Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘No one gives a s— about’ climate change — this is what it should be called instead
Austrian-US actor, filmmaker, politician and activist Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a speech during the opening ceremony of the R20 Regions of Climate Action Austrian World Summit in Vienna, Austria, on May 28, 2019.
Georg Hochmuth | Afp | Getty Images
Arnold Schwarzenegger says the global effort to mitigate the effects of climate change is being crippled by its fundamental communication problem.
“As long as they keep talking about global climate change, they are not gonna go anywhere. ‘Cause no one gives a s— about that,” Schwarzenegger told CBS’ “Sunday Morning” correspondent Tracy Smith in a profile that aired Sunday.
“So my thing is, let’s go and rephrase this and communicate differently about it and really tell people — we’re talking about pollution. Pollution creates climate change, and pollution kills,” Schwarzenegger said.
The 75-year-old bodybuilder, actor, and former governor of California has become a public voice about climate change through his role as the host of the Austrian World Summit, a global climate change conference.
“I’m on a mission to go and reduce greenhouse gases worldwide,” Schwarzenegger told CBS, “because I’m into having a healthy body and a healthy Earth. That’s what I’m fighting for. And that’s my crusade.”
Anthropogenic global warming is caused by an increase of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is released when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned.
As long as they keep talking about global climate change, they are not gonna go anywhere. ‘Cause no one gives a s—about that.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Bodybuilder, actor, former governor of California
The momentum toward fighting climate change has grown in recent years. The global investment in producing clean energy — that is, energy that doesn’t generate greenhouse gases — is surpassing the global investment in fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. In 2023, $1.7 trillion is expected to go into clean technologies, including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps. That’s more than the approximately $1 trillion expected to go into coal, gas and oil, the IEA said in a report released Thursday.
Still, the emissions generated from energy globally are still rising, although by only 1% in 2022, which was less than feared, the IEA said in March.
With global carbon emissions at record highs, there is a 50% chance that in nine years global warming will exceed the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels that was established by the Paris Climate Accord, according to the annual update published in November by the Global Carbon Project, an international scientific collaboration that measures carbon emissions.
Efforts to address climate change have increased substantially but are still insufficient.
In the United States, 54% of adults view climate change as a major threat to the country’s well-being, according to survey data from Pew Research Center. That nationwide average includes a substantial split along party lines. Almost 8 in 10 Democrats, 78%, say climate change is a major threat to the country’s well-being, and that’s up from 58% a decade ago. Meanwhile, only about 1 in 4 Republicans, 23%, say climate change is a major threat to the country’s well-being. That’s nearly unchanged from the 22% of Republicans who said climate change was a major threat in 2013, according to Pew Research Center data.
On May 16, USA Today published an op-ed Schwarzenegger wrote in which he called for the environmental movement to adapt to changing times, which he said includes rebranding of communications surrounding climate change and embracing growth that involves clean energy projects.
“We need a new environmentalism based on building and growing and common sense. Old environmentalism was afraid of growth. It hated building. Many of you know this style — protesting every new development, chaining yourself to construction equipment, and using lawsuits and permitting to slow everything down,” Schwarzenegger wrote in the op-ed.
“[T]oday I call for a new environmentalism, based on building the clean energy projects we need as fast as we can. We have to build, build, build,” Schwarzenegger wrote.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks about the Facebook News feature at the Paley Center For Media in New York on Oct. 25, 2019.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg‘s net worth plunged by $18 billion Thursday after comments from the Meta CEO on the earnings call sent his company’s stock price to its steepest decline since October 2022.
Meta beat expectations on revenue and profit but delivered a lighter-than-expected revenue forecast. Zuckerberg told investors that the company would continue to spend billions of dollars investing in areas like artificial intelligence and the metaverse, even though Meta counts on advertising for 98% of its revenue.
“We’ve historically seen a lot of volatility in our stock during this phase of our product playbook where we’re investing in scaling a new product but aren’t yet monetizing it,” Zuckerberg said on the call.
Zuckerberg owns around 345 million Class A and B shares. With the stock falling by $52.12 on Thursday, the value of his stake sank by about $18 billion to $152 billion by the close of trading.
