Lisa Margonelli: The political chemistry of oil

Translator: Simon Ellehammer J. Reviewer: Morten Kelder Skouboe

So I'm going to talk to you about you about the political chemistry of oil spills

Så jeg vil tale med jer om olieudslips politiske kemi

and why this is an incredibly important,

og hvorfor det er en så utrolig vigtig,

long, oily, hot summer,

lang, olieret, varm sommer,

and why we need to keep ourselves from getting distracted.

og hvorfor vi må sørge for ikke at blive distraheret.

But before I talk about the political chemistry,

Men før jeg taler om den politiske kemi,

I actually need to talk about the chemistry of oil.

bliver jeg faktisk nødt til at tale om olies kemi.

This is a photograph from when I visited

Det her er et foto fra, da jeg besøgte

Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 2002

Prudhoe-bugten i Alaska i 2002

to watch the Minerals Management Service

for at se Minerals Management Service

testing their ability

teste deres evne

to burn oil spills in ice.

til at brænde olieudslip i is.

And what you see here is, you see a little bit of crude oil,

Og det, I ser her, er en lille smule råolie,

you see some ice cubes,

I ser nogle isflager,

and you see two sandwich baggies of napalm.

og I ser to beholdere med napalm.

The napalm is burning there quite nicely.

Napalmen brænder ganske fint.

And the thing is, is that

Og dét, der er, er, at

oil is really an abstraction for us as the American consumer.

olie faktisk er en abstraktion for os amerikanske forbrugere.

We're four percent of the world's population;

Vi udgør fire procent af verdens befolkning;

we use 25 percent of the world's oil production.

vi forbruger 25 procent af verdens olieproduktion.

And we don't really understand what oil is,

Og vi forstår ikke rigtig, hvad olie er,

until you check out its molecules,

før vi undersøger dets molekyler,

And you don't really understand that until you see this stuff burn.

og man forstår ikke rigtig dét, før man har set det brænde.

So this is what happens as that burn gets going.

Så det her er, hvad der sker, når branden kommer i gang.

It takes off. It's a big woosh.

Det starter. Det er et stort "wush".

I highly recommend that you get a chance to see crude oil burn someday,

Jeg anbefaler virkelig, at I tager chancen til at se råolie brænde en dag,

because you will never need to hear another poli sci lecture

for så behøver I aldrig at høre endnu en statskundskabsforelæsning

on the geopolitics of oil again.

om olies geopolitiske betydning igen.

It'll just bake your retinas.

Det vil simpelthen brænde sig fast på jeres nethinder.

So there it is; the retinas are baking.

Dér er det så: nethinderne brænder.

Let me tell you a little bit about this chemistry of oil.

Lad mig fortælle jer en lille smule om olies kemi.

Oil is a stew of hydrocarbon molecules.

Olie er en ragout af hydrogencarbonat-molekyler.

It starts of with the very small ones,

Det starter med de meget små,

which are one carbon, four hydrogen --

der er et carbonat, fire hydrogen --

that's methane -- it just floats off.

det er metan -- det svæver bare væk.

Then there's all sorts of intermediate ones with middle amounts of carbon.

Der er alle mulige mellemformer med gennemsnitligt indhold af carbonat.

You've probably heard of benzene rings; they're very carcinogenic.

I har sikkert hørt om benzen-ringe; de er meget kræftfremkaldende.

And it goes all the way over

Og det fortsætter hele vejen over

to these big, thick, galumphy ones that have hundreds of carbons,

til de store, tykke og kluntede, der har hundreder af carbonater,

and they have thousands of hydrogens,

og de har tusinde af hydrogenmolekyler,

and they have vanadium and heavy metals and sulfur

og de har vanadium og tungmetaller og svovl

and all kinds of craziness hanging off the sides of them.

og alle mulige slags vanvid hængende ud af siderne på dem.

Those are called the asphaltenes; they're an ingredient in asphalt.

De er kaldt asfaltaner; de er en ingrediens i asfalt.

They're very important in oil spills.

De er meget vigtige i olieudslip.

Let me tell you a little bit about

Lad mig fortælle jer en lille smule om

the chemistry of oil in water.

olies kemi i vand.

It is this chemistry that makes oil so disastrous.

Det er denne kemi, der gør olie så katastrofal.

Oil doesn't sink, it floats.

Olie synker ikke, det flyder.

If it sank, it would be a whole different story as far as an oil spill.

Hvis det sank, ville det være en helt anden historie, når det kommer til oliespild.

And the other thing it does is it spreads out the moment it hits the water.

Og den anden ting, det gør, er, at det spreder sig i det øjeblik, det rammer vandet.

It spreads out to be really thin,

Det spreder sig ud til et virkelig tyndt lag,

so you have a hard time corralling it.

så det er vanskeligt at indsamle.

The next thing that happens

Det næste, der sker,

is the light ends evaporate,

er, at de lette dele fordamper,

and some of the toxic things float into the water column

og nogle af de giftige stoffer flyder ind i vandsøjlen

and kill fish eggs

og dræber fiskeæg

and smaller fish and things like that, and shrimp.

og mindre fisk og den slags, og rejer.

And then the asphaltenes -- and this is the crucial thing --

Og så asfaltenerne -- og det er centralt --

the asphaltenes get whipped by the waves

asfaltenerne bliver pisket af bølgerne

into a frothy emulsion, something like mayonnaise.

til en skummende emulsion, noget a la mayonaise.

It triples the amount

Det tredobler mængden

of oily, messy goo that you have in the water,

af olieret, klæbrig masse, som man har i vandet,

and it makes it very hard to handle.

og gør det meget vanskeligt at håndtere.

It also makes it very viscous.

Det gør det også meget klæbrigt.

When the Prestige sank off the coast of Spain,

Da Prestige sank ud for den spanske kyst,

there were big, floating cushions the size of sofa cushions

var der store flydende klumper på størrelse med sofahynder

of emulsified oil,

af emulgeret olie

with the consistency, or the viscosity, of chewing gum.

med en konsistens, eller tyktflydenhed, som tyggegummi.

It's incredibly hard to clean up.

Det er utrolig vanskeligt at rense ud.

And every single oil is different when it hits water.

Og enhver slags olie er forskelligt, når det rammer vand.

When the chemistry of the oil and water

Når olies og vands kemi

also hits our politics,

også rammer vores politik,

it's absolutely explosive.

bliver det absolut eksplosivt.

For the first time, American consumers

For første gang ser amerikanske forbrugere

will kind of see the oil supply chain in front of themselves.

olies logistikkæde foran sig.

They have a "eureka!" moment,

De har et "Heureka"-øjeblik,

when we suddenly understand oil in a different context.

når de pludselig forstår olie i en anden kontekst.

So I'm going to talk just a little bit about the origin of these politics,

Så jeg vil tale bare en smule om denne type politiks oprindelse,

because it's really crucial to understanding

for det er virkelig centralt for at forstå,

why this summer is so important, why we need to stay focused.

hvorfor denne sommer er så vigtig, hvorfor vi blive nødt til at holde fokus.

Nobody gets up in the morning and thinks,

Ingen står op om morgenen og tænker:

"Wow! I'm going to go buy

"Wauw! Jeg vil købe

some three-carbon-to-12-carbon molecules to put in my tank

omkring tre til tolv carbonat-molekyler til at proppe i tanken

and drive happily to work."

og køre glad på arbejde."

No, they think, "Ugh. I have to go buy gas.

Nej, de tænker: "Uhh. Jeg bliver nødt til at købe benzin.

I'm so angry about it. The oil companies are ripping me off.

Jeg er så vred over det. Olieselskaberne tager ågerpriser.

They set the prices, and I don't even know.

De sætter priserne, og jeg aner overhovedet ikke hvordan.

I am helpless over this."

Jeg er hjælpeløs overfor det."

And this is what happens to us at the gas pump --

Og det her, er hvad der sker ved benzintanken --

and actually, gas pumps are specifically designed

og faktisk, så er benzinpumper specielt designet

to diffuse that anger.

til at begrænse den vrede.

You might notice that many gas pumps, including this one,

I vil måske lægge mærke til at mange benzinpumper, denne her inklusive,

are designed to look like ATMs.

er designet til at ligne pengeautomater.

I've talked to engineers. That's specifically to diffuse our anger,

Jeg har talt med ingenører. Dét er specifikt for at forstyrre vores vrede,

because supposedly we feel good about ATMs.

fordi vi åbenbart har det godt med pengeautomater.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

That shows you how bad it is.

Det viser, hvor slemt det er.

But actually, I mean, this feeling of helplessness

Men faktisk mener jeg, at denne følelse af hjælpeløshed

comes in because most Americans actually feel

dukker op, fordi de fleste amerikanere faktisk føler,

that oil prices are the result of a conspiracy,

at oliepriserne er et resultat af en sammensværgelse,

not of the vicissitudes of the world oil market.

ikke verdens oliemarkeds omskiftelighed.

