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In the early 1970s, the Beatles broke up,

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and nine months later, I was born.

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(Laughter)

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To this day, I still
kind of harbor some resentment

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because I think my mother's to blame.

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I think she's somehow involved in that.

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But I grew up within walking distance
of here, actually, in West Philadelphia,

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and it was a little wood house,
called a row house,

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with fake brick and fake shutters
that were glued to the side.

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And in that context,
I started designing buildings.

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That's me, by the way.

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I'm a cherry hot fudge sundae.

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(Laughter)

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And in this context -
this is what I grew up in, right? -

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so as a kid,

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I remember distinctly McDonald's
released the first Happy Meal in 1979,

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and three days later,
Three Mile Island exploded.

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And somehow, I always thought
that they were connected.

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(Laughter)

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And right around that same time,
my mother took me to see this building.

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This is the Beth Shalom Synagogue
by Frank Lloyd Wright.

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It's his only building in Philadelphia,

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and I encourage you all
to see it if you can,

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but it was the first time

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that I realized that a building
could be more than just a box.

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And I remember distinctly this memory
of sitting inside that atrium

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and watching birds fly overhead and seeing
their shadows trail along the floor.

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And I realized that buildings
could be about something,

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they could be bigger than us,

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so I spent the rest
of my life, essentially,

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studying Mr. Wright
and studying the designs of nature,

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and realized that nature
has a wealth of opportunities for us

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if we just open our eyes to it.

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But when I went to architecture school

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and I started learning
about real construction,

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I had these questions, and I didn't like
the answers I was getting.

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When I said, "Why would we
knowingly build that way

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when we know that it's toxic?

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Why would we do that
when we know it's wrong?"

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And the answer always was,

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"Because that's the way
we've always done it."

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So nature was just this kind of casualty
on the path to progress,

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and it didn't really work.

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This is my daughter.

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I know she's cute.
You don't need to make noise.

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(Laughter)

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And I took her to see
this NetZero energy project that we did -

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meaning that this building
generates more energy than it consumes -

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and this project was a little unusual

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because the solar panels

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weren't on the roof,
they were on the ground

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because it was a government
project and a mess.

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But anyway, they're on the ground,

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(Laughter)

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but you could play on them
and climb on them.

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And she said "Daddy, what are these?"

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I said, "Oh, honey,
those are solar panels.

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They produce energy
from the sun for free."

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And with the mind of a child,
of course she says,

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"Well, daddy, why not all buildings
have this? Daddy, why?"

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And so I leaned down
and I looked in her cute little face,

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and I said, "Oh, honey, that's because
most people are poopy heads."

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(Laughter)

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What am I going to tell her? The truth?

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(Laughter)

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"Well, you see, honey,

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there's this oil and coal cartel
that controls all of energy policy;

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they're haunting you in your dreams."

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She'll have nightmares.
I can't tell her that.

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Poopy heads. That's what it's got to be.

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If you look at the modern
environmental movement,

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we have failed, we're the losers here.

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We're the good guys and we're losing

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because it seems that environmentalism

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is trying to lead you
to one inevitable conclusion,

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which doesn't work for me.

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This one doesn't help.
This is not a good idea.

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(Laughter)

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And I realized that we're dumb -
I'm dumb, you're dumb, you're all dumb.

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We think we're smart, but we're not.

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And if you don't believe me,

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remember that we share
50% of our DNA with bananas.

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(Laughter)

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That'll humble you down a little bit.

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I was driving the other day
and I saw this bumper sticker,

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and I was going to run him off the road,

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but I didn't.

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(Laughter)

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And then I realized

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you never see this bumper sticker
shared with this bumper sticker;

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you never see the two together.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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I know causation is not
correlation, but you get it.

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So the problem that we're facing

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is that we knowingly put
cancer-causing chemicals in our building.

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We do this knowingly,
so we're clearly idiots.

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And to set the context
for how dumb we are,

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I want to show you this video just
to kind of start the afternoon off right.

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[The unchained goddess]

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(Video) … extremely dangerous questions

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because with our present knowledge,
we have no idea what would happen.

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Even now, man may be
unwittingly changing the world's climate

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through the waste products
of his civilization.

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Due to our release through factories
and automobiles every year

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of more than six billion tons
of carbon dioxide,

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which helps air absorb heat from the sun,

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our atmosphere
seems to be getting warmer.

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Eric Corey Freed: Now this video
was directed by Frank Capra,

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who did "It's a Wonderful Life,"
which is kind of neat,

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and it stars a very young,
very handsome Dick Cheney,

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which is weird.

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That's just weird to me.

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But this video's from 1958.

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Everything he says is true;
in fact, all the numbers are much worse.

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So what have we done since 1958?

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The answer is, really,

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we've lost our window,
we've lost our time.

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If you think that climate change

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is this abstract thing
that will happen sometime in the future,

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it's happening now.

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Last year, we had 400,000 people
that died due to climate change,

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and I don't mean in an indirect way.

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I'm talking in a very direct way,

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from drought and malaria
and food disruption.

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So, 400,000 people.

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And I didn't know 400,000 people
was a lot of people.

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I mean, it sounds like a lot to me,

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but I also know that we lose
8,000 a day to AIDS, right?

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So in the grand scheme
of things, maybe it's not.

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Well, turns out 400,000 people
is a lot of people:

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400,000 people is two and a half times
the amount of people

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we're going to lose to lung cancer
in the US this year;

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it's 10 times the amount of people

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we're going to lose
to breast cancer this year.

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So where's our ribbon? Can I design it?

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These are the kind of questions I have:
Can it be polka-dotted?

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This is what I want to know, right?

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And it just led me
to this inevitable conclusion

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that just by design,
we're just, ugh, the worst mammals ever.

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We're just, like, awful -

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that one person likes that joke -

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(Laughter)

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400,000 is more
than what we're going to lose

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to strokes, accidents, Alzheimer's,
and diabetes combined this year.

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You need to realize something -

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everything you've ever bought,
everything you've ever owned,

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it's still here.

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We didn't jettison it
into space; it's here.

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Remember in the '90s

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when you're really into Nirvana
and bought that flannel shirt?

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That shirt's here somewhere.

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It's probably in New Jersey.

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I don't know where it is,

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(Laughter)

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but it's here.

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Remember when you were
getting into shape

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and bought those roller blades
you needed for a week

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and you were like, "My knees hurt"?

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They're here.

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They're probably bobbing in the ocean.

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Because it's all still here.

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Tonight, you're going out for dinner,
and maybe you'll get some nice sushi,

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and you'll be like,

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"What's this in my sushi?
Oh, it's little bits of rollerblade."

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That's why. That's basically why.
It's your fault. (Laughter)

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And it doesn't help that we brag
about our dominion over a mat.

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We're sore winners.
That's what we are, basically.

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And just by design,
we're just awful creatures

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because first of all,
we get tired at the drop of a hat,

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we cry for no reason,

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(Laughter)

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we're easily trippable, I mean, easily -
you never see a zebra trip, do you? -

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and we just die in just
the dumbest ways possible.

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It's just so annoying.

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And this is why your cat
looks at you the way it does -

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it's just, "Ugh," it's just fed up.

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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And we're not getting better;

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we're not learning from experience.

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I'll give you an example:

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This was the world's largest man in 1903,

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and this was just some cop
I saw in Newark.

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Do you see what I'm saying?
(Laughter)

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We're not learning.

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The warning signs had been there,

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louder and louder,
closer and closer together,

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and we're not hearing them.

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These last few years
have also been a key moment

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because it's the first time ever

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we spent more in dealing
with the cost of extreme weather

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than on the federal education budget -

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2.6 billion on federal education,

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three billion dealing with things
like hurricane Sandy.

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And as much as that seems
like just an obscene amount of money,

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it's nothing compared
to the 8 billion we spent

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subsidizing the oil and coal companies.

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Maybe we could just move the money
from one pile to the other.

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Maybe that's not a big deal.

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Because the act of building is disruptive:

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Every year,

202
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we produce 3 tons of concrete
for every single person on Earth;

203
00:08:24,895 --> 00:08:28,410
every year, we cut down two trees
for every single person on Earth;

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and every year,

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we produced 600 pounds of steel
for every single person just in the US.

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Empowering all this is not good vibes

207
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but fossil fuels, and just
an immense amount of fossil fuels.

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One company, Exxon, is sucking
4 million barrels of oil a day

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out of the ground -

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every single day.

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And as much as that just seems
like an absurd amount of anything,

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it's nothing compared to the 92 million

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that all the oil companies
are sucking constantly out of the ground

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every single day.

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Shea Kimani famously said,

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"The Stone Age didn't end
because we ran out of stones."

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The oil age won't end
because we run out of oil;

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it's just going to get
harder and harder to get.

219
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And that's what you've been experiencing.

220
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So far, we've been the proverbial frog
in the boiling pot of water.

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It's kind of snuck up on us a little bit.

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But now that you're aware of it,
now that you know about it,

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now it's just going to get uncomfortable.

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You know,

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(Laughter)

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it's just going to be
an awkward conversation, basically.

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If you were an astronomer

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and you thought
that the sun went around the Earth -

229
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which by the way,

230
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it totally doesn't do that,
it's the other way around -

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but if you thought that, you'd do some
pretty bad astronomy, wouldn't you?

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And that's basically what we've done.

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We've done some
basically pretty bad building.

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It turns out, all the while,

235
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we've essentially been building
this kind of dead, lifeless skeleton.

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What we should have been building
is the whole creature

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because the creature respirates,

238
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it produces its own energy,
it processes its own waste;

239
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and a few of us, we're dabbling,
we're playing with it,

240
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but we're getting there,
we're getting better at it.

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But what I do know
is that this is a dead end.

242
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I mean, it's a pretty building, granted,
but a metal building in Los Angeles?

243
00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,030
You're telling me not one person
at the meeting said,

244
00:10:07,030 --> 00:10:08,558
"Hey, maybe that's a dumb idea."

245
00:10:08,558 --> 00:10:10,384
Nobody said anything?

246
00:10:10,384 --> 00:10:14,632
Plus I've seen how people react
when we put them around living buildings,

247
00:10:14,632 --> 00:10:17,343
natural buildings, buildings
that grow out of their sight;

248
00:10:17,343 --> 00:10:19,101
they actually reach out and pet them.

249
00:10:19,101 --> 00:10:21,268
It's bizarre to me they touch them.
(Laughter)

250
00:10:21,544 --> 00:10:22,698
So that's what we need -

251
00:10:22,698 --> 00:10:25,223
buildings rooted in the soil
the same way nature does.

252
00:10:25,223 --> 00:10:26,416
That's how nature builds.

253
00:10:26,416 --> 00:10:30,634
As you're sitting here, seemingly idle,
your bodies are a whirlwind of activity.

254
00:10:30,634 --> 00:10:33,622
These big black things you see,
those are called "leukocytes."

255
00:10:33,622 --> 00:10:35,100
They're fighting off infection,

256
00:10:35,100 --> 00:10:37,675
because frankly, half the people
in this room are sick,

257
00:10:37,675 --> 00:10:40,535
and those disgusting germs
are attacking you as you sit here.

258
00:10:40,535 --> 00:10:42,633
Your body just fights
them off. It's amazing.

259
00:10:42,633 --> 00:10:44,493
Those little shimmering things you see,

260
00:10:44,493 --> 00:10:47,109
those are little energy packets
your body's sending out;

261
00:10:47,109 --> 00:10:48,391
it's called cholesterol.

262
00:10:48,391 --> 00:10:50,873
By the way, some of you
have too much energy packets;

263
00:10:50,873 --> 00:10:52,778
you got to cut down on the cholesterol.

264
00:10:52,778 --> 00:10:53,924
But it's amazing, right?

265
00:10:53,924 --> 00:10:57,157
So, your body's very much this habitat,
this incredible habitat.

266
00:10:57,157 --> 00:11:01,130
As you sit here, there's one to two pounds
of bacteria living on and in you.

267
00:11:01,380 --> 00:11:02,715
It's actually kind of gross.

268
00:11:02,715 --> 00:11:04,637
You got two pounds of bacteria on you.

