WEBVTT

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[music]

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At the turn of the 21st century,

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several thousand tons of scientific
studies on climate change, all led to

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a single revolutionary conclusion.

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By burning fossil fuels, human beings
are changing the climate a lot,

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and if we keep doing that

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the planet could become
pretty much uninhabitable.

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Of course, it isn’t really the
planet that has the problem,

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it’s everything living on the planet but
sometimes you got to be part of the problem

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to be part of the solution.
So in the fall of 2004,

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at a moment when polls showed that global
warming ranked dead last is a voting issue,

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we rented a bio-diesel ready but usually
gas guzzling trucks and plotted out

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a cross-country tour to see
if the polls were right.

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Did American really not care? First this gotta
level. We’re not move it over so cover that.

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Isn’t that sticky? No, it’s sticky.

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[music]

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Hey guys, what do you think those
two words say right there.

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Gambling. It will be L… Oh, more.
Threatening, the weapons of mass destruction.

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Global warming. Global warming.
Oh. You got it.

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We got a winner. We do. We watch Jeopardy
every night too. We surely got that.

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The world gets hotter, cooler, I don’t like
what man does reflects the whole world.

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Well, threatening them weapons and mass destruction.
Much or less threatening guys, come on.

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Use your head, (inaudible) American.

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That would be I feel, atomic blast, right?

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No, that was the heat wave… Heat wave…

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You know, (inaudible) Ford running down the
road is not half as bad as some plants down,

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and actually running full blasts and stuff like
that. I mean, what can I do? I’m not go down there

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and say, \"Hey, I am against this totally.\" They
don’t say, (inaudible), you know, what do you want?

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(inaudible) so, you know, do
you just consider savior,

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you’re gonna be home with them,
and this isn’t gonna matter.

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[music]

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Okay. I guessing now child is behind.

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Looks like he got left behind.

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[music]

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Happy Halloween.

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I think that is probably true but I don’t
think that we’re causing it. I think it’s

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the nature of things, like before
Noah we had global warming.

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Actually global warming
doesn’t really sound like

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all that bad of a thing, it’s kinda cold out here.
Global warming sounds pretty good on a day like today.

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[music]

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It was November 2nd, 2004,
when we made our last stop.

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That night George W. Bush,

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not exactly a champion behind
was voted into second term.

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[music]

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By then, one thing was clear to us, there was
an enormous gap between what scientists knew

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about the threat of global warming and what
most of the American public understood.

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And that if we as a country we’re ever going to address
the threat, that gap would have to close fast,

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so we decided to follow some people

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who spent all their time working on this
very problem. And over the next few years,

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we watched them struggle to create something
that frankly seemed impossible, a seismic shift

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in the public’s perception of one of the most
serious problems ever to confront humanity.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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Anyway, I used to do a lot of that kind of
stuff, but, you know, I’ve been on a long time

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so let’s go to steady and
let’s do climate change.

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Ross Gelbspan was the first investigative
journalist take on global warming.

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[music]

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When we first caught up with him, he was sorting
through 10 years with the climate change memorabilia.

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[sil.]

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My filing skills leaves
something to be desired.

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All these are video tapes and CDs

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and places that I’ve given talks. This
is from being on Greek television.

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Sixteen of the 17 hottest years on record
of happened since 1980. The five hottest

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consecutive years are ‘91 through ‘95.
This was paired with Florida conference.

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The heating of the atmosphere has propelled
our climate into a new state of instability.

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This was a little piece on NBC date
(inaudible). I have no idea what this is.

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On vacation the President were
told us taking The Heat is On by

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Ross Gelbspan, and Pete Hamill’s, Snow in
August. The first lady is sticking with a

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seafaring theme reading Sebastian
Jungers’ The Perfect Storm.

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Even though there’s been a big upsurge
in climate activity, I think people

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really still don’t get it
in a really profound way,

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and it’s just really sad seeing
what’s happening and how the world

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is not responding especially in the US.

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All these are articles that are
published, that magazines have published.

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It’s very sad they go through
all to see how much work

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went into this stuff and how
it’s made no debt basically,

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we’re very little debt. It’s the
same story in different typefaces

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over and over and over again basically.
Ross’s stack of magazines

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dated back to 1995, that the first
cover story about global warming

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actually appeared in 1987.

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And less than a year after
that, the evening news

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being the report into
homes all across America.

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In Washington, a Senate committee heard some scientists say
the phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect is here.

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This evidence represents a very strong case in my opinion that the
greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now.

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The problems unaddressed

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have the potential for turning the world
into a form of chaos not greatly different

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from that produced by Global War.
Many scientist believe

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Earth’s atmosphere is at risk of a dangerous warming
trend. The controversy started almost immediately.

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How hot is now a political issue
as well as the scientific one.

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Ordered by the Bush administration’s Office
of Management and Budget, the Hansen said OMB

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made him add a paragraph to have written
testimony to soften his conclusions.

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It says that I believe that all the scientific conclusions that I just
discussed are not reliable. And I certainly don’t agree with that.

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Doctor, are you really worried about retaliation
or that someone had only been made (inaudible),

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make it rough on you. I am now.

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This is the moment when the gap between
what scientists knew and what the public

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understood first began to open.
A tough scientists from NASA,

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a government agency responsible for protecting
planet presented his research funds,

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then another government agency
responsible for protecting the budget,

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deliberately confused those filings.

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From that point on global warming
was a subject for debate.

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A group of scientists and environmentalists
saw it as a serious problem.

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A group of energy executives and
politicians insisted it didn’t even exist.

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And as long as there seemed to be disagreement on the
issue, most everyone else paid no attention at all.

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I’d like to explain that I
didn’t get into this because

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I love the trees. The way I get
into this is totally accidental.

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I had been a journalist for 30 years.
I retired from the Boston Globe

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because I wanted to write longer things. In
fact, I wanted to write political fiction.

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As I was working on these novels,
there came to me Dr. Paul Epstein,

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who I’ve met from some previous reporting and he
came to me with two articles he had published

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on climate change and the spread of
infectious disease and asked me to read them.

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And I read these articles and I said, \"This
information is really important, you know,

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the public should know about this stuff,\" and I
said, \"Oh, (inaudible) too bad, you can’t right.\"

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He’s a scientist. In any way, we agreed to
collaborate on an article for The Washington Post.

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But after the article ran,

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I got a bunch of letters from readers saying,
\"We don’t believe global warming is happening,\"

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and they referred me to the work of three
skeptics, and after I read the skeptics works,

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I was persuaded that this issue really,
it was not at all settled, and in fact,

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I was a little worried that Dr. Epstein, he
maybe conned me into writing something that

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wasn’t right and I felt really uncomfortable
about that. To find out more,

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Ross went to a hearing in Minnesota
about electricity, coal and health.

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Four global warming skeptics were flown
in for the trial and under oath,

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they were forced to reveal
where their funding came from.

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And this was a really obscure hearing there were no other
journalists there, uh… I was the only reporter in the room

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and outcomes all of this information
that three of these people

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I’ve gotten more than a million dollars in a three-year
period under the table from the coal industry

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and it was never publicly disclosed. And I’m
sitting there looking at this step saying,

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\"Holy cow,\" you know, that
really got me pissed off.

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It really made me very angry again not
because of the climate, but because

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I’d spent my whole 30-year career in
journalism predicated on the belief that

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in the democracy we need honest information, and
then whatever we do with these is up to us,

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you know. And these people
were stealing our reality.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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I need snow here. Where do you need snow?
Right here, right here.

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Yeah.

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[music]

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And usually, we have
even on a low snow year,

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we usually have little reserve of snow

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that we can work around and then this
year, we just have (inaudible) not a lot.

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There’s just not a lot we can do with…
with the weather runs are right now.

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(inaudible). All we can really do is work
for smaller snow. (inaudible) cold weather

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to make snow, so it’s pretty
sad with that situation.

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And where do you make snow, just waiting
for the (inaudible) to go down.

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[music]

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What do you think is going on?

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The temperature (inaudible)… I wonder if it’s maybe
like, you know, global warming or something.

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Dude, it’s 27 degrees, that’s a go.

