WEBVTT - It Could Happen Here Weekly 99 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.680 Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here and I wanted to let 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.400 you know this is a compilation episode. So every episode 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:09.440 of the week that just happened is here in one 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:13.280 convenient and with somewhat less ads package for you to 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.800 listen to in a long stretch if you want. If 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:17.720 you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:19.520 there's going to be nothing new here for you, but 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:21.759 you can make your own decisions. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.840 About twenty years ago, maybe thirty, a circus fitted to Majorro, 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.560 the largest island on the Madro Atoll, in the capital 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.360 city of the Marshall Islands. They came to Major as 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:52.320 almost everything that isn't breadfruit, pandanas or fish does on 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.840 a boat. After performing, they couldn't find a boat to 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.760 take them to their next destination, and so the resident 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.720 tiny island, which at times is no wider than the 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.280 single road which travels its whole length, decided that they'd 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.520 have to share the food that they themselves had imported 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.440 a great cost, and they set about gathering apples, bananas, 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.720 and anything else that they thought an elephant might like 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:16.680 to eat while it waited for a way off an 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.360 island that barely has enough room for its own people, 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.959 let alone the largest land animal on earth. The people 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.120 of the Marshall Islands, for whom hospitality is as natural 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.720 as the times of the sea, greet each other the 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.959 same way they do strangers by saying yo quai. The 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.760 word has several meanings, but I'll let David Kabua explain them. 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.120 He's the President of the Republic of the Marshal Islands, 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:41.520 so he seems like he'd be a good source. 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.560 I would say the word yupik yupe is treating word 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:53.240 yabuey has a lot of several meanings, and you can't 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.120 say when you meet someone first time, you say yaguey 0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.920 when you greet someone, and when you also say goodbye, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.200 instead of say good bye, you also yuh pay, So 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:11.400 it's you can't use that. Also, like during the weekend 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.520 there was a tournament, fishing tournament, and if you were 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.160 fishing and you got it. You have a big fish 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.760 on the land and you really m you're about to 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:23.800 land the fish. 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:24.400 But the land's not. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.680 So what do you say, said, oh, yeah, way, hello 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:31.679 to the fish, But you just say yeah because you 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.680 lost the pig catch. So it can't be used that way. 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:39.560 Like when you lose someone or someone passed away. You've 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.280 missed that. Yeh way, so and so he was here 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.880 but no one could hear. So we can say yeh pay. 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.000 So it has several meanings, but the deeper meaning of 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:53.880 yapay is you are beautiful like the rainbow. Yeah means 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:55.640 rainbow and ways. 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.240 So we combine the two words. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:02:59.240 You are a rainbow. 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:01.120 You goombool as are. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.840 On the map. The Marshall Islands look like the little 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:07.560 dots that appear in my photos of the beach at Marjiro. 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:10.840 But unlike those little specks of dust that manage to 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.440 sneak their way onto my camera center, Marshall Islands belong here. 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.919 Here is a pretty vague turn. The twenty nine coral 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.520 atolls and five islands that allow fifty four thousand Marshal 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.480 Eies to live on one hundred and eighty two square 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:28.080 kilometers of land span an oceanic territory of two hundred 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.800 thousand kilometers. It's like you took a small American town 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:34.400 and scattered it across an area more than a half 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.960 times the size of Alaska. Even though the RMI is 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.520 ninety eight percent water, every inch of land is precious 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.320 to the marshal Eies, whose matrilineal society ensures that land 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:48.440 passes from mother to daughter and ties families to the 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.720 remote islands that make up the low lying atolls of 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.120 the Republic. It was on one of the bigger chunks 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.280 of land that I recorded the music you heard a 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.560 minute ago. Marjoro is an atoll that's a coral ring 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.760 that encircles the lagoon and its biggest islands. About thirty 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.640 miles long but often less than one hundred yards wide. 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.800 There's one road that runs the length of it and 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.000 sometimes also spans the width of it. It's also home 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.880 to about half the Urmis population. The highest point on 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.000 the atoll lies just three meters above sea level. If 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:22.600 you want to get higher than that, then your only 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.760 options are houses or palm trees. From the top of 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.400 the fifth floor of the NAPA Auto Parts Store, which 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.080 also houses the UNDP and the marshal Owns Olympic Committee, 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:38.400 you can see the whole island. For Marshallese people, these 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.240 tiny pieces of paradise that barely poke their heads out 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.400 from the top of the ocean are everything. Their land 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.400 and their ties to it define them. Without their place, 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:52.200 they can't be themselves. Even though many thousands of Marshales 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.920 live in the diasper of the United States, they still 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.440 important handicrafts made from little shells and the outer islands 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.880 and coconut husks. Many of them come back to the 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:07.159 islands to retire, but slowly the ocean is taking those 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:11.440 islands back. Rising sea levels and more extreme tidal surges 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.440 have placed this tiny Pacific nation on the front lines 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.039 of climate change. There isn't an exact estimate as to 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.840 how long the Marshall Islands have or what they can 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.880 do to halt the creeping advance of the ocean. They've 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.559 always existed on just a few square kilometers of land 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.800 among millions of square kilometers of ocean, and they depend 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.640 on that ocean for everything. But now it's threatening to 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.960 take everything away from them one day. They fear their 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.080 islands will become uninhabitable. A salt water invads of water 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.560 table and their trees die, while storms bring more and 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.880 more frequent floods that sweep away their homes and their possessions. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.279 They don't want to leave, but they can't stand alone 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:54.360 against climate change either. But the marshally Is are resilient people. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.320 They've weathered many storms to get to where they are now. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.640 The tiny museum in Maduro artifacts of several crises that 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:06.160 would seem apocalyptic, a nuclear bomb, the Second World War, 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.640 But in the end these did little de cruss the 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:15.000 incredible kindness of the tenacity of the Marshals. The islands 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.840 that make up the Aramai have been inhabited by indigenous 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.400 people for thousands of years, and they've been variously ruled 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.680 by the Spanish, German, Japanese, and United States governments before 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:30.640 becoming an independent republic. Before they were named by a 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.840 British sailor, the islands had their own name. I'll let 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.320 Jeff a Marshal's renaissance man who was at once a driver, 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.919 the head of the World Health Organization's EMT program on 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:45.240 the islands, a registered nurse, and the custodians an incredible 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:50.000 collection of Marshalise music explained what they were called before that, or. 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:54.320 Before I used to call La la la la larali like. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:57.440 El or el. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:07.200 Nahli l o lp lap laps. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:11.040 Before it turn out turns into Marshall. Because this work 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:16.600 Marshall games from this guy oh abound these islands. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:22.240 Captain Marshall undeniably, the Marshall Islands are not a bad 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.360 place to find yourself on a summer afternoon, and in 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:27.720 the time I spent there, I took several trips to 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:31.680 the smaller islands around madro Atoll. They look like the 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.160 Platonic idea of a tropical island, complete with coconut palms, 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:39.760 vibrant coral reefs, white sand, and turquoise water. I love 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.920 free diving and dropping down onto a wrecked aircraft and 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.240 dozens of brightly colored species of fish in almost infinite 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.080 visibility without even needing to put on a wet sue 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.080 or a weight belt. Might be the closest I'll ever 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.160 get to flying. But I wasn't just here for a 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.640 dip in the ocean. I'm actually here to tell you 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.760 a story of incredible resilience. Much of a America, both 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.000 on the left and on the right, spends much of 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.000 its time and money preparing for its own imagined version 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.520 of the crisis. For some, that's the unimaginable destruction of 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.800 nuclear war. For others, it's the encroaching of the ocean 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:14.760 on it's the land and a resulting loss of places 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.320 to live and grow food and for others. It's a 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.080 collapse of basic services like power and clean water that 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.680 we take for granted. These are all storms. So the 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.040 tiny island nation who hath already weathered, and it hasn't 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.480 done so in the atomized and individualistic way that so 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:34.640 many American preppers fantasize about online. It's done so as 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:39.320 an incredibly strong, optimistic, and welcoming community. There's a lot 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.160 we can learn from the people of the Marshal Islands 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.560 and their story, and so this week I'll be doing 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.559 my best to share the stories that they shared with me. 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.960 If you're familiar with the islands, it's likely because of 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.480 the history of one of the other atolls in the group, 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.720 Bikini Atoll. The name is the German bastardization of a 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:04.000 Marshal Lese word pikini pick meaning plain surface, and knee 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.760 meaning coconut tree. It's a flat base where coconuts grew, 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.640 but you likely don't know the island for its coconuts, 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.199 and those aren't safe to eat anymore anyway. If you've 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.839 heard of Bikinia Toll, it's because of what the United 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.960 States did there after the Second World War On the 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.960 eighteenth of July and nineteen forty seven, the Marshall Islands 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.360 were placed in a Strategic Trust Territory by the United Nations. 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.560 This territory was administered by the United States, which are 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.800 supposed to administer the islands in the best interest of 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:37.240 their inhabitants out of international peace and security. But a 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.880 year before the trust territory was created, the US began 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.679 nuclear testing in the lagoon at Bikinia Toll, a site 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.800 that would, over the next fifteen years, become the most 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.640 heavily bombed place on Earth, with some islands entirely removed 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.480 from the map and much of their population left dead sick, 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.320 without the land that defines them and their ability to 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.960 thrive on these ti iny islands amidst the endless ocean. 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.439 As far as possible, I want to let the marshal 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:07.199 Ease survivors of the nuclear tests and their families tell 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.480 their own stories. They call what happened on Bikini and 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.640 Awatakatoll the nuclear legacy of their country. Talking about the 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.120 nuclear legacy is a difficult topic for the marshal Eise, 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.720 especially the time when none of them have been paid 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.840 the compensation they were allotted, and the US was negotiating 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.080 a new agreement with the Marshalise government. It was very 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.520 far from settled and the numbers of the US were 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.040 offering were very far from sufficient. I was very fortunate 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.080 to join a few other journalists on the tiny island 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.240 of boken Bowton, a short boat ride away from Mitro 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.559 and home to perhaps most beautiful coral reef I've ever seen. 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.600 We had lunch, walked around the island and then had 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.120 a talk on the nuclear legacy from descendants of some 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.080 of the survivors. I'll let them introduce themselves. 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:52.880 My name is Zachabkivion. 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:55.280 I'm from the Marshall Island. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:01.160 I am a student at CMI car Chacta Marshall Allen, 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.400 and I am currently the president for the CMI Nuclear Club, 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:12.040 which we mostly work under National Nuclear Commission with with 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.840 our director Mary Suck and our Commissioner Arianna. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:18.000 All Reat. 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:18.280 Yeah. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:23.080 Well, once again, my name is Ariana teven Kilima. I 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.600 work as a Commissioner and Nuclear Justice Envoy for the 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:28.800 RMI National Nuclear Commission. 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:29.800 Him. 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.280 Once again, thank you very much for having us this afternoon. 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:38.280 Yooel, welcome to the Marshall Allen. My name is Evelyn Ralpho. 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:43.000 I'm the Director for Education and Public Awareness. Once again, welcome, 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:45.000 enjoy the rese of your days here. 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.920 Well that my name is Sincretin Pernett. 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.520 I work with the National Nuclear Commission as an admin 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:53.560 and physical officer. 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.160 I'm not sure if it's necessary for me to come. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.760 But since the past that we all go, so that's 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.199 important support the plastic work on the same boat in 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:05.400 the Martiall Islands. 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.200 She's from Mayata, She's from Yeah. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:14.640 The three of us are all descendants of nuclear survivors. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.600 They were exposed to fall out. Her mother was exposed 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.480 to fall out. Her mother, Grace's mother was also exposed 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.680 to the radioactive fallout, as well as my great grandfather. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.400 I think that's what really drives us to share. 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:31.040 This with you. 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.840 Almost everyone in the RMI has a family member directly 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.319 impacted by the testing and the decade of mistreatment that 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.360 came after it. Although we know the name Bikinia Toll, 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:46.240 the entire republic was impacted by nuclear fallout, including Mardro itself, 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.319 thanks to the elevised decision to drop bombs on a 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.800 day when the populated atolls were downwind of the test site, 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.000 in fact, right next to our hotel. Showing the same 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.320 parking lot. There's the US Department of Energy office. What 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:01.160 that was doing there? 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:01.920 Yeah? 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.599 I saw there's a diary office like health office in 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.640 the street here, the one in. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.000 The next to the auto, that's the office where they 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:15.040 do the radiation testing. And there's the one near the 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:22.040 Ami Marshall that's the clinic for those survivors. Now, the survivors, 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.760 there's few of them life like, maybe less than fifty. 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:26.480 Wow. 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.040 The RMI is still fighting in the Second World War. 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:35.920 It's memorialized in murals across Marjorro. In nineteen forty three 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.400 and early nineteen forty four, the USA bombed and then 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.000 fought the Imperial Japanese military who have been occupying the 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.880 island since nineteen fourteen. US soldiers and marines, along with 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:51.520 marsh Ley's scouts, landed on Marjorro Quadulan in anywhere thout 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.520 on Higgins boat that were virtually identical to the boat 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.840 we took across the lagoon to Bocan Boton. The fighting 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:02.120 was fierce and the scale of the destruction metz. Overall, 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.199 the Americans lost six hundred and eleven men and suffered 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.920 two thousand, three hundred and forty one wounded, two hundred 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.319 and sixty one were missing. Meanwhile, the Japanese lost over 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:19.160 eleven thousand men and had three hundred and fifty eight captured. Today, 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.120 the Bikinia Toll Lagoon still holds the ghostly remains of 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:27.000 the ships and plains that fought that battle, alongside the Nagato, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.320 the flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the ship 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.920 from whose bridge Admiral Yamamoto launched the attack on Pearl Harbour. 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.520 It was a shadow of this war that was evoked 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.160 in nineteen forty six when one hundred and sixty seven 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.640 a Bikini A Tolls inhabitants were forcibly relocated by the 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:48.440 United States. They initially accepted this settlement quote for the 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.360 good of mankind and to end all wars, in the 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.680 words of the US commandant at the time. Assisted by U. S. 0:14:55.760 --> 0:15:00.360 Navy seabees, they disassembled their church and moved to different atolls. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.160 Nine of the eleven family heads from Bikini elected to 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.360 be transported one hundred and twenty five miles to rong 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.120 gric Atoll, an island with about one quarter of the 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.520 land mass of Bikini Atoll. Many believed the island to 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.080 be haunted. By the time the navy left them with 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.600 a few weeks of water and food, they had every 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:22.320 reason to be afraid. I let Ariana explain what that 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:23.600 removal process was like. 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.480 They had asked the people if they were willing to 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.760 give up their homelands for the good of mankind and 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:33.680 to end all wars. And because our people are people 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:38.520 of faith in Christianity, they and they were very afraid. 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:40.440 They did not want to leave. 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:47.040 But because of the amount of power that the military 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.680 showed up with with their big ships compared to our 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.720 small canoes, and the amount of troops that were on 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.680 that island on that morning, it was very hard for 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.520 them to fight against what was being. 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:02.680 Asked of them. 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:08.960 And if you have time to look through documentaries of 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.480 the nuclear legacy, you will see a certain part where 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.560 the commander, a commodore, his name was Ben Wyatt. He 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.520 was sitting down and asking the chief at that time, 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:20.720 can we use this island for the good of mankind? 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:26.120 And in response, the people all respond in unison elmn, 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:30.760 which means okay. And from their testimonies, they had to 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:35.320 take that shot over forty times to make sure that 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:37.680 you know they all said MMn at the same time, 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.720 to get the best shot they could for you know, 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.720 maybe for reports to the UN. But it was a 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.440 very frustrating time for them. 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.640 Following their removal, the testing began. The idea was to 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.040 test nuclear bombs on ships. To the US bought ninety 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:58.360 five ships fully loaded with weapons and fuel. At this time, 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.560 this would have ranked the a Bikinia told just outside 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.360 the top five biggest fleets in the world, but those 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:10.520 boats didn't stay afloat for long. Now you might think that, 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.880 given the testing was on ships, the atoll's navy would 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:16.840 be some kind of mid century Mary Celeste, but you'd 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:22.040 be wrong. Three hundred and fifty experimental rats, goats, and 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:25.720 pigs died in the service as its strange nuclear experiment, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.359 some of them after being subjected to the great indignity 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:33.320 of being covered in sunscreen, which bizarrely scientists thought might 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.320 be useful in alleviating the impact of radiation. It's rather 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.600 staggering that this research was being done three years after 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.960 the United States dropped nuclear bombs on whole cities full 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:47.600 of human beings. But as you've maybe already picked up 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.320 in this story, the possibility of unintended but entirely predictable 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.359 human suffering does not seem to have been top of 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:58.159 the priority list. The first test of the island somehow misfired. 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.480 The gathered press would disappointed, and many of them went home, 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:07.320 But the second, codenamed Baker didn't. Chemist Glen t Seborg, 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.240 the longest serving chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, called 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:15.040 the Baker test the world's first nuclear disaster. It drove 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.880 a two thousand foot wide pillar of water into the air. 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:22.320 It sunk the USS Arkansas, and released massive amounts of 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.520 radiation across the islands of the atoll, which at the 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.919 time the residents had been expecting to return to. Just 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.080 five days after the first bomb went off, Louis Road, 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.720 a French mechanical engineer who was working as manager of 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.600 his mother's lingerie shop in Paris, introduced a new swimsuit 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:45.120 designed named the Bikini after the atoll. It was one 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:50.439 wright equipped the atom bomb of fashion. The people of 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.800 the atoll, however, gained little from the outfit or the testing. 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.120 January of nineteen forty eight, just two years after their removal, 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.520 doctor Leonard Mason visited the Bikinians on Rongerik and was 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:05.399 appalled to find the people there had almost starved to death. 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.240 We were dying, but they didn't listen to us, one 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.840 of them said to him. Mason, an anthropologist at the 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.720 University of WAYI asked that food and water be bought immediately. 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:24.000 The US built houses for Bikiniatol residents on Ujilangatol, but 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.159 it decided to use these for the residents of Aniwata Katol, 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.800 where it was also about to begin conducting nuclear experiments. Instead. 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.440 The Bikini Islanders were placed in tents alongside a runway 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.480 before they eventually chose Kille Island, a line of less 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:45.760 than one square kilometer, as their next home. Also evacuated 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:50.359 where Aniwata, Krangalap and Warthaw islanders. They too, thought this 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:52.560 was a temporary arrangement and that they could go home 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.120 in a short period of time. They too, found out 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.400 later that this was not the case. Over the course 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.280 of their exile, they've been moved several more times, staffed 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:05.680 half to death, cheated of their compensation, and stripped to 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:10.160 their ancestral homeland. For the next twelve years, the United 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:14.479 States would drop increasingly large bombs, culminating in nineteen fifty 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.320 four with the Bravo Shot of Operation Castle, also known 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.840 as Castle Bravo, the biggest nuclear device that we know 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:23.480 of the US ever deploying. 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.200 Within those twelve years, there were sixty seven known devices 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:30.080 that were tested here. There could have been more, but 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.360 all we know of is sixty seven. One of them 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:38.480 was the Castle Bravo shat that yielded fifteen megatons, which, 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:44.440 when sciences calculated the equivalent of the Bravo shat, would 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.200 have required testing the Hiroshima bomb one and a half 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.080 times every single day for twelve years. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:55.280 That fifteen megaton Bravo shot yielded more than two point 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:58.720 five times the estimated six megaton explosion. When it was 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.879 detonated on an artificial island in the Bikinia Toll, the 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:06.800 device's mushroom cloud reached a height of forty seven thousand feet, 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.439 which is fourteen hundred meters, and a diameter of seven 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.359 miles or eleven kilometers in about one minute. Eventually it 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.520 reached a height of forty kilometers and a diameter of 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.600 one hundred kilometers. This took less than ten minutes, traveled 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.840 more than one hundred meters per second, and covered seven 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.159 thousand kilometers of the Pacific Ocean and everything in it 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:32.520 with nuclear fallout. On the eve of the Bravo shot, 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.879 weather reports indicated that the quote conditions were getting less favorable, 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:39.880 but nonetheless a decision to go ahead with the first 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:44.879 test was taken by Alvin Sea Graves jointed task for 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.840 seven ships located thirty miles east of Bikini, and what 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:52.360 was thought to be an upwin position began detecting high 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:56.680 levels of radiation just two hours after the test. Very 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.240 soon after, they began traveling south at full speed to 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:02.919 avoid the fall out, but directly down wind to the 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.760 blast and unable to travel were wrong. A lap and 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:10.160 A Lingeni Atolls Arianna explained the impact to fall out there, 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:13.920 which residents were not warned about. American services people there 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.879 want to stay inside, not eat or drink anything, but 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.520 no such warning was given to the local residents. 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.760 Some said it looked like the sky was changing colors 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.040 from red to yellow to orange. It was just a 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.919 very very bright morning, and then they started hearing like 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:33.639 thunderous roars a couple of minutes later, and it was 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:36.640 just like roars after wars, and it was a very 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:40.840 frightening time. Because this was just not something you know, 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:44.760 does not happen every day. And then around ten am, 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:46.639 the fallout. 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:47.919 Had started to arrive. 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:50.520 And these are counts from rongolap at All, which is 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:54.040 the closest to Bikini. The fallout had started to arrive 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:56.880 and they were not sure what was going on. 0:22:57.000 --> 0:22:58.520 There was men out fishing. 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:04.560 There was also stories from these witnesses that prior to 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:09.640 this test, the military had gone to and they had 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.720 movie nights and they would show the community of movies 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:14.640 where it's snowing. 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.399 Tomorrow we'll hear more about the consequences of the Bravo 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:21.359 shop for the people who, despite never having any quarrel 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:24.440 with the USA, with the recipient of the largest nuclear 0:23:24.480 --> 0:24:22.240 bomb it's ever decimated. The music you just heard was 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:25.080 the anthem of Bikinia Toll, sung at their church on 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:29.199 Kille Island in nineteen ninety seven. The words translators follows, 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:33.280 no longer can I stay It's true? No longer can 0:24:33.320 --> 0:24:36.480 I live in peace and harmony? No longer can I 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:39.920 rest on my sleeping matt pillow Because of my island 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:43.720 and the life I once knew there. The thought is overwhelming, 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:48.520 rendering me helpless and in great despair, my spirit leaves 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:52.480 drifting around and far away, where it becomes caught in 0:24:52.520 --> 0:24:55.919 a current of immense power, and only then do I 0:24:55.960 --> 0:25:02.520 find tranquility. B has a flag as well. It looks 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:04.880 a lot like the US flag, but in the top 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:08.640 left blue rectangle you'll only find twenty three white stars. 