0:00:01.158,0:00:03.103
This is the ocean as I used to know it.

0:00:03.825,0:00:08.038
And I find that since I've been[br]in the Gulf a couple of times,

0:00:08.062,0:00:12.562
I really kind of am traumatized[br]because whenever I look at the ocean now,

0:00:12.586,0:00:15.047
no matter where I am,

0:00:15.071,0:00:18.976
even where I know[br]that none of the oil has gone,

0:00:19.000,0:00:20.976
I sort of see slicks,

0:00:21.000,0:00:25.247
and I'm finding that I'm very much[br]haunted by it.

0:00:26.666,0:00:28.862
But what I want to talk to you about today

0:00:28.886,0:00:32.416
is a lot of things that try[br]to put all of this in context,

0:00:32.440,0:00:38.414
not just about the oil eruption,[br]but what it means and why it has happened.

0:00:38.438,0:00:40.073
First, just a little bit about me.

0:00:40.097,0:00:42.609
I'm basically just a guy[br]that likes to go fishing

0:00:42.633,0:00:45.589
ever since I was a little kid,[br]and because I did,

0:00:45.613,0:00:47.680
I wound up studying sea birds

0:00:47.704,0:00:51.126
to try to stay in the coastal habitats[br]that I so loved.

0:00:51.150,0:00:55.736
And now I mainly write books[br]about how the ocean is changing,

0:00:55.760,0:00:58.660
and the ocean is certainly[br]changing very rapidly.

0:00:58.684,0:01:04.497
Now we saw this graphic earlier on,[br]that we really live on a hard marble

0:01:04.521,0:01:07.976
that has just a slight bit[br]of wetness to it.

0:01:08.000,0:01:10.242
It's like you dipped a marble in water.

0:01:10.266,0:01:12.333
And the same thing with the atmosphere:

0:01:12.357,0:01:15.582
If you took all the atmosphere[br]and rolled it up in a ball,

0:01:15.606,0:01:18.524
you would get that little sphere[br]of gas on the right.

0:01:18.548,0:01:23.777
So we live on the most fragile[br]little soap bubble you can imagine,

0:01:23.801,0:01:28.564
a very sacred soap bubble,[br]but one that is very, very easy to affect.

0:01:28.588,0:01:33.435
And all the burning of oil and coal[br]and gas, all the fossil fuels,

0:01:33.459,0:01:35.628
have changed the atmosphere greatly.

0:01:35.652,0:01:38.573
Carbon dioxide level[br]has gone up and up and up.

0:01:38.597,0:01:40.914
We're warming the climate.

0:01:40.938,0:01:42.949
So the blowout in the Gulf

0:01:42.973,0:01:47.118
is just a little piece[br]of a much larger problem

0:01:47.142,0:01:51.216
that we have with the energy[br]that we use to run civilization.

0:01:51.240,0:01:52.671
Beyond warming,

0:01:52.695,0:01:56.389
we have the problem[br]of the oceans getting more acidified --

0:01:56.413,0:02:00.555
and already measurably so,[br]and already affecting animals.

0:02:01.200,0:02:07.628
Now in the laboratory, if you take a clam[br]and you put it in the pH that is not 8.1,

0:02:07.652,0:02:11.379
which is the normal pH[br]of seawater, but 7.5,

0:02:11.403,0:02:14.009
it dissolves in about three days.

0:02:14.033,0:02:17.828
If you take a sea urchin larva from 8.1,

0:02:17.852,0:02:22.144
put it in a pH of 7.7 --[br]not a huge change --

0:02:22.168,0:02:24.821
it becomes deformed and dies.

0:02:24.845,0:02:31.687
Already, commercial oyster larvae[br]are dying at large scales in some places.

0:02:32.247,0:02:36.582
Coral reefs are growing slower[br]in some places because of this problem.

0:02:36.606,0:02:38.218
So this really matters.

0:02:38.242,0:02:42.599
Now, let's take a little tour[br]around the Gulf a little bit.

0:02:42.623,0:02:46.012
One of the things that really impresses me[br]about the people in the Gulf:

0:02:46.036,0:02:48.324
They are really, really aquatic people.

0:02:48.348,0:02:49.976
And they can handle water.

