Tim Walz, America's new environmental champion?
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00:00Day three of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago wrapped up, with Tim Walz taking to the stage,
00:05Kamala Harris' vice presidential nominee using his address to introduce himself to the American public.
00:11The governor of Minnesota previously served in the National Guard before becoming a schoolteacher,
00:16and before he formally accepted the nomination, he reflected on what inspired him to run for office.
00:23For me, it was serving in the Army National Guard.
00:27I joined up two days after my 17th birthday, and I proudly wore our nation's uniform for 24 years.
00:36But it was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress.
00:42They saw in me what I had hoped to instill in them, a commitment to the common good,
00:48an understanding that we're all in this together.
00:52Now, Tim Walz there presenting himself as a relatable dad and a high school teacher from the Midwest.
00:58But among environmentalists, he's also gained a reputation as a pragmatic climate advocate.
01:03To talk more about this, I'm joined on set by our environmental editor, Valerie DeKamp.
01:07Valerie, great to see you.
01:08Now, is Tim Walz America's new climate darling?
01:12Well, behind this persona of the average American dad, you actually have someone who has championed
01:19one of the most ambitious climate agendas in the country as the governor of Minnesota.
01:24Minnesota is sort of like the new California in terms of leading forward with progressive climate policies.
01:31The state has made a remarkable shift away from coal.
01:36Carbon-free sources of power, wind, solar, nuclear, now account for 50% of the state's power generation.
01:44And Tim Walz has been credited with really pushing, signing one of the strongest green energy bills
01:51requiring the state to essentially eliminate carbon from electricity production by 2040.
01:58He has also passed reforms designed to push for more renewable energy.
02:05And as a result, he has been able, the state has been able to pull a lot of money from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act,
02:13the country's biggest investment in climate.
02:17And what's interesting is not just the fact that he has, you know, really championed climate policies,
02:22but also the fact how he actually has implemented those policies.
02:27And so commentators have praised Walz for really working hand in hand with the people
02:32who might be affected negatively by his policies and making sure that they're not going to create problems on the ground,
02:39and actually making those policies more popular.
02:42And so he really has been praised for his ability to tie, you know, climate policies with jobs, with economic development.
02:51And so we even talk, commentators even talk about the Minnesota model.
02:55And so I think having someone who can make climate policies more palatable, that can be a great asset for Kamala Harris.
03:03I didn't know how liberal Minnesota was until Tim Walz appeared onto the scene.
03:08I know that the Democrats have just had a month to get their act together because they had to change the top of the ticket
03:14with putting Kamala Harris in place of Joe Biden.
03:17But it seems that climate issues haven't really been at the heart of the Democratic campaign so far.
03:22Is it intentional?
03:23Yeah, I mean, climate issues for sure have been quite absent from this campaign.
03:28You know, looking at high level speeches that we've heard from the last couple of days at the convention,
03:34I only, you know, I only found records of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama actually mentioning climate action, climate change in their speeches.
03:42And more importantly, Kamala Harris, you know, has remained relatively silent on climate issues since her campaign began.
03:50She has yet to unveil the details to voters of what her climate and energy positions are.
03:57And that could be quite surprising considering that Biden made, you know, climate change, climate issues, kind of, you know, put them at the heart of his campaign.
04:06Democrats have ample room to brag about the Inflation Reduction Act, but they have decided not to.
04:13And Harris and Walz have embraced a more pragmatic agenda, talking a lot about, you know, minimum wage increase, child care funding.
04:24The priority now perhaps being reaching out to moderate voters or disaffected Republicans and coming out really strong on reining in fossil fuels, promoting electric vehicles.
04:38That potentially could, you know, you know, push voters away, especially in swing states like Pennsylvania.
04:45There's also the argument that Harris already has the backing of people who care about climate change.
04:51So, you know, they don't need to core them specifically.
04:54But, you know, for younger voters, Gen Z in particular, who were not that excited about Joe Biden's campaign, who are a bit more energized now with Harris and who we know, you know, are deeply engaged with, you know, climate change issues.
05:09Harris will have to show a bit more of more passion, you know, when talking about climate change issues.
05:15So we'll have to see if she does mention it tonight in her speech.