WEBVTT - Amanda Litman & Emily Atkin 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.120 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.319 today's best minds. We are on vacation, but that doesn't 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:11.920 mean we don't have a great show for you today. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.400 Run for Something's Own Amanda Litman stops by to talk 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:19.160 about recruiting candidates to win the mid terms for Democrats. 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.720 But first we have heated's own Emily Atkin to talk 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:24.800 about the latest news and climate change. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.440 Welcome back to Fast Politics, Emily. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:28.680 Hey, thanks for having me. 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.600 Yeah, I'm excited to have you because you are great 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.760 and you are tirelessly chronicling the fuckery. Let's start with 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.520 data centers because that feels like the scariest new way 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:41.559 to fuck up the climate. 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:42.160 Yeah. 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.640 I've been so into this like reporting topic, I wouldn't 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.080 say that I've been covering it tirelessly. I am quite tired, 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.520 but this is a subject that sort of demands tireless reporting. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:59.160 So yeah, happy to start with there. 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:00.960 You know what I think that I think most people 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:06.400 get wrong about the data center conversation is that most people, 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.600 I think think that the biggest water problem is from 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.319 cooling the data centers, because you know, they need these 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:15.880 like huge buildings that are full of like very hot 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:20.040 computer processors need water to cool them down. And it 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.840 is a huge problem, right, But one of the more 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.600 surprising things that I've learned recently am I reporting, is 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.840 that the vast majority of the water use the reason why, 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.319 you know, there are those studies that say, like it, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.440 you know, a long conversation uses a bottle of water, 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.679 that's mostly because of power generation. That's because of all 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.240 of the water needed to cool like a natural gas 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.080 power plant that is powering the data center. So yeah, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:47.840 the data centers need like a ton of water to 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.480 cool the servers, but they also need a ton of 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.640 water because they're all being powered by gas. Which is 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.680 so interesting because that's a problem that is solvable if 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.320 you were using not fossil fuel to power the data centers. 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.720 I just think that's so interesting that it always goes 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:05.840 back to the biggest problem is the. 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:10.080 Fossil fuels again, and I think data centers are fucking 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.919 waste of everything. But if you were to make a 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.880 data center so you could make AI slop, I could 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.160 not be more anti AI if I tried. But if 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.320 you were to make a data center just to make 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.920 ai slop. If you just had it be solar or 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:27.680 wind powered, wouldn't you. 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:28.720 Not have that problem? 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.720 You wouldn't have the big water problem that you're having. 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.520 You would still have a water problem because I think 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.800 it's like thirteen percent of the water usage just for cooling, 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.400 and that's a ton And you'd have to check me 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:41.920 exactly on that percentage. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:43.440 I know there are a ton of different studies. I 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:44.440 think it's around. 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.800 There, but yeah, so much of that water problem is 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:51.399 because we don't have enough power to power all these 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.760 data centers. So we're using gas, building new gas plants, 0:02:56.080 --> 0:03:00.040 building new gas pipelines, and gas and fossil fuels. It 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:04.240 makes sense, right, they're combustible power sources. They're really really hot. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.079 They need a ton of water, and it's like in 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.720 the climate space so often we're thinking about carbon so often, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.919 like we forget about the huge water demand of these 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.560 plants too. But they do have them, and that's where 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.040 most of the water wasting is coming for data centers. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.880 I mean, everything is full speed ahead because there's no 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:27.320 regulation Undertrune, right, it's basically back to a kind of 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.799 Gilded Age cleptocracy. Let's get into some of the other 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.480 carnage that he is rotting on our environment. 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.600 There's definitely a lot of things we could talk about 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.520 about what he's doing to the environment, like, for instance, 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.880 you know, we just had the International Climate UN Climate 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.560 Summit this year in Brazil. Every year we have a 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.000 cop every year, all the countries gather and try to 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.280 do something about climate change. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.320 America didn't go this year, right. 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:55.560 No, America didn't go. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.640 You know, some people went, like Aba Newsom went, Al 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.280 Gore went, but they weren't part of the official delegation, 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.280 so they weren't like in the room where it happens, 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.240 so to speak, like the negotiations actually happened. So we 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:11.480 didn't send people. But while that summit was still going on, 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.760 the Trump administration released like a bunch of environmental deregulatory 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:20.039 actions that mostly went unnoticed. I think one of them 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:26.279 was opening up was basically like eliminating regulations on offshore 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.919 drilling off the coasts of California and Florida for like 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.920 the first time in decades, so opening up those coastlines 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.520 to potential oil and gas development, which the governors of 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.320 both of those states have been like, please don't do that, 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.200 including Florida, which is kind of surprising. 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.840 Which is wild. Yeah, why does de sant does not 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:47.039 want to d do that? 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:51.719 I think that even Florida Republicans understand that the coastlines 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.680 are really sensitive and valuable in other ways. They think 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.960 you think of the coastlines in Florida, I mean, they're 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:02.200 so essential for tourism and just like for maintaining the environment. 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.800 They also have a lot of military training. Rick Scott 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.880 wrote on Twitter it was like, please do not drill here, 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.720 and obviously Gavin Newsom was like, do not drill here. 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.120 There's gonna be fights around that. But also while all 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.200 the countries were negotiating a climate deal in Brazil, I 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.839 think Trump also wildly loosened the Endangered Species Act as 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:26.120 one does as one does, so he essentially weakened the 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.640 Endangered Species Act so that it's now easier to remove 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.640 species classified as threatened or endangered from the list and 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.080 harder to add. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.320 New species to the list. 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.880 It also allows the government, if I remember this correctly, 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:46.920 to consider like economic impacts when considering whether to list 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.280 as species is endangered. So now you know when you're 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.120 looking at should we make the cheetah endangered? And it's like, well, 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.760 how would that affect the economy. That's never been how 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.680 you decide if something is endangered right now it is, 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:03.520 So those are the kinds of things that are happening. 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.920 But I would also argue that, like especially we're talking 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.520 about AI, like what the Trump administration is not doing, 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.040 like regulating AI at all is also like equally as detrimental. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.840 One of the most interesting stories I think I did 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.760 over the last couple months was interviewing two former Microsoft 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.640 employees that were both like really gung ho on AI 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.760 and how awesome it could be for climate change and 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.480 the environment, and we're like working to promote sustainable uses 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.120 of AI at Microsoft, and then eventually had to quit 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.159 because they saw what the company was doing with like 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:43.200 totally in their totally unregulated environment, which was mostly selling 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.040 their AI to oil and gas companies. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.080 To want to laugh because it's so dark, but it's 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:50.800 really dark. 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:52.960 Yeah, because it sounds like I'm making this up, and 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:54.920 sometimes I pretend I am making it up. 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:55.640 I'm like, yeah, yeah. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.080 What they told me is that they think that one 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.840 of Microsoft's the biggest use case for Microsoft's AI today 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.359 is the application where they sell it to oil and 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.960 gas companies. So that oil and gas companies can find 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.080 and extract more oil more easily. So like ver AI 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.680 helps the oil and gas companies essentially scan underground and. 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.760 Be like, there's some oil. There's some oil. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.360 Like, here's how we can get it more efficiently. I'm 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:21.160 saying in the. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.800 Most you know, in the least technical way possible. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:29.280 But it helps these companies drill more more efficiently and 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:30.480 profit more. 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.880 So well good, but al Gore is still optimistic, So 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:35.760 talk to me about that. 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.280 Yeah, I interviewed al Gore, which is not something that 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:41.800 I would honestly, it's like not something I ever thought 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.120 that I would ever say that I did because like, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.960 I don't know who cares about al Gore, but I've 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.480 really found it over I've been surprised by him over 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:51.440 the last couple of years. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.160 Yeah, so talk to me about al Gore. What's his 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:55.080 thinking here? 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:57.679 So, one thing I've really learned about al Gore recently 0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:59.600 is that he's like really not afraid to talk shit 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:01.360 on on fossil fuels. 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.200 Which I like nobody else does. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.840 Yeah, he's becoming more and more dark Gore in this. 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.200 He's like the fossil fuel industry is sabotaging all of 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.160 our progress, Like our biggest problem is political influence by 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.760 this industry, Like politicians on the left and the right 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.440 are being bought off, Like we have to exclude them 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:19.239 from this process. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.680 He's the last couple of years been super. 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.720 Gung ho, not just on like educating about the science, 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:29.360 which he's always been, but really becoming a for lack 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.480 of a better word, propagandist against big oil and big 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:33.880 oil's political influence. 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:35.240 And what does he think. 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:41.200 Yeah, so he is pretty convinced that the oil industry 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.080 is just trying to suck up all that it can 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.920 for the next couple of years under Trump because they 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.760 also know that they're losing around the world. And that 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.560 was sort of his take away from COP thirty in 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.480 Brazil was that so many nations and like he would say, 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.480 the majority of nations are actually committed to the science 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.959 and committing to transition away from fossil fuels, and scares 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.200 the shit out of the industry, which the oil industry, 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.880 which is why they're so aggressively trying to strong arm 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.960 these negotiations, which they were successful in doing, because you know, 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.600 Saudi Arabia is there, Russia is there. Those are essentially 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.000 two arms of the oil industry, right, and if you 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.720 need every single country at a COP to get an agreement, 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:26.920 then you're not going to get a great agreement because 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:27.840 Saudi Arabia. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.000 And there and they're essentially arms of the oil industry. 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:34.280 So, like Albor is not denying that that influence is there, 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:39.720 but he's of the opinion that their aggressive presence is 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.640 merely like a smoke screen for their fear. And what 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.760 is happening Like South Korea, it's one of the seventh 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.920 I think, like the seventh largest coal fleet in the world, 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.160 you know, made a commitment at this cop to completely 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.360 phase out coal from their whole economy, which is pretty big. 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.920 I mean, that's a big hit for the coal industry 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.079 over there. But that's how and then and eighty countries 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:05.880 signed an agreement to explicitly, like fully transition away from 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.480 fossil fuels, and like say, we away from fossil fuels. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.120 That's like the biggest language thing that is going on 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.040 at these cops. So Gore is also really convinced that 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:16.960 like Trump is a lame. 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:18.199 Duck, which is true. 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:22.200 Essentially, he is more optimistic than I would have expected 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.440 him to be, just coming out of a climate summit 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.040 that was like literally on fire and flooded and didn't 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.559 produce an agreement where all the countries agreed to transition 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.559 away from fossil fuels. He's like, yeah, but he's like, 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.800 the majority of the world is on the right track. 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:38.480 The United States is just behind. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.959 Wow. Why, I mean, I'm excited. I'm happy that he 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:43.400 thinks that. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.120 Does he just think that solar and wind are so 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.559 much cheaper than eventually they're unstoppable. 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:52.200 So that's part of it. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.280 And then the other thing is that he's really inspired 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.000 by the midterm election results. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.800 The five cycle, which is sort of the mean mid terms. 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:08.600 Correct, and then all of the political opposition to Trump, 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:10.800 the no Kings days, all that. So I think what 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.760 he's trying to do, if I were to hyperanalyze his 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:19.640 politician speak, really he's trying to build momentum to say 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:24.040 that as long as we keep opposition high, we can 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:28.280 reverse these policies, or we can stem some of this damage. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.760 And he's like, we're really on a good track. We 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.480 just have to keep pushing. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.600 Do you agree with that? You don't agree with that. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.120 I don't think good track exists. 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:42.360 So being a climate reporter for so long at this point, 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.480 it's like I long ago abandoned the idea that like 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:50.000 we're gonna get out of this without being like pretty fucked. Yeah, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.920 being pretty fucked But I do understand that there's like 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.920 always a degree of things can always get more fucked up, 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.360 more and more fucked up. I actually do think that 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.360 we can limit the fuck upness to a degree that 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.440 perhaps the US will be able to manage. I think 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.400 that like things will get pretty fucked up a new 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:10.640 global South, and I think things will get fucked up 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.839 here too, But I also think that there's a limit, 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.640 like we can we can severely limit that, and that's 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.760 always what I'm hoping for, right the least amount of 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:20.760 that possible. 