0:00:08.420,0:00:09.850
Thank you very much.

0:00:10.460,0:00:11.525
When I was a boy,

0:00:11.525,0:00:15.310
my parents would sometimes[br]take me camping in California.

0:00:15.430,0:00:19.080
We would camp in the beaches,[br]in the forests, in the deserts.

0:00:19.590,0:00:22.080
Some people think the deserts[br]are empty of life

0:00:22.080,0:00:25.390
but my parents taught me[br]to see the wildlife all around us:

0:00:25.439,0:00:29.040
the hawks, the eagles, the tortoises.

0:00:29.170,0:00:31.410
One time when we were setting up camp,

0:00:31.410,0:00:34.510
we found a baby scorpion[br]with its stinger out,

0:00:34.510,0:00:36.849
and I remember thinking how cool it was

0:00:36.849,0:00:40.240
that something could be[br]both so cute and also so dangerous.

0:00:41.650,0:00:43.720
After college, I moved to California

0:00:43.720,0:00:46.490
and I started working on a number[br]of environmental campaigns,

0:00:46.490,0:00:50.500
I got involved in helping to save[br]the state's last ancient redwood forests

0:00:50.500,0:00:55.590
and blocking a proposed radioactive[br]waste repository set for the desert.

0:00:55.590,0:00:56.890
Shortly after I turned 30,

0:00:56.890,0:01:00.410
I decided I wanted to dedicate[br]a significant amount of my life

0:01:00.410,0:01:02.010
to solving climate change.

0:01:02.190,0:01:05.589
I was worried that global warming[br]would end up destroying

0:01:05.660,0:01:07.345
many of the natural environments

0:01:07.345,0:01:09.730
that people had worked[br]so hard to protect.

0:01:10.170,0:01:13.180
I thought the technical solutions[br]were pretty straightforward;

0:01:13.180,0:01:16.060
solar panels on every roof,[br]electric car in the driveway,

0:01:16.060,0:01:18.820
that the main obstacles were political.

0:01:18.820,0:01:21.300
And so I helped to organize a coalition

0:01:21.300,0:01:25.470
of the country's biggest labor unions[br]and biggest environmental groups.

0:01:25.470,0:01:30.090
Our proposal was for a 300 billion[br]dollar investment in renewables.

0:01:30.090,0:01:33.200
And the idea was not only[br]would we prevent climate change,

0:01:33.200,0:01:35.795
but we would also create[br]millions of new jobs

0:01:35.795,0:01:38.440
in a very fast-growing high-tech sector.

0:01:38.770,0:01:41.629
Our efforts really paid off in 2007,

0:01:41.629,0:01:45.500
when then-presidential candidate[br]Barack Obama embraced our vision.

0:01:45.500,0:01:51.319
And between 2009 and 2015,[br]the US invested 150 billion dollars

0:01:51.319,0:01:54.040
in renewables and other[br]kinds of clean tech.

0:01:54.810,0:01:57.960
but right away we started[br]to encounter some problems.

0:01:57.960,0:02:00.819
So first of all, the electricity[br]from solar rooftops

0:02:00.819,0:02:04.679
ends up costing about twice as much[br]as the electricity from solar farms.

0:02:04.929,0:02:08.389
And both solar farms and wind farms[br]require covering a pretty significant

0:02:08.389,0:02:11.590
amount of land with solar panels[br]and wind turbines

0:02:11.590,0:02:14.590
and also building[br]very big transmission lines

0:02:14.590,0:02:17.780
to bring all that electricity[br]from the countryside into the city.

0:02:18.100,0:02:22.990
Both of those things were often very[br]strongly resisted by local communities,

0:02:22.990,0:02:25.205
as well as by conservation biologists

0:02:25.205,0:02:30.120
who were concerned about the impacts[br]on wild bird species and other animals.

0:02:30.600,0:02:32.780
Now, there was a lot of other people

0:02:32.780,0:02:35.070
working on technical[br]solutions at the time.

0:02:35.070,0:02:36.990
One of the big challenges, of course,

0:02:36.990,0:02:39.000
is just the intermittency[br]of solar and wind

0:02:39.000,0:02:41.770
they only generate electricity[br]about 10 to 30 percent of the time

0:02:41.770,0:02:43.560
during most of year.

0:02:43.560,0:02:45.985
But some of the solutions[br]that were being proposed

0:02:45.985,0:02:50.430
were to convert hydroelectric[br]dams into gigantic batteries.

