By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

The facts of climate change are still disputed, despite consensus from a majority of scientists. Last Friday, Fresh Dialogues sat down with ocean explorer and film maker, Jean-Michel Cousteau to to get the facts from an expert who is seeing its impact in our oceans and beyond.

“Climate change is a reality,”  says Jean-Michel Cousteau, the son of legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau. “What we are responsible for and the consequences we’ll have to face up to is that because our emissions of CO2 are accelerating the process, things are happening much faster.”

One of the biggest impacts he highlights is the reduced protection of our coastlines due to corals dying and sea level rising. He anticipates increased storms and flooding; and millions being displaced around the world.

I asked Cousteau: what advice does he have for people wanting to reduce their carbon footprint?

“It starts at home and by better managing our home, we save money and by the same token we save energy and emit less CO2,” says Cousteau. “The other one is our consumption. People eat too much. People are FAT!”

His forthright answer caught me off guard. No more Crème brûlée for me. We all have to make sacrifices.

Here’s a short segment of our interview. We also discussed China vs US action on climate change; President Obama’s response to climate change and his energy policy; and the important lesson his father, Jacques Cousteau, taught him.

Check out my story later this week at:

KQED’s Climate Watch for Cousteau’s views on California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32

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Continue reading ‘Jean-Michel Cousteau: On Climate Change’ »

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

How much influence does First Lady Michelle Obama have on the President and his green policies? I put this question to David Axelrod, President Obama’s chief political strategist and his answer was candid: ENORMOUS.

Michelle Obama is well known for her Let’s Move campaign which puts good eating and anti-obesity front and center, so it’s easy to imagine this talented Harvard educated lawyer and mentor in chief is also making her views heard in the White House on issues beyond healthy eating and healthy living….including the health of the planet, climate change and even energy policy.

It was her organic kitchen garden at the White House which put Michelle Obama’s true (green) colors in the international spotlight in 2009. Fans have applauded her bold green action – planting the first kitchen garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden – but Obama’s raised beds of organic arugula, spinach and Thai basil also caused a firestorm of complaint in the agriculture industry. It even inspired a priceless Little Shop of Horrors segment on the Daily Show.

In April this year, just in time for Earth Day, Michelle Obama’s first book American Grown, will be released and we’ll learn more from the First Lady about how her daughters, Malia and Sasha inspired her to rethink healthy eating and develop green thumbs. Like legendary chef, Alice Waters, she believes that increased access to healthy, affordable food can promote better eating habits and improve health of families and communities across America.

In a New York Times article, Obama explained her kitchen garden rationale. For children, she said, food is all about taste, and fresh and local food tastes better.

“A real delicious heirloom tomato is one of the sweetest things that you’ll ever eat,” she said. “And my children know the difference, and that’s how I’ve been able to get them to try different things.

“I wanted to be able to bring what I learned to a broader base of people. And what better way to do it than to plant a vegetable garden in the South Lawn of the White House?”

For his part, David Axelrod declares that the vegetables served at White House dinners are tasty but attributes it to both the organic garden and the wonderful White House chefs.

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Read transcripts, see photos and check out our ARCHIVES featuring exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many more green experts and visionaries…

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By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Innovation and Silicon Valley go together like bits and bites. Another month another innovation competition. But Intel’s Global Challenge caught our attention for the breadth and quality of its innovators from around the world, who competed for $100,000 in prize money and the chance to pitch some of the valley’s top venture capitalists at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Fresh Dialogues was delighted to see a good number of environmentally conscious innovators made the cut, including PolySol, a recyclable alternative to plastic, made from coconut husks; Nitrate Production System, a low-cost earth-friendly fertilizer and ValleyFeed, a wireless wildfire detection system. These innovative teams came from India, Jordan and Saudi Arabia/Lebanon respectively. Closer to home, NextDrop, a Berkeley based team demonstrated a ground breaking system that uses crowd-sourcing technology to monitor and facilitate efficient water use in India.  The venture capital judges agreed and gave NextDrop the Social Innovation Award.

The award winning team includes National Science Foundation Fellow, Emily Kumpel (pictured) who is a PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. She brings her water management experience in Madagascar and Tanzania to NextDrop’s diverse team who include Ashish Jhina, Thejovardhana Kote, Anu Sridharan, Madhusadhan B, and Ari Almos.

We look forward to following their progress blog as they scale up NextDrop’s project in India.

