Author / Aaron Wildavsky
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Clean Coal: Talk Substance, Not Semantics
The public debate over clean coal technology has become counterproductive. That’s because it often fails to advance beyond a petty, semantic dispute that distracts from important policy questions. “Clean coal” is an umbrella term used to describe technologies that mitigate coal’s greenhouse gas emissions. Most often, however, it denotes processes called “carbon capture and storage”…
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The Problem with “It’s 2014”
A dangerous and anti-intellectual way of thinking about change is becoming increasingly popular in progressive circles. It assumes that social progress is inevitable, and therefore inherently good. Anyone who disagrees isn’t just wrong—they’re “on the wrong side of history.” Often, that sounds something like this: “It’s 2014. Let’s just legalize gay marriage already.” “Why won’t…
