this statement signed on
by 75 environmental groups,
1349
01:05:32,887 --> 01:05:35,377
'Burning forests for
energy will destroy one...
1350
01:05:35,477 --> 01:05:38,700
'of our best defenses
against climate change.'
1351
01:05:38,800 --> 01:05:41,890
But then again, their
language leaves loopholes...
1352
01:05:41,990 --> 01:05:43,830
...that enable biomass.
1353
01:05:43,930 --> 01:05:48,605
The NRDC says you must use
the 'right types of biomass.'
1354
01:05:48,780 --> 01:05:49,960
The Dogwood Alliance says...
1355
01:05:50,060 --> 01:05:53,375
...maybe small biomass plants are okay.
1356
01:05:54,020 --> 01:05:55,887
And the Sierra Club flat out states,
1357
01:05:55,987 --> 01:05:58,452
'Biomass can be sustainable.'
1358
01:06:00,150 --> 01:06:02,700
Which side are they really on?
1359
01:06:03,630 --> 01:06:05,360
I thought for sure with the camera rolling,
1360
01:06:05,460 --> 01:06:07,758
environmental leaders
would speak for the trees.
1361
01:06:07,858 --> 01:06:10,439
No frackin' way.
1362
01:06:10,539 --> 01:06:14,390
Where's the science,
where's the science?
1363
01:06:14,490 --> 01:06:18,140
We're here to tell a
story about what the forests...
1364
01:06:18,240 --> 01:06:22,210
...of this state, of our
commonwealth, mean to us.
1365
01:06:22,310 --> 01:06:24,560
Does your organization
have any stance on that?
1366
01:06:24,660 --> 01:06:27,030
I'm not sure I would
say we support it as much...
1367
01:06:27,130 --> 01:06:29,700
...as we can wrap our heads around it.
1368
01:06:29,800 --> 01:06:32,330
We've almost made a peace
with the timber industry.
1369
01:06:32,430 --> 01:06:34,180
I'm just curious,
what's your group stance...
1370
01:06:34,280 --> 01:06:37,103
...on using forests for biomass?
1371
01:06:37,203 --> 01:06:42,153
Biomass is renewable,
biomass is sustainable.
1372
01:06:42,680 --> 01:06:46,063
And I'm with Clean Water Action,
1373
01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:49,190
we don't really have a stand on it.
1374
01:06:49,290 --> 01:06:51,760
If the director of the Sierra Club was here,
1375
01:06:51,860 --> 01:06:55,687
she'd be able to talk your ear off about it.
1376
01:06:55,787 --> 01:06:59,030
I'm the director for the
Sierra Club in Pennsylvania.
1377
01:06:59,130 --> 01:07:00,130
Does the Sierra Club support...
1378
01:07:00,230 --> 01:07:02,440
...or not support biomass?
1379
01:07:05,030 --> 01:07:06,500
I'm not totally prepared to talk...
1380
01:07:06,600 --> 01:07:08,480
...about our policy on biomass today.
1381
01:07:08,580 --> 01:07:10,910
Our position is somewhat nuanced,
1382
01:07:11,010 --> 01:07:14,240
so I just want to be careful not to...
1383
01:07:16,707 --> 01:07:17,490
...So, you're with 350?
1384
01:07:17,590 --> 01:07:18,323
I am.
1385
01:07:18,423 --> 01:07:20,060
Do 350 have a position on biomass...
1386
01:07:20,160 --> 01:07:21,126
'cause I'm kind of actually--...
1387
01:07:21,226 --> 01:07:23,370
I can't really speak for 350.
1388
01:07:23,470 --> 01:07:25,110
Do you personally have an opinion about...
1389
01:07:25,210 --> 01:07:28,280
...whether we should be burning
green trees for green energy?
1390
01:07:28,380 --> 01:07:31,230
No, I don't have an opinion on that.
1391
01:07:31,330 --> 01:07:33,450
I like a fire. (laughing)...
1392
01:07:33,550 --> 01:07:34,780
...One of my biggest concern...
1393
01:07:34,880 --> 01:07:36,540
...as an environmentalist is that
we're trying to burn trees.
1394
01:07:36,640 --> 01:07:38,520
There are tree burning power plants.
1395
01:07:38,620 --> 01:07:40,680
Are you aware of the problems
with biomass or biofuels?
1396
01:07:40,780 --> 01:07:43,793
Yeah, yeah, I'm not as aware of that...
1397
01:07:43,893 --> 01:07:45,630
...as I could be or should be.
1398
01:07:45,730 --> 01:07:47,620
Jeff Gibbs, working on a documentary.
1399
01:07:47,720 --> 01:07:49,160
In Michigan where I live, where I'm from,
1400
01:07:49,260 --> 01:07:51,870
there's large plants that
burn trees for energy...
1401
01:07:51,970 --> 01:07:53,337
...and pretty much whole trees chopped up.
1402
01:07:53,437 --> 01:07:54,560
Do you have a thought about whether...
1403
01:07:54,660 --> 01:07:57,320
...that should be a part
of green energy or not?
1404
01:07:57,420 --> 01:07:59,150
The great thing about green energy is...
1405
01:07:59,250 --> 01:08:00,800
...you don't have to pick a favorite.
1406
01:08:00,900 --> 01:08:01,633
Jeff Gibbs.
1407
01:08:01,733 --> 01:08:02,500
Oh, hello.
1408
01:08:02,600 --> 01:08:04,880
My biggest concern is that
in Germany, for instance,
1409
01:08:04,980 --> 01:08:06,730
they're moving toward solar and wind...
1410
01:08:06,830 --> 01:08:09,930
...but 60% of their actual
energy is coming from biomass.
1411
01:08:10,030 --> 01:08:12,460
60% of what's considered
renewable energy.
1412
01:08:12,560 --> 01:08:13,730
Burning trees for energy?
1413
01:08:13,830 --> 01:08:15,570
I don't know the details out of Germany.
1414
01:08:15,670 --> 01:08:17,360
What Germany's really doing is a lot...
1415
01:08:17,460 --> 01:08:20,350
...of sun related and that's
really powerful to see.
1416
01:08:20,450 --> 01:08:21,230
I'd like to see us come out...
1417
01:08:21,330 --> 01:08:22,063
...against any burning of trees.
1418
01:08:22,163 --> 01:08:23,027
All right, well go and do it.
1419
01:08:23,127 --> 01:08:23,860
For clean energy.
1420
01:08:23,960 --> 01:08:25,265
Would you?
1421
01:08:25,365 --> 01:08:27,880
Although I confess I stoke my wood stove...
1422
01:08:27,980 --> 01:08:29,130
...almost every night of the winter,
1423
01:08:29,230 --> 01:08:30,415
so I'm not really the right person to ask.
1424
01:08:30,515 --> 01:08:32,401
But designating green
energy for power plants.
1425
01:08:32,501 --> 01:08:35,140
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
1426
01:08:35,240 --> 01:08:36,848
It's not what this day's about.
1427
01:08:36,948 --> 01:08:38,524
But if we're burning trees...
1428
01:08:38,624 --> 01:08:40,919
...instead of fossil fuels.
1429
01:08:41,839 --> 01:08:42,860
from Taiwan.
1430
01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:44,450
Oh, good.
1431
01:08:44,550 --> 01:08:47,396
We're wondering what role do you want...
1432
01:08:47,496 --> 01:08:48,899
...to play in this?
1433
01:08:48,999 --> 01:08:52,739
I think the biomass
question's a non-starter.
1434
01:08:56,310 --> 01:08:58,480
I found only one
environmental leader willing...
1435
01:08:58,580 --> 01:09:01,470
...to reject biomass and biofuels.
1436
01:09:02,530 --> 01:09:03,530
So we are talking...
1437
01:09:03,630 --> 01:09:07,700
...of the old oil economy trying...
1438
01:09:07,800 --> 01:09:09,570
...to maintain itself now...
1439
01:09:09,670 --> 01:09:13,600
...through another raw
material, the green planet.
1440
01:09:13,700 --> 01:09:17,370
The only reason corn and soy
has been planted for biofuel...
1441
01:09:17,470 --> 01:09:20,195
...in this country is the
subsidies make it profitable.
1442
01:09:20,295 --> 01:09:23,695
I think the big crisis of our time is...
1443
01:09:24,002 --> 01:09:27,980
...our minds have been manipulated
to give power to illusions.
1444
01:09:28,080 --> 01:09:30,320
We shifted to measuring growth,
1445
01:09:30,420 --> 01:09:34,470
not in terms of how life is enriched...
1446
01:09:34,570 --> 01:09:38,055
...but in terms of how life is destroyed.
1447
01:09:39,200 --> 01:09:41,495
Her honesty was refreshing.
1448
01:09:42,870 --> 01:09:46,270
But as for the rest of them, I wondered,
1449
01:09:47,880 --> 01:09:49,880
what are they hiding?
1450
01:09:50,750 --> 01:09:53,045
And why are they hiding it?
1451
01:09:54,350 --> 01:09:56,350
Is it their ignorance?
1452
01:09:57,620 --> 01:09:59,660
Or is it something else?
1453
01:10:01,210 --> 01:10:05,120
What if they, themselves,
had become misguided?
1454
01:10:05,890 --> 01:10:07,750
What if they've made some kind of deal...
1455
01:10:07,850 --> 01:10:10,230
...they shouldn't have made?
1456
01:10:11,140 --> 01:10:14,373
And are leading us all off the cliff?
1457
01:10:22,830 --> 01:10:24,580
It was long past time
for me to come to grips...
1458
01:10:24,680 --> 01:10:27,800
...with the other elephant in the living room.
1459
01:10:27,900 --> 01:10:29,900
The profit motive.
1460
01:10:31,290 --> 01:10:33,270
The only reason we've
been force fed the story,
1461
01:10:33,370 --> 01:10:37,535
climate change plus
renewables equals we're saved,
1462
01:10:37,540 --> 01:10:39,440
is because billionaires, bankers...
1463
01:10:39,540 --> 01:10:42,515
...and corporations profit from it.
1464
01:10:43,040 --> 01:10:45,850
And the reason we're not
talking about over-population,
1465
01:10:45,950 --> 01:10:50,285
consumption and the suicide
of economic growth is...
1466
01:10:51,170 --> 01:10:53,690
...that would be bad for business.
1467
01:10:53,790 --> 01:10:55,790
Especially the cancerous
form of capitalism...
1468
01:10:55,890 --> 01:10:57,770
...that rules the world.
1469
01:10:57,870 --> 01:11:00,570
Now hiding under a cover of green.
1470
01:11:00,670 --> 01:11:02,320
Today Bloomberg Philanthropies is making.
1471
01:11:02,420 --> 01:11:05,040
I'm happy to announce, a new investment...
1472
01:11:05,140 --> 01:11:09,050
...of $30 million in the
Beyond Coal campaign.
1473
01:11:11,230 --> 01:11:12,013
We have more.
1474
01:11:12,113 --> 01:11:13,100
I'm glad to say that more...
