They are emotional beings, thoughtful inclusive conversations think conditions and the changes we want to see become possible. So i want to hear from you, when we talk about climate you talk about it . More importantly what do you want to be talking about, with whom . Join theconversation, even make your own video. Invite your friends to join you. Lets talk climate. Live stream discussion, excited to be here with you and Erin Brockovich. Id like to acknowledge that interlock people who inhabited these lands for 10,000 years. We love to hear from you so share your questions in the comments of the live stream or to and at us using our handle at climate one. Hope everyones staying safe. We recording todays conversation for the climate one radio show and podcast which drops every friday. This subscribed wherever you get your pods read my guest today is an environmental icon. Erin brockovich became a household name when her film about some fight for a small town wasreleased 20 years ago. It tells the true story of a single moms fight to get Justice Julia roberts played the topand relentless paralegal who brought pg and e, pacific gas and electric to its knees. If you dont dream about being rich, they dream of seeing their kids swim in the pool without worrying about the have to have a hysterectomy. Shes on a new case in midland texas. Your like water batman. Cancer cluster is getting the attention of wellknown environmental advocate Erin Brockovich. How is she getting involved in the crisis, how did you first find out about it. From the community, about a year ago they contacted me. We will like airpollution, we will find our way. Erin brockovich, welcome to climate one. Its nice to be here and i want to share with everybody up north and the whole state of california and oregon and i hope youre staying safe and well and its a rough time so i hope everybody is taking care ofthemselves. You were saying before we came on if you had a son who had to evacuate in oregon, how areyou and your family doing . Im in southerncalifornia. I was part of the wolseley fire so we have a northern carol california fires , and then the wesley fire and even today when it gets smoky, im in this kind of mode so my senses are like up and im very alert. We are very very smoky area the air quality is not good. Were definitely watching whats happening up north in oregon and its worrisome. Its sad. And i hope everybodys just paying attention and taking care of themselves. Matthew is fine right now oregon is taking it pretty hard. You write about how fossil fuels are disrupting where people live, how they live and ive been thinking about Climate Changefulltime for 13 years. Its Something Different about when we got to breathe it into our lungs and id like to hear how experiencing Climate Change is different than anticipating Climate Change. Thats an excellent question and because we are experiencing it, because its not an isolated situation in one country or one part of the state. Its now just becoming everywhere. And seeing is believing. I think Climate Change has been something thats difficult for people you cant really see it. We think of climate and its air and where is it . It reminds me when i was out in hinckley and i was looking at the twoheaded frog and the green water and that visual meant everything to me. So i talk about climatechange a lot. And i had a picture that was sent to me two days ago up in chico at noon, it was dark but yet it was orange. Itwas a moonscape. If you dont know what Climate Changes, that picture shows you. And we are visual. Most of us are and whats happening for all of us, weve seen the fires in australia. We certainly experienced them on the west coast. And i let people know if you can think of it as a weather phenomenon because you can almost visualize a tornado or a hurricane or a fire and what the Climate Change and the Global Warming has done and i let people know because they dont always see it. Somebody asked me but what does water have to do with Climate Change and im like, okay well thats an excellent question. Ill try not to be frustrated because im likeoh my gosh , climate is water and that is something that i hope you visualize. Part of whats happening here is weve been in this draft so we have less water. We talk about it in the book and Johannesburg South africa, they were literally going to have no water so Climate Change is about to much water. Not enough water, no water. Routes, flooding. And the conversation is really gearing up and its always been there but i believe the conversation is getting bigger because its affecting everyone and they are actually visually experiencing and seeing a result and it can be suffocating and its frightening and the losses can be great so i just hate to say it. The movie twister and i dont know who saw it, but bill paxton is waiting, watching the storm coming and one of his workers comes up and is referencing, you can see it , he says my gosh, its coming and bill paxton in that moment stops and he says its already here. So i think its becoming real because its tangible. Its touchable. Youre runningfrom it. Your breathing it your swimming in it. You could be drowning in it. I think its here and i know that sounds dramatic but it is dramatic. And im often struck with Rachel Carson and again, i quote this in the book superman is not coming but she talked about how man has this fateful power to alter nature. And thats a battle that will not be won by us and instead of trying to continue to alter that, rather we look to ourselves and master and alter our responses, our solutions and our actions. And it just amazes me that she said this in 1963 and what was happening in the 60s and where did we not hear or heed a warning and how we get better at that because Climate Change will be about our response, our preparedness, are defending ourselves and not just thinking that because you cant see it that its not going to happen. Does that mean the power is inward because so much of climate and environmentalism is about changing peoples minds, changing other