0:02:50.459,0:02:51.624
The idea was that

0:02:51.624,0:02:53.630
when the sun was shining[br]and the wind was blowing,

0:02:53.630,0:02:56.230
you would pump[br]the water uphill, store it for later

0:02:56.230,0:02:59.700
and then when you needed electricity,[br]run it over the turbines.

0:03:00.630,0:03:02.029
In terms of wildlife,

0:03:02.029,0:03:04.799
some of these problems just didn't[br]seem like a significant concern.

0:03:04.799,0:03:08.980
So when I learned that house cats[br]kill billions of birds every year

0:03:09.010,0:03:12.155
it put into perspective the hundreds[br]of thousands of birds

0:03:12.155,0:03:14.230
that are killed by wind turbines.

0:03:14.630,0:03:16.500
It basically seemed to me at the time

0:03:16.500,0:03:20.450
that most, if not all, of the problems[br]of scaling up solar and wind

0:03:20.450,0:03:23.450
could be solved through more[br]technological innovation.

0:03:24.190,0:03:25.979
But as the years went by,

0:03:25.979,0:03:29.604
these problems persisted[br]and, in many cases, grew worse.

0:03:30.010,0:03:33.070
So California is a state that's really[br]committed to renewable energy,

0:03:33.330,0:03:36.594
but we still haven't converted[br]many of our hydroelectric dams

0:03:36.594,0:03:37.859
into big batteries.

0:03:37.859,0:03:40.630
Some of the problems are just Geographic;

0:03:40.630,0:03:43.540
it's just you have to have[br]a very particular kind of formation

0:03:43.710,0:03:44.939
to be able to do that,

0:03:44.939,0:03:46.280
and even in those cases,

0:03:46.280,0:03:49.019
it's quite expensive[br]to make those conversions.

0:03:49.019,0:03:52.389
Other challenges are just[br]that there're other uses for water

0:03:52.389,0:03:53.910
like irrigation,

0:03:53.910,0:03:58.419
and maybe the most significant[br]problem is just that in California,

0:03:58.419,0:04:00.814
the water in our rivers and reservoirs

0:04:00.814,0:04:03.210
is growing increasingly[br]scarce and unreliable

0:04:03.210,0:04:05.170
due to climate change.

0:04:05.170,0:04:09.610
In terms of this issue of reliability[br]as a consequence of it,

0:04:09.610,0:04:14.280
we've actually had to stop the electricity[br]coming from the solar farms into the cities

0:04:14.410,0:04:16.730
because there's just been[br]too much of it at times.

0:04:16.730,0:04:20.289
Or we've been starting to pay[br]our neighboring states like Arizona

0:04:20.328,0:04:22.659
to take that solar electricity.

0:04:22.659,0:04:25.529
The alternative is to suffer[br]from blowouts of the grid.

0:04:25.529,0:04:27.760
And it turns out that

0:04:27.760,0:04:30.730
when it comes to birds and cats -

0:04:31.450,0:04:35.440
cats don't kill eagles; eagles kill cats.

0:04:35.440,0:04:40.690
What cats kill are the small common[br]sparrows and Jay's and robins,

0:04:40.690,0:04:44.700
birds that are not endangered[br]and not at risk of going extinct.

0:04:45.040,0:04:51.185
What do kill eagles and other big birds[br]like this kite as well as owls and condors

0:04:51.185,0:04:53.890
and other threatened[br]and endangered species

0:04:53.890,0:04:54.990
are wind turbines-

0:04:54.990,0:04:59.980
in fact, one of the most significant threats[br]to those big bird species that we have -

0:05:00.910,0:05:03.160
we just haven't been introducing[br]the airspace with many other objects

0:05:03.160,0:05:05.320
like we have wind turbines

0:05:05.320,0:05:07.540
over the last several years.

0:05:07.540,0:05:09.840
And in terms of solar,

0:05:09.840,0:05:13.150
you know building a solar farm[br]is a lot like building any other kind of farm

0:05:13.150,0:05:16.090
You have to clear[br]the whole area of wildlife.

0:05:16.420,0:05:17.417
So this is a picture of one third of one[br]of the biggest solar farms in California

0:05:17.417,0:05:18.415
called Ivanpah.

