Earth 2100 Page #3

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Can countries like India and China do it

without burning as much

fossil fuel as the West?

We have to go greener.

You have the technology

and you have the capital

and you're prepared to help

us grow on a greener path.

China and India say they will agree

to the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions

only If the West hands over the

technology needed to do so.

China would wish to get the technology for the

third generation of nuclear power plants.

But Europe and the US refuse.

The technology belongs to private companies.

Instead, they offer to help pay the

costs of switching to cleaner energy.

You do the emissions reduction,

and we give the money for the

emissions reduction that you've done.

If- somebody, you know, you have the

money but you do not have the technology,

and then you cannot reduce any emissions.

The whole summit hinges on whether

they can come to an understanding.

So we're not putting any pressures.

We're just offering,

and I think it's a good offer.

We do not accept the offer.

The planet summit broke down today

when China and India refused to agree

to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Ultimately, all the teams fell short.

That perhaps is the, the saddest

element coming out of this,

which is the pace of change just

doesn't seem to be in keeping

with the magnitude of the challenge.

Scientists say that If this is

how our leaders respond in 2015,

the entire planet will be at risk.

If we continue on the

business-as-usual trajectory,

there will be a tipping

point that we cannot avert.

We will indeed drive

the car over the cliff.

There was a story my

mother once told me I'll never forget.

You put a frog in a pot of

cold water and turn the heat on.

The water warms so gradually

that the frog doesn't notice.

It never realizes the

precise moment it's cooked.

The frog will sit there because it's not able

to detect the small changes in temperature

that are making his life

increasingly dangerous.

And we're in the

same sort of situation.

We're so adaptable in our

evolution as a species,

an adaptability that's allowed us to really,

in a sense, conquer nature

and conquer the world.

But at this point, that adaptability is

actually a real threat to our existence.

As I grew up, it became increasingly

clear that we were the frogs.

After our home was destroyed by the hurricane,

my family moved to San Diego.

Maybe because it was as far

away from Miami as we could get.

Finally, this evening,

saving our seas.

The federal government has released

a major assessment on the oceans.

The news is not good.

It's going to be tough

to drive this summer.

Gas prices are

expected to soar even higher.

Increased heat

speeds up evaporation cycles.

In fact, these changes

can be seen worldwide...

Scientists report from the Arctic the

tundra is thawing faster than expected.

The United Nations

announced today

that there are now eight billion people

living on Earth.

It's amazing what you can

come to take for normal.

By the time I was in my 20s,

shortages and higher prices were

just a fact of everyday life.

After high school,

I decided to train as an EMT.

I wanted to be useful, and this

seemed the perfect kind of work.

So what else will be normal in 2030?

One thing, it will be warmer, about one

and a half degrees Fahrenheit warmer.

Enough to dramatically alter the

planet's weather and rainfall.

Canada and Siberia, for example,

will be wetter and hotter.

But for much of the world,

rain will be scarce.

And so will its most basic need, water.

By 2030, two-thirds of the world's

population will be underwater stress.

In Asia, for example,

glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau

act as a giant reservoir

for billions of people.

All over the world, as the climate warms,

mountain glaciers are melting

at faster and faster rates.

By 2030, 80% of

those glaciers may be gone.

If the glaciers disappear, much of the

food supply will disappear, as well.

These glaciers provide stream flow in

the summer during the dry months

that you can use to irrigate your crops.

When those glaciers are gone,

you've got a massive drought situation.

In 2030, Africa could be

facing extreme and widespread drought.

Rainfall levels are gonna continue

to drop over time in Africa,

especially in these fragile

regions, like the Sahel.

When the rains fail and people

don't have enough to eat,

they often turn to desperate means to survive.

And in the US in 2030,

many of the massive reservoirs

fed by the Colorado River will be drying up.

We talk about the Southwest moving into drought

as, as a way to, to describe

what's gonna happen.

But technically, the Southwest,

it's not gonna be in drought,

it's gonna become a desert.

In San Diego,

they were ahead of the game.

In 2009, they had started

building huge desalination plants.

It took 20 years and cost

billions of dollars, but it worked.

The massive plants on the ocean

turned saltwater into fresh,

and the city's water supply was restored.

they were running out.

And no one had enough money

to build a pipe that long.

So now, we're here rationing water

I mean, people who are in Las Vegas

are starting to totally panic.

People in Phoenix are

starting to panic, too.

When I turn on my tap this morning,

this is what I get out of my tap.

Something that will catch people's

attention is the first city,

rich city in the world,

that just runs out of water.

Three days

after Tucson's taps ran dry,

Its parched residents finally got relief when

a convoy of National Guard tanker trucks

carrying one million gallons

of water finally arrived.

Anxious residents lined

up to get their allotment.

What happened there

scared the whole country.

In San Diego, when the private

companies who desalinated our water

used Tucson as an excuse and

jacked up our water prices,

I decided enough was enough.

I went to a rally.

A man standing next to me

saw me yelling and said,

"I'm glad you're on our side."

To make a short story even shorter,

we fell in love on the spot.

Two months later,

Josh and I were married.

A year later, our daughter, Molly, was born,

with a head full of red hair.

And the desalination companies,

they backed down.

We had won.

Josh and I had friends who, like us,

were determined to re-imagine the future.

We were all of us optimists.

Some of us worked on

solar plants in the desert.

Others tinkered with super

efficient cars in their garages.

Still, others designed

fantastical cities on their computers.

It was an exciting time to be young.

But it was becoming clear that the

problems of the world knew no borders.

Global population is

now approaching nine billion.

Seems unlikely to me that we here in America

can sit happily with all of our resources

while the rest of the world simply

goes quietly into that good night.

very few people lay down and die.

When they recognize that

their lives are threatened,

they do whatever it takes.

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