Feb 18, 2015, Berkeley
“It’s better for us economically to address climate change than not. …when people say it’s too expensive to address, they’re kidding themselves. It’s too expensive not to address” ~ Tom Steyer
Green philanthropist and investor Tom Steyer spoke in Berkeley at the International House, moderated by former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, now a Distinguished Adjunct Professor with the event’s sponsor, the Goldman School of Public Policy. Steyer lauded President Obama’s recent moves to address climate change and praised California as doing the ‘best job of any major government in the world’ on climate. He highlighted the University of California’s ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2025. Steyer also stressed the importance of getting out the vote, advocating focusing on climate issues locally to best motivate voters: “as soon as you start talking about global impacts you lose voters”.
Excerpts: “It’s not how you vote, it’s whether you vote. Because when we look at 2014 and try to understand what happened, it was a very simple turnout issue. Democrats turned out at the lowest levels since 1942. Republicans turned out at approximately the same percentages that they turned out in 2010, and that made all the difference.”
“I think California has proved that this is not a choice between having a healthy environment and having a healthy economy.” ~ Steyer
“From a polling standpoint, from a demographic standpoint, Democrats looked fantastic. But if you don’t show up at the polls, then all the other things really don’t matter, and we didn’t show up at the polls in 2014 in the way that we have to to reflect both who we are and what we think.”
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
“One thing that has changed very significantly over the last two years is where Republicans are. Two years ago it was very standard for them to deny climate change, and that has become a political liability. Basically people believe you have a right to your opinion, but if you want to be an elected official from a high position you can’t deny basic science, so it’s really not about climate change, it’s about trust. Would you want someone in a really high position who goes against all the scientists? And for a lot of Americans that just doesn’t make any sense.”
“There’s a billion dollars standing to support the candidacies of people who do not want to do
anything about carbon pollution. And that is an overwhelming political fact.” ~ Tom Steyer
“…The problem is the Republicans haven’t found a safe place to go on this. I think if you watched leading Republican politicians use the line for several months, and some of them are still using it, saying, I am not a scientist”
“… that that worked for a short while, but I think that after a while people realized they’re also not Ph.D. economists. They don’t have a Ph.D. in health care management or an M.D., They don’t have a Ph.D. period. So when they say they’re not a scientist, if that disqualifies them from talking about climate, they’re disqualified from talking about virtually all of the things that they talk about all the time. So I think that that is not going to be a place where they’re going to end up, because I think that people will start to think that that is as silly as arguing science with scientists.”
“The political issue is very very far from settled. I think it is very unwise for us to forget that very large carbon polluters have promised to put up a billion dollars in 2016 in the elections. And that’s not something that is a rumor, that’s something they put it on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, front page of every paper in the United States of America. There’s a billion dollars standing to support the candidacies of people who do not want to do anything about carbon pollution. And that is an overwhelming political fact.”
“But what our challenge is, is to turn the voices and the opinions of people who agree with us, which is the overwhelming number of Americans, into votes. Because the thing that politicians respond to is votes. Even the money is just a means to get votes, it’s very expensive these days to run in the United States of America, and because of some of the rules, money has more influence than it ever has. But the fact of the matter is politicians are trying to figure out how to get reelected and how to get votes.”
“…And for that it’s a question of urgency. Do we care enough to go to the polls, do we care enough to change our votes, for people who are not doing the right thing. And if we don’t, we won’t have any impact, but if we do, we will solve this much faster than anybody else. As my friend Kate [?] likes to say, opinions are nice, but votes change our country.”
Report by James George