1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,920
Speaker 1: Hey, listeners, I'm just interjecting to let you know this

2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:07,400
Speaker 1: episode was recorded a few weeks ago, working with Governor

3
00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:12,920
Speaker 1: Insley around his incredibly busy schedule, and unfortunately, in the

4
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,520
Speaker 1: time between recording and this episode airing, the devastating floods

5
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:22,040
Speaker 1: have taken place in Texas, and we are just heartbroken

6
00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 1: for everyone in Mystic and everyone affected, and it really

7
00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,880
Speaker 1: drives home an unfortunate point. The climate crisis is making

8
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,800
Speaker 1: extreme weather more frequent and more severe, and the climate

9
00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,199
Speaker 1: doesn't care where you live, how you voted, or if

10
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:45,280
Speaker 1: you believe in science. Science is here. We are particularly

11
00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,640
Speaker 1: heartbroken knowing that the current administration in the White House

12
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 1: has slashed funding and aid response from FEMA and other

13
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,720
Speaker 1: organizations that were meant to support victims of the flooding

14
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,960
Speaker 1: and that were meant to warr them in the hours

15
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:07,440
Speaker 1: before the flood's hit. Slashing the National Weather Service is

16
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 1: in our mind, unforgivable, and we would just like to

17
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:16,000
Speaker 1: ask that if you agree or you feel similarly passionate

18
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,480
Speaker 1: about ensuring that people are safe, whether they're your next

19
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,839
Speaker 1: door neighbors or your neighbors a few states away, please

20
00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,039
Speaker 1: look up relief efforts for those affected. Please look up

21
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:33,280
Speaker 1: local organizations wherever you live that are working to defend climate,

22
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:35,800
Speaker 1: because those are the groups that we need now more

23
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:40,000
Speaker 1: than ever. And we are keeping everyone affected by this

24
00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:44,360
Speaker 1: flood and the hurricane season to come in all of

25
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:59,040
Speaker 1: our thoughts here at work in progress. Thank you. Hello

26
00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:04,559
Speaker 1: whips Marty. Do we ever have a wonderful big brain

27
00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,680
Speaker 1: here with us today? I am so excited to be

28
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,200
Speaker 1: joined by Jay Insley. He served as the twenty third

29
00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 1: governor of Washington State from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty

30
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:20,480
Speaker 1: five and has been one of our most effective leaders

31
00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:25,480
Speaker 1: on climate in America. He has proven that bold action

32
00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:31,560
Speaker 1: on climate change is also incredibly successful economic policy. He

33
00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,880
Speaker 1: made climate a central focus of his administration and pushed

34
00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,880
Speaker 1: for and then implemented incredible clean energy legislation, promoted electric

35
00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:45,200
Speaker 1: vehicle infrastructure, supported aggressive carbon reduction goals, and under his leadership,

36
00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,799
Speaker 1: Washington State passed one of the nation's strongest one hundred

37
00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,519
Speaker 1: percent clean energy laws, aiming to eliminate coal power and

38
00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:57,160
Speaker 1: transition to carbon free energy by twenty forty five. It

39
00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,440
Speaker 1: is so cool to hear him talk about how he

40
00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,200
Speaker 1: did it, how he organized folks across the political spectrum

41
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,720
Speaker 1: and what it feels like when he meets with Washingtonians

42
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,480
Speaker 1: who get zero dollar energy bills. Now, I think it's

43
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,560
Speaker 1: probably why he's often called our gold standard for climate platforms,

44
00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,200
Speaker 1: and now post his governatorial tenure, he is working with

45
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,680
Speaker 1: an amazing group that I am lucky enough to collaborate

46
00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,240
Speaker 1: with him on, called Climate Power. I got to be honest, guys,

47
00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,400
Speaker 1: I can feel a little doom and gloom about where

48
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,160
Speaker 1: climate policy is going to go under today's leadership, and

49
00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:38,920
Speaker 1: this conversation with Governor Insley really put me back in

50
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,760
Speaker 1: my hope. He reminded me of what we've accomplished and

51
00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: what's to come, and that this fight is absolutely not over.

52
00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,400
Speaker 1: And I think that kind of inspiration is something we

53
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:52,280
Speaker 1: all need right now.

54
00:03:52,320 --> 00:04:04,160
Speaker 2: So let's dive in with Governor Jay Insley.

55
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:06,000
Speaker 3: Good morning, how are you.

56
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,000
Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you, Good morning, Well Governor. Normally, when

57
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,840
Speaker 1: I sit down with guests, you know you've got really

58
00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,400
Speaker 1: exciting things going on, whether it's work projects or you know,

59
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,400
Speaker 1: your incredible political tenure. I'm actually quite curious. I like

60
00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,440
Speaker 1: to go backwards before we really sit in the present,

61
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,960
Speaker 1: and I wonder for you as a public servant and

62
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:39,000
Speaker 1: an advocate. If you could go back in time and

63
00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:44,520
Speaker 1: encounter yourself at let's say ten, do you think you'd

64
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:50,480
Speaker 1: see yourself reflected in that boy?

65
00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:58,680
Speaker 3: Not in the least, because I was strong, vigorous, was

66
00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,279
Speaker 3: my oyster. I'd never lost. I had not last lost

67
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:08,119
Speaker 3: a campaign at that moment, and no, I was at ten.

68
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,040
Speaker 3: I fell off my bicycle and broke my leg at

69
00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,880
Speaker 3: a very bad break, and really couldn't walk for several months.

70
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,920
Speaker 3: So I started reading, and I remember reading a book.

71
00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,480
Speaker 3: I was going to be a nuclear physicist when I

72
00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,680
Speaker 3: was ten years of age, and I read a book

73
00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,240
Speaker 3: about nuclear energy and it was just fascinated by it. So

74
00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:31,520
Speaker 3: that was my ambition when I was ten, also to

75
00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:36,120
Speaker 3: learn to walk again, which was maybe a formative experience

76
00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,280
Speaker 3: because I had to go through several months of procedures

77
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,080
Speaker 3: and it was a difficult time, but maybe an interesting

78
00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,080
Speaker 3: one because I started to read. Maybe that's what caused

79
00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,839
Speaker 3: my problems to make me go into politics.

80
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,000
Speaker 1: Why do you think you were so passionate about science

81
00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:53,760
Speaker 1: as a young boy.

82
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,640
Speaker 3: Well, my father was a biology teacher. That might have

83
00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:01,440
Speaker 3: something to do with it, and there was some and

84
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,359
Speaker 3: I just remember there was a diagram about how fission worked,

85
00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:09,560
Speaker 3: about the splitting of the atom, and somehow that captured

86
00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,560
Speaker 3: my imagination. And I think that the wonderful thing about

87
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:20,279
Speaker 3: youth is your imagination is untrammeled. It's unconstrained, that society

88
00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,240
Speaker 3: has not put any constraints on your imagination yet. So

89
00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,400
Speaker 3: last night I was sitting out on my deck out

90
00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,600
Speaker 3: here watching the sunset, and I asked my two year

91
00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,560
Speaker 3: old grandson, I said, how far away is the sun?

92
00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:36,080
Speaker 3: Is that a long ways away or is it close?

93
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,599
Speaker 3: And he started like reaching out like he could try

94
00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,599
Speaker 3: to figure out how far away it was. And then

95
00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,400
Speaker 3: then he reached up to the sky and he says,

96
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,839
Speaker 3: I'm going to pull the sky down and make it

97
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,320
Speaker 3: a blanket. And he reached up to the blue sky

98
00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:53,880
Speaker 3: and it's like he's reaching up and he was going

99
00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,919
Speaker 3: to make the sky a blanket. You know, and you

100
00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,560
Speaker 3: get older, you wouldn't be able to share that imagination

101
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,520
Speaker 3: because people would look at you a little strange. But

102
00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,520
Speaker 3: as a child, you're free to rome. And so that's

103
00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:09,400
Speaker 3: a wonderful thing about that part of life.

104
00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:14,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, free to imagine. Really, do you think that your

105
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:21,320
Speaker 1: time spent reading while healing launched your interest in politics

106
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:22,560
Speaker 1: or did that come.

