Election Special: Coronavirus and Climate Collide

Energy Gang

Wood Mackenzie

Tech News, Environment, Sustainability, Innovation, Renewable Energy, Technology, Alternative Energy, Energy, News, Cleantech, Wind Energy, Business, Climate Change, Solar Energy

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2020

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is a special crossover episode between The Energy Gang and Climate 2020.

Coronavirus brought the 2020 election to a screeching halt. Climate was once a top issue in the Democratic primary, but it’s been overtaken by a virus and a looming economic apocalypse.

Primaries are delayed. Traditional campaigning has stopped. Biden is hiding out, preparing for the general election. Bernie Sanders is hanging on. And the way we think about all kinds of issues has totally flipped.

So how will climate, cleantech and the environment fit into this new political world?

The climate community is struggling with how to message. What are the appropriate ways to keep the focus on climate change, while we face public health and economic crises?

What about the intersection of extreme weather and coronavirus? Many state officials fear the next season’s floods, hurricanes and fires – events that can require evacuation while people are supposed to stay homebound. How will climate change compound the problem?

The Gang includes Stephen Lacey, Katherine Hamilton and Jigar Shah.

Jeff Nesbit, the executive director of Climate Nexus and co-host of the podcast Climate 2020, joins the gang for this special joint episode on politics. Jeff is also an author, former journalist, a senior public affairs official at the FDA, and Dan Quayle’s director of comms.

Mentioned on the show:

Twitter: Rachel Bitecofer’s Feed
Twitter: Leak Stokes’ Feed
Priorities USA: Political Ad

Recommended:

Scientific American: U.N. Shifts from Climate Change to Coronavirus
The New Yorker: The Coronavirus and the Climate Movement by Bill McKibben
Inside Climate News: In the Face of a Pandemic, Climate Activists Reevaluate Their Tactics

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Energy Gang is brought to you by Seapower.
0:03.0	Seapower has been helping organizations, organizations like yours,
0:07.0	chart a path to energy's future since the first open energy markets in the U.S.
0:11.0	were established at the turn of the 21st century.
0:14.0	Boy, are we in some uncertain times right now?
0:16.4	And Sea Power can help.
0:18.4	They'll help you think through how energy markets are evolving and energy technologies are changing and build that unique bridge to the future.
0:27.0	Visit the Seepower Way.com slash future to learn about how seepower can guide you across the bridge to Energy's future.
0:37.0	From Green Tech Media, this is the Energy Gang, weekly debates and discussions about the fast-changing world of energy.
0:46.5	I'm Stephen Lacy, welcome to the show.
0:49.5	This week, a pandemic separates us, but a podcast brings us together.
0:53.7	We have a special crossover episode between the Energy Gang and Climate 2020 to tackle the way
0:58.3	coronavirus has whipped Saod America's election.
1:01.6	Up until just a few weeks ago climate change was a top-tier
1:04.2	issue in the Democratic primary. It was getting more airtime. It was getting serious
1:08.4	policy consideration. It was a winning issue. All of that has been overtaken by a virus and a looming
1:14.6	economic apocalypse. Primaries are delayed. Traditional campaigning has stopped.
1:18.9	Biden is hiding out, preparing for the general election. Bernie Sanders is hanging on,
1:24.0	and the way we think about all kinds of issues has totally flipped.
1:28.0	What does it mean for the issue of climate change
1:30.0	for the rest of the election season and beyond. The usual gang is assembled.
1:35.0	Catherine Hamilton is in Arlington, Virginia at her home.
	...

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