This is so important. When a country decides to politicize science, it loses the trust of those who don't believe the laws of physics to be negotiable.

And lower our clout on the global stage. nytimes.com/2021/04/19/cli…
We can build this back, but we have to build it back through our actions. Not just promises in Glasgow, but laws passed, regulations enforced. Give confidence to those who are watching our lips AND to those who are watching our feet.
I'm enormously encouraged by what the Biden administration is doing on both fronts. But we desperately need the @GOP to start engaging seriously, lest the rest of the world assume that our actions are only good so long as they are out of power.
So far, their focus on trillions of trees and more fracking... ain't that. And while there are some thoughtful voices in their caucus, they are in the quiet corners while the GQP-wing is ascendant. We need those voices at the corners to assert their will on their party.
But in the meantime, take hope from the fact that economics is on the side of the environment. Coal is being shut down because it's uneconomic. EV sales are ramping because consumers want them. Renewables are being deployed because they are cheap.
That doesn't mean we are moving fast enough. But nothing constrains a wayward political party as much as popular will. And the growing relative success of clean energy relative to brown energy is going to do a lot for that popular will.

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More from @SeanCasten

20 Apr
Today isn't a day for celebration. But it is a day for relief. A few thoughts...
1/ The systemic problems that make black and brown people more likely to get pulled over, more likely to get arrested, convicted - and yes, shot - don't end with Chauvin's conviction
2/ We need to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and so much more. Do not rest easy.
Read 7 tweets
15 Apr
Huge, but not surprising number: rapid electrification of US vehicle fleet could save drivers $2.7 trillion in fuel and maintenance costs by 2050. Clean energy = cheap energy. theguardian.com/us-news/2021/a…
Not surprising because a more efficient drive train uses less energy, so drivers spend less. And fewer moving parts = less maintenance expense. Huge because $2.7 trillion is a lot of money.
To be sure, falling battery and vehicle costs is great but insufficient. We need a lot more charging infrastructure to realize this opportunity, especially to ensure that folks who don't have private garages still have access to charging infrastructure.
Read 6 tweets
13 Apr
This is sadly not a new thing. If we define terrorism as "threatened or actual violence by a non-state actor to achieve political ends", there is no close second to the KKK & their descendants when it comes to domestic terrorism. washingtonpost.com/investigations…
That definition by the way comes from University of Maryland who maintains a database of all domestic terror events that proves out that point. start.umd.edu/gtd/
One of the challenges crafting anti-domestic terrorism statutes is that to do so requires that we address our original sin and confront the too-close ties between government officials and racist vigilantes from reconstruction to today.
Read 4 tweets
5 Apr
Some Monday morning thoughts on infrastructure, free markets and the appropriate role for the federal government. Thread:
1/ Inspired partially by some of the chatter amongst the more libertarian ends of my twitter feed suggesting that if free markets won't build infrastructure, the government shouldn't either. That fundamentally misunderstands infrastructure and capital markets.
2/ For the purposes of this thread (and Biden's infrastructure plan) let's define infrastructure as capital intensive stuff that makes commodities that people need. Telephone, rail, internet, electricity, highways and high volume mfg. Among others.
Read 19 tweets
15 Mar
This story about the challenges climate change is creating for coastal SC is a great distillation of why it's so important for our financial regulators to start treating climate change as a systemic risk. Brief thread: nytimes.com/2021/03/14/cli…
1/ First, this quote says everything you need to know about what happens if we stay on the course we are on.
2/ So here's a community where parts of beaches are shrinking by 14' a year, trying to figure out whether they are willing to raise the property taxes necessary to elevate the main road. That sisyphyean question is question is at the heart of system climate financial risk
Read 14 tweets
2 Mar
Thanks for asking, friend! I'm happy to answer. First though, note that what we voted was simply to say that prisoners can vote. And as you know well, most prisoners are convicted of more trivial offenses.
1/ And as I'm sure you're well aware, our prison system massively over-incarcerates minorities, typically for low-level crimes that white men like me never get arrested for.
2/ Note this has nothing to do with whether or not people should do the time if they did the crime. It's simply saying that we cannot and should not use our prison system as a back-door to disenfranchisement.
Read 12 tweets

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