I grew up in a very small village in Canada, and I'm an undiagnosed dyslexic. I had a really hard time in school. In fact, my mother told me eventually that I was the little kid in the village who cried all the way to school. I ran away. I left when I was 25 years old to go to Bali, and there I met my incredible wife, Cynthia, and together, over 20 years, we built an amazing jewelry business. It was a fairy tale, and then we retired. Then she took me to see a film that I really didn't want to see. It ruined my life -- (Laughter) "The Inconvenient Truth" and Mr. Gore. I have four kids, and even if part of what he says is true, they're not going to have the life that I had. And I decided at that moment that I would spend the rest of my life doing whatever I could to improve their possibilities. So here's the world, and here we are in Bali. It's a tiny, little island -- 60 miles by 90 miles. It has an intact Hindu culture. Cynthia and I were there. We had had a wonderful life there, and we decided to do something unusual. We decided to give back locally.
Odrastao sam u jako malom selu u Kanadi, i ja sam nedijagnosticirani disleksičar. Bilo mi je jako teško u školi. U stvari, moja mama mi je konačno rekla kako sam bio maleno seosko dijete koje je plakalo cijelim putem do škole. Pobjegao sam. Otišao sam kada sam imao 25 godina za Bali. I tamo sam upoznao svoju nevjerojatnu ženu, Cynthiu, i zajedno kroz 20 godina, izgradili smo sjajni posao s nakitom. To je bila bajka, i onda smo otišli u mirovinu. Onda me ona odvela da pogledamo film koji nisam želio gledati. To je uništilo moj život -- (Smijeh) "Neugodna istina" i gosp. Gore. Imam četvero djece, i čak ako je samo dio onoga o čemu priča istinit, oni neće imati život koji sam ja imao. I u tom trenutku sam odlučio da ću provesti ostatak života radeći što god mogu kako bi im poboljšao mogućnosti. Dakle, tu je svijet, a tu smo mi na Baliju. To je sićušni, maleni otok -- 96,5 km sa 145 km. Ima nedirnutu Hindusku kulturu. Cynthia i ja smo bili tamo. Imali smo prekrasan život tamo, i odlučili smo napraviti nešto neuobičajeno. Odlučili smo vratiti nazad lokalno.
And here it is: it's called the Green School. I know it doesn't look like a school, but it is something we decided to do, and it is extremely, extremely green. The classrooms have no walls. The teacher is writing on a bamboo blackboard. The desks are not square. At Green School, the children are smiling -- an unusual thing for school, especially for me. And we practice holism. And for me it's just the idea that, if this little girl graduates as a whole person, chances are she'll demand a whole world -- a whole world -- to live on. Our children spend 181 days going to school in a box. The people that built my school also built the prison and the insane asylum out of the same materials. So if this gentleman had had a holistic education, would he be sitting there? Would he have had more possibilities in his life?
I evo je; zovemo ju Zelena škola. Znam da ne izgleda kao škola, ali to je nešto što smo odlučili napraviti, i ekstremno je, ekstremno zelena. Učionice nemaju zidove. Učitelji pišu na ploče od bambusa. Stolovi nisu kvadratni. U Zelenoj školi, djeca se smiju -- neobična stvar za školu, posebno za mene. I mi prakticiramo holistički pristup. I za mene je to samo ideja da, ako ova djevojčica završi školu kao cjelovita osoba, šanse su da će zahtjevati cjelovit svijet -- cjelovit svijet -- u kojem će živjeti. Naša djeca potroše 181 dan hodajući u škole u kutiji. Ljudi koji su izgradili moju školu također su izgradili zatvor i azil za umobolne iz istog materijala. Dakle, da je ovaj gospodin imao holističku edukaciju zar bi sjedio tamo? Bi li imao više mogućnosti u svom životu?
The classrooms have natural light. They're beautiful. They're bamboo. The breeze passes through them. And when the natural breeze isn't enough, the kids deploy bubbles, but not the kind of bubbles you know. These bubbles are made from natural cotton and rubber from the rubber tree. So we basically turned the box into a bubble. And these kids know that painless climate control may not be part of their future. We pay the bill at the end of the month, but the people that are really going to pay the bill are our grandchildren. We have to teach the kids that the world is not indestructible. These kids did a little graffiti on their desks, and then they signed up for two extra courses. The first one was called sanding and the second one was called re-waxing. But since that happened, they own those desks. They know they can control their world.
Učionice imaju prirodno svjetlo. One su prekrasne. One su od bambusa. Povjetarac prolazi kroz njih. I kada nije dovoljan prirodni povjetarac, djeca uposle balone, ali ne onu vrstu balona koja je vama poznata. Ti baloni su napravljeni od prirodnog pamuka i gume od kaučukovca. Tako smo u osnovi pretvorili kutiju u balon. I ta djeca sada znaju kako bezbolna kontrola klime ne može biti djelom njihove budućnosti. Plaćamo račun krajem mjeseca, ali ljudi koji će stvarno platiti račun su naši unuci. Moramo naučiti djecu da svijet nije nesalomljiv. Ova djeca su napravila malene grafite na svojim stolovima, i onda su upisala dva dodatna predmeta. Prvi se zvao pjeskarenje, a drugi se zvao ponovno premazivanje voskom. Ali otkada se to dogodilo, oni posjeduju te stolove. Oni znaju kako mogu kontrolirati svoj svijet.
We're on the grid. We're not proud of it. But an amazing alternative energy company in Paris is taking us off the grid with solar. And this thing is the second vortex to be built in the world, in a two-and-a-half meter drop on a river. When the turbine drops in, it will produce 8,000 watts of electricity, day and night. And you know what these are. There's nowhere to flush. And as long as we're taking our waste and mixing it with a huge amount of water -- you're all really smart, just do the math. How many people times how much water. There isn't enough water. These are compost toilets, and nobody at the school wanted to know about them, especially the principal. And they work. People use them. People are okay. It's something you should think about doing. Not many things didn't work. The beautiful canvas and rubber skylights got eaten by the sun in six months. We had to replace them with recyclable plastic. The teachers dragged giant PVC whiteboards into the classrooms. So we had some good ideas: we took old automobile windshields, put paper behind them and created the first alternative to the whiteboard.
Mi smo u mreži; ne ponosimo se time. Ali jedna nevjerojatna kompanija iz Pariza koja se bavi alternativnom energijom nam pomaže u neovisnosti kroz upotrebu solarne energije. I ta stvar je drugi vrtlog koji će biti izgrađen na svijetu, na dubini od dva i pola metra u rijeci. Kada se ubaci turbina, i proizvoditi će 8.000 vati struje, danju i noću. I znate li što je ovo. Ne postoji kotlić. I dokle god uzimamo naš otpad i mješamo ga s ogromnim količinama vode -- stvarno smo pametni, samo izračunajte. Koliko ljudi puta koliko vode. Nema dovoljno vode. Ovo su kompostni zahodi. I nitko u školi ne želi znati za njih, posebno ravnatelj. I oni rade; ljudi ih koriste. Ljudima su dobri. I vi razmislite o njihovom korištenju. Malo je stvari s kojima nismo uspjeli. Divna platna i gumeni vidikovci pojedeni su od sunca u šest mjeseci. Morali smo ih zamijeniti s recikliranom plastikom. Učitelji su dovukli ogromne PVC ploče u učionice, a mi smo imali nekoliko dobrih ideja. Uzeli smo nekoliko starih automobilskih vjetrobranskih stakla, stavili papir iz njih i kreirali prve alternative bijelim pločama za pisanje.
Green School sits in south-central Bali, and it's on 20 acres of rolling garden. There's an amazing river traveling through it, and you can see there how we manage to get across the river. I met a father the other day; he looked a little crazed. I said, "Welcome to Green School." He said, "I've been on an airplane for 24 hours." I asked him, "Why?" He said, "I had a dream once about a green school, and I saw a picture of this green school, I got on an airplane. In August I'm bringing my sons." This was a great thing. But more than that, people are building green houses around Green School, so their kids can walk to school on the paths. And people are bringing their green industries, hopefully their green restaurants, to the Green School. It's becoming a community. It's becoming a green model. We had to look at everything. No petrochemicals in the pavement. No pavement. These are volcanic stones laid by hand. There are no sidewalks. The sidewalks are gravel. They flood when it rains, but they're green.
Zelena škola je smještena u južno-centralnom Baliju, i zauzima oko 81.000 m2 valovitog vrta. Jedna nevjerojatna rijeka teče kroz nju, i tamo možete vidjeti kako prelazimo rijeku. Prije nekoliko dana upoznao sam jednog oca, izgledao je pomalo sluđeno. Rekao sam mu, "Dobrodošli u Zelenu školu." On je rekao, "Bio sam u avionu 24 sata." Pitao sam ga, "Zašto?" On je odgovorio, "Imao sam jednom san o zelenoj školi, i vidio sam sliku Zelene škole, i sjeo sam na avion. U kolovozu ću dovesti sinove." To je bila sjajna stvar. Ali više od toga, ljudi grade zelene domove oko Zelene škole, kako bi njihova djeca mogla do škole doći stazama. I ljudi dovode svoje zelene industrije, nadam se svoje zelene restorane, u Zelenu školu. Postajemo zajednica. Postajemo ekološki model. Morali smo gledati na sve. Bez petrokemije u kolnicima. Bez kolnika. Ovo su vulkanske stijene postavljene rukama. Nema pločnika. Pločnici su od šljunka, oni poplave kada pada kiša, ali su ekološki.
This is the school buffalo. He's planning to eat that fence for dinner. All the fences at Green School are green. And when the kindergarten kids recently moved their gate, they found out the fence was made out of tapioca. They took the tapioca roots up to the kitchen, sliced them thinly and made delicious chips. Landscaping. We manage to keep the garden that was there running right up to the edge of each of the classrooms. We dropped them gently in. We made space for these guys who are Bali's last black pigs. And the school cow is trying to figure out how to replace the lawnmower on the playing field.
Ovo je školski bizon. On planira pojesti tu ogradu za večeru. Sve ograde u Zelenoj školi su ekološke. I kad su djeca iz vrtića nedavno pomaknula svoju kapiju, otkrila su kako je ograda napravljena od tapioke. Uzeli su korijenje tapioke u kuhinju, izrezali ih tanko i napravili slasni čips. Uređenje okoline. Uspjevamo održati vrt koji je bio tamo pružajući se desno do ruba svake od učionica. Nježno smo ih ubacili. Ostavili smo prostor za ove dečke koji su zadnje crne svinje na Baliju. A školska krava pokušava otkriti kako može zamijeniti kosilicu na igralištu.
These young ladies are living in a rice culture, but they know something that few people know in a rice culture. They know how to plant organic rice, they know how to look after it, they know how to harvest and they know how to cook it. They're part of the rice cycle and these skills will be valuable for them in their future. This young man is picking organic vegetables. We feed 400 people lunch every day and it's not a normal lunch. There's no gas. Local Balinese women cook the food on sawdust burners using secrets that only their grandmothers know. The food is incredible.
Ove mlade dame žive u kulturi riže, ali one znaju nešto što jako malo ljudi u kulturi riže zna. One znaju kako posaditi organsku rižu, znaju kako se o njoj brinuti, znaju kako je pobrati i kako je skuhati. One su dio ciklusa riže, a te će vještine biti vrijedne za njihovu budućnost. Ovaj mladi čovjek bere organsko povrće. Svaki dan napravimo ručak za 400 ljudi. I to nije normalni ručak; nema plina. Lokalne žene Balija kuhaju hranu u pećnicama na drva koristeći tajne koje znaju samo njihove bake. Hrana je nevjerojatna.
Green School is a place of pioneers, local and global. And it's a kind of microcosm of the globalized world. The kids are from 25 countries. When I see them together, I know that they're working out how to live in the future. Green School is going into its third year with 160 children. It's a school where you do learn reading -- one of my favorites -- writing -- I was bad at it -- arithmetic. But you also learn other things. You learn bamboo building. You practice ancient Balinese arts. This is called mud wrestling in the rice fields. The kids love it. The mothers aren't quite convinced.
Zelena škola je mjesto pionira, lokalnih i globalnih. I to je neka vrsta mikrosvemira globaliziranog svijeta. Djeca su iz 25 zemalja. Kada ih vidim zajedno, znam da razmišljaju kako živjeti u budućnosti. Zelena škola ide u svoju treću godinu sa 160 djece. To je škola u kojoj naučite čitati -- jedna od mojh omiljenih -- pisati -- ja sam bio loš u tome -- aritmetiku. Ali također naučite i druge stvari. Naučite kako graditi od bambusa. Prakticirate staru umjetnost Balija. Ovo se zove hrvanje u blatu rižinih polja. Djeca to obožavaju. Majke nisu stvarno uvjerene.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
We've done a lot of outrageous things in our lives, and we said, okay, local, what does "local" mean? Local means that 20 percent of the population of the school has to be Balinese, and this was a really big commitment. And we were right. And people are coming forward from all over the world to support the Balinese Scholarship Fund, because these kids will be Bali's next green leaders. The teachers are as diverse as the student body, and the amazing thing is that volunteers are popping up. A man came from Java with a new kind of organic agriculture. A woman came from Africa with music. And together these volunteers and the teachers are deeply committed to creating a new generation of global, green leaders. The Green School effect -- we don't know what it is. We need someone to come and study it. But what's happening, our learning-different kids -- dyslexic -- we've renamed them prolexic -- are doing well in these beautiful, beautiful classrooms. And all the kids are thriving.