The 39-year-old programmer founded the company in his Harvard dorm room in 2004, and rebranded it from Facebook to Meta in 2021, signaling to investors his plan to focus on the non-existent metaverse.
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which houses the hardware and software for developing the metaverse, has posted cumulative losses of $45 billion since 2020, when the company first separated the unit in its financials.
Meta said it plans to spend $35 billion to $40 billion Meta on capital expenditures this year, an increase from its prior forecast.
Zuckerberg’s fortune has swung up and down through the years, as his company’s stock has been particularly volatile. His net worth fell by around $100 billion in 2022. In early 2023, he announced Meta would embark on a “year of efficiency,” a move that helped the stock price triple for the year, and bringing Zuckerberg’s net worth up with it.
Thursday wasn’t the worst day for Zuckerberg’s bank account. In early 2022, he lost almost $30 billion in a single day, when his company’s stock price tumbled 26% on weak earnings and disappointing guidance.
Snap reported first-quarter results on Thursday that beat analysts’ estimates and showed a return to double-digit revenue growth. Shares soared more than 25% in extended trading.
Here’s how the company did:
- Earnings per share: 3 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected by LSEG
- Revenue: $1.19 billion vs. $1.12 billion expected by LSEG
- Global daily active users: 422 million vs. 420 million expected, according to StreetAccount
- Average revenue per user: $2.83 vs. $2.67 expected, according to StreetAccount
Revenue for Snap’s first quarter increased 21% from $989 million in the same period last year. The company is growing at an accelerated clip, after it had previously reported six straight quarters of single-digit growth or sales declines.
Snap has been working to rebuild its ad business after the digital ad market stumbled in 2022, and it’s starting to pay off. In its investor letter, Snap said its revenue growth was primarily driven by improvements in the company’s advertising platform, as well as demand for its direct-response advertising solutions.
Advertising revenue came in at $1.11 billion in the first quarter. Snap’s “Other Revenue” category, which is primarily driven by Snapchat+ subscribers, reached $87 million, an increase of 194% year over year. Snap reported more than 9 million Snapchat+ subscribers for the period.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $46 million, far surpassing the $68 million loss expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount. In its investor letter, Snap said adjusted EBITDA “exceeded our expectations” and was primarily driven by operating expense discipline, as well as accelerating revenue growth.
“Given the progress we have made with our ad platform, the leadership team we have built, and the strategic priorities we have set, we believe we are well positioned to continue to improve our business performance,” Snap wrote in the letter.
Though Snap’s growth accelerated, it still fell behind that of Meta, which reported 27% growth in its better-than-expected first-quarter results on Wednesday. Meta shares plunged anyway after the company issued a light forecast and spooked investors with talk of its long-term investments.
Snap’s net loss for the quarter narrowed to $305.1 million, or a 19 cent loss per share, from $328.7 million, or a 21 cent loss per share, the year prior.
For its second quarter, Snap expects to report revenue between $1.23 billion and $1.26 billion, up from the $1.22 billion expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount. Snap said adjusted EBITDA will fall between $15 million and $45 million, compared to Wall Street’s expectations of $15.5 million.
Snap reported 422 million daily active users (DAUs) in the first quarter, up 10% year over year. The company expects to report around 431 million DAUs in its second quarter, up from the 430 million expected by StreetAccount.
The company also provided a forecast for its full-year 2024 cost structure. Snap said quarterly infrastructure costs per DAU will fall between 83 cents and 85 cents for the rest of the year.
“We will continue to assess our infrastructure investment levels based on what is in the best long-term interest of our business,” Snap said.
Snap said the amount of time users spent watching content grew year over year, primarily due to engagement with Spotlight and Creator Stories. The company said time spent watching Spotlight, which aggregates content from users, increased 125% year over year.
In February, Snap announced it would lay off 10% of its global workforce, or around 500 employees. The company said Thursday that headcount and personnel costs will “grow modestly” through the rest of the year.
Snap will hold its quarterly call with investors at 5:30 p.m. ET Thursday.
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