Breath of Life

1 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 2 00:01:44,266 --> 00:01:48,700 This... This is insanity. 3 00:01:48,733 --> 00:01:53,000 I like to quote Albert Einstein. He said, when he was asked, 4 00:01:53,033 --> 00:01:54,933 what he thought the basic difference 5 00:01:54,966 --> 00:01:58,433 between genius and stupidity was. 6 00:01:58,466 --> 00:02:00,766 And he never even blinked. He just said, 7 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:02,566 "Genius has its limits." 8 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:16,566 Could our way of life collapse? 9 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,400 Could industrial civilization collapse? 10 00:02:19,433 --> 00:02:21,433 And I think it's a genuine worry. 11 00:02:23,533 --> 00:02:28,366 We have tremendous problems generated by ourselves 12 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:34,500 and limited mental capacity to deal with them. 13 00:02:34,533 --> 00:02:36,866 There's no doubt in my mind, none whatsoever, 14 00:02:36,900 --> 00:02:39,400 that there are catastrophes looming 15 00:02:39,433 --> 00:02:41,566 for our children and grandchildren 16 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:46,233 that are almost unimaginable to us. 17 00:02:49,066 --> 00:02:51,966 We've built this magnificent structure, 18 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,000 set of structures, that empowers us. 19 00:02:54,033 --> 00:02:56,066 But you have to put quotes around that word 20 00:02:56,100 --> 00:02:58,033 because we're not really empowered. 21 00:02:58,066 --> 00:03:00,566 If anything breaks down in that system 22 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,000 or conversely if we decide 23 00:03:03,033 --> 00:03:04,433 the system is unsustainable 24 00:03:04,466 --> 00:03:06,000 and there are problems in that system, 25 00:03:06,033 --> 00:03:07,700 we're really stuck. 26 00:03:07,733 --> 00:03:11,500 This is what I see as the greatest threat to our future 27 00:03:11,533 --> 00:03:14,500 where complexity and costliness make it impossible 28 00:03:14,533 --> 00:03:17,566 to solve our problems as we've been accustomed to doing. 29 00:03:31,433 --> 00:03:34,733 Each time we get a wakeup call, as we now like to call it, 30 00:03:34,766 --> 00:03:37,700 we wake up briefly and then we go right back 31 00:03:37,733 --> 00:03:40,300 to "I'll think about that tomorrow." 32 00:03:41,100 --> 00:03:42,766 There are huge concepts here. 33 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,566 Like what is reality? What is truth? 34 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,866 We're three and four generations away from the farm. 35 00:03:54,900 --> 00:03:56,966 We've got people that think that there's a machine 36 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,366 in the back of the Piggly Wiggly that makes the food. 37 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:01,733 I mean, they have no idea. 38 00:04:01,766 --> 00:04:04,100 You know, the West Coast of this nation 39 00:04:04,133 --> 00:04:06,433 has five days of food, five days. 40 00:04:06,466 --> 00:04:10,100 We are playing an intrinsically dangerous game 41 00:04:10,133 --> 00:04:13,133 because we are cutting ourselves off from reality. 42 00:04:13,166 --> 00:04:16,933 And that can come back not just to haunt us, 43 00:04:16,966 --> 00:04:19,700 but we can smack into reality 44 00:04:19,733 --> 00:04:23,333 in a very dramatic way because it's unexpected. 45 00:04:26,066 --> 00:04:30,700 To deal with climate change only on the level of political theory 46 00:04:30,733 --> 00:04:35,700 or on the level of scientific facts is extremely superficial. 47 00:04:35,733 --> 00:04:39,166 We have to investigate what it is 48 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,533 in the deep structure of the human mind 49 00:04:41,566 --> 00:04:45,866 that just makes us unable to move in the face of 50 00:04:45,900 --> 00:04:49,533 cognitive intellectual insight into the facts. 51 00:04:49,566 --> 00:04:54,166 And even also in the face of conscious experience 52 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,600 of the situation we find ourselves. 53 00:04:57,633 --> 00:05:01,400 As a species, we have evolved under natural selection 54 00:05:01,433 --> 00:05:03,533 just as all animal species evolved. 55 00:05:03,566 --> 00:05:07,633 And in our history, there was never selective pressure. 56 00:05:07,666 --> 00:05:11,066 There was never pressure to think more broadly 57 00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:12,900 in terms of either time or space, 58 00:05:12,933 --> 00:05:15,033 and so humans didn't evolve to do so. 59 00:05:15,066 --> 00:05:19,566 Yet that's precisely what sustainability today requires. 60 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,833 Particularly, it requires us to understand the distant past, 61 00:05:23,866 --> 00:05:27,133 because the distant past gives us lessons. 62 00:05:27,166 --> 00:05:29,166 And it also tells us how we came to be 63 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,000 in the circumstances that we're in today. 64 00:05:31,033 --> 00:05:34,500 And we have to understand how to take the lessons of the past 65 00:05:34,533 --> 00:05:35,900 and project them into the future. 66 00:05:35,933 --> 00:05:39,033 We have to anticipate what the future is going to be like. 67 00:05:39,066 --> 00:05:42,666 Humans don't tend to think in terms of the long-term future. 68 00:05:42,700 --> 00:05:45,966 They think in terms of the immediacy of their lives. 69 00:05:47,833 --> 00:05:50,966 Obviously, if we're concerned about the future of humanity, 70 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,566 the future of our planet, 71 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:54,966 we have to really think in terms of the future. 72 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,733 We have to think in, you know, the long-term. 73 00:05:57,766 --> 00:05:59,966 Natural selection doesn't do that. 74 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,066 Never has done that. 75 00:06:01,100 --> 00:06:02,166 There is no foresight. 76 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:03,566 There is no forethought, 77 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,766 no looking ahead in nature. 78 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,700 The human species is the only species 79 00:06:08,733 --> 00:06:11,633 that has even the slightest chance of looking ahead, 80 00:06:11,666 --> 00:06:13,933 the slightest chance of using foresight. 81 00:06:13,966 --> 00:06:15,600 And we do... 82 00:06:15,633 --> 00:06:18,733 and we are in a way the best hope 83 00:06:18,766 --> 00:06:21,533 for the future of the world because of that. 84 00:06:21,566 --> 00:06:24,200 But, nevertheless, we've got strong relics 85 00:06:24,233 --> 00:06:25,600 of our evolutionary past. 86 00:06:25,633 --> 00:06:28,600 It's a struggle for us to break away 87 00:06:28,633 --> 00:06:31,766 from the lack of foresight, 88 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,833 the short-termness which bedevils 89 00:06:34,866 --> 00:06:37,733 the whole of the rest of the natural world. 90 00:06:47,133 --> 00:06:51,600 If you think about it, history essentially tells us where we come from 91 00:06:51,633 --> 00:06:54,733 and why we are the way we are to this day. 92 00:06:54,766 --> 00:06:56,766 But it doesn't really tell us where we're going. 93 00:07:00,833 --> 00:07:03,166 We're in a world now where the future matters. 94 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,000 And yet we're still wired for the here and now. 95 00:07:10,666 --> 00:07:12,133 Evolution has invented many things. 96 00:07:12,166 --> 00:07:16,133 It has invented emotions. It has invented color vision. 97 00:07:16,166 --> 00:07:20,066 It has invented the conscious sense of selfhood. 98 00:07:20,100 --> 00:07:24,533 And it has obviously also invented self-deception. 99 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:35,233 We now have changed every cubic meter of air and water, 100 00:07:35,266 --> 00:07:39,666 And every hectare of land on earth now has a human imprint. 101 00:07:39,700 --> 00:07:42,033 We are moving into a new era. 102 00:07:42,066 --> 00:07:43,300 And the question is: 103 00:07:43,333 --> 00:07:46,166 Are we the kind of creature, 104 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:51,000 are we the kind of being that can handle this new epic, 105 00:07:51,033 --> 00:07:53,533 the anthropocene that we have created? 106 00:07:54,666 --> 00:07:56,176 Throughout history, there's been conflict. 107 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,600 But actually humans are really evolved 108 00:07:58,633 --> 00:08:00,233 to get on with each other in groups. 109 00:08:00,266 --> 00:08:01,642 It's when those groups are in conflict, 110 00:08:01,666 --> 00:08:02,800 fighting over resources, 111 00:08:02,833 --> 00:08:04,600 that you have the wars and the battles. 112 00:08:04,633 --> 00:08:07,100 And, of course, you can always land grab for more territory. 113 00:08:07,133 --> 00:08:09,700 But what happens when you run out of territory? 114 00:08:09,733 --> 00:08:13,000 What happens when you run out of land? 115 00:08:13,033 --> 00:08:16,600 There's almost nothing we can exploit in terms of space 116 00:08:16,633 --> 00:08:18,166 on this planet anymore. 117 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,000 We are exploiting time now. 118 00:08:21,033 --> 00:08:23,766 We're destroying the quality of life 119 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,600 of future human beings on this planet, 120 00:08:26,633 --> 00:08:28,700 and we know that we do it. 121 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:08,200 The ainais our land, the aina. 122 00:09:10,900 --> 00:09:13,100 Why do certain groups, 123 00:09:13,133 --> 00:09:16,100 even those who aren't perpetuating a problem, 124 00:09:16,133 --> 00:09:20,733 why are they taking action to benefit future generations 125 00:09:20,766 --> 00:09:22,000 in ways that would, say, 126 00:09:22,033 --> 00:09:25,166 help them overcome problems of climate change? 127 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,300 Well, the Hawaiian word ai is to eat. 128 00:09:28,333 --> 00:09:29,933 Mea aiis the food. 129 00:09:29,966 --> 00:09:33,000 So ainais the land, mea aiis the food. 130 00:09:33,033 --> 00:09:36,000 And just this area alone here we know could feed families. 131 00:09:36,033 --> 00:09:38,300 It could feed a lot of people, and once we get it going, 132 00:09:38,333 --> 00:09:40,833 it's just maintaining it and keeping it in production. 133 00:09:40,866 --> 00:09:44,133 Whatever we put into the aina, we put into our body. 134 00:09:44,166 --> 00:09:46,766 So if you put poison into the aina, 135 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,000 you're only going to put poison into yourself. 136 00:09:49,033 --> 00:09:53,033 If you put good mana, good life force, into the aina, 137 00:09:53,066 --> 00:09:54,466 you put it into yourself, yeah? 138 00:09:54,500 --> 00:09:56,433 So we are all connected: 139 00:09:56,466 --> 00:09:58,266 the body and the aina. 140 00:09:58,300 --> 00:10:01,033 So no matter where you are, you always have aina. 141 00:10:01,066 --> 00:10:03,066 You take care of your aina; you malama aina. 142 00:10:03,100 --> 00:10:06,100 You're taking care of your ancestor, your ancestral lands, 143 00:10:06,133 --> 00:10:10,233 because our ancestors are buried in the aina, the bones. 144 00:10:10,266 --> 00:10:12,133 So we always walk with them, 145 00:10:12,166 --> 00:10:14,933 especially when you come into a place like this. 146 00:10:14,966 --> 00:10:16,800 They're all around us. 147 00:10:16,833 --> 00:10:18,966 So it is our kuleana, our responsibility, 148 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,766 to maka'ala, to become aware, 149 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,333 and to raise awareness of your kupuna 150 00:10:24,366 --> 00:10:27,466 and of your ancestral lands, which is inside here, 151 00:10:27,500 --> 00:10:31,000 this whole kino, the body and the ainais one. 152 00:10:33,033 --> 00:10:37,333 People do things largely because in one way or another 153 00:10:37,366 --> 00:10:39,800 enhances their own well-being, 154 00:10:39,833 --> 00:10:42,333 it enhances their own interests and welfare. 155 00:10:42,366 --> 00:10:46,800 The difference is what people do to enhance their well-being. 156 00:10:46,833 --> 00:10:49,033 So kupuna, our ancestors, 157 00:10:49,066 --> 00:10:52,433 they utilize aquaculture and agriculture. 158 00:10:52,466 --> 00:10:55,000 Yeah? And they integrate the two. 159 00:10:55,033 --> 00:10:56,833 So not only we can farm the food, 160 00:10:56,866 --> 00:10:59,333 but we can farm fish along with the food. 161 00:10:59,366 --> 00:11:01,933 If you live in a farming society 162 00:11:01,966 --> 00:11:04,933 where there's all kinds of things that, you know, 163 00:11:04,966 --> 00:11:06,966 affect your survival chances, 164 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,233 future orientedness suddenly becomes a matter of life and death. 165 00:11:10,266 --> 00:11:11,376 It becomes really important. 166 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:13,833 And we live down over here. 167 00:11:13,866 --> 00:11:15,100 This is the last four farms 168 00:11:15,133 --> 00:11:17,300 that are remaining out of all this area. 169 00:11:19,133 --> 00:11:22,266 Polynesians developed a highly complex society in Hawaii 170 00:11:22,300 --> 00:11:25,833 that was sustainable entirely on local resources. 171 00:11:25,866 --> 00:11:28,533 They had no hope of getting resources from outside. 172 00:11:28,566 --> 00:11:30,466 And they didn't need resources from outside. 173 00:11:30,500 --> 00:11:34,933 The psychology necessary for that future orientedness, 174 00:11:34,966 --> 00:11:37,000 one way in which it's cultivated 175 00:11:37,033 --> 00:11:40,133 is through the development of deep genealogies, 176 00:11:40,166 --> 00:11:41,933 where you think about your ancestors 177 00:11:41,966 --> 00:11:44,033 going back through numerous generations 178 00:11:44,066 --> 00:11:46,766 and then project forward. 179 00:11:49,266 --> 00:11:52,400 Our kupunahad it figured out. 180 00:11:52,433 --> 00:11:55,366 They had to. They had to figure it out... 181 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:59,266 because we're on this island. 182 00:11:59,300 --> 00:12:01,533 There's no place to go. 183 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,866 Captain James Cook came. 184 00:12:04,900 --> 00:12:08,400 Over one million Hawaiians living in the islands, one million. 185 00:12:08,433 --> 00:12:12,400 After 2,000 years of living out here in isolation, 186 00:12:12,433 --> 00:12:15,100 they were one million strong. 187 00:12:17,066 --> 00:12:22,433 Today we have about 1.2, maybe 1.4 million people today. 188 00:12:22,466 --> 00:12:24,966 We import 90% of our food. 189 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,566 We're 90% dependent on fossil fuels. 190 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,200 And we still get people homeless. 191 00:12:36,166 --> 00:12:37,566 Yeah. 192 00:12:42,033 --> 00:12:43,309 Whatever we take, we want to make sure 193 00:12:43,333 --> 00:12:45,066 that the next guy that come after us 194 00:12:45,100 --> 00:12:47,366 enjoy the same things we enjoy. 195 00:12:48,900 --> 00:12:51,966 Common, the psychological instinct 196 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,266 when faced with a problem 197 00:12:53,300 --> 00:12:56,200 is to try to figure out who the antagonist is 198 00:12:56,233 --> 00:12:59,100 or who the perpetrator of the problem is. 199 00:13:03,233 --> 00:13:07,033 Ultimately, we all do things that serve our own interests. 200 00:13:07,066 --> 00:13:08,300 But the things that we do 201 00:13:08,333 --> 00:13:11,166 have different implications for people. 202 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:13,000 We're taught that everything we do today 203 00:13:13,033 --> 00:13:14,533 impact the next seven generations. 204 00:13:14,566 --> 00:13:16,366 The next seven, brah. 205 00:13:19,666 --> 00:13:21,666 Just think about this: What if... 206 00:13:21,700 --> 00:13:23,133 there was no more barges, 207 00:13:23,166 --> 00:13:24,666 no more boats, no more ships, 208 00:13:24,700 --> 00:13:27,500 no more airplanes flying into Hawaii. 209 00:13:27,533 --> 00:13:30,133 How many of you guys think we're gonna survive? 210 00:13:36,566 --> 00:13:42,533 Hawaii is an example of how we have transformed places and ourselves 211 00:13:42,566 --> 00:13:48,400 from environments in which humans and the environment were symbiotic 212 00:13:48,433 --> 00:13:51,100 to environments that can only be sustained 213 00:13:51,133 --> 00:13:54,100 by continual input of outside resources, 214 00:13:54,133 --> 00:13:58,166 all ultimately dependent on fossil fuels. 215 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,133 - Here we are in the wettest state in the world... - Yeah. 216 00:14:01,166 --> 00:14:03,600 - And we drink bottled water. - I know. 217 00:14:05,266 --> 00:14:08,133 We can consume most anything we want, 218 00:14:08,166 --> 00:14:11,366 and so we tend to think, since we grew up in such a society, 219 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,633 that this is the normal human condition. 220 00:14:13,666 --> 00:14:15,233 In fact, it's not normal. 221 00:14:15,266 --> 00:14:17,566 It's highly unusual in human history. 222 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,666 And there are questions about how long it can continue. 223 00:14:20,700 --> 00:14:23,100 The golf course takes a lot of water. 224 00:14:23,133 --> 00:14:26,166 They own several springs on their side, rivers. 225 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,500 It's the fertile resources and the food producing areas 226 00:14:29,533 --> 00:14:30,733 and the medicine areas 227 00:14:30,766 --> 00:14:34,033 and all the upland areas that they own 228 00:14:34,066 --> 00:14:37,166 and really don't probably have an idea 229 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,366 of what they have under their control. 230 00:14:43,466 --> 00:14:46,700 Our loko i'ais our food stock, our refrigerator, 231 00:14:46,733 --> 00:14:50,700 our cabinet, our food source. 232 00:14:50,733 --> 00:14:52,433 So we want to build this wall. 233 00:14:52,466 --> 00:14:55,166 We want to bring the rocks back up to its... 234 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,466 to the highest point of the highest tide. 235 00:14:59,500 --> 00:15:03,066 That's what we want to do is we want to farm the fish. 236 00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:07,733 And we want to use a natural life cycle of the fish... 237 00:15:07,766 --> 00:15:09,966 so we don't overtake. 238 00:15:11,700 --> 00:15:13,466 We are all in the same canoe. 239 00:15:13,500 --> 00:15:15,333 We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 240 00:15:15,366 --> 00:15:18,433 on these little islands, these little specks. 241 00:15:20,133 --> 00:15:22,066 No place to go. 242 00:15:26,133 --> 00:15:28,433 As Hawaiians, we understand that concept 243 00:15:28,466 --> 00:15:31,800 that these guys are the ones that are gonna live forever, 244 00:15:31,833 --> 00:15:35,533 but our time is so short. 245 00:15:37,500 --> 00:15:41,300 How would it change if there were no legacy 246 00:15:41,333 --> 00:15:44,333 of me, of you, of any of us? 247 00:15:44,366 --> 00:15:46,566 I think that would profoundly alter 248 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,233 the way we think about ourselves, our lives, 249 00:15:50,266 --> 00:15:53,266 and our place on this planet. 250 00:15:53,300 --> 00:15:54,433 This is a pula pula. 251 00:15:54,466 --> 00:15:56,100 This is the baby that grows off of it 252 00:15:56,133 --> 00:15:57,733 that we break off, the oha. 253 00:15:57,766 --> 00:16:00,533 And we're gonna plant this, and it's gonna have its own family. 254 00:16:00,566 --> 00:16:03,133 And it's gonna create future generations. 255 00:16:03,166 --> 00:16:05,400 So this just continues to carry on and on, 256 00:16:05,433 --> 00:16:08,266 and what we do is we cut the leaf here. 257 00:16:09,833 --> 00:16:12,300 We're still surviving. We're still here. 258 00:16:14,733 --> 00:16:20,200 So what are we gonna do for the ones that come after us? 259 00:16:21,566 --> 00:16:23,700 And this is what we eat. 260 00:16:23,733 --> 00:16:25,433 And this is what we plant. 261 00:16:25,466 --> 00:16:28,666 So this part of the plant here is called the ha. 262 00:16:28,700 --> 00:16:29,833 And hais the breath, 263 00:16:29,866 --> 00:16:31,366 the breath of life that carries on, 264 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,300 so very symbolic that this is our seedling 265 00:16:34,333 --> 00:16:36,633 that we plant over and over again. 266 00:16:46,866 --> 00:16:49,166 Sustainability, to most people, 267 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:50,833 is a function of what they value. 268 00:16:50,866 --> 00:16:53,100 People will sustain what they value. 269 00:16:53,133 --> 00:16:54,642 They'll work to sustain what they value, 270 00:16:54,666 --> 00:16:58,766 which is always some function of what they're familiar with. 271 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,800 We are, modern humans, creatures of the Enlightenment, 272 00:17:02,833 --> 00:17:04,900 that great era 400 or 500 years ago 273 00:17:04,933 --> 00:17:09,566 where humans discovered their capacity for reason, 274 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:15,366 where they blew away myths and superstition, 275 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:19,300 where the earth became disenchanted. 276 00:17:19,333 --> 00:17:23,333 And so we recreated ourselves as rational creatures 277 00:17:23,366 --> 00:17:26,166 who could look around us, 278 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:27,800 assess the world, study it, 279 00:17:27,833 --> 00:17:30,333 evaluate it, gather the facts. 280 00:17:30,366 --> 00:17:33,866 And work out how to transform the world, 281 00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:36,666 how to change things in our own interests. 282 00:17:38,566 --> 00:17:41,233 A lot of us are raised to think that we have incredible power. 283 00:17:41,266 --> 00:17:42,933 I mean, we live in an affluent society, 284 00:17:42,966 --> 00:17:44,466 we have access to all this technology. 285 00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:45,900 We can sort of go where we want. 286 00:17:45,933 --> 00:17:47,800 We can get in our car, we can get information. 287 00:17:47,833 --> 00:17:51,800 But when you look at it, we really don't have a lot of autonomy 288 00:17:51,833 --> 00:17:54,766 in the sense that we rely heavily, almost entirely, 289 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,266 on other systems for that power. 290 00:17:59,666 --> 00:18:02,333 If one looks at the dynamics of C02 291 00:18:02,366 --> 00:18:04,666 and the latest facts from physics, 292 00:18:04,700 --> 00:18:07,200 it is very clear that... 293 00:18:07,233 --> 00:18:09,566 the whole development of the earth's climate 294 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:15,966 will unfold in an uncontrollable and in a catastrophic way. 295 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,366 We have already now waited too long. 296 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,533 It's also not something that you can turn off 297 00:18:21,566 --> 00:18:25,866 like a boiling pot of water on your kitchen stove. 298 00:18:25,900 --> 00:18:27,766 Even if you turn it off, 299 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,566 the development, the dynamics in our atmosphere, 300 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:35,333 will continue for centuries. 301 00:18:35,366 --> 00:18:39,500 Humanity lives in a severe state of self-denial, 302 00:18:39,533 --> 00:18:40,800 of self-deception, 303 00:18:40,833 --> 00:18:43,733 of repression of facts right now. 304 00:18:48,933 --> 00:18:54,766 We just hope that what the scientists are telling us will happen, 305 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:56,766 we simply hope that it won't. 306 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:58,833 We're not enlightened creatures. 307 00:18:58,866 --> 00:19:02,866 We're subject to the same type of superstitious thinking 308 00:19:02,900 --> 00:19:08,800 where our hubris overwhelms our capacity to reason. 309 00:19:16,333 --> 00:19:21,266 Somebody says, you know, how much money are you saving for retirement? 310 00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:22,842 And you know, we can show you with numbers: 311 00:19:22,866 --> 00:19:26,700 Here's what a person with your needs, your requirements, 312 00:19:26,733 --> 00:19:29,400 is going to need for 20 years of retirement. 313 00:19:29,433 --> 00:19:30,566 How much are you saving? 314 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,500 Oh, you're not saving anything? Wow. 315 00:19:32,533 --> 00:19:34,333 Like more and more Americans. 316 00:19:34,366 --> 00:19:35,909 Okay, how do you try to get through retirement? 317 00:19:35,933 --> 00:19:38,266 Uh, they have no answer. 318 00:19:38,300 --> 00:19:39,776 They understand that they have no answer. 319 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,542 They understand they're going to be in trouble 320 00:19:41,566 --> 00:19:43,042 is as clearly they can understand anything, 321 00:19:43,066 --> 00:19:45,766 and yet they're not changing their behavior. 322 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:46,933 Why is that? 323 00:19:46,966 --> 00:19:49,000 It's because our rational brain 324 00:19:49,033 --> 00:19:52,466 is fully capable of grasping an abstraction like the future, 325 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:54,033 or the future with no money. 326 00:19:54,066 --> 00:19:55,666 You get that. 327 00:19:55,700 --> 00:19:57,633 But the part of your brain that motivates you, 328 00:19:57,666 --> 00:20:00,033 the limbic, the lizard brain, 329 00:20:00,066 --> 00:20:02,766 that part has no conception of the future. It can't... 330 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,600 It totally can't understand anything beyond the here and now. 331 00:20:06,633 --> 00:20:09,733 So you can talk until you're blue in the face about a problem, 332 00:20:09,766 --> 00:20:11,600 whether it's your lack of retirement money 333 00:20:11,633 --> 00:20:16,500 or the fact that water supplies are gonna be insufficient 334 00:20:16,533 --> 00:20:17,842 for the number of people we're gonna have... 335 00:20:17,866 --> 00:20:19,933 any number of sort of future-oriented problems... 336 00:20:19,966 --> 00:20:21,566 and part of your brain is going, 337 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:22,776 "Yeah, yeah, that's terrible, that's terrible," 338 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:24,309 And another part of your brain is going, 339 00:20:24,333 --> 00:20:25,966 "I don't hear you. I don't care. 340 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,066 "I'm only interested in dealing with the here and now, 341 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:32,433 and the here and now looks great." 342 00:20:36,533 --> 00:20:40,900 Well, the old adage in the West is that... 343 00:20:40,933 --> 00:20:43,800 whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin'. 344 00:20:46,866 --> 00:20:49,466 When the storms come off the Pacific Ocean 345 00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:51,966 and they hit the Sierra Nevadas, they're torn apart. 346 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,366 Our best storms come out of Southern California anyhow, 347 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,433 when the air currents can get between all the mountain ranges. 348 00:20:59,466 --> 00:21:02,000 There's mountain ranges all across the state of Nevada. 349 00:21:02,033 --> 00:21:05,566 It's one of the most mountainous states there is, 350 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:07,666 if not the most mountainous state. 351 00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:12,433 So by the time they get all the way to eastern Nevada, 352 00:21:12,466 --> 00:21:14,100 there's not much moisture left. 353 00:21:14,133 --> 00:21:16,733 Our annual rainfall is only about eight inches. 354 00:21:16,766 --> 00:21:19,600 Water speculators are buying all the ranches 355 00:21:19,633 --> 00:21:23,700 all along the river, the Humboldt. 356 00:21:23,733 --> 00:21:27,433 They're just buying everything up for the same reasons: 357 00:21:27,466 --> 00:21:29,533 for water to go to the cities. 358 00:21:29,566 --> 00:21:30,900 It's a little bit intimidating. 359 00:21:30,933 --> 00:21:33,466 You know, you walk up there and you sit down and... 360 00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:38,633 Of course, when they had the prehearing in Reno, 361 00:21:38,666 --> 00:21:42,733 one whole side of the room was full of... 362 00:21:42,766 --> 00:21:45,833 $1,000-an-hour alligators, or, you know, 363 00:21:45,866 --> 00:21:47,866 lawyers for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. 364 00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:49,966 I don't know what they get, but, I mean... 365 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:51,433 And a bunch of farmers 366 00:21:51,466 --> 00:21:54,466 on the other side arguing for their life, 367 00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:57,500 for the next generation. 368 00:21:58,433 --> 00:22:01,000 I wanted to draw as much attention not to myself, 369 00:22:01,033 --> 00:22:03,866 but to the plight, to what was going on. 370 00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:06,600 Thus, when they said how long will it take you 371 00:22:06,633 --> 00:22:10,033 to interview your witnesses, how many witnesses you got, 372 00:22:10,066 --> 00:22:11,166 and how much time also, 373 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:12,700 I put down all my animals, 374 00:22:12,733 --> 00:22:14,166 all my horses, everything, 375 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,766 and then wrote down, um, 376 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,166 that it'd probably take 30 days to interview 'em all, 377 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,566 which the lawyers should have gone along with that, 378 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,466 because, you know, they get paid by the hour. 379 00:22:28,533 --> 00:22:31,633 We have this kind of defense mechanism where we forget. 380 00:22:31,666 --> 00:22:33,533 We deny that things are difficult. 381 00:22:33,566 --> 00:22:35,500 For example in California now: 382 00:22:35,533 --> 00:22:37,833 We are in our second drought year 383 00:22:37,866 --> 00:22:43,000 in what, pretty obviously, is gonna be a drought cycle. 384 00:22:43,033 --> 00:22:46,866 And people are beginning to realize we have a problem. 385 00:22:46,900 --> 00:22:51,533 What they don't realize is that a thousand years ago, 386 00:22:51,566 --> 00:22:57,800 we had droughts that lasted, or drought cycles, 100 years or more, 387 00:22:57,833 --> 00:23:02,466 when the snowpack in the Sierra was 45% of what it is today... 388 00:23:02,500 --> 00:23:04,566 and today it's low. 389 00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:16,033 I've talked to water experts. 390 00:23:16,066 --> 00:23:17,842 Their biggest problem... they deliver the water, 391 00:23:17,866 --> 00:23:19,533 they're the people in the trenches. 392 00:23:19,566 --> 00:23:21,100 Their biggest problem 393 00:23:21,133 --> 00:23:26,000 is people denying that there are water shortages. 394 00:23:28,700 --> 00:23:30,933 Every time they build a new hotel, 395 00:23:30,966 --> 00:23:33,500 what's the number one theme they've got? 396 00:23:33,533 --> 00:23:35,266 Water parks, water slides. 397 00:23:35,300 --> 00:23:37,500 They've got a boat floating in a moat. 398 00:23:37,533 --> 00:23:42,066 They've got huge sprinklers, or whatever those things are. 399 00:23:42,100 --> 00:23:43,566 Water shows at night. 400 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,833 For God's sakes, I mean, it's a desert! 401 00:24:00,766 --> 00:24:03,266 Our civilization, our society, 402 00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:06,733 is facing a limit to what we can do. 403 00:24:06,766 --> 00:24:08,566 We haven't realized that yet. 404 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:09,800 But there is this limit. 405 00:24:09,833 --> 00:24:12,300 And we're crashing against this limit. 406 00:24:12,333 --> 00:24:14,700 And it is going to be seen 407 00:24:14,733 --> 00:24:18,533 how we fare in this big transition 408 00:24:18,566 --> 00:24:22,133 which will have to do with the limits we face, 409 00:24:22,166 --> 00:24:23,833 because really we're going into it 410 00:24:23,866 --> 00:24:27,033 without understanding what we're doing. 411 00:24:27,066 --> 00:24:30,066 A little bit of our self model is conscious. 412 00:24:30,100 --> 00:24:33,100 We can attend to it. Most of our self model, 413 00:24:33,133 --> 00:24:36,033 controlling the body, is completely unconscious. 414 00:24:36,066 --> 00:24:38,933 And, of course, one way to put the question 415 00:24:38,966 --> 00:24:41,966 is what is it in the human self model 416 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,766 that now makes it impossible to act 417 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,000 on the level of the species as a whole? 418 00:24:50,033 --> 00:24:53,133 So we behave in ways that are rational, 419 00:24:53,166 --> 00:24:57,366 even though we don't consciously think about the causes 420 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,933 and the consequences of our behavior. 421 00:25:00,966 --> 00:25:03,833 We're highly programmed to respond 422 00:25:03,866 --> 00:25:05,666 to certain categories of stimuli: 423 00:25:05,700 --> 00:25:07,900 Rewarding stimuli, 424 00:25:07,933 --> 00:25:09,833 and the more immediately rewarding, 425 00:25:09,866 --> 00:25:11,166 the more imminent the reward, 426 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:13,066 the more compelling we are. 427 00:25:13,100 --> 00:25:15,066 And novel stimuli, 428 00:25:15,100 --> 00:25:19,100 threatening stimuli, 429 00:25:19,133 --> 00:25:20,733 sexual stimuli, 430 00:25:20,766 --> 00:25:23,833 signs of anger or aggression... 431 00:25:23,866 --> 00:25:27,833 We have evolved to attend to these things. 432 00:25:29,833 --> 00:25:31,766 It's called the mismatch hypothesis. 433 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,100 There's a time lag between how the brain evolves 434 00:25:34,133 --> 00:25:35,700 and how society changes. 435 00:25:35,733 --> 00:25:37,266 At this point, we're left with brains 436 00:25:37,300 --> 00:25:39,066 that are similar to what they were 437 00:25:39,100 --> 00:25:43,700 on the eve of the Agricultural Revolution 12,000 years ago, 438 00:25:43,733 --> 00:25:45,733 and probably very similar to the way they were 439 00:25:45,766 --> 00:25:47,933 250,000 years ago, 440 00:25:47,966 --> 00:25:50,600 but in a vastly different environment. 441 00:25:56,333 --> 00:25:59,366 We're very alert that we have almost immediate responses. 442 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,900 Our bodies are programmed, um... 443 00:26:02,933 --> 00:26:05,433 either to find a basic response 444 00:26:05,466 --> 00:26:06,866 if we perceive a danger 445 00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:10,833 or to engage in courtship immediately 446 00:26:10,866 --> 00:26:13,966 if we think there is an opportunity for mating. 447 00:26:14,433 --> 00:26:16,133 It's natural selection 448 00:26:16,166 --> 00:26:18,766 acting in every generation: 449 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,100 Simply those that leave many surviving offspring 450 00:26:23,133 --> 00:26:25,900 leave lots of copies of their genes. 451 00:26:25,933 --> 00:26:28,800 Those that leave few or no offspring 452 00:26:28,833 --> 00:26:32,033 leave few copies of their genes. 453 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,166 Organisms are predisposed to survive 454 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,266 and to leave descendants. 455 00:26:44,033 --> 00:26:46,866 It's scary to think about what has happened 456 00:26:46,900 --> 00:26:49,900 to the world population over the last 300 years. 457 00:26:49,933 --> 00:26:53,700 In the middle 1700s was perhaps half a billion. 458 00:26:53,733 --> 00:26:55,266 And it is now seven. 459 00:26:55,300 --> 00:26:59,166 The world population has increased by a factor of 10. 460 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,366 The way we live today is really a product 461 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,066 of the last 200 years, 462 00:27:03,100 --> 00:27:05,133 partly coming from the Industrial Revolution, 463 00:27:05,166 --> 00:27:09,000 but very largely coming from the subsidies of fossil fuels 464 00:27:09,033 --> 00:27:11,400 that have allowed us to escape the constraints 465 00:27:11,433 --> 00:27:13,066 of current solar energy. 466 00:27:13,100 --> 00:27:15,800 And it's estimated that humans living 467 00:27:15,833 --> 00:27:18,466 under a solar energy regime 468 00:27:18,500 --> 00:27:20,266 can achieve a population density, 469 00:27:20,300 --> 00:27:21,800 a stable population density, 470 00:27:21,833 --> 00:27:24,833 of perhaps no more than two billion people. 471 00:27:27,333 --> 00:27:32,233 And the desire to have a higher income is fairly intense, 472 00:27:32,266 --> 00:27:35,333 even at the very high income levels 473 00:27:35,366 --> 00:27:37,833 that we have on average in the United States 474 00:27:37,866 --> 00:27:41,000 and Norway and other places that I know well. 475 00:27:41,033 --> 00:27:44,966 So that driving force, I think, is there, 476 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,333 and will remain there. 477 00:27:57,233 --> 00:28:00,533 We grow more and more complex to solve problems. 478 00:28:00,566 --> 00:28:02,233 This is an escalation dynamic, 479 00:28:02,266 --> 00:28:04,400 and it's the same dynamic as in an arms race. 480 00:28:04,433 --> 00:28:08,866 In the world of complex systems, to use a colloquial expression, 481 00:28:08,900 --> 00:28:10,866 there's no such thing as a free lunch. 482 00:28:10,900 --> 00:28:13,433 Complexity always has a cost. 483 00:28:13,466 --> 00:28:17,000 And, ultimately, the cost is paid in terms of energy. 484 00:28:26,966 --> 00:28:28,242 We've never had a year like this 485 00:28:28,266 --> 00:28:33,000 where it's been so dry and so hot. 486 00:28:33,033 --> 00:28:35,533 Wildfires, record rainfalls other places. 487 00:28:35,566 --> 00:28:37,333 If they think it's gonna keep getting worse 488 00:28:37,366 --> 00:28:40,400 on a relative scale to what we've seen this year. 489 00:28:40,433 --> 00:28:42,333 That's probably what may happen. 490 00:28:42,366 --> 00:28:47,300 And it's sort of a scary thing to think about. 491 00:28:47,333 --> 00:28:49,000 Our lawyer's not the biggest liar. 492 00:28:49,033 --> 00:28:50,533 Our weatherman's the biggest liar. 493 00:28:50,566 --> 00:28:52,533 He'll tell us we've got an 80% chance of rain 494 00:28:52,566 --> 00:28:54,100 and we get a sprinkle. 495 00:28:54,133 --> 00:28:55,900 And we get a 30% chance of rain we'll end up 496 00:28:55,933 --> 00:28:57,900 with two inches of rain. We're flooded. 497 00:28:57,933 --> 00:29:01,966 I've just been so close to breaking down and crying. 498 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,200 And this is what, you know, 499 00:29:05,233 --> 00:29:10,566 is just really brings it on, is this pasture. 500 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:15,266 I mean, there's really nothing of value here for a cow to eat. 501 00:29:18,366 --> 00:29:20,333 When these crops were at this stage last year, 502 00:29:20,366 --> 00:29:21,566 our wells were out of water. 503 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,300 We were fighting tooth and nail 504 00:29:24,333 --> 00:29:26,066 just to try to keep these crops alive 505 00:29:26,100 --> 00:29:28,900 and keep 'em going just to produce any kind of crop. 506 00:29:34,033 --> 00:29:36,600 You know, it takes eons for topsoil to develop 507 00:29:36,633 --> 00:29:38,233 from decaying vegetation. 508 00:29:38,266 --> 00:29:41,000 One of my neighbors made the comment 509 00:29:41,033 --> 00:29:42,366 in his old rocky ranch 510 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,600 that he had about one inch of topsoil 511 00:29:44,633 --> 00:29:46,900 between him and starvation. 512 00:29:46,933 --> 00:29:49,600 And you have to protect it with the grasses 513 00:29:49,633 --> 00:29:51,333 and don't overgraze it. 514 00:29:51,366 --> 00:29:54,366 And we're totally dependent upon the rainfall. 515 00:29:56,133 --> 00:29:59,200 Without dirt, I'm done. I'm over with. 516 00:29:59,233 --> 00:30:01,933 They might as well just go ahead and call the people in, 517 00:30:01,966 --> 00:30:03,009 tell 'em to dig me a 6-foot hole, 518 00:30:03,033 --> 00:30:05,000 put me in a box, and call it good. 519 00:30:06,366 --> 00:30:09,333 That's sort of the weather mantra in central Texas: 520 00:30:09,366 --> 00:30:11,933 Drought, drought, drought, drought, flood. 521 00:30:13,266 --> 00:30:16,233 The term that everybody uses is just "brutal." 522 00:30:16,266 --> 00:30:19,433 Where we would normally see honey stores and pollen stores 523 00:30:19,466 --> 00:30:22,500 for them getting ready for the upcoming wintertime, 524 00:30:22,533 --> 00:30:24,366 there was nothing in there, 525 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,900 because all of the natural water sources had dried up. 526 00:30:26,933 --> 00:30:29,100 When drought affects our natural pollinators, 527 00:30:29,133 --> 00:30:32,033 it has a horrible effect on our environment 528 00:30:32,066 --> 00:30:33,366 and our food supplies. 529 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,300 It just sucks your soul dry. 530 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:44,366 Water is the new oil. 531 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,166 And it's become a commodity just like oil rights 532 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,166 and mineral rights used to be for Texas. 533 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:50,966 And the battle, the competition 534 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,209 is just going to get more intense 535 00:30:52,233 --> 00:30:54,033 as more and more people move here 536 00:30:54,066 --> 00:30:58,300 and it gets hotter and drier. And stays that way. 537 00:31:01,466 --> 00:31:05,200 Responding to climate change in the area of farming 538 00:31:05,233 --> 00:31:08,066 is another arena in which society in the future 539 00:31:08,100 --> 00:31:10,466 is going to experience increasing costs 540 00:31:10,500 --> 00:31:12,266 and diminishing returns. 541 00:31:12,300 --> 00:31:15,400 We know that the consequences of the industrialized world 542 00:31:15,433 --> 00:31:18,966 are going to place a great burden upon our children 543 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:20,966 and we have to do something now. 544 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:22,366 But it does raise the question: 545 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,366 Even though we're aware of all these consequences, 546 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,433 why are we still not radically changing our behavior? 547 00:31:27,466 --> 00:31:30,533 The fact that we're culture-creating individuals 548 00:31:30,566 --> 00:31:34,000 means that we create our own sense of psychology 549 00:31:34,033 --> 00:31:35,433 and our own sense of values 550 00:31:35,466 --> 00:31:37,466 and our own sense of what's important. 551 00:31:45,466 --> 00:31:48,333 Wai waiin Hawaii means values. 552 00:31:48,366 --> 00:31:50,266 So you can see this is our values. 553 00:31:50,300 --> 00:31:52,733 This is what we value, the wai wai, the water, 554 00:31:52,766 --> 00:31:55,200 the source of life: 555 00:31:55,233 --> 00:31:57,200 What is important, What's gonna sustain us, 556 00:31:57,233 --> 00:31:58,766 where the water's coming from, 557 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,000 how the water is managed and used. 558 00:32:02,233 --> 00:32:04,200 They have a legacy of the land that they inhabit, 559 00:32:04,233 --> 00:32:07,100 and they think of themselves as being part of the land, 560 00:32:07,133 --> 00:32:08,200 continuous in the land, 561 00:32:08,233 --> 00:32:09,576 and that, therefore, they should... 562 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,433 what they do now really defines who they are. 563 00:32:15,533 --> 00:32:20,066 We're creating the world that's creating us all the time. 564 00:32:20,100 --> 00:32:22,366 What do we do by way of reproducing, 565 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,033 to have a culture that carries on in the future? 566 00:32:26,066 --> 00:32:28,066 We don't just produce babies. 567 00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:30,066 We send them to school. 568 00:32:30,100 --> 00:32:32,700 And we instill in them the norms of the culture 569 00:32:32,733 --> 00:32:35,333 and the knowledge of the culture. 570 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,733 The huge engine of consumerism was driving 571 00:32:51,766 --> 00:32:58,100 and became the economic and cultural raison d'etre 572 00:32:58,133 --> 00:33:00,200 of our lives as Americans. 573 00:33:00,233 --> 00:33:03,100 And the American dream became defined 574 00:33:03,133 --> 00:33:06,366 as what you own, what you have. 575 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,400 And you start thinking there's something wrong with the car I have, 576 00:33:10,433 --> 00:33:11,666 or the house I have, 577 00:33:11,700 --> 00:33:13,533 or the spouse I have. 578 00:33:13,566 --> 00:33:15,233 I mean, there is this sense 579 00:33:15,266 --> 00:33:19,066 that we're entitled to the next best thing. 580 00:33:19,100 --> 00:33:20,400 You know, we're socialized 581 00:33:20,433 --> 00:33:22,633 and we're existing in a cultural context. 582 00:33:22,666 --> 00:33:26,600 That cultural context shapes us and constrains us. 583 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,166 Strategic locations ensure repetition. 584 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,833 And repetition creates consumer remembrance, 585 00:33:33,866 --> 00:33:35,333 driving home a message 586 00:33:35,366 --> 00:33:39,333 not once, not twice, but many times, 587 00:33:39,366 --> 00:33:42,266 thus bridging the gap between the manufacturer 588 00:33:42,300 --> 00:33:44,066 and the consumer. 589 00:33:50,366 --> 00:33:52,433 One of the universal characteristics of children is 590 00:33:52,466 --> 00:33:55,266 that they will reliably copy the adults around them 591 00:33:55,300 --> 00:33:57,100 in their actions and their practices, 592 00:33:57,133 --> 00:33:59,766 even when the actions have no purpose whatsoever. 593 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:01,700 This suggests that, within our brains, 594 00:34:01,733 --> 00:34:05,266 there is a mechanism designed to imitate others around us. 595 00:34:05,300 --> 00:34:08,466 So we are kind of the willing copiers, 596 00:34:08,500 --> 00:34:11,666 the willing replicators of this information. 597 00:34:11,700 --> 00:34:13,100 And we can't help it. 598 00:34:14,566 --> 00:34:19,566 We are relinquishing more and more 599 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,833 of our day-to-day decision-making 600 00:34:22,866 --> 00:34:24,866 to the world of the machine. 601 00:34:24,900 --> 00:34:26,666 You go out on the street today, 602 00:34:26,700 --> 00:34:27,876 you're gonna see half the people 603 00:34:27,900 --> 00:34:29,233 walking around are carrying 604 00:34:29,266 --> 00:34:31,266 these little things around, 605 00:34:31,300 --> 00:34:32,700 their Smart Phone, 606 00:34:32,733 --> 00:34:34,766 and they're following the instructions 607 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:36,733 of their Smart Phone as to... 608 00:34:36,766 --> 00:34:38,633 whether to turn right or left 609 00:34:38,666 --> 00:34:40,233 at the next intersection. 610 00:34:42,733 --> 00:34:47,266 Because of the changes in society created by the image, 611 00:34:47,300 --> 00:34:50,166 we're moving further and further away from the real. 612 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,600 And we're moving more and more towards the image. 613 00:34:52,633 --> 00:34:57,333 So an image-saturated society has moved away from nature, 614 00:34:57,366 --> 00:34:59,466 has moved away from, say, realism. 615 00:34:59,500 --> 00:35:03,266 We start to move away from the connection 616 00:35:03,300 --> 00:35:05,266 that we have with the world. 617 00:35:10,566 --> 00:35:13,666 We feel like we're part of the social reality, 618 00:35:13,700 --> 00:35:15,700 the images that we're surrounded with, 619 00:35:15,733 --> 00:35:17,266 but we can't change anything. 620 00:35:18,966 --> 00:35:21,200 As we grow up from children to adults, 621 00:35:21,233 --> 00:35:23,933 we identify with the groups that we think we belong to, 622 00:35:23,966 --> 00:35:25,766 and we behave accordingly. 623 00:35:31,533 --> 00:35:34,400 I remember living in Oahu. 624 00:35:34,433 --> 00:35:37,566 I went to a very good private school, 625 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,566 went to a very nice small private college on Oahu. 626 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:46,500 You know, I was just caught up in the, um... 627 00:35:46,533 --> 00:35:49,700 the fast lane to make money, make money, 628 00:35:49,733 --> 00:35:52,966 make money, make money, and, uh... 629 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:54,700 and drive the nice car 630 00:35:54,733 --> 00:35:56,566 and have the nice house, 631 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,533 and that's supposed to make me happy and fulfilled. 632 00:35:59,566 --> 00:36:02,000 It leaves you sort of, by definition, unhappy 633 00:36:02,033 --> 00:36:06,933 because nothing... no state you ever achieve is gonna be permanent. 634 00:36:06,966 --> 00:36:09,333 One way of looking at the problem of... 635 00:36:09,366 --> 00:36:12,666 of why we're wrecking our world 636 00:36:12,700 --> 00:36:15,700 is not to think of humans as the drivers of what's going on, 637 00:36:15,733 --> 00:36:19,733 but to think of the memes as the drivers of what's going on. 638 00:36:19,766 --> 00:36:22,366 So the whole way of thinking memetically is to say 639 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,400 all the ideas, stories, 640 00:36:25,433 --> 00:36:26,800 ways of doing things, technologies 641 00:36:26,833 --> 00:36:29,900 that we copy from person to person are replicated. 642 00:36:29,933 --> 00:36:31,466 So genes are one replicator 643 00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:34,300 that's copied by reproducing bodies. 644 00:36:34,333 --> 00:36:38,766 And the memes, the buildings, the wires, all this stuff... 645 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,533 they are replicators too. 646 00:36:54,833 --> 00:36:57,633 So I wake up in the morning totally stressed out, 647 00:36:57,666 --> 00:37:02,800 smoking cigarettes, about 30, 40 pounds heavier, 648 00:37:02,833 --> 00:37:06,466 um... just trying to find out, 649 00:37:06,500 --> 00:37:09,566 you know, where am I going with my life? 650 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:11,300 What will be my legacy? 651 00:37:11,333 --> 00:37:12,966 What am I gonna leave behind? 652 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,566 And then I see... I hear... 653 00:37:17,100 --> 00:37:18,900 woosh, woosh. 654 00:37:18,933 --> 00:37:20,800 Then I hear the steersmen call. 655 00:37:20,833 --> 00:37:23,100 "Hup, hu!" 656 00:37:23,133 --> 00:37:25,333 Woosh, woosh. 657 00:37:25,366 --> 00:37:27,400 They switch, "Hup, hu!" 658 00:37:27,433 --> 00:37:29,633 Woosh, woosh. 659 00:37:29,666 --> 00:37:32,566 "Hup, hu," and you can hear everyone's breath. 660 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,333 I can hear everybody working together. 661 00:37:34,366 --> 00:37:36,800 I could hear the sound of the waves going. 662 00:37:36,833 --> 00:37:40,366 And every time I heard that "hup, hu," 663 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,400 switching, changing: to huli, to flip. 664 00:37:45,433 --> 00:37:48,400 And that was the message that I got that day 665 00:37:48,433 --> 00:37:50,800 when I heard them say, "Hup, hu." 666 00:37:50,833 --> 00:37:53,833 Huis short for the Hawaiian word huli. 667 00:37:53,866 --> 00:37:59,533 Huli, to change, to flip, to turn over. 668 00:38:03,566 --> 00:38:06,433 It's unsettling to think of oneself 669 00:38:06,466 --> 00:38:09,433 as just an ephemeral process that comes and goes, 670 00:38:09,466 --> 00:38:11,666 that's built out of scraps of the environment, 671 00:38:11,700 --> 00:38:14,500 as well as the stuff in here. 672 00:38:14,533 --> 00:38:16,933 Being a complicated, powerful self 673 00:38:16,966 --> 00:38:19,833 with lots of beliefs in things that have to be defended 674 00:38:19,866 --> 00:38:21,400 doesn't make us happy, 675 00:38:21,433 --> 00:38:23,566 but it propagates the memes. 676 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,000 And I think this is at least a part 677 00:38:27,033 --> 00:38:31,766 of our awful tendency to be unhappy with who we are. 678 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,600 Without even knowing, just quit my job, and came back home. 679 00:38:37,633 --> 00:38:40,466 And I reconnected with my elders. 680 00:38:40,500 --> 00:38:44,866 And my elder said, "Ah, hey, Vene, 681 00:38:44,900 --> 00:38:46,800 I need you to go build a fish pond." 682 00:38:46,833 --> 00:38:49,100 And I'm like, "Brah, a fish pond? 683 00:38:49,133 --> 00:38:51,133 I don't even know how to stack rocks." 684 00:38:51,166 --> 00:38:54,133 And he's all, "Ke kahi ke haki." 685 00:38:54,166 --> 00:38:57,066 Whatever you put in is what you get out. 686 00:38:57,100 --> 00:38:59,066 "You put in one hour, 687 00:38:59,100 --> 00:39:02,000 "your wall gonna be this big. 688 00:39:02,033 --> 00:39:03,533 "You put in 100 hours, 689 00:39:03,566 --> 00:39:05,166 "your wall gonna be that big. 690 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,166 "You put in 1,000 hours, 691 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:08,900 "your wall gonna be this big. 692 00:39:08,933 --> 00:39:10,633 "You put in 10,000 hours, 693 00:39:10,666 --> 00:39:12,800 your wall gonna be this big." 694 00:39:15,666 --> 00:39:19,000 Yeah, hi kumu, I understand now. 695 00:39:19,033 --> 00:39:21,633 Hiki no, just do it. 696 00:39:26,466 --> 00:39:27,900 Evolution is blind. 697 00:39:27,933 --> 00:39:29,766 There is no goal as such. 698 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,666 It just is the set of attributes 699 00:39:32,700 --> 00:39:35,900 which are best suited to the changing environment. 700 00:39:35,933 --> 00:39:40,600 We adapt mainly to conditions as they are. 701 00:39:40,633 --> 00:39:43,766 So we become socialized. We self-domesticate. 702 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:46,866 We select for those behaviors and traits 703 00:39:46,900 --> 00:39:50,066 which are the best and most conducive to living in groups. 704 00:39:50,100 --> 00:39:52,633 All my friends, like even some of my family members, 705 00:39:52,666 --> 00:39:53,800 are like, wow, why... 706 00:39:53,833 --> 00:39:55,666 why you building a rock wall? 707 00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:58,000 You're not even getting paid. 708 00:39:58,033 --> 00:40:01,500 Are you crazy? Why would somebody want to do that? 709 00:40:01,533 --> 00:40:05,466 To try to explain why so many people can act 710 00:40:05,500 --> 00:40:07,533 counter to their self-interest, 711 00:40:07,566 --> 00:40:09,900 I think you have to talk about 712 00:40:09,933 --> 00:40:13,233 the power of them being deceived. 713 00:40:13,266 --> 00:40:16,566 One avenue to deceiving someone 714 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:21,866 is to manipulate their system of self-deception. 715 00:40:23,733 --> 00:40:27,833 Any state or authority that has to control the behavior 716 00:40:27,866 --> 00:40:29,833 of large groups of human beings 717 00:40:29,866 --> 00:40:33,233 or any company that wants to market a product 718 00:40:33,266 --> 00:40:36,100 and control consumer behavior 719 00:40:36,133 --> 00:40:39,633 has to somehow lock into 720 00:40:39,666 --> 00:40:41,566 these mechanisms of self-deception. 721 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,233 If you want to sell something to people 722 00:40:44,266 --> 00:40:46,266 that they actually do not need, 723 00:40:46,300 --> 00:40:48,200 you have to tweak their preferences. 724 00:40:48,233 --> 00:40:49,866 You have to tweak their wishes. 725 00:40:49,900 --> 00:40:54,866 You have to lure them into some perception 726 00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:57,600 that this act of shopping, for instance, 727 00:40:57,633 --> 00:41:01,633 or this act of voting will give meaning to their life... 728 00:41:04,166 --> 00:41:06,266 Because they understand intuitively 729 00:41:06,300 --> 00:41:08,733 that we're all animals seeking social status. 730 00:41:08,766 --> 00:41:12,600 The larger idea that we can have whatever we want, 731 00:41:12,633 --> 00:41:14,242 we can feel, you know, whatever way we want. 732 00:41:14,266 --> 00:41:16,866 That we can achieve the state of happiness we want 733 00:41:16,900 --> 00:41:18,000 simply by consuming, 734 00:41:18,033 --> 00:41:19,133 that idea, 735 00:41:19,166 --> 00:41:21,633 the signal that we're receiving 736 00:41:21,666 --> 00:41:23,033 and always will receive, 737 00:41:23,066 --> 00:41:25,766 is that that's always going to be possible. 738 00:41:27,266 --> 00:41:30,633 We've gotten so used to this idea of continual progress 739 00:41:30,666 --> 00:41:33,600 and feeling better at each juncture 740 00:41:33,633 --> 00:41:35,733 that we don't even question it anymore. 741 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,900 The propagandists, the perception managers, 742 00:41:42,933 --> 00:41:46,566 know that they are creating reality 743 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,066 for tens of millions of people. 744 00:41:49,100 --> 00:41:52,733 "You reality-oriented people don't understand. 745 00:41:52,766 --> 00:41:54,800 We create a new reality." 746 00:41:54,833 --> 00:41:57,700 And then there's also the version of the Monopoly game 747 00:41:57,733 --> 00:42:01,033 in our economy, which is all about competing 748 00:42:01,066 --> 00:42:03,933 to see who can collect the most toys, 749 00:42:03,966 --> 00:42:09,700 but also the biggest number on their financial asset statement. 750 00:42:09,733 --> 00:42:11,966 This is induced self-deception now... 751 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:13,200 I'm being victimized... 752 00:42:13,233 --> 00:42:16,100 and my greed is being played upon. 753 00:42:16,133 --> 00:42:17,333 We all want money. 754 00:42:17,366 --> 00:42:18,933 And we'd all love the scheme 755 00:42:18,966 --> 00:42:21,800 which, if repeated, could get us even more money. 756 00:42:21,833 --> 00:42:24,866 You know, "We are doing God's work," 757 00:42:24,900 --> 00:42:27,666 which you may recall... 758 00:42:27,700 --> 00:42:30,066 is a phrase from the head of Goldman Sachs. 759 00:42:30,100 --> 00:42:32,833 And I suspect he truly believes that 760 00:42:32,866 --> 00:42:36,633 because that's what the culture tells him and affirms. 761 00:42:37,866 --> 00:42:39,900 Our brains are designed, by evolution, 762 00:42:39,933 --> 00:42:43,233 to just reinforce what we already believe. 763 00:42:43,266 --> 00:42:45,100 But why would that be? 764 00:42:45,133 --> 00:42:47,042 In part, I think there's an evolutionary reason for it, 765 00:42:47,066 --> 00:42:48,766 is that deep beliefs 766 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,766 like religious beliefs or political beliefs, 767 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:52,800 ideological, cultural, social beliefs... 768 00:42:52,833 --> 00:42:56,833 these are all wrapped up in our tribe, um... 769 00:42:56,866 --> 00:42:59,100 the sort of unity of the tribe. 770 00:42:59,133 --> 00:43:01,000 This is what we stand for. 771 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,433 Ain't that the way great empires work? 772 00:43:07,466 --> 00:43:10,900 They are dug in and heavily fortified. 773 00:43:10,933 --> 00:43:14,000 We are literally destroying the source of our own existence 774 00:43:14,033 --> 00:43:17,200 and think we are getting richer as we do it. 775 00:43:33,366 --> 00:43:36,866 So everyone, left, right, up, down, 776 00:43:36,900 --> 00:43:39,733 thinks that they accept propaganda 777 00:43:39,766 --> 00:43:42,400 as long as it's their propaganda for their cause. 778 00:43:42,433 --> 00:43:47,900 On climate change, the whole problem is magnified 779 00:43:47,933 --> 00:43:52,033 by the fact that business groups that have strong self-interests 780 00:43:52,066 --> 00:43:57,733 in one or another position set up so-called think tanks... 781 00:43:57,766 --> 00:43:59,800 call them self-deception... 782 00:43:59,833 --> 00:44:02,233 call them deceit and self-deception tanks... 783 00:44:02,266 --> 00:44:07,000 whose business is to generate information 784 00:44:07,033 --> 00:44:10,466 in support of a predetermined position. 785 00:44:10,500 --> 00:44:13,100 Now that ain't how we do science. 786 00:44:13,133 --> 00:44:15,466 We're not supposed to have a predetermined position. 787 00:44:15,500 --> 00:44:18,766 The whole point is to have no predetermined position 788 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,833 unless it's something that's already been well established. 789 00:44:21,866 --> 00:44:24,233 And then you build on it. 790 00:44:24,266 --> 00:44:28,033 So the tobacco industry used to have some group 791 00:44:28,066 --> 00:44:30,066 that busied themselves trying to show 792 00:44:30,100 --> 00:44:33,066 that tobacco was good for you, it didn't cause cancer. 793 00:44:33,100 --> 00:44:34,200 It's nonsense. 794 00:44:42,833 --> 00:44:44,533 What's the level of consciousness 795 00:44:44,566 --> 00:44:47,166 of the various actors in the system? 796 00:44:50,233 --> 00:44:51,966 The levels of CO2 we produce are increasing. 797 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:53,800 But don't worry. Norwegian oil 798 00:44:53,833 --> 00:44:55,233 is still the cleanest on the market. 799 00:44:55,266 --> 00:44:58,333 Whatever that means. I don't even know what this means. 800 00:44:58,366 --> 00:45:01,366 Norway is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world. 801 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,366 But people think of themselves as little Norway. 802 00:45:06,433 --> 00:45:07,833 "Norway is a little country" 803 00:45:07,866 --> 00:45:09,066 is a common expression. 804 00:45:09,100 --> 00:45:11,100 And this is just this way of sort of saying, 805 00:45:11,133 --> 00:45:14,400 well, we're backwards people who are very nature-loving. 806 00:45:14,433 --> 00:45:15,933 We're very environmental, and... 807 00:45:15,966 --> 00:45:18,900 and you know, what does this have to do with us? 808 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:24,333 Is the whole world getting together? No. 809 00:45:24,366 --> 00:45:27,900 Americans, I think, like to point the finger at China 810 00:45:27,933 --> 00:45:30,866 and say, "Oh, you know, we're not so bad 811 00:45:30,900 --> 00:45:32,042 "because look at the Chinese. 812 00:45:32,066 --> 00:45:33,409 "They're the fastest growing economy, 813 00:45:33,433 --> 00:45:35,266 "and they're the ones that are really... 814 00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:37,433 It's not us. And there's nothing we can do anyway." 815 00:45:37,466 --> 00:45:39,466 And we do that personally, 816 00:45:39,500 --> 00:45:42,266 but we also do that as a collective. 817 00:45:42,300 --> 00:45:44,400 "I'm only gonna change if you're gonna change." 818 00:45:44,433 --> 00:45:45,876 If I don't think that you're changing, 819 00:45:45,900 --> 00:45:47,433 it's not fair for me to change. 820 00:45:47,466 --> 00:45:49,200 We want things to be fair. 821 00:45:49,233 --> 00:45:54,400 We mutually use perceived inequity to do nothing. 822 00:45:54,433 --> 00:45:57,166 It would be much easier if you really didn't have to change 823 00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:59,033 most of the rest of your life... 824 00:45:59,066 --> 00:46:00,276 you just had to switch products. 825 00:46:00,300 --> 00:46:02,033 Like you'd like to keep eating Twinkies, 826 00:46:02,066 --> 00:46:03,200 but you'd like them 827 00:46:03,233 --> 00:46:05,433 to be made with organic ingredients. 828 00:46:05,466 --> 00:46:08,300 An organic Twinkie is still a Twinkie. 829 00:46:08,333 --> 00:46:10,466 We are really looking at swapping a few ingredients, 830 00:46:10,500 --> 00:46:12,466 maybe changing the packaging, 831 00:46:12,500 --> 00:46:16,033 or maybe changing where we get one of the ingredients. 832 00:46:16,066 --> 00:46:19,266 But we don't really want to change the larger system. 833 00:46:19,300 --> 00:46:23,100 But it's like, hey, don't interfere with my fantasy. 834 00:46:23,133 --> 00:46:26,000 It's the way that we construct this double reality 835 00:46:26,033 --> 00:46:28,166 of it being not real: 836 00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:29,966 knowing about climate change, 837 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,933 but still seeing it as not real. 838 00:46:32,966 --> 00:46:35,966 This is a cultural practice 839 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,133 that kind of holds everything in place 840 00:46:38,166 --> 00:46:41,033 and makes it so we don't act. 841 00:46:41,066 --> 00:46:44,066 Just like with, you know, counseling between individuals, 842 00:46:44,100 --> 00:46:47,200 one of the first things you do is learn that if you just blame, 843 00:46:47,233 --> 00:46:50,333 you're going to turn the other party into a defensive entity, 844 00:46:50,366 --> 00:46:52,166 and the conversation's going to go nowhere. 845 00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:53,200 Mana. 846 00:46:54,333 --> 00:46:55,500 Some of us have good mana. 847 00:46:55,533 --> 00:46:57,466 Some of us have not so good mana. 848 00:47:00,233 --> 00:47:01,966 A huge amount of what we do today 849 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,100 is enjoy something now 850 00:47:04,133 --> 00:47:06,100 while deferring the cost into the future. 851 00:47:06,133 --> 00:47:08,233 I mean, that's how so many of our systems work. 852 00:47:08,266 --> 00:47:10,100 That's how the system of credit works. 853 00:47:11,533 --> 00:47:13,500 People seem to be very unwilling 854 00:47:13,533 --> 00:47:17,166 to trade secular goods for sacred goods. 855 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:18,966 So, for example, if you were to ask 856 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:23,500 how much could I buy your children off you for? 857 00:47:23,533 --> 00:47:26,233 Or how much payment will you accept to take away your freedom? 858 00:47:26,266 --> 00:47:29,500 Things which we see as sacred we're not willing to trade 859 00:47:29,533 --> 00:47:32,266 for monetary or material goods. 860 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,633 Our wealth comes from energy. 861 00:47:38,666 --> 00:47:43,966 And so credit becomes in effect a lien on future energy. 862 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:45,333 When we take on debt, 863 00:47:45,366 --> 00:47:49,433 we are promising to repay it with future energy. 864 00:47:54,033 --> 00:47:55,700 Consequences of a default 865 00:47:55,733 --> 00:47:58,400 or even a serious prospect of default 866 00:47:58,433 --> 00:48:01,600 by the United States are impossible to predict 867 00:48:01,633 --> 00:48:04,000 and awesome to contemplate. 868 00:48:06,366 --> 00:48:10,733 So the system of debt relies on goodwill and on trust. 869 00:48:10,766 --> 00:48:13,033 It relies on the assumption 870 00:48:13,066 --> 00:48:15,700 that we will continue to have goodwill and trust 871 00:48:15,733 --> 00:48:17,466 in the future. 872 00:48:17,500 --> 00:48:21,300 But if energy becomes more difficult to obtain in the future, 873 00:48:21,333 --> 00:48:23,300 then the loans we've taken out today 874 00:48:23,333 --> 00:48:26,033 are going to become harder and harder to repay 875 00:48:26,066 --> 00:48:28,700 and the financial system will simply collapse. 876 00:48:28,733 --> 00:48:30,733 As the financial system collapses, 877 00:48:30,766 --> 00:48:33,266 food will no longer be moved to the cities, 878 00:48:33,300 --> 00:48:35,966 food will no longer be moved across oceans, 879 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,100 goods will no longer be moved across oceans, 880 00:48:38,133 --> 00:48:40,166 and there's a serious risk 881 00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:43,066 that our entire societies would collapse. 882 00:48:45,133 --> 00:48:49,333 The United States has borrowed a huge amount of money. 883 00:48:49,366 --> 00:48:51,633 And one has, of course, taken it for granted 884 00:48:51,666 --> 00:48:54,100 that that money will be repaid, 885 00:48:54,133 --> 00:48:57,000 that the U.S. will actually pay all of the money 886 00:48:57,033 --> 00:48:58,500 it has borrowed from its citizens, 887 00:48:58,533 --> 00:49:01,466 from the Europeans, and from the Chinese. 888 00:49:01,500 --> 00:49:05,200 One-third of all the money is borrowed from the Chinese. 889 00:49:05,233 --> 00:49:08,733 And who will have to pay? 890 00:49:08,766 --> 00:49:11,100 Well, it is, of course, the young. 891 00:49:14,300 --> 00:49:16,500 For 224 years, the policy of Congress 892 00:49:16,533 --> 00:49:19,200 and every president has been we pay our bills. 893 00:49:19,233 --> 00:49:22,500 We tend to go into debt against the future. 894 00:49:22,533 --> 00:49:24,400 In a way, we're doing that with the atmosphere. 895 00:49:24,433 --> 00:49:27,366 We're just drawing out future credit 896 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:30,433 that we may have to pay back. 897 00:49:32,100 --> 00:49:34,800 Then it's kind of a death by a thousand cuts. 898 00:49:34,833 --> 00:49:37,133 We're going to change the chemistry of the ocean. 899 00:49:37,166 --> 00:49:39,400 We're also changing some circulation patterns 900 00:49:39,433 --> 00:49:42,333 of the ocean that affect fisheries and things like that. 901 00:49:42,366 --> 00:49:45,200 Those have the potential to really ripple 902 00:49:45,233 --> 00:49:48,566 through our whole, our whole even social system. 903 00:49:50,566 --> 00:49:52,333 For every unit of heat 904 00:49:52,366 --> 00:49:55,266 that has gone into the atmosphere from global warming, 905 00:49:55,300 --> 00:49:58,433 25 units have gone into the ocean. 906 00:50:07,166 --> 00:50:09,066 Catch a wave, baby. 907 00:50:12,633 --> 00:50:14,400 Oh, yeah, feel this? 908 00:50:14,433 --> 00:50:15,709 This is what I'm talking about right now, 909 00:50:15,733 --> 00:50:18,233 riding the wave. Kainalu. 910 00:50:21,366 --> 00:50:23,366 There's a wave in the heavens, the wind. 911 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:25,233 There's a wave in the ocean, the wave. 912 00:50:25,266 --> 00:50:27,100 And there's a wave in the earth, the lava. 913 00:50:27,133 --> 00:50:28,833 Kainalu. 914 00:50:28,866 --> 00:50:30,466 Be like the wave. 915 00:50:34,866 --> 00:50:37,433 Hup, huli! 916 00:51:05,666 --> 00:51:07,300 The fossil fuels that we burn, 917 00:51:07,333 --> 00:51:09,466 as they settle out into the ocean, 918 00:51:09,500 --> 00:51:12,166 are changing the chemistry to the point that, 919 00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:14,300 within the next 50 years, 920 00:51:14,333 --> 00:51:18,200 the ocean may not be able to sustain plankton, 921 00:51:18,233 --> 00:51:20,433 the very base of the food chain, 922 00:51:20,466 --> 00:51:24,300 because the acidity eats away at the exoskeletons 923 00:51:24,333 --> 00:51:27,600 of a lot of the different types of plankton. 924 00:51:27,633 --> 00:51:30,300 So the fact that, in the last few years, 925 00:51:30,333 --> 00:51:32,433 the effect that humans have had 926 00:51:32,466 --> 00:51:36,133 on the very ocean that sustains us... 927 00:51:37,266 --> 00:51:41,233 is dramatic to say the least. 928 00:51:50,333 --> 00:51:53,166 The Pacific Ocean 929 00:51:53,200 --> 00:52:00,566 is 68 million 930 00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,266 square miles. 931 00:52:04,766 --> 00:52:06,733 68 million square miles. 932 00:52:06,766 --> 00:52:09,633 It covers up one-third of our planet. 933 00:52:09,666 --> 00:52:13,433 It's over 20 times the size of the United States. 934 00:52:15,633 --> 00:52:19,366 Chlorofluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases 935 00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,800 do not know political borders. 936 00:52:21,833 --> 00:52:24,266 They just travel around the world. 937 00:52:28,233 --> 00:52:29,833 There is no place 938 00:52:29,866 --> 00:52:33,266 that humans have not left their impact. 939 00:52:33,300 --> 00:52:36,333 And 99% of what we buy and use today 940 00:52:36,366 --> 00:52:40,333 is obsolete and trash six months from now. 941 00:52:40,366 --> 00:52:42,433 In every single trial we did, 942 00:52:42,466 --> 00:52:44,833 3,000 miles across the ocean, 943 00:52:44,866 --> 00:52:46,400 the one shocking thing 944 00:52:46,433 --> 00:52:49,433 I could bring back to my friend is... 945 00:52:49,466 --> 00:52:51,300 there's not one place in the ocean 946 00:52:51,333 --> 00:52:54,766 that just had ocean and ocean creatures left in it, 947 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:57,200 that plastic is everywhere. 948 00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,966 Somewhere along the way, 949 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:07,733 we have been smokescreened and clouded by conveniences. 950 00:53:07,766 --> 00:53:10,600 So easy, convenient. 951 00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:15,666 The ocean is downhill from everything. 952 00:53:15,700 --> 00:53:17,266 There is no away. 953 00:53:23,933 --> 00:53:25,466 It's petroleum-based. 954 00:53:25,500 --> 00:53:27,866 It absorbs other chemicals. 955 00:53:27,900 --> 00:53:30,700 It releases other chemicals. 956 00:53:30,733 --> 00:53:34,633 But it works around, and it's not biodegradable. 957 00:53:34,666 --> 00:53:36,000 It doesn't break down in time. 958 00:53:36,033 --> 00:53:37,466 It is photodegradable. 959 00:53:37,500 --> 00:53:39,766 But all that means is that wave action and light 960 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:42,000 break it down into smaller and smaller bits. 961 00:53:42,033 --> 00:53:43,833 It doesn't go away. 962 00:53:43,866 --> 00:53:45,866 And then every night, these little creatures, 963 00:53:45,900 --> 00:53:47,400 the myctophids, little lantern fish, 964 00:53:47,433 --> 00:53:48,800 come up from the deep water, 965 00:53:48,833 --> 00:53:50,900 they feed on what's supposed to be plankton, 966 00:53:50,933 --> 00:53:53,666 and then they make their way back down during the day. 967 00:53:53,700 --> 00:53:56,500 Well, they're feeding on plastic 968 00:53:56,533 --> 00:53:57,833 because that's what's there... 969 00:53:57,866 --> 00:53:59,066 that's what's everywhere... 970 00:53:59,100 --> 00:54:00,466 And that literally, 971 00:54:00,500 --> 00:54:02,366 they make up about 50% of the biomass. 972 00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:03,600 Everything eats them. 973 00:54:03,633 --> 00:54:05,766 We're plasticizing the ocean creatures 974 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:10,000 from tiny to huge whales, all the way through. 975 00:54:10,033 --> 00:54:12,633 And we're plasticizing them from the inside out. 976 00:54:12,666 --> 00:54:14,633 For sometimes products that we've maybe used 977 00:54:14,666 --> 00:54:16,366 for five minutes or ten minutes, 978 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:18,900 the fact that a plastic water bottle 979 00:54:18,933 --> 00:54:20,766 can last 200 years? 980 00:54:22,900 --> 00:54:24,566 We can look at ways to change, 981 00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:26,366 but that's not enough. 982 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,600 Recycling? Great idea. It's not enough. 983 00:54:29,633 --> 00:54:35,866 So then comes the unfortunate part where... 984 00:54:35,900 --> 00:54:37,366 you run into reality. 985 00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:40,066 That's an aspect of self-deception 986 00:54:40,100 --> 00:54:41,966 we always have to bear in mind. 987 00:54:42,833 --> 00:54:46,000 Whatever we put inside there, we put inside us. 988 00:54:51,100 --> 00:54:53,533 Sure, global warming is going on now, 989 00:54:53,566 --> 00:54:56,766 and the consequences are not beautiful, 990 00:54:56,800 --> 00:55:00,566 but somehow this damn thing will be solved. 991 00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:02,100 Well, maybe somehow it will. 992 00:55:02,133 --> 00:55:03,700 Any uncertainty... 993 00:55:03,733 --> 00:55:06,133 and there's a lot of uncertainty about the future... 994 00:55:06,166 --> 00:55:10,733 it tends to engender unreasonable optimism 995 00:55:10,766 --> 00:55:13,700 about what will fill that bit of uncertainty. 996 00:55:13,733 --> 00:55:15,400 So right now, if there's uncertainty 997 00:55:15,433 --> 00:55:16,866 about our climate models right now, 998 00:55:16,900 --> 00:55:21,400 people are going to latch onto that uncertainty 999 00:55:21,433 --> 00:55:22,500 and assume the best. 1000 00:55:22,533 --> 00:55:23,966 Optimism is a good thing. 1001 00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:26,400 Too much optimism is a bad thing. 1002 00:55:26,433 --> 00:55:28,733 Sometimes having misperceptions, 1003 00:55:28,766 --> 00:55:31,466 having wrong images about reality, 1004 00:55:31,500 --> 00:55:33,466 seems to be adaptive. 1005 00:55:33,500 --> 00:55:36,133 We believe we can put more memory on a chip, 1006 00:55:36,166 --> 00:55:38,466 that we can build a more efficient car, 1007 00:55:38,500 --> 00:55:41,900 w can build a better house, is a good thing. 1008 00:55:41,933 --> 00:55:45,166 But optimism can go too far 1009 00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:48,133 when we think every problem can be solved, 1010 00:55:48,166 --> 00:55:52,500 that there isn't really a problem at all. 1011 00:55:52,533 --> 00:55:54,042 Probably the same thing about the future, 1012 00:55:54,066 --> 00:55:55,533 which is probably what I'm doing. 1013 00:55:55,566 --> 00:55:56,809 I'm assuming the best. I'm assuming 1014 00:55:56,833 --> 00:55:59,666 that technology will be able to fill these gaps 1015 00:55:59,700 --> 00:56:01,500 in such a way where we won't have 1016 00:56:01,533 --> 00:56:03,666 a total environmental collapse 1017 00:56:03,700 --> 00:56:05,200 which will lead to resource wars 1018 00:56:05,233 --> 00:56:07,033 and shrinking of the human population. 1019 00:56:07,066 --> 00:56:08,200 System destruction means 1020 00:56:08,233 --> 00:56:11,500 that climate change becomes so bad that... 1021 00:56:11,533 --> 00:56:13,500 large areas of the planet 1022 00:56:13,533 --> 00:56:18,966 become impossible for humans to survive 1023 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,166 and agriculture is destroyed 1024 00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:22,133 and lots of people die of starvation. 1025 00:56:22,166 --> 00:56:24,566 You know, these kinds of things are part of the models. 1026 00:56:24,600 --> 00:56:25,933 We have to tell these things. 1027 00:56:25,966 --> 00:56:27,733 If we do, 1028 00:56:27,766 --> 00:56:30,566 people say that we are catastrophists, which is fine, 1029 00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:32,533 but we still have to tell these things. 1030 00:56:32,566 --> 00:56:35,933 But the problem is that, when we tell these things, 1031 00:56:35,966 --> 00:56:37,533 people don't react. 1032 00:56:37,566 --> 00:56:39,866 They're scared, they tend to retreat 1033 00:56:39,900 --> 00:56:42,566 and say, "No more of this. It's so horrible, 1034 00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:46,700 so awful that we don't want to hear it." 1035 00:56:54,833 --> 00:56:57,733 It takes complex, expensive technologies 1036 00:56:57,766 --> 00:57:01,933 and much investment of energy to get energy. 1037 00:57:01,966 --> 00:57:05,600 Today we live in the most complex societies that have ever existed. 1038 00:57:05,633 --> 00:57:11,900 And we are far beyond the level of complexity that can be sustained through solar energy. 1039 00:57:11,933 --> 00:57:14,266 We really are reliant on fossil fuels 1040 00:57:14,300 --> 00:57:17,466 and to a certain extent also on nuclear power. 1041 00:57:33,666 --> 00:57:38,533 You can show that with many wars people start, 1042 00:57:38,566 --> 00:57:41,666 like my own people have started terrible wars 1043 00:57:41,700 --> 00:57:45,900 and brought great suffering over humanity... 1044 00:57:45,933 --> 00:57:50,166 In the beginning, if you look at the internal records, 1045 00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:53,533 the idea is always, "Aw, come on. Piece of cake. 1046 00:57:53,566 --> 00:57:54,866 "We'll just walk in there. 1047 00:57:54,900 --> 00:57:58,800 After four days, we'll have this done." 1048 00:57:58,833 --> 00:58:03,833 Then after four days into it, there's a sudden surprise. 1049 00:58:03,866 --> 00:58:07,733 This is taking longer than we thought. 1050 00:58:07,766 --> 00:58:10,766 Our technological superiority doesn't help. 1051 00:58:11,833 --> 00:58:16,700 And I think to have the idea, "Ah, one way, 1052 00:58:16,733 --> 00:58:19,766 "we're gonna find a way with climate change. 1053 00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:22,766 "These scientists are gonna find something. 1054 00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:27,666 "But only... if we only get our act together soon. 1055 00:58:27,700 --> 00:58:29,633 "We will manage. 1056 00:58:29,666 --> 00:58:34,100 Nothing was really that bad in the past of mankind." 1057 00:58:34,133 --> 00:58:36,666 That is fully delusional. 1058 00:58:37,700 --> 00:58:39,233 And this growth must continue 1059 00:58:39,266 --> 00:58:40,733 these next 10 years. 1060 00:58:40,766 --> 00:58:44,166 Those 13 million new jobs must be created. 1061 00:58:44,200 --> 00:58:45,566 And right now, 1062 00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:47,833 the promise looks very good. 1063 00:58:47,866 --> 00:58:50,533 With technology comes cost. 1064 00:58:52,200 --> 00:58:55,133 This crop is bringing the same money it brought 1065 00:58:55,166 --> 00:58:57,133 in the 1970s. 1066 00:58:57,166 --> 00:59:00,666 And in the early 1970s, you could buy a new tractor 1067 00:59:00,700 --> 00:59:03,666 and a new pickup for less than $10,000. 1068 00:59:03,700 --> 00:59:08,933 Now our tractors cost $200,000 or more. 1069 00:59:08,966 --> 00:59:12,866 Our vehicles are costing $40,000 to $50,000 apiece. 1070 00:59:12,900 --> 00:59:15,066 And we're bringing this equipment out here. 1071 00:59:15,100 --> 00:59:16,942 We're spending that kind of money to wear them out. 1072 00:59:16,966 --> 00:59:19,866 Many societies collapsed in the past. 1073 00:59:19,900 --> 00:59:25,166 And they collapsed for reasons that we can see operating in our own society today. 1074 00:59:38,266 --> 00:59:39,733 Like the Romans, 1075 00:59:39,766 --> 00:59:41,033 they never really understood 1076 00:59:41,066 --> 00:59:43,933 that their military system was based 1077 00:59:43,966 --> 00:59:46,166 on the support they had from agriculture, 1078 00:59:46,200 --> 00:59:50,300 and that means that, if your land has been ruined by erosion, 1079 00:59:50,333 --> 00:59:52,100 you cannot support so many troops. 1080 00:59:52,133 --> 00:59:53,833 And if you cannot support so many troops, 1081 00:59:53,866 --> 00:59:55,366 you cannot defend the empire 1082 00:59:55,400 --> 01:00:00,066 or attack other countries to rob them, 1083 01:00:00,100 --> 01:00:03,866 which was the way Roman wealth was built, 1084 01:00:03,900 --> 01:00:05,000 by robbing the neighbors, 1085 01:00:05,033 --> 01:00:07,766 which is normal in human histories. 1086 01:00:20,133 --> 01:00:21,700 You know, we can move. 1087 01:00:21,733 --> 01:00:23,766 I mean, if it becomes too warm somewhere, 1088 01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:25,400 we can move to a cooler place. 1089 01:00:25,433 --> 01:00:27,666 But most of us cannot move. 1090 01:00:38,033 --> 01:00:40,933 From what I understand, in ancient Hawaii, 1091 01:00:40,966 --> 01:00:46,166 it was always about, uh... 1092 01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:49,733 about the aloha. 1093 01:00:49,766 --> 01:00:54,200 Alo, meaning to be present, yeah, face. 1094 01:00:54,233 --> 01:00:57,066 It also means to be grounded to the earth. 1095 01:00:57,100 --> 01:01:00,066 And hais the breath of life. 1096 01:01:00,100 --> 01:01:05,033 So aloha is to offer that breath of life. 1097 01:01:05,066 --> 01:01:08,400 So aloha is a way of life for us as Hawaiians. 1098 01:01:08,433 --> 01:01:10,133 What you got to do is kaheha. 1099 01:01:10,166 --> 01:01:13,233 You know, us Hawaiians, we don't pray like this. 1100 01:01:13,266 --> 01:01:15,300 It wasn't till the missionaries came, 1101 01:01:15,333 --> 01:01:16,766 make us guys pray like this. 1102 01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:19,233 Us guys, we pray like this. 1103 01:01:22,200 --> 01:01:26,966 What we're witnessing now is really the final phase 1104 01:01:27,000 --> 01:01:29,866 of the great European Enlightenment 1105 01:01:29,900 --> 01:01:33,333 when all of the advances of material acquisition, 1106 01:01:33,366 --> 01:01:37,800 of scientific progress, of technological conquest, 1107 01:01:37,833 --> 01:01:41,466 are now collapsing in on themselves. 1108 01:01:41,500 --> 01:01:44,100 We have become a planetary force. 1109 01:01:44,133 --> 01:01:50,033 This is as profound a transition as civilization itself. 1110 01:01:56,400 --> 01:02:00,500 Originally the U.S. ended, you know, at Louisiana. 1111 01:02:00,533 --> 01:02:02,866 And then there was the Louisiana Purchase. 1112 01:02:02,900 --> 01:02:07,266 And then we stole almost half of Mexico. 1113 01:02:07,300 --> 01:02:12,400 And so there was always this wild land out there 1114 01:02:12,433 --> 01:02:14,833 waiting for us to settle, 1115 01:02:14,866 --> 01:02:18,800 agriculturalize, i.e., plant crops, 1116 01:02:18,833 --> 01:02:21,466 have herds of animals... 1117 01:02:21,500 --> 01:02:23,266 domesticated instead of wild. 1118 01:02:23,300 --> 01:02:25,933 So bison get replaced by cattle. 1119 01:02:25,966 --> 01:02:31,433 And then you build this massive industrial system 1120 01:02:31,466 --> 01:02:34,233 in prime temperate-zone land 1121 01:02:34,266 --> 01:02:37,800 that you've cleared the other inhabitants out of. 1122 01:02:37,833 --> 01:02:39,533 By deciding that they didn't count, 1123 01:02:39,566 --> 01:02:42,233 that they were simply part of the wildlife of those continents, 1124 01:02:42,266 --> 01:02:49,000 why, it was free land, ready for European populations to exploit. 1125 01:02:49,033 --> 01:02:51,200 That enabled us to imagine 1126 01:02:51,233 --> 01:02:56,133 that we had a vast increment of carrying capacity for homo sapiens. 1127 01:03:03,933 --> 01:03:05,533 I call that the Age of Exuberance. 1128 01:03:05,566 --> 01:03:11,233 We exuberantly expanded into this seemingly limitless carrying capacity. 1129 01:03:11,266 --> 01:03:14,400 That was one of the reasons why we became so great... 1130 01:03:14,433 --> 01:03:18,300 the receding frontier. We always had the options 1131 01:03:18,333 --> 01:03:21,400 to make up for any current problems, if you will, 1132 01:03:21,433 --> 01:03:24,066 by just settling more land. 1133 01:03:24,100 --> 01:03:28,266 Well, of course, at some point you reach California. 1134 01:03:28,300 --> 01:03:31,866 There are no more Indians to extinguish and so forth. 1135 01:03:35,300 --> 01:03:40,633 We live in a culture now, many of whose norms and values 1136 01:03:40,666 --> 01:03:45,466 and ideas were formed by that Age of Exuberance, 1137 01:03:45,500 --> 01:03:47,866 by the myth of limitlessness. 1138 01:03:50,166 --> 01:03:53,633 This has instilled in us a way of thinking 1139 01:03:53,666 --> 01:03:55,966 that we will always have abundance, 1140 01:03:56,000 --> 01:03:59,666 that we will never be constrained by resources. 1141 01:03:59,700 --> 01:04:01,400 Say to someone, "Well, we're gonna run out 1142 01:04:01,433 --> 01:04:04,266 of iron or steel in such and such a year," 1143 01:04:04,300 --> 01:04:06,333 and they'll say, "Oh, well, maybe we can get it 1144 01:04:06,366 --> 01:04:07,400 from the moon." 1145 01:04:07,433 --> 01:04:09,200 Well, Jesus God Almighty, 1146 01:04:09,233 --> 01:04:14,366 it costs a ton of money to send two people to the moon, 1147 01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:22,300 much less an iron ore collecting expedition. 1148 01:04:23,700 --> 01:04:27,100 Early after Hiroshima, we began thinking, 1149 01:04:27,133 --> 01:04:29,600 ah, now that we're in the Atomic Age, there are no limits. 1150 01:04:29,633 --> 01:04:33,233 We've got all this new energy. We can do all kinds of things. 1151 01:04:33,266 --> 01:04:38,666 And we didn't think what are the limits that are going to exist 1152 01:04:38,700 --> 01:04:42,300 even in an age of abundant energy? 1153 01:04:45,166 --> 01:04:47,666 We've become accustomed to ignoring 1154 01:04:47,700 --> 01:04:49,600 or breaking through the limits 1155 01:04:49,633 --> 01:04:51,366 to human progress. 1156 01:04:51,400 --> 01:04:55,233 After all, progress is what defines us. 1157 01:05:08,766 --> 01:05:13,100 But here's where we get into total absurdities in conventional economics, 1158 01:05:13,133 --> 01:05:15,000 with economists literally telling us, 1159 01:05:15,033 --> 01:05:18,433 if we have enough money, we don't need nature. 1160 01:05:19,533 --> 01:05:23,200 If I have a piece of technology lying around in my apartment, 1161 01:05:23,233 --> 01:05:26,366 I use it, whether I need to or not. 1162 01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:29,700 It kind of begs out, "Hey, look, I'm a piece of technology. 1163 01:05:29,733 --> 01:05:33,000 "I cost something... 1164 01:05:33,033 --> 01:05:34,500 Use me, please." 1165 01:05:34,533 --> 01:05:36,966 The same thing is true in my opinion 1166 01:05:37,000 --> 01:05:39,266 for amassing large sets of armaments. 1167 01:05:39,300 --> 01:05:41,066 It's like technology is sitting around 1168 01:05:41,100 --> 01:05:43,400 and saying, "Hey, use me." 1169 01:05:43,433 --> 01:05:47,000 We're dreaming to think people will change. 1170 01:05:47,033 --> 01:05:52,266 And that's in a way why the hopes lie... 1171 01:05:52,300 --> 01:05:56,000 the hopes and the fears lie with something else. 1172 01:05:56,033 --> 01:05:58,700 That may be technology. 1173 01:05:58,733 --> 01:06:00,666 Barrier? What barrier? 1174 01:06:00,700 --> 01:06:03,500 We can geo-engineer the planet. 1175 01:06:08,433 --> 01:06:11,966 We've transformed every other environment. 1176 01:06:22,366 --> 01:06:25,466 Why can't we transform the planet as a whole? 1177 01:06:27,500 --> 01:06:30,300 You name it, we can set the planetary temperature 1178 01:06:30,333 --> 01:06:33,133 wherever you like. That's the plan, 1179 01:06:33,166 --> 01:06:34,733 and it's a very serious plan 1180 01:06:34,766 --> 01:06:39,200 that quite a number of clever and influential people 1181 01:06:39,233 --> 01:06:41,100 are pursuing right now. 1182 01:06:53,466 --> 01:06:56,533 Perhaps the foremost geo-engineering technology 1183 01:06:56,566 --> 01:07:00,100 is known as sulfate aerosol spraying. 1184 01:07:00,133 --> 01:07:01,733 And the idea is to mimic the effects 1185 01:07:01,766 --> 01:07:03,500 of large volcanic eruptions. 1186 01:07:07,300 --> 01:07:08,766 And the way they would do it... 1187 01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:10,500 there are a number of ideas. 1188 01:07:10,533 --> 01:07:14,266 One would be adapt a fleet of aircraft 1189 01:07:14,300 --> 01:07:18,233 by fitting them with special tanks and nozzles 1190 01:07:18,266 --> 01:07:20,833 and sending them up on a regular basis 1191 01:07:20,866 --> 01:07:22,766 to spray sulfate aerosols 1192 01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:26,400 or the precursor chemicals into the stratosphere 1193 01:07:26,433 --> 01:07:29,500 and simply spray these chemicals out behind them. 1194 01:07:29,533 --> 01:07:31,400 They would form into sulfate particles. 1195 01:07:31,433 --> 01:07:35,433 And pretty soon, within days, weeks, certainly months, 1196 01:07:35,466 --> 01:07:37,300 the Earth would be surrounded 1197 01:07:37,333 --> 01:07:41,533 by this fine haze of sulfate particles. 1198 01:07:44,300 --> 01:07:46,433 This isn't solving climate change. 1199 01:07:46,466 --> 01:07:49,200 It's merely suppressing one of the symptoms. 1200 01:07:49,233 --> 01:07:52,133 Carbon dioxide will still be present 1201 01:07:52,166 --> 01:07:53,900 and probably growing in the atmosphere. 1202 01:07:53,933 --> 01:07:59,300 The oceans will continue to acidify. 1203 01:07:59,333 --> 01:08:02,533 Who's gonna have their hand on the global thermostat? 1204 01:08:04,466 --> 01:08:08,466 This is not a problem with our societies. 1205 01:08:08,500 --> 01:08:11,800 It's not a social problem that needs resolution. 1206 01:08:11,833 --> 01:08:14,200 It's a technological problem. 1207 01:08:14,233 --> 01:08:15,633 So geo-engineering 1208 01:08:15,666 --> 01:08:19,866 is really the techno fix to end all techno fixes. 1209 01:08:19,900 --> 01:08:21,600 The question is, 1210 01:08:21,633 --> 01:08:25,333 will it be the techno fix that ends the world? 1211 01:08:28,666 --> 01:08:31,566 What are we? What are we becoming? 1212 01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:34,600 When we start talking about geo-engineering, 1213 01:08:34,633 --> 01:08:38,866 about taking control of the Earth's system in totality, 1214 01:08:38,900 --> 01:08:43,533 we really are behaving like the sorcerer's apprentice. 1215 01:08:43,566 --> 01:08:45,900 And we all know what happens in the end. 1216 01:08:45,933 --> 01:08:48,533 The powers that we attempt to master 1217 01:08:48,566 --> 01:08:53,133 are vastly more powerful than we imagined. 1218 01:08:55,533 --> 01:08:59,366 It's just a pale blue dot, as Carl Sagan called it, 1219 01:08:59,400 --> 01:09:01,933 floating out there in space. 1220 01:09:01,966 --> 01:09:04,433 We're trivial compared to the universe. 1221 01:09:14,433 --> 01:09:17,666 The idea that there's an inevitable progress 1222 01:09:17,700 --> 01:09:19,733 and people are able to learn from mistakes 1223 01:09:19,766 --> 01:09:23,833 and elevate everything to a higher level... 1224 01:09:23,866 --> 01:09:28,166 is just a myth we believe. 1225 01:09:29,933 --> 01:09:34,233 The water comes from Pu'u Kukui, from this mountain, 1226 01:09:34,266 --> 01:09:36,800 and it averages about 400 inches of rain. 1227 01:09:36,833 --> 01:09:39,933 It is considered one of the wettest spots on the planet today. 1228 01:09:39,966 --> 01:09:41,500 Probably the wettest spot. 1229 01:09:41,533 --> 01:09:43,966 See, the streams are all drying up. 1230 01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:46,700 And these waters are diverted 1231 01:09:46,733 --> 01:09:48,000 to the sugarcane fields 1232 01:09:48,033 --> 01:09:50,833 and to all the hotels and businesses 1233 01:09:50,866 --> 01:09:51,966 and the homes. 1234 01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:54,433 There's no more water for taro. 1235 01:09:54,466 --> 01:09:58,933 And they're trying to tell us guys that our taro needs help... 1236 01:09:58,966 --> 01:10:02,266 we need GMOs to help us out. 1237 01:10:02,300 --> 01:10:04,600 We don't need no help. 1238 01:10:04,633 --> 01:10:07,666 We need water. 1239 01:10:07,700 --> 01:10:10,966 It's not gonna be us local people that will be farming on the earth. 1240 01:10:11,000 --> 01:10:15,366 It will basically be a middle to upperclass population 1241 01:10:15,400 --> 01:10:16,776 that will be able to be on those lands, 1242 01:10:16,800 --> 01:10:18,000 which is fine, 1243 01:10:18,033 --> 01:10:21,500 but there are people that don't have. 1244 01:10:21,533 --> 01:10:24,533 And we need to find ways that we can both have 1245 01:10:24,566 --> 01:10:26,533 and both be happy and coexist 1246 01:10:26,566 --> 01:10:30,966 and be able to manage our resources at the same time. 1247 01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:35,733 200 years ago, every individual was required to ask 1248 01:10:35,766 --> 01:10:38,533 in almost everything that you did, every action you took, 1249 01:10:38,566 --> 01:10:40,766 every step you took, you were required to ask: 1250 01:10:40,800 --> 01:10:42,466 Is this sustainable? 1251 01:10:42,500 --> 01:10:45,566 Because if it wasn't sustainable, you had to stop. 1252 01:10:45,600 --> 01:10:48,533 Only the rich could afford to behave as if the world... 1253 01:10:48,566 --> 01:10:50,033 as if sustainability didn't matter. 1254 01:10:50,066 --> 01:10:51,733 Everyone else had to build that in 1255 01:10:51,766 --> 01:10:53,966 to everything they did. 1256 01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:56,900 And that was a mark of a person who survived, 1257 01:10:56,933 --> 01:10:59,333 because if you didn't pay attention to sustainability, 1258 01:10:59,366 --> 01:11:00,600 you died. 1259 01:11:03,600 --> 01:11:06,033 It's said that there is no city 1260 01:11:06,066 --> 01:11:09,366 more than three days away from a revolution. 1261 01:11:09,400 --> 01:11:11,400 And that's because of food supply. 1262 01:11:11,433 --> 01:11:14,400 Our industries have perfected just-in-time delivery 1263 01:11:14,433 --> 01:11:19,000 so that everything is produced and delivered to industries 1264 01:11:19,033 --> 01:11:21,633 and to your stores just as it's needed. 1265 01:11:21,666 --> 01:11:23,100 No one keeps stockpiles anymore 1266 01:11:23,133 --> 01:11:25,033 because it's too expensive to keep stockpiles. 1267 01:11:25,066 --> 01:11:26,766 It's inefficient. 1268 01:11:26,800 --> 01:11:29,766 But what this means is that our production and delivery systems 1269 01:11:29,800 --> 01:11:31,900 are highly vulnerable to disruption. 1270 01:11:34,133 --> 01:11:36,533 Now it climbs up the East Coast. 1271 01:11:36,566 --> 01:11:40,500 And then it veers in as it meets a storm 1272 01:11:40,533 --> 01:11:44,000 coming down from Canada. 1273 01:11:44,033 --> 01:11:47,066 And it was appalling. 1274 01:11:47,100 --> 01:11:48,766 There's no heat. 1275 01:11:48,800 --> 01:11:51,566 There's no electricity. You cannot read. 1276 01:11:51,600 --> 01:11:53,933 There's no television. There's no Internet. 1277 01:11:55,633 --> 01:11:58,966 You take a double shot of whatever you take a shot of 1278 01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:00,700 and you climb into bed at 8:30 1279 01:12:00,733 --> 01:12:02,700 and pray your way through the night. 1280 01:12:02,733 --> 01:12:05,700 Future superstorms will be even more damaging 1281 01:12:05,733 --> 01:12:08,433 than Hurricane Sandy. 1282 01:12:08,466 --> 01:12:10,133 Hurricane Sandy was, in some respects, 1283 01:12:10,166 --> 01:12:13,600 a preview of coming attractions. 1284 01:12:19,433 --> 01:12:23,033 We are so heavily dependent on electricity. 1285 01:12:23,066 --> 01:12:26,500 Our lives... I don't want to say are deformed by it, 1286 01:12:26,533 --> 01:12:28,900 but they're certainly organized by it 1287 01:12:28,933 --> 01:12:30,033 and dependent on it, 1288 01:12:30,066 --> 01:12:32,733 so if you suddenly take it away... 1289 01:12:32,766 --> 01:12:33,766 Whoa! 1290 01:12:36,133 --> 01:12:41,500 We are basically under the control of totally unhuman systems. 1291 01:12:45,600 --> 01:12:48,066 And everybody doesn't want to step up 1292 01:12:48,100 --> 01:12:49,166 and say, "You know what? 1293 01:12:49,200 --> 01:12:52,566 We might have made a slight mistake." 1294 01:12:52,600 --> 01:12:54,900 No, sir. We're just gonna keep stumbling on. 1295 01:12:54,933 --> 01:12:57,533 Their milk? It comes from the grocery store. 1296 01:12:58,800 --> 01:13:01,766 Their meat? It comes from the grocery store. 1297 01:13:01,800 --> 01:13:03,966 Their clothes? They come from the mall. 1298 01:13:05,633 --> 01:13:07,766 People just don't have any concept 1299 01:13:07,800 --> 01:13:10,866 of how much energy it takes to grow food. 1300 01:13:12,033 --> 01:13:13,833 All of these challenges are going to require 1301 01:13:13,866 --> 01:13:16,433 increasingly complexity and costliness 1302 01:13:16,466 --> 01:13:19,566 at the same time that our energy basis 1303 01:13:19,600 --> 01:13:24,566 for funding complexity is decreasing. 1304 01:13:24,600 --> 01:13:26,666 It's inevitable that our societies in the future 1305 01:13:26,700 --> 01:13:28,633 will become less wealthy. 1306 01:13:32,133 --> 01:13:35,233 We will be unable to grow in complexity any further, 1307 01:13:35,266 --> 01:13:39,766 and that means unable to solve the problems of the future. 1308 01:13:39,800 --> 01:13:41,666 Republican and Democratic presidents 1309 01:13:41,700 --> 01:13:43,466 and Treasury secretaries alike 1310 01:13:43,500 --> 01:13:45,466 have universally understood the importance 1311 01:13:45,500 --> 01:13:47,866 of protecting one of our most precious assets: 1312 01:13:47,900 --> 01:13:49,900 the full faith and credit of the United States. 1313 01:13:51,766 --> 01:13:54,800 If major nations were to default on their debts, 1314 01:13:54,833 --> 01:13:58,033 this would cause the credit system to freeze up. 1315 01:13:58,066 --> 01:13:59,766 Trust would evaporate 1316 01:13:59,800 --> 01:14:01,700 and credit would evaporate. 1317 01:14:01,733 --> 01:14:04,533 And this whole system relying on credit 1318 01:14:04,566 --> 01:14:07,666 would then become impossible to sustain. 1319 01:14:10,233 --> 01:14:12,866 I often use the metaphor that, for me, 1320 01:14:12,900 --> 01:14:16,133 life is like riding in a train 1321 01:14:16,166 --> 01:14:17,833 where you're facing backwards. 1322 01:14:17,866 --> 01:14:21,500 You always see reality after it's passed you. 1323 01:14:21,533 --> 01:14:24,566 It's like our biological past haunts us, 1324 01:14:24,600 --> 01:14:28,700 and we're just unable to see the responsibility we have 1325 01:14:28,733 --> 01:14:31,900 for all the future generations to be born on this planet. 1326 01:14:31,933 --> 01:14:35,933 And we will also see how the whole development 1327 01:14:35,966 --> 01:14:37,233 slides from our control, 1328 01:14:37,266 --> 01:14:41,033 because it actually is beyond our control. 1329 01:14:52,766 --> 01:14:54,542 Certainly there are aspects of our way of life 1330 01:14:54,566 --> 01:14:56,800 that we don't want to lose. 1331 01:14:56,833 --> 01:15:00,000 In the past, people might have a life expectancy 1332 01:15:00,033 --> 01:15:01,533 of about 40 years. 1333 01:15:01,566 --> 01:15:04,000 And out of every five children born, 1334 01:15:04,033 --> 01:15:07,000 probably three of them would have died of childhood diseases. 1335 01:15:07,033 --> 01:15:09,866 We don't want to go back to that way of life. 1336 01:15:11,933 --> 01:15:15,033 So I don't know: How do you manage population growth? 1337 01:15:15,066 --> 01:15:16,566 I don't know. 1338 01:15:16,600 --> 01:15:18,566 How do you make it rain? 1339 01:15:21,800 --> 01:15:24,166 A collapse is too gruesome to contemplate 1340 01:15:24,200 --> 01:15:27,066 and it's something that we don't want to experience. 1341 01:15:27,100 --> 01:15:30,800 We would have a situation where hundreds of millions of people, 1342 01:15:30,833 --> 01:15:34,200 perhaps billions of people, would die from starvation, 1343 01:15:34,233 --> 01:15:36,133 from disease, from conflict. 1344 01:15:36,166 --> 01:15:37,900 And this would all happen within a period 1345 01:15:37,933 --> 01:15:40,066 of perhaps two to three months. 1346 01:16:03,633 --> 01:16:06,000 If you walk through the pasture every day 1347 01:16:06,033 --> 01:16:09,200 observing the grass and the birds and the wildlife, 1348 01:16:09,233 --> 01:16:13,966 you become pretty attuned to the situation. 1349 01:16:14,000 --> 01:16:16,800 We're living in a delicate deal 1350 01:16:16,833 --> 01:16:20,766 and in the big picture of things, 1351 01:16:20,800 --> 01:16:23,100 if I manage this ranch for 70 years, 1352 01:16:23,133 --> 01:16:27,233 it's just a minute particle in the big picture of time. 1353 01:16:27,266 --> 01:16:31,200 And it's my goal to take care of it and pass it on. 1354 01:16:37,966 --> 01:16:40,400 Aloha. 1355 01:16:40,433 --> 01:16:42,000 The everlasting breath. 1356 01:16:42,033 --> 01:16:48,833 The leaf, the lau that sustains us... 1357 01:16:48,866 --> 01:16:50,833 that sees all the changes, 1358 01:16:50,866 --> 01:16:53,166 and yet still growing in between the freeways 1359 01:16:53,200 --> 01:16:54,733 and the development. 1360 01:16:56,033 --> 01:16:59,800 So easily we forget about where our food comes from, 1361 01:16:59,833 --> 01:17:01,666 where our water comes from. 1362 01:17:01,700 --> 01:17:04,000 That's what it is, as Hawaiians. 1363 01:17:04,033 --> 01:17:06,000 That's a very sacred saying. 1364 01:17:06,033 --> 01:17:09,400 No e au, it's a wise saying. 1365 01:17:09,433 --> 01:17:11,133 The ainais always chief. 1366 01:17:13,733 --> 01:17:16,200 Our time... so short. 1367 01:17:17,866 --> 01:17:20,766 Once the ocean gets too acidic, we're done. 1368 01:17:23,066 --> 01:17:25,133 The thing that is important in one's own life 1369 01:17:25,166 --> 01:17:29,666 is to face the facts and not to judge oneself. 1370 01:17:31,400 --> 01:17:34,800 We hear the calling, a lot of us. 1371 01:17:34,833 --> 01:17:37,166 If not, we're not gonna survive. 1372 01:17:37,200 --> 01:17:38,766 We're not gonna make the journey. 1373 01:17:38,800 --> 01:17:41,866 We're not. Our canoe will sink. 1374 01:17:43,133 --> 01:17:45,800 And that's how we look at the Islands, 1375 01:17:45,833 --> 01:17:47,200 that we are in a canoe, 1376 01:17:47,233 --> 01:17:50,866 that we have to make decisions based on everybody else. 1377 01:17:52,766 --> 01:17:56,166 The core of all morality, the first step: 1378 01:17:56,200 --> 01:17:57,800 To make the decision, 1379 01:17:57,833 --> 01:18:01,966 I will at least try not to fool myself. 1380 01:18:06,133 --> 01:18:08,900 Beyond the horizon, the unknown: 1381 01:18:08,933 --> 01:18:10,800 That's where we all come from. 1382 01:18:10,833 --> 01:18:13,366 And we live in what we call ao, or the light. 1383 01:18:13,400 --> 01:18:15,400 We live in the ao. 1384 01:18:15,433 --> 01:18:21,166 And our time will sunrise and then our time will sunset. 1385 01:18:21,200 --> 01:18:22,833 And so what we gonna do? 1386 01:18:22,866 --> 01:18:24,042 What are we gonna leave behind 1387 01:18:24,066 --> 01:18:27,166 for our generations, our descendants? 1388 01:18:37,800 --> 01:18:39,166 What they gonna say about us? 1389 01:18:39,200 --> 01:18:42,866 How do we want to be remembered? 1390 01:18:42,900 --> 01:18:44,966 We are all part of this. 1390 01:18:45,305 --> 01:19:45,150