I hope you and yours are staying well despite the violent insurrection in Washington DC on January 6th. This week, I want to bring you some hope and optimism for the future from an unlikely source. More on that below.
First, I’d like to share two insights that resonated with me as I sought to make sense of the attempted coup and think about a pathway forward.
The first is from our newly elected Georgia Senator, Raphael Warnock. PBS’s Judy Woodruff asked how we can get anything done with such a divided country and Senate. Warnock said “we have no choice!” and added this:
“Either we will learn to live together as sisters and brothers, or we will perish together as fools.” Martin Luther King Jr. speech in St. Louis, on March 22, 1964 (In Warnock’s version he added the sisters. Amen to that.)
And Warnock posed this key question: Do we want to continue in our silos of violent racial, political and religious hatred, or do we want to build what Dr. King called the beloved community?
The other resonant voice for me was President Barack Obama. He laid the blame firmly with Trump and his enablers. I felt that he was also speaking directly to me and all my fellow journalists when he wrote: “For two months now, a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth…” Obama offered Republican leaders a choice: to either continue down a dark path or “choose reality…and choose America”
Although the majority of the media blame rests with Fox News, Sean Hannity, and all those media and social media platforms that allowed the false narrative of a “stolen election” to be amplified, every single journalist should examine his or her actions over the last four years. For example, NPR’s failing to call a lie a lie was a mistake in my view. Mary Louise Kelly explained “A lie is a false statement made with intent to deceive… Without the ability to peer into Donald Trump’s head, I can’t tell you what his intent was.”
I think the events of last week make that intent to deceive –– and win at all costs –– abundantly clear.
By contrast, the BBC, The New York Times and other mainstream outlets used the word “lie” when it was merited, countless times. Yet even some highly regarded colleagues inadvertently fueled the fire by demonstrating lazy journalism. On January 8th, the BBC’s North America editor, Jon Sopel’s retweet of Trump’s lies about a stolen election, without clearly flagging it as a lie, was a powerful case in point. A few hours later, Twitter finally gave Trump the red card he deserved months ago, but the damage was done. Sopel and those like him need to follow the plea of New York Times journalists like Sheera Frenkel and think carefully about how they use their powerful media megaphones.
Statements from other political elders like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George W Bush are also worth reading. Which brings me to my latest BBC report.
When I read that Americans over 70 are showing remarkable resilience and optimism during this pandemic and lockdown, I thought, how can that be? We all know that the older you are, the more likely that Covid-19 can kill you, but here’s a fascinating statistic: in the United States, an 85 year-old grandmother who gets Covid is 10,000 times more at risk of death than her 15 year-old grandchildren. With odds like that, and the lockdown isolation you’d think that she’d be a lot more anxious and depressed than them, especially with the post-holiday spike in cases and prolonged lockdowns.
Instead, I discovered compelling research that demonstrates that the reverse is true. And found some valuable truths and life lessons for you and me.
Due to time constraints, the BBC wasn’t able to air all of the insights of the wise 19 year-old I interviewed, so I’m adding his wisdom at the end of this transcript and on the Fresh Dialogues podcast.
Riane Eisler is a grandmother of four, author, and President of the Center for Partnership Studies in Northern California. At 89, she’s energetic, busier than ever, and even optimistic about the immediate future.
Riane Eisler: Despite my age I’m still very very active doing online webinars, writing articles etc. Covid has not really changed my life that significantly. I’ve adjusted.
We tend to devalue our elders… Elders can be creative, active, and for me retirement is just… I don’t want to retire!
New research shows that although there are heightened levels of stress, anxiety and loneliness across all generations, older adults, like Eisler, are showing remarkable resilience, despite their forced isolation. Stanford University researchers surveyed almost 1000 Americans from 18 to 76 years-old in the early months of the lockdown.
Here’s Yochai Shavit, who co-authored the Stanford study.
Yochai Shavit: We found that older people reported feeling negative emotions less frequently and less intensely, and positive emotions more frequently and more intensely. Younger adults fared mostly worse than older adults.
Why was this?
Of course, it could be partly explained by the fact that younger adults are more likely to be directly and severely impacted by the pandemic’s economic and social fallout than older adults, especially retirees. But the study points to other reasons.
Yochai Shavit: As people age, they’re more motivated to find meaning and satisfaction in their present moment.So feeling joy becomes more important in older ages and worrying becomes less useful. When you have much of your life already lived, what we call limited time horizons, the future is just less of a priority and it becomes about what you choose to focus on.
Chris Campbell, a grandmother of four and retired attorney in Monterey County, agrees her time horizon contributes to her resilience.
Chris Campbell: I feel great today…It’s much easier when you’re in the last chapters of your life, as I am… to be in the moment and be very aware you have limited time left. To dilute or impair the time you have left with worry and anxiety is just so counterproductive. And I think that might be the secret to why we elderly people are perhaps not as stressed as younger people by this.
At 19 years of age, Luke Melcher is one of those stressed younger people. For his generation, there’s no apparent limit to the time horizon. But the opportunities at the start of their adult lives have been blocked by Covid’s restrictions – leaving many frustrated and angry he says.
Luke Melcher: I think a lot of kids felt cheated of very important years both academically and socially. We do all understand the significance of the virus but it’s a time when we are supposed to launching: going off to college or leaving college and going off into the real world. A lot of kids have been looking forward to this. It’s been hard for kids thinking that’ll never end. That’s what it feels like right now. It’s been going on for so long. It feels like it’s never going to stop.
Chris Campbell sympathises with how those much younger than her feel, even though the risk of death from Covid-19 is much higher for her age group.
Chris Campbell: There’s a collective sadness among many of us at the pain this virus has unleashed. Not just all the deaths, but the people whose livelihood has been destroyed and can’t feed their children.
So how do elders process that sadness and still nurture feelings of joy and pleasure? Yochai Shavit cites two key areas on which older people tend to focus to regulate their emotions:
Yochai Shavit: The first is emotionally close relationships become more of a priority… how they treat and approach these relationships: less confrontational, more forgiving, more generous to others. Making a positive social environment a priority.
The other thing is… when people of different ages are presented with stimuli that have positive and negative aspects, older adults tend to focus on the positive aspects, younger people on the negative aspects of things. Negative information is very useful in terms of evolutionary theory, when you have a long future ahead of you: it tells you what to avoid. (5min45secs elapsed at this point)
Kerstin Emerson of the University of Georgia adds some nuance to the correlation. During the spring lockdown, she surveyed the stress levels of about 800 people in two age groups: 60 to 70 year olds and 71 and older. She was surprised to find that, despite higher physical risk from Covid, 74% of the older group were “not that stressed,” compared to 56% of the younger group.
Emerson asked open-ended questions in her study and discovered these insights.
Kerstin Emerson: Lots of people worried for family members and society, but people remarked that this wasn’t the first time they’d gone through hard times… They know how to do this. They’re talking about resilience. By the time you’re 70 or 80 or 90, you’ve gone through some stuff. You have these coping mechanisms. I asked (them): how have your health behaviors changed since beginning social distancing? Some of them were the positive ones like exercising more, some were the less positive ones like drinking more, sleeping less, eating more.
The 70 plus were engaging in less of the negative health behaviors: less likely to drink more, eat more and sleep less. Their coping mechanisms were more positive: reading, taking walks… And being creative with our social connections, technology…
Some people who’re struggling emotionally are reframing 2020 as a gap year, giving themselves permission for all the missed deadlines, the lack of achievements or career advancement, or even employment.
Chris Campbell, now in her 8th decade, has this wisdom:
“My parents taught me: you have so little control over what happens to you and how other people behave. You have complete control over your reaction to it. That has become my mantra in my elderly years. I find it’s extremely powerful: I get to decide how I’m going to respond to the darkest days of the Trump administration, or a terrible pandemic… the pain and destruction that they brought.” Chris Campbell, retired attorney and grandma of four.
Riane Eisler has found a purpose in her writing and collaborations that sustains and energizes her. She frames the pandemic and lockdown in positive terms.
Riane Eisler: I think it’s a time for reflection on our personal lives and our social institutions. Look what it revealed about the lack of resilience… lack of justice in our economy. I’d advise people to try to be of service in some way… you can have zoom sessions with foster children, someone whose need you can help to meet…I think that can help us a great deal.
And what’s her advice for older people who don’t have access to the Internet?
Riane Eisler: Use what you’ve got which is the telephone. Voice can be very important: listening, listening to someone who perhaps needs to be heard, can be very healing really.
Maybe it’s time we all called our mothers, our fathers or an elderly relative or friend, to check in?
***
And here are some insights from 19 year-old Luke Melcher of Northern California, who speaks eloquently about the anger of his generation.
I started by asking him to rate the intensity of this frustration on a scale of zero to ten:
Luke Melcher: Fear of missing out on this time of my life would definitely be a ten because so much important stuff goes on when you’re a freshman in college, a senior in high school, so that I was very frustrated about… friends who didn’t get to do prom and graduation. In this time in our lives, we get control of our lives, we’re off to college, not in our parents’ homes, we can vote, we can drive. When something happens that’s out of our control, that pushes us back a couple of steps, then that’s where a lot of the anger comes from. A lot of adults are obviously settled. It’s easier for them, when Covid hit to be: it’s all good, we’re going to hunker down. A lot of kids felt they were cheated out on… very important years, both academically and socially. A lot of adults don’t put themselves in kids’ shoes. They don’t remember when they were launching off to college or launching off to jobs after college, and how painful that is to have to move back in with your parents and pause again.
Luke also shared some coping mechanisms that are working for him: things like intense workouts.
Luke Melcher: A lot of running and intense weight workouts, anything to get frustrations out… a time for me to escape and get a good sweat on… has helped so much. It made me not think about what’s going on in the world.
He’s even been meditating.
Luke Melcher: Sometimes I’d just be silent, especially when I was feeling a little depressed or angry I’d just sit and let the emotions come to me and just let them go….
***
Thank you for reading Fresh Dialogues. Let’s hope the next time we connect, Joe Biden will be our President and the majority of Americans –– honest, decent people –– will reject the violence of January 6th and unite behind our common goals and shared humanity. And let’s hope that Trump and his enablers will be held accountable for their misdeeds, and reforms put in place so that Trumpism doesn’t raise its ugly head ever again.
As Thomas Jefferson said: Truth is great and will prevail.
Finally: many thanks to the excellent production skills of the BBC’s Andrew Luck Baker who gave the report added gravitas by adding some musical flourishes.
This report is dedicated to my 95 year-old friend and fellow journalist, Elayne Wareing Fitzpatrick who inspired my research. She’s working on her final book titled Transforming Despair and told me last Fall: “I’ve never been happier in my life.”
With less than three weeks until the election, it’s a nerve wracking time here in the United States. Some call it a battle for the soul of the nation. Certainly the stakes could not be higher. This election will determine the future of the United States and in some respects, the world.
As a journalist, I strive to be balanced, and talk about the facts of any situation. I try not to air my personal preferences on the BBC. But this election year, I’m not pulling any punches about what an immoral and polarizing president Donald Trump has been. His dangerous impacts on civil rights, the environment and our standing in the world have and will have far reaching consequences. Another four years is unthinkable.
For these reasons, I’m backing the Biden-Harris ticket and joined the Vote Forward campaign to send handwritten letters to unregistered voters in swing states. Our goal is to convince silent voices that their vote matters and we’re urging them to take part and vote on November 3rd.
For all those afraid to speak up and speak out, Kamala Harris is a profound inspiration. This quote resonates for me and I hope it does for you:
“You are powerful and your voice matters. You’re going to walk into many rooms in your life where you may be the only one who looks like you. But remember that you are not alone. We are all in that room with you, applauding you. Cheering your voice. So you use that voice and be strong.” Kamala Harris
Kamala’s words helped me speak out during my last BBC World Service appearance when I called Trump xenophobic and described his immigration policy “a lose-lose” for America. Find out below what I meant by that.
I had a lively conversation about immigration and innovation with the BBC’s Rahul Tandon and Andy Xie, an influential Chinese economist, based in Shanghai. Andy shared some insights about the Chinese education system that may surprise you.
Here is a transcript of our discussion, (edited for length and clarity).
Rahul Tandon: Alison, when you talk to people about the election, and the issues that are going to decide who people are going to vote for, where does immigration figure in that?
Alison van Diggelen: Immigration is an important issue, especially in Silicon Valley. There was a lot of backlash when Trump clamped down on H1B visas for skilled workers in Silicon Valley. A lot of tech CEOs spoke up and said it’s going to have a net effect of reducing jobs for American workers. To Andy’s point about people feeling unwelcome in America, Trump has been explicit and implicit about his xenophobic attitude, because he knows that it plays to his base.
I think this is going to be a double whammy for America: The first loss is the immigrant innovation benefit that’s given America its competitive edge and has led to (the creation and dominance of) Silicon Valley.
The second loss is that it energizes Trump’s base and helps him potentially get re-elected. So I think Trump’s immigration policy is a lose-lose for America.
Rahul Tandon: A lot of Indians will tell you that Silicon Valley is made up of a lot of Indians. A lot of these big companies’ bosses did come from India (eg Google’s Sundar Pichai). Do you think these conversations are different if you went to a state like Texas?
Alison van Diggelen: Yes, it’s possible. Silicon Valley does face competition from Austin in Texas. It’s seen as the upstart to Silicon Valley. But what’s coming from Trump is this general feeling of: you’re not welcome if you’re an immigrant. It’s like shooting the country’s economic powerhouses in the foot.
Rahul Tandon: Andy, do you think some of the president’s rhetoric will put some Chinese students off going to the United States?
Andy Xie: Oh, yeah! The issue in China is that you have to decide very early if you want to go abroad for college education.
Rahul Tandon: How early?
Andy Xie: In primary school you have to decide if you want to compete in the local college entry examinations or go abroad. Usually the preferred location is the US. So now a lot of parents are saying: maybe UK, maybe Australia? But still, the US has a lot more top universities than anywhere else. The Chinese system is very rigid… What’s going on is a huge problem for hundreds of thousands of people in China.
Rahul Tandon: Alison, we know there’s a high unemployment rate in the US, is that heightening the debate about immigration? Are we hearing more Americans saying: there are just not enough jobs here, what the president is talking about makes sense, we can’t let more people in.
Alison van Diggelen: Certainly his base believes that, they’ll believe anything he says. But the facts that the BBC’s Manuela Saragosa reported, from the experts, show the opposite. Trump and his supporters are blind to the facts, just like they’re blind to the science of climate change. The fact is that more than 60% of those working in computer, math and science in Silicon Valley are foreign born, and that’s not a coincidence. Silicon Valley needs that skilled workforce in order to do what they do.
Why is Trump accusing China of hacking biotech companies, and threatening to ban TikTok? Smart policy or Red Scare tactics to distract us from his fatal response to the pandemic ?
Last month, Donald Trump finally started wearing a mask and doling out some good advice on Covid. Is it too little, too late?
I was invited to join the BBC World Service program Business Matters to discuss the latest reversal from the White House, as well as breaking business news and analysis.
“Trump only started wearing a mask last week, which is unconscionable. And he’s been spreading misinformation on the number of cases and cures…”
Here are highlights from my conversation with the BBC’s effervescent Rahul Tandon in London, and outspoken business advisor Simon Littlewood in Singapore. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Rahul Tandon: Alison, where you are in Silicon Valley, this rising tension between China and the US… What do people make of it? Is there a lot of support for the president and Mike Pompeo’s strong stance?
Alison van Diggelen: This is a political move, this is distracting action from our president’s mess up of the response to the Covid virus. I applaud their call to come together to fight a common enemy. But they’re forgetting that the biggest threat humanity faces is Covid-19.
