All language subtitles for years.of.living.dangerously.s02e03.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track4_[eng]

AMAZON RAINFOREST, BRAZIL

Growing up in Brazil, I dreamt
about the Amazon rainforest.

For me it was a magical place.

A spiritual life force
and the soul of our country.

I thought it was indestructible.

As I got older,
I had to face the sad reality

that this forest
is, in fact, very fragile

and that people were cutting it down
to profit from its resources.

It took years and many battles
to start protecting the rainforest.

But now I'm hearing
those gains are being undone.

And that deforestation
is on the rise again.

Government forces
are having to go in

and fight to stop the destruction.

We're at the location
and we hear the chainsaws.

What's driving
this new attack on the Amazon?

Could the cause be something
we are all responsible for?

THE ARABIAN DESERT, KUWAIT

15 MILES FROM THE IRAQI BORDER

DANGER

In the last two decades,
the United States has built up

a massive military presence
in the Middle East.

Our thirst for oil is one
of the major reasons we came here,

and it is now threatening us
in ways never imagined.

To better understand this,

I'm onboard this convoy
in the Persian Gulf

delivering fuel to bases
supporting the fight against ISIS.

We're driving a truck with basically
a bomb on the back of it.

-Really.
-Yeah.

RPGs, small arms.

It doesn't take much
to ignite it and have it explode.

Fuel is the main supply
that the military needs.

So that is something the enemy

is definitely targeting
as much as possible.

And it's an easy target.

A lot of times
the supply lines are exposed.

In Iraq and Afghanistan
that is a big problem.

How many times
do these fuel lines get hit?

In Iraq, three, four trucks
hijacked a week.

-Unbelievable.
-Thousands have died doing this.

-Of delivering fuel.
-Yes.

Can be just as dangerous
as fighting on the front line.

They know where the enemy's at.

We don't.

Our wars in the Middle East
have created massive damage.

Our leaders are now warning
that our oil addiction

is gravely threatening
our national security.

But do we have the will and the way
to end this dangerous addiction?

PARÁ STATE, BRAZIL

Brazil's environmental
protection force, IBAMA,

is on the front lines,

trying to defend
the Amazon rainforest.

The officer in charge here is
Maria Luiza Souza, known as "Malu."

I'm on my way to meet her
at her compound.

I'm with an armed escort

because this place is a hotspot
for illegal deforestation.

IBAMA HEADQUARTERS, NOVO PROGRESSO

I hear Malu has another nickname.

Malu, it's so nice to meet you!

-What do they call you?
-The "Blonde Devil."

The "Blonde Devil"?
Who gave you that name?

Well, these outlaws here,
in the Amazon rainforest.

We just came from a crime scene.

Come on, I'll show you.

We were doing our patrol,
and we found a campsite.

They were sawing trees
when we arrived.

This was the area here.
There are two images, OK?

In this image,
you can see the pristine forest.

And the deforestation
is in this area here.

This one here?

The difference between these two
satellite images is ten days.

They cut 142 hectares of land,
as much as 142 soccer fields.

They did all this destruction
in 10 days?

In ten days.
They work incredibly fast.

They're like small ants
in the Amazon.

These people work day and night.
The chainsaw never stops.

We found seeds.

They deforest, set fire
and immediately plant grass.

Then they bring in the cattle.

They burn the forest
after they cut it.

Then they put in cows and occupy
like, "we've been here forever."

Exactly.

And this cattle is sold abroad.

So, in Europe and in the U.S.,

people may be consuming meat
from illegally deforested land.

I can't believe that.

They make a lot of money.

You have land-grabbing,
you have money laundering.

The Amazon is a land without laws.

You talk too much,
they cut your throat.

In every camp we raid,
we find weapons.

It's warfare.

There's a price on my head here.

I have a few nicknames:
one is the "Blonde Devil."

For me, you're the "Blonde Angel"!

I actually don't mind
when they call me that.

It means we've disrupted
their crimes.

Do you have enough people?

Do you have
what you need to do your job?

Because this job
is so complex and exhausting,

we should have at least
three times the number of agents

working in the Amazon.

Why do you do this job?

