-Can you talk about -- I know you have two new
hopefully "initiatives" is the right word,
basically the Climate Reality Project and climate tracing.
-Yeah, thank you. Well, the Climate Reality Project
is a project that I started back in 2006
with all of the profits from
the movie and book "An Inconvenient Truth."
And right now, we're in the middle of our 44th training,
and this is the first virtual training,
and I was so happy that 14--
more than 14,000 people applied to join.
We couldn't handle that many
because we don't have enough mentors
to do that big a group yet.
But 10,000 signed up.
We're in the sixth day of a nine-day training.
And in the nature of these virtual trainings,
you avoid what they call "Zoom fatigue"
by doing it two hours a day, basically.
It's a real thing, and -- -I believe it.
-Yeah. And so, it's going extremely well. Thank you.
And we have people from 130 countries,
and we give them the facts about the science,
the causes, the impacts, the solutions,
and we give them advocacy and communication skills
even better than what most of them already have.
And you asked, also, about the climate trace initiative.
Thank you. This is a new coalition
that is made up of nine tech organizations and companies.
A lot of brilliant young people
engaged in artificial intelligence
and machine learning.
And our goal is to launch next June.
We'll have a hard launch at the beginning of the year.
But by next June, we will have a report
on every significant greenhouse gas emissions
anywhere in the world --
how much, who's responsible for it --
and then we'll update it every six hours.
And the point is to make these folks accountable
for the first time.
There are a lot of governments
that really have a hard time understanding
where their own greenhouse gas emissions are coming from.
There are a lot of companies that want their supply chains
to scrub out the global warming pollution.
There are a lot of activists that want to know where it's coming from.
And there are a lot of investors who want to take their money
out of companies that are busy
at destroying the future of human civilization
and put it into companies that are facilitating a transition
to a cleaner and more prosperous and sustainable world.
-You mentioned Zoom fatigue.
Having been a candidate for the presidency,
can you imagine what it must be like for Joe Biden right now,
having to basically campaign from his home?
It must be so different from what you experienced.
-Well, it's very different.
We haven't seen a campaign like this one geographically
for a long, long time,
since before the days of television.
And I think that's he's handling it extremely well.
You know, I'm for him.
And so, you can take my remarks with a grain of salt.
But I really think he's doing extremely well.
And most people seem to share that view.
-You -- He maybe was not the greenest candidate
when there was a large debate field.
Yet, he seems to be taking the environment very seriously
on his platform now.
Are you -- You know, obviously,
considering how you feel about it as an issue,
are you optimistic so far
how he would address it as the President?
-Absolutely. And to put your comment in perspective,
it's true that there were other candidates,
like Jay Inslee, prominently, and others, as well,
who had maybe a bolder climate agenda during the primaries,
but if you look at Joe Biden's plan during the primaries,
it was miles ahead of what we have seen in any previous cycle.
And, wisely, he has adopted some of the best proposals
from his primary opponents
and fully integrated them into his new plan.
I have enjoyed my conversations with him
since Joe Biden secured the nomination.
I'm very happy with what he has proposed.
There are always a few things that I would,
you know, do a little differently,
go a little farther and faster.
But, honestly, it is a great platform,
and I think it's getting rave reviews
from most all the folks who really care about the climate crisis.
-Obviously, Joe Biden is far ahead in the polls,
but we should still be very worried, right?
We can't just rest on our laurels here
and be happy with a 15-point lead in a July poll.
-Well, I can confirm that, yes.
The actual votes are what determine the winner.
His lead is a good one.
But after the experience
supporters of the nominee four years ago had
watching a poll lead not quite as large as this one
but pretty big just sort of disappear,
everybody kind of says, "Well, wait a minute.
I'm not taking anything for granted."
And I would like to quote the great departed John Lewis.
He was a dear friend and such a great champion.
And, also, a climate champion, by the way.
He and I introduced the very first environmental justice bill
30 years ago.
And when he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge
for the very last time last year --
people knew that he had pancreatic cancer,
and it was an emotional occasion --
he got to the other side.
And I was watching the interview on television.
And I got kind of emotional hearing him say --
He said, "We've got to vote like we've never voted before."
And I hope everybody takes that message to heart
because this will be a turnout election.
Trump supporters will turn out.
And the supporters of Biden
just need to turn out in even larger numbers.
I kind of think that's the direction it's headed in right now.
But nobody should take a single vote for granted.
-Thank you so much for your time.
It's always a pleasure speaking with you.
And hopefully, next time will be in person.
-I hope so, too. Thanks, Seth. Keep up the great work.
-All right. All the best.