1 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 1: Season three is officially over, but we will have some 2 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: bonus episodes for you coming up soon, including a series 3 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: that we're co reporting with huff Post about how the 4 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: fossil fuel industry has infiltrated the public school system, and 5 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: before that, some episodes on the financial situation that the 6 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: oil and gas industry has been in and why you 7 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: should not believe the hype that they need a coronavirus bailout. 8 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: In the meantime, I will occasionally be dropping episodes in 9 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: this feed of other climate related shows that you might like. 10 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: First up today is the latest episode of Hot Take 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: with myself and Mary Annise Hegler. We had David Wallace 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: Wells on as our guest co host to talk about 13 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: looking at climate through Corona color glasses. David Wallace Walls is, 14 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: of course, the deputy editor of New York Magazine and 15 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: the author of The Uninhabitable Earth. We recorded this conversation 16 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: last week and I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to 17 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: Hot Take, the podcast where we talk about storytelling in 18 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: the face of the greatest story of all time, climate change. 19 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: I'm Amy Westerbelt. 20 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 2: And I'm Mary Annie's Teglaring, and I'm so glad to 21 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 2: be back with you in earnest. 22 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: I'm so glad to be back together for this show. 23 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: I'm yeah, I uh, you know, I've floundered. I floundered 24 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: without you, I did, and I'm lounder without you. 25 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 3: Yeah. 26 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 2: And this episode we're gonna be joined by David Wallace Wells, 27 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 2: who is the deputy editor in New York Magazine and 28 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 2: the author of The Uninhabitable Earth, both the article and 29 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 2: the book. And we're really glad to have him here 30 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 2: with us. 31 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was great to talk to him. I feel 32 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: like he was the perfect person to have on amidst 33 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: all the coronavirus stuff too. Yeah, exactly. 34 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 2: So we didn't actually, even though we're in the same city, 35 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 2: David and I, we didn't get to like do this 36 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 2: in the studio together. 37 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: We had to do. 38 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 2: It by a social distance. 39 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: Fortunately. 40 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 2: Oh my god, I need this shit to ince so fast. 41 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: I really, really, really amuse I know. 42 00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but can I make a confession. I always, uh, 43 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 2: whenever I see David's initials, I always want to call 44 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 2: him darkween duck because his initial like d w W 45 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 2: and like, if you grew up in the nineties at all, 46 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 2: you remember the cartoon darkwing duck. 47 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: Yes, do. 48 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 3: Let's be dangerous. 49 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 2: Dark Queen Duck. 50 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, it was great to talk to him. I 51 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: I really I thought he had some interesting things to 52 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: say about, of course all of the sort of Corona 53 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: climate intersections, but then also just about what's been happening 54 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: with the climate story in general, and what's happening in 55 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: the political realm this year on climate too, and actually, 56 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: you know what, Yeah, he made me feel a lot 57 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: better talk about the shift in like attention and urgency 58 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: around climate in the last couple of years, which it's 59 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: easy for me to forget sometimes I feel like I'm 60 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: just constantly like wanting it to be more. Yeah. Yeah, 61 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: so it was good to like, you know, sort of 62 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,679 Speaker 1: remember that. Oh actually, yeah, we've come a long way 63 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: in a pretty short amount of time, and like, you know, 64 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: even if we're taking some losses, like it doesn't mean 65 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: it's done for good and whatever. So yeah, exactly, exactly. 66 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 2: Yeah. And also note that all the articles that we 67 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 2: talk about here are going to be linked as always 68 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 2: on our Twitter feed, which you can find it at 69 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 2: real hot Take, and they'll also be posted in our 70 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 2: show notes. Yeah, so make sure you read along yes, 71 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 2: make sure you're following us on Twitter, because in addition 72 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 2: to posting these reading lists, we I think do a 73 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 2: relatively great job of curating all of the climate writing 74 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 2: that's happened all the time. 75 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: So it's a good Yeah, we get all of it. Yeah, 76 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: we get all. 77 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 2: The best the best stuff, right, all right, so ready 78 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 2: to dig in. 79 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do it. What drew you to storytelling in general, 80 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: but really climate storytelling in particular, Well. 81 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 3: I think that brought me to climate change is a 82 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 3: subject was just honestly, it was fear. So I think 83 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 3: it's a lot of what a lot of people not 84 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 3: just who are telling these stories, but who are reading 85 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 3: them and listening to them. I've been going through, which 86 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 3: is a couple of years ago, I started seeing a 87 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 3: lot more news that was really terrifying about the future 88 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 3: of the climate, and I was piecing it together for 89 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 3: myself in a way that made it seem not just 90 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 3: like a series of sort of particular, discrete threats, but 91 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 3: a much more all encompassing and sort of all changing 92 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 3: force that is likely to dominate all of the rest 93 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 3: of our lives. And that was just sort of, like, 94 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 3: you know, destabilizing in the sense of like making me 95 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,600 Speaker 3: a little leak at the knees, so to speak. And 96 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 3: it didn't feel to me at the time. I no 97 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 3: longer feel this way. You guys have done a great 98 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 3: job talking about it in a show in particular, But 99 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 3: it didn't feel to me at the time like there 100 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 3: were that many writers or storytellers out there who were 101 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 3: telling who were writing about climate change or talking about 102 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:42,359 Speaker 3: climate change at that scale or with that scope. And 103 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,799 Speaker 3: it felt like to me at least, a real missing 104 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 3: feature of the conversation that you know, we knew about 105 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 3: particular scientific studies, and we knew about particular efforts at 106 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 3: resilience and decarversation, but there was just something really quite 107 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 3: big picture that was almost lost along the way, which 108 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 3: was just this will be the defining force of the 109 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 3: twenty first century and beyond almost no matter what we do, 110 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 3: but what we do today because of that is going 111 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 3: to be incredibly, incredibly consequential, and we can't put off 112 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 3: acting in the way that we have, but we also 113 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 3: can't put off reckoning with what it will mean to 114 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 3: be living on a transformed planet. So you know, I 115 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 3: wrote that story in twenty seventeen that was really looking 116 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 3: at worst case scenarios, and then that brought me into 117 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 3: a We've talked about this a little bit before. That 118 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 3: brought me into some conversations with scientists who sort of 119 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 3: took issue with what I was doing. And those conversations, 120 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 3: which are often were, you know, more like arguments, made 121 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 3: me just feel even more intensely that like there was 122 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,559 Speaker 3: one aspect of this or one approach to the story 123 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 3: that had been sort of closed off, and that the 124 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 3: or was, you know, judging just for myself as a reader, 125 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 3: there was at least one reader who wanted to read 126 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 3: stories written in that tone and that perspective and who 127 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 3: are poorly served by the sort of prohibition against alarming 128 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 3: climate narratives. 129 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: So you've talked before about being drawn into the climate 130 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: story in part Oh, yeah, actually we talked about this 131 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: that one of the things that you were looking at too, 132 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: is just that like none of your competitors were covering 133 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:32,559 Speaker 1: climate in this way that you that you had kind 134 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,720 Speaker 1: of talked about that, you know, no one was looking 135 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:40,959 Speaker 1: at the worst case scenarios. So you know, time has 136 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: proven you right, But now it seems like, you know, 137 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: more outlets are covering the climate crisis in kind of 138 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: increasingly more in different ways. So what do you kind 139 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: of see when you look around the landscape of media now. 140 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 3: Well, I think it depends where you're looking. I think 141 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 3: in the best like text journalism, I think you're seeing 142 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 3: quite good coverage and quite a lot of progress having 143 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 3: been made. You know, it used to be fair to 144 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 3: say that, like Climate chang should be on the fun 145 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 3: page of New York Times every day, and like it's 146 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 3: sort of now on the fun page of the New 147 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 3: York Times every day, and the Washington Post and you know, 148 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 3: other other text based outlets I think have done a 149 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 3: quite good job as well, like all all all the 150 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 3: way down through the ecosystem. But TV news is just 151 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 3: so appallingly bad on this still, and you know, a 152 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 3: huge proportion of Americans get their get their news there 153 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 3: and that's really distressing and disconcerting. In terms of the 154 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:46,199 Speaker 3: kinds of storytelling, I think we've had an incredible renaissance 155 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 3: in It's not just that people are doing more clear 156 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 3: eyed writing about scary prospects. It's that there's just a 157 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 3: lot more climate writing and climate storytelling in general. I mean, 158 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 3: this is one of the reasons of your show. It 159 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 3: was such a it's so valuable because it's a guide 160 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 3: to all of this stuff. Like three years ago, you 161 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,559 Speaker 3: could not have made this podcast, like there wouldn't have 162 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 3: been enough to talk about, or if you were, it 163 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 3: was only like obscure things that nobody was reading. And 164 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,559 Speaker 3: now it really feels like there's so many things to process, 165 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 3: even at the very center of our sort of journalistic 166 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 3: and storytelling culture. So that's incredibly good news. You know, 167 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 3: there are particular, small, particular parts of the story that 168 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 3: I think have been sort of undercovered or under explored, 169 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 3: but not in the same like I see a major 170 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 3: failing across the across the whole culture way that I 171 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:44,000 Speaker 3: did a few years ago. How do you guys see it? 172 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting because we talked about this before that, 173 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: like on the like you know, we the first few 174 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: episodes we tried to look at like what was happening 175 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen, Like we went year by year. 176 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: In twenty sixteen was like pretty episode because there really 177 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:02,839 Speaker 1: wasn't much. 178 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 3: You know, like every year I started. 179 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: Now like we're we're doing it in real time and 180 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 1: we're doing every two weeks and like there's a there's 181 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: as much to talk about it, like every two weeks 182 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,680 Speaker 1: as there was in like a year in twenty sixteen, 183 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. It's crazy how much it's like exploded and 184 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: just I don't know how many different ways people are 185 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: tackling the story now too. It's super interesting. I feel 186 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,200 Speaker 1: like you're seeing more people kind of reference climate change 187 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: and stories that aren't maybe explicitly about climate too, you know, 188 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: like I just feel like that's happening more. But it 189 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: is amazing to me still that the TV folks have 190 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: not caught up with that, you know, like I think, 191 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: I don't know, you're still seeing the occasional you know, 192 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: American Enterprise Institute spokesperson on cable news talking about climate change, 193 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,319 Speaker 1: which seems crazy to me. It seems like a time machine. 194 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 3: The thing that I always think about is like, just 195 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 3: you're covering like a hurricane or some other natural disaster. 