Fortunes . Also on this earth day, our favorite baseball playing environmentalist, former giant hunter pence and his wife alexis will share their latest sustainability efforts and why you should go to tonights giants game. But first, frustration with sanctioned line cutting at airport checkpoints. A New California bill that goes after the security screening company. Clear. Youre watching, getting answers. Im kristen sze. Thanks for joining us. Youve seen it at the airports. No doubt. Long lines to go through security checkpoints. And youve probably noticed some people cutting to the front of the line using clear, a biometric Identity Verification system near the checkpoint. That arrangement has many travelers. And now some california lawmakers crying foul. And theres a new bipartisan bill to change the way that pay to play process works. Joining us live now to talk about it is jim lights, executive director of the california airports council, that is an organization that advocates for californias commercial airport interests. Jim, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Before we dive into this, bill, i think if you can help by explaining what clear is. So as you mentioned, clear provides enhanced passenger screening through biometric methods, either a retinal scan or fingerprints. Whereas the regular checkpoint, either that or precheck is simply checking your government issued id document. Got it. So thats something as a member, you give to clear ahead of time, right . And then they have that. So at the airports at these clear stations you go to the kiosk. And at that point what happens. Do you kind of scan your eyes or do you what is what happens to verify your identity, clear customers are offered the option of a retinal scan or fingerprints. Once thats completed, they double check your boarding pass electronically and then you are brought to the front of either the regular or precheck security line, and then you go through that line to the to the baggage inspection station. Okay, i see, so i think thats the part that gets to some people who feel that its not fair because it does cost about 200 per year. Right. So its not like everybody can afford it. And so for that you do get the privilege of getting to the front of the line after you get verified. So can i just ask you, you know, this bill, what it would do is that it would require that clear to get their own security lanes, if you will, so that its not like theyre kind of moving up to the front of the regular line. What do you think about that . Do you think that could work . Do you think that is more fair . Well, its actually a tsa decision. Uh airports do not control the security checkpoint. That is the domain of the tsa, and its the tsa that has set up this process. And so while it might be more convenient if there were a dedicated tsa officer for clear customs, that is entirely a tsa decision. And the reason why airports in the state are concerned about this bill. Okay, so i should mention its sponsored by one democrat, one republican. Its bipartisan. So basically, are you saying that if it does pass right, then there was something that needs to be negotiated with the federal government to make it actually happen, where clear operates its own lane clear, the bill would prevent airports from renewing any current contracts with clear and prevent airports from inviting clear into their airports. Uh. Currently, they operate in nine airports in california. They are doing revenue sharing of about 13 million, almost half of that is enjoyed by the primary bay area airports sfo, oakland and san jose. And so we at airports would lose revenue. And the thought is that airports, along with clear, would go to the United States congress and ask them to make the tsa to provide that dedicated officer for the clear customers, i just dont know that thered be a lot of sympathy for california if we shoot ourselves in the foot from a revenue standpoint, and then go to congress and ask them to fix our foot for us, in fact, when you talk about revenue, im already hearing opposition from the airlines saying that this could lead to flying passengers paying more for their airfares. Do you think that is possible . Because airports are required to be financially selfsufficient as possible, we do that by levying what we call rates and charges to the airlines wherever an airport can generate nonairline revenue, rental cars, the concessions, your gift shops and restaurants advertising within the airport, along with operations like clear, it helps us keep the Airline Rates and charges lower. And then airlines will be able to operate at our airports for a less expensive cost. This bill will reduce that nonairline revenue and could indeed put pressure on airline prices in california. So i hear you on the cost thing, but let me just ask you about the optics, right. Because regular travelers who cant afford the 200 a month seem very irritated that they can just go to the front of the line, right. And unlike the different product, tsa precheck, which is actually not run by a private concessionaire company, but by the federal government, you can say tsa, you know, precheck by allowing some people who pay a much lesser amount to keep their shoes on, keep their jackets on, not have to take out their laptops, save the collective, everybody some time overall. Right. But that clear doesnt do that. It just allows some people to go ahead of others. Do you agree that the existence of clear doesnt really save the collective . The overall the whole time . Well, its hard to say if clear saves everyone time, but the overall goal of an airport is to make your