Note: The script below is from the author at Manpollo.org
and other
site (on this second site, the author asks for help translating
the topics to Spanish for DVDs, etc.) The script doesn't correspond
100% to the video and still needs checking over.
Viewing Sequence on Board:
Nature of Science
Risk Management
Why There Is Still Debate
The Manpollo Project
Mechanics of GCC
Scare Tactics
The Solution
God’s Will
Get What You Want (Skeptics #1)
I Hope I’m Wrong (Skeptics #2)
No Holds Barred (Skeptics #3)
Your Mission
This video is titled “How It All Ends: Index” and is a guide
to a sort of “Expansion Pack” of videos backing up the arguments
contained in the video “How It All Ends.”
[BOARD, LIST] Okay, so here’s the plan. If you feel sort of middling
about this issue, and have a specific question, you can choose
which video to watch from the “a la carte” menu that I’ll give
you in a minute. If you feel like I do and want to do whatever
you can to make policy changes on climate change happen, then
you’ll probably want to watch them all. I know that seems like
a big time commitment, but if there’s ever a time in your life
to be thorough and thoughtful, it is now, with this issue. It
is worth taking those few hours of your life to watch a few videos.
Because we need as many information warriors out there as we can
get—I’ll give you your specific assignment in this video [“Your
Mission”].
If you’re a skeptic you’ll be looking for holes, so you’ll want
to watch all in this sequence too, except this one. Don’t watch
that one cuz it’ll give away our game plan. Crud! We can edit
that out, right? [Beat.]
If you’re a skeptic, you’ll be looking for holes, so you’ll want
to watch all in this sequence too, except for this one. That one
probably wouldn’t be worth your time.
In fact, skeptics, you’ll probably want to watch them all twice,
because you don’t want to end up making an assertion that someone
else answers simply with “He already covered that.” That would
just be embarrassing. And be warned: if you try dismiss my my
hours of complex and thorough argumentation with a “That’s just
typical liberal scaremongering” without specifically addressing
my points, you’ll have to forgive the rest of us if we interpret
that as a concession, that you can’t refute the argument, so you
won’t even try. In fact, I made these three just for you! You’re
welcome!
[DESK] A little background: in the Spring of 2007, I presented
the basic decision grid about climate change in a video titled
“The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See.” Within a month, it
had garnered over a million hits on various websites, and at least
5,000 comments, most of them critical. Turns out, my “silver bullet”
argument had a hole big enough to drive a Hummer through, caused
by an assumption I didn’t realize I had. (Isn’t that just way
with assumptions?) As a result, I posted three more videos, titled
“Patching Holes #1-3,” answering those criticisms. Problem is,
no one found those videos to watch them.
Throughout that whole debate, I tracked the comments and discussions
in various places, continuing reading until it had been a long
time since I’d read a new argument or criticism that I hadn’t
seen before. So as a result, I am extremely familiar with the
objections to my argument, and have come back, loaded for bear.
Hence the hours and hours of expansion pack videos.
So skeptics, I’m throwing down with you right now: I’m quite confident
there is not a single reasonable criticism of my argument which
I have not already anticipated and refuted in the expansion pack
videos. How’s that for a challenge? Actually, as I was editing
the videos, I did find one assertion I made that I realized had
a hole in it. So I brought attention to it with a subtitle. It’s
just another free service I provide to you, the viewer. Can you
find it?
And for those of you already sympathetic to the cause: if you
see that the skeptics do find a hole, how about you take on the
patching of it? Last go ‘round a couple people had my back, but
the comments were overwhelmingly negative, and it pretty much
felt like me against the Internet. How about some warm fuzzies,
too, people? Cuz I gotta tell you. I’ve been working non-stop
on this freakin’ project for 4 months, and it’s time I got some
sleep and got back to my family. So I’m passing the torch on to
you. Run with it.
For instance, if someone wants to make a better index than I’m
about to give you, say one that goes down to the scale of which
part of a video, please do. Post it as a response. Take this stuff,
fix it up, pimp my argument. I’ve got no ownership of these ideas.
I’m just trying to plant a seed here. Or a virus, more properly,
but that’s not nearly as pleasant an image, is it?
In fact you, yes you right there, have my explicit permission
to take this material and do anything you want with it in any
form. Copy it, rip it, do a mash-up, turn it into a PowerPoint
(take out the dirty parts first), turn it into a musical and go
on tour, even remake it, claim it as your own work and get paid
for it! I don’t care. Just get it out there! I can’t be the only
champion for this reasoning. We’ve all got to be champions for
it. Because that’s what it will take to change the culture, which
is what it will take to change policies, which is what it will
take to eliminate the possibility of that lower righthand corner.
