Yeah.

Because they take so much energy and so much water for cooling the chips.

And they don't really bring in that many jobs.

It takes maybe 30 people to operate one of those huge... centers because it's all automated.

It's just a lot of servers sitting there.

And this is a crisis that's just happening right now.

And so what we're doing is we're retooling very quickly here.

So what's the biggest misconception people normally have about climate change that you know?

So tell me some of your thinking around that.

Yeah, it got clear to me pretty quickly that we needed to, I've always been a believer in in searching for the win-win solutions when we can find them.

And climate change seems, as you said, it's such a lose-lose proposition.

And we've got only seven years to... uh, get on top of climate change in a real significant way.

So yeah, uh, it's scary for a lot of folks.

Um, I think we need to kind of start there by acknowledging that, that, um, uh, Americans now we're pulling, uh, like 86% of us, at least in Colorado are, have significant climate climate anxiety, but, um, along comes, these hyper data centers, which people are also very anxious about.

And right now they're trying to get a foothold in Colorado.

But out there, there are other opportunities that are more win-win.

What are that shifts in perspective change?

Yeah.

Here is the The really dynamic part of what we wanna do if, if I'm elected governor here in Colorado, what we wanna do, bring in something ca- what we, we call the, uh, Interstate Sky Carbon Blueprint.

One of the other problems that the world is facing right now is, as many people know, the, these hyper data, data centers for artificial intelligence, which have a huge footprint i- in terms of using energy and water and releasing carbon.

So it's a big problem that the world is grappling with right now.

Our plan is to site these, any data centers coming into Colorado right next to the carbon capture plants, which would in turn be right next to, uh, carbon production facilities.

So we've got the data center, and they-- the reason they, they need a lot of water is for cooling the chips.

Lastly before we go, what's one thing you wish more people understand about climate innovation and the future of economy?

On environmental challenges.

Okay, good question.

A really, really big experience I had here in Colorado, only a few miles from where I am right now.

I was out taking photographs, as I love to do, and I was along the Colorado River, and I started to notice these, what I thought were water pumping stations.

But later I realized there was hundreds of of fracking installations along the headwaters of the Colorado River.

Of course, the Colorado River here in the United States feeds 40 million people in five different states and then all the way down into Mexico.

This is a very important river system.

So I would like to ask, what do you believe those conversations belong together?

So is it like, is it truly the predictions are happening in a way, or is it just, it's still kind of delayed in terms of what's really gonna happen?

Yeah, 2009, Al Gore came out with his, he won an Academy Award for his documentary on climate change.

We're...

We're currently decades down the road from that.

We actually heard the early warnings back in the 70s and 80s.

The fossil fuel companies have been aware since then that climate change was happening and that if they continued what they were doing, we would end up where we are now.

It's now been 40 years down the road and we've arrived at a place where we're getting these feedback loops that are increasing in severity and intensity.

Because I think the way, like people who see the term climate change, they immediately think, okay, let's regulate the entire, like the entire, let's regulate the entire economy or something like that.

we're seeing

methane and more carbon being released, and then that heats the atmosphere further, and that further melts the permafrost and releases more gas, so We're getting these loops that are, there's about 12 of them, including two of our ocean currents, which are failing right now.

We have to have ocean currents to move heat around the planet.

So there's some really big stuff that's happening in terms of these feedback loops.

And that will get out of control eventually.

We won't be able to stop it at a certain point.

But we still have agency.

Are others listening to this and taking action, or are they denying? How do other states respond?

The backstory, yes.

Well, I guess it all starts with my mom, as most good stories do.

My mom was very, very nature-connected.

And every summer, because my parents were teachers...

We'd go out, often out to Colorado from Michigan where we lived.

And, you know, hike and camp.

And she was always teaching me things about nature.

Some of them are going, wait, we have to remove carbon from the atmosphere? Can you talk us through just very quickly why that's so important?

What experiences shaped that perspective of yours, and when did you realize that innovation, that is innovation, not limitation, could be part of us?

It's a great question, and I l- I love your theme, reminding, reminding us of ourselves and our each individual's power.

It, it, it often doesn't seem like, and for many of us, we don't feel like we have much power to make our ideas happen in the world.

And, uh, and I'm aware, of course, like, as a, as a, I, I was raised a, a middle-class American, so and my family owned a three-bedroom house.

And so s- we had advantages that a lot of people in the world don't have.

But for an American, and I was just, you know, an average person who, uh, first started, started with a, a strong passion, love for something, the environment, future generations, the idea of future generations having a livable world that they could experience.

And that eventually led to wanting to do things to protect that environment.

For, for someone hearing this concept for the first time, what exactly is direct air carbon removal, and why do you believe it could become one of the most important industries of the future?

Well, on AI and the power consumption and where it's all

going.

Wow.

That brings us right into the center of...

You're a great interviewer.

That brings us right into the center of what we're doing here or hoping to do if I get elected.

And I always like to mention I'm a write-in independent candidate, so we're not playing the usual... party game that has resulted in Donald Trump's manifestation, which is dismantling our country here.

And suddenly we have a different world order.