1475
01:11:13,200 --> 01:11:15,450
...than a dozen additional
funders have committed...
1476
01:11:15,550 --> 01:11:18,015
...to match that $30 million.
1477
01:11:20,256 --> 01:11:22,280
And who were these new partners?
1478
01:11:22,380 --> 01:11:24,110
One of them was Jeremy Grantham.
1479
01:11:24,210 --> 01:11:28,800
Billionaire, world's leading
timber investment advisor.
1480
01:11:29,390 --> 01:11:30,930
They were not investing in trees...
1481
01:11:31,030 --> 01:11:34,260
...to turn them into nature preserves.
1482
01:11:34,300 --> 01:11:37,190
Which might answer another riddle,
1483
01:11:37,640 --> 01:11:41,780
why is this name redacted on
the Sierra Club's tax return?
1484
01:11:41,880 --> 01:11:44,770
Would they be embarrassed to
take three million dollars...
1485
01:11:44,870 --> 01:11:47,050
...from a man who made his
living selling the forest...
1486
01:11:47,150 --> 01:11:49,150
...to the world?
1487
01:11:49,760 --> 01:11:52,650
Bloomberg, bringing a timber
investment billionaire...
1488
01:11:52,750 --> 01:11:55,630
...to the party, was no coincidence.
1489
01:11:55,730 --> 01:11:58,230
Bloomberg sponsored a
U.N. climate session...
1490
01:11:58,330 --> 01:11:59,980
...to discuss wrapping up biomass...
1491
01:12:00,080 --> 01:12:02,885
...and biofuels around the world.
1492
01:12:03,940 --> 01:12:06,340
Billionaires were in love
with the idea of turning...
1493
01:12:06,440 --> 01:12:10,350
...what was left of nature into green profits.
1494
01:12:10,730 --> 01:12:13,010
Remember when Al Gore had
gotten Richard Branson...
1495
01:12:13,110 --> 01:12:15,680
...to invest billions into saving the planet?
1496
01:12:15,780 --> 01:12:18,260
Richard Branson,
founder of Virgin Atlantic,
1497
01:12:18,360 --> 01:12:21,490
powered a Boeing 747
from London to Amsterdam...
1498
01:12:21,590 --> 01:12:24,260
...on a coconut oil mixture
to highlight the potential...
1499
01:12:24,360 --> 01:12:28,440
...of this amazing oil as
a clean energy biofuel.
1500
01:12:28,770 --> 01:12:31,940
Branson had actually invested in biofuels.
1501
01:12:32,040 --> 01:12:33,700
He was attempting to replace the jet fuel...
1502
01:12:33,800 --> 01:12:35,910
...damaging the planet with biofuels...
1503
01:12:36,010 --> 01:12:39,970
...that required the consumption
of the living planet.
1504
01:12:40,070 --> 01:12:42,550
And it was game-on for the airline industry.
1505
01:12:42,650 --> 01:12:43,640
Dozens of researchers...
1506
01:12:43,740 --> 01:12:44,900
...from all over the northwest gathered...
1507
01:12:45,000 --> 01:12:47,120
...in Missoula the past two
days to explore the idea...
1508
01:12:47,220 --> 01:12:49,020
...of converting the
region's mass of reserves...
1509
01:12:49,120 --> 01:12:50,560
...of wood into jet fuel.
1510
01:12:50,660 --> 01:12:53,040
Especially with the demand
for aircraft fuel expected...
1511
01:12:53,140 --> 01:12:55,750
...to grow by a billion gallons
in the northwest alone.
1512
01:12:55,850 --> 01:12:58,630
United Airlines will buy a $30 million stake...
1513
01:12:58,730 --> 01:13:01,230
...in biofuel company, Fulcrum BioEnergy.
1514
01:13:01,330 --> 01:13:05,920
The airline used 3.9 billion
gallons of fuel last year.
1515
01:13:06,280 --> 01:13:09,595
What technology was
Silicon Valley billionaire.
1516
01:13:09,695 --> 01:13:12,480
Vinod Khosla hoping to profit from?
1517
01:13:12,580 --> 01:13:16,450
Nature takes a million years
to produce our crude oil.
1518
01:13:16,550 --> 01:13:18,900
KiOR can produce it in seconds.
1519
01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:21,480
The company took over this old paper mill...
1520
01:13:21,580 --> 01:13:24,680
...where logs are picked up by a giant claw,
1521
01:13:24,780 --> 01:13:28,650
dropped into a shredder and
pulverized into wood chips.
1522
01:13:28,750 --> 01:13:29,684
Clean gasoline?
1523
01:13:29,784 --> 01:13:31,520
Clean, green gasoline.
1524
01:13:31,620 --> 01:13:33,210
There must be a downside.
1525
01:13:33,310 --> 01:13:35,310
There is no downside.
1526
01:13:35,890 --> 01:13:37,720
The bank that crashed the economy,
1527
01:13:37,820 --> 01:13:40,490
ruined millions of lives
and has their tentacles...
1528
01:13:40,590 --> 01:13:42,560
...on the levers of power,
1529
01:13:42,660 --> 01:13:45,533
what would their favorite
form of green energy be?
1530
01:13:45,633 --> 01:13:46,910
One of the very interesting markets...
1531
01:13:47,010 --> 01:13:48,660
...that we deal with is Brazil.
1532
01:13:48,760 --> 01:13:51,580
It's unlike any other market in that today,
1533
01:13:51,680 --> 01:13:53,620
alternative energy isn't
really alternative energy.
1534
01:13:53,720 --> 01:13:56,990
It's so much a part of
the fabric of the society.
