Work in Progress: Jay Inslee

Summary

Work in Progress: Jay Inslee
Work in Progress with Sophia Bush, iHeartPodcasts
Release Date: July 17, 2025

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In the episode titled "Work in Progress: Jay Inslee," host Sophia Bush sits down with Jay Inslee, the 23rd Governor of Washington State (2013-2025) and a leading advocate for climate change initiatives. This in-depth conversation delves into Inslee's journey, his passionate commitment to environmental issues, the challenges he faces, and his vision for a sustainable future.

Introduction to Jay Inslee

Sophia opens the conversation by highlighting Governor Inslee's reputation as a "gold standard for climate platforms." She emphasizes his successful implementation of comprehensive clean energy legislation, support for electric vehicle infrastructure, and aggressive carbon reduction goals. Inslee's leadership in passing one of the nation's strongest 100% clean energy laws aims to eliminate coal power and transition Washington State to carbon-free energy by 2045.

Journey into Politics

Governor Inslee shares his unexpected path into politics. At ten years old, he aspired to be a nuclear physicist but faced a severe bicycle accident that resulted in a broken leg and several months of recovery. During this time, his father, a biology teacher, introduced him to the complexities of nuclear energy, sparking a lifelong fascination with science.

Notable Quote:
[07:40] Jay Inslee:
"Maybe that's what caused my problems to make me go into politics."

Inslee recounts how his involvement in local politics began in his mid-thirties when he and his wife, Trudy, successfully passed a school bond initiative after previous attempts had failed five times. This achievement propelled him into the state legislature and eventually to Congress, marking the start of his political career.

Passion for Climate Change

Inslee emphasizes that his dedication to addressing climate change stems from a profound sense of duty to future generations. He believes that ensuring a healthy planet for children and grandchildren is paramount.

Notable Quote:
[22:44] Jay Inslee:
"We can tame this beast and help our economy."

He discusses the economic and health benefits of clean energy, highlighting that renewable sources like solar and wind are now cheaper than coal in 94% of the United States. This transition not only creates hundreds of thousands of jobs but also reduces utility bills for residents. Inslee passionately argues that combating climate change is both an environmental imperative and a sound economic strategy.

Challenges in Passing Climate Policies

Governor Inslee addresses the legislative obstacles hindering climate progress, particularly the filibuster in the Senate, which prevents the passage of necessary climate legislation. He expresses frustration over the fossil fuel industry's influence and the ideological opposition to clean energy initiatives.

Notable Quote:
[25:39] Jay Inslee:
"They have a cult going on right now where they've got a guy in the White House that somehow has a phobia about wind turbines."

He criticizes the current administration's stance on climate issues, accusing them of blocking advancements in clean energy and undermining efforts to mitigate climate change.

Voter Participation and Engagement

Inslee highlights Washington State’s successful voter engagement strategies, including mail-in voting and same-day registration, which have resulted in one of the highest voter participation rates in the nation. He contrasts this with other states where voting has become more restrictive and cumbersome, particularly targeting opposition demographics.

Notable Quote:
[14:48] Jay Inslee:
"It drives me nuts when I see these other states... make people stand in line for three hours to vote."

He emphasizes the importance of encouraging young voters, describing them as "the smartest generation" with "the most to lose" if climate change is not addressed.

Successes in Washington State

Under Inslee's leadership, Washington State has made significant strides in clean energy:

• Cap and Invest System: Introduced in 2019, this system has generated $3 billion over two years, funding initiatives such as heat pumps, electric school buses, and air filtration systems.

• 100% Clean Energy Grid: Washington now requires its energy grid to be entirely carbon-free, setting a precedent for other states.

• Building Efficiency Standards: The state boasts the best building efficiency standards in the U.S., ensuring minimal energy waste.

• Low Carbon Fuel Standard: This standard promotes the use of cleaner fuels across various sectors.

Notable Quote:
[65:50] Jay Inslee:
"The big most effective tool was this cap and invest system... and we have such economic success."

These initiatives have not only fostered economic growth by attracting clean energy companies but also improved public health by reducing pollution and lowering utility costs for residents.

Future Outlook and Ongoing Efforts

Looking ahead, Inslee remains dedicated to the fight against climate change through his work with "Climate Power," an organization focused on communicating the benefits of clean energy and advocating for policy changes. He underscores the importance of grassroots activism and voter participation in driving meaningful legislative reforms.

Notable Quote:
[71:02] Jay Inslee:
"This battle is long. And this is a moment... We're going to win this battle."

Inslee remains optimistic despite current political opposition, believing in the resilience and ingenuity of the American people to overcome environmental challenges.

Conclusion

Sophia concludes the episode by acknowledging Governor Inslee's relentless dedication and the critical role of collective action in combating climate change. She underscores the importance of informed conversations and active voter participation in shaping a sustainable future.

Notable Quote:
[72:22] Jay Inslee:
"Whatever you're doing out there, keep it up. We're going to win this battle. And I will be there with you."

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the "Work in Progress: Jay Inslee" episode, highlighting Governor Inslee's journey, his unwavering commitment to climate change initiatives, the legislative challenges he faces, and his optimistic vision for a sustainable future. Notable quotes with timestamps provide valuable insights and underscore the key points discussed throughout the conversation.