people, changing other parties, other states so am i hearing you say that look inward first for power and change rather than shaming Oil Companies or republicans or things like that . Absolutely. It would be foolish for us to think whether you are republican or democrat you can or cant be involved in this issue or that industry or the fossil fuels. This will be something that collectively, weve got to drop that period and Work Together and i think that the threat or fingerpointing for the name pointing, all of that isnt serving any purpose other than getting two sides to stand down and i want to find a way to break through that. We all are going to haveto have a seat at this table. And heres the thing that i think is frustrating, we do have the technology and companies can step in here and work with the people so its an inward moments where youre like, im not going to engage in this but i am going to engage in how i can get you to come together to Work Together for a situation on this planet that will affect us all. It doesnt matter what your Party Affiliation is. It doesnt matter if your industry or we as a community. Whats going to matter is we recognize it and stop with the namecalling, Somebody Just put the sword down and lets work collectively. We have to be collectiveon this issue. For the entire planet which is the entire human species. And our country recently has had a real reckoning with the embedded racism, Structural Racism in our country today and in the past. I like to ask you about in 2017 upon the nation filed a lawsuit against 25 oil and Gas Companies operating wastewater injection sites near their homes in oklahoma, a state that very dear to you. Whats that case about and what it significance . I think the biggest significance as we definitely see these communities that havent been heard or that were not listening to them. They feel suppressed and oppressed and socioeconomic factors and theres a whole list of reasons why they dont have access to computers for school or education that they been underestimated and set aside but theyre starting to collectively find their voice. And upon the nation was terribly affected by the earthquakes that were coming from the fracking and left them forgotten so i work with the law firm wrightson luxenberg that had gone out there to representthem. And we see these issues playing themselves out. Tracking is, theres so much that people dont know about fracking and we talked about that in the book. The book is so important because i feel were able to talk in a laymans term so that you can understand it because once we understand it and we get it, we will take action. And upon the nation was terribly devastated and the water has been impacted and they feel very forgotten and were in a moment where theyre speaking up. Theyre speaking out, were all starting to see it. Ive seen it on the ground for 20 years and its very hurtful and what happens is somehow they get convinced that their voice wont matter and theyll back off for a while and out of fear and feeling left and less than and how theyve been treated and that just simply has to stop and again, likeClimate Change. You have to see and that has been my gift to be on the ground and to be able to be with them and see and touch and no this is happening and their voice, theyre starting to find that and theyre starting to, theyre also getting support. That is very key. That they have the support of us or the support of the community. So they were very impacted and that lawsuit is still ongoing to try to get recovery for them because they were devastated by the pollution caused by fracking. How have you benefitedfrom White Privilege . All my gosh. Ive beenblessed in so many ways. I was born and raised in the lawrence kansas and i was blessed to enjoy the freedom of the outdoors, certainly at the time blessed to have clean water. Access to good health. Education. Ive been beyond blessed and every day in my line of work when i do go out there and see that especially when i was blessed with clean water and clean land and clean air and we all deserve that and my father was the one that taught me. He was a republican man from kansas and he ran a pipeline and i know he saw things and he taught me that the greatest gifts we all have, everybody is clean water. Clean land, our air to breathe, our health and our family. You write about how you used the same water down by the creek. That was very sweet. One day laurie popp turned down the tap in her home in Southern Arizona and brown water came out. Hows that a cautionary tale . Its a big one. For a whole lot of reasons. I always have to collect my thoughts or i could sit here and talk for the next two hours about this oneissue. In the book we share a collage of photos that come in from every single state in the United States and multiple cities and green water, im telling you ive not been wrong on. You could argue with me about that all day and im going to tell you know, i can tell you right about 1 pm what color is going to be. It has a color in water and then we see the brown waters and the dirty waters. The black waters, often times we have oil and gas issues. We have tax farms that are leaking and they come into their backyard. People on well water but generally across the board, were seeing these watercolors because we are adding ammonia to the system. And were not treating the dirt appropriately as the municipality. Whats worrisome about those photos is generally often in there is lead area that we have 18 million miles of pipeline of lead pipeline that we need to address our infrastructure. So regarding that color of the water, its telling us several things. Infrastructure issue, pollution issue, bacterial issue, led issues and that the water is not being treated appropriately at the municipality. The best way to explain it and i have clearly learned because i go through this when you Start Talking scientific im like , i cant deal with this. And i see communities do the same thing. They almost lost over, oh number what . It took me a year to learn to say this. I was like, we were in a meeting and robert both paul is one of the greatest water experts around and im not kidding. He was talking about organic matter i could just see the audience go, what is that . To organic tomatoes,thats what i think. So i said bob, what is organic matter and he said dirt and so everyone is like, that i get. Dirt i get. As water comes in it has dirt in it. And they have to add chlorination because we dont want to have e. Coli outbreaks and things like that but what a lot of people dont know and heres the big message. We need to know our water. We need to understand water and when we do, it changes everything. So organic matter and chlorination create a very toxic compound known as trihalomethanes. When we cant keep our ph and control the appropriate filtration system, but we all want to dothat because we all want to do things cheap and take these shortcuts. We cant take shortcuts on water so adding ammonia to the system can reduce chlorination less effective and then we have the whole situation happening in the Distribution System which most people dont realize is unregulated. A lot of stuff goes on in their. But when the water becomes corrosive and you have lead pipes, causes the pipes to pitch and all the iron and the manganese leaks out. Thats often what youre seeing when its coming out of the pipes but coming with it is the lead. So the lead is a huge issue and if we could change adding ammonia and follow the Safe Drinking Water act and guidelines for filtration, we would save infrastructure which is in great need of repair. We all know were going to have to do something about our infrastructure and we would have less lead contamination and less legionnaire outbreaks. Definitely seeing more legionnaire outbreaks. Were definitely seeing more lead contamination. Working on the lead and copper rule, that congressman dan kilby is that amazing with that in flint michigan and this was a policy written a long time ago that said you could test for land and water once every four years and average the sample. What . Weve been missing a whole lot of stuff going on so for the person that sees that color of water, generally that is one of the number one causes of why youre seeing that discoloration of water and we really need to get back to spaces. We need to on the upfront take care of our infrastructure , safety and people first. We have a question from listener david romano who asks about artificial search replacing grass on plainfield and lead is a concern there from some of those things that are made from old tires. Your take on artificial turf as a replacement to natural gas. Thats a great question. Ive had many soccer moms come to me kids have been on artificial turf and the pcvs and the lead and the mercury and a whole lot of issues going on and off gassing and children and those playing football or soccer down on the ground with cancer. So it is, theres some big studies going on. Unaware of these communities and im workingwith them. This is going to be one of those situations where theres going to be some lawsuit that will push back on that had a can be very dangerous. And im really so glad somebody asked that. That was out ofthe blue. You are correct and we just be better off playing on good old natural grass. So there are issues and i think thats something many universities and schools and as we learn more and we talk about this more, that we will stop doing that. There are a couple hundred people listening, if you have questions you can write them in the Comment Section on the live stream. Were talking my guest today on climate one is Erin Brockovich, shes the author of the new book supermans not coming, our National Water crisis and what we can do about it so speaking about water, a lot of people we talked about water. How is electricity, how is Electricity Generation and water bring, people dont realize that nexus thats very important. The hydro dams. A lot of power plants are located near water forcooling. From pollution, and as you said mercury, hydro dams. Weve been in a lot of that with electricity and water and the issues they cause. Weve been successful in some communities stopping that. Other communities not it can become absolute an issue and we do talk about that. In 2003 you and edward mastery, your legal collaborator then filed suit against Beverly Hills Unified School District for allowing contractors to operate a cluster of oil wells on campuses. You claim 300 cancer cases were tied to the wells but the judge ruled the claims were unproven and the School District was reimbursed or half 1 millionin legal fees. Your thought on that because some people will point that as a case where overreaching perhaps or financial incentives. The case was a proven. There was a lot of arguing with science on that. And i had that conversation with the attorneys because the issue for me was energy and the cooling towers that fit right on top of that campus and heres the ball field so we definitely have an oil derrick and the oil derrick when they talk about that is and was a problem. Beverly hills School District has recently come back to me and asked me to help because theyve removed the oil derrick. We were right about that issue. Theres a lot of Directional Drilling thatgoes on. Its like the whole world under their. And the number of kids coming from everly hills high in a timeframe of about 10 years is way more than 300 area its over 1000. So i dont make this stuff up. We need to look at these patterns and these numbers and theyre all in the same location and they all have cancer. Thats something that needsto be looked at. So at thetime , they were assuming or believing that the oil derrick was causing these issues. And i did a lot of testing in that area and we were finding high levels of benzene but the science became a big argument in court and so it ended up settling and i believe had we focused on the facts available chromium and the cooling tower, you would have started seeing a better correlation of these illnesses so this is the school that had an oil derrick on it and Simpler Energy right on top of. Oil derrick has now been removed but yes what . They have a big problem now. Because once its been removed they are quite well aware they have a huge methane issue. Huge. And what theyre concerned about is the subway thats going to come through and underneaththat school , what couldhappen. It just doesnt make sense to me. La at one time i believe was the Third Largest oil reserve in the us. It was just nothing but oil derricks. That oil and crude and it seeks out, is in the ground, in the environment under the school, high levels of methane. At sinking, building a school on top of that and now running a subway under it with potential methane explosions and or issues just isnt a good idea. And so thats what happens there. And i was going to, i had a second part answering that. I will always be glad thatwe spoke out about that. And that people now know this is something that superman is not coming to parents should know that information. Though they can better defend their children area to see in a very similar situation thats happening up in upstate new york and these moms have not let up but they are now finding themselves in court he caused its a huge cleanup process and its mercury and its pcvs and its these chemicals. They dont want the kids going there and they want the schools shut down and theyre making big progress. So we do need to Pay Attention to issues like that. And it did settle and i understand why people think that but thats not what was going on. Theres a real pollution problem there, theres a real chrome six problem there. There are people there, real students and kids and they have actually been impacted and theres more than 1000 of them. More than 17 million americans live within a mile of an african gas well the California Democratic senators recently killed a bill to ban oil and gas within 2500 feet of schools and some of those Democratic Senators including bob herzberg, anna camaro received nearly hundred 50,000 dollars from oil and Gas Companies. Ventura county, i dont know if thats where you are pass 105 foot setback for oilwells. Were just kind of trying to get some kind of a buffer zone, where you see that status of a buffer zone around oil andgas wells particularly school. I think youre going to see more about it and better results with that because the moms are starting tospeak up and see you and like i told you were starting to see that effect in upstate new york. And that is one thing that is a big huge game changer. When the moms and its always a mom. Shes like i dont like that, i dont like an oil well, you dont even have to sit here and get into a scientific debate on the issue. Its an oil derrick, is an oil field, its an oil pipeline. We know what oil is. You worry about benzene and you worry about an accident. You just dont want it in close proximity to your children and the schools so i think change will come from the conversation, the rise of moms and the rise of Community Getting in even at the local city Council Level and saying this is what we want and this is frankly what were going to demand for the safety of our children. We have another question from Vanessa Caroline and she asks in addition to fighting the good fight for changes in our water rules is there a way to protect ourselves and our homes from questionable municipal water purifiers, what kind of average what can an average person do about the water in their home . Thats a great question and one of the first steps we tell people is know your water source, know your municipality and if you havent been getting a Water Quality report in your bill, you need to call them and you need to get them. We cant tell you what to filter or what filters to buy. If you dont know whats in your water because each chemical response to a different resin or carbon or coconut shell. Weve always said reverse osmosis can be one of the best ways to protect yourself at home. Whether its a home system, countertop system under the sink, there are concerns with that the minerals are taken out. You can add the minerals back. Theres definite questions as you dispose of the reverse osmosis canister. The chemicals or compounds that are in their are how we dispose of them. But it is one of the safest ways to protect yourself and really the first way to protect yourself at the tap is know your water, know whats in your water and from there begin to pick out the appropriate filtration. If you are looking to reduce the smell of chlorination, that alone will not clear out if you have any levels of lead or the pots for hexavalent chromium or tcv. Know your water, know whats in your water and you can begin to make the appropriate steps on what type of filtration you would need to have your home to better protect yourself. And flint michigan kind of the iconic watercontamination story. With a lot of racial this relation, theres a 600 million settlement with 80 percent of the funds going to people under 18 at the time of thecrisis. Is that a just settlement and would you . Icds communities and i still talk to people in inquiry. The money and that settlement is a form of justice. In flint, having a grand jury and those that knew and said nothing to see them the sentenced, to be reprimanded for that and regis behavior has been some justice. The National Attention and the media and the story rising has been some justice. And when they get the money, yes it feels like some justice but its very bittersweet because the scars are left especially for the children of flint and their future or neurological problems or learning disabilities and the money is there to help how we can, how the family can get them the appropriate care that they need or tutoring that they need and getting them on with life. And for them ultimately justice would have been that this never happened. Everybody in hinckley feels the same way. What good is the money going to do you when i have cancer and imgoing to die . We should clarify hinckley was the town where you got your start in the film where theres chromium six pacific gas and electric. In flint they switched river waters. Flint was a perfect storm and in the way pg and e was a perfect storm. Pg and he was groundwater, well water. The pg and the hinckley california Erin Brockovich film was a corporation knowing and hiding the information. And this is my father always taught me deception. Is the root cause of so many of our downfalls and in flint it wasanother perfect storm. They switched river water and they knew, the women of flint contacted me one year before anyone really new what we know flint to be today. I happened to be out of the country and you kind of have to sometimes read between the lines what somebody is saying to you andi said this , this isntright. So i i sent it over to bob pocock who i worked with and was a water expert and he emailed me back and he said im leaving tomorrow. We wrote an entire water protocol for them on what not to do. But they did it anyway and they knew. That is such a shock in your got. Weve really, i think well talk about okay, ill get a corporation doing that but the idea that your municipality or anybody in the Health Department or in an agency all the way up to the governor would in fact not inform you of that, knowing it would be harmed is really a slap in the face. A lot of people would say its about race. I can understand that because they underestimated that community. They underestimated the race and they think because of your socioeconomic situation or because you dont have the education or because of this that youre never going to figure it out. And yes, they underestimated this situation. And that should. It happens a lot. It also happens sometimes differently in wealthy communities that the largest natural gas leak in us history occurred in 2015 at a Storage Facility and corridor ranch. The impact of the climate was the equivalent to annual admissions half 1 million cars. You supported a Class Action Lawsuit filed on behalf of residents, clarify that stance. That stands in a pretty good place. Its goingthrough its process in discovery. There are records coming out that really arent very good for the oil and gas company and this is again something thats really good to talk about. And it does affect all communities so its moving along. It will settle. I was out there. I dont live far from there and the thing that is so frustrating, we need to look at our infrastructure not only in water but our oil and gas and these abandoned fields and what nobody knows whats going on under there until we have a big disaster like this that you get an alecia canyon. This is what Beverly Hills is upsetting. When we know thesesituations are here , i honestly dont know why we dont plan, prepare, find a solution, fix the problem. Why do we wait for the disaster andthats what happened in alecia canyon and i was out there. Other people were out there. Whoever they are would be southern cal gas, times the media whether we get a sensational moment or not real you couldnt possibly be experiencing that. This drives me crazy and i said earlier about the science argument, i was on the phone with a scientist and he said lets be honest, you dont have the data to conclude this did cause that to people. Youre right, idont. I dont have a problem telling you i was wrong or something happened and listen, i said youre right, i dont but heres what part of science doesnt seem to want to answer. You dont have all the data either so how can you conclude itdoesnt . When you have a Community Like an alecia canyon or Beverly Hills or flint or henry and we can go all over the country riyadh when they are telling you the very people breathing it, drinking it, experiencing it over a huge dose in a short time or a medium amount of contaminants over a long range, why do we not look and listen because right there youre learning something about the impacts of what that gas and abandoned fields , Water Pollution, municipalities not paying attention does to the people because thats where were going to learn and i just honestly greg, i go nuts over this. We are talking about poison. We are well aware of them. Weve studied a lot of them. And for us to adjust them and inhale them and drink them just generally doesnt lead to a very good outcome. Your past the precautionary principle where things haveto be proven before they go in the market. Our system is more like you get away with it until 20 years later theres enough people that have cancer. Its an. [bleep] backward system and i truly believe that. We talk about in the book and one of the perfect examples is that the foa which most people know is teflon, the fos which most people know as the firefighting phone. This is 3000 different chemicals that have created the pfc family group, weve got a family of chemicals. This is what happens and why i just saidthe system is asked backwards. 3m new that this chemical was a bad actor and they notified the agencies so the agencies rated a guideline for 100 parts per trillion and you can run it through yourwater up to that point. We will go out of business read to commission a study and science takes time, science can take five years, evan years, eight years here we go about four years ago as its being studied. The conclusions come in. Yes, this causes cancer and diseases area to make matters worse the study got hidden, you have to fight to get it to come out. Why on earth would we go through that, recap on the environment, the water, human health and life went on the up front you should be saying i want to see a study first before i put this into the marketplace and expose the people or the environment. I want to see the studyfirst. But we dont, we do that at the end. It doesnt make sense. For those who like movies, dark water gets into that and an excellent way. Youre just joining us, im greg dalton and my guest is Erin Brockovich. Her newbook is superman is not coming, our National Water crisis and what we as people can do about it. And it goes through. Im going to go to our lightning round and ask you Erin Brockovich, first some true false questions. So true or false, you Wear Clothing made with goretex. Its probably going to be true, some of the things i put on oftentimes we dont know and i am definitely dont the of that and im probably going to say true. I go in the Grocery Store and i look at some of this stuff and im like i didnt even know that was in there. True or false, your kitchen as pots and pans lined with teflon or similar no stick coding. Absolutely there willbe and i like to get rid of them because i like castiron. Beauty, true or false. Beauty pageants and power when. I was in a couple. Im goingto say no. True or false, white people are more likely than people of color to be represented i plaintiffs, attorneys and environmental class action suits. I dont want to believe that. Some people will say its true. I work with many firms and we absolutely represent people of color. Thats just not be acceptable to not do that. There be some out there . I dont know, maybe. True or false, most of the law partners you interact with plaintiffs firms are white. Yes. Im just going to ask you to mention a person place or thing and ask you to get your first phrase or word that comes to mind rid unfiltered, i dont thinkwe have to worry about the unfiltered. Epa administrator andrew wheeler. [sigh] call me, please. We need to talk. Joe bidens position on fracking. Im not sure. And thats an honest response. One word or phrase that describes how you felt carrying the olympic torch in Salt Lake City in 2002. Oh my god thats going to be the first thing in my head. Scary, amazing and heres why. It is what i so want to do is pass that torch to everybody. I was so nervous. I didnt know who to run, who to talk to. It was raining, theres cameras here. I wore mascara, what was i thinking . This is about makeup and i said im scared, i dont want to do this so they told me to start running at your pace up and im thinking where do i go, what am i supposed to do, if i drop it this is the worstcase scenario and they said you need to turn around because is coming, turn around and get ready and i said i can hear them go grab it and like boom, i got a hold of it. The minute i did it was like yes. It just became powerful. But sometimes we are afraid to grab it. And were fearful that we cant do it and i want you to know onceyou grab it , you know where to go. Last one, a woman of color who like you should be a household name the cause of her heroic environmental advocacy. Give a name . Whos a woman of color was an unsung environmental hero in your view . Thats an excellent question read theres quite a few. Theres so many of them in the communities that are Unsung Heroes theyre everywhere. Theyre just everywhere. One question we have from you to, our listener saying what advice do you have for youth activists today are looking to make a real impact on climate and water. Youtalk about passing the torch, whats your advice as youre passing the torch . Get involved and im talking to them and working with them and i have one whos an intern with me the biggest question i have is everything that weve been talking abouthere. We label or judge or perceive based on, its like when i started my work in hinckley. Im well aware of who i am i dont need to be reminded, youre not a doctor, not a lawyer, not a scientist. Youre a girl with blonde hair and your. [bleep] are too big and your dress is inappropriate, what do youknow . I said i dont have to be any of that to the human. And to tell you that i have a voice where i see as wrong and to stand up. And for our youth to believe in yourself. We let negative noises get inside of our heads and i am so frustrated with this. It doesnt matter if you are right or left, black or white, rich or poor. You are great and you need to believe in yourself. And once you do, or you grab that torch it becomes a moment where you get more information or a little more knowledge or you get your confidence or a little more support that you just keep going and you keep going and you keep going dont ever let somebody getinside of your head. That happened to me because i was dyslexic. I was labeled stupid and underestimated and all those things. Weve got to stop underestimating people and often times the youth we dont listen to because they are the youth. Absolutely not read your valued. It doesnt matter, as i said. I talked about this assessment. We assess ourselves and who we are based on what . Money, fame, what we drive . Really . Lets take a look and assess who we are based on character and our courage and our strength, our persistence, ourdetermination. That is what matters. And i dont want anyone to ever forget that because ive seen it too much and ive experienced it where you are oppressed,suppressed, pushed back. Abeled, judged. Please. We need to stop that. Do you think that being sort of marginalized by powerful people and probably men, would that make you more determined . You have to laugh, greg. Sure it does. But ive also learned very early on we need to understand emotions better. And the human psychology better and our selfesteem, selfdoubts and i do believe when you own that in yourself. These suppressive moments and ive experienced them, that you are a uncomfortable or youre not telling me something that you would project that onto me and learning how when you know yourself, boom, that predicts i dont want to say teflon but thats just not a good thing but thats your shield. You own you, you know it and dont let that prediction come back on you so when it does happen to me and it took me a long time to learn it, why do you feel you need todo that . Because i know who i am but what is it you know or dont know or are hiding . Just be honest. Im not afraid to be honest, im not afraid to be vulnerable, im not afraid to be wrong so i own and when i do , give me your best shot. Thats often times where we start to recoil. Ive been there. You talk about being marginalized as a pretty blonde woman. Were you ever tempted to use that as a tool for your advantage to particularly whenencountering men . Unconsciously, maybe but not consciously know. I was in beauty pageants. I didnt like that, i didnt care for that. In hinckley and i was definitely when the film first came out thrown back a little bit about comments about how i dress and i said well, that wasnt intentional but if you think and i could see the other side thinking im going to use that and okay, fine. Thats what i do but if you ever spent asummer in hinckley i would have been better off running around naked. It was like all the time. Struck me and again, thats judging me by what i wear. And theres just some days i feel like dressing that way because i just feel i dont know, spunky or fiery that they. It doesnt always have some meaning but this is where the line in the film came from , the 634 you all know what comes from is if thats what you going to think of me okay. Im just going to throw that rightback in your face. Thats not what was going on. And thats not what im consciously thinking but im not going to lie to you, im certainly a female and theres days and they want to do my hair pretty or this looks kind of shouldnt have tofeel bad about that. Its a great question. You knew this was going to get out of my climate conversation. We have a question from angelina cook. A question for listener angelina cook. How can disadvantaged alpine communities protect themselves against industrial carbon intensive projects that aim to extract, export and deplete localwater resources. A lot of bottled water is being sucked out of the ground in communities that dont get much. Theres a lot of those coming towards us and one thing i tell people that often times we forget is the collective. So follow the common sense we talk about which is your logic. And start using our leverage. Often times we think of leverage is something bad or somebodys going to leverage, you get smart and you leverage your community. Theres a great deal of power in their and a great deal of support. You can begin to network and other collective committees and it just gets bigger and bigger and get down to your own city Council Level. This is important and people often times dont realize first of all, if youve ever been to the City Council Meeting you show up there talking to themselves and oftentimes a name really not know the communities got this issue. We need to and when you have that issue in the alpine communities and we are seeing this happening, there like going i dont think so. Theyre joiningwith their communities. Theyre starting to create some reference in a good way. At City Council Meetings where many permits can begin and end right at that level. By way of example and its not on this particular issue but its the same example. We talk about in kansas, tyson was coming in withthe whole manufacturing and they didnt want that. With they were worried about Water Pollution and what would happen to the community and ill tell youwhat, figured out pretty fast. They got their fax that knowledge became power and to learn, to understand it, to join forces, get to city council. Work with city council who denied the permit. They ran them right out. That is the power of people and that is the most Important Message i have learned my entire life in all my environmental work. It isnt just a person. It will be you the person where it starts to own where you want to go with your cause, you need the tools and steps to know how to fight but when the collective comes in, thats where it can make a difference. Dont think that some magical oversight will trickle down to you to change the effects in your own backyard. You do that, yourcommunity does that. I am telling you, we are seeing the bigger changes in that microscopic place in your own backyard. Imagine if every one of us did that in every town and city and began to address these issues and blew it up across america we would have effective change and solutions and need that difference. Do you think thats true in the case of the 2500 foot setback rule in california, fossil fuel interests seem to have influenced the democrats who blockedthat rule. If government is bought by corporations, and it takes a lot of people power to flip the balance. It really does and we had a similar situation up during the fires on the legislation and thats the thing. You get involved in legislation you got to read the bills. Its really very difficult and this is where i want people to say i dont know how to do that or im afraid to do that i will pick the phone off all day they really , because what does this mean . You give and you take away. We are able to get that and in some instances change them and got them stopped so be vocal and dont be afraid to utilize radio,social media , facebook, twitter. Put it out there you put the pressure on and keep the pressure on. And that makes a very big difference because youve really got them in the hot seat. No means no, were not doing this. Their banking often times that you go away. There is an association thats too close if you ask me. Somebody asked me once whos worse, corporations or some governmental entity, i dont know, maybe they sleep in the same bed. Its hard to decipher that. Keep the pressure on. I could share with you some examples that a bad legislation, it would have gotten through boom, boom. Keep it on, keep it on area up in minnesota they have horrible tce contamination through thatstate. We dont want these communities, one community in particular, theyengaged the media. They got social groups going. They got a local reporter going and they didnt let up. Until just recently the governor said okay, point made. To use tce in the state of minnesota has been banned. Keep the pressure on. As we get near to the end id like to bring it back to climate and you write a lot about climate in supermans not coming and the impacts are here. They are severe area their depressing. If you know the science you know that a lot of momentum builds up into the system. A lot of changes will continue, more fires, more floods, etc. Even if we shut off all the carbon. How do you not yet, give up or feel overwhelmed or do you and how do you work throughit . Because i believe in people and i believe we are inherently great and i believe just born out of our love for our health, our era, our land, our water, our homes, our country. It resides within us to want to rise and to want to fight area there are days that youre not going to feel like it but give yourself permission. I turned myself on the floor and had a fit and said im not, i give up. But let yourself go there. Check back in with yourself, get back out into the environment. All these things will remind you and renew you, this is what why i get up every single day and just allow yourself that moment and one thing that ive really, youre right. This isnt going to be fixed overnight. But this is what we can do and this is what we talked about in the book , johannesburg africa area they were going to runout of water. Day zero, but what they did is a shining example. A, they acknowledged that houston, we have a problem. They didnt kickthe can down the road. The community was involved. They did their restrictions. They did what they needed to do. They worked with the government. They prepared and because they listen, they didnt kick the can down the road, they acted and it was hard to do the rationing that they did. They made the necessary changes that they were able to stop. And they defended themselves and because of that they had water. Day zero for anyone of us, the Climate Change can be here for anyone of us but i certainly hope and i believe that we are in a wakeup call area no more buying an illusion. This is about taking action. It is real. It is here. Be prepared. Acknowledge it. Even if it doesnt happen. Whats the worst thatsgoing to happen . At least you were prepared. What if it does happen can mark youre going to be really glad you prepared. We got to stop kicking the can down the road, have a conversation, look for the solutions. Be prepared. Work together. Follow through on that and we have ways to defend ourselves. Heres really something important. Its like a football game. Youre going to get out there, be prepared youre going to get knocked around and here we are when you pick the ball up and you get smacked down and they pick up 20 yards, dont stop off the field and go i quit, i give up. Get back out there, that bola and i guarantee you youll be surprised. You can rush 50, 60 yards and you may get knocked downagain. We need to follow through. That is some of the problems that we do have we have these rules and regulations and we dont follow through. And we need to begin to do that and that will begin with even admitting that we have a problem and we better get together and we have the technology, we have the means. We can find the money area we need the cooperation. Weve got to stop this division and get busy. Acting like the team on that ballfield. We can make it to our goal. But not if we dont acknowledge it , pick it up and give it our best. Grip peptalk, i feel better talking with you. Might have to replay this or call you but i did get a boost. Id like to get a shout outto our climate one team of making this happen. This a lot to get to. Id like to thank them or making this happen for aaron for being flexible. Im greg dalton and my guest today was Erin Brockovich. Her book is supermans not coming, the National Water crisis andwhat we as a people can do about it. Its an excellent read about water and erin, id like to thank you for your courage and your work earning power to people who dont have as much as others and for energizing us today so thank you. First of all, i truly enjoyed it. Oftentimes i want to break out in the song i have you, your weare altogether. We are, i believe in us. Youre always times but if you even look back on so many situations and i look back on so many of my communities, they inspire me. The people inspired. They do have the gumption, they do have the desire and when they find themselves in their community what they do is amazing and i have really become like, yes. Go. If youre looking for permission from me to rise up, youre going to get. And often times whatpeople want is the support. [music] look at books being published this week. In american crisis, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo offers leadership lessons that hes learned while responding to the covid19 pandemic. Gates describes his experience as Deputy Campaign chairman for the 2016 trump president ial campaign and later as a cooperating witness during the Mueller Investigation in wicked game. And in upswing, political scientist Robert Putnam called america change following the gilded age and how those lessons apply today. Also being published this week in cultural warlords, journalists 11 reports on online communities of white supremacist. Former White House Press secretary for the Trump Administration sean spicer argues president trumps first term as been successful and he should be reelected in leading america. In gambling with armageddon, martin showing provides a history of the cold war with a focus on the cuban missile crisis and in the luckiestman , mark salter, coauthor with john mccain on several books remember the late senator. Find recitals this coming week wherever books are sold and watch for many of the authors in the near future on book tv on cspan2. Youre watching tv on cspan2. Television for serious readers. There are programs to watch out for tonight. Former second Lady Lynn Cheney articles the leadership of four of the five president s, both hail from the state of virginia. Former cia director john brennan talk about his life and career and donald trump junior offers his thoughts on what he calls liberal privilege. Find the full Television Schedule online at book tv job board or on your program guide. Your watching book tv on cspan2 this sunday evening. We are pleased to be alive with the authors diamond and silk. Their book is calleduprising. Who the hell said you cant ditch and switch. The awakening of diamond and silk. I want to ask you both what you mean by ditch and switch. What we mean by ditch and switch as we want people to ditch what we call the democrat plantation and switch their party to the republicans to vote for donald trump. Webo