The climate messaging war returns. Does it matter if we can’t build?

A familiar debate is reemerging in US politics: is it helpful or damaging to talk about climate change?

It broke into the open when the New York Times published an op-ed from Matthew Huber arguing that Democrats should avoid talking about climate change. His case: climate carries far too much political baggage for working class voters that Democrats are trying to win back.

It sparked a conversation over whether "climate hushing" is a savvy political strategy or a dangerous concession.

This week, we take the debate head-on. Guest co-host Jane Flegal joins us to talk about the latest version of this argument, and whether dropping the climate frame is a smart tactical pivot.

Then we turn to a more fundamental problem. Even if we land on the perfect climate frame, it may not matter if the U.S. can't actually build the infrastructure the transition requires. A sweeping new essay in American Affairs argues that both parties have become functionally obstructionist — and that “ideologically portable” obstruction has become a feature of American governance.

We close with a look at an opening in philanthropy. Nan Ransohoff published a piece this month arguing that AI company wealth is about to generate up to $100 billion per year in new philanthropic capital. Do the institutions exist to deploy it? And how much might find its way to climate and energy work?

Credits: Co-hosted by Stephen Lacey, Jigar Shah, and Jane Flegal. Produced and edited by Stephen Lacey, Sean Marquand, and Anne Bailey.

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