TEDxOilSpill
Lisa Margonelli: The political chemistry of oil
Lisa Margonelli: a química política do petróleo.
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Despois do derramamento de petróleo no Golfo de México, Lisa Margonelli afirma que as moratorias en perforacións e as expulsións de executivos supoñen bos xestos teatrais, pero distraen a atención da cerna do asunto: o noso consumo ilimitado de petróleo. Ela comparte o seu ousado plan para desenganchar os Estados Unidos do petróleo, enfrontando ós consumidores co seu custo real.
Lisa Margonelli - Writer
Director of the New America Foundation Energy Policy Initiative, Lisa Margonelli writes about the global culture and economy of energy. Full bio
Director of the New America Foundation Energy Policy Initiative, Lisa Margonelli writes about the global culture and economy of energy. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
So I'm going to talk to you about you about the political chemistry of oil spills
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Voulles falar sobre a química política dos derramamentos de petróleo
00:18
and why this is an incredibly important,
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e por qué este é un incribelmente importante
00:21
long, oily, hot summer,
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longo, oleoso e quente verán,
00:23
and why we need to keep ourselves from getting distracted.
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e por qué precisamos estar atentos e non distraérmonos.
00:26
But before I talk about the political chemistry,
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Pero antes de falar da química política
00:28
I actually need to talk about the chemistry of oil.
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preciso falar sobre a química do petróleo.
00:31
This is a photograph from when I visited
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Esta é unha foto da vez que visitei
00:33
Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 2002
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a baía Prudhoe en Alaska, no ano 2002
00:36
to watch the Minerals Management Service
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para ver o Servizo de Xestión de Minerais
00:38
testing their ability
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probando a súa capacidade
00:40
to burn oil spills in ice.
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para queimar derramamentos de petróleo no xeo.
00:42
And what you see here is, you see a little bit of crude oil,
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E o que ven aquí é un pouco de petróleo cru,
00:44
you see some ice cubes,
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algunhas pedras de xeo,
00:46
and you see two sandwich baggies of napalm.
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e dúas bolsas de sándwich de napalm.
00:49
The napalm is burning there quite nicely.
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O napalm estase queimando ben.
00:51
And the thing is, is that
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E o asunto é que
00:53
oil is really an abstraction for us as the American consumer.
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o petróleo é en realidade unha abstracción para nós, os consumidores estadounidenses.
00:56
We're four percent of the world's population;
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Somos o catro por cento da poboación mundial,
00:58
we use 25 percent of the world's oil production.
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e consumimos o 25 por cento da produción mundial de petróleo.
01:01
And we don't really understand what oil is,
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E non entendemos qué é o petróleo,
01:04
until you check out its molecules,
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ata que analizamos as súas moléculas.
01:06
And you don't really understand that until you see this stuff burn.
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E non o entendemos en realidade ata que o vemos arder.
01:09
So this is what happens as that burn gets going.
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Isto é o que ocorre mentres que está ardendo
01:11
It takes off. It's a big woosh.
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Vaise polo ar, cun grande estrondo.
01:13
I highly recommend that you get a chance to see crude oil burn someday,
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Recoméndolles que, se poden, vexan arder petróleo cru algunha vez,
01:16
because you will never need to hear another poli sci lecture
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porque nunca máis han precisar escoitar unha charla científico-política
01:19
on the geopolitics of oil again.
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sobre a xeopolítica do petróleo.
01:22
It'll just bake your retinas.
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Asará as súas retinas.
01:24
So there it is; the retinas are baking.
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Así que aí o está; as retinas estanse asando.
01:26
Let me tell you a little bit about this chemistry of oil.
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Déixenme contarlles algo máis sobre esta química do petróleo.
01:29
Oil is a stew of hydrocarbon molecules.
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O petróleo é un cocido de moléculas de hidrocarburo.
01:32
It starts of with the very small ones,
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Comeza coas máis pequeniñas,
01:34
which are one carbon, four hydrogen --
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que son un carbono, catro hidróxenos
01:36
that's methane -- it just floats off.
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--iso é metano-- simplemente, esváese no ar.
01:38
Then there's all sorts of intermediate ones with middle amounts of carbon.
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Despois, hai varios tipos intermedios con cantidades medias de carbono.
01:41
You've probably heard of benzene rings; they're very carcinogenic.
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Probablemente xa escoitaron falar dos aneis de benceno; son moi carcinóxenos.
01:44
And it goes all the way over
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E despois, continúa
01:46
to these big, thick, galumphy ones that have hundreds of carbons,
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con outros grandes, espesos e torpes, que teñen centos de carbonos,
01:48
and they have thousands of hydrogens,
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e milleiros de hidróxenos,
01:50
and they have vanadium and heavy metals and sulfur
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teñen vanadio, e metais pesados, e xofre
01:52
and all kinds of craziness hanging off the sides of them.
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e todo tipo de trangalladas colgadas nos seus extremos.
01:54
Those are called the asphaltenes; they're an ingredient in asphalt.
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Chámanlles asfaltenos, e son un ingrediente do asfalto.
01:57
They're very important in oil spills.
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Son moi importantes nos derramamentos de petróleo.
01:59
Let me tell you a little bit about
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Permítanme falarlles un pouco
02:01
the chemistry of oil in water.
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sobre a química do petróleo na auga.
02:04
It is this chemistry that makes oil so disastrous.