Check out the Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel 

Read transcripts, see photos and check out other exclusive interviews on Fresh Dialogues with Tech Award winners, Jeff Skoll and Rolf Papsdorf.

Also celebrities and experts in the green economy, including Charlie Rose, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many others.

Join the conversation at our Facebook Page

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

He’s known as the “sexiest” astrophysicist alive, host of Nova ScienceNow on PBS, and Stephen Colbert’s favorite interviewee.  Neil deGrasse Tyson may be more comfortable talking black holes and cosmic quandaries, but on Friday evening in Silicon Valley, Fresh Dialogues asked him to weigh in about climate change and he didn’t disappoint. Beginning – like any good scientist – with the facts (evidence from chemistry, biology and geology); he made this challenge to climate deniers:

“You have to be mature enough to recognize something can be true even if you don’t like the consequences of it. That’s what it means to be a mature adult.”

Tyson shared plans for “an experiment” he will describe during his next appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show (slated for next February). Here’s a preview:

“All climate scientists should announce they’re going to take their entire life savings and invest in industries that will thrive under the conditions of  global warming. All those in denial of global warming – which tends to be some of the wealthier people of the nation – won’t do that. As global warming unfolds, that will be the greatest inversion of wealth the world has ever seen. That’s all it takes,” said Tyson, adding with a smile and a shrug, “I could get rich off this.”

He then got serious, “I’m a public scientist and it’s not my goal in life to exploit your ignorance ’cause I’ll get your money, because you won’t believe what I’m telling you. I’d rather you recognize the value of scientific research and we all move into the future together.”

Fresh Dialogues wonders if Tyson has shared his plan with green economy investor Al Gore, who’s been criticized for “putting his money where his mouth is.” Some say Gore is poised to become the world’s first “carbon billionaire.”

Dr. Tyson was in Silicon Valley as part of the Foothill College Celebrity Forum Speaker Series, hosted by Dr. Dick Henning. This story was picked up by the Huffington Post on December 9th, where it sparked quite a heated debate (see comments section).

Next year, Tyson will be hosting a new sequel to Carl Sagan‘s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage TV series.

To watch an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview with Robert Ballard, the acclaimed ocean scientist of Titanic fame, click here.

Read transcripts, see photos and check out other exclusive interviews on Fresh Dialogues with Charlie Rose, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many others

Join the conversation at our Facebook Page

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues  

Days before the Global Climate Conference in Durban South Africa, NBC’s Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw delivered a  strong message in  Silicon Valley for those who deny climate change. ”It’s real, we see it in our weather systems,” he said and made a somber call to action, saying everyone needs to take a part. Brokaw, who has hosted two documentaries about global warming for the Discovery Channel, says he’s planning an expedition to Antarctica with a team of climate scientists to record the glacial melting next January.

Brokaw cited carbon based fuels and energy consumption as major issues, and stopped short of making specific policy recommendations, but said that the Obama administration missed a valuable opportunity to do something substantial about energy and jobs. “People could have got allied with that,” he added.

He acknowledged his part in contributing to the problem (long commutes in polluting LA traffic to visit his beloved mother), but is now doing what he can to be greener. He recently adopted solar in his Montana Ranch, recouping his capital investment in only three years. In this intimate video, he waxes lyrical about the piping hot water and heating system – even during long Montana winters.
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Brokaw ended on an upbeat note, saying that he thinks the younger generation will change things for the better.

The video was recorded on November 21st, 2011 at the Commonwealth Club  in Silicon Valley, moderated by KGO TV’s Dan Ashley. Brokaw is promoting his new oeuvre The Time of Our Lives, a conversation about America; Who we are, where we’ve been, and where we need to go now, to recapture the American Dream.

Read transcripts, see photos and check out exclusive interviews on Fresh Dialogues with Charlie Rose, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many others

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By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues 

Climate One‘s Greg Dalton brought together a pair of climate experts yesterday at the Commonwealth Club to discuss the “Great Disruption” – Is it the end of the world as we know it? What will happen to the global economy when the world stops denying the realities of climate change?

Australian environmental business expert Paul Gilding, and Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, Richard Heinberg shared their wisdom in a lively dialogue with Dalton. Gilding’s latest book is The Great Disruption and describes how to fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth. It has even received a favorable review by Tom Friedman in his New York Times column. Heinberg’s tenth book is The End of Growth and describes exactly why this decade will be worse  than the Great Depression; he predicts future global growth will be a zero sum game thanks to resource, climate and financial limits. Despite the rather apocalyptic theme of both authors, the near capacity audience was treated to some upbeat comments from Gilding coupled with some more cautionary responses from Heinberg. Here are some of the highlights:

On Change

“People’s ability to change is quite impressive – witness World War 2- we can end the denial and decide on a different future…the debate is how to act not whether to act.” Paul Gilding.