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[sil.]

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Oh, we getting that.

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Uh… No, if its good quality

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you should be able to go like this with
your sleeve and all the little ice crystals

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will kind of clumped together, but
the fact that my clothes getting wet

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is not very good quality. It’s too warm.

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[music]

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One of the telltale signs of the season is all
(inaudible) may start getting moths flying around

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in your headlights and we have that
tonight, we had moths flying around

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down here towards the bottom of the mountain, we saw
moths flying around in our lights, we just kind of like

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never ever seen that January before.
It’s crazy.

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[music]

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If you drive a car or flying an
airplane or do anything like that

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or take part in… in working at a ski resort
where we burn probably 200,000 gallons

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of diesel the year, just to fuel the
snow-caps, so we’re all part of the problem.

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What are you drive? I drive
a 1975 Mercedes diesel

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and I actually would like to start
running it on vegetable oil.

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I would like to not only

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try to start running my own vehicle
on vegetable based fuel but also

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motivate companies such as
skiers or where we work to

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converting over that kind of power because it could
really go a long way to reduce harmful emissions.

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[music]

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Vegetable based fuel used to be considered

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far out solution to global warming,
impractical, unrealistic French,

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and that was precisely the way the
fossil fuel industry had engineered it.

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They didn’t want anything, especially,
global warming to cut into their profits.

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If the public thought the scientific issues
around climate change we’re settled,

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the party was over, so they
formulated a deliberate

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and actually kind of brilliant
strategy, capitalize on the fact

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that in science there’s no such thing
as 100% certainty. Make it looked like

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everything is uncertain and
reposition global warming as theory

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rather than fact. The whole
case for global warming

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I believe is silly and I believe
the vast majority of scientists

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think it’s silly, and therefore, I’m a little bit
embarrassed that I waste my time on silly issue.

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The Competitive Enterprise Institute
is a Washington-based think tank

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dedicated to fighting off government regulation
of all kinds. Before global warming,

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they lobbied for the tobacco industry.
It’s my privilege to chair (inaudible)…

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…Senator McCain is having a counter hearing on
the impacts of global warming so you may want to

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go with the senate side on Thursday. If… if
one of the gentleman on the witness list,

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Paul Epstein is any indication of the expertise
I would say that that probably has about

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one millionth of the expertise of this pan.
We of course here at CEI

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tried to do education on global warming by bringing
scientist to Washington to speak on Capitol Hill.

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Say what on their mind and what
they think about the issue

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in which they have some expertise. The
review process has become remarkably shoddy.

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And it has given rise to a small handful of
people like me and my apparently few friends

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who make a living tearing apart bad at
Global Warming Science. I’d like to tell you

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it’s a very easy living because
it’s very, very easy to do.

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Pat Michaels, few friends include the
coal and oil interests that fund his work

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and also put hundreds of thousands of dollars
into the campaign coffers of James Inhofe,

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the honorable senator from Oklahoma.
It’s long past time

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for us to separate climate change back from
hysteria. These people that are behind this,

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they’re hysterical people and they love
hysteria. Global warming is the greatest hoax

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ever perpetrated on the American people. What
I’m doing in fighting global warming fight

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is fighting against global warming
policies that we think present

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much more of a threat to humankind and
the US economy then this global warming.

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Horner, H-O-R-N-E-R, Chris Horner, CEI.
It’s weather.

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When we see cooling, it’s global warming, when we see warming, it’s global warming,
when we see drought, it’s global warming, when we see rain, it’s global warming.

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You can’t have it every way. We
live in some sort of strange

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Goldilocks climate with if it’s a little bit cooler,
it’s worse. If it’s a little bit hotter, it’s worse.

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Man adapts to weather very well in a wealthy society
and it’s miserable and it’s… it’s ripe with suffering

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in poor societies. The wealthier is
healthier and how do you define, well,

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the ability to create wealth if not for the ability… the…
the… the availability and affordability of… of energy.

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[music]

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This wasn’t just happening on Capitol Hill.
The energy industry strategy

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was also to get their people on TV. Whatever
happens always has, always will. No, that’s weird…

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Hang on, hang on, Chris. And TV personalities
on their side. Time Magazine says

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it’s a greater threat than anything but nuclear
holocaust or getting hit by an asteroid.

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You’re laughing. Pulp Fiction.
Bad pulp fiction.

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Because as long as there’s two sides to an issue, they both
get equal tie. There’s an extremist sitting next to you.

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It’s called balanced journals. A total
hoax. A total hoax, it’s an outrageous lie

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and so… and they knew it. And that’s the way
the global warming gap widened into a chasm.

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Because guys like patent Myron went on TV

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and successfully convinced millions of
Americans that taking action on global warming

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would plunge us straight into the
next Great Depression. All right.

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[music]

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Over reading about Jim Hansen testimony
to Congress, they can mediate

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and it was very clear from the beginning that
this was gonna be a very difficult problem.

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Bill McKibben is widely
considered the poet laureate

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of global warming. He’s the author of
10 books, including the first book

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ever written for a general audience on
climate change, optimistically titled

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The End of Nature. Here’s a way of showing
that it leads to the minds of our leaders,

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the economy has become more
real than the physical world.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
That is we… we feel very strongly
all the injuries to the economy

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
it’s in… Oh, it’s in recession. It’s not growing
as fast as we want it to. Its had a setback,

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
we keep we talk about it, you know, all this sort
of metaphors are of illness, it’s in recovery.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
You know, we… we very… we cosseted and
(inaudible) the economy, you know,

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
with great delicacy and care. But the rest of the
planet, you know, the sort of real-world would,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
you know, we… we can’t bring
ourselves to… to pay it

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
anywhere near the same kind of attention. It isn’t as
real to us, you know. It’s just sort of background,

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
umm… that’s sad and it’s also

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
a big mistake because eventually we’re
gonna find out, which one of them actually

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
is real or which one of them is… is
dependent on the other, you know.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
The physical world is not dependent on
the economy, the economy is dependent

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
on a… on a planet that actually
behaves, you know, as we’re used to it.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
[music]

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
Skeptics like to say that
the current behavior

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
of the planet is just a natural cycle and
that’s significant climate change takes eons.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
That isn’t exactly true.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
Scientists studying ice cores in Greenland
discovered that radical climate change

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
can happen in as little as decade.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
That was not, especially,
good news for civilization,

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
but for a cable channels

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
solely focused on the whether, it was
the start of a really big story.

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
So we hired an on-air climatologist.
The first TV broadcaster,

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
exclusively dedicated to covering global
warming beat. I take it. I need it.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Can I practice real quick. Just once. Okay,
so its seven and then you and then six.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
Okay. Eventually they might

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
hire some makeup artists
which would be kind of nice.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
Big cool down story for just about everyone, (inaudible).
Let’s as checkout the countries’ weather tonight.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
Here’s Mr. (inaudible). Yeah, the
whole science of global warming

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
really grew out of an attempt to try
to understand why we have ice ages

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
and through that umm… made
the connection between

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
CO2 and the temperature of the earth and,
you know, the whole point being that,

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
you know, without a greenhouse gas, like
CO2, the average temperature of the earth

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
would be about zero degrees Fahrenheit and that
when you look back over the last several million

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
years of climate history, we come in and out
of ice ages and we spend more time in ice ages

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
then we do out of them. Heidi is an
expert in the multi decadal oscillations

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
of the North Atlantic and has
a PhD in climate variability

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
from Columbia University. But when the
Weather Channel hired her she had absolutely

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
no on-camera experience. So the programmers
only gave her three minutes a week.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
Do you know makeup artists
make a $100 an hour?

