Aug 5, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
Sometimes, in contentious, factually-complex situations, people want simplicity and moral clarity. Those two forces — seeking moral clarity and appreciating complexity — are difficult to reconcile sometimes. In December of 2023 the presidents of Penn,...
Jul 30, 2024 | Blog, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
[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 redirecting energy policy away from renewable climate concerns....
Jul 25, 2024 | Blog, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
[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 doomed Build Back Better bill, and signed the Inflation Reduction...
Jul 20, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
Several years ago, a friend of mine presented a paper at a law school whose faculty is known for its conservative ideological bent. The paper described a regulatory agency’s analysis showing that the public health benefits of a particular regulation far exceeded its...
Jul 15, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism
In an earlier post I noted the growing list of scholars who warn of parallels between historical transitions from democracy to repressive dictatorships, on the one hand, and U.S. politics today, on the other. Part of what they see has to do with the recent...
Jul 10, 2024 | Blog, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
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 goes without saying that overcoming intraparty conflict is crucial to...