And the thing is, too,

Og det, der også er,

is that we also feel very helpless about the amount that we consume,

er, at vi også føler os meget hjælpeløse omkring, hvor meget vi konsumerer,

which is somewhat reasonable,

hvilket til dels er rimeligt,

because in fact, we have designed this system

fordi vi faktisk har designet et system,

where, if you want to get a job,

hvor, hvis du vil have et job,

it's much more important to have a car that runs,

er det meget vigtigere at have en bil, der kører,

to have a job and keep a job, than to have a GED.

for at have et job og beholde dét, end at have en gymnasieuddannelse.

And that's actually very perverse.

Og det er faktisk temmelig perverst.

Now there's another perverse thing about the way we buy gas,

Der er en anden pervers ting i måden, vi køber benzin på,

which is that we'd rather be doing anything else.

som er, at vi hellere vil gøre alt andet.

This is BP's gas station

Det her er BP's benzintank

in downtown Los Angeles.

i Los Angeles centrum.

It is green. It is a shrine to greenishness.

Den er grøn. Den er et tempel til grønhed.

"Now," you think, "why would something so lame

"Hvorfor," tænker I, "ville noget så lamt

work on people so smart?"

virke på så smarte folk?"

Well, the reason is, is because, when we're buying gas,

Grunden er, at når vi køber benzin,

we're very invested in this sort of cognitive dissonance.

er vi meget investeret i den form for erkendelsesdissonans.

I mean, we're angry at the one hand and we want to be somewhere else.

Jeg mener, vi er på den ene side vrede og vil gøre noget andet.

We don't want to be buying oil;

Vi vil ikke købe olie;

we want to be doing something green.

vi vil gøre noget grønt.

And we get kind of in on our own con.

Og vi lander nærmest i vores eget bedrag.

I mean -- and this is funny,

Jeg mener - og det er sjovt,

it looks funny here.

det ser sjovt ud her.

But in fact, that's why the slogan "beyond petroleum" worked.

Men det er faktisk derfor sloganet "beyond petroleum" virker.

But it's an inherent part of our energy policy,

Men det er en integreret del af vores energipolitik,

which is we don't talk about

at vi ikke taler om

reducing the amount of oil that we use.

at reducere mængden af olie, vi bruger.

We talk about energy independence. We talk about hydrogen cars.

Vi taler om uafhængighed fra energi. Vi taler om hydrogenbiler.

We talk about biofuels that haven't been invented yet.

Vi taler om biobrændsel, der endnu ikke er opfundet.

And so, cognitive dissonance

Og dermed er erkendelsesdissonans

is part and parcel of the way that we deal with oil,

en del af måden, vi tager hånd om olie på,

and it's really important to dealing with this oil spill.

og det er virkelig vigtigt at vi tager hånd om dette olieudslip.

Okay, so the politics of oil

Okay, så politikken omkring olie

are very moral in the United States.

er meget moralsk i USA.

The oil industry is like a huge, gigantic octopus

Olieindustrien er som en kæmpe, gigantisk blæksprutte

of engineering and finance

af ingenørkunst og finans

and everything else,

og alt muligt andet,

but we actually see it in very moral terms.

men vi ser den faktisk med meget moralske briller.

This is an early-on photograph -- you can see, we had these gushers.

Det her er et tidligt fotografi -- man kan se, vi har de her springbrønde.

Early journalists looked at these spills,

Datidens journalister kiggede på de her udslip,

and they said, "This is a filthy industry."

og sagde: "Det er en beskidt industri."

But they also saw in it

Men de så også i den,

that people were getting rich for doing nothing.

at folk blev rige uden at gøre noget for det.

They weren't farmers, they were just getting rich for stuff coming out of the ground.

De var ikke landmænd; de blev bare rige af noget, der kom op af jorden.

It's the "Beverly Hillbillies," basically.

Det var faktisk "de rige bonderøve".

But in the beginning, this was seen as a very morally problematic thing,

Men i begyndelsen blev det set som en problematisk moralsk ting,

long before it became funny.

lang tid før det blev morsomt.

And then, of course, there was John D. Rockefeller.

Og så var der, selvfølgelig, John D. Rockefeller.

And the thing about John D. is that

Og det, der er med John D., er

he went into this chaotic wild-east

at han tog ind i det kaotiske vilde vesten

of oil industry,

af olieindustri,

and he rationalized it

og han rationaliserede det

into a vertically integrated company, a multinational.

til et vertikalt strukturet firma, en multinational virksomhed.

It was terrifying; you think Walmart is a terrifying business model now,

Det var frygteligt; tror du at Walmart er en frygtelig forretningsmodel nu,

imagine what this looked like in the 1860s or 1870s.

så forestil dig, hvordan det så ud i 1860erne eller 1870erne.

And it also the kind of root

Og det er også grunden til,

of how we see oil as a conspiracy.

at vi ser olie som en sammensværgelse.

But what's really amazing is that

Men det, der er virkelig utroligt, er, at

Ida Tarbell, the journalist,

Ida Tarbell, journalisten,

went in and did a big exposé of Rockefeller

tog ind og lavede en stor afsløring af Rockefeller

and actually got the whole antitrust laws

og fik faktisk hele kartellovgivningen

put in place.

på plads.

But in many ways,

Men på mange måder

that image of the conspiracy still sticks with us.

følger billedet af sammensværgelse stadig med os.

And here's one of the things

Og her er en ting

that Ida Tarbell said --

som Tarbell sagde --

she said, "He has a thin nose like a thorn.

hun sagde: "Han har en næse så tynd som en torn.

There were no lips.

Der er ingen læber.

There were puffs under the little colorless eyes

Der er rande under de små farveløse øjne

with creases running from them."

med furer løbende fra dem."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Okay, so that guy is actually still with us.

Okay, så den fyr er her faktisk endnu.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I mean, this is a very pervasive -- this is part of our DNA.

Jeg mener, det er allestedsnærværende -- det er en del af vores DNA.

And then there's this guy, okay.

Og så er der ham her, okay.

So, you might be wondering why it is that,

Så I spekulerer måske på, hvorfor vi -

every time we have high oil prices or an oil spill,

hver gang vi har høje oliepriser eller et olieudslip -

we call these CEOs down to Washington,

hidkalder administrerende direktører til Washington,

and we sort of pepper them with questions in public and we try to shame them.

og steger dem med spørgsmål i offentlige høringer og prøver at gøre dem flove.

And this is something that we've been doing since 1974,

Og det er noget vi har gjort siden 1974,

when we first asked them, "Why are there these obscene profits?"

da vi første gang spurgte dem: "Hvorfor er der sådan nogle uanstændige overskud?"

And we've sort of personalized the whole oil industry

Og vi har ligesom personificeret hele olieindustrien

into these CEOs.

i de administrerende direktører.

And we take it as, you know --

Og vi tager det som, I ved --

we look at it on a moral level,

vi ser på det fra en moralsk vinkel,

rather than looking at it on a legal and financial level.

fremfor at se det fra en juridisk og finansiel vinkel.

And so I'm not saying these guys aren't liable to answer questions --

Og jeg siger ikke, at de her fyre ikke er forpligtede til at svare på spørgsmål --

I'm just saying that, when you focus on

Jeg siger bare, at når vi fokuserer på

whether they are or are not a bunch of greedy bastards,

om de er en flok grådige svin eller ej,

you don't actually get around to the point

så når man faktisk aldrig til det punkt,

of making laws that are either going to either change the way they operate,

hvor man får lavet love, der enten ændrer måden, de arbejder på,

or you're going to get around

eller når til

to really reducing the amount of oil

virkelig at reducere mængden af olie

and reducing our dependence on oil.

og reducere vores afhængighed af olie.

So I'm saying this is kind of a distraction.

Så jeg siger, at det er en form for afledningsmanøvre.

But it makes for good theater,

Men det bliver godt teater,

and it's powerfully cathartic as you probably saw last week.

og det er stærk katharsisk, som I sikkert så i sidste uge.

So the thing about water oil spills

Så dét, der er med olieudslip,

is that they are very politically galvanizing.

er, at de er meget politisk opildnende.

I mean, these pictures -- this is from the Santa Barbara spill.

Jeg mener, de her billeder -- det er fra Santa Barbara-udslippet.

You have these pictures of birds.

I har de her billeder af fugle.

They really influence people.

De påvirker virkelig folk.

When the Santa Barbara spill happened in 1969,

I 1969, da Santa Barbara-udslippet skete,

it formed the environmental movement in its modern form.

skabte det miljøbevægelsen i sin moderne form.

It started Earth Day.

Det startede Jordens Dag.

It also put in place the National Environmental Policy Act,

Det fik implementeret National Miljø Målsætning-loven (NEPA),

the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.

Ren Luft-loven, Rent Vand-loven.

Everything that we are really stemmed from this period.

Alt, hvad vi faktisk er, stammer fra denne periode.

I think it's important to kind of look at these pictures of the birds

Jeg tror, det er vigtigt at se på de her billeder af fuglene

and understand what happens to us.

og forstå, hvad der sker med os.