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:25.520 So you are basically in the same spot that I am, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.280 which is that you worry about wet bulb, like we're 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:34.440 going to see dystopian stuff in Dubai in the area, Yeah, 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:36.520 where people are going to die because it's just so 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.120 hot they can't get cold or they can't get cool. 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.520 But you think that sort of absolent modern cities will 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.040 be able to somehow make it through. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.440 Like I think that the rich people in affluent modern 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.120 cities will be able to make it through. But like 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.640 you know, I think we need really really aggressive adaptation 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:00.560 efforts in addition to our mitigation efforts, because you know, 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.160 it's not like America is a fully a first world country. 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.920 Really were a lot of vulnerable people. 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:11.280 Living here in poverty and are on coastlines, and especially 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.880 in cities that are that historically don't get very hot, 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.720 and then they don't have they don't have cooling infrastructure. 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.560 The problem with this administration is that it's like not 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.640 it so rejects climate science that it doesn't even do 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.720 the thing that you know, some kind of moderate Republicans 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:31.680 used to do in the past, where they're like, climate 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.400 change is real, but we can just adapt, so we'll 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:39.559 will support like adaptation policies and just not limit fossil fuels. 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.560 That's not happening at all either, because like there's because 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.200 it's the policy of this administration. 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.040 Is climate change is a scam. It is fake. I 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.640 mean it's it's literally on the EPA. 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.400 The EPA website now doesn't even list human causes as 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:57.679 as climate change. The first thing you I think if 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.160 you go to EPA dot gov the climate change website now, 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.559 it's like climate change like the first the first thing 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.800 listed for what's causing it is like the orbit of 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:08.680 the Earth has changed, and. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.080 You're like, what the fuck does that mean? So it's 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:13.439 just a bunch of mambo jumbo. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.240 But I will say, like a lot of that really 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:21.280 really catastrophic, those really really catastrophic projections that were coming 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.960 out like eight years ago, right, those look increasingly less likely. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.800 Like a five degree scenario we're looking at like a 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:31.880 I don't know if this means anything to your listeners, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.840 but like a two two. 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:35.480 And a half to three degree scenario, which. 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:39.520 Is I mean it's also catastrophic, but not quite as catastrophe. 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:40.800 Right, I mean these are still situations where all the 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.320 corals in the ocean die, right, which is like I 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.960 really don't want that. But it's so difficult to talk 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.560 about these kinds of things because it's like, how can 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.640 you even imagine like the difference between you can't super 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.320 category and aulter catastrophe. And it's gonna look different for 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.880 every single person. But that's why I always just come 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.240 back to like, Okay, I can't predict the future, but 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.640 I can like do my best to try to sign 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.200 me the worst outcome, right, And that's that's all I. 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.480 Can do, so like it doesn't matter. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.440 It really doesn't matter to me, Like what the outcome 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:15.920 is gonna be at the end of the day. That's 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.040 sort of how I've decided to deal with it. I 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:19.800 don't know what the outcome is going to be. I 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:21.600 can't decide what the alchemis is going to be, but 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.640 I know that, like I would like to fight for 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:25.160 it to be a better outcome. 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.000 No, I know, and you have the problems of being 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.520 a climate reporter, and I'm sorry that you do, because 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:34.320 it's fucking bleak. 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:34.720 No. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.920 I mean I when I talk to you, I'm always 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:42.000 you know, you have this incredible site which hundreds of 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:47.000 thousands of people are now subscribed to, which makes me happy. 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.040 But you have a real book the problem which is 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.760 that you know, you're like seeing the future in a 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:54.440 terrible way. 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:55.920 And I'm sorry, thank you. 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.640 Someone asked me recently, They're like, why did you decide 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:00.000 to get into climate change report? 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:01.960 And I was like, because that was my beat. 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:03.720 I don't know, Like I don't think I would have 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.160 chosen this, you know, like you working at a newspaper 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.160 and they're like, here's your beat, it's climate change and 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.520 you're like, yeah, so that's what it is. 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.600 Well, but also like, why are we not all running 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.960 a bow climate change because Americans can't hear it because 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:18.840 it's too scary? 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.120 What you do is so valuable and important. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:22.120 Thank you so much. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.840 I feel like the more you understand it, though, like 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.880 I would even counter like the fact that Americans can't 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.040 hear it because it's too scary, I would counter that 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.360 the more you learn about it, like the simpler it 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.720 kind of gets. It becomes less scary to me and 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.400 more frustrating, because the more I learn about it, the 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.640 more simple it gets. In my mind, I'm like, oh, 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.600 so you're saying we know the problem. We've actually known 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:45.720 the problem for a really long time, and we know 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:47.920 the solution, you know, and so you're. 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.440 Like, okay, but it's cruse solution. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:52.960 And then what's so frustrating about is that we get 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.200 stuck in these loops of like, well, do we know 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.040 the problem and do we know the solution? Yeah, we do. 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.520 That's the most frustrating part is like just being stuck 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.520 in these loops where I'm back to, you know, deciding 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.959 if I'm going to cover the fact that the EPA 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.080 website now just is a climate denial website. I'm like, 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.320 this is so stupid, Like, can't we just move this 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.720 conversation forward? But fortunately, as al Gore said, most of 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.200 the world is moving this conversation forward, right, Thank god, 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:20.480 Thank god for our Gore. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.240 Yeah, thanks to the reminder. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.760 Thank you, Emily. Please come back. 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:27.240 Anytime, anytime. 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.800 We have exciting news over at our YouTube channel. The 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.960 second episode from our Project twenty twenty nine series is 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.720 out now. It's a reimagining where we examine what went 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.680 wrong with democrats approach to politics and how we can 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.000 correct it and deliver changes to help people's lives. The 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:53.600 first episode dove into the very sexy topic of campaign 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.359 finance reform, and our second episode deals with an even 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:03.840 sexier topic, antitrust and regulation. We look at how antitrust 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:09.280 and regulation can protect American citizens and make America thrive 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.200 in an era of rampant corruption and predatory crony capitalism. 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.480 We talk to the smartest names in the field, like 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:23.600 Lena Khan, el Vero Bedoya, Elizabeth Wilkins, and Doha Mechi. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.639 Republicans were prepared for when they got the levers of power. 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:31.200 We need Democrats to be too, so Please head over 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.160 to YouTube and search Mollie John Fast Project twenty twenty nine, 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.879 or go to the Fast Politics YouTube channel and find 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:41.520 it there and help us. 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:42.080 Spread the word. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.639 Amanda Litman is the co founder of Run for Something 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.680 and the author of the new book When We're in Charge, 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:54.200 The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership. Welcome back to Fast Politics, 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:54.960 Amanda Lutman. 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.000 Thanks Molly, president of Run for Something. 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.080 Let's talk what is going on? 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.040 No, it's been a good year for young people running 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.840 for local office all across the country, which we love 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.000 to see it. We had one hundred and sixty six 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.760 wins this year, like more than half of our candidates, 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.320 and on election night in November, more than two thirds 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.320 of our candidates, including forty three red to blue flips 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:21.120 all across the country. Plus we had me. At this point, 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.560 we're over eighty thousand people who've raised their hands to 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.040 say they want to run for office in the last 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.040 twelve months. That's more than we had in the entirety 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.600 of Trump's first term. So things are good, which is 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.280 a really weird feeling in twenty twenty five. 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.920 So why are more people running for office now than 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:37.359 they were during Trump? 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.399 One point? Now well, your part of his. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.280 Room for something's been around a little longer, so people 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:42.840 know if they want to run, we are here to 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.120 help them. But I actually think one of the things 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.200 that we've heard this year that we didn't hear during 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.400 Trump one point zero is people quite explicitly saying I'm 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.040 done waiting my turn. I'm not asking for permission, i 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:54.680 am sick of the status quo. I'm sick of the 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.600 people in charge. I'm not getting in the back of 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.359 the line. I'm ready to run and I'm not going 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.920 to let any stop me. The number one issue, as 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:03.119 it has been for a while and now has been 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.919 affordable housing, you know, childcare, transportation. But that, like frustration 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.960 with the status quo, is so loud that in a 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:12.560