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They tell me I can save the world.

The orangutans, the dolphins,

the ocean, the rainforest,

and even humankind.

All I have to do is buy sustainable and fair products.

But that is a lie.

More and more people around the world are taking to the streets

to protest the way corporations make products

and behave on the market.

I've never been to any of those protests.

Since my childhood I've been striving for harmony.

I've always been very attentive.

I learned that honesty and politeness are important virtues.

And being well-dressed.

And now, as an average consumer, I want to know what I can do

to stop the destruction of nature by corporations.

Do I really just have to "shop the right way"?

That's why I decided to make this film

together with Kathrin Hartmann.

Werner!

Hi.

Great to have you here. - Great to see you.

That's where we're going. - Great. I'll have a look.

Kathrin has been working on the issue of sustainability for years.

I'll take you to the hotel and we'll get ready.

Exactly. We'll get dolled up.

How are you? - Great.

She is the top expert in greenwashing.

She recognizes when corporations are spreading disinformation

to create a green image for themselves.

On TV she levels harsh criticism at companies.

We first met five years ago

at a panel discussion on TV

after the release of my previous film "Plastic Planet".

We all feel awfully guilty.

Because we know exactly

what our way of living is doing to the world.

Many people have changed their buying habits.

It may not make a big difference, but we have to start somewhere.

The industry call us consumers, not citizens.

IS THERE AN ECO-FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE?

I'm not just a consumer. I'm a human being, a citizen.

Our journey starts in my home town.

Vienna has one of the highest qualities of living in the world.

There are hardly any social protests and almost no violent demonstrations.

This makes it a popular place to do business.

Today it's hosting an industrial sustainability event.

And using the "good cop, bad cop" method,

we want to look at how, where and when

industry is lying to us.

Christina, you look stunning tonight.

Hello. - This is Kathrin Hartmann.

She's a German author who's come here for the SEA Award.

I'm pleased to hear that.

She's the organizer of the SEA Award. - Oh, I see. He told me all about it.

Thanks for the invite. - He's a great promoter, right?

She's a book author and writes about sustainability issues.

And I thought I'd... - Bring us together.

I wanted to show her all these companies.

They are sustainable, right? - Of course!

We only support companies that fix the world, not destroy it.

I'm bowled over by your dress. - Thanks.

Is it sustainable? It definitely leaves a lasting impression!

Werner! You should know: sustainability is sexy.

Good evening. - Good evening.

This is about sustainability. It's about our environment.

And how we treat our planet

affects us in ways that sometimes we don't even think of.

Please welcome Mr. Marc Pacheco.

You know, I head the great fortune this year

of being at the White House,

when Pope Francis was there.

Everyone wants to be involved. Everyone wants the world to be healthy.

And thriving. Isn't that great? - Yes, absolutely.

But that doesn't change a thing.

But that's why we're here. - Really?

This is an award for industry to present their brightest green ideas.

So that this collective home that we all call

our planet

will be able to survive

for the generations that follow us.

Thank you.

I don't think any of these companies are big multinationals,

because they wouldn't give a shit.

But that's the guy from Berkshire Hathaway over there.

Warren Buffet's company, the fifth largest company in the world.

You're right. And it's surprising.

If Berkshire Hathaway actually took sustainability seriously...

But he is! He came to Vienna and he's here.

If so, they'd have to ditch their Coca-Cola stock

and get rid of their shares in Phillips 66.

They sold their oil shares, but now they're investing in gas stations.

That's because the oil prices are low now

and people are buying much more fuel, which is good for business.

Why is he here then?

We could ask him directly. - Why not?

Shall we go and ask him? - Let's go.

Werner Boote. Good evening. May I introduce Kathrin Hartmann?

Good evening. - How do you do.

Would you like to join us? - Yes, certainly.

That's great. Please, take a seat between us.

So, while we've got you here: Do you live an eco-friendly lifestyle?

Or do you not really care? - No, I do care. I take special care...

wherever it's possible, and where I've become aware of it.

But I think... - It's trendy to say that these days, right?

No, no!

I try to take great care about what I buy.

Do you also have a professional interest in the SEA Awards

which are all about sustainability?

Sure, sustainability is also a big issue for our company.

We are a large energy supplier in the US and in England.

We have also invested heavily

in the renewable energy sector.

And what about your investment in Phillips 66, in their gas stations and refineries?

That's supporting a mode of transport that isn't really sustainable.

Well... - Sorry.

Well, I wouldn't claim that it was done with sustainability in mind.

Berkshire is of course a for-profit corporation.

All corporations are for-profit companies.

Maximizing profits is their highest priority.

And their executive boards

are even required to make as much profit as possible.

Responsibility for sustainability is passed on to us, the consumers.

What's taking you so long?

I consider myself an average consumer

and prefer products with a sustainability label.

But I often catch myself

just grabbing whatever, out of convenience or lack of time.

You're driving me nuts, constantly checking the product details.

What's all that stuff in your trolley, Werner?

Pasta. Do you like pasta?

No. I'm vegetarian. - Then I'll take something else.

Vegetarian...

Penne.

With bacon.

I don't want any of this stuff. It's full of rainforest.

What's that supposed to mean? - It all contains palm oil.

Palm oil? - Yes, palm oil. Let's see.

But palm oil is nice. - Palm oil...

Palm trees, sun, beach... - Palm trees are beautiful in the jungle.

But they cut down the jungle to grow vast monocultures of oil palms.

Here. Unilever is the single largest user of palm oil in the world.

"Sustainably grown tomatoes."

Why don't you just buy tomatoes and make some soup?

Because it takes ten times as long.

That's no reason to destroy the rainforest. It's absurd.

I'm not destroying it just by buying that.

Pizza burger! What in the world is a pizza burger?

Pizza burger... There's no plastic. It's packed in cardboard and it's healthy.

Well, healthy... - Healthy!

It gives you energy... - And contains sugar, and white flour.

I knew it. - Palm fat.

Every second product in the supermarket has palm oil in it.

You can be sure that any processed product that contains fat has palm oil in it.

Because it's the cheapest fat in the world.

Look: "Unilever is committed to the sustainable production of palm oil."

Sustainable palm oil. - Which is what exactly?

It means... - You think they cuddle the rainforest

instead of destroying it?

There is no sustainable palm oil.

Why not? - It always requires deforestation.

Palm trees only grow where rainforest once grew. And all that land...

That's easy to say. How do you know if it's true?

We want to look at various industries in different countries,

so I buy a cheap around-the-world ticket.

Here too, I can prove my ecological awareness

and make a voluntary payment to offset the CO2 emissions.

It's true: such a huge plane produces tons of greenhouse gases.

But 100 euros for the first flight is a bit steep.

They certainly weren't able to offset much on this flight.

No, I don't want to eat that.

Palm oil. Really? You're enjoying this, aren't you?

You navigate, okay? - We're going to Jambi.

To Feri Irawan's office.

You'll like him. He's the hero of Sumatra.

A great fighter against the palm oil industry.

Just imagine: only two weeks ago there was a fire blazing here.

Everything was black with smoke.

120,000 people are being treated here for smoke inhalation.

Children inhaled the smoke and suffocated.

And all that smoke was created

just so you can have your M&Ms.

Don't let Feri see that. He'll get upset and I don't blame him.

Air pollution has reached record levels for the third day in Singapore

with the city-state blanketed in heavy smog

caused by illegal forest fires in nearby Indonesia.

By zooming in, the authorities can actually see the fires.

And they've already blamed eight companies

who have been clearing forests to make ways for plantations.

So cool! Look at the trees in a perfect line.

You see... - Because it's a monoculture.

Look in there and you'll see nothing.

What do you mean? - No animals or any other plants.

They kill the undergrowth with poison to make it easier to harvest the fruit.

Does this look like nature to you?

Yes. Green, healthy, natural. - Healthy?

Yes, it's green. - Sure, but what does it mean?

Green is just a colour.

It's in there.

Werner, nice meeting you. Feri.

How are you? - Hi. Kathrin. Nice to meet you.

So I heard, you're the fighter against the palm oil industry.

Is that right? - Yes.

So the big palm oil industry will not be very happy about Feri, hm?

That's true. They certainly don't like me.

They'd kill me if they could.

Let's be honest.

I give you two pills.

Are you taking one? I'll take the other one.

There's palm oil in it. - Werner, what are you doing?

That is made with the blood of Indonesians.

It disgusts me! - You see?

In Indonesia, only a very few people

profit from the palm oil industry.

Major corporations and people from abroad profit from it.

For example, through biofuels.

It's very dangerous when corporations

put pressure on governments worldwide.

This leads to the destruction of the forest in the developing world, like in Indonesia.

So palm oil is used for stuff no one really needs.

That's bullshit.

You, the rich, can afford anything!

No one has a right to coloured candy that doesn't nourish anyone.

People die for it, their land is stolen, forests are burned down.

They have nothing to eat. It's a myth that they get rich from this.

Do you really think anyone asks them:

"Can we please buy your land to grow palm trees?"

In my opinion, the palm oil industry

is a type of neo-colonialism,

introducing forced labour and cheap labour to Indonesia.

Here in Indonesia, the workers are cheap, so the profits are enormous.

But on the other hand, I always hear that

everything is sustainable

and the industry is green and paying attention.

After investigating the operations of several palm oil companies,

including Sinar Mas, Wilmar and others,

I can confirm that none of them produce sustainably.

Their actions have a major negative impact:

human rights violations,

violence against farmers and communities,

displacement, ecocide and poverty.

And what happened to the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil the last two weeks?

What's that?

The roundtable issues a certificate for sustainable palm oil.

It's a little palm symbol that's stuck on the packaging.

It's awarded by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil,

which was founded by the WWF and the palm oil industry.

The RSPO exists only

to make consumers in Europe believe

that everything here is legal.

The forest fires were never discussed, even though RSPO-certified Sinar Mas

burns forests to create new oil plantations.

Like two other companies, Ema and Jawi. They do exactly the same.

In a year with so many rainforest fires,

we want to hear what the industry has to say.

So we fly to the IPOC conference in Bali.

This is where the biggest palm oil producers in the world meet.

Feri won't be joining us.

If he did, we probably wouldn't be allowed in.

Hi. Are those the fruits from the palm tree? - Yes.

Can I eat it? - You can.

You want to try?

It has less fibre.

Now I'm well oiled. - Yeah, very good.

Indonesia's top politicians are gathered in the Hall of Ceremonies.

This is no surprise, as many of them are also owners of palm oil plantations.

It's the minister.

Excuse me. Thank you.

Today, Indonesia is doing a great deal to improve its future.

The palm oil industry is contributing a lot.

20 billion dollars! That's not small money.

It's big, huge money!

Indonesia must unite.

The NGOs want to impose their rules on us.

NGOs are concerned about the chimpanzees.

What about us monkeys with our black hair?

To them, this country is full of monkeys.

We have 20 million workers

and 2 or 30 monkeys that make a lot of noise.

Not that we don't care, but our priority

is the prosperity of the people of Indonesia.

There's a lot of media here. - Yes.

Do you really think they're critical journalists?

Yes. - Oh, come on.

We were told to hold back on critical questions,

because they aren't welcome.

They wouldn't have let us in otherwise.

Your organisation is financed by the government.

Is that right? - No.

We are completely financed by the industry. - By the industry?

"European Palm Oil Alliance". This is where you work?

What we're doing in the European Palm Oil Alliance,

especially in Europe, is to explain why we use palm oil.

And of course, there's a lot of information in the media,

about the negative image of palm oil.

But companies who are certified by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil,

these companies are committed that they do not slash and burn.

But that's all voluntary, and there are a lot of studies where NGOs found out

about a lot of companies that are RSPO members,

and have concessions in all the regions where the fire was breaking out.

So, I don't think this is a coincidence. - No, I think it's very clear...

Is it a coincidence? - No, I think it's not... It isn't...

It's the El Niño-effect. It's terrible.

They need to fight it.

But it's not an issue that only the palm oil industry is to blame.

But the fire was not only spreading because of El Niño,

but because of all the degraded land as well. Because of all the cut-down trees,

and all the very dry plantations.

Because palm oil is sucking water, it's drying out the land.

Sustainability is not a fixed criterion now.

It's a continuous process of continuous improvement.

