Oct 5, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
The word “shpilkes,” which refers to a state of agitated anxiety, is probably unfamiliar to most non-Yiddish speakers. I am not a Yiddish speaker, but like many of us above a certain age I learned the word watching Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. Shpilkes is a...
Sep 30, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
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 energy particulars of Project 2025 here and here.) The Democratic platform...
Sep 25, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
For some people, complex ideas resonate more when conveyed through artistic expression than through narratives or numbers. Many readers will have heard of energy historian Daniel Yergin’s book, The Prize. Fewer will know his sequel, The Quest. In the latter book...
Sep 20, 2024 | Blog, Journalism, Bias & Censored News, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
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 of the extended feud between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas...
Sep 15, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
The line in the title of this post comes from the 1987 romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” and the truth at issue in the film’s plot concerns infidelity. But the idea applies to politics as well, and is reflected in the adage that “the cover up is...
Sep 10, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism
The most recent version of the World Values Survey (WVS) came out a little more than a year ago. The Economist had a particularly lucid and useful explanation of its conclusions, including some excellent graphics to illustrate their points. The survey is the creation...
