Citizen George presents the life and work of 86-year-old Quaker activist…
The Wisdom to Survive
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- Transcript
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THE WISDOM TO SURVIVE accepts the consensus of scientists that climate change has already arrived, and asks, what is keeping us from action? The film explores how unlimited growth and greed are destroying the life support system of the planet, the social fabric of the society, and the lives of billions of people.
Will we have the wisdom to survive? The film features thought leaders and activists in the realms of science, economics and spirituality discussing how we can evolve and take action in the face of climate disruption. They urge us to open ourselves to the beauty that surrounds us and get to work on ensuring it thrives.
Amongst those featured are Bill McKibben, Joanna Macy, Roger Payne, Richard Heinberg, Gus Speth, Stephanie Kaza, Nikki Cooley and Ben Falk.
'A stirring call-to-arms, The Wisdom to Survive juxtaposes the stunning beauty, diversity and inter-connectedness of the natural world, with the desolate, soulless, perpetual growth machine of capitalism. Refreshingly clear-sighted in its analysis of the systemic roots of our ecological crisis, combining stunning photography with interviews from leading figures in the movement for climate justice...The film should be watched by all those who wish to understand humanity's multi-faceted ecological crisis, and how we might avert planetary ecocide, by acting collectively to replace the system which produced it.' Christopher Williams, Author, Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalistic Ecological Crisis, Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Physical Science, Pace University, Chair of the Science Department, Packer Collegiate Institute
'Recommended...Skillfully covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time...The film is an impassioned plea for awareness and action. Recommended for general audiences looking for practical and innovative ways to break the cycle of unsustainable growth and planet destruction.' Linda Frederiksen, Washington State University, Educational Media Reviews Online
'The Wisdom to Survive is an exquisitely-filmed documentary that presents an overview of the climate crisis, including its causes, effects, and directions of hope. Poignant scenes illustrate the sacred beauty of the natural world, the tragedy of its diminishment, and our human interconnectedness with the rest of creation. Indigenous leaders, people from poor and vulnerable nations, scientists, scholars, religious leaders, activists, farmers, and poets make the case for 'climate justice' and point in the direction of hope. Do we have the wisdom to survive? The answer is related to community. We are connected by our shared grief at what is happening to the earth and by our shared hope and commitment to the future.' Rev. Sharon Delgado, co-founder and Executive Director of Earth Justice Ministries
'The Wisdom to Survive is both instructive and inspiring. It combines incisive scientific and social analysis regarding anthropogenic climate change, while raising important existential and ethical questions. At the same time, it shows people working in practical, transformational, and imaginative ways to bring about a fundamentally different and more just and sustainable world, and thus provides very helpful food for thought in terms of where to go from here and now.' Joseph Nevins, Associate Professor of Geography, Chair of Earth Science and Geography, Vassar College
'This is a starkly prophetic film. It combines the direst of warnings with deep love of life. Better than any other film I know, it makes clear that our profit-oriented growth economy has caused the climate catastrophe and cannot itself rescue us from disaster. We need new thinking and a new way of life.' Tom F. Driver, Paul Tillich Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary
'The Wisdom to Survive offers thoughtful and comprehensive reflections on the ecological and economic state of the planet from academics and activists around the world. From farming to laissez-faire capitalism to energy, the film explores the interconnections underlying climate change, and points to systems thinking and interdependency as pathways to much needed social change.' Dr. Christine Shearer, Author of Kivalina: A Climate Change Story, Postdoctoral Scholar of Earth Systems Science at UC Irvine
'The expansionary dynamic of capitalism is driving the ever increasing use of fossil fuels, and we need to create alternative forms of life and interaction with the natural world that are more sustainable. The film makes this point very well. The video quality and photography are excellent, and the pace of the movie is reassuring and gentle.' Dr. Robert Brulle, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Science, Drexel University, Co-author, Power, Justice, and the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement
'I hope the film can travel everywhere and impact others' lives as it has ours. I felt in the immensity of the material there was a movement--a narrative line--toward something of great significance. The images of people all over the world 'pushing back' stay with me. We are one family of beings on this planet. Your film shows us that.' Sara Norton, Faculty, Health, Arts and Sciences, Sustainability, Goddard College
'This film is deeply moving and profoundly engaging. Indeed, it has the potential to transform lives because it provides visions of how we should live in the midst of massive environmental challenges. I cannot recommend it more highly!' Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
'While demonstrating the enormous challenges of our times this film also calls for transformation. It is a powerful witness to the possibility of change as we awaken to the remarkable beauty of our planet.' John Grim, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
'The beauty of this film is that it calls me out of the closet. To shake off whatever cultural baggage there is that inhibits me from admitting to those around me that I care...Wisdom to Survive breathes life into the movement to love, defend, and lend helping hands to the one planet home we have. This film honors the wisdom of youth, scientists, clergy, activists, indigenous peoples, artists and you...If you are haunted by the stupid thought that heroics are needed to save the planet and you think, 'I'm no hero,' then this film will help you forget that nonsense.' Jim Merkel, Author, Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth, Director of the Global Living Project
'I was deeply moved by this film...I feel inspired that there is still hope, and that I can join with good people out there who are doing good things to join up with. The film is absolutely a call to action.' Dr. Emma Bragdon, Director, Integrative Mental Health University
'A short, visually beautiful, and philosophically warm and uplifting movie...We need a big movement, which means we need massive involvement. You can even begin with a screening of this film.' Karie Firoozmand, Friends Journal
'Narrators suggest ways to make a difference, with the next decades as turbulent but exciting times. This film could be used to spark discussion in environmental science classes and in ethics and government courses as well.' Maggie Knapp, School Library Journal
'What is the alternative to blind adherence to a profit-oriented growth economy, and how can it reasonably be put into practice?...The Wisdom to Survive is a thought-provoking call to moral and spiritual arms.' The Midwest Book Review
'Marvelous and moving. Beautiful work.' Fran Korten, Yes! Magazine
'Brilliant, achingly poignant...Please SEE THIS FILM - bring it to your community, talk about it, share it with others. It is one of the most artfully-rendered films on the planet's crisis (and how we move through it) I have ever seen...extraordinarily moving.' Shyla Nelson, One Earth-One Voice
'The Wisdom to Survive offers the most inspiring, enlightening, creative, and practical overview of the spiritual dimensions of climate change that we've seen...The filmmakers hurrah the energy and curiosity of kids and the creativity of youth who are stirring things up with permaculture, alternative fuel options, and city gardens. They focus on the commitment to protect Mother Earth evident in Native American movements to protect their water rights. From activists in South Africa and India, we learn about the food justice movement and the importance of women farmers.' Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spiritualty and Practice
'The impact of the film continues to influence and ripple outwards...[It] has been so helpful in sustaining energy through campaigning, particularly through the re-framing of the ecological crisis as an adventure which can be sustained through feeling into the earth's beauty. So blessed to have these wisdom teachings to flavor activism in a whole new light.' Lindsay Alderton, Dharma Action Network for Climate Engagement (DANCE)
'I appreciated the balance of the reality of the situation with a feeling of hope and connection.' Kat Robbins, Place-Based Education Specialist, Woodstock, Vermont
'Wisdom to Survive is both inspirational and beautiful. The spokespeople are interesting, articulate, and positive too, with their uniting message that something can be done about climate change. The visuals are extraordinary...Beauty will save the world.' Rev. John Barrett, Westcenter Congregational Church, Bronxville, NY
'I found this film powerful and inspiring...It calms me to know that there are people thinking about this, taking the 'deep view,' and doing what can be done to change the underlying paradigm of nature and people as commodities to be mined for profits. We can't know all the answers, we are stuck, I think, with living the questions. It will be great for stimulating discussion.' Anne McCollum, Psychologist
'The videography is spectacular. The message is beautifully conveyed - kind of a moral root canal with some anesthetic but not enough to obscure the real problem. You get to the heart of the matter.' Ora Wry, Musician, Activist, Providence, Rhode Island
'Beautiful, Heartbreaking, Urgent.' Rob Herring, Organicsoul.com
'Phenomenal. I firmly believe that it will serve to catalyze necessary spiritual, social, and intellectual transformations, and hasten global progress in building a sustainable world.' Jamie Konopacky, Representative for Sustainable Development, US Baha'i Office of Public Affairs
Citation
Main credits
Ankele, John (film director)
Ankele, John (film producer)
Macksoud, Anne (film director)
Macksoud, Anne (film producer)
Friesen, Eugene (composer)
Friesen, Eugene (instrumentalist)
Other credits
Videography, Michael Sacca; music composed and performed by Eugene Friesen (cello).
Distributor subjects
Activism; Anthropology; Biology; Capitalism; Citizenship and Civics; Climate Change/Global Warming; Community; Consumerism; Ecology; Economics; Endangered Species; Environment; Environmental Ethics; Ethics; Global Issues; Habitat; Natural Resources; Oceans and Coasts; Permaculture; Religion; Social Justice; Social Psychology; Sociology; Sustainability; WaterKeywords
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I think it is a Dostoyevsky quote, he said
00:00:17.959 --> 00:00:21.375
\"Perhaps it\'s beauty that
will save the earth.\"
00:00:34.501 --> 00:00:39.417
The sound of the whales is something
that can help us all just to feel
00:00:39.459 --> 00:00:43.209
this kind of community of beauty
that we\'re a part of.
