to talk about his recent trip to china and that countries view of the election. he will also talk about our next president could shape policy. then catherine certs from women vote trump and she will talk about why she cofounded the group. as well as what they hope to accomplish. , white houseorti reporter for "usa today" will join us. he will discuss the obama decision to commute the senses of 214 inmates. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" earning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. join the discussion. ehrlich spenttel 20 years in greenland, during ther lives and cultures of villagers and hunters.

she sat down for a conversation about greenland and global warming at the library foundation in los angeles. >> if you have been following s writing,lich' you will read about the american west or her astonishing memoir about being struck i lightning. inaugural 2010 throw therough award. tonight, she is here to talk to us about greenland, about

climate change, about rotten ice. i noted today on npr, if you think today is hot, you are right. if you think this year is hot, you're right. the latest temperature numbers from nasa and the latest numbers say the oceanic atmosphere that the numbers are the hottest on record in the planet. beginning in 1993, gretel ehrlich traveled to greenland. they have four months of , four months of constant daylight, in the twilight seasons in between. traveling up the west coast, listeninghe dogsled, to their narratives and observing changes in their traditional hunting. has she reminded us from her harpers in 2015, what happens at the top of the world affects all of us.

we are deeply honored to have gretel back. and in conversation with her is someone she knows well, her -- neil someone who conan worked as a correspondent in new york, washington and has covered wars in the middle east in northern ireland, olympic games in lake placid in sarajevo , and a presidential impeachment. he served in various times as producer and executive producer of all things considered. i miss sam and you probably do as a long-time "talk of the nation." please welcome gretel ehrlich and neil conan. [applause]

neil: when you first went to greenland in 1993, you brought a couple of books with you. what were they? gretel: they were two of the 13 volumes of [indiscernible] the 1920'sveled in from greenland to of point hope alaska. rasmussen, weor would know very little of arctic culture. neil: what did we learn from him? gretel: everything. acrossoriginally came the bering land bridge from northeastern siberia. ,nd they have year-by-year perhaps 20,000 years ago, first will ask, then to the archipelago, what we call the northwest passage was really the

traditional passageway east for them. and they ended up in greenland roughly 5000 years ago. it's one language. there's a lot of dialects. one life way with some variations, according to where they were and what they needed to do to get food. single culturely that spans 6000 miles just across the top. said, oh, wee they are not going to move to santa monica. i don't really like the beach. [laughter] they didn't know there was anything else except as ice -- except eyes. neil: i got to go with you to remind a few years ago. one of the things i was cityished by, we went to a lesson halfway up the west coast of greenland, and you think you are pretty far north, but you are not. there is a long way left to go. gretel: right.

the island of greenland is huge and long. began, because of rasmussen, i began going to the northernmost villages, the two of 70 degreesy are at latitude north. i was there because -- rathmussen. there was a young and you would -- inuit marine hunter there. he had done the same treat -- t in the 1970's instead of the 20's. i went there thinking i could have him take me on the trip. and i finally met him and asked

him, he said no. that trip was very hard. you don't want to stay and do that. stay here with us. coupled with us. meeting his -- travel with us. meeting his family -- meaning his family. neil: if you could bring up slide 11. gretel: that is me. that is my favorite picture of myself ever. it is about 20 below that they. we had been on a long trip. the coldest of which was 59 low zero. 20 below felt really good. we decided to stop into sunday. -- and sunday. -- sunbathe. neil: what were the villages like?

gretel: they were vibrant. it does not have a lot of villages but they are vibrant. villages of about 20-75 people. maybe a few more. carmack is sort of a town. the dog population was larger than the human population. as you can see, we travel on big sleds. they are about 12 feet long. 12 feet across. they are pulled by 15-20 dogs. in fan. -- in a fan. these dogs are half wild. they are not taken into the house as they are in alaska. population was the symphonyt was the every night. howling every night.

they are chained up on long chains. days, they ate a few babies. they were against the big rock wall. the sound of them echoed. it was delicious. it was never something that you try to get away from. it was part of the music of greenland. neil: i was astonished to realize how little of life is on land and how much is that c. -- at sea. gretel: what must you but don't quite understand -- most people don't understand is all of travelers on sea ice. the davis strait and north of the kennedy channel are relatively narrow. on a clear day you can see the

island. nothing grows there. there are no barriers. there is nothing. the flesh of murray mammals. they hunt with -- marine mammals. they hunt with rifles. neil: where did they get them? gretel: they got them as a present from robert from helping him get near the north hall. withstill hunt narwall harpoons from kayaks. they make everything themselves except the rifles. we wear poor their pants. -- polar bear pants. harnesses and the sleds. they make their own kayaks. these are industrious religious

where there is something going on all the time. neil: this is a conscious decision? they could have snowmobiles. gretel: they ban snowmobiles. they chose to live exactly how they want to. they work better. we have thrived for 5000 years. why would we change something that works so well? neil: it is a communal culture. the hunters who go out are not hunting for themselves. they hunt and extended family groups. it is a food sharing society so that everybody is bad. there is no -- everybody is fed. there is no want. injured people, orphans, everybody. the danish schoolteacher. whoever. and me who used to come in the

spring. we were all given food. it was not sold. it was given. neil: you talk about the culture that unites these peoples across the top of the world. there is a concept i want you to talk about. "sila." gretel: it is the first word i learned. it means both weather. the power of nature. and consciousness. not just human consciousness, but the consciousness of all sentient beings. it goes beyond that. appearls of animals that in the masks that they make for dances. wolf face with a

seal coming out of the mouth where the wolf as each in the soul of the seal. eaten the soul of the seal. world in whichr there is no domination of one to the other. you are all there out on the ice together. the first time you went out hunting with them, what was it like? gretel: i was not squeamish. there was a young woman who later became a prime minister of greenland who had grown up in villages and i met her. to come up ased much as i do. she speaks seven languages. she did not show up. typical. i thought, i have come a long way so i might as well go. i went out with two strange men who do not speak english and i

did not speak and still don't speak greenlandic. i asked the owner of the guesthouse house if i would be ok and he said, do you think i would send you out on the ice with people who would not take the absolute best care of you? i said, i'm sorry. i will go. all three went. for a month. -- off i went. for a month. where does one go to the bathroom? .here are pieces of rough ice rough ice. he knew a few words. he said right here would be good. [laughter] it was extraordinaire. neil: the trip was catered? gretel: of course.

boiled seal. that was good. we just had seal. [laughter] i have been doing this for 20 years with the same group. one year we had an onion. after about the secondly, he pulls this onion. a danish onion, he pulls out this backpacker we all sort of stood around 80 took out the carbonite and he drops it in the boiler water -- boiling water with the wailing seal and it was so exciting. seal.ing it was so exciting. underneath that that, it has all the adamant and minerals that a human being needs. that in each some meat

and off we go. neil: what do the dogs eat? gretel: the same thing. they get that first. -- fed first. you will not survive without the dogs. they are your transportation. they are taking care of beautifully. -- taken care of beautifully. neil: you are visiting the site society that is largely intact. gretel: hunting traditions. languages intact. neil: when did you realize things were changes? gretel: it was 1996. there are two islands and some friends of his were out there. everyone was going to join and hunt together. everything does things as a group. it was spring.--

usually the dogs can smell that there is water or something but they did not. suddenly, i heard this crash and. crashing like goblins been smashed your i did not know what was happening. suddenly, i saw dogs disappear. disappearing and try to get away and this hole in front of us -- the other the the other guy jumped off the back. he put it in the back and ongpped the seal sking th around it to hold the sled back.

he told me to hang on. cowgirl.ging on like a the sled was inching towards this hole. across and was one hand pulling dogs out of the water. throwing them. these are strong guys. they are so incredibly really and efficient -- brilliant and efficient. you can't believe your eyes. then he got most of them out and step off the sled on a piece of eye that had already broken off and he's a big man and when he stepped on it, that i started going down i can elevator. i thought, goodbye. that -- leptfrom from that back onto the sled and got the dogs to turn a hard left

and yelled at them and off we went. no one ever said a word. later, we traveled for a few hours. so far, so good. i asked him, if we were going to die. he said, maybe. there was a smile at the end. [laughter] i just thought, i am in the presence of these extraordinary people and there is nobody left like them in the whole world. if i die here after they'd have done -- they have done everything they can do to save all their lives, i happily surrender. weak because was warming had started to

chronically mean there was less and less ice every year. gretel: that is what we did not understand. the ice was spinning. -- thinning. i asked -- i just didn't know. after that, i knew something was wrong. they knew it, too. they said, find out what is going on. so i did. i started a long process of iceating myself about sea in the greenland ice sheet which is another story. in the feedback systems that create more and more warming. ongoing. is it is so exponential. not just see ice but the entire world is becoming a hot place. days where are even

it is 59 below zero but the waters are stormy so ice is breaking from underneath. the first incident was 1997. by 2004, it was basically all over. when we took off, we were going off on a month-long walrus hunt. it was 35 below zero. it got colder and colder and colder. pray while -- for a wild the ice was ok. while the ice was ok. the first camp we made, the ice was somewhat thin. we were told to walk single file and carefully. during the night, we harpooned a

walrus and it was not back to camp. -- brought back to camp. we were staying in little huts. ut were staying in this h with 58 dogs and eight people. it was dripping blood. i thought of it as a metronome that was marking what i thought of as aboriginal time. this is time without days and schedule. does going between -- just going between one meal and the next hoping you will find enough food in the next place you go. sense of,us into a the ice is bad and it is breaking from underneath. maybe it will be ok. then it was not. village and we

were supposed to go out to an island and we were told there was no ice at all. none. the look on their face, i just knew they understood that it was basically the end of ice and the end of their lives as they had known it for thousands of years. village? mentioned the gretel: it was small. greatend's wife was the daughter -- granddaughter of a schoolteacher. i asked her how many students she had and she said two. sometimes just one.

village.iny, vibrant should i tell the rest of the story? i can't believe the questions he is asking me. [laughter] this is not how it was supposed to go. we will get to the rest of the story later. trip with a big group of people. just that one walrus. gretel: that is all. trip, as we were moving down the coast of greenland, everything behind us was breaking up. around, there was no ice in front and very little ice in the back. we had to go up and over part of the ice sheet which is really dangerous and exciting.

big chronos -- crevase. we took air going off and then we went down the stream bed. it was frozen. there were these big boulders and the snow breaks on this so they put rope on the runners. theut his knee down to slow sled down and his foot was hitting boulders. didot to the bottom and we find a place with the previous ood on thed left f drying rack. they were so relieved that the dogs would have something to eat. we had consumed the walrus. monthnt the rest of the just trying to get home. it took weeks.

the previous life where you see , we finally made and made the islands it back to the northernmost village in the world. it was a disaster. down when wecame got back and they saw that there was no food for them. they are very cool people. there was no outward display of disappointment. just, ok. let's unpack the sleds and everyone went home and it was quiet. neil: what happens to a food sharing culture that is fed by subsistence hunters when there is no food and the ice that is the transportation system has -- when that begins to go away? gretel: the culture dies.

in a practical sense, the lesser hunters -- there is a natural hierarchy. the lesser hunters shot the sled dogs because they cannot feed them. it was better to have the best hunters in the village out and try to get food. although young people, these are young people who have been trained to be hunters. treasure ifional you are a great hunter. they were all sent south to vocational school or to learn to be a helicopter pilot or electrician or teacher or whatever. things they had no interest in doing. little by little, the villages started thinning out. whereecame consolidated

there was a clinic. the little villages that were precious came to nothing. almost a shakespearean story. everybody had left except for two hunters. they went out together in a boat in the open ocean. seals when ithunt is open and it is dark and you can see the animals. they were out there and a loaded gun off and shot and killed one of the men. the other one, so distraught and lonely, a sense of existential solitude, shot himself. he is no more. you've got to know more and more about -- gotten to know more and more

about the science behind us. you got into know some other people who work on the ice. -- have gotten to know some other people who work on the eyes. -- ice. in the strikingly handsome soundman. [laughter] mr. lamb gretel: he has worked at the university of colorado for years and has come back to switzerland. he told us an astonishing thing that water vapor is now the most prolific greenhouse gas because permafrost around the top of the both but terrestrial -- terrestrial and the frozen things under the sea. there are 570 sites on the east coast and atlantic ocean releasing methane. it is everywhere.

melting and it looks moisture up into the air. this moisture travels across the top of the world. it changes. it is not all about global warming. it's also about climate chaos. i'm sure those of you who keep up with the news know-how stormy and crazy things have become. you go ahead. you are asking the questions. [laughter] neil: as you have learned more the effect onnce, the sea ice has been so dramatic. where it used to be nine months of sea ice, nine months for these hunters to travel to the

.arious hunting grounds there is no as little as two. gretel: the ics to come in mid-september and go out mid-june. to come inused mid-september and go out mid-june. sometimes in march or april or may or genuine. this year was a cold beer up there and everyone was excited and they maybe had three or four months of hunting. from a youngtweet glaciologist and he said that this clump of warm air is heading north of over greenland. ours said, yes,

of warm airhis mass and all the ice melted. it was over. it doesn't really matter if they have one month or six months, they can't depend on it. it would be like if every grocery store was closed indefinitely or every once in a while they opened. everything starts coming apart. neil: what does it matter for us this fascinating and vibrant culture is dying? of the i just think pairing of climate and culture. that cultural diversity has intertwined and is as important

as biological diversity. people,having these against all arts are living a traditional life but fully cognizant of the modern world. with a language intact. they have a way of knowing themselves and their world with language that not only describes a place that tells you how to behave when you get there. how to bid -- behave with the weather. how to make sure the concept of is alive and everything you do. this awareness of consciousness. of respect ande that makes of action a culture thrive. you use that -- lose that.

we have mostly killed off all of the indigenous cultures that we came across in the lower latitudes. preciousit even more that there are some still alive. weather, i just our call it bad weather. i'm sick of climate change. i just call it bad weather. that the arctic dress the climate of the world. is albi important word ido which means white. the road selectivity -- reflected the of snow and ice all over the world radiate 80% of solar heat back into the space. the arctic heat has been keeping our latitudes temperate. it is a natural air-conditioner.

it has been functioning for a long time. as things start to melt and sea ice disappears as the greenland ice sheet collects ash from from industrysoot and algae blooms on top of the heat andan absorb more heat.ts less you have all these feedback systems that same insignificant and fragile that when they start adding up, you get a hotter and hotter world as we are all experiencing. the arctic is important in just about every way you can imagine. neil: you went back to greenland in 2012. what was it like? gretel: everything had changed.

when we used to go out on these 2004, people were still jolly. each other teasing and the prospect of getting food for the village and the dogs were great. it was great to be out of the village and living on the ice. may, they went in only had eyes for that month, -- ice for that month. we were all going to this place for a time of celebration. it is where the life comes. a pod of beluga whales and walrus and little birds are flying. it is joyous. during winter, it is a frozen sheet where we did not see life.

it was not a happy time. there were no jokes. no one was laughing. with thed brother-in-law of my friend, he had a shattered ankle when he went across the ice sheet by e becauseo hunt musk ox there was nothing else to feed the dogs. it took two weeks to get to the hospital. he was not in great shape. he went -- we went to the ice edge. they got a couple of floors -- then, you know, we made camp. her in the night, these other unters come and camp back of

s. that is never done. they were usurping our hunting territory. but they never say anything. the next day i hear all the screaming and the dog howling an d this man is between to start with a snow shovel. i have never seen -- beating this dog with a snow shovel. i have never seen any kind of violence like this in greenland. no one said -- the dark survived -- gdog survived that the mood - mood changed the in the next morning we left.

horrified by what we had seen. , mamaret wasck trying to untangle the lines. the dogs go underneath each other all the time and have their own society. he was try to untangle them. the dogs ran ahead and caught his bad leg and he was dragged for a long way. they did not know me so they did not stop. i cannot stop the dogs -- could not stop the docks. finally they stopped. -- dogs. finally they stopped. iceepresented the end of and their culture. wrong, when things went

it can happen quickly in the arctic. even that was always a joke. yeah, we are caught in a blizzard. but they were always happy because they could go out another day. that was gone. it was a sad day. neil: yance once told you something about the ice. gretel: one day we were standing there looking out over the ice. he said, i don't see the ice wanted to come back. -- wanting to come back. the ice is everything we are. without it, it will be a disaster. without ice, we are nothing at all. neil: in a couple of minutes, we will take questions if you would

like to join the conversation. but first, as i have been and mamaretaw yence in paris. we all went for the climate change conference. just after the terrorist incident. they were there. gretel: we were going to do several events and a small film in which we brought a dogsled to paris. training 10 trainer standard poodles to pull the sled. [laughter]

thought people might find it slightly interesting. was going to get off and give a talk about how the arctic traffic on it -- drive the climate and what has happened to the culture. it was to raise awareness and have fun. of course, the horrible things happen. and we werestaying a few blocks from the places where people were mowed down. yence and mamaret were terrified. these are courageous people but they said, i don't understand why people who have nothing to do each other who came from another country or killing people. i don't understand why they would kill each other. it is hard to explain.

we made it into a six bedroom loft and we were told to stay in our neighborhoods which we would anyway. bething else would be a rayal of the solemnity after this. i ended up cooking for them. i cooked every night for them. the glaciologist came. for 5-15 people every night. parisis a pleasure in good the food is so great. because the food is so great. i always had lots of meat. it was a wonderful exchange given all the sadness with all that was going on in the world.

andd been eating walrus feel for 20 years and now they had to eat my food. they just reminded us that they a way thatsplaced in people already are not only from wars and political oppression, but also from climate. many of us will be climate migrants. astonished at how gracefully they accepted their fate. , the it is interesting people who were the engine of the agreement that was finally reached were marshall islanders in theher islanders u pacific that said any agreement would come too late for them. even if we shut off the carbon

generation right now, there is enough baked into the system that it would be too late for them. is it going to be too late for greenland? gretel: yes. it is too late for all of us, really. we can slow things down. we can work on things. it is not going to be the same world. we have lived in this interglacial paradise. is now lost. it is going to be a different world. many great things will be lost. many cultures, many cities, many people. as the head of glaciology at cambridge who i was in a plane with said, it is too late to .top global warming

but now it is to deal with the consequences and work very hard at that and diligently. there will be social justice problems that will go beyond what we have imagined so far. there is a wonderful japanese man who came there following a climber in the early 70's. i went to see him. he is a wonderful man. there only two people left where he is. i said, how are you going to survive? he said, i don't know. --haps just tom petri on

on beauty.just we live in a different world but it is still beautiful. i will end on that. [applause] i think the staff is going to be coming around with microphones. >> three questions. are there any pictures of the city --town? i can't imagine what it looks like when you land in a town? any slides? gretel: no. you can go online. neil: are people emigrating -- >> are people emigrating in

large numbers? gretel: they are just going south. neil, can i listen to your show on the internet? it there an app for your station? neil: go on to hawaii public radio. it is especially good if you sleep in late. i am on tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. >> thank you. fascinating talk and so good to have both of you. i was wondering if the greenland government is trying to -- obviously they can change all of global warming but if they tried to say we will try to maintain the town and some of the hunting , sort of supporting it goes it is such a precious and unique culture? gretel: they would not need to

because it is the greenlanders themselves who dictate how things are going to be. they rule themselves. they don't have a lot of people like us telling them what to do. yence is in charge of maintaining tradition. you can't do it without ice. it is not there. yence and his family will stay until the bitter end. it is the younger people who are leaving. neil: the greenland government is leasing areas to search for oil and there is quite a bit of extractive industries on land in terms of iron ore. the name greenland has always sounded like marketing or a euphemism and now -- i wonder if

it refer to the territory as a name or some variant on that name and if it is going to get greener? gretel: it is getting greener. i'm thinking of moving to south greenland and growing hay and raising sheep. word for greenland means green island -- big island. it is a translation from a viking lane. name. lurethe red was trying to people to live there. silly guy. >> thank you very much your time. i do enjoy it. a question about the happier times 20 years ago. how is it liket,

being a child and adolescent growing up in the village? gretel: fantastic. ildhood anyone would have wanted. there are six months of 24 hour a day light. there are no cars in the village. children can wander anywhere. there is nothing that will hurt them. butpolar bear might come they know how to behave. summer, there are no restrictions on when they have to go to bed. they are just out and when they get tired they go home. they get home -- hungry and then go eat. i have never heard a child complain. on yencear-old sitting e's lap, one time he was cold.

his grandmother was next to me feetut the boots over his and then he smiled. 59 below zero. they were taught how to do everything so by the time they were seven they could handle a whip. it was an auditory signal. they could throw a harpoon or fire a gun. caught, theyere knew how to prepare them to it. think of how to do everything. -- they knew how to do everything. >> could you touch on how romance is happened or relationships? gretel: it is interesting. they had a house which was just for teenagers. no adults were allowed there.

the teenagers could go there any time. they went to school and stuff. on the weekends they would go there and they were allowed to do whatever they did it it was a wonderful society. you are alone out there so there were not too many bad things that could come in. adults reallyoung respected. -- were really respected. >> what do you cook with? how do you cook it? and in what? what do you burn? gretel: these old-fashioned swedish stoves, cap stoves. stoves with a single claim.

they carried -- flame. they carried a spaghetti pot. this is modern. brought gas imported from denmark. to get water, the multi-year ice out on top of the new ice, we wouldbuy a piece and we take off chunks and put them on the sled. we would cut them up smaller. the first thing you do when you make camp is but a chunk of ice in the pot to melt. and then you drink because you are very thirsty. cooking.is put in for

>> what did they do before all of these things? gretel: they ate at raw. -- it raw. and afteron the beach talking the morning, i saw them sealering it feel -- a and they took out the liver and were holding it up and signaled for me to take a bite. >> what did they do for water before that? gretel: that is a good question. blubber. i have been traveling for about a month. there is no wood. not greenland.

wood there were some supplements. yes, blubber. there are people who still tend blubber lamps. them.ad vikings to help it people had slightly different influences. did you say that greenland is going to be drilling for oil? esil: they have lent out leas to explore. they have not found any. many felt this was a terrible idea.

they can do what they want. >> ok. i was wondering about the sleds, they were made up wood? gretel: brought in by ship from denmark. when i first got there, there was a once a year supply ship to the northern villages. i spent one summer with a man and his family and he had built his own shack. said, i was halfway through building my house and the supply ship could not get here because it was too cold. we had no nails in the entire village for a whole another year. it teaches patients. -

the area,ts across are they in communication? gretel: yes. i came with the greenland contingent. it is not open to other people. u.n..rates like the everyone has headphones because the dialects are so different. and the russians who speak russian. it is a very dynamic group. they are very much involved. i would like to thank both of you and congratulations for the excellent presentation. i have a question.

according to maya, man has taken advantage of all the resources of the world and the world would end in the 2000. 2000, according to the glaciologist, is an estimate about how long the world will be able to survive if we still try to make it survive? thank you. gretel: if there is, they have not told me. i would be the last to know. i don't think so. neil: one more. >> a lot of pressure. i was wondering if you found that the cultures were superstitious or did anything

outside of the normal? mean, -- neil: the story about the shaman and the poor bear. -- polar bear. gretel: yence is a special person. he has some -- he is a natural leader. he would never call himself a shaman. he thinks that is not appropriate for the 21st century. weathered inere and he began telling a story. tent.d, i was in my normally we are intense -- in tents with a canvas over the two sleds. in the dark tent

started barking and i-5 colbert -- i saw a polar bear. i grabbed my rifle. suddenly, the bear was at the top and the bear turned around and i saw that it had a human face. he said -- i went away. he said, several times that me to-- bear has beckoned come with it. i am a modern man and i cannot leave my family or leave my society in a time when so much are trying so hard to survive in the modern world. neil: instead of going to hell with the bear, --

gretel: he is the equivalent of a senator for greenland. he does conferences all over europe. beinges nothing more than out with his dogs. he has all his dogs and that is his nirvana. neil: thank you all for coming. we appreciate it. [applause]

[inaudible conversation]

>> up next on c-span, a form on ways to make improvements for community policing programs. then hillary clinton campaigns in reno, nevada.