[00:00:00.20] (MUSIC) -How many times have you wondered, does my one life make a difference in the world?
[00:00:09.42] Do I have the potential to accomplish great things?
[00:00:14.17] Come with us on this journey, exploring interconnections through science and across cultures and time, noticing how your life impacts people, places, and events around the world, whether or not you're there to see the results.
[00:00:33.16] Nothing exists in isolation.
[00:00:37.44] Your smallest act can have a ripple effect far beyond which you can imagine.
[00:00:44.48] We are a part of something much greater than ourselves.
[00:00:50.52] Welcome to the Connectivity Project.
[00:00:58.96] -We're so busy, and there are so many problems in the world.
[00:01:02.65] It's overwhelming.
[00:01:03.53] You pick up the newspaper and look at all these things that are going on.
[00:01:07.92] Where do you start?
[00:01:10.98] -Sometimes we wonder, do our choices matter?
[00:01:14.96] Does what we do make a difference and have a ripple effect in the world?
[00:01:19.56] Meet Lois Gibbs, a quiet housewife from New York.
[00:01:24.01] In 1978, her family began experiencing grave health problems.
[00:01:29.06] She was compelled to speak out.
[00:01:31.46] -I got involved in advocacy because I had to survive and I had to save my children.
[00:01:37.01] This is not something I chose to do.
[00:01:39.49] My son was in an elementary school on top of a toxic waste site.
[00:01:44.02] -From 1947 to 1952, the Hooker Chemical Company used the Love Canal section of Niagara Falls as a dumping site for toxic waste.
[00:01:54.13] In the decades that followed, the residents of Love Canal experienced dire health consequences, such as leukemia and birth defects.
[00:02:03.49] With such well-known problems, the houses were unsaleable and the families were trapped.
[00:02:09.68] -More than 50% of the kids were affected by some sort of malady related to this toxic waste, and so she set out to do something about it because nobody was doing anything.
[00:02:22.26] -I was a very shy, introverted person.
[00:02:27.36] Even when I went to a PTA meeting, I wouldn't ask a question.
[00:02:31.00] I would ask my girlfriend to ask the question for me.
[00:02:33.80] Here I'm going from this one place in my life to knocking on a door talking to a stranger, and it was a huge transformation.
[00:02:45.16] -For years, Lois led her community through a fight for justice that captured national attention.
[00:02:50.68] They fought against corporate irresponsibility, local and state governments.
[00:02:55.66] Eventually, they won their battle, were reimbursed for their homes and relocated.
[00:03:02.56] -What she did didn't just have ripple effects in her community or her state, but nationwide.
[00:03:09.80] The U.S. was the first to put together a government agency to protect our air, to protect our water, those sort of things.
[00:03:18.37] -Lois's efforts led to the creation of the EPA's Superfund, which is used to identify and clean up toxic waste sites in the U.S.
[00:03:29.46] The ripple effects of her actions had clear and measurable results, but did the ripples stop there?
[00:03:37.36] Perhaps you've heard of what mathematicians call "The Butterfly Effect." A butterfly beats its wings in Brazil, weeks later a tornado forms in Texas.
[00:03:50.50] -The butterfly effect, it's a very powerful metaphor.
[00:03:53.72] It's also a very beautiful and evocative metaphor.
[00:03:57.18] It's a metaphor for the fact that in living systems and in chaotic systems, there is a non-linear interconnectedness.
[00:04:08.25] This non-linear interconnectedness has the consequence that very small causes may have very large effects.
[00:04:19.34] -If we're think of it in sort of a personal way, how many times have your choices right now been affected by just a simple statement somebody gave you, from a parent, a favorite instructor?
[00:04:31.00] That's the whole point of Chaos Theory, is that you never know which is the initial event that will have the biggest effect.
[00:04:40.29] (SCHOOL BELL RINGING) -Roosevelt High School, along with all of North Portland, especially in the neighborhood of St. Johns, is right in the middle, it's completely surrounded by industrial areas.
[00:04:55.53] It's also surrounded by railways.
[00:04:57.74] So when you think of all the things that could contribute to air pollution, we're right in the vortex of it, and we're all downwind from it.
[00:05:06.26] -When you think of global climate change, just think of that warming.
[00:05:09.04] Hot gets hotter, cold tends to get colder, so like in winter you see more severe winter storms...
[00:05:13.51] One of the reasons I chose to work at Roosevelt is because I was hoping that I could somehow make an impact.
[00:05:20.97] I think if people are wondering how to empower the next generation, I think we need to start rethinking how we educate them.
[00:05:29.12] Make the topics that you're supposed to be teaching, apply those to your community, start making the connections for the kids.
[00:05:38.16] -Just how bad Roosevelt High's exposure to toxic air pollution is, according to Neighbors for Clean Air, it ranks in the top 1% nationwide for exposure to toxic air pollution.
[00:05:57.56] -Air has no geographic boundaries.
[00:06:00.44] It recognizes no country or government.
[00:06:03.12] It might be the most important thing we all have in common.
[00:06:07.84] (INDIGENOUS FLUTE MUSIC) -The airshed in the Willamette Valley can be described as an ecological place where everybody is sharing the same air.
[00:06:39.92] So years ago, when seed farmers burned their fields, a good percentage of Portland's pollution came from agricultural burning.
[00:06:48.00] That air also traveled east or west depending on which direction the wind blows.
[00:06:53.46] If what we do in Portland affects The Dalles, if it affects Eugene, if it affects Seattle, then we have to define then our relationships.
[00:07:02.21] And I think we have to be honest with ourselves as to what our choices do mean.
[00:07:08.69] -As we have seen with the wildfires of Northern California, what occurs in one place can be felt and have significant impacts far beyond where it begins.
[00:07:27.85] -I've got a club who have been trying to learn more about air quality.
[00:07:33.44] Lois Gibbs's name came across my desk when I was a Junior in high school.
[00:07:38.53] I remember just thinking like, "Wow, what a neat lady." What an incredible story of one woman just saying, "I'm not going to stand for this." When she was able to come to Roosevelt and speak to my students, it was a real full-cycle sort of thing.
[00:07:57.98] -I love sitting in living rooms with real people.
[00:08:00.90] They're real and they're saying, "We have this problem, how can we work together to fix it?" -Things like manganese cause real problems, not the least of which is cancer.
[00:08:08.68] And so you've done some testing?
[00:08:11.44] -Clarissa Craig Howtopat is one of my students, and I just love her to death.
[00:08:19.48] She's so determined and she's got such a great work ethic, and she's relatively shy.
[00:08:26.61] -I grew up in Warm Springs Reservation.
[00:08:28.97] I live in North Portland with my sister, dad, mom, and myself.
[00:08:39.08] My sister has autism.
[00:08:41.24] She's six years old.
[00:08:43.72] She's crazy. (CHUCKLES) She's a handful.
[00:08:47.22] I don't know, I'm just a protective sister.
[00:08:50.60] I basically want to keep danger out of her way, and just knowing that this is something else that could be endangering us just by breathing.
[00:08:59.30] -She said, "I'm worried.
[00:09:00.40] I'm worried about how it's going to affect my sibling and how it's going to affect future generations." I was like, "Wow, she's got it. She's got it." She understands that this is not just an issue for now.
[00:09:12.14] This is an issue for generations to come.
[00:09:14.85] And so the rest of the group nominated Clarissa to speak for us at the State Capitol.
[00:09:21.78] -In a genuine mix of learning and activism, these students went down to Salem to voice their support for legislation that would help Oregon manage toxic air pollution.
[00:09:33.76] -The students are with the Chemistry and Air Pollution Club.
[00:09:37.45] Thank you for being here today.
[00:09:39.97] -We went to go talk to Speakers Kotek and Neighbors for Clean Air.
[00:09:46.96] -I'm Clarrisa. -I'm Zach.
[00:09:49.06] Nice to meet you.
[00:09:49.92] -We're all from Roosevelt High School. This is my teacher.
[00:09:52.72] We're trying to get people's awareness on the air in North Portland.
[00:09:56.53] The biggest concerns coming out of the study was that we were constantly-- -You know, they can talk to other people, bigger people, to help them know what we're trying to accomplish.
[00:10:08.53] -She's starting to find her voice, which is really pretty incredible to watch.
[00:10:13.32] I hope my students pick up on that, that regardless of who you are, your strengths as a student, no matter what your race is or how much money you make, you have a voice.
[00:10:28.42] -The following year, with the help of many voices from the community, almost $400,000 was allocated for future air quality monitoring in Portland.
[00:10:38.94] Kendall Jensen's class received a grant to travel to Washington, D.C.
[00:10:43.24] to meet with Oregon senators about the dangerous air quality in their community.
[00:10:48.52] The Math and Science Club tripled in attendance.
[00:10:52.52] Most recently, Oregon became the second state in the nation to pass a bill regulating the use and operation of diesel trucks.
[00:11:02.10] -People can win these things because people have power.
[00:11:05.70] They just don't realize the power actually is right there in their own hands.
[00:11:10.77] -I think Lois really had something with-- You start at home, you start locally.
[00:11:17.12] Even if it's a little thing, or it's a big thing like going to bat with the government, you got to start somewhere and do what you can.
[00:11:25.70] -Since everything is interconnected, it doesn't matter where you start.
[00:11:31.56] So if you ask, "What can I do?" I would say, "Do what you're already doing, but do it differently." If you are a teacher, teach differently.
[00:11:44.52] If you're an architect, build different buildings.
[00:11:48.46] If you are a farmer, farm in a different way.
[00:11:53.58] -Whether it's making choices to benefit the planet or standing up for racial and social justice, we've seen that when we change our actions we open up new possibilities for ourselves and our world.
[00:12:09.25] Because our world functions as an interconnected network we call life.
[00:12:14.72] our decisions, our actions initiate ripples that, in fact, make a difference.
[00:12:21.97] -The reason why this is possible is that these non-linear systems embody feedback loops, so you can have a small effect which travels around a cycle and is enhanced.
[00:12:38.88] Then it goes around again and becomes larger.
[00:12:41.50] It goes around again and becomes larger, and it goes on and on, it becomes larger and larger, until it has a very big full-blown effect.
[00:12:50.58] -This ripple effect of, "She did this, I learned about it in high school, it motivated me, I became a teacher, I'm teaching students," it's hopefully motivating them and making them see that one person, whether it's Gandhi or Lois Gibbs, you can make a big difference.
[00:13:14.64] -You look around the country, and what do we have?
[00:13:17.54] It didn't happen by accident.
[00:13:19.60] It happened because people took a risk-- and it's a risk, there's no question about it-- but took the risk and stood up and spoke out.
[00:13:28.61] It doesn't mean you have to spend your life doing this stuff, but if everybody spoke up, what a different world we would live in.
[00:13:48.00] (MUSIC)