Hi Mark, not sure how much time you spend on social media. I've abandoned twitter but still engage Facebook and Youtube quite often and the critical piece that must be resolved with Rs is that burning fossil fuels is harmful to them, the climate, and their future. Most simply don't believe that. Indeed, most believe the whole climate change narrative is so liberals can control what we we eat, what we drive, how we live, and diminish many other "freedoms." An unusually large number say we need to burn more fossil fuels because it's "plant food." IMO we need an effective marketing campaign to disavow the sane Rs of this "control narrative." Unfortunately, the general demise of institutions and expertise makes this very challenging. FTR I fear and predict any climate progress will be on the margins. My whole new focus is to have the Ds retake the house in 2026. If that doesn't happen, I have great certainty our country will never recover and will be become Putin's version of Russia, which BTW is the one of the worst offenders of climate progress on the planet.
Thanks for your comments. There is indeed a lot to be worried about - you might be right about the near term future (but I hope not). My guess is the Trump team will overplay their hand. Their voters seem to mostly want lower grocery prices, less immigration, and “change,” but not all of this other crazy stuff. But who knows? We’ll see. In the meantime, I think we should keep working hard to reach out to voters and help them better understand why it is in their best interests to address climate challenges now in smart/ pragmatic ways that also address other concerns. Most people want a safe and secure environment for their kids and grandkids. That should give us a winning hand.
Hi. Appreciate the conversation. FWIW I get much of my political prognosis by following the team at the Bulwark: Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Jonathan V. Last (JVL). They have an exceptional track record in predicting Trump's behavior and his supporters. JVL is extremely pessimistic about the long term trajectory of America while Trump is in power. His latest post is sobering but I fear accurate. https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/its-time-to-consider-the-worst-case?r=n7s8c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email Last thing, the more I observe the climate challenge and political interests the more i think the best grand bargain is for Ds to fund climate disaster, adaptation, and property insurance relief programs in exchange for a price on carbon. Please listen to this Senate debate and see if you can imagine this across the aisle agreement.https://youtu.be/LXC8UoFYB1A?si=uIEaA5rdfwt3Pgmy Regards.
Enjoyed your post Mark. Love the "finding common ground" perspective.
Excellent - thanks Mark - spot on!
Hey James - thank you for reading the newsletter. I appreciate your support very much.
Hi Mark, not sure how much time you spend on social media. I've abandoned twitter but still engage Facebook and Youtube quite often and the critical piece that must be resolved with Rs is that burning fossil fuels is harmful to them, the climate, and their future. Most simply don't believe that. Indeed, most believe the whole climate change narrative is so liberals can control what we we eat, what we drive, how we live, and diminish many other "freedoms." An unusually large number say we need to burn more fossil fuels because it's "plant food." IMO we need an effective marketing campaign to disavow the sane Rs of this "control narrative." Unfortunately, the general demise of institutions and expertise makes this very challenging. FTR I fear and predict any climate progress will be on the margins. My whole new focus is to have the Ds retake the house in 2026. If that doesn't happen, I have great certainty our country will never recover and will be become Putin's version of Russia, which BTW is the one of the worst offenders of climate progress on the planet.
Thanks for your comments. There is indeed a lot to be worried about - you might be right about the near term future (but I hope not). My guess is the Trump team will overplay their hand. Their voters seem to mostly want lower grocery prices, less immigration, and “change,” but not all of this other crazy stuff. But who knows? We’ll see. In the meantime, I think we should keep working hard to reach out to voters and help them better understand why it is in their best interests to address climate challenges now in smart/ pragmatic ways that also address other concerns. Most people want a safe and secure environment for their kids and grandkids. That should give us a winning hand.
Hi. Appreciate the conversation. FWIW I get much of my political prognosis by following the team at the Bulwark: Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Jonathan V. Last (JVL). They have an exceptional track record in predicting Trump's behavior and his supporters. JVL is extremely pessimistic about the long term trajectory of America while Trump is in power. His latest post is sobering but I fear accurate. https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/its-time-to-consider-the-worst-case?r=n7s8c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email Last thing, the more I observe the climate challenge and political interests the more i think the best grand bargain is for Ds to fund climate disaster, adaptation, and property insurance relief programs in exchange for a price on carbon. Please listen to this Senate debate and see if you can imagine this across the aisle agreement.https://youtu.be/LXC8UoFYB1A?si=uIEaA5rdfwt3Pgmy Regards.
I also engage the blogs on the WSJ. There comments are very similar to the others.