107
00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:27,880
Speaker 3: Later, much much later. I really, I've always been interested

108
00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,960
Speaker 3: in public policy issues, but I did not see myself

109
00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,800
Speaker 3: being involved in politics as an official till my mid

110
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:40,080
Speaker 3: to upper thirties. And you know, I was really interested

111
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,680
Speaker 3: in my community affairs and kept abreast to what was

112
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,400
Speaker 3: going on in the nation. But the way I got

113
00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,680
Speaker 3: involved in politics, that was a small town lawyer raising

114
00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,040
Speaker 3: Hay and three Pharoh boys out in the central part

115
00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:58,400
Speaker 3: of Washington State, and we tried to pass a school bond,

116
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,280
Speaker 3: Trudy and I because it failed five times and they

117
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,400
Speaker 3: were going to have to start double shifting our kids.

118
00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:06,200
Speaker 3: We thought that was nuts. So he said, let's go

119
00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,280
Speaker 3: build a new high school. And no one else with

120
00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,000
Speaker 3: town would try because they failed five times. Wow, Trudy

121
00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:13,560
Speaker 3: and I and another couple took it on. We got

122
00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,400
Speaker 3: it passed, and as soon as we passed it, though,

123
00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,080
Speaker 3: the chatterheads and the legislature changed the funding formula and

124
00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,440
Speaker 3: got our state funding in half. And I got outraged

125
00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,560
Speaker 3: about that, went over and started to raise hell An

126
00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 3: Olympia in our capital. And eventually he said, well, if

127
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:29,240
Speaker 3: I'm going to do this, I might as well be

128
00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,880
Speaker 3: in office. So I ran for office one in a

129
00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 3: huge upset, very very republican area against the city mayor

130
00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:39,880
Speaker 3: and had no chance of winning. Was in the legislature

131
00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:43,360
Speaker 3: for two years and went to Congress. So that's my route,

132
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:48,640
Speaker 3: which was not preordained, predestined, or planned, And here I am.

133
00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:51,240
Speaker 1: Sometimes I think that's the best way, though, you know,

134
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,480
Speaker 1: people who see a problem and decide to run toward it.

135
00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:59,040
Speaker 1: When when you want to fix something to ensure a

136
00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,760
Speaker 1: better future for you, where kids and other people's kids,

137
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,319
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's a I think there's such

138
00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,680
Speaker 1: disdain for our political system because we see so many

139
00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,000
Speaker 1: people who get into it for self interest and self enrichment.

140
00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,280
Speaker 1: And it's really a relief to be reminded that there

141
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,760
Speaker 1: are folks who do this because they actually want to

142
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,320
Speaker 1: serve the public. So it's nice to hear your story.

143
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,080
Speaker 1: When when you look around the landscape of you know,

144
00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:36,080
Speaker 1: the world you work in. Why do you think younger

145
00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:43,000
Speaker 1: generations seem so politically averse? You know, what do you

146
00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,200
Speaker 1: think that is? Is it a is it a disillusionment

147
00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:52,000
Speaker 1: or is it that frustration with some of that kind

148
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,360
Speaker 1: of grift that we see in the political system. Why

149
00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,679
Speaker 1: do you think so many young folks are hands off.

150
00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:02,640
Speaker 3: Young. I love young people. I'd like to be one

151
00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:08,439
Speaker 3: actually someday. But I don't think, you know, it's changed.

152
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,280
Speaker 3: I think that you know, when you're nineteen twenty twenty one,

153
00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,719
Speaker 3: you just you still don't have your feet under you yet.

154
00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:18,400
Speaker 3: You're not connected to a particular community all the time,

155
00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:23,600
Speaker 3: and you just haven't been hit with a mortgage rate interest,

156
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,400
Speaker 3: you know, raise, you haven't been hit by reality to

157
00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:32,959
Speaker 3: some degree in that regard. And there's a maturation project,

158
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,320
Speaker 3: you know, in life. You know, I hate to say it,

159
00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,400
Speaker 3: but you do grow into things. And I don't think

160
00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:41,720
Speaker 3: it's I don't I actually don't know the numbers, but

161
00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,240
Speaker 3: I'm not sure it's changed dramatically. As far as voting

162
00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,240
Speaker 3: behavior for young people, it's always been lesser than people,

163
00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:52,440
Speaker 3: you know, over sixty. That's always been sort of the

164
00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,280
Speaker 3: reality of this situation. I will say that the young

165
00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,960
Speaker 3: voters that do vote and are active are so incredible,

166
00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:06,880
Speaker 3: well informed and scientifically literate and inspiring to those of

167
00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,520
Speaker 3: us who've been around for a few decades. So we

168
00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,680
Speaker 3: do everything humanly possible to get young people engaged because

169
00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,000
Speaker 3: they're the smartest generation and they have the most to lose, right,

170
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,880
Speaker 3: So you know how many years have I got, I

171
00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,079
Speaker 3: don't know, but twenty year old's got several decades. And

172
00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:25,120
Speaker 3: if they lose the planet and a place to live

173
00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,240
Speaker 3: in a health system that takes care of them, they

174
00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,360
Speaker 3: get a lot more to lose. So we do everything

175
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,720
Speaker 3: we do to encourage them. We do have a higher

176
00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:38,439
Speaker 3: voter participation of young and old in my state because

177
00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,319
Speaker 3: we have one of it's not the best voting system,

178
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,800
Speaker 3: because we vote by mail, it's very easy. We have

179
00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,480
Speaker 3: same day registration. We make it really easy to vote.

180
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,560
Speaker 3: And it just drives me nuts when I see these

181
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,960
Speaker 3: other states, most of them run by the party that

182
00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,080
Speaker 3: I don't belong to, that you know, make people stand

183
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:58,560
Speaker 3: in line for three hours to vote. It's just nuts.

184
00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:01,959
Speaker 3: So we do everything we can to increase voter participation,

185
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:03,680
Speaker 3: and we have one of the highest rates in the nation.

186
00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,800
Speaker 1: Oh, I just love that. It is such an odd

187
00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:12,880
Speaker 1: thing to watch, you know, one of our two parties

188
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,120
Speaker 1: really want to deny people the right to exercise their

189
00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,600
Speaker 1: vote and their voice. And you know, I will say

190
00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,679
Speaker 1: one of the things that not to say the two

191
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:26,480
Speaker 1: parties are the same, but one of the things that

192
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:31,960
Speaker 1: really frustrates me is that we couldn't get our party

193
00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,320
Speaker 1: better in line in the first two years of President

194
00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,200
Speaker 1: Biden's term. The fact that we have not reinstated the

195
00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,760
Speaker 1: John Lewis Voting Rights Act just makes me crazy.

196
00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:45,880
Speaker 3: Look, I wish we'd solved all our problems where we

197
00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:47,920
Speaker 3: had a majority. But you got to understand, you up

198
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:52,240
Speaker 3: against the filibuster in the Senate, yep. And that's one

199
00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,479
Speaker 3: of the frustrating things that when you're in the minority

200
00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,440
Speaker 3: party in either chamber, or even when you're in the

201
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,199
Speaker 3: majority party, excuse me, you have to realize up against

202
00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,920
Speaker 3: philibuster to try to pass something like that. So unless

203
00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:09,360
Speaker 3: you're willing to blow up the filibuster. And I'm not

204
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,719
Speaker 3: a fan of the filibuster, if it was me, I

205
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,160
Speaker 3: probably would vote to end it, even though there's downsize

206
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,959
Speaker 3: when here's the minority, obviously, but that prevents a lot

207
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,720
Speaker 3: of progress, and it is you know, that is you know,

208
00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,720
Speaker 3: a cleavage between the two parties. So the Democratic Party

209
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,560
Speaker 3: is for the last you know, one hundred and fifty years,

210
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:33,800
Speaker 3: has stood for increasing participation in our community decision making,

211
00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,560
Speaker 3: and the other party not so much. They have willfully

212
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,000
Speaker 3: in many occasions, tried to make it more difficult and

213
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,240
Speaker 3: continue these efforts even today in a variety of ways,

214
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,440
Speaker 3: with all kinds of tests and barriers, and you know,

215
00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,920
Speaker 3: requiring you to go produce your birth certificate when you

216
00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:52,760
Speaker 3: simply want to vote, which is a real headache, by

217
00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:54,480
Speaker 3: the way, because a lot of people, like nine to

218
00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:59,560
Speaker 3: fifteen percent people literally can't find their documents on occasions,

219
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,440
Speaker 3: so it's a serious issue. It's very disappointing that both

220
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,280
Speaker 3: parties can't be in favor of broadening the number of

221
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:13,480
Speaker 3: people participate. To put a mildly, I'm disappointed in them, you.

