Last Wednesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Mike Milken sat down for a chat with
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just before he hosted a panel of Nobel Laureates who discussed climate change and energy alternatives.
Showing true leadership, the governor really went after the Bush administration, whom he refers to as "the federal government," threatening to sue if they didn't move quickly to give California its EPA waiver to regulate greenhouse gases.
But what I thought was most interesting was Arnold's articulation of a new strain of environmentalism -- a kind of muscular environmentalism not based on guilt and limits, but on the limitless possibilities of technology. He extolled his role as co-host of an episode of Pimp My Ride, in which an 800 horsepower car is sexed up to run on biofuels.
This seems to me both a promising, but also potentially delusionary path. Pimping a ride is
one thing, but can you Pimp the Planet?
Arnold's muscular environmentalism is promising, because massive change is possible though new fuels, cycle to cycle manufacturing, biomimicry and all kinds of other innovations. But it would be a mistake to imagine that all the wasteful habits of consumer democracy can one day just be swept away by some kind of planetary liposuction.
It is not a matter of guilt, but a matter of redefining the objects of desire. Once consumer products become cultural symbols and the means by which status and recognition are granted in a culture, there can be no end to the materialist clutter that will clog the soul, the soil, the seas and the air. The better path, whether for Chinese, Americans or anyone else whose industrialized desires are heating up the atmosphere, would be to rank well-being over well- having.
That doesn't mean not consuming, it just means not looking to the market for everything that
matters. It doesn't mean poverty, it means frugality, or smart living that doesn't just pile up the
waste (at least without out using it over again somehow.) This message, by the way, comes
through pretty clearly in Leo DeCapprio, Leila Conners-Petersen and Nadia Conners' new
film, The 11th Hour, that will show at Cannes later this month.
As green issues become mainstream, these distinctions ought to be kept in mind.
Here is my own edited transcription of what Governor Schwarzenegger said to Milken:
"Global warming is not something we are fantasizing. It is real. The science is in.In California, we have picked up where the federal government has left off in its failure to lead. In an example of post-partisanship, Democrats and Republicans together are responding quickly to the reality of climate change in our state. We have passed legislation to roll back greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020 and strictly limit carbon emissions from vehicles.
We are also, for example, promoting the "hydrogen highway" so that more cars -- including my own Hummer -- can run on hydrogen fuel, which emits no carbon at all. Our role as government is to set the carbon limits; it is up to industry to figure out how they want to meet these limits, whether that be new kinds of batteries, new fuel mixes or new fuels altogether.
To magnify the impact of our own actions, we are partnering with other states in America, provinces in Canada and even with Tony Blair in Great Britain to promote greenhouse gas reductions. The biggest challenge, however, is to convince our own government in Washington not only that it must act, but lead. America is only 5 percent of the world population, but we are responsible for 45 percent of the world's automotive carbon emissions.
As more and more people come on board, I hope the federal government will get the message. (Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has the power to regulate greenhouse gases just like air pollution. Yet,) the EPA has not yet granted California the "waiver" needed by states to implement their own regulations. Therefore, to make sure it gets the message, we have just given the federal government six months' notice that if the waiver is not forthcoming, we will sue for our rights as a state. The clock is ticking.
...I am very conscious as we go down this road that we need to protect jobs and the economy as well as the environment. We don't have to make a choice between one or the other. We can do both. In the short term, this has already been proven: We have passed strict environmental laws in California, yet, at the same time, the state has returned from the brink of bankruptcy with solid economic growth that has generated hundreds of thousands of jobs in the past two years. Businesses are now coming back to California, not leaving.
In the longer term, the public demand to clean up the environment and stem global warming is opening new markets for green, clean technology. Because of this, business is becoming one of the biggest boosters of the environmental cause instead of its enemy.
One example: Tesla Motors has created a new car that is 100 percent electric and can drive over 200 miles before its needs recharging. It can travel at a speed of over 130 mph and go from 0-60 in four seconds. It would beat any Porsche.
The problem has been that, so often, fuel-efficient cars don't look that great. They are not the kind of car the "Terminator" would drive! Like me, many people want a sexy sports car with a stick shift. But we also want to be green.
The point is that industry can change its technology to be clean and green. You can have a big "muscle car" like my Hummer, or a mom who wants her kids to be safe can drive a large SUV -- but with zero carbon emissions.
I have just co-hosted a TV show called Pimp My Ride, where old cars are fixed up to look nice and sexy. We put an 800-horsepower engine in a car, but it is powered by biofuel. So, this car reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent and goes twice as far on a gallon of fuel; yet it also goes really fast and looks great.
...the technology is there. The demand is there. If governments lead, investment will follow, business will follow and jobs will follow. That's how we should deal with global warming instead of trying to make people feel guilty, telling them to reduce the size of their cars. Of course, if people want small cars, that is fine. But there ought to be choice.
If our example in California can just shake the federal government enough to wake them up, then the U.S. itself can take the lead. That, of course, will have a much bigger impact. If the leadership comes from Washington, then there is a far greater chance of bringing India and China -- which will soon be the largest emitter of greenhouse gases -- into the fold.
American leadership and the relationship with China is critical in addressing global warming. China is firing up hundreds of new coal-burning plants because they are hungry for megawatts. Why do they need so much energy? Because they are producing goods to ship to American consumers!
We Americans have to understand that every product we buy from China is made with dirty fuel. I think in the future what we will do is treat those countries who produce goods without regard for the environment the same way as we deal with countries that violate human rights and have sweatshops.
...Since we all share the same planet and breathe the same air, whether Republican or Democrats or whatever our political stripe, it only makes sense to work together.
Turning the climate crisis into an opportunity -- for investment, clean and green technology and jobs -- is a matter of leadership..."