Public Writing
Our faculty communicate for popular and policy audiences, particularly on climate change and energy policy. Here are some selected links to public writing by 2035 Initiative members.
2024
Melissa Hanson. “I Wasn’t Prepared to Be a Climate Refugee.” Scientific American, October 2024.
Leah C. Stokes. “Opinion: California’s electric bills are a problem. But cutting school funds isn’t the solution.” Los Angeles Times, August 2024.
Leah C. Stokes. “Harris helped pass one of the strongest climate laws – her policies don’t stop there.” The Guardian, August 2024.
Amy Luers, Jonathan Koomey, Eric Masanet, Owen Gaffney, Felix Creutzig, Juan Lavista Ferres, and Eric Horvitz. “Will AI accelerate or delay the race to net-zero emissions?” Nature Briefing, April 2024.
James Salzman. “A New Era for Protecting Public Lands.” LegalPlanet, April 2024.
2023
Jonathan Klein and Leah C. Stokes. “Opinion: How California schools can finally quit burning fossil fuels.” Los Angeles Times, September 2023.
Leah C. Stokes. “I Turned My House into a Zero-Carbon Utopia.” The Atlantic, August 2023.
Leah C. Stokes. “Opinion: The terrible climate hypocrisy at the top of Southern California Edison.” Los Angeles Times, August 2023.
Leah C. Stokes. “Before We Invest Billions in This Clean Fuel, Let’s Make Sure It’s Actually Clean.” The New York Times, April 2023.
Leah C. Stokes. “From Destruction to Abundance.” in Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, Eds. Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young-Lutunatabua. Haymarket Books, April 2023.
2022
Leah C. Stokes. “This Year Was the Beginning of a Green Transition,” The New York Times, December 2022.
Leah C. Stokes. “Defiant Energy: How the American electric utility industry pushed climate denial, doubt, and delay,” Orion Magazine, September 2022.
Leah C. Stokes. “What Joe Manchin Cost Us.” The New York Times, July 2022.
Leah C. Stokes. “Could the U.S. soon be on track to cut carbon emissions in half?” The Washington Post, June 2022.
Paasha Mahdavi. “Paving a Credible Investment Pathway to Net Zero for Oil and Gas.” OECD Consultation on Investment Treaties and Climate Change, 2022.
Leah C. Stokes. “Build Back Better is about opportunity, not sacrifice.” The Boston Globe, February 2022.
2021
Leah C. Stokes. “Examining the economic benefits of electrifying America's homes and buildings.” Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress, oral and written testimony. September 22 2021.
Carly Berke, Lindsay Walter & Matto Mildenberger. “Americans support federal action to reach a 100% clean energy grid.” Third Way. July 21 2021.
Leah C. Stokes “The infrastructure bill won’t cut it on climate.” The Atlantic, July 14 2021.
Leah C. Stokes “Bill Gates and the problem with climate solutionism.” The MIT Technology Review, February 2021.
Nikayla Jefferson “Come Dream With Me: Environmental Justice, Colorized, 2021” The Nation, February 12 2021.
Leah C. Stokes & Sam Ricketts “The case for a national clean electricity standard.” Vox, February 4 2021.
2020
Leah C. Stokes “It’s Time for Santa Barbara to Ditch Fossil Gas.” The Santa Barbara Independent, December 31 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “Sowing Seeds of Climate Action in the Garden.” The Boston Globe, December 28 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “Hearing Greta’s Message.” EARTHER, November 20 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “Biden has a climate mandate.” The Boston Globe, November 8 2020.
Matto Mildenberger & Leah C. Stokes “The Trouble with Carbon Pricing.” Boston Review, September 24 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “How Can We Plan for the Future in California.” The Atlantic, August 23 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “An FBI Investigation Shows Ohio’s Abysmal Energy Law was Fueled by Corruption.” Vox, July 22 2020.
Nikayla Jefferson & Leah C. Stokes “Our Racist Fossil Fuel Energy System.” The Boston Globe, July 17 2020.
Olivia Quinn, Amanda Brush & Eric R.A.N. Smith “A simple forecast suggests a Democratic sweep in 2020.” Washington Post: Monkey Cage. July 7, 2020.
Nikayla Jefferson & Leah C. Stokes “Racial Justice is Climate Justice - and It Can’t Wait.” Drilled News, June 19 2020.
Parrish Bergquist, Matto Mildenberger & Leah C. Stokes “Protestors want justice - including on social, economic and climate demands.” The Washington Post, June 12 2020.
Emily Williams “A Global Pandemic Is Not a Climate Solution” Santa Barbara Independent. May 13 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “Michael Moore produced a film about climate change that’s a gift to Big Oil.” Vox, April 28 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “Upend the political power of carbon polluters.” The Boston Globe, April 19 2020.
Leah C. Stokes “Cleaning up the Electricity System.” Democracy Journal, February 20 2020.
Matto Mildenberger & Josh Busby “Australia’s fires have devastated millions of acres. What’s the political damage?” Washington Post: Monkey Cage. 13 January 2020.
Earlier
Matto Mildenberger “Climate denialists aren’t the only voice In the GOP — They’re just the loudest.” Talking Points Memo, 17 September 2019.
Leah C. Stokes “With Hurricane Dorian looming, Democratic candidates discuss their climate plans tonight.” The Washington Post, September 6 2019.
Matto Mildenberger & Erick Lachapelle “Canadians in every riding support climate action, new research shows.” The Conversation, 5 September 2019.
Leah C. Stokes “While the planet overheats, Ohio's coal industry gets a bailout.” The Guardian, July 28 2019.
Matto Mildenberger “New Brunswick’s timid foray into carbon pricing,” Policy Options, 9 July 2019.
Matto Mildenberger “The Green Party wave could spread across Canada,“ The Conversation. 25 April 2019.
Matto Mildenberger “The tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons.” Scientific American. 23 April 2019.
Leah C. Stokes “Alabama state legislators are wrong about their voters’ opinions on abortion.” The Washington Post, May 28 2019.
Leah C. Stokes, David Pellow & Emily Williams “No to New Oil Drilling.” The Santa Barbara Independent, March 6 2019.
Leah Stokes “Can the Green New Deal make it through Congress? Here are 5 things you need to know.” The Washington Post, February 21 2019.
Bradley Parks, Mark Buntaine, and Benjamin Buch “Why international aid so often falls short — and sometimes makes things worse.” The Washington Post, September 19, 2017.