196 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 3: How do you not even if you're working simply from 197 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 3: the logic of like we need to we need to, 198 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 3: you know, keep, we need to attract and keep as 199 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 3: many viewers as we possibly can. To me, it's like 200 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 3: the story of natural disaster is even more horrifying and 201 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 3: gripping if you're like, oh, and by the way, like 202 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 3: the future is going to be dominated by these kinds 203 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 3: of events which are going to be coming more and 204 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 3: more frequently, and yet every TV producer just totally neglects 205 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 3: that that part of the story, which is it from 206 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 3: being just a tragedy to being like horrifying portent in 207 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 3: a way that I, at least eyes of you are 208 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 3: I'm drawn in more by I was just gonna say, 209 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 3: it's interesting about all of these things in terms of 210 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 3: the coverage of coronavirus. So you know, we're we're seeing 211 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,560 Speaker 3: I think a journalistic response to this story unfolding in 212 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 3: real time that is in certain ways heroic and like herculean, 213 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 3: and people are like, you know, doing so much to 214 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 3: report in incredibly difficult circumstances and writing stories, you know, 215 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 3: spanning the intimate and personal to like the big and analytic, 216 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 3: and I think we're sort of informed in a kind 217 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 3: of unprecedented way, you know, compared to anything that even 218 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 3: feels puts to an equivalent experience in the past. And 219 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 3: yet at the same time, it feels like, I don't 220 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,319 Speaker 3: know how you guys feel. I feel unable to process 221 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 3: this news myself in any systematic way. It feels incredibly piecemeal, 222 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,320 Speaker 3: like I'm chasing after a little bits of the story 223 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 3: and maybe I just can't get my mind around the 224 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,959 Speaker 3: full scope and scale of it. But it feels there 225 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 3: has to be some sort of storytelling opportunity or failure 226 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 3: in there too, if if I you know, it's all 227 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 3: I'm reading every day, and yet I don't feel like 228 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 3: I'm actually I've actually kind of come to grips with it. 229 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,679 Speaker 2: So David So she published The Unhabitable Earth, You've emerged 230 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 2: as one of the more visible spokespeople for the climate movement, 231 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 2: and how has it felt to answer that space of 232 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 2: someone who was like previously pretty behind the scenes as 233 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 2: an editor? I think maybe I'm projecting onto you a 234 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 2: little bit having made that move myself. Have you drawn 235 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 2: any parameters for yourself about what you're comfortable doing or 236 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 2: not doing well? 237 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like there are like a bunch 238 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,160 Speaker 3: of different questions in there, and the answer to all 239 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 3: of them is just like it's been really weird. I mean, like, 240 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 3: first of all, even hearing you describe me as a 241 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 3: as part of the movement makes me a little uncomfortable, 242 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 3: because I come to the subject really from a different 243 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 3: place from from you know, from background and journalism and 244 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 3: even just temperamentally as someone who is really like an 245 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 3: observer kind of wallflower rather than like a participant who 246 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 3: gets into the political fray. On the other hand, so 247 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 3: I also look at the you know, the world we're 248 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 3: facing in the future, we're facing on what needs to 249 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 3: be done to avoid it, and think, you know, we 250 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 3: probably need a lot more people to feel dragged into 251 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 3: the fray than are themselves inclined to be. And you know, 252 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 3: if anybody who is temperamentally disinclined has to play some 253 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 3: kind of a role, probably I should be one of 254 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 3: the first, since I have sort of stumbled into this 255 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 3: sort of platform and profile. But you know, I still 256 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 3: feel myself like I have a kind of a hybrid 257 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 3: identity in which I, you know, I feel comfortable like 258 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 3: working with activists, helping you know, doing like fundraising and 259 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 3: helping them with some of their messaging without actually like 260 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 3: feeling comfortable going up at a rally and like getting 261 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 3: behind the mic myself. It may just be a matter 262 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 3: of time, It may just be like, you know, some 263 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 3: changes take a little while to sink in, and I'm 264 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 3: still relatively early. But also, you know, in general, when 265 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 3: people ask me what they should do if they want 266 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 3: to make a difference, I say, like, you know, we 267 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 3: need all kinds of different people doing all kinds of 268 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 3: different things, and like engaging politically and trying to make 269 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 3: make make your herd is one of those things. But 270 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 3: you know you can you can help those people. You 271 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 3: can help the movement in a lot of other ways too, 272 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 3: So maybe it's okay then I'm I'm mostly still working 273 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 3: behind a desk as a writer. Then there's also just 274 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 3: been a weirdness of I think Mary that you've had 275 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 3: some similar experiences, just the weirdness of being out in 276 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 3: public at all, sort of independent of the political cause. 277 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 3: It's just a little bit emotionally disorienting to see yourself 278 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 3: referred to by people who you don't know and like 279 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 3: be the subject of conversations and yeah, that sort of 280 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 3: I hate it, And you know, it's not it's it's 281 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 3: not something that I ever expected for myself or wanted 282 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 3: for myself. And it's gratifying of course in certain ways, 283 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:13,959 Speaker 3: and it's good to be doing it in the service 284 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,879 Speaker 3: of a cause I think is important, but it's also 285 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 3: you know, like, you know, can make me feel like 286 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,439 Speaker 3: an impostor and someone who doesn't deserve the attention. And 287 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:30,959 Speaker 3: and also, you know, just like sort of eerie in 288 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,159 Speaker 3: the sense that you see, you know, this hologram of 289 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 3: yourself emerge out into the world that looks like you, 290 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 3: and there's you know, sounds like you, and sort of 291 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 3: things like you, but it's not exactly you. And you 292 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 3: don't know exactly what your ownership over that hologram is 293 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 3: because it's not total. It is shaped by the way 294 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 3: that other people are processing your work, which they should 295 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 3: process your work and come to opinions about you and 296 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 3: your work. And nevertheless, you know, still weird. How has 297 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 3: it been? How do you? How would you do? How 298 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 3: would each of you answer that question? 299 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 2: I was hoping to steal your answer. I I fucking 300 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 2: hate it. I really I don't like being a public person. 301 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 2: I was really happy being behind a dusk and being 302 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,439 Speaker 2: anonymous and basically like telling other people what to go 303 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 2: out in publicans thing while I hid behind them like 304 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 2: the puppet master. But that ship is sale because the 305 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:30,679 Speaker 2: things I wanted people say, nobody wanted to say them, 306 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 2: and I felt like they needed to be said, so 307 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 2: I said them, and I sort of drew parameters around 308 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 2: things I did and didn't want to do, Like I 309 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 2: don't ever, ever, ever want to go on cable news 310 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 2: that looks like my literal nightmare. There's definitely been times 311 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 2: where I've wanted to pull it back, but that feels 312 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 2: irresponsible given the moment that we're at. This isn't a 313 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 2: vanity project. This is like the balance of life on 314 00:18:57,880 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 2: Earth kind of hangs in the balance. And not that 315 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 2: I I think I myself can save life on Earth, 316 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 2: but I think that you have to do what you can, 317 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 2: and walking away from the platform feels like a dereliction 318 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 2: of duty at this. 319 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: Point, I would just say that, like, I also struggle 320 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: with this thing. And I mean, I feel like I've 321 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: been you know, I've been reporting on climate for like fifteen, 322 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 1: like eighteen years now, and I still feel this weird 323 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: tension between doing journalism and like being an advocate, and 324 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 1: I feel like, well, climate change is like a really 325 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: tough subject in that regard, Like it's I don't really 326 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: feel like you can just stay distant from it, you know. 327 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: And yeah, I don't know. I get asked this a lot, 328 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: because you know, I definitely like come to conclusions in 329 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,160 Speaker 1: my stories and in the podcast and all that kind 330 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 1: of stuff too, and I feel, I don't know, I've 331 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:01,439 Speaker 1: kind of come to this thing of like, look, if 332 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 1: you have a mountain of evidence, then it's to me 333 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,479 Speaker 1: it seems like almost as are more biased to not 334 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,880 Speaker 1: come to to the like logical conclusion that that evidence 335 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: points to then, you know, than to just say, like, so, 336 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 1: you know, here's the evidence, and obviously that means x 337 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: y Z. 338 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 2: You know. 339 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: So I don't know, but I still, like, I still 340 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,639 Speaker 1: worry about it, and I definitely like, I still like 341 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: go back and delete tweets because I'm worried that it's 342 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: like ooh too much. 343 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 2: You know, yeah, I will say that, Like it kind 344 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 2: of reminds me this kind of tension about journalists becoming activists. 345 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,360 Speaker 2: It reminds me a lot about like why we had 346 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:49,360 Speaker 2: a black press for a really long time in this country, 347 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 2: because they were seen as self interested for having opinions 348 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 2: on whether or not Jim Crow should exists, and they 349 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:00,879 Speaker 2: had those opinions because they wanted to live right. 350 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,720 Speaker 1: So that's something I've been thinking about a lot too, 351 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,879 Speaker 1: because the black press existed alongside the sort of like 352 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: muck rakers in the early twentieth century too, and like 353 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: a lot of that, I don't know, a lot of 354 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 1: I don't know. There's been sort of a like a 355 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: shift away from from like journalists having an antagonistic relationship 356 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: with sort of corporate America that I don't necessarily think 357 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: is like as objective as it gets painted as. 358 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:34,159 Speaker 3: I was just going to say that history is a 359 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 3: reminder that what we think of as like the kind 360 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 3: of objective professional boundaries of this profession are were actually 361 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:49,440 Speaker 3: erected to keep certain voices and perspectives out as and 362 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 3: to protect largely protect the stored sort of status quo 363 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 3: structures of power in our country, even when those structures 364 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:00,640 Speaker 3: of power were quite oppressive than brutal. 365 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,439 Speaker 1: Totally. Yeah, I mean this whole the most recent season 366 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,880 Speaker 1: of Drilled is all about like sort of the creation 367 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:14,400 Speaker 1: of that machine. There was yeah, like you know, sort 368 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: of powerful people. I mean, you know, there's this whole 369 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: there was this whole thing to it, like the dawn 370 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century where like people in power were 371 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,440 Speaker 1: very concerned about the idea of like you know, sort 372 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: of the crowd having too much say. 373 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, and and not at all interested in like what 374 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 4: we like to pretend is American democracy, and like, I 375 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 4: don't know, it's it's very like, yeah, the. 376 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,679 Speaker 1: What gets sort of described as quote unquote objective journalism 377 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:51,919 Speaker 1: was definitely created to keep to like maintain the status 378 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: quote power structure. So I think, like I, I I 379 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: don't know, like I sometimes people will be like, oh, like, 380 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,199 Speaker 1: you know you hate the oil companies. I'm like, I 381 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:05,160 Speaker 1: don't actually like, as soon as the oil companies stop misbehaving, 382 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: I'm more than happy to move on to something else. 383 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: I fucking hate them. I'll hate them forever and buying that. Okay, 384 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 1: So your deputy editor at your magazine, which gives you 385 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: some amount of control over the magazine's climate coverage. I 386 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,960 Speaker 1: would imagine, are you sort of like the guy who 387 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: is like, you know, the subject matter expert on climate, 388 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: and like, if so, how are you trying to shape 389 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,880 Speaker 1: the magazine's coverage, which you know includes your own reporting? 390 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean I wouldn't say like I run 391 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 3: it exclusively. You know, it's a pretty big operation, and 392 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 3: so we have all these different parts of the of 393 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 3: the company. There's you know, the cut and intelligence are 394 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 3: are both sort of quasi autonomous operations, and each of 395 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,479 Speaker 3: them have people writing about climate in ways that I 396 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 3: only sort of touch on. Incidentally, the stuff I had 397 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,720 Speaker 3: to do in the magazine is just find a place 398 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 3: for slightly weirder, stranger, less predictable climate stories. So over 399 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 3: the last few months, maybe four months, published two pieces 400 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 3: in the magazine that I think were pretty cool. One 401 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 3: was this climate Diary by Emily Rabbito, which he had 402 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 3: been sort of keeping over the course of the year 403 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 3: on Twitter, which was really just the sort of series 404 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 3: of vignettes from her her experience just talking taking you know, 405 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 3: taking seriously admonission to talk about climate whenever you're thinking 406 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 3: about it, bringing it up in basically every context in 407 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 3: her life, and sort of recording those conversations. And that 408 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:44,119 Speaker 3: felt in a lot of ways like a piece that 409 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 3: would have been more naturally at home in like a 410 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 3: literary journal than in a glossy magazine. But I think 411 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 3: it was pretty great and pretty great that we were 412 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 3: able to do it at some real length. And then 413 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,199 Speaker 3: we published this piece that Malcolm har Us wrote about 414 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 3: sort of like being invited to one of the ELL's 415 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 3: like future planning conferences as a consultant basically and like 416 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 3: discarding their rules and writing about it anyway, and it 417 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 3: wasn't they were like any huge surprises in that piece 418 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,159 Speaker 3: about for people who knew about how the oil companies 419 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 3: were thinking about the future, but just feeling like you 420 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 3: were in the room I think was really revelatory. And 421 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 3: the way, I mean to get back to what we 422 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,919 Speaker 3: were talking about a minute ago about journalistic convention, I 423 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:38,120 Speaker 3: think there was actually something pretty exciting about the way 424 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 3: that that story explicitly discarded the journalistic convention of like, 425 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 3: if you make a promise or an agreement with a source, 426 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 3: if you have to keep it, and he basically didn't. 427 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 3: And you know, probably I should be doing more of 428 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. I should be making more room 429 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,479 Speaker 3: for these, for climate stories in general in the magazine, 430 00:25:58,160 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 3: But it is still a general interest magazine, so we 431 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 3: do a lot of different stuff, and I think the 432 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 3: kind of exciting thing is to find a place for 433 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 3: offbeat stories that are differently perspective, stories that wouldn't wouldn't 434 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 3: really have a home in other publications a similar stature, 435 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:17,639 Speaker 3: And then you know, the stuff that we do on 436 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 3: the website is much more iterative, it's much more you know, 437 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 3: writers move according to their own interests much more. It's 438 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,440 Speaker 3: like less editor driven and more sort of from the 439 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,679 Speaker 3: keyboard up. But I think we've been we've we've been 440 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 3: doing a relatively good job of covering covering this stuff 441 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 3: across the site. Again, we could do more, but in general, 442 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:45,919 Speaker 3: I think, like you know, New York Magazine does like 443 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,679 Speaker 3: the Way we Live Now kind of stories. Really well, 444 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 3: We're not going to be competing with like the New 445 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:53,679 Speaker 3: York Times for the Washington Post to be doing like 446 00:26:53,800 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 3: big like direct science reporting. It's much more all of 447 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,439 Speaker 3: the other adjacent opportunities to do personal essay and to 448 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 3: do like big picture kind of think pieces and that 449 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 3: sort of thing. And I think, you know, like everybody, 450 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 3: were still learning, but I've been trying to deliver more 451 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:19,680 Speaker 3: and more of it into what we do. 452 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: That Malcolm Harris piece was my standout piece on our 453 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,639 Speaker 1: last episode. I thought it was so good and I 454 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,119 Speaker 1: was like, oh man, this is awesome. I love it. 455 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,239 Speaker 2: I want to take this opportunity to ask about my 456 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 2: favorite climate headline ever, which was in New York Magazine 457 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 2: last May. Humanity is about to kill one million species 458 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 2: in a globe spanning murder suicide David did you do 459 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 2: you know anything about how that headline came to be 460 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 2: or what that moment looked like. 461 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,360 Speaker 3: I wish I could, I wish I could recall it, 462 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 3: but I just it. It sounds like a perfect headline. 463 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 4: It is, it is. 464 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 2: I've been obsessed with it ever since I've seen it. 465 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,879 Speaker 2: But anyway, so, what would you like to see changed 466 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 2: about climate storytelling in twenty twenty? 467 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, Well. 468 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 3: I'm curious to know what you guys, how you guys 469 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 3: would answer this question. My own feeling is the boring 470 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 3: answer is the most important one, which is just that 471 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 3: it needs to be elevated in front and center. And 472 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:22,879 Speaker 3: you know, we talked a little bit about before about 473 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,199 Speaker 3: how much more central climate stuff now seems to be 474 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,159 Speaker 3: than it was even just a few years ago. And 475 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 3: yet we're still born with, you know, presidential debates in 476 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 3: which if a climate question is asked, it's at the 477 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 3: very end of the debate. It doesn't yet, even though 478 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 3: public opinion polls showed it Americans care quite a lot 479 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 3: more about climate than they did a few years ago, 480 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,160 Speaker 3: it's still not the case that they care enough about 481 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 3: it or prioritizing it in their political choices, and as 482 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 3: we're heading into like an unbelievably consequential electionist November, it's 483 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 3: be really great if you know, of the press that 484 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 3: was covering that election made it clear just what kind 485 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 3: of climate stakes we're dealing with. I mean, I started 486 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 3: writing a couple of weeks ago a piece right after 487 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 3: Super Tuesday and ended up not publishing it, in part 488 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 3: just because I got distracted, and then when I had 489 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 3: time to turn back to it, it was just it 490 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 3: felt like the news had moved on to the coronavirus. 491 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 3: But this, which about the first line of the piece, 492 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 3: was like, there are not many days that you can 493 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 3: point to as being like singularly consequential for the future 494 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 3: of the planet, and you know, obviously like Election Day 495 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 3: is going to be. At the point of the piece 496 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 3: was like Super Tuesday was sort of one of those 497 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 3: because we saw the you know, the Sanders can be 498 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 3: extinguished and the Biden candidacy basically secure nominations were secured. 499 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 3: But the election day is going to be so much 500 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 3: more consequential than that. Even if you you know, even 501 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,680 Speaker 3: acknowledging all of the limitations of Joe Biden as a 502 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,960 Speaker 3: climate like as the face of climate action and all 503 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 3: of the baggage that he brings to the table, like 504 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 3: the Even so, the differences between these two options are 505 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 3: just so so vastly different, and the importance of the 506 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 3: country picking the right one of those two is so huge. 507 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: Somehow Trump is like having a better you know, sort 508 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: of aid package response on coronavirus than like the fucking 509 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: Democratic leadership. It's going to make it that much harder 510 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: to get him out of office. 511 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's sort of my own feeling 512 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 3: is like I just can't see a way that he 513 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 3: really survives this. On the other hand, November is like 514 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 3: five centuries from now. It's like, at the speed of 515 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,959 Speaker 3: things are going with this, with this crisis, with with 516 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 3: the disease crisis, it's really hard to feel confident in 517 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 3: any prediction or projection that you're making, even like a 518 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 3: or that. 519 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: It's crazy. Yeah, wellatly you note. That's that's enough for today. No, 520 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, Okay, So we're going to move into 521 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:15,280 Speaker 1: our Themes and Trends section. We wanted to talk to 522 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: you about something that we've talked about a couple of 523 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: times on the show, but really wanted to get your 524 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: input on it. And that is just how the climate 525 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: media landscape has been changing, especially in the last year 526 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: or two. So you know, we had NPR and Bloomberg 527 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:35,959 Speaker 1: both expanding their climate coverage desks, like an explosion of 528 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:40,680 Speaker 1: climate newsletters. So you have heated exon news Eric Holdthouse 529 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: at The Correspondent and now Bill mckibbons climate newsletter with 530 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: The New Yorker. David were you were you tempted to 531 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 1: start a climate newsletter in there? 532 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 2: There's still time. 533 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 3: I did think about it at some point, but didn't 534 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 3: I didn't act fast enough. Of all of those developments, 535 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 3: I actually think that the most consequential one is the 536 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 3: Bloomberg expansion. I just think, like you know, I'm sure 537 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 3: most of my readers, I'm sure are like members of 538 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 3: the choir. So I don't want to like diminish, like 539 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 3: preaching to the choir, but I do think there is 540 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 3: something actually much more significant about an operation like Bloomberg's, 541 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 3: which is basically publishing to a different kind of reader 542 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 3: who has a very different perspective on climate, nevertheless being 543 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 3: as aggressive about presenting the state of play and the 544 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,600 Speaker 3: urgency of the crisis as they have done. And I 545 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 3: think you know, thinking beyond the media landscape, you know, 546 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 3: I do really think like the movement that we're seeing 547 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 3: in the financial in corporate world is really or we 548 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 3: were seeing before coronavirus changed everything was really significant. It 549 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 3: was you know, no, basically no company is moving at 550 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 3: the speed that they need to, and most of their 551 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 3: commitments are empty and rhetorical gestures at best. And yet 552 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 3: like twelve or eighteen months ago, like even that would 553 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 3: have been completely unthinkable. And the fact that all of 554 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 3: those you know, from black Rock to Microsoft to Delta 555 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 3: to you know, whatever, all of those people are talking 556 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 3: about climate change now is I think it means that 557 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 3: we're really in a different place than we were a 558 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 3: year or two ago, you know. And it's not just 559 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 3: because of corporate momentum. It's because of the you know, 560 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 3: it's because of the protests, and it's because of public 561 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 3: opinion moving, it's because of extreme weather and all that. 562 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 3: But I do think that, you know, I do think 563 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 3: that like the movement of the of the davosphere on 564 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 3: this point is a really significant development. I don't know 565 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 3: in the end, like how productive it will be, but 566 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 3: it does seem like it really does change the shape 567 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 3: of the landscape, and yeah, who knows where it leads, 568 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 3: but it is. Its seemed really significant to me in 569 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 3: the Bloomberg journalistic expansion seems like a big part of that. Yeah. 570 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, If like we were to build a time machine 571 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 2: and go back to twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, whenever you 572 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 2: were about to write an Inhabitable Earth and doing your 573 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,720 Speaker 2: media analysis then, and told you what the media landscape 574 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 2: look like for climate now, how surprised would you be? 575 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 3: Pretty surprised? I mean, you know, I I I I 576 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,160 Speaker 3: guess I have this inclination. I'm not sure exactly what 577 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 3: it comes from, some mix of like our culturation and 578 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:33,720 Speaker 3: you know, the era in which I was raised and whatever. 579 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,840 Speaker 3: But I guess I tend to think that, like things 580 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 3: can change that quickly. I tend to think that like 581 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 3: the world as it is is pretty stable and static, 582 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 3: and even if it is brutal and cruel, that those 583 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,880 Speaker 3: brutalities and cruelties are likely to continue, even against the 584 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 3: protests of people who are fighting them. And I do 585 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 3: think that's sort of like a I mean that in 586 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:00,879 Speaker 3: a lot of ways, the last few have shown us 587 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,279 Speaker 3: just how foolish that assumption really is. And I mean, 588 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 3: I felt that way very powerfully watching the year of 589 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 3: climate protests that have unfolded really since I since I 590 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:16,480 Speaker 3: published my book, I mean started a little bit before then, 591 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 3: but you know, that was a level of public agitation 592 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,360 Speaker 3: and I didn't think it was possible when I'd written 593 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 3: my book. And now I'm like, how night I thought 594 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 3: I was being like cynical, but actually I was being 595 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,359 Speaker 3: naive or maybe those are kind of the same thing 596 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,399 Speaker 3: in not expecting much politically to change it. You look 597 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 3: at you know, I mentioned a minute ago Joe Biden. 