1
:
The fucking Chevron refinery,
you see the flames?
The Chevron refinery
just blew up.
2:
Once a-fucking-gain,
once again.
:
An important civil
emergency message follows.
There is an emergency
at Chevron Refinery.
Residents in Richmond
are advised to
shelter in place.
Go inside,
close windows and doors,
turn off heaters,
air conditioners and fans.
Stay off the telephone
unlessyou have a life
threatening emergency.
1:
It is going down.
2: The refinery
just blew up, dog.
3: Yeah, we gotta
leave this shit.
4: The Chevron burnin'.
: A big fire at
one of the country's
largest oil refineries
shot giant clouds of thick
smoke into the air in
Richmond, California.
Fifteen thousand residents
went to local hospitals
complaining of health problems.
1: Follow the smoke.
2: It's chemicals
from Chevron.
1: This is what happens
when you live in Richmond.
: The city
also claims the stigma
from the Chevron fire
will affect property values
and quality of life.
: Okay,
you guys, let's do it.
I know, I know.
I'm doing it, I'm doing it.
I'm just putting
his green thing on.
Where's the pacifier?
Here you go, here you go.
-Do you remember?
-Bye, love you.
Love you, too.
Hit your head? Did it hurt?
I don't see no blood.
You got extremely
low income people.
You've got crime, violence...
a lot of economic desperation,
you know.
You can't be in a neighborhood
like this talking 'bout let's
save the polar bears.
They're not,
they're not gonna feel you.
: Right over there
that's the refinery...
belching out pollution.
The pollution based economy
createda lot of haves
and have nots.
If you've been in Richmond,
and you drive on that bridge
overto Marin county,
it's mind blowing,
like, "What is this?"
You know?
They're hiding it
just over the horizon.
There was organic food,
solar panels,
an economy being built up
around health, wellness
and environment.
I said, "This is not just going
to be good for the earth,
this is going to be
investment opportunities,
business opportunities, jobs..."
We could have
a green economy strong enough
to lift people out of poverty.
And I said, "This is
what I'm going
to dedicate my life to."
-Hello.
-Hi.
The question is who can ry
the country for a green outcome
for everybody?
Green For .
That's our job.
: That began
this incredible coalition,
Green For .
We tried to get
the greenest solutions
to the poorest people.
I said if we can
have green jobs,
we can solve
the economic problem,
the ecological problem...
We said, "We need
something concrete,
where people can actuy see
ordinary folks been trained
to do extraordinary things."
We're litery in the shadow
of the Chevron refinery.
And so you have
the last century's
pollution based economy,
and then you also
have the next thing.
And Michele is the master
of training people
how to do this rk.
In Richmond, the only time you
ever saw Richmond on the news
was t things,
somebody's bleeding
or something's burning, right?
If the refinery has a fire,
we get on the news.
And if somebody gets shot,
we get on the news.
I t to create some
good news in Richmond.
I figured that solar is
one great antidote to pollution,
and jobs are a good
antidote to violence.
And that's what inspired me
to start Solar Richmond.
Green jobs are
a possible solutionfor cities
around the country
because we're creating
job opportunities.
And at the same time,
they're playing a part
in this global movement
to clean up the planet.
This is a growth chart
of the solar field.
So it's been growing
at about 50% a year.
For me what that says
is opportunity.
There's money
in this field, right?
Since I've been laid off,
that's I do is cook
'cause the wife expects it.
Right, honey?
She said "Okay."
I try to put the house
in the best situation it can be
to keep the conflict down.
I try to aid the conflict.
You know, I know
she's going to be
frustrated at times.
It's usuy at
the end of the month,
when the bills are due.
She's a great .
She's been taking care of me.
And I think it's time for
meto start taking care
of her again.
So it uld be cool
to get solar panels, huh?
Yeah.
: I rey uld like that.
It'll bring the cost down
70 bucks a month.
With that 70 bucks we could go
out maybe one more time
or t more times
a month to dinner.
Or pay a bill.
Sorry.
Be practical.
: A couple of...
Ten years maybe?
:
No, more than that
we've been together.
: Ten years...
it's a long time,
but we dated longer
than most people date.
Who knows why, we just did.
We're married for seven years?
No, we're married 11 years.
Eleven years right.
So we've been together
13 before that,
so we've been together
24-25 years.
We're kinda like the old school,
you know, you get married,
you get married for life.
If you have problems
you rk through 'em,
that kind of thing.
Yeah, you try
to rk through 'em.
We're still underwater.
We bought our house,
and now it's rth
less than f of
what we paid for it.
Foreclosure.
Where you see that at?
When it's foreclosed,
they have those...
usuy papers
on the door
saying the bank takeover.
:
Some of our other neighbors
lost their home.
We had neighbors
come to our door,
who were very upset
but ted to let usknow
they'd be moving.
We're at the point
ndering,"Okay,
who else is going
to be going
and will it be us?
Even though we're less than
5% of the rld's population,
we're using more than
27% of its energy.
Over f the electricity
in the United States
comes from coal.
Coal is the biggest
source of carbon that
goes into the atmosphere.
One hundred cars of coal
powers a fossil fuel burning
power plant for one day.
One hour of sunlight
hitting the earth
is equal to the energy
that every person on the planet
consumes in a whole year.
There's no shortage
of solar energy.
: We're one of the biggest
residentialsolar
companies in the country.
We have 280 employees directly.
We employ another 300
contractorsaround the
country doing instations.