222
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,040
Speaker 1: And me both, sir. We'll be back in just a

223
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:25,080
Speaker 1: minute after a few words from our favorite sponsors. It's

224
00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:30,080
Speaker 1: interesting to me when I think about participation in the

225
00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:39,000
Speaker 1: system in general and expanding people's access to weigh in

226
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,400
Speaker 1: on their future. It really makes me think a lot

227
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:46,120
Speaker 1: about climate And you know, you are one of our

228
00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:52,120
Speaker 1: best leaders on climate change and on you know, bolstering

229
00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,560
Speaker 1: our power as a nation to deal with it and

230
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,920
Speaker 1: to take care of our people. How did you come

231
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,440
Speaker 1: to really focus on climate as a core issue for

232
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:07,600
Speaker 1: yourself and what do you wish people better understood about it?

233
00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,720
Speaker 3: In the first place, Well, I think there's something deep

234
00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,640
Speaker 3: like this. I'll try to give you a succinct answer

235
00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:18,080
Speaker 3: of a complex problem, but basically, I really believe that

236
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:23,040
Speaker 3: your highest duty as a person is to those who

237
00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,239
Speaker 3: are going to come behind you, our children, our grandchildren,

238
00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,760
Speaker 3: our nieces, our nephews, our neighbors' kids. I think that's

239
00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:33,240
Speaker 3: our highest duty because keeping this chain, of this beautiful

240
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,920
Speaker 3: chain of humanity going in a healthy way and giving

241
00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:40,600
Speaker 3: your kids what you've enjoyed is our highest duty. There's

242
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:41,960
Speaker 3: a lot of other duties in life that you know

243
00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,080
Speaker 3: everybody'd want to ask your car in a longer vacation,

244
00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,800
Speaker 3: but that's in my book, in my value system, that's

245
00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,960
Speaker 3: the number one duty of any person in any realm,

246
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,360
Speaker 3: no matter what you're doing. So it kind of stems

247
00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,320
Speaker 3: from that. And I have six grandchildren and it is

248
00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:03,200
Speaker 3: my deep, deep, purple passionate desire for them to have

249
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:06,600
Speaker 3: what I've had, which is clean water, to be able

250
00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,640
Speaker 3: to drink and to swim in snow in the mountains,

251
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,480
Speaker 3: to ski on air, to breathe it's not contaminated with

252
00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:18,600
Speaker 3: forest fire and smoke. And I want desperately, if I

253
00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,800
Speaker 3: can use that word, to give my grandchildren those gifts,

254
00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,880
Speaker 3: and they seem simple because I've always had them. But

255
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,040
Speaker 3: they're not going to have those gifts of a blessed

256
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:32,040
Speaker 3: and healthy life unless people of my age act to

257
00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,960
Speaker 3: build a clean energy economy. And this is a very

258
00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,320
Speaker 3: optimistic moment. I know that sounds very strange to say,

259
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:43,120
Speaker 3: given what the Republicans are trying to do, but we

260
00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,960
Speaker 3: have such capability right now to do this, to use

261
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,320
Speaker 3: our heads. Solar and wind energy is now cheaper than

262
00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,320
Speaker 3: coal power electricity about ninety four percent of the United States.

263
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,240
Speaker 3: We're building hundreds of thousands of jobs with clean energy jobs.

264
00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,040
Speaker 3: If we just use our heads in common sense, we

265
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,160
Speaker 3: can tame this beast and help our economy. So it's

266
00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,199
Speaker 3: both a moment to think of our grandchildren and a

267
00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:12,040
Speaker 3: moment to think of the economic benefits of clean energy

268
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,200
Speaker 3: and to be frankly outraged at what the Republicans want

269
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,480
Speaker 3: to do, which is to slow down this emerging rocket

270
00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:24,080
Speaker 3: that's taken off in clean energy. And it's just so

271
00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:28,600
Speaker 3: maddening as we speak that the Republicans are fashioning a

272
00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,600
Speaker 3: bill that will you know, have already cost maybe ninety

273
00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:36,639
Speaker 3: thousand jobs across the United States. I look at North Carolina.

274
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,760
Speaker 3: You know, Senator Tillis has a vote on this, and

275
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,560
Speaker 3: this bill is drafted, would cost something like forty five

276
00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,320
Speaker 3: thousand jobs in North Carolina over the next several decades. Wow,

277
00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:52,520
Speaker 3: it's billions of dollars of investment. And here's a kicker,

278
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,880
Speaker 3: I think there's actually been an assessment of this could

279
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,960
Speaker 3: result in utility bills going up three hundred dollars a

280
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,560
Speaker 3: month for the people in Carolina because they no longer

281
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,240
Speaker 3: will have access to the cheapest source of electricity, which

282
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:12,040
Speaker 3: is electricity generated by renewable sources. So when they, out

283
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:17,440
Speaker 3: of ideology do this, it's really quite maddening given the

284
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,520
Speaker 3: pace of technology that is now available to us. So

285
00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,439
Speaker 3: it's a good moment for voices to be heard to

286
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:29,120
Speaker 3: stand up for cheap energy, cheap electricity, thousands of jobs

287
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,280
Speaker 3: and bonus, maybe our grandkids will have a place to

288
00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 3: live and breathe because the issue.

289
00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:37,800
Speaker 1: As well, well, that's just it. You know, when I

290
00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:48,040
Speaker 1: think about the cost of foregoing in our environment. You know,

291
00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,920
Speaker 1: dirty air, poisoned water, doesn't care how you voted, it's

292
00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:57,720
Speaker 1: going to affect all of us. And so it's certainly

293
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,600
Speaker 1: an environmental issue. It's also a moral issue, it's a

294
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,440
Speaker 1: human safety issue. And then, as you said, a financial one.

295
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,800
Speaker 1: You know, to see that since we started really investing

296
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,000
Speaker 1: in clean energy. You know, there's a statistic I read

297
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,080
Speaker 1: recently that says three and a half million Americans have

298
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:21,160
Speaker 1: saved more than eight billion dollars thanks to energy efficient

299
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:26,080
Speaker 1: upgrades across the country and that if they continue, that

300
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 1: savings will increase to thirty eight billion dollars by twenty thirty.

301
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,639
Speaker 1: So when you say that this bill, you know, this

302
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,480
Speaker 1: this reconciliation plan that they want to push through, this

303
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:44,160
Speaker 1: big awful bill, will destroy these things, I just think, well,

304
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,919
Speaker 1: who would want to set thirty eight billion dollars on fire? Like,

305
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,199
Speaker 1: imagine what we could do with that money for you know,

306
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:57,840
Speaker 1: upgrades and infrastructure and kids. It's like, the the insanity

307
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:03,399
Speaker 1: of having a dirt to your world and wasting money

308
00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:08,960
Speaker 1: just feels so ridiculous to me. So why do you

309
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:16,280
Speaker 1: think they've worked so hard to make environmental issues, clean energy,

310
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:21,800
Speaker 1: the literal evolution of an innovation in technology seem like

311
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,439
Speaker 1: it's a partisan thing instead of just what we should

312
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,440
Speaker 1: be doing as a global power.

313
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,680
Speaker 3: Well, it's a very difficult question as to why people

314
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 3: who are literate could shut their eyes to both the

315
00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,200
Speaker 3: obvious threat and the obvious benefits of clean energy. It's

316
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,359
Speaker 3: very difficult, but I'll give it my best shot to

317
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,480
Speaker 3: see where this comes from. Number One, you ask who

318
00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 3: these people are. These are people who are behold into

319
00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:51,159
Speaker 3: the fossil fuel industries. In the fossil fuel industries are

320
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,920
Speaker 3: the most powerful corporations in world history. They're much more

321
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,960
Speaker 3: powerful than the mediciese during the Italian period. So they're

322
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,719
Speaker 3: answering to their their bosses, if you will, Who are

323
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 3: the people with the billions of dollars in an old,

324
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 3: unfortunately dirty industry that they are answering to. Those are

325
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,080
Speaker 3: the people telling them how to vote. So that's number one.