Like, what puts
each one of you to do this job?

Because it's worth it.
I'm born to do this job.

We're defending
a valuable world treasure.

I had no idea that cattle

was one of the biggest drivers
of deforestation.

I thought it would be
logging or mining.

But beef?

Could society's appetite for meat

actually destroy
the Amazon rainforest?

The world's appetite for oil
is stronger than ever,

and it is killing us.

Fighting pollution
has been my most important battle,

and no one can stop me.

I even sued the federal government
to allow California

to regulate its own air and reduce
greenhouse gases, and we won.

I recently went to Paris
to address world leaders

on the importance of clean energy
and reducing pollution.

Ladies and gentlemen,

there's no doubt that climate change
is humanity's biggest threat.

I know that we can build
a smart energy future.

We can break
the pollution's death grip.

Renewable energy
will do to coal and oil

what cars did
to the horse and buggy industry.

Our mission is to move forward
as a united world.

We will win this battle.

But we can't win
unless our Department of Defense

leads this battle
against dirty energy.

I've recently learned that both
the Pentagon and the President

have directed the military
to reduce its oil use

by switching to more renewables
like wind and solar.

Today I'm on my way to Camp Arifjan

because it's one of the largest
U.S. bases in the Middle East

trying to go green.

It's hard to believe

that almost a trillion dollars
have been spent,

tens-of-thousands of lives
lost in this region,

battles ignited by fossil fuels
destroying our planet.

Crisis in the Persian Gulf.

This is about oil
and the price of gasoline.

The stakes are high.

Our country now imports
nearly half the oil it consumes.

Shock and awe.

The next phase
in the life of millions of people

is going to be very violent.

IRAQ
2014

ISIS militants
continue to gain ground.

These wars have forced the military
to radically rethink energy,

from the immediate dangers
of fuel convoys,

to the larger threat
of oil dependence.

Camp Arifjan is like a small city
carved into the Arabian Desert.

Troops there
support the international coalition

fighting against ISIS.

I want to know how much progress
has been made here

to break our oil addiction.

MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL

Today I'm in the southern Amazon,
with Paulo Adario from Greenpeace.

He says a bird's-eye view
will help me understand

just how much deforestation
is taking place here.

The beauty seems to go on forever.

But then Adario
tells me to brace myself.

Now you see this,
over there, on the right side.

-So, do you see that road?
-Yeah.

This is how everything starts.

Everything starts
with small logging roads,

going through the forest
to access lumber.

And they cut only the lumber
that has commercial value.

And then, they leave.

Then, the road stays
and then a cattle rancher arrives,

and then he starts cutting
the remaining trees,

burns everything, to put cattle.

And cattle is not even natural
of the Amazon.

No, definitely not.

They are responsible for 65%
of all deforestation in the Amazon.

-You've got to be kidding me.
-No, I'm not.

What you see down there,

pastures, only some patches
of forest--

I mean, look over there,
look at the cattle.

There is like sporadic cattle
for all of this like dried land.

Imagine the destruction
of this beautiful forest

to produce cattle!

You know, when you eat a burger,
you don't realize that your burger--

-Is coming from here.
-From rainforest destruction.

All these giant geometric shapes,
carved into the landscape,

are because of cattle?

This whole thing
that we are seeing right now--

This was not here.

Here we had old growth forest,
ancient forest.

And now look at this.

We already lost 20% of the Amazon.

It's shocking, isn't it?

There's so much to learn and see.

You see this red area here?

This is lost.

This is called the "Belt"
or the "Arc of Deforestation."

It looks really like that.

"Arc of Destruction,"
it looks like that.

And what are these green areas
in between of this red?

-Indigenous lands.
-Only indigenous lands?

The forest... This is remaining.

They are areas
that are protected by Indigenous.

So that means
if the Indigenous people,

weren't occupying these areas,
these would be gone, as well?

If they were not here, definitely,

this would have
completely disappeared.

The Indigenous people
are the best guardians.

Who are these people
behind the destruction?

You have big companies
dealing with big farmers.

Big international companies
are involved.

Politicians are involved.

They don't deforest
because they hate trees. Yeah?

They deforest
because you can make money.