00:00:44.417 --> 00:00:48.125
When I hear the whale and
respond with the cello,
00:00:48.167 --> 00:00:53.542
it\'s really just... it\'s about
the beauty of the sound.
00:00:56.501 --> 00:00:59.918
I know that there is some discussion,
some mystery about what the whales
00:00:59.959 --> 00:01:05.042
are actually trying to convey with these
extraordinary assortment of sounds that they make,
00:01:05.083 --> 00:01:08.709
but the other thing is to
simply relate to it as beauty.
00:01:11.250 --> 00:01:13.334
Ah, whales!
00:01:13.375 --> 00:01:19.334
The thing that drew me
to whales was I fell in love with whales.
00:01:20.042 --> 00:01:24.209
One would think of whales as a species
which was perhaps so large that it
00:01:24.250 --> 00:01:29.501
would be unaffected by almost anything that affects
the oceans, but that answer would be wrong.
00:01:29.542 --> 00:01:34.250
Their breeding cycle is deeply
affected by climate change.
00:01:34.292 --> 00:01:39.626
The effects on the females – the
conditions which destroy her food source
00:01:39.667 --> 00:01:42.667
causes her to not have a
calf in a given year.
00:01:51.918 --> 00:01:54.709
The whaling nations,
Japan, Norway, Iceland,
00:01:54.751 --> 00:02:01.042
all exploit loopholes in the so-called
moratorium which was created on whaling.
00:02:01.083 --> 00:02:06.334
It was zero quota and all these countries
are ignoring them for various reasons
00:02:06.375 --> 00:02:11.876
hey claim they\'re doing science, they claim they\'re
doing all sorts of things, but it\'s just nonsense.
00:02:11.918 --> 00:02:17.751
And so what I have watched is the
destruction of my life\'s work
00:02:17.792 --> 00:02:22.000
going on before my eyes, and
it\'s a horrible thing to see.
00:02:22.042 --> 00:02:24.792
But you can\'t talk
about it usually.
00:02:24.834 --> 00:02:30.959
Mainstream society doesn\'t want to
hear about our sorrow
00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.792
for what is happening to life on earth.
00:02:33.834 --> 00:02:39.250
That gets reduced right away
to some personal pathology.
00:02:39.292 --> 00:02:47.167
What a deliverance to realize that
that\'s not a private burden
00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:53.083
but a shared experience with
our brothers and sisters;
00:02:53.375 --> 00:02:59.667
that\'s what happens over and over again
in the work that reconnects.
00:03:01.334 --> 00:03:09.334
As we speak the truth of our pain for the world, we
discover our interconnectedness with each other.
00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:20.000
That comes forward when we read together from
the list of endangered and threatened species.
00:03:20.792 --> 00:03:26.042
Read them, just like…with a drumbeat:
00:03:28.042 --> 00:03:30.250
Polar Bear,
00:03:30.292 --> 00:03:33.375
Bengal Tiger,
00:03:33.417 --> 00:03:36.584
Swallowtail Butterfly,
00:03:36.626 --> 00:03:38.918
Wolf,
00:03:38.959 --> 00:03:41.667
Ferret,
00:03:41.709 --> 00:03:45.000
Harp Seal,
00:03:45.042 --> 00:03:48.042
African Elephant.
00:03:49.501 --> 00:03:57.042
To think of these species and wonder at their
strength and their beauty, their wisdom,
00:03:57.083 --> 00:04:01.876
their weirdness, their particularities.
00:04:02.542 --> 00:04:05.459
We are creatures here
just like all the others.
00:04:05.501 --> 00:04:10.667
We didn\'t create them and we have
no right to destroy them.
00:04:15.459 --> 00:04:20.626
We\'re losing species today at 1000 times the
rate that species do normally go extinct.
00:04:20.667 --> 00:04:26.000
We are killing off
the rest of the creation.
00:04:29.876 --> 00:04:35.042
As soon as you take a moral principle
like not harming life, really to heart,
00:04:35.083 --> 00:04:38.167
your eyes see the world in a different way.
00:04:38.209 --> 00:04:44.417
You\'re almost compelled to witness
the suffering as you see it.
00:04:44.876 --> 00:04:50.959
Now the hard part is actually being with
that suffering, not turning away from it.
00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.918
Not simply to judge it or dismiss
it or be angry about it,
00:04:55.959 --> 00:05:00.167
but to actually see it and in that seeing,
00:05:00.209 --> 00:05:04.209
the opportunities for action will arise.
00:05:04.250 --> 00:05:10.417
We can\'t all take care of all the problems in the
world, and we can\'t be in all places at once.
00:05:10.459 --> 00:05:16.751
So we can be most thoroughly
in the place where we are.
00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.459
If we will have the wisdom to survive,
00:05:21.501 --> 00:05:26.250
to stand like slow-growing
trees on a ruined place,
00:05:26.292 --> 00:05:29.083
renewing, enriching it,
00:05:29.125 --> 00:05:32.626
if we will make our seasons welcome here,
00:05:32.667 --> 00:05:36.792
asking not too much of earth or heaven,
00:05:36.834 --> 00:05:44.792
then a long time after we are dead the
lives our lives prepare will live there,
00:05:44.834 --> 00:05:49.209
their houses strongly
placed upon the valley sides,
00:05:49.250 --> 00:05:53.167
fields and gardens rich in the windows.
00:05:53.209 --> 00:05:57.834
The river will run clear,
as we will never know it,
00:05:57.876 --> 00:06:03.042
and over it, birdsong like a canopy.
00:06:03.083 --> 00:06:07.542
On the levels of the
hills will be green meadows,
00:06:07.584 --> 00:06:10.584
stock bells in noon shade.
00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:31.334
The thing that is at the heart of our daily
lives is the abundance of cheap fossil fuel.
00:06:31.375 --> 00:06:35.667
For 200 years it has defined what it
means to be a Western human being.
00:06:35.709 --> 00:06:38.876
Everything we do all
day relies on fossil fuel.
00:06:38.918 --> 00:06:40.542
It\'s what\'s made us rich.
00:06:40.584 --> 00:06:45.751
The problem is, that same
fossil fuel is now killing us.
00:06:45.792 --> 00:06:53.792
And so somehow, we have to get off of the thing that is
at the center of our daily lives before it does us in.
00:06:55.042 --> 00:07:01.334
That is a very, very difficult task, the most
difficult task that human beings have ever faced.
00:07:01.667 --> 00:07:05.792
I think that climate change -
00:07:05.834 --> 00:07:12.167
let\'s say 20 years ago, when we understood
that it was due to our burning fossil fuels
00:07:12.209 --> 00:07:20.209
and as well as our deforestation of forests, was
an unfortunate consequence of our industrialization.
00:07:20.667 --> 00:07:25.334
At that time there was no need for judgment
because people didn\'t realize
00:07:25.417 --> 00:07:28.417
that that could actually
change the atmosphere,
00:07:28.542 --> 00:07:34.459
which in turn could change the radiative
balance on the whole planet.
00:07:34.501 --> 00:07:36.375
But now we know.
00:07:36.417 --> 00:07:39.542
It is no longer just a consequence of
the Industrial Revolution.
00:07:39.584 --> 00:07:47.584
It is a crime against humanity and we need to
articulate and come up with a language for that crime.
00:07:48.250 --> 00:07:52.083
For most people the discussion about
climate change is kind of abstract.
00:07:52.125 --> 00:07:58.918
We\'re talking about how many parts per millions
of CO2, or how many degrees warming by what date.
00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:06.959
But really, this hits people in the form of vulnerability
to natural disasters, floods and fires and droughts.
00:08:10.042 --> 00:08:11.876
That has been happening
in places like Australia.
00:08:11.918 --> 00:08:14.542
It\'s happening in the Sahel in Africa.
00:08:14.584 --> 00:08:22.083
It\'s happening in regions where people are making a living
by dint of extraordinary labor and effort, just barely.
00:08:22.125 --> 00:08:29.792
And then this tiny, tiny change in expected amounts
of water comes and \"oh well\" it wipes you out,
00:08:29.834 --> 00:08:31.000
and that\'s what they\'re facing.
00:08:31.042 --> 00:08:35.417
And when you get wiped out, now you\'ve got to
move, you\'ve got to leave, but nobody wants you.
00:08:35.459 --> 00:08:40.626
You have these displaced populations of
people who, as their desperation increases,
00:08:40.667 --> 00:08:44.626
do exactly what you and I would do
if our desperation increased enough,
00:08:44.667 --> 00:08:50.250
which is they become, in their efforts
to find food, in some cases violent.
00:08:50.292 --> 00:08:57.083
And so that increase of violence is
a direct effect of global warming.