326
00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:19,240
Speaker 3: Number two, they've got a cult going on right now

327
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,199
Speaker 3: where they've got a guy in the White House that

328
00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,919
Speaker 3: somehow has a phobia about wind turbines. He says they

329
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 3: cause cancer, but we know they don't cause cancer, they

330
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,120
Speaker 3: cause jobs, And he somehow he didn't want to see

331
00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 3: a wind turbine within sight of his golf course and

332
00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 3: decided he wanted to destroy this entire industry. It's nuts.

333
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 3: But number three, there is a deeper reason. If I

334
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,160
Speaker 3: can and it requires a little more thought to think about.

335
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 3: It's fear. Fear is very powerful, and in their case,

336
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,920
Speaker 3: they are afraid that we can't solve this problem. They're

337
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 3: afraid that we can't have a modern lifestyle by addressing

338
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,400
Speaker 3: this problem, and so they shut their eyes. It. It's

339
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 3: like they want to put the monster in the in

340
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,879
Speaker 3: the closet, you know. They get the monster in the closet.

341
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,400
Speaker 3: They don't want to let it out because they're afraid

342
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 3: that will lose all of the modern benefits we have

343
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,840
Speaker 3: of ev warmth in our house and food on the table,

344
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,720
Speaker 3: and electronics at our disposal. And they don't see a

345
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 3: vision that can allow us to live that life. I do,

346
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,639
Speaker 3: and so many thousands and millions, and the majority of

347
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,600
Speaker 3: Americans do because we're now experiencing it and the joy

348
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 3: of this. It's the joy of clean energy. I remember

349
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:38,280
Speaker 3: talking to this woman. We got solar panels for a house.

350
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 3: We have a thing called the Climate Commitment Act Washington State,

351
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 3: and it generates money so we can help Washingtonians get

352
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 3: access to clean energy. So she lives in top and

353
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,120
Speaker 3: it she gets up at three o'clock every morning, goes

354
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,959
Speaker 3: picks apples. Top finished Washington, and I met she and

355
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,600
Speaker 3: her daughter right their front yard looking up at her

356
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 3: solar panels, and she said, I am the best day

357
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 3: of my month is the day I get my utility

358
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 3: bills because it's zero, says I. Just it's like a

359
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,439
Speaker 3: gift every month. So we hear these stories of people

360
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 3: getting heat pumps who've lowered their costs and have much more,

361
00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:15,240
Speaker 3: you know, comfortable homes. And by the way, now heat

362
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:17,880
Speaker 3: pump now gives you air conditioning too, and we now

363
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 3: need that in Seattle. We never needed air conditioning until now,

364
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,399
Speaker 3: but now the heat domes are hitting us right and

365
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 3: it helps on air quality in so many ways. And

366
00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,440
Speaker 3: we've had a problem with air quality because of forest fires.

367
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,239
Speaker 3: By the way, you mentioned financial impact on this. One

368
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 3: of the great things people don't think about are the

369
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 3: health costs associated with this. We have an epidemic of asthma.

370
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,160
Speaker 3: We have kids with neighbors that they don't know anybody

371
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,600
Speaker 3: doesn't have asthma, and it's getting worse because of forest

372
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 3: fire smoke and also because of the particular matter that

373
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,439
Speaker 3: comes from burning fossil fuels. So the financial cost is

374
00:23:55,480 --> 00:24:01,400
Speaker 3: not just losing jobs. It's not just losing industries. It's

375
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 3: losing your health and the health costs have gone up

376
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,679
Speaker 3: dramatically because of that. So there's so many ways this

377
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 3: makes sense. I've given you my best explanation as to

378
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,439
Speaker 3: why this is. And it's very unique to America. You know,

379
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 3: you go to other continents. This is not a debate

380
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 3: between the liberal and conservative parties. You know, every country

381
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,399
Speaker 3: has a liberal and conservative party, and there's unanimity that

382
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 3: we got to do something about this. And the rest

383
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,919
Speaker 3: of the world. It's a very strange thing in the

384
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 3: United States and most bizarre because we're the most technologically

385
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:38,200
Speaker 3: adept people in the world. You know, we're the ones

386
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 3: that went to the moon. Yeah, and so why this

387
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:44,640
Speaker 3: has infected us is a little strange. But we need

388
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,239
Speaker 3: to do something about it, which is get out there

389
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,640
Speaker 3: and vote in March.

390
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: Yes, sir. And you know what's also not lost on me.

391
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 1: There's the economic cost. There's obviously that the health costs.

392
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: There's also a cost to our national security, which you

393
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 1: were just referencing. You know, the United States is really

394
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: a leader on science and technology, and as we see

395
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 1: these threats to you know, our research institutions, funding grants,

396
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 1: all of these things It's not lost on me that

397
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 1: if we, you know, knock the wheels off the bus

398
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,880
Speaker 1: of progress on environmental science, we're given it to other

399
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:34,879
Speaker 1: countries like we will forfeit our future as technologists to

400
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 1: countries like China. And it's really important for us to

401
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 1: continue to lead on this from a democracy.

402
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 3: So this is this is where we shine. We do

403
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,120
Speaker 3: two things really well, at least till now in America.

404
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 3: What is democracy, which we gave to the world in

405
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 3: the modern world, and to our scientific and innovative, entrepreneurial genius.

406
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 3: And both of there in an assault right now. We

407
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 3: know about the assaults on democracy, but the assault on science,

408
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 3: the assault on innovation, the assault on creativity based on technology.

409
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,240
Speaker 3: You know, you're in a creative business, right and congratulations

410
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,920
Speaker 3: on your career, But science is a creative business as well,

411
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,680
Speaker 3: and by choking that creativity, this is really the economic

412
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 3: powerhouse of the United States. The economic growth of the

413
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 3: United States starts in laboratories, probably most, if not many,

414
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 3: if not most, in university laboratories. That's where these ideas

415
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 3: come from, where they start, that's where these startups come

416
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 3: out of. And right now that's choked off for reasons

417
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 3: that really are difficult to understand because those researchers now

418
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,680
Speaker 3: are not coming to do research and projects. They are

419
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,800
Speaker 3: going to Germany and England and China, and that's where

420
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 3: that research is going to go. Because these researchers, they

421
00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 3: have a passion for doing it. They're going to find

422
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 3: a place to do it, and now we're telling them

423
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 3: they can't do it, and it's so insidious. One old story.

424
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 3: So we were when we marched last weekend. We had

425
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,879
Speaker 3: a unique way of doing it. We did it on

426
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 3: our ferryboat. So on the ferry from Bambridge Island to Seattle.

427
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,240
Speaker 3: We had two thousand people walking around the ferryboat deck

428
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 3: in protests. And I met a woman named Ella and

429
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 3: she is a freshman at Harvard. She is the pole

430
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,119
Speaker 3: vault champion in the Ivy League and she's also a

431
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:34,119
Speaker 3: medical device researcher at age like eighteen or nineteen, and

432
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 3: she's doing research on using mechanical energy instead of electrical

433
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 3: energy to power little devices that are put in your

434
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 3: body as a simpler way to do it. And she

435
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 3: has a research grant, which is incredible, the eighteen nineteen

436
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 3: year old person thinking about medical devices. Yeah wow. And

437
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 3: her Grant just got canceled. Can't do it this summer.

438
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 3: She was going to be trying to invent something that

439
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 3: can help people of my age get through the aging process,

440
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,479
Speaker 3: and they canceled her. And that is so heartbreaking to

441
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 3: see the ambition in her eyes quashed. Now she's resilient,

442
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 3: she's going to go on. So I told her, look,

443
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 3: this may delay your work, but it's not going to

444
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 3: stop it. So go pull vault this summer and we'll

445
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 3: be back when Democrats get in charge of the House

446
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,960
Speaker 3: of Representatives at least, so we're hoping that'll happen. By

447
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 3: the way, there's litigation on all of this too. Yes,

448
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,640
Speaker 3: we're hopeful. We've got you know, a dozen injunctions already

449
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:41,920
Speaker 3: against Trump's trying to stop this progress. So all is

450
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 3: not lost here. So we've still got hope.

451
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute. But here's a

452
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 1: word from our sponsors. Not that I'm any fan of

453
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 1: the person I'm about to mention, but even Elon Musk

454
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,000
Speaker 1: is warning that America will not win the technology race

455
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:06,720
Speaker 1: without clean energy production. We've got to have it. There's

456
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 1: no amount of oil drilling that'll be able to fulfill

457
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: our needs. There's no way to increase production to those levels,

458
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 1: and it doesn't make any sense, as we've said, because

459
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 1: it's more expensive.

460
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 3: Well listen, maybe Elong got one right recently, and that's

461
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 3: the one that choking off technological innovation is crazy in

462
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,959
Speaker 3: the United States of America. And by the way, his

463
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 3: story is instructive too, because it also shows how governmental

464
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:41,200
Speaker 3: investment early in the arc of progress in these technologies

465
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 3: is extremely important. His company got to start in part

466
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 3: because of some federal assistance that helped that company get going.

467
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 3: That makes sense because while you're competing with these incumbent

468
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 3: old technologies, getting a little start, a little seed money

469
00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 3: really really helps. And it does so well. I started

470
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 3: a thing called the Clean Tech Center or a testbed

471
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 3: facility at the University of Washington several years ago and

472
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 3: met these two young guys that had invented a way

473
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 3: to increase the efficiency of a solar cell by kind

474
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 3: of concentrating the light, changing the frequency, counturing some of

475
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,960
Speaker 3: the frequencies of light. That was like four years ago. Well,

476
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 3: now they've spun off their company, they've been acquired by

477
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 3: somebody else, And it started with this little seed money

478
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 3: from the university, from the State of Washington to start

479
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 3: this clean tech lab.

480
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's really important to frame things

481
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 1: this way for people to understand, you know, how large

482
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 1: the sphere of effect for these industries really is and

483
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: that it affects you know, science, tech, budget, health, everything.

484
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: I think it can be a little hard to wrap

485
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: your head around it because it's such an enormous part

486
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,479
Speaker 1: of our world. And one of the things I think,

487
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: and you can tell me if I'm correct here, one

488
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 1: of the things I think I'm seeing is, especially with

489
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: the extreme weather and the way things are changing, you know,

490
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: since Trump got back into office, I do feel like

491
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 1: I'm seeing people realize, you know, this is this is bad.

492
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 1: The fact that Noah is changing, that he wants to

493
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: absolutely you know, cut it down to basically be completely inefficient.

494
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: That signals to Americans that the president is essentially saying

495
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: you're on your own. You know. Disaster warnings have not

496
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: gone out on days they needed to since he took office,

497
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: and people have died. Can you kind of walk us

498
00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: through a bit what Noah and the National Weather Service

499
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 1: do and why they are so important to folks across

500
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 1: the country.

501
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 3: I can, and I wish I wasn't so experienced at this,

502
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 3: but you know, I was governor for twelve years for

503
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 3: the most beautiful state in the country, and the most

504
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 3: beautiful country and the planet, most beautiful planet in the

505
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 3: Solar system, but it was injured so multiply by climate

506
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:29,479
Speaker 3: related disasters. And I know so many people whose lives

507
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 3: have been interrupted and sometimes lost because of these climate

508
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 3: related disasters. And it's very personal with me because I've

509
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 3: seen what that trauma does when your house has been

510
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,719
Speaker 3: burned down. I remember this couple in WINACTI standing just

511
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,480
Speaker 3: in literally the ashes of their house, hugging each other,

512
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 3: just trying to support each other. It's such trauma when

513
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 3: you lose your house or your life. We had two

514
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 3: whole towns burned down in forest fires, and of course

515
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 3: our forest fires have almost doubled in the last several

516
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,760
Speaker 3: decades because of heat. Because of heat and drought and dryness,

517
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 3: these forests are just tenders waiting to explode now across

518
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 3: the Western United States. There's no force on nature that

519
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 3: can really totally solved. We can manage our forests, we're

520
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,360
Speaker 3: doing that, but you can't totally solve the problem when

521
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 3: they're so dry. So I've seen this personal and when

522
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 3: I've seen what Trump did, which was so callously indifferent,

523
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 3: it really does make my blood boil. This town called

524
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 3: mal didn't burned down several years ago in eastern Washington.

525
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 3: The whole town burned down. In fact, the fire engine

526
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 3: burned down in the fire station. The fire is moving

527
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 3: so quickly, and we asked, you know, the federal government

528
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 3: for help, and Trump says, no, I'm not going to help.

529
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 3: And when the Republican congresswoman said, why won't you help?

530
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 3: You know, this is a Republican district, and he said,

531
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,760
Speaker 3: because I don't you know, I don't like the governor.

532
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 3: You know, he's not subservient to me, won't kiss my

533
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 3: ring often enough. So he refused assistance to those families

534
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,840
Speaker 3: whose homes were in ashes, whose lives were severely compromised.

535
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 3: And because the whole town, when you have the whole

536
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,400
Speaker 3: town burned down, you just don't have something to go

537
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 3: back to. There's no city hall, there's no fire station,

538
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 3: there's no medical clinic. And so that is so devastating

539
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 3: to a community. And to me, how I look at

540
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 3: this problem, when I think about that couple standing in

541
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,960
Speaker 3: the ruins of their home, pleading with the president who

542
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,720
Speaker 3: was hired to help them turn his back on them. Literally,

543
00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 3: he's turning his back on these people their most desperate

544
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 3: moment where he said that we're not going to help

545
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,759
Speaker 3: these people. I can't think of a more scandalous, abusive

546
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 3: thing for a public official to do. Look, we're not

547
00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,160
Speaker 3: asking to go to the moon or cure cancer by

548
00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 3: next Monday. We're simply asking him to help these people

549
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,239
Speaker 3: who are in stress. And it's fires here, but it's

550
00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 3: floods too. I remember talking to another family. They got

551
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 3: flooded out in the northern part to the state of Washington,

552
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,840
Speaker 3: and they took about a year to rebuild their home.

553
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 3: They had a party celebrating rebuilding their home, and a

554
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,399
Speaker 3: week later, another flood came through and wiped out their

555
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:16,560
Speaker 3: home again. And to turn your back on these people

556
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,440
Speaker 3: is just such an outrage, and we need to do

557
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 3: something about it, which clearly is to vote and go

558
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,759
Speaker 3: help people that can get into office to stop this madness.

559
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 3: Now he talks about it as waste, fraud, and abuse.

560
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:32,920
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you what, when you see a family

561
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,719
Speaker 3: standing in those ashes and they ask you for a

562
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 3: little bit of food to eat for a few weeks

563
00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 3: and a little bit of rental assistance so they can

564
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 3: go to apartment for a few weeks while to figure

565
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:46,040
Speaker 3: out where're going to be, and maybe some assistance with

566
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,799
Speaker 3: jobs because you've lost your jobs because the economy has

567
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 3: been destroyed in your local community. That ain't waste, fraud

568
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 3: and abuse. That's human compassion. It's responsibility of what we

569
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:01,880
Speaker 3: hire the federal government to do. So I'm hopeful this

570
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:03,080
Speaker 3: will turn this around.

571
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: I sure hope so too. I think it's really important

572
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 1: to remind people that programs like this, that's your ROI

573
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 1: for your investment in this country, for your being a citizen,

574
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:19,279
Speaker 1: for your paying taxes and building an economy. You know,

575
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:26,440
Speaker 1: if you don't believe in social safety nets, then go

576
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,799
Speaker 1: live somewhere else, go live off the grid, start your

577
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,359
Speaker 1: own country and be one of one.

578
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:33,399
Speaker 3: And we're all at risk here too, no matter where

579
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:38,360
Speaker 3: you live, everybody's at risk from climate related disasters. They're

580
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 3: so omnipresent, and they're almost every week, and it hits

581
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 3: all of us Democrats and Democrat Republicans alike. In fact,

582
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 3: that little talent I told you about Malden, Washington, when

583
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 3: I went back, you know, they voted for Donald Trump,

584
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,280
Speaker 3: like by seventy percent. These are communities who are wildly

585
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 3: supportive of him, and then he turns his back on him.

