[Cheering and Applause]
>> Nick Offerman: WOW!
>> Millie Jimenez: I think folks are 
excited to see you. [Applause]
>> Nick Offerman: Yeah, we have a 
turnout.
>> Millie Jimenez: We do have a 
turnout?
Hello, all. Thank you for
coming indoors to talk about the
outdoors. [Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman: That's right.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah. I just wanted 
to point that out there.
So, Nick, I wanted to start by
addressing the elephant in the
room here. Okay, class, if you
can, please turn your page to
two hundred forty seven 
of the book.
It says that Big Bend is
smelly.
And I'm wondering if there's
something you want to tell me.
>> Nick Offerman: I mean, might you be 
making a generalization?
Is that a direct quote?
Do I say Big Bend is smelly?
>> Millie Jimenez:
I think you do.
Yeah. Okay. Let me let me I.
>> Nick Offerman Think I might be 
referring specifically to a very small
region of a gorgeous, beautiful
smelling park.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Okay. Mm hmm. [Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman: Specifically the 
parking lot where the RVs are parked.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah. You said plumbing ghost.
>> Nick Offerman: Yeah. Typically 
what I call plumbing ghosts are
floating about that region.
[Chuckles]
>> Millie Jimenez: Okay. Just wanted 
to throw that out there and give you a
moment to let me know.
>> Nick Offerman: Yeah, there's. I 
mean, in fairness, I think there's a
lot of praise of our National Park
Service and its beautiful
environs, and I just want it to
be fair and balanced and yeah,
that's.
>> Millie Jimenez:
No, that's fair.
>> Nick Offerman: Includes 
some minor admonitions.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yep. Yep. I just.
I just wanted to start there.
No, it has been a pleasure to
read this book. So for those
who have not read it, you write
about your experiences in the
outdoors and you break it down
into an experience with
friends, experience cultivating
the land and experience with
your wonderful wife.
And so we are reading your
experiences now in the outdoors.
And my question to you is
thinking back to one of your
first experiences in the
outdoors, how has your
perspective changed since then?
What has been like one of the
biggest differences?
>> Nick Offerman: Gosh, I mean, my 
friend Wendell Barry gave me the
homework assignment to compare the 
point of view of John Muir to the
point of view of Aldo Leopold,
who's an agrarian from
Wisconsin, sort of the John
Muir of Wisconsin, if you will,
or to make a to sort of color
him because he's lesser known.
And so because I read a lot of
agrarian writers, I was more
well versed in the elder
Leopold side of things.
And I had never really I love
to hike, I love to be outside
anywhere, but especially if
there are trees.
I'd never given myself the gift
of just a week of hiking in a
national park.
And so my book opens with
hiking with two friends in
Glacier National Park.
And, you know, being out in
these incredible landscapes and
and talking. And we had a guide
who had a lot of great history
to share. That's where my
perspective changed incredibly,
because at first you get the
superficial reaction of, Oh my
God, this is the most beautiful
place I've ever seen.
And it's made so much more
special because it's just like
it's always been. There's no
people here.
It's just the wildlife and the
And what's that?
The guide said, Oh, there used
to be people here, but when the
Europeans arrived, we we took
our squeegee and removed the
people from these landscapes so
that we privileged folks could
hike and eat Cliff bars.
[Chuckles]
And so I realized, like so many
issues in our modern
civilization, it's a very
complicated perspective.
There is a lot to be said for
treating the outdoors in that
sensibility, but there's also a
lot of problems that come with
it.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah, absolutely.
So you actually bring up
someone that I wanted to talk
about, John Muir, who is a very
complicated man.
And throughout your book you
talk about nuance, and that is
such a good word to describe
John Muir.
And, you know, a lot of people
can quote him and we have
learned a lot about the
outdoors through him, which is
great. And also, we're learning
that he has erased people from
his writing.
So how do we ensure that
everyone is at the table and
that we include everyone when
it comes to the outdoors?
>> Nick Offerman: Well, I mean, with 
the outdoors or with any public
subject, I think that first and 
foremost, to continue to celebrate
and espouse books.
You know, it's a news story
right now that, you know, that
truth is in question.
You know that facts and science
are are being are being held in
the balance of of like is.
Are these facts that were being
told on television?
Are they true?
Or if we don't like them,
should we accept them?
And so for me, having things
categorically written down in
books and fully researched and
repeatedly proven to be true or
false is is paramount.
And and so when it comes to
including everyone in a
conversation like what to do
with our public lands, for
example, in the case of the the
legacy of John Muir or all of
the other white guys mainly who
who, you know, led troops to
victory or suffered defeat in
our civil war or dealt with any
of the of the myriad other
topics that plague us these days
is to remember that they
require nuance and that and that
they're all human.
Many of us, given the context
of the time and place, would
say, okay, yeah, that sounds
good.
That sounds like a good plan.
You're going to get us that
land and then we can feed
everybody. That sounds good.
Oh, wait, what's that?
You have to kill a bunch of
people or you have to destroy
the watershed or you have to
explode the top off a mountain
so that we can have this light
and air conditioning.
Hang on.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Right.
>> Nick Offerman: And so, you know, I 
think the secret let's say let's say that
there are statues of of people
that fought in the Confederate
Army. Yep. I think it's very
important to pay attention to
the people that that has a very
deleterious effect on.
But I also think it's very
important to continue to inform
ourselves of the whole story so
that we don't forget why it's
bad. Or if if we're taking a
statue down, why is that?
Can we continue to learn from
that history lesson even though
we've removed the statue?
So it's just let's keep talking
about it.
And remember, we're a human
society making mistakes.
We'll always keep making
mistakes because we love
Twinkies.
>> Millie Jimenez: They are actually 
kind of delicious.
>> Nick Offerman: They're really 
they're a great treat.
>> Millie Jimenez: You really are on 
the trail. Okay.
>> Nick Offerman:
Forget about it.
And guess what?
They're not going to go bad.
[Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez: Exactly. 30 days on 
the trail that Twinkie is going to be.
>> Nick Offerman:
Yeah, I get it.
But but they also may might be
problematic in some ways.
[laughter] Yeah. I've crunched
the numbers on this.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Oh, okay.
>> Nick Offerman: And so if we can keep 
having these conversations, we can
always continue to strive
toward doing a better job.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah, I can appreciate that.
I'm up here representing an
entire government agency, and
our history is very, very
complicated.
A lot of the land that we are
protecting, maybe we didn't take
it in the best or nicest way,
and when we first started
protecting lands, we would feed
bears.
We would actively tell folks to
feed bears and now stay as far
away as so continuing to learn
and and look into our academics
and science and make good
decisions I think is super
important.
>> Nick Offerman: Sure, there's 
there's some great stories that Aldo
Leopold writes about in his career.
He started out in the mountains
of New Mexico, and it was it was
our government policy to
eradicate the apex predators.
So it was just a thing.
If you saw a wolf, you would
shoot the wolf and eventually
they killed all the wolves.
And then the deer became
overpopulated and and over and
they destroyed all the
shrubbery through overeating.
And, you know, we learned the
hard way that nature has spent a
long time figuring out the
right balance on the right
recipe so that the whole
ecosystem can be healthy.
And when we come in and kill
all the rabbits off, suddenly
we're plagued with a carrot
epidemic [Laughter] that I may be
paraphrasing, but.
[Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
No, I think you got.
>> Nick Offerman:
It. I think that's accurate.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah, that is accurate.
Yeah. Yeah.
We want to put everything in
nice square, neat boxes and
called it and call it
wilderness that it's
untrammeled. And we are erasing
thousands of years of human
history of people who have
known how to balance the
ecosystem and live with it like
a symbiotic relationship.
>> Nick Offerman: Yeah, there's I talk 
about a book, I'm going to blank on the
writer's name, but there's a
great Australian book from.
Four or five years ago called
Dark EMU.
And it's and it's about it very
neatly describes this dilemma.
When the Europeans arrived in
Australia, they, they found the
the Aborigine to be a nuisance
and they, and they completely
discounted them and just wanted
to remove them, which they did
in a lot of brutal ways.
And they, there was a lot of
evidence of civilization and of
centuries and millennia of
learning to live in a
sustainable way with what
Mother Nature provided.
And of course, I'll say us we
we smarty pants is showed up
with European farming and
European grazing animals and
everything died.
And and.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Then you were shocked.
>> Nick Offerman: And then. Yeah. And 
then we said, Oh, shoot, where did those
people go that were growing?
What were those rutabagas.
Can we. And of course it was
too late.
And, and so that's a common,
you know, human dilemma that we,
we greedily destroy what we
think.
We don't need only to discover
that that we really could use
that knowledge.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah. So, you know, 
I was I was joking with you that you
wrote that Big Ben, a specific
section of Big Ben to Smelly.
And so now we are at this place
where we have made the straight
lines and we're protecting
these places and calling them
National Parks.
And we need to ensure that we
protect these places forever.
There's things like climate
change, but that also means
bringing more people into the
outdoors.
So I think part of the reason
maybe that specific campground
was smelly was because more
people were using it.
So how do we engage folks
living in the or living in
cities or who maybe don't have
the resources, like time and
money to to start thinking
about engaging in the outdoors
in a different way?
>> Nick Offerman: Well, that's a great 
question, and that's one of the
questions at the heart of my book.
And I think of at the heart of
what Wendell was asking me to
write about. And that is to to
take the sensibility of the
grandeur of nature, what we
love about the parks.
And this kind of gets to the
heart of it, the John Muir
sensibility. When I think of
John Muir, I think of this
heroic figure standing astride
El Capitan in Yosemite or or
like hollering at me from the
bottom of the Grand Canyon.
And it's there's a sense of
distance and epic journeying.
Like the outdoors is a place
that the Sierra Club has gone
out of its way to provide me
with a flight package so that
you have to travel to the
outdoors and you need gear and
you need planning and you need
all kinds of expenditure.
And what Aldo Leopold is
driving at is that we are if we
got our shovels out, it would
take a while, but there's
actually soil beneath us
eventually and that we're all
living in nature at all times.