The cost of Solar
has dropped precipitously
in the last five years
by about 80%.
We're starting
to get to a point
where clean energy will just
compete without subsidies,
so as we swap out
and rewire the rld,
we'll increasingly
choose solar electricity
because it is cheaper.
Globy, we'll be
majority solar powered
by 2030.
Who's going to lead that?
Who's going to benefit
from that?
Where will those jobs be?
: In my village,
there was no electricity.
In our house,
we used kerosene and candles.
I was seven years old
whenelectricity bring to
our village.
Once they first see
the electricity light,
people think this is magic.
In 2003, I started my own
solar business.
For solar, there is great
opportunityfor growth
in the market.
At Westech,
we set up the researching
and ufacture.
:
When I started my business,
I had only 15 people.
Now I have 15,000 rldwide.
We grow 50 percent
every year.
Okay, thank you.
We see teamrk
as one plus one equal eleven.
My daughter,
she come to my office.
She said, "Hey Papa!
You made a mistake!
My teacher told me
one plus one is t."
I said, "Okay,
one plus one is t
is mathematics.
One plus one is 11 is.
This is economics."
"Hello Elaine.
Are you free now?"
Yes. Elaine. Yes.
Are you free now?
My daughter,
I will teach Green energy.
Once she grows up,
I hope she joins my business.
A lot of people look at
the clean tech relution
that's going on in the rld
and they look at China
and they say,
"Why is it that China has been
able to pour of this money
and be able
to deploy so quickly?"
It's actuy fear.
Energy security
is national security.
If you have this much ded
from people who t energy,
you have to be able to supply
that amount of energy,
especiy for a country
of 1.5 billion people.
If you don't have enough oil,
if you don't have enough coal
or natural gas,
where we're going to end up is
with riots on the street.
The only way
to rey solve this problem,
and not to create
conflicts down the road
with other countries,
is renewable energy.
China is a step ahead
in thatthe Chinese
government believes
that the science
of climate change is real.
They believe
that climate change
is caused by .
China is now
the leading country
in terms of
how fast they are implementing
sustainable technology
at rey large scale.
Today I believe that
China now has industrial might.
It has more ufacturing
capacity for wind energy
than any country in the rld.
It has more ufacturing
capacity for solar energy
than any country in the rld.
Renewable energy is the largest
wealth creation opportunity of
the 21st century,
and the United States and China
are in a huge battle
to be the largest
economic power.
This rey is a race,
the first one to deploy
the most solar technologies
at scale, wins.
They get the most jobs,
they get the most
billionaire entrepreneurs
and they become
the most affordable place
to do business.
A thin PV crystal
is like a thin piece of glass.
It's actuy made out of
the same stuff glass is,
did you know that?
-Silicon?
-That's right.
It's made out of silicon,
only it's highly refined.
They get it to what we c...
: Men have at last
harnessed the sunwith
the Bell Solar Battery.
Let the sun shine upon it,
and you get
an electric current.
Solar is
an American technology.
The first commercialized solar
panel was 1954, Bell Labs
that was in real use, and that
was through the space program.
: The first solar cell
that went uprked weeks,
months, years...
decades.
It just kept going.
And once that happened,
solar became the power source
for satellites.
:
The United States government
continued to push solar
forward during the space race.
Kennedy's moonshot
was so important
to show the country
that things that were
formerly thoughtof
as impossible,
were actuy possible.
We choose to go to the moon
in this decade
and do the other things,
not because they are easy
but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve
to organize and measure
the best of our energies
and skills,
because that chenge is one
that we're willing to accept,
one we are
unwilling to postpone
and one we intend to win.
: Having that leadership,
rying the country
behind a common goal,
and the government being able
to make those investments
in the technology, made
getting to the Moon possible,
and unleashed an era of
technological adcement.
When I hear the rd
"environmentalist",
I think of people going out
and planting flowers everywhere
who are gonna pick up bottles
they see on the ground.
In Richmond,
you're not going to find
any environmentalists.
People have way more concerns.
I rey never thought
about none of these things
until I got in this program.
I went to college,
but I didn't feel
like it was for me.
We was in class
talking about Socrates.
I didn't see
anything long term.
A bunch of minimum wage
opportunities.
If you don't go to college,
you still can get a good job,
but it's going to be
a lot harder.
It's going to be a lot harder.
: My dad grew up in a place
very muchlike Richmond,
California.
He grew up in
the poorest part of Memphis
and he grew up
in abject poverty.
He was able, though, to put
himself through college.
And then he put
his little brother
through college,
and then he put me and
my sisters through college.
This is the biggest sock
I've ever seen!
Where'd you get these socks?
He used to
tell me the time
that, "You've got to go through
the internal disciplines
of climbing that ladder
out of poverty yourself,
that's every individual's
responsibility."
My dad also said,
society has a responsibility
as well.
Society has to make sure
that every child has
a ladder to climb.
And that's what's
wrong right now
in places like Richmond.
It used to be the case
that if you didn'tgo to
college, it was right.
You could go get
a blue collar job,
we had ufacturing going on.
Now, a lot of those jobs
have left the country.
And so you wind up in a
situation where low income
people have to try
to climb a six story ladder
out of poverty,
but the ladder
only has four rungs on it.
So when you talk
about green collar jobs,
you're talking about putting
some green rungs back in that
ladder of opportunity.
We pass the right policies,
real people, are gonna have
to get up in the morning,
put on their rk boots,
put on their green hardhats,
get out there and do the rk.
