ECOMODERNISM 2019 ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? SEPT. 22—24, 2019 SALAMANDER RESORT & SPA MIDDLEBURG, VA
Dear Guests,
Welcome to Ecomodernism 2019.
For three years now, Breakthrough has engaged the Washington policy community in an annual discussion about how to create a pragmatic ecological politics capable of addressing the great environmental challenges of the 21st century. Each year, we identify a theme that captures the present political zeitgeist. This year, we ask whether the neoliberal era of environmental policy making is coming to an end.
Over the last year, calls for a Green New Deal have captured the imagination of many liberals and environmentalists. And this summer, Senator Bernie Sanders released a climate plan calling, functionally, for the nationalization of the power sector to accelerate the deployment of clean energy and pay for it with low-cost public finance.
But mostly, as candidates and environmental organizations have begun to fill in the blanks on what the Green New Deal would entail, it’s been heavy on Green and light on New Deal. Calls to package climate action with universal health care and jobs programs have mostly faded out. What are left is ambitious-sounding clean energy mandates and public subsidies for private firms to deploy clean energy technologies. Many Democrats now include a carbon tax, a foundationally neoliberal environmental policy, in their version of the Green New Deal.
WELCOME To be sure, these proposals go well beyond anything that Congress has seriously contemplated in recent years and stand in marked contrast to efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle the modest climate and clean energy policies put in place by its predecessor. But it is also true that past Democratic candidates and administrations have proposed ambitious climate policies too. Every Democratic nominee since at least John Kerry has pledged to cut US emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050. Policy ambition is a cheap drug that has fueled climate politics for decades.
So what, if anything, has changed? Is there a real alternative to markets, regulations, subsidies, and public-private partnerships for climate and other major environmental concerns? Or are we really just arguing about what mix in a mixed economy — public and private, market and state — is the right one? And is the rejection of free markets and free trade likely to bring us socialism and social democracy, as many progressives imagine, or ethnonationalism, isolationism, and corporatism?
Ecomodernists, at bottom, remain committed to the promotion of technological solutions to environmental problems. But social, economic, and institutional arrangements have important implications for what sorts of technological futures are possible for people and the environment.
Over the next two days, we hope you’ll take advantage of our time together to ask hard questions, challenge some of your own assumptions, and connect with other participants who may have very different perspectives on these issues than you do. And of course, enjoy the great grounds, facilities, and food here at the Salamander Resort.
Thank you again for joining us. Yours, Ted Nordhaus Founder & Executive Director, Breakthrough Institute AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM Rachel Pritzker, Co-host
3 ITINERARY
SUNDAY SEPT 22 4:00 - 6:00 PM Registration & Check-in Middleburg Foyer 5:30 - 6:30 PM Drink Reception Middleburg Foyer & Terrace 6:30 - 8:30 PM Welcome & Dinner Middleburg Ballroom II & III 7:30 - 8:15 PM Lessons for the Green New Deal from the Apollo Project Middleburg Ballroom II & III 7:30 - 8:15 PM Post-Dinner Drinks Middleburg Foyer & Terrace
MONDAY SEPT 23
8:30 - 9:30 AM Breakfast Middleburg Ballroom I 9:30 - 9:40 AM Opening Remarks Middleburg Ballroom II & III 9:40 - 9:50 AM Future of Technology — Public Sector #1: Middleburg Ballroom II & III The Carbon Capture Economy 9:55 - 11:05 AM Plenary #1 — Populism & Environmentalism Middleburg Ballroom II & III 11:15 - 11:25 AM Future of Technology — Public Sector #2: Middleburg Ballroom II & III Next Generation Nuclear 11:25 - 12:40 PM Plenary #2 — Perspectives on the Green New Deal Middleburg Ballroom II & III 12:50 - 2:00 PM Lunch Middleburg Ballroom I 2:00 - 3:15 PM State of Play Concurrents Various Locations (See Below) 1. Carbon Pricing Problems Middleburg Ballroom II & III Live Recording for The Neoliberal Podcast 2. Managing Agriculture’s Global Footprint Bluemont II 3. Nuclear Innovation Policy Frontiers Bluemont I
3:30 - 6:00 PM Free Time 6:00 - 6:30 PM Pre-Dinner Drinks Middleburg Foyer & Terrace 6:30 - 8:00 PM Dinner Middleburg Ballroom II & III 7:10 - 8:25 PM Is Climate Bipartisanship Possible? Middleburg Ballroom II & III 8:30 - 10:00 PM Post-Dinner Drinks Middleburg Foyer & Terrace ITINERARY
TUESDAY SEPT 24 8:00 - 9:00 AM Breakfast Middleburg Ballroom I 9:00 - 9:10 AM Future of Technology — Public Sector #3: Middleburg Ballroom II & III Advanced Photosynthesis 9:10 - 10:25 AM Plenary #3 - From Food Justice to Social Justice Middleburg Ballroom II & III 10:25 - 10:45 AM Hotel Checkout 10:45 - 12: 10 PM State of Play Concurrents Various Locations (See Below) 1. Consolidation & Agricultural Sustainability Hamilton 2. Nuclear Big vs. Small Marshall 3. Climate Risk Management Middleburg Ballroom II & III 12:15 PM Conference Ends — Boxed Lunches on Terrace Middleburg Foyer & Terrace The term “neoliberalism” is a diss — poorly defined and indiscriminately used but almost always derogatory. For some, it is just a fancy word for capitalism. For others, it refers to the turn away from Keynesian economic policies and the rise of the “Washington Consensus” in the 1980s and ‘90s. For still others, it reflects a shift toward efforts to incentivize markets to produce socially desirable ends that they would otherwise fail to produce.