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
(inaudible) come and joins us now.
Dr. Cullen, is global warming

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
also changing the way… There has to be more interaction.
But the other key is you got to convince the viewer,

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
I’m not really, I got this paralyzed. The ground
in Alaska isn’t like the ground in the lower 48.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
You don’t wanna sit here
and read and on Monday

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
you will read it. Tuesday, you’re… you’re gonna
(inaudible) a little bit, so it’s more of a conversation.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
Umm… And it… it was much better but the
execution was poor, and the question was awful.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
I mean, you are there for a reason.
Right. Yeah. You’re Dr. Cullen

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
giving the viewers, your take on
this… this… this huge problem.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Okay. I’ve never done any kind of

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
media training or acting but here, the acting
coach, the first thing that he tells you

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
is 95% of what people perceive is… is
how you look and the tone of your voice

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
and just a really small fraction
is what you actually say,

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
which… which I just… I don’t… I don’t
believe. Excuse me, Heidi. Sorry. Okay.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
So that as we’re about to see, what’s not so solid is the ground
that Alaskans stand on. Okay, Wait. There’s a typo in there,

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
that is we’re about to see, it’s not
just… I think I’ll always feel like

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
the new kid on the block. Like I’m just
I’m totally learning as I go along.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Hey, I umm… I talked with Patrick and did he tell
you that he wanted to stick another question

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
in at the end? Time? You have more time all
of sudden, where did the time come from?

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
Right now the way she has it set up as a one-line
tag and then T… and a one-line T’s for tomorrow.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Do you think she should knock out the one-line tag and the
T’s for tomorrow and then Sharon jump into the question

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
or should there be the one-line tag Sharon asked
the question and she finds a way to tie her answer

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
into the T’s for tomorrow? The choreography
there gets pretty sophisticated.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
[music]

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
A lot of lines. I means a point
that we’re trying to make as

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
they used to be able to drive out and explore
for oil like over 200 and some days a year,

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
and that’s been cut back dramatically. The number of
days that they can actually spend driving around,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
looking for oil has diminished. And
the irony of that is now lost on us.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Oh, no, we can get into that unfortunately.
Well, I… I love it.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
See, I wanted to add the word ironically,
why is it ironic, I mean, it’s basically

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
an education thing, like in order for you to
know that it’s ironic, you have to know that

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
greenhouse gases are a byproduct of fossil fuel burning,
and so then, I said (inaudible), \"How about if I say

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
a global warming irony
is that oil exploration

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
has already been impacted, and that still wasn’t cleared
out. I just don’t know that people will get if you say it.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
Well, that ‘s… I mean, so it doesn’t matter if it’s right or
not, if they don’t get it then… Right. So… They’re just like,

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
you know, it’s not the time. I mean for me it
just screams out for the word irony, right.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
However, as we’ll see tomorrow night,
climate change is seriously threatening

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
an entire Alaskan village. Sharon? And then
Sharon is gonna say, \"How wide will the impact

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
of permafrost thawing be?\" How wide will
the impact of the permafrost thawing be?

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
And then I wanna say, \"Ironically oil exploration has
been impacted, but I’m just gonna say… You know,

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
oil exploration has already been impacted and
in fact the number of days that oil explorers

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
can drive around the frozen ground has been cut
significantly but major population centers…

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
At the same time Heidi was learning how
to pack her PhD into a sound-bite.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
Global warming was getting
a Hollywood make over.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
Twentieth century Fox was about
to release a $125 million

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
summer blockbuster, starring
Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
and a very historic Mother Nature. If we
don’t act now, it’s going to be too late.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
I’m afraid that time has
come and gone, my friend.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
[music]

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
In the never ending debate over global warming, the latest battle lines
run from Washington to Hollywood. How credible is this movie in your eye?

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
Has absolutely no credibility whatsoever.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
And as a scientist, I really object when lies hiding a science
are used to influence the national debate in this country.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
It’s not a science lesson and
everybody understands that

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
but like good science fiction,
it’s based on a kernel of truth.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
Everyone in the press focused on whether or not
the climate can actually change that fast,

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
like over a weekend. But almost no
one mentioned of real controversy.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
Namely that even if the movie had
taken liberties with the science,

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
it was right on target about the way the
science had been received on Capitol Hill.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
Our economy is every bit as fragile as the environment perhaps you
should keep that in mind before making sensationalist claims.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
So the tagline in the movie is

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
\"The Day After Tomorrow,\" \"Where Will You Be?\" And
so our site has… has basically spoofing all this

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
you’ll say, we’ve turned that into \"The
Day is Today\", and \"Who Will You Blame?\"

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
And guess who will you blame?
I bet you can’t guess.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:18.000
[music]

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
That is exactly what they’re doing. They are making
snow. In fact, we have real ice on the ground

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
be fixed, they was gonna show up a little later when
the stars actually arrive here. The big question is

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
just how crazy is this movie and with
any of these things really happened.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
The bottom line is global warning is real, there are
signs behind and we’ve known about it for a long time.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
The point (inaudible) Hollywood is the fact
that it pushes us into the next ice age.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
We’re dealing with two fictions. First
is the honest fiction of this movie

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
which distorts for entertainment purposes
and is upfront and honest about it.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
Umm… The second fiction
is the Bush White House

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
story about global warming, which is far
more frictional than this movie is.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
I mean it is just a movie. Dark(ph).

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
I know… I know… Jake Gyllenhaal

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
was pretty easy (inaudible) and with
global warming and it creates a visual

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
for people and people attach onto that more
than they would attach onto one of our

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
very smart but not quite
as attractive scientists.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
The global warming scare is been used to try
to… to try to scare the Americans public

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
and the global public into
changing their way of life of

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
one of energy poverty. Myron’s organization
competitive enterprise institute is funded

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
by ExxonMobil because (inaudible) discourage
people from thinking about this issue clearly.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
We should talk about that Myron, how much money you got
from that… from that on last year? My organization is

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
supported financially by some of the best
corporations in the… in this country in the world.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
Money is in fact flowing from Exxon to groups
like the Competitive Enterprise Institute

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
and you follow the money. All of
these institutions are the secret

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
militia of Exxon, it’s such a complicated
web because they fund so many groups

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
but there are key actors like Myron Ebell,
like Pat Michaels that are connected

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
to a lot of these groups. And I don’t
think that competitive enterprise thinks

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
any differently about this issue than I do.
There as religious about it on the other side

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
as we are, umm… they just think that we’re dead
wrong and we think they’re as dumb as bricks.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
(inaudible).

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
What did they say?

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
I don’t know. We’re not even grouping.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
So, listen, why do you… what do you think

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
you’ll be doing in The day
after, the day after…

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
Just beating up on my
enemies, that’s all I do.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Okay.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:23.000
[music]

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
Here we go. Make your own bio-diesel.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
For diesel motor will run better and
last longer on your homemade fuel

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
and it’s much cleaner, better for the environment
and better for health. You make it from used oil,

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
not only cheap but you’re recycling
a troublesome waste product.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:53.000
[sil.]

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
Beautiful.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
(inaudible).

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
Thank Terry.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
I’m absolutely not an expert at bio-diesel

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
because I haven’t even done yet
but I hope to be. I have thought

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
about having a bio-diesel business, I run
the grooming department out the canyons

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
and I’ve got them kinda interested in
possibly running our snow caps on it.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
[sil.]

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
My key were just kind of rigged or the mechanism
that used to go to the key switch and so

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
you have to (inaudible)
things and then gonna

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
have to put paper in between the
contacts to make sure the starter

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
doesn’t roll while our engineers running, and
then to get the stereo and the windshield wipers

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
to come on out, you have to put a penny between
the other contacts. Bought a new key switches

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
which like $400.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
[music] Is this Brian?