Environmental adcate
Jones' new book,
which makes its debut this
weekon the New York
Times best seller list
is ced
The Green Collar Economy.
How one solution can fix
our t biggest problems.
Jones lays out a plan
for a green economy,
he says could help solve
the nation's economic
inequality.
Seventy percent of
global warming problems
are in our cities.
We can't beat global warming
without greening the cities,
and we can't green the cities
without greening the ghetto.
You are ground zero
for our agenda,
the only way we can
save the polar bears
is to save the neighborhood.
This is BBC rld, and we were
at the meeting this morning.
Hey. Very good.
: It uld be hard to
imaginemy rk-life
balance being any rse.
If I get four hours of sleep,
I'm doing great.
But we're in the first minute
of the first mile
of a very long marathon here.
You could put people to rk
right now re-powering America
with clean energy.
That's what this movement
is about.
As a result of the fire
at the Chevron
Richmond Refinery,
15,000 people were treated at
the hospital for respiratory
related conditions.
We are in a state of emergency.
Why are we the city that leads
the county in death and disease?
People are still
experiencing symptoms,
some that may turn
into very serious conditions
like cancer or heart conditions.
The day after the fire,
Chevron raises the price on gas,
and the people of this town
are paying for their fire
and I think they made,
how much, three billion
in the last quarter?
And the fact that
they put a lot of moneyinto
campaign contributions
for council members
created a certain privilege
for Chevron.
Oil giant Chevron
is pushing for
a multi-million dollar refund
on its property taxes.
At the same time,
Chevron announced
big profits today.
GAYLE:
When I ran for city council,
I n by fighting hard against
a large corporation,
who rey conducted
an out and out campaign
against me.
We have a vision
for green jobs that will not
only put moneyin the
pockets of our residents
but will also show
that we can meet
our energy needs.
We definitely could be
a solar cityif you have
the political will.
There's a relving door
between governments
and fossil fuel interests,
and so they are protected in
large part from competition.
We subsidize dirty energy
with investment
and tax credits,
we refine them in communities
that are already marginal
and dispossessed,
like Richmond.
And they've concentrated
a lot of wealth and power.
So we've got to
change power supply,
and that will mean changing
power relations, too.
If we got full taxes
from Chevron,
we uld be so flush in money
that we could put that
moneyinto stimulating
the green economy.
Energy policy is social policy.
Because solar power
is distributed,
because it is local,
because it can be owned
by the peoplethat use it,
we can make a fairer,
cleaner, lower cost rld.
That's an amazing
reversal of fortunes,
putting power in the hands of
the people both litery
and figuratively.
That is the potential of solar.
Here's the power formula,
lts times Amps equals Watts.
Watts is power.
: Training for
a new field of rk
at forties is frightening.
It's absolutely frightening
'cause you don't know
in the back of your mind
if it's gonna be an age thing.
Now I lost me.
Yeah, you take
a big step backwards.
Look, you got eight modules.
Right.
One string...
Is twelve.
Twelve lts what?
How y amps?
One.
: Here,
I'm a college educated
personand I have no job.
So that's definitely
frightening.
-When you wire in parel...
-Amps go up.
So where did you get 24 from?
Because it's the Watts.
It's the Watts.
: That fear uld be
the method of my motivation.
You didn't put the t strings
together in series,
you put them together
in parel.
Oh!
You are like, this far away
from having nailed it, .
You're doing good!
You got another cable?
Down low. Down low.
So yeah, just find
a bare piece of wire there,
that's perfect.
And now you've got to go to
the positive side.
Okay, this one's good.
That's the positive positive?
Good.
Yes,
that's the positive positive.
-And on the other side?
-Which is parel.
Good. Just watch your hair
blow there, okay, ?
I never thought that this uld
be so easy to get a fan going
off solar panels.
I am cool right now
even though I am in the sun.
: What do you got
going there, Rick?
Well we found
this music box here.
We decided we ted
to try to power this up
with some solar modules.
Hit the switch.
It's too fast.
Look at that.
We couldn't recognize the song.
We couldn't recognize the song,
because there's too y lts
running through it.
Correct.
When we cut it down to f.
Ready?
Stevie nder.
And it's powered by the sun.
Awesome.
: Solar was started
by hippies in the '70's.
Yes, those crazy tree huggers
that everybody hates,
were right.
By the way,
it wasn't the hippies,
it was us hippies, right?
Yeah.
: The early adopters
were people concerned
with the environment.
But when it reached the public,
it was more out of independence
mixed with necessity.
The oil producing countries
of the Arab rld
decided to use their oil
as a political weapon.
They will reduce oil production
by five percent...
: The solar industry
had one of itslarger eras
of public adoption
during the oil embargoes
of the 1970s.
No more gas, out of gas.
RICHARD NIXON:
We must face up
to a stark fact.
We are now
consuming more energy
than we produce.
: During the Nixon era,
OPEC raised oil prices
overnight,
very much shocking the nation.
The oil is declining,
and the problem will be
a problem of availability
and not a problem of prices.
When you are thirsty
in the desert,
you are ready to pay whatever
you have money in your pocket
for a glass of water.
: We saw it again under
the Carter administration
during the Iranian relution.
The Iranians cut back
supplyand spiked the
price of oil in America.
: We were afraid
we're going to
run out of oil,
not have enough oil
and it was basicy
being rationed.
This intolerable
dependence on foreign oil
threatens our economic
independence
and the very security
of our nation.
: President Carter
actuy set an energy agenda.