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É esta química a que converte o petróleo nalgo tan nocivo.
02:07
Oil doesn't sink, it floats.
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O petróleo non afunde, aboia.
02:09
If it sank, it would be a whole different story as far as an oil spill.
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Se afundira, os derramamentos serían algo moi diferente.
02:12
And the other thing it does is it spreads out the moment it hits the water.
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E a outra cousa que fai é esparexerse tan axiña como toca na auga.
02:15
It spreads out to be really thin,
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Esparéxese formando unha capa moi, moi fina,
02:17
so you have a hard time corralling it.
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por iso, faise moi difícil de controlar.
02:19
The next thing that happens
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O que ocorre despois
02:21
is the light ends evaporate,
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é que as partes máis lixeiras evapóranse
02:24
and some of the toxic things float into the water column
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e algúns compoñentes tóxicos aboian dentro da columna de auga
02:27
and kill fish eggs
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matando ovas de peixes
02:29
and smaller fish and things like that, and shrimp.
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e os peixes máis pequenos, e cousas semellantes, e camaróns.
02:32
And then the asphaltenes -- and this is the crucial thing --
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E despois os asfaltenos --e isto é un asunto crucial--
02:34
the asphaltenes get whipped by the waves
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os asfaltenos son batidos polas ondas
02:37
into a frothy emulsion, something like mayonnaise.
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ata convertérense nunha emulsión cremosa, como a maionesa.
02:39
It triples the amount
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Isto triplica a cantidade
02:41
of oily, messy goo that you have in the water,
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de residuos oleosos na auga
02:44
and it makes it very hard to handle.
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e fainos moi difíciles de manexar.
02:46
It also makes it very viscous.
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E tamén moi viscosos.
02:48
When the Prestige sank off the coast of Spain,
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Cando o Prestige afundiu na costa española,
02:51
there were big, floating cushions the size of sofa cushions
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houbo grandes manchas flotantes, do tamaño de coxíns de sofá,
02:54
of emulsified oil,
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de petróleo emulsionado
02:56
with the consistency, or the viscosity, of chewing gum.
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coa consistencia ou a viscosidade da goma de mascar.
02:58
It's incredibly hard to clean up.
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É dificilísimo de limpar.
03:00
And every single oil is different when it hits water.
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E cada tipo de petróleo reacciona de forma distinta cando toca a auga.
03:03
When the chemistry of the oil and water
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Cando a química do petróleo e a agua
03:05
also hits our politics,
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toca a política
03:07
it's absolutely explosive.
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vírase totalmente explosiva.
03:09
For the first time, American consumers
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Por vez primeira os consumidores estadounidenses
03:11
will kind of see the oil supply chain in front of themselves.
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verán en fronte deles a cadea de subministración de petróleo.
03:15
They have a "eureka!" moment,
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Van ter un momento "eureka!",
03:17
when we suddenly understand oil in a different context.
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cando, de súpeto, entendamos o petróleo nun contexto diferente.
03:20
So I'm going to talk just a little bit about the origin of these politics,
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Así que lles vou falar un pouco sobre a orixe destas políticas,
03:23
because it's really crucial to understanding
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porque é realmente crucial entender
03:25
why this summer is so important, why we need to stay focused.
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por que este verán é tan importante, por que precisamos manter o foco sobre el.
03:28
Nobody gets up in the morning and thinks,
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Ninguén se ergue pola mañá e pensa
03:30
"Wow! I'm going to go buy
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"Humm, vou mercar
03:32
some three-carbon-to-12-carbon molecules to put in my tank
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unhas cantas moléculas de tres a doce carbonos para botar no depósito
03:34
and drive happily to work."
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e conducir con ledicia cara ao traballo."
03:36
No, they think, "Ugh. I have to go buy gas.
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Non, o que pensamos é "Ugh, teño que mercar gasolina.
03:38
I'm so angry about it. The oil companies are ripping me off.
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Iso moléstame. As compañías petrolíferas estanme arruinando.
03:40
They set the prices, and I don't even know.
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Elas marcan os prezos e nin tan sequera me decato.
03:42
I am helpless over this."
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Estou indefenso."
03:44
And this is what happens to us at the gas pump --
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Isto é o que nos pasa nun surtidor de gasolina.
03:46
and actually, gas pumps are specifically designed
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En realidade, os surtidores están deseñados especificamente
03:48
to diffuse that anger.
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para esvaer esa rabia.
03:50
You might notice that many gas pumps, including this one,
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Poden ver que moitos surtidores, incluíndo este,
03:52
are designed to look like ATMs.
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están deseñados para pareceren caixeiros electrónicos.
03:54
I've talked to engineers. That's specifically to diffuse our anger,
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Falei do asunto con enxeñeiros. Están deseñados para esvaer a nosa rabia,
03:57
because supposedly we feel good about ATMs.
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porque, en teoría, gústannos os caixeiros automáticos.
03:59
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
04:01
That shows you how bad it is.
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Isto demostra o malo que é.
04:03
But actually, I mean, this feeling of helplessness
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Pero, en realidade, ese sentimento de impotencia
04:05
comes in because most Americans actually feel
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aparece porque a maioría dos estadounidenses pensa
04:08
that oil prices are the result of a conspiracy,
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que o prezo do petróleo é o resultado dunha conspiración,
04:11
not of the vicissitudes of the world oil market.
