All language subtitles for Paris.to.Pittsburgh.2018.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG2_English

BILL (over TV):
Is the climate in this
country really changing?

REPORTER (over TV):
Yes, and not only in
this country, Bill.

There are many lines of
evidence, which show that
the climate has slowly been

warming up during the
20th century over almost
the entire Earth's surface.

MAN (over TV): Man may be
unwittingly changing the
world's climate through

the waste products
of his civilization.

REPORTER (over TV): Over
pollution unless checked
could so warm the Earth in

200 years as to
create a greenhouse effect
melting the Arctic ice.

REPORTER (over TV): The
temperature of the lower
atmosphere will rise perhaps

to a greater extent than
at any time since the
end of the last ice age.

JAMES: This evidence
represents a very strong
case, in my opinion,

that the greenhouse effect
has been detected and it is
changing our climate now.

NARRATOR: The science is in:
for decades, there's been
scientific consensus that

climate change is real, is
caused by humans and poses
a threat to civilization.

CARL: Solving these problems
requires a transnational

and transgenerational
perspective.

NARRATOR: Starting at the
United Nations Earth Summit
in Rio de Janeiro in 1992,

the international
community began working
together to address the

greatest issue
in human history.

REPORTER (over TV): 175
nations did sign a blueprint
for the world's future.

It's a weaker
blueprint than many wanted,

but the real test comes
in the months and years ahead.

NARRATOR: Every year since
1995, the global community
has gathered together

to negotiate a lasting
agreement to reduce
carbon emissions.

REPORTER (over TV):
In Japan today, talks
on a global climate

treaty went
way into overtime.

REPORTER (over TV): The
ink is barely dry on an
historic agreement to fight

global warming and
already its future is in doubt.

REPORTER (over TV):
Big polluters like India

and China haven't signed on.

NARRATOR: Despite the failings
of international climate
negotiations and agreements,

advocates from cities,
towns and states, along with
businesses and universities,

continued their pressure.

REPORTER (over TV): Hundreds
of thousands took to the
streets of New York today.

NARRATOR: And renewable
energy continued to grow.

REPORTER (over TV): You may
want to consider a job in
the clean energy industry.

It is growing and
they need more workers.

NARRATOR: And in 2015,
led by the world's largest
carbon emitters,

the world came
together in Paris.

REPORTER (over TV): It
took two decades, but now a
historic agreement on climate

change signed by nearly
every nation in the world.

(speaking in
foreign language).

MAN (over TV): We've
written a new chapter
of hope in the lives of

7 billion
people on the planet.

REPORTER (over TV):
The new deal will not
end global warming,

but signatories
have agreed to reduce
their carbon emissions

and it's being
seen as a turning point.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The
Paris Agreement represents
the best chance we've had

to save the one
planet that we've got.

(applause).

PRESIDENT TRUMP: In
order to fulfill my solemn
duty to protect America

and its citizens, the
United States will withdraw

from the Paris Climate Accord.

I was elected to
represent the citizens of
Pittsburgh, not Paris.

PEDUTO: It's the afternoon.
I'm sitting in this room.

I'm looking over my
phone and I get an alert
and the alert says,

"I was elected to
represent the people of
Pittsburgh, not Paris."

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.

PEDUTO: Read it twice.

Went into to my chief of
staff's office and just
yelled, "Pittsburgh?!"

And he's like, what
are you talking about?

And I said,

and I started tweeting back
that Pittsburgh was going

to stay in the
Paris Agreement.

(inaudible).

EVA: In the aftermath of
President Trump pulling out of
the Paris Climate Agreement,

Pittsburghers came out in
thousands to say that we were
going to take climate action

into our own hands and
move forward as a city.

PEDUTO: And so we
decided to show how policy
at a local level will help

to change the world.

REPORTER (over TV): Mayor
Bill Peduto signed an executive
order today that requires

the city to follow
the guidelines of
the Paris Agreement.

NARRATOR: It wasn't just
Pittsburgh that reacted
to this announcement.

A movement was galvanized
around the country.

REPORTER (over TV): Already
this morning there is a new
drive that's gaining steam to

stick to the U.S.'s
commitments combating climate
change despite President Trump.

NARRATOR: In the U.S.,
hundreds of cities, states,
universities and businesses

joined the ranks of
those already committed
to the goals of Paris.

BROWN: Mayors and governors,
we're here in the action on
the field taking the kind of

steps that are needed
to get the job done to
preserve our climate.

NARRATOR: A revolution is
underway to tackle our biggest
sources of carbon emissions,

creating transformations
in how people get
around, build buildings,

grow food and
generate electricity.

So while coal plants
continue to close, clean
energy is creating jobs,

growing the economy
and lowering emissions.

PEDUTO (off screen): Despite
the President's announcement,

we are still moving
ahead in renewable energy.

There are now more jobs in
renewable energy in the state
of Pennsylvania than coal,

natural gas and oil combined.

CURBELO (off screen): I think
the president has it wrong.

This isn't a zero-sum
game where we either
save the environment

or grow the economy.

We can do both
at the same time.

BLOOMBERG: The American
government may have pulled
out of the Paris Agreement,

but the American people are
committed to its goals and
there is nothing Washington

can do to stop us.

NARRATOR: The solutions
are at hand and it
couldn't be soon enough.

The front lines of
climate change are now
in everyone's backyard,

from California to
Iowa to Florida.

Climate change is not
coming, it's already here.

CASTRO: I grew up in the
heart of South Miami and
when I was 10 years old,

I first started to get
involved in surfing.

I remember coming out
on South Beach early on when I
started to surf and I remember

just seeing vast land of
sand before you hit the beach
and now you know I come back

to Miami and I continue to be
shocked at how close the water
is encroaching on South Beach.

I think we're going
to have to adapt very, very
quickly to the rising tides

and to the rising seas.

CLEETUS: Climate
change isn't just about
some far-off future.

It's actually happening
all around us right now.

And here in the U.S.
along the east and Gulf coast

of the country in particular,
we have some real hotspots

where we're seeing
even greater and faster
rates of sea level rise.

MANN: In Florida, there isn't
much elevation and so they
are now dealing with perennial

flooding in Miami Beach,
in Fort Lauderdale, from
what they call king tides.

REPORTER (over TV):
King tides are here and the
rising floodwaters are creating

some trouble for
drivers and residents.

REPORTER (over TV): Salt
water seeping up through storm
drains and over the sea wall,

soaking the streets
of Miami Beach.

MANN (off screen):
These are seasonal high tides
that have been there

for the eons and
yet now when they

arrive in the fall they flood
the streets of Miami Beach,

and that's because
of sea level rise.

CASTRO: In fact, there is an
image of an octopus that was
found in a parking garage half

mile in from the beach
and it's just showing that,
you know, this is real deal.

LEWIS: The big focus in
Miami Beach, I believe,
is on adaptation.

They're spending
$500,000,000 on pumps to
keep the tidal water off

the streets
during king tides.

So, you adapt to climate
change by elevating roads,

putting that green
infrastructure in,

slowing the worse
effects from happening.

So that's getting a lot
of attention because
people see that as,

keep the water away
from me kind of thing.

What they're not doing quick
enough is addressing things
like salt water intrusion and

when people talk about sea
level rise being the thing
that gets us out of here

because we're flooding,
I wonder if it couldn't be
freshwater vulnerability that

gets us out of here faster.

NARRATOR: The Everglades
is a critical source of
fresh drinking water

for nearly eight million
people in southern Florida.