00:08:57.125 --> 00:09:01.792
It has been recognized by the US
military as the great future problem,
00:09:01.834 --> 00:09:05.918
which the United States security
forces will be facing–
00:09:05.959 --> 00:09:08.501
displaced hordes of people.
00:09:14.375 --> 00:09:18.250
One of the things that oceans create
for the world is glaciers,
00:09:18.292 --> 00:09:21.918
of course, because the evaporation of
water from the oceans goes up
00:09:22.042 --> 00:09:24.417
and falls as rain or snow
and in high mountains
00:09:24.667 --> 00:09:27.292
collects as ice and becomes glaciers
00:09:27.334 --> 00:09:31.501
which then as pure unsalted
water flow down to the sea.
00:09:31.542 --> 00:09:35.375
And then as global warming occurs, of
course, these glaciers are all melting,
00:09:35.417 --> 00:09:36.918
they\'re going away very fast -
00:09:36.959 --> 00:09:40.501
now you\'re talking about a
couple of human lifetimes.
00:09:44.209 --> 00:09:50.918
There are whole cities, to name a random example, Los
Angeles, which are utterly dependent on glaciers.
00:09:51.792 --> 00:09:58.709
There are a lot of people out there who say, once the
problem is sufficiently severe science will find a way.
00:09:58.751 --> 00:10:02.584
And the answer to that is baloney!
00:10:02.626 --> 00:10:06.667
Science will find a way, which if you
can afford it might work - sure.
00:10:06.709 --> 00:10:10.501
Let\'s put it this way, suppose
Los Angeles ran out of water.
00:10:10.542 --> 00:10:12.292
Solve that one.
00:10:12.334 --> 00:10:17.167
And the answer could be oh, well you put in a
desalination plant, a giant desalination plant.
00:10:17.209 --> 00:10:20.375
Yes, but what happens to the
price of water at that point?
00:10:20.417 --> 00:10:27.083
How much will you enjoy paying a dollar a gallon for
water just to wash your car, or water you lawn?
00:10:27.125 --> 00:10:31.751
Science will not solve the problem at
any sort of reasonable expense level
00:10:31.792 --> 00:10:37.459
to pay for things which are the services
that are performed free by the environment.
00:10:37.501 --> 00:10:41.042
Somebody has actually put a
price on that, has guessed at what it is.
00:10:41.083 --> 00:10:46.167
If I recall it correctly, I think it\'s the
free services performed by the environment
00:10:46.209 --> 00:10:52.167
for humankind worldwide come
to $30 trillion a year.
00:10:52.209 --> 00:10:53.209
Well, that\'s no problem.
00:10:53.250 --> 00:10:57.250
We\'ll just raise $30 trillion and perform
those services for ourselves. No!
00:11:01.250 --> 00:11:05.250
When CO2, carbon dioxide
dissolves in seawater,
00:11:05.292 --> 00:11:12.501
it turns into carbonic acid and that increases
the acidification or the acidity of the oceans.
00:11:12.542 --> 00:11:18.250
And that\'s going on big time, because of course there
is so much more carbon dioxide than there was before.
00:11:18.292 --> 00:11:23.167
And what that increase in acidity
does is an absolutely dreadful occurrence.
00:11:23.209 --> 00:11:28.542
You can show experimentally that that is going
to result in the inability of a huge number
00:11:28.584 --> 00:11:31.334
of species to actually lay down shells.
00:11:31.375 --> 00:11:32.792
They won\'t be able to do it anymore.
00:11:32.834 --> 00:11:35.334
And the result is they will die.
00:11:35.375 --> 00:11:39.626
If those species are plankton, these little
single cell things that nobody ever worries about
00:11:39.667 --> 00:11:45.876
but which are the absolute foundation of life
on earth, if that happens to them, that\'s it!
00:11:45.918 --> 00:11:53.334
These planktonic creatures are the base of every
oceanic food chain and all these oceanic food chains
00:11:53.375 --> 00:11:58.792
result in the species that we
eat most, and rely on most.
00:11:58.834 --> 00:12:06.459
A billion people - over a billion people in this world
have as their principle source of animal protein.
00:12:06.501 --> 00:12:11.375
If plankton go, nothing makes it out alive.
00:12:11.417 --> 00:12:13.584
And I fear that is exactly
what is happening.
00:12:13.626 --> 00:12:18.292
I also fear that you can just kiss goodbye
to the beauty of coral reefs.
00:12:18.334 --> 00:12:23.834
I don\'t think that is something that our great
grandchildren will see or know except in films.
00:12:23.876 --> 00:12:25.167
Is that important?
00:12:25.209 --> 00:12:27.501
Oh, yes it is very important!
00:12:27.542 --> 00:12:35.459
These coral reefs are structures
which support whole island nations.
00:12:35.501 --> 00:12:39.459
If you remove the protection that the
island has from massive ocean waves
00:12:39.501 --> 00:12:43.667
then the result of that
is the island goes away also.
00:12:51.042 --> 00:12:55.792
If you lose coral reef completely, you lose
all the species which depend on coral reefs,
00:12:55.834 --> 00:12:59.125
and there are a huge number of them,
most of them are extremely beautiful.
00:12:59.167 --> 00:13:01.667
So you\'ll lose a lot of beauty.
00:13:03.292 --> 00:13:07.209
This problemwould be hard enough
were it confined to one nation,
00:13:07.292 --> 00:13:10.626
ours, because the power of
the fossil fuel industry
00:13:10.709 --> 00:13:15.125
is enough to make it very
difficult to get change to happen here.
00:13:15.167 --> 00:13:18.042
It is made infinitely more complex by
the fact that it is the first global scale
00:13:18.083 --> 00:13:25.667
problem and we need to involve the entire globe,
and much of that globe, most of it is poor.
00:13:25.709 --> 00:13:31.751
Our deep economic inequality which has always been
a sin, is now an enormous practical impediment
00:13:31.792 --> 00:13:39.042
to getting action because China, India,
and the rest, the easiest path for them
00:13:39.083 --> 00:13:45.626
to pull people out of poverty is to do it the the
way we did it: burn lots and lots of cheap coal.
00:13:45.667 --> 00:13:50.250
If they do that, there\'s no hope of
dealing with the global warming crisis.
00:13:50.292 --> 00:13:52.459
It will just overwhelm us.
00:13:52.792 --> 00:13:59.083
We have to figure out some way to allow China and
India and the rest to forgo that coal burning
00:13:59.125 --> 00:14:04.959
and develop anyway and that\'s going to take
some serious help from the rich world
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:11.709
in the form of technology and resources
to allow that leap-frogging to happen.
00:14:11.751 --> 00:14:14.834
We will find out if we are
generous enough to do that or not.
00:14:14.876 --> 00:14:22.792
It\'s all a question of pace, whether we can make the politics
change as fast as the physics and chemistry are changing.
00:14:23.459 --> 00:14:28.959
I am always well aware that the world around
us is not going to be any more beautiful
00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:35.459
or intact than it is right now, so I do
everything I can to take great pleasure in it.
00:14:35.501 --> 00:14:41.167
One of our jobs is clearly to bear witness
to the beautiful world that we were given,
00:14:41.209 --> 00:14:47.918
and to understand that it\'s never going to be quite
this glorious again so we better pay attention.
00:14:47.959 --> 00:14:49.959
And I do.
00:14:54.918 --> 00:14:57.292
Dear darkening ground,
00:14:57.334 --> 00:15:02.209
You\'ve endured so patiently the
walls we\'ve built,
00:15:02.250 --> 00:15:06.292
perhaps you\'ll give the
cities one more hour
00:15:06.334 --> 00:15:09.959
and the churches and cloisters two.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:16.334
And those that labor — you\'ll let their
work still grip them for another five hours
00:15:16.375 --> 00:15:22.959
or seven, before you become forest again,
and water, and wilderness
00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:28.709
in that hour of inconceivable terror when
you take back your name from all things.
00:15:30.667 --> 00:15:33.709
Oh just give me a little more time!
00:15:34.584 --> 00:15:37.250
I just want a little more time.
00:15:37.292 --> 00:15:41.542
Because I\'m going to love the things
00:15:41.584 --> 00:15:46.209
I\'m going to love the things as no one
has thought to love them.
00:15:47.709 --> 00:15:52.709
We are effectively killing ourselves,
killing the ground of our own being.
00:15:52.751 --> 00:16:00.751
The antidote to that, I believe is to get
back in touch with our own deep, primary,
00:16:01.375 --> 00:16:07.584
fundamental connection with what
it is that makes us living beings.
00:16:07.626 --> 00:16:15.417
Some people access that through meditation,
other people do it through long walks.
00:16:15.459 --> 00:16:18.083
People ask me all the time,
with the kind of writing I do,
00:16:18.125 --> 00:16:25.542
how I stay relatively sane to
the extent that I do and hopeful and so on.
00:16:25.584 --> 00:16:27.167
A lot of it has to do with music.
00:16:27.209 --> 00:16:28.709
I play the violin,
00:16:28.751 --> 00:16:30.709
I\'ve played the violin since I was a child.