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e non das vicisitudes do mercado mundial do petróleo.
04:14
And the thing is, too,
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E o conto é que, amais,
04:16
is that we also feel very helpless about the amount that we consume,
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sentímonos moi impotentes coa cantidade que consumimos,
04:18
which is somewhat reasonable,
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o que é razoable,
04:20
because in fact, we have designed this system
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porque, de feito, deseñamos este sistema
04:23
where, if you want to get a job,
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onde, se queres conseguir un traballo,
04:26
it's much more important to have a car that runs,
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é moito máis importante ter un coche que funcione,
04:29
to have a job and keep a job, than to have a GED.
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ca ter un diploma.
04:32
And that's actually very perverse.
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E isto é realmente perverso.
04:34
Now there's another perverse thing about the way we buy gas,
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E tamén hai outra cousa perversa na forma en que compramos gasolina,
04:36
which is that we'd rather be doing anything else.
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o feito de que prefeririamos estar facendo calquera outra cousa.
04:38
This is BP's gas station
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Esta é unha gasolineira de British Petroleum
04:40
in downtown Los Angeles.
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no centro de Los Ángeles.
04:42
It is green. It is a shrine to greenishness.
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É verde. Un santuario de verdor.
04:45
"Now," you think, "why would something so lame
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E pensarán vostedes "por que algo tan chafalleiro
04:48
work on people so smart?"
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funciona con xente tan intelixente?"
04:50
Well, the reason is, is because, when we're buying gas,
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Pois ben, a razón é que, cando estamos mercando gasolina,
04:53
we're very invested in this sort of cognitive dissonance.
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estamos metidos nesta disonancia cognitiva.
04:56
I mean, we're angry at the one hand and we want to be somewhere else.
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Estamos molestos e queremos estar noutro lugar.
04:59
We don't want to be buying oil;
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Nós non queremos estar mercando gasolina;
05:01
we want to be doing something green.
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queremos estar facendo algo ecolóxico.
05:03
And we get kind of in on our own con.
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E quedamos atrapados nas nosas propias contradicións.
05:06
I mean -- and this is funny,
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Quero dicir --e isto é divertido.
05:08
it looks funny here.
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Parece divertido aquí.
05:10
But in fact, that's why the slogan "beyond petroleum" worked.
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Por iso funcionou o eslogan "alén do petróleo".
05:13
But it's an inherent part of our energy policy,
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Pero é unha parte inherente da nosa política enerxética,
05:16
which is we don't talk about
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da que non falamos,
05:18
reducing the amount of oil that we use.
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reducir a cantidade de petróleo que usamos.
05:20
We talk about energy independence. We talk about hydrogen cars.
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Falamos de independencia enerxética. Falamos de coches de hidróxeno.
05:23
We talk about biofuels that haven't been invented yet.
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Falamos de biocombustibles que aínda non se inventaron.
05:25
And so, cognitive dissonance
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E, xa que logo, a disonancia cognitiva
05:28
is part and parcel of the way that we deal with oil,
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é parte da maneira en que lidamos co petróleo,
05:31
and it's really important to dealing with this oil spill.
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e é moi importante para lidar con este derramamento de petróleo.
05:33
Okay, so the politics of oil
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Ben, a política do petróleo
05:36
are very moral in the United States.
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é moi moral nos Estados Unidos.
05:38
The oil industry is like a huge, gigantic octopus
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A industria do petróleo é coma un polbo xigantesco
05:41
of engineering and finance
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de enxeñaría e finanzas
05:43
and everything else,
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e todo o demais,
05:45
but we actually see it in very moral terms.
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pero en realidade vémolo en termos moi morais.
05:47
This is an early-on photograph -- you can see, we had these gushers.
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Esta é unha fotografía antiga. Poden ver que tiñamos eses pozos.
05:50
Early journalists looked at these spills,
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Xornalistas daquel tempo viron eses derramamentos,
05:52
and they said, "This is a filthy industry."
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e dixeron: "Esta é unha industria suxa."
05:54
But they also saw in it
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Pero tamén viron
05:56
that people were getting rich for doing nothing.
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que a xente estaba a facerse rica sen facer nada.
05:58
They weren't farmers, they were just getting rich for stuff coming out of the ground.
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Non eran labregos, estaban a facerse ricos simplemente co que emerxía do chan.
06:01
It's the "Beverly Hillbillies," basically.
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Era, basicamente, "Os Beverly Ricos".
06:03
But in the beginning, this was seen as a very morally problematic thing,
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Pero, ao comezo, isto viuse coma un problema ético,
06:06
long before it became funny.
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moito antes de converterse nalgo divertido.
06:08
And then, of course, there was John D. Rockefeller.
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E entón, por suposto, velaí estaba John D. Rockefeller.
06:11
And the thing about John D. is that
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E o que pasou con John D. é que
06:13
he went into this chaotic wild-east
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se meteu neste caótico salvaxe Oeste
06:15
of oil industry,
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da industria do petróleo
06:17
and he rationalized it
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e racionalizouna
06:19
into a vertically integrated company, a multinational.
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nunha compañía integrada verticalmente, unha multinacional.
06:22
It was terrifying; you think Walmart is a terrifying business model now,
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Foi terrorífico. Pensan que Walmart é un modelo aterrador de negocios no presente?
06:25
imagine what this looked like in the 1860s or 1870s.
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Imaxinen como sería en 1860 ou 1870.
06:28
And it also the kind of root
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E isto é tamén a orixe
06:31
of how we see oil as a conspiracy.
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de que vexamos o petróleo coma unha conspiración.
06:34
But what's really amazing is that
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Pero o realmente sorprendente é que
06:36
Ida Tarbell, the journalist,
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Ida Tarbell, a xornalista,
06:39
went in and did a big exposé of Rockefeller
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fixo unha grande investigación sobre Rockefeller
06:42
and actually got the whole antitrust laws
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e conseguiu que a lexislación antimonopolística
06:44
put in place.
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fose promulgada.
06:46
But in many ways,
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Pero en moitos sentidos,
06:48
that image of the conspiracy still sticks with us.
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a imaxe da conspiración aínda segue pegada a nós.
06:50
And here's one of the things
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Velaquí unha das cousas
06:52
that Ida Tarbell said --
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que dixo Ida Tarbell:
06:54
she said, "He has a thin nose like a thorn.
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"Ten un nariz fino coma unha espiña.
06:57
There were no lips.
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Non ten beizos.
06:59
There were puffs under the little colorless eyes
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Ten bolsas debaixo duns olliños sen cor
07:01
with creases running from them."
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e con engurras saíndo deles."
07:03
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
07:05
Okay, so that guy is actually still with us.
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Ben, ese fulano está aínda connosco.
07:07
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
07:09
I mean, this is a very pervasive -- this is part of our DNA.
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Ou sexa, esta é unha forma moi estendida -- é parte do noso ADN.
07:12
And then there's this guy, okay.
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E ademais temos a este fulano.
07:15
So, you might be wondering why it is that,
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Así que vostedes poden estarse preguntando por que
07:17
every time we have high oil prices or an oil spill,
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cada vez que hai subas dos prezos do petróleo, ou un derramamento,
07:19
we call these CEOs down to Washington,
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chamamos a estes altos executivos de Washington,
07:22
and we sort of pepper them with questions in public and we try to shame them.
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e os bombardeamos con preguntas en público, e tratamos de envergoñalos.
07:25
And this is something that we've been doing since 1974,
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Isto é algo que vimos facendo desde 1974,
07:28
when we first asked them, "Why are there these obscene profits?"
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cando lles preguntamos por vez primeira: "Por que existen estas ganancias obscenas?"
07:31
And we've sort of personalized the whole oil industry
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E case personalizamos toda a industria do petróleo
07:33
into these CEOs.
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nestes altos executivos.
07:35
And we take it as, you know --
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E nós tomámola,
07:38
we look at it on a moral level,
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mirámola nun plano moral,
07:40
rather than looking at it on a legal and financial level.
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no canto de facelo no económico e legal.
07:43
And so I'm not saying these guys aren't liable to answer questions --
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E non quero dicir que estes fulanos non teñan a responsabilidade de responder esas preguntas,
07:46
I'm just saying that, when you focus on
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o que estou dicindo é que, se nos centramos
07:48
whether they are or are not a bunch of greedy bastards,
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en se son ou non unha tropa de bastardos avarentos,
07:51
you don't actually get around to the point
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non estamos achegándonos ao punto
07:53
of making laws that are either going to either change the way they operate,
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de facer leis que cambien a forma en que eles traballan,
07:56
or you're going to get around
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ou de chegarmos
07:58
to really reducing the amount of oil
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a reducir realmente o consumo de petróleo
08:00
and reducing our dependence on oil.
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e a nosa dependencia del.
08:02
So I'm saying this is kind of a distraction.
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O que estou dicindo é que isto é unha distracción.
08:04
But it makes for good theater,
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Pero creou un bo teatro,
08:06
and it's powerfully cathartic as you probably saw last week.
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e é terriblemente catártico, como probablemente viron a semana pasada.
08:10
So the thing about water oil spills
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A cuestión dos derramamentos de petróleo na auga
08:12
is that they are very politically galvanizing.
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é que están promovidos politicamente.
08:15
I mean, these pictures -- this is from the Santa Barbara spill.
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É dicir, estas fotos --estas son do derramamento de Santa Bárbara.
08:18
You have these pictures of birds.
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Velaí estas fotos de paxaros.
08:20
They really influence people.
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Realmente inflúen na xente.
08:22
When the Santa Barbara spill happened in 1969,
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Cando ocorreu o derramamento de Santa Bárbara,
08:25
it formed the environmental movement in its modern form.
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formouse o movemento ambiental na súa forma moderna.
08:27
It started Earth Day.
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Comezou a celebrarse o Día da Terra.
08:29
It also put in place the National Environmental Policy Act,
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E tamén puxo en marcha a Lei nacional de política ambiental,
08:32
the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.
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a Lei do aire puro, a Lei da auga limpa.
08:35
Everything that we are really stemmed from this period.
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Todo o que somos é resultado dese período.
08:38
I think it's important to kind of look at these pictures of the birds
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Penso que é importante botarlles unha ollada a estas fotos de paxaros
08:41
and understand what happens to us.
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e entendendermos o que nos ocorre.
08:43
Here we are normally;
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Velaí estamos nós habitualmente;
08:45
we're standing at the gas pump, and we're feeling kind of helpless.
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parados na gasolineira, sentíndonos impotentes.
08:47
We look at these pictures
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Vemos esas fotos
08:49
and we understand, for the first time, our role in this supply chain.
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e entendemos, por primeira vez, o noso papel na cadea de subministración.
08:52
We connect the dots in the supply chain.
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Atamos os cabos da cadea de subministración.
08:54
And we have this kind of --
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E temos este tipo de...
08:56
as voters, we have kind of a "eureka!" moment.
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como votantes, temos un momento "eureka!".
08:59
This is why these moments of these oil spills
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E por iso, estes momentos dos derramamentos
09:01
are so important.
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son tan importantes.
09:03
But it's also really important that we don't get distracted
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Pero tamén é moi importante que non nos distraiamos
09:06
by the theater or the morals of it.
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polo teatro ou a moral de todo isto.
09:08
We actually need to go in
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Precisamos ir ao fondo
09:10
and work on the roots of the problem.
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e traballar sobre as raíces do problema.
09:12
One of the things that happened with the two previous oil spills
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Unha das cousas que ocorreron cos dous derramamentos anteriores
09:15
was that we really worked on some of the symptoms.
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foi que en realidade traballamos sobre algúns dos síntomas.
09:18
We were very reactive, as opposed to being proactive
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Fomos moi reactivos, no canto de sermos proactivos
09:20
about what happened.
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en relación co que ocorreu.
09:22
And so what we did was, actually,
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E o que fixemos foi
09:24
we made moratoriums on the east and west coasts on drilling.
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establecer moratorias nas perforacións das costas leste e oeste.
09:27
We stopped drilling in ANWR,
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Paramos as perforacións na Reserva Nacional da Vida Salvaxe no Ártico,
09:30
but we didn't actually reduce the amount of oil that we consumed.
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pero non reducimos a cantidade de petróleo que consumiamos.
09:33
In fact, it's continued to increase.
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De feito, continuou a aumentar.
09:35
The only thing that really reduces the amount of oil that we consume
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O único que pode reducir a cantidade de petróleo que consumimos
09:38
is much higher prices.
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é incrementar os prezos.
09:40
As you can see, our own production has fallen off
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Como poden ver, a nosa produción propia baixou
09:42
as our reservoirs have gotten old and expensive to drill out.
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a medida que os nosos xacementos se fan vellos e caros de perforar.
09:44
We only have two percent of the world's oil reserves;
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Só temos o dous por centro das reservas mundiais de petróleo.
09:47
65 percent of them are in the Persian Gulf.
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O sesenta e cinco por cento está no Golfo Pérsico.
09:50
One of the things that's happened because of this
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Unha das cousas que ocorreron por causa disto
09:52
is that, since 1969,
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é que, desde 1969,
09:55
the country of Nigeria, or the part of Nigeria that pumps oil,
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Nixeria, ou a parte dela en que se extrae petróleo,
09:58
which is the delta -- which is two times the size of Maryland --
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o Delta --que ten o dobre do tamaño de Maryland--
10:01
has had thousands of oil spills a year.
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tivo milleiros de derramamentos ao ano.
10:03
I mean, we've essentially been exporting oil spills
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É dicir, estivemos basicamente exportando derramamentos de petróleo
10:05
when we import oil from places
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ao importármolo de lugares
10:07
without tight environmental regulations.
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sen regulacións ambientais ríxidas.
10:09
That has been the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill
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Isto vén sendo o equivalente a un derramamento do Exxon Valdez
10:12
every year since 1969.
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cada ano desde 1969.
10:15
And we can wrap our heads around the spills,
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E podemos agochar as cabezas en relación cos derramamentos,
10:17
because that's what we see here,
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porque isto é o que vemos aquí,
10:19
but in fact, these guys actually live in a war zone.
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pero, na verdade, estes fulanos viven realmente nunha zona de guerra.
10:21
There's a thousand battle-related deaths a year
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Hai milleiros de mortes anuais relacionadas coas guerras
10:24
in this area twice the size of Maryland,
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nesta área que é o dobre de grande ca Maryland,
10:26
and it's all related to the oil.
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e todas están relacionadas co petróleo.
10:28
And these guys, I mean, if they were in the U.S.,
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E esta xente, é dicir, se viviran nos Estados Unidos
10:30
they might be actually here in this room.
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pode que estiveran aquí, nesta sala.
10:32
They have degrees in political science, degrees in business --
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Teñen títulos en ciencias políticas, en empresariais.
10:34
they're entrepreneurs. They don't actually want to be doing what they're doing.
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Son emprendedores. En realidade, non queren facer o que están facendo.
10:38
And it's sort of one of the other groups of people
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E son outro dos grupos de persoas
10:41
who pay a price for us.
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que pagan o prezo por nós.
10:43
The other thing that we've done,
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Outra cousa que fixemos
10:45
as we've continued to increase demand,
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a medida que seguimos a incrementar a demanda
10:47
is that we kind of play a shell game with the costs.
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é que medio xogamos aos agochos cos custos.
10:50
One of the places we put in a big oil project
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Un dos lugares en que instalamos un gran proxecto petrolífero
10:53
in Chad, with Exxon.
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é en Chad, con Exxon.
10:55
So the U.S. taxpayer paid for it;
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Os contribuentes americanos pagan por el;
10:57
the World Bank, Exxon paid for it.
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o Banco Mundial pagou por el; e Exxon.
10:59
We put it in. There was a tremendous banditry problem.
