-You know, obviously we mentioned Texas.
Texas went through a terrible stretch there
where freezing temperatures, power failures.
Some of that was blamed erroneously, it should be noted,
on sort of green initiatives.
I know you're supportive of those, but you also believe
in investing in the climate and green premiums?
I hope I'm saying that right.
Can you explain that for everyone?
-Well, right now a huge range of activities from making
cement, to driving your car, to flying on plane
cause these emissions, and it's 51 billion tons.
We're going to try to get that down to zero
in the next 30 years.
That's going to be hard, because right now if you try
to do things the green way, it costs a lot more money
to make steal or cement without emissions.
And so we need a lot of innovation,
and so my book says, "Hey, I think we can do this."
You know, I've seen innovation solve big problems,
and yet we're going to have to really make it a priority
for each year of the next 30 years
with a lot of R&D, a lot of good policies.
And unless the younger generations is really
pushing for it, we probably will miss this,
and the world will be a lot less livable.
-You visited for the book a coal plant, a cement plant,
a paper mill, and I was surprised to hear that you were
someone who self-describes yourself
as horrible at chemistry.
Has this just always been the case?
-Yeah, I'm not that dexterous in the lab.
I would, you know, spill things, or not get the numbers right.
You know, when it comes to the theoretical I'm quite good,
but I always had to pick a lab partner who was better
at hands-on skills,
and that's why I don't do much cooking.
-[ Laughs ] Probably for the best.
You know, you've talked about with the vaccine that it was
a nice marriage of the private and the public,
and despite any invitation -- innovation, excuse me --
that comes from the private sector, the climate will not be
addressed unless people in government
believe it should be addressed.
And therefore, on that hand,
you sort of invite people to run for office.
You think that's really important for those who believe
climate is an issue to find their way into elected office
and make it a priority.
Is that one of the ways out of this 30 year plan?
-No, I'm not going to run, but we need
both parties to engage in this.
They can have different tactics, different ways of getting
the private sector involved, but it's just like, you know,
we want to avoid war, and so we debate the defense budget,
but not that goal.
And I do see increased interest that, you know,
if you want to have a moral cause beyond your own success,
believing we should make the planet livable
and not hurt the poorest, I think that is catching on,
and that's the only reason I think we'll make
the investments that could get us to zero by 2050.
-Is one of the things that gives you optimism the fact
that the younger generation seems to be taking this more
seriously than maybe anyone who's come before?
-Yes, and that's got to keep increasing.
You know, it's got to become something where any politician
who's not serious about climate, they're saying that,
"No, that's not what the U.S. is going to stand for,"
that we're going to lead the way,
not only in solving the problems,
but building these new industries for green products.
-In the end, I do want to leave on a positive note.
Would you say on the whole, even though you understand
maybe better than anyone what we're up against,
are you, on the whole, optimistic?
-Yes. The -- life has improved a lot.
The digital revolution's amazing,
and we have to apply that American ingenuity, you know?
America's still the place where most breakthroughs happen,
so we owe it to the world to figure this one out,
and I think we will.
-Well, thank you so much. Congrats on the book.
I hope it sells.
Love you to make a little bit of money on this, Bill.
[ Laughter ]
-Definitely need it.
"How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have
and the Breakthroughs We Need" is available now.