Transcript

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[Advertiser]

Hey listeners, I'm just interjecting to let you know this episode was recorded a few weeks ago working with Governor Inslee around his incredibly busy schedule. And unfortunately, in the time between recording and this episode airing, the devastating floods have taken place in Texas and we are just heartbroken for everyone in mystic and everyone affected. And it really drives home an unfortunate point. The climate crisis is making extreme weather more frequent and more severe and the climate doesn't care where you live, how you voted, or if you believe in science. Science is here. We are particularly heartbroken knowing that the current administration in the White House has slashed funding and aid response from FEMA and other organizations that were meant to support victims of the flooding and that were meant to warn them in the hours before the floods hit. Slashing the National Weather Service is in our mind unforgivable. And we would just like to ask that if you agree or you feel similarly passionate about ensuring that people are safe, whether they're your next door neighbors or your neighbors a few states away, please look up relief efforts for those affected. Please look up local organizations wherever you live that are working to defend climate because those are the groups that we need now more than ever and we are keeping everyone affected by this flood and the hurricane season to come in. All of our thoughts here at work in progress. Thank you. Hello Whip Smarties. Do we ever have wonderful Big Brain here with us today? I am so excited to be joined by Jay Inslee. He served as the 23rd Governor of Washington State from 2013 to 2025 and has been one of our most effective leaders on climate in America. He has proven that bold action on climate change is also incredibly successful economic policy. He made climate a central focus of his administration and pushed and then implemented incredible clean energy legislation, promoted electric vehicle infrastructure, supported aggressive carbon reduction goals, and under his leadership Washington State passed one of the nation's strongest 100% clean energy laws, aiming to eliminate coal power and transition to carbon free energy by 2045. It is so cool to hear him talk about how he did it, how he organized folks across the political spectrum and what it feels like when he meets with Washingtonians who who get $0 energy bills now. I think it's probably why he's often called our gold standard for climate platforms. And now post his gubernatorial tenure he is working with an amazing group that I am lucky enough to collaborate with him on called climate power. I gotta be honest, guys, I can feel a little doom and gloom about where climate policy is gonna go under today's leadership. And this conversation with Governor Inslee really put me back in my hope. He reminded me of what we've accomplished and what's to come, and that this fight is absolutely not over. And I think that kind of inspiration is something we all need right now. So let's dive in with Governor Jay Inslee.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Good morning, how are you?

[Advertiser]

I'm well, thank you. Good morning. Well, Governor, normally when I sit down with guests, you know, you've got really exciting things going on, whether it's work projects or, you know, your incredible political tenure. I'm actually quite curious. I like to go backwards before we really sit in the present. And I wonder for you as a public servant and an advocate, if you could go back in time and encounter yourself at, let's say, 10, do you think you'd see yourself reflected in that boy?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Not in the least because I was strong, vigorous, the world was my oyster. I never lost, I had not lost a, a campaign at that moment. And no, I was at 10, I fell off my bicycle and broke my leg and a very bad break, and really couldn't walk for several months. So I started reading and, and I remember reading a book. I was going to be a nuclear physicist when I was 10 years of age and I read a book about nuclear energy and was just fascinated by it. So that was my ambition when I was 10, also to learn to walk again, which was maybe a formative experience because I had to go through several months of procedures and it was a difficult time, but maybe an interesting one because I started to read, maybe that that's what caused my problems to make me go into politics.

[Advertiser]

Why, why do you think you were so passionate about science as a young boy?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, my father was a biology teacher. That might have something to do with it. And there was something in, and I just remember there was a diagram about how fission worked, about the splitting of the atom. And somehow that captured my imagination. And I think that the wonderful thing about youth is your imagination is, is untrammeled, it's unconstrained. You know, society is not put any constraints on your imagination yet. So last night I was sitting out on my deck out here watching the sunset and I asked my 2 year old grandson, I said, how far away is the sun? Is that a long ways away or is it close? And he started like reaching out, like he could try to figure out how far away it was. And then, then he reached up to the sky and he says, I'm going to pull the sky down and make it a blanket. And he reached up to the blue sky and it's like he's reaching up and he was going to make the sky a blanket, you know, and you get older, you wouldn't be able to share that imagination because people would look at you a little strange. But as a child, you're free to roam. And so that's a wonderful thing about that part of life.

[Advertiser]

Yeah. Free to imagine, really. Do you think that your, your time spent reading while healing launched your interest in politics, or did that come later?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Much, much later. I, I really, I've always been interested in public policy issues, but I did not see myself being involved in politics as an official till my mid to upper 30s. And, you know, I was really interested in my community affairs and, and kept abreast of what was going on in the nation. But the way I got involved in politics, I was a small town lawyer raising hay and three feral boys out in the central part of Washington state. And we, we tried to pass a school bond, Trudy and I, because it had failed five times and they were going to have to start double shifting our, our kids, we thought that was nuts. So he said, let's go build a new high school. And no one else in town would try because they failed five times.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And Trudy and I, another couple took it on. We got it passed and as soon as we passed it, the chowder heads in the legislature changed the funding formula and cut our state funding in half. And I got outraged about that, went over, started to raise hell and in Olympia, in our capital, and eventually said, well, if I'm going to do this, I might as well be in office. So I ran for office, won in a huge upset, very, very Republican area against the sitting mayor and had no chance of winning. Was in the legislature for two years and went to Congress. So that's my route, which was not preordained, predestined or planned. Here I am.

[Advertiser]

Sometimes I think that's the best way, though. You know, people who see a problem and decide to run toward it when, when you want to fix something to ensure a better future for your kids and other people's kids. You know, I think there's a, I think there's such disdain for our political system because we see so many people who get into it for self interest and self enrichment. And it's really a relief to be reminded that There are folks who do this because they actually want to serve the public. So it's nice to hear your story. When, when you look around the landscape of, you know, the world you work in, why do you think younger generations seem so politically averse? You know, what, what do you think that is? Is it a, is it a disillusionment or is it that frustration with some of that kind of grift that we see in the political system? Why do you think so many young folks are hands off?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I. Young, I love young people. I'd like to be one actually someday. But I don't think, you know, it's changed. I think that, you know, when you're 19, 20, 21, you just, you still don't have your feet under you, you're not connected to a particular community all the time and you just haven't been hit with a mortgage rate, interest, you know, raise. You haven't been hit by reality to some degree in that regard. And there's a maturation project, you know, in life, you know, I hate to say it, but you do grow into things. And I don't think it's, I don't, I actually don't know the numbers, but I'm not sure it's changed dramatically. As far as voting behavior for young people, it's always been lesser than people, you know, over 60. That's always been sort of the reality at this situation. I will say that the young voters that do vote and are active are so incredibly well informed and scientifically literate and inspiring to those of us who've been around for a few decades. So we do everything humanly possible to get young people engaged because they're the smartest generation and they have the most to lose. Right. So how many years have I got? I don't know, but 20 year old's got several decades. And if they lose the planet and a place to live and a healthy health system that takes care of them, they got a lot, a lot more to lose. So we do everything we do to encourage them. We do have higher voter participation of young and old in my state because we have one of, if not the best voting system because we vote by mail. It's very easy. We have same day registration, we make it really easy to vote. And it just drives me nuts when I see these other states, most of them run by the party that I don't belong to, that, you know, make people stand in line for three hours to vote. It's just nuts.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So we do everything we can to increase voter Participation, and we have one of the highest rates in the nation.

[Advertiser]

Oh, I just love that it is such an odd thing to watch. You know, one of our two parties really want to deny people the right to exercise their vote and their voice. And, you know, I will say one of the things that. Not to say the two parties are the same, but one of the things that really frustrates me is that we couldn't get our party better in line in the first two years of President Biden's term. The fact that we have not reinstated the John Lewis Voting Rights act just makes me crazy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Look, I wish we'd solved all our problems while we had a majority, but you got to understand, you're up against the filibuster in the Senate.

[Advertiser]

Yep.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And. And that's one of the frustrating things of the. When you're in the minority party in either chamber or even though when you're in the majority party, excuse me, you have to realize you're up against filibuster to try to pass something like that. So unless you're willing to. To blow up the filibuster, and I'm not a fan of the filibuster, if it was me, I probably would vote to end it, even though there's downsides when you're the minority, obviously. But that prevents a lot of progress. And it is, you know, that is, you know, a cleavage between the two parties. So the Democratic Party is, for the last, you know, 150 years, has stood for increasing participation in our community decision making. And the other party, not so much. They have willfully, in many occasions, tried to make it more difficult and continue these efforts even today in a variety of ways, with all kinds of tests and barriers and, you know, requiring you to go produce your birth certificate when you simply want to vote. Which is a real headache, by the way, because a lot of like 9 to 15% people literally can't find their documents on occasion. So it's a serious issue. It's very disappointing that both parties can't be in favor of broadening the number of people who participate. To put it mildly, I'm disappointed in them.

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[Advertiser]

It's interesting to me when I think about participation in the system in general and expanding people's access to weigh in on their future. It really makes me think a lot about climate. And you know, you are one of our best leaders on climate change and on, you know, bolstering our, our power as a nation to deal with it and to take care of our people. How did you come to really focus on climate as a core issue for yourself and, and what do you wish people better understood about it in the first place?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I think something deep like this. I'll try to give you a succinct answer of a complex problem, but basically I really believe that your highest duty as a person is to those who are going to come behind you. Our children, our grandchildren, our nieces, our nephews, our neighbors, kids. I think that's our highest duty because keeping this chain of, this beautiful chain of, of humanity going in a healthy way and giving your kids what, what you've enjoyed is our highest duty. There's a lot of other duties in life. You know, everybody'd Want a faster car and a, in a longer vacation. But that's the, in my book, in my value system, that's the number one duty of any person in any realm, no matter what you're doing. So it kind of stems from that. And I have six grandchildren and it is my deep, deep seated purple passion and desire for them to have what I've had, which is clean water, to be able to drink and to swim in snow in the mountains, to ski on air to breathe, it's not contaminated with forest fire smoke. And I want desperately, if I can use that word, to give my grandchildren those gifts. And they seem simple because I've always had them. But they're not going to have those gifts of a blessed and healthy life unless people of my age act to build a clean energy economy. And this is a very optimistic moment. I know that sounds very strange to say given what the Republicans are trying to do, but we have such capability right now to do this, to use our heads. Solar and wind energy is now cheaper than coal power, electricity in about 94% of the United States. We're building hundreds of thousands of jobs with clean energy jobs. If we just use our heads and common sense, we can tame this beast and help our economy. So it's both a moment to think of our grandchildren and a moment to think of the economic benefits of clean energy and to be frankly outraged at what the Republicans want to do, which is to slow down this emerging rocket that's taken off in clean energy. And it's just so maddening as we speak that the Republicans are fashioning a bill that will, you know, I've already cost maybe 90,000 jobs in, across the United States. I look at North Carolina, you know, Senator Tillis has a vote on this. And this bill as drafted would cost something like 45,000 jobs in North Carolina over the next several decades.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's billions of dollars of investment. And here's the kicker. I think there's actually been an assessment of this could result in utility bills going up $300 a month for the people in North Carolina because they no longer will have access to the cheapest source of electricity, which is electricity generated by renewable sources. So when they, out of ideology do this, it's really quite maddening given the pace of technology that is now available to us. So it's a good moment to, for voices to be heard, to stand up for cheap energy, cheap electricity, thousands of jobs. And bonus, maybe our grandkids will have a place to live and breathe because this is a health issue. As well.

[Advertiser]

Well, that's just it. You know, when I think about the cost of foregoing in our environment, you know, dirty air, poisoned water, doesn't care how you voted. It's going to affect all of us. And so it's a, it's certainly an environmental issue. It's also a moral issue. It's a human safety issue. And then as you said, a financial one. You know, to, to see that since we started really investing in clean energy. You know, there's a statistic I read recently that says three and a half million Americans have saved more than $8 billion thanks to energy efficient upgrades across the country and that if they continue, that savings will increase to $38 billion by 2030. So when you say that this bill, you know, this, this reconciliation plan that they want to push through this, this big awful bill, will destroy these things, I just think, well, who would want to set $38 billion on fire? Like, imagine what we could do with that money for, you know, upgrades and infrastructure and kids. It's like the, the insanity of having a dirtier world and wasting money just feels so ridiculous to me. So why do you think they've worked so hard to make environmental issues, clean energy, the literal evolution of an innovation in technology, seem like it's a partisan thing instead of just what we should be doing as a global power?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, it's a very difficult question as to why people who are literate could shut their eyes to both the obvious threat and the obvious benefits of clean energy. It's very difficult. But I'll give it my best shot to see where this comes from. Number one, you ask who these people are. These are people who are beholden to the fossil fuel industries. And the fossil fuel industries are the most powerful corporations in world history. They're much more powerful than the Medicis during the Italian period. So they're answering to their, their, their, their bosses, if you will. Who are the people with the billions of dollars in an old, unfortunately dirty industry that they are answering to? Those are the people telling them how to vote. So that's number one. Number two, they've got a cult going on right now where they've got a guy in the White House that somehow has a phobia about wind turbines. He says they cause cancer. Well, we know they, they don't cause cancer. They cause jobs. And he somehow, he didn't want to see a wind turbine within sight of his golf course and decided he wanted to destroy this entire industry. It's nut nuts. But number three, there is a deeper reason if I, if I can. And it requires a little more thought to think about it's fear. Fear is very powerful. And in their case, they are afraid that we can't solve this problem. They're afraid that we can't have a modern lifestyle by addressing this problem. And so they shut their eyes to it. It's like they want to put the monster in the, in the closet. You know, they get the monster in the closet. They don't want to let it out because they're afraid that we'll lose all of the modern benefits we have of having warmth in our house and food on the table and electronics at our disposal. And they don't see a vision that can allow us to live that life. I do. And so many thousands and millions and the majority of Americans do because we're now experiencing it. And the joy of this, it's the joy of clean energy. I remember talking to this woman. We got, we got solar panels for a house. We have a thing called the Climate Commitment Act, Washington state. And it generates money so we can help Washingtonians get access to clean energy. So she lives in Toppenish. She gets up at three o' clock every morning, goes picks apples, topnish Washington. And I met she and her daughter around their front yard looking up at her solar panels and she said, I am the best day of my month is, is the day I get my utility bills because it's zero. She says, I just, it's like a gift every month.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So we hear these stories of people getting heat pumps who've lowered their, their costs and have much more, you know, comfortable homes. And by the way, now heat pump now gives you air conditioning too. And we now need that. In Seattle. We never needed air conditioning until now, but now the heat domes are hitting us, right? And, and it helps on air quality in so many ways. And we've had a problem with air quality because of forest fires. By the way, you mentioned financial impact on this. One of the great things people don't think about are the health costs associated with this. We have an epidemic of asthma. We have kids with neighbors that they don't know. Anybody doesn't have asthma. And it's getting worse because of forest fire smoke and also because of the particulate matter that comes from burning fossil fuels. So the financial cost is not just losing jobs, it's not just losing industries, it's losing your health. And the health costs have gone up dramatically because of that. So there's so many ways this makes sense. I've given you my best explanation as to why this is. And it's very unique to America. You know, you go to other continents. This is not a debate between the liberal and conservative parties. You know, every country has a liberal and conservative party. And there's unanimity that we ought to do something about this in the rest of the world. It's a very strange thing in the United States and most bizarre because we're the most technologically adept people in the world. You know, we're the ones that went to the moon.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And. And so why this is infected us is a little strange, but we need to do something about it, which is get out there and vote in. In March.

[Advertiser]

Yes, sir. And you know what's also not lost on me? There's the economic cost. There's obviously that. The health costs. There's also a cost to our national security, which you were just referencing. You know, the United States is really a leader on science and technology. And as we see these threats to, you know, our research institutions, funding grants, all of these things, it's not lost on me that if we, you know, knock the wheels off the bus of progress on environmental science, we're giving it to other countries. Like, we will forfeit our future as technologists to countries like China. And it's really important for us to continue to lead on this from a democracy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So this is, this is where we shine. We do two things really well, at least till now in America. One is democracy, which we gave to the world in the modern world. And two are scientific and innovative, entrepreneurial genius. And both of those are under assault right now. We know about the assaults on democracy, but the assault on science, the assault on innovation, the assault on creativity based on technology, you know, you're in a creative business. Right? Great.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And congratulations on your career.

[Advertiser]

Thank you.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But science is a creative business as well. And by choking that creativity, this is really the economic powerhouse of the United States. The, the economic growth of the United States starts in laboratories, probably most, if not many, if not most in university laboratories. That's where these ideas come from, where they start. That's where these startups come out of. And right now that's being choked off for reasons that really are difficult to understand, because those researchers now are, are not coming to do research and projects. They are going to Germany and England and China, and that's where that research is going to go. Because these researchers, they have a passion for doing it. They're going to find a place to do it. And now we're telling them they can't do it, and it's so insidious. One old story. So we were, when we marched last weekend, we, we had a unique way of doing it. We, we did it on our ferry boat. So on the ferry from Bainbridge island to Seattle, we had 2,000 people walking around the ferry boat deck in, in protest. And I met a woman named Ella and she is a freshman at Harvard. She is the pole vault champion in the Ivy League. And she's also a medical device researcher at age like 18 or 19. And she's doing research on using mechanical energy instead of electrical energy to power little devices that are put in your body as a simpler way to do it. And she has a research grant. She was just incredible. The 18, 19 year old person thinking about medical devices.

[Advertiser]

Yeah. Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And her grant just got canceled. Can't do it this summer. She was going to be trying to invent something that can help people my age get through the aging process.

[Advertiser]

Yep.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And, and they canceled her. And that is so heartbreaking to see the ambition in her eyes quashed. Now she's resilient. She's going to go on. She'll, I told her, look, this may delay your work, but it's not going to stop it. So go pole vault this summer. And we'll be back when Democrats get in charge of the House of Representatives at least. So we're hoping that'll happen. By the way, there's litigation on all of this too, that, yes, we're hopeful. We've got, you know, a dozen injunctions already against Trump's trying to stop this progress. So all is not lost here. So we've, we've still got hope.

[Advertiser]

We'll be back in just a minute, but here's a word from our sponsors. Do you want a home that smells as good as it looks? With Pura, you can customize your scent experience right from your phone. Choose from premium long lasting fragrances and let Pura plus and Pura4 elevate your space. It's scenting made smart just in time for summer. Pura life is better when it smells Good. Head to pura.com that's P R A.com and use code work for 20% off site wide. There's nothing more pleasant than the discovery of unexpected beauty in everyday objects. And what's more unexpected than a beautiful toilet? An elegant, sleeked, curved, beautiful toilet. And you see this toilet is the Kohler Veal Smart toilet in honed black. Its unique shape and color are so stunning that they actually inspired fashion designer and creative director Laura Kim to Design a Couture dress Beauty inspires beauty. The sleek curved honed black veil Smart Toilet from Kohler and the long flowing black chiffon dress that Kim designed were born in from the belief that design can transform how we live and feel. The Veil Smart Toilet with its bold design, intuitive touchscreen remote control and customizable cleansing features, creates an experience that is far beyond the expected. It can transform your everyday routine into something that is extraordinary. And don't we all deserve extraordinary like a gorgeous Laura Kim design dress? And if you don't know Laura Kim, you should Design changes everything. Vailsmart Toilet in Honed Black only from Kohler Discover the Vailsmart toilet and go behind the scenes of Kohler's partnership with.

[Podcast Host]

Laura [e-mail] Every business has an ambition. PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide. And your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo pay later and all major cards so you can focus on scaling up when it's time to get growing. There's one platform for all business PayPal open grow today at paypalopen.com loans subject to approval in available locations.

[Tony Robbins]

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[Advertiser]

It's so easy for a year to go by and you're in the same place because there's so much going on in the world today.

[Governor Jay Inslee]

Hey everybody, it's Tony Robbins. So the real question is, how do you really get yourself to be in a place where you truly follow through, where you actually get the results that you really want? Listen, you really need to get yourself a coach. You need a professional who's already got results. You need something outside you, someone that's like what a coach does.

[Advertiser]

The most successful people in the world have coaches. If I want to play in that league, I have to model what the success people do. Vary it. Our company ended on a 69% revenue growth which is ridiculous because we're talking about millions of dollars. Tony Robbins results coach will get you.

[Ryan Reynolds]

To where you want to be in health, finances, career and beyond.

[Governor Jay Inslee]

If you'd like to test out one of my top coaches, we will give you a 30 minute free coaching session.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Go to tonyrobbins.com to get started today. That's tonyrobbins.com.

[Advertiser]

Not that I'm any fan of the person I'm about. Even Elon Musk is warning that America will not win the technology race without clean energy production. We've got to have it. There's no amount of oil drilling that'll be able to fulfill our needs. There's no way to increase production to those levels. And it doesn't make any sense, as we've said, because it's more expensive.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, listen, maybe Elon got one right recently and that's the one that, that, that choking off technological innovation is crazy in the United States of America. And by the way, his story is instructive too because it also shows how governmental investment early in the arc of progress in these technologies is extremely important. His company got a start in part because of some federal assistance that helped that company get going. And that makes sense because while you're competing with these incumbent old technologies, getting a little start, a little seed money really, really helps. And it does so well. You know, we, I started a thing called the Clean Tech center or a test bed facility at the University of Washington several years ago and met these two young guys that had invented a way to increase the efficiency of a solar cell by kind of concentrating the light, changing the frequency, capturing some of the frequencies of light. That was like four years ago. Well, now they've spun off their company, they've been acquired by somebody else. And it started with this little seed money from the university from the state of Washington to start this Clean Tech Lab.

[Advertiser]

Yeah, and I think it's really important to frame things this way for people to understand, you know, how large the, the sphere of effect for these industries really is and that it affects, you know, science, tech, budget, health, everything. I, I think it can be a little hard to wrap your head around it because it's such an enormous part of our world. And, and one of the things I think, and you can tell me if I'm correct here, one of the things I think I'm seeing is, especially with the extreme weather and the way things are changing, you know, since Trump got back into office, I do feel like I'm seeing people realize, you know, this is, this is bad, the fact that Noah is changing, that he wants to absolutely, you know, cut it down, to basically be completely inefficient. That, that, that signals to Americans that the President is essentially saying, you're on your own. You know, disaster warnings have not gone out on days they needed to since he took office and people have died. Can you kind of walk us through a bit what NOAA and the National Weather Service do and, and why they are so important to folks across the country?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I can, and I wish I wasn't so experienced at this, but, you know, I was governor for 12 years for the most beautiful state in the country and the most beautiful country in the planet, most beautiful planet in the solar system, but it was injured so multiply by climate related disasters. And I know so many people whose lives have been interrupted and sometimes lost because of these climate related disasters. And it's very personal with me because I've seen what that trauma does when your house has been burned down. I remember this couple and Wenatchee standing just in the, literally the ashes of their house, hugging each other, just trying to support each other. There's such trauma when you lose your house or your, or, or your life. We had two whole towns burned down in forest fires. And of course, our forest fires have almost doubled in the last several decades because of heat spirit, because of heat and, and drought and dryness. These forests are just tinders waiting to explode. Now, across the western United States, there's no forest on nature that can really totally solve it. We can manage our forests. We're doing that. But you can't totally solve the problem when they're so dry.

[Advertiser]

Right?