269
00:11:04,637 --> 00:11:05,645
It's disgusting.

270
00:11:05,645 --> 00:11:07,785
But still, your body's
very much this habitat,

271
00:11:07,785 --> 00:11:09,883
but your body's also
this incredible machine,

272
00:11:09,883 --> 00:11:11,463
pumping, processing, filtering,

273
00:11:11,463 --> 00:11:14,413
all the while you're just sitting there
shifting in your chair.

274
00:11:14,413 --> 00:11:15,406
It's incredible.

275
00:11:15,406 --> 00:11:18,409
And it turns out John Mayer was right:
your body's a wonderland.

276
00:11:18,409 --> 00:11:23,816
It's this incredible Wonderland -
I mean, some of you more than others -

277
00:11:23,816 --> 00:11:27,300
but still, it's this Wonderland,
it's incredible.

278
00:11:27,870 --> 00:11:30,573
Every day, your body's producing
50 trillion new cells

279
00:11:30,573 --> 00:11:32,428
to make up for the ones that have died.

280
00:11:32,428 --> 00:11:35,765
Every day you're pumping 1,900 liters
of liquid which you then pee out.

281
00:11:35,765 --> 00:11:36,773
It's incredible.

282
00:11:36,773 --> 00:11:39,485
Every day, you're breathing in
11,000 cubic liters of air.

283
00:11:39,485 --> 00:11:42,128
You take the oxygen out
and you expel carbon dioxide,

284
00:11:42,128 --> 00:11:44,988
which the plants then take
and then do the reverse in return.

285
00:11:44,988 --> 00:11:45,994
It's wonderful.

286
00:11:45,994 --> 00:11:47,325
As I'm telling you all this,

287
00:11:47,325 --> 00:11:49,516
your big brains are processing
this information

288
00:11:49,516 --> 00:11:50,935
at 170 miles an hour,

289
00:11:50,935 --> 00:11:53,240
faster than any known computer.

290
00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,080
Holding up that big skeleton of yours
is a structural system

291
00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,397
that's four times
the strength of concrete,

292
00:11:58,397 --> 00:12:00,373
and half the weight, by the way.

293
00:12:00,373 --> 00:12:02,599
You can even produce your own energy;

294
00:12:02,599 --> 00:12:04,794
at your peak, like on a bike,
you can produce -

295
00:12:04,794 --> 00:12:05,941
you've seen The Matrix -

296
00:12:05,941 --> 00:12:06,991
2,000 watts of energy.

297
00:12:06,991 --> 00:12:08,384
It's incredible.

298
00:12:08,384 --> 00:12:12,611
And powering all this is not fossil fuels
but food, glorious food.

299
00:12:12,891 --> 00:12:15,608
In your lifetime, you will eat
about 50 tons of the stuff,

300
00:12:15,608 --> 00:12:18,478
so every now and again, eat a salad -
that's all I'm saying.

301
00:12:18,478 --> 00:12:19,870
(Laughter)

302
00:12:20,702 --> 00:12:22,324
And as a byproduct of all of this,

303
00:12:22,324 --> 00:12:25,984
all of you, all of you
are farting 14 times a day.

304
00:12:26,254 --> 00:12:28,277
All of you - I'm telling you.

305
00:12:28,277 --> 00:12:31,357
And you're like, "Not me."
Yes, you. All of you.

306
00:12:31,877 --> 00:12:33,689
And I know what else you're thinking -

307
00:12:33,689 --> 00:12:37,060
it's like a balloon's worth,
it's like this much.

308
00:12:37,584 --> 00:12:40,298
So right now, I'm picturing a balloon
over all your heads,

309
00:12:40,298 --> 00:12:42,406
which just makes me happy.

310
00:12:43,371 --> 00:12:45,178
Our buildings respond to none of this.

311
00:12:45,178 --> 00:12:47,736
They ignore all of it.
They're dead, lifeless spaces.

312
00:12:47,736 --> 00:12:50,116
They're filled with known
cancer-causing chemicals.

