“Climate Pragmatism”: The New Retreat

“I’ve yet to meet a blue-collar worker at a cleantech conference, nor have I met one at cleantech dinner tables. The industry needs to ditch its self-righteous virtue signaling and stop relying on handouts.” (- a Cleantech veteran, below)

“Is this really the climate movement’s next chapter?” asked Stephen Lacey, cofounder and executive editor of Latitude Media, a publication “covering the new frontiers of the energy transition.”

If so, it will end in nothing more than further alienating voters. The progressive approach to climate mobilization has largely failed to build durable coalitions and policies. The election of Trump clearly showed that kitchen table issues matter most. We are in an extraordinary moment where people are struggling to pay their energy bills — and this is the answer? I agree with Michael Liebreich that we need a deep, pragmatic climate reset.

Bravo: And ultimately the reset will have to reconsider (ouch!) the case for climate alarmism and forced (governmental) energy transformation.

Lacey was referring to a Climate Week wrap-up article in The Nation, “Where Did All the Youth Activists Go?,” under which was the tease summary: “The ‘Make Billionaires Pay’ march might hint at where the climate movement is headed—away from fossil fuel divestment and toward broader resistance, with fewer young people.” Teen activist Keanu Arpels-Josiah explained in the article:

… the fight for climate justice is the same as the fight against ICE. It’s the same as the fight against the attacks on our trans siblings. It is the same as the fight against genocide in Gaza. It’s the same as the attacks on affordability we’re seeing across the country and across our city.

Interesting comments followed. Chris Moyer agreed, stating:

If we aren’t talking about household energy costs in 2026 and 2028, we won’t just lose elections—we’ll likely set back clean energy policy for years. The current administration will blame renewables for price hikes, and voters will believe it, and the the wrong elected officials will hold power.

For the first time, the fight against climate change intersects directly with something broadly felt and politically potent: monthly utility bills rising in a meaningful way. We don’t need to talk directly about climate change to actually address climate change! If we choose to focus on the climate crisis in the abstract or on unrelated issues, we will miss the moment—and regret it.

I responded to Moyer:

Wind and solar (and more so with batteries) are more expensive except in flawed studies. Grassroot opposition (the real environmentalists?) is growing. The next elections will be won by energy exceptionalism, not dilute, intermittent, fragile, land-intensive, transmission-intensive, and taxpayer-dependent wind and solar.

Another commenter, noting his scar tissue in cleantech space, stated:

I’ve yet to meet a blue-collar worker at a cleantech conference, nor have I met one at cleantech dinner tables. The industry needs to ditch its self-righteous virtue signaling and stop relying on handouts.

I responded:

It is crony capitalism that started with Ken Lay and Enron and the Republicans in Texas. And consider John Berger of Sunnova vs. everyone else. The Climate Industrial Complex is quite elitist.

Zack Coman, energy and environmental reporter at Politico, then chimed in, noting his new piece, “We are not winning’: Greens look for new spark under Trump 2.0.”

And the debate continues, with the real free market coming into view.

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Source: https://www.masterresource.org/climate-politics-retreat/climate-pragmatism-new-retreat/