Since the financial crisis, many on the Left have argued that the neoliberal era has collapsed, beset by slowing economic growth, rising inequality, and climate change. But it is not just the Left that appears to be reconsidering the economic and
AGENDA political consensus that politically defined the possible for the past four decades. The populist Right today still at times pays obeisance to free markets but has also turned away from free trade and liberal immigration policies and seems more than happy to countenance industrial policy when it suits their purposes.
But how much has really changed, and what are the implications for environmental policy? Beyond the rhetoric, the debate about neoliberalism and its alternatives has involved mostly what blend of market and state is the right mix in a mixed economy. That is especially true in climate and environmental debates, where what is mostly being contested are market-based policies (carbon taxes, trading systems, valuation of ecosystem services) versus more traditional regulatory strategies or some version of green industrial policy.
At Ecomodernism 2019, we’ll ask whether there is something new here, or whether we are just relitigating debates that environmentalists have been having for decades, pitting innovation against regulation and carbon pricing against clean energy subsidies. Why, despite the nostalgia of the Green New Deal, is almost no one involved advocating for public power? Does the populist Right have a vision for the environment beyond exploiting it? Is there still a role for markets and innovation? And is there a Hamiltonian fusion where some of these differing agendas might intersect? AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
6 NEO AGENDA LIBE RAL AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM ISM 7 PLENARIES LESSONS FOR THE GREEN NEW DEAL FROM THE APOLLO PROJECT Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Over 15 years ago, a small band of environmental outsiders set about rethinking the politics of climate change. Hailing from the labor movement and other quarters of the center Left, the founders of the Apollo Project set out to reframe the energy transition necessary to deeply cut US emissions as an investment in America’s economic future — in infrastructure, technology, and manufacturing — that would create jobs and economic opportunity for working class Americans. By 2008, clean energy investment and green jobs had been embraced by both the environmental movement and the Democratic Party and would constitute much of the new Obama administration’s response to the Great Recession.
Today, a new generation of progressives has called for a Green New Deal to address climate change and economic inequality in the United States. In its general thrust, if not all of its particulars, the Green New Deal
AGENDA sounds much like Apollo. In this panel, we ask a number of veterans of the Apollo Project to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work in that earlier effort. What lessons might the Green New Deal learn and what pitfalls might be avoided? Is all that’s old new again or are there substantial new opportunities that the Green New Deal might be well positioned to seize?
� Kate Gordon, California Governor’s � Dan Carol, Milken Institute Office of Planning and Research � Ted Nordhaus, BTI (Moderator) � Bracken Hendricks, Urban Ingenuity
POPULISM & ENVIRONMENTALISM Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
From Les Gilets Jaunes to the War on Coal, the reaction to environmental policies in many parts of the world has provided fuel for populist discontent with liberal democratic governance and institutions. But there is also ample evidence that ethnonational populism might accommodate many notions of nature and ecology quite comfortably. Neo-Malthusian notions of scarcity produce zero-sum political calculations that are well suited to both eco-panic and nationalism, depending upon the context in which they are deployed. Environmental obsessions with purity and contamination similarly might fit quite comfortably with ethnonational identity politics. And indeed, there is some evidence that “avocado politics” (brown on the outside, green on the inside), as panelist Nils Gilman has dubbed it, may be on the rise in some quarters of the “alt-right.”
In this panel, we will consider the complicated relationship between environmentalism and populism. Ethnonational movements around the world appear both to be in revolt against the costs and restrictions that they fear environmental policies will impose and the cosmopolitan project that tackling global ecological challenges AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM requires and also, in some cases, to be repurposing ecological ideas in the service of the ethnonationalist
8 POPULISM & ENVIRONMENTALISM CONT.
project. How serious a challenge is the current populist moment to environmental objectives? How likely is it that populist movements will repurpose ecological concepts toward illiberal ends? Is it possible that either environmentalism or ecomodernism can or should constructively accommodate nationalist populism?
� Nils Gilman, Berggruen Institute � Lydia Bean, New America � Iddo Wernick, Rockefeller University � Gaby Del Valle, VICE (Moderator)
PERSPECTIVES ON THE GREEN NEW DEAL Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Last winter, calls by progressive Democrats for a Green New Deal swept the nation’s Capitol by storm. The national environmental movement quickly embraced the idea as its own, and Democratic presidential AGENDA aspirants rushed to embrace the notion. Today, the prospects for a Green New Deal seem far less promising. Advocates have had difficulty agreeing upon exactly what a Green New Deal would do. The Senate voted 57-0 against the Green New Deal resolution forwarded by Rep. Alexandr Cortez and co-sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders, with most Democrats voting present to avoid recording a vote for or against the measure. Controversies have erupted over whether it is wise to yoke climate policy and Medicare for All together in the same policy initiative, whether the Green New Deal should embrace nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage, and what if anything, proponents intend to do about beef production and air travel. Is the problem with the Green New Deal that it is too ambitious or not ambitious enough? What would be necessary for a sweeping social and environmental agenda of this sort to succeed? Is America really ready for a state-led alternative to the market-based climate frameworks that have been the focus of past efforts to pass federal climate legislation, and are Green New Deal proponents really prepared to propose such a thing?