Most of these people come here,
like "vampires." You know?

They come to make money and leave.

OK, so we know that beef
is the main cause deforestation.

They are not the only one.
You have the soy industry, too.

Most of the soy is exported
for the production of animal feed

that will feed cattle in Europe,
in the U.S., etc. Yeah?

The cattle industry
and animal agriculture

is the same emissions
as the entire transport industry,

the airplanes, all the cars
on the planet, everything.

But isn't development important.

Definitely it's important. We have
200 million people living here.

Many people
live in extreme poverty.

And everybody deserves to have

the same quality of life
that the Brazilian middle class has.

But there are different ways
of developing.

Brazil is by far the richest country
in terms of biodiversity.

If you lose the Amazon,

we are going to lose much more

than only the biggest
tropical forest in the world.

We are going to lose the world
because of climate change.

If we don't stop destruction
in our generation,

if we don't do this now,

we are going to lose
this area forever.

-We can't let that happen.
-No, we can't.

Can't we find a way
to use our natural resources

without destroying the planet?

From trees to oil, we can't seem
to stop pillaging Mother Earth.

What will it take for us to stop?

U.S. ARMY CAM ARIFJAN, KUWAIT

The U.S. military is
the single largest consumer of oil

of any entity in the world.

So I've come here to Camp Arifjan,

one of the largest U.S. bases
in the Middle East,

to see what's being done
to break our fossil fuel habit.

Today I'll be meeting Chief Warrant
Officer Cipriano Trujillo,

the soldier overseeing
green energy projects here.

One, two,

three,

four, five, six, seven...

Come on! Eight. Stretch!

-Man!
-Morning, Governor.

-Chief Trujillo. How are you doing?
-Terrific thank you.

-How are you?
-I'm well.

So tell me now,
how long you been in this place?

This is my third time through,
but nine months on this station.

So you guys
are going more and more green.

Yes, sir.

In 2012, the Army released a policy

that said commanders at every level

need to start looking at ways
to reduce their energy output.

We're looking
at a bunch of different ways

that we can incorporate solar,
reuse water, those sort of things.

I've never seen that at any base,
and I've visited a lot of them.

So that's kind of new here.

I can give you a tour
of some of the stuff.

Absolutely. Go for your next set.

-Enough rest, right?
-Exactly.

The chief tells me that the military
has been investing billions

in solar light carts,
wind, battery storage,

and other types
of alternative energies

in order to meet
the Pentagon's energy goals.

A solar-powered
emergency warning system

provides security
in case of an attack.

But the chief says the technology
that will save the most energy

is the modular housing units powered
by rooftop solar and microgrids.

In most facilities,

lighting is where the majority
of your electricity goes.

But for us here in the Middle East,
it's air-conditioning.

We have 25
of the single story structures,

and 72 of the two-story structures
just on the other side.

And is this a pilot project?

Or every base
will get something like that?

So right now it's the pilot.

Once we feel comfortable,
we're gonna start in other bases.

On Saturday I'm flying up to Iraq

to see if we can use them
in bases there.

Trujillo also shows me plans
for a solar-powered parking lot,

one that would charge

the first fleet of electric vehicles
on the base.

I mean, it's encouraging,
but we've had electric vehicles

and solar parking lots in California
for quite some time.

So, tell me now,
to me what is interesting is,

here we are
in the middle of the desert.

And you have
an abundant amount of sun.

What do you think it is

that has held
the military back in a way

when it comes
to making the base more green?

One of the issues
that we definitely run into

is it has to be true and proven.

We have to know it's not going
to put any of the soldiers at risk.

So what we've really attempted to do
is start very small,

ensure that the first projects
are extremely successful.

This way we can stop the naysayers,
and then move forward.

How do the average soldiers
out there feel about that?

Going green, the energy efficiency
and all of those things.

When I originally took this job,

it literally felt
like the first project I presented

that people were filling up
buckets with rocks

so that they could stone me.

I was actually quite surprised

with how much resistance
I received initially.

About solar.

-Right.
-So...

As soon as the light carts
had such a great success,

I presented this project

and everybody in the room
had the exact same question you had.

