Before the Flood Page #5

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for the last hundred years.

If we're gonna

solve this problem,

we all have a responsibility

to set an example,

and more than that, help the

developing world transition

before it's too late.

We are seeing events that

we did not see in the past.

It's not about when the entire

islands are underwater.

It's well before then is

going to be the crisis.

And it's already happening.

What we are facing at the

moment is severe flooding.

It's gone into the fresh water

ponds and that's how people

get their drinking water.

Have you spoken

with people in the scientific

community that have given you

some sort of a time frame?

Given the scenarios and

the projections put forward

by the science, our

islands will be underwater,

and so the question is,

what do we do about it?

At the moment, internally, we

are relocating our communities

from certain parts of the

island to where the water

has not come up.

But our long-term strategy

is something that I've been

discussing internationally,

because we,

we have to come to accept the

reality that we may not be able

to accommodate

all of our people.

We have adopted a policy

of migration with dignity.

We bought a piece

of land in Fiji,

so that if our people choose to

migrate today, they can do it.

Hmm.

They must do it

as a matter of choice.

I've got grandchildren.

I've got 12 grandchildren.

I'd like to be able to,

to go away knowing that

they will continue

to have a home.

Islands in the Pacific,

we're a paradise in peril.

Throughout Palau we have

sea level rise coming

into the farmlands,

coming into the homes.

This is unbelievable.

When was this an intact

island with homes on it?

How long ago?

12 years ago, when you came,

there were people living here.

So, within the 12-year

period this is the result.

It's just a small

picture of one place.

The small island nations

who contribute the least

to the causes of climate change,

are actually going to feel

the worst uh, impacts.

The worst scenarios

because of global warming.

What we've done to

the rest of the world is just,

it's criminal.

It's not just sea level rise.

We've taken these coastal

ecosystems that used to be

dominated by incredibly

abundant fish,

and we've knocked the whole

system down reversing

half a billion

years of evolution.

One billion people depend on

fisheries from coral reefs

for virtually all of

their protein.

One billion people.

Here we are, we're on what was

a pretty healthy coral reef.

What's missing?

You see almost nothing

swimming around.

Is this a dying coral reef?

I think this reef has had it.

We're pushing the system really

hard and that is a serious enemy

to the health of corals

and their ability to grow.

Mhm.

It's causing loss

of people's livelihoods.

It's causing starvation.

This is happening all over.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

I think reefs as we know them

are gonna virtually disappear.

The oceans are like this big

buffer because they absorb

carbon dioxide.

They take up about a third

of the CO2 that we dump

into the atmosphere.

So because of that, they are a

stabilizing force in climate.

The problem is the ocean can't

do its job fast enough

with this absurd rate of

carbon dioxide emissions.

You know, life isn't gonna

disappear in the ocean.

There will always be

life in the ocean,

but it's not gonna be

necessarily the kind of life

we want.

We could go back to 3 billion

years ago and have just

a whole lot of slime.

We're taking away the

ecosystems that normally help us

to restabilize the climate.

Like oceans, rainforests absorb

carbon from our atmosphere.

Decades and decades of the

forests breathing in the carbon,

storing it in the trunks and the

leaves and the organic matter.

Those carbon emissions are

being held safe for us.

Until we clear them,

and light them on fire.

It acts like a carbon bomb

and releases massive carbon

emissions back into

the atmosphere.

Wow, this haze

is intense isn't it?

You can't see anything here!

This is scary.

This isn't natural?

This is all fire?

This is not natural at all.

I've never

seen anything like this.

There are three big

tropical rainforest areas

left in the world.

The Amazon in South America,

the Congo Basin in Africa,

and the South East Asian

rainforest which spans

Indonesia.

In Indonesia, we're seeing

fires being intentionally set

in order to create palm

oil plantations,

which grow the cheapest

vegetable oil in the world.

It's in cooking oils,

in processed foods,

in your cosmetics,

in your detergents.

This really cheap commodity is

making companies tremendous

profits.

Just as far as you can see.

Rows of palm oil.

They have destroyed so much of

this forest, it's unbelievable.

What a beauty!

I can't even

comprehend what these forests

must have looked like.

Forests where rhino and elephant

and orangutan would be populated

into the thousands.

These guys are

a byproduct of the forest lost

because of the

palm oil industry.

You know, they're effectively

refugees from forests

that no longer exist.

Wow, that's a good grip.

Yeah!

Strong.

Hey, I'm gonna get you some

fruit, don't be scared.

The carrot or the fruit?

Definitely the fruit, that's

what you guys are after, huh?

There you go.

Do you like carrots?

Or, not so much?

Oh my God.

These are amazing.

Aw.

I always

remind people when they go,

Aw, the poor thing, you know,

these are the lucky survivors.

What happens to

all the other orangutan?

You know,

all the others are dead.

And the reason people are

chopping down the forest

to plant palm oil plantations

is because people keep buying

the stuff.

People have to realize that what

they do in their supermarket,

the decisions they make

in their daily lives,

are affecting places like

the Leuser ecosystem.

If palm oil is in

almost everything we buy,

how are consumers

supposed to avoid this?

If these products have

such a devastating impact,

why aren't governments setting

restrictions to prevent

these big corporations

from destroying the planet

just so they can save money?

If you want something

that you can do without

appealing to any

higher authorities,

such as government or whatever,

I can't think of an easier, um,

out, than changing your diet.

You can start tonight.

So you're a scientist

who studies the effects

of agriculture on climate, but

you grew up raising cattle

and taking them to

slaughter, right?

I'm a scientist, that's

the most important thing.

So, of all the reasons for

tropical deforestation,

the foremost is beef.

And beef is one of the most

inefficient uses of resources

on the planet.

In the U.S., 47 percent of land

is used for food production,

and of that, the lion's share is

just to grow feed for cattle.

The things that we actually eat,

like fruit, vegetable, nuts,

it's a percent.

Most importantly,

cows produce methane,

and methane is a

powerful greenhouse gas.

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