Partisanship, Elections & the Energy Transition
Thinking Critically About Election Lessons for Energy Transition Politics, Pt. 2
[This is the second of two posts exploring what (if anything) we can learn about energy politics from the results of the November election. After this I will return to regular posting at regular...
Thinking Critically About Election Lessons, Pt. 1
[NOTE: This is the first of two posts about taking care when drawing political lessons from the election results. The second will appear here on 11/11. -- DS] ---------- When Democrats lose...
Are We Failing the Marshmallow Test?
Whatever the outcome of today's voting, we will learn something from it. And I will post some reactions to specific races and what they signify for stronger climate policy on 11/10 and succeeding...
Why My Book’s Political Predictions Might Turn Out To Be Wrong (#2) — “Will Voters Be Scared Straight?”
One of the recurring themes in Climate of Contempt is that while modern media doesn’t change human nature, it does amplify the worst aspects of human nature in powerful ways. The book recommends...
Reports of the Republican Party’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
No matter what happens on Election Day, members of the climate coalition can use it to recalibrate their sense of how energy transition politics works, and to better understand the modern GOP's...
Energy Messaging in National Elections is Tricky
The parties’ nominating conventions are over and their platforms set. The GOP platform emphasizes “energy dominance” and doubling down on fossil fuels. (And see my previous posts discussing the...
“Rage-Farming”
Of all the political communication pathologies worsened by modern media technology, one of the lesser-known is “rage-farming.” It's an old idea in new clothes. Their biographers detail the pettiness...
Pesky Pluralism, Part 2
The antagonist in the 2006 film The Illusionist is a fictional 19th century Hapsburg crown prince, played by Rufus Sewell. Sewell's prince is vain and cruel in his personal life, and a dedicated...
“Flooding the zone with s**t”
As I have noted in several other posts (e.g. here and here), a second Trump presidency would represent a setback for the energy transition because of Republicans' turn away from green energy and...
Project 2025 and the Energy Transition, Part 2 – Environmental Policy
[NOTE: There is a post-publication update at the end of this post.] In my previous post I examined what Project 2025 -- the GOP playbook for remaking the executive branch -- had to say about...
Project 2025 and the Energy Transition, Part 1 — Energy Policy
[NOTE: There is a post-publication update at the end of this post.] Progress on climate change will be a big part of Joe Biden's legacy. He defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 election, backed the...
Everything is Great, Everything is Terrible
Chapter 3 of Climate of Contempt describes the politics of climate policymaking in the 21st century, including internecine conflicts among Democrats that are partly generational. By now, it probably...
“It’s Hard to Be Humble”
In 1980, a country music artist named Mac Davis had a hit with a song called "It’s Hard to be Humble." The opening lines were “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble / When you’re perfect in every way.”...
“I mow my lawn”
In my 20s I worked at a law firm whose system for evaluating the performance of attorneys included a "public service" component. This was fairly typical back then for big firms, and its aim was to...
Why My Book’s Political Predictions Might Turn Out To Be Wrong — “The Inflation Reduction Act will transform climate politics”
[Note: This is the second in a series of posts looking at how the political analysis (and corresponding prescription) in Climate of Contempt could turn out to be wrong. The first post was here.]...
Conservatives’ Dilemma
Because my book is aimed at the climate coalition -- and how misunderstanding of regulatory politics by some of its members slows energy transition policymaking -- many of my examples of...
“It’s the Voters, Stupid”
The transition to a much lower carbon energy system will (eventually) require congressional legislation. That implies a significant change in the positions of existing members of Congress and/or...
Moral Ambiguity and John Muir’s Human Ecology
In Climate of Contempt I argue that, in politics, we are too casual about developing negative judgments of others in the absence of complete information about what drives their choices. This pops up...