He ted us to be
on 20% renewable energy
by the year 2000.
Today in directly harnessing
the power of the sun,
we're taking the energy
that God gave us,
the most renewable energy
that we will ever see,
and using it to replace
our dwindling supplies
of fossil fuels.
Solar energy will not
pollute our air or water,
we will not run short of it.
No one can ever
embargo the sun...
or interrupt
its delivery to us.
: President Carter
put solar panels
on the White House.
Ronald Reagan took 'em off
the second day
he was in office.
One of Ronald Reagan's
secretaries actuy said that
solar was not a technology
befitting a super power.
We were left with of
these greattechnologies
in solar, wind, storage
that were invented
in the United States,
but we just didn't have
the policy in place
to deploy them at scale.
The oil industry, they receive
20, 30 billion dollars a year
from the US government
in subsidies.
When you have a system
that's been in place
for 100 years
and you've been making money
for 100 years,
the last thing
you t is innovation
that actuy turns
that system on its head.
Oil and gas produce
massive amounts of energy.
Wind and Solar don't.
We couldn't build enough
solar panels and enough
wind mills.
It uld still be
fossil fuels...
I t an energy policy
that rks,
not this nonsense
of supporting wind and solar.
I love the South.
Solar makes sense
for the South because...
Look! Look outside today!
Look at the sunshine.
Solar is becoming
so affordable,
utility companies
see solar as a threat.
And they rey began to
fight now very hard with
everything they've got.
: The Green Tea Coalition,
as it's ced, hascome
together to break what they say
is the unfair monopoly state
law givespower companies
to deliver electricity.
Solar, they say,
is the way to do it.
:
The Green Tea Coalition,
we asked Georgia Power
to include more solar
in their integrated
resource plan.
This was led by Republicans.
But we're facing a battle,
we were attacked.
:
Despite the Tea Party support,
a political group founded by
billionairebrothers
Charles and David Koch
ts Georgia's utility
regulatorsto reject the
new solar plan.
Follow the money.
Koch funded groups like ALEC
and Americans for Prosperity
are pulling out the stops
on a local level to stop solar.
Energy freedom and liberty
is not a Democrat issue,
it is not a Republican issue,
it is an American issue.
: As China moves from
the factory of the rld
to the clean tech laboratory
of the rld,
it's rking with partners
from around the rld
to deploy large amounts of
capitalto be able to buy
this equipment,
inst it in large pieces
of land in China.
And it does it at a pace
that is frankly,
a China pace, right,
in a blink of an eye.
The government gave more and
more support for clean energy.
They gave me
the bank's support.
I got a low interest loan.
They issued a law.
And the government has started
to promote local people
to use more and more solar.
We plan to create
8,000 job opportunities
for the jobless in Texas.
My solar city project is
supported by the Texas governor.
And this is Perry.
He's my friend.
He supports me very much
in promoting
solar energy in the U.S.
I told you.
I have a dream.
I t to go to the U.S.
and buy land to build
the solar city.
The solar city will be
including the factory,
training center,
convention center,
hotel and solar m.
That's my dream.
After the solar city is built,
then we can use free energy,
and also create jobs
and also save money.
: Green For
is part of a much larger
movement of groups
that are trying to
propose climate solutions
that actuy create jobs
and make us better off.
We're gonna be trying
to get legislation done
this year in Congress.
It's going to be
very stressful.
This is the first time
I've heard
rey be frustrated
because she's got to be
with t sick kids for a week.
And so she's like,
"Why are you going again?"
You know? Like, "I don't
understand why this is
so important."
And these kinds of things...
It's just...it's hard.
We have an opportunity
to solve the t biggest crises
possibly ever
to face this country.
An economic catastrophe
and a climate crisis.
We have an opportunity
to do something that
no generation of Americans
has ever had
the opportunity to do.
We can build a green economy,
we have the opportunity
to connect the people
who most need rk
with the rk that
most needs to be done
and fight pollution and poverty
at the same time.
This is the chance for America
finy to return to its roots
as the most important economy
in the rld,
not because we are
the number one consumers,
but because we are
the number one producers.
That was pretty good.
We got 500 million dollars
for the Green Jobs Act!
This is great! Excellent day!
Excellent day! Thank you!
We're just changing the rld,
America changing the rld.
No autographs.
How are ya, how are ya?
I don't t to rk
at the Chevron refinery,
I just don't t to be around
those different chemicals
and gases and whatnot.
Like I think in the longterm,
I think in the longterm
it does affect a lot of people.
And, like when my dad
passed away from cancer
it's just something
I'm scared of.
I know this one.
This, oh, you and your dad.
Boy, you guys tickled me.
Right now in Richmond
there's not much opportunity
as far as employment.
A lot of the industries
have pulled out and left.
I just knew you was gonna
grow up to be
an engineer of some kind,
because you always ted to
figure out how things rked.
My hope for Edward is that
he comes out of this program
with skills and knowledge
that cancarry him
through his life,
and be able to sustain himself.
: I just t a job.
It doesn't have to
be a green job.
I t a job,
a good paying job.
I was in the solar class,
walked in,
and seen an open seat next
toa pretty girl,
and I went and sat down.
's very talkative
and so she just
struck up a conversation.
Yes, ma'am.
uld you mark the rafters?
already knew
a lot about solar
and construction in general.
So she was
able to help me a lot,
because I was fresh and didn't
know much of anything.
rking with her,
I grew an interest for solar.
