Leading climate change scientist Tim Flannery talks about impact of global warming, the silencing of science, micro wind turbines, geothermal energy, compressed-air cars and what the California fires have in common with those in Greece and Australia.
"Anywhere with a Mediterranean climate, such as Greece or Australia or California, is suffering extreme wildfires. Now, why is that happening? The climate is slowly shifting, so that the desert regions adjacent to those Mediterranean areas..."
"[Jim Hansen] has done more from a more difficult position than almost any other climate scientist. And he heads an institute, NASA, run by the federal government, and yet he's had the bravery to speak out and try to be heard. And, you know, it was extraordinary what happened to him. They put a sort of a media manager in place who had lied about his credentials. Just an amazing incompetence."
"...the reason that we can't eat fish or pregnant women shouldn't eat fish too often is that the mercury that's got into the fish, the food chain of fish in the oceans, most of that mercury comes from burning coal..."
"...electricity is a generic product, and I can generate some now by rubbing my backside on this seat, you know, static electricity. We can all do it. And once you realize that, and you can think, 'Oh, I'll put some solar panels on my house,' you're getting rid of your power bill..."
"...we're sitting in New Mexico, which has more sunlight per day than you would want to think about, more energy per square meter than we could ever possibly use, wonderful wind resource. And all of that's just going to waste at the moment. People are just paying for fossil fuels brought in from elsewhere to run their energy needs, which is crazy."
" it's been so disappointing to see the American car industry lobby relentlessly against its own best interest. You know, if you look at what's happened in California, where the government has regulated outboard motors to the point where America now makes the best and cleanest outboard motors in the world. They're the equivalent of the Toyota Prius, and they will cream the opposition globally for marine transport..."
"I'm confident because I can see that this is going to be the great project of the twenty-first century. This is what will enthuse people. This is what will make people wealthy....The twenty-first century is going to be about sustainability. It will be the great energizing project, and none of us can afford to be left behind."