Napravili smo puno nepriličnih stvari u našim životima, i rekli smo, dobro, lokalno. Što to znači lokalno? Lokalno znači da 20% populacije škole mora biti iz Balija. I to je bila stvarno velika obveza. I bili smo u pravu. A ljudi nam dolaze iz cijelog svijeta kako bi poduprli Balijski fond za školovanje, jer će ta djeca za Bali biti slijedeći ekološki lideri. Učitelji su toliko raznoliki koliko i učenici. I nevjerojatna stvar je što volonteri stalno dolaze. Čovjek je došao s Jave s novom vrstom organske poljoprivrede. Žena iz Afrike je došla s muzikom. I zajedno ti volonteri i učitelji su duboko predani kreiranju nove generacije globalnih, ekoloških lidera. Efekt Zelene škole -- ne znamo koji je. Trebamo nekoga tko će doći i proučiti nas. Ali ono što se događa, naša djeca koja uče drugačije -- disleksična -- preimenovali smo ih u proleksične -- sjajno napreduju u ovim prekrasnim, prekrasnim učionicama. I sva djeca napreduju.
And how did we do all this? On giant grass. It's bamboo. It comes out of the ground like a train. It grows as high as a coconut tree in two months and three years later it can be harvested to build buildings like this. It's as strong and dense as teak and it will hold up any roof. When the architects came, they brought us these things, and you've probably seen things like this. The yellow box was called the administration complex. (Laughter) We squashed it, we rethought it, but mainly we renamed it "the heart of school," and that changed everything forever. It's a double helix. It has administrators in it and many, many other things.
A kako smo to sve napravili? Ogromnom travom. To je bambus. Izlazi iz zemlje kao vlak. Naraste do veličine stabla kokosa za dva mjeseca. I nakon tri godine može se koristiti za izgradnju zgrada poput ove. Jak je i gust kao tikovina. I držati će svaki krov. Kada su arhitekti došli, donijeli su te stvari, i vi ste vjerojatno već vidjeli ovo. Žuta kutija koju nazivamo administracijski kompleks. (Smijeh) Zgnječili smo to, ponovno promislili, ali uglavnom smo ga preimenovali -- u srce škole. I to je sve promijenilo zauvijek. To je dvostruki heliks. Unutra ima administraciju i puno, puno drugih stvari.
And the problem of building it -- when the Balinese workers saw long reams of plans, they looked at them and said, "What's this?" So we built big models. We had them engineered by the engineers. And Balinese carpenters like this measured them with their bamboo rulers, selected the bamboo and built the buildings using age-old techniques, mostly by hand. It was chaos. And the Balinese carpenters want to be as modern as we do, so they use metal scaffolding to build the bamboo building and when the scaffolding came down, we realized that we had a cathedral, a cathedral to green, and a cathedral to green education. The heart of school has seven kilometers of bamboo in it. From the time the foundations were finished, in three months it had roofs and floors. It may not be the biggest bamboo building in the world, but many people believe that it's the most beautiful.
I problem u njegovoj izgradnji -- kada su radnici s Balija vidjeli duge papire planova, pogledali su ih i rekli, "Što je to?" Tako smo izgradili velike modele. Njih su izgradili inžinjeri. A Balijski stolari poput ovih su ih izmjerili s bambusovim metrima, izabrali bambus i sagradili zgrade koristeći se prastarim tehnikama, uglavnom rukama. Bio je kaos. A Balijski stolari žele biti moderni poput nas, tako su koristili metalne skele kako bi sagradili zgradu od bambusa. I kada su rastavili skele, shvatili smo da imamo katedralu, ekološku katedralu, i katedralu ekološke edukacije. Srce škole ima sedam kilometara bambusa u sebi. Od vremena od kada su temelji završeni, unutar tri mjeseca sagrađeni su krov i podovi. Možda to nije najveća zgrada od bambusa na svijetu ali mnogi ljudi vjeruju kako je najljepša.
Is this doable in your community? We believe it is. Green School is a model we built for the world. It's a model we built for Bali. And you just have to follow these simple, simple rules: be local, let the environment lead and think about how your grandchildren might build.
Je li to moguće napraviti i u vašoj zajednici? Mi mislimo da je. Zelena škola je model koji smo sagradili za svijet. To je model koji smo sagradili za Bali. I trebate samo pratiti ta jednostavna, jednostavna pravila: budite lokalni, pustite da vas priroda vodi i razmislite o tome kako bi vaši unuci htjeli da se izgradi.
So, Mr. Gore, thank you. You ruined my life, but you gave me an incredible future. And if you're interested in being involved in finishing Green School and building the next 50 around the world, please come and see us.
Dakle, gosp. Gore, hvala vam. Upropastili ste mi život, ali ste mi dali nevjerojatnu budućnost. I ako vas zanima da se uključite u završetak Zelene škole i izgradnju još 50 širom svijeta, molim vas dođite i vidite nas.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)