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...
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...
