[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.52,0:00:33.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like most people, I'm not an activist by nature.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.78,0:00:37.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's really not that many people whose greatest desire it to go out and fight the system.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.06,0:00:43.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My theory of change was I'll write my book, people will read it and they'll change.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.93,0:00:47.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that's not how change happens.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.74,0:00:57.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I've been kind of forced to go against my sense of who I am most comfortable being.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.73,0:01:01.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems like it's the things that's required now
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.01,0:01:06.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think it's probably required that an awful lot of us doing things that are a little hard for us,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.67,0:01:10.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make a little noise, be a little uncomfortable,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.96,0:01:14.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,push other people to be a little uncomfortable.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.61,0:01:17.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is really the fight of our time.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.95,0:01:24.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's official: 2012 was the hottest year in the United States since weather scientists started keeping records.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.70,0:01:30.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,2012 was not only the warmest year on record, but also the second most extreme,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.29,0:01:34.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,featuring tornadoes, wild fires, a massive drought.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.66,0:01:37.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rising seas due to climate change.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.37,0:01:40.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Heat trapping gases from burning oil, coal and gas.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.64,0:01:46.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,10.9 billion dollars in profits, people look at this and say that's a world turned upside down.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.55,0:01:53.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Listening to your testimony makes me even more convinced that we need to act to prevent cataclysmic climate change.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.10,0:01:57.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,BP cut corner after corner and now the whole gulf coast is paying the price.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.98,0:02:00.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How can you justify the record profits you're making?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.51,0:02:03.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well our business is one of very large numbers.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.98,0:02:12.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay, let's bring out Bill, he's an environmentalism and president and co-founder of 350.org.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.69,0:02:16.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my guest Bill McKibben, our nation's leading environmentalist.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.88,0:02:19.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We started this thing called 350.org.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.67,0:02:23.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're going out and building the kind of political movement that will change things.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.80,0:02:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We just announced this road show out across the country to really try take it at the fossil fuel industry.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.32,0:02:42.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People are just lining up to try and get involved in this fight.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.65,0:03:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, thank you all,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.22,0:03:27.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thank you all so much for being here today.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.70,0:03:35.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is a great pleasure for me to get to be here tonight
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.42,0:03:39.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one of the gifts for me of these last few months was getting,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.17,0:03:42.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tiring as it was in a sense, to travel around the country.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.34,0:03:48.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of the things that was great was just being reminded was what an incredibly beautiful place this is.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.04,0:03:55.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, we got to Denver and it was gorgeous but the air was full of smoke from fires still burning in December
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.68,0:03:57.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after the biggest fire season ever
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.68,0:04:04.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we got through this gorgeous farmland, much of it still-60% of it still in a federally declared drought.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.07,0:04:09.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it's also worth just saying that it's a terrible thing to take a world this beautiful
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.47,0:04:16.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, for the sake of outsized profits for a few people for a little while, lay it to waste.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.58,0:04:20.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tonight's the start of the last campaign I may really get to fight.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.90,0:04:25.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not 'cause I'm getting tired but because the planet's getting tired.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.92,0:04:30.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the world that we've built where our institutions aren't working the way they should,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.30,0:04:34.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have to do more than we should.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.69,0:04:36.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That news doesn't depress me.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.52,0:04:40.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In a sense it excites me, because I think we know what we need to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.52,0:04:42.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we've peeled away the layers of the onion.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.98,0:04:44.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We've got to the very heart of things.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:44.94,0:04:51.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As of tonight, we're taking on the fossil fuel industry directly.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.32,0:04:59.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The moment has come where we have to take a real stance, we're reaching limits.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:59.95,0:05:09.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The biggest limit that we're running into may be that we're running our of atmosphere into which to put the waste products of our society,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.42,0:05:15.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,particularly the carbon dioxide that is the ubiquitous biproduct of burning fossil fuels.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.80,0:05:23.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You burn coal or oil or gas, you get CO2 and the atmosphere is now filling up with it.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.38,0:05:27.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know what the solutions for dealing with this trouble are,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.38,0:05:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,many of the technologies we need to get off fossil fuel and onto something else.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.20,0:05:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The thing that is preventing us from doing it is the enormous political power
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.90,0:05:45.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wielded by those who have made and are making vast windfall profits off of fossil fuels.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.76,0:05:52.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, there have been a lot of efforts by scientists to try to estimate whether we are living sustainably
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.68,0:05:58.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the sense of whether we're consuming planetary resources at a rate that can be continued.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.31,0:06:06.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The threat that this combination that climate change, water shortages, food shortages and rising energy prices