It makes it funner having
a beautiful there
helping you.
Okay, you and up,
just rk together, okay?
You carry it like that,
you bring it here.
:
Most men might be afraid
of the whole electricity thing.
It sounds dangerous,
but I feel pretty confident
in the things
that I've learned.
Just t to make sure
that I'm doing everything
the way I'm supposed to be.
Get that belt tight.
Okay, so the pants
are not down to here right.
It's the heat, he's delirious.
I'm most looking forward
to actuy insting
a real solar panel
on someone's home,
like... because
I never thought
about this stuff.
I know that I have it in me
to become an inster.
: A Bay Area
homeowner today got
thousands of dollars rth
of free rk done on his home,
and in the process some kids
are learning a new craft.
You might c it
a win-win situation.
Go to the first available
bracket there.
This is the point
where we said that...
Right there? This looks
pretty good right there.
Coming up, let me know
when you got it.
Let's lean that one
up against here...
Put it into place.
Okay, great.
Perfect.
: Once I figured out
what solar rey was
and how you can supply energy
to your own house,
I was thinking I could wire up
my own house with solar panels
and save some money there.
Five, four, three, t, one...
Zero.
: Solar!
That's the free power that
you're getting from the sun
right now.
right,
get out of here, get out.
:
You're making more than
you're using right now.
So I'm not having to pay
anything right now?
-Not right now no.
-This moment.
I'm not having to pay nothing.
Hello! I like them numbers.
Are we going to do this
in the City of Oakland?
I live in Oakland.
Yeah,
we're doing it in Oakland.
Well, how come I don't know
nothing about it?
I'll give you my card.
Give me your card...
They're doing it in Oakland...
Oh, my God, am I going
to be able to get solar?
Am I going to be
pumped from the sun?
Obama, Obama, Obama.
Starting today,
we must pick
ourselves up,
and begin again the rk
of remaking America.
We will harness the sun,
and the winds,
and the soil to fuel our cars
and run our factories,
to meet the deds
of a new age.
For the first time
we're going tohave
a president that is
taking the environment
and energy and climate
crisis seriously.
I got a phone c
from Carol Browner
who is the Energy Czar
for Obama and...
She ts me to join her team.
She said that she was facing
a big set of chenges
in the White House,
and that somebody with my
particular gifts could make
a big contribution.
You know aside from
relocating the family
and those kinds of issues
which I feel, you know,
like we uld just deal with,
if that's what the decision
that you make, if that's
what you t to do,
we'll just deal with that.
My main concern is
you running Green For
is, in my opinion,
rey important.
I guess I'm just not sure that
you going to the White House
is gonna be the most
effective way for you
to use your skills to serve.
For me like the criteria isn't
you know, what's going to be
the, you know,
the best kind of
like resume booster,
the legacy I t to leave
for these guys is "he got
some people some jobs,"
you know,
he made some stuff happen."
We got anymore tape?
Yeah.
:
A Bay Area community activist,
who over the years has
fought against the
establishment, is now moving to
the establishment's epicenter,
the White House.
President Obama has tapped
Oakland's Jones
to be the White House's
special advisor for green jobs.
:
I'm moving the family to DC.
I feel blessed
in this crazy way.
It's like three months ago
if you sat me down and said,
"What is the best possible job
that you could have
in the White House?
The best possible job,
don't hold back.
And then we're going
to add whipped cream
and sprinkles to it."
It's still only been
f as good as a job
I actuy got.
I can kind of
pick the problems
I t to solve,
and then have
tremendous support
getting them solved.
I like the-- depending on how
you do the math,
somewhere between six
and 13 billion dollars
for energy efficiency
for buildings.
This is one solution
that's good for the environment
in terms of saving energy
and cutting carbon emissions
that will save you money.
You know, I think we should
retrofit every building
in the United States.
I have the authority
to try to figure that out
for the White House.
I think that we should
do a major effort
with regard to green jobs
for rural America.
I've got the authority
to do that.
I get to pick those
as problems to solve
and do 'em.
That's a great job.
Joining me now
the President's Special Advisor
on green jobs, Jones.
What Barack Obama ts to do,
is give the people with
the big ideas support
so they can compete.
And you're gonna unleash
a tidal wave of innovation,
a title wave
of entrepreneurship
for sm business
for the new folks
who get in here,
shake up this energy sector
and create new jobs.
Last semester I was going to
college and it rey
wasn't for me.
I didn't like sitting
in the classroom,
and I just didn't like school.
I found this program and I'm
saying they opened up
brand new opportunities
and brand new doors for me
that I never thought about.
I didn't even know
how to drive a nail
before I came in here.
Thanks to Andre, though,
I can hit nine in a minute.
I t to thank
of my classmates
for helping me,
I got love for y',
and I appreciate everything
y' did for me, thank you.
You're turning your lives
around improving your lives,
for yourself,
for your families.
You're helping Richmond
change its image
because you are
showing other cities that
we are ready in Richmond,
we are ready
for those green jobs,
we most definitely are.
The moment we've
been waiting for,
Muldrow.
Edward Wiltz the second.
! ! !
! ! !
This is fantastic,
I am so proud of him.
It's been a long haul
since his dad passed
and my heart is full,
my heart is so full.
Thank you.
I'm proud of you,
I'm so proud of you.
I'm ready to go to rk,
right now. We can start.
As hurricane Sandy moves west,
it has left an unprecedented
path of destruction.
Over eight million are
without power.
What we saw
after super storm Sandy
is that Global warming
threatens us , everybody.
In business you rk in facts,
and when you know 99 percent of
the rld scientists agree
that beyond a shadow of a doubt
this thing is happening
and it could have catastrophic
consequences for huity.
I'm gonna
substitute my judgment
for them? You know, no way.
NRG, we're the second
largestpower company in
the United States.
The biggest and most profitable
of the power plants
we have always owned
are coal plants.
Our fleet was aging
and it was carbon intensive,
and I didn't think that
was good for the long term
future of the company.
At NRG we started
a strategic shift
towards clean energy.
You're talking
about somewhere between
a trillion and
a 1.5 trillion dollar market.
You know, there aren't too
y otheropportunities
out there like that,
so I don't think we can
afford not to do this.
The goal that
the rld's scientists give us
is reducing the carbon in
the atmosphere 80% by 2050.
The electricity sector is
the biggest single issue.
We have to go to zero.
Zero carbon emissions.
I'm confident
the electricity sector
can be 100% renewable power.
Just three days ago,
Gery was 75%
on renewable power
and you know Berlin did not
collapse, lo and behold.
:
Welcome to Dusseldorf,
ladies and gentlemen.
Please keep
your seat belts fastened.
My suggestion is we can set up
joint venture branding
to develop the China market
and the global market.
Let's rk out strategy of what
we can do in the future.
We ufacture
in China or in U.S.
I don't see U.S. but...
That's MOU. M-O-U.
For business cooperation
between Westech and Resol.
Thank you. I hope we can do
more business together.
:
Gery is the biggest market
for solar energy.
In Gery,
they adapted very fast.
They issued a lot of laws,
to encourage people
to use solar energy.
Gery has decided to switch
off its nuclear power
stations by 2022.
The move is intended to turn
Europe's largest economy
into a frontrunner for creating
renewable energy and jobs.
European Union has a target
of 20% renewables by 2020.
I think that's not
going fast enough.
I think we could easily
come to80% renewables
by 2030, no problem.
It's not a technical problem
at .
It's a problem
of political will.
And it's a problem
of breaking the influence
of the big companies
that provide our energy now.
:
For this renewable energy,
we need the government
to give the guidelines
and encourage people
to use solar energy.
I think the U.S.
needs to take action.
The United States
simply hasn't figured out
how to do solar effectively
and cheaply.
You look at the country of
Gery, it's rking out
great for them.
-And they've got lots of sun.
-Right.
They've got a lot more sun
than we do,
and the problem is that
it's a cloudy day
and it's raining,
you are not going go have it.
The sun shines
on average in Gery
as much it does in London.
Even if you account for the
subsidies the Ger government
and the Gery people paid
to get that solar,
they still netted 300,000 jobs.
So we are four times as big
and twice as capable,
so you do the math.
It's t and a f million
jobs if we did what they did.
:
If you t a green economy,
if you t to stop dumping
mega tonsof carbon
pollution into our atmosphere
then you have to
look at the polluters,
and give the polluters
some reason to stop polluting.
We had a strategy and the
solution was cap and trade.
The basic idea, very
simple,nobody should be
able to pollute for free.
Simple as that.
You can't pollute for free.
If you go out here right now
and throw a tin can
on the ground
and a police officer sees you,
you'll get a fine.
Why? It's a civilized country.
You can't pollute for free.
Big oil, big coal,
you've got to say
to these people,
guess what, you're the most
profitablecompany in the
history of the rld.
You don't get
any more tax breaks
and goodies from us.
We're going to limit
how much of this
planet-baking pollution
we can put up in a year,
and every year we're going to
put up lessand less
until we're done.
So you instantly begin
to put yourresearch
and development dollars
towards the clean solutions.
In new technologies,
new innovations,
and deploying them
so people get jobs.
On this te,
the Bill is passed.
Cap and trade legislation
passes the House,
now it's on to the Senate.
I don't think we realized
when we started tugging
on that little string.
What if the economy
were better?
What if it were better
for poor people?
What if it were better
for generations yet to come?
I don't think we rey
realized how threatening
that little thread was
to people who make
a lot of money with
the tapestry just the way it is.
: Fact.
Cap and trade will mean
higher electric bills.
The fact is
America can't afford
the cap and trade tax.
Tell your Senator to te no.
The federal government
taking over the economy,
that's rey what
cap and trade's about.
You know if we let this
cap and trade go through,
if you think you're getting
money taken from you now,
just wait if
that thing gets through.
Americans for prosperity
may look like
a grassroots group
because of its bus tours,
and its ries,
but the Koch brothers
founded that and they
fund that organization.
So it's the big attack dog
that they're using to defend
their carbon-based wealth.
In this report we went through
the rld's billionaires
from the Forbes list
and we looked at
who is actuy
wielding their wealth
to stop the solutions
like solar, like wind,
like energy efficiency
and you see rey
towards the top here,
that's where we get to learn
about Charles and David Koch.
They co-own Koch industries,
a conglomerate whose fortune
is based on fossil fuels.
They funnel millions of
dollarsover the years
to legions of lobbyists,
think tanks, and fake
grassroots agentsthat protect
the fossil fuel interests.
Let's bring in Phil Kerpen,
he is the director for
Policy for Americans
for Prosperity.
I think I this is
a watermelon, Bill.
And I think
you're exactly right.
This Bill is green
on the outside and inside
it's deep Communist red.
: The idea
of a price on carbon,
Americans for Prosperity
and Beckcame down
hard on that idea.