And if you don't have nature in
your immediate sphere, it's
pretty easy to create some,
whether it's growing a garden on
your windowsill or keeping
small animals or what have you,
or cultivating a hardwood lot
so that you can build Windsor
chairs is an idea that springs
to mind.
But whatever that is, it's it's
taking this sort of fabricated,
fabricated American sense of
the outdoors and capital letters
and shrinking it down to a
local version where instead we
understand that we all live in
a piece of the outdoors,
wherever we are, and that we
all need to get cool with Mother
Nature and not just with the
Owls in Oregon that we're
saving or the trees that we're
saving, but with our own
watersheds. You know, how are
we treating this?
The nature here in Washington,
D.C.?
I live in Los Angeles, you
know, where there should not be
a city. And so that's something
that we're dealing with.
We're like, well, jeez, we we
stole the Colorado River for for
many decades now.
That's over.
Now what?
Warner Brothers.
What's your next big idea?
Well, you know, Matt Damon is
not returning my calls.
I'm like.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Keep trying.
>> Nick Offerman: I know you're 
helping with water in Africa.
What about Bel Air, man?
[Laughter]
We're thirsty.
[Laughter]
So, I mean, that's that's what
I suggest to people.
There's there's a wonderful
there's an incredible menu.
And with the Internet, you can
find it very quickly in your
area. Go to the garden center,
go to the lumberyard, go to the
craft center and talk about
who's making stuff in your
neighborhood. And you'll find
somebody who's growing a whole
forest of beautiful trees in a
tiny plot, you know, and coming
to understand that.
Now, the thing that got me
started on this is reading
Wendell Berry. And he always
posits the question.
And Michael Pollan was also
inspired by Wendell to ask the
question, What do you know
about your food?
Like, we all need food and
sustenance every day, but so few
of us know where it comes from
or who who provided it and how
they produced it.
And because we don't know that
in the same way that we give our
agency to power companies, we
give them our money and we say,
I assume you're going to be
cool with how you're going to
send me my gasoline or my
electricity.
You're not going to be a dick,
right?
I can't imagine you would be a
jerk to Mother Nature.
And the same way we give we
give our dollars to food
corporations without ever
holding them to task of like,
are you actually doing what's
the healthiest thing for me,
your consumer and the animals
and the plants and and the
ecosystem in which you're
creating this food.
And so that was a big wake up
call that that's what got me
writing and interested in this.
And so all of those things, you
know, go talk to people at your
local farmers market and find
out what what grows well here
and what doesn't, and then move
to where blueberries grow well
all the time. Yeah.
>> Millie Jimenez: Pro tip or plot 
twist those companies probably are
destroying Mother Nature
They're just like shitting on
her. I probably shouldn't say
that in my uniform.
Oh, my God.
[Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman: Well. 
Well, we can. [Applause]
We can beat that.
[Applause]
You know what? It's time to
bring some hard truth to the
service.
[Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
What? No, I am shocked.
I am surprised.
Tell me more.
There's a couple of threads on
there that I want to pull and I.
First of all, not that I should
advertise for the Park Service
because I know everyone loves
it, but there are four hundred
National Parks in the United 
States. [Applause]
And we preserve and conserve a
lot of different stories.
The American people's story,
the really hard stories like
concentration camps to
beautiful landscapes like
Acadia. And there is something
for everyone, and it's just
about getting folks excited.
And so when I engage someone in
the outdoors.
I like to say that success
isn't about everyone here
starting to wear this uniform
because it is.
Cute Right, but it's not
flattering. [Laughter]
Thanks. Yeah.
Success is about you having
such a great experience in your
outdoor space, whatever that
space is, that you tell someone
about it so that you can maybe
go find that blueberry and maybe
get excited about farming or
maybe get excited about art in
nature and all of the different
ways.
So I just wanted to throw that
out there on that one.
>> Nick Offerman: Thank you. 
I am so grateful.
I mean, we were talking
backstage, some of us just with
the the sort of super heroic
effect your uniform has.
Park rangers are dope as hell.
Like, [Applause]
>> Millie Jimenez:
Thank You. Yep. [Applause]
>> Nick Offerman: You are the the 
curators of of the majesty we're
talking about. And and it really 
covers the gamut.
You know, people in recent
years have done great books and
film projects where they go to
visit all, all the national
parks. And it's astonishing the
range of landscapes and terrains
and natural beauty that that we
can see.
And like, I don't know, I'm I'm
going to be controversial here.
I don't give a shit what's.
On Mars. I don't like [Laughter] 
there are people there are a lot of
hungry  people. There are a lot of
problems that could use funding.
And I don't I don't need to
take a joy ride outside the
atmosphere. I also drive the
speed limit.
So I may be in the minority,
but I mean, the Park Service is
one of the places and the whole
Department of the Interior where
I think it's becoming more and
more clear.
We need more funding, we need
more help, we need more great
heads and personalities and
energies like yours. [Applause]
Because I do like to go.
I do like a blueberry myself.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah.