0:02:50.000,0:02:52.632
They can handle a hurricane[br]that comes and goes.

0:02:52.656,0:02:54.976
When the water goes down,[br]they know what to do.

0:02:55.000,0:02:59.756
But when it's something other than water,[br]and their water habitat changes,

0:02:59.780,0:03:01.429
they don't have many options.

0:03:01.453,0:03:05.511
In fact, those entire communities[br]really don't have many options.

0:03:05.535,0:03:08.171
They don't have another thing they can do.

0:03:08.195,0:03:12.268
They can't go and work[br]in the local hotel business

0:03:12.292,0:03:15.000
because there isn't one[br]in their community.

0:03:16.522,0:03:20.980
If you go to the Gulf and you look around,[br]you do see a lot of oil.

0:03:21.004,0:03:22.853
You see a lot of oil on the ocean.

0:03:22.877,0:03:24.976
You see a lot of oil on the shoreline.

0:03:25.000,0:03:28.976
If you go to the site of the blowout,[br]it looks pretty unbelievable.

0:03:29.000,0:03:31.976
It looks like you just emptied[br]the oil pan in your car,

0:03:32.000,0:03:34.271
and you just dumped it in the ocean.

0:03:34.295,0:03:37.160
And one of the really[br]most incredible things, I think,

0:03:37.184,0:03:40.756
is that there's nobody out there[br]trying to collect it

0:03:40.780,0:03:43.583
at the site where it is densest.

0:03:44.397,0:03:48.432
Parts of the ocean there[br]look just absolutely apocalyptic.

0:03:50.557,0:03:53.962
You go in along the shore,[br]you can find it everywhere.

0:03:55.056,0:03:56.212
It's really messy.

0:03:56.236,0:03:58.607
If you go to the places[br]where it's just arriving,

0:03:58.631,0:04:01.066
like the eastern part[br]of the Gulf, in Alabama,

0:04:01.090,0:04:02.976
there's still people using the beach

0:04:03.000,0:04:05.143
while there are people[br]cleaning up the beach.

0:04:05.167,0:04:07.889
And they have a very strange[br]way of cleaning up the beach.

0:04:07.913,0:04:10.572
They're not allowed to put[br]more than 10 pounds of sand

0:04:10.596,0:04:12.304
in a 50-gallon plastic bag.

0:04:12.328,0:04:14.684
They have thousands[br]and thousands of plastic bags.

0:04:14.708,0:04:16.998
I don't know what they'll do[br]with all that stuff.

0:04:17.022,0:04:19.743
Meanwhile, there are still[br]people trying to use the beach.

0:04:19.767,0:04:22.545
They don't see the sign[br]that says: "Stay out of the water."

0:04:22.569,0:04:23.998
Their kids are in the water;

0:04:24.022,0:04:26.951
they're getting tar all over[br]their clothes and their sandals--

0:04:26.975,0:04:28.186
It's a mess.

0:04:28.210,0:04:31.714
If you go to where the oil has been[br]for a while, it's an even bigger mess.

0:04:31.738,0:04:34.122
And there's basically[br]nobody there anymore,

0:04:34.146,0:04:37.012
a few people trying to keep using it.

0:04:37.758,0:04:40.096
You see people who are really[br]shell-shocked.

0:04:40.120,0:04:42.109
They are very hardworking people.

0:04:42.133,0:04:44.743
All they know about life[br]is they get up in the morning,

0:04:44.767,0:04:47.063
and if their engine starts,[br]they go to work.

0:04:47.087,0:04:51.376
They always felt that[br]they could rely on the assurances

0:04:51.400,0:04:54.690
that nature brought them[br]through the ecosystem of the Gulf.

0:04:54.714,0:04:57.506
They're finding that their world[br]is really collapsing.

0:04:57.530,0:05:03.416
And so you can see, literally,[br]signs of their shock ...

0:05:05.000,0:05:07.476
signs of their outrage ...

0:05:10.622,0:05:12.439
signs of their anger ...

0:05:17.321,0:05:19.765
and signs of their grief.

0:05:20.834,0:05:23.103
These are the things that you can see.

0:05:25.000,0:05:28.609
There's a lot you can't see,[br]also, underwater.

0:05:29.626,0:05:31.495
What's going on underwater?

