Podcast Summary: This is Gavin Newsom
Episode: How To Solve The Climate Crisis With President Clinton
Date: October 23, 2025
Host: Gavin Newsom
Guest: President Bill Clinton
Episode Overview
In this compelling conversation, Governor Gavin Newsom and former President Bill Clinton discuss the climate crisis, California’s leadership in environmental and technological innovation, the escalating threats and complexities faced by states, and the broader challenges facing American society. Moving beyond partisanship, the episode highlights actionable solutions, the intersection of policy and innovation, and the critical role of citizen engagement in shaping the nation's future. Notably, the conversation also delves into issues of insurance, AI, and the crisis facing young men, offering rich, candid insights from two high-profile public servants.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. California’s Unique Role and Achievements
- Clinton's Perspective on California:
Clinton opens with an appreciative reflection on California's diversity, economic scale, and its place as the fourth largest economy globally.“California is America, but only more so... It's the size of 21 state populations combined. It's the most diverse state in the world's most diverse democracy. 27% of my state is foreign born.” — Gavin Newsom [06:22]
- Economic and Cultural Leadership:
Newsom highlights California’s top rankings in tech, agriculture, education, and innovation.“We dominate with more engineers, more scientists, more Nobel laureates, more venture capital, the finest system of higher education…” — Gavin Newsom [06:40]
- Future Orientation:
Newsom frames California as a place where the future is actively shaped, not passively experienced.“Future is not something to experience, it's something to manifest. It’s decisions, not conditions, that determine our fate and future.” — Gavin Newsom [07:35]
2. The Escalating Threat of Wildfires and Climate Change
- Wildfires as a Frontline Crisis:
Newsom details unprecedented wildfire events, including a devastating winter fire driven by extreme winds, highlighting California’s heavy investments in firefighting and technology.- 1,200 AI cameras, drone partnerships, and massive resource deployment described as global models.
- Despite innovation and preparation, wildfires intensify due to climate change.
- Insurance crisis: The growing uninsurability of homes is flagged as a pressing global challenge.
“If you don't believe in science, you got to believe your own eyes… Grizzly Flats, Greenville, Paradise, California, been around 150 years, disappearing.” — Gavin Newsom [09:53]
“[Insurance] is under resourced, under focused. It’s a challenge for me, it’s a challenge for Ron DeSantis in Florida… We need to be more focused on it.” — Gavin Newsom [11:58]
3. Insurance Industry Disruption Due to Climate Risk
- Structural Reforms in California:
Newsom outlines California’s sustainable insurance strategy, regulatory reforms, and recent milestones, such as insurers returning to the state market under new frameworks.- Emphasis on requiring insurers to serve high-risk areas in exchange for rate increases, but worries about sustainability and national policy gaps.
“We just put out our sustainable insurance strategy... The reforms we've just put into place allow for more rapid rate increases. That's the pressure point now.” — Gavin Newsom [12:52]
4. National and Federal Climate Policy Challenges
- Contrast with Federal Leadership:
Newsom criticizes recent White House moves undermining California's regulatory authority and broader US climate action.- Cites historical Republican leaders’ environmental actions.
- Warns that undoing regulations cedes innovation and economic opportunity to China and others.
“What this President has done in eight months is jaw-dropping... He's eliminated under that Clean Air Act our authority to regulate tailpipe emissions.” — Gavin Newsom [14:54]
“There’s no Republican, no Democratic thermometer… It can’t be normalized. This notion that [climate change] is a hoax…” — Newsom [14:37]
5. Clean Energy and Electric Vehicles
- Market Creation and Policy Innovation:
Newsom asserts California’s outsized role in launching the clean vehicle sector and supporting companies like Tesla through regulation and subsidies.- Frustration at federal rollbacks and lost competitive ground to China.
“There is no Elon Musk, there's no Tesla, without California's regulatory framework, period, full stop.” — Gavin Newsom [18:15]
“Over a quarter of all new car purchases in California are alternative fuel vehicles.” — Newsom [18:30] - Energy Grid Milestones:
Achievements include running the world’s fourth largest economy on 100% green energy for hundreds of days in 2025.“Nine out of 10 days in 2025, we’ve run the fourth largest economy in the world at 100% clean green energy. 217 out of 243, 100% clean energy.” — Gavin Newsom [17:34]
6. Artificial Intelligence: Opportunity and Risk
- California’s Dominance in AI:
Newsom details the state’s AI leadership, world-class research universities, and concentration of tech talent.- Cautions about balancing innovation with regulation; California leads with its proactive policies and engagement with top experts.
“We have no peers. 32 of the top 50 market cap companies on the globe… are in California.” — Gavin Newsom [25:57]
“We support risk taking, but not recklessness. From a regulatory frame, we're pretty much the only game in town as well.” — Newsom [26:49]
7. Addressing the Crisis of Men and Boys
- Societal Challenges:
Clinton pivots to the national “crisis” of young men’s alienation, educational decline, and lack of opportunity.- Newsom details California’s new comprehensive approach:
- Largest service corps in the country (College Corps, Climate Corps)
- Partnerships with experts and mentoring initiatives
- Focus on representation in education and addressing loneliness, suicide rates, and loss of purpose among young men
“It's hard for members of my own party to say that, because… we have to address the issues of women and girls and solve for them before we can get to the crisis [in boys].” — Gavin Newsom [29:43]
“Charlie Kirk… has weaponized this grievance, and electorally, they've achieved remarkable results… the Democratic Party was nowhere to be found on the issue.” — Newsom [32:22] - Newsom details California’s new comprehensive approach:
8. Citizen Engagement and Agency
- Closing Reflections:
Clinton asks Newsom for a single, most important action for citizens.“Brandeis said…the most important office… is the office of citizen. This notion of active, not inert, citizenship.” — Gavin Newsom [34:07]
- Newsom urges commitment to grace and humility and emphasizes the shared human need for connection, respect, and purpose.
“We all want to be connected to something larger than ourselves. And I think in that space, we find the answer to your question.” — Newsom [35:39]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
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On California’s Global Role:
“California is America, but only more so.” — Gavin Newsom [06:22]
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On Leadership in Crisis:
“Future is not something to experience, it's something to manifest. It's decisions, not conditions, that determine our fate and future.” — Gavin Newsom [07:35]
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On Climate Catastrophe:
“If you don’t believe in science, you got to believe your own eyes.” — Gavin Newsom [09:53]
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On Eco-Policy Backsliding:
“There’s no Republican, no Democratic thermometer… It can’t be normalized. This notion that [climate change] is a hoax…” — Gavin Newsom [14:37]
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On Electric Cars and Innovation:
“There is no Elon Musk, there's no Tesla, without California’s regulatory framework, period, full stop.” — Gavin Newsom [18:15]
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On the Crisis of Men and Boys:
“It’s just blinking red lights for young men… look at suicide rates, dropout rates, deaths of despair, issues around loneliness.” — Gavin Newsom [29:53]
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On Citizenship:
“Brandeis said…the most important office… is the office of citizen. This notion of active, not inert, citizenship.” — Gavin Newsom [34:07]
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Closing Words from Clinton:
“A long time ago… I wanted to dislike this guy. I mean, he's good looking and he's tall… but there's something special about him. I still believe that.” — Bill Clinton [35:57]
Timestamps for Key Segments
- [04:26] Clinton asks about California’s strengths and underappreciated facets
- [06:22] Newsom describes California’s diversity, economic power, and vision
- [08:25] Detailed discussion of wildfire response, climate change, and global insurance crisis
- [12:52] California’s insurance market reforms
- [14:54] Newsom critiques federal climate rollbacks and touts green job growth
- [18:09] Clean energy architecture and EV market leadership
- [25:54] California’s leadership in artificial intelligence and the regulatory challenge
- [28:48] Clinton asks about the “crisis of men and boys”; Newsom details interventions
- [34:04] Newsom’s closing reflections on active citizenship and collective agency
Tone & Style
The conversation flows with humor, candor, and a sense of urgency—anchored in mutual respect and a drive for solutions. Both speakers blend personal anecdotes (Clinton’s longstanding perspective on Newsom), data-driven arguments, constructive critiques, and an openness to bipartisanship.
Conclusion
This episode offers a substantive, hopeful, and at times sobering blueprint for tackling the climate crisis and broader societal challenges. Newsom and Clinton make clear: solutions lie in bold policy, sustained innovation, and above all, sustained, engaged citizenship. The dialogue is an invitation to recognize agency—at every level—in shaping a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future.