00:16:30.751 --> 00:16:32.834
I play 90 minutes a day.
00:16:32.876 --> 00:16:34.167
It\'s nothing profound.
00:16:34.209 --> 00:16:38.834
I\'ll never be a professional violinist,
but it feeds me in a certain way,
00:16:38.876 --> 00:16:41.292
and especially when I am
playing with other musicians.
00:16:41.334 --> 00:16:43.542
That\'s the payoff.
00:16:49.250 --> 00:16:55.209
I don\'t think that scientists can
change the world, or save it.
00:16:55.250 --> 00:17:00.501
I don\'t think the world can be saved without paying
attention to what the scientists have to say.
00:17:00.542 --> 00:17:04.542
But I think the people who can
save the world are artists.
00:17:04.584 --> 00:17:10.000
That\'s because what we need, really, is
a new story that we tell ourselves.
00:17:10.042 --> 00:17:12.375
At the present time, the story
we tell ourselves is that
00:17:12.417 --> 00:17:17.626
the earth was made for us, and it\'s for us
to exploit it in any way we like.
00:17:17.667 --> 00:17:22.459
But I think the people who can make a new
story about what we are here for,
00:17:22.501 --> 00:17:28.667
that\'s people who are not scientists, who
are storytellers, who are mythmakers.
00:17:28.709 --> 00:17:32.334
I am all for them and all
for what they can achieve.
00:17:32.667 --> 00:17:34.876
…in the middle of dinner, and she said
00:17:35.167 --> 00:17:38.125
\"You!
You\'re so brave!
00:17:38.167 --> 00:17:41.918
But why didn\'t you ask what ails thee?
00:17:41.959 --> 00:17:43.876
Were you afraid to ask?\"
00:17:45.042 --> 00:17:48.375
And Percival, who was a brave knight,
00:17:48.542 --> 00:17:51.375
and he didn\'t think a witch
should speak to him that way…
00:17:51.501 --> 00:17:57.292
It is such an incredible
gift to have children,
00:17:57.334 --> 00:18:01.292
whether they\'re our own children or whether
they\'re other people\'s children.
00:18:01.334 --> 00:18:08.083
But to be around children, I feel less
optimistic about our own generation
00:18:08.125 --> 00:18:13.000
and more optimistic about the
generations coming behind us,
00:18:13.042 --> 00:18:18.209
because when I look at the four and
five-year-olds that come to this church,
00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:23.918
and I love to gather them around after
church and invite them to ring the bell.
00:18:23.959 --> 00:18:30.334
And they love to go flying to the ceiling
on the weight of the bell on the rope,
00:18:30.375 --> 00:18:32.751
and in that joy,
in that happiness,
00:18:32.792 --> 00:18:40.209
there seems to me to be the seeds of contentment
and being satisfied with simple things.
00:18:40.250 --> 00:18:44.584
And that it doesn\'t take
that much to be happy.
00:18:51.042 --> 00:18:59.042
I feel deep grief at the kind of devastation and
the kind of dying that is occurring around us.
00:18:59.209 --> 00:19:04.167
And we have to grieve and then we have
to look to the children and say,
00:19:04.209 --> 00:19:10.042
how can we make your life fuller and
richer and simpler and more happy?
00:19:10.083 --> 00:19:14.667
And in doing that I
find my highest calling.
00:19:22.751 --> 00:19:26.501
It\'s really a terrific honor to have helped
bring this group of people together.
00:19:26.584 --> 00:19:27.918
Thanks so much for being here.
00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:29.751
Ecosocialist Horizons is…
00:19:29.834 --> 00:19:32.334
I think, increasingly, the
young ones are getting it,
00:19:32.375 --> 00:19:37.542
they are getting to see where unmoderated
capitalism has taken us.
00:19:37.584 --> 00:19:40.459
Money rules’ is probably the
most simple way to explain it.
00:19:40.501 --> 00:19:45.501
Money becomes the means
through which everything is evaluated.
00:19:45.542 --> 00:19:48.209
You see this in the climate
change debates right now,
00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:56.250
that people are suggesting, for instance, that in order
to keep the air free of pollution we should privatize it,
00:19:56.918 --> 00:20:02.167
and if somebody were to own it then they would
be able to measure the cost of pollution.
00:20:02.209 --> 00:20:05.751
So this is the length that this
system has led us to, that
00:20:05.792 --> 00:20:10.834
we are talking about selling
the air we breathe.
00:20:10.876 --> 00:20:15.667
I don\'t think it\'s a done deal that humanity
is going to survive to the year 3000,
00:20:15.709 --> 00:20:18.125
in terms of my understanding
of climate science.
00:20:18.167 --> 00:20:21.209
We are at stage right now where we are trying to
figure out how to take power away from the people
00:20:21.250 --> 00:20:27.417
who are going to run the planet into the ground, that
want to suck every penny out of this dying system.
00:20:27.459 --> 00:20:30.709
Consumer culture is so pervasive and
I think it really prevents people
00:20:30.751 --> 00:20:33.626
from seeing alternatives or other ways.
00:20:33.667 --> 00:20:35.709
I mean it\'s so huge.
00:20:35.751 --> 00:20:39.417
You walk anywhere around where I
live and you\'re bombarded
00:20:39.459 --> 00:20:42.459
with images of what you\'re
supposed to look like.
00:20:42.501 --> 00:20:44.584
Or act like or sound like.
00:20:44.626 --> 00:20:50.542
And it\'s all fake and it\'s highly
impossible for most people.
00:20:50.584 --> 00:20:56.667
For five years I was an organizer in West
Virginia fighting mountain top removal.
00:20:56.709 --> 00:21:03.000
And I believe these choices that young people are
making will make a huge impact on climate change.
00:21:03.042 --> 00:21:04.751
Will it be in time?
00:21:04.792 --> 00:21:10.250
I feel like I don\'t ask myself that
question as often as I used to.
00:21:10.292 --> 00:21:13.667
I certainly appreciate those who do.
00:21:13.709 --> 00:21:18.209
But just now, in this time,
I want to keep my head down
00:21:18.250 --> 00:21:20.959
and do the work of supporting
these young people who, I think,
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:25.584
are going to bring us
around as quickly as it an be done.
00:21:25.626 --> 00:21:28.417
I don\'t know exactly
what my life will hold.
00:21:28.459 --> 00:21:33.751
I\'m going to do as much as I can,
not only because that\'s what\'s necessary,
00:21:33.792 --> 00:21:36.584
because that\'s what\'s most fun.
00:21:48.918 --> 00:21:52.667
The Exxon CEO made plain the
reason for his unwillingness
00:21:52.709 --> 00:21:56.584
to change in the second interview
a few weeks ago with Charlie Rose,
00:21:56.626 --> 00:21:58.834
who asked him his philosophy.
00:21:58.876 --> 00:22:05.083
He just looked at the camera and
said \"my philosophy is to make money.\"
00:22:05.125 --> 00:22:09.083
That\'s an apt summation of
too much of our society,
00:22:09.125 --> 00:22:13.042
but here in this place, we have to
stand in some counterpoint.
00:22:13.083 --> 00:22:16.083
Our goal must be to make real the gospel,
00:22:16.125 --> 00:22:20.626
with its injunction to love our
neighbors, not to drown them...
00:22:20.667 --> 00:22:28.667
those who think of ourselves as Christians
are called on not only in the Old Testament
00:22:29.876 --> 00:22:36.334
to defend creation and steward it wisely,
something that we are clearly failing to do.
00:22:36.375 --> 00:22:44.167
We are also called upon over and over again in
the Gospels to love our neighbor as ourselves.
00:22:44.209 --> 00:22:45.167
We\'re failing there, too.
00:22:45.209 --> 00:22:49.876
At the moment we are drowning our neighbors,
giving them mosquito borne diseases,
00:22:49.918 --> 00:22:54.584
destroying the chances for them to grow their
crops, making life all but unbearable.
00:22:54.626 --> 00:22:59.417
And we are doing that so we can keep
on living exactly as we are living.
00:22:59.459 --> 00:23:02.626
We see the impacts of it on a daily basis.
00:23:02.667 --> 00:23:06.167
Longer summers, hotter summers,
00:23:06.209 --> 00:23:11.459
the rain is later and when the rain
comes it is also much more.
00:23:11.501 --> 00:23:17.876
I just feel that it is unfair that people in the
global south have to make all these adaptations
00:23:17.918 --> 00:23:23.417
when the root of
the problem is in the north.
00:23:23.459 --> 00:23:30.250
The way we experience the developed world\'s
impact on local communities is around seed.
00:23:31.417 --> 00:23:35.375
Historically, we were
colonized in different forms.
00:23:35.417 --> 00:23:37.501
Slavery was one.
00:23:37.542 --> 00:23:39.751
Education was one.
00:23:39.792 --> 00:23:43.584
But now the corporations,
00:23:43.626 --> 00:23:50.083
Monsanto and other allies,
giants, are also colonizing Africa
00:23:50.125 --> 00:23:53.250
and all of us through
food, through seed.
00:23:53.292 --> 00:24:00.959
The Monsanto seed is not only seeds,
it\'s a seed with a technology of herbicide,
00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:04.250
with a technology of insecticides.
00:24:04.292 --> 00:24:07.292
And these seeds,
you can only plant it once.
00:24:07.334 --> 00:24:12.250
You can plant it a second time but the
yields get lower and lower.
00:24:12.292 --> 00:24:15.209
When you plant it for the
third time, there\'s no crop.
00:24:15.250 --> 00:24:18.542
So we\'re saying, \"No!, No!\"
00:24:18.584 --> 00:24:21.417
These seeds, from outside the country,
00:24:21.459 --> 00:24:25.209
through the government system,
they\'re pushing the GMOs,
00:24:25.250 --> 00:24:28.501
taking away the seeds of the people.
00:24:28.542 --> 00:24:32.501
And that is creating a lot of
pain and bad feeling,
00:24:32.542 --> 00:24:36.209
especially to indigenous people who know,
00:24:36.250 --> 00:24:39.250
who have been keeping seed a long time.
00:25:00.334 --> 00:25:05.751
Climate Change is being used as an excuse
and false solutions are being put forward
00:25:05.792 --> 00:25:12.459
so that the profit motive could
be advanced and could continue.
00:25:12.501 --> 00:25:14.125
I am worried about that.
00:25:14.167 --> 00:25:16.501
I am worried about what it will
mean for my people
00:25:16.542 --> 00:25:21.542
and what it will mean for other
people in the global south.
00:25:21.584 --> 00:25:25.584
It is the responsibility of women to
do the majority of the farm work –
00:25:25.626 --> 00:25:29.834
more than 50% of our food is grown by women
farmers and in many parts of the world,
00:25:29.876 --> 00:25:33.000
women are not even recognized as farmers.
00:25:33.751 --> 00:25:35.626
Women are the water stewards.
00:25:35.667 --> 00:25:36.959
They are the seed custodians.
00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:39.334
They are the energy
managers of the families.
00:25:39.375 --> 00:25:41.417
They look after the livestock,
00:25:41.459 --> 00:25:47.083
they are the life force behind the
health and vitality of any community.
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.542
And yet, 70% of the world\'s
poor are women and girls.
00:25:57.626 --> 00:26:03.000
There is so little recognition that is
paid to their immense body of knowledge:
00:26:03.042 --> 00:26:06.083
How to farm organically, how
to make natural pesticides,
00:26:06.125 --> 00:26:08.209
how to make natural fertilizers,
00:26:08.250 --> 00:26:12.459
how to save seeds which are the
drought resistant millets
00:26:12.501 --> 00:26:16.542
which can survive a particularly
lean drought period.
00:26:16.751 --> 00:26:19.709
That knowledge lies in the
hands of women farmers.
00:26:47.167 --> 00:26:51.834
Via Campesina is a wonderful example of a
movement that is happening at the global level,
00:26:51.876 --> 00:26:57.792
it is a movement of indigenous people;
fisher folks, livestock managers,
00:26:57.834 --> 00:27:05.417
small farmers who are coming together to recognize
that the current growth paradigm is not working.
00:27:05.501 --> 00:27:13.167
It\'s a system of accumulation and acquirement of
those who are already in privileged positions.
00:27:13.209 --> 00:27:18.083
We\'re going to have to change that
system that we are working in.
00:27:18.125 --> 00:27:23.459
We really have a badly failing
democracy in our country.
00:27:23.501 --> 00:27:27.459
It\'s very close to rule by
money and corporations.
00:27:27.501 --> 00:27:33.667
We\'ve known for a long time that the principle
economics actors were corporations.
00:27:33.709 --> 00:27:38.667
But, now we are seeing that the principle
political actors in our system are corporations.
00:27:38.709 --> 00:27:43.542
We need to rethink why we
really have economic activity.
00:27:43.584 --> 00:27:48.292
We\'ve had a tremendous amount of growth as
a result of this system that we\'ve had,
00:27:48.334 --> 00:27:55.209
but wages have not risen, the
environment has gone steadily downhill,
00:27:55.250 --> 00:28:01.250
life satisfaction and happiness in the
country for decades now has been flat-lined.
00:28:01.292 --> 00:28:03.876
Poverty is at a 50 year high.
00:28:03.918 --> 00:28:10.792
Now we find ourselves with no real choice but to act
drastically if we are going to stave off those things,
00:28:10.834 --> 00:28:18.501
and yet we have these really pathetic political
leaders that have so totally dropped the ball,
00:28:18.542 --> 00:28:20.876
not just dropped the ball but hidden it.
00:28:20.918 --> 00:28:24.751
And we live in a very strange place
where in order to save the planet
00:28:24.792 --> 00:28:30.501
the environmentalists and others have to show
that it\'s not going to hurt the economy.
00:28:30.542 --> 00:28:34.083
Can you imagine that is
the place where we are?
00:28:34.125 --> 00:28:38.375
And the terrible thing about the capitalist
mentality is that it can\'t be satisfied.
00:28:38.417 --> 00:28:45.459
The everlasting competition, the everlasting
search for profit is going to pull with it nature,
00:28:45.501 --> 00:28:53.501
and it\'s going to over rule the wisdom that we see
in nature our true foundation, our true being.
00:28:55.292 --> 00:28:58.709
We have what\'s going on in Canada,
the Alberta Tar Sands,
00:28:58.751 --> 00:29:01.918
just tearing up, the size of Connecticut.
00:29:01.959 --> 00:29:08.501
This beautiful province in Canada, destroying
the earth, wasting incredible amounts of water,
00:29:08.542 --> 00:29:15.167
producing this filthy oil, going deep into
the Gulf of Mexico, that horrible oil spill.
00:29:21.751 --> 00:29:24.751
They\'re tearing off the tops of mountains.
00:29:31.125 --> 00:29:37.417
These things are multiplied endlessly around the world
because they\'re driven by these titanic forces,
00:29:38.125 --> 00:29:42.792
when it becomes not just an individual
decision, but the entire civilization
00:29:42.834 --> 00:29:46.292
in the grip of this insanity
to expand at all costs.
00:29:46.334 --> 00:29:49.000
At all costs, the cost
is our own destruction.
00:29:49.042 --> 00:29:51.626
Economic growth is something
pretty recent in human history.
00:29:51.667 --> 00:29:57.459
It has just been going on for a few decades and
mostly as a result of having cheap, abundant,
00:29:57.501 --> 00:30:01.667
concentrated fossil fuels to make
the engine of industry turn.
00:30:01.709 --> 00:30:08.000
But we\'ve internalized that idea
that economies should always grow,
00:30:08.042 --> 00:30:09.751
when, in fact, it is an absurdity.
00:30:09.792 --> 00:30:12.667
Nothing grows forever on a finite planet.
00:30:12.709 --> 00:30:20.709
The industrial growth model flaws are
becoming more and more painfully obvious,
00:30:20.834 --> 00:30:23.000
so that\'s probably a good thing.
00:30:23.042 --> 00:30:28.042
But in the meantime it\'s a lot of
suffering to witness.
00:30:28.083 --> 00:30:35.792
There will be some showdowns around
energy and they could be quite ugly.
00:30:35.834 --> 00:30:41.959
We could go to more wars, we could have more of
a fascist state to protect our energy reserves.
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:49.042
I don\'t know if we\'ll go that way, but we are not going
to give up the industrial growth model very easily.
00:30:49.083 --> 00:30:55.876
There\'s a lot invested in it, and it is in the
profit structure of the largest companies.
00:30:55.918 --> 00:31:01.083
The industrial growth society
is destroying itself.
00:31:01.125 --> 00:31:08.167
I don\'t see the call being for us to go and
attack it and muster all its defenses,
00:31:08.209 --> 00:31:15.334
but to help it come apart,
to assist its disintegration.
00:31:15.375 --> 00:31:20.792
We have to build new and let emerge new
sustainable ways of doing things,
00:31:20.834 --> 00:31:24.209
building the new
within the shell of the old.
00:31:24.250 --> 00:31:32.250
Don\'t pour all your energy into defeating
what\'s already defeating itself at the core.
00:31:33.250 --> 00:31:38.584
But build living economies,
living ways of producing food,
00:31:38.626 --> 00:31:43.334
Basic changes in our judicial system,
restorative circles,
00:31:43.375 --> 00:31:50.709
basic changes in how we understand and
measure our wealth and prosperity.
00:31:51.209 --> 00:31:56.209
The biggest changes we\'ve see in
thousands of years, I think.
00:31:58.667 --> 00:32:04.292
And it needs all of us, or as many of
us who will show up.
00:32:10.667 --> 00:32:13.125
I don\'t think Occupy has fizzled.
00:32:13.167 --> 00:32:18.834
The visible presence of occupations in
public spaces may have dissipated,
00:32:18.876 --> 00:32:24.709
but that energy has continued and
kind of gone underground, or gone quieter.