1535
01:13:57,090 --> 01:14:00,450
The country began to
utilize its vast resources...
1536
01:14:00,550 --> 01:14:03,330
...of sugar cane to produce ethanol.
1537
01:14:03,430 --> 01:14:05,270
There was a man from Goldman Sachs...
1538
01:14:05,370 --> 01:14:07,160
...who was particularly in love...
1539
01:14:07,260 --> 01:14:09,880
...with turning forests into profits.
1540
01:14:09,980 --> 01:14:12,700
Has everybody got enough coffee?
1541
01:14:12,920 --> 01:14:14,800
Might want to get some more.
1542
01:14:14,900 --> 01:14:17,170
Meet David Blood, former CEO...
1543
01:14:17,270 --> 01:14:20,755
...of Asset Management for Goldman Sachs.
1544
01:14:20,840 --> 01:14:22,810
How much money did Mr.
Blood believe should...
1545
01:14:22,910 --> 01:14:24,620
...be invested in green energy?
1546
01:14:24,720 --> 01:14:27,720
A natural alignment for
something in the order...
1547
01:14:27,820 --> 01:14:31,187
...of $40-50 trillion worth of capital.
1548
01:14:31,287 --> 01:14:33,287
$40-50 trillion.
1549
01:14:34,370 --> 01:14:37,740
And who was going to help
the man from Goldman Sachs?
1550
01:14:37,840 --> 01:14:41,330
Help him raise that
astronomical amount of money?
1551
01:14:41,430 --> 01:14:43,470
A gentleman some of you may recognize...
1552
01:14:43,570 --> 01:14:45,865
...and know, Bill McKibben.
1553
01:14:45,920 --> 01:14:48,570
It's entirely dependent on what kind...
1554
01:14:48,670 --> 01:14:50,500
...of political will we can muster.
1555
01:14:50,600 --> 01:14:53,890
And if we do not get this done very fast,
1556
01:14:53,990 --> 01:14:56,795
then we're not gonna get it done.
1557
01:14:57,100 --> 01:14:59,170
And so Bill McKibben went forth...
1558
01:14:59,270 --> 01:15:01,710
...to generate the political will for trillions...
1559
01:15:01,810 --> 01:15:04,420
...of dollars in green investments.
1560
01:15:04,520 --> 01:15:05,660
Our next guest has been called...
1561
01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:07,880
...our nation's leading environmentalist.
1562
01:15:07,980 --> 01:15:09,220
And you are, in some sense,
1563
01:15:09,320 --> 01:15:11,942
the Grand Poobah of the
environmental movement.
1564
01:15:12,042 --> 01:15:16,240
My guest tonight is on a global crusade.
1565
01:15:16,340 --> 01:15:18,630
On a global crusade for what?
1566
01:15:18,730 --> 01:15:20,720
Commit to divesting from fossil fuels.
1567
01:15:20,820 --> 01:15:24,060
We can't justify investing
our money into companies...
1568
01:15:24,160 --> 01:15:26,700
...that are basically
running genesis backward.
1569
01:15:26,800 --> 01:15:29,510
So when you divest from fossil fuels,
1570
01:15:29,610 --> 01:15:34,030
and invest in green funds,
what are you investing in?
1571
01:15:34,070 --> 01:15:36,420
I took a deep dive into Securities...
1572
01:15:36,520 --> 01:15:40,210
...and Exchange Commission
filings to find out.
1573
01:15:40,310 --> 01:15:43,160
For instance, in the Green Century Funds,
1574
01:15:43,260 --> 01:15:47,370
recommended by 350.
org and Bill McKibben.
1575
01:15:47,470 --> 01:15:50,460
I found less than one
percent solar and wind...
1576
01:15:50,560 --> 01:15:54,030
...and 99% things like mining,
1577
01:15:59,150 --> 01:16:02,295
oil and gas infrastructure companies,
1578
01:16:03,070 --> 01:16:05,790
including a tar sands exploiter.
1579
01:16:06,570 --> 01:16:09,700
McDonald's one of the companies
driving meat consumption...
1580
01:16:09,800 --> 01:16:11,800
...across the planet.
1581
01:16:12,480 --> 01:16:14,060
Archer Daniels Midland,
1582
01:16:14,160 --> 01:16:18,155
one of the world's largest
producers of biofuel.
1583
01:16:18,290 --> 01:16:20,790
Coca Cola, the largest creator...
1584
01:16:20,890 --> 01:16:23,695
...of plastic pollution on earth,
1585
01:16:23,820 --> 01:16:27,040
logging and paper
companies including one...
1586
01:16:27,140 --> 01:16:32,090
...that brags about biomass
burning and banks.
1587
01:16:34,170 --> 01:16:36,170
Lots of banks.
1588
01:16:37,930 --> 01:16:41,210
Including BlackRock, the largest financer...
1589
01:16:41,310 --> 01:16:43,775
...of deforestation on earth.
1590
01:16:44,260 --> 01:16:46,550
The business that they're engaged in...
1591
01:16:46,650 --> 01:16:50,815
...is actually destroying
our life support system.
1592
01:16:51,710 --> 01:16:53,430
The Sierra Club, also partners...
1593
01:16:53,530 --> 01:16:56,845
...with a green fund called Aspiration.
1594
01:16:57,150 --> 01:17:00,920
Aspiration also includes
dozens of companies profiting...
1595
01:17:01,020 --> 01:17:04,250
...from the destruction of the planet.
1596
01:17:04,770 --> 01:17:09,770
Including Chevron,
ExxonMobil, Chesapeake Energy.
1597
01:17:10,570 --> 01:17:12,850
In order to
maximize the production potential...
1598
01:17:12,950 --> 01:17:13,950
...of the well,
1599
01:17:14,050 --> 01:17:17,110
the shale formation will
be hydraulically fractured.
1600
01:17:17,210 --> 01:17:19,845
The Russian gas giant, Gazprom.
1601
01:17:20,530 --> 01:17:22,340
Gazprom owns the world's largest...
1602
01:17:22,440 --> 01:17:26,690
...explored gas reserves,
36 trillion cubic meters.
1603
01:17:27,370 --> 01:17:30,310
And in perhaps the most bizarre twist of all,
1604
01:17:30,410 --> 01:17:34,730
the Sierra Club's green fund's
biggest holding is in Viva,
1605
01:17:34,830 --> 01:17:37,190
the world's largest consumer of forests,
1606
01:17:37,290 --> 01:17:41,370
to be incinerated in green
energy biomass plants.
1607
01:17:47,110 --> 01:17:49,810
Of course, one investment
option is a green fund,
1608
01:17:49,910 --> 01:17:53,190
run by Bill McKibben's buddy, David Blood.
1609
01:17:53,290 --> 01:17:56,520
And who was the chairman of this fund?
1610
01:17:56,600 --> 01:17:58,300
Someone familiar.
1611
01:17:58,400 --> 01:18:01,320
Use capitalism, it gives incentives...
1612
01:18:01,420 --> 01:18:04,300
...for people to do their best.
1613
01:18:04,400 --> 01:18:06,590
Al Gore and David Blood partnered...
1614
01:18:06,690 --> 01:18:10,345
...to form a company called Blood and Gore.
1615
01:18:11,310 --> 01:18:15,560
No, scratch that, Generation
Investment Management.
1616
01:18:16,300 --> 01:18:18,800
And within this fund,
Blood and Gore designated...
1617
01:18:18,900 --> 01:18:23,850
...a special investment category
targeting $650 million...
1618
01:18:23,990 --> 01:18:26,285
...of biomass and biofuels.
1619
01:18:27,180 --> 01:18:28,910
Funny thing was, they partnered...
1620
01:18:29,010 --> 01:18:31,900
...before Al Gore's film came out.
1621
01:18:33,160 --> 01:18:38,090
Was that movie just about
climate change or something else?
1622
01:18:38,100 --> 01:18:41,190
On one side, we have gold bars.
1623
01:18:41,290 --> 01:18:45,280
Mm, mm, mm.
1624
01:18:45,380 --> 01:18:46,580
Don't they look good?
1625
01:18:46,680 --> 01:18:49,220
I'd just like to have
some of those gold bars.
1626
01:18:49,320 --> 01:18:53,570
On the other side of the
scales, the entire planet.
1627
01:18:55,610 --> 01:18:57,310
If we do the right thing,
1628
01:18:57,410 --> 01:19:00,340
then we're gonna create a lot of wealth.
1629
01:19:00,440 --> 01:19:02,110
And when it came time for Al Gore...
1630
01:19:02,210 --> 01:19:06,850
...to choose between the entire
planet and getting him some...
1631
01:19:06,950 --> 01:19:10,930
...of them gold bars, what
choice did he make?
1632
01:19:11,030 --> 01:19:13,780
Here's Al Gore earning his
keep by pretending to care...
1633
01:19:13,880 --> 01:19:16,290
...about the rain forest
while lobbying Congress...
1634
01:19:16,390 --> 01:19:20,385
...on behalf of the sugar
cane ethanol industry.
1635
01:19:20,410 --> 01:19:21,910
Let me come in on the
Brazilian effort here...
1636
01:19:22,010 --> 01:19:24,260
...with the issue of the
possibility of expanding into...
1637
01:19:24,360 --> 01:19:27,540
...that Amazon River basin
with further deforestation...
1638
01:19:27,640 --> 01:19:29,710
...to produce more ethanol out
of sugar cane is a worry.
1639
01:19:29,810 --> 01:19:31,690
And apparently you're not
as concerned about that.
1640
01:19:31,790 --> 01:19:34,352
No, no, I am, I simply forgot.
1641
01:19:38,800 --> 01:19:43,636
What's been going on there,
it is really very troubling.
1642
01:19:48,880 --> 01:19:51,523
And with your permission, I'll
show you a very quick example...
1643
01:19:51,623 --> 01:19:55,031
...of it over a period of 25 years.
1644
01:19:59,060 --> 01:20:00,970
The invasion of sugar
cane on the cultures...
1645
01:20:01,070 --> 01:20:02,360
...in the region clashes...
1646
01:20:02,460 --> 01:20:05,320
...with the indigenous people's right to land.
1647
01:20:05,420 --> 01:20:07,800
These are images of a last ditch attempt...
1648
01:20:07,900 --> 01:20:10,650
...by the Guarani-Kaiow� to resist eviction.
1649
01:20:10,750 --> 01:20:13,440
Important to note that the exploitation...
1650
01:20:13,540 --> 01:20:18,640
...of the sugar cane growing
areas in Brazil does not have...
1651
01:20:18,730 --> 01:20:22,560
...to inevitably have the
knock on consequence...
1652
01:20:22,660 --> 01:20:27,063
...of causing destruction in the Amazon.
1653
01:20:28,530 --> 01:20:30,590
Sugar cane fields are burning.
1654
01:20:30,690 --> 01:20:32,600
They're set alight before the harvest...
1655
01:20:32,700 --> 01:20:34,990
...to eliminate the leaves
and tops of the plant,
1656
01:20:35,090 --> 01:20:38,065
which makes cutting more efficient.