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
This is. Brian. My name’s Bish Neuhauser
and I’m calling you from Utah,

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
friend of mine directed me to call you that you
might possibly give me some tips on bio-dieseling.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Sure. What do you to know? Okay. Okay.
Yeah. just give me… give me your brief

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
need to know little safety…
safety thing on… on what you do

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
for safety precautions. In terms of
methanol… methanol it’s really nasty

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
like blind you, kill you. Yeah, it can blind you, kill your, all
that kind of stuff. Yeah, kill you dead, kind of stuff. Yeah.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
So you got to have full on air supply
respirators, you’ve got to have

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
excellent (inaudible), umm… it can
also enter through your skin.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
Let’s do a blender batch. Let’s do it. Yeah,
let’s do it. You mix them… the methanol alloy

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
which makes sodium methoxide, a chemical
reaction occurs it’s called transesterification.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
This is the (inaudible) this is nasty
right here. Once we put the vegetable oil

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
in there, I think it’ll
neutralize it a little bit.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
No blades. I think it went
through the (inaudible)

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
or the rubber seal. Yeah, methanol. Yep,
it did. We made it. All right. Now that.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
Can’t get right through that shit, man.
Yep. That’s it. I got a little more

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
back to the drawing board.
Time stuff to do, so…

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
Couldn’t believe the
climate change is man-made

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
and you personally is the leader of the richest country in
the world have a responsibility to the personal change.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
Yeah. Uh… My administration, it ain’t waiting
around to deal with issue we’re acting.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
I don’t know if you’re aware of this that we lead the world
when it comes to dollar spent… millions of dollars spent

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
on research about climate change.
We want to know

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
more about it, easier to solve a problem when you
know a lot about. And if you look at the statistics,

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
you’ll find the United States has taken
the lead on… on this research. A second…

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Actually, what President Bush meant
to say is billions of dollars

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
and it gets fund out to 14 different
agencies they conduct their own research.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
Then there’s an office where
all that research gets read,

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
synthesized and turned into annual reports
to Congress. The person in charge of putting

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
those reports together is a critical link
between climate science and US policymakers.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Meet Rick Piltz. He had
that job for 10 years,

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
but in early 2005, he resigned.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
Here’s my office phone. 24/7,

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
call anytime.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
I’m completely out of my office down on
Pennsylvania Avenue with all the boxes

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
and all the files. They’re here now in my

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
home office.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
You know, 10 years in a place like
that accumulate a lot of stuff

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
and that… that sentimental about

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
a place after I left, I had the feeling like
home is where my stuff is, and this is home now.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
[music]

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
This is the National Assessment
of the potential consequences

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
of climate variability and change.
This is the most comprehensive

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
scientifically based assessment
that has ever been done.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
It was done by teams of
scientists around the country,

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
umm… hundreds of scientists.
Implications of climate change

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
for US water resources,
coastal zones, forests.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
And this one is very interesting, climate change
in a global cities, New York metropolitan area

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
and New England, southwest, Gulf Coast,

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
National Assessment provokes a
discussion of the real implications

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
of the problem, this is a discussion that the
administration doesn’t want to have, and so they have deep…

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
they deep six(ph) the national assessment
and they just send it into a black hole,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
they have suppressed any use of
it or even any reference to it,

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
a black hole. Just sent into a black hole.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
I was putting together the
program’s annual report

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
to Congress and I got a phone a call
from the White House Science Office

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
saying take out the references to
the National Climate Assessment.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Umm… So under protest

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
I did and this is just an example.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
There are many, many examples
but there is no paper trail.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
This was political censorship by phone
call and I just finally decided

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
that that’s not a game I, you know,

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
was willing to continue to play
anymore than I could do more good

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
sort of reclaiming my freedom
of speech that I used to have

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
back in the old days, so that’s a nutshell.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
I’ve been to San Francisco,

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
(inaudible) back to San Francisco
down to LA, to Seattle, to Olympia,

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
to Washington DC, to
Buffalo, Saint Bonaventure

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
and a bunch of places in
Massachusetts thereabouts.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
Okay so (inaudible). I’ve just
published a book called boiling point

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
which puts forward solutions that would
propel this global energy transition

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
because we need to reduce our
consumption of fossil fuels by 70%.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
I think a longer proven pathway toward
economic health lies in public works programs

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
and what I’m basically promoting especially
in my new book is a public works program

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
to rewire the globe with clean energy. To
say, I think it’s much easier for nations

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
to do this than individuals because
as I say, life… lifestyle changes,

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
can’t get you to 70-80% reductions. You really
need regulatory mechanisms to make that happen.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:33.000
[music]

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
I spent 30 years in journalism and usually a lot
of the stories that I worked on had good endings

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
or they lead to positive changes
and here, I feel like I’m one of

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
a number of people who sort of thrown their
bodies across the tracks, umm… probably to

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
no avail sort of a lot of us feel like
Paul Revere without a horse, you know.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
In 2005,

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
after more than a decade as a self-employed
global warming messenger, Ross made plans

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
to officially retire. Just come in with
a vacuum cleaner and a big plastic bag.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
I have not been allowed

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
in there with a vacuum cleaner in 27 years.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
[sil.]

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
I certainly have no misgivings

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
about anything that’s happened in the sense of. Personally, it’s been
a great eco trip, you know, I’ve had wonderful, wonderful reactions

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
and a great deal of reinforcement and
very, very encouraging responses

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
but at the larger level it
feels like… it feels like

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
the title of the (inaudible) poem, you know,
to friend whose work has come to nothing,

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
not personally but in terms of the
larger aims of it… it does. And that’s

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
a very defeated kind of feeling sort of.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
My daughter is CNN (inaudible), I’m
really proud of what they’re doing

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
but knowing what’s happening with the
planet a part of me wants to say to them,

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
why bother? And I want everyone to
say that to them, but I think that

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
when they tell me about their plans, and
it’s really hard, it’s very difficult.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
[sil.]

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Not just my daughters, I mean a lot of young people who
are idealistic and motivated and a part of me saying,

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
\"You know, why… why bother.\" This place is
gonna be chaotic in a pretty short time

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
and… So the why bother, the answer is you
do it because it makes you feel good,

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
you feel right. You know, you feel
like you’re being true to yourself

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
but it’s a curse to know

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
this stuff, and it’s a curse
to even think why bother.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
But that’s the cost to this, that’s the
cost of doing this work, that’s all.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
[music]

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
The stuff Ross was referring to

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
included this harsh fact.
By the spring of 2005,

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
the physical evidence of global warming was already
outpacing even the most alarming scientific predictions,

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
and though most of the world’s developed
countries had long since taken steps

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
to reduce their CO2 emissions. The
United States had so far done nothing.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
We wanted to see the impact of America’s
inaction. So we went to (inaudible) Alaska,

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
an Inupiat village, 80
miles east of Siberia,

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
a place we could already see
global warming happening.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
[music]

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
This is permafrost underneath

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
that’s hard. See, I tried to scratch it

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
and it’s… sand underneath is much like ice,
and ice that’s what’s melting underneath,

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
that ice.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
That used to be a bear house inside?

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Yeah, we had hoses here. Okay.
This was a foundation over here

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
for one house used to be
low… lows house here.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
The place for my house used
to been is actually gone,

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
completely gone and there is
our neighbor Davis’s just

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
a little bit over here, and then there
was my cousin’s house way right like,

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
where I’m pointing right now, and it’s
kina surprising to see it. Holy cow.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:03.000
[sil.]

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
Things eventually got so bad that the
residents voted to move the entire village.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
That’s 621 people, a power plant,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
the new school and every house
on the island. They told you,

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
you had to move this village. How
do you think you would do that?

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
You would have to do it by…

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
With the barge. What
would you take with you?

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
I’ll try and take some clothes.
My dog, you see.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
Something to eat. Game boy.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
That’s all. Some Game boys.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:58.000
[music]

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
I… I not to give in to the
mindset of we’re really

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
going downhill and there’s nothing we can
do to stop it and I know that there are

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
some people now who are now
into that frame of mind,

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
you know, kind of like we’re doomed.
We can’t be doomed. I mean my daughter

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
is gonna be around hopefully
through most of the 21st century.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:38.000
[music]

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
We will little walk around the neighborhood.
US Climate Change Science Program office’s

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
in here on the second floor.
I always used to call this

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
the belly of the beast years
ago before I ever thought

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
I would be working right in it. This is the
White House Council on Environmental Quality.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
The head of the Council at
this point was Philip Cooney,

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
a Bush appointee who got his
environmental expertise as an attorney

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
for the American Petroleum Institute.
Mr. Cooney was the chief

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
lobbying arm of the oil industry. I sort of felt
that when he was there at that ExxonMobil was…

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
was in the room. Once the White House
through this type of an office

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
sort of sends out political… political
signals to the career people

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
in the federal agencies, it
shifts the whole way the problem

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
is discussed among the leading feds.
This is Philip Cooney right there.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
[sil.]

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
He does not like publicity. He does not like
publicity? He does not like publicity. How come?