passage through the checkpoint as quick as possible. And so the tsa has recognized the technology that clear offers and has allowed them to, be in checkpoints where theres space for them. Not every airport has space for clear. And again, its the tsa that has set up the go to the front of the line process. And no one in the state of california has the ability to influence that, except the tsa. This is very true. Of course, there are also those who wonder if it has a place Something Like clear in a federally mandated process, like going through security at the airport. Right. So thats a different question. But i want to ask you, hasnt clear had some issues. I know that the whole point is Identity Verification, but i think in 2022, some person with a false identity got through at reagan national, and it turned out he was going to maybe do some harm. And then there were a couple of other incidents. How do you feel about their, technical stuff there . Behind the scenes there are security and theres, you know, how safe it actually is. Well, they are very, were were looking for all airports and checkpoints to be vigilant. And there certainly been some examples where that vigilance may not have been what we want it to be in those instances that you just mentioned. But generally speaking, it is a fairly secure, process. Yes. And we think its just one of the components of Airport Security checkpoint operations that we are always looking to see improved, both from the airport side and the tsa side, right. I mean, i kind of liken clear to the lightning lane at disneyland, which does irritate a lot of people, you do pay and you do, you know, get to move to the front of the line. So well see what they discuss tomorrow. I think the state Senate Transportation committee will take it up tomorrow, and it could be amended so things could still change. But jim lites really appreciate you coming on to share your thoughts. Thank you very much for having me. Appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, data shows the environment is paying the price for Climate Change. And so are we on this earth day. A stanford professor joins us you got it . Lets go back to the beginning. Are you. Your electric future. Customized. The fullyelectric audi q4 etron. Get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. Everyone needs a place to recharge. How we get there matters. Get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. Awareness to creating a more sustainable planet. While scientists have documented the Impact Global warming is having on our planet. A new report documents its impact on our wallet. Spoiler alert Climate Change makes us poor. Joining us live now is professor Noah Diffenbaugh with stanfords school of sustainability to discuss the study and the Economic Impact of Global Warming. Professor diffenbaugh, thanks for your time today. Thanks for having me. So you were not part of the study, right . Uh not this study. Thats just been published, correct . Okay. This one was done by the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact research out of germany. But i know youre quite familiar with the findings and the findings of others like it in fact, having done studies of your own, im sure. So please summarize the main points here about Climate Change making us poor. How . Well, you know, when researchers look overall at economic growth, its clear that, you know, hotter conditions for much of the world, really erode economic growth, and, when, researchers look at the Building Blocks of economic growth, whether its Labor Productivity or agricultural productivity or, you know, cognitive, performance, whole, whole suite of measures of what goes into economic growth. They find the same thing, which is that, that, you know, extreme hot conditions really erode, productivity. So we see it, to use the jargon, both top down and bottom up. We see that its already happened historically and that, Global Warming will continue to intensify those impacts, as, as we get more and more warming in the future, can you break down the cost a little bit for us in terms of, i dont know if you can say with each degree of warming, then addition of this much cost and the cost comes from this us having to cope with that. Well, you know, theres both, you know, theres, theres what we can measure at the aggregate level so i can tell you about, you know, the research that ive been involved in where we look back at the historical Global Warming thats already happened and what we find is that, you know, a large number of countries that are already tsay, very warm, that have very large populations and in particular, you know, large fraction of the worlds poor populations. Those countries have already been harmed by the Global Warming thats already happened. So india is on the order of 30 poorer today per capita than it would have been if Global Warming hadnt already occurred. Nigeria similarly, about 30 poorer. Brazil about 25 poorer. What this means is that overall, globally, inequality between the richest countries and the poorest countries is, anywhere from 25 to 40 larger today than if Global Warming hadnt happened. Really . Really. Zoom in, please, and explain to me why the person in india is 30 poorer than they would have been had global Climate Change not happened at all. Well, you know, it really varies depending on industry and location, but, you know, its very clear that agricultural productivity, declined steeply, at high temperatures. This is for a broad suite of, of crops. We see that here in the us as as well as elsewhere. We know that, Labor Productivity likewise has very steep declines on, on the days