598 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,319 Speaker 3: Joe Biden is like understood by many people in the 599 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:48,040 Speaker 3: climate community to be like hopelessly backward on climate issues, 600 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:50,360 Speaker 3: and judged by some of the other candidates who are 601 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,759 Speaker 3: running for president, he absolutely is, but judged by the 602 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 3: standard of Hillary in twenty sixteen or by the Obama administration, 603 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:02,320 Speaker 3: like he is actually way, way, way more aggressive and ambitious. 604 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 3: And you know, that kind of movement is it's almost 605 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,040 Speaker 3: like dizzying, even if it's also totally inadequate. And I 606 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 3: think that's true of journalism too. We've like, you know, 607 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,760 Speaker 3: the New York Times, there's a whole climate desk we're seeing, 608 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 3: you know, like you know, apologies to your your favorite 609 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,000 Speaker 3: cable news, but like we're seeing a lot more cable 610 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 3: news coverage of it, even if it's not great, and 611 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,359 Speaker 3: even if it's not as responsible as we'd want, all 612 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:36,160 Speaker 3: of these things are like really remarkable developments. Like in 613 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:41,040 Speaker 3: our politics, it's not nearly enough, but nevertheless it's surprised 614 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,080 Speaker 3: me personally. And then you know, I hate to keep 615 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 3: bringing this back to coronavirus, which since we're supposed to 616 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:46,840 Speaker 3: be talking about climate. 617 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:47,720 Speaker 1: But no we should. 618 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 3: I felt this really profoundly over the last few weeks. 619 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 3: Is like, you know, you heard you hear so much 620 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,799 Speaker 3: from the world's most powerful people when talking to them 621 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 3: about climate that's like, well, that kind of is that's 622 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,120 Speaker 3: never going to happen. These things, you know, these markets 623 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 3: are going to move that quickly. We can't possibly like 624 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,120 Speaker 3: you know, evict these people from their positions of power, 625 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 3: like all of those you know, we have to work 626 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:16,439 Speaker 3: with these corporations, these fossil fuel companies, like we can't 627 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 3: work against them. And you know, I always went along 628 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,680 Speaker 3: thinking basically like there was some moral failure in that perspective, 629 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:27,759 Speaker 3: but it also struck me on some level a practical 630 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 3: like approach to the world to like try to cultivate 631 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,320 Speaker 3: the support and sympathy of powerful people rather than thinking 632 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 3: you could only make progress by unseating them. And yet, 633 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 3: like the whole world has literally been turned upside down 634 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 3: over the course of the last couple of months. We 635 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 3: are now we're now in an environment where I mean, Amy, 636 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,680 Speaker 3: you made reference this a few minutes ago, but you know, 637 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:57,959 Speaker 3: Mitt Romney is basically proposing a universal basic income, nationalizing 638 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,880 Speaker 3: all of these airline companies, and you know, in the end, actually, 639 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 3: I think it's not going to be like that. I 640 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 3: actually don't think it's going to be the case that 641 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,200 Speaker 3: Republicans have like outflying Democrats on this. But the fact 642 00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 3: that they're even talking about that those possibilities or that 643 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 3: those are you know that that's part of the part 644 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:21,960 Speaker 3: of the conversation anywhere. But the fringe left is astounding 645 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 3: and tells us and if we ever thought anything was 646 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,719 Speaker 3: permanent and immovable about our politics and our society, this 647 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 3: experience teaches us that that is, that was total delusion, 648 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 3: a collective desire to protect the status quo. And when 649 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 3: we're facing something that we'd see genuinely as a near 650 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:47,279 Speaker 3: term urgent existential threat. Everything comes up, you know, is 651 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:51,360 Speaker 3: up for is up for debate. Where we land I 652 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:55,600 Speaker 3: think remains a huge open question on this. Like I'm 653 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,680 Speaker 3: I'm quite worried just thinking about the economic impacts for 654 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:01,479 Speaker 3: a second, Like in two thousand and nine that people 655 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,799 Speaker 3: who could afford to buy distressed assets were the rich, 656 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,320 Speaker 3: which meant that like they used the recession to exacerbate 657 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 3: income inequality. I think something quite likely is going to 658 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:17,040 Speaker 3: happen with this economic recession on climate issues. We've already 659 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:21,440 Speaker 3: seen China relaxing their environmental standard in an effort to 660 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:26,160 Speaker 3: recover more quickly from their relatively short economic setback, and 661 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 3: I we're going to see something similar across the West, 662 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,719 Speaker 3: if not relaxing existing environmental standards, then a slowing down 663 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:39,279 Speaker 3: of progress on climate policy generally. I've seen a lot 664 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 3: of people on the climate left saying this is basically 665 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,319 Speaker 3: like this is our chance, Like the world of opportunities 666 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,800 Speaker 3: is now open, Like the whole spectrum is much wider. 667 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:48,640 Speaker 3: We can get a lot betwer and we have to 668 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,480 Speaker 3: make sure that whatever stimulus or recovery policies are put 669 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,960 Speaker 3: into place are essentially climate policies. That is what I 670 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:58,080 Speaker 3: would like to see happen. But I also don't at 671 00:39:58,080 --> 00:39:59,280 Speaker 3: all think that it's inevitable. 672 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: The concern is that it'll be like that. Basically, this 673 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,279 Speaker 1: becomes the big excuse for like we can't spend money 674 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:12,160 Speaker 1: on anything else, and we can't impose like radical change 675 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: in any other way, you know what I mean, Like 676 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:16,719 Speaker 1: I just know I'm worried about it. 677 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,239 Speaker 3: Yeah, and you I mean you see this, you know, 678 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 3: when you if you look at the public opinion polls 679 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:27,440 Speaker 3: about concern about climate, you know, it was quite high. 680 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 3: And two thousand and five, you know, six two thousand 681 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:35,080 Speaker 3: and seven, you know, Hurricane Katrina, and then in convenient 682 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 3: truth really did make a difference to American concern about 683 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:41,040 Speaker 3: the environment wasn't nearly as high as it should be. 684 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:42,440 Speaker 3: And you know, but it was, it was moving in 685 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 3: the right direction, right, and then it had a big 686 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 3: setback because of the recession, and people just were like 687 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 3: worry about that. 688 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:51,719 Speaker 1: Later exactly, these sort of very immediate concerns come up. 689 00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:55,880 Speaker 1: Climate doesn't tend to like, you know, stay top of 690 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:57,120 Speaker 1: mind in general. 691 00:40:57,840 --> 00:40:59,520 Speaker 3: I mean, I think we are in a slightly different 692 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,719 Speaker 3: place in that more people understand how interconnected all of 693 00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:06,120 Speaker 3: these things are. And more people do understand that, like 694 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 3: climate is not just one issue alongside a lot of others, 695 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:12,800 Speaker 3: but sort of the environment in which, so to speak, 696 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:14,920 Speaker 3: in which all of these other issues are being conducted. 697 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:19,840 Speaker 3: But nevertheless, I think it's quite yeah, quite quite worrying 698 00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:23,319 Speaker 3: and quite concerning that. I mean, for instance, like COP 699 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,799 Speaker 3: twenty six is almost certain to be postponed, Like that's 700 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:28,919 Speaker 3: just on some level, like a small part of the story, 701 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,400 Speaker 3: but it's quite representative, like that was supposed to be 702 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:37,440 Speaker 3: a really significant event in global climate policy and we 703 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:39,000 Speaker 3: don't know when it's going to take place now. 704 00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:42,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's been failing for the past few years. 705 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,920 Speaker 2: So like, honestly, after last year, I think on our 706 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 2: show we were kind of like, just make that shit 707 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:47,320 Speaker 2: a zoom calling. 708 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:50,080 Speaker 1: We did in fact recommend that it become a zoom, 709 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:52,560 Speaker 1: which they could still do. 710 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 2: It actually might be less of a ship show. But 711 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:01,480 Speaker 2: speaking of Corona, I think what's interesting about going through 712 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:04,680 Speaker 2: this moment as someone who's climate conscious is that you 713 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 2: can't help but look at Corona without thinking about climate 714 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:11,360 Speaker 2: at the same time, because honestly, once you see climate, 715 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,680 Speaker 2: you can't see anything without seeing it. So just like 716 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,480 Speaker 2: as human beings. I think all three of us are 717 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,319 Speaker 2: in the hardest hit states. I'm in the Bronx, I'm 718 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,440 Speaker 2: in New York City. David, You're in New York too. 719 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:24,320 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I mean at the moment, I'm along. 720 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,759 Speaker 2: With Yeah, sort of fled the city a little bit. 721 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:31,120 Speaker 2: And Amy's out in California. How are y'all dealing with 722 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 2: the quarantine? 723 00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,920 Speaker 1: You know, I'm having like a weird I'm having a 724 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,319 Speaker 1: weird sort of like anxiety response where I basically am 725 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,120 Speaker 1: like extremely tired all day and then wide awake until 726 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:49,440 Speaker 1: like three or four am. It's super frustrating and annoying, 727 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,319 Speaker 1: and I don't know, I just also am like I 728 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:56,440 Speaker 1: feel like it's just it's hard to plan anything, you know, 729 00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:00,680 Speaker 1: Like my husband and I were in the of like 730 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:05,120 Speaker 1: considering a move, for example, which is like it's like 731 00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:07,279 Speaker 1: I kind of can't even really talk about it because 732 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:08,960 Speaker 1: we just don't know what's going to happen in the 733 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:10,799 Speaker 1: next two weeks or the next month or the next 734 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:14,000 Speaker 1: two months, and you know, it's sort of yeah, I 735 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 1: don't know. And then I'm far away from my mom 736 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:18,879 Speaker 1: and my brother and I'm concerned about both of them. 737 00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:23,560 Speaker 1: So that's a worry too, and I've got my kids 738 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: home and I'm trying not to freak them out, and yeah, 739 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: so yeah, I don't know. How about you. 740 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:34,680 Speaker 2: I keep stockpiling coconut water for some strange reason and hydrating, yeah, 741 00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 2: and doing Obsessa's skincare, and I am just extremely anxious. 742 00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:42,760 Speaker 2: I keep like checking the news to see if there's 743 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,719 Speaker 2: any sort of concrete information about how long does this 744 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 2: going to last? And at this point, I think I 745 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,640 Speaker 2: could survive three months. After three months, I think I 746 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 2: will probably literally lose my mind. And yeah, I I 747 00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:02,080 Speaker 2: need this to I need it to end. 748 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:06,520 Speaker 3: What about you, David, It's interesting just to think about, 749 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:08,640 Speaker 3: Like Imber, I don't remember where I heard it. It was 750 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:10,800 Speaker 3: on some podcast I was listening to recently, but someone 751 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,880 Speaker 3: floated the idea that one of the one of the many. 752 00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:16,439 Speaker 3: Obviously there are many explanations, but one of the many 753 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:21,279 Speaker 3: explanations for why the real left declined in America over 754 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:23,960 Speaker 3: the course of that sort of second half of the 755 00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:31,200 Speaker 3: twentieth century was because of the changing dynamics of of 756 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:34,480 Speaker 3: city life and suburban life, in the sense that like 757 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:39,400 Speaker 3: at the moment now, many cities in the US are 758 00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:45,120 Speaker 3: are like extremely expensive full of wealthy you know, wealthy people, 759 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:49,799 Speaker 3: and those people who might otherwise form the basis of 760 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 3: real political resistance are now atomized in a much more 761 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:58,760 Speaker 3: profound way, living in environments in which they are disagrogated 762 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:01,759 Speaker 3: and pushed away from another. And it's it's a sort 763 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:04,879 Speaker 3: of of all the things to be worrying about with coronavirus, 764 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,520 Speaker 3: like the fact that we're all just living in our 765 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:10,960 Speaker 3: apartments alone is and it's the political consequences of that 766 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,440 Speaker 3: are like very far down the list, but it does 767 00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:16,680 Speaker 3: make me wonder, like, you know, just what it will 768 00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:20,400 Speaker 3: mean to our spirit of solidarity and what is politically 769 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:25,640 Speaker 3: possible for us? Yeah, you know, yeah, literally living in quarantine. 