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
If you Google on him, you won’t find much.
He’s the behind the scenes guy. So…

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
Did he just see you like… like that?

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
I think he probably did, he
knows that I just resigned.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
I mean, he was on the distribution
from my notice of resignation.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
So now he knows that somebody
sticking a microphone in my face

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
and I’m looking at his office.
You okay? Sure. Sure.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
[sil.]

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:33.000
[music]

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
Rick spent months poring

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
over his old working files.
Many of them climate reports.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
The scientists who wrote those reports
have labeled over the words they chose

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
so as to make them as accurate as possible.
Then they had to be reviewed

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
but Philip Cooney.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
He would go through

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
and make sometimes literally hundreds of
changes in final graphs of these documents.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
Crossed out \"shown that\",
crossed out \"confirmed that\".

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
He’s crossed out \"demonstrated\", he has
crossed out \"will have serious impacts

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
on native populations that rely on fishing
and hunting for their livelihood\".

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
It’s fabulous.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
[music]

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
Three months after he resigned
Rick took his evidence public.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:50.000
(inaudible).

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
Politicians may have tampered

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
with scientific reports before
but this time, thanks to Rick.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
Censorship and the oil lobby was sharing a front-page
headline. The disclosure that a former oil

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
industry lobbyists now chief of staff, a White
House official who was a former lobbyist

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
for the energy industry… All of a
sudden, everyone in America was talking

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
about the global warming gap and how
it came to be. We’re going to turn now

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
to a whistleblower Rick Piltz, he resigned in
March, over what he says is the Bush Administration

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
political… politicization of scientific
reports, you know, I can never say that word.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
Can you say that word? Politicization. Yeah. Yeah.
What’s your take on him as the whistleblower,

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
does he have an axe to grind, to what extent can you… No,
this is individual. The fellow’s name is Rick Piltz.

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
You might want to look into the background. I
don’t know… I don’t know all the answers to that

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
why he has such motives. But that’s something
for you to do and to look at his background

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
and why he came to these or why you came to those… that’s
not for me to do. I’m here to tell you what the facts are.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
If you looked at individual
wording changes and revisions

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
and rewrites, you might say, \"Oh, you know, what
does that. It’s just a little qualifying adjective

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
or when they put in line that said, \"the earth is
experiencing significant change, environmental change

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
right now,\" that they meant that. It’s… it’s…
it’s a real thing. It’s pretty unassailable fact

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
and in that instance, he changed the word
is too maybe. And scientific communication

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
should know more have to be
cleared through an administration

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
political apparatus than you should have to clear
your stories with the White House press office

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
before you file them today.

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
Two days after the New York Times article
appear. Phil Cooney resigned his position

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
as Chief of Staff at the Council on Environmental Quality,
claiming he wanted to spend more time with his family.

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
We wish him luck and we
appreciate his service. Okay.

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
Three days after that he
was hired by ExxonMobil.

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
Despite the fact that nearly every
news organization in the world

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
covered this story. This was Phil
Cooney’s only appearance on camera.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
[sil.]

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
The function of a prophet
does not predict the future.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
The role of the prophet is
to speak truth to power.

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
It is my honor to present to you one of the
great prophet of our age, Bill McKibben

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
[sil.]

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
We may well lose this fight and since 1998,

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
we’ve already lost large parts of it. You
know, the world is changing quickly,

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
and it’s gonna get a lot worse no matter what
we do, but in the course of doing the work

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
that needs to be done,

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
don’t divorce it from the living
that needs to be done too.

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
Right now it is the time
to be out there in it

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
in the human communities, in the natural
communities that are still in their

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
great glory. All of what you
say long way of saying that,

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
\"Umm… I’m going out skiing this afternoon.
So I’ll see you all in the woods

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
and thank you all very much
for… for being here this week.\"

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:33.000
[music]

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
I think most of us have been, you know,
living in one of those bad dreams

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
where you can see something
horrible about to happen,

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
the train is gonna run everybody over, you know,
the animal is gonna jump out of the woods

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
and eat you. You can’t get anyone else
to understand what you’re talking about,

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
you can’t get them to hear you, you
can’t get them to pay attention.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
And, you know, we’ve… I’ve tried every
way I can think of over the years

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
to get people to pay attention, umm…
to make them share at some level

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
the horror of this particular nightmare.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
Umm… And slowly… slowly… slowly

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
people are starting to
understand what’s going on.

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
January 26th, dispatch number two

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
from Middlebury Vermont. I mean, (inaudible)
works conference that kicked off today,

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
a semi-closed session designed to figure out why
the US has lagged behind the rest of the planet

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
when it comes to global warming and how it
might catch up. When the gathering turned

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
as gatherings due to what do we do next?
We’re at a loss. No one knows

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
for sure what’s going to work next. I would suggest that
it will take more than dead penguins and melting ice caps

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
to get Americans to fundamentally get
involved in this political transformation

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
of our energy economy. Modern environmentalism
with all of its unexamined assumptions

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
outdated concepts and exhausted
strategies must die. So that something

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
new can live. Little did we
know when we wrote those words,

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
what would ensue. After years of
working in the environmental movement,

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
Michael Schellenberg, public relations consult
and Ted Nordhaus, a political pollster.

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
I think they have some answers.
Just before the conference

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
they self published a scathing essay. It
charged the environmental movement but failing

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
to achieve any meaningful action on global warming.
We need to go to the American people and ask

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
what they care about, what kind of a world that they want to live
in, what kind of an America that they want to create with us?

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
Environmentalism in general is about telling
people how terrible things are and asking them

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
to make big sacrifices. It cuts against
the grain of American culture.

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
The bad boys of American environmentalism made their case this
morning and they made it well. By the time Michael Shellenberger

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
and Ted Nordhaus had finished presenting the data that
led to their famous depth of environmentalism paper,

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
most of the large crowd gathered for the
What Works conference were convinced

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
that they’d seen the future lay for the climate change
movement or at the very least where it didn’t lay.

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
We started the project by doing a set of focus groups
and what was interesting about the way that Ted did is,

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
is instead of starting the focus group saying we’re
here tonight to talk about environmental issues,

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
or we’re here tonight to talk about global warming,
or we’re here tonight talk about clean water.

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
He just said, \"How’s it going?\"
How things going around here?

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
Not good. Not good. More jobs
is just leaving every day,

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
so you see on the news every day. Gone,
gone, gone… And what we heard was

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
a litany of descriptions of all the
plants of all the industrial factories

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
that were closing down. People in the room were literally
depressed about what was happening to them economically.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
And people were having a hard time making
the rent, people are working two jobs

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
instead of one and we wanted to start there,
where people are at. What about global warming,

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
you guys think about that? I’d like say,
I don’t really know that much about it.

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
And that… and that… You
guys are worried than me…

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
And the great news is that when we make the transition
to a new energy economy, we’re gonna create

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.999
3 million jobs in the United States, we’re going to free
ourselves from foreign oil and we’re gonna clean up the air,

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.999
and it’s a very, umm… it’s
a very positive vision

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.999
and just sitting there talking to people about how
terrible the future is gonna is a big bomber.

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
The data they presented was even more striking
in the argument they made in their paper.

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
Quite simply this country is deeply conservative
and getting more so, no matter what you ask,

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
the numbers show world almost inconceivable
to your average card-carrying Sierra Club.

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
We have to get people excited
about radically transitioning

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
the global economy as quickly as possible and we
think they’re going to be motivated by a polar bear

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
floating on an ice cap, it would
be funny if it weren’t so sad.

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
Actually it’s still kind of funny. You’re not gonna
build a ski, you’re not gonna get maple syrup,

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:19.999
the polar bears are going to be floating around
on these ice floats unable to have their babies.

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.999
At the end of the day,
people have to the other,

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
you know, things that are just more… you
know, I don’t have a job and you want me

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
to worry about, you know, the maple
syrup industry, umm… you know,

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
or the ski industry 10 years from now. You know, Martin
Luther King didn’t give the… I Have a Nightmare speech,

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
gave the I Have a Dream speech
and the environmental movement

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.999
remains determined to give it the I Have a
Nightmare speech around global warming.