These are only promises. I mean, there is no proof yet for sustainable palm oil.

Is that right? - Nobody could explain to me yet what...

That's true. Can you explain it to us?

Okay. Let me explain. - Yes, please.

In the RSPO, in the Round Table,

worldwide NGOs and the industry sit together

to define what is the criteria for sustainable palm oil.

That's too complicated for me. Explain it in normal words.

What is sustainable palm oil?

Sustainable palm oil is palm oil produced with respect to nature.

Not burning the rainforest? - No slash-and-burn.

No... No...

No... Fair to the people.

So the people you employ, you provide them with housing, with medical care...

And it's also about profit.

It's also that the people who work at the plantations have a decent income.

But let's be honest, the RSPO has existed since 2004, it's more than ten years.

And in all those ten years, the destruction was going on and going on.

I'm happy that you're here now to convince yourselves

that sustainable palm oil is on the way

and more and more in your products in Europe.

Okay. - Yes?

Such vague definitions are typical of greenwashing.

Everything sounds nice, nothing is enforceable

and, as always, large amounts of chemicals are used.

Our product is set up as an RSPO product.

So it's a herbicide?

When a plantation sells a crude palm oil product to Europe

it will indicate which herbicide it has used

Okay, let's say, for example, this one.

It's a green product.

Everything is green.

This is also... - Oh, this is even more green.

I like this one. Here, there's still a little blue, huh?

But here, this bottle... This bottle is almost all green.

You have to look at the pictogram.

The pictogram indicates that it has been certified as a green product.

Okay. But in what way is it green? Is it organic?

That is different from the organic one,

meaning this one is less toxic. Less toxic.

Globally, corporations outdo each other with green slogans.

Entire armies of PR, CSR and marketing agencies are put to work.

The whole industry is trying to flaunt its love of nature.

At the Makin Group stand,

one of the leading groups of palm oil producers,

you can even hear the sounds of wildlife in the jungle.

This conference is as well about the future of palm oil sustainability.

And when I look around here,

with the green stuff and the nice pictures with the birds and orangutans,

I get the impression that this is more like an NGO

than a palm oil company. Can you explain?

Sustainability to us means

that there is a balance of economy,

people and the environment.

Because we can only create, you know, harmony

and prosperity,

if we can at least balance those three elements, you know?

In the past there was a lot of discussion going on because of burning rain forests.

Is Makin Groupe connected

with any burning of rain forest? - No. No.

Never? - Never.

Never? - Never. - How can you be sure?

Because we run the Makin Group, we can be sure.

Maybe you tell me 'harmony' and in fact you have a poker-face.

How do I find out if you're cheating or not?

Well, in order to find out

you have to go to the field.

You have to go to visit the plantation, you have to go to the villages.

You know, that's the only way you can prove it.

We'll go somewhere. Where do you have your plants?

Jambi? - Anywhere.

Let's go to Jambi. - Let's go to Jambi.

Thank you very much. - Thank you.

It was a pleasure talking to you. - Thank you.

Thank you. - Have a good day.

In Jambi, we'll meet up with Feri.

He wants to show us some land,

that was intact rainforest only a few days ago

before a palm oil company illegally burned it down.

The silence here is eerie.

This is all going to be palm oil plantations?

Yes.

This whole thing feels very distant. I see this burnt disaster area.

And on the other hand, I stuff myself with chocolate.

It's hard to see the connection.

I just need to think about how many animals died for this.

To me, it's just...

It's just insane. It's outrageous that someone is doing this.

Of course it's outrageous. That's why we came here.

And this special case here, where we are standing right now,

which company was it?

This was 1,000 hectares of primeval forest,

owned by the PT R.K.K. palm oil company.

About 600 hectares

were incinerated.

And that's just one company.

PT R.K.K. is a subsidiary of the Makin Group.

The Makin Group is therefore indirectly responsible for this disaster.

The Makin Group supplies Wilma,

Wilma supplies Unilever,

and Unilever markets its products under 400 different brand names in supermarkets.

In my country, Unilever ads claim

that they use 100 percent sustainable palm oil.

But when I’m going to the supermarket, I buy something with a certification

that it's sustainable.

So my palm oil doesn’t come from here.

You've fallen for a lie here.

The proof is simple:

all palm nuts from this area

are collected in one factory

and are exported from there.

These large companies supply Unilever.

A lot of it also goes to Scandinavia

to Neste Oil for biofuel.

Even today, they still buy raw palm oil

from Indonesia for admixtures

and wash it clean with RSPO certificates.

But the companies tell me that everything is green, everything is sustainable,

everything is good.

Of course they do.

Of course they do.

The more problematic the product, the more greenwashing it needs.

Worldwide, there are thousands of sustainability and quality seals

that label products with a total turnover of 37 billion euros a year.

But there are no laws to regulate this.

Companies and associations in all branches

invent certification labels as they see fit.

Standards are usually completely opaque.

Why are we in Austin now? And why do you want to meet Raj Patel?

Because he can tell us interesting things.

He's a professor here at the University of Austin.

He knows a lot about value chains,

and how everything is connected, the power of companies...

Hello there.

Hi, I'm Raj. - Nice to meet you.

You speak German? - I understand it.

But I speak very little.

Okay. Well, have a seat! We've prepared some kind of lunch for you.

Some kind of lunch. This is absolutely fabulous.

You're hungry, I hope? - I wasn't, but now I am.

I have a red wine called "Green Hills".

Okay. - Everything is green these days.

Can I serve you? - Oh, sure.

Milady? - Thanks.

That's so sweet: "Milady".

We're looking more or less for a guideline,

how you can buy stuff

and make it more environmentally friendly and more fair.

But then I look at the labels,

and most of the labels are fake.

They say, "Oh, it's green! It's environmentally friendly!" It's whatever.

And it's a fake label the company itself invented.

I'm with you that at some level it's overwhelming.

There's so much noise about what's right and what's good for you. I mean...

Forget even organic and blah blah blah. Just: "Is this okay to eat?"

Who knows where the hell this came from or how it was made?

Or anything about it? But do I know that it’s healthy?

Well, it may have higher levels of vitamin E or D.

But then again, has it transported so long that some of this has decayed or...?

