WEBVTT - Evergreen Everblue 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.240 In Raffie learned something that shocked him. He'd gotten to 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:08.800 hear talk about beluga whales at the Science Center in Toronto. 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.720 Raphie had loved these whales since he first saw one 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:18.200 named Kavana at an aquarium a decade earlier. Kavna inspired 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.680 him to write his most famous song, Baby Beluga, Baby 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.960 Deep Bluega in the deep Blue Sea swims so wild, 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.600 then you swim so keavn. Rafie wrote it at a 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.360 time when they Save the Whales movement was just starting. 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:44.479 Baby Luga, Baby Luga is the water. People don't want 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.200 to hear anger or sadness or frustration at how things 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.680 may have got to They want to hear and they 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.960 are inspired by the love in our hearts, especially the 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.560 love for our young. And I thought, instead of writing 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:00.640 a lament, I would write a beauty of a love 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.760 song for a magnificent creature, the bluga whale. You know 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.480 what you love, you care about, and you want to protect. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.760 But at the Science Center, Ralfie learned that beluga whales 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.600 were dying at an alarming rate. Their legion covered bodies 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.200 were washing up on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.720 just two hundred miles from Toronto. Industrial pollution had turned 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.640 the whales into hazardous waste sites and left them with cancer. 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.080 Ralfie was devastated. If this was happening to the Beluga whales, 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.319 the very animal he made famous in his song, what 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.880 were all these toxins doing to the children living near 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.559 the river. He wasn't sure if he could ever sing 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:56.120 Baby Beluga again. You know, it was one thing to 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.680 think about children with love and to sing loving songs 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.960 with them and for them. But if the world that 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:10.960 we all live in, if our children's future is compromised 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.960 unless we change our ways, well what's the point of 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.239 just singing? I said to myself. I mean, songs and 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.600 music are great, but they only go so far. You 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.200 need to take care of the theater in which we 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:29.960 are singing. If you will right the home theater, Raffie 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:35.360 began to question everything, his identity, his relationships, the world. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.760 I'm Chris Garcia and this is Finding Raffie, a ten 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.840 part series from My Heart Radio and Fatherly in partnership 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.680 with Rococo Punch, about the life, the philosophy, and the 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:59.320 work of Raffie, the man behind the music. By the 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.680 late eighties, Raffie was tired and burnt out. He'd been 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:07.200 touring NonStop. His creativity felt limited, and he was angry 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.560 and despairing. He needed a break from playing to young children, 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.120 so he made a pretty big decision that stunned everyone 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:19.120 around him. He decided to take a year off, no concerts, 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.440 no touring. Instead, Ralphie spent a lot of time learning 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.480 about the world, and he found himself reading about one 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.720 environmental disaster after another. Acid rain are growing hole in 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:37.080 the ozone layer, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. This 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.160 was also when he discovered the radio series It's a 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.760 Matter of Survival, which might sound familiar. It was made 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.440 by his good friend David Suzuki, and it had a 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:52.440 huge impact on Raffie. It said that unless we as 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:57.960 a species collectively acted in a timely manner to reduce 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:03.320 greenhouse gas emissions, we risked they're reaching a point where 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:09.240 the warming is irreversible, and that would be catastrophic. So 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:14.080 when I heard the word irreversible, I had a major 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:21.240 meltdown within myself because that's the appropriate response. Actually, I mean, 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.960 that's major fear. Oh my god, it would get so 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.440 bad that we couldn't do anything about it. That ought 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:31.640 to scare you to the core, and it did me. Meanwhile, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.800 Raffie and his wife deb split up. He moved out 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.159 of the house they shared and found a bachelor pad, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.120 and he returned to an earlier hobby of his painting. 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.400 In his autobiography, Raffi wrote that he filled the walls 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:49.000 with his own art, oil pastels of abstract images and 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:55.320 female nudes. He was kind of spreading his wings. Well. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.719 There was a year of introspection and a year of 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.840 a year that lead to new songs. I wrote, Our 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.880 dear dear Mother, I get teary when I hear our 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:11.919 dear dear mother, Daily provider, Earth be your name. The 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.159 time has come to honor you, to know you, and 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:22.160 to show our love. Our dear dear mother, Daily provide 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:34.240 be your name. The time has come to an to 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:40.160 know you and to show our love. Raffie emerged from 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.279 his sabbatical with a focused mission to protect the planet, 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.160 and he had a new album, Evergreen, Ever Blue. It 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.760 was his wake up call to the destruction of the Earth. 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.320 It was a big shift for Raffy. His earlier children's 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.960 songs had hinted at environmentalism, songs like all I Really 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.479 Need and thanks a lot. But now Ralf he had 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.280 an entire album devoted to the planet and the song 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:21.000 is called Voices from the Jungle Say Never. As it 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:28.680 was beginning, You've got this time, Ralph he wanted to 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.480 connect with adults and teens, the people he felt could 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.760 stop climate change, not his typical fans toddlers who struggled 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.279 to sit quietly through his performances. So Ralph, he said, 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.440 his sights on MTV music videos were all the rage. 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.279 They still are in some ways, but that's what you 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.760 required and in order to for people to get to, 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.720 you know, see your your song. The reason I tried 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.800 it was I felt so passionate about this planet that 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.800 needed all of us too. You know it's it's up 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.520 to you, It's up to me, so called. At the 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.640 same time, I felt it wasn't five year old's job 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:21.480 to help the Amazon stay intact. You know, it's up 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:27.320 to me. It's up RAPHI filmed the music video for Evergreen, 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.320 Ever Blue and an old growth forest on Vancouver Island. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.440 In it, he sings and plays guitar beneath the giant 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.880 canopies of Douglas furs and Sita spruce. He has a 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:41.000 group of people singing with him, young environmentalists, tribal members, 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:45.280 and the Raging Granny's, a group of grandmother activists. It 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.320 kind of looks like a nature documentary, kind of like 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:52.200 a music video made for PBS. There are shots of 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.720 waterfalls and sunlit dappled leaves. At one point, Raffie hugs 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.920 a moss covered tree and passes around a crystal ball. 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:02.800 He says it was a metaphor for the future of 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.360 the planet being in human hands. And then the video 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.960 takes a turn and cuts to Raffie standing in a 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.360 barren field in front of a pile of tree stumps. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.360 When we made the Evergreen, Ever Blue video, I was 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:21.160 taken to some cleer cutting sites just to experience what 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.680 a clear cut forest is like. It feels like you're 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:32.520 standing in death. Clear Cuts are horrible and a really 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:40.120 stupid idea of a bottom line money worshiping culture. That's 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.199 why I was so passionate in making the Evergreen, Ever 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.160 Blue album, trying something new for you know, slightly older 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:53.000 kids audience. You know, I was basically jumping through hoops 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:56.480 to try and make a difference. In true Raffie style, 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.880 he thought about every detail on his new album Whenever Green, 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:05.040 Ever Blue is released in nine record stores are transitioning 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.640 from selling vinyl to selling CDs, and the easiest way 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.080 to do that was to put CDs in long boxes, 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.360 those tall, skinny boxes that are about twice the size 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.280 of a CD. That's so they could be displayed in 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:21.320 the existing record bins. The problem was that meant CDs 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.040 came with a ton of unnecessary packaging. Ralphie put his 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.640 foot down. He was one of the first artists to 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.080 refuse to sell his music in wasteful packaging, but it 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.679 cost him. Some record stores wouldn't carry his album, and 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.920 that didn't go according to the plan. In the end, Evergreen, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.520 Ever Blue was far from a smash hit. MTV never 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.040 aired his music videos, and radio stations didn't give the 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:50.240 album much play. Ralphie said he heard from angry parents 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.439 who were upset that the music wasn't appropriate for children. 