WEBVTT - Getting Water to Those Who Need It Most 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.720 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.320 Jason Kelly. We're right here every day bringing you the 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:11.160 latest news from the world's of business and finance, plus technology, politics, economics, 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:14.280 all harnessing the power of Business Week reporters and editors, 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.439 and of course Carol that's part of a team of 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.439 twenty seven hundred journalists and analysts more than a hundred 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.240 and twenty countries and Jason. You can download Bloomberg Business 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.239 Week on iTunes, SoundCloud, bl Bloomberg dot com. You can 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.640 also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.560 on Bloomberg Radio every weekday, or watch us on YouTube 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:36.080 by searching Bloomberg Global News. Well, Facebook, we already had 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.839 some news this week about the FTC preparing a possible 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.959 antitrust suit against it, according to those in the know. Well, 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.720 this week's cover story happens to be about Facebook and 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:49.640 how employees of the social media giant really kind of 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.280 fear that it's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.400 commitment to free speech is more about protecting President Trump 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:00.000 than the company's ideals. Bloomberg News technology reporter and author 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.320 of No Filter, The Inside Story of Instagram. Sarah Fryer 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.240 joining us on the phone in San Francisco, along with 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:09.040 Bloomberg business Week editor Jill Webber on the phone in Massachusetts. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:15.680 Amazing story and an amazing cover. Thank you so much, 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:29.479 and do we have I think it's okay, come on in, Sarah. Hey, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.040 you know, listen, it's a virtual world technology. It's a 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.920 little crazy, So go ahead, Sarah. Takeaway. It is an 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:39.839 amazing story. I think it's just a compilation of all 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.319 the things that my colleague Kurt Wagner and I have 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.240 been hearing over the past few months and years about 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.560 how Facebook has increasingly been willing to look the other 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:58.160 way when members of Trump's world break the rules on Facebook. 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.320 And that's not any mistake the company has. Um, you know, 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.800 the Trump administration has leverage over Facebook. They're facing a 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:11.920 potential regulation and even worse, potential for Trump to blow 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.520 up and create another bad news cycle. But they are 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:19.000 catering to that power, and employees are quite concerned about 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.120 what that means, as we had into the November election. 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:31.040 So you know, I think, um, Sarah, the there's a 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.840 lot of stuff in here, and it makes me just 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:39.240 think about everything that we've kind of observed um about 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:44.800 politics and Facebook going back to basically team where obviously 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.000 all the concerns were ended up being about sort of 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:53.480 Russian interference and it's uh and its role on on 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.800 on on manipulating the platform effectively. Um, and that is 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.840 a concern um again, but it's actually it seems like 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.920 the thrust of this might be in sort of the 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.480 Facebook's response to that wasn't necessarily uh to take on 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.360 that stuff. Um. And they've done, I think a pretty 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.520 amazing job of at least recognizing ability to spot some 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.240 of that stuff. But there seems to have been sort 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.120 of a right word drift at Facebook, and and that 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.760 has been um, you know, that's obviously the center of 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.000 the story. Can you talk more about where those concerns 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:33.440 are rooted in? Right? So, after the Russian election interference, 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:39.559 remember Russia was was inserting itself into us of polarizing 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:44.200 topics like immigration, like race, like like feminism. They were 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.600 building groups on on basic using people pretending to be 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.280 Americans who weren't. And what Facebook concluded from that is 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.920 that it wasn't the thing that the fake people were saying. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.320 The problem was just that they were fakes. So Facebook 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.760 really does not care if people are trying to manipulate 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:10.880 others on Facebook and spreading um, sometimes at vary incendiary 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.720 fake news. They don't want to take it down. They 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.480 only want to get get their enforcements into gear if 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:21.240 there are fake people behind it, if they're breaking other rules. 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.920 And what that's done is it's created this environment where 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.560 Trump can really test the limits of these policies. He's 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.240 been spreading a lot of misinformation about how to vote, 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.840 telling people things, um about mail in voting, saying that 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.279 that would lead to fraud. Of course it's not true. Um. 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:45.600 He has been using Facebook essentially to uh so doubt 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:50.080 in the potential results of the election. And Facebook has said, well, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.039 I know we've said that we cared about voting misinformation, 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.960 but we don't think that Trump is breaking our rules 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.160 and we don't want to take down anything from a politician. 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.880 So some with you know, I want to ask Sarah, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:06.560 is Mark Zuckerberg courting the president and and what's great 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.080 about your stories? You did some really inside reporting talking 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.440 to employees who have worked at the company and seen, 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:13.960 you know, some of the policies that they have done 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.680 and and kind of what they've been focusing on but 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:22.880 is Zuckerberg courting the president. Well, he's not a Trump Republican. 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.359 What he is is interested in power and dominance for Facebook, 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.800 and that requires the support of people in power. And 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.359 that's not just in the US. We've seen this in 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.520 many countries throughout the world. Facebook always helped out the 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:42.159 government in charge, caters to their concerns and in some cases, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.600 you know, give them face time with Zuckerberg, lets them 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.320 break rules that they wouldn't let them break if they 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:53.280 weren't powerful. And what employees are concerned about is that 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:58.159 this is actually having this unbalanced effect on what Facebook 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.080 users see and how they are learned about the election. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.680 One example that that we learned for the story is 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.520 that there were a lot of changes to the new 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:12.360 speed after presidential elections to try to reduce them out 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.800 of incendiary and untrustworthy news because that was one of 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:22.640 the big problems. Well, Facebook tested the potential outcome of 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:28.200 an algorithm change, and the policy team reviewed that and thought, well, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.240 this is this is hurting the traffic more conservative outlets 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.080 too much. We need to tweak this algorithm right and 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.880 and have an equal effect on conservative liberal up outlets 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.680 of where we roll it out to our users. That's 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.680 an example. Yeah, listen, and there are so many examples. 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:46.599 The reporting on this is just, you know, like you 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.280 always do. Sarah, fantastic it. If anybody miss part of 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.159 this interview, check it out because it will be on 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.000 our feed and we're going to feature it too in 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.360 our weekend show as well. It is the cover story 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.919 of Bluebird Business Week. Sarah Fryar, thank you so much, 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.159 and of course our thanks to Joel Webber, editor of 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.640 the magazine. Check it out. This is Bloomberg Business Week 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:09.120 with Carol Messer and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Well, 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.880 for those of you who have been paying attention, we 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:16.440 actually kicked off this entire festival with one of the 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.000 co founders. You might have heard of him, Matt Damon. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.720 Now we're going to turn to the folks who were 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.360 doing some of the most important work in the world 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.040 when it comes to water. We're talking about, of course, 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.360 the CEO and co founder of water dot org, Gary White, 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.000 and the president of water dot Org, Jennifer Shorsh. Guys, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.960 thank you so much for joining me. All right, thanks 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:41.600 to be here. Good to your Jason. So Gary, I 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.400 want to start with you, you know, tell me about 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.600 the organization at this moment, because we are in a 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.640 global pandemic. I don't need to remind anybody about that, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:54.880 but I do wonder how it has changed your work. 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.200 That is the top headline every day. It feels like, well, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.240 it had had a tremendous impact on our work. And 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:06.080 what what I see is it calls much more for 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.320 us to pay attention to water and sanitation, particularly for 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:12.560 the global community. One of the first things that we 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.960 heard when this pandemic struck is like, you should wash 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.040 your hands vigorously, and you should wash them often. And 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.440 in the United States, and we have that ability without 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.200 a thought having to be able to do that, but 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.200 when you think about people around the world, more than 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:31.600 two billion people who don't have access to safely manage 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:36.080 water and sanitation, that simple act is a huge hurdle 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.480 every day. So we can see how the pandemic is 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.800 exacerbated in those types of environments. And as we know, 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.120 this pandemic doesn't know any national borders, and so it's 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.440 easy to see how that can can spread from one 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.720 poor person living uh, you know, in the slum uh 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.120 in Mumbai to somebody in New York and it is 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:01.000 all interconnected. And I think the thing about water, sanitation, water, 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:05.040 and particularly as we will see today, it's completely interconnected 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.240 with climate. And when we talk about some of the 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:12.760 world's most vulnerable populations and climate, what they're gonna see 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:17.440 is this lack of security. As we get more flooding 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.880 and more drought, it forces people who are already living 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.680 on the margins, who might have access continuous access now 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:31.160 to these services, to completely lose that and backslide. Well, Jennifer, 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.360 let's get right to the heart of that, because Gary 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:38.160 teed it up for us beautifully. Let's talk about that intersection. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.679 Because I have to confess, as I started to really 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.679 dig into this, I was blown away by the connection 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:51.000 and the urgency of this from a climate perspective that 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.480 I don't think I fully appreciated. So help us understand, 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.920 because you guys have done some amazing recent work that 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:01.319 really crystallizes, as I say, this inter section of climate 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:06.200 and water crises. Yeah. Thanks, Jason um you you struck 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.360 upon a really important concept, which is the urgency of it. 