meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Republicans vs. the planet

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2019

⏱️ 99 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dave Roberts is an energy and climate writer at Vox and a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He started as his career covering climate science and clean energy technology, but -- for reasons we discuss here -- he now writes just as much about political psychology, media ecosystems, political institutions, and how they intersect with climate change. We cover a lot in this conversation, including: “Tribal epistemology,” and why it’s crucial to climate paralysis  How the GOP went from the party of cap-and-trade to the party of climate denial  Why the right and left-wing media ecosystem’s diverged so dramatically What today’s climate activists get right about our politics that their predecessors got wrong The carbon tax dead-end How nuclear energy became so divisive The conflicting moral and social visions at the heart of the climate movement  Why it is impossible to separate technological innovation from the policy ecosystem that shapes it  Whether climate change really is an “existential” threat  What climate change will mean for the world’s poor References: Dave Roberts on America's "epistemic crisis." Book recommendations: Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston "State of the Species" by Charles C. Mann My book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com. Submit questions for our upcoming "Ask Me Anything" at ezrakleinshow@vox.com You can subscribe to Ezra's new podcast Impeachment, explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app. Credits: Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld Researcher - Roge Karma Engineers - Cynthia Gil Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Crypto doesn't sleep, so neither do we.

0:04.0

Crack-in client support is available 24-7, 365 days a year by call, chat, or email.

0:11.0

We're here for you whenever you need us.

0:13.0

Give us a shout at crackin.com forward slash support proof,

0:17.0

not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss.

0:21.0

At some point on the right, they decided the climate is the left thing.

0:27.0

The climate solutions sound like lefty solutions, so we're not going to believe in climate change.

0:46.0

Hello, welcome to Zercline show on the Vox Media podcast network.

0:49.0

This is not the final episode we'll do on climate, but the final piece of this five-part series.

0:55.0

It's with Dave Roberts, who has been my guide to so much in climate,

0:59.0

so many people's guide to so much in climate.

1:01.0

He's a Vox climate reporter, but he's just been on this issue for a long time.

1:05.0

He's been a smart and sharp and serious, and both morally serious and intellectually serious,

1:12.0

about understanding it as anyone out there. He's won all kinds of awards.

1:15.0

One thing I should say about this episode, which covers some pretty different ground,

1:21.0

where the first two episodes were really about the science of climate change,

1:24.0

next two episodes were about decarbonizing and geoengineering,

1:27.0

which is to say different ways we could try to implement solutions or mitigation efforts to climate change.

1:33.0

This episode is about the politics of it, not just the politics,

1:38.0

but the informational ecosystem of it, which is really, I think, what is at the core of a lot of the gridlock.

1:43.0

You can talk about the science and the policy all day,

1:46.0

if you can't think clearly about the politics, you're not thinking clearly about it at all.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.