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:54.999
Michael and Ted’s attack on environmentalism
got a lot of attention and within weeks

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
of the Middlebury conference, they were out on the
lecture circuit spreading their message of death.

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
Our next speaker is joined
together to produce the now famous

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:09.999
or in some circles infamous articles that depth
of environmentalism, which has been alternately

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:14.999
declared as obvious and self-serving or brilliant
and incisive, and is a little of both (inaudible).

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.999
I think most people would agree of the need

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
for an inspirational message that can
really motivate, you know, a lot of people.

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
My question for is why did you frame your report
in a way that is strikes me at least as being

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
very divisive and not inspirational.
Why not defined

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
the kind of world that we want around the economy and jobs, why
is that such a radical idea for the environmental community?

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.999
So let me just say, my responses,
we’ve done it, we’ve said, lots of us

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:49.999
who work in that environment on sustainability on
environmental justice. I’ve been saying it for 20 or 30 years

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
and you’re killing us by saying that… that we’re
not there. They said that we’re bad boys.

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
That means we’re sexy. We said things that you’re
not supposed to say, we said naughty things.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
Well, maybe that (inaudible) spanked.
Well, we spanked.

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
Michael and Ted’s message

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.999
while not always popular, did spark a heated
debate in the environmental community

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
and before long, they signed with a major
publishers to turn their paper into a book.

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.999
So Outside Magazine named us, one
environmental power player of the year.

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
Really? We’re named power players of the year. Yeah.
(inaudible). They just called and they’re gonna… Wow!

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
Should we tell them that we’re
not environmentalists… Hold on.

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
This is Jeff Morrow on live,
Jeff how are conditions now?

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.999
Oh, they’re bad Marshall. This
is the worst we’ve seen so far

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.999
and a lot of people actually evacuated
out of the New Orleans area.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
Oh, that’s a little bit storm now. That kind
of a wind direction is gonna blow against like

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
(inaudible) from the north. (inaudible) is now
trying to surround the buildings in water.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.999
And that water is dirty, filthy,

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.999
and it’s (inaudible), it’s filled with
corpses and also it’s filled the sewage.

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.999
This is a very important to hear that officials are
telling people to leave. There are like bodies floating

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
half of my front door, you know,
bodies floating half of my front door.

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
I’m gonna see and feel like this…
The mayor issued the proclamation

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
last night, he said (inaudible) immediately any public safety
officer with the boundaries of the perished New Orleans.

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
This hereby instructed and authorized
(inaudible) the evacuation

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
of all persons from the city of New Orleans regardless
of whether… Clearly one of the first sort of

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
political and social consequences
of climate upheaval is a

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
totalitarian kind of response, in order
to keep order, and it’s certainly benign

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
and I’m not implying that the mayor is a
dictator but nevertheless, when you have chaos

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
you need totalitarian response in
order to serve, navigate through it.

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
Myron Ebell, umm… how many hurricanes would you
say it will take of this sort of intensity

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
to prove to you in any sense that the maybe
a patent emerging. Until the experts,

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
not… not people who just say things because
they… they think it will advance their agenda

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
but the actual scientists who know something about
hurricanes change their mind. I don’t think

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
I… I will change my mind. But of course
is one thing that all sides agree on it…

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
Let’s read all the way through.
I like that first sentence.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
Imagine loosing the equivalent of a football field
every 40 minutes because I really want people

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
to… to picture that. Umm…
I really want people

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
to picture that every 40 minutes.
Well… Okay,

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
this is gonna make you really unhappy about
what I’m gonna suggest that we lose, Heidi.

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
Oh no. For 6,000 years. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I know you’re right.
It is the fact that only a climatologist would love.

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
I know. Yeah. With this
coverage of Katrina,

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
The Weather Channel broke its own ratings record
reaching some 51 million viewers across the country.

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
Can talk to some of the mets
who’ve been here for you know,

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
since the beginning of The Weather Channel. If you
talk to them, they’ll basically telling you that

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
they’ve never seen anything like this
in their entire career, you know.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
Hey, Bobby.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
Oh, so we’re just gonna do a little
practicing, are we entering a new era

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
of super hurricanes. Then I’ll turn to the camera. All
right. Let’s bring our climate expert Dr. Heidi Cullen.

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
Heidi, are we? I don’t know, if you wrote that
but that’s I’m gonna say, so what about global…

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
Is this related to global warming? That’s
the question, right? Not is… Yeah.

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
What about… Is this… So Heidi, are these hurricanes related
to global warming? We’re just talking about Katrina

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
connecting global warming to an individual
hurricane is tricky. You say that about

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
every time we have an event. I know it’s almost like we have
to say that because, you know, you can’t confuse something

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
that affects the entire background state and a trend with
individual events, that’s why we look at these big datasets

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
with respect to global warming. So your lifetime
is not one big dataset, not worthy of climate.

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
Well, our lifetime is good, you know,
that… that’s… that’s getting closer to.

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
I… I think since I’ve been here two
years ago now I’ve gotten a pretty good

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
perspective on what it means to be a scientist.
As a scientist you point out the things

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
you don’t know because those are the things that you’re thinking
about. I mean, and that’s… and that’s why, the way the skeptic

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
community has seized upon uncertainty,
it’s so… it’s so devastating to me

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
in so many ways ‘cause I feel like what it does
is it, you know, molests the truth in some ways.

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
It… it turns the truth into something that
is, you know, subjective and meaningless

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
and the whole point of science is to say that there’s
fundamental truths out there. I think we’re all saying that,

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
you know, it’s going to become increasingly obvious
over time and… and the question is, do we have to wait

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
until it becomes increasingly obvious to do something about
it? Is it just increasingly obvious now to scientists,

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.999
they think it’s increasingly obvious.
Yeah. So…

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:09.999
All right. So let’s go. So all right. so there’s global
warming and you’ve got to give me something good.

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:14.999
Three, two, one, track
server A, rolling sample.

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
(inaudible) global warming could increase
hurricane intensity. In fact, a new paper

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.999
that’s generated a lot of controversy
says global warming has made

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:29.999
hurricanes more intense. Part
that I find so challenging

01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:34.999
is trying to convince someone that you
don’t have an agenda, you’re just trying

01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:39.999
to say you’re not trying to
cry wolf or… or try to create

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:44.999
some scenario that is a waste of their
time. Again, this is a just crap

01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:49.999
that we’ve created. It’s the mother of all problems.
We should be able to continue to broadcast

01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:54.999
unless that rain is so hard that…
that we can’t get the signal out.

01:06:55.000 --> 01:06:59.999
Well, the hurricane that
struck Louisiana yesterday

01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:04.999
was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather
Service, it’s real name is global warming,

01:07:05.000 --> 01:07:09.999
when the year began with a two-foot
snowfall in the Los Angeles area

01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:14.999
because it’s global warming. When a severe
drought in the Midwest grew up water levels

01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:19.999
in the Missouri River to the lowest on record
earlier this summer, the reason was global warming.

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:24.999
At the beginning of 2005,
a deadly ice storm,

01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:29.999
a knockout power to thousands of people in
New England and dropped the record setting

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.999
42.2 inches of snow in Boston. The
conventional name of the month was January.

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:39.999
It’s real name is global warming,
that was the (inaudible) that went

01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:44.999
in the globe last week. Here we go.

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:49.999
Hello. Yeah. In terms of Katrina,

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:54.999
the question of a number of people are asking me is do I
think this will be sort of a triggering event that will

01:07:55.000 --> 01:07:59.999
lead to more awareness, and I don’t know the answer
to that Raphael, I would’ve that when we had to

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
30-35,000 heat deaths in
Europe two summers ago…

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:09.999
Hurricane Katrina pulled Ross right out of
retirement. In two days, he did 19 radio interviews

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.999
which were followed by appearances on
Fox News in a week-long ABC special.

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:19.999
The main strategy of the fossil fuel lobby
is to make this debate. They don’t care

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.999
who wins or loses, they don’t care if they lose the
debate as long as the public feels it’s a debate.

01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:29.999
[sil.]

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:34.999
This guy sort of talks over you and cuts you off
so I’m trying to figure out how to deal with that.