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:12.640 They represent the islands of Bikinia Toll. The three black 0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:14.960 stars and the upper right of the flag represent the 0:25:14.960 --> 0:25:18.359 three islands that were vaporized by the March first, nineteen 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:23.240 fifty four fifteen megatine hydrogen bomb blast codenamed Bravo. The 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:25.920 two black stars in the lower right hand corner represent 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:29.399 where the Bikinians live now, Killy Island, four hundred and 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:32.159 twenty five miles to the south of Bikinia Toll, an 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:36.080 egypt island on the Majuro Atoll. These two stars are 0:25:36.119 --> 0:25:39.360 symbolically far away from Bikini stars on the flag, as 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:41.639 the islands are far away in real life, both in 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:45.920 distance and in terms of quality of life. The Marshallese 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:49.639 words running across the bottom of the flag men o 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:54.879 temzj regi elo benonije translate to everything is in the 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:58.480 hands of God. These represent the words spoken in nineteen 0:25:58.560 --> 0:26:01.720 forty six by the Bikinian Lee Judah to the US 0:26:01.760 --> 0:26:05.040 commodore Ben Wyatt when the American went to Bikini to 0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:07.600 us the islanders on a Sunday after they'd just been 0:26:07.640 --> 0:26:10.640 to church to give up their islands for the good 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:14.240 of all mankind so the US could test nuclear weapons there. 0:26:15.160 --> 0:26:17.840 The close resemblance of the Bikinians flag to the flag 0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:20.239 of the United States, it's to remind the people and 0:26:20.280 --> 0:26:22.879 the government of the USA that a great debt is 0:26:22.920 --> 0:26:27.199 still owed by them to the people of Bikini. In 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:29.280 today's episode, I want to pick up where we left 0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:33.800 off yesterday in the hours after the Bravo shot. Here's 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:34.680 Ariana again. 0:26:35.080 --> 0:26:38.959 And so when that fallout had arrived, the children, you know, 0:26:39.040 --> 0:26:41.200 they remember that they saw it in these movie nights. 0:26:41.240 --> 0:26:43.600 They thought it was snow and they were playing in 0:26:43.640 --> 0:26:48.080 this fallout. And then later on that day they started 0:26:48.119 --> 0:26:52.600 to realize that this was maybe poisonous. 0:26:52.680 --> 0:26:54.480 They just were not sure. 0:26:54.920 --> 0:26:58.600 But by midnight that night, the people were not able 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:03.920 to move around as much. They were suffering dramatically. Their 0:27:03.960 --> 0:27:07.240 stomachs were churning, their hair had started to fall out, 0:27:07.640 --> 0:27:10.919 their skin was peeling off, and like. They said, it 0:27:10.960 --> 0:27:12.960 was so itchy, and when they would scratch, the skin 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:16.320 just peels off as they scratched. And the fish that 0:27:16.359 --> 0:27:18.720 the men were out fishing for when they had came 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:22.040 back that evening to eat, when they ate the fish, 0:27:22.160 --> 0:27:25.119 they said it was like they were just munching on sand. 0:27:25.880 --> 0:27:29.360 Johanna Jeanne, the mayor of rong Lapatol, gave an interview 0:27:29.400 --> 0:27:33.480 in nineteen seventy seven recounting his experience with the fallout. 0:27:33.720 --> 0:27:36.560 It fell on me, It fell on my wife, It 0:27:36.640 --> 0:27:39.800 fell on my infant son. It fell on the trees 0:27:39.880 --> 0:27:42.680 and on the roofs of our houses. It fell onto 0:27:42.680 --> 0:27:45.960 the reefs and into the lagoon. We were very curious 0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:49.440 about this ash falling from the sky. Some people put 0:27:49.480 --> 0:27:52.560 it in their mouths and tasted it. One man rubbed 0:27:52.560 --> 0:27:54.600 it into his eye to see if it would cure 0:27:54.640 --> 0:27:58.159 an old ailment. People walked in it and children played 0:27:58.160 --> 0:27:58.440 in it. 0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:02.600 Later, people on Utrech Atoll experienced the fallout as missed 0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:07.119 minich Kel. One resident of the atoll, said that quote, 0:28:07.480 --> 0:28:09.760 several of my babies, who were healthy at the time 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:13.720 they were born, died before they were a year old. Altogether, 0:28:14.040 --> 0:28:17.840 I lost four babies. My son, Wynton, was born one 0:28:17.960 --> 0:28:20.800 year after the bomb, and he has had two operations 0:28:20.800 --> 0:28:24.520 on his throat for thyroid cancer. The Japanese fishing boat 0:28:24.560 --> 0:28:28.040 Lucky Dragon number five also came into direct contact with 0:28:28.080 --> 0:28:31.639 the fallout, which began raining down on them that same morning. 0:28:32.880 --> 0:28:36.000 They'd been fishing outside the designated danger zone that the 0:28:36.080 --> 0:28:39.720 US government had declared in advance, but when radioactive dust 0:28:39.800 --> 0:28:42.960 began to fall on them, they scrambled to leave. Pulling 0:28:43.040 --> 0:28:46.440 their gear took nearly six hours, during which time they 0:28:46.440 --> 0:28:48.640 were covered in the dust and gathered some of it 0:28:48.720 --> 0:28:51.400 in bags to take home and determine what this dust was. 0:28:52.320 --> 0:28:54.880 Later in the day, they began to get sick as 0:28:54.920 --> 0:28:57.680 they headed home. One member of the crew kept a 0:28:57.720 --> 0:28:59.760 bag of the ash to have it analyzed on their 0:29:00.080 --> 0:29:02.240 turn home, but he hung it from his bunk bed, 0:29:02.320 --> 0:29:05.200 causing the crew to get continued exposure all the way home. 0:29:05.800 --> 0:29:07.880 It took them two weeks to get back to Japan, 0:29:08.360 --> 0:29:11.600 and doctors quickly determined the cause of their blisters, sickness, 0:29:11.640 --> 0:29:15.440 and hair loss. They ask a US Atomic Energy Committee 0:29:15.440 --> 0:29:19.000 for information on how to treat the fishermen. Instead, the 0:29:19.120 --> 0:29:22.120 US sent two scientists to observe them. One of the 0:29:22.120 --> 0:29:25.320 fishermen died and the others were sent home after fourteen 0:29:25.400 --> 0:29:29.360 months in hospital. They faced stigma in public, and most 0:29:29.400 --> 0:29:33.320 of them eventually died from liver cirrhosis or cancer. Thirty 0:29:33.320 --> 0:29:36.920 six hours after the test, United States servicemen were evacuated 0:29:36.920 --> 0:29:41.280 from Wrong Lap. Fifty four hours afterwards, the people of 0:29:41.320 --> 0:29:45.840 Wrong Lappatole were evacuated, and seventy eight hours after the 0:29:45.920 --> 0:29:49.120 fallout hit them, less than half of Utrich's four hundred 0:29:49.160 --> 0:29:53.880 people were eventually evacuated. Here's Ariana again recounting the story 0:29:54.000 --> 0:29:56.040 of one of those Wrong Lap residents. 0:29:56.640 --> 0:30:00.560 So they were evacuated on March fourth, nineteen fifty four, 0:30:01.240 --> 0:30:06.200 and upon evacuation, the community was ordered to strip down 0:30:06.680 --> 0:30:10.800 naked on the ships. They did not separate the males 0:30:11.040 --> 0:30:16.000 from the females. The entire community stood naked. The community 0:30:16.040 --> 0:30:18.760 stood naked on the ship and they were hosed down 0:30:18.800 --> 0:30:19.920 with the pressure washer. 0:30:21.760 --> 0:30:26.560 When you talk stories with them today, it's they recall 0:30:26.640 --> 0:30:27.440 it as you know. 0:30:27.480 --> 0:30:29.959 They say, you know, the holes was so strong, it 0:30:29.960 --> 0:30:33.520 felt like those hoses that they used to put out fires. 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:36.920 And after they were pressure. 0:30:36.640 --> 0:30:40.760 Washed, they were given a soldiers underwear and T shirt 0:30:40.800 --> 0:30:44.720 to wear for their journey to Quadulant at all, and 0:30:44.800 --> 0:30:48.120 for the bigger women that were a part of this 0:30:48.320 --> 0:30:51.880 group that could not fit these soldiers underwears and T shirts, 0:30:52.200 --> 0:30:55.400 they were given just a small towel to cover while 0:30:55.440 --> 0:30:59.480 they were journeying to Quadulant. And also from these testimonies, 0:31:00.120 --> 0:31:02.520 one of my neighbors, she was seven years old at 0:31:02.560 --> 0:31:05.600 that time, and she said, you know, she's just a kid, 0:31:05.640 --> 0:31:09.040 and when everybody was danding naked, and she saw her uncles, 0:31:09.040 --> 0:31:12.000 and she thought it was funny at that time, but 0:31:12.080 --> 0:31:15.680 she realized later that that was such a breach of 0:31:15.760 --> 0:31:20.640 privacy and a moment of humiliation. And she recalls her 0:31:20.680 --> 0:31:23.920 grandmother's skin falling off, and she said, it looked like 0:31:24.360 --> 0:31:27.080 we all were like in a burning house, and everybody 0:31:27.120 --> 0:31:30.000 had these scars on, like just the peel burning off. 0:31:30.760 --> 0:31:33.120 But at that time she did not really realize it. 0:31:33.320 --> 0:31:36.040 She did not have a lot of burns. She's still 0:31:36.080 --> 0:31:38.680 alive today, but she did not have a lot of 0:31:38.720 --> 0:31:42.840 burns because when the bomb was detonated, she was told 0:31:42.840 --> 0:31:45.800 to go inside her house, and so she had a 0:31:45.840 --> 0:31:46.760 little bit of protection. 0:31:47.360 --> 0:31:50.600 They were taken to Quadulin Naval Base, where things became 0:31:50.680 --> 0:31:53.720 even worse for them. A week after the test, the 0:31:53.760 --> 0:31:56.760 Atomic Energy Commission and the US Department of Defense sent 0:31:56.800 --> 0:32:00.280 a joint medical team to Quadulin and these doctors. After 0:32:00.320 --> 0:32:03.200 the memo stating that the exposed people should have quote 0:32:03.600 --> 0:32:06.720 no exposure for the rest of their natural lives, one 0:32:06.800 --> 0:32:10.200 hundred and eleven traditional Marshalisee leaders petition the United Nations 0:32:10.200 --> 0:32:12.800 to be more cautious with testing and to stop it 0:32:12.960 --> 0:32:16.360 entirely if at all possible. The UN decided to continue, 0:32:16.720 --> 0:32:20.360 but without it precautions. It urged but did not compel 0:32:20.480 --> 0:32:24.120 the US government to compensate the marshalise people. In fact, 0:32:24.640 --> 0:32:26.960 the United States was only beginning the damage it would 0:32:27.000 --> 0:32:29.520 do to the people of the Marshall Islands, and compensation 0:32:29.640 --> 0:32:33.000 would not come for another three decades. I'll let Ariana 0:32:33.000 --> 0:32:34.480 explain what actually happened next. 0:32:35.480 --> 0:32:39.520 On March ninth, nineteen fifty four, the Project four point 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:44.000 one scientists arrive, and then on March eleventh, nineteen fifty four, 0:32:44.160 --> 0:32:48.800 the Project four point one officially commenced without consent from 0:32:48.840 --> 0:32:51.800 the people. And this Project four point one was the 0:32:51.840 --> 0:32:55.160 study of radiation on human beings and if you look 0:32:55.200 --> 0:32:58.120 at the classified files. We have a lot of them 0:32:58.240 --> 0:33:02.040 at the College of the Marshall Island Nuclear Institute. There's 0:33:02.360 --> 0:33:05.680 you know, all different types of projects and for example, 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:08.440 like one project two point three could be the study 0:33:08.440 --> 0:33:11.640 of radiation on corals, and then you know seven point 0:33:11.840 --> 0:33:15.440 two is study of radiation on the trees and four 0:33:15.480 --> 0:33:17.640 point one just so happened to be the study of 0:33:17.760 --> 0:33:22.600 radiation on human beings. And when they were in Quadulin, 0:33:23.280 --> 0:33:25.240 they were there for a couple of days. They were 0:33:25.360 --> 0:33:28.120 ordered to bathe in the lagoon and salt water and 0:33:28.160 --> 0:33:31.560 scrub their burns three times a day, every single day. 0:33:32.320 --> 0:33:36.480 Also they were ordered to provide urine samples three times 0:33:36.520 --> 0:33:39.640 a day. They also had to give blood samples three 0:33:39.680 --> 0:33:40.360 times a day. 0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:43.840 And this went on. For the people of. 0:33:43.800 --> 0:33:46.040 Wudaruk it was three months, and for the people of 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:48.240 Romolap it was almost a year. And then they were 0:33:48.320 --> 0:33:50.920 moved here to one of the small islands here where 0:33:50.920 --> 0:33:54.080 they lived and waited for their home to be cleaned 0:33:54.120 --> 0:33:57.160 up for them to return. And the thing is, while 0:33:57.200 --> 0:34:01.000 they were taking these blood and urine sound amples and 0:34:01.120 --> 0:34:04.080 having them bathed in the lagoon and scrubbing their burns 0:34:04.120 --> 0:34:08.440 and saltwater three times a day, they all had clinical numbers, 0:34:08.719 --> 0:34:11.960 and so even the pregnant women, their babies and their 0:34:11.960 --> 0:34:16.480 wombs also were assigned a clinical number, because even if 0:34:16.520 --> 0:34:20.239 there was still a baby, they were already monitoring these babies. 0:34:20.320 --> 0:34:26.440 And the thing is, even with their hair falling off 0:34:27.440 --> 0:34:33.600 and their skin peeling off, and their fingernails turning black 0:34:33.960 --> 0:34:39.120 and just feeling very nauxious and having a severe headache, 0:34:39.840 --> 0:34:44.120 they were not given paint medication. They were not given 0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:49.640 any type of talanol or any of that. They were 0:34:49.719 --> 0:34:52.799 just being monitored. And this whole time they thought they 0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:57.880 were being treated, they didn't realize that they were a 0:34:57.880 --> 0:35:01.040 part of this project that was just they're to study 0:35:01.200 --> 0:35:04.400 how their body reacts to exposure to radiation. 0:35:05.640 --> 0:35:09.160 Three years after being evacuated, the people of Rongolap were 0:35:09.200 --> 0:35:10.440 allowed to return. 0:35:10.360 --> 0:35:13.760 And then they moved them back in nineteen fifty seven 0:35:13.880 --> 0:35:16.160 because the bomb that they was exposed to was in 0:35:16.239 --> 0:35:19.400 nineteen fifty four and they were there for twenty eight years. 0:35:19.680 --> 0:35:22.839 This wasn't a benevolent effort. It was a continuation of 0:35:22.840 --> 0:35:25.120 the USA's use of the people of the Republic of 0:35:25.120 --> 0:35:27.600 Marshall Islands subjects of experimentation. 0:35:28.320 --> 0:35:30.520 Later on, when they were going to move the people 0:35:30.560 --> 0:35:34.400 of Romolap back to Ronolap. What they wanted to study 0:35:34.480 --> 0:35:40.240 now was how radiation evolves on the food chain, because 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:43.120 when they had moved them back to Ronolap, this was 0:35:43.400 --> 0:35:47.080 the original exposed group. When they went back, it was 0:35:47.080 --> 0:35:49.279 not just the exposed group anymore because they were here 0:35:49.320 --> 0:35:52.319 for three years and they took their family members that 0:35:52.400 --> 0:35:54.799 were on Meguro and some of them got married, and 0:35:54.840 --> 0:35:57.280 so when they went back there was four. 0:35:57.160 --> 0:35:57.959 Hundred of them. 0:35:58.320 --> 0:36:01.879 And I always which group was given a green card 0:36:01.960 --> 0:36:04.040 and a red card, but like if it was a 0:36:04.080 --> 0:36:06.160 red card, they were the exposed group, and the green 0:36:06.200 --> 0:36:08.879 card was now the new control group that was going 0:36:08.960 --> 0:36:11.719 to eat the crops on the land and eat off 0:36:11.760 --> 0:36:15.160 of the land to see how the radiation has moved 0:36:15.200 --> 0:36:19.719 in the food chain. And that's when my mother's father 0:36:19.920 --> 0:36:22.760 was born on Ramala in nineteen fifty nine. 0:36:23.040 --> 0:36:26.239 Eventually, the people of wrong Lap were evacuated nineteen eighty 0:36:26.239 --> 0:36:29.080 five thanks to Greenpeace, who moved them to other atolls 0:36:29.120 --> 0:36:32.760 when the US government refused to help them or acknowledge responsibility. 0:36:33.760 --> 0:36:35.400 It was not just the people on wrong Lap and 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:37.400 the other atolls at the time who were impacted by 0:36:37.400 --> 0:36:41.600 the radiation. The consequences have lasted for generations. 0:36:41.800 --> 0:36:48.400 And also we've had many cases of birth defects or 0:36:49.239 --> 0:36:53.440 babies that were born, and according to the testimonies of 0:36:53.520 --> 0:36:57.640 these mothers that had given birth, their babies were born 0:36:57.840 --> 0:37:02.640 sometimes looking like jellyfish. Sometimes their babies were born without 0:37:02.719 --> 0:37:05.000 a head, without limbs. 0:37:05.040 --> 0:37:06.280 All they could see. 0:37:06.360 --> 0:37:10.480 Was the heart beating and the blood flowing through their 0:37:10.600 --> 0:37:14.480 veins and their intestines, and they just were not sure 0:37:14.560 --> 0:37:17.880 whether they should bury this baby when the heart is 0:37:17.880 --> 0:37:19.839 still beating, or if they should wait for the heart 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:20.800 to stop beating. 0:37:21.600 --> 0:37:24.960 And some mothers had told. 0:37:24.680 --> 0:37:28.920 Their stories of giving breaths to babies that they recalled 0:37:29.000 --> 0:37:34.759 looking like octopus. Some others recalled their babies looking like turtles. 0:37:35.680 --> 0:37:40.000 Some of them on many occasions they also had babies 0:37:40.040 --> 0:37:42.400 that were looking like grapes. 0:37:42.719 --> 0:37:43.160 The fruit. 0:37:43.719 --> 0:37:47.480 It just looked like a bunch of grapes lump together. 0:37:48.280 --> 0:37:51.560 And for many of these cases, these women were not 0:37:51.719 --> 0:37:55.280 speaking up at that time because what they were told 0:37:55.320 --> 0:37:59.799 by the Atomic Energy Commissions officials was that this is 0:37:59.840 --> 0:38:03.399 the result of incest, and so it was a very 0:38:03.560 --> 0:38:08.759 humiliating experience. Many of these women had no idea that 0:38:08.800 --> 0:38:13.320 their own sisters were also giving birth to these monster 0:38:13.440 --> 0:38:16.719 looking babies that they were giving birth to, and they 0:38:16.760 --> 0:38:21.680 would oftentimes bury their babies alone where nobody else was watching. 0:38:21.719 --> 0:38:25.480 And and it's a worldwide culture that when someone passes away, 0:38:25.560 --> 0:38:28.520 we all gathered to mourn this loved one. But for 0:38:29.160 --> 0:38:32.239 the women, the Marshally's woman at that time, it was 0:38:32.320 --> 0:38:35.719 a very heartbreaking moment for them because they did not 0:38:36.000 --> 0:38:39.000 want anybody else to see this baby that they had 0:38:39.040 --> 0:38:42.040 given birth to, not realizing that their own sister was 0:38:42.080 --> 0:38:45.360 also enduring the same crab. 0:38:50.440 --> 0:38:53.120 Things were not much better for the Bikinians, who'd been 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:55.839 evacuated at the start of testing in nineteen forty six 0:38:57.120 --> 0:38:59.399 after fouled attempt to settle them on another at all. 0:38:59.520 --> 0:39:01.800 Many of the Kechennians elected to try living on Killi 0:39:01.840 --> 0:39:05.320 as their new home. Killy Island lacked a coral reef, 0:39:05.600 --> 0:39:07.960 and this made their traditional lifestyle of island hopping and 0:39:08.040 --> 0:39:12.840 fishing in the calm Lagoon impossible. The Bikilians, inhabitants of 0:39:12.880 --> 0:39:15.840 the most remote atoll in the already remote Marshall Islands, 0:39:16.120 --> 0:39:18.840 were legendary for their ability to navigate using the stars 0:39:18.880 --> 0:39:21.759 and seas, but on their new Island. The waves were 0:39:21.800 --> 0:39:24.319 so big that their traditional canoes couldn't sail at all. 0:39:25.239 --> 0:39:28.360 Soon the boat the USA had given them to import 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:31.120 food had sunk into the ferocious seas around the island, 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:34.719 and they were entirely reliant on air dropped food. Some 0:39:34.920 --> 0:39:37.600 families moved to other islands or split their time between 0:39:37.680 --> 0:39:40.600 Killi and the atolls with better resources. But life on 0:39:40.680 --> 0:39:43.600 Killie was hard, and the lack of retected lagoon made 0:39:43.640 --> 0:39:46.040 every delivery of food or supplies by boat a high 0:39:46.120 --> 0:39:49.400 risk endeavor. Along with the loss of their homeland, many 0:39:49.440 --> 0:39:52.640 generations of Bikinians began to lose their navigation skills and 0:39:52.640 --> 0:39:55.560 their connection to the lagoon that provided so much sustenance 0:39:55.560 --> 0:39:57.400 and material for their traditional lifestyle. 0:39:57.800 --> 0:40:03.160 They had suffered severe starve because for the people of Bikini, 0:40:03.200 --> 0:40:06.480 the atoll that they were now living in was just 0:40:06.600 --> 0:40:09.800 uninhabited in the first place, because all the fish around 0:40:09.800 --> 0:40:12.799 the atoll or sicutara fish, so they could not eat 0:40:12.840 --> 0:40:15.960 off the ocean. They couldn't they could not grow any crops. 0:40:16.040 --> 0:40:19.320 And are you guys familiar with what a nony fruit? 0:40:19.480 --> 0:40:19.560 Is? 0:40:19.680 --> 0:40:23.279 A nony tree and it does not smell good, right, 0:40:23.360 --> 0:40:26.279 But they started eating the nony fruit because they did 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:29.480 not have any bread fruit or papayas or anything. 0:40:29.160 --> 0:40:31.320 Growing on that land. 0:40:31.440 --> 0:40:34.799 And the men oftentimes had to sail out in their 0:40:34.800 --> 0:40:37.160 canoes and they would be gone for almost a week 0:40:37.560 --> 0:40:40.080 because they sailed out as far as they could to 0:40:40.120 --> 0:40:42.520 be able to get fish that was edible for them. 0:40:43.800 --> 0:40:47.600 Then for the people of Nlda, from their testimonies, the 0:40:47.640 --> 0:40:50.759 at all that they were evacuated to was rat infested 0:40:50.880 --> 0:40:53.960 and so their babies had to sleep in boxes. They 0:40:53.960 --> 0:40:56.520 had to build like boxes for their babies or otherwise 0:40:56.560 --> 0:40:59.120 the rats would come and nibble at their toes while 0:40:59.120 --> 0:41:01.960 they're sleeping. And there was a lot of ways that 0:41:02.000 --> 0:41:04.200 they were trying to figure out how to solve this 0:41:04.560 --> 0:41:08.480 rat infestation. And at one time they were giving people 0:41:09.080 --> 0:41:11.520 incentives like I think it was five cents if you 0:41:11.600 --> 0:41:15.080 brought a rat's tail or something, you know, like, because 0:41:15.120 --> 0:41:17.200 they were just trying to get rid of the rats 0:41:17.239 --> 0:41:20.640 and they could not. And yeah, it's just a lot 0:41:20.680 --> 0:41:24.040 of trauma and a lot of moving around. When the 0:41:24.080 --> 0:41:28.120 people of Bikini were first moved from Bikini to this 0:41:28.239 --> 0:41:31.759 new home of romric Atoll, where they lived for the 0:41:31.760 --> 0:41:35.520 next two years. By the time the military had gone 0:41:35.560 --> 0:41:39.360 back to pick them up when he's a very elderly 0:41:39.400 --> 0:41:41.720 man now, but he was six years old at that time. 0:41:42.160 --> 0:41:46.480 And the way he describes it is that he says 0:41:46.960 --> 0:41:50.520 it was a very traumatizing moment for him because they 0:41:50.560 --> 0:41:53.840 were carrying some of the people on leaves to the ship. 0:41:53.880 --> 0:41:55.200 They were very fragile. 0:41:55.280 --> 0:41:58.839 He said, if you have seen photos of the Holocaust, 0:41:58.920 --> 0:42:02.280 this is this is what our people looked like because 0:42:02.320 --> 0:42:04.880 there was just severe starvation at that time. 0:42:05.360 --> 0:42:08.600 In nineteen sixty eight, LBJ promised the Bikinians a chance 0:42:08.640 --> 0:42:11.360 to return to their beloved home, and the US Trust 0:42:11.440 --> 0:42:15.960 Territory began rebuilding the structures and decontaminating the soil. These 0:42:15.960 --> 0:42:18.840 efforts were hampered by infrequent flights and delayed by the 0:42:18.880 --> 0:42:21.799 discovery that the large coconut crabs on the island were 0:42:21.840 --> 0:42:26.840 still dangerously contaminated. In nineteen seventy two, one hundred people 0:42:26.880 --> 0:42:31.280 from three extended families moved back and began rebuilding their paradise, 0:42:31.840 --> 0:42:33.960 but it wasn't long before it became clear that their 0:42:33.960 --> 0:42:37.880 home was far from recovered. A visiting team of scientists 0:42:37.920 --> 0:42:41.440 from France not the USA found dangerously high levels of 0:42:41.520 --> 0:42:45.920 radioactivity and fruit, well water, and in the urine samples 0:42:45.920 --> 0:42:49.640 of islanders. The islanders had sued the federal government and 0:42:49.760 --> 0:42:53.319 more research was done. By nineteen seventy eight, scientists had 0:42:53.320 --> 0:42:56.200 found an elevenfold increase in the caesium one hundred and 0:42:56.280 --> 0:43:00.160 thirty seven body burdens of the people living on the islands, ever, 0:43:00.239 --> 0:43:04.920 which the Department of the Interior called quote incredible. Once again, 0:43:05.280 --> 0:43:08.880 the islanders were removed from their home. In nineteen eighty three, 0:43:09.280 --> 0:43:12.239 the Republic of the Marshall Island gained its independence signed 0:43:12.280 --> 0:43:15.520 the Compact of Free Association with the United States. When 0:43:15.560 --> 0:43:18.000 the Compact came into effect in nineteen eighty six, the 0:43:18.040 --> 0:43:21.560 Marshalies received their first financial settlement from the USA courtesy 0:43:21.600 --> 0:43:23.920 of Section one hundred and seventy seven of the Compact 0:43:23.920 --> 0:43:27.440 of Free Association, which pledged reparations for damages to the 0:43:27.480 --> 0:43:33.080 former inhabitants of Bikini Enewattap, Rongolap, and utre catolls. They 0:43:33.080 --> 0:43:36.280 were promised twelve percent rate of return on the trust fund, 0:43:36.520 --> 0:43:38.840 which would be administered by the US and would provide 0:43:38.880 --> 0:43:43.160 health care and property damage reimbursements. However, this fund relied 0:43:43.200 --> 0:43:45.920 upon the fiction that only four a tolls were impacted 0:43:45.920 --> 0:43:50.160 by the nuclear fallout. There is considerable evidence to suggest 0:43:50.280 --> 0:43:53.080 that the entire republic of the Marshall Islands was directly 0:43:53.120 --> 0:43:56.919 impacted by fallout from the Bravo shot. The trust fund 0:43:56.960 --> 0:43:59.360 also tied the interest of the marshalise to those of 0:43:59.360 --> 0:44:03.040 global cap As the value of the fund's investments went up, 0:44:03.239 --> 0:44:06.279 so did their ability to fund healthcare and improve their 0:44:06.280 --> 0:44:09.840 living conditions. But I found financial reports from that trust 0:44:09.840 --> 0:44:13.000 fund in twenty sixteen. At the time, it had funds 0:44:13.040 --> 0:44:16.640 invested in US domestic public equities twenty nine point five 0:44:16.640 --> 0:44:20.040 percent of the portfolio. As of September thirty, twenty fifteen, 0:44:20.760 --> 0:44:24.360 international equities made up twenty seven point four percent, fixed 0:44:24.360 --> 0:44:27.960 income funds made up eighteen percent, real estate made up 0:44:27.960 --> 0:44:31.640 five point five percent, hedge fund made up fifteen percent, 0:44:32.160 --> 0:44:34.640 and a private equity fund made up the remaining four 0:44:34.640 --> 0:44:38.120 point six percent. But the interests were low lying atoll 0:44:38.239 --> 0:44:40.560 nation and those of global capital will never really be 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:44.040 fully aligned. The only reason hedge funds could offer such 0:44:44.080 --> 0:44:47.840 astronomical returns for their investors is that they are comprised 0:44:47.880 --> 0:44:51.200 of businesses who don't pay the full cost for their production. 0:44:52.280 --> 0:44:55.240 This is nowhere more obvious than the rapidly shrinking atolls 0:44:55.239 --> 0:44:58.400 of the Marshall Islands, where the rising sea levels driven 0:44:58.440 --> 0:45:01.560 by the knee to inshure rising store prices, opposing a 0:45:01.640 --> 0:45:04.920 new threat to people who endured and survived the largest 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:07.440 nuclear bomb the US is ever known to have deployed. 0:45:08.239 --> 0:45:11.000 In nineteen eighty seven, a stock market collapse known as 0:45:11.040 --> 0:45:14.359 Black Monday reduced the value of the fund, and even 0:45:14.400 --> 0:45:17.759 to this day, despite other settlements and agreements, not one 0:45:17.920 --> 0:45:20.799 single person in the Marshall Islands has received the full 0:45:20.840 --> 0:45:24.000 amount of compensation that they were allocated. A great many 0:45:24.080 --> 0:45:28.279 have received less than half. In nineteen ninety five, the 0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:31.480 Island Council learned that the Environmental Protection Agency standard for 0:45:31.600 --> 0:45:35.000 radiation reduction requirements was a lot lower than those of 0:45:35.040 --> 0:45:37.480 the Department of Energy scientists had been using thus far 0:45:38.239 --> 0:45:42.560 fifteen millirems as opposed to one hundred millirems. Between this 0:45:43.080 --> 0:45:45.560 and the demand on settlement funds for services that would 0:45:45.600 --> 0:45:48.160 lift the surviving islanders and their families out of poverty, 0:45:48.920 --> 0:45:52.440 the cleanup of Bikinia Toll began to lose steam. Today, 0:45:52.920 --> 0:45:55.960 six hundred people still live on killing subsisting largely a 0:45:56.040 --> 0:46:00.000 US settlement fund. Their children, like many other marshal Eads, 0:46:00.160 --> 0:46:02.960 go to boarding schools and other atolls, but they still 0:46:03.000 --> 0:46:06.680 can't sale their canoes at home. Other Bikinians live on 0:46:06.680 --> 0:46:09.319 one of the islands or Madro Atoll, but with no 0:46:09.440 --> 0:46:11.880 matrilineal ties to their land, they don't have access to 0:46:11.920 --> 0:46:14.960 that which defines them in their culture. Despite being so 0:46:15.080 --> 0:46:17.520 isolated that the government thought it could safely nuke the 0:46:17.560 --> 0:46:21.040 island without damaging the mainland or really anywhere it cared about, 0:46:21.760 --> 0:46:24.240 the island's trust fund is still privy to the rising 0:46:24.280 --> 0:46:26.279 and falling of the stock market, and it took a 0:46:26.280 --> 0:46:30.279 significant hit in two thousand and eight. In twenty seventeen, 0:46:31.120 --> 0:46:34.720 Trump's Department of the Interior allowed Bikini's mayor and council 0:46:34.800 --> 0:46:36.960 to supervise the use of the fund in order to 0:46:37.120 --> 0:46:42.520 quote restore trust and ensure that sovereignty means something. When 0:46:42.560 --> 0:46:45.200 turned over, the fund was valued at fifty nine million 0:46:45.280 --> 0:46:48.719 US dollars. Today it holds a little more than one 0:46:48.800 --> 0:46:52.480 hundred thousand US dollars. The island's mayor and US in 0:46:52.560 --> 0:46:55.040 GIEVUS oversaw the fund at the time of its depletion, 0:46:55.280 --> 0:46:57.960 and has admitted to claiming personal expenses from the fund 0:46:58.000 --> 0:46:59.960 and spending six figure sums on his trip to the 0:47:01.480 --> 0:47:04.640 He's also made more popular purchases like a small aircraft 0:47:04.680 --> 0:47:07.879 and two cargo ships to help supply the more isolated Bikinians, 0:47:08.200 --> 0:47:10.600 as well as construction equipment to build sea walls to 0:47:10.600 --> 0:47:14.600 protect the islanders against another crisis, rising sea levels, which 0:47:14.640 --> 0:47:18.600 threatens to swallow their whole country in a few decades. Sadly, 0:47:19.080 --> 0:47:21.960 the spending has left the fund virtually empty and the 0:47:21.960 --> 0:47:25.120 Czech's Bikinians god, which amounted to about eighty dollars per 0:47:25.120 --> 0:47:29.120 person per month, have stopped coming. These stipends help feed 0:47:29.160 --> 0:47:31.959 Bikinians and pay for medical care, and without them things 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:35.880 are even harder. Today. A few caretakers live on Bikinia 0:47:35.880 --> 0:47:38.400 at all, and you can visit to scuba dive, but 0:47:38.440 --> 0:47:42.320 the community that once existed there is gone. Edward Madison, 0:47:42.800 --> 0:47:45.880 one of those caretakers, was grandson of one of the 0:47:45.960 --> 0:47:50.280 residents removed in nineteen forty six. Madison helped lead dives 0:47:50.280 --> 0:47:53.480 in the islands, tested clean up methods, and monitored the 0:47:53.480 --> 0:47:56.279 pollutants for the US Department of Energy, as well as 0:47:56.280 --> 0:47:59.600 mapping the lagoon's World War II. Rex he passed away 0:47:59.600 --> 0:48:08.400 on Mark twenty ninth, twenty twenty. On any Watakatoll, the 0:48:08.440 --> 0:48:11.960 cleanup will never happen. Even after it ended nuclear testing, 0:48:12.440 --> 0:48:16.600 the US tested conventional and biological weapons there. It shot 0:48:16.640 --> 0:48:21.239 missiles from California at the atoll and tested airborne bioweapons. 0:48:21.760 --> 0:48:25.920 From nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty, the US began 0:48:26.040 --> 0:48:29.600 scraping radioactive topsoil off the various islands it had tested 0:48:29.640 --> 0:48:33.840 for both nuclear and biological weapons, and transporting that waste, 0:48:34.000 --> 0:48:37.640 along with some race from Nevada to run It Island. 0:48:37.960 --> 0:48:40.800 Once on run It, the waste was mixed with concrete 0:48:40.880 --> 0:48:44.440 and secured in a giant concrete dome. Jeff's families from 0:48:44.440 --> 0:48:46.879 that island, but thanks to the levels of radiation which 0:48:46.960 --> 0:48:49.960 rival Fukushima Chernobyl, he can't go back. 0:48:50.719 --> 0:48:52.320 My grandfather is from this island. 0:48:52.520 --> 0:48:55.640 Oh wow, yes, sucks. 0:48:55.840 --> 0:48:59.960 But I've never been to that island. 0:49:00.239 --> 0:49:03.319 Is that where you're like? He did his father live 0:49:03.360 --> 0:49:05.440 there and like his hold did they live there for 0:49:05.440 --> 0:49:06.680 a long time? Your family before? 0:49:06.920 --> 0:49:08.920 Yeah, yeah, that's your traditional one. 0:49:09.719 --> 0:49:10.239 Do you want to go? 0:49:13.560 --> 0:49:14.440 The dome is there? 0:49:14.600 --> 0:49:16.080 Yeah? 0:49:16.280 --> 0:49:18.120 Like all the people from that island they get to 0:49:18.160 --> 0:49:20.320 test their radiation level. 0:49:21.280 --> 0:49:24.000 Today, thanks to the other extinction level threat the US 0:49:24.000 --> 0:49:28.120 has helped create, climate change, the dome is slowly sinking 0:49:28.360 --> 0:49:32.319 and cracking. Hundreds of US servicemen developed cancer building the dome. 0:49:32.800 --> 0:49:36.719 Six died. Many others have struggled to get full VA benefits. 0:49:37.400 --> 0:49:41.120 As the ocean rises, the concrete cap could simply slide 0:49:41.160 --> 0:49:44.320 off the dome and the thirty three Olympic swimming pools 0:49:44.320 --> 0:49:47.279 worth of nuclear and biological waste could flood out into 0:49:47.280 --> 0:49:52.400 the ocean. Locally, this dome is called the Tomb. On 0:49:52.440 --> 0:49:55.000 the fifth of March two thousand and one, the Nuclear 0:49:55.040 --> 0:49:58.000 Claims Tribunal handed down a decision on a seven year 0:49:58.080 --> 0:50:00.319 lawsuit that the Bikinians had brought against you the United 0:50:00.360 --> 0:50:03.160 States were damages done to their islands and their people 0:50:03.560 --> 0:50:07.480 during the nuclear testing on Bikini. The tribunal was created 0:50:07.520 --> 0:50:10.440 by the Compact of Free Association and that always had 0:50:10.480 --> 0:50:14.240 been underfunded. The settlement and the five hundred and sixty 0:50:14.239 --> 0:50:17.040 three million dollars it awarded stood in Limbos the island 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:20.279 to sue the federal government for it. On the day 0:50:20.320 --> 0:50:23.680 we left Marjerome, the Republican Marshalll Islands negotiations with the 0:50:23.800 --> 0:50:26.560 USA over the renewal of the Compact of Free Association 0:50:27.000 --> 0:50:29.520 had gone on until two in the morning Marshalise's time. 0:50:30.719 --> 0:50:33.600 We ate breakfast that day with hille Hine, the first 0:50:33.640 --> 0:50:35.719 woman to be president of the Marshall Islands and the 0:50:35.760 --> 0:50:39.439 first woman president in the Pacific. I didn't get great 0:50:39.480 --> 0:50:42.040 audio there, but she shared with us the ongoing struggle 0:50:42.040 --> 0:50:44.799 that the Marshalise people have had to secure adequate and 0:50:44.840 --> 0:50:49.480 fair compensation. With the US offering seven hundred million and 0:50:49.560 --> 0:50:52.239 the calculated costs of health care and cleanup closer to 0:50:52.280 --> 0:50:55.240 three billion, there is a long way for the US 0:50:55.239 --> 0:50:58.880 to come to make the islanders whole. They also, even 0:50:58.960 --> 0:51:02.799 six decades on, haven't apologized to the people who had 0:51:02.840 --> 0:51:06.280 no quarrel with them and whose homes and lives they destroyed. 0:51:07.239 --> 0:51:09.880 The case of the people of the Pacific Proving Grounds 0:51:10.239 --> 0:51:14.160 illustrates rather well how we can't find financial settlements they're 0:51:14.160 --> 0:51:16.880 going to offset the kind of disasters the climate change 0:51:16.960 --> 0:51:20.440 is bringing. This doesn't mean that people who are harmed 0:51:20.480 --> 0:51:23.680 shouldn't be compensated, but it does mean that no amount 0:51:23.719 --> 0:51:26.960 of cash can right the wrongs done. This is why 0:51:27.000 --> 0:51:29.279 I wanted to anchor this series, which is about the 0:51:29.320 --> 0:51:33.160 future with a story about the past, because in the 0:51:33.200 --> 0:51:35.000 next couple of episodes we're going to hear a lot 0:51:35.040 --> 0:51:38.080 about what might happen to the Marshall Islands, and again 0:51:38.239 --> 0:51:41.040 how virtually none of it is the fault of the islanders. 0:51:41.520 --> 0:51:44.520 That doesn't mean we shouldn't accept their leadership on these issues, though, 0:51:45.120 --> 0:51:47.279 as we saw at the negotiations that led to the 0:51:47.320 --> 0:51:50.319 Paris Accords, the Marshall Islands can and should take a 0:51:50.360 --> 0:51:53.040 place at the heart of global discussions about climate change 0:51:53.560 --> 0:51:56.200 because they are the ones most impacted by the constant 0:51:56.239 --> 0:51:59.319 growth neoliberal model that makes other people pay for its 0:51:59.360 --> 0:52:03.360 negative exit. As we will learn in the next few episodes, 0:52:03.920 --> 0:52:06.440 we should ask the people impacted how they want to 0:52:06.440 --> 0:52:09.560 be helped, and not tell them what they need. I 0:52:09.600 --> 0:52:12.200 want to end today's episode with a poem and a 0:52:12.320 --> 0:52:15.120 very Marshal East moment. I tried to meet the poet 0:52:15.280 --> 0:52:17.400 who wrote this while I was on the island, because 0:52:17.600 --> 0:52:19.759 I remember the impact of her poetry at the UN 0:52:19.800 --> 0:52:22.680 Climate Summit. She was off island while I was there, 0:52:23.120 --> 0:52:26.000 but it turned out the hill behind the former president 0:52:26.000 --> 0:52:29.320 who I was having breakfast with was her mum. With 0:52:29.560 --> 0:52:32.480 Kathy gentle kids. Note reading a poem she wrote for 0:52:32.520 --> 0:52:35.280 her own daughter to the United Nations. 0:52:36.680 --> 0:52:41.600 Dear Marta Felibino, you are a seven month old sunrise 0:52:41.640 --> 0:52:45.040 of gummy smiles. You are bald as an egg and 0:52:45.280 --> 0:52:48.160 bald as a buddha. You are thighs that are thunder 0:52:48.239 --> 0:52:51.800 shrieks that are lightning. So excited for bananas, hugs and 0:52:51.880 --> 0:52:57.000 our morning walks along the lagoon. Dear Marta Felibino, I 0:52:57.040 --> 0:53:02.320 want to tell you about that lagoon, that lazy lounging lagoon, 0:53:02.440 --> 0:53:06.319 lounging against the sunrise. Men say that one day that 0:53:06.400 --> 0:53:10.160 lagoon will devour you. They say it will gnaw at 0:53:10.200 --> 0:53:12.960 the shoreline, two at the roots of your bread fruit trees, 0:53:13.040 --> 0:53:15.799 gulp down rows of sea walls, and crunch through your 0:53:15.840 --> 0:53:20.520 island shattered bones. They say you, your daughter and your 0:53:20.520 --> 0:53:25.920 granddaughter too, will wander rootless, with only a passport to 0:53:26.000 --> 0:53:32.400 call home. Dear Mante felip Benam, don't cry. Mommy promises 0:53:32.480 --> 0:53:36.360 you no one will come and devour you. No greedy 0:53:36.400 --> 0:53:40.440 wail of a company sharking through political seas, no backwater 0:53:40.520 --> 0:53:45.480 bullying of businesses with broken morals, no blindfolded bureaucracies gonna 0:53:45.480 --> 0:53:50.480 push this mother ocean over the edge. No one's drowning, baby, 0:53:51.000 --> 0:53:55.160 no one's moving, No one's losing their homeland. No one's 0:53:55.520 --> 0:54:00.759 becoming a climate change refugee, or should I say no 0:54:00.840 --> 0:54:05.160 one else? To the Carteret Islanders of Papua New Guinea 0:54:05.640 --> 0:54:08.319 and to the Tarot Islanders of Fiji, I take this 0:54:08.440 --> 0:54:12.640 moment to apologize to you. We are drawing the line 0:54:12.760 --> 0:54:17.600 here because we baby are going to fight your mommy, daddy, 0:54:17.640 --> 0:54:20.520 booboo dema, your country and your president too. We will 0:54:20.560 --> 0:54:24.920 all fight. And even though there are those hidden behind 0:54:24.960 --> 0:54:29.120 platinum titles who like to pretend that we don't exist, 0:54:29.480 --> 0:54:34.800 who like to pretend that the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kidobas, Maldives, Typhoon, 0:54:34.840 --> 0:54:39.319 Hayan and the Philippines, floods of Algeria, Colombia, Pakistan, and 0:54:39.400 --> 0:54:42.040 all the hurricanes, earthquakes. 0:54:41.360 --> 0:54:43.600 And tidal waves didn't exist. 0:54:45.400 --> 0:54:52.000 Still there are those who see us, hands reaching out, fists, 0:54:52.080 --> 0:54:58.480 raising up, banners, unfurling, megaphones booming, and we are canoes 0:54:58.520 --> 0:55:02.359 blocking coat ships. We are are the radiance of solar villages. 