Now he's gone
after the proponents of it
like Jones.
: He saw in green jobs
kind of the kernelof
capitalism's destruction
and I think Obama
agrees with that.
At a certain point, I started
getting Google alerts of .
One day, there's like 30
that are just crazy,
then there like 50,
and there is like 60,
I mean, it was just,
you could see this
kind of increase in chatter.
He's a former
Black Nationalist.
An awed Communist.
He came out an anarchist...
And he is in
the Obama administration.
: Today,
Republican congress
Pence
ced on Jones to resign,
or for President Obama to
fire this controversial Czar.
Should he stay
or should he go?
Well, there is no
doubt he should go.
I nder if Obama has the guts
to get rid of this guy.
: And they're not
about him rey.
They're about trying
to find an in-road
into attacking
the administration.
: Before is was just Fox
and now it's the mainstream
as well.
I think I should quit tonight.
I think you should listen to it
before you make a decision.
Honey...
I'm just saying.
Honey, this is going
to be every day,
rse and rse and rse.
I don't see...
It has nothing to do
with your job.
The media has
nothing to do with reality,
but the people
of the United States,
will have
heard of Jones
by the end of this month,
and it n't be good.
I mean this is a full on war
against me.
We uld have to
have everybody we know
defending everything
I've ever done, forever.
:
The heat is on President Obama
and his controversial
Green Jobs Czar, Jones.
The question now,
will Jones resign, be fired,
or maybe actuy survive
this whole thing?
Joining us now,
here in Washington...
Jones resigned
in a letter, quote,
"Opponents of reform have
mounteda vicious smear
campaign against me.
They are using lies and
distortionsto distract
and divide...
I have been inundated with
csfrom across the
political spectrum
urging me to stay and fight.
But I came here for others,
not for myself."
:
It was so devastating because
you litery
were one step away
from opening the floodgates
of private investment,
of new entrepreneurs,
of new jobs.
And the House
passed a rules change,
but the Senate
uldn't even take a te.
: In nearly
80 different countries
around the globe,
solar is as affordable
as electricity from the grid.
: The sun is free
to every country.
So there is no end
to the solar business.
This must be a good market
for the future.
There's a huge market
for the future.
: There is a big ded,
especiy for developing
countries.
Still some countries
do not have a grid system.
For solar, they do not
need to build the grid.
They just put solar
on the roof.
Then they can have light.
Just like Johnny Appleseed.
I spread my solar seeds
rldwide.
This year I've traveled
to more than 30 countries.
Hi. Bonjour.
Hi. Bonjour.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
We can charge in the daytime
and once nighttime is coming,
we have this sensor,
so this is rking.
For the poor people,
you can improve life.
This is cool. Rey.
Kerosene is
so bad for the health.
We are going to give light
to 500 million Africans.
: Everyday,
I see the sunset and sunrise
in a different country.
We live on the earth.
The earth is one globe.
It's a village.
A global village.
So beautiful here. Oh, my God.
I think more and more
my dream will come true
and more and more
solar will be used.
I think energy
is just like love
because y people need love.
y people need energy,
especiy need free energy.
: Take him off my list.
Seven eight seven seven...
I'm a solar inster
and I'm out here
looking for rk
and I was ndering
if you were hiring today?
:
You know, I believe we are
looking for rkers.
Let me see
if our HR department
is available right now.
w, I can't believe.
That's the first time
they actuy said
"Yeah, I think
we are looking for people."
I waited a year for that.
Good morning.
- Muldrow.
-, nice to meet you.
The reason I got into solar,
I believe that's the future.
I kind of missed the dot com,
so I'm kind of hoping
this is the big boom
that hasn't happened yet,
maybe to you guys, but not me.
:
What are you targeting
as far as pay rate?
You know...
It's whatever you guys
are going to pay.
I'm not going to try to
go higher or lower.
I'm ready to rk,
showing up ready to rk,
-whatever you tell me to do,
-Yeah.
these people say,
"But I had an uncle who used
to rkat a ufacturing
facility 40 years ago
and he no longer has a job,
and therefore I hate China."
Right, I get it.
But when you look at
a solar powered project,
only about a third of the
cost of thatis the
actual solar panel.
The other t thirds of
the cost of that is
design, instation, sales,
marketing service,
which are American jobs,
100% American jobs.
You can't outsource
those jobs to other places.
If China actuy drives
the cost of solar prices down,
then more solar is cost
effective versusthe
electric utility industry
and more Americans get
jobs, because more solar
can be insted.
The thing that
you learn from China
is that solar can grow so fast.
And so that means
the government actuy
has to send real signals
to the market place
for an entrepreneur to thrive.
We need "We're gonna
do this like the moonshot"
kind of clarity.
We're gonna go to the moon
and back in a decade,
we're gonna re-wire America
with clean energy in a decade.
We in America
need to make that c
and go forward into the future
like those other countries
or we'll get left behind.
: Being pro solar aligns
with Conservative values
because it's free market.
It provides competition
for these monopolies.
There have been some
that have said that
those that support green energy
are communist.
Well, I'm a right wing
Conservative.
I have been ced
a lot of things,
but I have never ever
been ced a Communist.
The Green Tea Coalition
rked with Sierra Club
and other environmental
activistsand guess what,
we n this battle in addition
to more solar being added,
so has more jobs.
We don't have to wait on
the gridlock in Washington DC.
One state at a time,
we will win this relution.
GRID alternatives,
this non-profit organization,
mounts free solar on
low income people's homes.
I kind of think it's funny that,
you know, I haven't been able to
get a job yet,
but you know
I'm getting solar on my house.
This is a live wire.
I think I didn't make it
because the ded's not
there yet.
But I got to tell you
that putting solar on my house
was the best decision ever.
Our electrical bill was
80 to 90 bucks a month,
now its chopped down to
about five bucks a month.
'Cause it's yours.
You ain't paying
everybody every month
and you get a low bill.
Before we got solar, I uld
alwayshear about the
electrical bill,
but its real low now.
Right now my house is
as green as it could be,
and that came
from solar training.
The ten goes here?
Yeah and that's the first panel
we're going to lay.
Okay.
: I actuy
just got full time.
I luckily interviewed
with this company first,
I sent them an email
and they ced meback
in like 30 minutes,
I had a job the next day.
the panels are connected
to each other
and it's just through
the J-box from the J-box
and it travels to the inverter.
Boom, boom.
And boom, boom.
I like insting in
neighborhoods I'm familiar with
and I grew up in,
and where I got
family and friends.
I actuy insted
these solar panels
right up here.
While I am at rk,
I'm seeing people I know.
And they're looking
at me like,
"What you doing?"
"I am rking , that's what
I'm doing." That's it.
:
After a while I found myself
making tripsto come see
him outside of class.
I just kind of
graduy moved in.
: I t to provide
a good situation
for my girlfriend...
my future family...
With this career, I could be
a project ager, engineer.
I could help design systems.
I hope to seize
of those opportunities.
Tell David to tell
my 4:45 cer to
c me closer to five,
that might be good,
to give us enough time,
but just... Okay bye,
but I'm ready now. Thanks, bye.
: By the time
the real facts came out,
I had already resigned.
I don't know
what my next steps are.
And, you know, I made
the choice that I made.
I'll always second guess it,
I'll always go back,
I will always
walk it through in my mind,
but nothing that has happened
has reduced my faith
and confidence
in the final outcome.
Maybe I n't be in the White
House doing it or whatever,
but that wasn't my goal
in the first place.
My confidence always
was in ordinary people.
JIGAR: What's so crazy
about solar, is that
the fight can happen locy.
That means people actuy
have to get inlved locy.
Like, don't buy a Prius.
For the love of God,
go to your local city
council meeting,
go to your local utility.
Tell them
you t clean energy.
That's how things change
and that's how
you'll get a job.
Hey hey, ho ho,
Hydro-fracking's got to go.
: If you're waiting for
Washington DC to act,
you're going to be waiting
for a long time.
States, tribes, cities,
that's where the action
is going to be.
And who are they giving the
microphone to? I'm not on the
main stage talking.
They're giving grassroots
activiststhe floor.
Because they're gonna be
the ones to get it done.
I'm an Asian-American mother
of kids with asthma, from
Oakland, California.
We are front line Asian
immigrant families
who face fires from refineries
year after year
because Chevron
is in our backyards.
We're tired of waiting for
the United Nations
to solve the climate problem.
: You can't stop
this green movement
despite this collapse
in Washington DC.
You still have a green economy
that's growing.
We will have
a global green economy.
Close your eyes, go to sleep,
we'll freeze you cryogenicy.
When we thaw you out
in 100 years,
we will have a green economy.
This is the future of huity,
if we have a future, this is it.
: In Paris this morning
a potential landmark deal
is being revealed
on climate change
after t weeks of talks.
The agreement cs for
almost 200 nationsto
reduce -made emissions
of green house gases
and uld be legy binding.
: How significant
is this deal, do you think?
Massive.
For the first time ever,
we are onthe verge
ofhaving an agreement
that moves us out of
carbon heavy emissions
and into a future that thinks
about alternative energies.
This is an incredibly
ambitious planthat will
completely remake
the rld economy,
if it's actuy enacted.
We need clarity
and signals from
above in policy,
we need to
create more businesses
and fill more niches
with this incredible
American invention.
The solar cell, which is
the heart of the machine,
will be deployed
on awnings
and tent-like materials.
Windows will have
translucent photoltaics,
they'll be facade materials
for architectsto create
a beautiful aesthetic,
as well as some electricity
for the building.
The cell phone
will have a solar panel
on the back of it,
and you n't have to
plug the thing in.
So now I'm hooked up to
my solar electric power supply.
So now I'm charging.
It's solar. Carbon free.
: You'll roll
your electric car onto a mat
and through inductive charging,
your car will charge overnight.
The only way you can do that
is gonna be by harnessing
wind and the sun.
DANNY: In the United State,
the solar industryis less than
1% of electricity supply,
and we already employ
120,000 people.
So when we're ten
to 20% electricity supply,
we'll be hundreds of thousands
and millions of rkers.
We'll be one of
the biggest employers
in the country.
United States and China are the
t largest emitters of carbon
in the atmosphere.
If the US and China rk
together,that uld be a
game changer on this--
on the idea of
global warming climate change.
It doesn't just
take one country
to implement solar
and deploy solar
around the rld.
The rld is completely
interlinked.
Bottom line, we have very
little time leftto get
our act right.
It's not the US
and China at stake.
The rld is at stake.
: I love Texas.
Total we have
210 acres of land.
This side
will be the training center.
Because we need
to train the people.
That area
my solar factory will be.
This side will be
the solar city.
And we will build
the hotel and convention center.
More than 3,000 people
will be rking here.
This is my dream.
Can you imagine it?