What the hell is going on? Even with just very basic questions,

we are both empowered to make individual consumption decisions

and given so much information that you don't know what the hell is going on.

Make smart decisions, people! Look, here's information! Here's a pamphlet!

And we've even shrunk the information you need down to the size of a postage stamp.

And we'll stick it on, and so it will say: "Fairtrade", "dolphin-friendly",

you know, "locust-compatible".

So you're reading something that looks like a long fucking list of virtue.

What the fuck? This is not fair! And you're right: it's not.

It's not fair to ask everyone to become experts

in nutrition, in thermodynamics, in climate change,

in transportation law, in labour law and in ecology.

Then, when you see this, you know, this package on the shelf

you can interpret it, even if it was telling the truth, which it isn't.

That's bullshit! Because it's reduced down to an individual consumption decision.

And it shouldn't be that.

I mean, it's like Fairtrade coffee. I buy Fairtrade coffee

because the alternative is what? "Bastard coffee".

Coffee that exploits children. You don't want that.

You want non-exploitative things. But why is this an option?

Why is this something that you have to choose to do?

Why do you have to choose not to exploit people?

Why do you have to choose not to kill dolphins? Why do you have to choose to pick all this up?

Why isn't this something that you don’t have to worry about?

Why isn't this something that's just a basic threshold of legislation

so that it's not an individual choice?

But the only way you get there Is by organizing it.

You can't shop for those individual choices to become law.

I grew up with this old environmental movement in Germany

which was the anti nuclear power plant movement.

There was a lot of education going on concerning environmental problems.

But still, people do believe

the only thing you can do is buy the right stuff.

Why are we stuck there?

One of the signs that we're losing in terms of the environmental movement

is when people say: "I'm just one person, what can I do?"

And everyone knows that and everyone feels that.

And that's a sign that someone is feeling so disconnected from their power

that they don't see that they're not just one person.

And that's one of the most pernicious parts of the modern green consumer movement:

Is that it reinforces the idea that you are just one person.

"I'm so sorry. You're just one person.

But, I tell you what, if you buy this you'll feel just a shitload better."

Yeah!

So for me as someone who wants to... who definitely needs to buy some stuff,

what would be, for me, the trick to go through all this

and find a way that would be okay?

I'm going to be unkind here and say that what you are saying is:

How do we keep things the way they are, but change everything?

You like going to the store but you want to be sure that when you pick up a pack of Pringles,

it's organic and sustainable Pringles as opposed to, you know...

So what would be the alternative? - Maybe not Pringles.

Look, I'm not saying no treats.

Just not something made by Procter & Gamble.

In order to make Pringles sustainably

the price needs to go up by four or five times, at least, and probably more.

The thought of having to forgo something doesn't appeal to me.

Even as a child I didn't like that.

Everywhere there are products that,

given how they're produced, shouldn't really exist at all.

That's true of all types of products: food, clothing, furniture, household appliances,

electronics for communication and entertainment and so on.

Hi there. - Morning. How are you?

You've got an appointment, right? Come on in.

Good morning. - Morning.

I'm very honoured to meet the King of Junk.

"King of Junk". - Yeah, exactly.

So which junk is nice for you? Because you don't take just every junk, I suppose.

No.

There's junk you like and there's junk you don't like.

Yeah. The new junk is just trash as far as I'm concerned. You know...

New trash?

It's like... They don't really make anything that's worth keeping anymore.

You know, it's all plastic and...

You know, there's nothing...

I mean, you go buy a new fan... It's not going to look like an old fan.

The old fans are all heavy-duty metal, you know.

That old junk is the good stuff.

Isn't it sad that people consume so much stuff

they actually don't need and then throw it away after a very short period of time?

It's sad that some people don't have enough that they don't even have stuff to throw away.

We have so much that we don't really realize what we have

and always want something new.

In the Cathedral of Junk,

I begin to realize that our system is a heap of rubble.

And we are all right in the middle of it.

And by purchasing products, we play our part in the destruction.

Total anarchy. - Yes.

In order to prevent us thinking that such products shouldn't exist

corporations talk about sustainability.

The head of Coca-Cola does it.

Sustainability is absolutely critical

to our business survival and to our growth.

The head of Ikea does it.

Sustainability is a vital part of our strategy.

Everyone does it.

The way how we're using resources in a sustainable manner

becomes increasingly important.

I'm convinced that we can create a more equitable and sustainable world for all of us.

We can create value safely and sustainably.

It's about creating a culture of sustainability.

And our governments just look on.

You know what? You go up here.

And I'll go that way. - Let's see if we meet up there.

Look at your tower of trash! So much trash.

Imagine this was all the trash you produced.

And this tower of trash was produced by me.

I've probably used more stuff than you.

Probably. - Because you're such a goody two shoes.

I think everyone just has to say, "I've got my trash tower

and you've got yours on which you're standing."

Instead of saying, "I'm more ecologically aware than the next person",

we should work together.

And get politicians to rein in industry. - That's exactly what I'm saying.

We think the same thing. - You just feel provoked by me.

Because you feel guilty. - I have a guilty conscience?

Maybe you also feel guilty. - Of course I feel guilty.

I live within this system and this society just like you do.

That's the thing about green lies.

I know that certain things aren't eco-friendly or socially responsible,

but they've been labelled green.

And if I want those things badly enough, I'm willing to believe it.

Sorry, but I just realized that I said "your trash heap".

Exactly. - We always point the finger at others.

That's just it. We make accusations:

"You're doing this wrong, you're doing that wrong."

That way we'll never achieve solidarity.

It's a competition to see who's better, but that's totally counterproductive.

But we also can't say,

"Industry, you are evil. You're bad."

They're also just people stuck in the system.

We need to involve them as well. - No.

That's exactly what companies want us to believe:

that we need to work as partners,

that we need to support the industry to make them better.

And the result? Green lies.

We must stop this vicious circle.

We need to be aware

that companies create harmony to avoid conflict.

But change comes through conflict, because someone will lose privileges.

Someone will have less profit

if things are eco-friendly and socially just.

That must be fought for.

You don't get it by being nice and friendly to companies.

It makes me furious when corporations claim

that they deal responsibly with people and nature

and then we find out the opposite.

Hundreds dead in a textile factory fire,

radioactive contamination after a reactor accident,

pollution after a break in the dam of a mining company,

and there is no end to it.

Hey. - Hello.

What's that? - I've got you a present.

Shellfish? - Yes, sort of.

Pretty close. Tar balls.

They're everywhere back there.

Tar balls from the oil spill? - Exactly.

Deepwater Horizon. - Deepwater Horizon.

They're still lying around? - Everywhere.

I thought BP had cleaned everything up. - Yeah, sure!

BP left three quarters of the oil in the water.

And it keeps washing up here.

You found all that in just a few minutes? - Yeah.

Neat, right? I brought you some gloves.

Why do I need gloves? - Because they're toxic.

The gloves are toxic? - They probably are, too...

They're toxic. - They smell toxic.

But this is even worse. - Let me have a look.

But wash your hands afterwards. - Okay.

BP has such a pretty green logo with a sun.

Everybody's logos are green nowadays.

"Beyond Petroleum" has nothing to do with oil.

Weren't they called "British Petroleum"? - Until 2004.

Then BP came up with a huge campaign,

because they thought all the negative stories and bad news about oil

weren't doing them any good.

So they hired a PR agency

and paid them 200 million US dollars for the campaign.

"Beyond Petroleum", as in: "We don't do oil anymore.

We're doing wind power, and solar energy."

And then this happened...

Yeah. And six years later, it became clear

that BP's dangerous core business is oil after all

and that they can't handle it.

I still remember vividly how stunned I was

when on April 20, 2010 the drilling rig "Deepwater Horizon"

exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and eleven people died.

Every day, more than 15 million liters of crude oil gushed out.

For 87 days straight.

The oil slick was equal in size to the US state of Virginia.

In cases like this, the multinationals shift the blame onto their subcontractors

and subsidiaries.

BP's CEO at the time, Tony Hayward, had this reaction:

This wasn't our accident.

This was a drilling rig operated by another company.

It was their people, their systems, their processes.

We are responsible not for the accident, but we are responsible for the oil

and for dealing with it and cleaning the situation up.

BP was convicted by a US court.

But the financial penalties were moderate,

because BP sprayed a chemical on the oil,

thus making most of it disappear below the surface.

I decided at that point to never fuel my car at BP again.

I'm Werner. Nice meeting you. We're looking for Dean.

Dean's office is right there. - Over there?

How are y'all doing?

The big shrimp king of Louisiana. Nice meeting you. This is Kathrin. I'm Werner.

Nice to meet you.

You don't seem very busy.

No, not anymore. - What's up?

Well, BP did kill all our seafood.

Is that so? How did it affect your business?

This was always the best place for shrimp and fish before BP.

And they just came and destroyed it. They knocked down 30 years of work.

Would it have been possible to get the oil out at all?

We told them we know how to pick up the oil.

We had all the boats ready to pick up the oil. They didn't want to pick it up.

If you picked up oil, they'd fire you.

Because it was too expensive, or...? - Because It was too expensive.

I mean they'd have had to put it in a landfill somewhere.

And then it's toxic and nobody wants a toxic landfill next to your house, I mean...

They don't care about the environment. All they care about is money. Money, money...

They knew that well was messed up.

They could've slowed down. They could've fixed the stuff that was broken.

They were greedy. They just wanted to make money. They didn't care what they'd done.

I knew a lot of people who worked out there. They called it "the well from hell".

They knew they had trouble. The workers knew that it was wrong.

And what did BP do?

They turned off all the safety switches so they could drill faster,

so they could hurry up and get out of there because the lease was running out.

It was all about money.

You must be furious. - I'm not happy. I mean, uh...

They should have left it alone, but they didn't want to do that.

They came and put chemicals on top of the oil.

That's what we're mad about.

You would think that this chemical, Corexit, made it worse?

Yeah. They treated us like insects. They come at night with airplanes.

There's a lot of people who got real sick down here.

A lot of people left this island because they couldn't breathe.

We'd cough every night. I mean... Every night we worry if we're going to die.

We don't know what they did to us. They don’t know what they did.

If they had never sprayed no chemicals, I don't think we would never have problems.

I mean, life begins on the bottom of the sea.

If you really wanted to pick up the oil, oil will float on top of water.

If you really wanted to do the right thing, why would you spray and sink it to the bottom?

I'm sure it would be a hell of a lot easier to pick it up if it's on top of the water

than if it is on the bottom.

I'll show you something.

This is the first boat that we're unloading today.

We used to get 40 to 50 boats a day.

That's the first one all day long.

I'll show you the shrimp.

What are you looking for? - Looking for oil.

Oil? - Yes.

See that dark spot?

This black stuff here. - Yeah.

But why is this exactly here?

They sit at the bottom. And when they breathe, that all goes in their lungs right there.

That was never like that before BP.

Did you see that? - I saw it.

If the oil companies wouldn't mess it up, it would still be clean, but it's not clean.

After the catastrophe, the CEO of BP resigned

with a severance package worth millions.

And under the new CEO, business was back to normal.

BP's response efforts in the Gulf of Mexico were unprecedented in scale.

We took responsibility for the cleanup immediately.

In the same video, he also talks about the future.

To me, it sounds like a threat that the destruction will continue.

BP can help by applying its distinctive skills,

capabilities and technologies in demanding areas.

This is why we intend to move further into harsh, remote and complex geographies.

Three years before our visit, BP declared the cleanup to be finished.

And if oil can still be found,

it must belong to someone else, they say.

Nice to meet you, sir. - Nice meeting you.

Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

Kathrin told me that we're going to the beach.

Yes, sir. We'll go down here and see

what nature has deposited on the beach for us to look at today.

We'll look at under the naked eye and then we'll turn a UV light onto it

to see what fluorescent spectrums, will come off of it, what colours.

All right. - What's that?

There used to be some stairs right here that went down.

They took away the stairs? - Yeah.

I don't know why they would close it off. It's not illegal for us to be on it.

We'll just access it from that side. - Okay.

So, we'll walk back this way. Sorry about that.

We found a lot of tar balls yesterday. I touched them with gloves.

I would suggest using gloves because we found

that tar balls themselves are many times more dangerous than the dispersed oil by itself.

