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 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 5, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate, Journalism, Bias & Censored News
I noted in a previous post that popular understanding of the energy transition is harmed as much by constant minor exaggerations and omissions as by outright lies. Many of the misrepresentations of the MAGA right are characteristically obvious, often parroting Donald...
Aug 20, 2024 | Blog, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
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 autocrat. But he is also dedicated to modernizing the empire to...
Aug 15, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate
One feature of the modern information environment is that it allows conspiracies and utopian fantasies of the left and right to grow undisturbed by reality. Utopian ideas are often the product of the irresistible notion that “if everyone thought like me, everything...
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,...
