This is our favorite interview to come out of COP26 so far. Actor and former Republican governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger sounds off on polar bear environmentalists and calls leaders ‘liars’ on climate change. Watch it here. See highlights below:
The Greens have a communications problem
“Don’t talk about the polar bears and about the icebergs and about the rising sea levels – Yes, we can mention that along the way because it’s true there is climate change – but it’s caused because of pollution – Let’s Terminate Pollution.”
“The environmentalists mean well, they’re passionate…but they have a problem when it comes to communicating …every speech they do they give you facts and figures – but this is not going to sell the ticket. If you go to sell a movie you can’t talk about what lens you used, or how you did the financing… You have to tell the story.”
Smackdown of leaders for not doing more
“So, all of those countries that come and give speeches – ‘we’re not going to go and lose jobs because of going green’ – they’re liars, or they’re just stupid and they don’t know how to do it. We figured it out…it’s all about having the balls to do it.”
California is thriving while cutting its emissions
“We in California are very aggressive, we are the only place that really reduced greenhouse gases by 25% and brought it back to the 1990 level. And we are proving simultaneously it is the best job creator when you go green. We are No. 1 economically in the US [with] a GDP of $3.3 trillion dollars. So, it shows you can protect [the] environment and protect the economy at the same time.”
How to get bipartisan support
“When I was running for Governor – [it was] brought to my attention we could have a tremendous impact on [the] environment. When I got into office, I learned how politics works. As a Republican – I could say to the industry, ‘relax we’re going to do this the right way, we’re not going to shove this down your throat, we are going to find the sweet spot.’”
This is a people’s movement
“Every great movement always was a people’s movement – Civil Rights in the US, or independence in India, or giving women the right to vote, all of these movements were people power. You have to make people understand where they can participate.”
Smart capitalism
“You can have global capitalism, but you need to be smart about it. Let’s go and reduce pollution. Because you can have the best capitalism in the world, but if people are dead, they’re dead. It’s over.”