01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:39.999
(inaudible) for me okay. Great. That’s
the best you can do with this face.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:44.999
Thank you. Three, two, one.

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.999
Climate Crisis? I… I guess what
I see is consistent is this…

01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.999
this desire to create panic among
the American people and it seems

01:08:55.000 --> 01:08:59.999
to be based on faulty science, am I
correct here? The science says that

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:04.999
to stabilize the climate we, need to cut
our emissions by 70% that is the unanimous

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:09.999
finding in more than 2,000 scientists and then look
at what the responses in Europe. How it is now

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:14.999
cutting emissions by 80% in 40 years,
20… I think we’ve hit on a point here.

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.999
There are lot of people say, that when people say
that they’ve got an agenda… …Would not be doing

01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:24.999
that if there are any doubts about the science. They
want us to be drive in (inaudible), or a Honda Prius,

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.999
or a Toyota Prius rather than another car that
there’s another agenda guiding their science.

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:34.999
It’s a political agenda, is that true in the short time we have
done? It’s… Of course, it’s true, they want to stifle debate.

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:39.999
Mr. Gelbspan wants to stifle
debate… Over the months

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
that followed Katrina, Climate Change got
more media attention than it ever had before.

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:49.999
The global warming perhaps, why should you
care? Well, you’re about to find out.

01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:54.999
Leonardo DiCaprio is here to share
some of his thought. Is this a result

01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:59.999
of global warming what’s happening to us. Model
say things like intense rainfall events,

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.999
hurricanes and even wildfires have the link to global
warming. Yeah. What a fun job you have, Heidi.

01:10:05.000 --> 01:10:09.999
…This dorm on steroids

01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:14.999
because of global warming. Suddenly
Americans seem genuinely interested

01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.999
in what scientists knew, and for the
first time ever, the global warming gap

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:24.999
looked like it was starting to close.
The Bush administration didn’t like

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
that at all and when NASA’S chief scientist,
James Hansen went on national television

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
and said we were approaching a tipping point with
global warming, they told him to stop talking.

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
In my more than three decades
in government I’ve never

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
witnessed such restrictions
on the ability of scientists

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
to communicate with the public.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
You believe the administration is
censoring. What you can say to the public?

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
Well, they… they’re censoring whether or not
I can say it. Shortly after Hanson spoke out

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
about being silenced. He was named as a
recipient of the annual (inaudible) prize

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
for truth telling, so as Rick Piltz.

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
[sil.]

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
Okay. That’s… that’s
myself at 19 in Ann Arbor

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:24.999
during the ‘60s, so I keep it
here on system. He’s my watchdog

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:29.999
whether I’m standing on the
up and up because he knows.

01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
[sil.]

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
After leaving his job, Rick launched climate
science watch, a nonprofit organization

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
that exposes the misuse of global warming
research in politics and policy making.

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
These days it doesn’t have to
have his work approved by anyone.

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
I’m climatologist Heidi Cullen,

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
check us out daily for an unbiased look
at climate change. Slower, faster,

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
happier, or less happy. Do you guys know
what… do you guys know what time it is?

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
I can’t do two takes now but I will
gladly come back. This is gonna be where

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.999
the new set is so this is the key wall right here, you
know, I’ll be sitting on top of the queue as well

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:19.999
so you can do all this funky stuff with like… A
few months after Katrina, The Weather Channel

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:24.999
decided to give Heidi her own show, The Climate
Code. Instead of three minutes a week,

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.999
she now gets 30. She can use the
word ironic if she wants to

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:34.999
and she has two producers. One with a background
and entertainment TV. This is the climate code

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.999
with your host Dr. Heidi Cullen. In 2006,
it seems like you couldn’t pick up

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:44.999
a newspaper or magazine without a headliner story
relating to global warming and climate change.

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:49.999
Al Gore starred in truth an
inconvenient truth, a box office.

01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:54.999
There’s no doubt that global warming is gone mainstream. For
long time, environmentalists have had this discourse of…

01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:59.999
we just have to convince everybody that the science
is really clear and that there’s a consensus

01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:04.999
but the point is… is that they will never arrive
because the media will always go and find somebody

01:13:05.000 --> 01:13:09.999
who says that global warming is a hoax.
In the wake of Katrina,

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
Michael and Ted conducted another set of focus groups to
test out fresh ideas for new global warming legislation.

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
The biggest criticisms that ever since we’ve
conducted environmentalism has been that

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
we didn’t say what the alternative was and
this is a key part in the process of getting

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
ready to do that. What’s the first thing that
comes to mind when I say Hurricane Katrina?

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
(inaudible). (inaudible). Coping and
inefficiency. I’ve tried not to say bullish.

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:39.999
You tried not to say… Tried
to go to the good job.

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
You know, (inaudible) a lot of work to do. (inaudible) a
lot of work to do. You don’t want a reputation like that?

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
We don’t want that to ever be the
picture of that showing again…

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:54.999
So what is global warming? My understanding
over that is pollutants caused

01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:59.999
by cars and industrial
manufacturing, it causes

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
unnatural increase in the surface
temperature of the planet.

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
Our challenge is to construct a politics
that has good ecological, good global

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
impacts offer a more just world
but to do that you have to

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
construct a politics that offers people things
that they want. And some people are now saying

01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:24.999
that America needs a global warming prepare
this strategy to get ready for global warming.

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.999
What do you like about this idea?
Somebody is actually thinking about it.

01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
Yeah, right. Somebody is concerned.
They’re already flood,

01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
this is really something to think about.
Within days of gathering that data,

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
Michael and Ted headed to the nation’s
capital to move the idea of global warming

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
preparedness to the next level. Hey guys, how are you doing? Good to
see you again. What I like most about this is making a local. Yeah.

01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
I… I really believe that’s
the biggest power this.

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
Well, people will see in their own neighborhoods, in their
own communities. Right. Now it’s not just a theory.

01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:04.999
Right. It’s my hometown. Well, you represented coastal
district… A hope to remain. A hope to remain exactly.

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:09.999
(inaudible) and to have a coastline.

01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:14.999
We’ll be talking, we’ll talk about the next
step. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Thanks a lot.

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:23.000
[sil.]

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:29.999
We underestimated the hazard of dealing
with the methanol so what we want to do

01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:34.999
is change our format here from
like a hand stirred vessel

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:39.999
to something that’d be like a big giant Blender.
I’m looking in the vessel right now and there’s

01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:44.999
clear stuff coming up but it’s in pockets.
It’s start getting blocked.

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.999
All right. Don’t panic because you can
go through the (inaudible) process.

01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:54.999
Okay. You know what, I’m
looking at my (inaudible).

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:59.999
Leave a lot of settle time, like days.

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:04.999
Okay. He said that maybe we don’t have
bio-diesel somewhere it’s going on again.

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.999
So… Smoothly funky now.

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:14.999
I don’t know, I don’t know.

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
(inaudible) over night and see
how it settles down in morning.

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:24.999
Bio-diesel is gonna look pretty
much like… like honey, right.

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:29.999
Yeah. Like very good beer.

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.999
I think you got the fuel buddy. Look at that stuff.
Beautiful man. Rudolf Diesel would be proud of us.

01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.999
Yes, he would be. Now (inaudible) will never
get the clarity of a pale yellow (inaudible).

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
Oh there, I think.

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:49.999
The moment of truth is rapidly approaching.

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.999
Okay. Here goes nothing.

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:59.999
Faster. You there? Yes sir.

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
[sil.]

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
Yes! Yes! Right.

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
Nothing. No diesel smell at all. Yeah.

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
Yes! Thanks (inaudible) mobile.

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
We’re believers now. No
more dinosaur juice.

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
For more hydrocarbons, we’re
going on a carbohydrate

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
or carbo loading, we’re
on a carbohydrate diet.

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
Bish is still using bio-diesel.
Only gets it out of a pump

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
from a bio-fuel station, which
are now all over country.

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:49.999
[music]

01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.999
Canyons resort where he used the work

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
operates everything but the
auxiliary lift on bio-diesel.

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
Tonight we introduce a major new
poll conducted by ABC, Time Magazine

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
and Stanford University. Marcus, you missing the old
(inaudible) man. You’re missing the entire thing Marcus.

