thing ♪ ♪ happiness is the truth. clap along if you know what happiness is to you ♪ ♪ clap along if you feel like ♪ the u.s. is formally leaving the paris agreement because under the terms of the agreement the u.s. can't depart until 2020 the day after the next elections. this is another chance to tell the president's supporters in the coal belt that he's delivering on his campaign promise. but it's far more important than

that. this is the direction our country is heading in. there are a couple of things that are important to know about the paris agreement that may have been lost in all the rhetoric. one is that the agreement is nonbinding. the other is that until now, only two countries refused to sign it, nicaragua and syria. the u.s. has just formerly joined that distinctly unexclusive club. the american top ranking diplomat in china quit his job two months ago he couldn't understand or defended the decision to quit paris. some americans believe global warming is a hoax. we aren't going to spend a second of this show discussing whether it's man made or cyclical or caused by alien space craft. it doesn't matter. a new world is coming no matter what you believe, new cops,

electric cars, cheap reliable energy. here in china this isn't a future plan, it's happening now. china is to be sure a super polluting and super polluted place it burns more coal than any other country and largely because of that the air in beijing is not fit for humans to breathe. in the past few years both china and india have figured out renewable energy is good business, too. both countries have enormous and very poor populations and yet both plan to not only meet the goal set out in the paris agreement but beat them. we're taking you on a journey through asia. our journey to asia begins in all places in brooklyn. >> here come the red lights. and away they go for race two of the qualcomm new york city e 3. and already drivers are mixing it up.

oh. . oh. . break down the inside. >> this is what speed sounds like now. welcome to formula e racing, all the adrenaline, all the excitement with very little noise and zero emissions. if you've never heard of electric car racing you probably also haven't heard of this man. whose team came in second and third in this recent race in brooklyn. but in india ma hin draw is a household name in a country known for some of the congested streets on earth he's a billionaire who drives a tiny, cheap, all electric car called a e 20. >> stainability is a opportunity to innovate dramatically.

if you look at great leaps of innovation. >> the e 20 is about as basic as a car can be. but it's the only electric car made in india and for this young person owning one is a dream come true. she couldn't wait for her father to sign the papers and for the whole family to climb in. they thought it was the future. they didn't think it was clamped and slow. >> india has suffered from poverty of inspiration not just wealth. unit this current regime it's been requesty provide. you will see ambitious goals been set. >> by the year 2030 they want to put all electric cars on the

road. he traveled to california to to the tesla factory. he met elon musk who's planning to open a factory in india. he welcomes the competition. he called elon on -- >> he made electric cars sexy. he made them desirable. he made them aspiration. they should not be seen as cars for geeky tree huggers. he made them main stream. >> his cars on the other hand are not designed to be sectiony. he's competing on price and scale. the cheapest test law can travel three times the distance the e 2 o goes on a single charge but

costs three times as much. >> the cost of electric cars is plummeting. battery cars are currently about two-thirds of the value of a electric car. we expect them to go down to a third very soon. so the tipping point between gasoline and electric cars is going to be reached sooner than people think. >> the race to make batteries that last longer and cost less is on. musk is focusing on quality while chi-- >> when the elephants clash, it's good for us. we love seeing elephants clash, particularly when they relate to the supply of batteries to this industry. >> to see the impact that chinese industry can have on a manager market we traveled to rural india. people here still use hand tools

and primitive sores of energy. but just over the horizon, the future is already here. india produces about 8% of its power from renewables like wind and solar, it's about the same percentage as the united states, but india has set as a national priority the goal of nearly tripling that number in just five years. these solar panels are the fruits of american investment. seven years ago a indian entrepreneur pitched goldman sachs and starting a wind farm in india they gave him $250 million to get his company renew power started now its worth $2 billion. >> we have 60 plants like in across rural india. he went to columbia business school in new york said president trump's believe that

good old coal is out of date. >> it's becoming much cheaper than polluting sources. maybe three or five years ago it might have been the correct statement to make which is that cheaper source of energy are more polluting. but that is no longer the case. >> new technology -- >> exactly. you have solar and wind that is far cheaper than nicoany, coal d source of power. >> his investors were drawn in by subsidies offered by the government. this field of mirrors is proof that it worked. now market forces are doing the rest. >> the most important thing that has happened is the plan else have become cheaper. they're a third of what they costed three years ago. >> with each generation of solar panels getting better and cheaper in which demand and supply are growing rapidly.

we headed to the engine that powers that cycle, china. this is the factory where the panels we saw this india are produced. the speed with which factories like this one have popped up is aastonishing. >> china is the large evidence builder of wind farms and solar farms around the world by far they are building twice as fast as the united states they've taken over the world in term of solar capacity and solar manufacturing. 66% of the solar panels around the world are from china or taiwan. >> he says that china which is one of the most polluting and polluted nations on earth changed course a decade ago and is racing to become a green power house. >> is it because they tried the other experience, choked on the bad air, and decided they can't do that anymore or is it a business opportunity or both? >> it's both.

china has always been using a lot of coal because it has a lot of coal. but back in 2006 they passed the renewable energy law. that, for the first time really set out these targets, this plan to support the development, wind and solar. >> china spent $102 billion on renewable energy in 2015. that's more than twice what the u.s. spent. and while president trump talks about bringing back jobs in coal, china plans to spend more on renewable energy over the next three years and create 13 million jobs in the process. >> you look for the trend, you see where things are going and you jump ahead and make the leadership, you create jobs. that's what china's doing. i don't know what the hell we're doing. >> he says while americans argue about the science of climate change, the chinese are racing

ahead. >> whether or not you believe it, this is where the world's going. you take a very business focus on it. they see where this is going. the whole world is going p down this path other than the u.s. it's a opportunity for them to lead, create jobs, they're killing it right now. >> it doesn't stop at solar panels. remember that race to build better and cheaper batteries to power electric cars? chinese factories like this one are ramping up production so quickly they will be making enough bat rice here to power 1.5 million tesla cars a year. for all of musk's -- >> they're mandate for renewable energy far exceeds the u.s. i think people are under the impression that china is either dragging their feet or somehow behind the u.s. in terms of

sustainable energy promotion. but they're by far the most aggressive on earth. >> everyone says technology, technology, be creative, be a innovator. the fact is in many ways china almost views technology as a commodity now. they're like we can buy it. we have tons of people. we can make it. >> not only in china. when the city of los angeles decided to switch its bus fleet to all electric, a new factory quickly opened up in the mow halfy desert, backed by warn buffett but owned by a chinese company. the buses are on the road in lancaster, another win for the chinese way of doing renewables. back in his ofts he said american companies were inherently the underdogs in this race. >> we have amazing pockets of technology all over the u.s. but it's that, everybody on their own, which china a entire

country on the same mission. >> he's lived in china for the past 13 years. he has seen how quickly this ancient country is changing his ways. he can't understand why our president can't do the same. >> he talks about he's going to get coal jobs, it's a old world he's fighting for. it doesn't matter if you look it or not, the future is moving on, the u.s. needs to accept that. >> is the u.s. going to miss the next industrial revolution. >> u.s. is still leading the world across almost every technology from a pure technology perspective. the question is does that matter. >> critics would say we've heard it before. didn't happen. why is now different. >> because now is what you're starting to see, i think, the result of 34 years of planning of a entire nation aligned on one goal that again it's not

like they're saying in the next tief years, they've been planning this for years, their education systems, supply channels, it's moving up through the system. >> they've been waiting for this opportunity? >> yeah. this is a 100 year plan. >> was trump a gift to china? >> i think so. i would be pretty happy if i was china. >> there was at least one person here in beijing who was not happy when the president dropped out of the paris agreement. he was the senior american diplomat. he said forced to choose between his career and the policy he could not accept, his faith led him to the answer. >> as a christian, i'm not a thee loejin, but if we are stewards of creation, if we're charged with taking care of this earth, it means doing things to make that happen. >> the president singled out one american city in his speech saying he was elected to represent pittsburgh, not paris,

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welcome back to beijing, this moment right now feels like a tipping point. all over the world government and businesses are realizing what's good for the environment has finally become good for the bottom line, too.

