Today's guest is Phil Bredesen, Former Governor of Tennessee.

This is a fascinating discussion because I haven't come across many people who have made the transition from entrepreneurship to politics back to entrepreneurship. But Governor Bredesen has danced back and forth in both of these areas quite successfully over a long illustrious career. We also have a great discussion about climate change, its impact, the best path forward and what levers we've got to solve it. And which ones governor Bredesen is most excited about. Enjoy the show! 

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• His motivation for getting involved in climate change
• How his interest in climate evolved from his upbringing and his tenure as governor working on conservation
• His realization that solar was more than just a source of renewable energy
• How electrical generation and transportation represent the lowest-hanging and largest GHG-reduction opportunity
• The mission behind founding Clearloop
• His thoughts on the role of the private sector in addressing the emissions crisis
• His career beginning as a healthcare entrepreneur to politics
• His founding of Silicon Ranch, the company’s mission and the interests of its customers
• What he saw as being broken in the landscape of offset solutions
• How attempting to address climate change with lifestyle changes is an uphill battle
• How improving battery storage and nuclear represent impactful solutions to climate
• His skepticism that a price on carbon will make a measurable difference
• The role of government in addressing climate change
• The need to frame the benefits of renewables and clean technologies
• How the Manhattan Project analogy is not appropriate given what needs to happen with climate
• Why he views the Green New Deal as impracticable

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Silicon Ranch: https://www.siliconranch.com/
• Clearloop: https://clearloop.us/
• Green New Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
• “Disarming ourselves in the fight against climate change”: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/disarming-ourselves-fight-against-climate-change

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant