(soft music) - [Narrator] How many times have you wondered does my one life make a difference in the world?

Do I have the potential to accomplish great things?

Come with us on this journey exploring interconnections through science and across cultures and time, noticing how your life impacts people, places, and events around the world, whether or not you're there to see the results.

Nothing exists in isolation.

Your smallest act can have a ripple effect far beyond what you can imagine.

We are a part of something much greater than ourselves.

Welcome to "Interconnections".

(soft music continues) Major funding for "Interconnections" has been provided by the following contributors, and by the many donors through our crowdfunding campaigns.

For a full list, please go to ConnectivityProject.com.

(soft music) - We are all far more profoundly connected than anyone can possibly imagine.

- We recognize that the land and the people are one, and interconnected.

- [Narrator] A butterfly beats its wings in Brazil.

Weeks later, a tornado forms in Texas.

Can these two events possibly be connected?

You've probably heard of the butterfly effect.

Mathematicians call this Chaos Theory.

- The butterfly effect, it's a very powerful metaphor, it's also very beautiful and evocative metaphor.

It's a metaphor for the fact that in living systems and in chaotic systems, there is a nonlinear interconnectedness.

This nonlinear interconnectedness has a consequence that very small causes may have very large effects.

- How many times have your choices right now been affected by just a simple statement somebody gave you?

From a parent, a favorite instructor, or from a friend, and that's the whole point of Chaos Theory, is that you never know which is the initial event that will have the biggest effect, so that means every opportunity we have, we don't know how precious that is.

We don't know how important that will be later.

- [Narrator] Because of the illuminating implications of Chaos Theory, scientists are reexamining their work in an interconnected way.

The concept of the food chain has been replaced with the food web.

It is no longer just about who eats whom, but who is reliant on whom, or what.

- Ecosystems are understood as networks of organisms that feed on one another.

Describing life in terms of networks is part of a much larger change of worldview that is now happening generally in science and in society.

In order to understand networks, we need to understand patterns and we need to understand relationships, and that's what systems thinking is all about.

- [Narrator] Although science and modern society have only recently begun using this way of viewing the world, it has been recognized and celebrated by diverse cultures and faiths around the world, and throughout time.

(singer singing in Latin) (singer continues singing in Latin) - Connectedness, from my worldview, and the worldview, I believe, of most Indigenous wisdom keepers, Elders, spiritual leaders, is a deep sense of being profoundly connected to all that is, everything in creation.

There is no separation.

All separation is totally illusion.

- Aloha is not just the catchy word that the tourist industry has sort of attempted to expropriate.

It's a way of being, it is a state of being.

Aloha defines not only our relationship to the heavens, but our relationship to each other.

Aloha is love, but to engage aloha fully, it needs to move.

It needs to flow from one person to another.

(Anita speaking in foreign language) (soft music) - [Narrator] China, 1958.

Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People's Republic of China, launched a campaign to rid the country of four pests.

Sparrows were included on the list, because they eat grain seeds.

Across the country, people banged pots and shook trees, forcing the birds to fly until they died of exhaustion.

But grain yields did not increase.

Though adult sparrows eat grain, juvenile sparrows eat insects.

Insect populations boomed.

Locusts in particular swarmed over the country, devouring the crops.

In the resulting famine, 35 million people died of starvation.

Eventually, China imported sparrows from Europe in an effort to restore balance to the ecosystem.

- There's a couple of modern belief systems that I think have led us astray.

One is that man is superior to all other life, and that separates us, from this tree, from the ocean, from the animals that live there.

- And it's this disconnection that is destroying Mother Earth, pushing all of Mother Earth's life support systems over the edge, creating the violence where we're doing incredibly horrific things to each other as human beings, all because we are profoundly separated inside first.

Nothing is created outside until it's created inside first, so I'm trashing on the outside because I'm trashing the environment on the inside, and I'm critical of you because I'm critical of me.

I'm separated outside because I'm separated inside.

- Disconnection is rampant today.

It's in our social customs.

Where I grew up, you don't talk to strangers.

It's not polite to talk to strangers, you know?

(laughing) Don't make eye contact, don't waste your time talking to each other, because it's not safe.

And no one actually tells you that, but that's being modeled.

Disconnection is being modeled.

- We have a greeting amongst our people, we say, "Aang waan" and greet each other like that all the time.

It means, "Hello my other self."

And that's a regular, normal daily greeting that we have.

I actually see you as my other self.

We are exactly made up of the same consciousness, the same essence, the same life force, as each other.

(Anita speaking foreign language) (Anita continues speaking foreign language) - We have laws in Hawaii, the Aloha Spirit Law, that actually is on the books, and actually says that all decision makers and judges and people can invoke Aloha in making any kind of judgment or decision.

- We really have to think about how to foster connectivity.

When people get to a certain level of connection, it triggers a transformational response in them, and they discover their own internal power, worth, gift, purpose.

We're designed to be connected, and it fills out something in us that we were longing for that we didn't even know we were longing for.

(bright music) - [Narrator] When we foster connectivity, we deepen our understanding of our interdependence.

Imagine what is possible with this expanded way of seeing.

- In this web of life, everything is connected to everything else, directly and indirectly.

If we looked at the world in a systemic way, this would help us to solve the major problems of our time.

- [Narrator] Meet Lois Gibbs, a quiet housewife from New York.

In 1978, her family began experiencing grave health problems.

She was compelled to speak out.

- I got involved in advocacy because I had to survive, and I had to save my children.

This is not something I chose to do.

My son was in an elementary school on top of a toxic waste site.

- [Narrator] From 1947 to 1952, the Hooker Chemical Company used the Love Canal section of Niagara Falls as a dumping site for toxic waste.

In the decades that followed, the residents of Love Canal experienced dire health consequences, such as leukemia and birth defects.

With such well-known problems, the houses were unsaleable, and the families were trapped.

- Lois Gibbs' name came across my desk when I was a junior in high school.

I remember just thinking like, wow, what a neat lady.

What an incredible story of one woman just saying, "I am not gonna stand for this."

- I was a very shy, introverted person.

Even when I went to a PTA meeting, I wouldn't ask a question, I would ask my girlfriend to ask the question for me.

And so here, I'm going from this one place in my life to knocking on a door talking to a stranger, and it was a huge transformation.

- [Narrator] For years, Lois led her community through a fight for justice that captured national attention.

They fought against corporate irresponsibility, local and state governments.

Eventually, they won their battle, were reimbursed for their homes, and relocated.

- What she did didn't just have ripple effects in her community or her state, but nationwide.

The US was the first to put together a government agency to protect our air, to protect our water, those sort of things.

That really inspired me, and that really made a big impact when I got older.

(school bell ringing) - When you think of global climate change, you just think of that warm.

Hot gets hotter, cold tends to get colder, so like in winter, you see more severe winter storms.

Roosevelt High School, along with all of North Portland, is completely surrounded by industrial areas.

It's also surrounded by railways, so when you think of all the things that could contribute to air pollution, we're right in the vortex of it, and we're all downwind from it.

- Just how bad Roosevelt High's exposure to toxic air pollution is, according to Neighbors for Clean Air, it ranks in the top 1% nationwide for exposure to toxic air pollution.

(soft music) - So I've got a club who have been trying to learn more about air quality.

We're trying to push forward some legislation in the state capitol that'll hopefully help with the pollution problem.

It takes a lot of nerve to stand up.

Confidence, I feel, is the greatest thing you can give to your children.

When Lois was able to come to Roosevelt and speak to my students, it was a real full cycle sort of thing.

- I love sitting in living rooms with real people.

They're real, and they say, "We have this problem.

How can we work together to fix it?"

- [Kendall] Clarissa Craig Howtopat is one of my students.

She's so determined, and she's got such a great work ethic, and she's relatively shy.

- I grew up on Warm Springs Reservation.

I live in North Portland with my sister, dad, mom, and myself.

My sister has autism.

She's six years old.

She's a handful.

I don't know, I'm just the protective sister, and I basically wanna keep danger out of her way, and just knowing that this is something else that could be dangering us just by breathing.

- She said, "I'm worried.

I'm worried about how it's gonna affect my sibling, and how it's gonna affect future generations."

And I was like, "Wow, she's got it.

She's got it.

She understands that this is not just an issue for now.

This is an issue for generations to come."

And so the rest of the group nominated Clarissa to speak for us at the state capitol.

- These students went down to Salem to voice their support for legislation that would help Oregon manage toxic air pollutions.

- Our students are with the Chemistry and Air Pollution Club.

Thank you for being here today.

Welcome to your capitol.

(people chatting) - I'm Clarissa.

- I'm Zach.

Nice to meet you.

- We're all from Roosevelt High School.

This is my teacher.

We're trying to get people's awareness on the air in North Portland.

The biggest concerns coming out of the study was that we are constantly being exposed to heavy metals like manganese.

- Regardless of who you are, your strengths as a student, no matter what your race is, or how much money you make, you have a voice.

(bright music) - [Narrator] The following year, with the help of many voices from the community, almost $400,000 was allocated for future air quality monitoring in Portland.

Kendall Jensen's class received a grant to travel to Washington DC to meet with Oregon senators about the dangerous air quality in their community.

And most recently, Oregon became the second state in the nation to pass a bill regulating the use and operation of diesel trucks.

Lois' efforts led to significant impacts and unimaginable results.

- The reason why this is possible is that these nonlinear systems embody feedback loops.

So you can have a small effect, which travels around a cycle, and is enhanced.

Then it goes around again and becomes larger, it goes around again and becomes larger, and it goes on and on and becomes larger and larger until it has a very big full-blown effect.

- This ripple effect of she did this, I learned about it in high school, it motivated me, I became a teacher, I'm teaching students, it's hopefully motivating them, and making them see that one person, whether it's Gandhi or Lois Gibbs, you can make a big difference.

- People can win these things because people have power.

They just don't realize the power actually is right there in their own hands.

- [Narrator] We've seen that when we change our actions, we open up new possibilities for ourselves and our world.

But the ripple effect works in both directions.

Your impact on the world, and the impact of the world on you.

(bright uplifting music) - When I moved to Iowa, I sort of discovered the prairie.

(insects and birds chirping) I was asking myself, "What do people do in Iowa?"

I wanted to see that landscape that I found so intriguing.

And enter Ragbrai.

20,000 people from all over the world descend on Iowa and ride their bike in this mass migration across the state.

So I signed up.

My roommate and best friend, we were riding together, and just sort of were brainstorming, what can we do while we're riding?

Nature matters to us.

This landscape matters to us.

I've always been into Monarch butterflies.

Maybe we can plant things for the Monarchs as we ride.

- [Narrator] Pollination is a dance between the plant and animal kingdoms, and provides a view into the world of interconnectivity.

- I mean, fundamentally, pollination is plant sex.

I mean, it's the way that a plant reproduces.

More than 85% of plant species need an animal pollinator, usually an insect, in order to move pollen around, in order to successfully reproduce.

- There's this relationship that we have with bees where they don't really know us.

And outside of honeybees, we don't really know them.

But yet, we benefit from each other.

(Jacqueline giggling) - What a surprise.

(laughing) (uplifting music) People don't realize how critically important the bees are.

Every time you go to the store, and you're buying fruits and vegetables, there's a pretty good chance that a bee had something to do with that.

If I want a tomato, I have to have bees.

If we didn't have a sliced tomato on your sandwich, that's one thing, but what about no pizza?

If you didn't have apples, then apple juice is gone, and apple juice is a sweetener in a lot of things, too.

No more apple pie.

Even though you don't think of bees in beef or chicken, the feeds that we give our animals are actually pollinated by bees.

- [Kelly] One out of three bites that you take required a pollinator.

- If we didn't have the bees, you wouldn't have that food anymore.

- The systems view of life involves many key concepts, and one of them is interconnectedness.

No individual organism can be sustainable.

No individual organism actually can be alive, because we all need this whole network of relationships with other organisms to stay alive.

- [Narrator] In the past two decades, Monarch butterfly populations have declined by almost 80%.

- [Mace] Milkweed is actually the only food source for something like the Monarch butterfly.

- Milkweed used to be widespread in the landscape, and isn't anymore.

If Monarchs continue to decline, that means that many other pollinators are also suffering.

Many other species of pollinators are even more endangered than Monarchs.

- [Matt] You've probably heard a lot about colony collapse disorder.

That is a decline in the honeybee populations.

- When looking at pollinator declines in general, the same issues apply in terms of the different drivers, whether that's habitat loss, exposure to pesticides, mostly insecticides, diseases brought into that population, or even climate change and the effects of more severe and more frequent droughts.

- [Matt] 88% of Iowa was covered in tall grass prairie when European settlers arrived.

Now, it's less than one tenth of 1% of the state.

- [Mace] Today, it's really about how do we create this habitat, how do we protect that habitat, and how do we help turn around the declines that we're seeing in pollinators across the country?

- We've got all this loss of habitat because of agricultural practices, so the question then is where else can this plant exist?

What are the other available spaces?

And in Iowa, for example, there are 115,000 miles of roadside.

That's so much potential habitat.

(uplifting music) When riders first come up to the Ragbrai booth, and they say, "What's this?

What are you doing, what are you giving out?

Is this a truffle?

Can I eat it?"

There are all these questions, and we simply tell them what we're doing.

So using seed balls, just as you ride, lob it from your bike, and the following spring, it'll germinate.

We see many of those riders come back the next day, and they are full of stories, maybe full of frustration, because they couldn't find a roadside that wasn't sprayed or mowed.

And so that's a great teachable moment.

- [Rider 1] They're supposed to be right next to the fence, right?

- [Rider 2] Then they don't get mowed.

- There you go, butterflies.

Live.

(soft music) - The systems view of life is a change from seeing the world as a machine to seeing it as a living network.

We have realized that the material world is a pattern of interdependent relationships.

- We as a people, and as an earth, need all of these parts.

Every little piece of the earth needs to be there for it to exist, and so my role in that system is to not do harm.

What are my little day to day decisions that are gonna help that?

- When we see ourselves as being parts of a larger whole, that gets us to the point of feeling empowered, but it also gives us a sense of responsibility.

And everything we do does have a ripple effect to the larger system.

Each of our choices is an economic choice, but it's also a social choice, a political choice, an ecological choice.

- [Jacqueline] I ask myself all the time, this decision that I make, this small act that I do, how does that impact nature?

- [Kealoha] We have choices every day, to decide to be in conflict, or to be in harmony.

To feel the oneness, or to feel the separation.

- Since everything is interconnected, it doesn't matter where you start.

So if you ask, "What can I do?"

I would say, "Do what you are already doing, but do it differently.

If you are a teacher, teach differently.

If you're an architect, build different buildings.

If you are a farmer, farm in a different way."

So it doesn't matter, wherever you are, you know, you keep the interconnectedness of problems in mind, and you act accordingly.

- [Narrator] Every decision is an opportunity to affect our shared world.

The choice is up to each and every one of us.

Keeping this interconnections in mind, what will you do with your opportunities?

To learn more about what you can do to make a difference, visit our website at ConnectivityProject.com.

(soft music) (soft music continues) (soft music continues) (soft music continues) (soft music continues) (uplifting music) Major funding for "Interconnections" has been provided by the following contributors, and by the many donors through our crowdfunding campaigns.

For a full list, please go to ConnectivityProject.com.

(bright music)