313
00:12:50,116 --> 00:12:52,356
We put in windows
and make sure they don't open,

314
00:12:52,356 --> 00:12:54,498
and we put our kids in there
for 8 hours a day

315
00:12:54,498 --> 00:12:56,257
and make them learn how to read good,

316
00:12:56,257 --> 00:12:57,562
and it doesn't work.

317
00:12:57,562 --> 00:13:00,414
We then surround the site
with more dead, lifeless materials.

318
00:13:00,414 --> 00:13:01,895
We make hot places even hotter.

319
00:13:01,895 --> 00:13:04,342
And then we just kind of crap
these houses out

320
00:13:04,342 --> 00:13:07,050
and ignore where is the sun
and where is the wind.

321
00:13:07,050 --> 00:13:08,965
And this is why the system doesn't work;

322
00:13:08,965 --> 00:13:11,485
this is why the whole
economic thing every eight years

323
00:13:11,485 --> 00:13:12,980
is just teetering all the time:

324
00:13:12,980 --> 00:13:15,050
because it's not sustainable.

325
00:13:15,050 --> 00:13:16,780
So let's reverse this trend.

326
00:13:16,780 --> 00:13:18,540
Let's build living buildings,

327
00:13:18,540 --> 00:13:20,906
buildings that are teeming with aliveness,

328
00:13:20,906 --> 00:13:25,850
with life just like your own bodies -
not this fake life, real life.

329
00:13:25,850 --> 00:13:26,916
(Laughter)

330
00:13:27,780 --> 00:13:32,870
Because if you look at plants very closely
and you pay attention to them,

331
00:13:33,850 --> 00:13:35,992
it almost looks like they're alive.

332
00:13:36,212 --> 00:13:37,424
(Laughter)

333
00:13:37,424 --> 00:13:39,234
Because they're alive, they're plants.

334
00:13:39,234 --> 00:13:41,286
It's a joke - they're alive,
they're plants!

335
00:13:41,286 --> 00:13:44,612
We're not the first creatures to build;
lots of creatures build things.

336
00:13:44,612 --> 00:13:47,567
This is the paper wasp.
It builds its nest in a matter of days.

337
00:13:47,567 --> 00:13:50,280
It takes wood pulp from local trees,
mixes it with saliva,

338
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:51,598
and makes a form of cement;

339
00:13:51,598 --> 00:13:55,129
it can change the hydrology of the cement
based on the humidity in the air;

340
00:13:55,129 --> 00:13:57,702
and it does it on this cool
hexagonal grid, by the way.

341
00:13:57,702 --> 00:13:58,884
This is the weaver bird.

342
00:13:58,884 --> 00:14:00,833
It builds its nest
in a matter of hours.

343
00:14:00,833 --> 00:14:04,325
It takes local grasses
and uses its own body as a tape measure,

344
00:14:04,325 --> 00:14:05,996
and it makes the opening big enough

345
00:14:05,996 --> 00:14:08,663
so the bird can get in and out
but none of its predators,

346
00:14:08,663 --> 00:14:11,050
and it builds this
on this cool tripod shape.

347
00:14:11,050 --> 00:14:12,585
And what do we do?

348
00:14:12,585 --> 00:14:14,342
We put the birdhouses everywhere.

349
00:14:14,342 --> 00:14:15,541
It's insulting.

350
00:14:15,541 --> 00:14:16,977
[birds already have houses]

351
00:14:16,977 --> 00:14:18,127
(Laughter)

352
00:14:18,127 --> 00:14:23,292
I mean, they're building out of tripods,
and we're putting up Section 8 Housing.

353
00:14:23,292 --> 00:14:24,645
(Laughter)

354
00:14:24,950 --> 00:14:27,332
This is why they're pooping
on your car, basically.

355
00:14:27,332 --> 00:14:28,333
That's why.

356
00:14:28,333 --> 00:14:29,539
(Laughter)

357
00:14:29,539 --> 00:14:31,104
This is a butterfly egg.

358
00:14:31,104 --> 00:14:32,428
This is an owl egg.

359
00:14:32,428 --> 00:14:36,517
Just a wealth of color and form
and geometry are awaiting us

360
00:14:36,517 --> 00:14:38,856
if we just open our eyes
and pay attention to it -

361
00:14:38,856 --> 00:14:41,713
incredible mathematical formula's,
just there for the taking,

362
00:14:41,713 --> 00:14:45,691
all told about 3.8 billion years
of research and development.

363
00:14:45,871 --> 00:14:48,386
All we have to do
is promote living buildings,

364
00:14:48,386 --> 00:14:50,034
buildings that grow,

365
00:14:50,034 --> 00:14:51,657
buildings that we feed and nourish

366
00:14:51,657 --> 00:14:53,658
the same way we feed
and nourish ourselves.

367
00:14:53,658 --> 00:14:56,466
We're just scratching the surface,
but we're getting better.

368
00:14:56,466 --> 00:14:58,707
But what it takes
is to put this in your mindset

369
00:14:58,707 --> 00:15:00,474
as a priority and something important

370
00:15:00,474 --> 00:15:01,474
so when you see this,

371
00:15:01,474 --> 00:15:04,373
this should be your inspiration
for what a skyscraper could be

372
00:15:04,373 --> 00:15:06,804
because that's how nature builds -
nature is strong.

373
00:15:06,804 --> 00:15:07,801
(Laughter)

374
00:15:07,801 --> 00:15:09,850
Nature will kick your butt every time.

375
00:15:10,185 --> 00:15:11,266
And how do we build?

376
00:15:11,266 --> 00:15:12,610
Just the exact opposite way.

377
00:15:12,610 --> 00:15:14,846
Just "Whang," brute force,
"Whang," shove it in.

378
00:15:14,846 --> 00:15:16,259
It doesn't work.

379
00:15:16,259 --> 00:15:18,591
And we look at nature
as this obstacle like this -

380
00:15:18,591 --> 00:15:20,525
ugh! - this thing we have to get around.

381
00:15:20,525 --> 00:15:21,525
(Laughter)

382
00:15:21,525 --> 00:15:22,536
And we do it badly.

383
00:15:22,536 --> 00:15:24,558
We just don't do a good job of it.

384
00:15:24,558 --> 00:15:25,558
(Laughter)

385
00:15:25,768 --> 00:15:27,841
And the results are just absurd.

386
00:15:27,841 --> 00:15:29,720
They're just weird.

387
00:15:29,910 --> 00:15:31,340
You have to realize something:

388
00:15:31,340 --> 00:15:33,147
no matter how many resources you have,

389
00:15:33,147 --> 00:15:35,999
if you use them the wrong way,
they will never be enough.

390
00:15:35,999 --> 00:15:39,452
Our resources have a value,
some of the resources even have a history,

391
00:15:39,452 --> 00:15:43,080
and if we pay attention to the history,
we can benefit, but we don't do that.

392
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,322
You've all seen developments like this,
with these cute little names,

393
00:15:46,322 --> 00:15:48,946
but you know that here,
they've just decimated the creek

394
00:15:48,946 --> 00:15:50,761
to build the nonsense they build here.

395
00:15:50,761 --> 00:15:52,852
Here, they just drove out
all the wild horses

396
00:15:52,852 --> 00:15:54,667
to build the nonsense they build here,

397
00:15:54,667 --> 00:15:55,682
and really, frankly,

398
00:15:55,682 --> 00:15:58,018
I'm terrified to think
of what they cut down here.

399
00:15:58,018 --> 00:15:59,338
(Laughter)

400
00:16:00,698 --> 00:16:02,141
So this has been my charge.

401
00:16:02,141 --> 00:16:05,520
This has been what I've dedicated
my career to for the last 25 years.

402
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:07,708
I'm an architect;
I've been building buildings,

403
00:16:07,708 --> 00:16:09,190
and that didn't go fast enough,

404
00:16:09,190 --> 00:16:12,101
so then I started writing books
and now I'm at the 11th book.

405
00:16:12,101 --> 00:16:15,860
Last year, I joined my old friends at the
International Living Future Institute.

406
00:16:15,860 --> 00:16:19,384
What we do is we have a rating system
called the Living Building Challenge,

407
00:16:19,384 --> 00:16:23,707
and it says that most buildings are bad
and green buildings are less bad.

408
00:16:23,985 --> 00:16:26,979
We don't want to do that.
We want to be good. How do we be good?

409
00:16:26,979 --> 00:16:28,170
And we set that as a bar.

410
00:16:28,170 --> 00:16:31,690
Now we have hundreds of living buildings
in 30 countries all over the world

411
00:16:31,690 --> 00:16:32,975
that are aiming to be good.

412
00:16:32,975 --> 00:16:34,122
And what does good mean?

413
00:16:34,122 --> 00:16:37,820
Well, good means really five things
for us - simply, anyway.

414
00:16:37,820 --> 00:16:40,782
First, that every building
is going to generate its own energy

415
00:16:40,782 --> 00:16:42,308
because that's what nature does.

416
00:16:42,308 --> 00:16:44,875
Two, every building will grow
a portion of its own food

417
00:16:44,875 --> 00:16:46,258
because that's what's needed.

418
00:16:46,258 --> 00:16:48,596
Three, every building
will process its own waste -

419
00:16:48,596 --> 00:16:51,507
this could be composting
or bio-remediation or something else.

420
00:16:51,507 --> 00:16:54,118
Four, every building's
going to clean its own water;

421
00:16:54,118 --> 00:16:55,556
it could be a living machine.

422
00:16:55,556 --> 00:16:58,746
Number five we do automatically
if you do the first four correctly -

423
00:16:58,746 --> 00:17:00,077
we sequester our own carbon.

424
00:17:00,077 --> 00:17:02,409
That's what nature does.
That's how nature builds.

425
00:17:02,409 --> 00:17:04,359
I was talking to a developer, and I said,

426
00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,590
"Oh, my God. We're going to grow food
on the outside of the building.

427
00:17:07,590 --> 00:17:09,260
It'll be amazing and so beautiful."

428
00:17:09,260 --> 00:17:12,966
And all I got was wave after wave
of, like, excuse why we couldn't do that.

429
00:17:12,966 --> 00:17:13,967
He said,

430
00:17:13,967 --> 00:17:17,447
"You can't grow food on the building.
Um, the homeless people will eat it.

431
00:17:17,447 --> 00:17:18,450
Hah!

432
00:17:18,450 --> 00:17:19,766
(Laughter)

433
00:17:20,180 --> 00:17:23,820
Feeding homeless people
fruits and vegetables!

434
00:17:23,820 --> 00:17:26,346
What will they say?
You'll be pilloried in the press."

435
00:17:26,346 --> 00:17:28,303
I didn't know where he's going with this.

436
00:17:28,303 --> 00:17:29,302
(Laughter)

437
00:17:29,302 --> 00:17:31,288
And I said, "You know what? Calm down.

438
00:17:31,288 --> 00:17:33,000
If you start to see this everywhere,

439
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,198
we'll take the food down.

440
00:17:34,198 --> 00:17:37,099
[Will work for Balsamic Vinegar]
(Laughter)

441
00:17:37,099 --> 00:17:39,710
But in the meantime, let them eat.
What's the big deal?

442
00:17:39,710 --> 00:17:42,395
Besides, there's probably
other crops you could grow

443
00:17:42,832 --> 00:17:44,625
that'll make you more money anyway.

444
00:17:44,625 --> 00:17:46,105
That's what we need to get to -

445
00:17:46,105 --> 00:17:49,295
the point where this is just seen
as an opportunity for what it is -

446
00:17:49,295 --> 00:17:50,350
that's what's needed -

447
00:17:50,350 --> 00:17:53,061
where developers start to realize
how to sell this better.

448
00:17:53,061 --> 00:17:54,107
Instead of telling you

449
00:17:54,107 --> 00:17:56,347
about their fitness rooms
and gyms and nonsense,

450
00:17:56,347 --> 00:17:59,257
they could sell you on the fresh oxygen
the building produces.

451
00:17:59,257 --> 00:18:00,731
And I hope you all help join me

452
00:18:00,731 --> 00:18:03,939
in establishing this as a new sense
of victory for the 21st century.

453
00:18:03,939 --> 00:18:05,233
Thank you very much.

454
00:18:05,233 --> 00:18:08,661
(Applause) (Cheers)