when, when temperatures are very hot, we know that workplace injuries, even that arent attributed to heat stress, go up, when conditions are very hot, we know from standardized test score studies of, of standardized test scores linking , the temperature on the days that the tests are taken across very large, populations of test takers. We know that that cognitive performance declines, when conditions are very hot. So there are lots and lots of reasons that add up to, you know, a drag on, economic productivity when conditions are very hot. Okay. So then lets talk about how we can cut our future losses, if you will. Right. That suggests we need to take climate actions to, you know, to prevent the climbing temperatures. But when governments talk about that, its usually a problem with cost, how much it costs to make that kind of investment. Can you talk about it as an investment and whether to, you know, do more but pay more now . Yeah. So cost benefit analysis is a really important tool for policymakers and for other decision makers. And in order to do cost benefit analysis, you have to consider, you know, both sides of the equation and theres a lot of emphasis on what will it cost to , you know, curb Greenhouse Gas emissions. What will it cost to adapt to Climate Change . And thats a really important part of the analysis. Its also important to, to quantify, the damages that that will occur at Different Levels of Global Warming and hence what will be avoided, if, if, if, we have a lower level of Global Warming in the future, which, you know, is really a question about, our Greenhouse Gas emissions and, you know, what we find and what in our research and what this study is reporting, just in the last week is that, you know, curbing, the increase in Global Warming is a good investment in terms of costs and benefit when we account for the damages from Climate Change that will be avoided by having lower levels of Global Warming. What about we take this down to the individual level . What can we as individuals do . Well, you know, the Global Warming results from global Greenhouse Gas concentrations going up. And thats a result of global emissions. So, you know, we each contribute to the emissions of Greenhouse Gases, theres also a lot that we can do to prepare ourselves for the Climate Change that, is sure to come in the future. Were not adapted to, the levels of extreme climate events that are already occurring. And we can be sure that, that those will continue to intensify. So theres lots that we can do individually. But i think, you know, the main point is that this is really a global scale challenge. And its going to take, global scale, action, in order to avoid damages. Were were not adapted to whats happening now. Its already costing us individually and collectively. And, you know, if we want to avoid, further damages, its going to require not only reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions, but also accelerating adaptation real quickly. Can i just ask you, you know, like the climate, the paris climate agreement, we all made promises. All the nations. How how far along are we in terms of staying on that track . And are we on track to meeting the timeline stated, well, you know, as the United Nations has reported, you know, just this last fall, theres a gap between , whats needed just in terms of the physics of the climate system, whats needed, in terms of Emissions Reductions to meet the paris Global Warming goals. You know, theres still been a lot of progress made, but the reality is, is that, you know, we use a lot of energy globally. We need energy, you know, its a its a fundamental part of human wellbeing, most of that energy comes from fossil fuels globally , more than 80 of our of our total energy, is supplied by, by fossil Energy Sources right now. So its a really big ship, to turn, its really, you know, both of these things are true at the same time. Weve made a lot of progress collectively in terms of, working to meet those those Paris Agreement goals. And thats still leaving us with a lot of Global Warming to deal with. All right. A lot of work to do on this earth day to think about professor Noah Diffenbaugh, thank you so much. My pleasure. From home run to hero to environmental advocate, former San Francisco giant hunter pence and lexi pence will talk about the nonprofit they created to help save the earth and how you can you made a cow actually its a piggy bank. My inspiration to start saving. How about a more solid way to save . Im listening. Well, bmo helps get your savings habit into shape with a cash reward, every month you save. Both cash reward . And theres a cash bonus when you open a new Checking Account to get you started. Wow. Anything you cant do . mugs. Bmo we have your personal invitation to go to a special giants game tonight. Hello giants fans. Hunter pence here at oracle park and i am excited to be celebrating earth day, a cause that is very near to my heart. And my nonprofit, the Healthy Planet project. Joining us live now, founders of the Healthy Planet project, hunter and alexis pence. Hey, happy earth day, you guys. A happy earth day, kristin. Earth our favorite day. Yay thank you. Arent you guys running off to the game soon or something . We sure are. Yes, indeed. We, we first, before we go to the game, we have to kick off climate week here in sf and get that bad boy started. And this is going to be a really fun week for us and a really fun game for the giants starting off the series against the mets. Kristen i know its big. I know youre all over the place this week. All for the planet. But tell us about this game tonight and how your