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:14.999
Global warming, a revealing
poll of what Americans think

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
about our changing climate, finally
everyone is listening but is it too late?

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
That’s good. That’s good. That’s good.

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:29.999
So why is it taken so long to convince
Americans. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:34.999
Ross Gelbspan blames a 15-year
misinformation campaign… In the early years,

01:18:35.000 --> 01:18:39.999
I used to think of myself as Paul Revere without
a horse, so now there’s a horse settled.

01:18:40.000 --> 01:18:44.999
Yesterday a vast majority of Americans,
85% now believe global warming

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:49.999
is probably happening and that it will
become a serious problem in the future.

01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:54.999
The most surprising in our poll while half of
Americans say they’re now experiencing warming

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:59.999
64% still mistakenly think that there’s
a lot of disagreement among scientists

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
about whether global warming is happening. That’s
bad. American people get them bludgeoned with

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
climate disaster stories for God
knows how long and they’re just…

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
they got disaster fatigue. Pat
Michaels is one of my hand…

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
Are you quitting or are you not quitting?
Am I quitting? He is not quitting.

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
I’m not quitting but I think the next book to
write is when I really been avoiding writing

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:29.999
completely is

01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:34.999
what is the existential response to an
age of collapse. I mean we’re talking

01:19:35.000 --> 01:19:39.999
about a real change in the evolution of
our species and our civilization became

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:44.999
a really big deal change. How has an
intelligent honest person supposed to

01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:49.999
relate to that? How does that feel like by
the end of the world with your daughter

01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.999
sitting like half of (inaudible)?
Not good. Something I’d

01:19:55.000 --> 01:19:59.999
much rather not discuss with my daughters. I think in
the past it was easier for you to feel optimistic…

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:04.999
Yes. That’s great. …Certain possibilities of
things getting fixed and now you’ve been a lot

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:09.999
more sobered by political realities in the face
of the information you say… A natural reality.

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:14.999
I mean we still need to try to stop it here
because it’s a matter of degrees how bad,

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:19.999
you know, civilization will be
profoundly destabilized affected

01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.999
but that still doesn’t give a
reason to give up in my view.

01:20:25.000 --> 01:20:30.000
[sil.]

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
I’ve never spoken to audiences young college students
that I was persuaded that some of them are old

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
enough to vote, and some will be voting
pretty soon and they need to know this,

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
so… so it’s a little bit of a
delicate balance how we present it.

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
The thing to understand is that
any solution has to be global.

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:59.999
Even if we cut our use of coal and oil dramatically, those
cuts would be overwhelmed by the coming pulse of carbon

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:04.999
from India and China and Mexico and
Nigeria and all the developing countries.

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:09.999
The good news is most poor
countries would love to go solar,

01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:14.999
they just can’t afford it but what we in the US
need to do is join with the rest of the world

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:19.999
and lead a common global project to
rewire the world with clean energy.

01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:24.999
And whether US to spearhead this global
energy transition it would create millions

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
and millions of jobs all over the world
and at the same time dramatically expand

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.999
the baseline conditions for peace, so I really
thank you for your patience and your attention.

01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:39.999
It’s great to talk to
kids (inaudible) kids.

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:44.999
I expect to see all these iPads
but I didn’t see. (inaudible).

01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:49.999
[sil.]

01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:54.999
I finally reached the point of being just
a little more than I’ve ever been before

01:21:55.000 --> 01:21:59.999
because there’s no longer, you know, this sort
of work that I’ve been doing for 20 years

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:04.999
is no longer necessary. People
understand the problem,

01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:09.999
there’s no longer any scientific debate,
we know what’s going on, we know

01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:14.999
that we can do something about
it but we’re not doing about it.

01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:19.999
The power of the fossil fuel industry
in Washington is just too strong.

01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:24.999
In the fall of 2006, Bill and other
activists organized a five-day march

01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:29.999
from Middlebury to Burlington,
Vermont biggest city. (inaudible).

01:22:30.000 --> 01:22:34.999
We’re gonna spend the
next five days walking,

01:22:35.000 --> 01:22:39.999
and we’re gonna spend the next five
days walking because the time has come

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:44.999
to really demand action
from our political leaders.

01:22:45.000 --> 01:22:49.999
Their strategy used the momentum from mass
citizen action to challenge politicians

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:54.999
to support the most far-reaching emissions
reductions ever opposed in the United States

01:22:55.000 --> 01:22:59.999
80% lower by 2015. Sneaking
down that hill today

01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:04.999
was really tremendous to one
part of the global warming

01:23:05.000 --> 01:23:09.999
movement that’s been
missing is the movement.

01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:14.999
Thank you everybody.

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:19.999
[sil.]

01:23:20.000 --> 01:23:24.999
I just want to say one
personal note of thanks.

01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:29.999
I’d been working on this stuff for a
very long time and the thing can work

01:23:30.000 --> 01:23:34.999
about global warming can be a pretty
depressing and difficult business.

01:23:35.000 --> 01:23:39.999
This was the most hopeful day for me
of the last 20 years so thank you

01:23:40.000 --> 01:23:44.999
enormously for being here.

01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:49.999
Eight politicians,

01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:54.999
including a conservative
Republican sign their quest(ph).

01:23:55.000 --> 01:23:59.999
This was a really big deal,

01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.999
a bi-partisan group politicians down to
radically reduce carbon dioxide emissions

01:24:05.000 --> 01:24:09.999
because an organized group of voters
told them to. Oh, that was awesome.

01:24:10.000 --> 01:24:14.999
Watching all of them (inaudible)… I know it actually
felt like we had power over political leaders.

01:24:15.000 --> 01:24:19.999
If we can really get our politicians

01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.999
to commit to something strong and to
recognize as they did here today that

01:24:25.000 --> 01:24:29.999
they have to take a stance on this issue and they had to
take a strong stance that are just not going to get elected.

01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:34.999
Their next step was to literally step it up

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.999
by organizing tens of thousands of Americans
into a nationwide movement that would push

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:44.999
political leaders except the
very same radical reductions.

01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:49.999
There have been other hopeful developments
as well. In the past few years,

01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:54.999
a handful of local and state governments have
become so frustrated with Federal inaction,

01:24:55.000 --> 01:24:59.999
that they’ve opted to go it alone and
have jump-started the transformation

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:04.999
to a new energy economy. There’s also
been a sea change on Capitol Hill

01:25:05.000 --> 01:25:09.999
where in 2007, the newly-elected
Congress kicked off the year

01:25:10.000 --> 01:25:14.999
with a series of high-profile hearings of global
warming, helping to bring much needed attention

01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:19.999
to are increasingly dire situation.
And even after we’ve lifted

01:25:20.000 --> 01:25:24.999
the heavy hand of censorship, there’s
still the matter of taking these findings

01:25:25.000 --> 01:25:29.999
adopting them and embracing them and translating
them into the appropriate policy responses.

01:25:30.000 --> 01:25:34.999
On one level all of this
seems like really good news.

01:25:35.000 --> 01:25:39.999
The problem is time, it’s passing
and every day that passes

01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:44.999
is another day since Bill’s march.
Another week since Katrina hit,

01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:49.999
another month since Rick went public

01:25:50.000 --> 01:25:54.999
and another year added to the 20, it’s already
been since the news of global warming first came

01:25:55.000 --> 01:25:59.999
to public attention in the United
States, and after all that,

01:26:00.000 --> 01:26:04.999
our nation’s leaders are still
talking more than they’re doing.

01:26:05.000 --> 01:26:09.999
The Bush Administration chose
as its Chief of Staff.

01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:14.999
I’ve been trying to understand the purpose of a retrospective
like this. What we really have to have an editor editing

01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:18.000
your edit and then his
edits further edited…

01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:34.999
What we need is a bold and aggressive
federal policy and we need it fast.

01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:39.999
The best science tells us we’ve got
less than ten years to shift away

01:26:40.000 --> 01:26:44.999
from fossil fuels, or we’re gonna wind up
struggling to live on a radically different planet

01:26:45.000 --> 01:26:53.000
[music]

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:05.000
[sil.]