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.760 I was too well known as a children's artists to 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:02.080 be played on adult music video stations. It wasn't possible 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.640 for that children's icon, as people considered me at the time, 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:15.160 two then change his audience. It just wasn't possible. This 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.600 was all a crazy irony to Raffie. In his autobiography, 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.280 he questioned how kids who grew up on his music 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:27.560 could watch quote, junk sex footage and macho rap, but 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:32.760 not his ecology music video. Rafy was frustrated and demoralized. 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.320 He was reading the news and listening to dire warnings 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.320 by scientists about the damaged humans were doing to the planet. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.680 He felt there was no time to wait. Evergreen, Ever 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.400 Blue was his immediate response to climate change. Why didn't 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:54.760 his fans understand, like, how much clearer doesn't have to 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:57.680 be a warning to humanity. It's like it's like some 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:01.720 sci fi movie where you had some alien ship lands 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:07.840 and there's this warning to humanity, like Hello. Every year, 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.200 this Union of Concerned Science would come out with another 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:17.319 version of this warning. Well, what warning will we need 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.319 next to convince us? What will it take? Do we 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:42.559 love enough? That's my question. I'm still trying to picture 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:47.280 a Raffi music video on MTV in the early nineties. Evergreen, 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.760 Ever Blue on rotation with Nirvana smells like teen Spirit 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.480 or Can't Touch This by mc hammer. Look, I give 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.960 him credit for trying, but I'm thinking maybe he underestimated 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.520 how hard it would be to transform his image and 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.960 get his message out, and Evergreen ever Blue misses everything 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.480 I love about Raffie. In his earlier stuff, he was 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.880 playful and genuine. It was infectious because he was having fun. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:19.640 If Baby Bluego was candy, this was vegetables. Here's what 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.800 I mean. Listen to the ending of Willoughby Wallaby Wou 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.720 from single Songs for the Very Young Willoughby Wallaby, when 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:33.839 an elephant set on Ken and Willoughby Wallaby Whaffy set 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:38.520 on RAFFI now compare that to we Are Not Alone 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:44.800 from Evergreen Ever Blue. We're crying shut the spread out amicas. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:53.920 We're crying shut clear haze. We're saying no more? Can 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:58.559 we be that it's safe to hide our heads in 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:11.160 the sand to understand the Oh It just doesn't sound 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:15.400 like Raffie. He's trying so hard, but his words and 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.720 his whole vibe feel forced, like he's playing a character. 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:26.439 It cool it who this planet down? We can't give 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:38.920 it up. WI rap with Christophe more we get to 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:46.280 get done. Overall, the album feels a little lost. There's 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.679 pop music mixed with folk and reggae, but unlike his 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.640 earlier music, this doesn't sound cohesive. It sort of feels 0:13:53.679 --> 0:14:02.280 like he's searching for something, maybe even for himself. Now, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.400 I am not a music critic, and I respect what 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.120 raf He was trying to do. He was calling out 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.640 the harsh realities of climate change. He was done singing 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.000 about happy blooga whales because that didn't get people to 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:19.560 protect them. We are literally breathing, drinking, and eating the 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:24.800 nourishment that our mother provides. So do we really not 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:31.600 understand connection between Mother Earth and us her children? Do 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:37.120 we really not understand are very dependents on the air, water, 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:42.880 soil quality of this beautiful planet that we call home. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.600 Raphe's fans weren't the only ones confused by Evergreen Ever Blue. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.000 The press didn't understand his new direction either, and I'll 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:56.720 admit the newspaper articles were rough. In The Washington Post 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:03.040 ran a piece called Rafe's Growing Pains. The reporter wrote, 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:07.960 the new Raffie writes angry music for adults now. Time 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.600 magazine questioned why the most popular children singer abandoned his audience. 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.960 Evergreen ever Blue, the magazine said, was not merely inappropriate 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:22.960 for toddlers. It is a warning screech of apocalypse that 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:31.400 had to hurt Rafie devoted a big chunk of his 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:35.320 autobiography to these articles. How he felt the media dismissed 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.800 his environmental awakening. He says he was chopped up to 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:43.080 being a madman or having a midlife crisis. Adopting an 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.240 environmental message and appealing to an older audience was a 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.240 big gamble. Dorian Lynskey is the author of thirty three 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:54.720 Revolutions per Minute, a history of protest songs. Dorian reminded 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.240 me about the Dixie Chicks, or the Chicks as they're 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.280 now known, and what can happen when an audience doesn't 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.600 go along with an artist transformation. So a really extreme 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.800 example which which interests me, is in two thousands three 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.200 when Natalie Maines in the Dixie Chicks criticize the Iraq 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:15.400 War and George Bush on stage in London instead, I'm 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.040 ashamed President the United States and Texas got a huge 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.200 cheer in the room, and that line was quoted in 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.280 a review which got picked up by talk radio and 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.360 Fox News and so on, and they became demonized by 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.760 conservatives but also by the country scene, and they were 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.640 pulled off the radio, and that these kind of ceremonial 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.920 you know, smashing of their c d s. They were 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.480 viciously attacked, and I think that's an example of what 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:52.840 happens where the audience and your scene violently reacts to 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:57.359 your politics. I don't think people are reacting to Raphae's politics. 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.760 I think they just didn't like his new vibe. He 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.440 literally changed everything that people loved about him. Still, it's 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:09.160 risky for an artist to release protest music. Dorian says 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.919 it's successful when audiences are also feeling upset or uneasy, 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.399 like when the economy is tanking or the world's on 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.919 the brink of a nuclear war. The problem is Raphie 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:24.080 released Evergreen, ever Blue in the economy is fairly stable. 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:29.280 They were not worried that democracy itself is under threats, 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.320 and you know, the planet is burning. It's a very 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.000 optimistic time, and so to the end of apartheid, and 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.800 it's the end of the Cold War. It's not really 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.280 a time of crisis when people are looking for crisis art. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.680 Even with the critical reviews and the angry feedback from fans, 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.080 Raphi was undaunted. He felt the world was heading in 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:56.000 the wrong direction. In he traveled to the United Nations 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.880 Earth Summit in Rio de jann Arrow with environmentalists. David's 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:03.200 is Juki and his daughter seven. Seven was twelve years 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.240 old at the time, and gave a speech to a 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:10.920 packed audience, and by the time her five or seven 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.840 minute talk was done, she got a standing ovation, and 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:18.800 al Gore walked all the way over to where seven 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.760 was sitting, reached out his hand, he said, seven, that's 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.520 the best speech I've heard all week. Wow. What was 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.280 it about this speech that had caused such a stare 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.919 and had such an impact on these adults? She said, 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.679 I came five thousand miles to tell you, adults, you 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.280 must change your ways. She said. You say you love us, 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:46.520 and I challenge you, please show us, please reflect that love. 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:52.719 She said, in your choices. Pretty powerful, I challenge you, 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:58.359 she said, reminiscent of Greta Turnberg today, Ye who's challenging 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.479 adults to not get in the way of the healthy 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.840 future that she and all the world's children, all of 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:11.720 us deserve. Pretty potent. That is exactly what Severn called it. 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:23.120 Suzuki said at the age of twelve, realizing the hypocrisy 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.119 of adults was something Raffie could relate to. From his 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.520 own childhood, he felt like his parents would tell him 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:35.600 one thing, but then do the opposite. He grew up 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.320 feeling like he couldn't trust them to tell him the truth. 