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Pospuxémolo. Había un grandísimo problema de bandidaxe.
11:02
I was there in 2003.
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Estiven alí en 2003.
11:04
We were driving along this dark, dark road,
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Estabamos conducindo por esta estrada tan tan escura,
11:06
and the guy in the green stepped out,
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e saíu un home de verde,
11:08
and I was just like, "Ahhh! This is it."
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e eu pensei: "Ahhh! Isto é o fin."
11:11
And then the guy in the Exxon uniform stepped out,
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E entón, saíu o home co uniforme de Exxon
11:14
and we realized it was okay.
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e decatámonos de que todo ía ben.
11:16
They have their own private sort of army around them at the oil fields.
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Teñen o seu propio exército privado arredor deles nos campos petrolíferos.
11:18
But at the same time,
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Pero ao mesmo tempo,
11:20
Chad has become much more unstable,
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Chad volveuse moito máis inestábel,
11:22
and we are not paying for that price at the pump.
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e nós non estamos a pagar no surtidor ese prezo.
11:25
We pay for it in our taxes on April 15th.
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Pagámolos cos nosos impostos o 15 de abril.
11:28
We do the same thing
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Facemos o mesmo
11:30
with the price of policing the Persian Gulf
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cos custos de patrullar o Golfo Pérsico
11:32
and keeping the shipping lanes open.
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e manter abertas as rutas marítimas.
11:34
This is 1988 --
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Esta foto é de 1988.
11:36
we actually bombed two Iranian oil platforms that year.
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Ese ano, bombardeamos dúas plataformas petrolíferas iranís.
11:39
That was the beginning of an escalating U.S. involvement there
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Foi o comezo dunha escalada de implicación americana alí
11:41
that we do not pay for at the pump.
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pola que non pagamos no surtidor.
11:43
We pay for it on April 15th,
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Pagamos o 15 de abril,
11:45
and we can't even calculate the cost of this involvement.
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e nin tan sequera podemos calcular os custos desa implicación.
11:48
The other place that is sort of supporting our dependence on oil
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Outro lugar que está sostendo, en certa forma, a nosa dependencia do petróleo
11:51
and our increased consumption
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e o noso consumo crecente
11:54
is the Gulf of Mexico,
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é o Golfo de México,
11:56
which was not part of the moratoriums.
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que non foi incluído nas moratorias.
11:58
Now what's happened in the Gulf of Mexico -- as you can see,
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O que pasou no Golfo de México... como poden ver,
12:00
this is the Minerals Management diagram
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este é o gráfico do Servizo de Xestión de Minerais
12:02
of wells for gas and oil.
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de pozos petrolíferos e de gas.
12:04
It's become this intense industrialized zone.
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Converteuse nesta zona intensamente industrializada.
12:06
It doesn't have the same resonance for us
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Isto non ten a mesma repercusión en nós
12:08
that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has,
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cá Reserva Nacional da Vida Salvaxe no Ártico,
12:10
but it should, I mean, it's a bird sanctuary.
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pero debería, porque é un santuario de aves.
12:13
Also, every time you buy gasoline in the United States,
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Tamén, cada vez que compramos combustible nos Estados Unidos,
12:15
half of it is actually being refined along the coast,
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a metade del estase refinando na costa,
12:18
because the Gulf actually has
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porqueo Golfo ten
12:20
about 50 percent of our refining capacity
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perto do 50 % da nosa capacidade de refinamento
12:22
and a lot of our marine terminals as well.
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e tamén moitas das nosas terminais marítimas.
12:24
So the people of the Gulf have essentially been subsidizing the rest of us
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Así que a xente do Golfo estivo -no esencial- subvencionándonos
12:27
through a less-clean environment.
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a travén dun medio ambiente máis contaminado.
12:30
And finally, American families also pay a price for oil.
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E por último, as familias estadounidenses tamén pagan un prezo polo petróleo.
12:33
Now on the one hand, the price at the pump is not really very high
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Por unha banda, o prezo nos surtidores non é realmente moi alto
12:36
when you consider the actual cost of the oil,
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se consideramos o custo actual do petróleo,
12:38
but on the other hand,
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pero pola outra,
12:40
the fact that people have no other transit options
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o feito de a xente non ter outra opción de transporte
12:43
means that they pay a large amount of their income
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significa que gasta gran parte dos seus ingresos
12:46
into just getting back and forth to work,
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en ir e voltar do traballo,
12:48
generally in a fairly crummy car.
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normalmente nun coche bastante estragado.
12:50
If you look at people who make $50,000 a year, they have two kids,
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Se observamos a xente que gaña 50.000 dólares ao ano, teñen dous fillos,
12:53
they might have three jobs or more,
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probablemente teñan tres traballos ou máis
12:55
and then they have to really commute.
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e teñen que viaxar para traballar.
12:57
They're actually spending more on their car and fuel
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En realidade, están gastando máis no seu coche e en combustible
13:00
than they are on taxes or on health care.
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ca en impostos ou en saúde.
13:02
And the same thing happens
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E o mesmo acontece
13:04
at the 50th percentile, around 80,000.
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no percentil 50, arredor dos 80,000 dólares.
13:07
Gasoline costs are a tremendous drain
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Os custos de combustible son un enorme sumidoiro
13:09
on the American economy,
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na economía estadounidense,
13:11
but they're also a drain on individual families
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pero tamén o son para as familias individuais,
13:14
and it's kind of terrifying to think about what happens when prices get higher.