1657
01:20:39,170 --> 01:20:41,110
Environmentalists blame the seemingly...
1658
01:20:41,210 --> 01:20:44,550
...endless sugar cane fields,
the air and water pollution...
1659
01:20:44,650 --> 01:20:46,380
...on an epic scale.
1660
01:20:46,480 --> 01:20:49,430
And along with deforestation,
the threat it poses...
1661
01:20:49,530 --> 01:20:52,930
...to the environment is becoming clear.
1662
01:20:53,440 --> 01:20:55,920
Once the indigenous
families were expelled,
1663
01:20:56,020 --> 01:20:59,420
the land owners set their homes on fire.
1664
01:21:06,290 --> 01:21:07,930
Is there anything too terrible...
1665
01:21:08,030 --> 01:21:10,580
...to qualify as green energy?
1666
01:21:11,850 --> 01:21:14,710
Thank you very much, Secretary
Mabus and U.S. Navy for,
1667
01:21:14,810 --> 01:21:17,110
once again, inviting me
to speak with you today.
1668
01:21:17,210 --> 01:21:18,675
The Navy's work to help launch...
1669
01:21:18,775 --> 01:21:22,175
...this new fuel industry is invaluable.
1670
01:21:24,665 --> 01:21:26,610
The U.S.
Navy has a special message...
1671
01:21:26,710 --> 01:21:27,443
...this year.
1672
01:21:27,543 --> 01:21:29,668
It is time to turn green.
1673
01:21:29,670 --> 01:21:32,120
Joining the vessels is
what the U.S. Navy calls,
1674
01:21:32,220 --> 01:21:33,960
it's great green fleet of warships,
1675
01:21:34,060 --> 01:21:36,930
powered by fuel from
renewable sources like algae,
1676
01:21:37,030 --> 01:21:39,135
grass and animal fat.
1677
01:21:39,235 --> 01:21:41,235
Animal fat?
1678
01:21:48,473 --> 01:21:50,140
The next time you fill up...
1679
01:21:50,240 --> 01:21:51,780
...at your neighborhood gas station,
1680
01:21:51,880 --> 01:21:54,850
you might find yourself
pumping a little alligator...
1681
01:21:54,950 --> 01:21:55,683
...into your tank.
1682
01:21:55,783 --> 01:21:57,800
That's right, U.L. Lafayette researchers...
1683
01:21:57,900 --> 01:21:59,530
...have developed alligator fat...
1684
01:21:59,630 --> 01:22:03,030
...into a renewable source for biofuels.
1685
01:22:04,570 --> 01:22:08,650
And once we run through
the animals, what's next?
1686
01:22:08,690 --> 01:22:12,540
GE, who brings you nuclear
energy and wind turbines,
1687
01:22:12,640 --> 01:22:14,640
is ready with a plan.
1688
01:22:15,240 --> 01:22:18,280
I believe that liquid fuels, chemicals,
1689
01:22:18,380 --> 01:22:21,695
are eventually gonna have to be made...
1690
01:22:22,640 --> 01:22:24,550
...from sustainable raw materials.
1691
01:22:24,650 --> 01:22:26,500
We believe that seaweed is one...
1692
01:22:26,600 --> 01:22:30,000
...of the most attractive opportunities.
1693
01:22:39,270 --> 01:22:41,270
Better hurry.
1694
01:22:43,110 --> 01:22:47,955
One year after it was filmed,
the seaweed forest was dead.
1695
01:22:55,510 --> 01:22:58,400
You might ask yourself,
how could men destroy...
1696
01:22:58,500 --> 01:23:02,410
...what remains of nature
to enrich themselves?
1697
01:23:02,530 --> 01:23:06,950
Well, that's why they're
billionaires and you're not.
1698
01:23:10,060 --> 01:23:11,900
The takeover of the
environmental movement...
1699
01:23:12,000 --> 01:23:14,610
...by capitalism is now complete.
1700
01:23:14,710 --> 01:23:16,770
Environmentalists are no
longer resisting those...
1701
01:23:16,870 --> 01:23:21,000
...with a profit motive, but
collaborating with them.
1702
01:23:21,100 --> 01:23:25,020
The Nature Conservancy is
now the logging conservancy.
1703
01:23:25,120 --> 01:23:29,710
We will capture the most
important pieces biologically...
1704
01:23:29,810 --> 01:23:32,760
...and there will be
another large block sold...
1705
01:23:32,860 --> 01:23:34,890
...to timber investment groups.
1706
01:23:34,990 --> 01:23:38,360
The Union of Concerned
Scientists has become the union...
1707
01:23:38,460 --> 01:23:41,360
...of concerned salesmen,
having taken millions,
1708
01:23:41,460 --> 01:23:42,710
not for science,
1709
01:23:42,810 --> 01:23:46,523
but to create markets for electric cars.
1710
01:23:48,260 --> 01:23:50,230
The Sierra Club sells electric cars...
1711
01:23:50,330 --> 01:23:53,430
...and solar panels right from their website.
1712
01:23:53,530 --> 01:23:55,060
The best thing about Sungevity is...
1713
01:23:55,160 --> 01:23:56,710
...that they make it easy for you.
1714
01:23:56,810 --> 01:24:00,040
All that you have to do is to say yes.
1715
01:24:00,130 --> 01:24:02,810
The New York Times
partners with ExxonMobil...
1716
01:24:02,910 --> 01:24:05,360
...to bring you the good
news about biofuels.
1717
01:24:05,460 --> 01:24:06,300
Algae derived fuel...