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.06,0:06:11.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is enormously troubling to anyone who's aware of the data and the way these issues could play out.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.87,0:06:17.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can't keep increasing your economy infinitely on a finite planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.37,0:06:20.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the things that humanity is facing is the need
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.51,0:06:26.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint over the next 40 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.18,0:06:32.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we're talking in the wealthy countries about 80 to 90% reductions.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.18,0:06:37.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're no longer at the point of trying to stop global warming.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:37.11,0:06:39.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Too late for that.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.83,0:06:45.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're at the point of trying to keep it from becoming a complete and utter calamity.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.71,0:06:47.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We shouldn't have to be here tonight.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.21,0:06:51.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If the world worked in a kind of rational way, we shouldn't have to be here.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:51.38,0:06:57.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,25 years ago our scientists started telling us about climate change.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.02,0:07:05.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I played my small role in that by writing the first book about all this in 1989 for a general audience,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.06,0:07:08.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a book called The End of Nature.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.13,0:07:14.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If the world worked as it should, our leaders would have heeded those warning, gone to work,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.49,0:07:20.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,done the sensible things that at the time would have been enough to get us a long way to where we needed to go.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.88,0:07:26.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They didn't. And that's why we're in the fix we're in.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.54,0:07:32.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the biggest emergency the human family has faced since it came out of the caves.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.99,0:07:34.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is nothing bigger.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.57,0:07:38.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All these issues matter: immigration and health care and education.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.73,0:07:42.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But this one is really about the physical change of the planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.75,0:07:46.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We all have been saying we need to save the planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.42,0:07:52.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But as I think about it, the planet's going to be around for some time to come.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.67,0:07:57.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's at stake now is civilization itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.36,0:08:05.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our most important climatologist, Jim Hansen,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.02,0:08:12.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has his team at NASA do a study to figure out how much carbon in the atmosphere was too much.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.36,0:08:17.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The paper they published may be the most important scientific paper of the millenium to date,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.28,0:08:20.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,said we now know enough to know how much is too much.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:20.45,0:08:24.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Any value for carbon in the atmosphere greater than 350 parts per million
Dialogue: 0,0:08:24.99,0:08:33.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not compatible with the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.92,0:08:36.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's pretty strong language for scientists to use.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.93,0:08:45.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stronger still if you know that outside today, the atmosphere is 395 parts per million CO2.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:45.60,0:08:48.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And rising at about 2 parts per million per year.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.40,0:08:53.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everything frozen on earth is melting.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.19,0:08:57.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The great ice sheet of the arctic is reduced by more than half,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.72,0:09:02.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the oceans are about 30% more acidic than they were 30 years ago
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.20,0:09:07.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the chemistry of sea water changes as it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:07.62,0:09:10.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because warm air holds more water vapor than cold,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.94,0:09:16.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the atmosphere is about 5% wetter than it was 40 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.05,0:09:19.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's an astonishingly large change.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.51,0:09:29.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's more energy coming in and being absorbed by the earth than there is heat being radiated to space,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.52,0:09:36.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is exactly what we expected because as we add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, it traps heat.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.53,0:09:43.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now we can measure that and that's the basis by which we can prove that the human made impacts
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.40,0:09:49.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on atmospheric composition are the primary cause of the climate change that we're observing.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.90,0:09:53.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So let's get to work.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.55,0:09:56.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're calling this Do the Math and we're gonna do some math for a moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.100,0:09:59.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just three numbers, okay?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:59.62,0:10:02.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wrote about them in a piece last summer for Rolling Stone.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.89,0:10:05.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A piece that went oddly viral.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:05.33,0:10:12.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was the issue with Justin Bieber on the cover,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:12.16,0:10:14.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but here's the strange thing:
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.02,0:10:17.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The next day I got a call from the editor saying,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.11,0:10:24.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Your piece has gotten ten times more likes on Facebook than Justin Bieber's."
Dialogue: 0,0:10:24.12,0:10:30.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of that is doubtless the result of my sort of soulful stare, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.27,0:10:34.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But mostly it's because we managed to just kind of lay out this math
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.67,0:10:38.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a very straight forward way that people needed to understand
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.84,0:10:44.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we were going through what turned out to be the hottest year that America has ever experienced.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.77,0:10:47.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before we get to those three numbers, here's where we are so far:
Dialogue: 0,0:10:47.91,0:10:52.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We've burned enough coal and gas and oil to raise the temperature of the earth one degree.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.54,0:10:53.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What has that done?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:53.27,0:10:59.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was a day last September when the headline in the paper was "Half the Polar Ice Cap is missing."