Here we are normally;

Her er vi normalt;

we're standing at the gas pump, and we're feeling kind of helpless.

vi står ved benzintanken, og føler os lidt hjælpeløse.

We look at these pictures

Vi ser på de her billeder,

and we understand, for the first time, our role in this supply chain.

og vi forstår for første gang vores rolle i forsyningskæden.

We connect the dots in the supply chain.

Vi forbinder punkterne i forsyningskæden.

And we have this kind of --

Og vi har det her --

as voters, we have kind of a "eureka!" moment.

som vælgere har vi en form for "Heureka!"-øjeblik.

This is why these moments of these oil spills

Det er derfor, disse øjeblikke omkring olieudslip

are so important.

er så vigtige.

But it's also really important that we don't get distracted

Men det er også virkelig vigtigt, at vi ikke bliver distraherede

by the theater or the morals of it.

af teatret eller moralen omkring det.

We actually need to go in

Vi bliver faktisk nødt til at gå ind

and work on the roots of the problem.

og arbejde med problemets rod.

One of the things that happened with the two previous oil spills

En af de ting, der skete ved de to forrige olieudslip,

was that we really worked on some of the symptoms.

var, at vi virkelig arbejdede på nogle af symptomerne.

We were very reactive, as opposed to being proactive

Vi var meget reaktive, i modsætning til proaktive,

about what happened.

omkring det, der skete.

And so what we did was, actually,

Så det, vi faktisk gjorde, var

we made moratoriums on the east and west coasts on drilling.

at holde pauser i boringerne på øst- og vest-kysten.

We stopped drilling in ANWR,

Vi stoppede med at bore i det nationale arktiske vildtlivsreservat (ANWR),

but we didn't actually reduce the amount of oil that we consumed.

men vi reducerede ikke mængden af olie, vi konsumerede.

In fact, it's continued to increase.

Faktisk så er det startet med at stige.

The only thing that really reduces the amount of oil that we consume

Den eneste ting, der virkelig reducerer vores olieforbrug

is much higher prices.

er meget højere priser.

As you can see, our own production has fallen off

Som I kan se, er vores produktion faldet

as our reservoirs have gotten old and expensive to drill out.

som vores reservoirer er blevet gamle og dyre at bore efter.

We only have two percent of the world's oil reserves;

Vi har kun to procent af verdens oliereserver;

65 percent of them are in the Persian Gulf.

65 procent af dem er i Den Persiske Golf.

One of the things that's happened because of this

En af de ting, der skete på grund af det,

is that, since 1969,

er, at siden 1969

the country of Nigeria, or the part of Nigeria that pumps oil,

har Nigeria, eller den del af Nigeria, hvor der pumpes olie,

which is the delta -- which is two times the size of Maryland --

hvilket er deltaet -- som er dobbelt så stort som Maryland --

has had thousands of oil spills a year.

har haft tusind olieudslip om året.

I mean, we've essentially been exporting oil spills

Jeg mener, vi har faktisk eksporteret olieudslip,

when we import oil from places

når vi importerer olie fra steder

without tight environmental regulations.

uden stramme miljøreguleringer.

That has been the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill

Det svarer til et Exxon Valdez-udslip

every year since 1969.

hvert år siden 1969.

And we can wrap our heads around the spills,

Og vi kan forstå udslippene,

because that's what we see here,

fordi det er, hvad vi ser her,

but in fact, these guys actually live in a war zone.

men faktisk lever de her fyrer i en krigszone.

There's a thousand battle-related deaths a year

Der er tusind kamprelaterede dødsfald om året

in this area twice the size of Maryland,

i det her område, der er to gange Marylands størrelse,

and it's all related to the oil.

og det er alt sammen relateret til olien.

And these guys, I mean, if they were in the U.S.,

Og de her fyre, jeg mener, hvis de var i USA,

they might be actually here in this room.

så var de måske i det her rum.

They have degrees in political science, degrees in business --

De har universitetsgrader i statsvidenskab, i handel --

they're entrepreneurs. They don't actually want to be doing what they're doing.

de er entreprenører. De vil faktisk ikke lave det, de laver.

And it's sort of one of the other groups of people

Og det er en af de andre grupper af mennesker,

who pay a price for us.

der betaler prisen for os.

The other thing that we've done,

En anden ting, vi gør,

as we've continued to increase demand,

mens vi fortsat hæver efterspørgslen,

is that we kind of play a shell game with the costs.

er, at vi spiller en form for svindelnummer med omkostningerne.

One of the places we put in a big oil project

Et af de steder, vi har startet et stort olieprojekt,

in Chad, with Exxon.

er Chad med Exxon.

So the U.S. taxpayer paid for it;

Så den amerikanske skatteborger betalte for det;

the World Bank, Exxon paid for it.

Verdensbanken, Exxon betalte for det.

We put it in. There was a tremendous banditry problem.

Vi starter det. Der var et enormt problem med banditter.

I was there in 2003.

Jeg var der i 2003.

We were driving along this dark, dark road,

Vi kørte langs denne mørke, mørke vej,

and the guy in the green stepped out,

og en fyr i grønt træder frem,

and I was just like, "Ahhh! This is it."

og jeg tænker: "Åhh! Det var så det."

And then the guy in the Exxon uniform stepped out,

Og så træder en fyr i Exxon-uniform frem,

and we realized it was okay.

og det går op for os, at det er okay.

They have their own private sort of army around them at the oil fields.

De har deres egen slags hær omkring deres oliefelter.

But at the same time,

Men samtidig er

Chad has become much more unstable,

Chad blevet meget mere ustabil,

and we are not paying for that price at the pump.

og vi betaler ikke prisen ved tanken.

We pay for it in our taxes on April 15th.

Vi betaler for det med vores skatter den femtende april.

We do the same thing

Vi gør det samme

with the price of policing the Persian Gulf

med prisen for overvågning af Den Persiske Golf

and keeping the shipping lanes open.

og for at holde skibsruterne åbne.

This is 1988 --

Det her er 1988 --

we actually bombed two Iranian oil platforms that year.

vi bombede faktisk to iranske olieplatforme det år.

That was the beginning of an escalating U.S. involvement there

Det var begyndelsen på USA's øgede engagement der,

that we do not pay for at the pump.

som vi ikke betaler ved benzintanken.

We pay for it on April 15th,

Vi betaler for det den femtende april,

and we can't even calculate the cost of this involvement.

og vi kan ikke engang beregne omkostningerne for det engagement.

The other place that is sort of supporting our dependence on oil

Det andet sted, der støtter vores afhængighed af olie

and our increased consumption

og vores øgede forbrug,

is the Gulf of Mexico,

er Den Mexikanske Golf,

which was not part of the moratoriums.

som ikke var en del af bore-pauserne.

Now what's happened in the Gulf of Mexico -- as you can see,

Det, som skete i Den Mexikanske Golf -- som man kan se,

this is the Minerals Management diagram

det her er 'Mineral Administrationsdiagrammet'

of wells for gas and oil.

over gas- og oliebrønde.

It's become this intense industrialized zone.

Den er blevet det her intenst industrialiserede område.

It doesn't have the same resonance for us

Det har ikke samme resonans hos os

that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has,

som det nationale arktiske vildtlivsreservat har,

but it should, I mean, it's a bird sanctuary.

men det burde det. Jeg mener; det er et fuglereservat.

Also, every time you buy gasoline in the United States,

Desuden; hver gang man køber benzin i USA,

half of it is actually being refined along the coast,

bliver halvdelen raffineret langs kysten,

because the Gulf actually has

fordi Golfen faktisk har

about 50 percent of our refining capacity

omkring 50 procent af vores rafineringskapacitet

and a lot of our marine terminals as well.

og også mange af vores maritime adgange.

So the people of the Gulf have essentially been subsidizing the rest of us

Så folkene omkring Golfen har egentlig givet os andre tilskud

through a less-clean environment.

i form af et mindre rent miljø.

And finally, American families also pay a price for oil.

Og endelig betaler amerikanske familier også prisen for olien.

Now on the one hand, the price at the pump is not really very high

Så på den ene side er prisen på tankstationen ikke særlig høj,

when you consider the actual cost of the oil,

når man overvejer de egentlige omkostninger af olien,

but on the other hand,

på den anden side,

the fact that people have no other transit options

det faktum, at folk ikke har andre transportmuligheder

means that they pay a large amount of their income

betyder, at de betaler en stor del af deres indkomst

into just getting back and forth to work,

på bare at komme frem og tilbage til arbejde,

generally in a fairly crummy car.

generelt i en ret ussel bil.

If you look at people who make $50,000 a year, they have two kids,

Hvis man ser på folk, der tjener 280.000 kr. om året, de har to børn,

they might have three jobs or more,

de har måske tre job eller mere,

and then they have to really commute.

og de bliver virkelig nødt til at pendle.

They're actually spending more on their car and fuel

De bruger faktisk flere penge på deres bil og brændstof

than they are on taxes or on health care.

end de bruger på skatter eller sundhedsforsikring.

And the same thing happens

Og det samme foregår

at the 50th percentile, around 80,000.

omkring den 50. procent, omkring 440.000 kr.