1718
01:24:06,400 --> 01:24:08,995
...could help us meet growing demands.
1719
01:24:09,095 --> 01:24:11,050
Treehugger. com, which claims...
1720
01:24:11,150 --> 01:24:14,280
...to be the largest single
source of environmental news,
1721
01:24:14,380 --> 01:24:17,760
was founded and funded
by Georgia Pacific,
1722
01:24:17,860 --> 01:24:19,610
a logging company.
1723
01:24:19,710 --> 01:24:22,090
In fact, they are neighbors.
1724
01:24:23,150 --> 01:24:26,390
Georgia Pacific is owned by
our friends, the Koch brothers,
1725
01:24:26,490 --> 01:24:28,540
who are likely the largest recipient...
1726
01:24:28,640 --> 01:24:33,485
...of green energy biomass
subsidies in the United States.
1727
01:24:34,320 --> 01:24:36,510
Yes, the merger of environmentalism...
1728
01:24:36,610 --> 01:24:39,500
...and capitalism is now complete.
1729
01:24:39,550 --> 01:24:42,210
But maybe it's always been complete.
1730
01:24:42,310 --> 01:24:45,150
How is 350. org funded?
1731
01:24:45,250 --> 01:24:46,855
Well, not very well.
1732
01:24:46,955 --> 01:24:49,370
Who are your funders?
1733
01:24:49,470 --> 01:24:51,050
To the degree that we
have any money at all,
1734
01:24:51,150 --> 01:24:53,119
it's come from a few
foundations in Europe and U.S.
1735
01:24:53,219 --> 01:24:55,251
Which ones?
1736
01:24:55,351 --> 01:24:56,480
Ah, let's see.
1737
01:24:56,580 --> 01:25:01,000
The, I'm trying to think
who the biggest funders are.
1738
01:25:05,320 --> 01:25:10,320
There's a foundation in,
based in Sweden called.
1739
01:25:13,020 --> 01:25:16,404
I think it's called the
Rasmuson Foundation...
1740
01:25:16,504 --> 01:25:18,600
...that I think has been the biggest funder.
1741
01:25:18,700 --> 01:25:21,170
So you don't get money
from Pew or Rockefeller...
1742
01:25:21,270 --> 01:25:22,730
...or any of those big foundations?
1743
01:25:22,830 --> 01:25:23,563
No, we did.
1744
01:25:23,663 --> 01:25:26,470
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
gave us some money right...
1745
01:25:26,570 --> 01:25:27,500
...when we were starting out.
1746
01:25:27,600 --> 01:25:29,640
That's been useful, too.
1747
01:25:29,730 --> 01:25:31,934
But they no longer fund you?
1748
01:25:32,034 --> 01:25:34,418
I don't know, I don't have this sort of-.
1749
01:25:34,518 --> 01:25:36,620
Really?
1750
01:25:36,720 --> 01:25:38,443
Funders sitting in front of me.
1751
01:25:38,543 --> 01:25:40,443
That's usually something that people know.
1752
01:25:40,543 --> 01:25:43,933
Rockefeller's been one of our, is one of our,
1753
01:25:44,033 --> 01:25:46,583
is a great ally in this fight.
1754
01:25:46,680 --> 01:25:50,335
You just sold
your TV network to Al Jazeera.
1755
01:25:50,360 --> 01:25:51,093
Right.
1756
01:25:51,193 --> 01:25:53,220
And that government is basically nothing...
1757
01:25:53,320 --> 01:25:54,500
...but an oil producer.
1758
01:25:54,600 --> 01:25:55,880
Gas, mainly and oil.
1759
01:25:55,980 --> 01:25:58,810
Your take on that, about a
hundred million dollars pre-tax...
1760
01:25:58,910 --> 01:26:02,910
...from a country that bases
it's wealth on fossil fuels.
1761
01:26:03,010 --> 01:26:05,020
Isn't there a bit of hypocrisy in that?
1762
01:26:05,120 --> 01:26:08,120
Well, I get the criticism,
I just disagree with it.
1763
01:26:08,220 --> 01:26:09,790
I'm proud of the transactions.
1764
01:26:09,890 --> 01:26:13,100
You couldn't find, for your business,
1765
01:26:13,200 --> 01:26:14,950
a more sustainable choice?
1766
01:26:15,050 --> 01:26:16,770
What is not sustainable about it?
1767
01:26:16,870 --> 01:26:19,181
Because it is backed by fossil fuel money.
1768
01:26:19,281 --> 01:26:21,523
I get it, I get it, I get it.
1769
01:26:21,623 --> 01:26:23,140
And so, if you got yourself...
1770
01:26:23,240 --> 01:26:25,880
...an environmental movement
and environmental leaders,
1771
01:26:25,980 --> 01:26:28,524
why not buy the holy day itself?
1772
01:26:28,624 --> 01:26:29,971
Happy Earth Day.
1773
01:26:30,071 --> 01:26:31,509
? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ?...
1774
01:26:31,609 --> 01:26:33,454
...? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ?...
1775
01:26:33,554 --> 01:26:35,621
...? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ?...
1776
01:26:35,721 --> 01:26:39,091
...? You make me want to say ?...
1777
01:26:39,191 --> 01:26:42,490
...? Ah, you make me want to say ?...
1778
01:26:42,590 --> 01:26:45,920
Now we are facing the
greatest sets of issues...
1779
01:26:46,020 --> 01:26:48,120
...that we've seen in my lifetime.
1780
01:26:48,220 --> 01:26:50,550
It's time now for a new
generation to jump up...