586
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 3: So and unfortunately, this is something we've got to wrap

587
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 3: our heads around. This is going to get worse before

588
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:06,240
Speaker 3: it gets better. The frequency of fires, a frequency of floods,

589
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 3: the frequency of extreme weather events, just rainstorms. We've had

590
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:15,319
Speaker 3: rainstorms that destroyed Mountain International Park several years ago. You know,

591
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 3: it doesn't dribble that we're now having these downpourds. This

592
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 3: is going to increase in the near term because we

593
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,440
Speaker 3: didn't start this effort twenty years ago like we should have.

594
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 3: So FEMA and the federal government is going to be

595
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,960
Speaker 3: even more important. And it's important that the federal government

596
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,879
Speaker 3: get involved because when you have a local community that's hurt,

597
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 3: you need to get these assets from multiple states helping out.

598
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 3: And I've seen this people come from and bless the

599
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,840
Speaker 3: Red Cross, who has help, but they can't carry the

600
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,440
Speaker 3: whole ball here, No to help people with this.

601
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,759
Speaker 1: Assistance well, and I think that's that's something people need

602
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 1: to remember, is that you know, FEMA exists so that

603
00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 1: we can take care of each other. And so to

604
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 1: watch the President's suh, you know, thirty percent of the

605
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: staff and threaten to eliminate the agency altogether and derail

606
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 1: our hurricane preparation. And you know, have the head of

607
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,480
Speaker 1: Noah that he appointed say he didn't even know there

608
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 1: was a hurricane season. I spent ten years in North Carolina.

609
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 1: I know a lot about hurricane season, and it was

610
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: really painful for me, despite the fact that I don't

611
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:26,400
Speaker 1: live there anymore, to watch the President deny aid to

612
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,800
Speaker 1: the folks who were affected by Hurricane Helene in that state.

613
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:33,279
Speaker 1: It was hard to watch them deny aid to the

614
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 1: tornado survivors in Arkansas. And as you said, a lot

615
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 1: of those folks are his voters. And the whole point

616
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: I believe in being a leader is to be a

617
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 1: leader for everyone. And the bottom line is here, and

618
00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:49,480
Speaker 1: you mentioned this earlier. You know, there's a lot of

619
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,240
Speaker 1: people who make a lot of money on an old system.

620
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:59,640
Speaker 1: And while Trump is currently turbo charging the climate crisis

621
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 1: to increased profits for all his oil and gas buddies, Americans,

622
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 1: you know, red states and blue are paying the price.

623
00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:14,279
Speaker 1: And so I think the first step is this moment, right,

624
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: it's the informed conversation it's making sure people have the facts.

625
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,920
Speaker 1: And then, as you said, it's organizing, and it's getting

626
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 1: out and voting and making sure that all of us

627
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:29,479
Speaker 1: are able to say, hey, this isn't working, This isn't

628
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 1: working for anybody, so we've got to do something differently.

629
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 1: I know that can be hard, probably for some of

630
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: the folks at home, because you know, we've got a

631
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: year and a half till the midterms. It's scary to

632
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,839
Speaker 1: think that we have to keep fighting before we might

633
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:50,320
Speaker 1: see a shift. So to try to inject a little

634
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 1: hope here, I'm curious, as you are an expert in

635
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,840
Speaker 1: the space, what you think are some of the most

636
00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:02,800
Speaker 1: promising things coming down the pipeline in terms of clean

637
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:07,880
Speaker 1: energy technologies and the job creation that comes out of

638
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 1: those innovative spaces.

639
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,680
Speaker 3: Well, first off, I know this sounds nuts. We're at

640
00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:15,640
Speaker 3: the moment, we're at the trough of the wave. We've

641
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:17,960
Speaker 3: got our climate DENI and President He's trying to creator

642
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 3: all the federal assistance we're getting. But I am super

643
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 3: optimistic or ability to solve this problem. And the reason

644
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,959
Speaker 3: is as I'm surrounded by people in my state who

645
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,319
Speaker 3: have emerging technologies that can solve this problem if we

646
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 3: simply allow them a little bit of room to run.

647
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 3: Just give you real quick rundown some of the things

648
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 3: going on in my state. So my state, there are

649
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 3: two companies, Celan Group fourteen. They've invented a new way

650
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:48,319
Speaker 3: to use a silicon anode battery that can increase the

651
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,840
Speaker 3: range of your car twenty or thirty percent and charge

652
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:56,280
Speaker 3: it much more quickly. They have manufacturing plants now under construction.

653
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,759
Speaker 3: These are real companies making real products that can have

654
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,759
Speaker 3: a quantum leap forward in the range of your electric car.

655
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 3: Right around the corner, literally like a mile from those

656
00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 3: two companies is a company called twelve that's making jet

657
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:15,320
Speaker 3: fuel out of carbon dioxide and water with no waste products,

658
00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:18,360
Speaker 3: so that when you find your jet there's no you

659
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 3: don't have a carbon footprint. If you will, you're using

660
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:27,160
Speaker 3: carbon free fuel. And they're building their manufacturing plant. Right

661
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,440
Speaker 3: up the river. About oh twenty miles from them, is

662
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:33,760
Speaker 3: a company's going to build the first fusion energy plant

663
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:38,280
Speaker 3: in the United States, a fifty megawatt production plant using fusion,

664
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,080
Speaker 3: not fission. This is not fission that we know as

665
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,760
Speaker 3: the old nuclear power. This is a process of fusing

666
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,680
Speaker 3: atoms rather than splitting them. Goes back to that book

667
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 3: I read when I was ten that actually they may

668
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:57,839
Speaker 3: begin construction on in the next twelve months. Wow, you've

669
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 3: got companies that are improving the performance of solar energy.

670
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:05,400
Speaker 3: We have the first marine battery manufacturing plant in Bellingham, Washington,

671
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 3: and we're going to be building electric ferries. So now

672
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 3: you won't be breathing in that smoke coming out of

673
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:13,799
Speaker 3: a smokestack of your fairies anymore. They're all electric and

674
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 3: I've ridden them on them in Norway. They work. I've

675
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,360
Speaker 3: seen the biggest one in the world is now in Uruguay.

676
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,399
Speaker 3: So the wind turbine industry is continuing to be more

677
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 3: productive building solar like crazy. So everywhere I turn around

678
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:33,360
Speaker 3: there's an entrepreneur and skilled working people building news services

679
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:37,319
Speaker 3: and products that contain this piece and reduces our cost

680
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:41,719
Speaker 3: of electricity. I mean, think about this. What a blessing

681
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:45,880
Speaker 3: to have infinite energy fallen on our shoulders that we

682
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 3: can turn into electricity to run whatever we want to

683
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 3: run with no pollution. We don't have to dig a

684
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:55,439
Speaker 3: hole in the ground. It falls. It's delivered free from

685
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,600
Speaker 3: nine million miles away from the sun and it falls

686
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:02,280
Speaker 3: right on us. I mean, this is a real blessing. Yeah,

687
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,280
Speaker 3: and now to see the continued improvement of those things

688
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,400
Speaker 3: is thrilling to me. But we want to accelerate the

689
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:14,759
Speaker 3: pace of that development, not retarded, and we can do

690
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 3: that if we just don't go backwards in some of

691
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:17,719
Speaker 3: these policies.

692
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:24,000
Speaker 1: I mean, that does feel really exciting. And now a

693
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:38,000
Speaker 1: word from our sponsors who make this show possible. When

694
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 1: you think about, for example, you know, you talk about

695
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:45,959
Speaker 1: these technologies, my brain starts to run wild thinking about

696
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: what it would be like if suddenly all these airplanes

697
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 1: flying around the planet every day had no carbon footprint,

698
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,959
Speaker 1: if every water vessel you know, didn't need to use

699
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:02,000
Speaker 1: gas fuel. It makes me think about the early days

700
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:07,439
Speaker 1: when COVID first began and granted terrifying time, but when

701
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:10,399
Speaker 1: everything really shut down and we started to see how

702
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:15,399
Speaker 1: quickly the planet could rebound if a lot of our

703
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,959
Speaker 1: pollutants ceased to be pumped into our air every day.