>> Nick Offerman: But the whole point  
of this subject matter is to ideally, in
the most idealized version of
this, you go where the
blueberries are.
And of course, you can I mean,
we can we can grow things in
different climates using
greenhouses and and vertical
gardens and whatnot.
But but generally, if, if you,
if you have to ship your produce
from South America, it's not
good.
It's not helping.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Right.
>> Nick Offerman:
Is is the point.
And so if I have to be made to
like some other kinds of
berries, I will take it into
consideration. [Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
We're in D.C., so it's a swamp.
I don't know what we're going
to grow here, but.
>> Nick Offerman:
Cranberries, I think.
Are we too far south for
cranberries?
>> Millie Jimenez:
Anyone know?
>> Nick Offerman:
Yeah.
>> Millie Jimenez: I think 
we're just going to eat, like, weird
plants.
>> Nick Offerman: Mushrooms.
>> Millie Jimenez: Oh, no. It's just 
kind of weird plants.
>> Nick Offerman: And then we with 
mushrooms are savory and also can
make colors look really pretty.
[Laughter]
I think that's John Muir.
I think that's.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah. No, I think 
you nailed it.
Yeah, that is John here.
[Chuckle]
Another thread that I wanted to
pull from your previous
statement recreating in the
outdoors.
So I'm going to say something
to you that might shock you, but
I am brown.
>> Nick Offerman:
Okay?
>> Millie Jimenez:
I am a person of color.
>> Nick Offerman: I'm glad I 
was sitting. [Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah, I, I honestly 
didn't know if you were going to take it
And recreating in the outdoors
for me is weird.
Even as a park ranger.
There are the community of the
outdoors sometimes feels gated
like there's a gatekeeper there
where I'm not supposed to be
there, like my shoes aren't the
right shoes or like, my hike
isn't long enough. Like, I'm
not stoked enough to be out
there. But I would say that the
way that I recreate is totally
fine. And.
Okay.
>> Nick Offerman: sure.
>> Millie Jimenez: So how do we, like, 
get folks to understand that it's cool to
do whatever you're excited
about in the outdoors?
>> Nick Offerman: That's a great 
question and something I'm glad you
brought up because it's a perspective
that as a I'm literally [Chuckle] I tick
all the wrong boxes, middle
aged, white, cis at least I'm ex
Catholic [Laughter] that but but I 
mean I, you know I'm I'm literally in
the seat of privilege when it
comes to that kind of
perspective. And so it's what's
important is exactly what just
happened is for you to get onto
this stage and say that and and
for that to happen in all walks
of life.
I mean, in one of my other
loves woodworking, that's also a
place where it's strangely
Caucasian.
But I but I think everybody
uses furniture.
>> Millie Jimenez:
I think so, yeah.
>> Nick Offerman: From what 
I've read. [Laughter]
And so it's something that I
think, again, we need to
continue to have a growing
awareness and a sense of
representation of like at my
woodshop in Los Angeles, I
usually have four to 
six employees.
And it's funny, we got into a
thing.
The my, my first shop manager
happened to be a tiny gay woman
and who was twice as strong as
me and like is an incredible
superhero. And it started this
thing where she was so great and
capable. Yeah.
And, and everybody would always
assume her name is Lee and
everybody would always assume
it was a guy.
And we were like, Oh, hey,
like, there are so many things
that are gendered or that are
that seem to have different gate
gatekeepers. And so we now only
hire women or gender
nonconforming people just to,
just to mix it up where it's
like, you know what, the ladies
are actually the woman running
the shop now is named Sarah.
She's so much better of a
woodworker than I'll ever be
because I'm a dancing jackass
flying around.
>> Millie Jimenez:
But a good one doing.
>> Nick Offerman: Yes, [Laughter] 
benevolent, I hope.
But I work as an actor and then
I get to go have fun in my
woodshop where she's constantly
building furniture.
And so in every way, I want our
public conversations to continue
to break down the sensibility
of race and and sexual identity
and gender and so forth, so
that everyone gets to my friend
John Hodgman, who's a very
funny writer, and he has a great
podcast called Judge John
Hodgman.
He has a mantra on his podcast
where people will call in with a
dispute, a pair of siblings,
one of them loves Pearl Jam and
one loves Taylor Swift and the
Pearl Jam.
One is older, so he plays his
louder and and longer.
And and Judge John Hodgman's
mantra is always you have to be
allowed to like what you like.
We have to stop shaming anybody
for their preference, even if
you even if you prefer smooth
peanut butter instead of
crunchy. I have to learn not to
belittle you.
>> Millie Jimenez: Sorry, that's a 
that's a judgment right there.
>> Nick Offerman: I cannot but it's not 
nice of me to deride you.
It's not fair.
>> Millie Jimenez: You can’t
 Yuck there yet.
>> Nick Offerman: There you. If you  
like to make the wrong choice, I have to
let that. [Laughter] I have to 
let that happen.
We have to be allowed to like
what we like.
And however you, whoever you
are, however you want to enjoy a
national park, as long as
you're not doing something bad,
that should absolutely be
supported.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Thanks. I feel appreciated.
>> Nick Offerman: Well.
I this this is sorry.
This has gotten very blue, but
I always say us dipshits got to
stick together.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Thank you. [Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman: Because when we I 
mean there are such erudite,
incredible people at this festival 
and I've already heard a handful of
them speak. And the way that I don't
get scared and run away because
I feel inferior to them is that
I remember we're all human.
And if I sit down with any one
of them, we all will probably
have a story of how we screwed
up something yesterday.
Yeah, for me it was three
things. [Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez: I know that 
you're keeping track.
>> Nick Offerman: I would just. Yeah, 
I'd be happy to share just one.
>> Millie Jimenez: Ah, you're not 
going.
>> Nick Offerman: I'm not going.
[Cross talk] [Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez: All right.
[Laughter]
No, I. We  were all just waiting
>> Nick Offerman:
In that hypothetical meeting.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Oh, okay. [Chuckle]
Okay, I'm going to.
Is it okay if I read you a
quote?
>> Nick Offerman:
Sure. Okay.
>> Millie Jimenez: In the end, we will 
conserve only what we love.
We will love only what we
understand, and we will
understand only what we are
taught.
And I feel like reading this
book engaged me in a way that I
wanted to learn more.
And I want to read Wendell
Barry and I want to just get my
hands dirty. That family that
you go visit on the farm, I just
want to go there and stick my
hand right in that soil and like
farm with them.
>> Nick Offerman: You know what? I've 
been there three times this year.
We're talking about a shepherd
family.
Among the books I'll recommend
to you, there are two by this
shepherd in northern England
named James Rebanks, and his books
are called The Shepherd's Life
and side note English Pastoral.
He won like the The National
Nature Book Awards of England
last year with his book English
Pastoral.
And it's my own publisher,
Penguin Random House, whoever.
So his first book was a huge
hit.
He toured America International
best seller.
His second book, English
Pastoral, is this huge hit, and
they change the title for
America from English Pastoral.
Now, if somebody said, listen,
we think we need to change the
title so Americans will feel
comfortable buying this book.
English Pastoral.
So what do you think they would
change?
English. Right.
No, they they call it Pastoral
Song. [Laughter]
As though somehow when I'm
shopping for a book, What the
hell is wrong with English
Pastoral, anyway?
I'll die on this hill.
[Laughter]
I the middle third of my book
is about befriending and
spending time and farming with
this family in northern England.
This. This is the best TV
channel I've ever seen.
It's. It's their Instagram
feeds.
He's called Hurdy Shepherd, and
the Shepherd's wife is his wife,
Helen. And they're just heroic,
incredibly romantic shepherds
and farmers. And the thing
about spending time with them.
I went there for lambing this
year for a week, and you'd never
even think about needing any
kind of distraction or needing
to entertain yourself.
All we do is get out in the
weather and mind the sheep.
And we also have cows.
Now I own some cows in his herd
belted Galloway cows.
They're very cute and
delicious. [Laughter]
And then and then when it
rains, we read books and we talk
about books, and we also dance
and make each other laugh.
And sometimes we have a little
scotch, but that's like just
once or twice a week.
[Laughter]
And, and that and the thing is,
and it's the same with
woodworking. When people ask me
how to get started, you just get
started. Like wherever you are,
if you find some soil and you
read some Wendell Berry or Aldo
Leopold or Wes Jackson or Robin
Wall Kimmerer or Barbara
Kingsolver or Rebecca Solnit,
you then go and look into the
health of the soil that you've
found and ask some questions
and say, What should we grow
here? Watermelons, tulips,
blueberries is the right answer.
>> Millie Jimenez: I feel like we 
should go get some blueberries.
>> Nick Offerman: I mean, we're 
going to. [Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
Okay, great. [Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman: But but the thing is, 
if you invest yourself in the health of
a tiny slice of nature, it's
absolutely spellbinding.
Like you'll wake up in the
morning wondering if if your
potatoes have come up, if the
garlic is ready to harvest and
so forth.
>> Millie Jimenez:
I love that.
>> Nick Offerman:
It gets my juices flowing.
>> Millie Jimenez:
[Laughter] So I.
I shared what you wrote about
the Park Service with my boss,
who happens to be the director
of the Park Service. [Laughter]
Like the guy who runs all four
hundred twenty national parks.
And he stood there and he said,
Okay.
Tell Nick that I'm giving him a
magic wand.
And he can change the Park
Service however he wants.
So I'm giving you the magic
wand from the director of the
Park Service.
>> Nick Offerman:
Thank you. [Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah. Yeah.
Well said. I'm not endorsing
this. Do you?
Do you. What are you going to
do with your new powers?
>> Nick Offerman:
I mean.
>> Millie Jimenez: Besides, I think you 
said a septic.
Oh, no, you're going to do a I
don't know.
You're going to do some crazy
things.
>> Nick Offerman: Well, I mean, I 
appreciate that sentiment.
And I, I mean, I, I generally
am pretty respectful and
friendly when addressing anyone
in my book with a request like,
could it smell less like
toilets in this in this certain
area? And I mean, we've all
we've all experienced this,
whether it's the Park Service
or other municipal locations
where you arrive at something
and, you know, in the
infrastructure and you say, oh,
no one has paid much attention
to this or or but here's where
here's where the questions
begin. I the reason I use
respect and politeness and a
sense of humor is because
there's probably decent people
on the other end of the
question.
And maybe they don't have the
budget to allocate.
Maybe maybe the budget that
would improve the septic system
of this small campground went
to something much more important
in the park system.
And so if I were given a magic
wand, I would take it into a
session of Congress and I would
sprinkle wisdom and perspicacity
on on that storied Tony group
of people so that they would
spend less money on our defense
budget and more on our
relationship with Mother
Nature. [Applause]
Who? I mean, who.
Who do we need to defend
ourselves against?
No one's going to take us on.
Yeah, we.
You know, we've spent a lot of
time and money and steroids
becoming very muscular.
Mm hmm. And so I think we've
bought ourselves some time to
worry about our bridges and
potholes and park sewer systems.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah. But so here 
now I'm going to like, go out.
Money is such an interesting.
Part of this conversation.
In your book, you talk about
like.
We could save this plot of
land, or we can put a business
or like a giant superstore.
And the giant superstore is
going to make a lot more money
than that plot of land.
Yes. And so these are like the
conversations we're having.
And money will always win in
those in those like decisions
that are being made.
>> Nick Offerman:
It seems like it.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah. And it's just 
how do we how do we engage with that?
Well, how do we like.
I mean, we have kind of we're
not being super nice to Mother
Nature right now. We are using
all of the resources and maybe
not the greatest way.
We are buying lots of things.
Maybe. I don't know.
We're we are living our best
lives without thinking about
Earth, living its best life
right now.
>> Nick Offerman: I agree. And 
unfortunately, that's the
conundrum of human nature, is that 
even even Wendell Barry, who lives in
a very frugal, nearly off grid,
simple way, even he confesses to
complicity. As soon as you flip
one light switch, you're part of
the problem. And, you know, as
soon as you're not protesting
the mountaintop removal mining
that is bringing you that
electricity or whatever other
ill we're inflicting upon the
planet, we're all complicit.
And so that's that is the
question.
Will we ever be grown up enough
to to take proactive measures
before the lights go off or
before, you know, something so
ridiculous is our entire state
says, sorry, guys, no more
water. If you could just not
drink with the water.
And we're like, Oh, hang on.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Right.
>> Nick Offerman: Shouldn't you have 
made sure we had water?
Like what?
What have we are paying a
healthy amount of taxes.
Yeah, I would hope we'd get at
least water.
But there's a great book.
There's a wonderful writer
named Elizabeth Roit.
I love her books.
One's called Garbage Land and
one's called Bottle Mania.
And they'll tell you all about
how Nestlé and other
corporations own most of the
water rights in our country,
where literally the water like
one of the elements. [Chuckle]
Yes. It'd be like if somebody
could charge you for making
fire. They you know, it's being
sold to us.
That's why in my my own dumb
little gesture, I always carry
this with me because it's
become de rigueur that wherever
you go, they put out a plastic
bottle of water, which was the
invention of the Pepsi
Corporation in the late
seventies, when they figured
out they could make more money
selling you plastic bottles
than the soda that's in them.
And we all are just completely
complicit with that.
And so it's a tiny gesture, [Chuckle] 
but I just try to refill my water
bottle and and so I think I
will I should have saved at
least four square feet.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah, that's 
four square feet there.
>> Nick Offerman:
Of the Planet.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah. Thank you.
>> Nick Offerman: Or or maybe Metric 
could be two square meters.
But I mean that's the funny
thing about us is is we can we
can recognize these problems.
We can see the tangible results
in the climate change we're
experiencing. But we're still
enmired in the problem.
So it's going to take even
greater brains than the to
sitting on this stage.
Yeah. To. I mean, I think you
and I can help lead the
cheerleading side of.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Oh, yeah, pom poms.
I'm here for it.
>> Nick Offerman: But, I mean, I, you 
know, I'm not I'm not a great journalist
or a scholar, but I do love
taking the ideas of great
journalists and scholars and
regurgitating them in a less
smart way for my readership.
>> Millie Jimenez:
I thoroughly enjoyed. [Chuckle]
>> Nick Offerman: It, too. Yeah. To  
hopefully inspire, you know, the
people who will help us figure out the
solution to these problems.
It's going to take a lot of us.
>> Millie Jimenez: It's going to take a 
lot of us. I think we have a lot of work to
do. That's okay.
>> Nick Offerman: Yeah. I mean, and 
that's something I'm thrilled to meet
you because I want to continue
our conversation about how I can
be a cheerleader to one of the
things we can do is encourage
people to vote for things that
they never think about.
When I read Wendell Barry and I
realized I never thought about
the health of my food, I mean,
I was in my I was in my mid
twenties and I was like, holy
cow, we're all that's human
nature. We're happily we love
to to shift into sheep mode and
say, Oh, great, my food is
taken care of.
Great. And the people who take
advantage of that, that that
tendency of ours turns out, are
often interested in in money.
Yeah. More than my blood
pressure.
>> Millie Jimenez: Yeah. I can't make a 
lot of money from your blood pressure.
Sorry.
>> Nick Offerman:
Exactly.
>> Millie Jimenez: Well, I want to 
thank you for spending some time
with me on stage. I think we're getting
the time to ask questions from
the audience, which is super
exciting because I'm sure
they'll have lots of fun things
to ask that I come up with.
So I think someone has.
Yeah.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
Hi, Nick.
>> Nick Offerman: Hello.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:Hello. If you 
want some good blueberries, go to
Maine.
>> Nick Offerman:
Maine. Thank you. [Applause]
>> Millie Jimenez:
Hey. Road trip.
>> Nick Offerman: I really. This isn't 
about your book.
Sorry. I really appreciated how
making it brought to life and
brought attention to local
makers.
And I just wanted to ask you
how that show came to being.
And will there be a season
three?
>> Nick Offerman: Thank you. 
[Applause] Thank you so much.
What's your name?
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
Sarah.
>> Nick Offerman:
Sarah. Thank you.
I making it as a show that I
that I did with Amy Poehler on
NBC. And we've done three
seasons of it.
I don't know where you. I don't
know where you can see anything
anymore. Peacock, NBC,
Universal Fox, 20th Century
Discovery, History Channel,
Chipotle. [Laughter]
I think. I think Peacock is
where you see it, but it's a
it's a competition show about
crafting.
It was Amy Poehler's idea.
I was just she's, you know, she
and other great showbiz brains
in her company, Paper Kite had
the idea for a show about
crafting, and they said we
should get some jerk who can
swing a hammer.
And she said, I know just the
guy. [Laughter]
So it was a very lucky gig for
me.
And I love doing it.
They the company doesn't seem
to.
Think that very that highly of
us.
Every time we do the show, it
seems like people really love
it. But they never just renew
it for another season.
They wait until all their other
new stuff fails, and then they
call it. [Laughter]
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:Who do we need to 
write a letter to?
>> Nick Offerman: I don't know. I mean, 
I don't know if I don't know if those
things work, but Peacock, I
guess, is the is the the seat of
wisdom in this particular
equation.
But thank you for saying that.
Thank you. I love to encourage
everyone to make things with
their hands. It's a superpower
that we all have.
I'm convinced everyone is great
at making something.
You just got to figure out what
it is.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
Thank you.
>> Nick Offerman:
Thank you. [Applause]
>> Millie Jimenez:
I think we're over here next.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
really enjoyed the book.
I went down kind of a Nick
Offerman rabbit hole after that
saw devs, which was incredible
to see you in a totally
different light.
>> Nick Offerman:
Thank you.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: And we went down 
a national park rabbit hole too, and ended up
going out to Joshua Tree and
one of my favorite national
parks Wolf Trap for Performing Arts
 [Applause] which is right here and
like no other place.
Reading your book, Nick, if I
may call you that [Laughter]
I was.
>> Nick Offerman: That's fine. 
[Laughter] I'll allow it.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: I was really 
astonished by all the obviously, the
climate change concerns, you know,
concerns with the earth, the
chapter with the shepherd,
really.
I really connected to the
wisdom of the sheep where they
were trying to get through the
stone walls and they were like,
Try all the different places
until they found weakness.
And your obvious love of them
in that life.
I'm wondering when you're going
to start thinking about becoming
a vegetarian. [Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman:
I thank you for your question.
What's your name?
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
My name's Heather.
>> Nick Offerman:
Heather. Thank you.
I won't be becoming a
vegetarian. [Laughter]
I mean, I firmly believe and
with all due respect to everyone
gets you, you may like what you
like.
And anyone who pursues a
healthy diet, whatever that
means for them, you know, more
power to you.
I think that I think that a
very healthy part of human
civilization is sustainably
raising animals for food.
But but we're very far, like
the vast majority of the way we
raise our animals for food is
horrible.
And so I'm there's a wonderful
documentary in book called
Sacred Cow that's all about the
slogan is it's not the cow.
That's the problem.
It's the how.
And as soon as you introduce
the word industry or like meat
packing plant or anything like
that, [Chuckle] it's like, No, I don't
want my meat to be come from an
industry or go through a plant.
So, I mean, I would agree with
I think a lot of vegan and
vegetarian philosophy when it
comes to there is no diet that
that doesn't kill life.
Vegan and vegetarian also kill
a lot of organisms.
I just think we owe it to
Mother Nature to do it as
conscientiously as possible.
And I just wanted to say as a
tangent, I meant to bring up the
writer Edward Abbey, who was
actually.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Never heard of him.
[Applause]
Just Kidding. Yes.
>> Nick Offerman: You got beat 
me at my  own game.
It was like, Oh.
[Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
nailed it.
>> Nick Offerman: He was a classmate 
of Wendell Barry at Wallace Stegner
program at Stanford.
They had an incredible class.
Ken Kesey, Larry McMurtry and
others.
Gurney Norman.
But Edward Albee's I love his
sensibility and his books like
Desert Solitaire or The Monkey
Wrench Gang about being in
national parks or being in our
public lands and loving them and
wanting people to appreciate
them, but not wanting them to
become too accessible.
And that's something that's a
balance that I think we I sort
of got off. You were asking
about that is we definitely want
people to to enjoy them, but
limit that enough so that we
don't affect the health of the
park itself.
>> Millie Jimenez: What a weird 
balance that we have to like walk.
And I mean, the Park Service is
talking about that a lot now.
>> Nick Offerman: But I think one 
salient point that he makes.
I mean, [Laughter] 
I'm not going.
That's Potomac.
[Laughter]
>> Millie Jimenez:
That's called protein.
>> Nick Offerman: One salient point 
that he makes is don't put don't.
If your feature is hiking up a
mountain, don't come in and put
a road to the top of the
mountain so that people can can
drive up and take an Instagram
moment like.
Keep keep these journeys,
journeys.
If everything becomes too
accessible, then we'll all turn
into those fat floating
Grown-Ups from Wall-E who no
longer know how to drive our
own spaceship.
>> Millie Jimenez: I'm not going to 
knock it, though. I could float.
>> Nick Offerman: [Laughter]
I could too. That's the problem.
>> Millie Jimenez: That's true. 
That's a good point.
>> Nick Offerman: It's so tempting to 
like, just be a baby and everyone
brings me like, my. [Laughter] My 
blueberry and steak.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Yeah.
>> Nick Offerman:
Smoothie. Sorry.
Did you have a question?
[Laughter]
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Yeah, I did 
actually kind of jump to it.
I was thinking this summer,
Yellowstone experienced some
devastating flooding. It’s going
to be one hundred twenty five
degrees this weekend in 
Death Valley.
I grew up outside of Glacier
National Park and there are no
more glaciers.
And so I always saw even
visiting like Yosemite, the
tension of so many people.
And, you know, we feel like we
have to actually experience
something to value it.
But in our experiencing it, we
are kind of destroying a lot of
it, as you were just talking
about.
So I wanted to you jumped ahead
to my question, but is it fair
then to have I mean, how do you
make it accessible when you
think about an economic or a
physical or any sort of
accessibility, when you know
you do want to maybe limit the
morons going through?
>> Nick Offerman: Right. I mean, a moron 
test would be great at the entrance
[Laughter] to a lot of to a lot of
experiences.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
Yeah, we might not make it, but.
>> Nick Offerman: right? I mean, I'll 
see you in the parking lot, all
[Laughter] right? I mean, I 
would.
I would defer to you to field
that question you.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Oh, I have so many thoughts.
Welcome to my TEDx talk.
[Laughter]
Yeah, I there is a lot of
tension in that because so a lot
of my work has been in
diversity, equity and inclusion
and connecting communities who
have not been or experienced the
big iconic national places.
But that means bringing more
people in, right?
And then we use it more and
it's infrastructure is not built
for that. And so like this
effect happens.
But if I if we don't support a
good hands on experience, then
how will someone learn to
appreciate it?
And the other thing is that,
yes, there are people who want a
very specific kind of
experience in the outdoors.
They want it to be quiet and
meditative.
And it's that iconic outdoor
experience.
And so when I bring more
students in than maybe that
experience is broken for
someone.
So, yeah, the Park Service is
dealing with this all the time.
And as you know, there are
places where timed entry is now
something that is happening.
And then I wonder, well, if
someone doesn't have the
Internet or access to the
Internet or doesn't have money,
how will they know how to get
in? And so I can just go down a
rabbit hole of well, I think
that's why we need all the good
minds to get together and
figure this out together,
because one person can't just
do it alone.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
Thank you.
>> Millie Jimenez: Okay. I think we 
have time for one more question.
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
Awesome Hi, big fan.
I have a question for both of
you.
Do you think that your personal
ethos fall more within the range
of a Pawnee ranger or a Pawnee
goddess? [Applause]
>> Nick Offerman: Oh, boy. Thank you 
for your question.
What's your name?
>> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE:
My name is Meredith.
>> Nick Offerman:
Meredith. Thank you.
And I'm sorry I didn't ask the
last questioner's name, but we
will call you Champion.
[Laughter]
Perk. Champion.
I mean, my.
I would aspire to the ethos of
a Pawnee goddess, I believe.
>> Millie Jimenez: While I'm dressed 
like a ranger, also goddess.
Have you seen this?
[Laughter]
>> Nick Offerman: I think I think 
basically if if you can be curated
by Leslie Knope or any other character
you should always go for Leslie
Knope. [Cheers] Thank you 
for your question.
And I am so grateful to the
Library of Congress for having
me here with this book.
That means so much to me.
I'm really proud of it.
I never thought I'd get to
write books, and I love books,
and I'm so glad that I can make
a small contribution to to this
body of work, even if it has a
sense of humor to it.
And I just want to thank you
for having me and being gentle
with me today.
>> Millie Jimenez:
Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause] 
>> Nick Offerman: Thank you.