0:05:22.000,0:05:24.370
In order to build this,

0:05:24.370,0:05:26.380
they had to clear[br]the whole area of desert tortoises -

0:05:28.180,0:05:30.730
literally pulling desert tortoises -

0:05:30.730,0:05:32.530
and their babies out of burrows

0:05:32.530,0:05:34.270
putting them on the back of pickup trucks,[br]and transporting them to captivity

0:05:34.270,0:05:36.610
where many of them ended up dying.

0:05:38.500,0:05:41.020
And currently, the current estimates are[br]that about 6,000 birds are killed every year,

0:05:41.020,0:05:43.060
actually catching on fire above the solar farm[br]and plunging to their deaths.

0:05:47.890,0:05:49.060
Over time it gradually struck me

0:05:49.060,0:05:50.230
that there was really no amount[br]of technological innovation

0:05:52.270,0:05:54.610
that was going to make[br]the sunshine more regularly

0:05:54.610,0:05:57.790
or wind blow more reliably.

0:05:57.790,0:05:59.860
In fact, nothing could you could make solar

0:05:59.860,0:06:01.720
panels cheaper you could make wind

0:06:01.720,0:06:03.940
turbines bigger but sunlight and wind

0:06:03.940,0:06:06.490
are just really dilute fuels and in

0:06:06.490,0:06:08.470
order to produce significant amounts of

0:06:08.470,0:06:09.100
electricity

0:06:09.100,0:06:11.650
you just have to cover a very large land

0:06:11.650,0:06:15.010
mass with them in other words all of the

0:06:15.010,0:06:17.170
major problems with renewables aren't

0:06:17.170,0:06:20.320
technical they're natural well dealing

0:06:20.320,0:06:22.630
with all of this unreliability and the

0:06:22.630,0:06:24.280
big environmental impacts obviously

0:06:24.280,0:06:27.070
comes at a pretty high economic cost you

0:06:27.070,0:06:28.210
know we've been hearing a lot about how

0:06:28.210,0:06:29.980
solar panels and wind turbines have come

0:06:29.980,0:06:32.440
down in cost in recent years but that

0:06:32.440,0:06:34.840
cost has been significantly outweighed

0:06:34.840,0:06:37.090
by just the challenges of integrating

0:06:37.090,0:06:39.280
all of that unreliable power onto the

0:06:39.280,0:06:41.140
grid just take for instance what's

0:06:41.140,0:06:41.680
happening

0:06:41.680,0:06:43.990
or Nia at the period in which solar

0:06:43.990,0:06:45.940
panels have come down in price very

0:06:45.940,0:06:48.130
significantly same with wind we've seen

0:06:48.130,0:06:50.500
our electricity prices go up five times

0:06:50.500,0:06:52.449
more than the rest of the country and

0:06:52.449,0:06:54.729
it's not unique to us you can see the

0:06:54.729,0:06:56.530
same phenomenon happened in Germany

0:06:56.530,0:06:58.360
which is really the world's leader in

0:06:58.360,0:06:59.590
solar wind and other renewable

0:06:59.590,0:07:02.800
technologies their prices increased 50

0:07:02.800,0:07:04.630
percent during their big renewable

0:07:04.630,0:07:06.960
energy push now you might think well

0:07:06.960,0:07:08.800
dealing with climate change is just

0:07:08.800,0:07:10.690
going to require that we all pay more

0:07:10.690,0:07:12.910
for energy that's what I used to think

0:07:12.910,0:07:16.060
but consider the case of France France

0:07:16.060,0:07:18.250
actually gets twice as much of its

0:07:18.250,0:07:20.349
electricity from clean zero emission

0:07:20.349,0:07:23.410
sources than does Germany and yet France

0:07:23.410,0:07:25.990
pays half as much almost half as much

0:07:25.990,0:07:29.050
for its electricity how can that be well

0:07:29.050,0:07:30.370
you might have already anticipated the

0:07:30.370,0:07:32.050
answer France gets most of its

0:07:32.050,0:07:33.789
electricity from nuclear power

0:07:33.789,0:07:37.090
about 75% in total and nuclear just ends

0:07:37.090,0:07:39.370
up being a lot more reliable generating

0:07:39.370,0:07:41.620
power 24 hours a day seven days a week

0:07:41.620,0:07:45.160
for about 90% of the year we see this

0:07:45.160,0:07:47.620
phenomenon show up at a global level so

0:07:47.620,0:07:49.090
for example there's been a natural

0:07:49.090,0:07:51.460
experiment over the last 40 years even

0:07:51.460,0:07:52.960
more than that or in terms of the

0:07:52.960,0:07:54.639
deployment of nuclear and the deployment

0:07:54.639,0:07:58.419
of solar you can see that at a little

0:07:58.419,0:08:00.460
bit higher cost we got about half as

0:08:00.460,0:08:02.169
much electricity from solar and wind

0:08:02.169,0:08:06.639
than we did from nuclear well what does

0:08:06.639,0:08:08.830
all this mean for going forward I think

0:08:08.830,0:08:10.840
one of the most significant findings to

0:08:10.840,0:08:13.659
date is this one had Germany spent five

0:08:13.659,0:08:15.280
hundred eighty billion dollars on

0:08:15.280,0:08:17.470
nuclear instead of renewables it would

0:08:17.470,0:08:19.509
already be getting a hundred percent of

0:08:19.509,0:08:21.099
its end of its electricity from clean

0:08:21.099,0:08:23.530
energy sources and all of its

0:08:23.530,0:08:26.409
transportation energy now I think you

0:08:26.409,0:08:27.520
might be wondering and it's quite

0:08:27.520,0:08:30.009
reasonable to ask is nuclear power safe

0:08:30.009,0:08:32.469
and what do you do with the waste well

0:08:32.469,0:08:33.969
those are very reasonable questions

0:08:33.969,0:08:36.070
turns out that there's been scientific

0:08:36.070,0:08:38.770
studies on this going over 40 years this

0:08:38.770,0:08:40.240
is just the most recent study that was

0:08:40.240,0:08:42.250
done by the prestigious British Medical

0:08:42.250,0:08:44.260
Journal Lancet finds that nuclear power

0:08:44.260,0:08:46.930
is the safest it's easy to understand

0:08:46.930,0:08:48.640
why according to the World Health

0:08:48.640,0:08:51.040
Organization about 7 million people die

0:08:51.040,0:08:53.500
annually from air pollution and nuclear

0:08:53.500,0:08:55.570
plants don't emit that as a result the

0:08:55.570,0:08:57.430
climate scientist James Hansen looked at

0:08:57.430,0:08:59.350
and he calculated that nuclear power has

0:08:59.350,0:09:01.750
already saved almost two million lives

0:09:01.750,0:09:04.210
to date it turns out that even wind

0:09:04.210,0:09:07.120
energy is more deadly than nuclear this

0:09:07.120,0:09:09.790
is a photograph taken of two maintenance

0:09:09.790,0:09:11.500
workers in the Netherlands

0:09:11.500,0:09:13.630
shortly before one of them fell to his

0:09:13.630,0:09:15.640
death to avoid the fire and the other

0:09:15.640,0:09:17.260
one was engulfed in flames

0:09:17.260,0:09:20.440
now what about environmental impact well

0:09:20.440,0:09:21.760
I think a really easy way to think about

0:09:21.760,0:09:24.070
it is that uranium fuel which is what we

0:09:24.070,0:09:25.930
use to power nuclear plants is just

0:09:25.930,0:09:28.210
really energy dense about his mouth

0:09:28.210,0:09:30.340
about the same amount of uranium as this

0:09:30.340,0:09:32.890
is this Rubik's Cube can power all of

0:09:32.890,0:09:34.660
the energy that you need in your entire

0:09:34.660,0:09:35.440
life

0:09:35.440,0:09:38.680
as a consequence you just don't need

0:09:38.680,0:09:40.600
that much land in order to produce a

0:09:40.600,0:09:42.880
significant amount of electricity here

0:09:42.880,0:09:44.830
you can compare the solar farm I just

0:09:44.830,0:09:47.410
described Ivanpah to California's last

0:09:47.410,0:09:50.770
nuclear plant Diablo Canyon it takes 450

0:09:50.770,0:09:52.750
times more land to generate the same

0:09:52.750,0:09:54.790
amount of electricity as it does from

0:09:54.790,0:09:57.430
nuclear you would need 17 more solar

0:09:57.430,0:09:59.920
farms like Ivanpah in order to generate

0:09:59.920,0:10:02.320
the same output as Diablo Canyon and of

0:10:02.320,0:10:05.800
course it would then be unreliable well

0:10:05.800,0:10:07.960
what about the mining and the waste and

0:10:07.960,0:10:10.120
the material throughput well this has

0:10:10.120,0:10:11.920
been studied pretty closely as well and

0:10:11.920,0:10:13.510
it just turns out that solar panels

0:10:13.510,0:10:16.270
require 17 times more materials than

0:10:16.270,0:10:18.610
nuclear plants do in the form of cement

0:10:18.610,0:10:21.490
glass concrete steel and that includes

0:10:21.490,0:10:23.230
all the fuel used for those nuclear

0:10:23.230,0:10:25.480
plants the consequence is that what

0:10:25.480,0:10:27.730
comes out at the end since its material

0:10:27.730,0:10:30.160
throughput is just not a lot of waste

0:10:30.160,0:10:32.560
from nuclear all of the waste from the

0:10:32.560,0:10:34.570
Swiss nuclear program fits into this

0:10:34.570,0:10:37.000
room nuclear waste is actually the only

0:10:37.000,0:10:38.950
waste from electricity production

0:10:38.950,0:10:41.230
that's safely contained and internalized

0:10:41.230,0:10:43.210
every other way of making electricity

0:10:43.210,0:10:45.490
emits that waste into the natural

0:10:45.490,0:10:48.010
environment either as pollution or as

0:10:48.010,0:10:50.589
material waste we tend to think of solar

0:10:50.589,0:10:53.410
panels as clean but the truth is is that

0:10:53.410,0:10:55.270
there is no plan to deal with solar

0:10:55.270,0:10:57.790
panels at the end of their 20 or 25 year

0:10:57.790,0:11:00.220
life a lot of experts are actually very

0:11:00.220,0:11:02.440
concerned that solar panels are just

0:11:02.440,0:11:04.180
going to be shipped to poor countries in

0:11:04.180,0:11:06.459
Africa or Asia with the rest of our

0:11:06.459,0:11:07.270
electronic way

0:11:07.270,0:11:10.780
stream to be disassembled often exposing

0:11:10.780,0:11:13.210
people to really high levels of toxic of

0:11:13.210,0:11:15.610
toxic elements including lead cadmium

0:11:15.610,0:11:17.980
and chromium elements that because their

0:11:17.980,0:11:20.680
elements their toxicity never declines

0:11:20.680,0:11:23.200
over time I think we have an intuitive

0:11:23.200,0:11:25.660
sense that nuclear is a really powerful

0:11:25.660,0:11:28.360
strong energy source and that sunlight

0:11:28.360,0:11:31.150
is really dilute and diffuse and weak

0:11:31.150,0:11:33.430
which is why you have to spread solar

0:11:33.430,0:11:35.290
collectors or wind collectors over such

0:11:35.290,0:11:38.320
a large amount of land maybe that's why

0:11:38.320,0:11:40.750
nobody was surprised when in the recent

0:11:40.750,0:11:43.150
science-fiction remake of Blade Runner

0:11:43.150,0:11:45.910
the film opens a very dark dystopian

0:11:45.910,0:11:48.340
scene where California's deserts have

0:11:48.340,0:11:52.480
been entirely paved with solar farms all

0:11:52.480,0:11:53.860
of which I think raises a really

0:11:53.860,0:11:56.740
uncomfortable question in the effort to

0:11:56.740,0:11:59.020
try to save the climate are we

0:11:59.020,0:12:02.290
destroying the environment well the

0:12:02.290,0:12:03.910
interesting thing is that over the last

0:12:03.910,0:12:05.710
several hundred years human beings have

0:12:05.710,0:12:07.030
actually been trying to move away from

0:12:07.030,0:12:08.860
what you would consider matter dense

0:12:08.860,0:12:11.710
fuels towards energy dense ones that

0:12:11.710,0:12:14.140
means really from wood and dung towards

0:12:14.140,0:12:16.990
coal oil natural gas uranium this is a

0:12:16.990,0:12:18.310
phenomenon that's been going on for a

0:12:18.310,0:12:20.230
long time poor countries around the

0:12:20.230,0:12:22.090
world are in the process still of moving

0:12:22.090,0:12:23.620
away from wood and dung as their primary

0:12:23.620,0:12:26.500
energies and for the most part this is a

0:12:26.500,0:12:29.980
positive thing as you stop using wood as

0:12:29.980,0:12:32.050
your major source of fuel it allows the

0:12:32.050,0:12:34.510
forests to grow back and the wildlife to

0:12:34.510,0:12:36.340
return as you stop burning wood in your

0:12:36.340,0:12:38.410
home you don't you no longer need to

0:12:38.410,0:12:40.990
breathe that toxic smoke and as you go

0:12:40.990,0:12:43.750
from coal to natural gas and uranium is

0:12:43.750,0:12:45.790
your main sources of energy it holds out

0:12:45.790,0:12:48.130
the possibility of basically eliminating

0:12:48.130,0:12:50.830
air pollution altogether there's just

0:12:50.830,0:12:53.050
this problem with nuclear well it's been

0:12:53.050,0:12:55.240
pretty popular to move from dirtier to

0:12:55.240,0:12:56.890
cleaner energy sources from energy

0:12:56.890,0:12:59.890
diffuse to energy dense sources nuclear

0:12:59.890,0:13:02.230
is just really unpopular for a bunch of

0:13:02.230,0:13:04.780
historical reasons and as a consequence

0:13:04.780,0:13:07.450
in the past I and I think a lot of

0:13:07.450,0:13:09.520
others have sort of said well in order

0:13:09.520,0:13:11.170
to deal with climate change we're just

0:13:11.170,0:13:12.850
going to need all the different kinds of

0:13:12.850,0:13:15.490
clean energy that we have the problem is

0:13:15.490,0:13:16.990
is that just turns out not to be true

0:13:16.990,0:13:19.600
you remember I discussed France a little

0:13:19.600,0:13:20.920
bit ago France

0:13:20.920,0:13:22.240
gets most of its electricity from

0:13:22.240,0:13:24.430
nuclear if France were to try to

0:13:24.430,0:13:27.339
significantly scale up solar and wind it

0:13:27.339,0:13:29.170
would also have to significantly reduce

0:13:29.170,0:13:31.029
how much electricity it gets from

0:13:31.029,0:13:32.980
nuclear that's because in order to

0:13:32.980,0:13:35.980
handle the huge variability of solar and

0:13:35.980,0:13:38.079
wind on the grid they would need to burn

0:13:38.079,0:13:40.120
more natural gas think of it this way

0:13:40.120,0:13:42.250
it's just really hard to ramp up and

0:13:42.250,0:13:44.139
down a nuclear plant whereas I think

0:13:44.139,0:13:45.790
we're all pretty familiar with turning

0:13:45.790,0:13:47.829
the natural gas up and down on our stove

0:13:47.829,0:13:50.350
a similar process works in managing the

0:13:50.350,0:13:52.930
grid of course goes without saying that

0:13:52.930,0:13:55.240
oil and gas companies understand this

0:13:55.240,0:13:57.310
pretty well which is why we've seen them

0:13:57.310,0:13:59.350
invest millions of dollars in recent

0:13:59.350,0:14:03.250
years in promoting solar and wind this

0:14:03.250,0:14:05.500
just raises I think another challenging

0:14:05.500,0:14:07.990
question which is that in places that

0:14:07.990,0:14:10.360
are using a lot of nuclear have grids

0:14:10.360,0:14:14.170
that are mostly nuclear and hydro going

0:14:14.170,0:14:15.639
towards solar and wind and other

0:14:15.639,0:14:17.620
renewables would actually increase

0:14:17.620,0:14:19.930
carbon emissions I think a better

0:14:19.930,0:14:21.519
alternative is just to tell the truth

0:14:21.519,0:14:23.380
and that's what a number of scientists

0:14:23.380,0:14:25.620
have been doing I mentioned earlier that

0:14:25.620,0:14:27.730
hundreds of thousands of birds are

0:14:27.730,0:14:29.380
killed every year by wind turbines but I

0:14:29.380,0:14:31.899
didn't mention is that a million bats at

0:14:31.899,0:14:33.880
a minimum are killed every year by wind

0:14:33.880,0:14:35.829
the consequence has been that bad

0:14:35.829,0:14:37.480
scientists have been speaking out about

0:14:37.480,0:14:40.209
this this particular bat species the

0:14:40.209,0:14:42.339
hoary bat which is a migratory bat

0:14:42.339,0:14:44.649
species is literally at risk of going

0:14:44.649,0:14:46.449
extinct right now because of the

0:14:46.449,0:14:48.940
significant expansion of wind it's not

0:14:48.940,0:14:51.640
just wind it's also on solar the

0:14:51.640,0:14:53.529
scientists who were involved in creating

0:14:53.529,0:14:55.959
the Ivanpah solar farm who involved in

0:14:55.959,0:14:58.149
clearing that land have been speaking

0:14:58.149,0:15:01.120
out one of them wrote everybody knows

0:15:01.120,0:15:03.399
that translocation of desert tortoises

0:15:03.399,0:15:05.290
doesn't work when you're walking in

0:15:05.290,0:15:07.089
front of a bulldozer or crying and

0:15:07.089,0:15:09.160
moving animals and cacti out of the way

0:15:09.160,0:15:11.199
it's hard to think that the project is a

0:15:11.199,0:15:13.480
good idea and now we can see these

0:15:13.480,0:15:16.540
phenomena at work at an international

0:15:16.540,0:15:18.370
level in my home state of California

0:15:18.370,0:15:20.410
we've been stuffing a lot of natural gas

0:15:20.410,0:15:22.329
into the side of a mountain in order to

0:15:22.329,0:15:23.860
handle all that intermittent solar and

0:15:23.860,0:15:24.250
wind

0:15:24.250,0:15:26.230
it's sprung a leak it was equivalent to

0:15:26.230,0:15:28.300
putting 500,000 cars on the road and

0:15:28.300,0:15:30.640
currently in Germany there's protesters

0:15:30.640,0:15:33.220
trying to block a new coal mining

0:15:33.220,0:15:34.320
project

0:15:34.320,0:15:36.240
that would involve destroying the

0:15:36.240,0:15:38.730
ancient Han back forest in order to get

0:15:38.730,0:15:41.100
to the coal underneath all in an effort

0:15:41.100,0:15:43.440
to phase out nuclear and expand solar

0:15:43.440,0:15:46.380
and wind the good news is is that I

0:15:46.380,0:15:48.510
think that people still care about

0:15:48.510,0:15:50.310
nature enough for these facts to matter

0:15:50.310,0:15:52.770
we saw last year in South Korea a

0:15:52.770,0:15:55.110
citizen's jury deliberated for several

0:15:55.110,0:15:56.880
months weighing these different issues

0:15:56.880,0:15:58.890
they had to decide whether they were

0:15:58.890,0:16:01.650
going to phase out nuclear or keep it

0:16:01.650,0:16:04.140
and expanded they started out 40 percent

0:16:04.140,0:16:06.540
in favor of expanding nuclear but after

0:16:06.540,0:16:08.040
several months and considering these

0:16:08.040,0:16:10.320
issues they ended up voting 60 percent

0:16:10.320,0:16:13.020
to expand nuclear a similar phenomena

0:16:13.020,0:16:15.120
just happened last week in Arizona the

0:16:15.120,0:16:17.100
voters had a ballot initiative that to

0:16:17.100,0:16:19.200
vote on whether or not to continue with

0:16:19.200,0:16:21.150
nuclear or to phase it out and try to

0:16:21.150,0:16:23.220
replace it with natural gas and solar

0:16:23.220,0:16:26.160
they ended up rejecting at 70 to 30 and

0:16:26.160,0:16:28.500
even here in Europe we saw the

0:16:28.500,0:16:30.150
Netherlands is that one of the first

0:16:30.150,0:16:32.700
countries in recent memory to actually

0:16:32.700,0:16:34.740
announce as they did last week that

0:16:34.740,0:16:36.360
they're going to start to they're gonna

0:16:36.360,0:16:37.890
start to increase their reliance on

0:16:37.890,0:16:39.810
nuclear power in recognition that

0:16:39.810,0:16:41.250
there's just no way they could generate

0:16:41.250,0:16:43.110
significant amounts of energy enough

0:16:43.110,0:16:44.970
from solar and wind to meet their

0:16:44.970,0:16:47.370
climate targets I think it's natural

0:16:47.370,0:16:49.560
that those of us that became very

0:16:49.560,0:16:51.210
concerned about climate change such a

0:16:51.210,0:16:53.310
big environmental issue would gravitate

0:16:53.310,0:16:56.540
towards really romantic solutions like

0:16:56.540,0:16:58.980
harmonizing human civilization with the

0:16:58.980,0:17:01.140
natural world using renewable energies

0:17:01.140,0:17:03.090
but I think it's also understandable

0:17:03.090,0:17:05.849
that as the facts have come in that many

0:17:05.849,0:17:07.650
of us have started to question our prior

0:17:07.650,0:17:10.410
beliefs and change our minds for me the

0:17:10.410,0:17:14.030
question now is now that we know that

0:17:14.030,0:17:16.859
renewables can't save the planet are we

0:17:16.859,0:17:18.660
going to keep letting them destroy it

0:17:18.660,0:17:25.510
thank you very much