El-Sayed, Lawrence and McKinney all won progressive campaigns in Michigan last night by talking about climate and clean energy like it was a kitchen-table issue — because skyrocketing energy bills and endless wildfire smoke matter to people.
Leah Stokes
@leahstokes.bsky.social
Professor of climate + energy policy at UCSB. Alumni of MIT, Columbia and UToronto. Hosts "A Matter of Degrees" podcast. Cuts carbon pollution! Proudly 🇨🇦 Gardener 🌱 leahstokes.com; Newsletter: electricnotes.news
absolutely love this piece by Quinn and @leahstokes.bsky.social in Clim Chg on the IRA's passage. Assigned it in my US Energy Policy class this spring term once it came out, already citing it in everything I write. Great for so many contexts - interest group activity, policy process, advocacy, etc.
The politics of American clean energy and climate policy: Why the Inflation Reduction Act passed - Climatic Change
When President Biden won the 2020 election and Democrats gained control of Congress, a climate policy window opened. Many voters, activists, and lawmakers wondered: after 10 years of inaction, would t...
link.springer.com
CONGRATS TO THIS PROGRESSIVE CHAMPION ON WINNING TONIGHT! WOO HOO!!!
William Lawrence@wewill2026.bsky.social · 13h agoI couldn’t be prouder of the movement we’ve built in mid-Michigan. Thank you, Ambassador Bridget Brink and Matt Maasdam, for your years of public service and all your hard work on the campaign trail. While tonight we celebrate, there’s still much more work ahead.
As @leahstokes.bsky.social @joeldodge07.bsky.social and I told @zcolman.bsky.social of @politico.com this morning, we need to start early with a plan to tackle climate at speed and scale... and with results seen quick enough to build and sustain public support. www.eenews.net/articles/pro...
Project 2029? Democratic insiders make the case for focusing on climate change.
Seventeen essays outline a clean energy action plan for a future Democratic president.
eenews.net
14. @leahstokes.bsky.social takes us to the world of production, and how support for electrification can put US manufacturing on sounder footing. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
Clean Up the Machines
Exploring how electrification, battery storage, and affordable electricity can reduce industrial emissions and strengthen America's clean energy future.
rooseveltinstitute.org
Mark your calendars: @leahstokes.bsky.social in convo with former White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, cofounder and former director of Sunrise Varshini Prakash, and moderator @davabel.bsky.social on SEPT 4 at 7 PM. www.eventbrite.com/e/leah-c-sto...
Ogre-Americans, an imaginary demographic, getting more respect here from the political press than Muslims, who are real people.
Politico@politico.com · last wk.El-Sayed comes under fire for 'ogre on a pike' leaked comment
California has the largest virtual power plant in the world, with 200,000 participants. At the exact moment when the grid is dirtiest and most expensive to run, this program surges in with the cheapest, cleanest power. Newsom's budget would kill it. That's just bad policy.
200,000 Californians create as much power as a nuclear plant to help the grid. Now that's up in the air
California has one of the most successful "virtual power plants" in the world, but it's on the chopping block.
latimes.com
Nobody in the U.S. Senate is more responsible for the overturning of Roe v. Wade than Susan Collins. In November, we will defeat her.
NEW: Taylor Farms is a big player in conservative politics. The company donated $2 million to conservative political groups in 2025 and its CEO has personally donated more than $900,000 to Republican PACs and candidates. It's also spent $810,000 on anti-regulatory lobbying since 2025
Taylor Farms Spent Big on MAGA and Anti-Regulatory Lobbying Before Diarrhea Outbreak
The company donated more than $3.6 million to conservative groups between 2020 and 2025, including $1 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC.
wired.com
I'm the only Democrat in this race who has passed local, state, and federal legislation. I've won investments that have created good jobs, lowered energy bills, and challenged housing discrimination. I look forward to continuing that work in Congress. #MI07
This idiot has probably never been to the BOREAL FOREST a day in his life. It is 5.5 times the size of Texas. You cannot "groom" it. It's burning because of climate change. The utter bullshit from these climate deniers. Canadians are sick of this bullying and they are not going to take it.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoRep. Jeff Van Drew: "Canada isn't working because they are so far left. This should be a warning shot to them. You better come to America, say, 'We're sorry, we're gonna mend our ways and do what we used to do and groom and maintain the forest.'"
Hard to overstate how angry Canadians are at Trump over these ridiculous tariffs. The United States has emitted the most carbon pollution in world history. It has caused these climate-driven wildfires. Oh and American air pollution routinely drifts into Canada. What utter bullshit.
Join me for a Meet and Greet with US Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed! Learn more about his strategy and how he's building a coalition to win the primary and beat Republican Mike Rogers in the general election. Date: Friday, July 24 Time: 4:30 pm ET RSVP Link: secure.actblue.com/donate/envir...
Let's do some Canadian pipeline-wildfire math. The Canadian Energy Center says growing oil exports by 1.5M barrels/day **could** boost GDP by ~31B annually. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke health costs alone - just the health costs, nothing else - averaged 23B/year, past tense. And they're growing fast.
Ontario hardest hit as wildfires cost Canada billions | NOW Toronto
A new report estimates wildfire smoke has cost Canada $231 billion since 2014. See how much each province has spent.
nowtoronto.com
We didn't previously integrate wildfire-smoke costs into the supposed cost of climate change for the US, and it turns out to be bigger than all those other costs combined. Oops! Gosh I wonder if we're underestimating anything else. Probably shoulda done something about this. Ah well.
What Worries Me Most About This Wildfire Smoke
We didn’t know days like this could happen. Then we learned how bad they really are.
heatmap.news
Republicans in Congress are threatening Canada's sovereignty over climate change fueled wildfires. Here's how much money they've taken from the fossil fuel industry recently. James: $308k+ Bergman: $175k+ McClain: $105k+ Moolenaar: $133k+ - oh and he's a climate denier. Completely shameless.
‘Sovereignty comes with responsibility:’ U.S. lawmakers to Canada on wildfires - National | Globalnews.ca
As wildfire smoke blankets parts of the country, and spills into the United States, some U.S. lawmakers are calling on Canada to do more.
globalnews.ca
Democrats have stopped talking about climate. Strategists say that's smart—but they're wrong. Making climate a top priority wins votes, and barely 1 in 10 voters will vote against climate action. Read all about it in my newsletter, "Notes from the Electric Era." electricnotes.news/p/yes-democr...
Yes, Democrats Should Talk About Climate.
Talking about Climate Change is a Political Winner.
electricnotes.news
New survey research released today with @mattomildenberger.bsky.social -- a response to the "don't say climate change" crowd. Many have observed that climate change has moved down voters' list of priorities and have concluded that pro-climate policies would cost votes. That's testable! 🧵[1/13]
Previous recommendations not to talk about climate change were mostly based on research that didn’t directly test the thing in question: a candidate prioritizing vs not prioritizing climate. New research shows prioritizing climate can have positive effects. www.2035initiative.com/climate-hush...
Leah Stokes@leahstokes.bsky.social · 3w agoDemocrats have stopped talking about climate. Strategists say that's smart—but they're wrong. Making climate a top priority wins votes, and barely 1 in 10 voters will vote against climate action. Read all about it in my newsletter, "Notes from the Electric Era." electricnotes.news/p/yes-democr...
Yes, talking about climate change is a political winner. And @leahstokes.bsky.social has a new newsletter about it called Electric Era, on building an electrified, abundant clean energy future. electricnotes.news/p/yes-democr...
Yes, Democrats Should Talk About Climate.
Talking about Climate Change is a Political Winner.
electricnotes.news
Democrats have stopped talking about climate. Strategists say that's smart—but they're wrong. Making climate a top priority wins votes, and barely 1 in 10 voters will vote against climate action. Read all about it in my newsletter, "Notes from the Electric Era." electricnotes.news/p/yes-democr...
Yes, Democrats Should Talk About Climate.
Talking about Climate Change is a Political Winner.
electricnotes.news
The fires in Ontario - like so many others - demonstrating viscerally how climate change perpetuates the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous peoples, who have least contributed to emissions and over and over again put their bodies on the line to prevent fossil fuel development.
Luke LeBrun@lukelebrun.ca · 3w agoThese images of First Nations community members evacuating Collins, Ontario on motorboats are absolutely surreal www.facebook.com/reel/1548244...
Hard to describe the sorrow I feel watching the boreal forest burn, summer after summer. I was paddling on a lake yesterday when the smoke came in, and knew what was happening despite not having cell reception. Climate change is a heartbreaker.
Luke LeBrun@lukelebrun.ca · 3w agoThese images of First Nations community members evacuating Collins, Ontario on motorboats are absolutely surreal www.facebook.com/reel/1548244...
These images of First Nations community members evacuating Collins, Ontario on motorboats are absolutely surreal www.facebook.com/reel/1548244...
Luke LeBrun@lukelebrun.ca · 3w agoThese photos of FNs community members fleeing their homes by boat are genuinely apocalyptic (Photo via Wayne Wastaken of Collins, Ontario, who says his “hometown is gone”) www.facebook.com/share/r/1ArN...
Susan Collins could have insisted on guardrails or measures to rein in abuses. She didn’t and now her state is being terrorized by ICE.
"Leah Stokes, maybe our leading expert on utilities, played a huge role in getting the IRA through and tells that story in a book called 'The Carbon Wave.' It’s a great insider political account, and it’s also a beautiful story..." — @billmckibben.bsky.social ♥️
The Very Good and Very Bad News on Climate
Advancements in renewable energy are paving the way for a new climate politics. The environmentalist Bill McKibben articulates some of the possibilities in this new era of energy abundance.CreditCredit...
nytimes.com