narrarator: on ththis episodedef "eaarth focus"s"... the e race to transition to sustainable solar powower is underway. in zanzibar, rural women are learning solar skills, bucking a tradition of entrenched gender roles, empowering their communities in the process, while in southernrn californini, it's genererating the e growth f grgreen jobs s and winning over skeptics. [filmlm advance clicking]

different announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. cargill philanthropy; the orange county community foundation; and the farvue fououndation. [indistinct shouting] [woman shouting in native language] [speaking native language] [people speaking native language] [woman speaking native language]

[indistinct chatter] man: in zanzibar, we have a long way to go until all our customers to have electricity.

53% of the houses, they have connected to our grid, and the 47, they haveve no power till n. also, zanzibar is 100% dependent power from tanzanian maininland. in 2009, the electricity for the submarine cable was damaged. in 2010, they stay for 3 months without the power. so...we studied how we can move from depending from tanzanian mainland. so, the shortest solution is to have renewable energy. [woman speaking native languaua]

[indistinct chatter] woman: barerefoot is a college which aims to empower women. we are in 92 countries, but in east africa, we haveve only barefoot college, zanzibar. [woman speaking native language] favdi: here we are receiving traineeees from different countries. tanzania mainlanand, kenya, uganda, and malawi. they come here. they stay here for 5 months without going home to learn about solar engineering. woman: this is battery and that one is panel.

this is system of homome light system. favdi: the village needs to meet our criteria before our selecting them. it has to be far from the main road and then also the village has to have more than 100 households. each member o of the households has to pay $3.00 per month. by using this money, they can pay their salary or they can help the village. for now, we have 8 villages who have solar, so, we have a lot of villages ahead of us. [woman speaking native language]

have you s seen this wire? good or no good? some of student, they understand swahili, and some of students, they understand in english. so, when i teach my student, i like to speak two language-- swahili and english. [speaking native language] [hajq speaking native language]

[woman speaking native language]

[women singing in native language] [woman speaking native language] woman: training a woman, you are training the whole family.

the husband will benefit... the extended families, the neighbors, they will all benefit. [speaking native language] the government o of tanzania, we pay everything for ourselves. it's a supplement of where we have not managed to reach with electricity. i know it is expensive bubut if we think only about the expense, we are not going to save our people. and we are lucky that tanzania, we have good sun full-time. 12 hours we are in sun.

[hi i speaking native languageg] [woman speaking native language] [woman speaking native language]

[man and woman speaking native language]

[woman laughs] [shamata speaking native language] [woman spepeaking native langua] [woman speaking native language]

favdi: it's very empowering, as youu can see, because you are picking the women who doesn't even go out of the village, but they are coming all the way here. after 5 months, they become solar engineering. they go to the village they electrify. it's very powerful. very, very powerful. castico: the dirty business of staying bebehind and waiting for my husband to bring something home is no longer there. even the husbands, they are confessing that. when my wife wanted to start going to the college, i rerefused. but when e came back, oh, there was a lot of love. [hajq speaking native language]

[woman speaking native l langua] narrator: while the training students are receiving at barefoot college in tanzania serves asas a model f for other, southern c california continueso be a pioneer in solar technology. man: pollution causes harm to all of us. it's not just an abstract thing. and communities of color, low-income communities, even women versus men disproroportionatete have to carry the effects of that pollution. paramount is a community that has a lot going for it and a

strong cultural life, but paramount is also a city where a significant chunk of the land is zoned for industry. so, paramount is a community where environmental justice is a key priority. it's important that we bring things to people here. as we transition away from fossil fuels, as we move away from coal and just say good-bye to that whole era, we move into an era where we're dependent on renewables, the question is, like, who is gonna get the training to go into these indusustries? [sirenen wailing i in distancec] man: : me making g my decisioioo cchange my w whole life e arouns the last time when i was slanging and they raided my house and they took my kids. me sitting there thinking, like, man i'm already 30-someththing years old. i got nothingng to show f for it. no's here.e. where arere all my frfrs at? no family. no--nobody, nothing is when it hit me. it just like, man, i gotta change everything up. me and everything around me.

i started educating myself and now it just like, nah, man, i gotta step up and man up and just be responsible. woman: so, this is the e treatmt that youou really wawant from m. okok. how is it? rivera: oh, it hurtsts. ahh. woman:n: it looks like it's havg a good effect. rivera: why i want my tattoos removed is because it's just a bad d example when m out thehere with my kids. outut there, like, i can't go to the beach and they're looking at my tattoos, becacause i don't want them to follow suit. i want to be a better role model for them. i came out with no probationon,o parole, nothing, so, i didn't even have n no helping handandd everything. the first day i i gt out, i ended up s staying at unn station, downtotown l.a., and tn from there, i look a at myself.i was like, man, like, really hit rock bottom, but i w was really tempted to s start slanging andd making quick money how i used to say. i h had all thehe connections and everything. i went to homeboys, and i

remember there was a solar program they had riright there. youu know whatat, i go, solar'ss gonna be a careeeer for me, so, i'm gonna just stick with the sosolar. so, i end up doing the solar and grid alternatives came over there and they gave us training. so, right here, we're getting all this hands-on training that will give me the skills to go look for a job anywhere else in the industry. hom: what grid alternatives does is install panels for communities in areas that are environmentally disadvantaged. helping low-incncome people get access to cleaner energy and lead better lives where they have accessss to more economic resources. californrnia is actutually at the e forefront t of solar j jut bbecause the sttate has crtetedo many incentiveses to expandnd., that means there are about 90,000 people who are working in the industry right now, and that number is growing yeyear over yr over r year. withth all these nw jojobs opening up, we w want toe that the population of solar

installers, solar project management professionals reflects the demographics of the same people organizations like grid are installing for. man: as a family, we like to have little adventures. take the kidds out. show them as s much f the w world as--as they want toto see. woman: we trtry to teach them to appreciate the e environment and to appreciate the good things in life and that would ensure that they have this s as they're growiwing up and that they y can have thhe same for their kids. i i learned ababout the sosolar system. i it was refeferred to e by one of my brothers. h he got the email from the city and he forward me the email and told me,, "hey, they're offering free solar panels. check it out." and i told my husband to do his

research on itit, too, and itt seemed like it was something that would worork for us. woman: i want to make sure that you're completely comfortable with the program. so, , are thte any other concerns that you might havave or questions that u hahave that you want me e to aaddress? sisilvia uriarte: so, o once the panels are up,p, does that mean that thehey'rere ours? ursua: the papanels will l be ys on your r roof as lolong as youe there, andnd you will enjoy alll the s savings. remember, we tald about between 50% to 80% savings on your energy bill. man: when she e said she w was a get solar panels fofor her hous, i was very skeptical about it. at first, i thought it was too gogood to be t true. i thought t was not possible. i thought there e was gonna be somomething elsese to it rather than j justu know, getttting the sosolar pans for free. man: one of the scariest thin, , it's--nobody wants to get themselves into a long-term contractct if they d't know what they're gonna--if they don't know that-t--that ththe outcome is gonnana be good.

silvia uriarte: he wavery skeptical.l. he said, "no, it''s ggonna be some sort of catch where, you know, t they tell you they're gononna charge you the panels s later on w when you aly signed the e contract." he was t as eaeasy--ha ha!a!--going as i. ursua:a: so, when i come acrcros someone like ed, who o is not completetely believing, youou k, the progrgram and all the benefits, i--i convince them by ppointing out that we e are a nonprofit organization. we're the only organization that wasas selected bththe state t to this. andnd so, that says a lot. we'rere not out to make a p prot herere. we're here t to connect people to clclean energy. eduardodo uriarte: so, , the coy grid alternatives p pays for the systemem. they have it installe. they have it monitored for 20 years and at the end of that 20 years, i have the option of having them removed at no cost or own them and i take care of them at thahat point. silvia uriarte: once e we figurd out we can actualllly go for itt

no cosost, like, at least try, e went for it and we're aboutut to get iininstalled d now. ededuardo uriararte: i've toldd family and fririends andnd they- thehey still tell me, " "are you sure? what d did you get yoursef iinto? did--did you just sign your r house away? did you u sin your life away? what happenened" ok. ursua: ok.k. very good. excelle. tthank you. . thank you. silvia uriarte: : thank you so much. hom: i think a big challenge for us is that because we're intentional about working with communities that don't necessarily see solar every day, there canan be a natutural statf diststrust when n we come i in d say, , "here's a free opportunity." i think a lot off our customomers are skeptical tt something like thihis isn't toto good t to be true, and i don't blame them, becaususe i thhink there's a lot of rationales for being skeptical. silvia uriarte: i i think mosost peoeople are skepeptical because they can't afford to makeke a mistake. . yeah, they're great r our environment, yes, you save energy, but at the same time, the cost of installation and the

cost in the long--long run. i think thatat makes people afraraid. hom: many of the populations that we work with are in communities where there were significant presences of predatory lenders. for example, 10 years ago. and a lot of different i institutions or different companies h have left people feeling like they were taken advantage of. we're actively involved every day in showing people that their neigighbor hasas gone solar wits or someonene else in t their community, or they can just come and watch us do it somewhere else and d that this s is real. boy: dad, , [indistitinct] solar panels s and i knowow what--andd i know what they do o now. silvia uriarte: really? what do they do? boy: give clean energy. silvia uriarte: yes, they do. they make clean energy from the sun, righght? boy: mm-hmm. silvia uriarte: yeah. rivera: what i love about my job is everything about it. the people, the a atmosphere.

it's s like we''re a family her. and right here, we take time and we get to know our homeowners, our--our coworkers. and i just t love coming to work every day. all right, guys. um, well, i'm emerson. i'm your guys' supervisor for the day, and sal as well. so, we're gonna go over the safety meeting. we're gonna brush up on it pretty quick, you know, so, just to remember, when we're on the roof, remember, if you guys drop something, always s call "headache." men: headache. rivivera: you know, headache, s, you know,w, i just want to make things-- man: yeah, i was incarcerated just like emerson n and, um..... this program helped me out to stay y out of trouble,e, because it's hardrd for us totod a job in any industry out there. hom: the model at grid is unique because e every project where we're installlling solar r is wt we call a classrsroom on the ro. people come out with us because we know they know that we're the only organization that provides free trtraining to get bsbs inin the solarar industry.y. eduardo uriarte: i'm really excited to see ththe--the proces

getting goioing. seeing all the equipment arrive, all the workers here. it's--it's really exciting to see the--the process really moving along. oscuna: i'm believing it more because i'm seeing that it's getting done, so, i see that it's actuaually happening. so, my perspectitive is chanangg a a little bitit to beingg morbebelievable.. rivera: this is my first career ever, and me having my career is like, wow. at times, i'm like, am i still dreaming? you know, it's still like...i could live off my career now. it feels great. i used to b be part of fe problem,m, but nowow i've fixedd the p problem. so, this is ththy i pay itit forward now. so, we are done. we're installing your installation and everything, so, now we're gonna turn on your system. you want to turn it on, eduardo?

go ahead. emily? your system's working. congratulation, guys. person: whoo! eduardo ururiarte: b being o of ththe first hohomes in the cityf paramount to go solar is very exciting. it's not common around here. it's something that when people see that they might wanat to take that--that next step to possibly do it in their home. and we won't just be one house. we might be a whole block or a whole city, hopefully. silvia uriarte: we can teach our kids from a yyoung age, you kno, we gotta take care of where we live, we gotta take care of this planet. it's iortant for you guygrgrowing up and for youou to pass it on as well. eduduardo uriararte: it allll ho start somomewhere and even thouh it--it's one hohouse, one c cit, one countnty, it could be the start of a a big chainin reacti.

announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. cargill philanthropy; the orange county community foundation; and the farvue foundation.

woman:n: our connection withth s land, with t this river is so deeply y ingrained that it's had to explplain. we feel like ththe salmon i is related d to us. wee feel likeke the condodor is reld to usus. every lilittle specicis rerelated to o us, and itit's or placece culturalllly and cereremonially t to protect t t. man: we would not be yurok without this place. this placece has shaped us, and, to sosome extent, we've helped d shape ths place.e. different man: the r river is a teacheher in itself. we haveve a symymbiotic relationship