CGI Live Blog: Building a Better Future (Brad Pitt, Bill Clinton) | Tonic

Building a Better Future (Brad Pitt, Bill Clinton)

(09/24/2009)

5:01	Caroline: Aaaaand … the moment you’ve all been waiting for …

5:01	Caroline: In just a moment, Bill Clinton will be joined on stage by a little someone named Brad Pitt. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?

5:01	Caroline: The scene in the press zone is mayhem!!

5:02

Erin: The scene in the actual room is chaos too.

5:02

Caroline: Do tell …

5:02

Caroline: Feels different than this morning’s plenary, does it?

5:02

Caroline: AND, how does it compare to the Obama/Clinton opening plenary, Erin?

5:03

Erin: Well, I don’t think this is what you are getting at, but it’s actually smaller.

5:03

Caroline: Oh LORD!!!! You should see what’s going on down here.

5:04

Caroline:

The press room just FLOODED with camera people who didn’t make it into the room. More cameras than I think were here all week.

5:04

Caroline: Glad you made it, Erin.

5:05

Erin: Me too! Thanks to our rock star blogger Kathy — it was all her doing.

5:06

Caroline:

Go, Kathy! (http://www.tonic.com/contributor/kathy-ehrich-dowd/)

5:06

Erin: Here’s why a lot of the press can’t get in: A PR person told us one of the planners thought the interest in this session wouldn’t be big enough to create need for a bigger room. (I had to snicker when she told us that.)

5:07

Caroline:

Wait, you’re not in the ballroom, are you! I just realized that.

5:07

Erin: I think the real reason this session isn’t in the ballroom is that the CGI people are setting up for the CGI Global Citizen Awards that are happening tonight.

5:08

Erin: Which is a good opportunity to plug our feature on one of the CGI Global Award winners Ruchira Gupta…

5:08

Erin: http://www.tonic.com/article/ruchira-gupta-will-change-the-world/

5:09

Erin: Okay, we’re getting started. Let the intros begin…

5:09

Caroline:

Who we all got a chance to meet last night and I think I can safely say are all crazy about. Yay Ruchira Gupta!

5:09

Erin: This session is really a progress report about Brad Pitt’s group “Make It Right.”

5:10

Erin: And then it will move into a discussion on how to replicate this model globally.

5:12

Erin: A video on the Katrina flood is playing now

5:13

Erin: Editorial comment: No matter how many times I hear someone say they were sitting on their roof waiting for help, I will never get over it. I will never understand how people had to die sitting on their roof waiting for help.

5:13

Caroline: We should try to track down this video to link for y’all. It’s pretty terrific. They’re highlighting New Orleans’ rich, distinct culture.

5:14

Caroline: Me niether, Erin. I remember going there a year later and seeing rubble and debris and abandoned homes and collapsed traffic lights that were still there as if it had happened yesterday.

5:15

Caroline: (may I add that the horns playing in the background are the raddest jazzy alternative to the cheesy songs that usually back up these videos??)

5:15

Erin: Lots of laughs at the video; there is a very excited woman explaining how her bills are cheaper and that she’s got guava trees. I don’t think people in the lower 9th ward thought they’d have a home that Brad Pitt built with guava trees in the yard.

5:16

Erin: (Totally agreed on the horns, Caroline. Awesome!)

5:17

Erin: Bill is back reading more commitments.

5:17

Erin: Bill says we’ll love the panel. We’ll never question progress after this, he says.

5:17

Caroline:

“You are gonna LOVE this panel,” he says.

5:20

Erin: (Tech note: If Erin pops in and out of this conversation, it’s because the Internet is horrible in this room.)

5:20

Caroline:

I gotcha, Erin. Laser-focusing in on Bill.

5:20

Caroline: He’s presenting a certificate for the first new commitment of the session.

5:21

Caroline: He’s inviting the next group — including the former president of Costa Rica … which is apparently powered 95% by clean energy!!

5:21

Caroline: did NOT know that

5:21

Erin: Ooh, Bill fun fact: Costa Rica is the #1 enviro-friendly country in the world. (Not sure how he gauges that, but I’ll take his word for it.)

5:21

Erin: Oh, that’s how he knows that. Thanks Caroline!

5:22

Caroline:

Tag team …

5:22

Erin: Back again…

5:23

Caroline: Clinton: 11 of the last 12 years are the warmest years ever recorded since we’ve had this recording technology

5:23

Caroline: he says: by 2020, it’s estimated that between 75 and 250 million more people will experience increased water stress because of increased climate change

5:24

Caroline: He said something like “it’s good economics if we don’t do it in a dumb way”

5:24

Caroline: love it

5:25

Erin: Bill is fired up again. He’s saying people who want to bet on the 2% of the science community who don’t think global warming isn’t real can do so. He’s not betting his family on it.

5:26

Caroline: Ha … bill is about to introduce the panelists and said “I think I’m one of them”

5:26

Erin: Heh. Bill made a funny. He said he thinks he’s one of the panelists. Not sure.

5:27

Caroline:

Jinx!

5:27

Erin: Apparently Brad Pitt has fans. More celebs are coming in. Jesse Jackson is looking for a seat.

5:27

Erin: I know President Clinton is sharing something about a commitment, but it’s really hard to concentrate in here. There are women EVERYWHERE — standing room only in the back. Brad may not be like he was in the Thelma days, but lordy can he still pull a crowd.

5:27

Caroline: (there are some magazine photographers here in the press room getting into a heated argument over which of them will get into the room)

5:28

Caroline: the mayor of Greenville, Mississippi just took the podium. says that when they run their water it’s the color of tea. “brown water”

5:28	[Comment From Rebecca] Any angilina sightings?

5:29	[Comment From Rebecca] Brown water is a problem! That is nice he let her up there to talk. What an honor!

5:30

Caroline: Right, Rebecca. And to that point, i think he’s lucky to have her! Getting the voices from the people on the ground is so powerful and compelling. It’s about authenticity here, I’m sensing.

5:31

Caroline: Erin, did you catch the name of the restaurant in Mississippi that Clinton kept drooling over?
Do’s Eat Place?

5:31

Caroline: Brad’s looking very Assassination of Jesse James, is he not?

5:32

Erin: Apparently she’s and Greenville have got brown water. Ugh. That’s sad.

5:32

Caroline: (I was close. It’s Doe’s Eat Place http://www.doeseatplace.com/)

5:32

Erin: There was speculation as to whether or not he’s have the funny beard.

5:32

Caroline:

He’s got it

5:33

Caroline: OK — so clinton just said something really powerful. That there is a possibility that all of the hard work that Pitt is doing may be rendered irrelevant if the city is underwater in decades’ time

5:33

Erin: (Side note: I would not want to be Brad Pitt. The cameras NEVER stop. I don’t know how celebritities do it. I’d cry if my life was one giant seizure of cameras.)

5:34

Caroline:

Pitt is saying it’s a huge honor to be at CGI. It’s his third time.

5:34

Erin: If you missed that: Brad Pitt started Make It Right by making a commitment at CGI. This is the third time here.

5:34

Erin: Only Brad Pitt gets away with making a room give Bill Clinton a round of applause.

5:35

Caroline: He said he was experiencing the “fundraising blues” — which apparently means “making the big sell and getting no love”

5:35

Caroline: whereupon clinton told him “stick with it and we’ll figure it out”

5:35

Erin: This is a really cute story. Brad Pitt is saying that he had to turn to Bill Clinton for a pep talk.

5:36

Caroline: He says that the average utility bill on Make it Right homes are $35. is that right erin?

5:36

Erin: Too many jokes!

5:37

Caroline: BUT, that recently someone got a $8 bill — $0 for electricity, $8 for admin fees

5:37

Erin: Let me break down what just happened…

5:37

Caroline: whaoh, i can’t keep up with the jokes!

5:37

Caroline: but i can tell you this: the women are fawning. sorry to be trite during CGI sessions, but the facts are the facts. many a giggle

5:37

Caroline: OK — so Pitt is saying that affordability was his biggest challenge

5:38

Erin: The joke: Tom Darden is part of Make It Right… Brad Pitt was introducing him. Said he was single. Started auctioning him off. Darden turns read. Pitt says “Any takers?” And the homeowner on the panel says, “We’ll make another kind of commitment tonight.” Ha!

5:38

Caroline: that they had to re-evaluate the system. that there were “inefficiencies after inefficiencies” and “archaic systems” in place

5:38

Caroline: Ha!!!

5:38

Erin: (The super ironic part of that whole Darden thing is that some of the Tonic staff who will remain nameless have big crushes on him…for his brains, of course.)

5:38

Caroline:

Amazing.

5:39

Erin: New Orleans is the premiere template for how we will build our societies in the future, says Brad. Big success there, he thinks.

5:39

Caroline: Pitt believes that the Make it Right model should work in any climate, any condition around the world

5:40

Caroline: that yes, they’re focused on doing New Orleans thoroughly, but that in terms of the whole model, they’re “just scratching the surface”

5:40

Caroline: Oooh, more video

5:40

Caroline: Sike!!! “We’ve ix-nayed the video,” our moderator tells us.

5:40

Caroline: OK, a testimonial now.

5:41

Erin: You are not out of your mind. I thank God for your mind. — The homeowner’s comment to Brad Pitt.

5:42

Caroline:

Wow. This story is gut-wrenching. And even more tragic, it’s not all that different from the other stories of families who lost everything, couldn’t even return to their former neighborhoods for 7 or 8 months because of bodies and destruction.

5:42

Erin: This woman on the panel, the homeowner, is very sweet. She’s telling a story about how she heard about “Make It Right” on the radio. She’s now in a 4 bedroom home. She says she’s living in a $250,000 house but paying $400.

5:43

Erin: This is killing me. Tug at my heartstrings. This woman says she can now afford to give her daughter dance lessons.

5:43

Caroline: She’s incredible. Said, “This is not an actor. I am not an actress. This is real.”

5:43

Caroline: ”The lower ninth ward was a desert.”

5:43

Erin: Her name is Deirdre. She says thanks God for placing a need in Brad Pitt and President Clinton to help her.

5:44

Caroline:

“And now we are a community.”

5:44

Caroline: She’s dynamite. I love Deirdre.

5:44

Erin: (The “This is not an actor” moment was so funny. President Clinton grabbed Brad Pitt’s arm and lost it, burying his head in Pitt’s shoulder, laughing hard at her comment.)

5:44

Erin: I love Deirdre too. Let’s make t-shirts and show her we have a fan club.

5:46

Caroline: She’s saying that now it’s a racially mixed community. She explains that it was formerly a nearly all-black community. “I actually have caucasian people living down the street,” she says.

5:46

Erin: Deirdre says her daught hasn’t had an asthma problem since she moved into this house. The room burst into applause at that one.

5:47

Erin: Ha! “I have gadgets in my home!” She says she has these lights that come down like she’s an actress and she’s just cooking!

5:47

Caroline:

Hahahahaha …. she says people come down the street to visit her Brad Pitt home as if she’s acting or something, “And i’m just cooking!”

5:48

Caroline:

oh god, she’s killing me! she said, “Let me tell you about my dual flush cammode. you have a half mode and a full mode. you figure out what does what.” Bill Clinton is in hysterics.

5:48

Erin: That is the quote of the week.

5:48

Caroline: I’m pretty sure Deirdre is now the star of the show. Sorry Brad.

5:49

Erin: Tom is telling us that it was hard to figure out how to make green affordable.

5:52

Erin: Darden’s take-away: This is not hard. We can do it anywhere.

5:53

Caroline:

Rick Fedrizzi just came to the stage.

5:54

Erin: He says: Leadership is what you do when people stop looking.

5:54

Erin: He says Brad is an example of that.

5:54

Caroline: (He’s the president and founding president of the US Green Building Council)

5:55

Erin: Make It Right is proving that you can build green for the same cost of normal construction. He says this model is going to change rebuilding around the world.

5:55

Erin: Awwww, a plaque from the Green Building Council.

5:55

Caroline:

it’s purty!

5:55

Erin: Ooooh
The kids are there.

5:56

Erin: Deidre says she’ll keep the plaque!

5:56

Caroline:

(Katherine just came into the press room and saw the feed of Pitt, said: “He’s all beardy!”)

5:56

Caroline: She’s introducing Dr. Nawal Al-Hosaney

5:57

Caroline: And Bill McDonough

5:58

Erin: Bill is a founding member of Make It Right, Brad says.

5:58

Caroline:

and that he “wouldn’t be here without him.”

5:58

Caroline: Oooh, love this.
Bill is saying you can’t start out by focusing on the metrics or you end up trying to strategize to be “less bad.” That what we have to do is start with principles

5:59

Caroline:

(ie: affordability ….)

5:59

Caroline: Bill: “People should have the right to clean, healthy, affordable, beautiful homes.”

5:59

Erin: And then you figure out how to build it from there.

5:59

Caroline:

he says that by creating that skeleton, “the culture can put the meat on the bones”

6:00

Caroline: i love this guy, too. great panel

6:00	[Comment From glenndimes] i dig the use of “commode”

6:00

Erin: These guys are giving Jack Ma a run for his money.

6:01

Caroline: No doubt. I’ll tell you what, if Jack Ma were in that room, my head would explode.

6:01

Caroline: Brain-charm overload.

6:01	[Comment From glenndimes] crazy!

6:02

Erin: Ah, back to President Clinton’s favorite subject: This is a way to build back the economy.

6:02

Erin: The Dr. on the panel agrees. Build the whole economy not just the market.

6:02

Caroline:

hahah … NOW i get it, glenndimes. “crazy!” as in Jack Ma’s catchphrase, no?

6:02

Caroline: took me a second.

6:03

Caroline: yup. Nawal Al-Hosaney

6:04

Erin: And enter Bill with more info.

6:04

Caroline: Clinton, that is

6:04

Erin: The UAE is compteting to be the next green headquarters of the Middle East.

6:05

Erin: Bill fun fact: Houston is the only city with a building code as good as Vancouver.

6:05

Caroline: oooh, i lied about the spelling. my bad: Nawal Al-Hosany. She’s the Director of Sustainability of Masdar City in the United Aram Emirates

6:05

Caroline:

“Why should we ever build another building that isn’t a Platinum Leeds Building?” — clinton

6:06

Caroline: (LEEDS)

6:06

Erin: His library was the first one that was that kind of building in the government, natch.

6:07

Erin: Now we’re moving on to government involvement in making this happen.

6:07

Caroline: I remember it being built! (what! my family is from Arkansas …)

6:08

Caroline: and for all of my pluralizing LEED(s) — I did it ’cause Bill did! — i think it’s actually just LEED, right Erin?

6:08

Erin: Tom Darden is telling us how Make It Right happened because nothing had been rebuilt in the lower 9th two years after Katrina.

6:10

Erin: Brad says government needs to incentivize the private sector.

6:12

Caroline: Bill McDonough is saying “what is our plan?” for this planet

6:12

Caroline: said something about, if our plan is to create waste and climate change, then we’re doing great!

6:12

Caroline: (paraphrased)

6:12

Erin: He’s being funny about it too. He says that 99% of the world is under human management. And if our plan is pollution, we’re doing a heckuva job.

6:13

Erin: Ha! Jinx! Again!

6:13

Caroline: He said we can celebrate the fact that there are going to be 10 billion people on the planet, not bemoan it … and that we need to set up systems to prepare for it

6:13

Erin: He’s laying out his plan now…

6:13

Erin: Involving clean water, not using less water

6:14

Erin: also social fairness… he said there were five criteria that he listed

6:14

Erin: We’ll try and find those five for you. Went by too quick.

6:14

Erin: People are applauding that like nuts, by the way.

6:14

Erin: Q&A time…

6:14

Caroline: I am very sure i heart a “whoo!” at the end of that, right erin?

6:15

Erin: Yeah, they went crazy.

6:15

Erin: If you didn’t hear it, she just said “this panel is more exciting than a low flush toilet.”

6:15

Caroline: Shoot! Majora Carter was just announced, she clearly made a funny joke at the podium … and the mic wasn’t on.

6:15

Erin: Hey! Quincy Jones is here! He just practically tripped over my foot.

6:16

Caroline: oh! haha … thanks erin. I was feeling left out of the laughter.

6:16

Katherine Gustafson: I just came in cuz I love Major CArter!

6:16

Katherine Gustafson: Majora Carter, Founder and Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx

6:16

Caroline: Just what we need in the tabloids: “Tonic Editor Erin Green trips Quincy Jones in front of Pitt and Clinton”

6:17

Erin: Let’s clarify. He did not trip. He could have if I hadn’t moved my foot.

6:17

Katherine Gustafson: She helped renew a neighborhood in the Bronx that was more or less a toxic waste dump. It ended up with parks and walkable places, etc.

6:18

Caroline: She’s saying that climate change affects the poor the most.

6:18

Erin: And that all jobs need to be green jobs.

6:18

Erin: You alleviate both problems that way.

6:18

Caroline: that addressing these concerns is alleviating poverty at the same time we’re addressing environmental concerns

6:18

Caroline:

And Clinton and Pitt exchange some whispers.
(how’s that for pointless news?)

6:19

Erin: I would love to know what Bill Clinton and Brad Pitt are talking about.

6:19

Caroline: oh good! not so pointless after all. It was a good whisper, right??

6:20

Erin: Hey it’s Fran. The Nanny.

6:20

Erin: Seriously. She’s asking a question.

6:20

Erin: I think she’s got a cancer foundation: Cancer Schmancer, I believe.

6:20

Caroline:

that’s right erin. Sparked by her book by the same name.

6:21

Caroline: She’s telling a very detailed story about canned salmon

6:21

Erin: She is. But she’s trying to give the brown water mayor a solution.

6:21

Katherine Gustafson: What in the world is she talking about?

6:21

Erin: OMG. Is she really hawking skin cream?

6:21

Katherine Gustafson: This is the most rambling “question” I’ve ever heard.

6:21

Erin: She’s still talking. This is not good.

6:22

Erin: Bill Clinton can’t even listen anymore. He’s reading the agenda.

6:22

Erin: Hook! Yay!

6:22

Erin: Serena in the crowd is asking a question. Big up to Brad Pitt for craning his neck to see her ask her question.

6:24

Caroline:

OK, so one of the questions right now is about media

6:25

Caroline: and how media can influence the way that we promote initiatives like Make It Right, and subsequent cultural movements around it

6:26

Caroline:

Tom talked a bit about social media efforts

6:26

Caroline: And now Clinton is talking about education — that there are schools that are teaching their kids about green schools and what they’re all about

6:27

Katherine Gustafson: I love his granny glasses.

6:27

Caroline: he says that New Orleans is like a laboratory to understand what’s happening there.

6:27

Caroline: AND, he says that the states, not the federal government, design the curriculum. and that environmental education should be taught like arithmetic

6:28

Caroline:

wow. stat: 90% of schools in the country are not to building code. is that what he really said???

6:28

Caroline: jeez

6:29

Caroline: Rick Fedrizzi said: “we send them to prison every day and expect them to come home with As and Bs” — snap!

6:31

Caroline:

Al-Hosany is discussing ways of measuring environmental awareness — and that the youth know the most and can go home and educate their families

6:31

Caroline: Rose Sanders from Alabama, from the audience, is now asking a question

6:32

Caroline: She wants to know how we can bring Make It Right to our own communities
even if we only build one house.
“If we somehow can get some understanding and knowledge and how to do this, the resources.”

6:32

Caroline: And Brad is saying he wants to “hook up” with her

6:32

Caroline: ie: he’ll answer her question later

6:32

Caroline: that this has been a big investigation of Make It Right and he wanted to talk to her about it afer

6:34

Katherine Gustafson: Clinton make a suggestion: take profit and make a revolving loan fund or a loan guarantee fund to finance doing this in every community in america

6:34

Caroline:

right. and this is in reference to the government, making their money back from these investments

6:34

Katherine Gustafson: I think it’s over.

6:34

Caroline: oh no!
the moderator is getting “the hook”

6:35

Caroline: someone is dragging her off of the stage with their cane around her neck

6:35

Caroline: kidding. it was metaphoric hook. end of show.

6:35

Katherine Gustafson: All the bright stars of the night have places to go, people to see.

6:35

Katherine Gustafson: Bye guys! See you tomorrow.

6:35	[Comment From Cassjoy] I’m really inspired by how she talks about social justice in a practical and attainable way

6:35	[Comment From sara] caroline/erin thanks for the live blogging. great panel. fran was the only hiccup.

6:36

Caroline: See you manana!!! We’ll be live blogging from tomorrow’s plenaries, wrapping up in the afternoon with the closing keynote from Hillary R.

6:36

Caroline:

We’ll see you then!

6:36

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