770 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, in isolation. I'm really really really worried about that, 771 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:33,560 Speaker 2: especially as far as the climate movement goes, because I 772 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,280 Speaker 2: think the thing that really got going for the climate 773 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:39,200 Speaker 2: movement over the past couple of years was that it 774 00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,400 Speaker 2: was in person, it was a community, and you like 775 00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:44,799 Speaker 2: suddenly didn't feel alone, like you went to strikes and 776 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:48,799 Speaker 2: you've got to be part of something. And now if 777 00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:51,680 Speaker 2: the thing is I can't come within six feet of 778 00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:57,440 Speaker 2: another human being, yeah, like how do you keep that 779 00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,719 Speaker 2: momentum going, like if I could, if I were to 780 00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:03,640 Speaker 2: like go to a lab and create something to like, 781 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,120 Speaker 2: you know, deflate the climate movement, it would be something 782 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,120 Speaker 2: that would make us not be able to touch one another. 783 00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:12,640 Speaker 2: And especially in a time where even if you know, 784 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:16,200 Speaker 2: even just to survive climate change period, we're going to 785 00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:17,680 Speaker 2: need to be able to come together. We're going to 786 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:20,080 Speaker 2: need to be able to be empathetic to one another. 787 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:22,960 Speaker 2: And now we're in a position where we actually have 788 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:27,040 Speaker 2: to walk away from people. That's heartbreaking. 789 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:27,279 Speaker 1: Ye. 790 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,080 Speaker 3: And then if you imagine a kind of optimistic scenario 791 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:36,560 Speaker 3: where we implement such a dramatic and expansive medical testing 792 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,400 Speaker 3: regimen that it's practically a kind of medical surveillance state, 793 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:43,360 Speaker 3: it also complicates the idea and you know, do that 794 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:45,840 Speaker 3: quickly enough that we could sort of leave our homes 795 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:49,080 Speaker 3: and mostly go about our lives as they were, if 796 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:53,080 Speaker 3: subjecting ourselves a few times a day to temperature checks 797 00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:55,640 Speaker 3: or whatever like they've done in South Korea. That's on 798 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,719 Speaker 3: some level that's like the most optimistic future because it 799 00:46:57,719 --> 00:46:59,759 Speaker 3: would mean within the space of three or four weeks 800 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,200 Speaker 3: mostly returned to our normal ways of life. On the 801 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:06,759 Speaker 3: other hand, that kind of a system is you know, 802 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:11,360 Speaker 3: bound to be abused by forces that don't want to 803 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:14,480 Speaker 3: see large protest movements. I mean we're already seeing like 804 00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:18,440 Speaker 3: Ice claiming new powers in you know, a state of 805 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:23,279 Speaker 3: health emergency than they had before. And you know, it's 806 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:27,840 Speaker 3: and even beyond what abuses may be enacted in that context, 807 00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,040 Speaker 3: you know, it's just it's a very different dynamic living 808 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:31,400 Speaker 3: in a few months ago. 809 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, and especially like I was thinking about that too 810 00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:38,360 Speaker 1: in terms of the growing like there's been a big 811 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:42,440 Speaker 1: push to you know, get these sort of anti riot 812 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:46,600 Speaker 1: laws on the books to criminalize protests in various ways. 813 00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:50,480 Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's seventeen states have enacted them now, 814 00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:56,920 Speaker 1: thirty four considering these laws. Mostly they were like a 815 00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:59,799 Speaker 1: reaction to pipeline protests, but like, I don't know, I'm 816 00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,680 Speaker 1: just kind of like, oh god, you know, all we 817 00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:09,200 Speaker 1: needed to make protests even less you know, palatable this, 818 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:14,640 Speaker 1: and it you know, just becomes another good reason to 819 00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:18,399 Speaker 1: crack down on it, which is, yeah, I don't know, 820 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:20,400 Speaker 1: it's scary. 821 00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:24,560 Speaker 2: Yeah that there was a piece in The Guardian by 822 00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:28,240 Speaker 2: Gillian Ambrose about a coronavirus posing a threat to climate 823 00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:34,560 Speaker 2: action from the like based on a conversation with someone 824 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,080 Speaker 2: the IEA, which I don't actually know what that stance 825 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:39,840 Speaker 2: for in the article didn't say it was an international 826 00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:43,520 Speaker 2: energy agency. I'm just gonna guess it's basically saying that 827 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,280 Speaker 2: this could slow down the energy transition. Is just because 828 00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:49,040 Speaker 2: all of these stimulus packages are being passed, and so 829 00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:53,640 Speaker 2: many of these stimulus packages include rolling back environmental protections 830 00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:57,320 Speaker 2: and propping up the fossil fuel industry and the aviation industry, 831 00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:00,920 Speaker 2: and it's just so disheartening. 832 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,600 Speaker 1: It's also going to depress oil prices, which tends to 833 00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:07,279 Speaker 1: make consumption go up. I mean, there's a I think 834 00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:11,600 Speaker 1: like this sort of I've seen a sort of broad 835 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:15,759 Speaker 1: tendency to celebrate emissions reductions and like clean air and 836 00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,120 Speaker 1: stuff like that, and it's like, we don't really want 837 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,720 Speaker 1: to achieve that by like making a bunch of people 838 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:27,359 Speaker 1: deathly ill. And I'm very concerned about how much that 839 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:33,439 Speaker 1: sort of take on things really emphasizes individual action. It's 840 00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:35,359 Speaker 1: like like I keep seeing people be like, yeah, look 841 00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:37,800 Speaker 1: how we can change our behavior, and I'm like, yeah, 842 00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:42,920 Speaker 1: because that behavior change is being enabled in various ways 843 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:48,759 Speaker 1: and benefits many many you know, industries and whatnot, and 844 00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:53,560 Speaker 1: the economy at large and whatever, like the the the 845 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,520 Speaker 1: idea that that is somehow going to lead to massive 846 00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,680 Speaker 1: climate action just doesn't make sense to me, you know, 847 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,759 Speaker 1: And and I don't know, I just I think the 848 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:09,879 Speaker 1: more realistic, probably like the more probable outcome is that 849 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:14,200 Speaker 1: we you know, we've already got these massive bailouts for 850 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:18,400 Speaker 1: the airline and natural gas industries, oil and gas industry 851 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:23,600 Speaker 1: in general, and then you know, we're we're going to 852 00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,160 Speaker 1: have to spend a lot of money on you know, 853 00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:30,520 Speaker 1: keeping people afloat and helping people pay rent and all 854 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:32,160 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And I think you're going to 855 00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:35,279 Speaker 1: have this sort of twofold thing of you know, we've 856 00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:38,000 Speaker 1: just spent a bunch of money to bail out natural gas, 857 00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:41,239 Speaker 1: and we don't have any more money to spend on 858 00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:45,400 Speaker 1: renewable energy transition. I don't I don't think that this 859 00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:48,120 Speaker 1: is like a good story for climate in general. But 860 00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:49,120 Speaker 1: I'm also you know. 861 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,480 Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's definitely it's a horrible story, Like 862 00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:54,960 Speaker 2: there are better ways to reduce emissions, like we put 863 00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,759 Speaker 2: forth those solutions over and over again. If I just 864 00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:01,360 Speaker 2: don't understand this, tennis to be like we're all gonna 865 00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:04,759 Speaker 2: die yay, And there has been a lot of good 866 00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:09,759 Speaker 2: writing about coronavirus and climate change. David, you did a 867 00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:13,319 Speaker 2: pretty good piece in New York Magazine about it good. 868 00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:17,280 Speaker 1: It's pretty good, and I'm just kidding. It's a great piece. 869 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:19,839 Speaker 2: It's that the one that we're gonna talk about later 870 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:24,439 Speaker 2: is my favorite that Dave's written recently. So, but yeah, 871 00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:27,680 Speaker 2: in your research about this and like covering get New 872 00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:29,680 Speaker 2: York Magazine, what are some of the themes that you're 873 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:31,800 Speaker 2: seeing vis a vis climate. 874 00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:33,400 Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean, on some of them. I 875 00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:36,160 Speaker 3: was saying this to Amy before we started recording, but 876 00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:42,120 Speaker 3: on some of them, I feel strangely overwhelmed, as someone 877 00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:46,520 Speaker 3: who has spent the last few years really purposely focused 878 00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:50,600 Speaker 3: on the job of like contemplating worst case scenarios, to 879 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:57,959 Speaker 3: be faced with this particular story and I'm I really 880 00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:01,080 Speaker 3: have I really haven't been able to at the sense 881 00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:04,560 Speaker 3: of the full scope of it. But you know, the 882 00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:06,520 Speaker 3: things that jump out at me is sort of you know, 883 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:09,120 Speaker 3: they're sort of parallels and then their sort of discontinuities. 884 00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:14,120 Speaker 3: You know. One thing is like I think that one 885 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:21,600 Speaker 3: big lesson of coronavirus and climate change share is we 886 00:52:21,640 --> 00:52:24,960 Speaker 3: don't live outside of nature. We are vulnerable to nature. 887 00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:30,279 Speaker 3: As as modern and protected as we may fancy ourselves being, 888 00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:34,400 Speaker 3: everything that we do on this planet is subject to 889 00:52:36,280 --> 00:52:40,560 Speaker 3: the winds of the natural world, and those can be 890 00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:43,120 Speaker 3: those can be punishing. They can be bountiful that you know, 891 00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:45,120 Speaker 3: that can the natural world provides us with a lot 892 00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:49,040 Speaker 3: of abundance. But when when things are bad, they can 893 00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:53,719 Speaker 3: be overwhelmingly bad, really beyond our capacity to respond. And 894 00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:56,960 Speaker 3: that is just not you know, that's not like the 895 00:52:56,960 --> 00:52:59,480 Speaker 3: cultural lesson that we've been taught about our relationship to 896 00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:02,440 Speaker 3: nature of the past generation in places like the US, 897 00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:06,600 Speaker 3: And I think both of these stories are teaching us, 898 00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:12,080 Speaker 3: teaching it to us very powerfully. Another thing I see 899 00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:14,160 Speaker 3: as a sort of similar lesson from each of them 900 00:53:14,239 --> 00:53:20,640 Speaker 3: is that alarmism is valuable. You know, if we had 901 00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:25,319 Speaker 3: really freaked out, if China had really freaked out when 902 00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:33,399 Speaker 3: they first, like you know, uncovered this virus, there's a 903 00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,160 Speaker 3: piece out yesterday saying, you know, like they could have 904 00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:38,680 Speaker 3: spared ninety they could have avoided ninety five percent of 905 00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:42,400 Speaker 3: the deaths that they had and possibly figured out a 906 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:45,880 Speaker 3: way to keep it from spreading through the world. But 907 00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:48,600 Speaker 3: instead they sort of didn't want to make a big 908 00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:50,480 Speaker 3: deal out of it. They sort of hit it for 909 00:53:50,480 --> 00:53:53,760 Speaker 3: a little while, so that when they finally started talking 910 00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:57,360 Speaker 3: about it on the in a public global way, the 911 00:53:57,480 --> 00:53:59,560 Speaker 3: cat was sort of already out of the bag. And 912 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:01,920 Speaker 3: then when you look at particular other nations and how 913 00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:04,720 Speaker 3: they responded, you know, we all know the US response best. 914 00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:07,680 Speaker 3: You know, there was actually a fair amount of time 915 00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:10,520 Speaker 3: between the time that we knew about this disease emerging 916 00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:14,680 Speaker 3: in China and the time in which it really started 917 00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:19,080 Speaker 3: to move policymaking across the countries of the West. And 918 00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:23,239 Speaker 3: the reason that, you know, the reason that Italy and 919 00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:28,279 Speaker 3: Spain and the US and Iran, all of these countries 920 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:32,880 Speaker 3: have done so poorly is that they didn't move quickly 921 00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:36,719 Speaker 3: enough or dramatically enough. And it's possible that if we 922 00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:40,799 Speaker 3: had all done exactly what South Korea did or something Singapore, 923 00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:43,319 Speaker 3: there would be problems with that approach. Maybe it would 924 00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:46,640 Speaker 3: involve political overreach, Maybe in retrospect it would seem an 925 00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,640 Speaker 3: overreaction or something. But I think all of us would 926 00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:52,000 Speaker 3: rather be living in South Korea now than in the US, 927 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:57,480 Speaker 3: And that tells us about the value of fast, dramatic 928 00:54:57,560 --> 00:55:03,520 Speaker 3: action built on the cautionary principle. And you know, it's 929 00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:06,560 Speaker 3: just a reminder, as you know, as climate should be 930 00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:09,600 Speaker 3: every day, that if we wait until we're absolutely sure 931 00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:12,400 Speaker 3: that we need to do something to protect ourselves, probably 932 00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:14,840 Speaker 3: it's going to be too late to actually protect ourselves. 933 00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:17,000 Speaker 3: And then we need to be moving much more quickly 934 00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:22,120 Speaker 3: and responding with un you know, incomplete knowledge or uncertainty, 935 00:55:22,640 --> 00:55:26,840 Speaker 3: not by just assuming the best outcomes but preparing for 936 00:55:26,840 --> 00:55:30,680 Speaker 3: the worst outcomes. I think that's like, that's that's really 937 00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:34,879 Speaker 3: a valuable lesson here in general. And then the point 938 00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,359 Speaker 3: I made in a piece I wrote a few weeks 939 00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:40,840 Speaker 3: ago about about the sort of common lessons was really 940 00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:46,680 Speaker 3: like adaptation isn't enough, you know that, Like, we can 941 00:55:46,719 --> 00:55:49,320 Speaker 3: be taking the most aggressive actions all around the world 942 00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:52,080 Speaker 3: to protect us from this disease. Some parts of the 943 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:54,360 Speaker 3: world are doing quite a good job, others like the 944 00:55:54,440 --> 00:55:59,320 Speaker 3: US are failing. But we could theoretically be on a 945 00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:03,799 Speaker 3: quote unquote war footing globally to deal with coronavirus. And 946 00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:07,399 Speaker 3: yet obviously it would have been better if we didn't 947 00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:08,920 Speaker 3: have to deal with that problem at all in the 948 00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:11,960 Speaker 3: first place. So for those people who talk about climate change, 949 00:56:12,239 --> 00:56:14,360 Speaker 3: and say we'll figure out a way to deal with 950 00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,399 Speaker 3: two degrees or three degrees of warming. We'll figure it out. 951 00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:20,360 Speaker 3: We're in an you know, adaptive, resilient species. I actually agree. 