But as the sea rises,
it's moving inland, pushing
sea water into the aquifers

and the Everglades, and
threatening the freshwater
supply for the entire region.

CASTRO: A lot of people,
when they think of sea level
rise in the State of Florida,

they think encroaching
on the coastlines,
but because we're,

we're built on
this porous limestone,

water can
actually percolate up.

WANLESS: Once the water
level's up, the water
will just come through.

CASTRO (off screen):
Come through, right.

WANLESS: And there's
essentially nothing we
can do to stop that.

That's a real problem
because as sea level has risen,

we've been pulling
harder on wells,

sucking harder, so we're
sort of pulling salt water in
from the ocean too, doing that.

CASTRO (off screen):
It's almost, we're pulling up
brackish water, essentially.

WANLESS (off screen): Yes,
we've had to move the wells
farther and farther inland.

I think probably within
the next 30 years we'll
have lost our fresh water

in South Florida.

MANN (off screen): Look
at global sea level rise.

Here's another area
of the science where,
as we learn more,

we're discovering that we may
be worse off than we thought,

the models may have under
predicted the amount of sea
level rise that we could see

by just the
end of this century.

If you look at even
a recent report of the

Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change,

they were looking at
a worst-case scenario
of a little more than

three feet of sea level
rise by the end of
the century, globally.

But now there's enough new
science that's come in that
tells us that the ice sheets

are losing ice faster, that
there are processes that
we didn't have in our models

and as we put them
into the models, we're now
learning that we could be in

for more than six feet
of global sea level rise
by the end of the century.

Even if we stop emitting
carbon to the atmosphere now,

just because of the
inertia of the system,

we will continue to see
sea level rise for some time.

And if we continue with
business as usual, if we
don't do anything about our

escalating carbon emissions,
there is nothing to prevent
us from melting most of the

West Antarctic ice sheet
and a large part of the
Greenland ice sheet.

And if we go down that
path then at some point in
the future we could be seeing

20 feet of
global sea level rise.

LUBBER (off screen): It's
not happening ten years from
now, it is happening now.

Floods are devastating
communities, are
devastating economies,

are taking away
people's homes.

Think about Miami Beach.

We're still seeing
building in those areas.

People want to live on the
waterfront, but the economic
signals are very clear.

Insurance companies don't want
to ensure those places, uh,
they're being redlined out,

meaning they're allowing
people to fend for themselves
or they're raising their

prices so high that you
can't even get insurance.

NARRATOR: In the U.S.,
it's estimated that
in about 25 years,

more than 300,000 homes
and businesses valued

at $135 billion may be
chronically flooded.

And by the end of the
century, that number grows
to two and a half million.

ROS-LEHTINEN: I represent
communities that people
would think they're pretty

conservative and yet now
that they see the impact, the
economic impact that sea level

rise and climate change has
on their pocketbooks and the
revenues that their cities

bring in, they're
understanding that this
is a conservative issue.

But many Republican
public officials do not see
the urgency in this because

it has been a partisan
issue for a long time.

INHOFE: When you say that
science is settled and the
overwhelming scientific

analysis comes to that
conclusion, frankly that
is just not correct.

CRUZ: Climate change is
not science, it's religion.

CLEETUS (off screen):
Climate denialism, the
sort of anti-science attitude

about what is clearly
observable and which has

been supported
by multiple lines of evidence

didn't happen by accident.

There has been a very
well-funded, long-standing
fossil fuel lobby that has

been spreading disinformation
and trying to undercut any

attempt at climate
action in the U.S.

GERRARD (off screen): To
this day, Koch Industries,

a privately-owned
fossil fuel company,

have been funding
climate denial activities,

have been working
as hard as they can to
fight climate regulation.

REPORTER (over TV): The
Koch brothers are among
the nation's best-known

politically active families.

The billionaires'
network of political action
committees and advocacy groups

will spend $300,000,000
on campaign 2016.

TAYLOR (off screen):
Most Republicans in the
House and the Senate privately

understand full
well climate change is real,

it's not this fiction,
it's not a scam,

it's not concocted by
liberal activists trying
to destroy capitalism.

Uh, that it's a
dangerous thing, that we're
seeing its impacts now.

They're afraid of what it's
going to mean for the future.

They just don't know exactly
what they can do about it
politically that won't cost

them their job
through a primary challenge.

GERRARD: Climate denial
is not limited to
the federal government.

Some governors have engaged
in some similar activities.

Governor Rick Scott
of Florida, for example.

REPORTER (over TV):
State's Department of
Environmental Protection

banned some employees
from using the term climate
change or global warming.

This unwritten policy
went into effect after

Republican Governor
Rick Scott took office.

GERRARD (off screen): It's
almost as if President Trump
is following Governor Scott

and adopting the
same kinds of tactics.

Almost all of his
cabinet members have been
out front in denying that

climate change
is being caused mostly
by human activities.

PRUITT: Thank you
Mr. President.

Your decision today to exit
the Paris Accord reflects
your unflinching commitment

to put America first.

GERRARD (off screen):
They have been going through
various federal documents

and x-ing out the
terms "climate change."

They want to slash the
budgets of the scientific
research agencies.

In every imaginable way,

the administration has been
discouraging the use of science.

ROS-LEHTINEN: It's hard
for us to move any kind of
legislation because if we have

the administration against us,
it's just really difficult.

SUH: This administration
clearly has the environment in
its bull's-eye and is clearly,

and systematically,
going after every single
environmental statute and

regulation as well as the
federal government's ability
to address climate change.

CURBELO (off screen):
And what I would tell my
friends in public office

is we need your leadership,
both sides of the aisle.

Doesn't matter
if you're Republican,
Democrat, Independent,

you have a role to play
here and those of us who
are from Florida should

be even more active and
aggressive in pursuing these
policies because you know

what's bad for jobs
and the economy?

Sea level rise and coastal
flooding and saltwater
intrusion into the Everglades

where our drinking supply
rests in South Florida.

That will really
devastate our region.

It actually won't allow
us to live there anymore.

WANLESS (off screen):
I think somewhere later
in this century,

Miami as we know it
is going to be unlivable.

So in reality,
in South Florida, we're
just going to be leaving.

We don't have the problem.

You, up in Orlando.

You better set aside your
groundwater resources and
you better plan for us.

You really better
plan 'cause we are coming.

It's not if we don't do
something, we may be coming.

We will be coming.

NARRATOR: A recent
study showed that by
the end of the century,

as many as two
and a half million people
from southern Florida

may be displaced
due to climate change.

And many of them could
be headed to Orlando.

The city is not
only preparing for these
impacts of climate change,

they're also doing
their part to fight it,

despite federal inaction.

ISAAC (off screen):
The message around climate
has been so hard for

ordinary people to plug into.

It's been big and
scary and something
that's happening far away and

something that I personally
can't do anything about.

And that's not true.

It is big and scary.

But there are things
we can do and we can impact
policy in our communities

that can make
a big difference.

Yeah, if everybody
could take a seat.

So, I want to say welcome
and thank you for being here.

When we founded the First
50 Coalition, our goal was
to make our city one of the

first 50 in the
nation to commit to 100%
renewable energy by 2050.

DYER (off screen): A lot
of greenhouse gas emissions
come from cities

so after the
current administration
withdrew us from Paris,

there had been a
number of cities that stepped

up to the challenge on
renewables and just kind of
galvanized us at the local

level that we had to pick up
the sword and charge forward.

SPEAKER: Good afternoon,
I'd like to welcome
you to the August 8th meeting

of the
Orlando City Council.

