Lets launch a satellite to track a threatening greenhouse gas Fred Krupp
We’ve got a big problem on our hands
with global warming.
A lot of you, a lot of people
have been watching the floods,
the droughts, the storms, the fires.
When I leave this stage today,
I don’t want you to have hope.
I want you to have certainty,
real certainty
that we can make a dent
in this problem and live to see it.
I want to give you a vision
of what that would look like.
This is the first time
we’ve shared this publicly.
You’re the first audience to hear it.
We are going to launch a rocket.
And on that rocket will be a satellite.
And that satellite will collect
data about pollution
that is warming the planet.
We will put that data
in the hands of people
who can make simple fixes
that will change the course
of global warming in our lifetime.
That’s a lot to take in,
maybe I should back up.
First, let me introduce myself, I’m Fred,
I’ve been an environmentalist
since I was a kid,
when I watched the fish and the frogs
in my neighborhood pond
die from a chemical spill.
That bothered me.
Later, a professor inspired me to think
about environmentalism differently.
How the best solutions come from
answering people’s aspirations
for prosperity,
things like being safe and healthy
and thriving in this world.
So I joined the Environmental Defense Fund
to build those kind of solutions.
And I’ve worked my whole career
for a moment like this –
the moment, when we can stop
fighting headwinds
and start to have the wind at our backs.
Because of the power of information,
information from technology
that is coming down in price
and going up in precision.
You see, there’s something
about climate change that we didn’t grasp
just a decade ago.
The world was so focused on carbon dioxide
that we overlooked another important gas.
We didn’t appreciate methane.
Methane pollution causes one quarter
of the global warming
that we’re experiencing right now.
Pound for pound, its immediate impact
is far greater than carbon dioxide.
Eighty four times greater
over a 20-year period.
One of the largest sources
of methane pollution
is the oil and gas industry.
But that’s not obvious,
because methane is invisible.
Let’s take a look
at this natural gas storage facility
outside of Los Angeles.
Can you see the methane?
Neither can I.
How about now?
We shot this using an infrared camera,
at the same spot,
exposing one of the worst methane leaks
in the history of the United States.
That’s a very different picture.
It turns out that natural gas
is displacing our dependence on coal,
which emits far more carbon dioxide.
But natural gas is mostly methane.
So, as it’s produced and processed
and transported to homes
and businesses across America,
it escapes from wells and pipes
and other equipment.
It gets up into the sky and contributes
to the disasters
that we’re now experiencing.
That does not have to happen.
But nobody had paid much attention to it
until we launched a nationwide study
to understand the problem.
We used drones, planes, helicopters,
even Google Street View cars.
It turns out there’s far more
of this methane pollution
than what the government is reporting.
It also turns out that when we find
where the gas is being vented and leaked,
most of those sources can be fixed
easily and inexpensively,
saving the gas that would have
otherwise been wasted.
And finally, we learn that when you put
information like that into people’s hands,
they act.
Leading companies replaced valves
and tightened loose-fitting pipes.
Colorado became the first state
in the nation to limit methane pollution;
California followed suit,
and the public joined in.
Tweets started flying – #cutmethane.
And everybody’s paying more attention now.
We’re doing this because we can’t wait
for Washington, especially not now.
In fact, we have to take
what we’ve done so far
and go higher, to the sky.
The United Stated represents
about 10 percent of this pollution.
To find the rest, we have to go global.
Remember that rocket I mentioned?
It will launch a compact satellite,
called MethaneSAT,
to do what no one
has been able to do until now:
measure methane pollution
from oil and gas facilities worldwide,
with exacting precision.
Its data stream will allow us
to map that pollution,
so that everyone can see it.
Then it’s all about
turning data into action,
just as we did in the United States.
We’ve seen that when we present
companies with data,
many of them will cut the pollution.
Citizens will be empowered to take action;
governments will tighten the regulations.
And because all of our data
will be free and public,
there will be transparency –
we’ll all be able to see how much progress
is being made and where.
Which brings me to our goal:
to cut this methane pollution
by 45 percent by 2025.
(Applause)
That will have the same near-term impact
as shutting down
1,300 coal-fired power plants.
That’s one third of all
the coal-fired power plants in the world.
Nothing else can have this sort of
near-term impact at such a low cost.
The fact that a single satellite
can help us put the brakes
on global warming is truly remarkable.
This is our chance to create
change in our lifetimes,
and we can do it now.
Thanks to the generous giving
of the Audacious Project,
we are on a path toward liftoff.
But my time is running short,
and I promised you a vision
of what a critical piece
of the solution would look like.
Can you see it?
Can you see how this satellite leverages
the best of science
and data and technology?
Can you see we’re entering
a whole new era of innovation
that is supercharging progress?
Can you see that it’s in our hands?
We’ve set an aggressive goal
of three years till liftoff,
and when that satellite is ready,
we’ll have a launch party.
A literal launch party.
So imagine a blue-sky day,
crowds of people,
television cameras,
kids staring up toward the sky
at a thing that
will change their future.
What an amazing day that will be.
What a big opportunity we have.
I can’t wait.
Thank you.
(Applause)