952 00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:22,600 Speaker 3: I think we are adaptive and resilient. But if we're 953 00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:26,200 Speaker 3: we're adapting to a world that is defined by as 954 00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,319 Speaker 3: much suffering as we now know to expect it two 955 00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:32,240 Speaker 3: or three degrees, that will at the very least test 956 00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:37,160 Speaker 3: our capacity to adapt and probably you know, break us 957 00:56:37,160 --> 00:56:40,040 Speaker 3: and produce an enormous even unprecedented amount of human suffering 958 00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:42,839 Speaker 3: along the way. And I think coronavirus teach us us 959 00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:45,480 Speaker 3: that too, that like, way better to just you know, 960 00:56:45,560 --> 00:56:50,120 Speaker 3: way better to nip the thing in the bud, minimize 961 00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:52,200 Speaker 3: the threat that we're dealing with and the challenge we're 962 00:56:52,239 --> 00:56:54,719 Speaker 3: dealing with, rather than assume that we can sort of 963 00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:57,680 Speaker 3: respond on the back end in a way that protects us, 964 00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:02,160 Speaker 3: because as we're seeing now, you simply can't. You simply 965 00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:03,920 Speaker 3: can't get ahead of these kinds of things if you 966 00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:04,720 Speaker 3: start out behind. 967 00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:06,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of those themes that you just mentioned 968 00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:08,920 Speaker 2: also kind of came up in the other piece in 969 00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:13,120 Speaker 2: the New York Times by Saminis and Gupta climate change 970 00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:19,840 Speaker 2: has lessons for fighting coronavirus. Another theme that I can't 971 00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:21,640 Speaker 2: help but notice, and maybe this is I know the 972 00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:24,400 Speaker 2: research around it is changing a lot, but I think 973 00:57:24,440 --> 00:57:26,640 Speaker 2: about how much worse this might have been had we 974 00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:32,000 Speaker 2: had a colder winter, And I worry about the pandemics 975 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,560 Speaker 2: that will be unleashed in the future that actually are 976 00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:38,640 Speaker 2: more adaptive to hot weather than they are to cold weather. 977 00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:43,439 Speaker 2: So yeah, I don't know, that's just something I worry 978 00:57:43,440 --> 00:57:44,040 Speaker 2: about a lot. 979 00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:46,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's you know, it's funny. I've gotten like a 980 00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:48,760 Speaker 3: lot of like interview requests and that kind of thing 981 00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:50,600 Speaker 3: from people who are like, can we talk about the 982 00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:53,800 Speaker 3: connection between coronavirus and climate And it's like the connections 983 00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:57,440 Speaker 3: are sort of you know, there's probably some impact, but 984 00:57:57,520 --> 00:58:01,160 Speaker 3: it's not quite clear what you'd really say. But big picture, 985 00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:05,800 Speaker 3: you know, the devastation of stable ecosystems, the scrambling of 986 00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:12,600 Speaker 3: the planet's natural you know, natural boundaries, and the radical 987 00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:17,360 Speaker 3: like remixing of the order of life on the planet 988 00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:21,600 Speaker 3: is bound to produce many more really challenging diseases. If 989 00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:25,800 Speaker 3: not exactly like this, then you know, in then still 990 00:58:25,800 --> 00:58:30,000 Speaker 3: in ways that should terrify us. So yeah, exactly. The 991 00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:33,360 Speaker 3: they're just like, among many things, the climate change promises 992 00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:37,000 Speaker 3: is a is a you know, global public health challenge. 993 00:58:37,040 --> 00:58:40,840 Speaker 2: Yeah. The other parallel is the way that people are 994 00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:44,400 Speaker 2: responding to it, namely the rich. I've seen a lot 995 00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:47,240 Speaker 2: of stuff about like rich people just basically running to 996 00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:51,520 Speaker 2: their bunkers and waiting it out. And magically all the 997 00:58:51,560 --> 00:58:54,360 Speaker 2: celebrities can get tests for it even if they don't 998 00:58:54,480 --> 00:58:58,560 Speaker 2: have any symptoms or any sort of contact with anyone, 999 00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:01,080 Speaker 2: Like they're flying off the News Zealand with their private 1000 00:59:01,160 --> 00:59:05,560 Speaker 2: medical concierge and it's and the rest of us are 1001 00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:09,160 Speaker 2: just really left to them for ourselves. And that's another 1002 00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:11,880 Speaker 2: response you see a lot with climate of people like oh, 1003 00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:13,640 Speaker 2: I'm just going to move to New Zealand, or it's 1004 00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:18,280 Speaker 2: just not going to be my problem, and probably know 1005 00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:20,240 Speaker 2: where I'm going with this, David, I would love to 1006 00:59:20,280 --> 00:59:23,200 Speaker 2: get you to read from a piece that you wrote 1007 00:59:23,440 --> 00:59:27,440 Speaker 2: back in December titled We're getting a clearer picture of 1008 00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:29,440 Speaker 2: the climate future and it's not as bad as it 1009 00:59:29,480 --> 00:59:30,120 Speaker 2: once looked. 1010 00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:32,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is a sort of an interesting piece and 1011 00:59:32,840 --> 00:59:36,160 Speaker 3: that mostly it was sort of presenting some good news 1012 00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:40,160 Speaker 3: about about what we're like down the road but it 1013 00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:43,320 Speaker 3: had this sort of really bleak conclusion, which is at 1014 00:59:43,360 --> 00:59:47,160 Speaker 3: the part that you're asking read. But over the last 1015 00:59:47,200 --> 00:59:49,680 Speaker 3: few weeks, I've been thinking more about another encounter from 1016 00:59:49,720 --> 00:59:52,520 Speaker 3: earlier this fall, one that followed a climate panel I 1017 00:59:52,560 --> 00:59:56,200 Speaker 3: just participated in. After the discussion, I was cornered by 1018 00:59:56,200 --> 00:59:58,600 Speaker 3: a middle aged businessman who assured me that despite what 1019 00:59:58,640 --> 01:00:02,320 Speaker 3: I might think, he did even climate change. Then asked, 1020 01:00:02,520 --> 01:00:06,360 Speaker 3: in an almost conspiratorial tone, seeking it seemed to kind 1021 01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:09,000 Speaker 3: of secret answer, how bad is it going to be? 1022 01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:12,520 Speaker 3: It was a bit of a confusion question after ninety 1023 01:00:12,520 --> 01:00:15,520 Speaker 3: minutes of conversation on stage, a conversation he'd chosen to 1024 01:00:15,520 --> 01:00:18,720 Speaker 3: attend and paid attention to, presumably, he pointed out, which 1025 01:00:18,720 --> 01:00:20,880 Speaker 3: he suggested was a self evidence sign that he took 1026 01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:25,200 Speaker 3: the issue seriously. Well. I began at just two degrees 1027 01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:28,320 Speaker 3: of warming, which is basically a best case scenario. It's 1028 01:00:28,320 --> 01:00:30,880 Speaker 3: been estimated that one hundred and fifty million people would 1029 01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:33,919 Speaker 3: die from air pollution. But out of eight billion, he said, 1030 01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:39,040 Speaker 3: quickly cutting me off and smiling strangely, right, I said, 1031 01:00:39,040 --> 01:00:41,640 Speaker 3: I don't think human extinction are total civilizational collaps is 1032 01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:44,400 Speaker 3: likely that the pressures are going to get pretty intense, 1033 01:00:44,600 --> 01:00:48,200 Speaker 3: and we don't really know how societies will respond. But 1034 01:00:48,240 --> 01:00:51,040 Speaker 3: even if they respond pretty well, I mean, one hundred 1035 01:00:51,040 --> 01:00:54,520 Speaker 3: and fifty million is one hundred and fifty million. That's 1036 01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:57,480 Speaker 3: a lot of people that's dying at the scale of 1037 01:00:57,600 --> 01:01:03,040 Speaker 3: twenty five holocausts, but out of a billion. He repeated, smiling, 1038 01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:07,080 Speaker 3: like you caught me in a trap, at which point 1039 01:01:07,360 --> 01:01:10,600 Speaker 3: I understood what he'd actually meant by the question he'd posed, 1040 01:01:11,080 --> 01:01:13,280 Speaker 3: and why it was so important to him to get 1041 01:01:13,280 --> 01:01:16,600 Speaker 3: a precise answer. What he was asking was not how 1042 01:01:16,600 --> 01:01:19,080 Speaker 3: bad is it going to be? What he was asking 1043 01:01:19,240 --> 01:01:21,720 Speaker 3: was how bad is it going to be for me? 1044 01:01:24,880 --> 01:01:28,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, So that was one of the creepiest things I've 1045 01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:29,640 Speaker 2: read recently. 1046 01:01:30,640 --> 01:01:32,959 Speaker 3: But don't you guys encounter this kind of thing a lot, 1047 01:01:33,040 --> 01:01:36,120 Speaker 3: Like people who ask you, you know, having read a 1048 01:01:36,160 --> 01:01:38,320 Speaker 3: story or having seen you speak that they'll come up 1049 01:01:38,360 --> 01:01:41,320 Speaker 3: to maybe I have a different audience or whatever. They 1050 01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:42,720 Speaker 3: come up to you and they'll be like, so where 1051 01:01:42,720 --> 01:01:44,240 Speaker 3: should I move? This is like one of the most 1052 01:01:44,240 --> 01:01:45,000 Speaker 3: common questions I. 1053 01:01:44,960 --> 01:01:47,720 Speaker 1: Get is I have people asking that all the time. 1054 01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:51,000 Speaker 1: You know, which which parts of the world are like, 1055 01:01:51,440 --> 01:01:55,560 Speaker 1: you know, basically like climate proof? And then and then yeah, 1056 01:01:55,680 --> 01:02:00,240 Speaker 1: like I don't know, like, well, what, like, you know, 1057 01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:01,880 Speaker 1: what are the like people will try to sort of 1058 01:02:01,960 --> 01:02:05,080 Speaker 1: argue like, well, okay, like a you know, four feet 1059 01:02:05,080 --> 01:02:07,920 Speaker 1: of sea level rise, I mean that still leaves like 1060 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:11,000 Speaker 1: a lot of California and Florida left, you know, And 1061 01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:14,480 Speaker 1: I'm like, I just feel like that's thinking is so weird. 1062 01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:18,040 Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, I think for me because of the 1063 01:02:18,080 --> 01:02:19,760 Speaker 2: way I talk about it, like I talk about it 1064 01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:22,280 Speaker 2: as a justice issue, and I never really dig into 1065 01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:24,480 Speaker 2: like this is what happens at this level of warming 1066 01:02:24,560 --> 01:02:27,720 Speaker 2: or whatever, like you two kind of do as journalists. 1067 01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:29,880 Speaker 2: So I don't think people ask me those sorts of questions. 1068 01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:32,720 Speaker 2: They did used to ask me that before I became 1069 01:02:32,760 --> 01:02:35,360 Speaker 2: a public climate person, which was when I was basically 1070 01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:39,360 Speaker 2: just editing wonky reports on climate and people in my 1071 01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:41,560 Speaker 2: own life would like come to me and ask me 1072 01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:43,479 Speaker 2: where should I move or whatever or like. 1073 01:02:43,480 --> 01:02:45,040 Speaker 1: Insider trading for climate. 1074 01:02:46,200 --> 01:02:48,760 Speaker 2: Yeah kind of right. And these were the same people 1075 01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:51,120 Speaker 2: who like we talked about this on a previous show, 1076 01:02:51,120 --> 01:02:54,200 Speaker 2: but like thought I was hysterical until they read the 1077 01:02:54,280 --> 01:02:58,080 Speaker 2: Uninhabitable Earth and I was like, really, you don't trust me. 1078 01:02:58,960 --> 01:03:05,520 Speaker 2: But anyway, but yeah, I find that question to be 1079 01:03:05,600 --> 01:03:08,240 Speaker 2: like so obsolete at this point. And that's why this 1080 01:03:09,200 --> 01:03:14,000 Speaker 2: passage here made me so creeked out, David, because that 1081 01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:16,880 Speaker 2: person who had this conversation with you would never really 1082 01:03:16,920 --> 01:03:19,360 Speaker 2: talk to me, I don't think, and definitely wouldn't say 1083 01:03:19,360 --> 01:03:19,800 Speaker 2: that to me. 1084 01:03:20,040 --> 01:03:22,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know you said. I don't know if 1085 01:03:22,200 --> 01:03:24,480 Speaker 3: you guys saw, but was it a senator or a 1086 01:03:24,520 --> 01:03:27,520 Speaker 3: congressman yesterday was talking about how like, well, we really 1087 01:03:27,520 --> 01:03:29,360 Speaker 3: need to think about the ninety seven to ninety nine 1088 01:03:29,400 --> 01:03:32,880 Speaker 3: percent of Americans who are going to survive coronavirus. It's like, whoa, 1089 01:03:35,280 --> 01:03:37,000 Speaker 3: I mean, this is like a public matter of public 1090 01:03:37,040 --> 01:03:41,400 Speaker 3: record of a public official. That's like absolutely horrifying. Yeah, 1091 01:03:41,720 --> 01:03:43,560 Speaker 3: And you know, on the other hand, there is a 1092 01:03:43,560 --> 01:03:46,200 Speaker 3: part of me that, as objectionable as it is on 1093 01:03:46,240 --> 01:03:48,720 Speaker 3: a moral basis, like I also understand it on a 1094 01:03:48,800 --> 01:03:51,760 Speaker 3: human level, you know. Like I mean, for instance, like 1095 01:03:51,880 --> 01:03:56,040 Speaker 3: I'm I did leave New York City. I'm really uncomfortable 1096 01:03:56,080 --> 01:03:59,120 Speaker 3: in New York. Not because I thought like the hospitals 1097 01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:01,600 Speaker 3: are going to overrun, become overrun or anything like that, 1098 01:04:01,640 --> 01:04:04,160 Speaker 3: because I think the hospitals are going to be overrun everywhere, 1099 01:04:04,680 --> 01:04:08,120 Speaker 3: but there was something really oppressive about being in a 1100 01:04:08,280 --> 01:04:12,360 Speaker 3: small apartment with a toddler and feeling like all I 1101 01:04:12,400 --> 01:04:14,880 Speaker 3: had was this tiny amount of space to move around in. 1102 01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:18,400 Speaker 3: And so my wife and I, you know, rented a 1103 01:04:18,400 --> 01:04:20,240 Speaker 3: house on Long Island where we have at least a yard, 1104 01:04:20,800 --> 01:04:24,120 Speaker 3: and like, that's an exercise of privilege in the face 1105 01:04:24,240 --> 01:04:29,840 Speaker 3: of this coronavirus threat. It may not ultimately protect us, 1106 01:04:30,640 --> 01:04:35,080 Speaker 3: but it feels emotionally actually a lot better and more comfortable. 1107 01:04:36,440 --> 01:04:38,760 Speaker 3: And at the same time, I think I'm basically running 1108 01:04:38,760 --> 01:04:42,320 Speaker 3: away and that's an act of cowardice and also a 1109 01:04:42,360 --> 01:04:46,400 Speaker 3: bit of a you know, a decision that runs a 1110 01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:48,360 Speaker 3: little bit against the sort of response I have to 1111 01:04:48,400 --> 01:04:51,800 Speaker 3: people who ask about where they should move when they, 1112 01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:55,200 Speaker 3: you know, to deal with climate change. So I'm sort 1113 01:04:55,240 --> 01:04:57,160 Speaker 3: of all mixed up about it. I think it is. 1114 01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:01,240 Speaker 3: I think it's hard to dismiss that impulse. I think 1115 01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:03,960 Speaker 3: we all probably have it at some level to protect 1116 01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:06,919 Speaker 3: ourselves and the ones that we love, but we also 1117 01:05:07,080 --> 01:05:10,720 Speaker 3: try to remember that, like, we can't let that impulse 1118 01:05:10,760 --> 01:05:14,680 Speaker 3: get in the way of our sense of shared free 1119 01:05:14,840 --> 01:05:17,120 Speaker 3: and responsibility towards one another. 1120 01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:19,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what were you supposed to do? Stay 1121 01:05:19,560 --> 01:05:21,760 Speaker 2: in the city, and like punch the virus in the face. 1122 01:05:24,880 --> 01:05:28,440 Speaker 3: Like this fair point. But you know, I I know 1123 01:05:28,480 --> 01:05:31,680 Speaker 3: people who are like I'm I'm you know, I'm going 1124 01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:35,400 Speaker 3: shopping for my elderly neighbors. And you know, I know 1125 01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:37,240 Speaker 3: a lot of people who work on the you know, 1126 01:05:37,280 --> 01:05:42,480 Speaker 3: they're not like, uh, they're not pulmonologists working in the ICU, 1127 01:05:42,640 --> 01:05:46,400 Speaker 3: but who are working at various levels or various places 1128 01:05:46,400 --> 01:05:48,280 Speaker 3: in the health system who are like, I'm not going 1129 01:05:48,360 --> 01:05:50,120 Speaker 3: to leave because I think I'm going to be called 1130 01:05:50,120 --> 01:05:52,280 Speaker 3: into action here and I and I need to be 1131 01:05:52,320 --> 01:05:58,400 Speaker 3: there for that. And you know those people are you know, 1132 01:05:58,520 --> 01:06:04,160 Speaker 3: doing incredibly noble Also, I would say terrifying work. But 1133 01:06:05,040 --> 01:06:07,840 Speaker 3: that's on some level a more responsible choice than the 1134 01:06:07,920 --> 01:06:11,680 Speaker 3: choice that I'm making to like do my journalism remotely 1135 01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:13,480 Speaker 3: from a house for the yard. 1136 01:06:13,760 --> 01:06:15,440 Speaker 1: You know, yeah, I don't know. 1137 01:06:15,520 --> 01:06:17,680 Speaker 2: I think you know, in a situation like this, you 1138 01:06:17,720 --> 01:06:20,960 Speaker 2: do what you have to do. And I wouldn't be 1139 01:06:21,080 --> 01:06:24,920 Speaker 2: too hard on yourself or anyone else listening to this 1140 01:06:25,000 --> 01:06:29,200 Speaker 2: who decided to protect their family. So one of the 1141 01:06:29,240 --> 01:06:33,840 Speaker 2: things I'm finding interesting is the rise of eco fascism, 1142 01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:36,560 Speaker 2: both as a trend in real life. Like, Okay, I 1143 01:06:36,560 --> 01:06:40,000 Speaker 2: don't find that interesting. I find that fucking terrifying. But 1144 01:06:40,120 --> 01:06:43,240 Speaker 2: it does seem like we're finally starting to talk about 1145 01:06:43,240 --> 01:06:46,680 Speaker 2: it more explicitly in the Climate Conversation, which to me 1146 01:06:46,880 --> 01:06:50,240 Speaker 2: is actually encouraging. Yeah, there is a piece in The 1147 01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:56,040 Speaker 2: Breakthrough called the Coming Avocado Politics. There was another piece 1148 01:06:56,160 --> 01:06:58,760 Speaker 2: in The New York Times, White Supremacy Goes Green by 1149 01:06:58,760 --> 01:07:03,640 Speaker 2: Beth Gardner, And there was another one that's not specifically 1150 01:07:04,000 --> 01:07:09,600 Speaker 2: eco fascism, but it's about the migrants in Greece called 1151 01:07:09,600 --> 01:07:13,720 Speaker 2: the Vigilantes and Greece say No More to Migrants, And 1152 01:07:13,760 --> 01:07:15,520 Speaker 2: basically what they were talking about there is like, there's 1153 01:07:15,560 --> 01:07:19,840 Speaker 2: been this steady stream of migrants coming from nations in distress, 1154 01:07:21,040 --> 01:07:23,760 Speaker 2: and the people there had at one point won a 1155 01:07:26,240 --> 01:07:29,000 Speaker 2: Nobel Peace Prize for how welcoming they had been to 1156 01:07:29,080 --> 01:07:34,160 Speaker 2: these migrants, and now they're basically becoming armed vigilantes, shooting 1157 01:07:34,200 --> 01:07:37,320 Speaker 2: migrants on site and beating up anyone that they think 1158 01:07:37,440 --> 01:07:40,720 Speaker 2: has helped them. And it just goes to show how 1159 01:07:40,760 --> 01:07:46,680 Speaker 2: far empathy can be exhausted and yeah, kind of manipulated. 1160 01:07:47,640 --> 01:07:52,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems it seems probably like the paramount challenge 1161 01:07:53,960 --> 01:07:58,240 Speaker 3: in the vertical realm. I'm going forward, Yeah, trying to 1162 01:07:58,320 --> 01:08:01,560 Speaker 3: secure whatever kind of humane politics or what tread of 1163 01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:03,640 Speaker 3: humane politics we can in the face of some of 1164 01:08:03,680 --> 01:08:04,919 Speaker 3: this damage. 1165 01:08:05,200 --> 01:08:10,720 Speaker 1: I feel like it's the natural, like next step of 1166 01:08:10,800 --> 01:08:13,320 Speaker 1: like the guy at the panel saying, like, you know, 1167 01:08:13,480 --> 01:08:15,240 Speaker 1: kind of being worried about how it's going to affect 1168 01:08:15,280 --> 01:08:18,160 Speaker 1: him personally, right like, as there fewer and fewer resources 1169 01:08:18,560 --> 01:08:23,439 Speaker 1: and more people competing for them, you know, some people will, 1170 01:08:23,479 --> 01:08:28,400 Speaker 1: like you know, kind of feel that higher calling to 1171 01:08:28,600 --> 01:08:34,240 Speaker 1: be good community members, and some people will will prioritize 1172 01:08:34,280 --> 01:08:37,760 Speaker 1: their own their own stuff. And I don't know, I 1173 01:08:37,760 --> 01:08:41,919 Speaker 1: feel like America's entire history is about prioritizing individual success 1174 01:08:41,960 --> 01:08:46,040 Speaker 1: over everything else. So I I don't know, I don't 1175 01:08:46,040 --> 01:08:50,759 Speaker 1: feel super positive about this country's approach on these things. 1176 01:08:51,080 --> 01:08:52,840 Speaker 3: There are very few countries in the world who are 1177 01:08:52,840 --> 01:08:56,160 Speaker 3: moving in the direction of more openness and empathy, and 1178 01:08:56,320 --> 01:09:00,800 Speaker 3: their countries who have been remarkably open and who are 1179 01:09:00,840 --> 01:09:03,000 Speaker 3: becoming slightly less so, and still by the standards of 1180 01:09:03,040 --> 01:09:07,200 Speaker 3: America are good, but they're all moving in the wrong direction. 1181 01:09:08,720 --> 01:09:11,280 Speaker 3: And you know, I think of it like there is 1182 01:09:11,320 --> 01:09:15,120 Speaker 3: this sort of the challenge to our politics produced by 1183 01:09:15,120 --> 01:09:19,320 Speaker 3: climate change, which is this challenge of like not just 1184 01:09:19,360 --> 01:09:21,720 Speaker 3: eco fascism, but stuff that's sort of short of that, 1185 01:09:21,800 --> 01:09:28,320 Speaker 3: but still like just eco nationalism. But there's also the 1186 01:09:28,360 --> 01:09:33,479 Speaker 3: way in which this phenomenon complicates our crusade for action 1187 01:09:33,600 --> 01:09:36,439 Speaker 3: on climate in the sense that not just like we 1188 01:09:36,479 --> 01:09:39,000 Speaker 3: need a global solution to a global problem, we can't 1189 01:09:39,040 --> 01:09:45,200 Speaker 3: really deal with so many so much resistance from nationalistic leaders, 1190 01:09:45,479 --> 01:09:48,599 Speaker 3: but even beyond that, Like, I think it's been one 1191 01:09:48,600 --> 01:09:53,400 Speaker 3: of the basic assumptions of the climate movement in the 1192 01:09:53,520 --> 01:09:56,920 Speaker 3: US especially, but really throughout the world that if people 1193 01:09:56,960 --> 01:10:01,720 Speaker 3: saw the science, they would endorse action of the kind 1194 01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:05,920 Speaker 3: that I think the three of us would want to see. Yeah, 1195 01:10:05,960 --> 01:10:09,439 Speaker 3: and the problem was that not enough people had seen 1196 01:10:09,479 --> 01:10:13,320 Speaker 3: the science, or trusted the science, or had accurate picture 1197 01:10:13,320 --> 01:10:16,840 Speaker 3: of the science, and that like, ultimately the challenge was 1198 01:10:17,600 --> 01:10:21,120 Speaker 3: communicating the threat so that they would then take these 1199 01:10:21,280 --> 01:10:26,559 Speaker 3: inevitable political steps. But if it's the case that, as 1200 01:10:26,600 --> 01:10:29,839 Speaker 3: with everything else in our culture, we're processing the challenge 1201 01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:35,599 Speaker 3: of climate change through our tribal partisan identities, it starts 1202 01:10:35,600 --> 01:10:38,439 Speaker 3: to make it seem a lot harder to achieve anything 1203 01:10:38,520 --> 01:10:42,719 Speaker 3: that's really meaningful, you know, that really moves the needle 1204 01:10:42,800 --> 01:10:45,599 Speaker 3: meaningfully on climate policy, don't you think. 1205 01:10:45,560 --> 01:10:49,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's interesting because that's kind of what Beth 1206 01:10:49,479 --> 01:10:52,760 Speaker 2: Gardner got into. In her Peace on White Supremacy, goes 1207 01:10:52,800 --> 01:10:55,160 Speaker 2: green about how surprised she was, like how she had 1208 01:10:55,200 --> 01:10:58,080 Speaker 2: always thought that once it was time for climate action, 1209 01:10:58,280 --> 01:11:03,760 Speaker 2: it would be progressive climate action surely, and so then 1210 01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:07,640 Speaker 2: she's like coming awake to eco fascism and being like, 1211 01:11:07,720 --> 01:11:10,200 Speaker 2: oh wait, maybe it's not maybe it could go in 1212 01:11:10,240 --> 01:11:14,600 Speaker 2: this really really dark direction. And I gotta say, like, 1213 01:11:14,800 --> 01:11:18,280 Speaker 2: I I mean, I I did appreciate this article, but 1214 01:11:18,320 --> 01:11:23,240 Speaker 2: I find that frustrating that people would automatically think that 1215 01:11:23,400 --> 01:11:27,479 Speaker 2: action is going to be benevolent, because to me that 1216 01:11:27,560 --> 01:11:32,519 Speaker 2: just seems so obviously, like clearly it's not people are cruel. 1217 01:11:33,520 --> 01:11:34,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I mean, Like. 1218 01:11:35,000 --> 01:11:37,679 Speaker 2: It's not like once people found out slavery was wrong 1219 01:11:37,760 --> 01:11:44,200 Speaker 2: and unsustainable, they went to an egalitarian society. Yes, I 1220 01:11:44,240 --> 01:11:45,680 Speaker 2: don't know why we would expect that. 1221 01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:48,160 Speaker 3: Well, it's you know, it's an argument against these sort 1222 01:11:48,200 --> 01:11:51,840 Speaker 3: of concerntrol centrist concern rolls who will tell you like 1223 01:11:52,120 --> 01:11:54,599 Speaker 3: what we need to do is like to depoliticize climate 1224 01:11:54,680 --> 01:11:58,840 Speaker 3: or deepartisanized climate, and you're like, yeah, it's just it's 1225 01:11:58,880 --> 01:11:59,960 Speaker 3: like a war that we have to win. 1226 01:12:01,280 --> 01:12:02,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's already political. 1227 01:12:03,320 --> 01:12:06,160 Speaker 3: Like if we retreat from that fight, like we're. 1228 01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:07,919 Speaker 1: Just gonna lose it, right exactly. 1229 01:12:08,280 --> 01:12:11,600 Speaker 3: I like, you know, I still think it's good to like, 1230 01:12:11,920 --> 01:12:15,720 Speaker 3: you know, share the bad news. Yeah, I think it's 1231 01:12:15,880 --> 01:12:18,160 Speaker 3: good to get more people to see the impacts than less. 1232 01:12:19,200 --> 01:12:22,960 Speaker 3: But you know, it's it's who knows, I don't know 1233 01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:26,840 Speaker 3: how many more you know, Scott Morrison's and Jero Bolsonarow's 1234 01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:28,599 Speaker 3: and Donald Trump's we can really. 1235 01:12:28,520 --> 01:12:32,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, don't all three of them have Corona at 1236 01:12:32,240 --> 01:12:32,639 Speaker 2: this point. 1237 01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:35,320 Speaker 1: I hope you boy, that would be a real mitzvah. 1238 01:12:39,479 --> 01:12:42,000 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, sorry, but it's true. 1239 01:12:42,240 --> 01:12:44,280 Speaker 3: Looking at Donald Crum for like five years, thinking that 1240 01:12:44,320 --> 01:12:46,439 Speaker 3: he wasn't possibly gonna make it out of that calendar year. 1241 01:12:46,560 --> 01:12:49,240 Speaker 1: You know, he's like the most unhealthy person, but somehow 1242 01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:51,680 Speaker 1: he just keeps going. Yeah. 1243 01:12:52,040 --> 01:13:00,599 Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, runs on, runs on rage. Okay, 1244 01:13:00,680 --> 01:13:03,559 Speaker 2: now we're going to get into our listener question. We're 1245 01:13:03,560 --> 01:13:06,559 Speaker 2: just going to do one for this episode, and this 1246 01:13:06,640 --> 01:13:12,160 Speaker 2: question is about climate action. So she asked, what is 1247 01:13:12,320 --> 01:13:14,759 Speaker 2: the best way to get involved and make a change. 1248 01:13:15,080 --> 01:13:17,880 Speaker 2: How do you reach quote normal people who live in 1249 01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:21,479 Speaker 2: this illusory world, that somehow government will fix it all, 1250 01:13:21,880 --> 01:13:24,920 Speaker 2: that we need to trust the market and that advertising 1251 01:13:25,160 --> 01:13:27,360 Speaker 2: is not making you want stuff you don't need or 1252 01:13:27,439 --> 01:13:30,840 Speaker 2: change your social structure. Do you need to reach these people? 1253 01:13:31,160 --> 01:13:33,559 Speaker 2: Can you take action that is visible that catches the 1254 01:13:33,600 --> 01:13:36,360 Speaker 2: eye of others and wants them to participate or do 1255 01:13:36,439 --> 01:13:39,680 Speaker 2: something similar? How do I muster the energy to do 1256 01:13:39,720 --> 01:13:43,679 Speaker 2: any of that. I'm already exhausted working and doing the PhD. 1257 01:13:43,960 --> 01:13:47,320 Speaker 2: I also have an ra so yeah, or maybe by 1258 01:13:47,360 --> 01:13:50,040 Speaker 2: doing something I'll actually find the energy. 1259 01:13:52,280 --> 01:13:54,519 Speaker 1: Do you want to give us your hot take David 1260 01:13:54,680 --> 01:13:58,000 Speaker 1: on what is the best way to get involved and 1261 01:13:58,040 --> 01:14:01,160 Speaker 1: make a change if, like, first someone who you know, 1262 01:14:02,000 --> 01:14:04,479 Speaker 1: this person was sort of struggling with like should I 1263 01:14:04,560 --> 01:14:07,280 Speaker 1: try to convince people that don't believe in climate change? 1264 01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:09,479 Speaker 1: Or should I focus on this and you know whatever, 1265 01:14:09,960 --> 01:14:13,320 Speaker 1: what's an effective way to spend your energy if you 1266 01:14:13,360 --> 01:14:14,080 Speaker 1: want to do something? 1267 01:14:14,160 --> 01:14:16,200 Speaker 3: Well, I think it's sort of vague, but I would say, 1268 01:14:16,240 --> 01:14:18,360 Speaker 3: first of all, like the best path forward is to 1269 01:14:18,400 --> 01:14:20,360 Speaker 3: try to push for a political change, and to the 1270 01:14:20,400 --> 01:14:24,200 Speaker 3: extent that you're trying to mobilize those around you to 1271 01:14:24,320 --> 01:14:27,720 Speaker 3: engage in the same project. It's actually kind of from 1272 01:14:27,760 --> 01:14:32,880 Speaker 3: my point of view, a waste of energy to focus 1273 01:14:32,920 --> 01:14:35,559 Speaker 3: on people who don't believe or a skeptical and much 1274 01:14:35,560 --> 01:14:38,840 Speaker 3: more effective to try to push those people who are 1275 01:14:38,920 --> 01:14:40,880 Speaker 3: aware of it and may be a little worried, but 1276 01:14:40,920 --> 01:14:45,800 Speaker 3: aren't quite worried enough to sort of really look in 1277 01:14:45,840 --> 01:14:49,160 Speaker 3: that you know, really takes seriously the threat and what's 1278 01:14:49,200 --> 01:14:52,479 Speaker 3: necessary and respond as the science demands. I think those 1279 01:14:52,520 --> 01:14:55,040 Speaker 3: people are in my experience certainly. I mean, I use 1280 01:14:55,080 --> 01:14:57,920 Speaker 3: I'm one of those people who in transition, I think 1281 01:14:57,960 --> 01:15:01,040 Speaker 3: those people are much more movable than and those who 1282 01:15:01,040 --> 01:15:06,120 Speaker 3: are sort of sitting in their hardened positions of reflective skepticism. 1283 01:15:06,960 --> 01:15:09,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, I feel that way too, And I 1284 01:15:09,400 --> 01:15:13,160 Speaker 1: just I always tell people that they should like do 1285 01:15:13,240 --> 01:15:16,120 Speaker 1: the things they're already good at and already have like 1286 01:15:16,520 --> 01:15:18,559 Speaker 1: influence over you know what I mean. It's like there's 1287 01:15:18,640 --> 01:15:21,320 Speaker 1: no sense and you like, this person's doing a PhD 1288 01:15:21,479 --> 01:15:24,080 Speaker 1: and whatever. It's like, like, you know, I don't think 1289 01:15:24,080 --> 01:15:26,720 Speaker 1: that you need to go off and become like a 1290 01:15:26,760 --> 01:15:32,479 Speaker 1: science expert or you know, local politician or whatever. It's like, 1291 01:15:32,560 --> 01:15:34,920 Speaker 1: Do do the things that you have the skills to do, 1292 01:15:35,160 --> 01:15:38,640 Speaker 1: you know, and like influence the people that you can influence. 1293 01:15:39,160 --> 01:15:39,479 Speaker 3: You know. 1294 01:15:39,840 --> 01:15:43,559 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a little frustrated because I have a piece 1295 01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:46,439 Speaker 2: coming out about this, and it was supposed to come 1296 01:15:46,479 --> 01:15:48,639 Speaker 2: out this week, but it got pushed back because of 1297 01:15:48,640 --> 01:15:49,559 Speaker 2: of course Corona. 1298 01:15:50,800 --> 01:15:54,040 Speaker 1: But to answer to this question, yes, yes. 1299 01:15:55,080 --> 01:15:58,880 Speaker 2: But my general opinion on it is that there you're 1300 01:15:58,880 --> 01:16:03,679 Speaker 2: not limited to just thing and that do what you're 1301 01:16:03,720 --> 01:16:07,280 Speaker 2: good at and do your best because climate is an 1302 01:16:07,320 --> 01:16:11,360 Speaker 2: all encompassing problem, so therefore all the solutions are all encompassing. 1303 01:16:11,479 --> 01:16:14,759 Speaker 2: So you know, if you're good at making noise, make noise, 1304 01:16:14,800 --> 01:16:17,920 Speaker 2: if you're good at writing right, if you're good at organizing, 1305 01:16:18,160 --> 01:16:21,280 Speaker 2: organized like, figure out where you can make the most impact, 1306 01:16:21,840 --> 01:16:24,679 Speaker 2: and that's where you that's where you work, that's where 1307 01:16:24,680 --> 01:16:29,000 Speaker 2: you live. I also think that there's this sort of 1308 01:16:29,080 --> 01:16:32,360 Speaker 2: like idea that someone like I think climate is like 1309 01:16:32,400 --> 01:16:35,760 Speaker 2: this unprecedented problem and therefore no one else can tell 1310 01:16:35,800 --> 01:16:38,200 Speaker 2: you exactly what your climate action needs to be. 1311 01:16:38,320 --> 01:16:38,479 Speaker 1: Right. 1312 01:16:38,600 --> 01:16:43,120 Speaker 2: Nobody told Greta to strike, you know, nobody told these 1313 01:16:43,200 --> 01:16:45,320 Speaker 2: kids to start forming their movement. They just did it, 1314 01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:48,120 Speaker 2: and you don't. If you're going to be like a 1315 01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:50,360 Speaker 2: climate person, then you've got to start to like take 1316 01:16:50,400 --> 01:16:54,760 Speaker 2: on that sort of creative necessity to figure out what 1317 01:16:54,760 --> 01:17:03,320 Speaker 2: you're going to do. All right, So now we're going 1318 01:17:03,400 --> 01:17:07,439 Speaker 2: to move into standout pieces, which are just something that 1319 01:17:07,520 --> 01:17:10,360 Speaker 2: we loved from the past, like a couple of months 1320 01:17:10,439 --> 01:17:13,400 Speaker 2: or so. And as David as our guest, do you 1321 01:17:13,439 --> 01:17:14,200 Speaker 2: get to go first? 1322 01:17:14,439 --> 01:17:17,240 Speaker 3: Oh? I think it's a kind of a piece of 1323 01:17:17,240 --> 01:17:21,839 Speaker 3: writing that is not exactly a piece. It's a Twitter 1324 01:17:21,880 --> 01:17:27,120 Speaker 3: thread that was posted by Harvard scientist named Eric fi 1325 01:17:27,200 --> 01:17:34,439 Speaker 3: Golding about coronavirus. It was really the first, the first 1326 01:17:34,439 --> 01:17:39,679 Speaker 3: thing that broke through to me in this story as 1327 01:17:39,760 --> 01:17:44,479 Speaker 3: a real powering, eye opening, like grab you by the 1328 01:17:44,600 --> 01:17:55,240 Speaker 3: collar kind of writing. And he was basically representing findings 1329 01:17:55,240 --> 01:17:59,439 Speaker 3: from a pre publication paper on what had happened in Wuhan, 1330 01:17:59,640 --> 01:18:03,760 Speaker 3: and in particular about the reproducibility or like the infectiousness 1331 01:18:03,800 --> 01:18:09,320 Speaker 3: of the of the disease, which suggested some quite harrowing 1332 01:18:09,960 --> 01:18:12,240 Speaker 3: futures not just for China but for the rest of 1333 01:18:12,240 --> 01:18:16,479 Speaker 3: the world. And you know, this was he was working 1334 01:18:16,479 --> 01:18:20,799 Speaker 3: off of scientific scientific papers. He was quoting from it throughout, 1335 01:18:21,080 --> 01:18:23,600 Speaker 3: and so there was some technical language, but he was 1336 01:18:23,600 --> 01:18:26,639 Speaker 3: also writing it through with a kind of like holy shit. 1337 01:18:26,760 --> 01:18:28,879 Speaker 3: I think he maybe even have said holy shit. Literally, 1338 01:18:29,720 --> 01:18:33,959 Speaker 3: I've never seen numbers like this in all of my research. 1339 01:18:35,320 --> 01:18:40,080 Speaker 3: This disease is going to be a pandemic beyond anything 1340 01:18:40,080 --> 01:18:43,960 Speaker 3: that we've seen in recent memory, and we are completely 1341 01:18:44,040 --> 01:18:50,679 Speaker 3: unprepared for its impact. And in response, he was really 1342 01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:52,360 Speaker 3: and this is the this is the thing that makes 1343 01:18:52,360 --> 01:18:53,720 Speaker 3: it really notable to me. I mean, I think it's 1344 01:18:53,920 --> 01:18:56,040 Speaker 3: it was sort of interesting and vivid, and you know, 1345 01:18:56,080 --> 01:18:58,439 Speaker 3: got passed around a huge amount and raised some real 1346 01:18:58,479 --> 01:19:01,519 Speaker 3: alarm about it. But what was notable to me about 1347 01:19:02,520 --> 01:19:05,640 Speaker 3: about it was that it immediately produced a really significant 1348 01:19:05,680 --> 01:19:12,360 Speaker 3: backlash among epidemiologists and other people who work with sort 1349 01:19:12,360 --> 01:19:16,800 Speaker 3: of disease data who found some of his analysis, or 1350 01:19:16,960 --> 01:19:20,000 Speaker 3: the extrapolation of the paper's analysis into sort of a 1351 01:19:20,040 --> 01:19:24,120 Speaker 3: Twitter format a little overstated, thought that his warnings were 1352 01:19:24,600 --> 01:19:28,320 Speaker 3: a little too oblique. But even if their corrections were 1353 01:19:28,400 --> 01:19:33,400 Speaker 3: on the margins, their rebuke was sort of total, and 1354 01:19:33,439 --> 01:19:36,559 Speaker 3: they were saying, like, this is irresponsible, this kind of 1355 01:19:36,600 --> 01:19:39,800 Speaker 3: fear mongering on Twitter, on social media is not what 1356 01:19:40,040 --> 01:19:47,360 Speaker 3: a pedigreed, qualified scientists should be doing. And you know, 1357 01:19:47,400 --> 01:19:49,439 Speaker 3: there was a there was a big piece about it 1358 01:19:49,600 --> 01:19:51,760 Speaker 3: in the Atlantic that was headlined something like this is 1359 01:19:51,760 --> 01:19:56,719 Speaker 3: how misinformation spreads on Twitter. Feigalding like bleaded the tweet. 1360 01:19:56,800 --> 01:19:59,920 Speaker 3: The Twitter thread actually like it only now exists in 1361 01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:01,960 Speaker 3: a few places where it was preserved at the time 1362 01:20:02,120 --> 01:20:03,920 Speaker 3: to read, you know, not as a Twitter thread but 1363 01:20:04,000 --> 01:20:10,000 Speaker 3: off Twitter. And you know, he didn't get everything right, 1364 01:20:11,320 --> 01:20:16,640 Speaker 3: but as a correction to what had been the incredibly 1365 01:20:16,720 --> 01:20:22,120 Speaker 3: limited quiet coverage of the story to that point, and 1366 01:20:22,280 --> 01:20:24,800 Speaker 3: as a sort of like directional guide to like this 1367 01:20:24,960 --> 01:20:27,400 Speaker 3: is basically how we should be thinking about this disease. 