� Rhiana Gunn-Wright, New Consensus � Leah Stokes, UC Santa Barbara � Jerry Taylor, Niskanen Center � Emily Holden, The Guardian (Moderator)
IS CLIMATE BIPARTISANSHIP POSSIBLE? Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Like so much else in American politics, recent years have seen growing partisan polarization on the issue of climate change. That gap has been reflected in Congress. Prominent elected Republicans once supported cap-and-trade proposals and federal clean energy standards. Today there is little support on the Republican
AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER side of the aisle for either. And yet, important if less high-profile legislation to support nuclear and carbon ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
9 IS CLIMATE BIPARTISANSHIP POSSIBLE? CONT. Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
capture technologies has recently passed Congress with strong bipartisan support. A number of Republican members of Congress have publicly called for a tax on carbon. And strong bipartisan coalitions in the House and Senate have defended energy innovation budgets. In this panel, we ask whether climate bipartisanship is dead, or whether it is just proceeding mostly out of view? Is a grand bargain between Democrats and Republicans on a carbon tax possible and is Congress even capable of ambitiously legislating any more? Does progress on climate change even require climate legislation? Can Republicans offer an alternative to Democrats’ calls for caps, regulations, treaties, and renewables subsidies? Is there an alternative Republican agenda to be constructed with nuclear energy, carbon capture, natural gas, and adaptation?
� Carlos Curbelo, Vocero � Sarah Hunt, Rainey Center AGENDA � Ken Kimmell, Union of Concerned Scientists � Josh Freed, Third Way � Angela Anderson, Union of Concerned Scientists � Rob Meyer, The Atlantic (Moderator)
FROM FOOD JUSTICE TO SOCIAL JUSTICE Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Recent years have seen the rise of a food justice movement that argues that lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed foods, farmers markets, and urban farms in low-income communities of color represents a major source of social injustice. Taking a page from the environmental justice movement, food justice advocates argue that disparities in access to these amenities are key drivers of disparate health and economic outcomes and that by mobilizing low-income communities of color to demand them, America’s food system can be remade in ways that are healthier and more sustainable. Yet many of these claims don’t hold up to much scrutiny. Poor Americans of color don’t eat diets that are much different from those of most other Americans, nor is there much good evidence for a strong relationship between the diets of poor Americans and their health. By contrast, income inequality, lack of access to good health care, and high crime and incarceration rates are all strongly associated with inequitable health and social outcomes in low-income communities of color. So why food justice? What social purpose does food justice really serve? And what, as panelist Margot Finn recently asked, would a food justice movement worthy of the name actually care about?
� Margot Finn, University of Michigan � Bruce Goldstein, Farmworker Justice � Jenn Bernstein, USC � Nathanael Johnson, Grist (Moderator) AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
10 FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS
PUBLIC SECTOR #1 THE CARBON CAPTURE ECONOMY Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Presented by: Bill Brown
From integrated systems at power plants to decarbonizedfuels, how big can the carbon capture economy get?
AGENDA The Net Power natural gas power plant, in La Porte, Texas| NET Power:
PUBLIC SECTOR #2 NEXT-GENERATION NUCLEAR Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Presented by: Rachel Slaybaugh, UC Berkeley ARPA-E
Rachel Slaybaugh, ARPA-E program officer for advanced nuclear energy, describes public efforts to support development of the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors.
Image Credit: Third Way
PUBLIC SECTOR #3 ADVANCED PHOTOSYNTHESIS Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Presented by: Val Giddings, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
New genetic science may point the way toward radical improvements in plant photosynthesis. Learn how this might impact the production of AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM food, fuel, and more.
11 STATE OF PLAY CONCURRENTS
CARBON PRICING PROBLEMS LIVE RECORDING OF NEOLIBERAL PODCAST Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
Many economists have long argued that putting a price on carbon is the most efficient way to balance the costs and benefits of fossil fuel consumption. That may sound reasonable to policy wonks, but it turns out that almost all other policies on the table are more popular than carbon prices. From the Gilets Jaunes in Paris to the repeated failures to pass a carbon tax in deep-blue Washington State, voters across the developed world have shown that their concern over climate change doesn’t obviate the sticker shock associated with explicit carbon prices. Even for many progressive climate activists, who a decade ago organized fiercely behind the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade effort, carbon prices have become the pinnacle of “neoliberal” timidity. Where do we go from here? In this panel, we’ll consider the political and economic terrain for carbon prices at
AGENDA the state and federal levels, the role that technological innovation plays in enabling affordable climate policy, and the ability of governments to steer energy infrastructure pathways without market-based pricing instruments.
� Adele Morris, Brookings Institute � David Hart, ITIF � Philippe Benoit, Columbia University � Jeremiah Johnson, The Neoliberal Project (Moderator)
MANAGING AGRICULTURE’S GLOBAL FOOTPRINT Location: Bluemont II
Agricultural practices and policies in single countries can shape global environmental outcomes, often in dramatic ways. As the world’s largest agricultural exporter, the United States’ farming practices have an outsized impact on global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen pollution, and other impacts. But agriculture’s environmental impacts are often less direct and measurable. With escalating US tariffs, for instance, China has replaced much of its US soy imports with Brazilian soy, spurring increased deforestation and possibly forest fires. Mitigating the environmental footprint of domestic agriculture is difficult enough, but arguably insufficient. This panel will explore some of the biggest levers, such as trade policy and private sector commitments, for managing both domestic and global supply chains for environmental sustainability.