Gasoline costs are a tremendous drain

Benzinomkostninger er utrolig drænende

on the American economy,

for den amerikanske økonomi,

but they're also a drain on individual families

men også for de individuelle familier,

and it's kind of terrifying to think about what happens when prices get higher.

og det er lidt skræmmende at tænke på, hvad der sker, når priserne bliver højere.

So, what I'm going to talk to you about now is:

Så det, jeg vil tale lidt om nu, er:

what do we have to do this time?

hvad skal vi gøre denne gang?

What are the laws? What do we have to do to keep ourselves focused?

Hvilke love findes? Hvad skal vi gøre for at holde os selv fokuserede?

One thing is -- we need to stay away from the theater.

En ting er -- vi bliver nødt til at holde os fra teatret.

We need to stay away from the moratoriums.

Vi er nødt til at holde os fra pauserne.

We need to focus really back again

Vi er nødt til igen at fokusere

on the molecules.

på molekylerne.

The moratoriums are fine, but we do need to focus

Pauser er fine, men vi bliver nødt til at fokusere

on the molecules on the oil.

på oliens molekyler.

One of the things that we also need to do,

En af tingene, vi bliver nødt til,

is we need to try to not kind of fool ourselves

er at prøve ikke at bedrage os selv

into thinking that you can have a green world,

til at tro, at vi kan have en grøn verden,

before you reduce the amount of oil that we use.

før vi reducerer mængden af olie, vi bruger.

We need to focus on reducing the oil.

Vi bliver nødt til at fokusere på at reducere olien.

What you see in this top drawing is a schematic

Det, I er i den øverste tegning, er et skema

of how petroleum gets used in the U.S. economy.

over, hvordan petroleum bliver brugt i USA's økonomi

It comes in on the side -- the useful stuff is the dark gray,

Det kommer ind fra siden -- det brugbare er det mørkegrå,

and the un-useful stuff,

og det ubrugelige,

which is called the rejected energy -- the waste,

som bliver kaldt afvist energi -- affaldet,

goes up to the top.

ryger op til toppen.

Now you can see that the waste far outweighs

I kan se, at der er langt mere affald

the actually useful amount.

end det brugbare.

And one of the things that we need to do

Og en af de ting, vi bliver nødt til at gøre,

is, not only fix the fuel efficiency of our vehicles

er ikke blot at ordne brændstofeffektiviteten på vores køretøjer

and make them much more efficient,

og gøre dem langt mere effektive,

but we also need to fix the economy in general.

men vi bliver også nødt til at ordne økonomien generelt.

We need to remove the perverse incentives to use more fuel.

Vi bliver nødt til at fjerne de perverse incitamenter til at bruge mere brændstof.

For example, we have an insurance system

Vi har for eksempel et forsikringssystem

where the person who drives 20,000 miles a year

hvor en person, der kører 32.000 km om året,

pays the same insurance as somebody who drives 3,000.

betaler det samme i forsikring som én, der kører 4.800 km.

We actually encourage people to drive more.

Vi opfordrer faktisk folk til at køre mere.

We have policies that reward sprawl -- we have all kinds of policies.

Vi har love, der belønner ligegyldighed -- vi har alle mulige slags love.

We need to have more mobility choices.

Vi bliver nødt til at have flere transportmuligheder.

We need to make the gas price

Vi er nødt til at få benzinprisen til

better reflect the real cost of oil.

bedre at reflektere oliens virkelige omkostninger.

And we need to shift subsidies from the oil industry,

Og vi bliver nødt til at flytte støtte til olieindustrien,

which is at least 10 billion dollars a year,

som er på mindst 57 milliarder kr. om året,

into something that allows middle-class people to find better ways to commute.

til noget, der tillader middelklassen at finde bedre måder at pendle på.

Whether that's getting a much more efficient car

Om det er ved at få en langt mere effektiv bil

and also kind of building markets

og også skabe et marked

for new cars and new fuels down the road,

for nye biler og nye brændsler henad vejen,

this is where we need to be.

så er det her, vi bliver nødt til at være.

We need to kind of rationalize this whole thing,

Vi bliver nødt til at rationalisere alt det her,

and you can find more about this policy.

og man kan finde mere om den målsætning.

It's called STRONG, which is "Secure Transportation

Den hedder STRONG, der betyder "Sikker Transport

Reducing Oil Needs Gradually,"

ved Reduktion af Oliebehov Gradvist,"

and the idea is instead of being helpless, we need to be more strong.

og ideen er, at vi i stedet for at være hjælpeløse, må være stærkere.

They're up at NewAmerica.net.

De er på NewAmerica.net.

What's important about these

Det, der er vigtigt ved dem,

is that we try to move

er, at vi prøver at bevæge os

from feeling helpless at the pump,

fra følelsen af hjælpeløshed ved tankstationen

to actually being active

til faktisk at være aktive

and to really sort of thinking about who we are,

og til virkelig at tænke over, hvem vi er,

having kind of that special moment,

have det særlige øjeblik,

where we connect the dots actually at the pump.

hvor vi faktisk forbinder punkterne nede ved benzintanken.

Now supposedly, oil taxes

Oliebeskatning er angiveligt

are the third rail of American politics -- the no-fly zone.

tabu i amerikansk politik -- en flyveforbudszone.

I actually -- I agree that a dollar a gallon on oil

Jeg er faktisk -- Jeg er enig i, at 1,5 krone pr. liter olie

is probably too much,

nok er for meget,

but I think that if we started this year

men jeg synes, at hvis vi næste år startede

with three cents a gallon on gasoline,

med 5 øre pr. liter på benzin,

and upped it to six cents next year, nine cents the following year,

og hævede det til 10 øre næste år, 15 øre det følgende år,

all the way up to 30 cents by 2020,

hele vejen op til 50 øre i 2020,

that we could actually significantly reduce our gasoline consumption,

så kunne vi faktisk reducere vores benzinforbrug markant,

and at the same time we would give people time to prepare,

og samtidig ville vi give folk tid til at forberede sig,

time to respond,

tid til at reagere,

and we would be raising money and raising consciousness at the same time.

og vi ville hente penge og øge bevidstheden på samme tid.

Let me give you a little sense of how this would work.

Lad mig give jer en lille ide om, hvordan det ville virke.

This is a gas receipt, hypothetically, for a year from now.

Det her er en gasregning - hypotetisk set - for næste år.

The first thing that you have on the tax is --

Det første man har på denne her skat er --

you have a tax for a stronger America -- 33 cents.

du har en skat for et stærkere USA -- 1,9 kr.

So you're not helpless at the pump.

Så du er ikke hjælpeløs ved benzintanken.

And the second thing that you have is a kind of warning sign,

Og den anden ting du har er et slags advarselsskilt

very similar to what you would find

meget lig det, du finder

on a cigarette pack.

på en cigaretpakke.

And what it says is, "The National Academy of Sciences

Og det skal sige: "Videnskabernes Akademi

estimates that every gallon of gas you burn in your car

vurderer, at hver liter benzin, du bruger i din bil

creates 29 cents in health care costs."

skaber 44 øre i sundhedsomkostninger."

That's a lot.

Det er meget.

And so this -- you can see that you're paying considerably less

Og så det her -- man kan se, at man betaler betydeligt mindre

than the health care costs on the tax.

end sundhedsomkostningerne over skatten.

And also, the hope is that

Og desuden er håbet, at

you start to be connected to the whole greater system.

man bliver forbundet til det større system.

And at the same time, you have a number that you can call

Samtidig med, at man har et nummer, som man kan ringe til

to get more information on commuting,

for at få mere information om pendling,

or a low-interest loan on a different kind of car,

eller et lavtforrentet lån til en anden slags bil,

or whatever it is you're going to need

eller hvad det end er, man har brug for

to actually reduce your gasoline dependence.

for faktisk at reducere sin benzinafhængighed.

With this whole sort of suite of policies,

Med hele dette katalog af politiske muligheder

we could actually reduce our gasoline consumption --

kunne vi faktisk reducere vores benzinforbrug --

or our oil consumption --

eller vores olieforbrug --

by 20 percent by 2020.

med 20 procent i 2020.

So, three million barrels a day.

Så tre millioner tønder om dagen.

But in order to do this,

Men for at gøre det

one of the things we really need to do, is we need to remember

er en af de ting, vi bliver nødt til, at huske,

we are people of the hydrocarbon.

at vi er hydrokarbonatets folk.

We need to keep or minds on the molecules

Vi bliver nødt til at holde vores fokus på molekylerne

and not get distracted by the theater,

og ikke blive distraheret af teatret,

not get distracted by the cognitive dissonance

ikke blive distraheret af erkendelsesdissonansen

of the green possibilities that are out there.

af grønne muligheder, der er derude.

We need to kind of get down and do the gritty work

Vi bliver nødt til uforfærdet at gøre det hårde arbejde

of reducing our dependence upon this fuel and these molecules.

med at reducere vores afhængighed af denne brændstof og disse molekyler.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)