1368 01:20:29,520 --> 01:20:33,120 Speaker 3: He's he was certainly more right than anybody else who 1369 01:20:33,120 --> 01:20:37,840 Speaker 3: was writing at the time. And if he had been 1370 01:20:37,960 --> 01:20:40,519 Speaker 3: if he had had the ear of say Donald Trump 1371 01:20:41,720 --> 01:20:48,240 Speaker 3: or you know, Emmanuel mccron or whoever, or Baris Johnson, 1372 01:20:50,920 --> 01:20:54,080 Speaker 3: we would be in a much, much much better place. 1373 01:20:54,960 --> 01:20:57,960 Speaker 3: And I think this is like it's obviously connected to 1374 01:20:58,000 --> 01:21:01,639 Speaker 3: my experience as a sort of alarmists done climate change, 1375 01:21:01,840 --> 01:21:04,360 Speaker 3: but I think just in general, we are in this 1376 01:21:04,439 --> 01:21:06,360 Speaker 3: really weird place where I think we've sort of like 1377 01:21:06,600 --> 01:21:13,840 Speaker 3: overlearned the experience of like Churchill and England during a 1378 01:21:13,840 --> 01:21:17,240 Speaker 3: blitz and like keep calm and carry on, is like 1379 01:21:17,280 --> 01:21:23,160 Speaker 3: this like understood to be this in all situations noble 1380 01:21:23,800 --> 01:21:29,679 Speaker 3: model for human behavior, and it just isn't like most 1381 01:21:29,800 --> 01:21:33,599 Speaker 3: times in a crisis, you want to move fast and 1382 01:21:33,640 --> 01:21:37,840 Speaker 3: you want to move aggressively, and even if taking that 1383 01:21:37,960 --> 01:21:41,120 Speaker 3: lesson to heart means that sometimes you respond to what 1384 01:21:41,160 --> 01:21:42,720 Speaker 3: you think is a crisis but turns out to be 1385 01:21:42,720 --> 01:21:45,479 Speaker 3: a slightly smaller crisis or maybe even not a crisis 1386 01:21:45,520 --> 01:21:48,120 Speaker 3: at all, Like that's just what it means to be 1387 01:21:48,840 --> 01:21:53,519 Speaker 3: careful and responsible and in the case of impacts like 1388 01:21:53,560 --> 01:21:57,160 Speaker 3: climate change and the coronavirus moral, because what's at stake 1389 01:21:57,439 --> 01:22:03,120 Speaker 3: is human life and human suffering at unbelievably large scales, 1390 01:22:03,840 --> 01:22:09,240 Speaker 3: so that you know, even moderate improvements in how quickly 1391 01:22:09,280 --> 01:22:12,280 Speaker 3: we take action are going to have huge payoff, huge 1392 01:22:12,280 --> 01:22:17,160 Speaker 3: dividends down the line. And in this case in particular, 1393 01:22:17,320 --> 01:22:26,080 Speaker 3: it's like, what's the downside to panicking about this disease? Like, sure, 1394 01:22:26,080 --> 01:22:32,680 Speaker 3: it's imposing we might like anxiety, and you know, like 1395 01:22:32,720 --> 01:22:37,400 Speaker 3: psychological emotional burden on all of us to be living anxiously. 1396 01:22:37,880 --> 01:22:40,640 Speaker 3: And yet especially during the period when not just the 1397 01:22:40,680 --> 01:22:45,320 Speaker 3: American government but all the governments outside of outside of Asia, 1398 01:22:45,760 --> 01:22:48,240 Speaker 3: we're not doing anything and not giving any directives about 1399 01:22:48,280 --> 01:22:51,920 Speaker 3: how we should behave in collectively have been behaving much 1400 01:22:51,960 --> 01:22:55,840 Speaker 3: more responsibly. The more wary we were, because if we 1401 01:22:55,840 --> 01:22:57,840 Speaker 3: were freaking out about coronavirus, we were going to be 1402 01:22:57,920 --> 01:23:00,000 Speaker 3: washing our hands more. We were going to be uncomfortable 1403 01:23:00,080 --> 01:23:02,519 Speaker 3: standing around people. We were going to be uncomfortable if 1404 01:23:02,560 --> 01:23:06,960 Speaker 3: someone near us started coughing. And like, especially in the 1405 01:23:07,040 --> 01:23:11,760 Speaker 3: vacuum of leadership that we saw, you know, like from 1406 01:23:11,760 --> 01:23:16,000 Speaker 3: the from from Trump and on down in American government, theoretically, 1407 01:23:16,080 --> 01:23:17,960 Speaker 3: the only thing that would have made Americans made more 1408 01:23:18,000 --> 01:23:21,760 Speaker 3: responsibly was more panic. And so the impulse to like 1409 01:23:22,080 --> 01:23:24,400 Speaker 3: wag our finger of people who are trying to raise 1410 01:23:24,439 --> 01:23:27,240 Speaker 3: alarm simply because what they're saying is alarming, I think 1411 01:23:27,320 --> 01:23:31,400 Speaker 3: is really a real kind of deep dysfunction about about 1412 01:23:31,400 --> 01:23:34,080 Speaker 3: our culture generally. And we saw it. We saw it 1413 01:23:34,120 --> 01:23:35,880 Speaker 3: in particular in this Twitter threat. I think we've seen 1414 01:23:35,920 --> 01:23:39,320 Speaker 3: it generally in the Corona response, and we've been seeing 1415 01:23:39,360 --> 01:23:41,320 Speaker 3: it now, all three of us and probably all of 1416 01:23:41,360 --> 01:23:46,200 Speaker 3: our listeners on climate for for decades. I also just 1417 01:23:46,200 --> 01:23:48,080 Speaker 3: feel like really bad for this guy. He was like 1418 01:23:48,479 --> 01:23:51,280 Speaker 3: he sort of had a reputation like thrown in the toilet, 1419 01:23:51,680 --> 01:23:55,200 Speaker 3: and you know, like again like some of those numbers 1420 01:23:55,200 --> 01:23:58,400 Speaker 3: turned out not to be exactly right, but like it was, 1421 01:23:58,560 --> 01:24:00,760 Speaker 3: it certainly is proving not to be the kind of 1422 01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:04,200 Speaker 3: professional malpractice that he was attacked for. Yeah, and the 1423 01:24:04,280 --> 01:24:07,160 Speaker 3: interness that people have can call any kind of anything 1424 01:24:07,160 --> 01:24:12,000 Speaker 3: that's scary irresponsible, I think is just it's just really damaging. 1425 01:24:12,600 --> 01:24:15,479 Speaker 2: So my standout piece for you this week was published 1426 01:24:15,520 --> 01:24:19,360 Speaker 2: just yesterday. It's called Good Griefness by Emily Atkin in 1427 01:24:19,400 --> 01:24:22,559 Speaker 2: the Columbia Journalism Review, and I'm going to take the 1428 01:24:22,560 --> 01:24:28,160 Speaker 2: liberty of reading an excerpt now. Over the next two years, 1429 01:24:28,200 --> 01:24:31,719 Speaker 2: I fact checked dozens of instances of climate misinformation without 1430 01:24:31,760 --> 01:24:36,000 Speaker 2: passing judgment on those who lied. I explained terrifying scientific 1431 01:24:36,040 --> 01:24:39,880 Speaker 2: studies without explicitly remarking that they were terrifying. I reported 1432 01:24:39,960 --> 01:24:43,639 Speaker 2: on environmental injustices perpetrated all over the country without saying 1433 01:24:43,680 --> 01:24:46,599 Speaker 2: that the victims deserved better. Even though I was writing 1434 01:24:46,640 --> 01:24:49,599 Speaker 2: for a progressive readership, my goal was to appear neutral, 1435 01:24:50,080 --> 01:24:53,519 Speaker 2: but I was not actually neutral, because in reality, I 1436 01:24:53,560 --> 01:24:56,320 Speaker 2: didn't want climate change to get worse. I didn't want 1437 01:24:56,320 --> 01:24:59,439 Speaker 2: people to suffer. Every time I said I didn't say so, 1438 01:25:00,040 --> 01:25:03,200 Speaker 2: I felt like I was failing readers. In twenty fourteen, 1439 01:25:03,360 --> 01:25:07,559 Speaker 2: I covered a world Meteorological Organization report showing that carbon 1440 01:25:07,640 --> 01:25:10,959 Speaker 2: was accumulating in the atmosphere far more rapidly than expected. 1441 01:25:11,520 --> 01:25:14,639 Speaker 2: Once carbon concentrations reached a certain point, the report stated, 1442 01:25:14,920 --> 01:25:18,519 Speaker 2: the subsequent warning would trigger feedback loops of further carbon 1443 01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:22,280 Speaker 2: release and more warming, causing unpredictable levels of suffering for 1444 01:25:22,320 --> 01:25:26,280 Speaker 2: the world's poorest and most vulnerable populations. We must reverse 1445 01:25:26,320 --> 01:25:30,760 Speaker 2: this trend, the WMO's secretary said, we are running out 1446 01:25:30,800 --> 01:25:33,839 Speaker 2: of time. It was difficult to hide my sense of alarm. 1447 01:25:34,439 --> 01:25:38,080 Speaker 2: I was also exasperated, a natural consequence, perhaps of reporting 1448 01:25:38,080 --> 01:25:40,439 Speaker 2: on the willful ignorance of those tasks with solving a 1449 01:25:40,520 --> 01:25:44,719 Speaker 2: looming environmental crisis. Instead of preparing for climate change, state 1450 01:25:44,760 --> 01:25:48,080 Speaker 2: agencies were removing scientific information about it from their websites. 1451 01:25:48,479 --> 01:25:51,680 Speaker 2: Instead of trying to limit the damage, politicians were contriving 1452 01:25:51,800 --> 01:25:55,160 Speaker 2: ridiculous excuses. Global warming couldn't be all that bad, one 1453 01:25:55,240 --> 01:25:59,559 Speaker 2: argument went, since Mars was warming too. Worst of all, 1454 01:26:00,160 --> 01:26:02,799 Speaker 2: didn't seem to be paying attention. I knew my stories 1455 01:26:02,800 --> 01:26:05,760 Speaker 2: were about important problems, but they were rarely picked up 1456 01:26:05,760 --> 01:26:09,519 Speaker 2: by bigger outlets. My reporting never sparked activism campaigns or 1457 01:26:09,600 --> 01:26:12,559 Speaker 2: changed policy. I felt like a child drowning in a 1458 01:26:12,560 --> 01:26:15,720 Speaker 2: crowded beach as everyone ignored my screams for help. Was 1459 01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:21,000 Speaker 2: I not screaming loudly enough? So I love this story 1460 01:26:21,040 --> 01:26:24,760 Speaker 2: of Emily's journey as a storyteller on climate and basically 1461 01:26:24,840 --> 01:26:27,160 Speaker 2: how she went from like, wait a minute, it's not 1462 01:26:27,680 --> 01:26:30,719 Speaker 2: enough to be neutral. It's not enough just to present 1463 01:26:30,800 --> 01:26:34,160 Speaker 2: the facts without any sort of interpretation. And I think 1464 01:26:34,200 --> 01:26:36,120 Speaker 2: that speaks a lot to what you were just saying, 1465 01:26:36,200 --> 01:26:40,040 Speaker 2: David about the Twitter thread, that you have to sound 1466 01:26:40,040 --> 01:26:42,479 Speaker 2: the alarm if the information is alarming, you have to 1467 01:26:42,479 --> 01:26:46,160 Speaker 2: tell people that. Otherwise you're not actually being honest, you're 1468 01:26:46,200 --> 01:26:47,559 Speaker 2: not actually telling the story. 1469 01:26:48,120 --> 01:26:49,680 Speaker 1: That's so funny because it gets right back to what 1470 01:26:49,720 --> 01:26:51,840 Speaker 1: we were talking about at the beginning. It was like 1471 01:26:52,080 --> 01:26:55,200 Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to walk that line between 1472 01:26:55,439 --> 01:26:59,400 Speaker 1: what's expected of you as a journalist and what you feel, 1473 01:27:00,040 --> 01:27:03,360 Speaker 1: don't know, sort of compelled to say once you know. 1474 01:27:03,320 --> 01:27:07,880 Speaker 2: That yeah, and also as like a human being who 1475 01:27:07,920 --> 01:27:13,559 Speaker 2: has a vested interest in you know, living, so you know, 1476 01:27:13,640 --> 01:27:15,600 Speaker 2: I think that's something to it. And she comes to 1477 01:27:15,800 --> 01:27:19,680 Speaker 2: in her conclusion basically being like I went from dispassionate 1478 01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:23,240 Speaker 2: to passionate, and I learned how to harness my grief 1479 01:27:23,320 --> 01:27:26,559 Speaker 2: into rage, and you know, I can't help but hear 1480 01:27:26,600 --> 01:27:29,640 Speaker 2: the echoes of your rage essay last year, Amy, and 1481 01:27:29,680 --> 01:27:33,160 Speaker 2: I think that, you know, it's just really great to 1482 01:27:33,160 --> 01:27:36,000 Speaker 2: see more people taking that voice on and like owning 1483 01:27:36,000 --> 01:27:37,880 Speaker 2: their emotions and being honest about them. 1484 01:27:38,439 --> 01:27:40,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's been like a good change I think in 1485 01:27:40,479 --> 01:27:44,280 Speaker 1: the in the whole climate storytelling space in general, it's 1486 01:27:44,320 --> 01:27:48,080 Speaker 1: just people, I guess, like sort of feeling well, a 1487 01:27:48,200 --> 01:27:51,040 Speaker 1: feeling okay, Like, I mean, there's a for a long time, 1488 01:27:51,080 --> 01:27:53,120 Speaker 1: there's been a rule and I think some people still 1489 01:27:53,120 --> 01:27:55,840 Speaker 1: abide by it of like you can't write, you know, 1490 01:27:56,080 --> 01:27:59,559 Speaker 1: a personal essay if you also report on the subject, 1491 01:27:59,760 --> 01:27:59,960 Speaker 1: you know. 1492 01:28:00,120 --> 01:28:00,280 Speaker 3: Like that. 1493 01:28:00,560 --> 01:28:03,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. Actually, like I sat on that rage essay for 1494 01:28:03,680 --> 01:28:05,559 Speaker 1: a while for that reason because I was like, oh, 1495 01:28:05,680 --> 01:28:08,320 Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, but but I think, yeah, 1496 01:28:08,320 --> 01:28:12,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, we were starting to like allow journalists 1497 01:28:12,200 --> 01:28:14,760 Speaker 1: to have feelings, and I don't I don't think it's bad, 1498 01:28:15,000 --> 01:28:19,920 Speaker 1: you know, I think it's bad. Yeah, Okay. So mine 1499 01:28:20,040 --> 01:28:22,720 Speaker 1: is from Rolling Stone, and I have to say that 1500 01:28:22,880 --> 01:28:25,719 Speaker 1: I have noticed in the last few months that Rolling 1501 01:28:25,880 --> 01:28:29,680 Speaker 1: Stone is really kind of killing it on climate. I 1502 01:28:29,720 --> 01:28:32,520 Speaker 1: think they've been doing a lot of really great reporting 1503 01:28:32,560 --> 01:28:37,120 Speaker 1: on the subject, pretty wide variety of things. You know, 1504 01:28:37,200 --> 01:28:42,880 Speaker 1: there was that great investigative piece on the you know, 1505 01:28:43,000 --> 01:28:48,160 Speaker 1: cancer being caused by like much of the natural gas 1506 01:28:48,240 --> 01:28:51,800 Speaker 1: oil and gas industry in general, the radioactive story. It 1507 01:28:51,880 --> 01:28:54,200 Speaker 1: was great. And then I don't know, I just I 1508 01:28:54,200 --> 01:28:56,880 Speaker 1: feel like almost every week or two I'm seeing a 1509 01:28:56,920 --> 01:28:58,960 Speaker 1: different story from them pop up. 1510 01:29:00,000 --> 01:29:02,599 Speaker 3: We've been great, Yeah, right, I. 1511 01:29:02,479 --> 01:29:04,880 Speaker 1: Know, I'm kind of like, who did they hire over 1512 01:29:04,920 --> 01:29:10,240 Speaker 1: there that's commissioning all these great stories? But anyways, so 1513 01:29:11,160 --> 01:29:14,719 Speaker 1: this one is called are we Thinking about Climate Migration 1514 01:29:14,920 --> 01:29:18,920 Speaker 1: All Wrong? And it's by Alexandra Tempest, and it's really 1515 01:29:19,000 --> 01:29:22,439 Speaker 1: interesting because it gets into you know, these massive numbers 1516 01:29:22,439 --> 01:29:26,720 Speaker 1: that we've all heard about climate migration and how you know, 1517 01:29:27,080 --> 01:29:31,280 Speaker 1: expansive and intense it's going to be and all of that, 1518 01:29:31,360 --> 01:29:35,120 Speaker 1: and it kind of, you know, calls those numbers into 1519 01:29:35,200 --> 01:29:38,200 Speaker 1: question a bit. And initially I was kind of like, well, 1520 01:29:38,560 --> 01:29:41,559 Speaker 1: what harm is there in overestimating the problem, right, But 1521 01:29:41,680 --> 01:29:45,240 Speaker 1: then she makes this pretty interesting point that it can 1522 01:29:45,560 --> 01:29:49,680 Speaker 1: actually spark almost more of a of this sort of 1523 01:29:49,840 --> 01:29:54,439 Speaker 1: you know, ego fascist like anti immigration sentiment that we 1524 01:29:54,439 --> 01:29:59,200 Speaker 1: were talking about before. So anyway, here is a here's 1525 01:29:59,479 --> 01:30:06,360 Speaker 1: the excerpt from that. To be sure, the scale of 1526 01:30:06,360 --> 01:30:09,920 Speaker 1: the issue is planetary. People are right now leaving their 1527 01:30:09,960 --> 01:30:12,920 Speaker 1: homes due to the impacts of climate change, from tiny 1528 01:30:12,960 --> 01:30:16,719 Speaker 1: Pacific island nations like your Body and Tuvalu to pancake 1529 01:30:16,760 --> 01:30:20,080 Speaker 1: flat Bangladesh to the coast of Louisiana, which loses a 1530 01:30:20,120 --> 01:30:22,519 Speaker 1: football field of land every one hundred minutes. 1531 01:30:22,720 --> 01:30:23,000 Speaker 3: Wow. 1532 01:30:24,000 --> 01:30:27,880 Speaker 1: Climate displacement is headline news virtually every time another record 1533 01:30:27,880 --> 01:30:31,320 Speaker 1: breaking hurricane makes landfall, as when nearly four hundred thousand 1534 01:30:31,360 --> 01:30:33,960 Speaker 1: Puerto Ricans came to the US mainland in the months 1535 01:30:33,960 --> 01:30:38,559 Speaker 1: following twenty seventeen's Hurricane Maria. During the summer of twenty nineteen, 1536 01:30:38,680 --> 01:30:42,000 Speaker 1: a flurry of reports circulated about drought stricken Honduran and 1537 01:30:42,000 --> 01:30:46,519 Speaker 1: Guatemalan coffee farmers fleeing north. But the hyper focus by 1538 01:30:46,520 --> 01:30:49,400 Speaker 1: the media and well meaning advocates on nailing down a 1539 01:30:49,400 --> 01:30:52,960 Speaker 1: global number of climate refugees by a specific calendar year 1540 01:30:53,200 --> 01:30:57,759 Speaker 1: can be problematic, conjuring images of apocalyptic invasions and fanning 1541 01:30:57,800 --> 01:31:01,920 Speaker 1: the flames of nationalism and xenophobia already spreading across the globe. 1542 01:31:02,320 --> 01:31:05,160 Speaker 1: And while these splashy predictions have a shock value that 1543 01:31:05,280 --> 01:31:09,479 Speaker 1: can galvanize action. They ignore nuances that could better serve 1544 01:31:09,560 --> 01:31:12,879 Speaker 1: public discussion and policy, like the fact that the majority 1545 01:31:12,880 --> 01:31:16,519 Speaker 1: of climate migrants move within their own countries, often slowly 1546 01:31:16,600 --> 01:31:20,880 Speaker 1: over time, and usually not very far. Advocates, academics, and 1547 01:31:20,920 --> 01:31:24,400 Speaker 1: international bodies alike agree that most climate migrants move within 1548 01:31:24,439 --> 01:31:27,280 Speaker 1: their own countries. There are well known US examples, the 1549 01:31:27,320 --> 01:31:31,679 Speaker 1: coastal Louisianans term the first American climate refugees fleeing rising seas, 1550 01:31:32,000 --> 01:31:37,120 Speaker 1: the indigenous Alaskan villages seeking funding to relocate inland. But 1551 01:31:37,240 --> 01:31:40,200 Speaker 1: this phenomenon is unfolding in every corner of the US 1552 01:31:40,280 --> 01:31:43,599 Speaker 1: and around the world. Tourist towns in southern California are 1553 01:31:43,640 --> 01:31:48,280 Speaker 1: contentiously battling over quote managed retreat from the coast due 1554 01:31:48,280 --> 01:31:52,120 Speaker 1: to rising sea levels. In Ellicott City, Maryland, a proposal 1555 01:31:52,160 --> 01:31:55,320 Speaker 1: to move its main street, including homes due to increased 1556 01:31:55,400 --> 01:31:59,880 Speaker 1: flash nearly destroyed the community. In North Carolina, low End 1557 01:32:00,000 --> 01:32:02,800 Speaker 1: Become residents have been pushed from their homes as flood 1558 01:32:02,880 --> 01:32:06,960 Speaker 1: and hurricane damaged public housing is demolished. And it's not 1559 01:32:07,040 --> 01:32:10,400 Speaker 1: only a coastal concern. The tiny Missouri hamlet of Moseby 1560 01:32:10,560 --> 01:32:13,799 Speaker 1: is expected to lose half of its residents following massive 1561 01:32:13,840 --> 01:32:17,759 Speaker 1: flooding in the spring of twenty nineteen in Wisconsin's rural 1562 01:32:17,840 --> 01:32:21,360 Speaker 1: Kickapoo Valley, which pioneered the modern template of government funded 1563 01:32:21,439 --> 01:32:25,439 Speaker 1: community relocation. A string of small towns has since moved 1564 01:32:25,640 --> 01:32:29,320 Speaker 1: entire neighborhoods to higher ground as river floods continued to 1565 01:32:29,360 --> 01:32:33,759 Speaker 1: break records. So anyway, this was I thought a really 1566 01:32:33,800 --> 01:32:37,400 Speaker 1: interesting and well researched story and sort of a counterintuitive 1567 01:32:37,439 --> 01:32:41,479 Speaker 1: take on the climate migration stuff that you know. I 1568 01:32:41,560 --> 01:32:43,879 Speaker 1: like those kind of stories, so I liked it. 1569 01:32:44,560 --> 01:32:48,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, uh yeah, I enjoyed this story too, especially because 1570 01:32:48,120 --> 01:32:51,280 Speaker 2: it was a good reminder about how we talk about 1571 01:32:51,360 --> 01:32:55,839 Speaker 2: things really really matters, and it can fall differently depending 1572 01:32:55,880 --> 01:32:58,040 Speaker 2: on what the listener already wants to hear. 1573 01:32:58,400 --> 01:33:02,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, totally, totally all right, David, thank you so 1574 01:33:03,000 --> 01:33:03,920 Speaker 1: much for taking the time. 1575 01:33:04,120 --> 01:33:06,519 Speaker 3: Okay, cool. Thanks. Its really great to talk about you guys, 1576 01:33:06,520 --> 01:33:08,080 Speaker 3: and hope to see you Upton. 1577 01:33:08,360 --> 01:33:09,400 Speaker 2: Thanks so much, David. 1578 01:33:31,360 --> 01:33:34,240 Speaker 1: Okay, that's it for this time. I hope you enjoyed 1579 01:33:34,600 --> 01:33:37,840 Speaker 1: that episode of Hot Take. You can find Hot Take 1580 01:33:37,840 --> 01:33:40,880 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure to subscribe so 1581 01:33:40,960 --> 01:33:44,360 Speaker 1: that you won't miss any future episodes. We'll be talking 1582 01:33:44,400 --> 01:33:46,800 Speaker 1: to Eric Holdhouse on our next one, and as far 1583 01:33:46,800 --> 01:33:49,679 Speaker 1: as drill goes, look for an episode on the finance 1584 01:33:49,720 --> 01:33:53,400 Speaker 1: situation later this week. Thanks for listening and we'll see 1585 01:33:53,400 --> 01:33:53,960 Speaker 1: you next time. 1586 01:34:00,000 --> 01:34:00,040 Speaker 2: A