We're going to...

ISAAC: So we went to the city
council to get a commitment to
100% renewable energy by 2050;

we were hopeful.

Every single person in
that room was in support.

I don't think that's
ever happened at a city
commission meeting before,

where absolutely everybody
is in favor of something.

DYER: All those
in favor of the motion
indicate so by saying aye.

Those opposed, and so the
motion carries unanimously.

(applause).

ISAAC: And they voted yes!

REPORTER (over TV):
The City of Orlando has
committed to running on

clean renewable energy by 2050.

ISAAC: And that was the
whole reason we started
is we needed a win.

We need a positive momentum.

We needed to say this is the
kind of community we could be.

NARRATOR: Commitments to
renewable energy are being
made around the country.

More than 75 cities
throughout the U.S.
have already committed

to using 100% renewable
energy by midcentury.

To help make this happen
cities are developing
innovative solutions.

CASTRO: One of the things
that we're doing in Orlando
is testing floating solar,

what we call
floating voltaics.

There's 9,000 man-made ponds,
that have been created to
capture storm water from the

streets and we've started
to test out in some of these
ponds how to put floating

solar on top of them.

We've also turned
on one of the largest
installations that we have,

it's a 12-megawatt
community solar farm, and
it was literally over decades

a landfill where we
were turning coal ash after
being burned and burying it.

And we realized that
after that was capped,

that that was a prime
spot for us to put solar up.

We're also transitioning
our downtown bus
rapid transit system to

100% electric
zero-emission buses.

Another high priority
is the energy-food nexus.

We're shipping
food all around the world,
all around the country,

15 to 1,800
miles per person,
per plate, per day.

And in fact, people
have done research that
food systems contribute

as much as a third of
global climate change.

So we were like, all right,

one, we need to localize it,
as local as possible.

Two, we need
to use zero-emission
transportation to build,

maintain and distribute that
produce to the end users,
markets and restaurants.

And that's the epiphany that
we had with Fleet Farming.

PERRY (off screen):
So starting out, we're
going to go ahead and

have a group that's
going to harvest and

a group that's
going to turn a plot.

CASTRO: There's 40 million
acres of lawns across this
country that are absorbing

a lot of the water resources,
that we're spraying a lot of
fertilizers on and causing

other problems and that
we could convert into
edible landscapes that

can produce our
food in our neighborhood.

Not just local
but hyper-local.

PERRY: Ok so I'm going
to go ahead and show
you how to harvest.

Basically, a homeowner
pays a startup fee.

We farm their front
lawns with the help
of the community during

our biweekly swarm rides.

We ride bikes out and
we teach the community how
to farm these front lawns.

CASTRO: It's a win-win
situation across the board.

The homeowner who provides
the land is actually
getting all of that produce

free of charge as
much as they want.

The excess that's grown,
we're harvesting and
we're taking it to market.

PERRY (off screen): We
got some heirloom carrots,
watermelon radishes and beets.

WOMAN (off screen):
Awesome!

CASTRO (off screen):
Now we're scaling.

We're in West Oakland,
California, we're
operating in Jacksonville,

we have
two branches in Orlando,
so we're pretty excited.

NARRATOR: The pioneering
efforts in cities like Orlando
are essential to achieving

the goals of the
Paris Climate Accord.

Orlando itself is not
only bracing for an influx of
people from southern Florida,

but because of major
hurricanes, which devastated
the Caribbean in 2017,

refugees from U.S. territories
have already arrived.

REPORTER (over TV):
215,000 people have
arrived in Florida alone.

Many survivors are flying to
Orlando International Airport

where there's
a resource center.

CASTRO: Since Irma and Maria,
we've seen now 300,000 people
flee to our city and

that's been a big challenge
in terms of education for the
kids, putting them into schools,

finding reliable,
affordable housing
for them and then of

course finding them jobs
to sustain their families.

EMMANUEL: We have a lot
of loved ones who came to
the United States.

And went to
different states.

But there are still
some in Puerto Rico who
wish to leave and come here.

CRISTAL: There was
a lot of devastation
throughout Puerto Rico.

Still there are
other areas that still
don't have electricity.

It's a long time to
be living day-to-day.

Not knowing what
you're going to eat.

Not being able to
sustain your children.
Because you think about them.

They don't understand
the situation,

as much as you
try to explain it to them.

LUBBER (off screen): The
hurricane season of 2017,

we saw flooding that
has absolutely devastated

Puerto Rico,
Houston, Texas, hundreds
of billions of dollars'

worth of damage to
people's lives, their homes.

REPORTER (over TV):
Hurricane Harvey barreling
into the Texas coastline as

a category four storm
with 130 mile-an-hour winds.

REPORTER (over TV):
It's not just a
little bit of rain.

Look at this, feet of rain
is what we're communicating,
not inches but feet.

CLEETUS (off screen):
There are now studies that show
that the extreme rainfall that

accompanied that hurricane was
made much more likely because
of climate change.

MANN: Those warm ocean
temperatures meant that
there were record amounts of

moisture within that storm,
moisture that was available
to produce the worst flooding

event on record in
the United States.

REPORTER (over TV):
For a third brutal
day, torrential rain,

people rescued
from flooded homes.

WOMAN (over TV):
There's water everywhere.
We have nowhere to go.

I have all my children.
I lost everything.

I have nothing but the
clothes on my back.

MANN (off screen): These
storms are now about 20%
more destructive because

of the overall
warming of the ocean,

which thus far
is less than a degree Celsius.

Imagine what two
degrees Celsius gives us?

REPORTER (over TV):
The Caribbean has just
been getting hammered.

Here's storm number
four in just weeks.

REPORTER (over TV): The winds
are going to be devastating.

CRISTAL (off screen):
We were left without
electricity or water.

We had to find water,
food, gasoline,

transportation
and communication.

CLEETUS (off screen):
These types of extreme weather

events exacerbate
already existing challenges so
in the case of

Puerto Rico the electricity
grid had been under-invested

in for a very long
period of time.

And then this hurricane
came along and pretty
much decimated it.

And that meant not just
that people lost power
but when they lost power,

people lost lives.

NARRATOR: Puerto Rican
officials originally put
the death toll at 64.

But nearly a year later,
raised that estimate to
almost 3,000 people when

accounting for the extended
loss of electricity
and the lack of food,

water and healthcare
after the storm.

Yet in the face of tragedy,
a remote town of 18,000 in
the mountains of Puerto Rico,

showed how renewable energy
can be a life-saving solution.

MAN (off screen): We
are transmitting live from
Casa Pueblo Radio AM 1020,

the station that kept
you informed both during
and after Hurricane Maria.

We continue with listening
to some beautiful music
on Casa Pueblo Radio,

the big hitter of Puerto Rico.

DEYA (off screen):
Casa Pueblo is a
community-based organization.

We're actively working
to change our energy
landscape in Adjuntas.

Everything in Casa Pueblo
runs on clean energy.

The radio, the production
of our brand of coffee.

We have cinema theater
run on solar power.

So our installation
from being, let's say
10% solar power in 1999

now is fully solar power.

After the hurricane,
the whole energy system
collapsed in Puerto Rico,

but not in Casa Pueblo.

In Casa Pueblo we opened
right away and it was
used as an energy oasis.

MARTINEZ-SANCHO (off screen):
Everyone saw Casa Pueblo
as the place to look for help

because power was
not anywhere around.

I remember coming
to Casa Pueblo and see how
many people will do the line

for the solar lamps.

At least we could give
them an option, a space,
to solve their problems.