0:55:02.719 --> 0:55:06.080 We are the fresh clean soil of the farmer's past. 0:55:06.600 --> 0:55:12.960 We are teenagers blooming petitions. We are families biking, recycling, reusing, 0:55:13.440 --> 0:55:19.040 engineers building, dreaming, designing, artists, painting, dancing, writing, and we 0:55:19.200 --> 0:55:23.400 are spreading the word. And there are thousands out on 0:55:23.520 --> 0:55:28.440 the streets marching hand in hand, chanting for change now. 0:55:29.320 --> 0:55:33.440 And they're marching for you, baby, They're marching for us, 0:55:34.200 --> 0:55:38.920 because we deserve to do more than just survive. We 0:55:39.040 --> 0:55:45.319 deserve to thrive. Dear mate, Felivinum. Your eyes heavy with 0:55:45.440 --> 0:55:49.880 drowsy weight, So just close those eyes and sleep in peace, 0:55:50.680 --> 0:55:52.240 because we won't let you down. 0:55:53.360 --> 0:56:21.440 You'll see United Airlines Flight one five four starts a Honolulu. 0:56:21.880 --> 0:56:23.719 When it leaves, it carries not only a full load 0:56:23.760 --> 0:56:26.440 of passages, but also a mechanic and spare parts for 0:56:26.480 --> 0:56:30.520 the plane. On its journey, it stops in the Marshall 0:56:30.560 --> 0:56:33.719 Islands at Marjora and Quadrilin before heading west to make 0:56:33.760 --> 0:56:37.240 three stops in Micronesia, and finally it stops in Gua. 0:56:38.000 --> 0:56:40.399 The next day, it turns around does the same route 0:56:40.440 --> 0:56:43.360 in a reverse landing. In Marjoro, you can see the 0:56:43.360 --> 0:56:46.920 ocean on both sides of the plane. In fact, you 0:56:46.920 --> 0:56:48.799 can see the ocean on both sides of the plane 0:56:48.800 --> 0:56:52.160 from a disturbingly low height, and despite this being one 0:56:52.160 --> 0:56:54.840 of the larger islands in the Marshall Islands, it almost 0:56:54.840 --> 0:56:56.640 looks like the plane won't fit on it without a 0:56:56.640 --> 0:57:00.000 wingtip overhanging the lagoon. The plane does fit, of course, 0:57:00.280 --> 0:57:02.360 and there's even room left at major airport for the 0:57:02.400 --> 0:57:06.040 best airport bar that I've ever seen. But even after 0:57:06.040 --> 0:57:07.720 a couple of hours in the company of the island's 0:57:07.760 --> 0:57:11.240 finest whiskey collection, it's very clear that the Marshall Islands 0:57:11.239 --> 0:57:13.000 are in a great deal of danger when it comes 0:57:13.040 --> 0:57:16.120 to rising sea levels. The Marshall Islands don't have much 0:57:16.200 --> 0:57:18.680 land to begin with, and through no fault of their own, 0:57:18.960 --> 0:57:22.160 their island paradise is being gradually lost to the ocean 0:57:22.920 --> 0:57:25.840 start with. I want to let Kathy Gentle Kitchener, the 0:57:25.920 --> 0:57:28.920 poet who he heard from yesterday, outline the scale of 0:57:28.920 --> 0:57:29.400 the threat. 0:57:30.080 --> 0:57:32.640 Climate change is a challenge that few want to take on, 0:57:33.280 --> 0:57:36.920 but the price of inaction is so high. Those of 0:57:37.000 --> 0:57:41.800 us from Oceania are already experiencing it firsthand. We've seen 0:57:41.880 --> 0:57:44.760 waves crashing into our homes and our bread fruit trees 0:57:44.800 --> 0:57:47.720 wither from the salt and drought. We look at our 0:57:47.800 --> 0:57:50.720 children and wonder how they will know themselves or their 0:57:50.760 --> 0:57:55.760 culture should we lose our islands. Climate change affects not 0:57:55.800 --> 0:58:00.920 only US islanders, it threatens the entire world. To tackle it, 0:58:00.920 --> 0:58:02.120 we need a radical change. 0:58:02.120 --> 0:58:04.400 Of course, this isn't easy. 0:58:04.560 --> 0:58:04.880 I know. 0:58:05.840 --> 0:58:09.919 It means ending carbon pollution within my lifetime. It means 0:58:09.920 --> 0:58:13.600 supporting those of us most affected to prepare for unavoidable 0:58:13.600 --> 0:58:18.760 climate impacts, and it means taking responsibility for irreversible loss 0:58:18.760 --> 0:58:23.000 and damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The people who 0:58:23.000 --> 0:58:27.840 support this movement are indigenous mothers like me, families like mine, 0:58:27.920 --> 0:58:32.000 and millions more, standing up for the changes needed and 0:58:32.120 --> 0:58:35.920 working to make them happen. I ask world leaders to 0:58:35.960 --> 0:58:37.320 take us all along. 0:58:37.080 --> 0:58:38.600 On your ride. 0:58:38.680 --> 0:58:40.120 We won't slow you down. 0:58:40.880 --> 0:58:43.600 Will help you win the most important race of all, 0:58:44.440 --> 0:58:46.840 the race to save humanity. 0:58:47.320 --> 0:58:50.800 Currently, Pacific island nations are responsible for less than zero 0:58:50.920 --> 0:58:54.360 points zero three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but 0:58:54.440 --> 0:58:57.880 the United Elations estimates that more than fifty thousand people 0:58:58.000 --> 0:59:00.640 in the Pacific displaced every year, many of them by 0:59:00.640 --> 0:59:05.120 climate change. Of course, people leave for other reasons. Perhaps 0:59:05.160 --> 0:59:06.919 they're looking for work, which can be hard to find 0:59:06.960 --> 0:59:09.560 on a small Island, or perhaps they want the opportunities 0:59:09.560 --> 0:59:12.920 at the United States life offers. Thanks to their compact 0:59:12.920 --> 0:59:15.720 of free association, Marshalise people can live and work in 0:59:15.760 --> 0:59:19.240 the USA without a visa. Most marshal These people who 0:59:19.280 --> 0:59:22.720 do leave the islands move to Springdale, Arkansas. It's where 0:59:22.720 --> 0:59:26.200 the largest off island Marshallyse community is gathered, and they 0:59:26.240 --> 0:59:28.400 tend to cluster around the reliable jobs offered by the 0:59:28.440 --> 0:59:32.440 Tyson Chicken Factory. In twenty twenty, the Tyson Chicken Factory 0:59:32.440 --> 0:59:35.080 remained open during lockdowns, and people who had left the 0:59:35.120 --> 0:59:37.360 islands for a more steady income and a better chance 0:59:37.400 --> 0:59:40.840 for a stable future suddenly face more great risks at work. 0:59:41.760 --> 0:59:44.240 Life is by no means easy for marshal Ease people, 0:59:44.400 --> 0:59:46.840 both in the US and at home, and the choices 0:59:46.880 --> 0:59:50.600 they face because of climate change constricting global economy and 0:59:50.640 --> 0:59:52.800 the United States refusing to pay its fair share of 0:59:52.800 --> 0:59:56.720 compensation don't make that any easier. On my last night 0:59:56.800 --> 0:59:58.720 in the Marshall Islands, I was having a beer in 0:59:58.760 --> 1:00:02.240 a bar and chatting with a local journalists. I asked 1:00:02.320 --> 1:00:04.479 him what I should write. He said that I needed 1:00:04.480 --> 1:00:06.920 to tell you that people in the rami aren't moving 1:00:06.960 --> 1:00:10.400 because they're afraid of waves. We're not afraid of the ocean, 1:00:10.560 --> 1:00:13.240 he said. We're ocean people. We go in the ocean 1:00:13.240 --> 1:00:16.360 every day. He was right, of course. The drivers of 1:00:16.400 --> 1:00:19.680 migration are complicated, and they always have been. I always 1:00:19.720 --> 1:00:22.000 tell people who ask me what I cover that they 1:00:22.040 --> 1:00:25.640 cover climate and conflict and migration, because in fact they're 1:00:25.680 --> 1:00:29.720 largely the same things. There are many reasons for migrating 1:00:29.760 --> 1:00:32.120 from the Marshall Islands if there are people who have left, 1:00:32.400 --> 1:00:35.520 and all of them are valid. But everyone I spoke to, 1:00:35.840 --> 1:00:37.800 whether they'd left or come back or stayed there their 1:00:37.840 --> 1:00:41.440 whole lives, were pretty clear that nobody wants the community 1:00:41.480 --> 1:00:44.240 to leave. The people of the Marshall Islands love their 1:00:44.280 --> 1:00:46.880 islands and they want to raise their children and grandchildren 1:00:46.880 --> 1:00:50.280 on their ancestral land. But the people making the choices 1:00:50.280 --> 1:00:52.400 that impact their ability to do that are a long 1:00:52.520 --> 1:00:55.160 way from the lagoon that's creeping closer and closer to 1:00:55.200 --> 1:00:59.200 the houses around magro at All. Climate change making the 1:00:59.240 --> 1:01:02.800 islands unhabit doesn't necessarily mean they'll be swallowed entirely by 1:01:02.880 --> 1:01:06.760 the ocean. Long before the last scrap of land disappears. 1:01:07.040 --> 1:01:10.320 The rising saltwater will kill bread fruit trees, and flooding 1:01:10.360 --> 1:01:13.680 will destroy homes. To get a scent of that threat, 1:01:14.120 --> 1:01:15.480 we spoke to a meteorologist. 1:01:16.040 --> 1:01:21.880 I'm regally white, regional white, and I'm the meteorologist in charge. 1:01:21.640 --> 1:01:25.040 Here ready explained what climate change might do to make 1:01:25.040 --> 1:01:27.920 the islands less easy to live on and eventually perhaps 1:01:27.960 --> 1:01:31.320 impossible to live on. If something doesn't change. It's hard 1:01:31.360 --> 1:01:34.200 for people to see these kind of creeping changes. When 1:01:34.200 --> 1:01:37.360 we think about climate change rendering an island uninhabitable, we 1:01:37.400 --> 1:01:39.960 think about the island ceasing to exist, or the house 1:01:40.040 --> 1:01:42.560 is being swept away by a storm surge or a 1:01:42.560 --> 1:01:45.920 massive king tide. Perhaps, but in fact the changes are 1:01:45.960 --> 1:01:48.120 more gradual, but no less destructive. 1:01:48.920 --> 1:01:52.000 We have to go back to the emasion scenarios that 1:01:52.120 --> 1:01:57.400 IP is produced, and based on them worst case scenario, 1:01:57.600 --> 1:01:59.240 if we look at it, I have to open up 1:01:59.280 --> 1:02:02.560 the computer at the table. But in one hundred years 1:02:03.920 --> 1:02:06.400 we may be not completely stening, and that's not what's 1:02:06.480 --> 1:02:09.800 important here. What is important is the islands. 1:02:09.320 --> 1:02:13.680 Will be uninevitable way before they sink, because we will 1:02:13.720 --> 1:02:16.000 not be able to drive on the road, we will 1:02:16.040 --> 1:02:18.600 not be able to rely on our water lenses, because 1:02:18.640 --> 1:02:21.080 they'll all have salt water into them. 1:02:21.120 --> 1:02:25.320 As more and more frequent salt water intros and get 1:02:25.400 --> 1:02:28.240 on top and down into the water lens, they will 1:02:28.280 --> 1:02:35.760 be undrinkable. So at what stage can we put that target. 1:02:36.440 --> 1:02:38.800 I'm not comfortable at this moment to point that out, 1:02:38.840 --> 1:02:40.840 but I think anyone of us can look at the 1:02:40.960 --> 1:02:45.120 numbers and decide, based on this emission scenario, this is 1:02:45.160 --> 1:02:48.120 the day. Based on that the mission scenario, that is 1:02:48.160 --> 1:02:52.720 the day. So there's not a set day or a 1:02:53.440 --> 1:02:55.080 what do you call it? The hair that broke the 1:02:55.160 --> 1:03:00.240 camel's back? What was it? What was the American saying? 1:03:01.440 --> 1:03:04.520 As Reggie explained, the impact of rising sea levels is 1:03:04.560 --> 1:03:07.400 already being seen, particularly in the case of flooding. 1:03:07.960 --> 1:03:11.400 Oh, there are many but in a low lying at 1:03:11.440 --> 1:03:16.800 all you're most concerned is flooding, coastal flooding. So we've 1:03:16.840 --> 1:03:22.360 seen more frequent flooding during Landinia. Landinea is the face 1:03:22.400 --> 1:03:26.440 where in the Marshall Islands, specifically, you get elevated sea 1:03:26.520 --> 1:03:30.960 levels about ten centimeters or so eight to twelve inches 1:03:32.200 --> 1:03:35.120 on top of the normal sea level at any given time. 1:03:35.320 --> 1:03:40.440 So when there is a storm, search king tide, those 1:03:40.440 --> 1:03:44.560 things compound on one another to give us more frequent 1:03:44.920 --> 1:03:47.800 coastal floodings in the low lying areas. If you go 1:03:47.880 --> 1:03:51.160 in the bag of Measuro, you will see people building 1:03:51.240 --> 1:03:55.439 up sea walls to protect their properties. With those sea walls, 1:03:55.520 --> 1:03:59.560 the impact there's been lessened a bit, but without those 1:03:59.720 --> 1:04:04.880 walls now sence flooding has been almost a monthly occurrence 1:04:05.000 --> 1:04:06.640 during allninial phases. 1:04:07.960 --> 1:04:11.280 In twenty twenty one, the World Bank and the Marshalleasee 1:04:11.320 --> 1:04:15.080 government produced a report which allowed visualization of the impact 1:04:15.080 --> 1:04:19.400 of climate change on each building in Marjuro in broad strokes. 1:04:19.600 --> 1:04:23.000 The report stated that quote rising sea levels and the 1:04:23.040 --> 1:04:25.960 atoll nation of the Marshall Islands are projected to endanger 1:04:26.080 --> 1:04:29.920 forty percent of existing buildings in the capitol Marjoro, with 1:04:30.120 --> 1:04:32.760 ninety six percent of the city at risk for frequent 1:04:32.840 --> 1:04:36.240 flooding introduced by climate change. According to a World Bank study, 1:04:37.400 --> 1:04:39.880 change seems to be very hard for the corporations and 1:04:39.920 --> 1:04:44.000 governments most responsible for it. Indeed, one could argue that 1:04:44.080 --> 1:04:47.600 seeing that change is hard because of those corporations and governments. 1:04:48.200 --> 1:04:52.760 Namia Rescuers, a Harvard historian of science, studies the propaganda 1:04:52.880 --> 1:04:55.760 that has allowed major corporations to deny the damage they 1:04:55.760 --> 1:04:58.800 do to the planet and generate massive profits by not 1:04:58.840 --> 1:05:03.440 paying for the negative xconalities of their actions. Negative excenalities, 1:05:03.440 --> 1:05:06.160 if you're not familiar, are the costs that their business 1:05:06.200 --> 1:05:10.000 imposes on other people but they don't pay. In her 1:05:10.040 --> 1:05:14.320 book Merchants of Doubt, Arescus traces how nuclear testing did 1:05:14.440 --> 1:05:17.360 huge damage to the ozone layer. Indeed, much of the 1:05:17.400 --> 1:05:20.480 technology we used today to track global climate change was 1:05:20.520 --> 1:05:23.920 developed using government money. Part of the reason why was 1:05:23.920 --> 1:05:26.400 to assess with the Soviet Union was doing nuclear testing 1:05:26.440 --> 1:05:30.320 by tracking the environmental damage that was done. Using some 1:05:30.440 --> 1:05:34.360 of the data these instruments created, scientists, among them Carl Sagan, 1:05:34.760 --> 1:05:37.480 began to discuss the possibility of a nuclear winter and 1:05:37.520 --> 1:05:40.320 the fact that any use of nuclear weapons or even 1:05:40.320 --> 1:05:43.480 a nuclear accident could put the future of all humanity 1:05:43.480 --> 1:05:47.360 at risk. Unsurprisingly, as huge public relations ever spun up 1:05:47.600 --> 1:05:49.840 to dismiss the idea of nuclear winter and attack the 1:05:49.840 --> 1:05:53.640 concept of nuclear war being an unwinnable proposition. There was, 1:05:53.760 --> 1:05:56.480 after all, a huge amount of money at stick. In 1:05:56.520 --> 1:05:59.280 an excellent New York caressing on the subject, Jill Lapour, 1:05:59.520 --> 1:06:03.840 another Harvard historian, outlines a campaign to discredit those scientists 1:06:03.880 --> 1:06:07.000 and their claims. In nineteen eighty four, in an effort 1:06:07.000 --> 1:06:09.160 to count to Carl Sagan and to defend what was 1:06:09.200 --> 1:06:13.520 called the Strategic Defense Initiative, the George C. Marshall Institute 1:06:13.600 --> 1:06:17.840 was founded by Robert Jastro, a NASA physicist, Frederick Seitz, 1:06:18.000 --> 1:06:21.040 a former president of the National Academy of Sciences, and 1:06:21.080 --> 1:06:25.120 William Nihrenberg, a past director at the Script's Institute of Oceanography. 1:06:25.200 --> 1:06:28.640 Right here where I live in San Diego. The Marshall 1:06:28.680 --> 1:06:32.760 Institute began trying to get PBS to not air documentaries 1:06:32.760 --> 1:06:37.120 opposing the Strategic Defense initiative. The so called star Wars 1:06:37.120 --> 1:06:39.800 program wouldn't be of any use of a single nuclear 1:06:39.840 --> 1:06:43.840 incident could trigger devastating change in the global climate. Another 1:06:43.840 --> 1:06:47.520 Master Institute scientist, Seltz's cousin Russell, who was a physicist 1:06:47.560 --> 1:06:50.160 at Harvard Center for International Affairs, published an essay in 1:06:50.200 --> 1:06:52.720 the National Interest in the fall of nineteen eighty six 1:06:53.240 --> 1:06:56.120 dismissing the idea of nuclear winter and saying it was 1:06:56.160 --> 1:07:00.320 nothing but a series of long conjectures. He described vibes 1:07:00.320 --> 1:07:04.400 the nuclear winter theory as dead course of death, notorious 1:07:04.480 --> 1:07:08.560 lack of scientific integrity. By nineteen eighty eight, the Institute 1:07:08.560 --> 1:07:11.640 have pivoted and it began publishing the first of many 1:07:11.680 --> 1:07:16.600 papers on climate change. Other scientists there, including Fred Singer, 1:07:16.720 --> 1:07:19.880 challenged the model that predicted a nuclear winter. They've gone 1:07:19.920 --> 1:07:21.960 on to do the same with climate change, claiming that 1:07:22.000 --> 1:07:24.800 in both cases it was far from certain that catastrophic 1:07:24.840 --> 1:07:31.080 consequences would occur. Singer incidentally was a consultant for Arco, Exxon, 1:07:31.360 --> 1:07:35.560 Shell Oil, and sol Oil. He died in twenty twenty 1:07:35.960 --> 1:07:38.640 after serving for years as a director of Science and 1:07:38.720 --> 1:07:42.160 environment policy at the Heartland Institute, which was founded in 1:07:42.280 --> 1:07:45.440 nineteen eighty four. Its position on global warming at the 1:07:45.480 --> 1:07:50.040 time was quote most scientists do not believe human greenhouse 1:07:50.080 --> 1:07:53.040 gas emissions are a proven threat to the environment or 1:07:53.120 --> 1:07:57.720 human well being, despite a barrage of propaganda insisting otherwise 1:07:57.800 --> 1:08:00.640 coming from the environmental movement and eco by its sick 1:08:00.680 --> 1:08:04.240 ephants in the mainstream media. In the Marshall Islands, this 1:08:04.400 --> 1:08:07.880 kind of de nihilism, no matter how well funded and qualified, 1:08:08.000 --> 1:08:11.760 really isn't going to stick. Everyone here is personally seen 1:08:11.800 --> 1:08:14.120 the impacts of rising sea levels eroding away on their 1:08:14.160 --> 1:08:17.240 precious land, but it's the actions of people everywhere that 1:08:17.400 --> 1:08:20.719 impact people here, so they have to persuade the rest 1:08:20.760 --> 1:08:22.200 of the world to care about them. 1:08:22.920 --> 1:08:29.759 I will bet that every Marshal Marshalise understand impacts because 1:08:29.760 --> 1:08:34.480 every Marshalise has been a victim of some coastal inovision, 1:08:34.520 --> 1:08:37.320 has been you know, has been impacted by those, so 1:08:37.400 --> 1:08:38.120 they understand. 1:08:38.760 --> 1:08:38.880 Uh. 1:08:39.040 --> 1:08:41.960 The youngest ones maybe they experienced there first, but the 1:08:42.040 --> 1:08:44.920 older ones, they've been around during those days when there, 1:08:45.320 --> 1:08:50.600 you know, coastal flooding wasn't an issue. 1:08:51.600 --> 1:08:52.880 One of the things I like to do in my 1:08:52.920 --> 1:08:56.320 free time is to freedom. Sometimes I can collect sea 1:08:56.400 --> 1:08:58.840 urchins or cool shells, but lots of the time I 1:08:58.920 --> 1:09:01.800 just like to be underwater. I've never done scuba diving. 1:09:02.240 --> 1:09:04.800 All the gear and equipment kind of scares me, but 1:09:05.240 --> 1:09:07.479 holding my breath and swimming around the reef is probably 1:09:07.479 --> 1:09:10.240 the closest thing I'll ever feel to flying. To be 1:09:10.280 --> 1:09:12.639 able to hold your breath for a minute or two underwater, 1:09:13.000 --> 1:09:15.479 you need to get your heart rate very low, and 1:09:15.560 --> 1:09:19.120 this means being very calm, letting tension and stress float away. 1:09:19.840 --> 1:09:22.120 It's a magical feeling and one that I've tapped into 1:09:22.160 --> 1:09:26.360 even outside the water. In stressful situations. Sometimes that ability 1:09:26.400 --> 1:09:29.000 to calm yourself could be a bit too effective. I 1:09:29.040 --> 1:09:31.720 remember once starting to walk off a broken pelvis and 1:09:31.760 --> 1:09:36.160 passing out from blood loss later. Sometimes that calm focus, though, 1:09:36.240 --> 1:09:39.080 can be exactly what you need, Like when you're holding 1:09:39.080 --> 1:09:40.519 your breath on the bottom of the ocean and you 1:09:40.560 --> 1:09:42.880 realize that you got your fins tangled and abandoned fishing 1:09:42.920 --> 1:09:44.240 line and you need to cut it so you can 1:09:44.280 --> 1:09:46.800 get back to the surface and breathe. I saw that 1:09:46.840 --> 1:09:50.200 same ability to remain calm and even happy despite what 1:09:50.240 --> 1:09:52.960 seems like another impending crisis every time I spoke to 1:09:52.960 --> 1:09:57.080 marshal Lease people about climate change. Between their nuclear past 1:09:57.240 --> 1:10:00.360 and their perilous future, the Marshalise people have every right 1:10:00.400 --> 1:10:02.720 to be angry, and maybe they are angry when they're 1:10:02.760 --> 1:10:06.400 not told them to British journalists. But whenever I ask people, 1:10:06.479 --> 1:10:09.639 they still seem hopeful, upbeat and excited about the future 1:10:09.680 --> 1:10:13.519 of their country. As we're going to see tomorrow, marshal 1:10:13.600 --> 1:10:16.920 Le's people are still very much investing in their shared future. 1:10:17.840 --> 1:10:19.920 I think that's something we can all learn from. Resilience 1:10:19.960 --> 1:10:22.720 to the Marshallei's community, even in the face of what 1:10:22.800 --> 1:10:26.519 seems like a second apocalyptic threat. He's Reggie discussing how 1:10:26.520 --> 1:10:28.479 climate change makes him feel well. 1:10:28.520 --> 1:10:31.120 I try not to dwell on what could happen. I 1:10:31.200 --> 1:10:33.960 could try to think of what we could do now 1:10:34.160 --> 1:10:37.360 to change people's heart, to change how we behave while 1:10:37.400 --> 1:10:41.479 we treat the world. I mean, it's our only home. 1:10:42.320 --> 1:10:45.280 You go out in space and look back. It's one 1:10:45.400 --> 1:10:49.639 lonely place in an entire galaxy of stars and whatever. 1:10:49.680 --> 1:10:52.320 You But when you look at it that way, you 1:10:52.640 --> 1:10:55.800 begin to realize I must respect my police. Who else 1:10:55.840 --> 1:10:57.280 will respect? The divide? 1:10:58.040 --> 1:11:00.400 It's worth noting that some people we talk to concerned 1:11:00.400 --> 1:11:01.479 about climate change. 1:11:02.080 --> 1:11:06.400 My name is Juliet Miranda from Mussel Island. I live 1:11:06.479 --> 1:11:07.040 on Takhan. 1:11:07.920 --> 1:11:10.479 Juliet's an older resident of wrong Rum, one of the 1:11:10.520 --> 1:11:13.439 outer islands on madro At. All her life there is 1:11:13.520 --> 1:11:16.960 in many senses adyllic. Her cook house is built around 1:11:17.000 --> 1:11:20.080 a large breadfruit tree. The tree also serves as a 1:11:20.120 --> 1:11:23.400 work service. It's like a solar punk vision of the 1:11:23.439 --> 1:11:26.040 future where we live in harmony with nature. But for 1:11:26.120 --> 1:11:28.439 her it's just a place she makes lunch along with 1:11:28.479 --> 1:11:31.639 the other wrong Wung islanders. She served a visiting group 1:11:31.760 --> 1:11:35.880 that I was part of a delicious lunch of coconut breadfruit, pandanas, 1:11:36.040 --> 1:11:39.080 crabs and rice. Well, we talked about what brought her 1:11:39.120 --> 1:11:41.880 back to the Marshall Islands after thirty years living in 1:11:41.880 --> 1:11:43.080 the United States. 1:11:43.479 --> 1:11:47.880 Well, so, though you always are own sick when I'm 1:11:47.960 --> 1:11:56.280 in USA, I miss my you know, around freedom, like USA, 1:11:56.560 --> 1:12:01.479 you cannot go the next door. It goes trust passing. 1:12:02.000 --> 1:12:04.480 But around here you do everything. 1:12:05.520 --> 1:12:08.360 Yes, it's it's different, lots different. 1:12:08.680 --> 1:12:13.439 So I love the USA. Tell lives could and a 1:12:13.520 --> 1:12:19.559 lot of different things youis do then modules so I 1:12:19.640 --> 1:12:23.360 love it here. I do all my old thing I 1:12:23.439 --> 1:12:28.639 usually do, breaking and make my home chicken and join 1:12:28.760 --> 1:12:32.439 me and on pigeon. Santa Barbara, you have to get 1:12:32.479 --> 1:12:33.960 a guy good. 1:12:34.000 --> 1:12:36.479 Go to the peach over year reporting beach. 1:12:40.439 --> 1:12:42.599 She clearly loves her little piece of paradise, and it's 1:12:42.640 --> 1:12:45.439 easy to see why she was happy to share it 1:12:45.479 --> 1:12:47.840 with us, as were all the islands. On Wrong Wrong 1:12:48.439 --> 1:12:50.759 a short walk away from her house, Her neighbor's children 1:12:50.800 --> 1:12:53.280 played in the sand with their pigs, chickens and dogs, 1:12:53.680 --> 1:12:55.759 and it's certainly a very different place from Santa Barbara. 1:12:55.800 --> 1:12:55.960 Well. 1:12:55.960 --> 1:12:58.000 She spent much of her time in the United States, 1:12:58.600 --> 1:13:01.880 but it's no less special. Like many Marshal LEAs. She 1:13:01.960 --> 1:13:04.920 has a very strong faith and that faith is helping 1:13:04.960 --> 1:13:07.040 her explain why climate change is happening. 1:13:07.720 --> 1:13:12.160 Do you think it's because their sea levels rising? 1:13:12.360 --> 1:13:14.280 You can get gotta make it harder for people. 1:13:14.080 --> 1:13:16.880 To live in Some people do that, but I don't 1:13:16.920 --> 1:13:19.719 believe in Only God will do it. 1:13:22.200 --> 1:13:23.280 I believe in God. 1:13:23.560 --> 1:13:25.960 When they do the weather and said it's going to 1:13:26.160 --> 1:13:28.960 rain tomorrow and tomorrow is not going to be raining. 1:13:30.080 --> 1:13:37.240 God's going to make it rain, the nost No, you 1:13:37.439 --> 1:13:39.200 know it, you're mister. 1:13:40.760 --> 1:13:44.639 For others, the threat is already here. Here's one conversation 1:13:44.680 --> 1:13:47.639 with Monique and Francine from Core and Akram, a local 1:13:47.840 --> 1:13:50.960 NGO who you'll hear a lot about tomorrow. They're doing 1:13:51.040 --> 1:13:53.719 incredible work investing in the future of the Marshall Islands 1:13:53.720 --> 1:13:56.759 by installing water filters and smokeless stoves and homes across 1:13:56.800 --> 1:13:59.080 the nation. You might never have had to worry about 1:13:59.120 --> 1:14:01.880 clean water or never been concerned, but cooking your food 1:14:02.040 --> 1:14:04.680 might hurt your lungs. But both of those things are 1:14:04.680 --> 1:14:07.720 massive public health issues. We don't have access to electricity, 1:14:08.040 --> 1:14:10.200 gas and clean water from a pipe that comes into 1:14:10.240 --> 1:14:13.599 your home. One night before dinner, we talked to them 1:14:13.600 --> 1:14:14.559 about climate change. 1:14:15.200 --> 1:14:20.080 The scientists are saying that you've got so many years 1:14:20.160 --> 1:14:28.200 until all eyes melts and affects us. We don't have 1:14:28.320 --> 1:14:32.240 mountains to run to. In some places they can just 1:14:32.320 --> 1:14:33.280 front of the mountains. 1:14:33.320 --> 1:14:33.919 We don't. 1:14:34.720 --> 1:14:44.160 Yeah, so it's Marshall Islands. 1:14:44.400 --> 1:14:45.679 We're at the front. 1:14:45.680 --> 1:14:50.720 Clients, so you're also blessed that you get to see 1:14:50.720 --> 1:14:52.920 the Marshall Islands. 1:14:53.360 --> 1:15:00.160 Yeah, I really will really see firsthand what the pass the. 1:15:01.920 --> 1:15:04.720 Impact goes beyond the individual though. When we heard from 1:15:04.760 --> 1:15:06.639 the Ministry of Health and the impact the climate change 1:15:06.680 --> 1:15:08.800 is already having on the well being of marshal Ly's people, 1:15:09.200 --> 1:15:11.799 they reminded us of both the physical and mental health 1:15:11.800 --> 1:15:13.479 of residents has been affected. 1:15:14.640 --> 1:15:20.880 So well, yeah, well, as active secretary is my name 1:15:20.920 --> 1:15:24.960 is Nathan Carbon and Climate Change and Admin. 1:15:27.200 --> 1:15:27.320 Uh. 1:15:28.479 --> 1:15:29.839 Well, first of all. 1:15:29.680 --> 1:15:33.480 We'll come to to visit us. 1:15:34.439 --> 1:15:36.920 I think Michael Jackson has said in best do you 1:15:36.920 --> 1:15:39.080 want to see change in the world, you have to 1:15:39.120 --> 1:15:39.760 look in the mirror. 1:15:42.120 --> 1:15:45.200 So this is our Climate Change in Health department. 1:15:45.600 --> 1:15:50.160 Uh uh, climate impacts on health and well being. 1:15:50.680 --> 1:15:53.800 Nathan went on to explain what that means both in 1:15:53.880 --> 1:15:57.000 terms of mental health and in physical health, as mosquitoes 1:15:57.040 --> 1:15:59.559 and other disease vectors adapted to change in climate and 1:15:59.640 --> 1:16:00.360 rising sea. 1:16:00.280 --> 1:16:09.479 Levels, I communicable diseases and xdise reducing vulnerabilities with the 1:16:09.560 --> 1:16:16.800 vector borne diseases and then improving mental health resilience. So 1:16:17.000 --> 1:16:20.000 the mental health resilience is a really key them. We 1:16:20.080 --> 1:16:25.600 have our seminar that's ongoing right now partnership with Jojugu, 1:16:26.320 --> 1:16:30.479 which lets the youth express how climate change makes their 1:16:30.600 --> 1:16:34.080 feel and also. 1:16:35.280 --> 1:16:44.880 Involving the community and getting their feedback. You know, the 1:16:44.960 --> 1:16:48.920 climate issue is not just at a national level, it's 1:16:48.920 --> 1:16:50.439 mostly at the community level. 1:16:52.800 --> 1:16:55.320 All of these changes are hard to predict, but it's 1:16:55.360 --> 1:16:57.880 easy to see the impact climate change has already had. 1:16:58.439 --> 1:17:01.240 We spoke to the island's Environmental Rotection Agency to get 1:17:01.240 --> 1:17:02.320 a sense of what that meant. 1:17:02.760 --> 1:17:06.120 My name is Marianna Phillip and I'm the general manager here. 1:17:07.000 --> 1:17:08.519 As you can see, we're a very. 1:17:08.360 --> 1:17:17.000 Small organization with a very broad mandate anything environmental related. 1:17:17.520 --> 1:17:24.560 We are accountable too, and we're supposed to provide advice 1:17:25.040 --> 1:17:28.719 to the government and the Marshal Lease. 1:17:28.560 --> 1:17:31.439 People about new issues that are coming up. 1:17:32.080 --> 1:17:32.439 And so. 1:17:35.040 --> 1:17:40.880 You know, we're easily overwhelmed and outmatched, and then, you know, 1:17:40.960 --> 1:17:48.320 you throw in climate change into the mix, and suddenly. 1:17:50.040 --> 1:17:53.960 I can't even imagine what the change is going to 1:17:53.960 --> 1:17:58.480 be like in the next five years or ten years. 1:17:58.280 --> 1:18:00.920 It's hard for me to imagine. When I was a child, 1:18:01.080 --> 1:18:01.800 I used to. 1:18:01.760 --> 1:18:05.879 Go to the school across the street is a DS 1:18:06.000 --> 1:18:10.080 is a public school, and we would cross the road 1:18:10.800 --> 1:18:14.599 and swim from here all the way to develop and 1:18:14.640 --> 1:18:17.559 then cross the road and go home. This was all 1:18:17.760 --> 1:18:24.920 white Sandy Beach. You know, obviously that's not the case anymore. 1:18:25.760 --> 1:18:27.960 One way that the marshal Least community has responded to 1:18:27.960 --> 1:18:30.600 climate change is to take a position of leadership on 1:18:30.760 --> 1:18:34.799 mitigating carbon emissions. We heard about this all over the island, 1:18:35.000 --> 1:18:38.640 with solutions ranging from electric canoes to sailboats to a 1:18:38.680 --> 1:18:42.320 grid that runs on renewable energy. They've also taken leadership 1:18:42.479 --> 1:18:45.599 and how aid money is spent. Rather than just accepting 1:18:45.600 --> 1:18:48.360 the projects as founders suggest them, the RMI has been 1:18:48.439 --> 1:18:50.720 vocal in making sure that the unique challenges that they 1:18:50.800 --> 1:18:55.240 face are reflected with unique solutions that they propose. For example, 1:18:55.600 --> 1:18:58.080 they simply don't have the space for larger solar farms 1:18:58.160 --> 1:18:59.439 even though they do have the funding. 1:19:00.400 --> 1:19:02.599 My name is Angeline Heini Rimmers. 1:19:03.400 --> 1:19:06.639 Other than being part of GEO, I'm also the director 1:19:06.680 --> 1:19:11.599 for the National Energy Office, and then I'd like to 1:19:11.600 --> 1:19:17.240 introduce you to Ben. He's the deputy director. So we're 1:19:17.280 --> 1:19:23.560 a very small office. It's newly created. It was developed 1:19:23.600 --> 1:19:27.160 in twenty eighteen, so we're trying to be creative and 1:19:27.760 --> 1:19:32.800 we partnered with our local government in exchange building them 1:19:34.000 --> 1:19:37.599 basketball courts. The reason why there's so many basketball courts 1:19:37.960 --> 1:19:41.759 is that we'll be installing rooftop and on the rooftop 1:19:41.800 --> 1:19:45.200 that's we're going to be housing the solar, connecting it 1:19:45.240 --> 1:19:49.160 to the grid. And it's with this project we had. 1:19:49.400 --> 1:19:51.519 It took us I think more than a year. Ben 1:19:51.640 --> 1:19:55.920 right so went back and forth with our partner because 1:19:55.960 --> 1:19:58.400 they just wanted to go ahead and put on solar. 1:19:58.840 --> 1:20:02.639 Sometimes the scale live the programs larger countries use simply 1:20:02.680 --> 1:20:04.440 isn't a good fit for the marshals. 1:20:04.880 --> 1:20:09.120 We get funding to go on trips to places like Korea, Japan, 1:20:09.800 --> 1:20:14.839 Okinawa to see all these systems that in the eyes 1:20:14.880 --> 1:20:17.759 of big countries that you see as islands like Jju 1:20:17.800 --> 1:20:22.280 Island and Korea, but they're like so advanced compared to here. 1:20:22.439 --> 1:20:24.479 You go there and. 1:20:23.800 --> 1:20:29.799 They have ocean thermal and to us where like, okay, 1:20:29.840 --> 1:20:32.840 what about our corals that's where our reefish lives in. 1:20:33.360 --> 1:20:34.960 Do we have to get rid of our corals? 1:20:36.400 --> 1:20:38.040 Maybe we should rethink of that. 1:20:38.320 --> 1:20:42.559 Or they also make sure to incorporate traditional methods and 1:20:42.640 --> 1:20:45.400 their culture along with m modern solutions. 1:20:45.960 --> 1:20:49.040 I want to love more about the electric canoes that 1:20:49.320 --> 1:20:51.200 they are very pretty. 1:20:50.920 --> 1:20:51.559 Cool and. 1:20:53.040 --> 1:20:57.479 I'm interested to know, like a well, Jeremy area, like 1:20:57.600 --> 1:21:03.759 that you were incorporating in the traditional ways white ignoring, 1:21:05.520 --> 1:21:08.400 because that's something that the entry community. That's something that 1:21:08.520 --> 1:21:13.960 was framed up here at the wham. And can you 1:21:14.040 --> 1:21:16.479 talk about how surfused completion and how much fun it 1:21:16.560 --> 1:21:17.000 might save. 1:21:17.320 --> 1:21:19.800 Then do you want to start without who came up 1:21:19.840 --> 1:21:23.600 with the idea for the and and then where we 1:21:23.720 --> 1:21:24.000 are at? 1:21:26.360 --> 1:21:34.479 Yeah, So WALM started the initiative of the boat building 1:21:35.320 --> 1:21:39.200 and they wanted to it strictly started with womb. We 1:21:39.360 --> 1:21:42.599 we had no idea about that project. But initially they 1:21:42.640 --> 1:21:45.320 got a project from a donor for boat building where 1:21:45.400 --> 1:21:52.120 they would modernize these traditional canoes just to make modifications 1:21:52.160 --> 1:21:54.560 to like make the hull bigger for catching fish or 1:21:54.760 --> 1:21:58.280 just whatnot. And then out of the blue, the director 1:21:58.360 --> 1:22:01.600 for WAM said, hey, what if we put solar on 1:22:01.720 --> 1:22:04.600 this boat. I think there's something in the market. So 1:22:05.360 --> 1:22:10.480 we just out of the blow just wanted to test it. Unfortunately, 1:22:10.600 --> 1:22:13.559 when we purchased the motor and they're going to start 1:22:13.680 --> 1:22:18.240 the testing, WAM burned down and the motor burned down 1:22:18.280 --> 1:22:22.320 with it. But they did a few runs in the lagoon. 1:22:22.040 --> 1:22:24.880 With it and it was really awesome. I wrote on it. 1:22:25.640 --> 1:22:27.639 At one point they started using wind and the wind 1:22:28.320 --> 1:22:31.120 died down, turned on the motor, and they started using 1:22:31.160 --> 1:22:33.320 the motor, and then one pick up they turned off 1:22:33.360 --> 1:22:37.680 the motor. It was really awesome. But we Anio, the 1:22:37.800 --> 1:22:40.720 director wanted to procure another one, so we procured another 1:22:40.760 --> 1:22:43.880 one with our own funds. So it's on its way 1:22:44.360 --> 1:22:46.760 and it should be here very shortly to do some 1:22:46.920 --> 1:22:50.760 real testing. Nice, but we wanted we also partnered with 1:22:50.880 --> 1:22:56.479 WAM because of that just pilot project. We saw the 1:22:56.680 --> 1:22:59.080 need to build more of the similar kind canoe, so 1:22:59.200 --> 1:23:02.240 we we ask another donor if we can use their 1:23:02.280 --> 1:23:06.040 funding to fund the second phase of that project. So 1:23:06.560 --> 1:23:10.000 right now they've been approved and they're building an additional 1:23:10.080 --> 1:23:15.040 eighteen more canoes for each each island. And so the 1:23:15.160 --> 1:23:17.320 process is they bring in these boat builders from the 1:23:17.360 --> 1:23:20.280 outer islands, they train them how they build these new 1:23:20.320 --> 1:23:24.600 style canoes with modern technology, and then they ship it 1:23:24.720 --> 1:23:30.320 back out. One success story without the motor is in 1:23:30.439 --> 1:23:38.000 the atoll of Linkyap. They completely stop using their motorized 1:23:38.120 --> 1:23:42.120 boat because they're one hundred percent using the canoe, and 1:23:42.280 --> 1:23:45.160 the canoe can carry up to a ton. So they've 1:23:45.160 --> 1:23:48.880 been carrying copra from one island to another, back and 1:23:49.000 --> 1:23:51.040 forth with the canoe, and they said they'd save so 1:23:51.200 --> 1:23:54.639 much money that they decided to do a fishing tournament 1:23:54.760 --> 1:23:56.719 at their outer island from. 1:23:56.640 --> 1:23:57.439 The money they save. 1:23:57.640 --> 1:24:01.960 You he's right talking about how he sees his role 1:24:02.080 --> 1:24:03.439 in combating climate change. 1:24:04.520 --> 1:24:04.720 Oh. 1:24:06.880 --> 1:24:11.840 I don't enjoy being helpless. I don't believe that the 1:24:11.960 --> 1:24:16.240 impacts of others, should you know, impact me. I make 1:24:16.360 --> 1:24:20.920 the changes where I can. I try to behave in 1:24:21.000 --> 1:24:25.640 a manner that is not detrimental to the earth. And 1:24:26.479 --> 1:24:30.200 I preach that to my kids and hopefully the compounding 1:24:30.320 --> 1:24:33.840 effect or you know, it will grow exponentially from them 1:24:33.960 --> 1:24:37.360 to other ambassadors to spread the word that you know, 1:24:37.479 --> 1:24:40.720 we need to do something. It's not about politics and 1:24:40.800 --> 1:24:47.280 it's about you know, the your overhead or how much 1:24:47.479 --> 1:24:49.680 profit you gain at the end of the day, it's 1:24:49.680 --> 1:24:53.640 about how you gain those by, you know, being a 1:24:53.720 --> 1:24:59.080 good ambassador to preserving the earth and the climate, you know, 1:24:59.360 --> 1:25:03.559 all the all the other inhabitants, not just humans. 1:25:06.080 --> 1:25:08.120 Wherever we went in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1:25:08.240 --> 1:25:10.120 it was hard to find dooming gloom with regards to 1:25:10.200 --> 1:25:13.960 climate change. What we found everywhere was people adapting and 1:25:14.120 --> 1:25:17.280 making changes, both the kind of changes that reduce their 1:25:17.320 --> 1:25:20.240 carbon emissions and the kind that made their homes more 1:25:20.280 --> 1:25:22.840 defensible because the rest of the world is not making 1:25:22.920 --> 1:25:26.599 that first kind of changes. Resilience doesn't just mean sea 1:25:26.680 --> 1:25:30.200 walls and houses on stilts that can withstand flood. Those 1:25:30.320 --> 1:25:34.639 are important. It also means making hard choices and forming 1:25:34.720 --> 1:25:37.439 strong communities. Here's Mariana again. 1:25:38.120 --> 1:25:41.799 There's a lot of attention on us as frontline countries, 1:25:42.280 --> 1:25:45.680 you know, in the face of climate change, and we 1:25:45.840 --> 1:25:49.280 get a lot of reporters come in asking us questions. 1:25:49.439 --> 1:25:51.760 We get a lot of consultants that come in and 1:25:51.880 --> 1:25:52.920 out and collect data. 1:25:55.160 --> 1:25:55.320 You know. 1:25:55.439 --> 1:26:00.000 Of course we're seen as sort of the said country 1:26:00.040 --> 1:26:06.160 trees that will eventually face the reality of having no 1:26:06.400 --> 1:26:16.960 land to live on, right, so forced relocation, displacement. I 1:26:17.040 --> 1:26:20.719 don't want to say migration, because that's not exactly a migration. 1:26:20.920 --> 1:26:24.560 If you have to leave, you're you're you're being displaced. 1:26:27.560 --> 1:26:28.559 Our concern is that. 1:26:31.280 --> 1:26:32.920 We're not We. 1:26:33.000 --> 1:26:38.360 Don't have all the capabilities in the science at our 1:26:38.400 --> 1:26:47.479 fingertip to help inform the government or you know, everyone 1:26:47.600 --> 1:26:54.439 interested donors about how much is changing, how much is 1:26:54.720 --> 1:26:57.720 going to change, and especially. 1:26:57.479 --> 1:26:59.599 How that change is going to change us. 1:27:00.040 --> 1:27:02.080 You know, it's. 1:27:03.520 --> 1:27:11.679 It's overwhelming. We we have a national adaptation Plan. 1:27:12.439 --> 1:27:15.400 I hope that you will get into that. 1:27:15.720 --> 1:27:20.639 When you get the chance to h that's the survival plan. 1:27:22.560 --> 1:27:30.800 In that survival plan, there is you know, there is 1:27:31.840 --> 1:27:38.720 very scary reality that we may need to take down 1:27:38.800 --> 1:27:43.800 some islands to elevate some islands, you know, and every 1:27:43.840 --> 1:27:47.840 island have their landowners and what happens to those people. 1:27:49.080 --> 1:27:54.080 Marshalis are connected to their land so much culturally, and 1:27:54.280 --> 1:28:01.280 so how do we adapt to that when it comes 1:28:02.439 --> 1:28:03.000 so quickly? 1:28:04.880 --> 1:28:05.479 That's scary. 1:28:06.160 --> 1:28:08.760 Everywhere you go in the Marshall Islands you see the 1:28:08.800 --> 1:28:12.000 impact of climate change and rising sea levels but you 1:28:12.120 --> 1:28:15.519 also see the community responding and supporting itself through the 1:28:15.600 --> 1:28:19.679 existential threat. The Rami isn't a sad place, quite the opposite. 1:28:19.760 --> 1:28:22.680 It's a tremendously happy and beautiful place, and I had 1:28:22.720 --> 1:28:24.880 one of the most enjoyable weeks I can remember there. 1:28:25.040 --> 1:28:27.760 I'd go back in a heartbeat. But the joy with 1:28:27.840 --> 1:28:30.599 which people approach every day doesn't mean they aren't concerned, 1:28:30.600 --> 1:28:34.000 and it certainly doesn't mean they're not worthy of our concern. Tomorrow, 1:28:34.360 --> 1:28:36.280 we're going to discuss how the people of the Republic 1:28:36.360 --> 1:28:38.720 of Marshall Lions, and in particular the women of the 1:28:38.760 --> 1:28:41.800 Republic of Marshall Lions, and making sure that marshal Lei's 1:28:41.880 --> 1:28:43.960 people have a safe and healthy future. 1:28:57.920 --> 1:28:59.920 This is for all you guys, so you get there. 