00:32:24.751 --> 00:32:31.626
\"Occupy\" has gone super local and that\'s really big
because that\'s where people are most passionate.
00:32:31.667 --> 00:32:34.501
And I also think that the
fight for public space isn\'t over
00:32:34.542 --> 00:32:40.709
and we are going to see a
resurgence of the public reclaiming space.
00:32:40.751 --> 00:32:44.542
We are only here because we
supposedly broke the law.
00:32:44.584 --> 00:32:46.918
And one of our colleagues always says,
00:32:46.959 --> 00:32:49.626
\"If it\'s the right thing to do, you
have every right to do it.\"
00:32:49.667 --> 00:32:55.876
And we planted \"illegally\" on land which
we believe is meant for the public
00:32:55.918 --> 00:33:00.626
because it is administered by a public
institution and if we adhered to the law,
00:33:00.667 --> 00:33:03.292
we wouldn\'t be here
00:33:05.667 --> 00:33:08.209
and we wouldn\'t have this
amazing community of people
00:33:08.250 --> 00:33:12.042
that are so excited to come here every
week and harvest vegetables
00:33:12.083 --> 00:33:15.250
and to fight for public access.
00:33:15.292 --> 00:33:19.667
Because this is situated in an urban area
this could be accessible to so many people
00:33:19.709 --> 00:33:22.959
from many different
socioeconomic backgrounds.
00:33:23.250 --> 00:33:28.918
So we envision the whole 14 acres would become
a center for sustainable urban agriculture
00:33:28.959 --> 00:33:32.459
and would be driven by the community.
00:33:32.501 --> 00:33:34.709
I can\'t see what\'s going on behind me
right now but I am betting
00:33:34.751 --> 00:33:37.792
that there are groups of people congregating
together and laughing and smiling
00:33:37.834 --> 00:33:45.250
and crouching down over tomatoes and herbs and
it\'s just a wonderful feeling of community.
00:33:45.292 --> 00:33:51.000
I feel that fighting for public space is one of the
most crucial things that we can be doing right now.
00:33:51.042 --> 00:33:53.167
And it is not time to sit back and say,
00:33:53.209 --> 00:33:55.918
\"Well, I\'m going to vote for the
lesser of two evils because
00:33:55.959 --> 00:33:58.542
that\'s just the way it is right now
and let\'s be realistic.\"
00:33:58.584 --> 00:34:04.334
I\'m sorry, but if the civil rights movement was
realistic, if the women\'s rights movement was realistic,
00:34:04.375 --> 00:34:06.167
we wouldn\'t be here.
00:34:07.375 --> 00:34:11.834
I just think it is the time to move beyond
realistic and dream and be really bold.
00:34:17.584 --> 00:34:23.334
Mother Earth, Father Sky, and
Brother River, and the animals,
00:34:23.375 --> 00:34:29.209
they all have feelings and they listen
to what we say and they feel what we do.
00:34:29.250 --> 00:34:36.834
My people, the elders, also believe that
all these environmental catastrophes
00:34:36.876 --> 00:34:42.626
that happen to the communities around the
world, those are all cries for help.
00:34:42.667 --> 00:34:46.292
Mother Earth is crying out for help.
00:34:46.334 --> 00:34:51.667
We are killing her so
people can make a profit.
00:34:51.709 --> 00:34:57.292
The scarcity of water is
becoming more and more evident.
00:34:57.334 --> 00:35:03.501
My own family has to haul water 30 miles
one way for ourselves, for cooking,
00:35:03.542 --> 00:35:08.000
for livestock and to water crops.
00:35:11.167 --> 00:35:17.375
Senator John McCain wanted to buy the
water rights to the Little Colorado River
00:35:17.417 --> 00:35:21.876
so they could pump it to Phoenix
and all the other urban cities
00:35:21.918 --> 00:35:26.167
so they could grow
their lawns and their golf courses.
00:35:26.209 --> 00:35:30.834
They were basically saying, “We are going
to build three mainline water pipelines-
00:35:30.876 --> 00:35:32.250
two to the Navajo
Nation, one to the Hopi Nation,
00:35:32.292 --> 00:35:38.250
in exchange for us waving all our claims
to the lower Colorado River.
00:35:38.292 --> 00:35:45.501
So we\'d be giving up all our surface water for
two water pipelines, two water pipelines!
00:35:45.542 --> 00:35:50.417
There\'s 110 communities on Navajo
Nation so that to me already sounds
00:35:50.459 --> 00:35:57.042
like a bad deal and they were just main
stem water infrastructures, too.
00:35:57.083 --> 00:36:00.709
It\'s not like people could
turn on their faucets.
00:36:02.667 --> 00:36:05.501
We just started mobilizing and
campaigning on the issue.
00:36:05.542 --> 00:36:08.584
We did all these educational forums.
00:36:08.626 --> 00:36:11.667
We were really raising a ruckus about it.
00:36:11.709 --> 00:36:16.125
So then John McCain came to
Tuba City to the reservation.
00:36:16.167 --> 00:36:20.334
People are just booing him, and he\'s smiling
and waving like they are cheering him,
00:36:20.375 --> 00:36:25.417
totally oblivious to what\'s
going on, or totally in denial.
00:36:25.459 --> 00:36:27.459
We fought it and we won.
00:36:27.501 --> 00:36:28.542
We won it!
00:36:28.584 --> 00:36:32.292
The Navajo Nation council voted it down.
00:36:34.334 --> 00:36:40.083
I do feel bad for people who are used
to living on easy street in Phoenix,
00:36:40.125 --> 00:36:41.542
the same with Los Angeles.
00:36:41.584 --> 00:36:43.918
Los Angeles is in a desert too.
00:36:43.959 --> 00:36:49.417
I don\'t think people wonder where does all
their water come from for them to live there?
00:36:49.459 --> 00:36:53.292
But I think climate change is going
to force people to think about it
00:36:53.334 --> 00:36:58.417
and force people to start to
live within their limits.
00:36:58.459 --> 00:37:03.542
I think I was taught a lesson, too in this
whole water rights settlement campaign,
00:37:03.584 --> 00:37:09.042
because when you talk to elders, they are
kind of telling us stories about that, too,
00:37:09.083 --> 00:37:11.542
like we don\'t own the water either.
00:37:11.584 --> 00:37:18.459
Actually they said that who owns the water
when it reaches the land is the frog.
00:37:20.584 --> 00:37:24.292
For Navajo people - we are beginning to
feel the impact of climate change.
00:37:24.334 --> 00:37:30.083
It\'s already dry as it is, some of the
predictions is that it\'s going to get drier,
00:37:30.125 --> 00:37:33.000
we might go into a permanent drought.
00:37:33.042 --> 00:37:39.667
We\'ve released this energy force of carbon –
how does that interact with the energy forces
00:37:39.709 --> 00:37:46.918
up in the skies, you know, the sky in
all its wonders has energy forces.
00:37:46.959 --> 00:37:53.918
When we pollute or when we disrupt that
natural force by our action,
00:37:53.959 --> 00:38:01.334
it creates an imbalance within that element,
within the universe, and also within ourselves.
00:38:01.375 --> 00:38:07.083
So, that\'s where we have medicine people that understand
and know how to bring these things back to balance
00:38:07.125 --> 00:38:13.667
within ourselves as an individual person and
how to restore that balance back within us.
00:38:13.709 --> 00:38:19.375
I feel this really deep sense
of connection to my people.
00:38:19.417 --> 00:38:21.334
I pray to Mother Earth.
00:38:21.375 --> 00:38:27.125
I pray to the holy people, the spirit
people, who come out early in the morning
00:38:27.167 --> 00:38:30.709
and look for us to
see if we are awake.
00:38:30.751 --> 00:38:34.417
I also pray to all the sacred
mountains of the Navajo.
00:38:35.125 --> 00:38:43.125
It\'s time for us to be allies where people are speaking
different kinds of truth, like indigenous people.
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:51.751
I am a small piece of a very large web and the energy
that moves through me also moves through this mountain.
00:38:51.792 --> 00:38:54.125
So I am related to the mountain.
00:38:54.167 --> 00:38:58.209
This deep view of life has sometimes
been called systems thinking.
00:38:58.250 --> 00:39:06.250
I find that not poetic enough so I like deep view, and
the metaphor I think of are Chinese scroll paintings.
00:39:07.042 --> 00:39:11.417
When you look at those fascinating
paintings that unroll and go on forever,
00:39:11.459 --> 00:39:14.334
there are always the little tiny
people down in front with their fish carts
00:39:14.375 --> 00:39:18.292
or their children or whatever,
that is the near view.
00:39:18.334 --> 00:39:22.417
And then there are the distant mountains
that you see rolling along,
00:39:22.459 --> 00:39:26.751
or the river, that give you
the kind of landscape view.
00:39:26.792 --> 00:39:32.459
But then the real art of Chinese painting is
what you can\'t literally see on the screen.