0:05:31.519,0:05:35.128
Well, some people say[br]there are oil plumes.

0:05:35.152,0:05:37.976
Some people say there are not oil plumes.

0:05:38.823,0:05:41.174
And Congressman Markey asks, you know,

0:05:41.198,0:05:46.155
"Is it going to take a submarine ride[br]to see if there are really oil plumes?"

0:05:46.727,0:05:48.638
But I couldn't take a submarine ride --

0:05:48.662,0:05:52.751
especially between the time I knew[br]I was coming here and today --

0:05:52.775,0:05:55.976
so I had to do a little experiment myself

0:05:56.000,0:05:58.386
to see if there was oil[br]in the Gulf of Mexico.

0:05:58.410,0:06:00.065
So this is the Gulf of Mexico ...

0:06:01.336,0:06:02.983
sparkling place full of fish.

0:06:04.411,0:06:07.104
And I created a little oil spill[br]in the Gulf of Mexico.

0:06:07.874,0:06:10.574
And I learned, in fact,[br]I confirmed the hypothesis

0:06:10.598,0:06:12.800
that oil and water don't mix ...

0:06:14.309,0:06:16.610
until you add a dispersant ...

0:06:18.088,0:06:19.285
and then ...

0:06:20.890,0:06:22.322
they start mixing.

0:06:23.409,0:06:27.630
And you add a little energy[br]from the wind and the waves,

0:06:27.654,0:06:30.949
and you get a big mess,

0:06:30.973,0:06:34.108
a big mess that you can't possibly clean,

0:06:34.132,0:06:37.153
you can't touch, you can't extract

0:06:37.177,0:06:40.442
and, I think most importantly --[br]this is what I think --

0:06:40.466,0:06:41.976
you can't see it.

0:06:42.000,0:06:45.334
I think it's being hidden on purpose.

0:06:45.358,0:06:47.976
Now this is such a catastrophe[br]and such a mess

0:06:48.000,0:06:51.670
that lots of stuff is leaking out[br]on the edges of the information stream.

0:06:51.694,0:06:53.351
But as many people have said,

0:06:53.375,0:06:56.485
there's a large attempt[br]to suppress what's going on.

0:06:56.509,0:07:03.481
Personally, I think that the dispersants[br]are a major strategy to hide the body,

0:07:03.505,0:07:06.644
because we put the murderer[br]in charge of the crime scene.

0:07:07.570,0:07:08.976
But you can see it.

0:07:09.000,0:07:13.188
You can see where the oil[br]is concentrated at the surface,

0:07:13.212,0:07:15.843
and then it is attacked,

0:07:15.867,0:07:18.823
because they don't want[br]the evidence, in my opinion.

0:07:19.377,0:07:20.527
OK.

0:07:20.898,0:07:23.108
We heard that bacteria eat oil?

0:07:23.419,0:07:24.976
So do sea turtles.

0:07:25.525,0:07:26.933
When it breaks up,

0:07:26.957,0:07:30.431
it has a long way to go[br]before it gets down to bacteria.

0:07:30.896,0:07:33.976
Turtles eat it.[br]It gets in the gills of fish.

0:07:34.000,0:07:36.257
These guys have to swim around through it.

0:07:36.281,0:07:41.118
I heard the most incredible story today[br]when I was on the train coming here.

0:07:41.699,0:07:43.976
A writer named Ted Williams called me,

0:07:44.523,0:07:47.407
and he was asking me[br]a couple of questions about what I saw,

0:07:47.431,0:07:50.574
because he's writing an article[br]for Audubon magazine.

0:07:50.598,0:07:54.345
He said that he had been in the Gulf[br]a little while ago; like about a week ago,

0:07:54.369,0:07:58.283
and a guy who had[br]been a recreational fishing guide

0:07:58.307,0:08:00.976
took him out to show him what's going on.

0:08:01.000,0:08:05.976
That guide's entire calendar year[br]is canceled bookings.

0:08:06.000,0:08:07.913
He has no bookings left.

0:08:07.937,0:08:10.976
Everybody wanted their deposit back,[br]everybody is fleeing.

0:08:11.000,0:08:12.967
That's the story of thousands of people.

0:08:12.991,0:08:18.069
But he told Ted[br]that on the last day he went out,

0:08:18.625,0:08:22.347
a bottlenose dolphin[br]suddenly appeared next to the boat,

0:08:22.767,0:08:26.487
and it was splattering oil[br]out its blowhole.

0:08:27.938,0:08:32.653
And he moved away[br]because it was his last fishing trip,

0:08:33.799,0:08:35.976
and he knew that the dolphins scare fish.

0:08:36.000,0:08:39.884
So he moved away from it,[br]turned around a few minutes later,

0:08:39.908,0:08:42.155
it was right next to the side[br]of the boat again.

0:08:42.179,0:08:45.600
He said that in 30 years of fishing[br]he had never seen a dolphin do that.

0:08:45.624,0:08:47.185
And he felt that --

0:08:47.693,0:08:48.896
(Sigh)

0:08:48.920,0:08:52.581
he felt that it was[br]coming to ask for help.

0:08:52.938,0:08:54.088
Sorry.

0:08:55.392,0:08:59.346
Now, in the Exxon Valdez spill,

0:08:59.860,0:09:04.614
about 30 percent of the killer whales[br]died in the first few months.

0:09:04.638,0:09:06.558
Their numbers have never recovered.

0:09:06.582,0:09:11.447
So the recovery rate of all this stuff[br]is going to be variable.

0:09:11.471,0:09:14.296
It's going to take longer for some things.

0:09:14.320,0:09:17.908
And some things, I think,[br]will probably come back a little faster.

0:09:18.273,0:09:20.976
The other thing about the Gulf[br]that is important

0:09:21.000,0:09:24.465
is that there are a lot of animals[br]that concentrate in the Gulf

0:09:24.489,0:09:27.025
at certain parts of the year.

0:09:27.822,0:09:30.429
So the Gulf is a really[br]important piece of water --

0:09:30.453,0:09:35.363
more important than a similar volume[br]of water in the open Atlantic Ocean.

0:09:36.000,0:09:37.976
These tuna swim the entire ocean.

0:09:38.000,0:09:40.773
They get in the Gulf Stream,[br]they go all the way to Europe.

0:09:40.797,0:09:42.965
When it comes time to spawn,[br]they come inside,

0:09:42.989,0:09:44.714
and these two tuna that were tagged,

0:09:44.738,0:09:46.838
you can see them on the spawning grounds

0:09:46.862,0:09:49.567
very much right in the area of the slick.

0:09:49.591,0:09:52.076
They're probably having,[br]at the very least,

0:09:52.100,0:09:54.853
a catastrophic spawning season this year.

0:09:54.877,0:09:58.371
I'm hoping that maybe the adults[br]are avoiding that dirty water.

0:09:58.717,0:10:02.759
They don't usually like to go into water[br]that is very cloudy anyway.

0:10:03.148,0:10:06.940
But these are really[br]high-performance athletic animals.

0:10:06.964,0:10:10.206
I don't know what this kind of stuff[br]will do in their gills.

0:10:10.230,0:10:12.176
I don't know if it'll affect the adults.

0:10:12.200,0:10:15.017
If it's not, it's certainly affecting[br]their eggs and larvae,

0:10:15.041,0:10:16.228
I would certainly think.

0:10:16.252,0:10:19.595
But if you look at that graph[br]that goes down and down and down,

0:10:19.619,0:10:24.340
that's what we've done to this species[br]through overfishing over many decades.

0:10:24.364,0:10:29.521
So while the oil spill, the leak,[br]the eruption, is a catastrophe,

0:10:29.545,0:10:32.278
I think it's important to keep in mind

0:10:32.302,0:10:36.418
that we've done a lot to affect[br]what's in the ocean, for a very long time.

0:10:36.442,0:10:39.780
It's not like we're starting[br]with something that's been OK.

0:10:39.804,0:10:42.540
We're starting with something[br]that's had a lot of stresses

0:10:42.564,0:10:44.426
and a lot of problems to begin with.

0:10:44.450,0:10:48.476
If you look around at the birds,[br]there are a lot of birds in the Gulf

0:10:48.500,0:10:51.267
that concentrate in the Gulf[br]at certain times of the year,

0:10:51.291,0:10:52.575
but then leave.

0:10:52.599,0:10:55.671
And they populate much larger areas.

0:10:57.387,0:11:01.577
For instance, most of the birds[br]in this picture are migratory birds.

0:11:01.601,0:11:03.443
They were all on the Gulf in May,

0:11:03.467,0:11:06.584
while oil was starting[br]to come ashore in certain places.

0:11:06.608,0:11:11.163
Down on the lower left there[br]are ruddy turnstones and sanderlings.

0:11:11.187,0:11:12.910
They breed in the High Arctic,

0:11:12.934,0:11:15.496
and they winter[br]down in southern South America.

0:11:15.520,0:11:20.331
But they concentrate in the Gulf[br]and then fan out all across the Arctic.

0:11:20.355,0:11:23.481
I saw birds that breed[br]in Greenland, in the Gulf.

0:11:24.852,0:11:28.263
So this is a hemispheric issue.

0:11:28.287,0:11:33.083
The economic effects[br]go at least nationally in many ways.

0:11:33.107,0:11:36.174
The biological effects[br]are certainly hemispheric.

0:11:38.867,0:11:44.060
I think that this is one of the most[br]absolutely mind-boggling examples

0:11:44.084,0:11:46.896
of total unpreparedness[br]that I can even think of.

0:11:46.920,0:11:50.818
Even when the Japanese[br]bombed Pearl Harbor,

0:11:50.842,0:11:52.249
at least they shot back.

0:11:52.273,0:11:56.356
And we just seem to be unable[br]to figure out what to do.

0:11:56.380,0:12:00.016
There was nothing ready,

0:12:00.040,0:12:03.430
and, you know, as we can see[br]by what they're doing.

0:12:03.454,0:12:06.218
Mainly what they're doing[br]is booms and dispersants.

0:12:06.242,0:12:09.994
The booms are absolutely[br]not made for open water.

0:12:10.018,0:12:14.859
They don't even attempt to corral[br]the oil where it is most concentrated.

0:12:14.883,0:12:17.117
They get near shore --[br]Look at these two boats.

0:12:17.141,0:12:19.765
That one on the right[br]is called Fishing Fool.

0:12:19.789,0:12:21.799
And I think, you know, that's a great name

0:12:21.823,0:12:24.881
for boats that think[br]that they're going to do anything

0:12:24.905,0:12:27.977
to make a dent in this,[br]by dragging a boom between them

0:12:28.001,0:12:30.965
when there are literally[br]hundreds of thousands of square miles

0:12:30.989,0:12:33.870
in the Gulf right now[br]with oil at the surface.

0:12:33.894,0:12:37.644
The dispersants make the oil[br]go right under the booms.

0:12:37.668,0:12:41.032
The booms are only[br]about 13 inches in diameter.

0:12:41.867,0:12:44.893
So it's just absolutely crazy.

0:12:44.917,0:12:46.611
Here are shrimp boats employed.

0:12:46.635,0:12:50.576
There are hundreds of shrimp boats[br]employed to drag booms instead of nets.

0:12:50.600,0:12:51.923
Here they are working.

0:12:51.947,0:12:53.744
You can see easily

0:12:53.768,0:12:57.663
that all the oily water[br]just goes over the back of the boom.

0:12:57.687,0:12:59.637
All they're doing is stirring it.

0:12:59.661,0:13:01.259
It's just ridiculous.

0:13:03.104,0:13:05.209
Also, for all the shoreline[br]that has booms --

0:13:05.233,0:13:07.404
hundreds and hundreds[br]of miles of shoreline --

0:13:07.428,0:13:09.209
all of the shoreline that has booms,

0:13:09.233,0:13:11.919
there's adjacent shoreline[br]that doesn't have any booms.

0:13:11.943,0:13:16.976
There is ample opportunity for oil[br]and dirty water to get in behind them.

0:13:17.000,0:13:20.823
And that lower photo,[br]that's a bird colony that has been boomed.

0:13:20.847,0:13:25.416
Everybody's trying to protect[br]the bird colonies there.

0:13:25.440,0:13:30.671
Well, as an ornithologist,[br]I can tell you that birds fly, and that --

0:13:30.695,0:13:33.000
(Laughter)

0:13:35.671,0:13:40.976
and that booming a bird colony[br]doesn't do it; it doesn't do it.

0:13:41.000,0:13:44.520
These birds make a living[br]by diving into the water.

0:13:45.623,0:13:46.773
In fact ...

0:13:48.140,0:13:51.283
really what I think[br]they should do, if anything --

0:13:51.307,0:13:54.444
they're trying so hard[br]to protect those nests --

0:13:54.468,0:13:57.141
actually, if they destroyed[br]every single nest,

0:13:57.165,0:13:59.201
some of the birds would leave,

0:13:59.225,0:14:01.530
and that would be better[br]for them this year.

0:14:02.415,0:14:03.948
As far as cleaning them ...

0:14:05.001,0:14:09.934
I don't mean to cast any aspersion[br]on people cleaning birds.

0:14:09.958,0:14:13.858
It's really, really important[br]that we express our compassion.

0:14:13.882,0:14:17.422
I think that's the most important[br]thing that people have, is compassion.

0:14:18.026,0:14:21.976
It's really important[br]to get those images and to show it.

0:14:22.000,0:14:25.375
But really, where are those birds[br]going to get released to?

0:14:25.399,0:14:27.844
It's like taking somebody[br]out of a burning building,

0:14:27.868,0:14:29.508
treating them for smoke inhalation

0:14:29.532,0:14:33.285
and sending them back into the building,[br]because the oil is still gushing.

0:14:33.686,0:14:37.578
I refuse to acknowledge this[br]as anything like an accident.

0:14:37.602,0:14:41.189
I think that this is the result[br]of gross negligence.

0:14:41.213,0:14:45.976
(Applause)

0:14:46.348,0:14:48.631
Not just BP.

0:14:48.655,0:14:55.312
BP operated very sloppily[br]and very recklessly because they could.

0:14:55.336,0:14:57.283
And they were allowed to do so

0:14:57.307,0:15:01.700
because of the absolute failure[br]of oversight of the government

0:15:01.724,0:15:06.049
that is supposed to be[br]our government, protecting us.

0:15:08.305,0:15:09.814
It turns out that --

0:15:09.838,0:15:13.069
you see this sign on every commercial[br]vessel in the United States --

0:15:13.093,0:15:15.695
you know, if you spilled[br]a couple of gallons of oil,

0:15:15.719,0:15:17.098
you would be in big trouble.

0:15:17.122,0:15:21.729
And you have to really wonder[br]who are the laws made for,

0:15:21.753,0:15:25.425
and who has gotten above the laws.

0:15:25.449,0:15:27.800
And there are things[br]that we can do in the future.

0:15:27.824,0:15:30.876
We could have the kinds of equipment[br]that we would really need.

0:15:30.900,0:15:33.503
It would not take[br]an awful lot to anticipate

0:15:33.876,0:15:36.271
that after making 30,000 holes

0:15:36.295,0:15:39.120
in the sea floor of the Gulf[br]of Mexico looking for oil,

0:15:39.144,0:15:41.537
oil might start coming out of one of them.

0:15:41.561,0:15:44.721
And you'd have some idea of what to do.

0:15:44.745,0:15:47.036
That's certainly[br]one of the things we need to do.

0:15:47.060,0:15:51.109
But I think we have to understand[br]where this leak really started from.

0:15:52.000,0:15:57.347
It really started from the destruction[br]of the idea that the government is there

0:15:57.371,0:15:59.086
because it's our government,

0:15:59.110,0:16:01.994
meant to protect[br]the larger public interest.

0:16:06.000,0:16:09.960
So I think that the oil blowout,[br]the bank bailout,

0:16:10.640,0:16:17.305
the mortgage crisis and all these things[br]are absolutely symptoms of the same cause.

0:16:18.236,0:16:21.105
We still seem to understand that at least,

0:16:21.129,0:16:25.519
we need the police to protect us[br]from a few bad people.

0:16:25.543,0:16:28.546
And even though the police[br]can be a little annoying at times --

0:16:28.570,0:16:30.481
giving us tickets and stuff like that --

0:16:30.505,0:16:33.030
nobody says that we should[br]just get rid of them.

