Very excited today is publication day w/ @VersoBooks Get it here: versobooks.com/books/3973-cl…

“The country’s leaders believe in their historical-materialist bones that national greatness lies in technological sophistication and manufacturing might.” economist.com/leaders/2026/0…

Degrowth is dumb. We can have an abundant and equitable future by (largely) replacing digging fossil fuels out of the ground and burning them with clean energy technologies like solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, etc.

Annual revenues: Natural Resources Defense Council: $204m Sierra Club: $169m Earthjustice: $140m Center for Biological Diversity: $46m Union of Concerned Scientists: $40m 350: $20m ... By no means exhaustive list; mostly groups I've seen politically opposing public power efforts. But I could go on listing various billionaire funded NGOs that your average abundance hater seems to consider as vox populi. If we're highlighting the dark money going to abundance groups then let's not act like they're uniquely embodying the antithesis of democratic, mass membership politics.

Pure dystopia. Bloomberg:

I'm so tired y'all.

Actually read Silent Spring with @mattyglesias for the pod and hot take: modern Greens should take a lesson from Carson's book and be more boring. Watch/listen to our pod wherever you get your podcasts. theargumentmag.com/p/how-nim…

New York Public Services Commission opened a proceeding and released an initial order on the Nuclear Reliability Backbone. Largely just background and laying out the case and process, it also has this nugget: "The question as to who should own new nuclear projects is an open issue that requires careful consideration. New York State has an established history of looking to the private sector to own and develop generation resources. At the same time, the magnitude of the Nuclear Reliability Backbone process is of a scale where the State has a compelling interest in ensuring that all efficiencies of financing, coordinated planning, and risk management are brought to bear." Why again are the state's climate progressives and socialists not backing Hochul on state-led nuclear?

Appreciate the opportunity to share my views on the @BadFaithPod (even if I don't think I convinced Briahna or Aaron!)

.@GovPritzker's data center pause suspends the protections that guarantee wages and benefits for Illinois union workers. Those data centers will still be built — just in Indiana and Ohio, without our workers or clean energy standards. Pause the pause chicagotribune.com/2026/06/0…

“The Left is still able to summon electoral victories through social democratic rhetoric, but the social depth of our winning coalitions is far thinner, and the scope for governance within capitalism is even more narrow than before.“

DON'T BAN 'EM; MAKE 'EM PAY! @JaneAFlegal served as Senior Director for Industrial Emissions in the Biden White House. At Searchlight, she's spearheading novel policy ideas that can turn America's data center buildout into massive public benefits for working families. There are already more than 4,000 data centers across the country. Instead of a moratorium on these facilities, Jane proposes an American Grid Infrastructure Fund — a new system which would ensure: 1. Families only pay for the electricity they use, and never pay more because of data centers 2. Data centers invest in the grid by funding massive, generational upgrades to the electricity system we all use — ending decades of neglect 3. Regulators can hold companies accountable to every single commitment they make In addition to the Fund, she has also proposed that states use tax incentives to 'make data centers better grid citizens:' take-or-pay load commitments, full cost causation, and more. Jane and @danielledeis sit down to discuss. 0:00 - State tax abatement 7:12 - A federal moratorium vs. modernizing the grid 11:50 - Permitting reform ... and then what? 17:02 - Why this moment needs bigger ideas 25:10 - Revisiting the Inflation Reduction Act 30:10 - Climate hushing; 'don't say climate'

Piketty should read "Capital and Ideology" about the rise of the Brahmin Left and how it's abandonment of rich country working class voters' concerns in favor of this kind of thing has just played into the class interests of the rich. (good book)

This is a real shame. E&E news is AMAZING. When Politico bought it in 2020 they raised their subscription fees so high it forced my institution's library to unsubscribe (I'm sure we weren't the only ones!). Perhaps such subscription declines can now rationalize 'sunset'. 😔

I don't think Piketty is doing his fight against wealth inequality any favors by lumping it in with the global degrowth movement. Like imagine Bernie Sanders rallying voters with a call to tax the billionaires and redistribute the money to people living in other countries.

This is coming from a famous economist, so it's probably worth clarifying that there's no economics in this report showing that their degrowth pathway is either an ideal or likely decarbonization path. It's an opinion they work backwards from.