“During WW2, the enemy was visible. The U.S. has a larger capacity for denial. We will have to hit a wall before seeing change…it”s like a slow motion crash.” Richard Heinberg.

On Carbon Tax

“In Australia, a carbon tax is going through Parliament. The price is low…but every balance sheet will soon show the cost of carbon. (In OZ) The debate is over.” Paul Gilding.

On the Trigger

“The price of energy, food and transport will be the trigger point. Government must put in place the framework for change.” Paul Gilding.

On Clean Tech

“Exciting things are happening in renewables. Solar will be cheaper than coal within a decade. Then the game changes dramatically.” Paul Gilding

What a stimulating way to spend your lunch hour. Thanks to Greg Dalton for orchestrating a memorable – if sobering – event.

Read transcripts, see photos and check out our ARCHIVES featuring exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many more green experts and visionaries…

and join the conversation at our Facebook Page

Check out exclusive VIDEOS AT THE Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues 

Last night, Jeff Skoll joined an eminent group of change-makers – Bill Gates, Al Gore, Gordon Moore and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. He was honored with The Tech Awards top prize, the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. This former eBay president, Skoll Foundation founder, and billionaire champion of global peace and prosperity, was recognized for his energetic quest to find the answers to climate change, water scarcity and nuclear proliferation.

In an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview, Skoll talked about the role of the tech community in making the world more sustainable. “Tech companies have a pretty big world view,” he said. “People here tend to have a better grasp of the bigger issues of the world…technologists can get ahead of these issues and create products that help.”

He’s talking about GPS-enabled mapping technology to protect the Amazon rain forest; creating web-based tools to help protect the ocean; and empowering entrepreneurs with solar energy in the world’s poorest communities.

In 2004, he founded Participant Media, the Hollywood production company responsible for such provocative movies as An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman, and Fast Food Nation. Participant Media aims to “create entertainment that inspires”…and in several cases has achieved both box office success and created positive social action around the world.

So, will there be a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth? Skoll admits there is definitely something in the works, and it could even be a TV Show. Check out the Fresh Dialogues video for more details…

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As if all this weren’t enough, Skoll recently founded The Skoll Global Threats Fund, led by former Google.org chief, Larry Brilliant. Top threat on their list of five? Climate Change. Let’s hope they have some brilliant success with their mission.

The Tech Awards gala also recognized 15 laureates from around the world for creating innovative technology solutions to benefit humanity. The winner in the Environment category was  Agua Clara  a Cornell University program that designs sustainable (gravity powered) water treatment systems to  provide clean water to over 25,000 people in communities around the world every day. I talked briefly with young AguaClara coordinator, Daniel Smith who plans to use the $50,000 cash prize to scale up the impressive work his organization is doing in Honduras.

Check back soon for part two of the Jeff Skoll interview to hear what one thing we can all do to make the world greener.

Read transcripts, see photos and check out our ARCHIVES featuring exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many more green experts and visionaries…

And join the conversation at our Facebook Page

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

The 2011 Visionary Awards Ceremony was held at the home of Kelly Porter in Los Altos Hills on June 21, the longest… and also the hottest day of the year. This annual ceremony – the Oscars of Silicon Valley -  honored four distinguished technology innovators – Dr. Hermann Hauser (Amadeus Capital Partners), Promod Haque (Norwest Venture Partners), Bud Tribble (Apple Inc.) and TJ Rodgers (Cypress Semiconductor Corporation). Presented by SVForum, previously SDForum, “SV” Silicon Valley –  was an important theme of the evening. In accepting their awards, honorees attempted to answer the question: what makes Silicon Valley unique? Or in the case of TJ Rodgers, what makes him unique?

The energetic Susan Lucas-Conwell kicked things off by announcing the new-look SVForum – which has outgrown its SDForum, Software Development status – and is now focused on its Silicon Valley roots. “We continue to grow and evolve,” she said. “We serve a broad footprint covering the entire technology industry.” Interesting to note that cleantech was the first sector she cited, along with the usual suspects: healthcare, IT, software, social media, cloud etc.  With a jazzy new logo and a succinct mission to connect, engage and excel; SVForum looks poised for an exciting new chapter.

Promod Haque was introduced by Ken Comee of IBM who promised a “This is your Life” moment. Much to the relief of the audience, it was more of a 21st Century Twitter version (ie short and pithy). Promod began by reflecting on the uniqueness of being a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley – its philosophy and values. There was a collective holding of breath. Were we about to hear the Holy Grail of Silicon Valley?

“The freedom to fail is unique about Silicon Valley,” said Promod. “It’s an essential piece of innovating.” Déjà vu anyone? It’s a popular – even over-used – refrain these days and one that has surfaced previously at the Visionary Awards. Anyone remember Vinod Khosla expound the same philosophy at the 2009 Visionary Awards?  Déjà vu or not, Promod’s comments underlined the consensus that it’s a vital part of  Silicon Valley’s magic.

Promod then elaborated…“I tell my kids…my entrepreneurs, ‘when you do have failure, it’s not a person, it’s an event in their life. Don’t let it scare you…don’t let it define you.’” Well said. But is the secret sauce of Silicon Valley no longer a big secret?

Next up, Apple’s Bud Tribble, who was introduced by Dan’l Lewin of Microsoft. Dan’l gave us an odd lesson in our A,B,Cs before he got on the crux of the intro: “When Bud speaks, people – like Steve Jobs – listen – and that’s hard!” Dan’l alluded to Apple’s Location-Gate drama, but Bud wisely eschewed the subject, instead enthusing about the special qualities of Silicon Valley. He  emphasized the importance of perspectives and how we connect . In Silicon Valley, “the connections go beyond companies – that’s the magic of this place.” As for vision? That all depends on your perspective and he quoted from Alan Kay (the pioneering computer scientist): “Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.” He also took us back to the early days of Apple in the 80’s and described the wide variety of perspectives around the table, including an archeologist and even a Marxist (!) as well as the inevitable computer programmer. Understanding what computers are really good at is key, said Bud. And what is that? Communication. That’s his focus. As for the future, Bud wasn’t giving anything away. True to his solid Apple pedigree, Bud concluded by saying, “I can’t really talk about the future… since I’m at Apple.” A visionary who is keeping his vision tightly under wraps…for the time being.

Later, I asked Bud how Mr. Jobs is doing and if he thinks Jobs is going to come back to the helm on a full time basis. “He finds it hard to stay away,” said Bud. Indeed.

T.J. Rodgers was introduced by Eric Benhamou of Benhamou Ventures  and described Rodgers as “a tough boss, argumentative and very competitive,” and added “I’m using polite language here.” The audience was well amused .

To be continued…

Meantime, check out many more PHOTOS

Video coming soon…

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Today, we’re presenting the second in our new Lesson Plan Series based on Fresh Dialogues interviews. The series is compiled by Lisa Lubliner, our new Fresh Dialogues Education Expert.

Lesson Plan: How to Predict the Future

In 2010, New York Times columnist, Tom Friedman, made some bold predictions in a Fresh Dialogues interview. He predicts that the demand for Clean Energy (solar, wind, biofuels) is going to explode and that if the US government doesn’t invest sufficiently in Clean Energy research, China is going to dominate the Energy Technology industry.

“What do you suppose our standard of living will be like if we don’t dominate the ET industry?” he says. “If the next great solar company is Chinese? If the next great wind companies are Danish? If the next great battery companies are all Japanese?“ Read the transcript here.

News analysts, politicians, historians, and scientists all use current information to predict the future and make decisions for acting.  Using historical documents, this lesson encourages students to consider:  Why do we make predictions about the future? Do predictions help us? If so, how? On what do we base the predictions that we make?

What did historical figures imagine our lives would look like today? How can we make informed predictions about the future? In this lesson, students consider and discuss predictions about life in 2011 that were written in 1931 by prominent thinkers of the day, and then draw on New York Times articles to develop their own predictions about the future.

This lesson is ideal for Grades 9-12 and is correlated to McREL’s national standards (it can also be aligned to the new Common Core State Standards)

New York Times Education Blog: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/the-future-is-now-analyzing-and-making-predictions/

Check out the WONDERFUL files that contain historical documents and other extension activities for teachers to download.

Looking for more Fresh Dialogues based lesson plans?

Check out Carbon Tax and Carbon Capture – Paul Krugman

For more videos, check out our Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel