- Today,
we are interviewing Gordon Hodge,
otherwise known as Papa, AKA my grandpa.
I love and respect him more than anyone in the world.
He is pretty conservative, and from South Carolina.
I don't even know if he believes in climate change.
So I'm a little nervous about this.
But I'm hoping I can use everything I've learned
from Earth Your While to make this conversation
go smoother.
And if that doesn't make, maybe strawberry milkshakes
will help.
Papa, thank you for coming to my apartment in LA.
This is your first time in California, right?
- Yes, it is.
- The reason we're having milkshakes
is because you are the person who introduced me
to strawberry milkshakes when I was probably five
years old or so.
- I think it was around that time, yes.
- Oh, this is good.
You're in your 80s, right?
- 84, yes. - 84?
- Yes.
- I always say that you are the inspiration
for the type of person that I wanna be.
I feel like I've looked up to you so much as a style icon.
- [Gordon] Well I always enjoyed going shopping
with you, too.
- So you were born in Sumter, South Carolina?
- Sumpter County, yes.
- What was life growing up in Sumter like?
- We lived on a farm mostly when I lived in Sumter.
And we didn't have the implements
and tractors and stuff that they have today.
We had mules to plow with, so .
- What age did you start working?
- Probably when I was nine, 10 years old.
We moved to Buffalo in 1951.
I started working for a trucking company.
So I worked there 34 years.
- When you were growing up,
what were your meals like?
- Oh, we had vegetables,
we always had pigs that we killed.
- Did you kill pigs?
- No, no.
I raised pigs for 4H, and then they got killed.
- Okay, so you didn't have to do it.
- I was upset .
- I would imagine that would be hard.
I've met some pigs
and now I feel guilty when I have bacon all the time.
Is your house okay from the hurricanes
that have been going on?
Because it was supposed to hit South Carolina a little bit.
- Well, we're in the central part of the state.
I'm probably a hundred miles from the East Coast.
Nothing compared to what they were having along the coast,
and Florida, and the islands.
- What do you think about climate change?
- Well, there's proof that it's definitely changing.
- I didn't know
if you would be concerned with things like that.
And I think I may have misjudged you a little bit.
- Well.
- 'Cause I thought as an older conservative man
it may not be a concern of yours.
What would you like to see change in your lifetime?
- Probably more education in that field.
We're pretty much aware of what's going on here
for the most part.
- I would say we're aware,
but we're also the number two polluter behind China.
Do you think that America needs to step it up?
- I think we're trying .
Like I said, you can see it in all areas,
and otherwise the beaches would've been flooded,
and Miami would be underwater
and all that stuff that they were talking about
25 years ago .
- They're saying that that stuff will still happen
if we don't do drastic things.
And that it may be passed the point of making a difference.
So how do you feel about that as somebody who's older?
Do you think that we should still
be doing things to combat pollution
and environmental issues?
- They are doing it.
It may not be as quick as everyone would want it,
but it's definitely helping.
- What do you think about renewable energy,
and solar panels, and all that sorta stuff?
- Well, I think it's great for the environment.
And I'm glad to see that more of it is happening.
- Really?
Would you ever put solar panels on your house do you think?
- I've got enough property I could put 'em around
the house, but I don't want them on the roof
'cause they're ugly.
But I would like more like a solar farm
instead of a solar roof.
- Oh, so you wanna go big?
- Yeah, well I've got three properties here,
so if I could hook all the houses up that would be nice.
- This conversation did not go how I thought it would.
I thought we may disagree on more things,
but I'm really happy that we didn't.
Grandpa, do you have any questions for me?
- No Zach, I just wanna say I'm very proud of
the way you conduct yourself.
And your success.
- Aw.
Thank you.
That's a lot because of you, though.
You're the most generous person that I know.
I just wanted to thank you for being so wonderful.
Because, really,
you are the person that I
look up to
most.
And I hope that when I'm older I can
be a person like you.
So thank you.
- Cut it out.
Okay.
But thank you.
Alright, let's finally finish these milkshakes.
I was really, really surprised
by a lot of what happened.
This was by no means a perfect conversation,
I didn't challenge him or push back on anything
when I could've.
But you know what?
It was a start.
And sometimes having this conversation with you family
is harder because you love 'em,
so the stakes are higher.
If there's one thing I've learned
about having the climate change conversation,
I think it would have to be,
- [All] Don't be a dick.
- Don't be a dick.
- Don't be a freakin' knuckle head.
- Don't be a tool.
- Don't be a dick.
- [All] Don't be a dick.
- Don't be a dick.
And please bleep that because my grandpa
would not like me using that word at all.
I still don't know exactly how we're gonna fix
climate change, but I sure as heck know
that nothing is gonna change unless we can
have a conversation about it.
So I hope this helps you have a conversation
with people you love about climate change
and the environment, and clean air, and clean water.
And maybe all it takes is milkshakes.
♫ SoulPancake