They said, "This is a great idea,
why are we barely doing this now?"

We all know that green technology
has to be tried and true,

but as I leave the base
all I see are diesel generators

and row after row
of gas-guzzling tanks and trucks.

Green projects seem to barely exist.

And yet, the military is on target
for their clean energy goals:

it just seems
like a pretty low target.

Why?

Is it the military bureaucracy,
or is there something else

keeping us dangerously dependent
on fossil fuels?

I'm headed
to Washington, D.C. to find out.

Growing up in southern Brazil,

my five sisters and I
ate meat pretty much every day.

It's just part of the culture here.

Per capita, Brazilians are one

of the top consumers of beef
on the planet.

Now, with the world's
growing appetite for beef,

Brazil has also become
a major exporter,

and is aiming to increase
its market share,

partly by selling to the U.S.,

the world's biggest
consumer of beef,

and to China, where demand for beef
has grown 25% in just 10 years.

I understand the need
to develop and grow,

but does that have to come
at the expense of the rainforest

and the climate?

The Amazon rainforest

is about the same size
as the continental United States.

One fifth of the world's fresh water
runs through it.

And it is home to more species
of animals and plants

than anywhere on earth.

The Amazon represents more than half

of the remaining rainforests
on the planet.

MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL

This forest is so vast,
but it is not indestructible.

To find out what's at stake,

I'm going to talk to one of Brazil's
top climate scientists,

Dr. Antonio Nobre.

So, Antonio, tell us a little bit

about this amazing,
green carpet of heaven over here?

Well, most people
don't have the opportunity

to come to the top of the forest.

If you see all these many shades
of green that is here

is because biodiversity is
the essence of this type of forest.

Every species of tree
has thousands of species of bugs,

and also if you get a leaf
of one those species,

and you look to the microbes
that are sitting on top of the leaf

you find millions
of species, millions.

And this is all
below our radar screen, so to speak,

because we don't realize,
it's invisible.

And the trees are shooting water
from the ground, groundwater,

up high in the sky.

And this goes up into the atmosphere
and releases the heat out there,

and this radiates to space,

and this is very important
as a mechanism to cool the planet.

They're like air conditioners.

Open air conditioning,
that's what the forest is.

So, in other words,
if we lose all these trees,

we're losing the air conditioning
that cools off the planet.

-Not only that.
-Not only that?

The trees
are soaking up carbon, you know?

The pollution that we produce,
like carbon dioxide.

Yeah.

Burning gasoline in our cars...

You release carbon dioxide
in the air from burning coal,

and the trees use carbon dioxide
as a raw material.

So the trees
are storing all this carbon.

So, if you come and cut it down
and burn it up,

all that carbon goes up in the air?

Absolutely. Yeah.

What would happen
if this forest was gone?

When the forest is destroyed,
the climate changes

and the forest that's left
is damaged as well.

The forest grows drier and drier,
and it eventually catches fire.

So, in the extreme,
the whole area becomes a desert.

And that's what is in store
if we deforest.

We have to quit deforestation
yesterday, not 2020 or 2030.

And there is no "Plan C."

You know, you have "Plan A."
Plan A is business as usual.

Keep plundering all the resources
and using as it were infinite.

"Plan B" is what many people
are attempting, you know,

changing the matrix of energy
and using clean sources,

stop eating too much meat
and replanting forests.

If that doesn't work,
then we go to "Plan C."

-What's "Plan C?"
-I have no idea.

-Going to another planet!
-We can't do that!

And we don't have another planet!

So, either we work with Plan B,
or we are--

-Done.
-Yeah, we are done.

So, Plan B has to work.
It has to work.

People have to take accountability.

Because it can't be just like,
"I'm living over here

and whatever happens over there,
you know, who cares.

It's not my problem,"
because it is everyone's problem!

People should wake up.

It's like, when you're in the midst
of an unfolding disaster,

what do you do? You panic?

No. You move it.

Move, move, move, move.
That's what we need to do.

Washington.

I've come here
to see why the military,

despite direct orders
from leadership

to ramp up renewable energy,

seems to have made
such little progress

on bases like Camp Arifjan.