many american businesses agree, but our government does not. why is our president so committed to bringing back coal. i have to say i don't know, but he sure is. the location for president trump's present rally was hardly a surprise, investigawest virgi joining him on stage, the democrat and coal mag nate. >> i tell you west virginia ans, i can't help you any more that is a democratic government. >> it was a state he visited early and often, it was a place where everyone knows coal is king. >> i like hard hats. let's see if it's a hard hat. it's a hard hat. >> it was coal country that was

also the kucountry that was onef hillary clinton's campaign gaff. >> we're going to put a lot of coal companies out of business and make it clear we don't want to forget those people. >> remarks like that don't play well in coal company. >> the president remains hugely popular in big coal producing states. despite the fact that there are now twice as many solar jobs as coal jobs in the u.s. it doesn't seem like this president is interested in moving on any time soon. >> i'm not hearing rfb. will you cue me? one american city has become the symbol of coal and renubls, between the glory of the past and the promise of the future. we asked nbc news's ann thomas

to pay the city a visit. >> a all american city trying to move beyond its pass. pittsburgh gleaming on three rivers. the city he highlighted to justify leaving the paris climate agreement. >> i was represented to citizens of pittsburgh not paris. >> a shout outthe mayor took as a cheap shot. >> he's representing a old imagine stereo type of pittsburgh, a old image stereo type of a city that we're proud of that is part of our heritage but it's part of our past. the mayor was born here in the shadow of the steel mills. >> my grandfathers worked in the mills. my grandfather died at the age of 50 at the mill. >> is the president being unrealistic. >> if the president wants to see the example of how a city that

was knocked out, left for dead, was told that its days are gone, can come back and be able to retake its position on a global stage, that all he has to do is come to pittsburgh. >> they discovered coal in pittsburgh before the country was born. >> steel has kept base with and anticipated the increasing needs of the nation. >> it fueled the steel industry that gave pittsburgh its nickname, this was steel city. until the domestic industry collapsed in the late 1970s. >> we went through 30 years of a depression. our unemployment in the city was hovering at 19%. >> that's the pittsburgh he wants to leave behind the the city he runs now would seem like science fix thction. >> why are you testing in pittsburgh. >> because it's a difficult to drive in, they call it the black

diamond of driving. >> that's only one of five driec driving experiments we have going on in pittsburgh. >> we embraced the technology as part of our economic growth strategy. >> but there is another vision for the area's future one closer to its pass and president trump's ambition. it lice beneath rolling farm land where they opened their first new goal mine in three years with the president's backing. >> coal is no longer a four lt word in the country because of that. it has a big impact on investor relations. >> does pulling out of the paris agreement help or hurt the industry. >> it helps our industry. it's the perception issue. >> but there is also the matter of facts. the coal produced here won't even be used to generate power. it it will be used to make steel somewhere else, most of it going

overseas. today with automation, mining like so much else isn't as labor intensive as it once was. >> 75 to 100 jobs is a drop in the bucket when you consider there have been tens of thousands of coal jobs lost a ripple effect felt at john roads nearby coal miners cafe. >> it's 70 to 100 families that can do something, they can go out to eat and go to movies and do what they want to do. >> but pittsburgh mayor says the president's ambition is blind to reality. >> i think he's giving a false promise to those who need hope. >> what's the problem with reviving the industry. >> the industry is already past. >> in its hey day of steel

production they called pribs as held with the lid off. >> he shows me pictures of the city during world war ii. it's pitch dark. the lights would run 24 hours a day because the pollution took away from the ability to see. the is smog cleared up when the home ownser switched from coal to gas. instead of coal. >> economics is the pile driver that is pushing down the coal industry. >> he used to work for the environment protection agency. now he leads the environment integrity project. >> can the current white house return the coal industry to its glory days. >> i don't think so. i don't think you can bring coal back with campaign promises. i don't think killing environmental rules that protect our air and water will save work in the goal industry at all. >> since the president took office, coal mining has added

800 jobs and there's a uptick in production. at the new mine there's a sense of optimism of the air. >> we're very proud of what ear doing here. it would be great if the country could see that. >> the mayor sees it a temporary fix, a symbol of the past not a road to the future. >> if coal is not pittsburgh's future, what is. >> there's nothing progressive about telling a coal miner they don't have a job. we want to work with them to help them see how our economy is now booming in technology, in medicine, in renewable energies and be able to say there's a future for you, too. >> pittsburgh electing to stay in the paris agreement to build a greener more prosperous city. >> sometimes distance gives us perspective. beijing is a long way from pittsburgh and here the debate

about coal is basically over. people here moved on and so has the technology. next up, the most senior american diplomat in china was expected to defended a policy he thought was just wrong. so he sided he wouldn't. >> you serve until you can no longer serve. you have to get up in the morning, particularly at senior levels, ready to resign that day. it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson.

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welcome back. two months ago the most senior

american diplomat here resigned from his post. he told staff at the embassy that he couldn't support the climate from president trump. i asked him if his decision was political. >> some people watching this might think here's just some liberal who couldn't stomach the fact that trump got elected president didn't want to work for the guy and decided i'm quitting. >> i have been shot at, i missed the birth of my first child in the senior year of my son, i made a lot of sacrifice its for a career that i believe in, not for a particular political point of view, but i think it's the right thing for the country, for the american people. >> he's back home after 27 years of service all over the year. the soft spoken diplomat and his wife mary have spent a lifetime raising a family while quietly

supporting five administrations. >> i'm making strawberry piece with blue berry in it. >> when president trump announced that the u.s. was dropping out of the paris agreement, he got on the phone. >> my wife happened to be back in the united states. we had a very quick exchange. i said, i don't think i can do this. i don't think i can continue. my wife has followed me a lot of different places. she's been incredibly supportive through a long career. she was supportive then. talked to staff on the following monday. >> what did you say? i had a serious principle disagreement with the administration and given where i am, given the level i'm at, i could not continue in the job. >> you told them look i'm leaving but you can't. >> you don't all have to leave. >> that's right. >> you weren't trying to take everybody out the door with you. >> that's right i think that would be terrible for the american people. >> burns who served as under

secretary of state said it's a extraordinary situation for the foreign service they pride themselves on being nonpartisan they receive e-mail president 150%. do you think you fell short of that standard. >> no i feel like that's the model of public service is you serve until you can no longer serve. you have to get up in the morning particularly at senior levels, ready to resign that day. you cannot balance your conscience and your obligation your duty to serve, i think that is the ultimate of service. >> rank published a opinion piece in the washington post in which he said that when the administration decided to withdraw from the paris agreement on climate change, and a parent, christian, i could not be involved in any way no matter how small with the implementation of that decision. >> as a patriot, christian, and a -- >> and a parent. >> right. >> as a patriot, i've worked for

30 years to advance american interest. i think pulling out of paris is fundamentally against our interests. as a parent, i have three kids. one of the things as a parent you aspire to do leave the world and them in better shape than you found the world in. finally as a christian, i'm not a thee legionin, but if we are in charge of taking care of the earth, that means doing things to do that, if there is a instrument to do that that's better than the paris agreement, i haven't heard it. >> -- to the exclusive benefit of other countries. >> leaving american workers who i love and taxpayers who absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories and vastly diminishing economic production. he's saying people like you value the environment more than

american workers. >> u.s. has made remarkable strides in reducing emissions and that has not been at the expense of jobs. the idea there's a contradiction between more climate friendly policies and the economy, i think just the -- the basic facts don't bare that out. >> a career in the state department isn't all about speeches and conferences. rank had some hardship postings including two years at the embassy in afghanistan which came under fire twice while he was there. now he's trying to readjust to a life on a quiet street in virginia. >> what's it like to be back in suburb and american. >> i've always loved the united states of america. i'm glad to be back. >> are you refilliating. >> if you have a job, let me know. >> are you looking for a job.

>> i have to figure out what i'm going to do with myself, yes. >> both rank and the state department are diplomatic about his departure. the official statement was by the book. >> anything to say about the abrupt resignation of mr. rank in beijing in. >> his decision was a personal decision. and if you all will give me the grace as i go through my book here. we know that he spoke to staff there. wait a second. we appreciate his years of dedicated service to the state department. and for anything more on that, i have to refer you to mr. rank. >> are you angry that your career after nearly 30 years ended the way it did? >> oh, no. not at all. i remember i was thinking on the way out what i felt was just a sense of gratitude to the people i worked with, the american people who trusted me to represent them for a long time. >> i didn't expect it to end that way, but to leave on my own

terms, it's a real privilege. no, i'm just very grateful. >> of course it's important to note that this administration hasn't just pulled out of one international agreement, across the board there's a clear push to reduce environment protection. the newly appointed head of the epa has a history of arguing the agency should be eliminated, the list goes on. coming up later what a difference a little power can make in a small village in cambodia. stay with us. i will never

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welcome back to beijing. there's been so much talk about the paris agreement, so much debate about the science behind it. but where did it come from and when? the answer may surprise you. back in the summer of 1988 ronald reagan decided the time had come to tackle climate change once and for all. the problem as he saw it wasn't the fact the globe was warming, it was having to listen to all the scientists insist the globe was warming. his administration got behind the the ipcc, the idea was the very best scientists from around the world would consider whether

humanity was responsible for climate change, if so by how much and what could be done about it. those scientists would hammer out a report and country would be given recommendations to follow. while the white house might have hoped it would keep them tied up for years was that the process would actually work when the group issued its first comprehensive report, it clearly linked global warming to humanity. it paved the way for 25 years of negotiations culminating in the paris agreement. the problem is only scientists understand the science. there have been five issued since 1990 and each one is thousands of pages long. to make life simple each comes with a short summary to make the science easy to grasp. but governments get to chip in on the summaries and that's

where things start getting political. so to keep everyone happy, it was decided that these agreements would be completely nonbinding, that means there is absolutely no penalty if a country fails to meet its target which why for 30 years republicans and democrats have taken turns to stand up and pledge to act and then haven't. >> the united states is strongly committed to the ipcc process of international cooperation on global climate change. >> i am very pleased that the united states has reached a truly historic agreement with other nations of the world to take unprecedented steps. >> my administration has taken a rational balanced approach to these serious challenges. we believe we need to protect our environment. >> even president obamaa came up short. he arrived at the cothe deal fe

apart. >> i don't know where you have a international agreement where we all are not sharing information and insuring that we are meeting our commitments. that doesn't make sense. it would be a haul oe victory. >> president obama didn't have congressional support and everybody knew it. in paris six years later the president tried a radical new approach he used a old semantic trick to take congress out of the -- the president said all the differences with beijing had been ironed out. >> this is a major mile stone in the u.s. china relationship and it shows what's possible when we work together on a urgent global challenge. >> so this time around, somehow a nonbinding agreement was not a hollow victory. these twists -- after the drama

of the obama years, the next president yanks the country back out again. here's where president trump may have seriously miss calculated, had he stayed in, washington would have been able to veto any change it didn't want. but by leaving, he's freed up the rest of the world to establish a set of rules without any input from the u.s. of course in terms of creditability it doesn't help when a new president comes in and tears up a agreement made by the previous administration do you take america at its word if you were negotiating with us? next up a story about a miracle in a m-- we're an organic tea company. a premium juice company. a coconut water company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves.

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welcome back to beijing. we've heard a lot of big numbers in today's show, lots of billions with a b. but the fact is that the price of alternative energy technology is dropping and that's having a profound effect on the lives of some of ashia's poorest people. >> for two centuries generations of monks have prayed. a way of life that has outlasted war, poverty. something happened that changed that way of life for the better.

that something was electricity. powered by a solar panel on the roof. translator: we had to light many lamps before says the in cambodia, only 56% of the population lives in places that are connected to the power grid. in remote parts of the country, the only way to get electricity was until recently one of these. but generators are hard to maintain. and expensive to run. now there's a much cheaper option available. a solar panel typically made in china, costs about $400 to set up.

that's a lot of money for this family. but they've recently installed one on their one-room house. now she has light to cook by every night, and her days no longer need to end when the sun goes down. it has changed my life, she says. i can do whatever i want, whenever i want. her husband does construction work. he tells me he doesn't make much, but says the panel was worth every penny. across southeast asia, more than 120 million people still don't have electricity. solar energy has the potential to transform lives here. we traveled to thailand, another country struggling to meet rising demand. but rural areas like this, and

they're all over the region, are waking up to the possibilities of renewables. what their government can't provide them with, solar panels can. like in this village, where people have built themselves a mini electricity grid that runs on solar power. it helps farmers irrigate their fields, and grow the local economy. they feel empowered, so to speak. this man runs workshops on solar energy. so the villagers can learn how to install and maintain their systems. self-taught, he started sharing his skills about 15 years ago. his approach is so successful, he now teaches 60 communities a year. the thai government has limited resources, he says. they try to help as much as they can, but the community needs to meet them halfway.

once installed, these panels will give homes enough power to run a small television and some light bulbs for the very first time. it doesn't sound like much, but consider this. southeast asia has one of the fastest growing populations in the world. demand for electricity is climbing. and bigger solar projects are already under construction. renewable energy could be a chance for emerging countries to be part of the solution, and not the problem. >> it can sometimes seem like a small thing, one small solar panel on a mon esthery. the people we saw in the story are not replacing dirty power with clean power, they're skipping coal all together. here in china, that's not how things went. and people here will pay the price for generations to come.

chinese parents have an item on their baby shopping list that seems straight out of an apocalypse movie, an air purification mask for very small children. that story is next. stay with us.

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i was working for ppablo escobar, why else? the incredible true story of the c.i.a.'s biggest secret is now one of the best reviewed films of the fall. woo! barry, you gotta take care of this family. this is gunna be good for us. it's 100% thrilling. we are ordering you to land immediately. alright boys, let's land. tom cruise delivers his best performance in years. we recognize the dangers involved here. shoot the gringo! no you don't. american made. rated r. welcome back to beijing. it's a summer day here, and the air seems relatively clear. but in the city you don't inhale without checking the pollution index. today it stands at 97, which isn't that bad by local standards, but it would be

considered a pretty disastrous in any american city. electric cars, in china, all coming, but this is still a very polluted country. moshun is considered by many to be the father of the chinese environmental movement. he started out as an investigative reporter. but these days he's turned the whole country into environmental detectives. >> we call light pollution. and moderate pollution. and red is obviously not good. >> his award-winning app allows ordinary people who see something in the air or in the water to say something. every subscriber then gets a realtime picture of how bad the pollution is. >> people talk about all these emissions sources data. >> if they're going somewhere, going to a neighborhood or to run an errand they can check. moshun is 47 years old. in his lifetime, china was

transformed very a largely agricultural society to an industrial powerhouse. millions of people were lifted out of poverty. but the sky went dark in the process. was it like this when you were a child? >> it was different, very different. we did have blue sky. and i learned my swimming in the nearby river. but now, you know, we lost the blue sky and much of the clean water. >> how did china lose its blue sky? >> 35 years of massive industrialization. it's very much coal-based energy. and pollution intensive. >> mashun said inhaling the dirty air is a lot like inhaling cigarette smoke. he took me to a store, the clean air center, specializes in masks, and other devices to protect families from the pollution. of all the things we've seen, this one bothers me the most. a baby sized little gas mask.

and this is for what age? for like a 1-year-old, 2-year-old? >> under 3. >> under 3. >> china's now setting higher and higher targets for the switch to renewable fuels and decommissioning the oldest, most polluting power stations. air quality is slowly improving but it will take a generation at best before the sky over beijing is consistently blue again. mashong said there's a lesson for that in anyone who thinks coal spells progress. >> when i heard some of the efforts, actions trying to weaken the role, the capacity of epa in america, i'm a little bit concerned. i hope that before you take that action, maybe you could come here and get a sense about the outcome, you know, before you make that decision. >> we've talked a lot tonight about pollution, electric cars,

and coal, but really, this show is not just about the environment, it's about the direction the country is taking. the world is heading in one way, but president trump for reasons that can only be guessed at is heading in the opposite direction. this is why we travel all over the world with this show, because sometimes to really understand what's happening in our country, you need to get some distance to see things from other people's perspective. that's it for this season of on assignment. due to mature subject matter viewer discretion is advised. msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons into a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw. " >> on the ground. >> we're going to run military style. strict. >> before any inmate sees the inside of a prison, he's most likely first seen the inside of a jail. >> i'm just sitting in a room.