David Spence, professor of natural resources law, University of Texas
In this talk, Spence will discuss his book, Climate of Contempt (Columbia U. Press, 2024). The analysis explores a set of voter-centric dynamics driving the bitter partisanship that is the key impediment to transitioning the United States to a net zero carbon future. Members of Congress respond to voters whose animosity toward the opposing party makes compromise politically risky for them. The most powerful driver of that animosity is the mixture of ideological and social media that constitutes today’s information environment, which amplifies anger, spreads half-truths and falsehoods, and sows division, distorting voters’ understandings of the energy transition and their fellow citizens.