THE ARMY AND NAVY CLUB

Today, I'm hoping to get answers
from some of those

who've served our military
at its highest level.

The biggest use of fuel
is the military.

It is. By far.

I know that the Obama Administration

is all pro-alternative fuels
and all that.

The question I really have
for you guys is,

if the Department of Defense

is dragging its feet
and it's slow on that,

what do you think is the reason?

I think the military
has been slow to come,

not just the military,
it's the government as well.

There are a lot of laws

that have been passed
over the years,

where it's hard
to make this go faster.

Sharon knows exactly
what I'm talking about here.

This year, we had a Republican
introduce an amendment,

that just passed the House,

that said the Department of Defense
can't do anything

on any renewable energy
and climate change.

Nothing. Can't spend any
money on climate change at all.

I can remember times when I was told
that there were certain staffers

looking for items
in the U.S. defense budget,

that had to do
with either climate or energy,

so that they could zero those out.

It must be really weird,
because to me the Republicans

have been more supportive
of the military,

but all of a sudden you have to go
to the other party to get sympathy.

Every year,
there would be in the House,

there would be members

who would try to strip out
all of the energy programs at DOD.

And it was, you know,
members from Texas,

who have a vested interest
in the current system.

What business would subject itself
to that kind of constriction?

Can't do anything
that makes your business

more efficient and better?

It's amazing.

Some members of my party
have accepted the need

to break our dependence
on polluting oil.

But many Republicans are still
fighting the Pentagon's directives

for the military to go green.

"These executive orders

would require
the Department of Defense

to squander precious defense dollars

by incorporating
climate change bureaucracies

into its acquisition
in military operations,

and to waste money
on green energy projects."

And two House Republicans
from Texas,

who received hundreds
of thousands of dollars

from the fossil fuel industry,

year after year repeatedly
tried to block Congressional efforts

to scale up the military's use
of alternative fuels.

The House recently passed

a drastic amendment
by Congressman Buck,

which would block an unprecedented
directive from the Pentagon

that orders our military to prepare
for our clean energy future.

And now is the time to focus
on our imminent defense requirements

because climate change is not
an enemy of the United States.

We are being faced directly
with climate change,

and we know science is telling us

that it's going to get worse
in the future.

And if we don't adjust,
we are just asking for trouble.

Climate change is included
in the larger debate

about what is the world
we're going to face in the future.

What are those existential threats
to America?

And this is one of them.

What has changed?
Why is there such an urgency now?

Climate change
is especially dangerous

because it makes everything else
more dangerous.

It's what the Department has called
in its own strategy documents

a threat accelerator.

When you have a place
where you've got a weak government

and a poor economy,

and then you add into it a drought,
or an extreme weather event,

or a food shortage, that's all
being affected by climate change,

that's when things begin
to break down, and you see conflict,

and you see people move.

And that's when you have
a security challenge.

Every time there's
a flood in Mozambique

or a tsunami in the Pacific,
we're going to be involved

from a military perspective,
like it or not.

There's going to be
more and more of that,

a massive crisis that can only
be responded to by the military.

Unbelievable.

The very oil that the military
has fought and died over

is actually undermining
its own mission:

exacerbating climate change,

resulting in even
more global instability.

PHILIPPINES
2013

PAKISTAN
2010

SYRIA
2016

It's shocking to me
that we're so ill-prepared

for the looming national security
threat of climate change.

Most of the people in the military
willing to speak openly

about climate issues are retired.

But there's
one active military leader

who's been speaking up
for almost a decade.

It's Assistant Secretary
of the Navy Denny McGinn.

We must recognize
that we as a nation

are at a pivotal moment in history.

Those who say that now
is not the time to act,

fail to recognize
the gravity and the urgency

of our energy
and climate change challenges.

McGinn retired from the Navy
as a vice admiral.

The Pentagon then recruited him

to become Assistant Secretary
of the Navy

because of his extensive knowledge
of renewable energy solutions.

I'm on my way to Naval Station
Norfolk to meet him.

Brazil is going
through some really hard times.

We've had a political
corruption scandal,

protests in the streets,

the worst economic recession
in decades,

severe droughts, and the president
was just impeached.

With all these problems,
I worry protecting the rainforest

will keep falling
through the cracks.

No one is fighting more desperately
to defend the forest

than the estimated half million
Indigenous people

who call the Amazon home.

And have for thousands of years.

Now the battle has taken them

from the forest
to the streets of the capital,

demanding that laws
protecting their land be enforced.

On the front lines,
is Sonia Guajajara,

an outspoken Indigenous leader

who has fought for the Amazon
her entire life.

We have a very strong,
very large group of congressmen

lobbying for rural farmers,
trying to destroy our rights.

When will they acknowledge

that there are still
indigenous lands in Brazil?

Who are these politicians?

Do you know who are these people
who are creating this pressure

on indigenous land
and protected lands?

In Brazil, it's difficult
to list the worst politicians.

There are some 300 congressmen
with the same goal,

to get access to indigenous lands,
to exploit them.

Katia Abreu
is always at the top of the list.

As the former
Agriculture Minister,

she was always
on the side of agribusiness.

And now as senator,

she leads the politicians
who want to deforest.

We even gave her
the Golden Chainsaw Award

for being Miss Deforestation.

She deserves this prize

because she continues working
to legalize more deforestation.

I'm gonna ask the senator
and former agriculture minister

how she justifies the forest
still being cut down.

I've just come from the Amazon,

flown over it, and saw
a lot of deforestation, cattle.

-You flew over Pará?
-I flew over several states.

I flew over Pará and Mato Grosso,
and Mato Grosso is destroyed.

I was a little bit shocked
to see that, you know?

Because I'm so proud
of being Brazilian

and I'm so proud of the forest.
What is this?

Is this the cost
of us being pressured to produce?

Brazil carries a huge responsibility
on its shoulders

because in 2050 we will have
another two billion people on Earth

that will need to be fed.

But can we continue to grow
without destroying the rainforest?

Certainly.

When this debate
arrived in Brazil,

it was very hostile
towards the farmers.

We saw ourselves
as our nation's heroes,

producing food.

Then we suddenly became
nature's executioners,

destroying everything.

But the meat industry
and agribusiness

have always been the anchor

that allowed Brazil
to weather crises.

For a simple reason:

We have the climate,
we have the land, and lots of water.

This is the country's calling.
Brazil has never denied its calling.

If politicians here feel

like Brazil's natural resources
will never run out

and continue to cave in
to the growing pressure to produce,

what hope is there
for the rainforest,

the climate, and our planet?

There are some Brazilian ranchers

trying to figure out
better ways to farm the land,

so no more trees
have to be cut down.

But so far it's not enough.

The big issue
of greenhouse gas emissions

from raising cattle still remains.

Already 20% of the Amazon is gone.
Another 20% is at risk.

We are at a tipping point.

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, VIRGINIA

I've come to Naval Station Norfolk

to meet one of our Navy's
top leaders, Denny McGinn.

Norfolk is the largest navy base
in the world.

It launches some of the military's
most important combat missions:

to places like Iraq,
Afghanistan and Syria.

I want to ask McGinn what he's doing

to help speed up
the military's move to renewables,

but before I get the chance,
he tells me that I have to meet one

of the base's top admirals to learn
about what's happening here.

Governor, this is the second
most vulnerable area

next to New Orleans,
in terms of the sea level rise.

Right now, our best estimate

is approximately a two-foot rise
by the year 2050.

-Two feet.
-Exactly.

The major thoroughfare
coming into the base

would be underwater
anywhere from two to three hours

every single day,
and that's on normal days.

But the thing
that really concerns us

is the probability of storms
that will surge

into the Chesapeake Bay,
up the river.

It can increase sea level rise
by four, five, six or more feet.

If we get a Category 1 storm here,

we're already putting
our piers underwater.

So you get a Cat 2 storm,
half the base is now underwater.

I can imagine the danger
that this base is under.

-All the time.
-Exactly.

It's not just Norfolk Naval Station,

it's all naval stations
all over the world it seems to me.

Exactly, we worry
about it everywhere.

It's going to intensify,
it's gonna to be more frequent.

We're in hurricane season.
It could happen literally tomorrow.

At least 18 other major naval bases
critical to our defense

are at serious risk.

Not 50 years from now, but today.

It's alarming to learn
that climate change

could cripple operations
all along our Eastern seaboard.

When you talk about the future
and the rising sea levels,

you already have to shut down
certain areas now.

I mean, this is unbelievable.

We've got to develop alternatives

to simply "business as usual,
rely on cheap oil."

We want to, by 2020,
in just four years,

be able to say that 50%
of our energy for the Navy,

including nuclear power, is coming
from non-fossil fuel sources.

Fifty percent by 2020
would be a major victory.

The Navy consumes about one-third
of the military's fuel.

But what are they doing right now

to deal with the immediate
flooding threat?

We just built a new pier there,
that was raised up higher.

Secretary McGinn tells me

they are doing
all they can to adapt:

raising piers, and moving sensitive
equipment from low-lying areas.

But you can't just pick up
and move a naval base,

and the only real solution
to sea level rise

is curbing fossil fuels.

I'm sure when you started
you never thought

that you'd got to deal one day
with the challenge

of global warming,
sea level rise, right?

-Right.
-The threat from nature.

Throughout my career,
somebody that came up and...

you know, flyin' airplanes early on,
it was probably something

I didn't give
a whole lot of thought to,

but these days
I give a lot of thought to it.

If we don't start now,

in 20 years, we'll be looking back
and we'll be saying, why didn't we?

Why didn't we listen
to the science and the engineers?

Climate change is happening
and we need to plan for it.

After seeing how much of the base
still desperately needs to be

fortified against sea level rise,
I'm even more baffled.

Here's a vice admiral
with 40 years in the Navy

warning that we've got
to act quickly

and Congress is still blocking
the military's fight to go green?

I'm back home now,

thinking about everything
I learned in Brazil.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

And I'm wondering if there's
anything we as individuals can do

to help protect the Amazon
and fight climate change.

To find out, I asked a world expert
on food and climate change,

Andrew Steer, to come over.

He's joining me and Susan Ryan,
who helps my family eat well.

Can we all keep eating meat
at the rate that we are

and survive as a planet?

Not if the growth for beef
keeps at its current pace.

Today there are about
7.4 billion people in the world.

There will be
nearly 10 billion by 2050,

and 3 billion more
will enter the middle class.

When you enter the middle class,
you start eating a lot more meat.

And for the world as a whole,
beef consumption

will probably double by 2050.

That means that the amount
of land required for beef

is just going to push into
those forests in a terrible way.

Beef takes 20 times as much land

as the same amount
of nutrition from beans.

So if you switch from beans to beef,
you need 20 times as much land

and you also produce 20 times
as much greenhouse gases,

so you actually produce
climate change.

And even the cattle themselves
through methane emissions

are a very, very serious cause
of greenhouse gases.

If all the cattle in the world
were to form a nation,

they would be
the third largest emitter

of greenhouse gases
after China and the United States.

When people have the information,
and they understand what's going on

and they understand the impact
of the choices they have,

they could make
better choices, you know?

This is really interesting
because the question is,

how could we encourage
a shift in behavior?

Ten years ago, when people said
here's a veggie burger,

you knew it was veggie burger.

I like veggie burgers!

Well, that's great!

But some people want beef burgers,

and they now can make these
that people can't tell apart.

I'd say 80%, 90% of what we eat
is plant based.

You just become accustomed to
and you love it,

and it becomes
the most delicious thing.

Starting your kids out early.

Kids love beets.
They think they're candy.

The two of you clearly
sort of reinforce each other.

Deep, deep down inside of you,

you believe that you ought to eat
in a certain way.

So, it's not that everybody
needs to become a vegan,

but we do have to eat less beef

and if in fact you were to halve
your amount of beef consumption,

if we in America were,

that would have
a massively positive impact.

We can't solve climate change
unless we stop deforestation,

and we can't stop deforestation

unless we change
the way our food is produced.

If climate change continues,
the world faces a very grim future.

It really is a race
against time, isn't it?

Climate change is flooding our bases

and exacerbating conflicts
around the world.

Our dependence on oil is killing us.

So how is it
that so many members of Congress

refuse to switch over to renewables
as a solution to all of this?

I wanted to talk
to my fellow Republicans,

so I reached out to many members

of the House and Senate
Armed Services Committees,

but none of them
made themselves available.

To be honest, I did not expect

to get that much resistance
from my own party.

And as I spend more and more time
here in Washington,

I keep thinking about our fuel
convoy drivers in the Middle East,

whose job it is to bring oil
to the troops on the front lines.

What do they think
about our dependence on fossil fuels

and the fight
over greening our military?

I arranged to meet with some
who are now back home.

Now you were in Afghanistan,
and you were in Iraq.

-Both of you were in Iraq.
-We were there together.

And have you been part of an attack,
driving the fuel around?

Absolutely. We pretty much got hit
every single time we went out.

-Every single time.
-Yeah. For the most part.

So all of a sudden there you were,

you stepped
the first time in this truck

and you had
all this fuel behind you...

Did you know
how dangerous this really is?

No, not initially.

We were probably there
maybe a month before I got attacked.

We left every morning at 6 o'clock,

and you know,
it wasn't too hard to figure out

that we were gonna be coming.

And I was the first truck
in the convoy and there was a turn.

We had to like stop to turn right,
and it was at that intersection...

At first it was a grenade
and then three IED.

I was unconscious.

-My passenger, he was killed.
-He was killed?

They definitely had it planned out.

I mean, at one point you would say,
let's go and change that,

let's do something different,
or let's improve on that.

I've been working on this
for over ten years.

When I got home, I knew
I wanted to continue my mission

and how I was doing that
was talking about these fuel convoys

and talking about
how dangerous it was.

And then if we moved
towards a clean energy future

and allowed the Pentagon

to do the kind of things
that they needed to do,

that we could be saving
American lives.

When it comes to clean energy,
it's not about polar bears,

it's about fuel convoys
and national security for me.

For the military base,

we know that now we can provide them
with renewable energy.

The only problem
is that unfortunately

if Congress finds out about it,
they get kind of upset

because there are so many people
within Congress

and the American public
that are still deniers,

saying climate change isn't real.

How can you be a
denier of something like that?

I'd like to almost turn
the question around on you

and ask you how that happens.

You ran on a Republican ticket

and were actually the Republican
governor for California.

And a lot of the stoppages
being on the Republican side

of the political spectrum,
you know how is it?

A lot of these people
are controlled by the higher powers.

The money people and so on.
And that's the sad story.

I know my friend that died,
he was a great person.

And I don't think his life
or anyone else is worth oil.

When there are so many
other options out there,

why would you not
want to go that route?

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

If Washington politicians
were as courageous as our troops,

they'd stand up
to the oil interests,

and help our armed forces go green.

Meanwhile, the military is using
the limited resources it has

to test the renewables
for wars of the future.

Good morning and welcome to the--

The military has long been
one of the great innovators.

It developed the walkie-talkie,
GPS technology,

and digital photography.

I can only imagine
all of the green innovations

that we might see
if Congress got behind them.

...is the hybrid power trailer.
It reduces the amount of fuel that--

The Army trains soldiers
on renewable systems

like the hybrid power trailer
and portable solar generators

that can power satellite dishes,
GPS, and radios for combat.

These systems can reduce

the military's addiction
to fossil fuels,

making our troops
and all Americans safer.

Our thirst for oil
has already cost us too many lives,

and it's leading us
on a path to self-destruction.

We already have
the clean energy solutions

to help put an end
to climate insecurity

and the conflict over oil.

We just have to fight for them.

I'm finally starting to understand

the real meaning of the rainforest
I grew up dreaming about

and its key role in balancing
the climate on Earth.

The Amazon rainforest
is vital to sustain life.

If we destroy it,
it will impact the whole world,

because everything is connected.

But it can't protect itself.

We have to pressure our leaders
to stop deforestation,

to use clean sources of energy,
to curb CO2 emissions.

And we also have to make
some changes in how we live,

and how we eat.

Who will join me in this fight?

Because our choices
will make a difference

when it comes
to saving this magical place.

Subtitles: Alejandra Garbarello
plint.com