Because it's full of Vibrio vulnificus bacteria: a flesh-eating bacteria.

In other words, the tar balls, the hydro-carbons,

select for Vibrio vulnificus.

Which means they kill most of the others, but the Vibrio still lives.

And we have problems with Vibrio in summer because once it gets in the high numbers

you can get infected with it. You can have an arm amputated,

or you can die from the infection.

See? That's what I told you.

And that's what we're seeing down here.

There's scientific technical documents

published in peer-reviewed journals that are proving this.

And what is BP doing? - They're trying to control the science.

Control the science, to say it's all good? - That's right.

It's all good. That's right. They say...

What they try to do is to say: "There's no evidence of..."

Well, of course there's no evidence if you're not looking for it

or if you're looking for it in the wrong places.

It's like having somebody with a pet in the house that's made an accident on the floor

and they just didn’t want to pick it up, they walked around like they never saw it.

I'm like: "It's right there. Don't you see it?" No, they don't see it.

All these tar balls are right here. They could easily go out and collect it.

What is that? Oh, yeah.

Is that a tar ball? - Look, what...

Look, you almost stepped on another one. And they're everywhere.

Oh my God. Yes.

I heard from BP that they cleaned up everything.

They finished paying, they finished cleaning up.

They claim that there's no oil here because nobody has been able to fingerprint their oil.

So I'm going out here looking for evidence that we can say:

"This may be BP oil." What makes BP oil different?

Well, they hit it with a dispersant. Inside the dispersant, there are glycols.

It's the only introduction of the glycol that we know about.

We know that if we find the glycols, that's typically the dispersed oil.

BP is the only one we know that used the dispersants.

Especially on a scale of a 100 million gallons.

So, the Corexit stuff. - Corexit. That's what we have to look for.

One way to find out: put the UV light on it and see if they fluoresce.

We'll kill those lights.

And there's the oranges that we're looking for.

There? - Yep.

Yeah, that's bright orange.

And then let's look at the inside of these bricks.

That's the color that we're looking for. - Yes.

This, we believe, is the dispersed oil. So this is why I believe it’s BP.

You can even see the bluish green ring right there.

Those are the fresher hydrocarbons that are still left.

That's definitely what I would claim to be BP oil.

Oh, wait! Don't walk! Don't walk right here!

What's up here? - Footprints.

What? - This is a child's footprint.

You see, where they’re walking back and forth?

These are the things that I've been pointing out:

You've got little kids' footprints walking by this stuff, through some of these puddles.

Oh my God. - So these are some of the things we're seeing:

foam, pools of water that are fluorescing orange in the color of the tar balls,

and children's footprints right in the middle of them.

These things make me say:

Somebody's got to stand up. Somebody's got to do something.

Morning. - Morning.

Did you sleep well? - Yes. How about you?

I had lots of voodoo petroleum dreams.

Lots of scientists talking insistently to me.

Oh, that's very kind. Thank you.

I'm so exhausted.

But... Look.

This?

What sort of spaceship is that?

This, my dear,

will help us get around more ecologically.

It'll bring us to the station so we can take a train?

It'll help us use less petroleum.

I've never heard of such a thing. What's eco-friendly about a racing car?

No wonder I have trouble sleeping.

An electric car. What more do you want?

Look how it goes. - For God's sake!

The landscape is just like a car commercial.

It's the most eco-friendly car there is.

Says who?

The company. - Wow.

That's exactly what VW once claimed: that they have eco-friendly cars.

That's so crooked.

Companies pretend to save the world. And Tesla does exactly the same thing.

Hi. It's very important

to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport.

It really, really is...

This is really important for the future of the world.

We have record-high CO2 levels.

We recently passed over 403 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere.

You can see the chart and it looks like a vertical line.

And it's still climbing.

So to address this,

what we came up with at Tesla was what we call the 'secret master plan'.

It doesn't lead to a different future. Things stay as they are.

It's still about private transport, the joy of driving, fast driving.

And none of it is sustainable.

In this green disguise, the destruction continues.

We don't recognize that the pattern itself is harmful

and that we have to change it.

We need to invest more in local public transportation.

You're such a killjoy!

You always say, "Everything is bad."

No. Just the same bad things are always bad.

Please, let me enjoy driving.

Then admit that it's about having fun, not the environment.

It uses no petroleum. - True.

But it takes an incredible amount of energy to build electric cars,

which isn't factored in at all. All they say is: there's no exhaust.

But rare earth is used to manufacture it.

No rare earth in this car. - At Tesla. That's true.

And what do they use instead? Lithium.

Lithium, the new petroleum.

According to Goldman Sachs.

And lithium is mined where?

In ecologically sensitive areas in salt lakes in Argentina, China and Chile.

And its production consumes so much water

that none is left for farmers and indigenous people.

Whenever you persistently do the wrong thing,

but just change the way you do it with other raw materials and technology,

you add to the damage somewhere else.

You just don't see it.

That's why green lies work so well.

This looks like a nature reserve,

but in reality it's all contaminated with petroleum and toxins.

Take this car: you don't see an exhaust emitting dirt, you don't hear any noise.

But you also don't see lithium or coal being mined.

Because it happens far away. - Exactly.

So these steps in the right direction are supposed to keep everyone happy.

To keep us all in the mood to consume and to believe

that some green superman will save us one day with magical technology.

That's the big green lie.

Car advertisements usually show beautiful landscapes.

We're heading to a place where we think the car belongs.

The car is shutting down. Pull over safely.

"Pull over safely." - Great.

I'm not doing anything. It's stopping.

You're joking!

Over.

Garzweiler, of all places.

What a wonderfully romantic place for a power failure.

Yeah, very romantic. You know why it looks like this here?

This is the largest opencast coal mine in Germany.

For electricity. - And why does it look like this?

So you can charge your spaceship using energy from coal.

Yes. - Sometimes I wish I could be like you.

So I could find even the most terrible place really beautiful.

I admire how you can completely block out what's actually happening.

All this bullshit...

If your indignation could generate power, we'd all have light!

That's for sure.

RWE, the electric company this mine belongs to,

has put up a few token wind turbines

to show their interest in renewable energy.

The truth is: their core business is coal and they're not about to change that.

That's why it looks like this here.

Fine coal dust contaminates the area and causes respiratory diseases.

It enters the bloodstream, increases cancer rates,

and causes miscarriages.

The pollution here travels as far as Sweden.

RWE simply said, "We'll get the politicians on our side.

We'll claim that nuclear power is climate-friendly.

We need coal-fired power plants in case there's no wind.

We'll produce sleek ads."

They have a great ad with a giant bouncing around

who spreads happiness and fixes the world.

He lays green turf to cover disasters

and he blows at wind turbines.

For many years, RWE,

lobbied hard to keep coal and nuclear power,

but now even RWE has to admit:

"Shit, we produce the most CO2 in Europe."

RWE is a great example

of how the industry keeps trying to hold onto its core business.

For over ten years, they've seen the renewable energy transition coming.

Big companies are more sluggish than small ones. That won't change.

But it's the workforce and the communities that will pay for it,

while the managers take home their lavish salaries.

What shall we do now? - We'll walk.

Let's go for a little walk. Fresh air is good for you.

Fresh air? - Yeah.

Just a little coal dust. - A little?

We're talking nitrogen oxide, CO2, arsenic, mercury...

Companies are making hefty profits from immense environmental destruction.

Some corporations are richer than entire countries.

Good afternoon. RWE. - Do you have an invitation?

Yes. - Can I see it?

Strict security. - I just need a quick look to verify it.

Okay. And you? - Her name is here as well.

Hello. - A flyer?

Thanks. - What's that?

A Greenpeace flyer.

"Leave RWE"? But I've only just arrived.

Oh, right. Damn. I didn't think about that.

Hello. - Would you like a share?

A share? I've always wanted one. - It's free.

Now we're all in the same boat.

TRANSPARENCY, INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY, CHANGE, SOLAR ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM...

From Garzweiler straight to the source: the shareholder meeting of RWE.

Exactly. - That's where the board sits?

The important ones are at the front. Supervisory board, board of directors...

And these are shareholders. - Yes.

Small shareholders at the back and they're the shareholder associations.

And there are the NGOs that got a ticket to attend the meeting.

Hello. Hi, Werner Boote.

Where do you come from? - West Virginia.

West Virginia? - Yes.

So why do you come to this place?

Well, because RWE is part owner of an operation

that's destroying my home. - Look.

It's destroying your home? - Look.

Yes. This is mountaintop removal mining.

This is... I took these photos just last week.

This is what they're doing.

So, RWE owns a significant share of this operation.

There's a lot of pollution, I guess? - There’s a lot of pollution.

This is what it's doing to the water.

Oh my God. - Excuse me?

This is what it's doing to the water that comes from his kitchen sink like that.

From the kitchen sink? - Yes.

You have to question the integrity of a company

that talks about themselves as becoming increasingly green.

And while the rest of the world went to Paris last year and agreed

that climate change is real and we have to do something about it,

here's a company that owns 10% of one of the dirtiest forms of fossil fuels on the planet.

Where is the integrity of this company?

It looks like a parliament.

And here he comes: the great dictator.

Dear shareholders

and members of the RWE Investors' Club,

ladies and gentlemen, RWE is already greener than many people think.

2015 was a year that threatened our survival.

SAVE HAMBACHER FOREST

Look, look! Look over there!

PHASE OUT RWE TO PHASE OUT COAL

We hear you.

I hereby expel you from this auditorium.

And I ask the RWE staff to remove you from the premises.

Please take your camera to the press area.

You want us to leave? - Right now.

But I'm invited as a regular spectator. - Go to the press area.

So, I think those were a few late risers who've just woken up.

The power of corporations must come to an end.

But our current system helps

corporations become more and more powerful.

What needs to change?

Kathrin and I want to ask someone who's been studying this question for years.

He's one of the greatest intellectuals in the world.

Noam Chomsky is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

and a prominent critic of globalization.

You must be very busy, I suppose.

As you can see.

Greenwashing started sometime in the beginning of the 1970s.

That's when the beginnings of concern with the environment

began to be raised among the general population.

Of course, power systems have to respond in some fashion

if they're going to maintain their control.

So what is the power of corporates today built on?

Their power is based on their control of capital

and their control of investment decisions,

their massive influence on governments

which derives from the private power.

That's basically the nature of state capitalism,

but it's extended and dramatized

under the neoliberal policies of the last generation, which have sharply escalated this.

We have all those companies

telling you that they only have sustainable products,

that they're extremely fair and doing their best.

And the question is: How do we need to deal with green lies?

To recognize that the proposals may be worthwhile.

Maybe it's good not to use plastic bags. The oceans are getting full of them. Good.

But if that is being proposed by a powerful institution

with the intention of showing you how nice and benevolent they are,

then reject it.

Follow the proposal but reject the propaganda.

But the real problem is working very eminently

to bring about the kind of institutional change

which will eliminate the necessity for green lies

by placing power systems under popular control.

What do we need to change? How do we need to do that?

If a business was owned and managed by its workforce

and was part of a system of self-governing communities which interacted,

then their goals could be the public good.

So a democratic system

in which the economy was democratized and under public control

would have something like profit,

meaning a company would have to provide, and sustain its workforce.

But not a system in which we end up in a world with, according to the latest figures,

eight people owning as much as half the population of the world.

That's a special property of private capitalism.

So one of the aims should be to get rid of transnational corporations?

Or the domestic ones. - Yes.

In fact, why, any, any... Just like any other kind of hierarchy.

But how likely would that be?

It's kind of as if you were asking in the 16th century:

How likely is parliamentary democracy?

Every issue that has ever been faced in human history,

whether it's slavery, civil rights,

women's rights, popular democracy,

you pick it, whatever it is, you've got to struggle for it.

Do you think it is something which definitely will come or is it just a question of time?

No, not definitely at all

What's likely to come, as current tendencies continue,

is essentially the destruction of the possibilities for organized, civilized life.

And not in the far future.

There's still no legislation for bringing the industry to court

when they claim this product is sustainable and green.

Good, then spend your time working to create that popular organization.

Maybe I should do a film. - Maybe. That’s a good idea.

Maybe I should ask you to participate in it.

That's a way of doing it.

It's by no means hopeless.

There have been plenty of successes over the years.

But they don't happen by themselves.

In theory, it all sounds very easy.

But today, corporations hold the same positions of power

as absolutist emperors and kings in times gone by.

And governments and institutions

are mere stooges of industry.

Everything is so complicated. - But it isn't complicated.

It is, and what makes it even more complicated is when you sit there

and tell me that it's not that complicated.

That really gets to me.

I think you have too many negative thoughts.

I have too many negative thoughts? - Yes.

Because you think the status quo shouldn't be challenged

or everything will be forbidden or you'll have to give up everything.

People have to be willing to make changes, or nothing will happen.

It's not as if people feel helpless or alone,

or don't set up movements together

because they're too lazy or too stupid.

Sometimes people are preoccupied with insecure jobs,

or financial worries...

So they might not have the courage or they have other worries.

There's a connection. And consumerism

hides everything under a thick layer of cotton candy.

True.

We need to get rid of cotton-candy consumerism

and realize that the system is murderous.

It destroys nature, the basis of our own lives.

In the current system, human beings don't matter.

We're meeting the chief of the indigenous peoples of Brazil.

I'm going to drive. Let's go.

He's a good driver. Don't worry.

You've never been here. There are only very bad roads.

You're always on your phone, Sonia.

Really?

I have to read the news

about the investigations.

What kind of investigations?

There's lots of violence in Mato Grosso do Sul.

Every day, indigenous people are murdered.

So we must be very careful.

But why is it in Mato Grosso do Sul where the violence is so severe?

Because this is the state where the most cattle are bred.

The largest cattle ranches are located here.

Almost all the farms here

are on traditional indigenous territory.

In Brazil, you can clearly see how the global economic system works.

In order to enable powerful companies to deliver

more and more meat, soy, corn and sugarcane to the world with their little green labels,

rainforests are cleared here and human rights violated.

The indigenous peoples want justice.

The land is rightfully theirs,

but it's simply taken away from them and never returned.

The big farmers cling to the profits and hire gangs of thugs.

Corrupt politicians ensure that the military police

fight for the wrong side.

In the name of profit,

people and nature around the world are simply displaced.

These are the huts of the indigenous people.

They live between the asphalt

and the huge monocultures.

There's no other place for them to go.

Where are we going to?

To the indigenous area of Nioaque.

To the joint gathering of indigenous people.

I think it's the sixth gathering.

The people of Terena organize it every year.

It's the eighth.

Really?

You're right. True, it's the eighth.

Now we want to welcome our sister:

Sonia Guajajara.

Let's give her a big round of applause,

the leader of the Association of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.

Good evening, everyone.

Or: "Zané pitô" in Guajajara.

I'd like to tell you something.

Every day, the Guarani Kaiowa are threatened,

killed and murdered.

And what's being done to you here is happening throughout Brazil.

This hatred and this anger against us

only exists because we want

to live well on our own land.

Yes, we have partners and allies.

But the driving force must come from us,

from our base, from our own roots,

from the alliance of our peoples.

I'm very happy

that I'm spending three days here with you.

Thank you, everyone.

In the many lectures and panels that take place here,

I learn about alternative economic models

that are already being tested all over the world.

The vitality of the people gives me courage.

It's as if it weren't so hard to find new social and economic structures

that put people and the environment first.

What is a good life?

It all depends on what you're used to.

To us, a good life doesn't mean owning a car.

We're not always concerned with possessions.

To us, a good life means

freely inhabiting our lands

and enjoying what the earth offers us.

That's what I call a good life.

But for that, we need a guarantee

that the land is ours.

We need to be safe from invasion.

Without relentless exploitation

in the name of capitalism and money.

While we fight for an intact environment,

other people think differently. They want to exploit the land.

These are different viewpoints.

We plant trees and leave them to grow to create better air.

While others see the tree and ask, "How much money is that worth?"

Do you think people in Europe would really lose out on anything

if you get justice?

No one would lose out. That's an illusion.

We humans can adapt

to other things and conditions.

There must be a better system.

The system controls the people, and we can't allow this.

The people must control the system.

It's how easy it is?

No, that's not what I'm saying.

Everything is difficult, so we fight every day...

Because it's difficult.

If it were easy, it wouldn't mean anything us,

because we are the powerful ones.

That's why we've been given this task.

We must keep at it, talk about it every day,

travel around and tell the world about it.

Solidarity, strength and determination.

That's what human beings are capable of.

And we need a lot, too, because the profiteers of the old system

will continue to strut around, telling green lies.

The perseverance of the indigenous peoples should be an example to us.

We have a mission, each and every one of us.

It's written in the palm of your hand.

Never give in to those who have nothing to say

except to call others useless.

Never give in!

Never give in!

I know what I must do in this life.

I know which side I belong to.

And I'm grateful to our people, mainly to our youth.

Open your eyes! Open your eyes!

Because we're often surrounded by people

who claim to be our friends,

when really they are traitors.

They praise us to our faces,

but speak ill of us behind our backs.

We know that this sort of thing happens.

That's what I wanted to say.

Thank you.

Kathrin and I are dreaming of putting an end to the "green lie".

Environmental protection and human rights

must be more than lip service from the industry.

The rights of nature and of people

must be legally secured in the global democratic economic system.

Here we are.

This area here belonged to our village.

We will take it back

in order to use it again.

The big farmers are guilty.

They're using our land.

This doesn't serve our village community.

They must return the land.

That is our right under the constitution.

While speaking to Estevinho, Chief of the Terena,

it becomes clear to us that everything that destroys our livelihood

and doesn't serve our well-being must be fought and brought to an end.

We gather 300 to 500 warriors

and tell the people using our land,

"Sorry, but that's our land. You've got this many days to leave."

All over the world, many people and many organizations

are ready to fight.

Sometimes they sue us

because they want to keep the land.

They lie, they bribe people.

We are penniless, but we have partners and allies.

We've stood up and have already won back seven farms.

Now we'll get the others back as well.

What do we want? - Revolution!

And you're there, too? - Yes, there are quite a lot of people.

So cool. - It's a huge crowd, and more are coming.

System change not climate change!

What do we want? - Climate justice.

When do we want it? - Now!