Dialogue: 0,0:10:59.07,0:11:02.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Literally. I mean if Neil Armstrong were up on the moon today,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:02.20,0:11:05.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he'd look down and see half as much area of ice in the arctic.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.87,0:11:11.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We've taken one of the largest physical features on earth and we have broken it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.88,0:11:16.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shall we work through the numbers?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:17.02,0:11:19.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are three, and they're easy.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.62,0:11:21.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first one's 2 degrees.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:21.33,0:11:26.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's how much the world has said it would be safe to let the planet warm.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.76,0:11:30.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In political terms, it's the only thing that anybody's agreed to.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.71,0:11:34.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of you may remember that climate summit in Copenhagen.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.05,0:11:40.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was only one number in the final two page voluntary accord that people signed.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.09,0:11:44.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only one number in it: 2 degrees.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.27,0:11:49.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every signatory pledged to make sure the temperature wouldn't rise about that.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.63,0:11:55.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The EU, Japan, Russia, China, countries that make their money selling oil like the United Arab Emirates,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:55.29,0:11:58.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most conservative, recalcitrant, reluctant countries on earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:58.88,0:12:00.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.37,0:12:07.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If the world officially believes anything about climate changes it's that 2 degrees is too much.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:09.84,0:12:14.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Second number that scientists have calculated is
Dialogue: 0,0:12:14.35,0:12:20.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how much carbon we can pour into the atmosphere and have a reasonable chance of staying below two degrees.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:20.61,0:12:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They say about 565 more gigatons.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:24.56,0:12:26.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A gigaton is a billion tons.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.89,0:12:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's not a perfect chance, that's worse odds than Russian roulette, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:33.98,0:12:38.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sounds like is should - it is a lot, 565 billions tons of CO2.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.84,0:12:43.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problem is we pour 30 billion tons a year now and it goes up 3% a year.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:43.70,0:12:47.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do the math and it's about 15 years before go past that threshold.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:47.76,0:12:50.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that's sobering news.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:51.38,0:12:54.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the scary number is the third number.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:54.84,0:12:57.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The third number was the important one and the new one
Dialogue: 0,0:12:57.44,0:13:01.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it came from a team of financial analysts in the United Kingdom.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:01.90,0:13:07.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what they did was sit down with all the annual reports and SEC filings and things
Dialogue: 0,0:13:07.82,0:13:15.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to figure out how much carbon the world's fossil fuel industry, how much they had already in their reserves
Dialogue: 0,0:13:15.55,0:13:22.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that number turned out to be 2795 gigatons worth of carbon.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:22.32,0:13:29.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Five times as much as the most conservative governments on earth think would be safe to pour into the atmosphere.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:31.25,0:13:32.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not even close.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:32.10,0:13:35.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, it's five times more.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:35.42,0:13:42.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once you know that number, then you understand the essence of this problem.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.39,0:13:54.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What the fossil fuel industry is doing is locking us into a future that we can't survive, that humanity cannot survive.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:54.98,0:13:58.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we know this because just at the end of 2012
Dialogue: 0,0:13:58.37,0:14:02.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we heard this from three different conservative sources simultaneously:
Dialogue: 0,0:14:02.71,0:14:08.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The World Bank, The International Energy Agency, Price Waterhouse Cooper, hardly a hippy outfit.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:08.70,0:14:14.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All told us that if we do nothing but more of the same, if we dig up those reserves,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:14.60,0:14:18.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we are headed toward 4-6 degrees warming celsius.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:20.16,0:14:28.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These numbers show, and I want to be absolutely clear here, these companies are a rogue force, they're outlaws.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:28.39,0:14:34.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're not outlaws against the laws of the state. They get to write those for the most part.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:34.15,0:14:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But they're outlaw against the laws of physics.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.90,0:14:41.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If they carry out their business plan, the planet tanks.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:43.24,0:14:46.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have all the engineers and entrepreneurs we need.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:46.63,0:14:55.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The thing that's hold us back above all else is the simple fact that the fossil fuel industry cheats.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:55.56,0:15:00.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alone among industries, they're allowed to pour out their waste for free.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:00.78,0:15:04.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nobody should be able to pollute for free.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:04.41,0:15:10.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can't, I can't. We can't walk out of here and go litter for free. If you do, you get a fine.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:10.66,0:15:13.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you run a small business, you can't just dump the garbage in the road,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:13.99,0:15:16.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you've got to pay to have it hauled away or you get a fine.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.87,0:15:25.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only people who can pollute for free are these megapolluters when it comes to carbon: big oil, big coal.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:25.08,0:15:30.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you get a $25 fine for littering, you're going to pay $25 more
Dialogue: 0,0:15:30.09,0:15:37.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than all of the industrial polluters have ever paid in 150 years for the carbon they've been dumping.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.73,0:15:40.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's how whack this whole thing is.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:40.14,0:15:42.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's almost how we define civilization.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.72,0:15:46.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You pick up after yourself unless you're the fossil fuel industry.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:46.61,0:15:50.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then you pour that carbon into the atmosphere for free
Dialogue: 0,0:15:50.15,0:15:56.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that is the advantage that keeps us from getting renewable energy at the pace that we need.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.66,0:15:59.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We should internalize that externality.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:59.88,0:16:07.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only reason we haven't is because it would impair somewhat the record profitability of the fossil fuel industry
Dialogue: 0,0:16:07.17,0:16:11.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so they have battled at every turn to keep it from happening.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:11.03,0:16:13.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are rogue companies now.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.63,0:16:17.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once upon a time, they performed a useful social function.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:17.68,0:16:25.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For a long time, the US's engine was fossil fuels like oil and coal to power trains, to power cars, to power industry.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:25.16,0:16:28.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the mid 1900's we realized there were consequences.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:28.10,0:16:32.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you look at industries like coal now, we just did a report with Harvard Medical School
Dialogue: 0,0:16:32.17,0:16:35.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that showed that if they actually paid for what they're doing to us,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:35.53,0:16:42.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what we're paying indirectly for that electricity, coal would cost anywhere from 3 to far more times their current cost.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.70,0:16:48.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They would be out of business and that is just, financially and morally, bankrupt.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:48.63,0:16:55.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When a utility burns coal, it is the cheapest source of fuel, but they're not paying the full price.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:55.81,0:17:02.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The externalities, the additional costs to society, to human health, to the environment,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:02.38,0:17:06.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are not factored in as a cost of doing business.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:06.64,0:17:10.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We subsidize the fossil fuel industries.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.86,0:17:14.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are paying them to continue to keep polluting and this means all kinds of things:
Dialogue: 0,0:17:14.80,0:17:23.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's tax breaks, it's loans, it's the fact that armies protect their pipelines and protect their trade routes.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:23.08,0:17:31.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You're helping them stay on top and preventing their competitors like renewable fuels from competing.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:31.38,0:17:33.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we need is a level playing field.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:33.56,0:17:39.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We could be using that public money, tax-payer money, to make the shift to green energy.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:41.18,0:17:44.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Occasionally they will pretend to be seeing the light.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:44.58,0:17:53.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ten years ago, BP announced that their initials now stand for Beyond Petroleum and they got a new logo
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.36,0:18:02.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and put some solar panels on some gas stations and they invested a tiny bit of money, a pittance in solar and wind research.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:02.58,0:18:06.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even that proved too much, three years ago they sold off those divisions
Dialogue: 0,0:18:06.79,0:18:11.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and said that from now on they were going to concentrate on their core business.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:11.25,0:18:15.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which turned out to be basically wrecking the Gulf of Mexico.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:16.26,0:18:19.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why are they so fixated on hydrocarbons?
