1
00:00:21,093 --> 00:00:22,093
Ta-da!

2
00:00:22,133 --> 00:00:24,275
(Laughter)

3
00:00:24,976 --> 00:00:26,364
I am honored to be here,

4
00:00:26,388 --> 00:00:28,365
and I'm honored to talk about this topic,

5
00:00:28,389 --> 00:00:30,214
which I think is of grave importance.

6
00:00:30,238 --> 00:00:31,461
We've been talking a lot

7
00:00:31,485 --> 00:00:37,428
about the horrific impacts of plastic
on the planet and on other species,

8
00:00:37,452 --> 00:00:39,460
but plastic hurts people, too...

9
00:00:39,951 --> 00:00:41,333
Especially poor people.

10
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,158
And both in the production of plastic,

11
00:00:45,182 --> 00:00:47,900
the use of plastic
and the disposal of plastic,

12
00:00:47,924 --> 00:00:51,161
the people who have
the bull's-eye on their foreheads

13
00:00:51,613 --> 00:00:53,303
are poor people.

14
00:00:54,727 --> 00:00:56,893
People got very upset

15
00:00:56,928 --> 00:01:00,007
when the BP oil spill happened,

16
00:01:00,031 --> 00:01:01,491
for very good reason.

17
00:01:01,515 --> 00:01:03,139
People thought, "Oh, my God.

18
00:01:03,163 --> 00:01:05,939
This is terrible, this oil...
It's in the water.

19
00:01:05,963 --> 00:01:09,881
It's going to destroy
the living systems there.

20
00:01:09,905 --> 00:01:11,339
People are going to be hurt.

21
00:01:11,363 --> 00:01:12,854
This is a terrible thing,

22
00:01:12,878 --> 00:01:15,213
this oil is going to hurt
the people in the Gulf."

23
00:01:15,237 --> 00:01:17,307
What people don't think about is:

24
00:01:17,331 --> 00:01:19,490
What if the oil had made it
safely to shore?

25
00:01:20,084 --> 00:01:22,775
What if the oil actually got
where it was trying to go?

26
00:01:23,314 --> 00:01:27,311
Not only would it have been burned
in engines and added to global warming,

27
00:01:27,335 --> 00:01:30,696
but there's a place called "Cancer Alley,"

28
00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:32,855
and the reason it's called "Cancer Alley"

29
00:01:32,879 --> 00:01:35,507
is because the petrochemical industry

30
00:01:35,531 --> 00:01:37,687
takes that oil and turns it into plastic

31
00:01:37,711 --> 00:01:39,891
and in the process, kills people.

32
00:01:40,414 --> 00:01:43,462
It shortens the lives of the people
who live there in the Gulf.

33
00:01:43,486 --> 00:01:47,280
So oil and petrochemicals are not
just a problem when there's a spill;

34
00:01:47,304 --> 00:01:49,014
they're a problem when there's not.

35
00:01:49,038 --> 00:01:51,445
And what we don't often appreciate

36
00:01:51,469 --> 00:01:53,143
is the price that poor people pay

37
00:01:53,167 --> 00:01:55,278
for us to have these disposable products.

38
00:01:55,693 --> 00:01:57,838
The other thing
we often don't appreciate is,

39
00:01:57,862 --> 00:02:00,962
it's not just at the point of production
that poor people suffer.

40
00:02:00,986 --> 00:02:03,159
Poor people also suffer
at the point of use.

41
00:02:03,636 --> 00:02:05,721
Those of us who earn
a certain income level,

42
00:02:05,745 --> 00:02:07,686
we have something called choice.

43
00:02:08,170 --> 00:02:10,636
The reason why you want
to work hard and have a job

44
00:02:10,660 --> 00:02:12,331
and not be poor and broke

45
00:02:12,355 --> 00:02:14,796
is so you can have choices,
economic choices.

46
00:02:15,192 --> 00:02:19,277
We actually get a chance
to choose not to use products

47
00:02:19,301 --> 00:02:22,241
that have dangerous,
poisonous plastic in them.