1:29:14.920 --> 1:29:17.439 Twice in the week I spent on Marjorro, I didn't 1:29:17.479 --> 1:29:20.000 get to sleep until after midnight because the hotel's event 1:29:20.080 --> 1:29:22.559 space was about eight feet from my pillow and someone 1:29:22.600 --> 1:29:25.920 in that event space was having an absolute rageo. Before 1:29:26.000 --> 1:29:28.160 trying and failing to go to sleep, a chatter with 1:29:28.280 --> 1:29:29.640 some folks who were at the party to see what 1:29:29.760 --> 1:29:33.320 was going on. The first night was a first birthday party, 1:29:34.160 --> 1:29:36.439 infant mortality has been so high in this area in 1:29:36.520 --> 1:29:38.519 the past that children making it through the first year 1:29:38.560 --> 1:29:42.160 of their life was a cause for massive celebration. It 1:29:42.280 --> 1:29:44.240 was rather sweet to see adults enjoying such a good 1:29:44.280 --> 1:29:46.439 time around a one year old who had no idea 1:29:46.479 --> 1:29:49.840 what was going on. The next party a few days 1:29:49.920 --> 1:29:52.320 later was no less festive, but for a much more 1:29:52.360 --> 1:29:55.400 somber reason. It was a celebration to remember an eight 1:29:55.479 --> 1:29:59.120 year old girl who died exactly one year before. People 1:29:59.200 --> 1:30:01.920 showed me her photo, and despite my condolences, they assured 1:30:01.960 --> 1:30:04.479 me that it wasn't a sad affair. I don't want 1:30:04.479 --> 1:30:07.040 to make this series a sad affair either, because despite 1:30:07.040 --> 1:30:10.720 the incredible challenges they have faced, Marshally's people have persevered, 1:30:11.120 --> 1:30:12.960 and they clearly have a great pride in their islands, 1:30:13.120 --> 1:30:14.479 and I don't think they would want to be seen 1:30:14.520 --> 1:30:19.120 as helpless and acted upon by global forces beyond their control. Instead, 1:30:19.640 --> 1:30:21.720 they should be seen as a strong community that has 1:30:21.760 --> 1:30:24.040 withstood some of the worst things a history can thriller 1:30:24.120 --> 1:30:29.120 community and continue to thrive. As we spoke about yesterday, 1:30:29.640 --> 1:30:31.960 they're taking huge steps to ensure that they lead the 1:30:32.000 --> 1:30:35.439 way on sustainable development they're also ensuring their future in 1:30:35.520 --> 1:30:37.880 other ways. Some of those might not be as shiny 1:30:37.960 --> 1:30:40.640 and glitzy as solar power grids or canoes powered by 1:30:40.640 --> 1:30:43.280 the sun, but which have made a huge difference to 1:30:43.360 --> 1:30:45.879 the residents of the country, particularly in the outer atolls. 1:30:46.680 --> 1:30:48.400 What I want to talk about today is one of 1:30:48.439 --> 1:30:53.720 those projects. It's a project imagined, implemented and executed by 1:30:53.800 --> 1:30:58.120 the women of Korra Inokrane. The name means women who 1:30:58.200 --> 1:31:01.479 rise at dawn, and it's very appropriate every interview you've 1:31:01.479 --> 1:31:04.000 heard so far and every place we went to thanks 1:31:04.040 --> 1:31:06.320 to the women of Kio. The trip I was part 1:31:06.400 --> 1:31:08.719 of was there to witness the installation of the final 1:31:08.840 --> 1:31:11.720 water filters on the island of Wrong Room that will 1:31:11.760 --> 1:31:14.519 bring to a successful conclusion a five year project to 1:31:14.640 --> 1:31:17.320 ensure that every single person in the Marshall Islands had 1:31:17.360 --> 1:31:20.519 access to clean water. I'll let them introduce themselves to 1:31:20.600 --> 1:31:21.880 you as it did to us. 1:31:22.439 --> 1:31:26.439 My name is Francine wasase Jacklick, but most people around 1:31:26.520 --> 1:31:29.600 town called me, so if you hear Francine, they're not 1:31:29.640 --> 1:31:32.679 going to go to this. I am a QUEU member, 1:31:33.040 --> 1:31:36.439 I'm one of the officers as the secretary. 1:31:36.880 --> 1:31:41.040 And I've been a queue member of gosh. 1:31:41.280 --> 1:31:44.400 I can't remember when, but you know we've got we've 1:31:44.479 --> 1:31:49.479 come along when Q is about seventeen years old, right now, wow, seventeen. 1:31:50.439 --> 1:31:55.000 Yeah, it's been a very fund right. 1:31:55.160 --> 1:31:58.479 It's my fun job outside from Kio. As my fun work, 1:31:58.920 --> 1:32:01.240 I work at the Ministry of Health and Human Services. 1:32:02.520 --> 1:32:07.160 My permanent position is the Deputy Secretary overseeing Office of 1:32:07.240 --> 1:32:15.280 Health Planning, Policy, Preparedness, Personnel and epidem analogy. And three 1:32:15.400 --> 1:32:19.280 months ago I was also given the authority rule as 1:32:19.400 --> 1:32:24.400 the acting Secretary of Health because the secretary was not 1:32:24.560 --> 1:32:35.160 the new politics. So yeah, Q is Q Corina Rani 1:32:35.240 --> 1:32:38.640 and we're very happy because our founder is here and 1:32:39.280 --> 1:32:40.000 it's money. 1:32:40.200 --> 1:32:43.599 So we'll do introduction and then we'll go into the agenda. 1:32:43.720 --> 1:32:44.120 Is that okay? 1:32:45.200 --> 1:32:45.439 Okay? 1:32:45.520 --> 1:32:49.240 So I will hand it to the back, which is 1:32:49.360 --> 1:32:57.160 our founder money. Somebody go ahead, Hello everyone, Hi, welcome money. 1:32:58.200 --> 1:33:03.920 I am the home founder. But enough, we're really happy 1:33:04.040 --> 1:33:05.120 that you've made it. 1:33:06.120 --> 1:33:10.080 You know, your flight wasn't canceled last week, so many 1:33:10.160 --> 1:33:11.440 flights are canceled. 1:33:11.120 --> 1:33:16.280 So were but welcome. In our language we say yahwey 1:33:17.960 --> 1:33:21.880 yeah means rainbow and quays you. So you are a 1:33:22.000 --> 1:33:22.760 rainbow to us. 1:33:26.120 --> 1:33:26.679 I am. 1:33:28.400 --> 1:33:31.760 A mother for now, I don't I don't work. Most 1:33:31.800 --> 1:33:35.920 of us have their work, but I'm a full time 1:33:36.000 --> 1:33:37.800 mother and this is. 1:33:39.320 --> 1:33:39.840 My baby. 1:33:39.960 --> 1:33:48.360 Actually, Kiyo started sixteen years ago. Myself and a friend. 1:33:49.000 --> 1:33:52.520 We were in school in the East Coast and graduated 1:33:52.680 --> 1:33:57.960 and we all came back. And you know, we were 1:33:58.080 --> 1:34:02.559 raised with this mentality that get back. We have lots 1:34:02.600 --> 1:34:08.439 of Marshalis proverbs and what bagayo means to turn the tides. 1:34:09.000 --> 1:34:11.040 So it was our time to turn the tides. 1:34:11.720 --> 1:34:16.479 So we bended together always like mine name Smart Ladies 1:34:16.640 --> 1:34:21.320 and created Q and it's a volunteer organization. 1:34:22.600 --> 1:34:24.280 We do this in our sleep. 1:34:24.439 --> 1:34:32.880 Basically all volunteer, yes, so we do various work from 1:34:33.160 --> 1:34:36.680 small projects like you know, reading with the kids and. 1:34:38.360 --> 1:34:42.519 Just some big projects like waters water culture project. My 1:34:42.680 --> 1:34:43.439 name is Kathleen. 1:34:44.760 --> 1:34:48.160 I work for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce 1:34:49.200 --> 1:34:50.679 with the Fisheries. 1:34:51.880 --> 1:34:55.360 Memora and I've been in film members since. 1:34:57.120 --> 1:34:59.960 To push here were sixteen years old. 1:35:01.680 --> 1:35:06.960 Then it is like moving said, it's. 1:35:07.000 --> 1:35:12.120 It's an honor and we are very humble. When you visited, Uh, 1:35:12.360 --> 1:35:15.040 welcome you all and hope you have a great visitor. 1:35:15.560 --> 1:35:22.439 Thank you okay, thanks. Yeah, but my name is Samantha. 1:35:22.920 --> 1:35:26.840 I work at the Ministry of Finances as accountant and 1:35:26.960 --> 1:35:28.799 I'm cure of treasure. 1:35:29.439 --> 1:35:30.680 Thank you, thank you. 1:35:34.520 --> 1:35:38.240 Yeah, hey everyone, and welcome to our shore. My name 1:35:38.400 --> 1:35:41.559 is Raised, but everyone call me Kuma, So. 1:35:41.720 --> 1:35:43.840 I'm very pleased to meet all of you. 1:35:44.560 --> 1:35:47.320 When they say we have uh all these media, you know, 1:35:47.840 --> 1:35:50.400 big news media, I was just coming from the state. 1:35:50.479 --> 1:35:51.519 I was kind of nervous. 1:35:54.160 --> 1:35:56.800 But anyways, uh, I've been up to member since two 1:35:56.840 --> 1:36:01.080 thousand fourteen and I was told me, is why all 1:36:01.160 --> 1:36:03.960 the work that these names have been doing for the 1:36:04.080 --> 1:36:08.080 Marshall Islands. I'm they're probably be part of Quete Club. 1:36:09.080 --> 1:36:13.200 I work at ROMA at All local government and I'm 1:36:13.280 --> 1:36:15.559 not sure you know, but rongav is one of those 1:36:16.320 --> 1:36:21.960 it's all that was affected by the nuclear testing, so again, welcome. 1:36:22.520 --> 1:36:25.080 Kure worked with Sawyer, the people who make the Ubiquitous 1:36:25.160 --> 1:36:27.200 water filter, which is a favorite for through hikers and 1:36:27.280 --> 1:36:30.840 other outdoors people, to provide a water filtration system that 1:36:30.920 --> 1:36:33.719 allows Marshal's people to filter the rain water they collect 1:36:34.240 --> 1:36:38.240 and remove harmful bacteria that can cause diarrhea and vomiting. Well, 1:36:38.280 --> 1:36:40.920 these might seem undesirable listeners in the US, they can 1:36:40.960 --> 1:36:44.599 be fatal in other settings. Twenty nineteen, around one point 1:36:44.680 --> 1:36:48.320 five million people died from diarrheal diseases. That's more than 1:36:48.400 --> 1:36:52.400 all violent deaths combined. Around half a million of those 1:36:52.520 --> 1:36:56.879 deaths were children. One thing that's remarkable about the project 1:36:57.160 --> 1:36:59.880 is the way it was realized. Curee began just to 1:37:00.120 --> 1:37:02.519 should in the most remote and hard to reach a tolls, 1:37:02.960 --> 1:37:05.519 taking tiny boats across choppy seas for days at a 1:37:05.560 --> 1:37:07.880 time to get to remote islands, and then working with 1:37:07.960 --> 1:37:10.799 traditional women leaders to ensure that everyone on the islands 1:37:10.920 --> 1:37:14.559 knew how to use the filters. Then they began working 1:37:14.640 --> 1:37:19.120 towards Marjora, the capitol. I've seen lots of ENDO projects 1:37:19.160 --> 1:37:22.120 in dozens of countries I've worked with someone, but I've 1:37:22.280 --> 1:37:26.080 rarely seen a model that prioritizes need this well. In 1:37:26.240 --> 1:37:30.680 far too many cases, proximity to power ensures access to resources. 1:37:31.400 --> 1:37:33.720 This is a global problem. Just look at how the 1:37:33.840 --> 1:37:38.240 US distributed masks and COVID resources to reservations last or 1:37:38.560 --> 1:37:40.360 if I step outside, they can see how the lowest 1:37:40.360 --> 1:37:42.519 income parts of San Diego, the city I live in, 1:37:42.760 --> 1:37:45.400 have the worst roads and get the least infrastructure spending. 1:37:46.240 --> 1:37:49.000 The fact that Keio do things differently is a testament 1:37:49.080 --> 1:37:52.639 to the strength of their commitment to their community. In fact, 1:37:53.280 --> 1:37:56.120 the project finished distribution during my trip to Marshall Islands, 1:37:56.920 --> 1:37:59.760 completing the last island on Major Atoll in early July, 1:38:00.560 --> 1:38:02.799 but a few days later than that, when KEO invited 1:38:02.840 --> 1:38:05.680 myself and some other journalists to a goodbye breakfast, they 1:38:05.760 --> 1:38:08.200 presented a filter to the former president of the Republic 1:38:08.240 --> 1:38:11.920 of Marshall Islands, Hilde Hind Despite being the last person 1:38:11.960 --> 1:38:14.639 to get one. She was very grateful and it served 1:38:14.640 --> 1:38:16.679 as the great illustration of the priorities of the group. 1:38:17.200 --> 1:38:20.080 They wanted to go to the hardest places first because 1:38:20.080 --> 1:38:23.799 they knew people there needed help the most. His president 1:38:23.880 --> 1:38:26.680 Hilde Heine, after receiving her filter, I. 1:38:26.760 --> 1:38:30.840 Was telling morning that we don't drink from our tab 1:38:30.960 --> 1:38:34.200 water ours. We have our own system, but we don't 1:38:34.280 --> 1:38:38.000 know if it's clean, so we buy our drinking water 1:38:38.080 --> 1:38:41.200 all the time. So with this one I probably will 1:38:41.280 --> 1:38:44.160 stop bang for. 1:38:44.320 --> 1:38:49.000 To be pure water. I joined Kio and several other 1:38:49.080 --> 1:38:52.439 journalists for the final leg of their project, which involves 1:38:52.479 --> 1:38:55.519 installing the water filters. This doesn't really take long they're 1:38:55.560 --> 1:38:58.679 basically a soil filter attached to a five gallon bucket 1:38:58.720 --> 1:39:02.000 with a length of flexible hoe, and then explaining their 1:39:02.120 --> 1:39:06.040 value and upkeep to the community. As we heard yesterday, 1:39:06.160 --> 1:39:08.160 ground water is harder and harder to come by in 1:39:08.200 --> 1:39:10.840 the Marshall Islands thanks to climate change, and so people 1:39:10.920 --> 1:39:15.040 rely almost exclusively on rainwater. They collect rainwater in giant 1:39:15.080 --> 1:39:18.599 plastic tanks. They've only recently replaced a hodgepodge of different 1:39:18.600 --> 1:39:22.240 collection vessels. Incidentally, a visiting scientist from the CDC told 1:39:22.280 --> 1:39:24.800 me that the installation of these tanks has increased a 1:39:24.880 --> 1:39:27.400 safe disposal of waste because people no longer need to 1:39:27.400 --> 1:39:31.679 take their bins to collect rainwater when it rains. Once 1:39:31.800 --> 1:39:34.000 water is in the tanks, the residents can draw it 1:39:34.040 --> 1:39:36.439 out into their five gallon bucket and then filter it 1:39:36.520 --> 1:39:40.599 for safe drinking. The soil filter system may seem very simple, 1:39:40.880 --> 1:39:43.120 and it is, but that's what makes it a perfect 1:39:43.160 --> 1:39:47.080 solution here. A complicated electric filter, or one that relied 1:39:47.120 --> 1:39:49.320 on pipe water pressure or had a ton of moving 1:39:49.360 --> 1:39:52.360 parts would require constant maintenance, which is hard given a 1:39:52.400 --> 1:39:55.720 long journey to the outer Islands. In my career in 1:39:55.840 --> 1:39:59.320 journalism and in nonprofit. I've seen countless well intentioned aid 1:39:59.360 --> 1:40:03.280 projects completely failed to consider the need for sustainability and 1:40:03.400 --> 1:40:07.519 become useless odities. In a few years. Cargo bikes made 1:40:07.560 --> 1:40:10.200 a huge different coffee farmers in Rwanda until they needed 1:40:10.240 --> 1:40:12.360 new brake pads and there wasn't an importer for them. 1:40:13.160 --> 1:40:16.080 The same goes for countless glucometers I've seen distributed to 1:40:16.120 --> 1:40:18.479 people who can't access the batteries they use or the 1:40:18.560 --> 1:40:22.240 test strips they rely on. This won't happen in the 1:40:22.320 --> 1:40:25.160 Marshall Islands in part because the project was led by 1:40:25.200 --> 1:40:27.880 the community itself and not by outside nonprofits looking to 1:40:27.960 --> 1:40:32.320 maximize donation dollars or media opportunities, and in part because 1:40:32.400 --> 1:40:34.759 the only maintenance or sor filter needs is a backflush 1:40:34.800 --> 1:40:38.120 of the filtered water that it makes. Yesterday we had 1:40:38.120 --> 1:40:41.200 a little from the Marshal Lee's Environmental Protection Agency about 1:40:41.200 --> 1:40:44.680 how they grapple with climate change. Today, I want to 1:40:44.720 --> 1:40:47.679 explain how they're working alongside Kio to ensure that even 1:40:47.720 --> 1:40:50.760 as sea levels rise, Marshali's people will have access to 1:40:50.840 --> 1:40:55.320 safe water. The Marshal lyse Epa works to ensure that 1:40:55.439 --> 1:40:58.559 the water in people's tanks isn't contaminated, and the filters 1:40:58.600 --> 1:41:01.120 that Kio provided were to make sure that even if 1:41:01.120 --> 1:41:04.800 it is, people won't get sick. They often travel to 1:41:04.840 --> 1:41:07.519 the outer isons together to reduce the cost sharing a 1:41:07.560 --> 1:41:10.640 small boat. It's a rare example of a nonprofit in 1:41:10.680 --> 1:41:13.400 the government working together without competing or doing the same 1:41:13.439 --> 1:41:17.720 thing twice. At first, Marianna explained, people weren't sure that 1:41:17.800 --> 1:41:19.920 such a tiny filter could make such a big difference, 1:41:20.400 --> 1:41:22.719 so Kio worked with the EPA to use a visual 1:41:22.800 --> 1:41:25.760 test for microbial activity to show people how effective it was. 1:41:26.600 --> 1:41:29.240 He She is explaining how the EPA helped Kio build 1:41:29.280 --> 1:41:31.200 trust in the efficacy of the soil filters. 1:41:32.160 --> 1:41:40.800 When Sires and Kio approached us with the filters, before. 1:41:40.520 --> 1:41:43.040 That, a lot of people were already asking us, so, 1:41:43.439 --> 1:41:47.880 can we can we trust this? You know, can you 1:41:48.400 --> 1:41:51.400 do a test in your lab to tell us and 1:41:51.640 --> 1:41:55.040 confirm that this is, you know, as good as they 1:41:55.400 --> 1:41:56.680 claim it to be. 1:41:57.280 --> 1:41:59.920 Doing the test allowed the EPA to help Ko get 1:42:00.040 --> 1:42:03.320 greater uptake for their filters and allowed Kio to help 1:42:03.360 --> 1:42:05.400 the EPA achieve one of its mandated goals. 1:42:05.720 --> 1:42:07.080 And so when we. 1:42:07.280 --> 1:42:12.960 Produce these very visual like Quanta quanta or quanti trays. 1:42:13.560 --> 1:42:13.960 The the. 1:42:15.520 --> 1:42:16.840 Experts will get into it. 1:42:17.000 --> 1:42:22.400 But when we produce them and show a visual contrast 1:42:22.560 --> 1:42:26.479 between the water before the filter and then the water 1:42:26.720 --> 1:42:33.520 before the after the filter filtration, it was you know, amazing, 1:42:34.040 --> 1:42:39.479 like it's it's so clean, and you know, we make 1:42:39.600 --> 1:42:43.600 decisions based on science, and that science right there, and 1:42:43.760 --> 1:42:49.600 so we use that visual photograph outside of that that 1:42:49.920 --> 1:42:51.880 that meeting to show people. 1:42:53.680 --> 1:42:56.320 You know, we're not going to get into the microbils 1:42:56.479 --> 1:43:01.080 of whatever. This is the difference the water before the 1:43:01.720 --> 1:43:03.559 filter and then after. 1:43:03.840 --> 1:43:04.120 And so. 1:43:06.200 --> 1:43:11.160 We're just really happy that Kiyo was able to include us. 1:43:11.920 --> 1:43:14.840 This is one of our mandates, but we're never resourced 1:43:15.000 --> 1:43:18.840 that way to you know, do all of the things 1:43:18.880 --> 1:43:22.240 that we want to do to address water quality issues. 1:43:22.680 --> 1:43:25.679 Of course, it's impossible to deal with the water issue 1:43:25.680 --> 1:43:29.240 in isolation. Everything in the Marshall Islands are really anywhere 1:43:29.320 --> 1:43:31.960 else where you're paying attention has to take into account 1:43:32.000 --> 1:43:34.760 the impact of climate change and how communities are going 1:43:34.800 --> 1:43:37.799 to survive when faced with an increasingly hostile home planet. 1:43:38.680 --> 1:43:40.960 Now yain't explained how access to clean water helps make 1:43:41.000 --> 1:43:43.320 the community in the Marshall Islands even more resilient. 1:43:44.200 --> 1:43:45.960 Well, if you're. 1:43:45.880 --> 1:43:48.599 Trying to survive, the last thing you want to worry 1:43:48.640 --> 1:43:54.160 about is an outbreak of diarrhea or apatitis or. 1:43:55.640 --> 1:43:58.000 You know, water born diseases that are. 1:43:58.400 --> 1:44:06.200 Preventable and so clean water, you know you're much much 1:44:06.320 --> 1:44:11.240 more better as a community if you can thrive and. 1:44:12.800 --> 1:44:16.719 On clean water. It's as simple as that water is life. 1:44:23.760 --> 1:44:26.200 One night during my trip to the Marshall Islands, I 1:44:26.360 --> 1:44:28.640 was able to join Kia for a dinner that celebrated 1:44:28.680 --> 1:44:31.960 the completion of their water project, meaning that everyone in 1:44:32.000 --> 1:44:34.519 the Marshall Islands had access to water that won't make 1:44:34.600 --> 1:44:37.200 them sick. To get a better sense of what this 1:44:37.360 --> 1:44:39.559 really means, I wanted to talk to some families who 1:44:39.600 --> 1:44:42.080 had received those filters and to see what the clean 1:44:42.160 --> 1:44:45.519 water access meant to them. We've all heard that water 1:44:45.680 --> 1:44:48.559 is life, and that was a slogan news for Kio's project, 1:44:49.240 --> 1:44:51.760 but it's difficult to appreciate that if you live in 1:44:51.800 --> 1:44:53.479 a place where you can just turn on a tap 1:44:53.520 --> 1:44:55.680 and have access to clean, safe water whenever you want. 1:44:56.520 --> 1:44:59.360 When Kio made their posters for that dinner, they included 1:44:59.400 --> 1:45:01.760 a photo of a girl on Arno Island who had 1:45:01.760 --> 1:45:04.400 been one of the first to receive their filters, happily 1:45:04.479 --> 1:45:07.400 drinking from a jar of clean water. That was back 1:45:07.439 --> 1:45:10.960 in twenty eighteen. Since then, they thought they'd heard the 1:45:11.120 --> 1:45:13.880 terrible news that she died, but just before the dinner 1:45:13.880 --> 1:45:16.200 they found out she hadn't, and so they invited her 1:45:16.240 --> 1:45:19.040 to join the celebration. I was able to sit down 1:45:19.080 --> 1:45:22.120 with her, her mother, and other recipients of the filters 1:45:22.160 --> 1:45:25.200 for a quick interview via translator on the tiny island 1:45:25.200 --> 1:45:25.880 of Boken Boat. 1:45:28.520 --> 1:45:34.360 So they never filtered the water before. They would drink 1:45:34.400 --> 1:45:37.360 straight in the water wells or the water catchments. 1:45:38.000 --> 1:45:42.240 Sometimes, she said, people would get sick. We also spoke 1:45:42.280 --> 1:45:44.640 to Aneedi, a resident of Wrong Wrong, on the day 1:45:44.680 --> 1:45:48.760 that she got her filter. Frontine helped to translate her responses. 1:45:48.360 --> 1:45:49.519 Yeah, what are they in? 1:45:49.640 --> 1:45:49.800 Nine? 1:45:50.360 --> 1:45:50.680 Thank you? 1:45:56.920 --> 1:45:59.519 What she had heard about that there was going to 1:45:59.560 --> 1:46:03.559 be filter is coming through the island. When she first heard, 1:46:03.840 --> 1:46:06.439 she thought the filters were going to go directly to 1:46:06.720 --> 1:46:11.360 the water tanks. And now that it's more accessible, it's 1:46:11.479 --> 1:46:16.760 like she saw this bucket. She's happy. It's better, it's better, okay, yeah, yeah. 1:46:17.439 --> 1:46:20.000 Recently there have been an outbreak of diary around the atoll, 1:46:20.160 --> 1:46:21.439 so this was a welcome relief. 1:46:22.560 --> 1:46:28.000 So she had heard that there was optic of cases 1:46:28.080 --> 1:46:31.320 in major the capital and when she had first learned 1:46:31.360 --> 1:46:35.439 about her she was scared and worried. 1:46:36.520 --> 1:46:39.919 But to hear that there's. 1:46:41.760 --> 1:46:44.880 Folks coming here to the island to check on the water, 1:46:45.520 --> 1:46:47.160 it made them feel a little bit more. 1:46:47.840 --> 1:46:48.000 You know. 1:46:48.120 --> 1:46:51.639 Add EA's the family from Ana who traveled a long 1:46:51.680 --> 1:46:53.960 way on a small boat to meet us. We're looking 1:46:54.000 --> 1:46:56.840 forward to getting back to their home. Life on the 1:46:56.880 --> 1:46:59.599 outer Atolls isn't easy, but it's not one they want 1:46:59.640 --> 1:47:02.599 to walk away from. With the threat of climate change 1:47:02.600 --> 1:47:05.240 already putting their home in peril, having access to clean 1:47:05.320 --> 1:47:08.240 water must be a welcome relief. I asked to say, 1:47:08.280 --> 1:47:10.880 preferred life here on the capitol at all or back home? 1:47:11.600 --> 1:47:14.599 Yeah, she says life in the outer islands is better. 1:47:14.880 --> 1:47:17.600 There's more space, more freedom to move around. 1:47:17.520 --> 1:47:18.160 For the kids. 1:47:18.520 --> 1:47:20.240 There are things she'd like to change the course, but 1:47:20.560 --> 1:47:23.320 mostly her concern was preserving their little piece of paradise 1:47:23.439 --> 1:47:24.520 for future generations. 1:47:25.800 --> 1:47:31.360 She'd like her kids to be able to enjoy access 1:47:31.400 --> 1:47:39.560 to clean water, whether it be through more water catchments 1:47:40.160 --> 1:47:44.720 that are being available to the family, and also the 1:47:44.800 --> 1:47:51.559 electric city, as you mentioned, perhaps with the generator stuff 1:47:51.640 --> 1:47:54.920 like that to make life more easier in the outer lands. 1:47:55.840 --> 1:48:00.479 She'd like to, you know, like in the future, be 1:48:00.600 --> 1:48:06.519 able to see the fishing grounds preserved as well as 1:48:07.040 --> 1:48:10.559 the land for their farming needs. 1:48:11.520 --> 1:48:14.400 The way KIR works with local communities, because they're from 1:48:14.520 --> 1:48:17.519 local communities, enables them to be much more effective than 1:48:17.560 --> 1:48:20.720 a nonprofit which comes from outside the community. On wrong 1:48:20.800 --> 1:48:24.240 wrong they joke to laugh at local women Whenik's husband 1:48:24.320 --> 1:48:26.920 comes from the island, so they were already welcome, and 1:48:27.280 --> 1:48:29.680 then after some time bantering, they explained the way to 1:48:29.760 --> 1:48:33.479 water filters work. In Marshal Leeds families, they're still a 1:48:33.520 --> 1:48:35.880 fairly gender division of labor in many cases, and it 1:48:36.080 --> 1:48:37.760 seemed to be that the women on the island were 1:48:37.800 --> 1:48:39.560 the ones who stayed to learn about the filters, so 1:48:40.280 --> 1:48:42.400 it was appropriate that it was women who were teaching them. 1:48:45.439 --> 1:48:49.040 Preservation doesn't mean there can't be change. The Marshall Islands 1:48:49.080 --> 1:48:51.200 have seen a huge change in the last few years, 1:48:51.560 --> 1:48:53.559 and much of that is down to the dedicated work 1:48:53.560 --> 1:48:55.679 of a large number of women who have formed community 1:48:55.720 --> 1:48:58.960 groups to empower each other and address social, ecological and 1:48:59.000 --> 1:49:03.000 public health issues that are facing their communities. The umbrella 1:49:03.120 --> 1:49:05.760 organization that works with these women's groups it's called with Me. 1:49:06.200 --> 1:49:08.960 I let Maria from Whitey explain what that means and 1:49:09.040 --> 1:49:10.639 why they started the group in the first place. 1:49:11.479 --> 1:49:14.439 First of all, welcome. As you know, with ME stands 1:49:14.479 --> 1:49:18.200 for women in edited together, marshal allance. It also means 1:49:18.200 --> 1:49:23.320 in marshalise your flower, and that's how we wanted the 1:49:23.400 --> 1:49:27.840 acronym to be to mean both English and marshalist. And 1:49:27.960 --> 1:49:30.679 as this is said, it was established in nineteen eighty 1:49:30.760 --> 1:49:36.440 seven to fill a gap with respect to the advancement 1:49:36.479 --> 1:49:40.439 of women. In nineteen seventy five there was the Decade 1:49:40.479 --> 1:49:43.519 for Women en Decade for Women, and there were two 1:49:43.600 --> 1:49:48.160 countriences that took place and there were a lot of 1:49:48.640 --> 1:49:53.840 issues that came about in those two meetings. They were 1:49:54.320 --> 1:50:03.240 dealing with domestic violence, alcohol abuse, suicide, the youth, other problems, 1:50:04.120 --> 1:50:10.519 child abuse and neglect. So from those women started to meet, 1:50:11.520 --> 1:50:14.479 at least some women started to talk about this was 1:50:14.520 --> 1:50:18.759 there were no representatives of women in the decision making bodies, 1:50:18.800 --> 1:50:22.759 whether at the local government levels or at the national level. 1:50:23.360 --> 1:50:25.160 So that's. 1:50:27.280 --> 1:50:31.839 And we got the support of our traditional women leaders. 1:50:32.400 --> 1:50:35.880 Woman Works alongside traditional leaders are not around them. The 1:50:35.960 --> 1:50:37.680 same was true of all the programs that have been 1:50:37.720 --> 1:50:41.000 successful on the islands. On our last day, we visited WHAM, 1:50:41.360 --> 1:50:44.639 the program that builds the canoes we heard about. Although 1:50:44.720 --> 1:50:47.200 the programs founded to preserve the cultural heritage of the 1:50:47.280 --> 1:50:50.400 islands and their unique seafaring technologies, some of which are 1:50:50.439 --> 1:50:52.800 only just being replicated in modern craft in Europe and 1:50:52.840 --> 1:50:55.680 the USA, it also responded to a need that the 1:50:55.720 --> 1:50:58.559 community had. In this case, that need was education. 1:50:59.280 --> 1:51:02.240 So we are training program for at risk young men 1:51:02.320 --> 1:51:05.920 and women of the martial arts who It started out 1:51:05.960 --> 1:51:09.280 as a project back in the eighties. One of our 1:51:09.360 --> 1:51:13.559 twenty found uh, co founder of this program. 1:51:14.160 --> 1:51:14.280 UH. 1:51:14.520 --> 1:51:18.679 The museum contracted him to go through various islands within 1:51:18.760 --> 1:51:21.839 the Republic, And you're talking about back in the eighties 1:51:21.920 --> 1:51:26.240 and we were losing our designs fasts. People were coming 1:51:26.320 --> 1:51:30.200 to Magro or going to the States, which is going 1:51:30.280 --> 1:51:33.439 off islands to the many reasons, and because of that, 1:51:33.600 --> 1:51:38.720 they wanted to capture that uniqueness of these design But 1:51:38.880 --> 1:51:41.200 when he was going through from one actual to another, 1:51:41.400 --> 1:51:44.559 he noticed that there were a lot of young kids 1:51:44.920 --> 1:51:45.880 not going to school. 1:51:46.560 --> 1:51:48.160 So I'm not sure if you're aware of it. 1:51:48.320 --> 1:51:53.240 But throughout the republic there's only about four or five 1:51:54.000 --> 1:51:58.000 high schools and most of them are boarding school So, 1:51:58.080 --> 1:52:01.519 for example, I grew up in Jeluity, and in that 1:52:01.880 --> 1:52:05.439 at all there's a high school, boarding high school and 1:52:05.560 --> 1:52:09.000 then it gators to about six or seven other app pilings. 1:52:09.600 --> 1:52:12.400 So parents have no choice but to send their kids. 1:52:12.439 --> 1:52:15.400 If they want to go beyond ad grade, you have 1:52:15.680 --> 1:52:19.000 to leave home and go to the boarding schools. 1:52:19.240 --> 1:52:21.679 In addition to offering a skill set and an education, 1:52:22.120 --> 1:52:25.160 the program has counselors in mental health and addiction. They 1:52:25.240 --> 1:52:28.400 teach young men and women maths, literacy and how to 1:52:28.439 --> 1:52:31.320 build the canoes, but they also empower them in creating 1:52:31.360 --> 1:52:34.439 the sustainable alternative transport method that will be vital in 1:52:34.520 --> 1:52:38.240 building a sustainable future for their home. Likewise would meet 1:52:38.240 --> 1:52:39.920 the approach. It's based on listening to people. 1:52:40.560 --> 1:52:42.800 Women chiefs you know, will let them know what we'll 1:52:42.880 --> 1:52:45.800 be doing and what what would they want us to do, 1:52:46.400 --> 1:52:48.439 and we ask them to talk with their you know, 1:52:48.600 --> 1:52:51.560 like because these women chiefs are owning some of the 1:52:51.720 --> 1:52:55.640 neighboring islands and they know their people and do need 1:52:55.760 --> 1:52:58.559 assessments so they can really understand what their needs are, 1:52:58.680 --> 1:53:01.320 because all they need greenhalents. 1:53:00.720 --> 1:53:01.559 Are different means. 1:53:02.200 --> 1:53:04.360 They make an effort to tie their efforts to traditional 1:53:04.439 --> 1:53:07.960 Marshalist principles and in doing so they keep their culture alive. 1:53:08.520 --> 1:53:12.320 So being together and getting this the other thing that 1:53:12.400 --> 1:53:19.280 would be done, which is connect our our being to 1:53:19.439 --> 1:53:24.559 our culture. Being a materlineal society, we have different sayings 1:53:24.760 --> 1:53:29.040 or traditional traditional roles of women. Yeah, and then we 1:53:29.200 --> 1:53:34.000 have the domestic balance when it's called whether in mellor 1:53:34.720 --> 1:53:40.240 weather meaning it's a land parcel, MA mean to be alive, 1:53:40.880 --> 1:53:43.640 to live and not to be killed. 1:53:43.680 --> 1:53:45.879 As opposed to being abused. 1:53:46.360 --> 1:53:49.519 So whether in is somewhere you go to and you're 1:53:49.520 --> 1:53:53.200 able to live freely or in being I mean you're 1:53:53.240 --> 1:53:58.360 well protected. So in all our conferences we we do 1:53:58.640 --> 1:54:02.720 use these traditional so it's something that it's not new, 1:54:03.520 --> 1:54:06.439 it's traditional, so they cannot say, you know, you cannot 1:54:06.520 --> 1:54:09.640 do that because it's a tradition, and we keep the 1:54:09.880 --> 1:54:11.840 culture alive through that way as well. 1:54:17.120 --> 1:54:19.599 Almost everyone you've heard from in this series, aside from 1:54:19.640 --> 1:54:22.200 the Men, is a member of Kio or Whitney or both. 1:54:23.479 --> 1:54:25.840 Keo is one of the chapters of Whitney and many 1:54:25.880 --> 1:54:28.240 of the Keo leaders as the daughters of Whitman's leadership. 1:54:28.960 --> 1:54:32.640 Whitney have implemented parent as teacher, early childhood education programs, 1:54:33.000 --> 1:54:36.680 domestic violence prevention programs, and many other social, economic and 1:54:36.720 --> 1:54:40.680 political programs across the islands. The results are easy to see. 1:54:41.360 --> 1:54:44.680 All over the Marshall Islands, government officers and NGOs are 1:54:44.720 --> 1:54:47.800 run by women. Now, the Marshall Islands had the first 1:54:47.840 --> 1:54:50.600 woman president in the whole Pacific, and she was elected 1:54:50.600 --> 1:54:54.120 in January twenty sixteen, a year when rampant misogyny was 1:54:54.200 --> 1:54:57.080 more evident than ever in the United States presidential election. 1:54:57.680 --> 1:55:00.560 Of course, many marshal Lea's women go to the United 1:55:00.600 --> 1:55:02.720 States and what these members are no exception. 1:55:03.080 --> 1:55:05.440 One of the major challenges has been to make sure 1:55:05.520 --> 1:55:13.040 that that we keep the organization intact because it's especially 1:55:13.880 --> 1:55:17.320 at present time because there's a lot about migration that 1:55:17.480 --> 1:55:20.240 we have to constantly work, especially with women in the 1:55:20.520 --> 1:55:24.640 islands where they're they come and then they'll stay long 1:55:24.680 --> 1:55:28.920 in the urban areas, they just migrate out. So now 1:55:29.000 --> 1:55:31.320 there are so many of them that they're trying to 1:55:31.480 --> 1:55:34.880 form women's groups in the in the United States as well, 1:55:37.280 --> 1:55:42.280 so they come and visit us and we communicate with 1:55:42.400 --> 1:55:49.000 them occasionally share in sharing information or other issues because 1:55:49.160 --> 1:55:52.200 what issues they experience here, they also experience in the 1:55:52.360 --> 1:55:55.920 United States, and so they need to be aware of 1:55:56.080 --> 1:55:57.760 how we're trying to deal with those. 1:55:58.600 --> 1:56:00.840 But many women also go to the US for their 1:56:00.960 --> 1:56:03.600 education and then return to be part of their community 1:56:03.680 --> 1:56:07.839 and help lift their community up. Now, thanks to whipm's 1:56:07.880 --> 1:56:11.240 hard work and the government's efforts, women don't have to 1:56:11.320 --> 1:56:14.120 leave to get these skills. The Energy Department has trained 1:56:14.160 --> 1:56:16.440 women on outer islands, for example, to fix their own 1:56:16.480 --> 1:56:17.040 power grades. 1:56:17.840 --> 1:56:19.640 Yeah, so we're kind of all over the place. 1:56:19.760 --> 1:56:21.200 At one time we went and. 1:56:23.160 --> 1:56:31.760 Actually uh train a community of all women, like we 1:56:31.920 --> 1:56:35.400 had to include men to allow women to be part 1:56:35.440 --> 1:56:39.400 of the training. And we have nine women that graduated 1:56:40.400 --> 1:56:45.920 certified trainers and we awarded them with tools and everything 1:56:46.080 --> 1:56:52.040 so when there's a power outages and their solar home 1:56:52.120 --> 1:56:56.080 systems and they can address it. And Grace who's in 1:56:56.160 --> 1:56:59.560 the middle, that that's the island where she's from where 1:56:59.640 --> 1:57:02.400 we train the woman to become trainers. And it's our 1:57:02.560 --> 1:57:06.440 first ever. So when we found that it was successful, 1:57:06.520 --> 1:57:09.080 we try to extend it out to the other islands. 1:57:10.000 --> 1:57:12.360 So I think that's one of the reasons why it's 1:57:12.440 --> 1:57:15.720 difficult for countries such as US where we've been colonized 1:57:15.800 --> 1:57:20.360 and trying to find a balance between a modern day 1:57:20.440 --> 1:57:25.840 government form of democracy where you're taught that individualism is 1:57:25.920 --> 1:57:29.520 important and your rights are important, and then you have 1:57:29.600 --> 1:57:34.000 your traditional structure when where you when you're grow up, 1:57:34.240 --> 1:57:39.720 you're taught that it's a collective society. You your piety 1:57:39.880 --> 1:57:45.840 is important, respecting it's your thoughts are not worth it, 1:57:46.640 --> 1:57:50.080 your elders and your you know, your chiefs in so 1:57:50.320 --> 1:57:52.280 I think that's where we have to find the balance. 1:57:53.600 --> 1:57:55.840 This comment that Angeline made in our chat after her 1:57:55.920 --> 1:57:59.320 excellent presentation on energy sovereignty really got me thinking about 1:57:59.320 --> 1:58:03.120 the post colony future of the Marshall Islands. Today, they're 1:58:03.160 --> 1:58:05.960 empowered as an independent nation, but they still have to 1:58:06.040 --> 1:58:09.440 exist within a framework where corporations and more powerful governments 1:58:09.560 --> 1:58:11.839 don't have to pay for the consequences of their actions. 1:58:12.600 --> 1:58:15.040 In twenty twenty two, the US unsealed indictment of a 1:58:15.120 --> 1:58:18.360 Chinese couple who bribe five Marshalise members of parliament and 1:58:18.440 --> 1:58:20.720 attempted to bribe a six in order to help them 1:58:20.760 --> 1:58:23.200 carve out a kind of mini state, a so called 1:58:23.240 --> 1:58:27.640 special economic zone as a tax haven or Wrongolappatol. This 1:58:27.800 --> 1:58:29.920 is one of the places heavily impacted by the nuclear 1:58:29.960 --> 1:58:34.360 testing we spoke about earlier. Hildehein, among others, opposed this. 1:58:35.080 --> 1:58:38.760 She said economic development is and should be encouraged, but 1:58:38.920 --> 1:58:41.280 not at the expense of money laundering and other similarly 1:58:41.360 --> 1:58:43.920 ill activities that are usually a part of money laundering. 1:58:44.520 --> 1:58:48.400 As was obvious in the wrongol Appatol Special Administrative Region legislation, 1:58:49.360 --> 1:58:52.000 the people of wrong alapp deserved better standards of living 1:58:52.280 --> 1:58:57.560 and economic development. Well, there's no evidence of CCP involvement 1:58:57.640 --> 1:58:59.680 in the scheme. It came as part of a larger 1:58:59.720 --> 1:59:03.160 panic about Beijing's influence in the region. Twenty twenty two, 1:59:03.240 --> 1:59:05.680 the Solomon Islands signed a pact with China to help 1:59:05.720 --> 1:59:09.360 improve their internal security, and China has already provided the 1:59:09.400 --> 1:59:12.440 Solomons with police training and donated replica guns and riot 1:59:12.480 --> 1:59:16.760 control equipment such as water canon vehicles. The Solomon Islands 1:59:16.840 --> 1:59:19.320 are still covered in bombs from the US and Japan's 1:59:19.360 --> 1:59:22.600 fighting in the Pacific, but instead of helping dispose of these, 1:59:23.080 --> 1:59:25.880 this form of investment is sending more weapons to the government, 1:59:26.040 --> 1:59:29.280 not help to the people there. According to a recent 1:59:29.360 --> 1:59:32.760 published study in the journal Science, the world's corporations produce 1:59:32.840 --> 1:59:35.400 so much climate change causing pollution that it would eat 1:59:35.480 --> 1:59:37.480 up forty four percent of their profits if they had 1:59:37.520 --> 1:59:40.800 to pay damages for the impact of their activity. Your 1:59:40.880 --> 1:59:43.640 reusable straw might help, and it's good that you're using it. 1:59:44.040 --> 1:59:48.240 But until the world and giant corporations especially listen to 1:59:48.360 --> 1:59:52.720 the voices of people impacted by our choices, things won't change. 1:59:54.080 --> 1:59:55.680 I want to end by talking about the future of 1:59:55.720 --> 1:59:58.760 the Marshall Islands and how Marshallese people are determining that 2:00:00.000 --> 2:00:01.480 in the last century they've been let down by the 2:00:01.560 --> 2:00:04.320 League of Nations who reallocated the islands to the Japanese 2:00:04.400 --> 2:00:07.400 under Southeast Mandate, then let down by the US and 2:00:07.440 --> 2:00:10.240 the UN after the war, and they're still being let 2:00:10.320 --> 2:00:13.720 down by international institutions today when their demands for climate 2:00:13.840 --> 2:00:17.640 fairless are ignored. But this doesn't mean they can't benefit 2:00:17.680 --> 2:00:22.160 from international solidarity. It was American made water filters and 2:00:22.240 --> 2:00:25.360 a significant donation from a company better known for hiking 2:00:25.920 --> 2:00:28.320 that helped every single person in the Marshall Island to 2:00:28.360 --> 2:00:32.200 get clean water. It was Greenpeace who relocated people when 2:00:32.240 --> 2:00:35.360 the US government wouldn't, and it was Marshally's women who 2:00:35.440 --> 2:00:38.400 took week long norse or inducing boat rides across dangerous 2:00:38.400 --> 2:00:41.520 seas to distribute those water filters that save lives in 2:00:41.600 --> 2:00:45.240 places where there's less access to care. With access to 2:00:45.280 --> 2:00:49.000 the right resources and international solidarity and goodwill, the possibilities 2:00:49.040 --> 2:00:52.520 for the Marshall Islands seem endless. They've endured World War, 2:00:53.160 --> 2:00:56.440 survived the dropping of the atom bond, and they're adapting 2:00:56.480 --> 2:00:59.240 to climate change by centering community and their obligations to 2:00:59.320 --> 2:01:01.960 each other rather than trying to each take what they 2:01:02.040 --> 2:01:05.640 can and get out. With access to clean water and 2:01:05.760 --> 2:01:08.600 homes free of smoke, their children will be healthier, and 2:01:08.680 --> 2:01:10.480 every child I met on the island seem to have 2:01:10.560 --> 2:01:13.240 bright hopes for the future. I met one kid who 2:01:13.280 --> 2:01:16.440 wanted to be a basketball player and another who aspired 2:01:16.480 --> 2:01:19.640 to apparently be as tall as I am. People in 2:01:19.680 --> 2:01:22.440 the Islands don't focus on their past, but on their future, 2:01:22.640 --> 2:01:24.800 and with a little solidarity and decency from the rest 2:01:24.840 --> 2:01:27.600 of the world, they have a very bright one. I 2:01:27.680 --> 2:01:29.880 wonder finish this series with the explanation we got from 2:01:29.920 --> 2:01:32.360 Whitney of the Marshally's flag. It's a great flag, by 2:01:32.400 --> 2:01:33.680 the way, and you should look it up if you 2:01:33.760 --> 2:01:36.240 haven't seen it. It's one of the most common flags 2:01:36.280 --> 2:01:39.480 of convenience for merchant vessels all over the world. I've 2:01:39.520 --> 2:01:42.640 seen it in several continents, but never really knew what 2:01:42.800 --> 2:01:45.680 it meant. At least for now, it seems to mean 2:01:45.760 --> 2:01:48.240 that these tirely islands, which have been through so much, 2:01:48.880 --> 2:01:50.440 still have great hopes for the future. 2:01:50.880 --> 2:01:55.960 The Marshalis flair there's two the orange other white light, 2:01:57.160 --> 2:02:01.160 and they represent that the relic chain and the rather chain, 2:02:01.280 --> 2:02:04.720 the sunrise chain of island and the sunset chain of 2:02:04.800 --> 2:02:08.680 violent which form the martial alum. So those two lines. 2:02:09.160 --> 2:02:14.240 But those lines, there's one orange and one whit. Orange 2:02:14.360 --> 2:02:20.720 is for courage to start, it's called Kio, and the 2:02:20.880 --> 2:02:26.880 white is for peace. But these lines are not parallel. 2:02:27.600 --> 2:02:32.120 I mean they become larger as they move up, and 2:02:32.200 --> 2:02:35.760 they don't start from the corner. They start from a 2:02:35.800 --> 2:02:40.280 little bit over the corner of the flag, meaning that 2:02:40.600 --> 2:02:43.640 we have a past. We didn't start from the beginning 2:02:43.680 --> 2:02:46.480 when we started this milk government in nineteen seventy nine. 2:02:47.400 --> 2:02:49.800 And then it moves out. It doesn't go all the 2:02:49.880 --> 2:02:53.560 way to the corner at the top. Because we're always growing. 2:02:53.680 --> 2:02:56.040 There's so you know, we're always growing. 2:02:56.120 --> 2:02:56.840 We need to grow. 2:02:56.920 --> 2:02:58.000 It's very important. 2:03:25.080 --> 2:03:28.200 Hey, we'll be back Monday with more episodes every week 2:03:28.320 --> 2:03:30.200 from now until the heat death of the Universe. 2:03:30.800 --> 2:03:33.160 It Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 2:03:33.400 --> 2:03:36.040 For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 2:03:36.120 --> 2:03:38.280 cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 2:03:38.360 --> 2:03:41.720 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 2:03:42.160 --> 2:03:44.280 You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated 2:03:44.360 --> 2:03:47.360 monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. 2:03:47.600 --> 2:03:48.400 Thanks for listening.