Leah Stokes

In this special bonus episode to Season One of the Mother Earth Podcast our guest

is Leah Stokes. Leah burst onto the scene in recent years as America's leading expert on voting behavior and public policy as they relate to the climate crisis. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcast app with the links on our website.

Leah is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California at Santa Barbara and runs the ENVENT Lab. She researches public opinion, political behavior and public policy as they relate to climate change and energy issues. Stokes' research regularly appears in top-tier academic journals and her opinion pieces and articles have been published in leading media outlets, including The New York Times, Vox, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, CNN.com and the Los Angeles Times. And for good reason: Leah's research has put her finger on the pulse of what American voters want from their leaders on energy and climate change policy.

In our conversation with Leah, we discuss those voter preferences and what kinds of policies to tackle the climate crisis appeal to voters of all kinds. Leah also explains why she enthusiastically supports Joe Biden's climate and jobs plan. We discuss her recent book, Short Circuiting Policy, which exposes how electric utilities take money from their monopolized customers and use it to corrupt the political system in an attack on clean energy standards. And if you're not familiar with the HB6 scandal in Ohio, which resulted in the FBI recently arresting the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives on racketeering and bribery charges as part of an alleged $60 million dark money operation to roll back clean energy, you'll get to hear about that too. (No this is not the Sporanos; this is the Mother Earth Podcast and the lived reality of our 2020 politics).

In the final analysis, Leah encourages us to remember that the environmental movement is broad and diverse, and that the best policy solutions are inclusive and promote justice.

To support the podcast, please tell your friends and family about it and share online.

For People and Planet, thank you for listening.
Matt