Page 49 - Tom Steyer Issue

over 300 million meals a year. We started that 15 years ago. So being aware of the need for a safe agricultural system that has the food supplies that get to hungry peo- ple in California is something that has been swept under the rug. As I was saying, some of these injustices and inequities in the society are things that have existed but people haven’t talked about or been aware enough of.
take care of each other in the most fundamental way if we’re going to be safe together because we can’t be safe separately.
If “hungry kids” doesn’t get you emotionally, I don’t know what does. To me, this is the flip side of the digi- tal divide. If “letting kids have a right to reach their capabilities” doesn’t get to you, if kids who don’t have enough healthy food to eat doesn’t get you, I don’t know where your heart is. Because those seem to me to be absolute necessities for a society as rich as ours in the twenty-first century. So the task force is working on closing the digital divide and helping the governor fig- ure out how best to do that in a timely fashion. We focus on food and security and hungry families in the state of California, getting them food on a timely basis that is healthy. And that’s something I’ve said, that California Foods for California Kids continues to work. It’s some- thing we’ve done for a long time. But in a larger way, the task force has to be aware of producing healthy food and delivering it to those most in need, and that’s some- thing we’re definitely working on.
Steyer: One way of thinking about this, Chet, and I’m not sure if you’re familiar with it, is the concept of R0 [the reproduction number]. It sounds fancy, but it’s a simple idea: If someone is infected with the coronavirus and if they infect another person on average that makes a huge difference. If somebody who gets infected infects more than one person and that’s the average, then the pandemic takes off. But if, on average, some- body who gets infected doesn’t infect another person, then over time, the pandemic ends. And R0 means to get more than one person infected. My point in talking about this is the protocols for safety—wearing masks, social distancing, wiping common surfaces, washing your hands multiple times during the day—are absolute- ly powerful instruments of making sure that R0 is less than 1.0, so that the virus declines and the pandemic ends.
Chet Cooper: Did you read about clearer skies in India?
That’s something we have to do for each other. We have to be disciplined with each other to protect others, so that, as a cooperative society, we can handle this pan- demic. I think it’s important for people to understand how powerful those protocols are. They only work if people observe the protocols and protect each other. I think it’s up to each of us to be a responsible, caring person for everybody else in society, and if we all do that, we’ll handle this just fine.
Steyer: I think what you’re alluding to is the fact that this economic slowdown has been evident in some parts by the slowdown in the use of fossil fuel. People are traveling less in virtually every way. They are driving less. They are flying less. So the pollution that comes from burning fossil fuel for transportation has been dra- matically reduced. In some states that’s been specifical- ly reflected in cleaner skies, cleaner air—a healthier cli- mate from the standpoint of air pollution. The question is, is that something that brings to everybody’s mind the idea that we don’t need to be polluting in the way we’ve been polluting? I think that’s true. I think what you can see from COVID, though, goes beyond that. What you can see with COVID is that in order to respond in the natural world, the effective way to preserve people’s health, to preserve our jobs, is you’ll have to deal with reality. These are scientific, fundamental, natural-world realities that we’ll have to respond to in a thoughtful, organized and cooperative fashion. And with COVID, if you don’t do that, the results are very clear. Inside two weeks the pandemic takes off. The climate has a much longer time frame.
Cooper: I feel like you’re what one might call a hugger? Steyer: I’m a huge hugger!
If you don’t stop burning fossil fuels, it doesn’t seem like there’s a two-week response. But it’s the exact same point. And I think what we’ll see coming out of this pandemic is a new awareness by elected officials, a new awareness on the part of everybody, as you said, that you’ve got to deal with the science and the facts in this world, that you’ve got to have a governmental response. And that we’ve got to cooperate with each other and
Steyer: I am continuing to work every day full-time. My campaign ended at the end of February, so this is two and a half months later, and I think I’ve only had one day off in that time when I haven’t been at work. I’ve connected with people like you and I are connecting right now. Is that in person? Overwhelmingly not. It’s on the phone or a Zoom call or some other means of vir- tual connection. As somebody who loves human con- nection, that’s what I miss. I miss having a conversation with my friends. Having the chance to sit down in a casual setting. I miss meeting new people. In the cam- paign, I must have hugged thousands or tens of thou- sands of people. And you think, Wow, that could never happen now. There is no way in the world that those people would hug me, or the people who are running the campaign would think I was safe doing it. And I absolutely did it, and I never got sick. I was good about washing my hands. To me, it was really important to
Cooper: Any thoughts on people who are not wearing face masks?
Cooper: (laughs) What’s happening with you on a per- sonal level?
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