Thread by @DoctorVive

Here are things NOT mentioned in this @mattyglesias post scolding the climate left for not understanding American political dynamics:

*mitigation
*decarbonization
*a clean electricity standard
*oil & gas lobbying
*how politicians produce the conditions to pass their agenda

🧵

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1414532881528016903

Also not mentioned: the limit outlined by the @IPCC_CH in SR 1.5.

9 years (at this point) to halve emissions & less than 30 to zero them out entirely in order to have even a 2/3s chance to halt warming under 2C, if we also deploy global-scale negative emissions afterwards.

2/

If you're going to position yourself as the voice of clear-eyed realism, you really need to account for the reality of physics in your analysis.

3/

I think @mattyglesias actually doesn't know very much about the climate crisis, which is why his analysis is partial and superficial.

4/

Here's an example of his ignorance. He accuses people of calling CDR a "distraction from climate change." What does that even mean? It's sloppy to the point of being nonsensical.

The critique is that CDR is a distraction from the need to MITIGATE, to zero out emissions asap.

5

So he's arguing that Democratic leaders are actually *defying* their constituents by trying to pass climate policy at all, spending their political capital, and climate justice organizations (who are "fake" and need to "get a grip") should be grateful for their efforts.

6/

His evidence for this are polls of "the public" and "voters" (which still found majorities thought that climate change was important or extremely so).

But if you drill down and look only at Democrats the picture changes.

Climate change is a TOP ISSUE FOR 68% of Biden voters.

7

And, @mattyglesias, of course health care was Biden voters' top issue: we were in the middle of a pandemic. Duh.

8/n

And, again, if you drill down into the Gallup poll, you see the same partisan divide, with climate being the MOST polarized issue.

So the fact that majorities still prioritize the climate crisis is striking in this political context.

9/n

In any case, the polls @mattyglesias himself cites show decisively that Biden and the Democrats would be not defying but serving their constituents by passing robust climate policies that lead directly (not indirectly) to mitigation.

10/n

Anyway, what he gets right is that Theda Skocpol was correct yet we still lack a really powerful mass climate movement in part because big green groups haven't really put their time and money into multiracial organizing on the ground.

11/n

But this attention to the political history of the climate movement makes it all the more striking that he thinks that carbon pricing is the only climate policy in town. (Again: ignorance.)

12/

I would suggest @mattyglesias start by reading at least this article by @leahstokes and @mmildenberger: bostonreview.net/science-nature…

And this book by @dcullenward et al: wiley.com/en-us/Making+C…

13/

Ok, I think I'm going to stop here. I could pick apart this post all day, but there's work to do.

I just think pundits should take the time to check their work for gaps & lacunae before they nominate themselves as the person who tells climate activists to "get a grip." 🤷‍♀️

fin/