S4 - E8: Navigating Environmental Changes and Rising Living Costs

Can you imagine how wildfires are causing a domino effect on your power bills and the environment? Join us, Matthew Cote and Daniel, in this immersive episode of Foundation Nation, where we reveal the untold story of the Spokane fire and its aftermath. Featuring a deep dive into the escalating utility costs, we shed light on the Middle Eastern companies exacerbating California's looming water crisis. We unravel the effects of water-guzzling plants on our local resources and the ecological balance.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome to Foundation Nation.
I'm your host, matthew Cote,along with Daniel.
We're both high school educated, masters of nothing and gifted
with a knowledge of wealth.
Today, on the podcast, we'regoing to talk about some
interesting recent goings-ons inour beautiful state and maybe
even a few things going on inthis amazing round thing we call
home.
Hello, I'm Matthew Cote, hostof Foundation Nation, along with

(00:26):
Daniel.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello, I'm Daniel, your co-host.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
So we are smack under airports runways and they fly
over us, which is a lot.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, but it seems to die down a little bit.
They were like in real rushabout an hour ago.
Just every five minutes playingtakes off.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, woke up today andthe smoke seems to be getting
better.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, yeah, much, much better.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Did you now?
You said you saw the Spokanefire starting.
Oh yeah, so tell me about that.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
I was driving back from my vacation in Montana, we
went to Glacier National Park.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yes, sir, good job.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yep, very good hiking .
However, they also had fireover there in a place called
Hungry Horse.
Hungry Horse Really, really aplace called Hungry Horse.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, Hungry.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Horse Yep.
So, and on our drive back, oncewe passed Spokane, I saw huge
cloud of smoke on one side ofI-90.
I was thinking like, yeah,that's wildfire, but it is just

(01:48):
starting.
They are probably going to getit pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
And the wind.
The wind was, I mean, all theway to Snohomi Pass.
Yeah, I had to keep my car fromswirling, swaying from the road
, the wind was going crazy.
Yeah, wind was going crazy.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, that's like gas on a fire.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Oh yeah, and later, when I came back home, I found
out that that fire actuallycreated some damage, mm-hmm.
Actually, one person died andlots of homes got burned.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, it was like 99, almost 10,000 acres, something
like 15,000 square miles, 145houses or structures were just
burnt to the ground a dust.
It's a big thing, but I meanI'm glad.
Did they get it under control?
Is it out?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
I don't know, I haven't checked, but last time I
checked it was only 10%contained.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Oh okay.
So well then, because today'sblue sky is in SeaTag Washington
, so either the wind's blown theother way or they got it out.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, there was a little bit of rain.
I think it should help themyeah okay.
Even though Spokane is quitefar from us.
But I think they should havegotten the train also.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Well, hopefully, hopefully, the fire will start
calming down and the rain startscoming.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, we still have about a month left.
Last year, I remember inOctober, I was like okay, what
should I wear?
Oh, it's 85 degrees, so shorts.
Yeah that's right.
Middle October.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, there was not a lot of rain last year.
Not at all, not at all.
And when you don't have rainand you live in a state like we
do, we're hydroelectric energy,a large amount of our
electricity.
Because of hydroelectric andthe Seattle area power bills,
the power bills for the wholestate are going up.
People complain about not beingable to buy a house.

(03:58):
Well, if you can squeak by andbuy yourself a house, good luck
trying to pay the bills.
I mean, they're just goingthrough the roof.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, yes, I think there are two parts to this
problem.
First one is your governmentobsession about green energy.
So, instead of doing a greenenergy, they're just charging

(04:28):
all the companies if theyproduce CO2.
So they're charging companiesand companies are like we're not
paying it from our pocket,we're going to pass it to a
customer, so prices areincreasing.
The second problem is the greenenergy.
We have more and more electriccars and the greed cannot handle

(04:53):
it and it breaks more often,right.
So now they have to fix it, youhave to upgrade it and all this
kind of deal, and it all takesmoney.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
It all takes money.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yep, and they are raising prices because of this,
so it is inevitable.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
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Speaker 1 (05:20):
I went on the Hoover Dam tour and the dam normally
the water is really hot, reallyyou know where it holds the
water back on the water side onLake Meadside, when normally the
water is quite close to the top.
When I was there and we did thetour they said it was a record
low.

(05:40):
It was 150 feet from the top.
Normally it's supposed to besomewhere around 10 feet, 20
feet, yep.
So you know we're drinking allthe water and it's going and
it's staying in human bodies.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Well, no part of.
One of the problems was I donot know if it is still, but it
was that guys from Middle East.
They hired farmers or bought aland or rented a land and then

(06:19):
hired farmers to grow some sortof a plant that requires record
amount of water.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
What is this plant?
Is that McDonald's cheeseburgerplant?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
I do not remember what kind of plant is this, but
it requires tons of water, liketons of water, and they couldn't
grow it somewhere else becauseof so much water required.
So they found this place inCalifornia and I did hear that

(06:53):
either governor or someonelocally like a mayor or
something, did try to put an endto it just because of water
conservation stuff going on.
So I do not know how itresolved Well.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
I mean, there's plants and food out there
required a lot of water.
I mean, if you think about it,rice requires so much water it
has to have like a lake.
You know, rice has to be like alake.
It's soaked in water.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
It has to be constantly covered by water.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, so I mean, there's plants out there that
just require so much water thatit's just crazy.
So all right, well, I thinkthat was interesting.
So if you want to buy a house,remember the bills are going up
and it's going to cost a lot.
It's not just buying the housenow, it's buying the house and
the utility is a significantthing.

(07:52):
It's not like you buy a houseand you just live there for free
.
There's a lot of bills going onInternet, everything.
Everything is expensive.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Water getting hotter.
Water getting hotter, I meanweather getting hotter and you
run your air conditioner more.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
And now what you need ?
You need another device.
You need an air cleaner in yourhouse.
Everybody's got air cleanersrunning in their house.
Now.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Oh, yeah, I do have one.
Yeah, yeah, all the time.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, same here.
I have a $3,000 air cleanermachine in there, purifying the
air with carbon filter all thetime it's not working.
All right, I'm Matthew Cote,your host of Foundation Nation,
along with Daniel.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Thank you for joining us and have a great day.