� Steve Schwartzman, EDF � Lee Ann Jackson, WTO � Ariane de Bremond, Global Land Programme � Michael Grunwald, POLITICO (Moderator) � Allison Thomson, Field to Market AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
12 NUCLEAR INNOVATION POLICY FRONTIERS Location: Bluemont I
It can feel like the advanced nuclear revolution is a moving target. Designing, licensing, testing, and deploying reactors is hard, not easy—witness the fate of Transatomic Power, once the darling of the advanced nuclear industry. But the dawn of a new nuclear era in the United States might be closer than you think. NuScale Power has funding from the Department of Energy to develop a small modular reactor. Other companies, like Oklo and Kairos, are far along in the pre-application process with the Nuclear Regulatory Committee. Congress has actually moved the ball forward in recent years, creating the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) and advancing the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act and the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act. This panel will cover what made the recent progress in nuclear innovation possible, what the remaining hurdles are, and how nuclear fits into the wider energy innovation system. AGENDA
� Sola Talabi, Pittsburgh Technical � Lindsey Walter, Third Way � Alex Gilbert, Nuclear Innovation Alliance � Jackie Toth, Morning Consult (Moderator)
CONSOLIDATION & AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY Location: Hamilton
Corteva, ChemChina, Bayer — where once there were many agricultural seed and chemical companies, now after a spate of mergers there are a handful. Some farmers and politicians have cried foul, calling to reverse the megamergers and break up Big Ag. Consolidation, many argue, increases seed and chemical prices for farmers, reduces the competitive need for businesses to innovate, and ultimately leads to greater environmental impacts. Yet, the economies of scale that come with mergers can also enable businesses to cut prices and bring together disparate research groups under one roof. This panel will explore these dual perspectives, the pathways through which consolidation may affect environmental sustainability, and possible policy responses to recent agribusiness mergers.
� Kyle Bridgeforth, Bridgeforth Farms � Aaron Shier, National Farmers Union � Jim MacDonald, USDA � Leah Douglas, FERN (Moderator) AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
13 NUCLEAR BIG VS. SMALL Location: Marshall
When the Bush and Obama administrations attempted to reboot a “nuclear renaissance,” they did so by replicating what had worked in the first major deployment of nuclear power over 50 years ago. Most nuclear plants in the United States are large light-water reactors, artifacts from a time when electricity demand was growing steadily, electric power was a vertically integrated enterprise, and big nuclear plants were the technology of the future. None of those conditions hold today. So while emerging economies like India and Korea have shown some success in economies of scale (building reactors as big as possible), it is not at all clear that the same model can work any more in the United States. What, then, are the prospects for a new generation of smaller, non-light-water reactors? What are the economic conditions in which deployment of big reactors still make sense? And how, if at all possible, could those conditions emerge in the United States?
AGENDA � Katie Mummah, University of Wisconsin-Madison � Alan Ahn, Global America Business Institute � Jessica Lovering, Carnegie Mellon University � Peter Behr, E&E News (Moderator) AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
14 AGENDA
CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT Location: Middleburg Ballroom II & III
At the moment that long-standing international efforts to establish a legally binding global treaty to limit global warming to 2 degrees were abandoned in Paris in 2015, much of the climate advocacy community decided to ratchet up their demands, insisting that the only way to avoid catastrophe would be to limit warming even more implausibly to 1.5 degrees. These efforts must continue to focus on climate mitigation, even if those efforts are unlikely to limit warming to 2 degrees. But the risks associated with a warming climate also require that we at least explore other options. In this panel we discuss three alternative climate risk management strategies: adaptation, carbon removal, and solar geoengineering. How do we balance the moral hazard associated with exploring responses to climate change that might undermine political commitment to decarbonization with the moral hazard associated with promoting implausible mitigation scenarios that undermine serious efforts to prepare for a warming planet, or to use other means to slow the rate of warming?
� Holly Buck, UCLA Institute of the � Susan Fancy, University of Michigan Environment and Sustainability � Jane Flegal, The Bernard and Anne Spitzer AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM � Melissa Roberts, American Flood Coalition Charitable Trust (Moderator)
15 Alan Ahn is Director of Programs and Communications at the Global America Business Institute. His primary focus is the development, planning, and execution of GABI’s energy-related programs, covering subjects such as nuclear power, US- ROK civil nuclear cooperation, nuclear fuel cycle policy, nonproliferation and safeguards, advanced nuclear technology R&D, and renewable energy R&D and policy.
Angela Ledford Anderson is the director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). She is leading UCS’s efforts to persuade government officials to enact policies that encourage clean energy and result in global warming emission reductions. Ms. Anderson advocates on international policy responses to the threat of global climate change. @angelaus
Kati Austgen is Senior Project Manager for New Reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute. She leads several task forces including the Advanced Reactor Regulatory Task Force which is focused on leading industry efforts to resolve regulatory issues and implement recommendations for ensuring an efficient and predictable regulatory framework appropriate for demonstration of advanced reactors by 2025 and commercialization in the 2030s. Kati holds bachelor and master of science degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University and the University of Missouri, respectively.
Ronald Bailey is the award-winning science correspondent for Reason magazine and Reason.com, where he writes a weekly science and technology policy column. He is the author of The End of Doom: Environmental Renewal in the Twenty-First Century, and Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Washington Post. @RonaldBailey
Suzy Baker is creative director at the University of Michigan. Previously, she served as communications advisor to Third Way’s Clean Energy team and held a position at the Idaho National Laboratory, where she focused her efforts on advanced reactor development, supporting communications for the Nuclear Innovation Workshops and subsequent events. She also founded a nonprofit organization with the goal of reaching women, young people, and other underrepresented groups PARTICIPANTS with critical information about climate change and nuclear energy. @SuzyHobbsBaker
Lydia Bean is a fellow in New America’s Political Reform program. She writes and consults on state power-building, religion in public life, and grassroots organizing. Her work has been featured in the Washington Post, Democracy, Sojourners, Social Science Quarterly, Sociology of Religion, and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. She completed a PhD in sociology at Harvard University and a bachelors degree at Austin College. @LydiaBeanTexas
Peter Behr is a senior energy reporter for Energywire covering power grid reliability, climate policy, and cybersecurity. He also has covered shale gas development and nuclear power issues for E&E. Before joining E&E in 2009, he was principal energy reporter for the Washington Post. During his 23 years at the Post, he was also assistant managing editor for business and financial news and a business columnist and reporter. @PeteBehr @EENews
Philippe Benoit is currently Adjunct Senior Research Scholar with Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, where he leads the center’s work on energy and development (which includes a focus on the climate change challenges facing developing countries). He previously served as the Head of the Energy Environment Division at the AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM International Energy Agency, where his unit focused on climate policies and other tools to decarbonize the energy sector. He has published extensively on the intersection of energy, development, finance, and sustainability issues. 16 Mike Berkowitz is cofounder and principal of Third Plateau, an integrated social impact strategy firm that partners with people and organizations that have game-changing ideas to improve the world. He is also senior advisor to the Pritzker Innovation Fund and has advised dozens of nonprofits on development strategy, community engagement strategy, strategic planning, and impact evaluation.
Jennifer Bernstein is a lecturer with the Spatial Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. Her research interests are in American environmentalism, Western American environmental history, online teaching and learning, and California geography. In particular, she analyzes and addresses environmental problems and social justice issues through interdisciplinary frameworks. Prior to joining the USC Spatial Sciences Institute, she was on the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, and Hawaii Pacific University. @jenn_bernstein
Prerna Bhat is from Austin, Texas, and recently received her master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a focus on conservation biology and management as well as environmental communication. After her undergraduate studies in evolutionary biology, and prior to her current grad program, she interned with a conservation center in Madagascar and explored sustainable cacao and vanilla, both there and also in Southeast Asia.
David Biello is an award-winning journalist who has been reporting on the environment and energy since 1999. He’s currently the science curator for TED. Prior to this, he was the Environment and Energy Editor at Scientific American, where he’s been a contributor since 2005. He has also written for Aeon, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, and New Republic and hosts the ongoing duPont-Columbia award-winning documentary, Beyond the Light Switch, as well as The Ethanol Effect for PBS. @dbiello
Daniel Blaustein-Rejto is the associate director of the Food & Agriculture program at The Breakthrough Institute, where he analyzes the environmental implications of agricultural practices, technologies, and policies. Prior to joining Breakthrough, Dan consulted for the Environmental Defense Fund and conducted research with the International
PARTICIPANTS Center for Tropical Agriculture. @danrejto
Thia Bonadies has dedicated her career to using the art of storytelling as a tool for community building and has over 10 years of experience in project management. She holds a BA in English Literature, with a focus on creative writing, from the University of California, Los Angeles, has been published many times on her own Facebook page (and literary magazines), and currently serves as Breakthrough’s Senior Events Manager, where she leads the organization’s programs for external engagement and experiences.
Drew Bond has almost 20 years of public policy experience complemented by business leadership roles involving strategy, sales, marketing, and entrepreneurship. His public policy background spans federal and state levels, public and private sectors,and nonprofit and for-profit companies, large and small. His areas of expertise include public policy, strategy, energy, technology commercialization, business development, innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, investment, and finance.
Matt Bowen is a Nuclear Policy Fellow at the Clean Air Task Force, focusing on nuclear energy and nonproliferation topics. He was previously a Senior Policy Fellow at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, where he wrote reports on small AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM modular reactors and nuclear export control reform. From 2015 to 2017, he was an Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Nuclear Energy at the US Department of Energy (DOE). 17 Marc Brazeau is founder/editor at Food and Farm Discussion Lab (FAFDL), where he writes about food politics, sustainable agriculture, and nutrition. FAFDL is a nonprofit approaching food system issues from a social democratic, evidence-based, ecomodernist perspective.
Michelle Brechtelsbaur has spent her career leveraging her background in engineering research and expertise in science policy to accelerate deployment of carbon-negative energy technologies. Prior to joining the Energy Impact Center, she worked as an analyst at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, and served under the Obama administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Michelle holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alabama. In her role at EIC, she is dedicated to empowering energy and climate leaders to advance transformational solutions in the fight against climate change.
Kyle Bridgeforth is a partner and accounts manager at Bridgeforth Farms, a fifth-generation row-crop operation headquartered in Tanner, Alabama that focuses on using modern technology and agronomics to grow high-quality agricultural products. Kyle works primarily on crop traceability and efficiencies along with new product implementation. Beyond the farm, he works closely with several industry associations including the United Soybean Board, United States Farmers and Ranchers Association, National Black Growers Council, and the American Soybean Association. @Kylebridge
Bill Brown is the CEO of NET Power, LLC, which is working with Exelon and CB&I to commercialize a technology that will allow the world to meet its climate targets without having to pay more for electricity. Bill is also the cofounder 8 of Rivers Capital, LLC, the inventor of the Allam Cycle. Focusing on energy, telecom, water, and space launch, 8 Rivers is creating the sustainable infrastructure of tomorrow. @billmetoday
Holly Buck is a research fellow at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She works at the interface of environmental sociology, international development, and science and technology studies. Her diverse research interests include agroecology and carbon farming, new energy technologies, artificial intelligence, and the restoration of California’s Salton Sea. She has written on several aspects of climate engineering, including humanitarian and development approaches
PARTICIPANTS to geoengineering, gender considerations, and human rights issues. @hollyjeanbuckreporter.
Dana Burton is a PhD candidate at George Washington University. Her research follows NASA scientists’ search for life on Mars and the ways scientists come to grapple with and even redefine how they understand life of Earth. Her work centers on the microbe as a figure around which questions of biology, forward and back-contamination, and the practice of science emerge. She is also interested in NASA’s engagement with the public and how different publics may be affected by the search for life in outer space.