There is a race going on, it’s like a new space race to find a reliable vaccine. It’s even more intense than the space race: the first country to get there will get a humanitarian reward of saving lives and also an economic reward. There will be a massive reward by allowing a swift return to business as usual, and a huge boost in consumer confidence.
This Trump White House action is a distracting political move. It feels a bit like the Red Scare of the Cold War Era.
Simon Littlewood: I agree. That’s exactly what it is. I’d echo Alison’s comments. There clearly are serious domestic issues in the U.S. and the president would do well to concentrate on them.
Rahul Tandon: I want to come back to Alison: we’re talking about China trying to hack information when it comes to Coronavirus vaccines and treatments. That’s just like the old world of espionage. It’s something that’s always gone on and now we’re looking at the stakes in a new tech world?
Alison van Diggelen: That’s right. Last week’s Twitter hack showed that even tech companies in the heart of Silicon Valley, with some of the smartest minds in the world and savvy programmers, are not immune to cyber criminals. I think it’s very likely that Americans are doing the same in China. Every major super power is trying to hack in and see what the other countries are doing. It’s just like the space race.
Rahul Tandon: There we go. We have two of the finest minds in the world with us here on Business Matters today. (Thanks Rahul!)
Simon Littlewood: Hopefully un-hacked!
Rahul Tandon: I was very certain about Alison. But Simon, we’ll need to give you another 40 minutes to see how you perform during the rest of the program…
Trump: We’re asking Americans to wear a mask…imploring young Americans to avoid packed bars, and other indoor gatherings. Be safe and be smart.
Rahul Tandon: Are Americans being safe and smart? Are people wearing masks?
Alison van Diggelen: I’m holding my breath hearing the president. He only started wearing a mask last week, which is unconscionable. And he’s been spreading misinformation on the number of cases and cures.
I’m glad to hear that he’s finally pushing the right message –– congratulations to whoever persuaded him! But his White House has been undermining the clear scientific evidence from Anthony Fauci who’s probably the best qualified to educate the world on what needs to be done.
It’s a little late, but I’m glad he’s doing the right thing finally. I hope he uses his Twitter account to spread the right message: Wearing a mask is the most effective thing people can do, as well as sheltering at home and minimizing exposure to others.
We also discuss:
The Green Recovery: Fergus Nicoll’s interview with Tim Smith, the founder of the Eden Project about changing attitudes to nature, localism and the environment, as a result of the pandemic.
What can be done to tackle the growing problem of fake news during the coronavirus pandemic?
“Mother Nature is a very powerful educator” and her power has never been more apparent than during Covid-19.* But what have we learned from this unprecedented pandemic?
Firstly: That what was once impossible, is now possible. Who’d have predicted that governments facing a global crisis would put humanity ahead of the economy? Despite all odds, they did and for the most part, continue to do so.
Secondly: With many economies in the deep freeze, we have a rare opportunity to create a “new” new normal, one that’s less carbon intensive and more environmentally friendly.
This week’s podcast explores these important questions: Is the Earth sending us a message? And if so, can we rise to challenge, before it’s too late?
OK, here’s a sobering statistic: A recent IPSOS Mori poll revealed that over 70% of the global population consider that, in the long term, climate change is as important a crisis as the coronavirus. Think about that for a minute.
Climate activists –– like the team at Global Optimism –– have renewed confidence that this pandemic has produced the wakeup call we need to re-examine our priorities. Instead of returning to business-as-usual and locking in higher emissions, some leaders are using the slogan: “Build back better.” The BBC’s Roger Harrabin writes about the need for the UK to avoid “lurching from the coronavirus crisis into a deeper climate crisis.” Britain’s Climate Change Committee Chairman, John Gummer has called for rebuilding the economy with a focus on green jobs, and boosting low carbon industries like clean energy and electric cars.
The pandemic has taught us that, instead of denial and inaction, basic risk assessment and preparation could have avoided mass chaos and deaths around the world. I’m sure you’ll agree that witnessing over-stretched intensive care units and the Hunger-Games-like scramble for ventilators, face masks and personal protection equipment was excruciating. It didn’t have to happen. Over five years ago, Bill Gates warned us about the risk of pandemics. Why did no one listen?
Today, Bill McKibben, Greta Thunberg and others are warning us about the risks of climate change. Calling them all Cassandras -– prophets of doom and gloom -– is no longer an option. We’re all in this together and we are woke! Let’s harness this united mindset and act NOW to green our economy, before it’s too late.
Some people might scoff at my idea that the pandemic could mean the Earth is sending us a message: the FT’s Robin Harding couldn’t conceal his mirth, as you’ll hear soon! But Jamie Robertson supported my idea, recalling his high school “Fruit flies in a jam-jar” experiment. Thanks Jamie! So think about this: Is the jam-jar sending the flies a message? It’s clear that you don’t have to be a sentient-being to send a message.
Here are highlights of my conversation with the BBC’s Jamie Robinson and the FT’s Robin Harding, (edited for length and clarity). We start by hearing from Tom Rivett-Carnac about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change direction, as governments use unprecedented levers to jumpstart their economies.
Tom Rivett-Carnac: If we now just subsidize fossil fuels, previous ways of doing things, we’re just going to end up with another boom and bust and very quickly be back to where we were in terms of pollution. An interesting correlation between climate and the pandemic: In both cases, relatively small amounts spent yield massive returns to benefit society.
Recent analysis suggests that if world leaders had spent $3.4 Billion annually preparing for Covid 19, it could have prevented at least $4 Trillion in costs, not to mention the human costs of the pandemic. That’s also true of climate. Taking action to prevent further impact is the cheapest thing to do and we should learn from the experience of the virus and invest now to prevent the impacts of climate change, and reap the benefits of the transition to a green economy.
Jamie Robertson: Robin, how does that argument fit in Japan?
Robin Harding: I don’t think that argument plays very strongly in Japan. I disagree with it strongly. The virus has revealed how miserable we are if we can’t go on holiday, see people, go out to work. I think people will be keen to get back to normal. What it reveals about the climate and the environment is that shutting everything down, avoid traveling to improve the environment isn’t going to wash with people. Instead we need to think about ways to decarbonize… Japan tends to prioritize the economy over the environment and always has.
Jamie Robertson: Now I want to go to California and see if the feeling is any different there, Alison?
Alison van Diggelen: There is a change in mindset, the pandemic and climate change are connected: we’re united against a common enemy. And we are learning to work from home more and that’s having a positive impact on climate change and it’s going be a lasting legacy.
Today on Earth Day, it’s worth framing it like this: When Europeans came to The Americas, they brought smallpox and other diseases that decimated the Native American population because they didn’t have immunity. Now, the tables have turned: we humans are the invaders of the natural world. We’re now being exposed to wild animals’ pathogens; (from bats etc.) and we don’t have natural resistance. So it LOOKS like Mother Earth is fighting back. So I’m hoping, and I think many people are hoping, that this pandemic could stimulate a shift in mindset: we might become more inclined to protect rainforests, rethink farming and rethink our use of oil. If not, if we keep encroachment on wild areas, we could face more pandemics like this one.
Jamie Robertson: Robin, I imagine you’re not going along with that?
Robin Harding: I don’t feel this is the earth is sending us a message, that we’re doing something wrong (laughter)…
Jamie Robertson: There is the argument that if you put a large number of people in a small space: we have 8 billion people living on earth, you’re going to get more diseases. If you put fruit flies in a jam jar, they expend in number and then they die off…
Robin Harding: That’s belied by our actual experience. As we’ve become richer and more developed, we’ve succeeded in taming diseases. This disease came from a wild animal market that wasn’t properly regulated. So to me, the lesson is you need to regulate wild animal markets, not that you need to need to revert to nature.
Jamie Robertson: Alison, final word from you on this argument?
Alison van Diggelen: I appreciate your support here, Jamie. Arguably we’ve crossed a line here … and I don’t think regulation itself is going to help us.
*In 2019, during a must-read interview with the Washington Post, environmentalist and author, Bill McKibbon, famously said “Mother Nature is a very powerful educator.” Here at Fresh Dialogues, we couldn’t agree more.
If you’re stuck at home and thinking: what can I do to help my community? I hope today’s podcast will inspire you.
Last week, my colleagues at The BBC World Service invited me to join the show Business Matters and share news from Silicon Valley. Even though the valley is one of America’s COVID-19 hotspots, I was determined to report something positive.
For inspiration, I thought of Mr. Rogers, America’s beloved TV personality and puppeteer. He famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
During this unsettling time, when it’s easy to get scared and give in to despair, I find his advice reassuring. But I think he meant more than one thing. I think, if Mr. Rogers was alive today, he’d say:
Find people who are helping…
Find opportunities to help, and encourage others to help in their communities.
So I scoured the news for uplifting stories about people who’re helping in my community. A tweet from California Governor Gavin Newsom caught my eye. He praised the rapid response of a Silicon Valley company that’s stepping up to meet the urgent need for ventilators to keep COVID-19 patients alive. I immediately got in touch with Bloom Energy and interviewed its chief operating officer, Susan Brennan that afternoon. She told me she challenged her team by saying, “We’re going to solve this thing!” I wanted to know: was the solution the brainchild of one person, or a team effort? You’ll find out below.
My interview aired on the BBC World Service on April 2, 2020.
Here are highlights of my conversation with the BBC’s Jamie Robertson and Enda Curran, chief Asia economics correspondent at Bloomberg in Hong Kong. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
We began by discussing the record 10 million people in the United States who’re unemployed, many almost overnight. Jamie Robertson: Alison, you must know people who’ve been made unemployed. Are they just lying down and taking it or are they getting up and doing something else, finding other opportunities? Alison van Diggelen: In California, Governor Newsom has set up a job matching site. The state has partnered with private companies so you can go online and find jobs that fit your skills. Other people are doing coding classes, or online training, to become yoga teachers for example.
This week, I interviewed Susan Brennan of Bloom Energy and heard about an engineer called Joe Tavi. He hasn’t lost his job, but has found a new job. He was on the production team for fuel cell making, but is now on the “Tiger Team” to refurbish ventilators for the cause. People are really seeing opportunities within this devastation. Robertson: We’re going to be hearing from him in the last piece on this program. You’ve got a fascinating report….
Over in Silicon Valley, a fuel cell company called Bloom Energy has stepped up to refurbish non-functioning ventilators for hospitals in record speed by repurposing their warehouses. Here’s the company’s COO, Susan Brennan. Susan Brennan: Valves, pumps, airflow, batteries: If you look at the pieces, there’s so much commonality between a ventilator and a fuel cell. Completely different function and process, but at its base level: very common inputs.
I spoke to the head of health and human services on March 17th, St Patrick’s day. That’s when I built the Tiger Team. I said: this is a mission, either you’re in or you’re not in. But if you’re in, we’re going to solve this thing!
My engineer, Joe Tavi, went home on a Wednesday. He downloaded the manual, taught himself overnight, developed processes the next day, Thursday. On Friday we convinced the state that we were capable of doing this. Everybody’s asking: what they can do right now? Where is that niche that you have, that you can go fill?
Susan asks a very good question: where’s the niche that you have, that you can go fill?
Find out more
Bloom Energy is refurbishing between 1000 and 2000 ventilators a week. To date, it has delivered over 1000 ventilators in California and Delaware. If you have ventilators in need of refurbishment, please contact Bloom Energy today. You could save a life.
If you’d like to share what you or your company is doing to help fight the pandemic or support people in your community, join the conversation at Facebook
This week, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager, stole the show at the United Nations General Assembly. Thanks to her, climate change is on the minds of the world. I was invited to discuss climate change action on the BBC World Service this month and we explored the role of activists like Thunberg, indigenous people, and technology pioneers like Elon Musk.
With visible rage, Thunberg described the urgency of action in stark terms on Monday.
”People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”
Then Thunberg made a passionate plea to each one of us, especially political leaders, to examine our consciences.
“How dare you continue to look away? The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.”
Greta Thunberg’s fury was evident to everyone who watched her, but she ended on a positive note:
“Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.”
BBC host, Jamie Robertson led a lively discussion exploring the urgency of climate change action and we were joined by ABC Australia’s Clare Negus. I took the opportunity to praise Thunberg’s tenacity.
The program started with a soulful report by the BBC’s Frey Lindsay. He reported on a gathering of indigenous community leaders from around the world who met at University College London to listen, exchange ideas and build solidarity in the fight against environmental degradation and climate change.
Listen to the podcast at the BBC World Service (environmental discussion starts at 10:40)
Here’s a transcript of conversation highlights (edited for length and clarity):
Jamie Robertson: In California, you’re very much on the front line, we think of the wildfires…do indigenous people have a role to play here?
Alison van Diggelen: It’s important for us in California, and around the world, to listen to the indigenous people. What we do over the next ten to twenty years is going to determine the fate of humanity. We need to remember environmentalist, John Muir, who said:
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
Technology plays a role in this by increasing transparency. Almost everyone has a mobile phone (and can take photos of environmental abuses), so multinationals can’t get away with what they used to.
Jamie Robertson: How high up the news agenda are questions about environmental problems and climate change?
Alison van Diggelen: Greta Thunberg, bless her heart, is keeping it on our agenda, but I wish it were higher. Looking at the Democratic Party Presidential debates, climate change was there, but I wish we could raise the issue more. People are concerned about what’s impacting them on a daily basis. There’s not enough of a long term view. We need more people like David Attenborough (and Greta Thunberg and Bill McKibben) speaking up for the environment.
Jamie Robertson: Clare ?
Clare Negas: It’s a major criticism of ABC Australia that we do too much on climate change and not enough on cost of living stories!
Jamie Robertson: I want to take the conversation on to the Frankfurt Motor Show and the extraordinary confrontation between the “Lords” of the auto industry and ordinary citizens worried about climate change, worried about cars and what they’re doing to the environment.
Alison, you’re in California at the forefront in the development of electric vehicles and things which could actually make a difference. Is there a sense of optimism that these things will work?
Alison van Diggelen: Absolutely. California is where Elon Musk jumpstarted this electric vehicle revolution. Tesla is doing phenomenally well. They’re due to sell about half a million electric cars this year. California is a state that is doing all it can to boost the sales of electric vehicles (EVs). It accounts for half of all U.S. sales of EVs thanks to rebates and state government policies. It has a goal of getting 5 million EVs on the road by 2030 and it does things like fast tracking permissions for charging infrastructure; that’s a key part of making EVs the number one form of transport.
Elon Musk has predicted that within 10 years, the majority of cars produced will be electric. Others like Morgan Stanley say it’s more like 20 years. It may be somewhere in the middle.
Jamie Robertson: Clare, do you have such faith?
Clare Negas: I do! I think globally electric cars will be the future. In Australia it’ll be a bigger battle because there is such a cultural identity around petrol and diesel fueled engines. We’re a strong car culture and that will continue. A few years ago, we drove a Tesla hundreds of kms to prove it wouldn’t run out of energy. There were no problems. Check out Clare’s fascinating report here.
End of Transcript
Extra: The program included a discussion about the college admissions scandal and I made a shout out to the hard working team and students at Breakthrough Silicon Valley who arguably have the most to lose. Their leader John Hiester recently wrote a moving oped about his outrage at cheaters like Felicity Huffman.
Find out more about clean tech and technology’s role in climate action at Fresh Dialogues.
Due to time constraints, the BBC wasn’t able to air all of the insights of the wise 19 year-old I interviewed, so I’m adding his wisdom at the end of this transcript and on the Fresh Dialogues podcast. 
Finally: many thanks to the excellent production skills of the BBC’s Andrew Luck Baker who gave the report added gravitas by adding some musical flourishes.