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.840 Like climate change, I think people really might think of 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.000 this as an issue of tomorrow, but the water crisis 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.959 is an issue of today. Um a third of the 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.760 world's population lives in water stressed areas right now. We 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.200 talked about COVID. Three billion people cannot wash their hands 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.680 at home in the midst of a pandemic, and every 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.679 morning women and girls around the world wake up and 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:37.480 collectively spend two hundred million hours simply trying to provide 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.040 for the needs of their family in water. And so 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.280 it's and and on. Gary mentioned sanitation. That's more than 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.760 twice the issue of water. So it's an issue right now, 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.680 and is it? It is an issue that has real 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:55.120 human costs and real economic costs. And as climate progresses, 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:00.400 the water crisis will only get worse. And so let's 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.960 talk a little bit more about that and how it manifests, Gary, 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.439 because there are a number of different ways, some obvious, 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:11.280 some not so obvious, where the changing climate is inextricably 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.600 tied uh to the water crisis. One of them, sort 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:17.920 of going the other way in terms of trying to 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.440 get water to people, is that it's sometimes, just to 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.160 put it very simply, isn't always good for the earth? 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.280 M hm. Well, I think when we talk about water 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.920 scarcity and how we allocate the water resources that we 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.760 do have. It's important to keep in mind that you know, uh, 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.680 only about ten percent of the water that we consume 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.920 goes towards human needs, if you will, so household level 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.280 water and sanitation. And then we especially look at those 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.319 two billion people there there are folks that aren't showing up, 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.319 you know, for water with you know, drinking it through 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.760 a fire hose. They're coming with a straw, right. People 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.880 living in poverty are certainly by if we get them 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.319 access there certainly are not going to exacerbate this csis. 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.800 There's many ways that we can do that while still 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:08.120 conserving the water resources. And I think what when we 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.200 see water and climate come together, we do see it 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.880 in terms of adaptation. How are we going to ensure 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.360 the resilience of the populations that are on the margins 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:21.880 right now in the context of water access, And that's important. 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:23.880 It's kind of the least among us who are going 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.080 to be affected. First, we know that as drought strikes 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.360 and water scarcity hits that we're going to have people 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.080 that need to migrate, We're going to have climate refuge 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:38.400 refugees because of their water supply. But on the other side, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.320 just to take it a little bit more in a 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.600 different direction. It's interesting to hear Bill Gates talking about 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.680 some of the carbon issues and like cement and things 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.319 like that. I think one thing that people don't realize 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.480 is how much carbon is embedded in water. So if 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:56.679 we look at solving this crisis from a mitigation perspective 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.200 for carbon and climate, that's important to to real eyes 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.600 as well. We don't realize, for instance, of all the 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:09.280 electricity consumed in California goes towards sourcing and moving and 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.920 treating and distributing water that comes into people's homes. We 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:17.760 don't recognize that. Globally, we have utilities that lose half 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.480 of all that water that's treated because of leaky pipes 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.959 and poor infrastructure. If we could just save of that, 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.720 that's the equivalent between If we could save of those losses, 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.119 that would be like taking two hundred and eleven million 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.840 cars off the road for a year in the United States. 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.680 So we uh, we need to get tuned into more 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.440 how much this whole water supply system and infrastructure and 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.920 the shortcomings in it cause us to to use more 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:52.319 carving than we need to deliver the water. That's so important, Jennifer, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.600 I want to take it into a slightly different direction 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.800 and stay a little bit domestic here, because one of 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.760 the things that we've talked a lot about in this 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:06.400 current crisis is where people live, how they live the 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.040 disproportionate impact as we've been talking about of the pandemic. 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.600 When we think about the climate, one of the things 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:17.240 we know is that are rising sea levels are going 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.720 to affect where we live. Water is going to play 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:25.000 a detrimental role to some extent in that. How does 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.400 your work sort of figure into that and how do 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:32.800 you think about water in that context? Sure? Um so, 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.080 if if we think about the water issue, we we 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.120 really want to focus on the quality, the quantity of it, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.160 how much is available for use, the quality of the water, 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.640 and then the accessibility of the water. And as we mentioned, 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:50.080 we are really looking at those who are disproportionately affected 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.840 by this. It was interesting hearing Bill talk about vaccines 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.920 because like many things, the impact of the water crisis 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:01.000 is disproportionately borne on the shoulders of people living in poverty. 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.800 And so we are focused on the access element of 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.880 water and sanitation and what I like to call the 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:13.400 humanity of water. Um as Gary reference corporations, industrial and 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:19.080 agricultural uses of the freshwater supply. About two thirds of 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:23.400 the freshwater supply is used for its estimated the supply 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.760 chain and the provisioning of products. So we have to 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.560 have corporations participate in this, and we have to address 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:35.239 not only stewardship, quality, health, and the quantity of water available, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.960 but also the access the accessibility of it. So our 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:43.040 work is singularly focused on ensuring that those living in poverty, 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.320 the two billion people who live without every day, have 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.560 access to save water and sanitation, and that's what we 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.480 bring to the table. The lens that we bring is different. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.880 We approached this through affordable finance, so it's really about 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.240 removing the barriers that exist for those individuals ving in 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.920 poverty and doing it by creating a system, wrapping a 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.280 system around them that starts with an affordable loan to 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.200 allow them to hook up to the water system that 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.480 runs right under their feet. They just don't have the 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.240 savings to connect to that or to build a toilet 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.760 in their home. So we focus on that individual living 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.760 in poverty. We enable often her to get access to 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:27.240 um to alone to get that water connection. And what 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.640 we're seeing is that there is a market that is 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.440 playing out more than six million loans enabled. Thirty million 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.720 people now have access to water and sanitation, and they're 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.680 doing it through um saving their time and saving their resources. 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:46.040 And that has created a commercial lending portfolio of two 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.960 point four billion dollars which is put in the hands 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.280 of people living on less than six dollars a day. 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.000 So Gary talked about that a little bit more and 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:00.640 and the growth of that and how that finance peace 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.320 is essentially enabled. Because this is right in the Bloomberg 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.840 sweet spot, I have to say, in terms of our 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:12.600 audience and and sort of understanding the underpinnings financially. Yeah, 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.040 and I think what's exciting about this is that there 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.280 is a solution. And in many ways, this problem of 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:24.119 helping people in poverty get access contains its own solution. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.919 And as Jennifer was mentioning, we worked through getting access 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.040 to micro loans to people living in poverty and just 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.159 real quickly how that how that works. Uh. There was 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.480 a woman I met recently in the Philippines. Her name 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:39.440 was Lenadiza, and she was paying a water vendor, someone 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.679 who sold you know, dubious quality water in her neighborhood. Uh, 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.600 you know about thirty dollars every month to bring water 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:51.560 to her home. Uh and what I'm sorry she was 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.040 saying about sixty dollars. And then so what we saw 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.720 was the opportunity for her to connect to this utility, 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.320 but she didn't have the upfront money to do you that. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:02.639 So through our program, she was able to get a 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:07.960 small loan and able to capture those savings. So now 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.840 she's paying about ten dollars a month for her water 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.840 bill and for her loan combined, so she's able to 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.360 save fifty dollars and so every month that's money that's 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.200 back in her pocket. So that's how this this system 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.960 can work, and it is about trying to bring the 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.960 global capital markets to bear on this. So we work 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:30.240 with local microfinance institutions to to bring that capital into 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.440 the system so people like Lesa can get those loans. 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.960 And as this is evolved, we've realized that we can 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:42.040 actually see new ways and looking at social impact investing 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.520 for instance, to drive more capital into the system so 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.200 that these loans can be scaled up. And water dot 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.760 org was actually able to create and stand up and 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:56.159 spin off a new entity water equity that brings the 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:00.680 capital markets to bear giving an investors in attractive rate 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.639 of return so that we can then scale up these 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:07.159 these small loans and then expand to micro enterprises that 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.680 serve the poor as well as as utilities. And that's 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.400 what we can offer accredited investors who want to learn more, 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.040 they can invest in this with that type of vehicle. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.159 But also we need that philanthropic capital that sets all 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.480 this in motion to do those things that Jennifer was 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.720 talking about to correct those market failures, and that's what 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:31.440 we're trying to do, use this these innovations to show that, 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.480 you know, people living in poverty are actually not necessarily 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.600 a problem to be solved, but a market to be served. 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:43.200 So I love that um because I am engaging every 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.080 day with a whole lot of capitalists who are seeing 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:52.400 increasingly it feels like Gary this opportunity, this investment opportunity 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.920 in also doing good. Was there an inflection point where 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.919 this became possible the Water Equity Fund? Was it because 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.480 of the appetite growing or was it because the model 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.800 didn't exist before? What was the key moment in getting 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.280 that stood up? I think that the key moment was 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.639 when we were working with some of our local partners 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.640 around the world, and we asked them what's preventing them 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.720 from scaling up these loan portfolios much more, and it 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.320 was an answer of, you know, access to safe I'm sorry, 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:27.479 access to affordable and consistent capital. And at the same time, 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.240 you know, uh, you know, Matt, Actually Matt and I 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.520 were in the jeep driving around India when we were 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:35.680 talking to our partners about this, and that's where we 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:39.480 kind of hatched this idea of bringing the capital markets 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.439 in through social impact investing. So it's kind of a 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.679 perfect storm, right. We saw this incredible demand and you know, 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:51.040 we see about an eighteen billion dollar demand for these 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:54.920 small loans among people living in poverty that could serve 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.600 about eight hundred million people. And we saw that demand 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:00.959 bubbling from the bottom up in the form of our 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.280 partner saying we need more capital to get out more 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.080 loans from more water connections and more toilets. At the 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.720 same time, we saw social impact investing really starting to 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.560 come into its own and so we were able to 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:17.280 create Water Equity. Is really this the first asset manager 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:21.320 that's focused exclusively on solving this crisis to be able 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:25.320 to bring in those accredited investors. Match that with people 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:28.879 at the household level to get the loans from that 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.760 capital and provide that attractive rate of return to investors 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:37.280 while still helping people get water. So, Jennifer, let's talk 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.960 a little bit more about the philanthropic side than especially 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.000 in this time of crisis where there are so many 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.359 people in need, so many organizations. We talked about this 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.399 at the top of the conversation. How are you seeing 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:56.840 the philanthropic side both from an individual and a corporate perspective. Yeah, 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:00.680 I mean, the philanthropic environment right now is interesting. What 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.000 we see is that philanthropists are stepping up in a 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:06.600 in a way that has been unprecedented in some ways. 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.320 What we're seeing is that a lot of those funds 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:13.680 are going towards relief, immediate relief, um and the important 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.960 issues of racial justice and so what what we are 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.520 seeing is that now more than ever, we need to 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.800 accelerate progress against against water and sanitation. It is the 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.800 first and the second line defense against pandemic and frankly, 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:32.520 the philanthropic environment for water and sanitation is challenging. So 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.560 what we are trying to do is help folks think 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.040 about this as building global resilience that we need to 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.280 invest in water and sanitation. At water dot org, we 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:45.000 need people to come and visit, whether you can give 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.440 ten dollars or a million dollars to donate to water 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:51.760 dot org to accelerate COVID. We've identified more than twenty 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:55.840 five million projects that we want to accelerate to redouble 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:59.200 our efforts in the light of COVID. But frankly, Jason, 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.959 it is a challenge environment for us, given that so 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.600 much is going against immediate relief. And if I could 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:09.400 just say one other thing about the stakeholders that need 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:13.040 to participate in this issue. Um as they referenced earlier 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:16.960 corporations and their use of water. We need corporations to 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.320 step up. We are fortunate to work with dozens of 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:25.560 corporations and corporate foundations in fulfilling their water and stewardship needs. 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:27.640 And what we want to see and what we're starting 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:31.080 to see through things like the Water Resilience Coalition, is 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:36.320 these corporations not only make elevating their ambitions, but accelerating 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.560 their actions. And we want to partner with those corporations 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:42.679 we at water dot org and use their philanthropy and 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:47.320 that of philanthropists catalytically to create this system that wraps 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:53.240 around that woman living in poverty and create sustainable solution. Well, Gary, 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:54.920 there's certainly. I mean one of the things that I 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:57.840 think is so appealing about this is you have a 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:01.320 clarity of purpose and both of you have talked about it, 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:05.360 uh so well, and it is a it's so fundamental 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:08.840 to to what we're what we're all striving for. Here 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.399 as we wrap up, I mean, what gives you in 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:16.160 the in the uh, in the sense of maybe ending 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:19.080 with some optimism, What does make you optimistic? What gives 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:21.720 you a sense of hope at a time when man, 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:25.760 we're looking for some I think what gives me hope 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.119