48
00:02:22,442 --> 00:02:24,977
Other people who are poor
don't have those choices.

49
00:02:25,001 --> 00:02:26,975
So low-income people often are the ones

50
00:02:26,999 --> 00:02:30,983
who are buying the products that have
those dangerous chemicals in them

51
00:02:31,007 --> 00:02:32,446
that their children are using.

52
00:02:32,470 --> 00:02:36,294
Those are the people who wind up
ingesting a disproportionate amount

53
00:02:36,318 --> 00:02:38,485
of this poisonous plastic in using it.

54
00:02:38,509 --> 00:02:41,987
And people say, "Well, they should
just buy a different product."

55
00:02:42,166 --> 00:02:45,301
Well, the problem with being poor
is you don't have those choices.

56
00:02:45,325 --> 00:02:47,413
You often have to buy
the cheapest products.

57
00:02:47,437 --> 00:02:50,416
The cheapest products
are often the most dangerous.

58
00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:52,036
And if that weren't bad enough...

59
00:02:52,060 --> 00:02:55,481
If it wasn't just the production
of plastic that's giving people cancer

60
00:02:55,505 --> 00:02:57,009
in places like Cancer Alley,

61
00:02:57,033 --> 00:03:00,541
and shortening lives and hurting
poor kids at the point of use...

62
00:03:00,565 --> 00:03:02,648
At the point of disposal,

63
00:03:02,672 --> 00:03:05,930
once again, it's poor people
who bear the burden.

64
00:03:06,202 --> 00:03:08,807
Often, we think we're doing a good thing:

65
00:03:08,831 --> 00:03:12,479
You're in your office, drinking
your bottled water or whatever it is,

66
00:03:12,503 --> 00:03:15,262
and you think to yourself,
"I'm going to throw this away.

67
00:03:15,286 --> 00:03:18,816
No... I'm going to be virtuous.
I'm going to put it in the blue bin."

68
00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:20,872
You think, "I put mine in the blue bin."

69
00:03:20,896 --> 00:03:24,460
And then you look
at your colleague and say,

70
00:03:24,484 --> 00:03:27,598
"Why, you cretin!
You put yours in the white bin."

71
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,246
And we use that as a moral tickle.

72
00:03:30,270 --> 00:03:32,015
We feel so good about ourselves.

73
00:03:32,039 --> 00:03:35,294
If we... well, OK, I'm just... me.

74
00:03:35,318 --> 00:03:37,018
Not you, but I feel this way often.

75
00:03:37,042 --> 00:03:38,676
(Laughter)

76
00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:41,591
And so we kind of have
this moral feel-good moment.

77
00:03:42,020 --> 00:03:44,826
But if we were to be able
to follow that little bottle

78
00:03:45,416 --> 00:03:46,881
on its journey,

79
00:03:46,905 --> 00:03:49,470
we would be shocked
to discover that, all too often,

80
00:03:49,494 --> 00:03:51,824
that bottle is going to be put on a boat,

81
00:03:52,749 --> 00:03:54,926
it's going to go all the way
across the ocean

82
00:03:55,586 --> 00:03:56,902
at some expense,

83
00:03:56,926 --> 00:04:00,445
and it's going to wind up
in a developing country, often China.

84
00:04:01,269 --> 00:04:02,857
I think in our minds, we imagine

85
00:04:02,881 --> 00:04:05,341
somebody's going to take
the little bottle and say,

86
00:04:05,365 --> 00:04:08,626
"Oh, little bottle! We're so happy
to see you, little bottle."

87
00:04:08,650 --> 00:04:10,476
(Laughter)

88
00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:12,864
"You've served so well."

89
00:04:12,888 --> 00:04:13,911
(Laughter)

90
00:04:13,935 --> 00:04:15,776
He's given a little bottle massage,

91
00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:17,476
a little bottle medal.

92
00:04:17,500 --> 00:04:19,697
And they say, "What would
you like to do next?"

93
00:04:19,721 --> 00:04:22,070
The little bottle says,
"I just don't know ..."

94
00:04:22,094 --> 00:04:23,420
(Laughter)

95
00:04:23,444 --> 00:04:25,507
But that's not actually what happens.

96
00:04:26,590 --> 00:04:27,740
You know?

97
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,650
That bottle winds up getting burned.

98
00:04:32,817 --> 00:04:36,439
The recycling of plastic
in many developing countries

99
00:04:36,463 --> 00:04:39,613
means the incineration of the plastic,
the burning of the plastic,

100
00:04:39,637 --> 00:04:42,063
which releases incredible toxic chemicals

101
00:04:42,087 --> 00:04:43,920
and, once again, kills people.

102
00:04:43,944 --> 00:04:47,664
And so, poor people
who are making these products

103
00:04:47,688 --> 00:04:50,450
in petrochemical centers
like Cancer Alley,

104
00:04:50,474 --> 00:04:53,552
poor people who are consuming
these products disproportionately,

105
00:04:53,576 --> 00:04:57,090
and then poor people who,
even at the tail end of the recycling,

106
00:04:57,114 --> 00:04:58,876
are having their lives shortened.

107
00:04:58,900 --> 00:05:02,496
They're all being harmed... greatly...

108
00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:07,007
By this addiction that we have
to disposability.

109
00:05:07,384 --> 00:05:09,866
Now, you think to yourself...
I know how you are...

110
00:05:09,890 --> 00:05:13,360
You say, "That sure is terrible
for those poor people.

111
00:05:14,678 --> 00:05:17,566
It's just awful. Those poor people.

112
00:05:18,216 --> 00:05:20,347
I hope someone does
something to help them."

113
00:05:21,002 --> 00:05:22,728
But what we don't understand is...

114
00:05:24,165 --> 00:05:25,966
Here we are in Los Angeles.

115
00:05:25,990 --> 00:05:28,121
We worked very hard
to get the smog reduction

116
00:05:28,145 --> 00:05:29,700
happening here in Los Angeles.

117
00:05:29,724 --> 00:05:30,955
But guess what?

118
00:05:30,979 --> 00:05:34,334
Because they're doing so much
dirty production in Asia now,

119
00:05:34,358 --> 00:05:37,966
because the environmental laws
don't protect the people in Asia now,

120
00:05:37,990 --> 00:05:42,032
almost all of the clean air gains
and the toxic air gains

121
00:05:42,056 --> 00:05:43,928
that we've achieved here in California

122
00:05:43,952 --> 00:05:46,868
have been wiped out
by dirty air coming over from Asia.

123
00:05:48,071 --> 00:05:50,777
So we all are being hit.
We all are being impacted.

124
00:05:50,801 --> 00:05:53,555
It's just that the poor people
get it first and worst.

125
00:05:53,579 --> 00:05:56,770
But the dirty production,
the burning of toxins,

126
00:05:56,794 --> 00:05:59,054
the lack of environmental
standards in Asia,

127
00:05:59,078 --> 00:06:01,571
is actually creating so much
dirty air pollution,

128
00:06:01,595 --> 00:06:03,012
it's coming across the ocean,

129
00:06:03,036 --> 00:06:05,150
and has erased our gains
here in California.

130
00:06:05,174 --> 00:06:07,068
We're back where we were in the 1970s.

131
00:06:07,092 --> 00:06:09,019
And so we're on one planet,

132
00:06:09,043 --> 00:06:11,988
and we have to be able to get
to the root of these problems.

133
00:06:12,012 --> 00:06:15,070
The root of this problem, in my view,

134
00:06:15,094 --> 00:06:17,599
is the idea of disposability itself.

135
00:06:18,138 --> 00:06:21,159
You see, if you understand the link

136
00:06:21,183 --> 00:06:24,911
between what we're doing
to poison and pollute the planet

137
00:06:24,935 --> 00:06:27,376
and what we're doing to poor people,

138
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,534
you arrive at a very troubling
but also very helpful insight:

139
00:06:32,436 --> 00:06:34,684
In order to trash the planet,

140
00:06:34,708 --> 00:06:36,375
you have to trash people.

141
00:06:36,923 --> 00:06:39,863
But if you create a world
where you don't trash people,

142
00:06:39,887 --> 00:06:41,376
you can't trash the planet.

143
00:06:41,700 --> 00:06:44,166
So now we are at a moment

144
00:06:44,190 --> 00:06:47,038
where the coming together
of social justice as an idea

145
00:06:47,062 --> 00:06:48,676
and ecology as an idea,

146
00:06:49,511 --> 00:06:50,796
we finally can now see

147
00:06:50,820 --> 00:06:53,385
that they are really,
at the end of the day, one idea.

148
00:06:53,409 --> 00:06:56,296
And it's the idea that we don't have
disposable anything.

149
00:06:56,605 --> 00:06:59,205
We don't have disposable resources.

150
00:06:59,700 --> 00:07:02,331
We don't have disposable species.

151
00:07:02,355 --> 00:07:04,911
And we don't have
disposable people, either.

152
00:07:04,935 --> 00:07:06,957
We don't have a throwaway planet,

153
00:07:06,981 --> 00:07:09,772
and we don't have throwaway
children... it's all precious.

154
00:07:09,796 --> 00:07:12,676
And as we all begin to come back
to that basic understanding,

155
00:07:12,700 --> 00:07:15,676
new opportunities for action
begin to emerge.

156
00:07:16,295 --> 00:07:17,966
Biomimicry,

157
00:07:17,990 --> 00:07:21,507
which is an emerging science,

158
00:07:21,531 --> 00:07:24,676
winds up being a very important
social justice idea.

159
00:07:25,136 --> 00:07:27,328
People who are just
learning about this stuff:

160
00:07:27,352 --> 00:07:30,938
biomimicry means respecting
the wisdom of all species.

161
00:07:31,351 --> 00:07:32,515
Democracy, by the way,

162
00:07:32,539 --> 00:07:35,546
means respecting the wisdom
of all people... we'll get to that.

163
00:07:35,570 --> 00:07:38,356
But biomimicry means
respecting the wisdom of all species.

164
00:07:38,380 --> 00:07:40,890
It turns out we're a pretty
clever species.

165
00:07:40,914 --> 00:07:43,993
We have this big cortex,
we're pretty proud of ourselves.

166
00:07:44,017 --> 00:07:46,580
But if we want to make something hard,

167
00:07:46,604 --> 00:07:49,118
we say, "I know! I'm going
to make a hard substance.

168
00:07:49,142 --> 00:07:52,676
I know! I'm going to get
vacuums and furnaces

169
00:07:52,700 --> 00:07:54,384
and drag stuff out of the ground

170
00:07:54,408 --> 00:07:57,297
and get things hot
and poison and pollute...

171
00:07:57,321 --> 00:07:59,542
But I got this hard thing!"

172
00:08:00,204 --> 00:08:01,354
(Laughter)

173
00:08:01,378 --> 00:08:02,977
"I'm so clever!"

174
00:08:03,001 --> 00:08:06,046
And you look behind you,
and there's destruction all around you.

175
00:08:06,070 --> 00:08:07,223
But guess what?

176
00:08:07,247 --> 00:08:09,793
You're so clever,
but you're not as clever as a clam.

177
00:08:10,104 --> 00:08:11,341
A clamshell is hard.

178
00:08:11,858 --> 00:08:14,529
There's no vacuums.
There's no big furnaces.

179
00:08:14,553 --> 00:08:16,493
There's no poison. There's no pollution.

180
00:08:16,517 --> 00:08:21,317
It turns out that other species
figured out a long time ago

181
00:08:21,341 --> 00:08:23,676
how to create many of the things we need

182
00:08:23,700 --> 00:08:26,676
using biological processes
that nature knows how to use well.

183
00:08:27,363 --> 00:08:31,038
That insight of biomimicry,
of our scientists finally realizing

184
00:08:31,062 --> 00:08:33,470
that we have as much
to learn from other species...