00:39:32.501 --> 00:39:38.000
It is not painted, but the painter leads
your eye up into the mountains
00:39:38.042 --> 00:39:43.000
so that you feel quite certain that there is a
path that goes over the mountain somewhere else,
00:39:43.042 --> 00:39:45.876
even though it is not literally there.
00:39:45.918 --> 00:39:50.501
And that invites your mind to
the deep view of landscape.
00:39:51.542 --> 00:39:57.375
What I can\'t see is in the realm of the
imagination and it is open to possibility.
00:39:57.417 --> 00:40:02.709
It might be a disaster zone or it
might be a zone of creativity.
00:40:02.751 --> 00:40:04.501
What\'s on the other side of that mountain?
00:40:04.542 --> 00:40:06.292
We don\'t know.
00:40:06.334 --> 00:40:13.417
We don\'t know which people are finding each
other and putting together some new solar oven.
00:40:13.459 --> 00:40:18.626
We don\'t know which landscapes are
healing even without human intervention.
00:40:18.667 --> 00:40:22.501
But that terrain of the
imagination is infinite.
00:40:22.542 --> 00:40:25.292
It has all possibility in it.
00:40:25.334 --> 00:40:30.542
The person who acts with an awareness that
their actions are always in a web of relations
00:40:30.584 --> 00:40:37.209
behaves much differently than someone who
sees themselves at the center all the time.
00:40:37.250 --> 00:40:41.417
The whole system is held
together by interdependency.
00:40:41.459 --> 00:40:46.542
And that’s how you get sustainability, is you recognize
the importance, not just of your own species,
00:40:46.584 --> 00:40:51.292
but of the world at large, of
the rest of life on earth.
00:40:51.334 --> 00:40:52.626
We\'re just another pretty face.
00:40:52.667 --> 00:40:57.709
We\'re not the star of the show, and, in fact,
until we recognize that, there will be no show.
00:40:57.751 --> 00:40:58.959
The show will be over.
00:40:59.751 --> 00:41:06.375
People who are practicing permaculture, for example,
they are becoming aware of this interdependency.
00:41:06.417 --> 00:41:09.792
That\'s one of the things
that\'s so surprising and exciting.
00:41:09.834 --> 00:41:12.709
Wherever you walk,
there\'s new food coming at you.
00:41:12.751 --> 00:41:18.834
I think of \"permaculture\" as simply
regeneration, a force for regeneration.
00:41:18.876 --> 00:41:24.959
Permaculture comes from the words \"permanent culture,\"
permanent agriculture and permanent culture.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:28.292
But the idea is simply that the
human presence is beneficial.
00:41:28.334 --> 00:41:32.000
We\'re not trying to ignore our presence
in the system or minimize our impact,
00:41:32.042 --> 00:41:38.125
but actually make intentional eco-systems,
intentional ecologies.
00:41:38.167 --> 00:41:43.042
We have to create these systems before
we truly do need them.
00:41:43.083 --> 00:41:47.042
We have to look forward and adapt to conditions
before those conditions are dire enough
00:41:47.083 --> 00:41:52.083
that we are just forced to
do that in an emergency,
00:41:52.125 --> 00:41:57.125
Forced to depend on food that is grown in our
region or fuel that is produced in our region.
00:41:57.167 --> 00:42:03.334
The core of the challenge in my mind is how
do we act adaptively before we are forced to?
00:42:03.375 --> 00:42:09.876
Working for food versus working for money
is such a balancing act in this transition.
00:42:09.918 --> 00:42:16.209
We\'ll all be spending a lot more time working
for our food, directly, but right now,
00:42:16.250 --> 00:42:24.250
still working for money, maybe half the time and it\'s
a little bit of a balancing act in the transition
00:42:25.876 --> 00:42:31.250
It\'s kind of a transitional art we all have
to get good at I suppose.
00:42:31.292 --> 00:42:37.501
We are going to a world of where Vermont\'s climate
might be like West Virginia\'s in 50 years.
00:42:37.542 --> 00:42:39.083
What\'s that look like?
00:42:39.125 --> 00:42:40.542
What species do we need?
00:42:40.584 --> 00:42:44.751
We should start looking south to see what\'s
useful to grow in those regions right now.
00:42:44.792 --> 00:42:49.709
We say, all right we want peaches, we want a
peach tree, but if we just plant a peach,
00:42:49.751 --> 00:42:53.083
and don\'t deal with any other species,
we have to bring in everything it needs.
00:42:53.125 --> 00:42:58.334
We have to bring in its fertility, we have to manage
all the pests because it\'s a thing in isolation.
00:42:58.375 --> 00:43:00.876
But if we say, well,
what does a peach need?
00:43:00.918 --> 00:43:05.542
It needs good soil, a diversity of species around
it that feed on things that might be pests.
00:43:05.584 --> 00:43:09.542
It needs an eco-system, a healthy ecosystem
just like we do to be healthy.
00:43:09.584 --> 00:43:13.167
Then we don\'t just plant a peach tree,
we plant an ecosystem.
00:43:13.209 --> 00:43:16.501
So we plant an understory with comfrey.
00:43:16.542 --> 00:43:20.250
This is a very useful
plant, it pulls nutrients.
00:43:20.292 --> 00:43:21.667
It\'s a nutrient pump.
00:43:21.709 --> 00:43:26.918
It pulls minerals, especially, from deep in the
soil up to the surface, and then you can see,
00:43:26.959 --> 00:43:31.501
we constantly cut it, this is the last
time I cut it with a machete, or a scythe,
00:43:31.542 --> 00:43:34.626
I\'ll come through and cut all this
stuff, we call it chop and drop.
00:43:34.667 --> 00:43:37.459
We just cut this stuff and mulch.
00:43:37.501 --> 00:43:40.167
Normally, it is much higher,
it is like up here.
00:43:40.209 --> 00:43:43.626
You see this is the level
it gets at when we cut it.
00:43:43.667 --> 00:43:50.959
I don\'t do it by hand normally but we\'ll chop it down with a
scythe, or a machete, and drop it, and it mulches the soil.
00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:53.959
It keeps the soil from being exposed,
we never want bare soil.
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:58.626
It\'s the opposite of most agriculture, which
is a bare soil agriculture, and it rots down,
00:43:58.667 --> 00:44:00.626
and feeds the soil perpetually.
00:44:00.667 --> 00:44:05.876
And we have other plants, nitrogen fixers,
clovers and we\'ll graze chickens through.
00:44:05.918 --> 00:44:08.459
The Permaculture movement
is growing, for sure.
00:44:08.501 --> 00:44:10.709
It\'s worldwide, it\'s global.
00:44:10.751 --> 00:44:18.459
It really emerged out of Australia and Oceana,
but it\'s taking on steam faster, in some ways,
00:44:18.501 --> 00:44:25.000
in the United States than anywhere else because
we have the most visible forces to respond to.
00:44:25.042 --> 00:44:27.667
Permaculture courses are jam packed.
00:44:27.709 --> 00:44:30.589
Most permaculture courses, I think
it’s safe to say, have a waiting list,
00:44:30.626 --> 00:44:33.751
whenever they\'re offered
anywhere in the United States.
00:44:33.792 --> 00:44:41.501
People are beating down doors to pay a lot
of money, to spend a lot of time, to learn
00:44:41.542 --> 00:44:47.542
of our place within an ecosystem in an
integrated way and how to be problem solvers.
00:44:50.167 --> 00:44:52.751
If we want to know, well how do we live?
00:44:52.792 --> 00:44:56.792
How do we not just survive, but thrive
in these places in the world?
00:44:56.834 --> 00:45:00.501
Cold hilly places that aren\'t
suited to tillage agriculture,
00:45:00.584 --> 00:45:03.918
but we want to grow a grain
because grain is a very valuable thing,
00:45:04.292 --> 00:45:08.167
You can store it for years at a time –
you can live on grain.
00:45:08.209 --> 00:45:14.584
And so we got a strain of rice, a northern Japanese
strain of rice, with it\'s very short season.
00:45:14.626 --> 00:45:16.334
So it\'s a game changer.
00:45:16.375 --> 00:45:23.292
You get 5,000 pounds an acre versus
2,500 with terrestrial wheat.
00:45:23.334 --> 00:45:29.375
But the amazing thing is you can grow it where you
can\'t grow terrestrial wheat, or even vegetables.
00:45:29.417 --> 00:45:32.209
This is just degraded sub-soil land.
00:45:32.250 --> 00:45:39.709
Now there are species here that were never here, that
are here because of the food we\'re growing for us.
00:45:39.751 --> 00:45:44.626
We get to live with frogs,
thousands of frogs I live with here.
00:45:44.667 --> 00:45:51.959
And dragon flies and salamanders, tadpoles
and snakes and all sorts of birds
00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:55.626
that weren\'t here when I moved in.
00:45:55.667 --> 00:45:59.751
The sixth great extinction is not in
evidence here – it\'s just the opposite.
