California’s former governor Jerry Brown offers the most immediate actions that President-elect Joe Biden could take to address climate change in this Climate Break exclusive. For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/gov-jerry-brown-on-president-elect-biden-and-climate-equity/
For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/gov-jerry-brown-on-president-elect-biden-and-climate-equity/
Ethan: This is Ethan Elkind of Climate Break. I spoke recently to former California Governor Jerry Brown to find out how he thinks the Biden Administration should address climate change, after four years of radical neglect at the federal level. Surprisingly, he told me that it’s not about any one policy measure, like a carbon tax or mandates for renewable energy. Instead, he wants the administration to collaborate:
Gov. Brown: Bring in key members of Congress, Senate, and House. Put them in the same room with some serious climate people, scientists, people who know what they're doing, as well as people like Mary Nichols from the California Air Resources Board.” Formulate the agenda in some kind of a joint effort with Congress. Don't be a cowboy, you know, saddle up and ride into the sunset. No, get the key players and get them on board.
Ethan: The next step, Gov Brown says, is to deal with the lobbyists:
Gov. Brown: They're spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get their way. So if you don't deal with them, you're not going to get anywhere. So this is why Biden, with all his experience, is the perfect man. He's been around. This is not romanticism here. We're not looking for some utopian walk in the sun. This is hard, but imaginative, scientific, political work.
Ethan: To learn more about some of the examples of past successes that Governor Brown cited in this interview, and for more climate solutions, visit climatebreak.org or whenever you get your podcasts.