On Sunday's Velshi show, one day after MSNBC host Ali Velshi recommended using the coronavirus pandemic to push for more welfare programs in the U.S. to fix capitalism, he devoted a segment to talking up the possibility of also using the deadly pandemic to pressure the airline and fossil fuel industries to adhere to more regulations to effect climate change.
At 9:51 a.m. Eastern, Velshi took the time to note "silver linings" in the epidemic:
ALI VELSHI: It's been a hard couple of hours of TV to watch on a weekend morning. With this ongoing national crisis, it can be hard to find silver linings when there's nothing but a dark cloud above you, but we think we found one or two. Take a look at these images -- the waterways in Venice, Italy, have gone from dark cloudy to clear after the countrywide quarantine. How? Because less canal traffic means an absence of sediment.
He then added:
VELSHI: The European Space Agency says countries practicing lockdowns like Italy, seen here, are seeing a significant drop in air pollution, specifically dioxide emissions -- kind of why the price of oil is down as much as it is. Researchers have also found pollution from nitrogen dioxide in China has fallen by 40 percent.
After bringing aboard former Obama administration EPA administrator Gina McCarthy as a guest, Velshi fretted:
VELSHI: I guess I am a little worried that the discussions -- the very active and regular discussions that you and I and others would have about climate on a very regular basis have been pushed aside a little bit by coronavirus, and maybe some of the strides that we are making on a matter that is going to effect our health for decades to come is getting sidelined a little bit.
In her response, McCarthy claimed that climate change is as serious a "crisis" as is the deadly coronavirus epidemic.
A bit later, Velshi pushed for regulation on what he viewed as those who contribute to climate change as he followed up:
VELSHI: "...but this may be the opportunity for us to stop the subsidies that we provide to that industry or at least impose conditions to say, "It's always too hard and too expensive to go green -- we're now going to do things that are going to be really hard and really expensive -- let's do it."
McCarthy talked up pushing the airlines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Sunday, March 22, Velshi show on MSNBC:
ALI VELSHI: It's been a hard couple of hours of TV to watch on a weekend morning. With this ongoing national crisis, it can be hard to find silver linings when there's nothing but a dark cloud above you, but we think we found one or two. Take a look at these images -- the waterways in Venice, Italy, have gone from dark cloudy to clear after the countrywide quarantine. How? Because less canal traffic means an absence of sediment.
The European Space Agency says countries practicing lockdowns like Italy, seen here, are seeing a significant drop in air pollution, specifically dioxide emissions -- kind of why the price of oil is down as much as it is. Researchers have also found pollution from nitrogen dioxide in China has fallen by 40 percent.
(…)
VELSHI: I guess I am a little worried that the discussions -- the very active and regular discussions that you and I and others would have about climate on a very regular basis have been pushed aside a little bit by coronavirus, and maybe some of the strides that we are making on a matter that is going to effect our health for decades to come is getting sidelined a little bit.
[Former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy says "this crisis is a public health crisis just as climate change is a public health crisis."]
(…)
VELSHI: We've been talking about airlines and casinos and hotels and places like that, but, in fact, there are asks on the table from the fossil fuel industry. They're different, right? The President's first instinct was to fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and do things -- and, look, there's a lot of workers -- you and I have discussed this -- there are a lot of workers who earn their living out of the fossil fuel industry -- and we want to make sure they're okay -- but this may be the opportunity for us to stop the subsidies that we provide to that industry or at least impose conditions to say, "It's always too hard and too expensive to go green -- we're now going to do things that are going to be really hard and really expensive -- let's do it.
GINA MCCARTHY, FORMER EPA ADMINISTRATOR: We know that we've talked about this a million times, that things you need to address climate change are cost-effective. They are good for us, for our health, for our communities. They are the investments that we need to make today if we want to build a safe and healthy future. So, instead of negotiating with the oil industry who is not -- we are not at an oil shortage -- they're just not making the money that they want to make. Instead of negotiating with airline industries, let's make demands for that money. Let's look at the airline industry to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
