A clean energy proposal -- race to the top!
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0:01 - 0:03Well, I was introduced as
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0:03 - 0:06the former Governor of Michigan,
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0:06 - 0:09but actually I'm a scientist.
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0:09 - 0:12All right, a political scientist, it doesn't really count,
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0:12 - 0:15but my laboratory was the laboratory of democracy
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0:15 - 0:18that is Michigan, and, like any good scientist,
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0:18 - 0:21I was experimenting with policy
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0:21 - 0:24about what would achieve the greatest good
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0:24 - 0:26for the greatest number.
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0:26 - 0:30But there were three problems, three enigmas
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0:30 - 0:33that I could not solve,
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0:33 - 0:36and I want to share with you those problems,
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0:36 - 0:38but most importantly,
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0:38 - 0:42I think I figured out a proposal for a solution.
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0:42 - 0:44The first problem
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0:44 - 0:46that not just Michigan, but every state, faces is,
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0:46 - 0:49how do you create good jobs in America
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0:49 - 0:51in a global economy?
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0:51 - 0:55So let me share with you some empirical data from my lab.
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0:55 - 0:59I was elected in 2002 and, at the end of my first year in office in 2003,
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0:59 - 1:02I got a call from one of my staff members, who said,
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1:02 - 1:04"Gov, we have a big problem.
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1:04 - 1:08We have a little tiny community called Greenville, Michigan,
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1:08 - 1:10population 8,000,
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1:10 - 1:13and they are about to lose their major employer,
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1:13 - 1:18which is a refrigerator factory that's operated by Electrolux."
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1:18 - 1:20And I said, "Well, how many people work at Electrolux?"
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1:20 - 1:25And he said, "3,000 of the 8,000 people in Greenville."
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1:25 - 1:28So it is a one-company town.
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1:28 - 1:33And Electrolux was going to go to Mexico.
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1:33 - 1:36So I said, "Forget that. I'm the new Governor.
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1:36 - 1:38We can fix this. We're going to go to Greenville
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1:38 - 1:40with my whole cabinet and we will just
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1:40 - 1:43make Electrolux an offer they can't refuse."
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1:43 - 1:45So I brought my whole cabinet,
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1:45 - 1:49and we met with all of the pooh-bahs of little Greenville --
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1:49 - 1:52the mayor, the city manager, the head of the community college --
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1:52 - 1:56and we basically emptied our pockets
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1:56 - 1:59and put all of our chips on the table,
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1:59 - 2:03incentives, you name it, to convince Electrolux to stay,
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2:03 - 2:05and as we made our pile of chips,
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2:05 - 2:10we slid them across the table to the management of Electrolux.
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2:10 - 2:14And in the pile were things like zero taxes for 20 years,
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2:14 - 2:18or that we'd help to build a new factory for the company,
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2:18 - 2:21we'd help to finance it. The UAW, who represented the workers,
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2:21 - 2:25said they would offer unprecedented concessions,
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2:25 - 2:29sacrifices to just keep those jobs in Greenville.
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2:29 - 2:32So the management of Electrolux took our pile,
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2:32 - 2:35our list of incentives, and they went outside the room
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2:35 - 2:37for 17 minutes,
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2:37 - 2:39and they came back in and they said,
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2:39 - 2:42"Wow, this is the most generous
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2:42 - 2:47any community has ever been to try to keep jobs here.
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2:47 - 2:50But there's nothing you can do
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2:50 - 2:55to compensate for the fact that we can pay $1.57 an hour
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2:55 - 2:58in Juarez, Mexico. So we're leaving."
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2:58 - 3:01And they did. And when they did, it was like
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3:01 - 3:04a nuclear bomb went off in little Greenville.
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3:04 - 3:06In fact, they did implode the factory.
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3:06 - 3:10That's a guy that is walking on his last day of work.
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3:10 - 3:14And on the month that the last refrigerator rolled off the assembly line,
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3:14 - 3:17the employees of Electrolux in Greenville, Michigan,
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3:17 - 3:23had a gathering for themselves that they called the last supper.
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3:23 - 3:26It was in a big pavilion in Greenville, an indoor pavilion,
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3:26 - 3:30and I went to it because I was so frustrated as Governor
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3:30 - 3:34that I couldn't stop the outflow of these jobs,
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3:34 - 3:37and I wanted to grieve with them,
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3:37 - 3:40and as I went into the room-- there's thousands of people there.
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3:40 - 3:44It was a just big thing. People were eating boxed lunches
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3:44 - 3:48on roundtop tables, and there was a sad band playing music,
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3:48 - 3:52or a band playing sad music, probably both. (Laughter)
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3:52 - 3:55And this guy comes up to me,
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3:55 - 3:59and he's got tattoos and his ponytail and his baseball cap on,
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3:59 - 4:01and he had his two daughters with him,
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4:01 - 4:05and he said, "Gov, these are my two daughters."
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4:05 - 4:08He said, "I'm 48 years old,
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4:08 - 4:12and I have worked at this factory for 30 years.
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4:12 - 4:15I went from high school to factory.
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4:15 - 4:18My father worked at this factory," he said.
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4:18 - 4:20"My grandfather worked at this factory.
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4:20 - 4:26All I know is how to make refrigerators."
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4:26 - 4:27And he looked at his daughters,
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4:27 - 4:29and he puts his hand on his chest,
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4:29 - 4:32and he says, "So, Gov, tell me,
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4:32 - 4:37who is ever going to hire me?
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4:37 - 4:41Who is ever going to hire me?"
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4:41 - 4:44And that was asked not just by that guy
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4:44 - 4:47but by everyone in the pavilion,
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4:47 - 4:53and frankly, by every worker at one of the 50,000 factories
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4:53 - 4:57that closed in the first decade of this century.
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4:57 - 5:00Enigma number one: How do you create jobs
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5:00 - 5:02in America in a global economy?
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5:02 - 5:05Number two, very quickly:
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5:05 - 5:07How do you solve global climate change
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5:07 - 5:12when we don't even have a national energy policy in this country
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5:12 - 5:17and when gridlock in Congress seems to be the norm?
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5:17 - 5:20In fact, there was a poll that was done recently
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5:20 - 5:24and the pollster compared Congress's approval ratings
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5:24 - 5:27to a number of other unpleasant things,
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5:27 - 5:30and it was found, in fact, that Congress's approval rating
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5:30 - 5:33is worse than cockroaches,
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5:33 - 5:40lice, Nickelback the band, root canals and Donald Trump. (Laughter)
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5:40 - 5:44But wait, the good news is it's at least better
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5:44 - 5:49than meth labs and gonorrhea. (Laughter)
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5:49 - 5:53We got a problem, folks.
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5:53 - 5:55So it got me thinking, what is it?
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5:55 - 5:58What in the laboratory that I see out there,
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5:58 - 6:00the laboratories of democracy, what has happened?
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6:00 - 6:03What policy prescriptions have happened
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6:03 - 6:05that actually cause changes to occur
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6:05 - 6:08and that have been accepted in a bipartisan way?
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6:08 - 6:10So if I asked you, for example,
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6:10 - 6:12what was the Obama Administration policy
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6:12 - 6:15that caused massive changes across the country,
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6:15 - 6:17what would you say?
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6:17 - 6:20You might say Obamacare, except for those were not voluntary changes.
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6:20 - 6:23As we know, only half the states have opted in.
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6:23 - 6:26We might say the Recovery Act, but those didn't require policy changes.
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6:26 - 6:31The thing that caused massive policy changes to occur
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6:31 - 6:33was Race to the Top for education.
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6:33 - 6:36Why? The government put a $4.5 billion pot
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6:36 - 6:40and said to the governors across the country, compete for it.
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6:40 - 6:43Forty-eight governors competed,
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6:43 - 6:46convincing 48 state legislatures to essentially
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6:46 - 6:49raise standards for high schoolers
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6:49 - 6:51so that they all take a college prep curriculum.
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6:51 - 6:56Forty-eight states opted in, creating a national [education] policy from the bottom up.
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6:56 - 6:59So I thought, well, why can't we do something like that
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6:59 - 7:03and create a clean energy jobs race to the top?
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7:03 - 7:05Because after all, if you look at the context,
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7:05 - 7:091.6 trillion dollars has been invested in the past eight years
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7:09 - 7:11from the private sector globally,
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7:11 - 7:14and every dollar represents a job,
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7:14 - 7:15and where are those jobs going?
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7:15 - 7:18Well, they're going to places that have policy, like China.
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7:18 - 7:20In fact, I was in China to see what they were doing,
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7:20 - 7:22and they were putting on a dog-and-pony show for the group that I was with,
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7:22 - 7:25and I was standing in the back of the room during one of the demonstrations
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7:25 - 7:28and standing next to one of the Chinese officials,
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7:28 - 7:29and we were watching, and he says,
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7:29 - 7:34"So, Gov, when do you think the U.S. is going to get national energy policy?"
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7:34 - 7:38And I said, "Oh my God -- Congress, gridlock, who knows?"
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7:38 - 7:42And this is what he did, he goes, he says,
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7:42 - 7:44"Take your time."
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7:44 - 7:49Because they see our passivity as their opportunity.
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7:49 - 7:52So what if we decided to create
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7:52 - 7:55a challenge to the governors of the country,
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7:55 - 7:57and the price to entry into this competition
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7:57 - 8:01used the same amount that the bipartisan group approved in Congress
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8:01 - 8:04for the Race to the Top for education, 4.5 billion,
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8:04 - 8:06which sounds like a lot, but actually it's less than
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8:06 - 8:09one tenth of one percent of federal spending.
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8:09 - 8:11It's a rounding error on the federal side.
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8:11 - 8:15But price to entry into that competition would be,
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8:15 - 8:18you could just, say, use the President's goal.
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8:18 - 8:21He wants Congress to adopt a clean energy standard
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8:21 - 8:23of 80 percent by 2030,
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8:23 - 8:25in other words, that you'd have to get 80 percent
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8:25 - 8:29of your energy from clean sources by the year 2030.
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8:29 - 8:32Why not ask all of the states to do that instead?
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8:32 - 8:34And imagine what might happen,
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8:34 - 8:36because every region has something to offer.
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8:36 - 8:39You might take states like Iowa and Ohio --
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8:39 - 8:41two very important political states, by the way --
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8:41 - 8:42those two governors, and they would say,
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8:42 - 8:45we're going to lead the nation in producing
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8:45 - 8:48the wind turbines and the wind energy.
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8:48 - 8:51You might say the solar states, the sun belt,
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8:51 - 8:55we're going to be the states that produce solar energy for the country,
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8:55 - 8:57and maybe Jerry Brown says, "Well, I'm going to create
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8:57 - 8:59an industry cluster in California
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8:59 - 9:01to be able to produce the solar panels
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9:01 - 9:03so that we're not buying them from China
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9:03 - 9:04but we're buying them from the U.S."
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9:04 - 9:08In fact, every region of the country could do this.
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9:08 - 9:12You see, you've got solar and wind opportunity all across the nation.
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9:12 - 9:16In fact, if you look just at the upper and northern states
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9:16 - 9:18in the West, they could do geothermal,
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9:18 - 9:20or you could look at Texas and say,
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9:20 - 9:24we could lead the nation in the solutions to smart grid.
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9:24 - 9:28In the middle eastern states which have access to forests
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9:28 - 9:30and to agricultural waste, they might say,
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9:30 - 9:33we're going to lead the nation in biofuels.
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9:33 - 9:35In the upper northeast, we're going to lead the nation
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9:35 - 9:38in energy efficiency solutions.
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9:38 - 9:41Along the eastern seaboard, we're going to lead the nation
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9:41 - 9:43in offshore wind.
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9:43 - 9:46You might look at Michigan and say, we're going to lead the nation
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9:46 - 9:49in producing the guts for the electric vehicle, like the lithium ion battery.
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9:49 - 9:53Every region has something to offer,
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9:53 - 9:55and if you created a competition,
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9:55 - 9:59it respects the states and it respects federalism.
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9:59 - 10:03It's opt-in. You might even get Texas and South Carolina,
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10:03 - 10:06who didn't opt into the education Race to the Top,
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10:06 - 10:08you might even get them to opt in. Why?
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10:08 - 10:10Because Republican and Democratic governors
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10:10 - 10:12love to cut ribbons.
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10:12 - 10:16We want to bring jobs. I'm just saying.
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10:16 - 10:19And it fosters innovation at the state level
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10:19 - 10:22in these laboratories of democracy.
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10:22 - 10:26Now, any of you who are watching anything about politics lately
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10:26 - 10:29might say, "Okay, great idea, but really?
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10:29 - 10:31Congress putting four and a half billion dollars on the table?
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10:31 - 10:33They can't agree to anything."
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10:33 - 10:37So you could wait and go through Congress,
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10:37 - 10:39although you should be very impatient.
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10:39 - 10:47Or, you renegades, we could go around Congress.
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10:47 - 10:49Go around Congress.
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10:49 - 10:55What if we created a private sector challenge to the governors?
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10:55 - 11:00What if several of the high-net worth companies
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11:00 - 11:05and individuals who are here at TED decided
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11:05 - 11:08that they would create, band together, just a couple of them,
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11:08 - 11:12and create a national competition to the governors
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11:12 - 11:14to have a race to the top
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11:14 - 11:17and see how the governors respond?
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11:17 - 11:22What if it all started here at TED?
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11:22 - 11:24What if you were here
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11:24 - 11:30when we figured out how to crack the code
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11:30 - 11:35to create good paying jobs in America -- (Applause) --
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11:35 - 11:39and get national energy policy
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11:39 - 11:45and we created a national energy strategy from the bottom up?
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11:45 - 11:48Because, dear TEDsters,
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11:48 - 11:51if you are impatient like I am,
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11:51 - 11:55you know that our economic competitors,
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11:55 - 11:58our other nations, are in the game
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11:58 - 12:00and are eating us for lunch.
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12:00 - 12:05And we can get in the game or not.
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12:05 - 12:09We can be at the table or we can be on the table.
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12:09 - 12:12And I don't know about you,
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12:12 - 12:14but I prefer to dine.
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12:14 - 12:18Thank you all so much. (Applause)
- Title:
- A clean energy proposal -- race to the top!
- Speaker:
- Jennifer Granholm
- Description:
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Kicking off the TED2013 conference, Jennifer Granholm asks a very American question with worldwide implications: How do we make more jobs? Her big idea: Invest in new alternative energy sources. And her big challenge: Can it be done with or without our broken Congress?
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:41
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A clean energy proposal -- race to the top! | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for A clean energy proposal -- race to the top! | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for A clean energy proposal -- race to the top! | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A clean energy proposal -- race to the top! | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |