WEBVTT

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[music]

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He remains invisible but he’s getting
fatter and is affecting our climate.

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He’s in the process of saturating our oceans and our
atmosphere. He’s overtaking all sectors of human activity,

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the drama starring Mr. CO2 continues.

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The raise against the carbon clock
is well and truly underway.

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[music]

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By denouncing the role carbon dioxide
is playing in global warming,

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science has had a nun president to influence on
the course of political and economic decisions

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and ultimately on choices for
the future of civilization.

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We measure CO2 all over the world. We’ve
been doing that for a, for decades.

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See here behind me, uh… you
see these glass flasks.

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Uh… There are flasks in which
we receive air samples

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from what we call clean air sites
that means coastlines, ships,

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mountaintops, deserts. Umm… Actually,
huge changes are taking place

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in the atmosphere composition. Noticeably different
form, it had been for millions of years.

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So CO2 went up by 35%.

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This is a first in human history.

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So basically what we’re facing is that this CO2
that we emit stays around for thousands of years.

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[music]

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The 12 months of 2010, where the
hottest on the planet for 130 years.

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Over the past 20 years, the
average temperature of our planet

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has risen by nearly one degree. So
as long as we continue to emit it,

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the threat of climate
change will get worse.

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I don’t think we can afford
to wait for another decade

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before it get serious.

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When you look at all the data, when you look at the
evidence, when you look at the resource crunches

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that are coming down the lines, when you look at
the climate issue, when you look at biodiversity,

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when you look at the limits
that we are running up against

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in ecological terms and the rate
at which the system is expanding,

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it’s just it’s… it’s almost too simple.
It’s… it’s… it’s a mystery really

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that something so simple could
turn out to be so impossible

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for uh… political elites to listen to you.

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Internationally negotiated climate
agreements are probably obsolete.

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But the world hasn’t recognized that yet.

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So we get these minimalist agreements that don’t really
add up to very much. Kyoto was the first example of this

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but at least we reach some agreement. And in
Copenhagen, we have, didn’t reach any agreement.

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It takes years to negotiate
these agreements

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and then many more years
to get them ratify it.

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By that time, the game may be over.

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Mr. CO2 can hover around his heart’s content. Indecision
coupled with the backtracking of policymakers

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and reaching an international
agreement giving free rein.

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And holding the US up as
the model to aspire to

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the west’s addiction to fossil
fuel has spread like a virus.

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[music]

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In a bid to do better than the US, China
has head off to a rip roaring start.

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[music]

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Most of the Western countries, you know,
especially America, uh… the United States,

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and some of European countries have become uh…
very much uh… in effect a car based society.

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At this moment, emerging
economies like China, India,

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now they started moving,
shifting to car based society.

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[music]

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When I was in China a few years
ago, I was doing a seminar.

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I expressed doubt that they would
ever uh… saturation of cars

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as we did in the United States and the students said, \"Well, you
know, but that’s… that’s our dream, you know, we all want cars.\"

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And I said, \"It may be your
dream but if you succeed

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in getting three cars for every four
people as we have in the United States,

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it will not be a dream,
it will be a nightmare

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because China, 1.3 people with three cars for every
four people will have over 900 million cars,

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more cars than there are
in the world today.\"

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In Beijing, 2,000 new cars
hit the roads every day.

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It is estimated that by 2020, there
will be 200 million of them.

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This rise is taking place in a
well but is already overloaded.

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People really do not have a grasp of
the magnitude of the amount of energy

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that we consume every day. I mean, during…

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during uh… a typical year, globally,

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we consume one and a quarter
trillion gallons of oil.

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I mean, if I started consuming
gasoline at one gallon a second,

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it would take me 40,000 years to
consume what we consume in one year.

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In other words, we’re consuming 40,000
gallons of oil every single second

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and we’re consuming about
30,000 gallons of…

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of equivalent in coal every single second.

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We’re reaching peak gas, even coal is going to
run out much sooner that than we have assumed.

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Now, if we’re going to avoid a situation
where we’re basically fighting

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over the crumbs of, you know, what’s left
of the world’s fossil fuel supplies,

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the only other serious avenue

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that we could pursue in the world is to…

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seriously reduce our reliance on
fossil fuels. The reality is that

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the global economy is not going to continue to grow in
the 21st century, the way we experienced it in the 20th.

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[sil.]

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Research into fossil fuel
substitutes is gathering pace.

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Both developed and emerging
countries are gearing up

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to compensate for the predicted shortages, and
to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

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We’re looking at algae, direct fuels from algae and there’s
some really big advantages of fuels to get out of algae.

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I mean, I’ve actually been working on this
for… for 25 years and this is a race,

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it’s a race to see who can, who can, you know,
build the infrastructure to make bio energy.

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Umm… right now, we have, uh… United
States has a big technical advantage

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over other groups because we’ve invested more in that research
uh… but it’s a race and it’s going to be a dog fight.

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And I think the biggest umm…
validation of the process

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came last year when Exxon
Mobil Corporation invested

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$600 million into algae biofuels. Uh… You know, this is
arguably one of the most sophisticated companies in the world.

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And I think that actually
will help quite a bit in…

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in uh… you know, driving the industry to success,
uh… but all the rest of the old companies

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who come around and started
to invest in this.

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Where is the conversion? You know,
at what point do we as a society

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admit that climate change is significant
enough that I stop lobbying against it

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and start accepting its reality and… and preparing to
deal with its consequences? That’s the real question.

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And I think that threshold was
passed in the last couple of years.

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And I think it’s a bit like the tobacco industry, right? They…
they fought for ever that cigarettes don’t cause cancer

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and they have no consequences, but then at
some point they cross over and they say,

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\"Well, look, this is really personal choice. You know, yeah, there are some bad
things in them and we know that those are out there and we’re going to help you guys,

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you know, get away from those or we’re going to help in the treatment.\"
And I think the oil companies are in exactly the same position, right.

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No company wants to be taxed, no company
wants to have their cost go up,

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they’re all fighting, you know, in economic
battle every day to keep the prices down

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but at some point you just have to admit,
well, if we continue to fight this,

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uh… when that pendulum swings back the other way, when public
attitude swings back the other way, we’re going to get creamed.

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This belated and partial conversion

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to clean energy concerns all fossil fuels
and is also providing a welcome boost

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to struggling economies.

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It’s, you know, exists, for example,
if you look in the language of Davos,

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the World Economic Forum
through 2008, 2009, 2010,

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a quite old shift in the language of the…

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the most important consensus around
what the world economy is about

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has taken place. And if you
look immediately before 2008,

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the language was all umm… it was about growth,
it was about the dominance of growth,

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it was about maintaining stability of the economy
through growth. In the middle of the crisis, 2009,

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January 2009, that line, the…
the language was confused,

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uh… what do we do here because this
model clearly has reached some limits.

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And we need to think differently about
getting the economy back on track

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but we need to think about the opportunities
for investing in different ways.

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The language of the green stimulus
was very strong in Davos 2009.

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Energy is power.

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Umm… The world runs on energy. And
the country that has the energy,

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has the power, and has the money.
And every country realizes this.

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Umm… You know, the United States, uh… we have the highest gross domestic
product of any country in the world than we consume the most energy.

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Umm… There’s a direct correlation between those
two and the rest of the world knows that.

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And so the rest of the world knows
that every bit of energy they can get

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will increase their gross domestic product.

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So how should we go about creating this vital change
in energy supply? If it’s not already too late,

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time is racing by. Mr.CO2 and global
warming could well catch up with us

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sending GDP’s the world over into meltdown.

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[music]

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A hundred years from now,

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the only energy we will be using in society
will be energy from renewable sources

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like wind, solar, tidal,
geothermal, wave power, and so on.

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[music]

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Everybody knows that 50 or 60 years from now, this is how
it will power the world, that’s not really in question.

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What’s in question is, \"Can
we do it in 20 or 25 years,

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in the time that scientists give us to have any
real hope of heading off the climate stuff?\"

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Inspite of government’s recovery plans,

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the world crisis is hit investments
in sustainable technologies

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which plummeted by 7% in
2009, compared to 2008,

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before stabilizing in 2010.

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With one exception,
China, to support growth,

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China needs to build 580 coal-fired
firm plants in the next 10 years,

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the equivalent of one the week.

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In 2009, the Chinese government also
invested over 100 billion euros

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in renewable energies, a world record.

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The understanding in China of the need
for a different kind of energy system

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and the… the extent to which they are able to mobilize
investment resources in that new energy system,

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the speed at which that kind of technological
revolution is happening in China

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is now beginning to dwarf. Anything that
we’ve created over 20 years of working on it

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in western economies and it’s
happened in the space of a few years.

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It’s a case study, I mean, it’s…
it’s something almost unprecedented.

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In the solar panel manufacturing sector,

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Chinese companies can already cater for
domestic demand in photovoltaic energy

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as well as being able to
export all over the world.

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Forty five percent of the solar panels
in California are made in China.

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This is a recent market for China.

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And the high-tech appearance of
the budding 21st century appeals

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to the ecological aspirations of
visitors and, of course, buyers.

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[music]

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[music]

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The sun heels unparalleled power.

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Capturing just a few hours of its total
energy would be enough to fuel the most

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energy hungry excesses. The
era of solar power plants

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is now with us, and the Californian
sun is worth its weight in gold.

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Companies are already seeking
to tap into the gold mine.

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Nobody investing in this
really for altruistic reasons,

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they believe that it’s a very viable
uh… thriving sector of the economy

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and they want to uh… participate in that. BrightSources
is fortunate to have some world class investors.

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We started with two of the best venture
groups uh… VantagePoint and Draper Fisher,

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and then we had BP, Chevron, uh… others invest
in the company, Google invested along the way.

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[music]

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But state impetus is vital.

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And although 12% of the
US recovery plan budget

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has been allocated to clean energy,
the demand remains modest.

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Among the main desert owning states,

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the first choice has been Nevada.
Its fast average surface area

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lends itself well to hazing(ph) a huge
concentration of solar panels and it is here,

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that the country’s largest solar
power plant has been built

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right next door to Las Vegas,
the city of all excesses.

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Let’s take a look around, Mr.
CO2 is not welcome here.

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This plan right here on an annual basis,

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it produces about 1,30,000 megawatt
hours which is basically enough to

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umm… to power 15,000 homes
in a typical American city.

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The power is fed into the grid,
it basically comes into the,

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these towers over here, you can
see behind the control room.

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So the power is actually being produced uh…
behind that brown building way down there.

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It comes out of there into this switching station here
and it’s basically going to Las Vegas after that.

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We only produce during the day time.

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Ironic for a town that
comes to life at night.

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It’s also one of the world’s number one consumer of
electricity remains dependent on its coal plants.

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[music]

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If you look at the amount of energy
that the sun delivers to the earth,

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what we really, we don’t have an energy problem, we
have an energy collection and distribution problem.

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In every, basically, the
sun brings us 5,000 times

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uh… every day the amount of
energy that we need or consume.

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Uh… We just need to be able to collect it and
distribute it in order to be able to use it properly.

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[music]

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In the US in 2009, total electricity
production from renewable sources

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was less than the figures
for Europe and even China.

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Before carbondioxide emissions are reduced,

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Mr. CO2 can still do some serious partying.
And on the worldwide scale,

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he has a plenty of time
to see things coming.

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Everybody’s right now focused
on, how do you handle the scale

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and the uh… amount of power that needs
to get delivered on a worldwide basis?

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If you look at the global challenge right
now, we have between now and 2050,

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we need to provide about 14,000
gigawatts of carbon free power.

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A gigawatt is generally, is about
the size of a nuclear facility.

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So 14,000 equivalent size power plants to a nuclear
plant need to be built between now and 2050

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to address the carbon problem. Depends
entirely on what kind of commitment we get,

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whether or not we get governments
making this job one,

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whether or not we see real and decisive switches
in subsidy and funding from fossil fuels

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and in direction of clean energy.

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A smattering of environmental policies will
not be enough to meet our planet’s needs.

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Wind turbines and solar panels
require such extensive investment

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in such vast surface areas that
they will remain for the time being

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supplementary energy sources, and they both
create ecological footprints of their own.

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The problem is none of these renewable

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or alternatively energies can be developed
without a very large input of those fossil fuels

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to make them. I mean, let’s take an
example, if you look at photovoltaics,

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mind the metals that are needed to form the frame and the
metals that are needed to form the rods to support it

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to whatever structure is going to be on using
the electricity produced from a solar panel.

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All of this, there has to
come together somewhere

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uh… globally and turned into this final
product. Every single step of the way,

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we are consuming diesel, or
gasoline, or electricity,

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or jet fuel, or one of these fossil fuels.

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[music]

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Just west of here, we have a
number of large wind farms.

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Uh… One of the largest in
the world Altamont Pass,

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but these wind farms in order to generate
electricity contain these uh… permanent magnets

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that reside inside of turbines
that generate the electricity

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
as… as the uh… wind blows. So
essentially at this point,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
all of these alternatives rely
upon a fossil fuel foundation.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
And that is the weakness of
the scale ability and the

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
uh… feasibility of greatly expanding
alternative energy production.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:43.000
[music]

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
Mr. CO2 is still hanging around these
renewable energy technologies.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
And his footprint is only likely to disappear, once the
various materials they require have been reviewed.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
The true test of the, you know,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
long term viability of an
alternative energy to me is when,

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
it’s what I call a self-reproduction
or reproducibility.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
So we have to look at that. How much are we
going to be using to produce that energy?

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
And how much is left over afterwards?
Uh… That’s a very big question.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000
Uh… What are the pollutants side uh…
products from… from the process?

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
[music]

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
On a continent wide bases
this time, with for example,

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
one European consortiums
ambitious project Desertec.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
[music]

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
We think it’s a… a fantastic project, it will
take some time, uh… it will take some patience,

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
but at the end of the day, it’s a very viable
way to deliver power from an area of great sun

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
in the Sahara Desert
into continental Europe.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
And we think, it uh… over the long
term uh… has a lot of potential.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
The project

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
supported by the German government would
require an investment of 400 billion euros.

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
It could cover 15% to 20% of European
energy requirements by 2025.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
The idea is to centralize the natural
energies of several continents.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Solar thermal power plants

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
would be built in the heart of the Sahara
Desert and linked via network to Europe.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
The network would be reinforced by energy
from offshore wind turbines in the North Sea.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
[music]

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:05.000
The year of major projects to save the
planet has seen the light of day.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
[music]

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
But regarding massive scale projects with
ecological evidence, China is the most ambitious.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
On a par with the magnitude of state
capitalism and its commercial excesses

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
that they’ll have for great(inaudible), China
is once again setting off on the Long March,

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
a green one this time.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
October 2009,

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
on the occasion of the parades commemorating the 60th
anniversary of the victory of the Mao Zedong Revolution,

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
commentators recite the new official greet.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
After 60 years of work, China has worked
to create a stable supply of economic,

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
clean, and safe energies. This float
highlights China’s energy achievements.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
It’s powered by solar panels,
the only one in the parade.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
[music]

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
This formation represents ecology
and environmental protection.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
New China has suited first comprehensive
regulations on environmental

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
protection in the 1960s. And in the
1990s, environmental protection

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
was upgraded to a state policy.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
The scientific oblique on development
caused for sustainable development,

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
a war of life and a sound eco-system and
thus requires environmental awareness.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
[music]

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
But if China prides itself on its exenterated
alternative energy development program,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
it is not quite so quick to solve the
issue of its insatiable urbanization.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
It is estimated, there will be one
billion city dwellers by 2013.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
Models for clean cities abound,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
yet, no clean cities have actually
seen the light of day, yet.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Even though the ecological window dressing
of a project does help attract investors.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
Promoters of the Cao Fei Dian

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
project close to the city of Tang Shan, 250
kilometers from Beijing has set their sights high.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:35.000
This is ecology on a colossal scale.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
Cao Fei Dian promotional film
promises an ecological El Dorado.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
Traditional western consumerism
is featured in keeping with

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.000
the Chinese Communist Party’s mortal,
a better city for a better life.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:35.000
[sil.]

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
It is not an isolated case.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
And the Chinese government is just threatened
to close more than 2,000 factories

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
for contravening regulations.
In the first quarter of 2010,

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
China’s carbondioxide emissions
rose by more than 3%.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
It is hard to imagine that investing

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
in renewable technology will be
enough to reverse the process

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
or even to slow it down.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
The economic model of rampant growth

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
is steering the country into a dead end.
And China is not alone,

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
it concerns the entire planet.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
[music]

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
Mr. CO2 is delighted. He knows, all there is
to know about the arithmetic of world growth.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
We do not yet know, how to
create stable economies

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
that are resource light that
provide equal opportunities

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
for seven billion people
and a growing population.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
And that remain uh…
within ecological limits.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
The race against the clock

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
to stabilize the rise in the temperature at two degrees
does not take into account demographic forecasts.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
By 2050, the world population
will be nine billion,

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
two billion more than today.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
Increases in average per capita revenues
will also fuel over consumerism,

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
which in turn will strengthen the link between
lifestyle and carbondioxide emissions.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
We’ve done okay at bringing

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
he technological intensity factor
down over the last few decades,

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
but carbon emissions have still gone up. Why, because the
economies got bigger and there are more people in the world.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
So, and those… those things
have always run faster than

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
uh… cleverness, than our ability to get technology
to reduce carbon emissions for each dollar.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
And that’s… that’s the game, the game
is that you have to get technology

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
moving faster than the economy is growing.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
It is a real and difficult gamble.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
If we are to prevent all our societies a daring to
another vision of well-being that to the US model.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
[music]

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
There are ways to sustain our life

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
on alternative energy but there’s
not a way to sustain our lifestyle.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
We expect things to be up
and running 24 hours a day,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
we want our stores open all the time, we
expect to… to cook in the middle of the night

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
or early in the morning. So the
implications of not having the supply

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
meet demand at all times, really means
that we’ve got to be much more conscious

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
of what our energy consumption is.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:25.000
[music]

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:08.000
[music]

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
These dynamics, the dynamics of the economy and the
dynamics of… of society almost psychological dynamics are…

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
are trapping us, they’re trapping us
into umm… increasing carbon emissions

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
that this is a powerful social logic.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
And it delves into the nature of
what it means to be part of society.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
And so material goods, material aspirations,
the way that our lives organized,

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
then… then… then… they’re not just
trivial things, it’s not even beyond

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
the simple material functionality
of food and clothing and shelter,

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
material things play a psychological
and social language for us.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
This is a really important language.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
It’s important for ordinary people. And
that that’s why it’s uh… (inaudible),

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
it’s… it’s why it is such a strong social
logic, it’s not something that individuals

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
can easily escape from.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:28.000
[music]

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:13.000
[music]

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Right now, we are basically stuck in this
country, in the whole Western world,

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
and even in other, you know, countries
economies like India and China

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
with the growth imperative.
Umm… The kinds of programs,

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
policies, and actions that we need
to be effectively able to deal with

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
these issues of food, and water, and
energy, and climate change, and so forth

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
are policies that are largely
inimical to business

00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:00.000
and to growth, the growth economy.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
The only other option, if we want to go in
that direction is for the people themselves

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
to do something, to uh… take hold of
their communities and redesign them.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
[music]

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
And this would have to
happen on a local basis,

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
with towns and cities working on their own
to implement these kinds of policies.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
And the interesting thing is that that’s
actually where we’re seeing this happening.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
[music]

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
This means towns, cities,

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
families, communities charting
a path to a low carbon future.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
There’s a whole movement of what’s
called the Transition towns

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
that are finding ways to

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
umm… grow more food locally,
to insulate buildings,

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
to umm… provide more… more solar and other
alternative energy within the community.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
[sil.]

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
Four years ago, in (inaudible) in the UK,

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
The Transition Town movement was born.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
Oh, yay! Oh, yay! Oh, yay!

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Welcome to the Totnes Home Energy Fair

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
in the (inaudible). It’s
not just about energy,

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
it’s not just about food, it’s not just about
building, it’s about the whole system.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
We all are in transition, whether we like it or not. We’re
not just saying, \"Oh, let’s go somewhere in the desert

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
and build a completely new city.\" Well,
anybody can do that, that’s easy.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
The Totnes is built, we’re not going to knock it down and
start again. We’re going to have to take what we have and…

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
and make it sustainable, make
it fit for the 21st century.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
And those environmental concerns are going to
be absolutely central and absolutely crucial.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
[music]

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
What are the names they go by? These movements
are gaining ground all over the world.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
[music]

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
In San Francisco, the
same post carbon ideal

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
is taking over the city’s vacant spaces.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
[music]

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
We’re looking at any vacant land,
whether it’s a… a vacant lot

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
or a sidewalk or sometimes a right
away for automobiles or street,

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
uh… any possible place where we could put it
to productive use to meet our needs for food,

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
fuel, medicine, or fiber, whatever useful
productive integrated system can be designed there,

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
we’re looking for space creatively.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
The highest priority of the thermal culture
community here in the city is just the backyard,

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
that 1,800 acres of backyard in San Francisco
waiting to be put into productive use.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
For me, it’s a spontaneous ethical thing.
It’s emerging and evolving,

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
sometimes slowly, but that’s
what we see in general.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:43.000
[music]

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
All over California, post carbon behavior
is seeking revenge on the damaged

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
American consumerism dream.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
You walk down the street, and you start looking and
wonder what’s existing where those lemon trees

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and palm trees and pear trees and start meeting neighbors, different
goal sets. Umm… And to start a vision as you go down instead

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
of all these different lines but edible landscapes,
this guy right here has over 60 varieties of food

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
on his property. He stole
lot of opportunities.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
[music]

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
Uh… And so, you know, together, our little efforts can
make a difference. We had people from the left here,

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
we had people from the right, we had labor, we had business
people, and environmentalists, all working together to,

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
you know, strengthen our community.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
When we look at these voluntary initiatives

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
to live more, actually simpler

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
and sometimes more rewarding lives, we should
marvel actually that that… that this exists

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
because it is a very… very
strong ethical statement

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
by relatively small numbers of people saying,
this logic is wrong, this logic is immoral,

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
it doesn’t take into account the
aspirations of two thirds of the world,

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
it is unsustainable in ecological terms,

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
and so we… we’re going to live differently,
we’re going to try and make different choices.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
[music]

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
So what I see is that there’s a
phenomenal amount of interest in… in… in…

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
in Transition all around the world
from just about every continent.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Uh… I have seen it working in Canada in the
United States, in New Zealand, and Japan,

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
and Australia, umm… and
also umm… in China as well,

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
uh… as well as just about every European country. And
what’s interesting there are some of the cultural changes

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
that people make, people start to umm… do
things maybe in slightly different ways and…

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
and they translate some of our,
some other our materials and…

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and obviously in terms of their…
their… their… their actual language.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
In every country where these
initiatives are taking form,

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
they’ll sparking reflections on our
dependence on the global economic system.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:18.000
[music]

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
I call it a Cinderella economy because
to some extent it already exists,

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
there are examples of archly small scale
initiatives embedded in communities,

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
providing jobs for people,

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
and with a low carbon footprint
with resource light activities

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
treading lightly on the earth.
And so these kinds of activities

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
represent a sort of blueprint for
watching the economy might be like.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
[music]

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
The crises has also been instrumental
in speeding up people’s choice

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
to break away from previous lifestyles.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
And Willits, a small town in northern California
has just taken the step of detaching itself

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
at least in part from the US dollar.
Like a few other communities in the US,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
locals have chosen to invent
another form of consumerism.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
These are ours, they have
a little logo on ‘em.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
They’re $5, they’re wooden, who
doesn’t like a wooden nickel?

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
Umm… I loved my, coming on to when I was a kid
whether they were good for anything or not.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
Umm… Five dollars for me, I like to
think that they’re backed by beer

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
and right now a pine does cost you $5. Can also
be a piece of paper that says it’s worth one beer

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
but this is a lot more fun. They
can also go to mall against books

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
and buy a book but if they have, you
know, 25 they can go get a massage.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
Umm… The idea behind this currency
uh… is have that currency

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
recirculate locally. Other communities that put up
quite a bit of local currency into circulation.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
And then you could have
a much larger effect.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
Okay. Uh… So we have right now
is… is a crisis of money.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
Uh… So what we’re trying to create is a system that uh… will allow
that trade to happen regardless of what’s happening outside.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Umm… The system related to a uh… brick water in a community
like… like on her where you would just leave your harbor open

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
to waves that come in and crash your boats to
smithereens, you put up a (inaudible) water

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
so that they can, you can, you
know, keep the waters calm inside,

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
you’re not closing it off, those boats go in and out. Okay,
but it just creates a little more stability for that harbor,

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
protects the uh… the delicate
structures inside that stuff.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:53.000
[music]

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
Actually when you think about
transition, you have to not just say,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
\"Well, here’s a nice example of some
economic activity that might work,\"

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
you actually have to address the structure of the system.
So that means looking at the… the big scale means,

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
looking at the macro scale and asking,
uh… are… are the incentive structures

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
pointing in the right direction. Almost always the answer
is no. So we have, we have work to do across the system

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
if we want a realistic chance of
the Cinderella economy becoming

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
a blueprint for tomorrow.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
But we have to think about models for…
for business, models for enterprise,

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
uh… models for economic activity
that dilute these aspects

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
of uh… what capitalism has been and… and
the new models of ownership around,

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
community ownership around shared
public and private intervals.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
Umm… What is the model built around?
It’s built around the simple idea

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
that prosperity is a shared
commodity, it’s something that exists

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
because of our social relationships,
it’s something that we build by placing

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
social relations and solidarity
at the heart of our social model.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
And… and we do that only by creating
the spaces where that’s possible.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:35.000
[music]

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
But this time we need to move quickly

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because we haven’t yet found the
solution to a bright future.

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We need to go back to basics.

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We already needed to 40 years ago.

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[non-English narration]

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
December 2010, at the latest climate
conference in Cancun in Mexico

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
did not mark the year (inaudible).
Neither a change in habits

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
nor a reversal of a succession of acquired
situations made it onto the agenda.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
Countries do not send their scientists,

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their visionaries, they send diplomats and
lawyers. And when you send diplomats and lawyers,

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the outcome is predictable,
it will not be very bold.

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Coming to an international agreement, while
maintaining the interests of each country

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
is likely to take a long… long time.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
Promises that science and technology
will polish out of the climate crisis

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
perhaps in 50 or 80 years are not enough.
Mr. CO2 is an adversary

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
possessing the power to plunge
our entire planet into danger.

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We need to make certain
choices about our society

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
and to accept the radical theory
of prosperity without growth.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:08.000
[music]