1781
01:26:50,650 --> 01:26:53,510
...on the stage and create
a habitable country,
1782
01:26:53,610 --> 01:26:56,610
a habitable planet, that we can all enjoy.
1783
01:26:56,710 --> 01:26:58,369
Are you that generation?
1784
01:26:58,469 --> 01:27:01,480
(crowd screaming and cheering).
1785
01:27:01,580 --> 01:27:03,490
I need to thank Building Energy...
1786
01:27:03,590 --> 01:27:06,413
...which provided so much
solar power to this...
1787
01:27:06,513 --> 01:27:11,018
...that we powered the entire
event with solar energy.
1788
01:27:13,310 --> 01:27:15,050
But when I went backstage to see...
1789
01:27:15,150 --> 01:27:17,160
...what was really going on.
1790
01:27:17,260 --> 01:27:19,032
It ain't running this
whole thing on that, Jack.
1791
01:27:19,132 --> 01:27:19,907
I can tell you that.
1792
01:27:20,007 --> 01:27:23,760
For a toaster is 1200 watts.
1793
01:27:23,860 --> 01:27:27,270
So, that run right there could run a toaster.
1794
01:27:27,370 --> 01:27:29,470
I found the installer.
1795
01:27:29,570 --> 01:27:30,860
Hi.
1796
01:27:30,960 --> 01:27:31,880
Are they running the festival...
1797
01:27:31,980 --> 01:27:33,290
...on these solar panels?
1798
01:27:33,390 --> 01:27:37,573
The concert is run by
diesel generation system.
1799
01:27:38,820 --> 01:27:43,580
They didn't ask us to energize the concert.
1800
01:27:43,680 --> 01:27:45,040
Oh, okay.
1801
01:27:45,140 --> 01:27:45,873
And we'd also like...
1802
01:27:45,973 --> 01:27:48,290
...to thank our incredible
corporate sponsors...
1803
01:27:48,390 --> 01:27:50,780
...have been behind the movement
to end extreme poverty...
1804
01:27:50,880 --> 01:27:53,430
...and tackle climate change
since the very beginning.
1805
01:27:53,530 --> 01:27:55,530
I want to thank Toyota.
1806
01:27:58,080 --> 01:28:00,080
Citibank.
1807
01:28:02,160 --> 01:28:03,810
We want to thank Caterpillar.
1808
01:28:03,910 --> 01:28:05,630
We're standing at the destruction site...
1809
01:28:05,730 --> 01:28:07,770
...of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
1810
01:28:07,870 --> 01:28:09,310
It looks like there are...
1811
01:28:09,410 --> 01:28:14,255
...at least three bulldozers
actually bulldozing the land.
1812
01:28:16,970 --> 01:28:18,650
People have gotten through the fence,
1813
01:28:18,750 --> 01:28:21,555
the bulldozers are still going...
1814
01:28:21,850 --> 01:28:25,675
...and they're marching
over the dirt mounds.
1815
01:28:26,181 --> 01:28:27,694
Get the fuck off.
1816
01:28:27,794 --> 01:28:28,810
Get the fuck out of here.
1817
01:28:28,910 --> 01:28:30,450
Without these partners,
it wouldn't be possible.
1818
01:28:30,550 --> 01:28:34,375
Let's give them a round
of applause, everyone.
1819
01:28:45,300 --> 01:28:48,955
Now I know this
all might seem overwhelming.
1820
01:28:50,020 --> 01:28:50,850
It's a kind of thing...
1821
01:28:50,950 --> 01:28:54,860
...that we normally don't
try and think about.
1822
01:28:57,470 --> 01:28:59,935
But by not thinking about it,
1823
01:29:00,400 --> 01:29:03,715
it stands a good chance of doing us in.
1824
01:29:05,240 --> 01:29:08,810
I truly believe that the path to change...
1825
01:29:09,210 --> 01:29:11,250
...comes from awareness.
1826
01:29:12,800 --> 01:29:17,815
That awareness alone can begin
to create the transformation.
1827
01:29:21,750 --> 01:29:24,045
There is a way out of this.
1828
01:29:24,890 --> 01:29:28,190
We humans must accept
that infinite growth...
1829
01:29:28,290 --> 01:29:31,633
...on a finite planet is suicide.
1830
01:29:33,250 --> 01:29:36,190
We must accept that our human presence...
1831
01:29:36,290 --> 01:29:39,690
...is already far beyond sustainability.
1832
01:29:40,510 --> 01:29:42,720
And all that that implies.
1833
01:29:44,980 --> 01:29:48,350
We must take control of
our environmental movement...
1834
01:29:48,450 --> 01:29:51,810
...and our future from billionaires...
1835
01:29:51,910 --> 01:29:55,565
...and their permanent war on Planet Earth.
1836
01:29:56,380 --> 01:29:58,505
They are not our friends.
1837
01:30:01,110 --> 01:30:03,490
Less must be the new more...
1838
01:30:04,350 --> 01:30:06,380
...and instead of climate change,
1839
01:30:06,480 --> 01:30:09,030
we must at long last accept...
1840
01:30:09,400 --> 01:30:11,290
...that it's not the carbon dioxide molecule...
1841
01:30:11,390 --> 01:30:13,515
...destroying the planet,
1842
01:30:14,268 --> 01:30:16,268
it's us.
1843
01:30:19,860 --> 01:30:24,450
It's not one thing, but
everything we humans are doing.
1844
01:30:25,850 --> 01:30:29,280
A human-caused apocalypse.
1845
01:30:29,380 --> 01:30:34,310
If we get ourselves under
control, all things are possible.
1846
01:30:37,656 --> 01:30:39,656
And if we don't.
145805
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