Bill Clinton subscribes to Ode!

It was a beautiful sight to see live on the evening of April 1 in Stockholm’s City Hall: Two former world leaders hugging each other on stage after they both had given inspiring talks. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were invited by the Swedish Post Code Lottery—a branch of the Dutch Post Code Lottery—to be the keynote speakers at SEI's Climate Symposium. They didn’t give hard, factual speeches, but instead spotlighted the possibilities we now must explore to find solutions to the crises the world faces.

Clinton pointed out the possibilities that are out there now and repeatedly stressed the importance of answering the “how” question: How are we going to solve this crisis? He got worked up about the cynicism that always appears in the media when the climate crisis comes up, referring to quasi-experts who claim it’s not really so bad. “What if you’re wrong?” Clinton asked. “What then? Why would you take that gigantic risk?” It makes much more sense, Clinton argued, to focus on solutions to the climate crisis, solutions that will also create jobs—good for the economy, and good for the planet. “How can you be against that?” Clinton asked.

Blair took a similarly positive approach. “This crisis only provides extra reasons to do something now,” he said. Blair said the target to substantially reduce CO2 emissions by 2050 was good but too far in the future for the current generation of politicians. He said interim targets were needed, as well as something else: “We need passion to bring about change, not only dry facts.” Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, completed the speaker’s list. She told the impressive story of the Green Belt Movement, the incredibly successful tree-planting project in her country.

Afterwards, the speakers were led to a VIP room, flanked by ranks of security agents, where a small gathering was held. Guests took turns having their pictures taken with the speakers. And so it happened that I (on the left in the photo) and the former Mayor of Rotterdam, Ivo Opstelten, had a short chat with Bill Clinton, during which I presented him with a copy of our magazine and said: “Here’s an Ode to you, Mr. President!” Clinton thanked me, mentioned that he knew Ode, and started talking about the need to keep looking for the possibilities and solutions: “There are so many opportunities, especially now, that’s where we should be looking.” A few seconds later, Clinton said: “I want to subscribe to your magazine. Here’s my card.” And so, Ode has another subscriber. And I swear—it was no April Fool’s joke.