704
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,239
Speaker 1: What do you think or have you heard any of

705
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:29,000
Speaker 1: these scientists talk about what sort of healing we would

706
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:34,640
Speaker 1: see for the planet if entire industries did transform like this.

707
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,080
Speaker 1: Are they modeling any of that yet.

708
00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:41,640
Speaker 3: Well, I think that first off, the planet does feal

709
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:46,200
Speaker 3: quite quickly, and it astounds me how fast an ecosystem

710
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:48,919
Speaker 3: can't get restored. We had one of the largest dam

711
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:52,279
Speaker 3: removal projects, the Law Dam. It was really of no

712
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:57,840
Speaker 3: use anymore to anyone. It was just obsolete. And the

713
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:00,440
Speaker 3: Ola River and the Olympic National Park and it used

714
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:03,799
Speaker 3: to have this you know, prodigious salmon run and it

715
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,800
Speaker 3: was removed. It was really joyous occasion when that happened,

716
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 3: and just within you know, months, salmon were coming back

717
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,520
Speaker 3: on that river. It's really astounding to see how salmon

718
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:18,200
Speaker 3: will recover. A little Piper's Creek where I grew up

719
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 3: in the north side of in a suburban area of Seattle,

720
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 3: which didn't have any salmon when I you know, at

721
00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:27,600
Speaker 3: least when I was a teenager, and we worked to

722
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:31,000
Speaker 3: restore the community. It was really community led effort, little

723
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,800
Speaker 3: help in the state, I think. To restore the habitat,

724
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:35,879
Speaker 3: you know, you just make it so it spreads out,

725
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:38,920
Speaker 3: doesn't run so fast, you put woody debris in it.

726
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 3: Now you got this prodigious salmon run coming back, and

727
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 3: the kids go back and so it's a huge community celebration.

728
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:49,279
Speaker 3: When you see that life really be restored. So we

729
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 3: know that that things do come back. But there are

730
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 3: some difficult realities that we have to face that auto

731
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:00,680
Speaker 3: not make us afraid of progress, but to inspire more

732
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 3: rapid progress. And there are some systemic problems that we

733
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:08,520
Speaker 3: have that are going to be devilius for quite some time,

734
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:14,239
Speaker 3: principally water temperature. So our water temperature has increased so

735
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:17,839
Speaker 3: much in the state of Washington that salmon literally can't

736
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:20,880
Speaker 3: get up some of our rivers. They can't survive. So

737
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:24,279
Speaker 3: we had a really great dam and run go up

738
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:26,680
Speaker 3: to Columbia River, hundreds of miles up the Clembia River,

739
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,400
Speaker 3: but stopped when they got to the mouth of the

740
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:33,880
Speaker 3: in Okanahan County because water is too hot. It couldn't

741
00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:37,600
Speaker 3: keep going to spawn. Actually we got lucky they finally

742
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:39,560
Speaker 3: got up there because we got a break in the weather.

743
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:42,840
Speaker 3: But this water temperature is your issue, is one that

744
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,920
Speaker 3: is difficult. That's why we need to double our efforts

745
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:50,080
Speaker 3: to improve habitat, for instance, to allow mother nature to

746
00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:53,399
Speaker 3: do everything so that she can do. And we want

747
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:55,399
Speaker 3: to get back to work and give her a hand.

748
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,799
Speaker 1: We sure do, and you know it is beautiful to

749
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:00,920
Speaker 1: watch it. I got to go and visit some of

750
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:05,879
Speaker 1: the scientists working at Vermeo in New Mexico a few

751
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,360
Speaker 1: years ago, and just seeing the restoration of you know,

752
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 1: the cutthroat trout and the bison there. It's absolutely incredible

753
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:20,680
Speaker 1: to watch ecology heal. And it makes me think a

754
00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:23,520
Speaker 1: lot about your legacy. You know, during your time as

755
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:28,279
Speaker 1: governor Washington, with your leadership past one of the strongest

756
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:31,440
Speaker 1: clean energy laws in the country, so you know this

757
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:36,920
Speaker 1: stuff is possible. What lessons did you learn about what

758
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 1: it actually takes to rally folks to get ambitious climate

759
00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:43,800
Speaker 1: policy passed.

760
00:47:44,239 --> 00:47:47,480
Speaker 3: Well, if I can share it, thank you for the

761
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 3: kudos of our state, because our policies are the best

762
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:52,400
Speaker 3: in the nation. And that's why. It's one of the

763
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,279
Speaker 3: reasons we had such economic success, because we're driving all

764
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:58,080
Speaker 3: these new companies to come here and grow, and it's

765
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 3: one of the reasons we have such a dynamic economy.

766
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:06,640
Speaker 3: I'll mention several things. One perseverance, Just say, look, you

767
00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 3: butt your head against a brick wall for years and

768
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:11,759
Speaker 3: years and years, and then you finally break through it.

769
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:15,120
Speaker 3: So when I became governor in twenty thirteen, we had

770
00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:20,680
Speaker 3: a Republican Senate and they refused to assist in any

771
00:48:20,719 --> 00:48:24,279
Speaker 3: way to deal with anything and climate. That was very

772
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:26,120
Speaker 3: frustrating to me. You know, I wanted to have a

773
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:31,000
Speaker 3: bipartisan effort, so I started a bipartisan commission with Republican

774
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:35,359
Speaker 3: senators on it, but they basically just refused to participate.

775
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:39,719
Speaker 3: So then we finally got a Democratic majority in our legislature,

776
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:43,320
Speaker 3: but I still had a couple of kind of folks

777
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 3: that hadn't got the memo, even on the Democratic side,

778
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:48,759
Speaker 3: So I had to work for several years to get

779
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 3: those last two votes, and there were some changes in

780
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,759
Speaker 3: the legislature. And what I found is frequently it is

781
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:58,120
Speaker 3: much easier to change the people sitting in the seats

782
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:01,759
Speaker 3: than to change their minds. So we had some changes

783
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:06,319
Speaker 3: and who's sitting in the seats, And on year six

784
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:09,399
Speaker 3: or seven of my governor's term, we finally got the

785
00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 3: capstone of our multiple faceted effort, which is a capin

786
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:17,640
Speaker 3: invest system which generates three billion dollars by any m

787
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:19,359
Speaker 3: that we then turn around and get people with heat

788
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:22,920
Speaker 3: pumps and electric school buses and air filtration systems and

789
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 3: everything else. Now we've done other things. We had one

790
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:29,760
Speaker 3: hundred percent clean energy grid requirement. We have the best

791
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 3: building efficiency standards in the United States. We don't waste energy.

792
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:37,399
Speaker 3: We have a low carbon fuel standard which basically gives

793
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:41,480
Speaker 3: people cleaner fuels in multiple ways. We have a Climate

794
00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 3: Core to teach kids the science of climate change. So

795
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:49,240
Speaker 3: we've done a lot, but the big most effective tool

796
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:51,920
Speaker 3: is this cap and invest system, and that came in

797
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:55,719
Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen, in year six or seven that we

798
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,520
Speaker 3: then now have impact. And here's the really cherry on

799
00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:03,440
Speaker 3: the top, the fossil fuel. You know, billionaires didn't like that,

800
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:05,960
Speaker 3: so they came in and tried to repeal this law,

801
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,960
Speaker 3: and they put it on the ballot and we had

802
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:13,800
Speaker 3: a knockdown, drag out fight, and the wise citizens of

803
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 3: the state of Washington defeated them sixty two to thirty eight.

804
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:20,920
Speaker 3: I mean, that is the biggest landslide washing state history.

805
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:27,839
Speaker 3: Because Washingtonians understood the economic benefits, the job benefits, the

806
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:32,600
Speaker 3: health benefits, and it wasn't even necessary to talk about

807
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 3: rising sea levels alike, because they understood the first order

808
00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:39,400
Speaker 3: of benefits that if you got a heat pump, if

809
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:42,279
Speaker 3: you get solar and wind, and it's cheaper if your

810
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:46,120
Speaker 3: kids don't have to breathe forest fire smoke. Our kids

811
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:48,160
Speaker 3: had to couldn't go outside for days at a time

812
00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:51,560
Speaker 3: two summers ago because of forest fire smoke. So people

813
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:57,680
Speaker 3: understood the first order of magnitude and funally gave us

814
00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:01,160
Speaker 3: a blue Riven seal of approval. I think that you

815
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:05,400
Speaker 3: give confidence to politicians going forward, looking at the experience

816
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:09,439
Speaker 3: in Washington State. We bring companies here instead of them

817
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:13,280
Speaker 3: going somewhere else because we have this entrepreneurial culture exactly.

818
00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:17,160
Speaker 3: We invest in them and then people support it. So

819
00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:19,480
Speaker 3: people said this is not a winner politically, they're just

820
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:22,600
Speaker 3: dead wrong. I've seen it firstand first off, I got

821
00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:26,319
Speaker 3: elected governor running on this. Then we won sixty two

822
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:30,399
Speaker 3: thirty eight. Going away, this is a winning issue if

823
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:33,840
Speaker 3: it's properly framed and you talk about it in the

824
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 3: right way.

825
00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:37,240
Speaker 1: Well, it turns out if you tell people the truth

826
00:51:37,719 --> 00:51:45,239
Speaker 1: that helps. It helps. So, now that you are out

827
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:49,600
Speaker 1: of office for the last several months, and obviously I

828
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:51,880
Speaker 1: know you're spending a lot of time with your grandkids

829
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:56,040
Speaker 1: and you're still so incredibly involved, when you look forward,

830
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:02,800
Speaker 1: what feels like your area of most excited focus, what

831
00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 1: feels like your work in progress for what comes next.

832
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,120
Speaker 3: Well, I'm still engaged in this fight and in a

833
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:14,120
Speaker 3: variety of ways. I'm working with a group called Climate Power.

834
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:16,480
Speaker 3: Climate Power has been in a very effective group to

835
00:52:16,520 --> 00:52:19,360
Speaker 3: help communicate the truth. As you said, just you know

836
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,359
Speaker 3: the truth, use the truth. It's so simple, as Mark

837
00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:26,000
Speaker 3: Twain said, so easy. So I'm working with them on

838
00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:28,719
Speaker 3: communication to let people know about the power of clean

839
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:33,400
Speaker 3: energy across the country and multiple forums. I'm working on

840
00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 3: an effort to help people who have losses due to

841
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:41,279
Speaker 3: forest fires have some system to help them. So I'm

842
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:44,240
Speaker 3: quite active. I'm active in trying to raise my voice

843
00:52:44,520 --> 00:52:47,759
Speaker 3: on ferryboats, marching with people and letting them to know

844
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:50,239
Speaker 3: how important that is to help people on the electoral

845
00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:54,719
Speaker 3: cycle as well. So I'm quite engaged in this effort,

846
00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:58,120
Speaker 3: and I am as cited. I know it's easy to

847
00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:00,520
Speaker 3: kind of get down in the situation and we're in,

848
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:04,400
Speaker 3: but I just believe we're going to succeed in this.

849
00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:07,279
Speaker 3: I don't believe humans ultimately will be the cause of

850
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:09,799
Speaker 3: their own destruction. I don't believe that. I believe that

851
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:14,160
Speaker 3: we will rescue ourselves. It's been delayed by this electoral cycle,

852
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:17,319
Speaker 3: but we've been delayed before I went through the Bush era.

853
00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:20,239
Speaker 3: You know, I went through the second Bush presidency where

854
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,560
Speaker 3: he started a war in Iraq, and you know a

855
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:26,240
Speaker 3: lot of these wars are associated with access to oil,

856
00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:29,400
Speaker 3: and he slowed down our effort. You know, he wanted

857
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,480
Speaker 3: to do cold based stuff that just didn't pencil out

858
00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:36,760
Speaker 3: at all, and his presidency slowed us down by years.

859
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,920
Speaker 3: But we came back during the Obama era. We pasted

860
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:42,720
Speaker 3: things going forward. We all became this close to passing

861
00:53:42,760 --> 00:53:45,919
Speaker 3: a cap and invest bill. Then we got slowed down

862
00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:49,440
Speaker 3: again by Trump. But then we got the Biden presidency

863
00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:53,400
Speaker 3: where there's you know, a miracle of the Inflation Reduction

864
00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:55,960
Speaker 3: Act and the tax cuts, which are now threatened again

865
00:53:56,440 --> 00:54:00,279
Speaker 3: got passed, and we've seen spectacular economic growth. Some of

866
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:03,200
Speaker 3: these companies that I told you about Washington, they got

867
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:07,160
Speaker 3: a little benefit to get going because of those tax benefits,

868
00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:10,759
Speaker 3: and right now they're under threat again. You know, we

869
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:14,280
Speaker 3: talked about Senator Tillis. He could cause forty five thousand

870
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,600
Speaker 3: job losses and in state over the next couple of

871
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:18,959
Speaker 3: decades if he votes to get rid of these tax

872
00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:22,160
Speaker 3: cuts or to make them less accessible to people. Now

873
00:54:22,560 --> 00:54:24,640
Speaker 3: I've heard he's trying to make it. He's trying to

874
00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:27,439
Speaker 3: sweeten the deal a little bit. You know, he's trying

875
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:29,760
Speaker 3: to make it that you don't destroy the tax cuts

876
00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:32,799
Speaker 3: till a little later. Well, that's like saying, hey, give

877
00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:35,640
Speaker 3: me a benefit because I've delayed your hanging by a

878
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:38,480
Speaker 3: couple of weeks. That's not really an answer to this problem.

879
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:41,719
Speaker 3: We need Republicans to stand up and preserve this. My

880
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:46,759
Speaker 3: point is progress is not linear. Yes, you're going up

881
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:48,920
Speaker 3: and then you're stable. You're going up, then you're stable

882
00:54:48,960 --> 00:54:53,160
Speaker 3: a step by step. Martin Luther King was right, said,

883
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,640
Speaker 3: you know, the arc of the moral universe is long, Yes,

884
00:54:56,719 --> 00:54:59,480
Speaker 3: but it bends towards justice, and it is long. This

885
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:03,840
Speaker 3: battle is long, and this is a moment of we

886
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:06,880
Speaker 3: got some headwinds, but the winds are going to change.

887
00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:10,480
Speaker 3: We're going to be back in business and the genius

888
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:13,720
Speaker 3: that is in our country is going to be unleashed again.

889
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:19,680
Speaker 3: And we're going to get better, cheaper energy and healthier kids. Yes,

890
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:22,160
Speaker 3: and less climate change. And I believe that's going to happen.

891
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:23,800
Speaker 3: I wish what happened.

892
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,720
Speaker 1: Yesterday, you and me both, Governor, But I've.

893
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:29,480
Speaker 3: Learned that the power perseverance the most important thing in

894
00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:30,120
Speaker 3: this battle.

895
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:33,000
Speaker 1: Indeed, I love that the power of perseverance is a

896
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,840
Speaker 1: good one to focus on. Thank you so much for

897
00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:39,640
Speaker 1: joining us today, you know, to give us a window

898
00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:43,279
Speaker 1: into what you know and what we all can do.

899
00:55:44,080 --> 00:55:47,640
Speaker 1: I hope to see you at a march, either on

900
00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:50,279
Speaker 1: the water or on the land very soon.

901
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:53,920
Speaker 3: Well, I will tell people, as we've bed to do,

902
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:58,239
Speaker 3: whatever you do right now has value. You have agency,

903
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:02,280
Speaker 3: people have power and authority already right now. And anything

904
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:06,239
Speaker 3: you do of contacting your legislators, being out on the

905
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:10,759
Speaker 3: sidewalks pieceively, talking to your cranky uncle about why this

906
00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:14,080
Speaker 3: is a good idea, all of those things mount up.

907
00:56:14,239 --> 00:56:17,200
Speaker 3: Everybody can put a brick in the wall here. So

908
00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:20,960
Speaker 3: whatever you're doing out there, keep it up. We're going

909
00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:23,600
Speaker 3: to win this battle, and I will be there with you.

910
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,560
Speaker 1: I can't wait. Thank you so much.

911
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:27,239
Speaker 3: Thank you,