An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Page #8

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where the landline

electricity grids

are not so great.

In Africa.

In the Indian subcontinent.

Now we're seeing this instead:

Solar panels.

This one in Africa's

on the roof of a grass hut.

Parents want their children

to have access

to the universe of information.

Chile. A developing country,

but it has great policy.

You talk about excitement,

this story gets me excited.

At the end of 2013, they had

11 megawatts of solar.

By the end of 2014,

more than 400 megawatts.

By the end of last year,

more than 800 megawatts.

So look at what they have

under construction this year

and under contract to

soon begin construction.

Isn't that great? I love this.

13.3 gigawatts!

And there are other countries

and many regions in the world

that are poised

for this kind of breakout.

We are seeing

a real turning here.

On a global basis,

the world gets more energy

from the sun each hour

than the entire global economy

uses for an entire year.

If we increase

the fraction of that

that we harvest

and use productively,

then we can solve that part

of the climate crisis.

There's been a lot of discussion

between India and U.S.

We know that President Obama

did make a call

to Prime Minister Modi.

What the outcomes

were of those talks,

we don't know yet.

What we do know is John Kerry

has been having

repeated discussion.

There was

a one-hour meeting today

with the environment minister.

How all this translates

into India's concerns

being met

still remains to be seen.

Do we have a deal,

Mr. President?

Do we have a deal?

Today is a historic day.

We have,

in the spirit of compromise,

agreed on a number of phrases.

And we have not only

an agreement,

but we have written

a new chapter of hope

in the lives of seven billion

people on the planet.

We hope

that Paris will reassure

this future generation

that we all together

will mitigate

the challenge

posed by climate change,

and we will give them

a better Earth.

Thank you. Merci beaucoup.

L'accord de Paris pour

le climat est accept.

We started

this COP commemorating

those fallen in tragic deaths.

We end this COP celebrating

a new chapter of hope

for the world.

This is exciting.

It's very exciting.

Yes, thank you, sir.

Thank you. I'm glad it helped.

The Paris Agreement

would not have happened

without President Obama,

Secretary of State John Kerry,

President Hollande of France.

Without a lot of people

who worked hard on that.

Virtually every nation

in the entire world agreed

to get to net-zero

greenhouse gas emissions

as early in the second half

of this century as possible.

This sends a signal to markets,

sends a signal to investors.

And it resulted

in the largest solar loan

in the history of the world

to help India move forward

more quickly

in its installation of solar.

It needs continuing work.

And one of the reasons

your role is so important

is to hold them to

what they've agreed to

and to keep the pressure on.

Because even with

all the agreements

put together,

it's still not enough.

But the basis is there

to ramp up

and make more progress.

There are cities in the U.S.

that have already

reached the goal of

100% renewable energy.

Rock Port, Missouri.

Greensburg, Kansas.

They were destroyed

by an F5 tornado,

and when they built back,

they say, "Hey",

"let's go 100% renewable,"

and they have.

Right here in Houston,

the home of the global

oil and gas industry,

you'll hear a lot of people say,

"Wind and solar's nice,"

"but it won't really

lead anywhere."

And a lot of people

are now saying

that is a strange new form

of denial.

But look at what's happening

in Georgetown, Texas.

Howdy!

Howdy, Mr. Vice President Gore.

How are you, Mr. Mayor?

Welcome to the greatest city

on Planet Earth.

Spoken like a good mayor.

- Can I have one?

- Oh, sure.

I know they're for kids.

So, how long have you

been mayor?

I have been mayor for two years.

This green energy

initiative started

when I was on council in 2008.

I remember that. Mmm-hmm.

And the direction that

we gave to Chris

and crew was, in 2008, we said

by 2030 we want

our energy portfolio

- to be 30% renewable energy.

- Yeah.

Well, they've sort of

blown by that.

That was ambitious

at that time, anyway.

It was! Absolutely.

Currently we're

90% renewable energy.

We're getting our wind

out of Amarillo.

Our solar farm's being

built out in west Texas.

It should be up and running

next spring.

Oh.

And currently, we will be

the first city in Texas

to be 100% renewable.

And when we go 100% renewable,

we will be the largest city

in the country

that's renewable energy at 100%.

So, I assume that

the reason you did this

is that the two of you are

just rabid environmentalists.

Well, not exactly, because,

um, you're in Georgetown,

which is the reddest city

in the reddest county in Texas,

and I'm a conservative

Republican.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

But our duty to our ratepayers

is to provide them

with the lowest possible

utility cost.

And money talks.

But then, wouldn't it

just make sense

from a common-sense standpoint,

the less stuff you put

in the air, the better it is?

- Yeah.

- I mean, common sense.

You don't need scientists

to debate that.

- Can I use that line?

- You absolutely can.

Hey, let me tell you what.

You would be

the sport of all sports

if somebody could get

a picture of me

and Mr. Vice President?

That's just for

personal use, right?

Oh, yeah.

- All right, here we go.

- Come on.

Here's your camera right there.

Now, this is not an endorsement,

as you can well imagine.

Hi, how are you?

Hi, Beth Wade,

Community Impact newspaper.

Pleasure. Pleasure.

You think this city

can be a trailblazer

for other cities of like size?

Definitely.

Now, not every city has

a CPA as a mayor,

so that's another

advantage for you.

But when other cities

really look at the facts,

I think you're gonna see

a massive wave

switching over to

pollution-free renewable energy.

Well, what we always say is,

don't we have a moral

and ethical obligation

to leave the planet

better than we found it?

You better be careful

talking like that.

T-minus 10, 9, 8,

7, 6, 5,

4, 3, 2, 1,

0.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9.

Falcon 9 has cleared the towers.

The Falcon takes flight,

propelling the Deep Space

Climate Observatory DSCOVR

on a million-mile journey

to protect our Planet Earth.

When President Obama

was elected,

I went to see him and

told him the story of

the DSCOVR satellite and

how it was cancelled.

And he allocated the money,

and it finally got launched.

Second stage engine

ignition

has occurred on time.

Remember, when I

mentioned the Blue Marble,

it was the only photograph

of its kind.

But here's one

from the first week

of last December.

This was taken by a brand-new

NASA and NOAA satellite

called DSCOVR

that orbits the sun

along with the Earth

and the scientists

are learning so much.

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