185
00:08:33,494 --> 00:08:36,676
I don't mean taking a mouse
and sticking it with stuff.

186
00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:40,009
I don't mean looking at it from that way,
abusing the little species.

187
00:08:40,033 --> 00:08:43,289
I mean actually respecting them,
respecting what they've achieved.

188
00:08:43,313 --> 00:08:44,870
That's called biomimicry,

189
00:08:44,894 --> 00:08:48,767
and that opens the door
to zero waste production;

190
00:08:48,791 --> 00:08:50,676
zero pollution production;

191
00:08:50,700 --> 00:08:52,676
that we could actually enjoy

192
00:08:52,700 --> 00:08:55,321
a high quality of life,
a high standard of living,

193
00:08:55,345 --> 00:08:56,916
without trashing the planet.

194
00:08:56,940 --> 00:08:59,980
Well, that idea of biomimicry,

195
00:09:00,004 --> 00:09:01,892
respecting the wisdom of all species,

196
00:09:02,966 --> 00:09:06,838
combined with the idea
of democracy and social justice,

197
00:09:06,862 --> 00:09:09,457
respecting the wisdom
and the worth of all people,

198
00:09:09,481 --> 00:09:11,276
would give us a different society.

199
00:09:11,300 --> 00:09:13,172
We would have a different economy.

200
00:09:13,196 --> 00:09:15,506
We would have a green society

201
00:09:15,530 --> 00:09:17,935
that Dr. King would be proud of.

202
00:09:17,959 --> 00:09:19,276
That should be the goal.

203
00:09:19,633 --> 00:09:22,601
And the way that we get there
is to first of all recognize

204
00:09:22,625 --> 00:09:24,709
that the idea of disposability

205
00:09:25,566 --> 00:09:29,676
not only hurts the species
we've talked about,

206
00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:32,451
but it even corrupts our own society.

207
00:09:32,475 --> 00:09:35,452
We're so proud to live here in California.

208
00:09:35,476 --> 00:09:37,562
We just had this vote,
and everybody's like,

209
00:09:37,586 --> 00:09:39,324
"Well... not in our state!"

210
00:09:39,348 --> 00:09:40,869
(Laughter)

211
00:09:40,893 --> 00:09:43,676
I don't know what those
other states were doing, but ..."

212
00:09:43,700 --> 00:09:45,442
(Laughter)

213
00:09:45,466 --> 00:09:47,065
Just so proud.

214
00:09:48,061 --> 00:09:50,412
And, yeah, I'm proud, too.

215
00:09:50,436 --> 00:09:51,608
But...

216
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,676
California, though we lead the world
in some of the green stuff,

217
00:09:56,700 --> 00:09:58,676
we also, unfortunately, lead the world

218
00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:00,240
in some of the gulag stuff.

219
00:10:01,406 --> 00:10:04,946
California has one of the highest
incarceration rates

220
00:10:04,970 --> 00:10:06,676
of all the 50 states.

221
00:10:06,700 --> 00:10:08,936
We have a moral challenge
in this movement.

222
00:10:09,817 --> 00:10:14,837
We are passionate about rescuing
some dead materials from the landfill,

223
00:10:14,861 --> 00:10:16,677
but sometimes not as passionate

224
00:10:16,701 --> 00:10:19,019
about rescuing living beings,
living people.

225
00:10:19,414 --> 00:10:22,533
And I would say
that we live in a country...

226
00:10:22,557 --> 00:10:24,534
Five percent of the world's population,

227
00:10:24,558 --> 00:10:26,424
25 percent of the greenhouse gases,

228
00:10:27,072 --> 00:10:29,307
but also 25 percent
of the world's prisoners.

229
00:10:30,084 --> 00:10:32,744
One of every four people
locked up anywhere in the world

230
00:10:32,768 --> 00:10:34,942
is locked up right here
in the United States.

231
00:10:34,966 --> 00:10:37,676
So that is consistent with this idea

232
00:10:37,700 --> 00:10:40,336
that disposability
is something we believe in.

233
00:10:40,916 --> 00:10:42,075
And yet,

234
00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,762
as a movement that has to broaden
its constituency,

235
00:10:47,786 --> 00:10:49,097
that has to grow,

236
00:10:49,121 --> 00:10:52,223
that has to reach out
beyond our natural comfort zone,

237
00:10:52,247 --> 00:10:55,160
one of the challenges
to the success of this movement,

238
00:10:55,184 --> 00:10:58,424
of getting rid of things like plastic
and helping the economy shift,

239
00:10:58,448 --> 00:11:01,395
is people look at our movement
with some suspicion.

240
00:11:01,864 --> 00:11:04,460
And they ask a question,
and the question is:

241
00:11:04,484 --> 00:11:06,451
How can these people be so passionate?

242
00:11:07,246 --> 00:11:10,485
A poor person, a low-income person,
somebody in Cancer Alley,

243
00:11:10,509 --> 00:11:12,943
somebody in Watts,

244
00:11:12,967 --> 00:11:15,676
somebody in Harlem,
somebody on an Indian reservation,

245
00:11:15,700 --> 00:11:17,918
might say to themselves...
And rightfully so...

246
00:11:17,942 --> 00:11:19,959
"How can these people be so passionate

247
00:11:20,848 --> 00:11:22,589
about making sure

248
00:11:22,613 --> 00:11:26,676
that a plastic bottle
has a second chance in life,

249
00:11:26,700 --> 00:11:29,443
or an aluminum can has a second chance,

250
00:11:29,911 --> 00:11:33,477
and yet, when my child gets in trouble
and goes to prison,

251
00:11:33,501 --> 00:11:35,310
he doesn't get a second chance?"

252
00:11:35,334 --> 00:11:37,816
"How can this movement
be so passionate about saying

253
00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,660
we don't have throwaway stuff,
no throwaway dead materials,

254
00:11:40,684 --> 00:11:43,499
and yet accept throwaway lives

255
00:11:43,523 --> 00:11:45,840
and throwaway communities
like Cancer Alley?"

256
00:11:45,864 --> 00:11:50,885
And so, we now get a chance
to be truly proud of this movement.

257
00:11:51,438 --> 00:11:53,125
When we take on topics like this,

258
00:11:53,149 --> 00:11:57,781
it gives us that extra call
to reach out to other movements

259
00:11:57,805 --> 00:12:00,147
and to become more inclusive and to grow,

260
00:12:00,171 --> 00:12:03,408
and we can finally get out of
this crazy dilemma that we've been in.

261
00:12:03,969 --> 00:12:06,080
Most of you are good, softhearted people.

262
00:12:07,389 --> 00:12:10,045
When you were younger,
you cared about the whole world,

263
00:12:10,069 --> 00:12:12,965
and at some point, somebody said
you had to pick an issue,

264
00:12:13,838 --> 00:12:15,909
you had to boil your love
down to an issue.

265
00:12:16,282 --> 00:12:17,805
"Can't love the whole world...

266
00:12:17,829 --> 00:12:21,423
You've got to work on trees
or you've got to work on immigration.

267
00:12:21,447 --> 00:12:24,351
You've got to shrink it down
and be about one issue."

268
00:12:24,375 --> 00:12:26,535
And really, they fundamentally told you,

269
00:12:27,319 --> 00:12:28,845
"Are you going to hug a tree?

270
00:12:29,453 --> 00:12:31,580
Or are you going to hug a child? Pick.

271
00:12:31,604 --> 00:12:33,216
Are you going to hug a tree?

272
00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:35,309
Or are you going to hug a child? Pick."

273
00:12:35,333 --> 00:12:37,785
Well, when you start working
on issues like plastic,

274
00:12:37,809 --> 00:12:40,008
you realize the whole thing is connected.

275
00:12:40,032 --> 00:12:42,812
And luckily, most of us are blessed
to have two arms...

276
00:12:42,836 --> 00:12:44,227
We can hug both.

277
00:12:44,251 --> 00:12:45,620
Thank you very much.

278
00:12:45,644 --> 00:12:52,555
(Applause)