Jul 5, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
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.” The song was obviously tongue-in-cheek, but when it comes to...
Jul 1, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
In March of 2024 the Breakthrough Institute’s Ted Nordhaus published an article entitled “Did Exxon Make It Rain Today?” The gist of the article is his claim that most media coverage of climate change catastrophizes the issue, and that climate scientists are complicit...
Jun 25, 2024 | Blog, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
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 encourage its attorneys to develop broader connections in...
Jun 20, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism
In last chapter of Climate of Contempt, I argue that the future of the energy transition is intertwined with the future of liberal democracy. I write in chapter 6 that only voters can peacefully reverse the “trend of ever-increasing polarization and tribalism,”...
Jun 15, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking
Modern information flows shield the good news about the energy transition from conservatives, and the bad news from liberals. Our insulated realities make us too certain too quickly that our preferred truth is THE truth. In fact, we don’t know how technology will...
Jun 10, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
The grandson and great-grandson of U.S. presidents, Henry Adams, wrote his famous statement about politics being “the organization of hatreds” as an expression of his disillusionment with politics, especially the political effectiveness of whipping up contempt for...
