-As Earth Day nears,
what can America and the state of Washington do
to alleviate global climate change?
-People want this done,
and when people want something done,
and you you marry it with this innovative power
of the human mind, I actually believe
we're going to -- we're going to save the planet.
-That's next on "Seattle University Conversations."
Now, your hosts, Professor Larry Hubbell
and Joni Balter.
[ Applause ]
-Good afternoon, everyone.
Welcome to Seattle University's "Conversations."
Welcome as well to our very special guest,
Washington Governor Jay Inslee. Hi there, Governor.
Good to see you. Been a little while.
You are everywhere these days, are you not?
My favorite was "The Colbert Show."
[ Laughter ]
But not to get too distracted by that.
I want to start the program with the title
that that we have for this -- how can America lead the world
in alleviating global climate change?
And can we? And how?
-Well, it's really simple.
You just got to follow Seattle University,
and what it's doing. That's all you got to do,
because we got great leadership going on.
First off, I want to thank you for a chance to say hello.
I am so blown away by the generation represented
by the leaders in this room, because when I was your age,
if I was at the UW on a -- on a sunny afternoon,
on a Friday afternoon,
I would not have been in a room like this.
[ Audience laughs ]
This is an impressive generation.
It shows that you care, and I really appreciate it.
There is so much packed into that,
to answer that question. I don't know where to start.
Let me start by saying that this is a really magic moment
to be alive to -- for all of us
to come up with our answers to that question.
And the reason I believe that is
when you think of the scope of human history,
I would argue that what all of us in this room
have in common is an unparalleled chance
to make a difference on our planet
of any time in human history,
and I'm serious about this. Think about this.
Try to think another time where the generation that now exists
in any other time in human history
would have such an impact on future generations.
Other generations have had challenges,
but the challenges that we face is to preserve the ability
literally to have a meaningful life on the planet,
to be able to have a healthy future
for our children and our grandchildren.
That is an unparalleled opportunity for us
to make a difference.
And I think ultimately, in your life, that's what really counts.
People want to make a difference.
So I'm glad you asked that question.
The first thing I would say is --
is to first recognize the centrality of this...
I don't want to use "issue."
"Issue" is too small a word. This moment to understand
that this moment in all our lives,
for all the things we want to do --
education, transportation --
of all the things we have to do in order to solve that question,
we have to understand this is the question.
This is the question upon everything else depends.
We cannot solve our other problems
unless we solve this problem of climate change.
So the first thing I would say
is to recognize how important this is
and why the necessity of this is is so critical.
The second thing I would say is, and this is the twin of that,
is that we are capable of doing this.
I'm actually an optimist on this issue.
I believe we are fully capable of defeating climate change.
I believe we are fully capable of building
a clean energy economy.
I believe we are fully capable
of creating economic opportunities
and job prospects for everybody in this room in some sense.
And I believe we are fully capable
of giving the generations behind us
a shot at a meaningful existence.
So when you combine the fact
that this is the most important thing in our lives
with the ability that we can actually solve this problem
by ways we will talk about in more detail,
I'm glad we're having this discussion today.
Now, the other thing, everything else
after those two things are sort of, like, process, right?
Like, how are we going to get charging stations
for electric cars?
How are we going to use the Inflation Reduction Act
that the federal government passed most effectively?
How are we going to site transmission lines
so that we can deliver clean energy?
How are we going to make sure that we embed equity
and justice in everything we do
so that we bring a more just society to being as well?
Those are the subordinate questions,
and I know we will get to those.
-We will.
-Governor, given that many Republicans
either ignore or disbelieve global climate change.
Doesn't this reduce our credibility
with our international partners
who undoubtedly fear that if the GOP takes control,
that they will undo some of the promises
made by the Biden administration?
-Well, I just -- you know,
we went to Egypt this year to the COP conference.
I've gone to a number of them.
And what I say is the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act
was a game changer when it comes
to how the world looks at the United States.
Because there has been great doubts
that, obviously, during the Trump administration,
but during this current administration
and the past Congress, the Inflation Reduction Act
was an absolute game changer.
$360 billion of investment in clean energy,
from everything from charging infrastructure to electric cars
to the access for individuals to get heat pumps,
to additional financing for research and development,
which is so important, using all of the mechanisms
we had to help inspire the generation of clean energy.
It was very comprehensive,
and I think people were very impressed by this,
and I think that was very timely,
that we finally got action from the United States.
So I feel much better about this now than I did,
you know, two years ago.
And and this was kind of pulling a rabbit out of a hat
because the president did a great job
getting this bill through Congress.
As you know, there were some roadblocks
to getting this bill through Congress.
But now that it's through, I could not be more thrilled
about our our ability
both on the domestic and international stage.
Now, having said that,
we still have a lot of work to do on the international basis.
We need to engage China more effectively.
There's been some backsliding there that I'm concerned about.
We need Brazil, which we know has new leadership
that I hope will be helpful. I'm just pointing out
that we're now getting back really in the game.
Now we need to help some others really rekindle their energy.
-Yes, but if the Republicans take control,
are you afraid that those -- that progress that was made
will actually be reversed?
-I am very bullish and looking forward to the Republican Party
to be a minority party for the next century.
So I -- [ Laughter ]
Every -- Every party has. [ Applause ]
If I may --
This is a nonpartisan meeting.
[ Laughter ]
We know there's been a distinct lack of of leadership
from the Republican Party for several decades now,
and it's been very, very regrettable.
I mean, I really wish that we had had two parties
working on this instead of one. It would make this a lot easier.
We've only had one. We still only have one.
I will say there's there's good news and bad news on this.
To some degree, political consultants now tell
a lot of Republican politicians,
"You just can't deny climate change anymore.
That just doesn't work."
When Fort Lauderdale had two feet of water in 24 hours
dumping it on it, when the beaches of Florida are gone,
when the forests are on fire,
when the glaciers are disappearing,
when tornadoes and hurricanes are ravaging,
when the drought has turned the Midwest
into maybe -- into the next Dust Bowl,
when the Colorado River has disappeared,
they're being told you just can't deny that climate change
is occurring now.
And so you're starting to hear more Republican folks say,
"Yes, climate change is occurring."
So that's the good news.
The problem is, is that they've said basically,
"But we don't want to do anything about it."
And I almost think that's worse. You know, it's worse to say,
"Yeah, I do recognize it as a problem,
but I'm not willing to do anything about it."
That's worse when it comes down to moral failure.
So I've been disappointed.
I'm always looking for any possibility
to join hands with Republicans to try to come up
with some bipartisan solutions to this problem,
and we Democrats will continue to keep our hands open
to find some bipartisanship.
I hope we will someday.
-So do you perceive that this could become
a less politicized issue in the future?
A less -- the global climate change
could become a less politicized issue in the future?
-Yes, but I hope that it happens
before all of the forests are gone and Puget Sound
is at the base of the Space Needle.
I don't want to have to wait that long.
Now, until then, you know,
people are going to have to make voting decisions,
and I won't tell you which way to vote.
You'll have to figure it out. -Okay.
So let me cut in here and zoom in on something
that Washington state has done.
How likely are we to be able
to meet zero emissions standards for new cars and trucks by 2035?
And, just looking at some of the behavior,
wondering why can't we do that sooner?
-Yeah, well, I think we can, and I'll tell you why.
There's a guy named Rick Luebbe.
I got to know him 15 or 20 years ago.
He had a little tiny company working on batteries
or capacitors on Lake Union.
He had, like, five employees, and he had this vision
of how we were going to develop a battery industry
based on electric motors.
He had this, you know, like five employees.
And now he has a company in Moses Lake.
They just got $100 million investment
from the federal government
and a whole bunch of private investment.
They're going to build one of the two most advanced
silicone battery companies in the world
over in Moses Lake.
And he said something -- I just heard him say yesterday.
He says, "Well, think about when people ask this question,
can we really build electric cars at scale?
15 years ago, how many people here
had a cell phone in their pocket?
You know, just 15 years ago. Now they're ubiquitous."
And that is the scale of how fast technology
can change and manufacturers can actually produce the product.
I believe a similar transition
is very -- we're very capable of doing that.
Again, with a little different product line,
which is cars instead of cell phones right now.
So, yes, I believe this is achievable.
The technology is coming on like gang fires.
Rick's company, it's called Group 14.
There's another company called Sila
that also does a silicon anode battery.
They have the capacity of building batteries
maybe 15-20% more effective.
So the range of your electric car is 15 or 20% greater.
These are breakthrough technologies.
The costs continue to come down dramatically.
So the answer to your question is yes,
I believe we're capable of it.
Now, I'm also here's another little analog,
just one more metaphor.
In World War II, on December 6th, 1941,
we were building, like, 2,000 airplanes a year
in the United States. By 1945, we were building
something like 30,000 airplanes a year.
Yes, we can do this.
-Well, I kind of want to get on
to that progress that we're making.
Fearing global climate change, many millennials and Gen Zers
in the room are wondering, should they have children?
I told my own millennial children
that I believe the most brilliant people in the world
are working on this and that it will be okay.
Am I too optimistic?
I'm talking to the optimist, I know that.
But really, what's your advice to them?
-Well, I have some experience in this regard
because Trudi and I have three boys.
And let me tell you, there were moments I would have said,
"Never have children. They are -- " I'm telling you.
My kids would be in the emergency room all the time.
We'd have the time -- Anyway,
they're great kids, and they're doing great.
They're doing great works now.
Look, I believe -- I have long believed
that fundamentally the reason to be optimistic about this --
first off, it's healthy. That's number one. It's healthy.
It's good for your mental health.
But more importantly, I just don't believe
that the human consciousness,
the most powerful force on the planet
that has unbelievable innovative power,
is not going to preside over its own destruction.
Fundamentally, I just don't believe that's going to happen.
And that the world's intellectual ability
is going to be energized to keep us from going over the cliff.
So fundamentally, I believe that's going to happen.
And fortunately, I can tell you, it is happening so rapidly,
not in some kind of hypothetical place,
not just in Paris or in London.
It's happening right here in Washington state.
Let me just share just a couple of little trips
I've had in the last month.
Last month, I've gone to the company about batteries
I told you about. Right around the corner
is the largest manufacturer of polysilicon
that goes into solar panels. in Bellingham,
Washington, is the largest manufacturer of solar panels
in the Western Hemisphere.
In Pullman, Washington, we're generating
a whole new system of sustainable aviation fuel
so we can fly our airplanes on liquid fuels
that have almost a net zero carbon footprint.
In SoDo in south Seattle, they're making a fuel cell.
The largest truck in the world is being powered by a fuel cell
that runs on clean hydrogen,
manufactured in the SoDo region.
This is happening so fast, it just makes your head spin.
And there are careers --
and I hope some of you will think about careers
in this space, because we need you.
We need you as lawyers for companies in clean energy.
We need you as engineers in companies.
We need consumer advocates.
There is a -- there are careers here
that are going to be some of the greatest growth potential
of any career of any time.
And the other thing that we have going for us
is people want this done.
The vast majority of Washingtonians,
and at this moment, even the vast majority of Americans
want this problem solved.
And when people want something done
and you you marry it
with this innovative power of the human mind,
I actually believe we're going to
we're going to save the planet.
-Governor, in the last decade,
Washington State's population population
increased by about 21%
as compared to the national population of about 7%.
The state and city of Seattle
certainly have benefited from this great influx of people.
But at what point do so many newcomers
perhaps degrade our quality of life --
talking about traffic pollution and homelessness
and other issues?
-You know, you don't really get ahead in politics
by saying that the voters shouldn't be here.
It just it doesn't -- [ Laughter ]
-Oh. -You know what I'm saying?
-But can I jump in and ask
if you're running for a fourth term?
-Well, it's to be determined.
-Wait, we're running out of time.
We got to get to this. -To be determined.
No, you know, I think
we are such an innovative state and such a dynamic state,
such a cosmopolitan state.
I look at the influx of people as enriching our state,
particularly from people of every demographic,
every linguistic group, every point in the compass.
We're just such a rich state
because we have brought in people
from all over the world of all different colors
and speech patterns and everything else.
It makes us a richer state.
So I would not want to shut down that richness
that we have built here. But this brings big challenges,
the first of which is homelessness.
One of the reasons for our homelessness
is that we have a million more people, as you've indicated,
and yet we've only built 340,000 housing units.
We have to build housing like crazy
because I believe homeless is not acceptable
in the state of Washington.
We are a better state than this, and we need to go build houses
so we get done with this tragedy of homelessness.
And it's one of the things I'm working real hard on
to get the legislators to really stand up
and say, we're a better state than this.
-Governor, you've been pretty vocal
on reducing the use of natural gas.
Are you coming for our gas stoves?
-Not before lunch, but...
-Okay. But what about after lunch?
-Well, no, there is not -- there's not an effort to --
to take away anybody's guess stove right now.
What there is, though, is a concerted effort
to give people options to use inductive cooking,
which is fantastic.
Now, I know everybody loves gas stoves.
We had one up until recently, as a matter of fact,
and we loved cooking on it.
But then we got an inductive stove
and it's so much better than a gas stove
because you can modulate exactly the temperature you want.
It's instant food. It's like instant boiling water.
It's incredible.
So we want to help people to have that option
to get those stoves.
There's really no reason now
to be installing new gas infrastructure.
Let me just say this --
there is no reason now, technologically or otherwise,
to be building equipment that is going to poison your own air
that you breathe.
When you have a gas stove in your house,
your children have a about a 15% higher rate
of respiratory disease. It's dangerous.
It emits toxic material into your home.
So there's a much cleaner opportunity available for people
as we're moving into new space
or to help them finance the transition, like we did.
-So I literally have one minute left,
so we're going to go tight, both of us. Right?
So if you are running for a fourth term,
what is your stance on offshore wind development,
and aren't California and Oregon
a little bit ahead of us on this?
-Yes, I believe we have
tremendous offshore wind potential.
We have probably the best wind potential anywhere on earth,
actually, off the west coast of the United States.
We have not been the first to develop it
because we have deep water.
So our coasts slope down very rapidly.
So you have to have a floating platform.
You can't build it on legs like they have in Europe.
Fortunately, that technology is now becoming mature.
There are several floating platforms in the world.
And the first lease, as you indicated,
has moved forward in California.
It started in California because that is easier to build there
because it's closer to the population centers.
You don't have to build a long transmission line.
Our load is about 100 miles away from the coast.
So this industry is going to develop in California first.
It's then going to come to Oregon,
and then it's going to come to Washington.
And I'm in favor of a rational planning process
to figure out how to do that,
because this is an amazing resource.
-So hold right there.
We are going to take a quick break
and return with our two student interviewers.
Do not go away.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
-We are back with Governor Jay Inslee.
And we're delighted today to share the stage
with two wonderful Seattle University students,
Gabby Batinich and Anna Smalley. Gabby is a major
in environmental studies and Spanish,
and Anna is a major in public affairs and economics.
Anna, take it away.
-Hi. Gabby and I are passionate about climate action.
What do you see as the role of institutions,
colleges, and universities in shaping the future
of climate action and environmental education?
-Well, that's a great question.
I will start by saying nobody should get a degree.
The president should not give anybody a degree
unless you vote. That's the first thing.
So I hope you're getting all of your --
This is a serious issue, right?
If we can get your generation to vote at the same rate
that my generation votes, we're going to change the world.
Right? Because your generation understands this.
You have the most at stake,
and you understand the science of it.
So voting is a very, very serious issue.
Obviously, getting everyone to understand
the basic science of this is still important.
We've been very intentional
to try to make sure students get this.
And, you know, in junior high school and high school,
but they still use it in a college basis as well.
Third, the research and development on our campuses.
We just need to put pedal to the metal on this.
Now, there's -- a lot of that comes from federal funding,
but we encourage any college accommodation
or otherwise to open up the floodgates to R&D in this.
We've seen this in a variety of places.
We've started a clean testing laboratory
at the University of Washington.
I met some young guys there who figured out a way
to do a film over solar panels
that basically tunes the light,
if I may say it, so it's more efficient.
We're starting a clean energy hub
over in Tri-Cities, Washington State University.
So those would be the first three things.
Then the other thing is internally,
in your own operations,
I was so impressed with the president
talking about your being neutral and your divestment.
That's very, very impressive. So you can do a lot.
Then you can recruit brilliant students like you two.
So that's good.
-Definitely. And as you spoke to --
[ Laughter ]
Sorry. [ Laughs ]
And everyone else here. -That's awesome.
As you spoke to earlier, Governor,
the lived effects of climate change are worsening.
For example, Seattle had the worst air quality
in the world during the fires last year.
So we're wondering, how do you protect
the most vulnerable from these negative effects?
-Important question. One of the things we do
is we emphasize and we put our assets,
our resources that are developed in our climate plans
to go to those disadvantaged
and disproportionately affected communities.
So in our Climate Commitment Act,
this is a cap and invest system. As you know, you sell credits,
you make polluters pay for pollution,
generates about a billion and a half dollars,
and you target those
to the disproportionately affected communities.
So 35% of all of those investments
need to go into communities
or associated with those communities
that are the biggest victims.
10% go to indigenous communities because it is widely disparate.
It was interesting. I first sort of learned about this.
I met a young Latina, 14 year old,
down in the Duwamish neighborhood
who did some studies about asthma rates.
And she found that every quarter mile
you live closer to the freeway or to an industrial site,
your asthma rates go up 10 or 20%.
And it's the communities of color
disproportionately being impacted by this.
So you target your actions.
We also have a thing called the Heal Act,
which requires all of our agencies
to be directed to bringing in more equitable focus on this
because so many different agencies have hand on this.
Health is obvious, even Department of Agriculture.
So you build it into all of all of your infrastructure.
-As a follow up,
how can we balance both reducing emissions
and adopting -- adapting to the harms of climate change?
-Tough question because resources are not infinite.
I guess, you know, when I get up in the morning,
I'm much more thinking we need to stop this monster
as opposed to just putting people in the hospital
to recover from it.
We have to stop this beast at our door.
I think that is the first fundamental issue.
If you don't do that,
there's not enough sort of rehabilitative
possibility available. And the assets that we enjoy,
which is air and water, upon which life depends,
there is no real rehabilitative solution for that
if you lose those two assets.
So I just get up in the morning
thinking about how we're going to reduce carbon pollution
as our fundamental goal.
Now, having said that, as I've indicated,
we do have ways to channel some of these dollars
into to minimizing
and mitigating some of its its impact.
There's just -- you know, failure is not an option here.
That's the way I look at it.
-Thank you.
Um, as you know, if you want to be a leader
in environmental policy, you're generally tackling policy
that has not been implemented elsewhere.
What might be the political and economic cost of failure?
-Oh, man, I don't want to think about that.
That's the worst horror movie of failure.
Well, you know, have you ever been to Venus?
You know, I mean, nobody vacations on Venus.
It's just -- it's just way too warm, you know?
You don't want to think about it.
I mean, one of the problems of this phenomena, actually,
is that when you do think
if we do have unrestrained CO2 emissions,
you do look at circumstances
that do -- that are apocalyptic,
and you don't really want to think in those terms
because when you talk about apocalypse,
people, "A" tune you out. "B," it's just disturbing.
And so -- And so you don't really think
or talk about it very much.
But the reality is, if we have unrestrained CO2 and methane,
you know, we won't look quite like Venus,
but it is incompatible with any sort of, you know,
environment that we -- that today we recognize.
And we know that has happened during the Earth's history
quite a number of times, right?
Because we've had, you know, tropical swamps
in, you know, in the Greenland and northern Canada,
so to speak -- I'm not exactly sure about that.
But the point is, the earth is capable of having shifts
that are -- you really can't imagine.
That is possible, and it has happened.
So failure is not an option.
-For younger generations like ours,
climate change is a top priority,
and sometimes it can be hard to reckon
with the apathy of some older people -- aside from yourself,
of course -- on this issue.
So we're wondering what's going on with boomers?
[ Laughter ]
-You know, you just get off my lawn.
Will you, kid? I mean, come on.
[ Laughter ]
Okay. So first off,
I'll say boomers have got one thing over your generation.
You know what they do? -Hmm?
-They vote.
-You heard it here first, folks.
-They vote. Now, sometimes they vote wrong.
Okay. In fact, too frequently they vote wrong.
Well, it's interesting.
What's the difference in the generations?
Well, to start with, this is the best educated generation.
It really is. The education
that that you've had is just absolutely superb.
I guess what I would say is that for every decade in your life,
you become more accepting to what you've experienced,
and yes, maybe a little less flexible.
And thank goodness we've got youth,
and we're always going to have youth,
because youth is impatient.
Youth is insistent on change. Youth knows no inhibitions.
Youth has never had failure in life,
so you believe anything is possible.
So thank goodness we have young people
at the fore on this.
And you are going to create the technologies
and the industries that are going to solve
this problem for us, which I believe you will.
I actually believe your generation will succeed in this.
So but don't give up on us. We have our role,
but it hasn't been identified yet,
but we will -- we will have some positive.
And by the way, just remember,
you're talking to a 71-year-old woman out here,
Trudi Inslee, So you better be nice,
because she's -- she's doing some good work.
We have some youth, too -- Anna Lising, young lady
who is our energy guru, who has really helped us
create the best energy policies in the United States.
And I say that because people have a role in policy on this.
It's just not chemical engineers and electrical engineers.
So Anna has helped really write literally
the best climate laws in the United States.
And I know people could be doing, after Anna retires --
you know, following that up would be great.
-Um, so what are some ways to make substantial change
beyond market incentives?
Do we focus too much on economic solutions
and not enough on systemic change?
-This is from an economics major.
She's -- She's trash talking economics, and it's her major.
I don't get that. But in any event...
Well, I think we have to attack this
in hundreds of ways, not just one way.
So we have a market -- signal to the markets of a cap
and invest bill in the United States.
I believe it's a good idea.
It sends a market signal that, dollar for dollar,
you're better making an investment in clean energy
because it's more expensive to do it with a dirty fossil fuel.
You understand that very well. So that's one good policy.
But incentives are not enough.
There is a place for regulatory approach,
so we have a clean fuel standard in some sense to move forward.
We have a building code standard,
which now is the best in the United States
because it is going to require people, when you have housing,
get a heat pump
so you don't have to put in fossil gas into your house.
We have a requirement that we're going to have electric cars
in the next decade and a half.
Those regulatory functions are important,
and they're succeeding.
And the thing is that almost
every single environmental regulation
we have had since the Nixon administration,
since Bill Ruckelshaus, who's a guy from Seattle,
started the Environmental Protection Agency,
two things have happened. People have said they won't work
and they'll drive people into bankruptcy,
and number two, they work, and it creates jobs.
And so these regulatory approaches have been
and will be, I think, very, very important.
Then there's obviously individual action,
which is also important. All of us have individual action
we're capable of in our own lives
making good decisions.
You know, get an electric car,
get a, you know, move -- inductive range,
maybe look at your personal habits,
maybe even ride a bicycle, like I do.
So those all count.
Did I pass economics?
Is that? Thank you. -You got it. You got it.
-Can you fit the troopers on the bicycle?
-What's that? -Can you fit the troopers
on the bicycle? -The troopers have
an electric bicycle, actually. [ Laughs ]
-Governor, how do you make climate change a priority
when there's so much injustice
and so many other pressing issues?
-Uh, well, one way is I got a little wristband
I got about 15 years ago that says, "stop global warming,"
and it hangs from my little light
when I shave every morning.
So I get reminded every single morning.
It's easy for me to know what this is.
I've been at this for some time.
I ran for Congress in 1992. And I looked at an old brochure.
I had the very first brochure. And I had, you know,
"Fight climate change, reduced carbon dioxide."
I had that in 1992.
So this is something literally I've thought
about every day since 1992. It's very easy.
And the reason is, is that it's certainly easy now.
It's easier now than it was in 1992
because every single day, we are reading of some
climate-caused disaster somewhere in the United States.
The most recent was the unprecedented
flooding in Florida.
And so how can you not be aware of that and recognize it?
And secondly, so Trudi and I have now six grandkids.
And I think the most important thing you can do in life
is to think about the next generation.
I always think that all we are is links in a long chain.
And to me, the most important thing in life
is to make sure the next couple of chains have a shot.
So when I see my six grandchildren,
that is a constant reminder, every single time I see them.
And they remind me of this, too. They're extremely --
at age 9, 11, and 14, we talk to them about this.
They know what this means in their life.
Are they going to have a forest to hike in?
Are there going to be kelp beds out in Eagle Harbor?
This is meaningful in their individual lives.
So it's very easy for me to be passionate about this subject.
They are the cutest grandchildren
in the state of Washington, by any estimation.
-Thanks. So Gabby and I are graduating in June,
and we have big plans to work in the field of environmental
justice and environmental policy.
What advice would you have for graduating seniors
hoping to work in this field?
-Uh, don't try to take Anna's job
because she's really, really good.
So that's -- But maybe interning her to start with.
First off, I'm encouraged you're maybe thinking about that.
I would encourage you both.
What I would say is think broadly --
broadly geographically, broadly in industries.
There are so many ways to be engaged in this.
Sometimes the most obvious one is public policy --
for a governor's office or for the Department of Commerce
or Department of Ecology or King County.
But in the private sector -- there are a lot of jobs
available in the private sector in things you might not
immediately think of as climate related.
You know, maybe people are going to need to go
into marketing for for the automobile industry.
I don't know. How do you -- how do you market electric cars?
How do you handle a rebate program
for clean inductive stoves?
How do you talk to the public about that?
I guess what I think is to think broadly about --
about alternatives.
Then come to work with us.
-There's always that. [ Laughter ]
I, and some of my other peers -- many of my other peers --
envision a future of substantial change
in climate action -- something like a Green New Deal.
So are we going to go big, and if so, when?
-Well, I think we are.
I think we can categorize ourselves
as going big first off, in our state.
Now, this won't shock you that I'm proud of my state,
but I can stand on any stage and debate
any other governor on this, and I will win the argument.
We have the best clean energy climate laws
in the United States, and I am damn proud of that
right here in the state of Washington.
Okay, So that's -- [ Cheers and applause ]
We are going big. That's what I'm saying.
And the reason we're going big
is we've touched kind of all the bases.
It's not just one thing or two things or three things.
It's all of these different approaches.
In our transportation policy, we want to inspire,
you know, low and zero carbon transportation
in our land use planning. We want to have higher density
so we don't have so many transportation costs.
In our health care,
we're very sensitive to the needs of asthma
and what, you know -- what air quality,
how it's associated.
In agriculture, we're trying to grow
sustainable crops and crops that we can use
for sustainable aviation.
So we in all of these sectors are doing something
that is big in the state of Washington,
and I believe we will accomplish our goals.
So that's on the state level. On the federal level,
the Inflation Reduction Act is enormous.
$360 billion that is now available, is an enor--
It is going big. It's not as fast as it needs to be.
Okay, and it requires state action --
This is why we still need governors,
because even though the federal government
has moved what I would call big
or at least bigger than the past,
we need to go faster, and the states can go faster.
So we're in a blue state.
We can go faster than Washington, DC has gone,
and that's why we need to take state action.
And we are.
But we need to accelerate, obviously, as you know.
-So time for one last question and one short answer.
-I've got one governor.
Tell me -- Hawks or Huskies?
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, no.
-Well, I'll just take the Cougars on this one.
That'll be about...
So I grew up -- My dad was a basketball coach,
and I grew up idolizing Elgin Baylor.
Now, do you guys know who Elgin Baylor is?
I shouldn't ask you that trick question.
So Elgin Baylor -- Elgin Baylor was a Red Hawk
who was the most astounding -- -I looked it up.
-Astounding basketball player of his era.
And he was sort of the -- he created airspace
for Michael Jordan.
Because he would -- One time, I was watching a game,
and he came down the lane and he took off,
you know, for this, like, running hook shot,
and I went out for a hot dog and I came back.
He was still in the air.
I'm not making this up. He was incredible.
-Well told. -So I love the Red Hawks.
I like what they're doing.
-That was well told. -But I got -- And I got cut
from the University of Washington basketball team, so.
[ Laughter ]
-And you don't still remember it, do you?
Okay, we're out of time.
Great discussion at Seattle University
in honor of Earth Month.
Big thanks to Governor Jay Inslee
for the time and the insight.
And thanks to all of you for watching.
[ Applause ]
♪♪