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,...
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...
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...