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.280 And there was something else. Severn was just twelve years old, 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:48.320 and there she was speaking to the United Nations. She 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:56.320 was supported and empowered by her parents. She had everything 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.920 Raffi wanted as a kid to be seen and heard 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:05.520 for who she was. Maybe finally, as an adult he 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:18.440 could be too. You know, not a lot of people 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.360 were talking about climate at that time that had such 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:43.080 a platform as him. The Two Earth Summit and Rio 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.679 had a big impact on Raffie. He soaked up as 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.720 much as he could. He rubbed elbows with then Senator 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.600 Al Gore, and he was blown away by conservationist Jacques 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.840 Cousteau's warnings about the degradation of the oceans. But it 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.720 was severn callis Suzuki speech that really resonated with Raffie. 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.560 He was awed by the power of a child's voice. 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:09.959 Maybe kids could be the change makers. After all, Rafie 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:14.240 left Rio vowing to support these young activists. His legacy 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.720 is one that I certainly relate to. Again, this idea 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:19.640 that we're all in this together and we all need 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:24.160 to protect the world. Philippe Cousto is Jacques Cousteau's grandson, 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:28.240 and he's following in his family's footsteps as a filmmaker, author, 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:33.240 and environmental activist. You probably know this, but Philippe's grandfather, 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:38.119 Jacques was a badass. He helped invent scuba diving. His 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.480 films about marine life sparked an understanding of what's deep 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.000 in the oceans and why we have to protect them. 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.280 He was a huge inspiration to Raffie too, And my 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.840 grandfather always said, you know, before we can talk about conservation, 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.080 we have to talk about education. We have to talk 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.240 about how we reach beyond the converted and start to 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.840 provide opportunities for young people to engage in Any social 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.240 movement in history, if it's successful, it's successful because it's 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:07.040 driven by a younger generation working with young people and 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:11.000 supporting and nurturing their ambitions. That's something both Philippe and 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:15.480 Raphy share. In two thousand five, Philip co founded Earth 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.560 Echo International. It's an organization that works with kids to 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.360 inspire environmental activism. What I see in young people all 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.879 the time is they don't know the meaning of the 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.400 word no. Young people have this and this wondrous ability 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:35.480 to cut through the bs and get to the root 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:40.320 of the problem and question the very nature of why 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:42.399 things are the way they are and how they work. 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:47.840 And that's such just a wondrous, inspiring attribute that young 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:50.240 people have, that that we as adults could learn a 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:54.160 lot from. Instead of getting caught up in what isn't possible, 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:56.560 we should spend a lot more time being caught up 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:59.880 in what is possible. Philip says that sometimes as adults, 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:02.479 we just have to get out of the way. We 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:06.080 have worked with young people who helped to draft legislation 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.240 in South Florida to require solar panels to be built 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.200 on new buildings, and it passed. People forget that it 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:14.920 was a young girl, probably not much old and twelve 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:17.879 and thirteen years old, that petitioned Maine, the state of Maine, 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:24.080 to ban styrofoam in fast food, particularly McDonald's take out. 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:28.560 It passed the legislature because of her fearsome advocacy for this, 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:30.479 and then McDonald's was like, well, we're not just going 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.400 to create a separate container for one state, and they 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:38.280 eliminated star foam from their entire takeout chain. One light, 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:47.640 one sun one sun lighting everyone. How do we help 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:52.840 them recognize that they can be powerful. I think that 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:57.720 the despondency, the sadness, and the despair that happens for 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:01.800 so many people is when you've one feels like one 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:03.920 doesn't have an impact, one has no power, one has 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:08.480 no agency in the world. And that's not true. I 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:12.760 think all of us can feel sad and despairing at times, 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:16.679 But dispairreer is not an energy to give ourselves over too. 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:20.600 We feel it, we noted, and we've set it aside 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:25.000 because we've got work to do. Our children need us 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:37.000 to do the work. And if we can show people 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:40.680 around the world why nature is valuable to their lives, 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:44.160 then they're going to protect it in their own enlightened 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:46.640 self interest, which is the best thing we can do. 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:51.240 This is sang. He runs an organization called Conservation International. 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:53.919 They do a lot to protect the earth, like working 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:57.639 with communities on sustainable farming practices and planting trees to 0:24:57.720 --> 0:25:01.800 counter deforestation. For Jin, it all starts with placing a 0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:05.719 value on nature, something he learned early on growing up 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:09.320 in Sri Lanka. When I was born, my grandmother took 0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:12.960 me to see an astrologer and the astrologer told me that, um, 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:15.160 I told my grandmother that I would die by drowning, 0:25:17.520 --> 0:25:19.480 so they kept me out of the water. They didn't 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:21.560 want me to swim in the ocean. In fact, I 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:23.800 wasn't even allowed to take a bath. They would literally 0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:27.440 pour you know, cups of water over my head. Wow. Right, 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:31.080 And it made some sense, some logical sense. My grandmother 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:33.600 loved me, and she was very aware of how little 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:35.840 time I had, and so what she wanted to do. 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:39.600 She wanted to protect me. But when Sangin was nine, 0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:43.080 his mother secretly taught him how to swim. My mother 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:45.399 isn't any great swimming, but she taught me how to swimming. 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:48.120 Had changed my life. And since then, I've literally gone 0:25:48.160 --> 0:25:51.040 diving in almost every ocean on the planet, from the 0:25:51.200 --> 0:25:54.720 Arctic to you know, raja Ampat, Indonesia to the Solomon 0:25:54.760 --> 0:25:58.399 Islands the coast of California. Right. And I wondered often 0:25:58.520 --> 0:26:01.600 like why my mom broke with tradition and took that 0:26:01.760 --> 0:26:03.360 risk and taught me how to swim in it? And 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:05.600 what I can think about that is that my my 0:26:05.720 --> 0:26:08.679 grandmother loved me, and so I wanted to protect me. 0:26:09.080 --> 0:26:12.919 My mother loved me, but she also valued my life. 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:17.680 She started investing in me, and that's the guiding kind 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:21.919 of star that has always guided my work and my career. 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:26.960 So I know, I hate to say it this way, 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:30.760 but I don't think love alone is enough to actually 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:34.280 make anything stick. You also have to value it if 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:36.800 it's going to be sticky over the long period of time. 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:42.280 Working to protect the planet isn't Sandon's only job. He's 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:45.040 a new dad like me, with a little daughter at home. 0:26:46.160 --> 0:26:48.640 How do you plan to talk to her about climate 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:51.840 change when you have a child. I think that you 0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:54.840 want to protect this kid. We do owe it to 0:26:54.920 --> 0:26:59.000 that next generation not to completely be so engulfed in 0:26:59.000 --> 0:27:01.280 our own doom and gloom they we forget the beauty 0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:05.120 and wonder and the resilience that this planet has, And 0:27:05.280 --> 0:27:08.439 don't forget reinforcements on the way. You know, when I 0:27:08.480 --> 0:27:10.919 look at my daughter, when I look at kids in school, 0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:16.280 I am blown away by the level of intelligence, sophistication, tech, 0:27:16.359 --> 0:27:19.879 savvinus care that they have. So I do have some 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:22.879 faith that this next generation is going to be the 0:27:22.960 --> 0:27:26.160 rescue generation. I just don't want to spoil it so 0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:29.200 much that she can't get to also enjoy it. There's 0:27:29.200 --> 0:27:33.520 a fine balance between being a savior and savoring something, 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:39.439 and you've got to do a bit of both. Him, Raffie, 0:27:39.480 --> 0:27:42.359 how are you? I'm good? How are you? Can you 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:47.800 see me? Awesome? I called Raffie one morning last fall. 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:51.399 I'd read about the historic rains that we're forcing people 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:54.920 from their homes not far from him in Canada. How's 0:27:54.960 --> 0:27:58.400 everything with the floods up there? Are Are you safe? Um? 0:27:58.680 --> 0:28:01.560 I've been Um, I've reading about it and following along. 0:28:01.680 --> 0:28:05.640 Is everything okay up there? Thank you? It's fine for me. 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:12.400 I'm one of the lucky ones. Mother Nature's fury um 0:28:12.520 --> 0:28:16.200 has been devastating for communities in my province of British Columbia. 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:22.399 There's no question that the climate emergency were in is 0:28:22.440 --> 0:28:27.200 exacerbating and bringing about these extreme weather conditions and will 0:28:27.200 --> 0:28:31.159 continue to do so. I mean, you don't have to 0:28:31.200 --> 0:28:35.440 be a rocket scientist to get how perilous the situation 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:39.400 is and that bold climate action is the only way 0:28:39.440 --> 0:28:44.440 forward to address it. Rafie was tired. The floods arrived 0:28:44.520 --> 0:28:47.400 just a few months after extreme heat and wildfires had 0:28:47.520 --> 0:28:51.240 ravaged the region. It's been over thirty years since he 0:28:51.320 --> 0:28:55.560 released Evergreen, Ever Blue, and not much has changed. Raphe's 0:28:55.560 --> 0:28:59.600 worries haven't changed either. What does your daughter Sonny need 0:28:59.600 --> 0:29:06.360 in this world? She needs, uh, intact, ancient forests for many, 0:29:06.400 --> 0:29:10.680 many reasons, including their beauty. I mean, it's astonishing to 0:29:10.720 --> 0:29:14.440 me that we have to fight for the protection of 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:19.719 beauty and these trees that soak up carbon. That's what 0:29:19.760 --> 0:29:23.880