The view from Washington this week
The drama in Washington is all about the looming end of the federal fiscal year. All eyes are focused on House Speaker McCarthy and whether he can deliver enough votes to keep the government open come October 1st.
American politics
The Inflation Reduction Act: Standing at a Double-cross Roads
Biden has consistently mentioned in his roadshow presentations that many—if not most—people probably don’t understand the peculiarly named act’s relationship to combatting climate change and expanding the domestic economy.
Capitol Light/Climate Politics: Today’s Ten
The major themes of Today’s Ten are the continuing conflicts between Democrats and House Republicans over spending and efforts by China to find a way to keep supplying the U.S. with the materials, e.g., the precious metals needed for electric vehicle batteries, and products, e.g., photovoltaic panels, despite efforts of the White House and Congress to build out domestic industries.
Depoliticize to Decarbonize
Too often in an effort to save Mother Nature, we forget about human nature. Solving problems with rolling out clean renewable energy is less a matter of the physical sciences than the social sciences—overcoming users’ habits and project resistance at the local level.
Insuring Our Children’s Future in the Age of Climate Change
What does it say when the risk-takers see potential damages as too high to cover even with premium increases? It doesn’t take a genius to figure the problem will only get worse as Earth’s rate of warming increases and the price tags of climate-related disasters rise.
The United States Refuses to Play by the World’s Rules
It will take organized, collective political action, but there is still time to bring our outlaw country back into what indeed should be a united community of nations confronting the looming horrors on this planet.
Catching Heat from Big Brother: Education and Climate in MAGAland
These “culture war” laws don’t directly address climate. But unless they are struck down, they could permanently limit society’s ability to deal with the climate emergency.
Climate Change Policy: The Way It Has to Be
If compromise is an evil, then it’s a necessary one for our republic to work. Without it, I fear we’ll default on more than the national debt. What’s at stake here is democracy itself.
Is there a way forward?
The threat to democracy is recognized, and the fight for a democratic future is joined. All is not lost, but it is already a close call.
Climate Change: Can Blue Cities Be Stopped by Red States?
There’s every reason to believe that the battles between red state (conservative) legislatures and blue (progressive) cities will increasingly find their way onto state and local ballots—changing the shape and complexity of future advocacy strategies.
The Two Joes and What They Mean for US Climate Policy
At least one-half of last year’s Washington power couple — Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) — has taken to holding hostage the other Joe’s climate plans and promises.
Red States and the Inflation Reduction Act: Environmental Hypocrisy or Just Good Politics?
The budget battle brewing in Congress could see the US become a dead-beat debtor if the warring factions can’t come to some arrangement on raising the nation’s debt ceiling.