E142: The Hidden Climate Power of Local Politics

Climate Cabinet founder and executive director Caroline Spears joins Molly Wood to explain why some of the most important climate decisions in America are happening far below the level of Congress—in mayor’s offices, public service commissions, land commissioner races, county commissions, state legislatures, and even obscure budget committees. They dig into how Climate Cabinet uses data science, AI, and on-the-ground intelligence to find and support overlooked state and local climate champions, and why data centers have suddenly become the hottest local energy-policy fight in the country.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why state and local offices are often the real bottleneck for clean energy deployment
• Climate Cabinet’s “Moneyball” approach to climate politics: finding overlooked races and candidates with data science, AI, and local intelligence
• The climate power of local offices people may not think about, from municipal utility mayors and public service commissions to land commissioners, state legislatures, and budget committees
• How Climate Cabinet helps climate and clean-energy champions run, win, and govern with better policy support once they are in office
• The data center explosion: rising electricity demand, possible cost-shifting to families and businesses, opaque deals, and lawmakers signing NDAs with developers (yes, REALLY!)

The big picture:

The future of U.S. climate policy may depend less on the headline fights in Washington, D.C., and more on the overlooked people and rooms where energy, transportation, land use, housing, insurance, and infrastructure decisions actually get made.

Links:

• Climate Cabinet: https://climatecabinet.org/
• Everybody in the Pool: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/
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