How Partisanship Is Holding Back Climate Action

How Partisanship Is Holding Back Climate Action

It's no secret that Republicans and Democrats don't see eye to eye on climate change.

According to a Pew Research Survey conducted earlier this year, just 12% of Republicans and Republican-leaners think climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress. Meanwhile, the official 2024 Democratic party platform states there's "nothing more important than addressing the climate crisis."

Energy and environmental law professor David Spence says today's news and social media are partly responsible for the divide.

In his new book, "Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the U.S. Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship," David argues it's all but impossible for the government to take significant action to address global warming in a media environment focused on persuading more than educating.

This week host Bill Loveless talks with David about his book and his perspective on the ideological polarization and negative partisanship that's been building in the U.S. in the past 10-15 years. And how he believes getting us all offline and engaging with each other in person can help push regulatory politics forward.

David is the Rex G. Baker Chair in Natural Resources Law in the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. He's also a professor of business, government, and society in the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin, where he teaches courses in energy and environmental regulation. And he's co-author of a leading casebook "Energy, Economics, and the Environment."

Episoder(100)

How the Iran Conflict Is Reshaping Russia and China's Energy Security

How the Iran Conflict Is Reshaping Russia and China's Energy Security

Since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began in Iran, energy markets around the world have been on edge as the conflict threatens immediate and long-term energy supplies. We've seen major disruptions t...

10 Mar 59min

The Widening Middle East Conflict and Its Impact on Energy

The Widening Middle East Conflict and Its Impact on Energy

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a campaign against Iran targeting military infrastructure and the regime's core leadership. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several seni...

3 Mar 55min

Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling: What It Means for Energy

Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling: What It Means for Energy

President Trump has aggressively used tariffs as an economic tool, but a US Supreme Court decision on Friday struck down his sweeping tariffs, bringing new uncertainty. The court, in a 6-to-3 decision...

24 Feb 50min

Alex Fitzsimmons on the DOE's 'Energy Dominance' Agenda

Alex Fitzsimmons on the DOE's 'Energy Dominance' Agenda

Under the second Trump administration, the US Department of Energy significantly shifted its priorities to align with its "energy dominance" agenda. But one significant point of continuity with the Bi...

17 Feb 54min

Laura Holgate on the Promise and Perils of Nuclear Innovation

Laura Holgate on the Promise and Perils of Nuclear Innovation

The Trump administration has prioritized nuclear energy expansion, aiming to increase US nuclear capacity fourfold by 2050. This nuclear energy resurgence in the US is a rare issue with bipartisan sup...

10 Feb 51min

Jigar Shah Wants to Depoliticize Energy

Jigar Shah Wants to Depoliticize Energy

As political support for clean energy has waxed and waned over the past twenty years, so has the government's financial backing. In the 2010s, critics pointed to the failed solar startup Solyndra, whi...

3 Feb 1h 2min

Michael Webber on What's Behind Rising Energy Costs

Michael Webber on What's Behind Rising Energy Costs

With electricity prices on the rise, the future of our power grid is attracting a lot more attention. Surging demand is at the center of the story, but the power sector is also grappling with supply c...

27 Jan 1h

Reporters' Roundtable: What's Driving US Energy Policy News in 2026?

Reporters' Roundtable: What's Driving US Energy Policy News in 2026?

From the affordability crisis and the data center boom, to the US government's campaign to reinvigorate the Venezuelan oil market, energy is dominating headlines in unusual ways.  And that's all happe...

20 Jan 49min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
rss-politisk-preik
pengepodden-2
finansredaksjonen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden
rss-pa-konto
liberal-halvtime
rss-sunn-okonomi