DEYA: If you look around, most
of the suffering is related
to the energy component:

food storage, medicine,
medical treatment,

so we decided to do the solar
urgency system for 10 houses,

with special needs, to
give a small solar system and

enough energy to run
special equipment like
the dialysis machine

or the respiratory machine.

And that's Maria's house.

DEYA: How did Hurricane Maria
affect your life?

MARIA: With
respect to my health,
it's been very difficult.

I am a dialysis
patient and a survivor
of open-heart surgery.

It's a bit difficult because
I didn't have electricity

to use my dialysis machine.

I began to swell up because of
the toxins in my body.

DEYA (off screen):
When Casa Pueblo
approached you

and first proposed
the possibility of
installing a solar power system

in your home, what did
you think at the time?

MARIA: For me, it
was a great gift,

a great joy.

Because I was able to
have solar power for my
machine and get my dialysis.

Thanks to God, yes.

DEYA (off screen):
In Puerto Rico,

we have to move away
from fossil fuel because

it's damaging our island,
our nature and others.

So we are pushing for
energy self-sufficiency
for the country,

but in order to do that,
the first level is to reach
that goal, at a local level,

at a community level, to build
from the bottom up and to
teach others in other parts of

Puerto Rico that we can
free our self by engaging
in these alternative

that are within our reach.

LOCKE (off screen): Renewable
energy is a core strategy
for building resilience

right now in the Caribbean.

I think it's in every circle
of conversation and dialogue,
whether you be at the highest

levels of government or at
the local community level.

And so several islands
including the Virgin Islands,
Dominica and many others are

using the recent hurricanes
in the Caribbean as a catalyst
for replacing 20-century

fossil fuel grids with
21st century renewable grids.

These islands do not want
to be referred to as the
victims of climate change

and instead are really the
ones bold enough to
provide the solutions.

NARRATOR: Although Caribbean
countries and other small
island nations collectively

produce less than 1% of
global greenhouse gases, some
are an important testing ground

and a model for the
future of clean energy.

Scientists say that we
must scale up renewables
to meet the Paris targets.

But how fast we must act,
and what technologies we use,
are the critical questions.

TAYLOR (off screen):
We have to reduce the
global consumption of

fossil fuels by about 80% by
the year 2050 and completely

remove them from
the global economy only

a couple of
decades thereafter.

And then figure a way
to get greenhouse gases
out of the atmosphere.

That is a huge challenge.

ROBERTS: If you map out
what it's going to take
to hit those targets,

you basically have
two broad choices and which
of those choices you choose

probably depends on
who's making your model.

If you're an oil company,

like Shell for
instance just came out
with a scenario that shows

in the short term continued
rise in fossil fuels and then

around mid-century
this plunge in
emissions and then,

the crucial bit, in the
latter half of the century,

implementing technologies
which will involve capturing
and burying megatons of

carbon, what they
call negative emissions.

But maybe we shouldn't bet
the future of the human race
on a gigantic mega-project

that we have not started
and do not know if we can do.

Maybe that's
not a good gamble.

But if you look at
the scenarios that show us
hitting our targets without

negative emissions,
it involves in the short
term a very substantial,

rapid decline in carbon
emissions, which means
you've got to start

deploying the technology
you have as fast as possible.

MANN (off screen): So
we need to be putting
our foot on the renewable

energy acceleration pedal

because if we can act at the
municipal level, at the city
level, at the state level,

then we can actually make a
sizable contribution towards
reducing our carbon emissions.

NARRATOR: Renewable energy
is being embraced as a real
alternative to fossil fuels.

As their costs plummet,
the movement continues
to grow and many in America's

heartland are
reaping the benefits.

(mooing).

HOGG (off screen): Iowa
is a very beautiful state.

Contrary to what most
people think, it's not flat.

It's got rolling, beautiful
hills, it's a very
green state in the summer.

We have great communities;

we have great people,
very friendly.

JOHANNSEN: Politically,
Iowa's been really interesting.

It's been a purple state
for a really long time.

It voted for
Al Gore, George W. Bush,

voted for Obama
twice and then went for Trump.

HOGG: People like to be
independent, self-reliant.

Agriculture is the
backbone of the state.

It's just an incredibly
important industry,
economically, to our state,

but it's much more than
economics, it's about culture
and it really is something

that we take great pride in.

YODER: I have probably
a herd of 60 cows, with
50 milking at any time.

It's a hard way to make
a living and a good
way to raise a family.

I was born in Kalona here.

My parents and
grandparents were all farmers.

MCKENNA (off screen):
Kalona is a small community.

You know, when I took
the job I really didn't
know much about the history

of the background here.

You know, people
don't move from here.

They know their cousins
and their cousins' cousins.

So you've got to
watch who you talk to.

Everybody knows everybody.

We're a small
rural electric co-op.

The co-op's owned
by the people and
we have 620 customers.

This is the shop of the
hundred-year-old co-op.

Yeah. These are
just all our customers.

HOGG (off screen):
Rural electric co-ops
were a creation of the

New Deal to make sure that

electricity would be extended
to people in small rural
communities where previously

they didn't have electricity.

In Iowa, rural electric
co-ops provide electricity
for about one eighth of

the state's population
and Warren has taken his
rural electric co-op and

been a solar energy leader
representing a conservative
community in Iowa.

MCKENNA (off screen):
Initially we took an early
vision to cut our outside energy

purchases by 25%.

Solar kind of popped
into the picture in 2008.

We wanted to sell one panel.

If you wanted one
panel, you could call us
and we'll just try this.

Well, in the first week
the flyer went in the bill,
we sold twice the number of

panels that we planned for.

So with Leighton, some solar
had started to build out
around him and he decided,

hey, this would work.

So he tried one array
and then next thing you know
they're putting in two or three

and those
aren't cheap arrays.

When you're a farmer,
you spend that kind
of money, it has to work

and that's
why they come here.

YODER (off screen):
We use a lot of
electricity on a dairy farm.

You use it to cool
the milk for the cows.

You use it to run the
milking machines and a lot
of motors that you have.

We have it fixed here with
our little cooperative that it
pays you to have solar energy.

You're always looking to
cut some more costs so you
have some profits left over.

Most people are green,
that kind of green.

MCKENNA (off screen):
You get this "A-ha" moment
when somebody comes in,

that's what you,
your perspective,

you think they're very, very
conservative politically and

yet then they buy into this.

Once our solar started
to grow around here,

Ryan from the henhouse
had approached us on solar.

MILLER (off screen):
Here at Farmers Hen House
we're a specialty egg company,

so we produce and distribute
organic and free-range eggs.

We process anywhere from
900,000 to a million eggs
a day, which is a lot.

Energy is one of our large
costs of operation, but all
the power all the time it's

100% from us here
and is completely solar.

When the solar field
was first built it was the
largest solar field in Iowa.

MCKENNA (off screen): Locally
we generate 20% on average
for the year with solar.

A lot of Sundays
we're 100% solar.

HOGG: Warren has worked
with that community and
they are leading the way.

Other rural electric co-ops
have stepped up and have
invested in solar power.

NARRATOR: Across the country,
from North Carolina to Texas,
nearly 200 rural electric

co-ops have embraced renewable
energy and it's paying off.

And solar is not the
only renewable that's
being adopted in Iowa.

Wind energy has become
a real powerhouse.

Iowa currently gets
37% of its electricity
from renewables.

If every other state did
the same, the reduced
emissions would get the

U.S. nearly all the way
to its 2025 Paris goals.

BYERS: Iowa is number one
in the country in terms of
percentage of electricity

that's generated by wind.

And we've had major
investments by our
utility companies.

Just in June of 2018,
MidAmerican Energy announced
an additional $900 million

in wind generation
investment here in Iowa.

And with that investment, that
raises their total investment

in wind energy to
almost 13 billion.

So all these massive
investments in wind energy
have been significant drivers

in terms of
attracting the tech industry.

Within the last few years,
Microsoft and Facebook created
data centers in this region

and just most
recently Apple announced a
data center investment

here in Central Iowa.

JANOUS (off screen): A single
data center is about the size
of four football fields

and they consume
a lot of energy.

One of the things that led
Microsoft to Iowa was the
renewable energy resource

that's available there.

JACKSON (off screen): Clean
power these days is actually
cheaper in a lot of places.

So it was really important
for Apple because our goal
is to make sure that this is

sustainable in every way.

And economic sustainability
is one of those ways.

LUBBER (off screen):
There are hundreds of
companies saying we are going

to build our goals
around staying in
the Paris Agreement

to address climate change
and go into 100% renewables.

There are also hundreds
of financial leaders and
investors who are putting

nearly a trillion dollars'
worth of commitments into
clean energy and clean

transportation, in
innovative technologies.

And those are people
who aren't making economic
commitments because they think

they're going to lose money.

They're in it to make money
and that's a good thing.

This is about
building our economy.

BYERS: People in Iowa are very
proud of what's happened with
the wind energy industry and

what it's meant in terms
of our ability to diversify
our economy and we've really

focused on making this a
place where people want to be
and have great opportunities.

FAITH (off screen):
Pretty much all through
high school it's kind of

you're given a little
bit of a negative aspect on

like college cause
you're told you're going

to have so much debt,
you're going to have
to be getting loans,

you're going to have to be
paying for all of this and

you're probably not going
to get a job right as soon
as you're done with college.

But as far
as like wind energy,

my loans will be covered
because as soon as I'm

out of school I'm
almost guaranteed a job.

DAN: We have a two-year
program and it results
in an associate in

applied science degree
in wind technology.

And my daughter, Faith,
is actually interested
in technology fields and

so she made the
decision that wind was
where she wanted to be.

She's always been
one of those people
that likes excitement

and likes to do things
that are a little bit different.

FAITH (off screen):
I have a few friends
that are girls that are

getting interested in it
because I hype it up a lot.

DAN: We're going to
go ahead, and we have the
tower shut down right now,

we're going to go
ahead and plan to bring
our bags up the tower.

Make sure the equipment's
all safe and stowed.

JESSIE: I'm passionate about
renewable energy and a
cleaner earth and job growth

is 100% so
that's job security.

It's just everything about
this field seemed to kind of
fit with me and my lifestyle.

Going up our turbine
the first time was a
little nerve wracking,

but you just kind
of power through it and
you get so used to it

and then once you
get to the top, it
makes it so worth it.

DAN (off screen): If
the United States had
an energy goal of 20%

of our energy nationwide
being drawn from wind energy,

we'll need about 230,000
people supporting this industry

and we just
broke over 100,000.

This is an opportunity
that hasn't been available in
America for a long, long time.

Our students are walking
out with a two-year associate
in applied science degree

and they're making
$50-90,000 right out the door.

It's very rare that you have
anything on an industrial or
utility scale that doesn't

really have a downside,
so we create lots of jobs,
we're really good for the

environment, and we produce
the kind of energy that gets
us to that next best idea

because we can
do what the coal-fired and
gas-fired plants do without

having all the
nasty side effects.

GRASSLEY: There's just no way
that I would have predicted
all of these things about

wind energy would turn
out to be so good for
jobs in rural America.

It's projected in
a few years we could have
17,000 jobs connected

with wind energy in Iowa.

NARRATOR: In 2017,
there were approximately
10.3 million people employed

in the renewable energy
industry worldwide.

Nearly 800,000 of those
jobs were in the U.S.,

which is 15 times more
than coal mining jobs.

This trend is in part
due to the plummeting
cost of renewables,

but despite the continuing
growth in this sector,

the Trump administration
aims to prop up
fossil fuels including coal.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Today I'm
taking bold action to follow
through on that promise;

my administration is putting
an end to the war on coal.

REPORTER (over TV): Well
the Trump administration is
expected to announce a plan

today to roll back
rules on coal-fired power
plants in an effort to

revive the coal industry.

CLEETUS (off screen): The
Trump administration is now
trying, in all sorts of ways,

to prop up the coal industry,
and by the coal industry,
this is not about coal workers,

this is about coal
CEOs and their profits.

MURRAY: The world needs our
coal and we will do just
fine if we get rid of the

regulations and get the
government out of picking
winners and losers.

HOLDEN: Bob Murray, the
Executive of Murray Energy,
one of the biggest coal

companies in the country, has
sent over multiple documents
to the White House and to

various agencies basically
laying out what he wants

to happen in the
regulatory world.

And one of those memos he
had sixteen recommendations,
including exiting the

Paris Agreement, and the
administration has either
started or completed nearly

everything on that list.

CLEETUS: This is deeply
harmful to the interest of
the American public and while

there is some attention
to it in the media, what I'm
worried about is that so many

of these things are
happening under the radar.

NARRATOR: While the Trump
Administration works to boost
the fossil fuel industry,

climate change resulting from
the burning of those fuels
is increasingly being felt,

including in Iowa,
the breadbasket of the world.

HOGG (off screen): We have
got to safeguard our farms from

climate-related
disasters in the future.

Iowa is the food
reservoir for the world.

When there are people who
have crop failures and they're
facing very serious problems,

we're very proud of
the fact that we have
surplus to export.

And it's a really
important role that
we play in the world.

What happens if we can't keep
up with production because of
climate related catastrophes?

Big drought, big flood.

If we were to have a
catastrophic multi-year
crop failure in Iowa,

it would be utterly
devastating for the world and
we've seen more than a 40%

increase in large
precipitation events in Iowa,

and we had the flood of
2008 here in Cedar Rapids.

REPORTER (over TV):
20,000 people have been
evacuated from the area.

More than 400 city
blocks are still underwater.

HOGG (off screen): 15 inches
of rain over the entire Cedar
River Basin over two weeks.

And we had a flood stage
of 31 feet, more than 10 feet
higher than any previous flood.

It's just unheard of.

Other communities,
up river, it was worse.

SWINTON (off screen):
So, okay.

This is the marker
I wanted you to see.

This is a marker that we
put up for the flood of 2008.

This is how
high the water got.

Now I'm, I'm six feet tall,
so this shows ya.

This comes up to my,
to my shoulders and
this is how deep it was.

VANCE: This was the garage,
the closet, there's a
electrical panel and furnace.

We had six and a half foot
of water on the main level
of the house for over a week.

Stuff that was in our bedroom
wound up in the garage and
stuff that was in the garage

wound up in the bedroom
and then lots of it
just floated away

and I imagine that's
in Louisiana now.

Yeah, it's kind of
spooky being in here.

In 2008, I wasn't going
to rebuild my house and
then everybody said, well,

that'll never happen again.

It's never happened
in 150 years, so we did, but
then in 2016 it did it again.

REPORTER (over TV): Right
now thousands of Iowans have
packed their belongings and

evacuated and can only hope
that their home is spared
by the rising floodwater.

VANCE: It's kind of like
playing poker and I lost.

SWINTON (off camera): We
basically had two 500-year
floods within eight years.

Now we're thinking, well,
now we need to do something
because these 500-year floods

aren't happening
every 500 years.

They're happening
with more frequency.

The rain is so much
heavier, so rather than get
four or five-inch rains,

now we'll get a 14-inch rain.

TAKLE: What's causing most of
our flooding is driven by the
fact that the Gulf of Mexico,

where we get a lot
of our moisture in the
spring and early summer,

is getting warmer.

The more we
heat the atmosphere,

the more we evaporate
water from the oceans.

When we increase the amount
of water in the atmosphere,

to the atmosphere,
that's like fuel.

That's like gasoline almost
and that's what leads to
the intensity of these heavy

rain events that
we're seeing now.

VANCE (off screen): I
don't think I'm going to
be leaving anytime soon.

Especially in times
like this you need a
support system and family

and friends have been that.

You know, they've
stepped up way beyond
my own expectations.

They didn't need to
take time out of their life
to come and help set rafters

or stuff but they did.

HOGG (off screen): It is
amazing to this day that
nobody died in the flood and

that's actually kind
of a testament to Iowans.

People want to be involved.

People want to
take tangible action.

They want to help,
and I've said since that, we
have to have the same spirit

of the sandbag about
safeguarding our people and our
property from future disasters,

and that includes
getting our arms around
this climate problem.

The flood of 2008 raised the
awareness of climate change in
Iowa and I hope we don't have

to wait for everybody
to feel the disaster before
we decided to take action as

a country on climate change.

NARRATOR: The earth's
average temperature
has risen approximately

one degree Celsius since
the Industrial Revolution,

which has created
the impacts being felt today.

The Paris agreement
aims to keep global
average temperature

well below
2 degrees Celsius.

But current international
pledges won't get us there.

So without increased
commitments
and fulfilling them,

we could see a projected rise
of as much as 3.2 degrees
by the end of the century.

But if U.S. states,
cities and businesses cut U.S.
emissions by 2% a year,

they would achieve more than
a 75% reduction by 2050.

This would put the U.S.
on track to meet its goals
under the Paris agreement,

helping avoid a
world dangerously altered
by climate change.

MANN: You know, what does
the world start to look like?

We don't have to use our
imagination because Hollywood

has already given
us those depictions.

Some of the dystopian
visions of the future that
Hollywood has provided are

not unlike the actual
scenarios that national
security experts

are gaming out as
a worst-case scenario.

GOODMAN: We know that climate
change is a threat multiplier

for instability
around the world.

We've seen that it's even
now a catalyst for conflict
in various regions of

the world across the
Middle East, across Africa,
across parts of Asia.

We're seeing increased
instability and unrest
fomented by extreme storms,

lack of water, too
much rain, drought.

All of these
factors are affecting the
stability of the planet

and people where they live.

REPORTER (over TV):
More than 103 million
Americans are under heat alert.

MANN (off screen):
We've seen devastating
heat waves in recent years,

not just around the
country but around the world.

REPORTER (over TV): In India,
more than 2,000 people have
died from the extreme heat.

MANN (off screen):
These are things that we
predicted decades ago and

now in every
sector of our lives,

climate change constitutes
an existential threat.

And people everywhere
are dealing with it
on the front lines.

HYATT (off screen):
When I was in my 20s, I got
into the business as a farrier.

And so, went to
horseshoeing school and have
been doing it ever since.

Good boy. Good boy.

I feel like I work
for the animal first
and the owner second,

so I have an obligation
to take care of them.

HYATT (off screen): I
was coming back from LA with
my helper when we first heard

about the fire and driving

into Santa Paula
and I could see it.

FIREMAN (over radio): We
have a fire that's established
behind multiple residences.

Actually the fire is right
near the power lines there.

FIREMAN 2 (over radio):
Engine 31 is fighting
that fire right now.

FIREMAN 3 (over radio):
You're going to need other
resources to head west.

MAN (off screen):
Holy (bleep).

Get out of here. Go, go.
Get out. It's time to go.

HYATT (off screen):
We thought we had all
this time to get in,

get the animals out
and we thought we probably

had at least an hour.

Well, I was wrong.

I called my daughters
and asked if they could
meet me at the house.

I needed all the help I
could get to make sure we
got all the animals out.

I have a three-horse trailer
and I had seven horses there.

The first load of horses,
I got my girls' ponies out
and my boyfriend's horses out.

Took them to the fairgrounds
where everyone would
evacuate their animals to.

This fire happened so
fast, hundreds of horses
needed to be evacuated.

There was just a
mass exodus of animals.

I'd remember telling
the girls, if we can't
get the horses out,

just get them across
the bridge and let them go.

At least they have a chance.

I kind of just had to not
think about it and think okay,
they're going to be fine.

They're going to be fine.

We got back to the mouth
of the canyon and the fire
is going over the road.

I just had to trust
that everything was
going to be okay.

A gal who was still out
in the canyon saw my three
horses trotting up the road

in the smoke and she was
able to get my horses
in her horse trailer.

HYATT (off screen): Not
a lot survived that fire.

It was, it burned
so hot that everything
just liquified.

To not be able to save
anything was just really hard.

Generations of collections
that, you know, that my,
my grandfather started.

That just broke my heart.

You know each month that goes
by it gets, it's supposed
to get a little easier.

But um.

NARRATOR: As average global
temperatures have risen
due to climate change,

so has the number and
frequency of large wildfires.

Since the 70s, the wildfire
season has grown from five
months to almost year-round.

Scientists suggest this is
in part due to the increased
melting of sea ice in the

Arctic that is changing the
Northern Hemisphere Jetstream,
which has veered north in the

Western U.S., intensifying
drought and dry
conditions in California.

BROWN: The drought
dries up the soil,
dries up the vegetation,

so now the moisture
that used to prevent forest
fires is now turned into

an accelerant of forest fires.

REPORTER (over TV):
The fires are creating
their own weather.

Firenado spinning at
150 miles per hour, forcing
immediate evacuation.

NARRATOR: Such severe
wildfires leave barren
landscapes in their wake that

are less able to
absorb rainwater,

creating an elevated risk
of floods and mudslides.

MAN: Oh my God!

NARRATOR: The mudslides,
combined with almost 9,000
wildfires that burned through

California in 2017, took
65 lives and cost nearly 12
billion dollars in damages.

Thousands of people were left
without homes as the fires
destroyed over a million acres

and 10,000 structures
throughout the state.

MANN: California is on the
front lines of dealing with
the devastating impacts of

climate change.

The interesting thing is
they're also on the frontlines
of solving the problem.

ROBERTS (off screen):
It's got one of the most
ambitious renewable mandates,

50% by 2030,

and one of the most
ambitious emission reduction
goals and you know,

it's leading on
electric vehicles.

It's leading on
electricity storage.

I think California is kind
of giving other states
a model to rally around,

but the state is still
funded by fossil fuels.

GARCETTI (off screen):
A lot of people think
of Los Angeles

as Hollywood, Tinseltown.

They think it's an
entertainment capital,
which it is now,

but we weren't built because
of the entertainment industry.

We were an oil town.

The third largest oil
field in America is right
underneath us right now.

SARMIENTO: California
across the country and
around the world is seen

as a climate leader,
as an environmental leader.

However, what we're
seeing on the ground
is continued approval

and permitting of fossil fuel
projects in local communities.

GUZMAN (off screen):
I've basically lived in
Wilmington my entire life.

We have the oil field
located right next to my
house and right across the

street from
my grandma's house.

Me and my brothers and
like the neighborhood kids,

we grew up like right
next to this oil field,

we'd literally climb this
tree when we were little,
we didn't know what it was.

So we would
just play in there.

Living next door to
this, we experienced a
lot of sulfuric fumes.

There's like a
thickness in the air.

And I realized
like, oh, it's the
fumes from the oil rigs.

Sometimes you get headaches.

I remember when we were
younger, my brother would
get nosebleeds for no reason.

And my grandma, she
has a heart condition.

I just, I don't want anyone
else or anyone else's children
to have to live near that.

SARMIENTO (off screen):
What we see here are
historically disadvantaged and

low-income communities
of color impacted by
toxic industries.

We have high rates of
asthma; we have high,
high rates of cancer.

We have high
rates of leukemia.

In the neighboring baseball
field, we have seen a leukemia
fundraiser poster go up one

time after another and
that's nothing any community
should have to go through.

Everyone has the
right to breathe clean air.

NARRATOR: A recent study found
that people who live within
500 feet of oil and gas wells

have an 8 times higher
lifetime risk of cancer.

Another study found
that more than 17 and a half
million people throughout the

U.S. live within a mile of
oil and gas infrastructure.

ROBERTS (off screen):
California is trying
to juggle these things.

They want the revenue from
the fossil fuel sales, because
if they keep it in the ground

as the activist keeps
saying, that's a huge chunk
out of the state budget,

which would harm
renewable energy efforts.

Right? So there's
a real dilemma.

BROWN (off screen):
Most of the oil resources
must be left in the ground.

Now the question
is how do we get there
and how do we do that?

And I think we can but we can
only do it by accelerating
the alternatives and

changing the lifestyles
and the way our economies
are currently constituted.

GARCETTI (off screen): You
see increasingly here in LA,

kind of a vision of the future,

but also the
challenge of the future.

And, and for us that
means our response has to
be comprehensive as well.

Probably what we're
best known for is our
soul-crushing traffic.

We're the car capital of
America, if not the world.

GERRARD (off screen):
Because of the history
of smog in Los Angeles,

California has been allowed
to have stronger fuel economy
standards for motor vehicles.

But the Trump administration
is moving to weaken the
nationwide standards for

motor vehicle emissions
and is also moving
to take away California's

ability to set
its own standards.

REPORTER (over TV):
The Trump administration
is moving towards cutting

tougher fuel standards,
and challenging California
which sets the toughest fuel

standards in the country that
12 states currently follow.

BROWN: The emissions from
transportation, cars and
trucks is going up and the

federal government at
the same time is now attacking
our standards and is attempting

to weaken them,
and in effect,

add more climate
pollutants to the atmosphere.

So that's a very bad idea and
we're going to fight that,

and I think we'll be very
successful in stopping that.

FABER-O'CONNOR (off screen):
Transportation is about a
third of our total

greenhouse gas
emissions in Los Angeles,

and we know that
in order to meet our climate
goals and really uphold the

Paris Climate Agreement,
we have to decarbonize
our transportation sector.

GARCETTI (off screen): We
now are looking to rebuild the
most ambitious public transit

system in the country.

So voters passed a
permanent tax on
themselves that will build

a new fifteen rapid
transit lines.

And I think most people
don't know how important
Los Angeles and Long Beach

are to this nation's economy.

They account for
about 40% of all the seaborne
goods that come into America.

Those huge ships that
feed our stores come in
right here to Los Angeles,

and each one of
them is the equivalent
of tens of thousands

of greenhouse gas emissions.

But we're taking
aggressive actions.

We want to go to
zero emission ports.

We see the technology in
trucks coming, we see the new
locomotives that are looking

at pure electric power,
and we're building out the
infrastructure for these large

ships to be able to plug in
and go off of electric power.

GARCETTI (off screen):
And then the third thing is,

we're trying to
make sure everybody is a
part of the solar economy.

FABER-O'CONNOR: We have
taken the bull by the horns.

We're the number one
solar city in America.

Just in the city alone,
basically on rooftops,

we have enough solar
to power over 82,000 homes.

And equally important, we're
making sure that we have
programs that aren't just for

the wealthiest of our
residents, but everybody.

So there's solar equity
throughout Los Angeles.

ANDRADE (off screen):
Growing up,

my role models were out
there on the street, you know,

especially in east LA,
it's one of the largest
gang-populated areas.

So of course I'll be
running around the streets
at night, little teenager,

little kid,
not knowing any better.

I had everything: guns,
drugs, just getting
in trouble, using.

If I wasn't selling drugs,
it's me robbing people
or stealing from homes,

breaking into them.

And that's how it all started.

May 10th, 2004, I went
to prison for 10 years.

I was 18 years old.

Two strikes, I
didn't expect to get home.

So when that day finally
happened, where, hey,
you're getting released,

to me it was surreal.

This is finally happening,
like I made it, you know,
like God, after all this time.

You know, I had nieces
born, nephews born
that I never even seen

or met and you
know what I mean?

So that's just, yeah.

Finally got to meet
them when I got out.

I literally thought
I'd probably be back in
prison or dead already.

But then I got
the opportunity with
Homeboy Industries,

which is the largest
gang intervention
program in the U.S.

Solar happened to
be one of the programs
that was offered to me.

And I said, yeah,
sure, like, let's do this.

And I was like,
what's a solar panel?

That's how it got started.

I just fell in love with it.

Now I'm the Volunteer
Training Coordinator
for Grid Alternatives,

Greater Los Angeles.

Salvador,
what's goin' on, man?

KADISH: Our mission
is to bring the benefits of
renewable energy technology

to underserved communities.

We're able to have
people from the very
communities we serve,

come out and get job
training on the
installations themselves.

I've worked with people
who have come from prison
and within, you know,

a year or two, are in
a management position at a
residential solar company.

You know, they're going
from incarceration into
being entrepreneurs.

MAN: There's going to be
a lot to learn today.

We are going to be on sort
of a steep pitched roof.

So we definitely want
to go at a safe pace.

When in doubt, ask.

ANDRADE (off screen):
Last year we placed 87
individuals in solar careers.

And honestly, they're
dedicated because like
myself, once I got released,

I want to stay
out of trouble.

I just want to work.

I've been out of
prison five years.

And now everything
I do is for my son.

I want him
to have everything I
didn't have in life.

I want him to have it.

FABER-O'CONNOR (off screen):
In LA alone we have created
29,000 green jobs.

Over 80,000 solar
jobs in the state.

There's such a
big opportunity.

We're not afraid of
this being a job killer.

This is a job creator
and people are coming to
Los Angeles, to California,

to be part of that revolution.

BROWN (off screen):
With Trump saying he's
going to pull out of Paris,

the next best thing is
for states to take their

own action because the
climate is changing,

there's real impacts in
real time and this is an
existential threat to the

wellbeing of everyone
everywhere in the world.

NARRATOR: Since
the announcement to
withdraw from Paris,

states and governors around
the country have passed
legislation to join the

U.S. climate alliance and
uphold the commitments of
the Paris Climate Accord.

New Jersey recently introduced
a bill to join the alliance,

which would bring
its membership to 16
states plus Puerto Rico.

MUKHERJI (over PA):
Mr. Speaker, this bill if
passed and signed into law

will help protect
generations to come.

MR. SPEAKER (over PA):
Madam clerk open the
machine for a vote.

Senate bill 598 having
received 49 votes
in the affirmative,

23 votes in the negative
and zero abstentions, I
declare the bill passed.

Let the bill take the
usual course of passed bills.

NARRATOR: New Jersey's
decision to join the
U.S. Climate Alliance

was successful
due to a change in
New Jersey's leadership.

POTOSNAK: Right up there
with California and New York,
New Jersey's probably on target

to be the greenest
state in America.

And that happened
in just one election.

MURPHY: So help me God.

POTOSNAK: The difference
between our new
governor, Phil Murphy,

and Governor Chris Christie
couldn't be more clear.

It's like night and day.

Following Hurricane Sandy,
what we saw from Governor
Christie was just ignoring the

causes of climate
change and ignoring
things that we can do

to be more resilient
with natural systems.

CHRISTIE: It's not a crisis.

The climate's been
changing forever and
it will always change.

POTOSNAK (off screen):
It was disappointing,
but it was also wrong,

but I can tell
you for a fact the people
here in New Jersey,

they understand
the connection.

We were very, very
focused on making sure
the next governor,

whoever was
going to be elected,

was going to really
have strong plans to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.

MURPHY: A stronger and fairer
New Jersey accepts the sad
reality of climate change

and invests aggressively
in renewable energy
and it upholds the goals

of the
Paris Climate Accord.

POTOSNAK (off screen):
Since Governor Murphy has
come into office,

we saw a whirlwind
of action in a very
short period of time.

And I think we can take
it a step further, because
setting the bar with Paris

is an important step, but
I don't think anyone who sees
a bar just wants to get there.

We want to go and
reach even higher.

NARRATOR: The movement that's
working across the country
continues to gain momentum.

Since the days after the
Trump announcement to leave
the Paris Climate Accord,

the number of cities, states,
businesses and organizations
pledging to uphold the

agreement has
more than doubled.

And with initiatives that
are tracking the commitments
for real change in

our energy future,
the stakes and challenges
couldn't be clearer.

But even in places
grappling with the long
legacy of fossil fuels,

commitments to a clean energy
future are moving forward.

Regardless of
federal inaction.

PEDUTO: I couldn't disagree
with the president any
stronger and I say that as

somebody who lived
through the Pittsburgh of old.

Pittsburgh was the
center of heavy industry.

Coal and steel became
a part of its legacy.

It was a two-shirt town,
meaning that if you
worked in corporate

Pittsburgh in the 1940s,

you wore one shirt up
until lunchtime and then
you changed it because

of the amount of soot
that would get on it.

During the 50s and the 60s,
we were one of the wealthiest
cities in the United States.

And then by 1979,
it all collapsed.

Took 30 years between
1979 and 2009 to see
this city come back.

ERVIN: The city
had to reimagine itself as
a knowledge economy where

healthcare and education and
robotics really developed here
and now we're starting

to see the fruits
of those labors.

PEDUTO (off screen): There
was a whole different part of
Pittsburgh that was thinking

maybe our future doesn't
necessarily have to
be based upon the past.

And these were
the people that were looking
at technology and engineering

and understanding
it wasn't steel, it was
innovation that would be the

cornerstone from which we
would build a new Pittsburgh.

ERVIN: And now we're
in the position to reap some
of the benefits of those seeds

that were sown and
create the clean economy.

It's about changing
building codes, how we
plan our neighborhoods,

how we design our streets.

So whether you are developing
new energy-efficient housing
or you know, creating new,

clean energy generation
systems, this is
economic development.

This is innovation.

PEDUTO (off screen):
And today we are fully
committed to making that

transition to be at
100% renewable energy

at the city level,
a 50% reduction in
the amount of energy

we're using and a zero-landfill
waste policy by 2030.

It's an ambitious
goal, but it's also a
very practical goal.

This city is a
city of bridges.

We have more bridges
than most cities on earth.

As mayor, my job is to take
all the great things that I
remember from my childhood

about Pittsburgh and what it
was and make sure it gets to
the other side of the bridge

and then to be able to hand
it off to somebody, because I
believe that it's not just the

Pittsburgh's but it's
the other cities, it's the
institutions and the youth

that will help
to lead the world.

PROTESTORS: Take it the polls!

MAN: Take it the street!

PROTESTORS: Take it the polls!

IRIS (over PA):
This isn't just the
beginning of one march.

This is the start of us
taking control of our future.

(applause).

I started speaking out
because I felt like the youth
voice needed to be in the

discussion about these
issues that are directly
going to impact us.

And we are calling for
climate action because
this is zero hour.

(cheering).

This is zero hour to act
on climate change because
the clock is ticking.

But when you bring together
a group of diverse young
people from all different

backgrounds, we can really
come together as a movement
and take action because our

lives are at stake here.

EVA (off screen): I
think people in my generation
and the generation below

me see this as our future.

We see a viable path where
people are working and people
are installing solar panels

and wind turbines and we just
see that as where we're going.

It's not even a question.

CASTRO: You look at the facts.

The transformation
towards a renewable energy
future is the greatest

economic opportunity
of the 21st century.

SUH (off screen):
This is not a left state,
right state, blue state,

red state issue.

This is a fantastic
opportunity for communities
to revitalize themselves and

combat climate change
at the exact same time.

KADISH (off screen): If
climate change is going to
be addressed successfully,

everyone is going to need to
participate in the solutions
and that means not just

installing solar
on homes but moving people
into electric vehicles

that are powered
by that solar.

It means finding a way
for renters to benefit from
solar so that the gains

from this new
economy flow to everybody.

TAYLOR (off screen):
We have to move away
from fossil fuels.

One way to do that in
a fast and ambitious
fashion is to put a

price on
greenhouse gas emissions.

LUBBER (off screen):
And it's going to take
grappling with the reality

that we need to act now.

If we put it off, the
challenge gets bigger,
it gets greater.

We still need scale and
having policy at a federal
level is going to be

an imperative
to quicken the pace.

PEDUTO: And if we look at it
as an American Marshall Plan,
and we start to build out the

renewable energy industry,
we can exceed the goals
of the Paris Agreement.

POTOSNAK: The minimal
thing you should be doing is
getting out there and asking

candidates for office
and elected officials how
they're agreeing to tackle

a big problem
like climate change.

FABER-O'CONNOR (off screen):
We're all a resident of
somewhere,

so residents of cities
have a huge role to play.

That's where we can pull
the levers on things like
transportation decisions,

land use decisions, people
understanding where they
live, where they work,

how they get around.

This is their everyday
life that actually can
make a real difference.

GARCETTI: I believe that
we will be able to bring
the best of technology,

personal action, and
just the heart that
says, "this matters."

Long after we're going to be
gone, that our children and
our children's children will

have an Earth and a quality
of life that we can feel
proud that we left behind.

CLEETUS (off screen):
What I'm hopeful about
is that there are

so many people around
the world who are out there

saying that they want this
vision of a clean energy economy

and a future
that benefits all.

So what we need to do is
galvanize this movement, put
pressure on our political

leaders to do what we want
them to do, to live up to
their responsibility to us,

to our children and
our grandchildren.

GROUP: Our future!
Our planet!
Our future!

♪ This land is your land,
this land is my land ♪

♪ From the California
to the New York island ♪

♪ From the Redwood Forest,
to the gulf stream waters ♪

♪ This land was
made for you and me ♪

♪ As I was walking
that ribbon of highway ♪

♪ I saw above me
that endless skyway ♪

♪ I saw below me
that golden valley ♪

♪ This land was
made for you and me ♪

♪ I've roamed and rambled ♪

♪ And I followed my footsteps ♪

♪ To the sparklin' sands
of her diamond deserts. ♪

♪ And all around me
a voice was sounding ♪

♪ This land was
made for you and me ♪♪

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.