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e é terrible pensar no que acontece cando os prezos soben.
13:17
So, what I'm going to talk to you about now is:
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Entón, do que lles vou falar agora é:
13:20
what do we have to do this time?
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Que temos que facer desta vez?
13:22
What are the laws? What do we have to do to keep ourselves focused?
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Cales son as leis? Que é o que debemos facer para mantérmonos ben enfocados?
13:25
One thing is -- we need to stay away from the theater.
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Una primeira cousa é mantérmonos afastados do teatro.
13:27
We need to stay away from the moratoriums.
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Precisamos mantérmonos afastados das moratorias.
13:29
We need to focus really back again
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Precisamos focalizar novamente
13:31
on the molecules.
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sobre as moléculas.
13:33
The moratoriums are fine, but we do need to focus
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As moratorias están ben, pero precisamos focalizar
13:36
on the molecules on the oil.
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nas moléculas do petróleo.
13:38
One of the things that we also need to do,
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Unha das cousas que precisamos facer
13:40
is we need to try to not kind of fool ourselves
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é tentar non enganármonos
13:42
into thinking that you can have a green world,
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pensando que podemos ter un mundo verde
13:45
before you reduce the amount of oil that we use.
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antes de reducir a cantidade de petróleo que consumimos.
13:47
We need to focus on reducing the oil.
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Necesitamos poñer o foco na redución de petróleo.
13:49
What you see in this top drawing is a schematic
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O que vén neste deseño é un esquema
13:52
of how petroleum gets used in the U.S. economy.
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de como se usa o petróleo na economía estadounidense.
13:54
It comes in on the side -- the useful stuff is the dark gray,
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Comezando polo lado -- a parte máis útil está en gris escuro,
13:57
and the un-useful stuff,
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e as inútiles,
13:59
which is called the rejected energy -- the waste,
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coñecidas como enerxía rexeitada, o residuo,
14:02
goes up to the top.
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aparece na parte superior.
14:04
Now you can see that the waste far outweighs
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Poden ver como o residuo é moito máis grande
14:06
the actually useful amount.
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cá parte máis útil.
14:08
And one of the things that we need to do
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E unha das cousas que temos que facer é,
14:10
is, not only fix the fuel efficiency of our vehicles
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non só arranxar a eficiencia de consumo dos nosos vehículos
14:12
and make them much more efficient,
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e facelos moito máis eficientes,
14:14
but we also need to fix the economy in general.
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senón arranxar a economía en xeral.
14:16
We need to remove the perverse incentives to use more fuel.
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Necesitamos eliminar os incentivos perversos para usar máis combustible.
14:19
For example, we have an insurance system
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Por exemplo, temos un sistema de seguros
14:21
where the person who drives 20,000 miles a year
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polo que a xente que conduce 30000 millas ao ano
14:24
pays the same insurance as somebody who drives 3,000.
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paga o mesmo seguro ca quen conduce 3000.
14:27
We actually encourage people to drive more.
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En realidade, incentivamos á xente a conducir máis.
14:29
We have policies that reward sprawl -- we have all kinds of policies.
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Temos políticas que premian a expansión das cidades. Temos todo tipo de políticas.
14:32
We need to have more mobility choices.
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Precisamos ter máis alternativas de mobilidade.
14:34
We need to make the gas price
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Precisamos facer que os prezos do combustible
14:36
better reflect the real cost of oil.
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reflictan mellor os custos reais do petróleo.
14:38
And we need to shift subsidies from the oil industry,
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E precisamos cambiar os subsidios á industria petrolífera,
14:41
which is at least 10 billion dollars a year,
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que son, como pouco, de 10000 millóns de dólares ao ano,
14:44
into something that allows middle-class people to find better ways to commute.
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por algo que lle permita á clase media atopar mellores formas de desprazarse ao traballo.
14:47
Whether that's getting a much more efficient car
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Quer conseguindo coches moito máis eficientes
14:50
and also kind of building markets
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quer creando mercados
14:52
for new cars and new fuels down the road,
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para novos coches e combustibles,
14:54
this is where we need to be.
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isto é o que temos que facer.
14:56
We need to kind of rationalize this whole thing,
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Temos que racionalizar todo este ámbito,
14:58
and you can find more about this policy.
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e poden atopar máis información sobre esta política.
15:00
It's called STRONG, which is "Secure Transportation
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Chámase STRONG, que significa -- "Transporte Seguro
15:02
Reducing Oil Needs Gradually,"
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para a Redución Gradual das Necesidades de Petróleo",
15:04
and the idea is instead of being helpless, we need to be more strong.
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e a idea é que, no canto de sentírmonos impotentes, precisamos ser máis fortes.
15:07
They're up at NewAmerica.net.
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Están en NewAmerica.net.
15:09
What's important about these
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O importante disto
15:11
is that we try to move
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é que tentamos pasar
15:13
from feeling helpless at the pump,
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do sentimento de impotencia diante do surtidor
15:15
to actually being active
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a ser realmente activos
15:17
and to really sort of thinking about who we are,
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e para pensarmos quen somos en realidade,
15:20
having kind of that special moment,
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termos ese momento especial
15:22
where we connect the dots actually at the pump.
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en que atamos os cabos diante do surtidor.
15:25
Now supposedly, oil taxes
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Agora, supostamente, os impostos ao petróleo
15:28
are the third rail of American politics -- the no-fly zone.
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son un aspecto intocable da política estadounidense.
15:31
I actually -- I agree that a dollar a gallon on oil
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Eu concordo en que un dólar por galón [uns 4 litros] de petróleo
15:33
is probably too much,
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é probablemente excesivo,
15:35
but I think that if we started this year
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pero penso que se comezamos este ano
15:37
with three cents a gallon on gasoline,
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con tres centavos por galón de gasolina
15:40
and upped it to six cents next year, nine cents the following year,
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e o aumentamos a seis centavos o ano que vén, e a nove centavos o seguinte,
15:43
all the way up to 30 cents by 2020,
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e así ata chegar aos 30 centavos en 2020,
15:46
that we could actually significantly reduce our gasoline consumption,
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poderiamos reducir significativamente o noso consumo de gasolina,
15:49
and at the same time we would give people time to prepare,
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e á vez darlle tempo á xente para prepararse,
15:52
time to respond,
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tempo para responder,
15:54
and we would be raising money and raising consciousness at the same time.
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e poderiamos estar recadando diñeiro e aumentando a concienciación á vez.
15:57
Let me give you a little sense of how this would work.
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Déixenme amosarlles un pouco como funcionaría isto.
16:00
This is a gas receipt, hypothetically, for a year from now.
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Este é un tique de combustible, ficticio, do ano vindeiro.
16:03
The first thing that you have on the tax is --
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O primeiro que vemos é o imposto:
16:05
you have a tax for a stronger America -- 33 cents.
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temos un imposto para uns EE. UU. máis fortes --33 centavos.
16:08
So you're not helpless at the pump.
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Así, non nos sentimos impotentes no surtidor.
16:10
And the second thing that you have is a kind of warning sign,
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O segundo que vemos é unha especie de sinal de alerta,
16:13
very similar to what you would find
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moi parecido ao que atopamos
16:15
on a cigarette pack.
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nun paquete de cigarros.
16:17
And what it says is, "The National Academy of Sciences
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E que di o seguinte: "A Academia Nacional de Ciencias
16:20
estimates that every gallon of gas you burn in your car
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calcula que cada galón de combustible que usa no seu coche
16:23
creates 29 cents in health care costs."
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supón 29 centavos en custos sanitarios."
16:25
That's a lot.
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Iso é moito.
16:27
And so this -- you can see that you're paying considerably less
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E por iso --podemos ver que estamos pagando considerablemente menos de impostos
16:29
than the health care costs on the tax.
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cós custos sanitarios.
16:32
And also, the hope is that
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E tamén, a esperanza é que
16:35
you start to be connected to the whole greater system.
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comecemos a conectarnos con todo o sistema maior.
16:38
And at the same time, you have a number that you can call
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E ao mesmo tempo, no tique temos ao que podemos chamar
16:40
to get more information on commuting,
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para obter máis información sobre formas de desprazamento,
16:43
or a low-interest loan on a different kind of car,
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ou sobre un préstamo a xuros baixos para mercar un tipo diferente de coche,
16:46
or whatever it is you're going to need
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ou para calquera cousa que necesite
16:48
to actually reduce your gasoline dependence.
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para reducir a súa dependencia da gasolina.
16:52
With this whole sort of suite of policies,
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Con todo este abano de políticas,
16:54
we could actually reduce our gasoline consumption --
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poderiamos reducir o noso consumo de gasolina --
16:56
or our oil consumption --
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ou o noso consumo de petróleo--
16:58
by 20 percent by 2020.
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nun 20 % para o 2020.
17:01
So, three million barrels a day.
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É dicir, tres millóns de barrís ao día.
17:04
But in order to do this,
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Pero para facer isto
17:06
one of the things we really need to do, is we need to remember
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unha das cousas que precisamos facer é lembrar
17:08
we are people of the hydrocarbon.
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que somos o pobo dos hidrocarburos.
17:10
We need to keep or minds on the molecules
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Precisamos manter as mentes nas moléculas
17:12
and not get distracted by the theater,
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e non distraernos co teatro,
17:15
not get distracted by the cognitive dissonance
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nin coa disonancia cognitiva
17:17
of the green possibilities that are out there.
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das posibilidades "verdes" que hai aí fóra.
17:19
We need to kind of get down and do the gritty work
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Precisamos ir á cerna do asunto e facer o traballo difícil
17:21
of reducing our dependence upon this fuel and these molecules.
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de reducir a nosa dependencia deste combustible e destas moléculas.
17:24
Thank you.
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Graciñas.
17:26
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lisa Margonelli - WriterDirector of the New America Foundation Energy Policy Initiative, Lisa Margonelli writes about the global culture and economy of energy.
Why you should listen
Lisa Margonelli's work examines the promise and possibility of a post-oil world. She has studied California's opportunity to benefit from new technologies and policies, and is looking at the unexpected complications of alternative fuels and energy efficiency.
Margonelli has been published in The Atlantic, New York Times online, Washington Post, Wired and other publications. Her book about the oil supply chain, Oil On the Brain: Petroleum's Long Strange Trip to Your Tank, was recognized as one of the 25 Notable Books of 2007 by the American Library Association.
Lisa Margonelli | Speaker | TED.com