Climate Politics
Why the 2024 House Races Matter So Much for Energy and Climate Policy
Those races get a lot less attention than elections for the Senate, but they’re equally important.
Unified government would give Trump a much freer hand. Republicans are likely to win the Senate. If they also win the House, he wouldn’t have to worry about annoying congressional investigations and could use the Senate reconciliation procedure to gut environmental agencies and federal support for clean energy.
CONTINUE READINGShould We Be Upset If Candidates Don’t Provide Concrete Policy Plans?
Policy specifics give me something to write blog posts about. But how much should they matter to voters?
After all, you don’t need specifics to know that Trump and Harris have very different views about climate and energy. Should voters care about their failure to go into detail?
CONTINUE READINGRightwing Authoritarianism vs the Environment
In the U.S. and elsewhere, rightwing authoritarians oppose climate action. That’s not a coincidence.
Project 2025 favors authoritarian presidential rule. It also wants to destroy environmental regulation, especially climate law. That’s not a coincidence. The combination of authoritarianism, extreme conservative ideology, and anti-environmentalism is common globally, not just in U.S. politics. There’s no logical connection between a belief in authoritarian government, upholding traditional hierarchies, and views about protecting the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Zombie Myth of Job-Killing Regulations
Some ideas never die, no matter how much evidence piles up against them.
With the Labor Day weekend coming up, let’s talk about jobs. Some myths are like zombies in two ways. They refuse to lie down and die, not matter what you do. And if you aren’t careful, they can eat your brain. An example is the idea that environmental regulation kills jobs. Tragically, this brain worm …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Tragedy of Indifference
This election will have huge consequences for climate change. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to matter that much at the polls.
The partisan divide is real: Democrats are three times more likely than Republicans to view climate change as a major threat. Even so, a quarter of Republicans agreed with Democrats on this. The problem is that only 37% (almost all Democrats) view climate change as their top priority.
CONTINUE READINGThe Ins and Outs of Kennedy’s Environmental Positions
His campaign website is a mashup of very different perspectives, from “back to the earth” to tech bro.
Working through his website seemed to reveal a broad effort to combine distrust of government and big business), belief in free markets, and valuing nature and the land for their own sakes. Kennedy offers an unusual blend of Sixties “back to the land” environmentalism with Tech Bro libertarianism.
CONTINUE READINGIn Their Own Words: Climate Policy and the Party Platforms
The GOP and Democratic Platforms take starkly different approaches.
The two major parties have very different views about energy policy and climate change. Here are their official views, in their own language. Compare and contrast!
CONTINUE READINGInterview with a Yale “JD”
The climate is changing rapidly, but not as fast as some people’s views have U-turned.
Climate denial on the GOP ticket: “I’m skeptical of the idea that climate change is caused purely by man. The climate’s been changing, as others have pointed out, for millennia.”
CONTINUE READINGDid Democrats Follow Through?
The 2020 Democratic Platform made some big promises. Four years later, where do things stand?
Many of the climate promises in the 2020 Democratic platform were kept, and large down-payments were made toward fulfilling others. The glass is definitely more than half full.
CONTINUE READINGWhat Would Climate Policy Look Like Under One-Party Conservative Rule?
You only need to look at Texas or Florida for the answer: a complete erasure of climate action.
This is not to say that unified control of the federal government by the hard right would entirely halt the progress of clean energy. Just that, if Florida and Texas are any guides, they would do their best to make that happen and to maximize use of what Trump has called the liquid gold under our feet.
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