Dialogue: 0,0:18:19.84,0:18:23.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because these are the most profitable enterprises in human history.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:23.68,0:18:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The top five oil companies last year made 137 billion dollars.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:29.64,0:18:33.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's 375 million dollars every day.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:33.87,0:18:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's a lot of money.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:37.14,0:18:42.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They got 6.6 million dollars in federal tax breaks daily.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:42.12,0:18:46.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They spent $440,000 a day lobbying congress.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:46.92,0:18:51.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rex Tillerson, the head of Exxon, made $100,000 a day.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:52.71,0:18:56.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which, by the way, one of my favorite talking points
Dialogue: 0,0:18:56.34,0:19:02.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that climate scientists make up their findings because they're in it for the grant money, okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:07.70,0:19:11.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only problem that these companies have now
Dialogue: 0,0:19:11.19,0:19:17.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that the scientists are watching in real time while they pull off this heist and it's getting harder to deny.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:17.07,0:19:20.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, they're being to kind of admit what's going on.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:20.53,0:19:27.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Last summer, for the very first time, the CEO of Exxon, Mr. Tillerson gave a speech in which he said, yes, it's true.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.41,0:19:28.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Global warming exists.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:28.95,0:19:36.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Clearly there's gonna be an impact so I'm not disputing that increasing CO2 emissions is going to have an impact.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:36.75,0:19:38.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It'll have a warming impact.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:38.51,0:19:42.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But since the only way to stop that would be to take a hit to the company's profitability,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:42.30,0:19:44.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he immediately tried to change the subject.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:44.85,0:19:48.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's an engineering problem and it has engineering solutions.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:48.10,0:19:51.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Really? What kind of engineering solutions were you thinking?
Dialogue: 0,0:19:51.27,0:19:56.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Changes to weather patterns that move crop production areas around, we'll adapt to that.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:56.02,0:19:59.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look, I mean all respect, but that's crazy talk.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:59.58,0:20:03.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can't move crop production areas around, okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:03.65,0:20:08.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Crop production areas are what people in Vermont refer to as farms, okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:08.47,0:20:13.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We already have farms every where that there is decent soil on earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:13.29,0:20:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is true that Exxon has done all it can to melt the tundra,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:17.00,0:20:22.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that does not mean that you can just move Iowa up there and start over again.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:22.17,0:20:24.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is no soil.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:24.76,0:20:28.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If fossil fuel companies want to change, here's how we'd know they're serious:
Dialogue: 0,0:20:28.98,0:20:33.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One, they'd need to stop lobbying in Washington.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:33.68,0:20:38.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two, they'd need to stop exploring for new hydrocarbons.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:38.81,0:20:44.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first rule of holes is that when you are in one, stop digging, okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:44.07,0:20:48.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the third thing they'd need to do is go to work with the rest of us
Dialogue: 0,0:20:48.12,0:20:55.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to figure out the plan where they turn themselves into energy companies, not fossil fuel companies
Dialogue: 0,0:20:55.58,0:21:00.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and figure out with the rest of us how to keep 80% of those reserves underground.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:02.54,0:21:06.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The thing that really does make this almost pathological
Dialogue: 0,0:21:06.47,0:21:12.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the fact that when we already have almost five times as much carbon as we can possibly burn,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:12.06,0:21:17.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean Exxon alone: 100 million dollars a day exploring for new hydrocarbons.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:17.94,0:21:23.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By this point we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. I mean we're in tar sands, we're doing shale oil,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:23.83,0:21:28.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we're doing fracking, we're doing mountain top removal, we're doing deep sea drilling,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:28.86,0:21:34.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we're taking apart the earth to look for the last bits of gas and oil and coal.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:49.63,0:21:56.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I find that when I get depressed, the best antidote by far is action and I think that that's true for most people.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:56.85,0:22:01.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problem with climate change is that it seems too big for any of us ourselves to take on.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:01.23,0:22:02.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And ideed it is.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:02.98,0:22:09.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's only when we're working with other people, as many other people as possible, that we have any hope.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:09.28,0:22:14.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that's why I spend my time trying to build movements. I think it's the only chance we've got.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:14.38,0:22:22.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anybody can get involved. There's always stuff to be done and more of it all the time. That's what movements look like.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:23.17,0:22:30.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We started 350.org in 2008 and when I say we I mean me and seven undergraduates at Middlebury College.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:30.97,0:22:35.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We had the deep desire to try and do some global organizing
Dialogue: 0,0:22:35.85,0:22:40.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about the first really global problem this planet's ever faced.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:40.24,0:22:42.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we spread out around the planet
Dialogue: 0,0:22:42.48,0:22:48.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for the next year or so we found people all over this earth who wanted to work with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:48.07,0:22:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We asked them all to take one day and this was our first big day of action was in the fall of 2009.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:54.66,0:22:57.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We said, Will you all join us for one day?
Dialogue: 0,0:22:57.37,0:23:01.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Will you do something on that day to take this most important number, 350,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:01.09,0:23:05.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and drive it into the information bloodstream of the planet?
Dialogue: 0,0:23:05.13,0:23:10.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the next 48 hours, pictures just poured in many a minute.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:10.67,0:23:16.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before it was over, there'd been 5200 demonstrations in 181 countries.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:16.07,0:23:20.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,CNN called it the most widespread day of political activity in the planet's history.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:20.85,0:23:24.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cities across the globe have gathered today to rally for solutions to climate change.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:27.50,0:23:29.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Locations around the globe.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:29.94,0:23:34.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hundreds of environment campaigners gathered in Edinborgh today.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:38.70,0:23:42.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we've gone on since then to do more of these big days of action.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:42.21,0:23:44.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We work in every country but North Korea.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:44.81,0:23:47.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have had about 20,000 rallies or so.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:47.89,0:23:50.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we've gone on to do more direct things:
Dialogue: 0,0:23:50.14,0:23:53.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spearhead the fight against the Keystone Pipeline,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:53.01,0:23:56.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,organize the largest civil disobedience action in thirty years.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:56.89,0:23:59.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now the high stakes battle over whether the Obama administration
Dialogue: 0,0:23:59.97,0:24:03.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,should approve a major oil pipeline bisecting the US.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:03.81,0:24:08.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It would transfer tar sands from Alberta, Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:08.32,0:24:11.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The type of oil the pipeline would carry is far more toxic.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:11.78,0:24:14.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Among the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:14.45,0:24:17.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This pipeline has proven to be very controversial.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:17.62,0:24:23.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To the federal government to decide whether or not to give Keystone XL the green light.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:23.50,0:24:32.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tar sands is destructive in and of itself but it's also symbolic of a way of developing,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:32.18,0:24:35.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a way of growing our economy that just can't be sustained.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:36.65,0:24:42.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right now a company called TransCanada has applied to build a new pipeline
Dialogue: 0,0:24:42.06,0:24:48.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to speed more oil from Cushing to state-of-the-art refineries down in the Gulf Coast
Dialogue: 0,0:24:48.42,0:24:52.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and today I'm directing my administration to cut through the red tape,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:52.44,0:24:56.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,break through the bureaucratic hurdles and make this project a priority.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:01.96,0:25:07.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,August was the beginning of the people's veto of this whole proposal.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:07.67,0:25:15.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We will never give up until the very idea of Keystone XL is dead and buried.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:16.33,0:25:20.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tar sands are the turning point in our fossil fuel addiction.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:20.18,0:25:28.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The fundamental fact is that as long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy, they will continue to be used.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:28.24,0:25:33.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The solution is to begin to put a price on carbon emissions.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:33.69,0:25:40.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We the American people should not have to sacrifice our land and water to meet TransCanada's bottom line.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:40.45,0:25:46.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We stand here right now because we are at our lunch counter moment for the twenty-first century.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:46.87,0:25:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,President Obama, do the right thing.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:50.00,0:25:55.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are at a tipping point in America's history for this environmental movement.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:55.90,0:26:01.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you are going to be risking arrest, you're going to be lining up on this sidewalk.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:01.84,0:26:06.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I saw the acts of civil disobedience in front of the White House,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:06.01,0:26:10.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people saying I will not let this Keystone pipeline be built,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:10.41,0:26:15.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I won't let us be committed to an energy plan based on fossil fuels.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:15.75,0:26:18.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know the people who got arrested in front of the White House,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:18.66,0:26:22.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,those were not all people who were all self-identified as environmentalists.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:22.58,0:26:28.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those were farmers and ranchers, those were people from indigenous communities, those were business leaders,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:28.75,0:26:31.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,those were grandparents and moms and dads.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:31.62,0:26:36.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're really starting to see an expansion of the group of people that are fighting this fight,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:36.55,0:26:39.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we have a lot further to go on that.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:40.51,0:26:43.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've been forced to do things I didn't imagine I'd ever do:
Dialogue: 0,0:26:43.90,0:26:48.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stand up on a stage in front of thousand of people, go to jail.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:48.27,0:26:54.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're probably not going to be able to stop them all one pipeline, one mine at a time.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:54.64,0:26:58.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're also going to have to play, you know, offense.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:00.03,0:27:05.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We think one thing the fossil fuel industry cares about is money so that's what we're going to go after.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:05.33,0:27:09.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You want to take away our planet and our future? We're going to try and take away your money.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:09.83,0:27:12.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're going to try and tarnish your brand.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:12.79,0:27:20.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This industry has behaved so recklessly that they should lose their social license, their veneer of respectability.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:23.74,0:27:28.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need these guys to be understood as those outlaws against the laws of physics.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:28.60,0:27:33.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to take away some of their power and there's a lot of ways we're going to do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:33.94,0:27:37.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One tool, the first tool, is divestment.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:37.68,0:27:45.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're going to ask or demand that institutions like colleges or churches sell their stock in these companies.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:45.32,0:27:47.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The logic could not be simpler:
Dialogue: 0,0:27:47.33,0:27:52.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If it's wrong to wreck the climate, it's wrong to profit from that wreckage.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:52.87,0:27:57.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That argument has worked in a big way exactly once in US history.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:57.67,0:28:01.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There has been scattered violent incidence in the Athlone mixed race neighborhood.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:01.50,0:28:04.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Authorities returned fire without warning.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:04.36,0:28:11.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Organized, vocal and committed students urge the university to divest itself of all investments in South Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:11.14,0:28:15.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's what happened during the fight against South African Apartheid.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:15.23,0:28:23.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At 155 colleges and universities, people convinced their boards of trustees to sell their stock.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:23.19,0:28:27.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when Nelson Mandela got out of prison, one of his first trips was to the US
Dialogue: 0,0:28:27.85,0:28:34.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he didn't go first to the White House, he went to Berkley to say thank you to the University of California students
Dialogue: 0,0:28:34.60,0:28:42.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who had forced the sale of 3 billion dollars worth of Apartheid tainted stock.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:44.75,0:28:45.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here's what we demand:
Dialogue: 0,0:28:45.80,0:28:49.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One, no new investments in fossil fuel companies.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:49.47,0:28:57.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two, a firm pledge over the next five years that they will wind down their current positions.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:57.75,0:29:03.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not unreasonable. It's hard but it's not unreasonable.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:03.44,0:29:05.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'll give you a piece of news:
Dialogue: 0,0:29:05.32,0:29:11.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first college in the country to divest all its stock from fossil fuel companies
Dialogue: 0,0:29:11.13,0:29:16.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was a college in Maine called Unity College with a 13 million dollar endowment.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:16.75,0:29:22.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And none of that 13 million dollars at this point is in fossil fuels any place.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:24.80,0:29:28.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Divestment really in one sense was a no brainer for us.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:28.22,0:29:34.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you look at other institutions and their struggle with whether or not to divest,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:34.22,0:29:38.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it really boils down to one simple thing: willingness.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:38.86,0:29:43.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The mayor in Seattle, he said, I spent the afternoon with my treasurer
Dialogue: 0,0:29:43.61,0:29:48.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we're figuring out how we're going to get the city's funds out of fossil fuel companies.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:51.83,0:29:55.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Welcome everyone to our event tonight: Divesting from Fossil Fuels,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:55.20,0:30:00.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a conversation with students from Barnard, Columbia, the New School, NYU and Hunter College.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:00.55,0:30:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Students are asking for divestment.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:02.96,0:30:08.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The fact that we have over 250 movements on different campusus around the country
Dialogue: 0,0:30:08.34,0:30:13.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,means that we have severely challenged that veneer of social respectability.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:14.06,0:30:19.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They understand, like the religious denominations and cities that are also doing this,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:19.15,0:30:23.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they understand what those numbers mean.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:23.32,0:30:26.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's inconsistent with the reason these institutions exist
Dialogue: 0,0:30:26.99,0:30:33.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for them to continue to invest in something that is dedicated to the destruction of civilization.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:33.37,0:30:39.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're asking the administration at NYU to divest the university endowment from the fossil fuel industry.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:39.99,0:30:46.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can re-invest in our antiquated infrastructure and make our buildings more energy efficient.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:46.54,0:30:50.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People are always looking for this silver bullet, instead its the silver buckshot.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:50.39,0:30:53.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How this campaign fits into the greater scheme of things
Dialogue: 0,0:30:53.30,0:30:58.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that this is just one of those ways in which we can take action.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:58.70,0:31:02.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are the kind of solutions that the university should be leading on
Dialogue: 0,0:31:02.10,0:31:06.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they should be saying, we're going to take the money that's piled up in our endowment
Dialogue: 0,0:31:06.48,0:31:08.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that right now is either doing nothing or doing harm
Dialogue: 0,0:31:08.96,0:31:13.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we're going to take that money away from the problem makers and give it to the problem solvers.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:13.88,0:31:17.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once you know what's evil, now if you're ignorant you get a pass,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:17.54,0:31:24.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but once you know what's evil, you have a moral responsibility to withdraw your energy from it.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:24.63,0:31:28.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are participating in the destruction of our own world even if we don't want to
Dialogue: 0,0:31:28.92,0:31:37.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the fossil fuel industry is so intertwined in so many aspects in American life.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:37.51,0:31:41.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They rely on our cooperation to continue what they're doing. But what if we said no?
Dialogue: 0,0:31:41.84,0:31:47.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The divestment work is a piece of that and what it does is it has the ambition
Dialogue: 0,0:31:47.53,0:31:54.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of transforming hundreds, thousands of institutions in the US to be allies rather than adversaries.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:54.95,0:31:58.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We, as everyday people, have so much power.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:58.32,0:32:05.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you are a member of a church, you have the ability to work with your fellow congregants
Dialogue: 0,0:32:05.13,0:32:09.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to make sure your church is not investing in fossil fuel companies.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:09.04,0:32:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you are a student on a college campus, not only do you have the opportunity, I think you have the responsibility
Dialogue: 0,0:32:15.00,0:32:19.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to work with your fellow students to make sure that your institution of higher learning
Dialogue: 0,0:32:19.76,0:32:25.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not investing its endowment in the companies that are destroying your future and this planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:25.72,0:32:30.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to send a message, a very clear message, to big oil, big energy
Dialogue: 0,0:32:30.60,0:32:38.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we are going to hold them liable and we are going to divest if they won't themselves being to change.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:40.36,0:32:45.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is nothing, and I mean nothing, radical in what we are talking about here.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:45.33,0:32:47.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All we're asking for when we talk about climate change
Dialogue: 0,0:32:47.88,0:32:52.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a planet that works the way that it did for the last 10,000 years,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:52.72,0:32:55.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a planet that works the way the one we were born onto works.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:55.84,0:33:01.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's not a radical demand. That's, if you think about it, a conservative demand.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:01.18,0:33:04.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Radicals work at oil companies.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:04.46,0:33:07.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you wake up in the morning to make your $100,000 a day,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:07.65,0:33:11.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're willing to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:11.48,0:33:15.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then you're engaged in a more radical act than anyone who ever came before you.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:15.21,0:33:20.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And our job is to figure out how to check that radicalism, how to bring it to heel,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:20.94,0:33:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how to keep it from overwhelming everything good on this planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:28.26,0:33:32.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here's the good news, since I've been giving you lots of bad news, here's the good news:
Dialogue: 0,0:33:32.25,0:33:34.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's plenty we can do.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:34.100,0:33:37.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The long-term solution to climate change is very clear.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:37.65,0:33:41.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to make the leap to renewable energy and we need to do it quickly, which will be hard.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:41.90,0:33:46.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It will be the hardest thing we've done since gearing up to fight World War II or something
Dialogue: 0,0:33:46.41,0:33:49.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's by no means impossible.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:49.94,0:33:53.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I feel a little overwhelmed with all the things we need to do,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:53.48,0:33:56.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I go back and re-read the economic history of World War II.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:56.99,0:33:58.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was just a matter of months, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:58.36,0:34:03.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the US automobile industry producing cars to tanks and planes and ships.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:03.45,0:34:08.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It didn't take decades to restructure the US industrial economy. It didn't take years.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:08.16,0:34:10.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was done in a matter of months.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:10.49,0:34:11.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if we could do that now
Dialogue: 0,0:34:11.32,0:34:16.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then certainly we can restructure the world energy economy over the next decade.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:16.32,0:34:18.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's going to require some hard choices.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:18.58,0:34:24.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's going to require a real change in how we get our energy and how we move around.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:24.48,0:34:26.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the good news is that we have the solutions.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:26.09,0:34:28.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, we have the ways.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:28.16,0:34:33.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know what we need to do to get to a world where we're not buring as many fossil fuels.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:33.69,0:34:38.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why would we build a thousand mile pipeline taking almost a million barrels of oil
Dialogue: 0,0:34:38.45,0:34:41.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the most carbon intensive fuel source on the planet
Dialogue: 0,0:34:41.70,0:34:45.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when wind energy is a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot cleaner?
Dialogue: 0,0:34:45.19,0:34:50.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why would be drill in the arctic when we know that solar power can meet our energy needs across the country?
Dialogue: 0,0:34:50.66,0:34:54.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why would be frack our countrysides and our watersheds
Dialogue: 0,0:34:54.32,0:34:58.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we know that energy efficiency would save more energy than natural gas can provide?
Dialogue: 0,0:34:58.84,0:35:02.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that we're coming to that point now where extreme energy sources are so bad
Dialogue: 0,0:35:02.93,0:35:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the questions and these challenges are going to become easier and easier.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:07.60,0:35:11.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our whole economy is going to be dependent on how we respond to this crisis.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:11.93,0:35:18.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Competition between countries will be between those who will be advanced in developing the technology
Dialogue: 0,0:35:18.64,0:35:25.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and who will be selling it to others or those who stay back and don't seize the opportunity.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:25.44,0:35:29.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We should never underestimate our ingenuity and resolve.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:29.53,0:35:36.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If those people that say we cannot do anything about this do not know who we are, do not know what we can do.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:36.08,0:35:40.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think this is the moment where we dig deep and say okay we are ready.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:40.83,0:35:45.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The solutions are in front of us and no longer in good conscience can any of us,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:45.92,0:35:51.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyday citizens, elected officials, religious leaders, stand idly by.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:51.31,0:35:54.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All the big problems that we have, they all have very local solutions
Dialogue: 0,0:35:54.61,0:35:59.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and finding what those solutions are actually results in a whole bunch of different benefits
Dialogue: 0,0:35:59.61,0:36:03.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from an environmental standpoint, economic standpoint and social aspect.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:08.56,0:36:14.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are in a situation where we're going to have an ecologically sustainable economy for everybody
Dialogue: 0,0:36:14.32,0:36:16.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or ultimately we won't have one for anybody.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:16.89,0:36:23.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just the smart thing to do to bet on the future and to being to invest in the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:23.29,0:36:30.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The past has a lobby and it's a well-paid lobby and it comes right out of big oil and big coal.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:30.31,0:36:34.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The future doesn't have a lobby until now.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:35.47,0:36:40.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to be as sophisticated as the system we're trying to change.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:40.85,0:36:46.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The legislation that Senator Boxer and I are introducing with the support of the leading environmental organizations
Dialogue: 0,0:36:46.62,0:36:49.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually addresses the crisis.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:49.54,0:36:53.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A major focus is a price on carbon and methane emissions.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:53.74,0:37:00.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think a lot of people wondered, maybe still wonder, whether our political system is up to this task.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:02.50,0:37:05.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the largest sense, I don't know if we can win this fight.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:05.68,0:37:08.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are scientists who think we've waited too long to get started.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:08.47,0:37:11.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Clearly the power on the other side is enormous.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:11.30,0:37:13.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everyone once in awhile I get discouraged.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:13.42,0:37:16.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was TV reporter who was sort of grilling me who said,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:16.18,0:37:20.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well this just seems impossible. You're up against the richest industry on earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:20.02,0:37:23.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This just seems like one of these David and Goliath stories. What chance do you have?
Dialogue: 0,0:37:23.81,0:37:25.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was thinking, oh, you're right, this is terrible.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:25.60,0:37:30.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then I thought, and since we're in church, maybe this is apropos, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:30.82,0:37:37.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought, I know how that David and Goliath story comes out. David wins against the odds, okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:37.56,0:37:42.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know if we're going to win, but we have a real chance.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:43.06,0:37:46.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know that civil disobedience has helped to achieve great things.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:46.21,0:37:49.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's helped secure for women the right to vote.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:49.30,0:37:51.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's helped to end segregation.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:51.05,0:37:54.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we know that we can't win on climate change if we continue to dither,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:54.60,0:37:57.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if we continue to talk about it but not do anything.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:57.14,0:38:00.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have a moral catastrophe on our hands.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:02.02,0:38:07.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to do this because our democracy has been subverted, our laws have been subverted.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:07.52,0:38:10.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I say it's criminal. I say that not lightly.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:10.74,0:38:14.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you have no recourse in our democracy, legally or democratically,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:14.42,0:38:20.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we not only have the right but we have the duty to break the law to show our discontent.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:20.71,0:38:29.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As a nation, we can come together. This is not about Republican or Democrat, it's about humanity.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:29.67,0:38:37.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're connected to each other and that organizing has got to be the basis for this kind of larger fight.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:39.65,0:38:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're very glad to be here, some of us are especially glad to be here because we're glad to be out of jail
Dialogue: 0,0:38:45.87,0:38:51.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where we spent much of yesterday in this demonstration about the Keystone pipeline
Dialogue: 0,0:38:51.36,0:38:56.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's, of course, of the reasons Americans are descending on this city this week.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:56.95,0:38:58.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thousands of people marched past the White House
Dialogue: 0,0:38:58.79,0:39:03.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and urged President Obama to take strong measures to combat climate change.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:03.67,0:39:09.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the second high profile event organized in a week by groups including the Sierra Club and 350.org.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:10.08,0:39:17.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm here because I have an obligation to my children, my ancestors, our future generations.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:17.72,0:39:24.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If this pipeline goes through, it will be at the cost of human life.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:24.29,0:39:29.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When disaster strikes, it's not going to know race, color or creed.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:29.81,0:39:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The fossil fuel barons, their lawyers, their spindoctors are losing their grip on our countries psyche.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:38.70,0:39:43.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're not going to create the clean energy economy when one side beats the other,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:43.08,0:39:48.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we're going to win when we all come together for solutions that work for all of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:48.29,0:39:53.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the good news is that in this country, when we finally decided that we're going to take action
Dialogue: 0,0:39:53.54,0:40:00.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on a moral question at the question of who we are we tend to respond, when we respond, explosively.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:03.89,0:40:08.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is the epic struggle of this century and we're going to meet it.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:08.10,0:40:10.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we don't we won't have a twenty-second century.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:10.18,0:40:14.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whenever a great generation stands up, it stands up based on idealism.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:14.69,0:40:17.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It stands up based on moral courage and that's what's happening now.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:17.69,0:40:28.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the last minute of the last quarter of the biggest most important game humanity have ever played.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:28.08,0:40:34.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reality of our movement is this: if we fail, the consequences are dire.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:34.71,0:40:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,None of you could be in a more important place than you are right now.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:38.44,0:40:42.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Part of this battle against the very deepest problems we've ever faced,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:42.38,0:40:45.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very few people on earth ever get to say,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:45.51,0:40:50.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I'm doing the most important thing I can be doing any place on the planet at this moment in time"
Dialogue: 0,0:40:50.64,0:40:56.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you guys get to say that because you are on the front lines of this all-important battle.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:57.57,0:41:00.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we can win this fight.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:00.57,0:41:07.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we can win it if we act as a community, if we do not do anything that would injure that community
Dialogue: 0,0:41:07.25,0:41:14.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but instead build and knit that community together in a way that allows it to take powerful action.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:18.43,0:41:20.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know the end of the story.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:20.89,0:41:26.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unless we rewrite the script, it's very clear how it ends with a planet that just heats out of control.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:27.23,0:41:30.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that's our job: to rewrite the story.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:31.20,0:41:40.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All I ever wanted to see was a movement of people to stop climate change and now I've seen it.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:42.25,0:41:49.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today at the biggest climate rally by far, by far, by far in US history,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:49.84,0:41:54.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,today I know we're going to fight the battle,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:54.27,0:42:01.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most faithful battle in human history is finally joined and we will fight it together.