0:16:33.054,0:16:35.976
But in the entire rest[br]of government right now

0:16:36.000,0:16:37.862
and for the last at least 30 years,

0:16:37.886,0:16:40.976
there has been a culture of deregulation

0:16:41.000,0:16:46.406
that is caused directly by the people[br]who we need to be protected from,

0:16:46.954,0:16:49.477
buying the government out from under us.

0:16:50.263,0:16:57.263
(Applause)

0:16:59.921,0:17:02.727
Now this has been a problem[br]for a very, very long time.

0:17:03.165,0:17:08.524
You can see that corporations were illegal[br]at the founding of America,

0:17:08.548,0:17:11.256
and even Thomas Jefferson complained

0:17:11.280,0:17:16.896
that they were already bidding defiance[br]to the laws of our country.

0:17:18.162,0:17:21.057
OK, people who say they're conservative,

0:17:21.691,0:17:26.504
if they really wanted to be[br]really conservative and patriotic,

0:17:26.528,0:17:29.572
they would tell[br]these corporations to go to hell.

0:17:30.183,0:17:33.000
That's what it would really mean[br]to be conservative.

0:17:33.807,0:17:38.505
So what we really need to do[br]is regain the idea

0:17:38.529,0:17:41.744
that it's our government[br]safeguarding our interests,

0:17:41.768,0:17:45.976
and regain a sense of unity[br]and common cause in our country

0:17:46.000,0:17:47.629
that really has been lost.

0:17:48.932,0:17:50.862
I think there are signs of hope.

0:17:50.886,0:17:52.976
We seem to be waking up a little bit.

0:17:53.415,0:17:56.427
The Glass-Steagall Act --[br]which was really to protect us

0:17:56.451,0:17:59.477
from the kind of thing[br]that caused the recession to happen,

0:17:59.501,0:18:03.193
and the bank meltdown and all that stuff[br]that required the bailouts --

0:18:03.217,0:18:07.432
that was put in effect in 1933,[br]was systematically destroyed.

0:18:07.937,0:18:11.674
Now there's a mood to put[br]some of that stuff back in place,

0:18:11.698,0:18:16.219
but the lobbyists are already there[br]trying to weaken the regulations

0:18:16.243,0:18:18.976
after the legislation has just passed.

0:18:19.000,0:18:20.976
So it's a continued fight.

0:18:21.000,0:18:23.048
It's a historic moment right now.

0:18:23.072,0:18:27.085
We're either going to have an absolutely[br]unmitigated catastrophe

0:18:27.109,0:18:28.746
of this oil leak in the Gulf,

0:18:28.770,0:18:31.416
or we will make the moment[br]we need out of this,

0:18:31.440,0:18:33.107
as many people have noted today.

0:18:33.131,0:18:34.787
There's certainly a common theme

0:18:34.811,0:18:37.218
about needing to make[br]the moment out of this.

0:18:37.242,0:18:41.257
We've been through this before[br]with other ways of offshore drilling.

0:18:41.281,0:18:43.976
The first offshore wells[br]were called whales.

0:18:44.305,0:18:47.163
The first offshore drills[br]were called harpoons.

0:18:47.187,0:18:49.976
We emptied the ocean[br]of the whales at that time.

0:18:50.735,0:18:52.431
Now are we stuck with this?

0:18:52.455,0:18:56.367
Ever since we lived in caves,[br]every time we wanted any energy,

0:18:56.391,0:18:59.942
we lit something on fire,[br]and that is still what we're doing.

0:18:59.966,0:19:04.160
We're still lighting something on fire[br]every time we want energy.

0:19:04.590,0:19:08.075
And people say we can't have clean energy

0:19:08.099,0:19:10.411
because it's too expensive.

0:19:11.000,0:19:12.772
Who says it's too expensive?

0:19:12.796,0:19:15.054
People who sell us fossil fuels.

0:19:15.078,0:19:17.976
We've been here before with energy,

0:19:18.000,0:19:22.101
and people saying the economy[br]cannot withstand a switch,

0:19:22.125,0:19:25.337
because the cheapest energy was slavery.

0:19:25.361,0:19:28.118
Energy is always a moral issue.

0:19:28.142,0:19:30.407
It's an issue that is moral right now.

0:19:30.431,0:19:32.974
It's a matter of right and wrong.

0:19:32.998,0:19:34.166
Thank you very much.

0:19:34.190,0:19:35.563
(Applause)