When Washington Governor Jay Inslee ran for the Democratic nomination for president on a platform of aggressively tackling climate change, he didn’t get much traction with voters. But then the U.S. first cases of Covid-19 hit Washington state in January, and Inslee’s decisive science-based leadership suddenly seemed prescient. Bloomberg Green talked with Inslee about the two potentially lethal crises and their weird but undeniable parallels. The interview has been condensed and edited.
Before the pandemic you were perhaps best known for your committed stance on addressing climate change. Some of the first U.S. cases of Covid-19 were in Washington state and you’ve done a better job than most in containing its spread. Was there anything from your fight against climate change that prepared you for Covid-19?
They have a very different time scale, but there are a lot of similarities in the best way to address both. Number one is the most important: You've got to be aware of and accept the science and make decisions based on data—even if that is uncomfortable. The consequences are very dire for both if you don't follow the data.
