7 Questions with Bob Keefe

Interview with Bob Keefe 

Bob Keefe is the government director of E2 – a nonpartisan business which aims to supply business views on environmental concerns –  and oversees their work on a nationwide scale. Keefe largely focuses his consideration on the economic advantages of clever environmental guidelines the clean up vitality financial system work opportunities and related difficulties. Prior to starting his function with E2, Keefe used a lot more than 20 a long time working as a political, organization and environmental journalist. He has co-authored many business similar books and introduced Climatenomics: Washington, Wall Avenue and the Economic Battle for our World in May possibly. This week, we questioned Bob about his work. 

How did you finish up as the executive director of E2? 

I used about 20 a long time as a small business, technology, and political journalist ahead of signing up for E2 about a decade or so ago. One of the good reasons I was really captivated to this get the job done is simply because I realized in excess of a lifetime in journalism, and talking to businesspeople, talking to lawmakers, talking to other people, just how crucial and how influential enterprise voices and small business leaders can be on impacting plan. When we’re conversing about local climate and environmental coverage, we you should not automatically often assume about organization voices and the relevance of these voices. There are a number of voices that are far more influential than businesspeople with lawmakers in Washington and in our point out properties. What I actually really like about E2 is that we are an group of more than 10,000 enterprise leaders correct now who are using individuals voices, their voices for excellent, for the good of the overall economy and the good of the setting. 

In your viewpoint, what are the most pressing troubles ideal now, financial state or usually, that are linked with local climate transform today? 

Properly, the most pressing concerns are the ones that we are dwelling by means of and paying for each day proper now. As I emphasis on in the book Climatenomics the price tag of weather transform is just battering our economic climate appropriate now. Final 12 months, we experienced $150 billion well worth of damage from local climate associated disasters- wildfires in the west, so quite a few hurricanes in the east, flooding, and drought in our nation’s Heartland and in our farming communities. Now, that is driving up the charge of anything from corn flakes to chicken. Also, if you appear at homeowners’ insurance coverage, homeowners’ insurance coverage is up 40%, in part because insurance plan businesses are observing report losses from all these normal disasters, drought and flooding from other weather disasters additional practically 30 billion to the price of crop insurance plan that every taxpayer pays for. And just glance at the warmth wave that just impacted the entire country by driving up air conditioning expenses, forcing businesses to minimize hours or close, and even worse than that in Kansas 2000 cows ended up killed in excess of lifeless from heatstroke. 

Can you chat a little little bit about why you all concentration on the intersection in between business enterprise and governing administration as a vital way to tackle local climate improve? How do you all imagine about catering to, or chatting to equally business enterprise people together with of coverage makers? 

Effectively, as I reported earlier, company voices are just so important and influential with lawmakers commonly. In my time as a journalist and my time operating at E2, I can convey to you that there is absolutely nothing politicians, like more than kissing babies, going to ribbon cuttings, and talking about jobs and financial expansion. They’re not kissing as well a lot of infants any more, but they certain are conversing about when work appear to their cities, or financial development comes about. And it truly is organizations that make that occur. But even additional broadly, companies, as I pointed out in the guide, are just key to the remedy. Ideal now, just about every major firm in The us is shifting to cleanse energy renewables. Why? Well, of system it is the ideal issue to do, but it truly is also for the reason that photo voltaic and wind are the cheapest energy obtainable. Firms are also realizing the other aspect of what I phone the Climatenomics coin as properly, which is the charge. And all those firms are now relocating away from places that are vulnerable to hurricanes or wildfires or flooding to locations that are safer and can, so they can maintain their organizations up and functioning and the profit’s flowing, but unfortunately, they’re functioning out of places to go. It’s an concern that we seriously have to have to handle in this state. We will need to do something about local climate change and the expenditures that occur with it for our economic stake if nothing else. 

Can you communicate a little little bit to our listeners who are probable in communities exactly where they may perhaps want to be advocating on this challenge? Why is advocacy in this area so significant? How do the endeavours of men and women or communities really aid to force and create transform at the area amount? 

Very well, both of those at the nearby amount, the state stage, the federal stage, it won’t issue. There are a large amount of individuals out there conversing to lawmakers, making an attempt to get what they want, and if you happen to be not speaking to them as perfectly, you might be not going to get what you want. Poll just after poll, after poll, following poll in this nation has demonstrated that People in america want far more clean power. They want action on local weather adjust, and they want their lawmakers at the federal to state the area stage to do much more about that. And politicians and elected officers seem a lot at polls, but they also hear. If we are not in there chatting to them about the economic price tag of climate change, the economic added benefits of climate action, together with all the other expenditures and positive aspects, whether or not it is really health or social concerns or American competitiveness or countrywide security that is all tied to climate adjust, then they’re heading to be hearing from fossil gasoline organizations. They’re heading to be listening to from other folks. And you can consider that individuals styles of businesses that and incumbent industries that don’t want to alter are shelling out a ton of money and are investing a ton of time with individuals lawmakers. We have received to go out and signify to chat about the other side of this equation. 

Can you talk a minor little bit about what E2 has discovered by incorporating this organization point of view into the analysis of environmental issues and if there is everything in your time at E2 that form of surprised you? 

Yeah, I wouldn’t say it really is a shock and it should not be a surprise, but it is a small tough to wrap your head all over persons who have manufactured climate adjust, the atmosphere, and cleanse electricity a partisan situation. The actuality is it really is not a partisan situation and it shouldn’t be when we talk about these disasters. This $150 billion worth of local weather disasters that which is not just happening in, in blue states or purple states. It can be not just California on fire. It can be Louisiana underwater from repeated hurricanes. It is really not just New York and blue states acquiring strike by flooding, it truly is Iowa and Indiana, and other sites in the Midwest. So, local climate adjust does not know geography, geology, or politics, it’s happening all over the place. On the other facet of the coin, what we’ve also located at E2, and one particular of the factors my business has performed for a very long time, is look at in which clean up power jobs are growing all-around the nation. Every single year we put out one thing termed Clean up Positions America. And what we have located is that there are almost as several thoroughly clean power work opportunities now in Republican congressional districts as there are in democratic congressional districts and, supplied the expansion we see in items like electric autos and battery storage, that kind of point, and wherever those people companies are going, there’s going to be additional employment in Republican and purple states operating on electric powered automobiles and thoroughly clean power. Then there are in democratic districts. So, the message is if you, as a lawmaker, want these work in your backyards, if you want to do a little something about the economic destruction, that is remaining inflicted on your constituents mainly because of local weather improve, you will need to do a thing about it and you will need to go guidelines in Washington. 

Lastly, what are some of your favorite podcasts or publications that you would advise our listeners to just take a pay attention to? 

Perfectly, a e book I just completed, and it took me a incredibly prolonged time to end it, not because it was dull or uninteresting, but since it was quite very long, which is a little something referred to as Wilderness Warrior, which is about Teddy Roosevelt. It’s terrific e book by a fantastic writer named David Brinkley. A person of the factors that genuinely struck me and, and form of resonated with me as I was reading, is 1st of all, just how a lot Teddy Roosevelt did in conditions of preserving and really shaping what The us is, is about. He made 150 nationwide forest, 51 federal hen reserves, five countrywide parks and he did all that by the way inspite of great, remarkable strain from timber providers, from oil and fuel companies from the opposing political celebration. Congress was not with him on all these issues and business enterprise and business was not with him on preserving these lands. They wished to slash it down and make a ton of funds offering timber, for instance, but President Roosevelt realized that this was the right thing to do for The usa. He had the courage, he had the courage to do what he considered was the right thing, even in the experience of opposition, from company, from the other political celebration and a Congress that did not automatically agree with them. We need to have to do that with local weather modify. We will need to do that with local weather motion. We’re running out of time. 

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