[Ryan Reynolds]

So I've seen this personal. And when I've seen what Trump did, which was so callously indifferent, it really does make my blood boil. This town called Malden burned down several years ago in eastern Washington. The whole town burned down. In fact, the fire engine burned down in the fire station. The fire was moving so quickly and, and we asked, you know, the federal government for help and Trump says, no, I'm not going to help. And, and when the Republican congresswoman said, why won't you help? It's, you know, this is a Republican district. And he said, Because I don't, you know, I don't like the governor. You know, he is. He's not subservient to me. He won't kiss my ring often enough. So he refused assistance to those families whose homes were in ashes, whose lives were severely compromised. And because the whole town, when you have the whole town burned down, you just don't have something to go back to. There's no city hall, there's no fire station, there's no medical clinic. And so that is so devastating to a community and to me, how I look at this problem. When I think about that couple standing in the ruins of their home, pleading with a president who was hired to help them turn his back on them. Literally, he's turning his back on these people. Their most desperate moment where he said that we're not going to help these people. I can't think of a more scandalous, abusive thing for a public official to do. Look, we're not asking them to go to the moon or cure cancer by next Monday. We're simply asking him to help these people who are in stress. And it's fires here, but it's floods, too. I remember talking to another family. They got flooded out in the northern part of the state of Washington and they took about a year to rebuild their home. They had a party celebrating rebuilding their home. And a week later, another flood came through and wiped out their home again. And. And to turn your back on these people is just such an outrage. And. Yeah, and we need to do something about it, which clearly is to vote and go help people that can get into office to stop this madness. Now, he talks about it as waste, fraud and abuse. But I'll tell you what, when you see a family standing in those ashes and they ask you for a little bit of food to eat for a few weeks and a little bit of rental assistance so they can go to apartment for a few weeks while they figure out where you're going to be and maybe some assistance with jobs because you've lost your jobs because the economy has been destroyed in your local community. That ain't waste, fraud and abuse. That's human compassion. It's responsibility of what we hire the federal government to do. So I'm hopeful this will turn this around.

[Advertiser]

I sure hope so, too. I, I think it's really important to remind people that programs like this, that that's your ROI for your investment in this country, for your being a citizen, for your paying taxes and economy. You know, if you don't believe in social safety nets, then go Live somewhere else. Go live off the grid. Start your own country and be one of one.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And we're all at risk here too. No matter where you live, everybody's at risk from, from climate related disasters. They are, they're so omnipresent and they're almost every week. And it hits all of us, Democrats and Democrats, Republicans alike. In fact, that little town I told you about, Malden, Washington, and when I went back, you know, they voted for Donald Trump, like by 70%. These are, these are communities who are wildly supportive of him. And then he turns his back on them. So. And unfortunately, this something we gotta wrap our heads around. This is gonna get worse before it gets better. The frequency of fires, the frequency of floods, the frequency of extreme weather events, just rainstorms. We've had rainstorms that destroyed Mount Rainier national park several years ago. You know, it doesn't drizzle. We're now having these downpours. This, this is going to increase in the near term because we didn't start this effort 20 years ago like we should have. So FEMA and the federal government is going to be even more important. And it's important that the federal government get involved because when you have a local community that's hurt, you need to get these assets from multiple states helping out. And I've seen this people come from and bless the Red Cross who has help, but they can't carry the whole ball here. No, to help people with this assistance.

[Advertiser]

Well, and I think that's, that's something people need to remember is that, you know, FEMA exists so that we can take care of each other. And so to watch the president slash 30% of the staff and threaten to eliminate the agency altogether and derail our hurricane preparation and, you know, have the head of NOAA that he appointed say he didn't even know there was a hurricane season. I spent 10 years in North Carolina. I know a lot about hurricane season and it was really painful for me, despite the fact that I don't live there anymore. To watch the president deny aid to the folks who were affected by Hurricane Helene in that state, it was hard to watch them deny aid to the tornado survivors in Arkansas. And as you said, a lot of those folks are his voters. And the whole point, I believe, in being a leader is to be a leader for everyone. And the bottom line is here, and you mentioned this earlier, you know, there's a lot of people who make a lot of money on an old system. And while Trump is currently turbocharging the climate crisis to increase profits for all his oil and gas buddies. Americans, you know, red states and blue are paying the price. And so I think the first step is this moment, right? It's the informed conversation. It's making sure people have the facts. And then as you said, it's organizing and it's getting out and, and voting and making sure that all of us are able to say, hey, this isn't working. This isn't working for anybody. So we've got to do something differently. I know that can be hard probably for some of the folks at home because, you know, we've got a year and a half till the midterms. It's scary to think that we have to keep fighting before we might see a shift. So to try to inject a little hope here, I'm curious, as you are an expert in the space, what you think are some of the most promising things coming down the pipeline in terms of clean energy technologies and the job creation that comes out of those innovative spaces.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, first off, I know this sounds nuts. We're at the moment, we're at the trough of the wave. We've got a climate denying president, he's trying to crater all the federal assistance we're getting. But I am super optimistic or our ability to solve this problem. And the reason is as I'm surrounded by people in my state who have emerging technologies that can solve this problem if we simply allow them a little bit of room to run. Just give you a real quick rundown some of the things going on in my state. So in my State, there are two companies, Sila and Group 14. They've invented a new way to use a silicone anode battery that can increase the range of your car 20 or 30% and charge it much more quickly.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

They have manufacturing plants now under construction. These are real companies making real products that can have a quantum leap forward in the range of your electric car. Right around the corner, literally like a mile from those two companies is a company called 12 that's making jet fuel out of carbon dioxide and water with no waste products so that when you fly in your jet, there's no, you don't have a carbon footprint, if you will. You're using carbon free fuel. And they're building their manufacturing plant right up the river. About oh, 20 miles from them is a company that's going to build the first fusion energy plant in the United States. A 50 megawatt production plant using fusion, not fission. This is not fission that, that we know as the old nuclear power. This is a Process of fusing atoms rather than splitting them goes back to that book I read when I was 10.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That actually they may begin construction on in the next 12 months. Wow. You've got companies that are improving the performance of solar energy. We have the first marine battery manufacturing plant in Bellingham, Washington. And we're going to be building electric ferries. So now we won't. You won't be breathing that smoke coming out of a smokestack of your ferries anymore. They're all electric and I've ridden them on them in Norway. They work. I've seen the biggest one in the world is now in Uruguay. So the wind turbine industries continuing to be more productive.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Building solar like crazy. So everywhere I turn around there's an entrepreneur and skilled working people building new services and products that contain this piece and, and reduce our cost of electricity. I mean, think about this.

[Advertiser]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

What a blessing to have infinite energy fallen on our shoulders that we can turn into electricity to run whatever we want to run with no pollution. We don't have to dig a hole in the ground. It falls, it's delivered free from 9 million miles away from the sun and it falls right on us. I mean this is a real blessing.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And, and now to see the continued improvement of those things is thrilling to me. But we want to accelerate the pace of that development, not retard it. And, and we can do that if we just, just don't go backwards in some of these policies.

[Advertiser]

I mean that, that does feel really exciting. And now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible. Do you want a home that smells as good as it looks? With Pura, you can customize your scent experience right from your phone. Choose from premium long lasting fragrances and let Pura plus and Pura4 elevate your space. It's scenting made smart just in time for summer. Pura life is better when it smells good. Head to pura.com that's P U R-A.com and use code work for 20 off site wide. There's nothing more pleasant than the discovery of unexpected beauty in everyday objects. And what's more unexpected than a beautiful toilet? An elegant, sleeked, curved, beautiful toilet. And you see this toilet is the Kohler veal smart toilet in honed black. Its unique shape and color are so stunning that they actually inspired fashion designer and creative director Laura Kim to design a couture dress. Beauty inspires beauty. The sleek curved honed black veil, smart toilet from Kohler and the long flowing black chiffon dress that Kim designed were born from the belief that design can transform how we live and feel. The Vail Smart Toilet, with its bold design, intuitive touchscreen, remote control and customizable cleansing features, creates an experience that is far beyond the expected. It can transform your everyday routine into something that is extraordinary. And don't we all deserve extraordinary, like a gorgeous Laura Kim design dress? And if you don't know Laura Kim, you should Design changes everything. Vail Smart Toilet in Honed Black only from Kohler Discover the Vail Smart Toilet and go behind the scenes of Kohler's.

[Podcast Host]

Partnership with Laura [e-mail] Every business has an ambition. PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide. And your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo, pay later and all major cards so you can focus on scaling up when it's time to get growing. There's one platform for all business PayPal open grow today at paypalopen.com loans subject to approval in available locations there's nothing.

[Tony Robbins]

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[Governor Jay Inslee]

Hey everybody, it's Tony Robbins. The external world you can't control. We're in a time that feels overwhelming for many people and it's going to have more challenging times ahead. But you can develop a resiliency and a strength in you. So this can be the best time of your life. Listen, you really need to get yourself a coach. You need a professional who's already got results. We want to be better as people. I want to become More, do more, share more, create more, give more. I'm sorry. Passionate about coaching because for time Memorial, that's how the job got done. Where there was lasting change, where there's someone there consistently with you that understands you, knows what you're missing, knows what you want, knows what the challenges are.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Know what gets in the way, you see results immediately. Everybody's overall level has gone up.

[Tony Robbins]

You don't work on the symptoms, you.

[Advertiser]

Work on the issues and it solves the problem.

[Governor Jay Inslee]

So here's what I want to offer you. I'd like to test out one of my top coaches. We will give you a 30 minute free coaching session.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Go to tonyrobbins.com to get started today. That's tonyrobbins.com.

[Advertiser]

When you think about, for example, you know, you talk about these technologies, my brain starts to run wild thinking about what it would be like if suddenly all these airplanes flying around the planet every day had no carbon footpr. Every water vessel, you know, didn't need to use gas fuel. It makes me think about the early days when Covid first began and granted terrifying time. But when everything really shut down and we started to see how quickly the planet could rebound if a lot of our pollutants ceased to be pumped, you know, into our air every day. What do you think? Or have you heard any of these scientists talk about what sort of healing we would see for the planet if entire industries did transform like this? Are they modeling any of that yet?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I think that first off, the planet does heal quite quickly and it astounds me how fast an ecosystem can't get restored. We had one of the largest dam removal projects, the Elwha Dam. It was really of no use anymore to anyone. It was just obsolete. And the Elwha river in the Olympic national park and it used to have this, you know, prodigious salmon run and it was removed. It was really joyous occasion when that happened. And just within, you know, months, salmon were coming back on that river. It's really astounding to see how salmon will recover. Luke Piper's Creek, where I grew up in the north side of, in a suburban area of Seattle, which didn't have any salmon when I, you know, at least when I was a teenager and we worked to restore the, the community. It was really community led effort, little help in the state, I think to restore the habitat. You know, you just make it so it spreads out, doesn't run so fast. You put woody debris in it. Now you got this prodigious salmon run coming Back and the kids go back. It's just a huge community celebration when you see that life really be restored. So we know that things do come back, but there are some difficult realities that we have to face that ought to not make us afraid of progress, but to inspire more rapid progress. And there are some systemic problems that we have that are going to be devilish for quite some time, principally water temperature. So our water temperature has increased so much in the state of Washington that salmon literally can't get up some of our rivers. They can't survive. So we had a really great salmon run, go up the Columbia river, hundreds of miles up the Columbia river, but stopped when they got to the mouth of the Okanagan in Okanagan county because the water was too hot. They couldn't keep going to spawn. And actually, we got lucky. They finally got up there because we got a break in the weather. But this water temperature issue is one that is difficult. That's why we need to double our efforts to improve habitat, for instance, to allow Mother Nature to do everything.

[Advertiser]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That she can do. And we want to get back to work and give her a hand.

[Advertiser]

We sure do. And, you know, it is beautiful to watch it. I. I got to go and visit some of the scientists working at Vermeo in New Mexico a few years ago, and just seeing the restoration of, you know, the cutthroat trout and, and the bison there, it's absolutely incredible to watch ecology heal and makes me think a lot about your. Your legacy. You know, during your time as governor, Washington, with your leadership, passed one of the strongest clean energy laws in the country. So, you know, this stuff is possible. What lessons did you learn about what it actually takes to rally folks to get ambitious climate policy passed?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, if I can, Sharon, and thank you for the kudos of our state, because our policies are the best in the nation. And that's why it's one of the reasons we had such economic success, because we're driving all these new companies to come here and grow. And it's one of the reasons we have such a dynamic economy. I'll mention several things. One, perseverance. Just say, look, you butt your head against a brick wall for years and years and years, and you finally break through it. So when I became governor in 2013, we had a Republican Senate, and they refused to assist in, in any way to deal with anything in climate. That was very frustrating to me. You know, I wanted to have a bipartisan effort, so I started a bipartisan commission with Republican senators on it. But they Basically just refused to participate. So then we finally got a Democratic majority in our legislature, but I still had a couple of kind of folks that hadn't got the memo even on the Democratic side.

[Advertiser]

Right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So I had to work for several years to get those last two votes. And there were some changes in the legislature. And what I found is frequently it is much easier to change the people sitting in the seats than to change their minds. So we had some changes in who's sitting in the seats. And on year six or seven of my governor's term, we finally got the capstone of our multiple faceted effort, which is a cap and invest system which generates $3 billion of biennium that we then turn around and get people with heat pumps and electric school buses and air filtration systems and everything else. Now we've done other things. We had 100% clean energy grid requirement. We have the best building efficiency standards in the United States. We don't waste energy. We have a low carbon fuel standard which basically gives people cleaner fuels in multiple ways. We have a climate core to teach kids the science of climate change.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So we'd done a lot. But the, but the big most effective tool was is this cap and invest system. And that came in in 2019 and you're six or seven that we then now have impact. And here's the really cherry on the top. The fossil fuel billionaires didn't like that. So they came in and tried to repeal this law and they put it on the ballot and we had a knockdown, drag out fight. And the wise citizens of the state of Washington defeated them 62 to 38. I mean that is the biggest landslide Washington state history because Washingtonians understood the economic benefits, the job benefits, the health benefits, and it wasn't even necessary to talk about, you know, rising sea levels alike because they understood the first order of benefits that if you get a heat pump, if you get solar and wind and it's cheaper.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

If your kids don't have to breathe forest fire smoke.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Our kids had to, couldn't go outside for days at a time two summers ago because of forest fire smoke. So people understood the first order of magnitude and soundly gave us a blue ribbon seal of approval. I think that should give confidence to politicians going forward. Looking at the experience in Washington state, we bring companies here instead of them going somewhere else because we have this entrepreneurial culture.

[Advertiser]

Exactly.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And we invest in them and then people support it. So people said this is not a winner politically. They're just dead wrong. I've Seen it firsthand. First off, I got elected governor running on this. Then we won. 62, 38 going away. This is a winning issue if it's properly framed and you talk about it in the right way.

[Advertiser]

Well, it turns out if you tell people the truth, that helps. It helps. So. So now that you are out of office for the last several months and obviously I know you're spending a lot of time with your grandkids and you're still so incredibly involved when you look forward, what feels like your area of most excited focus? What feels like your work in progress for what comes next?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I'm still engaged in this fight and in a variety of ways. I'm working with a group called Climate Power. Climate Power has been a very effective group to help communicate the truth. As you said, just use the truth. It's so simple. As Mark Twain said, so easy. So I'm working with them on communication to let people know about the power of clean energy across the country. And multiple forums, I'm working on an effort to help people who have losses due to forest fires have some system to help them. So I'm quite active, I'm active in trying to raise my voice on ferry boats, marching with people and letting them know how important that is to help people on the electoral cycle as well. So I'm quite engaged in this effort and I am excited. I know it's easy to kind of get down in the situation we're in, but I have, I just believe we're going to succeed in this. I don't believe humans ultimately will be the cause of their own destruction. I don't believe that. I believe that we will rescue ourselves. It's been delayed by this electoral cycle, but we've been delayed before. I went through the Bush era, you know, I went through the second Bush presidency where he started a war in Iraq. And you know, a lot of these wars are associated with access to oil and, and he slowed down our effort. You know, he wanted to do coal based stuff that just didn't pencil out at all. And his presidency slowed us down by years. But we came back during the Obama era. We passed things going forward. We all, we came this close to passing a Cap and invest bill. Then we got slowed down again by Trump. But then we got the Biden presidency where these, you know, a miracle of the inflation Reduction act and the tax cuts which are now threatened, again got passed. And we've seen spectacular economic growth. Some of these companies that I told you about in Washington, they got a little benefit to get going because of those, those tax benefits. And right now they're under threat again. You know, we talked about Senator Tillis. He could cause 45,000 job losses in his state over the next couple of decades if he votes to get rid of these tax cuts or to make them less accessible to people. Now, I've heard he's trying to make it. It. He's trying to sweeten the deal a little bit. You know, he's trying to make it that you don't destroy the tax cuts till a little later. Well, that's like saying, hey, give me a benefit because I've delayed your hanging by a couple weeks. That's not really an answer to this problem. We need Republicans to stand up and preserve this. My point is progress is not linear. Yes, you're going up and then you're stable. You're going up, then you're stable. It's step by step. Martin Luther King was right, said, you know, the arc of the moral universe is long.

[Advertiser]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But it bends towards justice and it is long. This battle is long. And this is a moment of we got some headwinds, but the, the winds are going to change. We're going to be back in business and the genius that is in our country is going to be unleashed again. And, and we're going to, to get better, cheaper energy and healthier kids.

[Advertiser]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And less climate change. Now I believe that's going to happen. I wish would happen yesterday.

[Advertiser]

You and me both, Governor, but I've.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Learned that the power of perseverance, the most important thing in this battle, indeed.

[Advertiser]

I love that the power of perseverance is a good one to focus on. Thank you so much for joining us today. You know, to, to give us a window into what, you know, and, and what we all can, can do. I, I hope to see you at a, a march either on, on the water or on the land very soon.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I, I will tell people as, as we bid ado, whatever you do right now has value. You have agency. People have power and authority right now. And anything you do of contacting your legislators, being out on the sidewalks, peaceably, talking to your cranky uncle about why this is a good idea, all of those things mount up. Can put a brick in the wall here.

[Advertiser]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So whatever you're doing out there, keep it up. We're going to win this battle. And I will be there with you.

[Advertiser]

I can't wait. Thank you so much.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Thank you.

[Advertiser]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Podcast Host]

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