00:46:03.167 --> 00:46:09.125
When despair for the world grows in me and
I wake in the night at the least sound
00:46:09.167 --> 00:46:14.125
in fear of what my life and
my children\'s lives may be,
00:46:14.167 --> 00:46:22.167
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his
beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
00:46:23.667 --> 00:46:31.334
I come into the peace of wild things who do not
tax their lives with forethought of grief.
00:46:31.375 --> 00:46:35.292
I come into the presence of still water.
00:46:35.334 --> 00:46:41.292
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.
00:46:41.334 --> 00:46:47.334
For a time I rest in the grace
of the world, and am free.
00:46:50.792 --> 00:46:56.000
It\'s not like, \"Oh, now we recognize there\'s a
problem but we don\'t know what to do about it.\"
00:46:56.042 --> 00:46:58.792
We do know what to do about it.
00:46:58.834 --> 00:47:00.834
We need to transform our energy system.
00:47:00.876 --> 00:47:04.000
We ought to be creating a half a million
jobs a month in this country now.
00:47:04.042 --> 00:47:08.792
There are all these huge technological
innovations that could be pursued
00:47:08.834 --> 00:47:11.834
but it helps to have a real
price on carbon to do that.
00:47:11.876 --> 00:47:19.876
Moving from fossil fuels to wind, solar power,
geo-thermal, micro-hydro, tidal power, wave power.
00:47:20.542 --> 00:47:26.626
There are many options and most of them are
very good, especially in certain places,
00:47:26.667 --> 00:47:32.083
but we\'re not going to be able to replace
fossil fuel energy on a one to one basis
00:47:32.125 --> 00:47:38.501
rapidly and make money doing so, so we
will be making sacrifices in the process.
00:47:38.542 --> 00:47:43.459
My excitement about these
21st-century technologies that may arrive
00:47:43.501 --> 00:47:51.501
is that in June and July and August we have
more sun by 9 AM then we could use all day.
00:47:52.667 --> 00:48:00.501
There is so much energy hitting the earth from
the sun, in one hour the photons of light energy
00:48:00.542 --> 00:48:05.292
can fuel the world\'s economy
for a year, for a year!
00:48:05.334 --> 00:48:07.417
One hour of sunlight.
00:48:07.459 --> 00:48:12.459
So there is abundance in the world that we
have not understood.
00:48:12.501 --> 00:48:18.709
But it is my faith that climate change will
bring us to this new kind of understanding,
00:48:18.751 --> 00:48:26.751
new infrastructure, new experimentation that will really
change civilization and that this is the trigger,
00:48:29.375 --> 00:48:33.292
this catalyst for that transition to occur.
00:48:33.334 --> 00:48:37.751
I\'m not such a good soul that if I
thought we had no chance of succeeding,
00:48:37.792 --> 00:48:41.667
I\'d waste my time flailing around at it -
I think we have a chance.
00:48:41.709 --> 00:48:47.042
I think the game is not yet over,
and the outcome not yet clear.
00:48:47.083 --> 00:48:50.751
But I sure don\'t think
it\'s going to happen automatically.
00:48:50.792 --> 00:48:54.417
I think the only hope is
to build a big movement.
00:48:54.459 --> 00:49:02.000
A true citizen\'s movement that is big, that is
tough, that is determined to make deep change.
00:49:02.042 --> 00:49:10.042
If there is a model in living memory that we need to
try to find again it was the civil rights movement.
00:49:10.542 --> 00:49:15.501
People understood that they had a
deep grievence and they understood
00:49:15.584 --> 00:49:21.501
that the system they were working in was
illegitimate and they set out to demonstrate that.
00:49:21.918 --> 00:49:23.792
We are going to act.
00:49:23.834 --> 00:49:28.334
Power responds to a demand and we have to
let that demand be heard.
00:49:28.375 --> 00:49:33.792
And it\'s time to step outside the system and
do some things that we haven\'t done before.
00:49:33.834 --> 00:49:37.042
We have got to be careful as
we do civil disobedience.
00:49:37.083 --> 00:49:40.167
We shouldn\'t make young people
the cannon fodder for it.
00:49:40.209 --> 00:49:44.000
I think it should be those of us who
spend our lives burning fossil fuel.
00:49:44.042 --> 00:49:48.959
We need to make it very clear who the
radicals in this scenario are.
00:49:49.000 --> 00:49:52.876
They are not people demanding an
end to fossil fuel burning.
00:49:52.918 --> 00:49:57.167
The radicals are the people who
are willing to fill the atmosphere
00:49:57.209 --> 00:50:01.876
with twice as much carbon as there
used to be and just see what happens.
00:50:01.918 --> 00:50:04.558
There is movement building around the
world and what you are seeing
00:50:04.584 --> 00:50:08.459
is that the movements are connecting,
so that the environmental movement
00:50:08.501 --> 00:50:11.083
is connecting to the
sustainable food justice movement.
00:50:11.125 --> 00:50:14.083
The food justice movement is connecting
to the women\'s movement.
00:50:14.125 --> 00:50:17.959
The women\'s movement is connecting
to the LGBTQ movement
00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:21.709
We simply cannot look at
these problems in silos.
00:50:21.751 --> 00:50:29.167
What needs to be done is to connect these groups which
are prefiguring in their work the future world.
00:50:29.209 --> 00:50:34.125
After all these years of being deprived
of meaning in our lives,
00:50:34.167 --> 00:50:37.083
we have an opportunity to
fight for something real.
00:50:37.125 --> 00:50:45.125
And it\'s not just a fight, it\'s really a much
more joyful existence to live in reality.
00:50:48.209 --> 00:50:56.209
This climate crisis, it could be some of the worst
sorts of things we will have seen on the planet,
00:50:56.501 --> 00:51:02.876
as the disasters pile up and there\'s
more of them than we can deal with.
00:51:02.918 --> 00:51:06.250
So the question is there about hope.
00:51:06.292 --> 00:51:08.584
Is hope necessary?
00:51:08.626 --> 00:51:11.751
What is hope in this context?
00:51:11.792 --> 00:51:18.959
And I think my answer would be, hope
is this equilibrium, this steady mind,
00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:25.876
the willingness to be present
for what it actually is and a curiosity,
00:51:25.918 --> 00:51:30.083
a kind of,
\"Well, what will it really be?\"
00:51:30.125 --> 00:51:34.042
When you\'re in the middle
of a big adventure,
00:51:34.083 --> 00:51:38.709
you don\'t have time to decide
whether you\'re hopeful or hopeless.
00:51:38.751 --> 00:51:41.542
That question can bring you
out of the present moment.
00:51:41.584 --> 00:51:45.918
It can throw you into
imaginings and conjectures
00:51:45.959 --> 00:51:49.584
when all your energy should be
right here, in the moment.
00:51:49.626 --> 00:51:56.834
I don\'t think that there is any hopeful outcome
from this, where we will avoid all messiness.
00:51:56.876 --> 00:52:02.334
Somehow the tooth fairy is going to come down
at the last minute and make everything okay.
00:52:02.375 --> 00:52:03.751
It\'s not going to happen.
00:52:03.792 --> 00:52:06.042
We are headed into a very difficult time.
00:52:06.083 --> 00:52:13.209
It\'s going to be an extraordinarily painful transition
for our species and for the rest of the natural world.
00:52:13.250 --> 00:52:21.250
That said, how painful it is and how many of
us survive, and how much of nature survives,
00:52:21.876 --> 00:52:25.250
all of that depends on what we do now.
00:52:25.292 --> 00:52:29.501
So can you imagine having the opportunity
of being alive at this moment in history
00:52:29.542 --> 00:52:35.459
when so much is at stake and choosing
to go to sleep instead?
00:52:36.667 --> 00:52:44.167
If you want an adventure, boy, what a
time to choose to be alive, to get a chance
00:52:44.209 --> 00:52:52.209
to find out what you have inside you in terms
of vitality and alertness and courage,
00:52:54.042 --> 00:52:59.751
what you have to discover in terms of what
we can do together.
00:52:59.792 --> 00:53:03.292
Don\'t waste time in
self-pity over darkness.
00:53:03.334 --> 00:53:09.542
Don\'t waste time trying to figure out
better circumstances that you might like.
00:53:09.792 --> 00:53:12.125
You are born into this.
00:53:12.292 --> 00:53:17.375
And you are here to
love it and to see that it goes on...
00:53:18.125 --> 00:53:21.083
I cannot turn my eyes,
00:53:24.542 --> 00:53:28.292
I cannot count the cost,
00:53:30.626 --> 00:53:33.918
Of all that has been broken,
00:53:37.167 --> 00:53:40.918
All that has been lost.
00:53:43.459 --> 00:53:51.459
And the light on the
hills is full of mercy.
00:53:56.709 --> 00:54:04.709
The wind in the tree, it comes to save me.
00:54:09.542 --> 00:54:17.542
The silence, it will never desert me
00:54:22.000 --> 00:54:30.000
I long to hold the whole
world in these arms.
00:54:34.626 --> 00:54:42.626
May all beings be happy.
00:54:47.250 --> 00:54:55.250
My all beings be safe.
00:54:59.876 --> 00:55:07.876
May all beings everywhere be free.