I know I really drone on in a couple of the videos. Well, more
than a couple. Okay all. Look—I didn’t have time to make them
short and eloquent. So you get long and punishing. Sorry ‘bout
that, Chief. Anyway, all the ideas are there. Please look past
the poor production values, the sleep-deprived slurred speech,
the Red Bull–fueled stutters, and the repetition, the redundancy,
the saying the same thing over and over, when I just keep repeating
myself, flogging a dead horse again and—
Throughout these videos, I use the terms “global warming” and
“global climate change” interchangeably, though really they mean
different things, as well as “human-caused” and “anthropogenic”
which mean the exact same thing.
I’ve deferred answering most of the technical objections dealing
with the science of global climate change, cuz they’re already
covered most excellently on [placard] Grist.com’s “How to Talk
to a Climate Skeptic.” So check there for the answers to any technical
objections you don’t see me cover. No need to reinvent the wheel.
At its heart, this is a deadly serious issue. But, in an effort
to not take myself too seriously, and to try to bring a little
levity to an often angry debate, I’m going to wear a different
silly hat for each video. [rapid collage]
[BOARD, LIST] Be aware: if you make a la carte choices, things
may be just a little confusing, because a lot of this is intertwined.
So if something doesn’t make sense, go upstream in the flow to
get the context.
Most of these videos have multiple parts, due to the time limit
on some video hosting services. For instance, this bruiser comes
in 7 individually wrapped packages [point to “Risk Management”].
I’ve tried to make sure each part points to the next one. But
if you get lost, just go back to my wonderingmind42 account, and
you should find everything there.
[DESK] I finally realized why I get frustrated with people in
discussions when they keep bringing up technical little objections
to the science of global climate change, or when they get abrasive
about how none of the proposed solutions is ever going to work.
Here’s my objection to all the nit-picking: who the heck are you
or I to judge either the fitness of the science, or the fitness
of the policy solutions? I’m no climate scientist. And I’m no
policy maker. It’s foolish for me to try to act like either of
those. That’s why we hire the professionals in both those fields.
What you and I are qualified to do is to set the agenda, delegate,
and then supervise. We are the boss, and we hire the experts to
do the technical stuff for us. What we should be doing is taking
what the scientists tell us about the natural world, decide what
level of resources to devote to the problem, and then delegate
to the policy makers to come up with the best proposed solutions.
Then they check it off with us by giving us the executive summary,
we make the final decision, and give the green light. Why the
heck are we micromanaging this? We’re only hurting ourselves by
trying to do the jobs of the experts that we’ve hired. Let’s start
acting like the executives of public policy that we should be:
listen to our best when they give us an assessment, and then delegate
to our best in coming up with solutions, supervising all the while
to ensure our interests are well-served. Let’s stop being the
pointy-haired boss in this whole thing.
Let’s face it: the issue is complex, and our lives are busy. And
so here we sit in column B, waiting to see what the future holds.
I find that terrifying.
Remember when everybody tore into the FBI because it had all the
information it needed to stop the September 11th attacks at the
time, but it didn’t connect the dots? The dots that were so easy
for us to connect in hindsight? I keep thinking about that. Why
don’t we see if the dots connect now? Instead of doing it in hindsight.
Don’t we deserve that much?
I know watching these videos is going to be a slog (think about
how I felt making them!), but this may be the single most important
issue in your life. You may not believe that now, but given the
unequivocal statements made by the best scientists on the planet,
you can’t just dismiss the possibility. Isn’t it worth a little
more time to figure that out?
This is the most credible, most clear and pressing threat on a
global scale in the history of humanity, with the sole exception
of being on the brink of global nuclear war during the Cuban Missile
crisis. But this time, you—as an individual citizen—not only know
about it, but you play a necessary part. You can help prevent
it. If there’s ever a time in your life, in our history, to be
thorough and deliberate, conscientious and unselfish, determined
and extraordinary, wouldn’t it be right now? At this moment?
So. What do you do next?
It’s time for the best in us to come out.
[On screen: for the a la carte menu listing which expansion pack
video to watch for which objection or question, see “How It All
Ends: Menu”]
This
video-article is part of an advanced listening activity for advanced
learners of English. 
The video on Youtube:
