Podcast script

Today we are going to be talking about climate change. We were to interview and talk to
one conservative and one liberal about their views on climate change. Shaw and I were
trying to focus on the effects that climate change has on winters and the economy. In
this podcast, we were lucky enough to talk to Travis Price, a world-renowned architect,
teacher, author, philosopher, and a man who did it all. Travis was our conservative
perspective. Unfortunately, we were unable to set up an interview with a liberal
perspective. But, we were still able to reach out to Grady James, a local ripping ski
guide, and an avid outdoorsman with a degree in snow science. He was kind enough to
send us his senior thesis paper and some other resources that we looked over. We will
let Travis’s speaking tell the story of how he feels about climate change and renewable
resources affecting the economy.

But before we get into the interviews, let's lay down some common ground. Honestly,
before I did my research, I had the idea that the majority of Republicans either don’t
believe in climate change or just don’t support renewable energy. For the most part, the
research I did showed that most everyone on the right side believed in climate change,
and even partially supported renewable energy sources. From a couple of sources I
read, they did, however, say that just because an energy source is deemed
“renewable”, doesn’t mean it will be eco friendly or cost-effective. From
solarpowernerd.com, “SolarPV energy efficiency is low. It ranges from 20% for
commercial cells to 50% for expensive industrial purposes.” Having had my previous
ideas, I was very surprised by these views, and I now can understand where a
right/conservative biased person can be coming from. Now to cover the more left/liberal,
I already had an idea of what I was getting into, so when I did my research, I just dived
deeper into what I had already learned. Not only did I learn about how poor winters
affect the environment and the economy, but I also learned about the new green deal
and future president Biden’s plan for environmental change. What I could connect to
what Travis touches upon in the interview, was the idea of protecting the economy. I
was looking at an article that talked about the economic effect of things, and one
sentence that stuck out was “Colorado, where winter recreation, largely around downhill
skiing and snowboarding, supports ​some 43,000 jobs​ — more than in any other state”,
from (ClimateCentral.org). When you add all of the ski resorts around the country and
the number of jobs, you would get tons of winter jobs that are directly affected by the
amount of snow.

“A lot of small companies already invented all the inventions for better efficient energy
systems and when I worked for President Carter he came in with an agenda to go for
more of that. The problem is all the good ideas then went into government regulations
and bureaucracies. They wrecked the environmental movement at that point it just
stopped because what you could do in six days or six weeks in the private sector 6
months 6 years in the government. In fact, we did a lot of calculations about how we can
do this faster with or without a government grant. We might as well go out work at
McDonald's and make the same money in one year and complete the project.”

“So the really big argument for me about why the private sector is better because that's
where innovation starts. The current heroes being Elon Musk and others but also what
the government is good for is just really looking at the big picture but not funding it not
getting involved just making sure that if there is something that like NASA that you need
to research at a certain point you might dive in at that point and you might augment. I
can just tell you that the speed drops that's why I think the government should step
away. If they start making restrictions like regulations maybe that's okay like every car
has to go 50 miles per gallon.”

Now, on to Grady’s position. Good Snowfall in Colorado and all over the world is a very
necessary thing. You not only get a good winter that helps boost the economy and
create jobs you feel the effect much longer than you would think. Mountain runoff
provides 65 - 90% of usable water in arid and semi-arid climates (James). This is very
important because, without it, our plants and vegetation don’t get as much water during
the summer. The small amounts of rainfall that we get are not enough to keep
everything green and healthy throughout the summer. This leads to large wildfires.
Because the vegetation is so dry, it doesn’t take much to start a fire that can quickly
evolve into a huge wildfire. Durango experienced one first hand with the 416 fire in
2018. This fire devastated a large amount of wildlife and vegetation. This is a direct
result of a bad snowfall that could not keep the vegetation hydrated. Not only does the
vegetation and wildlife feel the effects of a bad snowfall humans do too. The colorado
river that starts from the runoff of snow in the mountains provides water for 7 states.
With less snowfall each year we will see less water in the river for us to use.

After getting the opportunity to speak to both Travis and Grady, we have both been able
to step back and come forward with new ideas. This project opened up my mind to
understanding people who have different views from me. When we’re setting up an
interview with Travis, even though I had already talked to him in the conservative panel,
and I already knew that he was a very smart well-worded man, I still expected my
reactions to be different. I thought that we would have pretty different ideas, and we
aren’t really similar. But after conducting that interview, I found that both me and Shaw
were able to connect with what he was saying. A point that Travis made that made
sense to me was when we were talking about how renewable energy should be
controlled/mandated. He made the point that private companies should do what they
want with their energy sources, and the government should only step in when
necessary. At first, I thought about how that might not be as effective, but then I thought
about if companies weren’t controlled by the government and their goals, they could do
some real good. To then compare to the resources that Grady provided, I was able to
come up with a solution that made sense. Grady expanded my knowledge on how
important winters are, and that poor winters do have harmful effects. After learning
about both sides, I think that in order for us to make a change for the future of the
planet, measures need to be taken quickly and effectively. The government needs to
put policies in place for companies to take action, but at the same time, people need to
step up on their own.
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