Why Birds Move Jay Inslee to Fight Climate Change

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Why Birds Move Jay Inslee to Fight Climate Change
Written by Jonese Franklin

This is BirdNote.

Former Washington Governor Jay Inslee made the fight against climate change a major priority during his three terms in office. He passed laws that cap greenhouse emissions, promote clean energy and align state policies with global climate goals.

Inslee says his love of birds is one of the motivations for his efforts.

         [Red-winged Blackbird song]

Jay Inslee: Birdsong to me is just such a rich part of my daily life. It, it just perks me up. There are many threats to our birds where we're, you know, maybe one out of eight species are in real trouble worldwide. Obviously habitat loss is significant, but climate change is the ultimate destroyer of worlds including of bird life.

Inslee believes everyone has a reason to want to protect the environment.

Jay Inslee: You may want to have snow in the mountains to ski on. You may want to have air to breathe in August so the forest fire doesn't smoke your kids. So there's many reasons, but I believe one of the principal ones for me is to keep birds in my life. You know, when I hear the Red-winged Blackbirds, I think they're whistling to say, “Get off your duff and go fight against climate change, partner”. So they keep me inspired.

         [Red-winged Blackbird song]

Learn more about the difference you can make for birds at BirdNote.org. I’m Jonese Franklin.

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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Red-winged Blackbird ML54442231 recorded by Brad Walker.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2026 BirdNote August 2026
Narrator: Jonese Franklin

ID# InsleeJ-01-2026-08-20    InsleeJ-01

Reference:
https://datazone.birdlife.org/articles/one-in-eight-of-all-bird-species-is-threatened-with-global-extinction