Mark Caine leads government engagement at the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a World Economic Forum initiative that brings together governments, companies, and other stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of new technologies in the global public interest. Previously, he worked at the British Consulate General in San Francisco, the Breakthrough Institute, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the London School of Economics. He is a Breakthrough Generation Fellow (2010). @markeliotcaine
McKie Campbell has over 30 years of governmental and private sector energy and natural resource experience. He has extensive experience working with federal, state, and local agencies, and with advocacy groups on all sides of issues. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C. McKie worked on natural resource policy in the State of Alaska. Among his positions, he AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM was deputy chief of staff in the Governor’s Office and the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, where he sat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and the EVOS Trustee Council. 18 Dan Carol is a director in the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets. Prior to joining the Milken Institute, Carol worked for governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom of California directing the state’s Opportunity Zones working group and serving on the executive committee of the US Climate Alliance, a bipartisan alliance of 24 states implementing the Paris agreement. Carol also served the Obama administration as a member of the US Department of Energy State Energy Advisory Board and cofounded two clean energy acceleration groups (The Apollo Alliance and the Clean Economy Network).
JP Chavez was born in Miami in 1983 to a Cuban-American Family which settled in Puerto Rico after abandoning Cuba. At Vocero, JP leads business-to-business initiatives, manages client relations, oversees the firm’s finances and business development, and is responsible for the development of strategic partnerships with other firms and organizations. @thejip2
Grace Choi is the operations director at the Breakthrough Institute. Prior to Breakthrough, she worked in the nonprofit world working with youth outreach, immigrant rights, and social justice organizations, as well as the corporate world helping Fortune 500 executives and their teams make better business decisions. She has an MA in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and earned her BA in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Alyssa Codamon is the Multimedia Producer for the Breakthrough Institute. Having worked previously with Comedy Central, NetCom Learning, and Hanson Bridgett LLP, her work ranges from syndicated programming, narrative and documentary film, and corporate media, to visual branding. She holds a BFA in Film from the Conservatory of Film at Purchase College. Outside of work, she enjoys wine and whiskey tastings, playing music, and rooting for Manchester United. @motionlys
Armond Cohen is cofounder and Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force, which he has led since its formation in 1996. In addition to leading CATF, Armond is directly involved in CATF research and advocacy on the topic of requirements to deeply decarbonize global energy systems. Prior to his work with CATF, Armond founded and led the Conservation Law Foundation’s Energy Project starting in 1983, focusing on energy efficiency, utility resource planning, and electric industry
PARTICIPANTS structure. Armond has published numerous articles on climate change, energy system transformation, and air pollution.
Carlos Curbelo was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban exiles. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Miami. In 2002 he founded a public and media relations firm which he ran successfully for 12 years. In 2010, he was elected to the school board of Miami-Dade County and in 2014, to the US House of Representatives, where he served two terms. In Congress, Curbelo launched the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus and also led on tax policy, immigration, gun reform, and other issues. After Congress, Curbelo cofounded Vocero, a public affairs firm. He also works as a contributor for NBC News, MSNBC, and Telemundo. @carloslcurbelo
Ariane de Bremond is executive officer of the Global Land Programme at Future Earth. She is an integrative geographer working to forge pathways for sustainable land systems and transformative land governance. Additionally, she is working on a global synthesis of large scale-land acquisitions and related projects. @GlobalLandP @arianedebremond
Kenton de Kirby is content director at Breakthrough, supervising content creation from conception to publication. Kenton is a social scientist with a long-standing interest in the intersection of environmental politics and human cognition. He was AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM part of the first efforts to draw on cognitive linguistics to understand social change, political discourse, and environmental debates (which popularized constructs such as frames, conceptual metaphors, prototypes, and narratives). He obtained a PhD in cognitive development and education from UC Berkeley. @KdeKirby 19 Gaby Del Valle is an immigration reporter at VICE News. Prior to working at VICE News, she was a reporter at Vox and a writer at The Outline focusing on power and politics. Her work has appeared in The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other outlets. She lives in Brooklyn.
Reid Detchon is Senior Advisor for Climate Solutions at the United Nations Foundation. He previously served as the Foundation’s Vice President for Energy and Climate Strategy from 2006 to 2017. He also served as executive director of the Energy Future Coalition, a nonpartisan domestic policy initiative. @rdetchon
Jared DeWese currently serves as a press advisor at Third Way, where he’s worked in various roles for some time. He graduated from SCSU with a degree in Theatre and recently received his master’s in Political Communications from American University. @jareddewese
Leah Douglas is an associate editor and staff writer at FERN. Prior to joining the team, she worked for three years as a reporter and policy analyst with the Open Markets Institute, where she researched economic consolidation and monopolization in the food and agriculture industry. She founded and wrote Food & Power, a first-of-its kind resource on food sector consolidation. Her writing on food, agriculture, and land policy has appeared in The Nation, the Washington Monthly, the Journal of Food Law and Policy, CNN, Fortune, Time, Slate, Daily Yonder, Civil Eats, and more. @leahjdouglas
Erle Ellis is professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He studies the ecology of human landscapes toward sustainable stewardship of the biosphere in the Anthropocene and develops tools for global synthesis (GLOBE) and 3D mapping (Ecosynth). He teaches environmental science at UMBC, has taught PARTICIPANTS ecology at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and is author of Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction. @erleellis
Jon Entine is the founder and executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project; a TV news journalist, producer and executive; an author; a think tank scholar; and a commentator and public speaker on sustainability, energy, chemicals, and the biotechnology revolution in agriculture and biomedicine. @jonentine
Susan Fancy specializes in managing projects and processes at the intersection of energy and climate.
Shelley Fidler supports clients at the law firm of Van Ness Feldman in Washington, D.C., operating at the intersection of business and government in areas as diverse as foreign trade, business strategy, government relations, innovative governance, clean air, federal funding, regulatory assistance, thought leadership, and visibility for companies at AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM government’s highest levels. Shelley utilizes almost 40 years of Washington experience to assist clients in getting responsive solutions to complex and vexing public policy and regulatory challenges. @shelleyfidler 20 Margot Finn is a lecturer at the University of Michigan, where she teaches classes on food, obesity, and the liberal arts. She is the author of Discriminating Taste: How Class Anxiety Created the American Food Revolution. @smargot_finn
Jane Flegal is Program Officer for Environment at The Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, where she oversees grantmaking on climate and energy. She is an adjunct professor at the School for Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. Jane earned her PhD in the department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley in 2018, where her dissertation focused on solar geoengineering. Her articles have appeared in Nature Climate Change, Climate Law, and Issues in Science & Technology, among others. @drjaneflegal
Josh Freed is the founder and leader of Third Way’s Clean Energy Program. Since 2009, he has overseen Third Way’s clean energy and climate advocacy efforts, serving as the organization’s chief strategist on these issues. Josh regularly writes and speaks on climate, clean energy, and innovation issues, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, National Journal, POLITICO, the Los Angeles Times, and Wired.
Paula Gant is the SVP of corporate strategy and innovation for GTI, where she is responsible for identifying technology, market, and policy trends impacting the pace of energy systems transitions, and leading efforts to develop and commercialize technology and scientific discoveries needed for natural gas and new energy systems in the transition to a clean, efficient economy. At the US Department of Energy, Paula administered natural gas export regulation and R&D programs executed by the National Energy Technology Lab and implemented international clean energy deployment initiatives.
Ian Gazard is a partner and investment analyst at Blue Mountain in New York, an asset manager with $22 billion in funds under management. Since 2007, he has been an active supporter of the Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest environmental/conservation group. He attended the Global Food Security Conference at Cornell University in October 2015 and recognized the valuable work of the Cornell Alliance for Science and has been an active supporter ever since. PARTICIPANTS
Val Giddings is a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Giddings joined ITIF after nearly three decades of experience in science and regulatory policy relating to biotechnology innovations in agriculture and biomedicine. He works with ITIF to bring intellectual leadership to the examination of the constraints inhibiting innovations in these areas and devising remedies to those constraints. @prometheusgreen
Alex Gilbert is project manager at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, where he conducts and manages project research, particularly on international licensing for advanced nuclear reactors. Previously, Alex was an energy market and policy consultant in the private sector, first at Haynes and Boone, LLP, and more recently as cofounder of SparkLibrary, Inc. Alex is a nonresident fellow at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, where he researches energy and space governance. @gilbeaq
Nils Gilman is the Vice President of Programs at the Berggruen Institute. He has previously worked as Associate Chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, as research director and scenario planning consultant at the Monitor Group and Global Business Network, and at various enterprise software companies. He is the author of Mandarins of the AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America (2004) and Deviant Globalization: Black Market Economy in the 21st Century (2011), as well as numerous articles on intellectual history and political economy. @nils_gilman 21 Bruce Goldstein is president of Farmworker Justice in Washington, D.C., a national advocacy, litigation, and education organization for farmworkers. At Farmworker Justice, Bruce’s activities have included litigation against private employers and the government, advocacy in administrative agencies and Congress, training of lawyers and paralegals, building nationwide coalitions, advising grassroots organizations, scholarly publications, and shaping public opinion through the media.
Jennifer Gordon is the deputy director of the Global Energy Center (GEC), where she has oversight of the center’s research and publications, including its reports, issue briefs, and EnergySource blog. From 2016 to 2018, Jennifer was a senior energy policy analyst at National Journal’s Network Science Initiative, where she focused on clean energy policy and the intersection of energy with food and agricultural policy. Jennifer has served as a CIA political analyst and has also worked as a freelance writer and TV commentator.
Kate Gordon is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of climate change, energy, and economic development. Gordon was appointed director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and Senior Advisor to the Governor on Climate by Governor Gavin Newsom on January 7, 2019. She has authored or coauthored numerous publications, including the Fourth National Climate Assessment’s chapter on “Reducing Risks Through Adaptation Actions.” Prior to being appointed OPR Director, Gordon was a senior advisor at the Henry M. Paulson Institute and also provided strategic support to the Institute’s US—China CEO Council for Sustainable Urbanization. @katenrg
Judi Greenwald is principal of Greenwald Consulting LLC, providing energy and environmental expert advice, strategic planning, and policy analysis to clients. Previously, Judi was the deputy director for climate, environment, and energy efficiency in the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis. She also worked for 14 years at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Judi received her BS from Princeton University and her MA from George Washington University. @JudiGreenwald
Caroline Grunewald graduated this spring with a master of public policy from U.C. Berkeley’s Goldman School, and she recently began working as a food & agriculture analyst at The Breakthrough Institute. While at the Goldman School, she
PARTICIPANTS focused on environmental and food policy and completed several policy analysis projects for environmental organizations. She is excited to continue to work on solutions to pressing environmental problems with The Breakthrough Institute.
Michael Grunwald is a best-selling author and a senior writer for POLITICO Magazine. He has won the George Polk Award for national reporting and the Worth Bingham Prize for investigative reporting. Mike was a staff writer for The Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and TIME Magazine before joining POLITICO in November 2014. Mike is the author of two critically acclaimed books, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise; and The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era. He is now working on a new book about land, food and climate change. @MikeGrunwaldclimate.
Rhiana Gunn-Wright is a seasoned policy analyst and 2013 Rhodes Scholar who has worked across an array of policy areas including welfare, higher education, law enforcement, public health, and environmental justice. She is currently a policy lead at New Consensus. Gunn-Wright has been tasked with leading the policy development that will result in an actionable legislative plan to reach the goals of the Green New Deal. @rgunns
David M. Hart is a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and professor of public policy and director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy at George Mason University’s Schar AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM School of Policy and Government. He is also a former member of ITIF’s board. Hart’s work at ITIF focuses on clean energy innovation. @ProfDavidHart 22 Thomas Hassenboehler’s career has positioned him at the center of many of the major energy and environmental laws and debates of the last decade, including 15 years of experience seeking bipartisan solutions to the nation’s most pressing energy and environmental issues. Tom is a partner of the Coefficient Group, and he most recently served as the Chief Counsel for Energy and Environment at the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce under Chairmen Fred Upton (R-Michigan) and Greg Walden (R-Oregon).
Karl Hausker is a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, leading analysis of climate mitigation and power sector policy and lecturing widely on deep decarbonization. His career has spanned the legislative and executive branches (Senate Energy Committee and EPA), research institutions, NGOs, and consulting. Karl holds an MPP and PhD in public policy from the University of California Berkeley and received his BA in economics from Cornell University.
Bracken Hendricks is the CEO and founder of Urban Ingenuity, where he oversees one of the nation’s leading commercial PACE financing programs and manages efforts to finance and develop solar energy and microgrid projects with a special focus on reaching underserved communities. @hendricksb
Emily Holden is an environment reporter for Guardian US. @emilyhholden
Mallory Huggins is a senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center, where she designs and facilitates stakeholder engagement projects on topics related to energy policy, environmental justice, and gene editing. She also directs the Keystone Energy Board, a multi-stakeholder group with representatives from across the energy and climate sectors. Mallory has an MA in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and a BA in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Richmond. @mallory_huggins PARTICIPANTS
Sarah Hunt is cofounder and CEO of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy. She is best known as a conservative clean energy leader and social entrepreneur. Prior to the Rainey Center, Sarah launched the clean energy program at the American Legislative Exchange Council and the climate change program at the Niskanen Center. She is a graduate of the University of New Mexico, the Willamette University College of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, and the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management.
Lee Ann Jackson is a counselor in the Agriculture and Commodities Division at the World Trade Organization and secretary to the Committee on Agriculture. Based in Geneva, she advises WTO member countries on issues related to agricultural trade policy and multilateral negotiations, manages the organization and delivery of multilateral meetings on agriculture, and represents the WTO in key agricultural policy fora. She has served as a consultant for leading international organizations involved in agriculture policy and trade, including the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research.
Jeremiah Johnson is the founder and policy director at the Neoliberal Project. He also moderates conversations about AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM policy, politics, and economics as host of The Neoliberal Podcast. @ne0liberal
23 Nathanael Johnson is a journalist who lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and two daughters. He is the senior writer for Grist and has written two books: All Natural and Unseen City. He’s written pieces for a bunch of fancy magazines and radio shows, which have won some awards that sound more important than they really are.
Brandon Keim is a freelance journalist specializing in animals, nature, and science. He is the author of The Eye of the Sandpiper: Stories From the Living World. His work has appeared in publications including the Atlantic, Wired, National Geographic, Aeon, Nautilus, Anthropocene, the Guardian, and elsewhere. He is also the coounder of Conscientious Cat, an insect-based cat food company.
Ken Kimmel is president of the Union of Concerned Scientists with more than 30 years of experience in government, environmental policy, and advocacy. He is a national advocate for clean energy and transportation policies and a driving force behind UCS’s “Power Ahead” campaign to build a large and diverse group of clean energy leadership states. @kenkimmell
Chris Krueger is manager, Coalition Management & Grassroots Programs for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). Chris is responsible for organizing and mobilizing NEI’s grassroots advocacy programs, executing outreach to nuclear issue stakeholders, and supporting coalition-building efforts. Chris received a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science from Ohio University and is originally from Northeastern Ohio. He currently resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife, daughter, and their chocolate lab.
David Lansing is an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research interests are in the intersection of conservation policy and rural livelihoods. Drawing on political ecology, science and technology studies, and theories of agrarian change, he seeks to explain how conservation policy is formed and implemented, and the effects it has on land use and the livelihoods of small farmers. PARTICIPANTS
Jonathon Lehman served as Counsel to US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, where his responsibility was to develop key policies and legislative strategies for Senate Democrats. He worked with the White House and members of the US House of Representatives to negotiate compromises on comprehensive energy legislation, the 2002 Farm Bill, and environmental legislation including forest health legislation. @jonathonlehman
Alan Levinovitz is an Associate Professor of Religion at James Madison University. He works at the intersection of philosophy, religion, and science, focusing especially on how narratives and metaphors shape belief. He is the author of The Gluten Lie. His next book, Natural, explores the false faith that results from turning Nature into God. In addition to scholarly journals, his writing has appeared in Aeon, the Atlantic, Slate, the Washington Post, Wired, and elsewhere. @alanlevinovitz
Jason Lloyd develops a variety of activities at the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, including managing many of their external communications. He serves as the managing editor of CSPO’s Rightful Place of Science book series and as an Arizona State University liaison to the Future Tense Partnership with Slate magazine and New America. He is AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM also the publication manager and book review editor for Issues in Science and Technology, a quarterly journal published in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. @jasonglloyd 24 Jessica Lovering is a doctoral student in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on how commercial nuclear trade affects international security standards and how very small nuclear reactors could be deployed on microgrids. She is also a fellow with the Energy for Growth Hub, looking at how advanced nuclear can be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa @J_Lovering
Jim MacDonald is chief of the Structure, Technology, and Productivity branch at the USDA. Jim’s area of specialization lies in industrial organization, with a focus on empirical research on the topics of competition, firm organization, innovation, and industry consolidation. In this position, he has sought to apply that focus to US agriculture, with work on consolidation of agricultural production, competition in markets for agricultural commodities, the use of contracts in agriculture, and the organization of farms.
Faith Martinez Smith is a policy analyst at ClearPath, focusing on the water—energy nexus, energy storage, hydropower, and broad technological innovation policies. Prior to joining ClearPath, Faith worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and with Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper’s energy program before embarking to graduate school. She holds an MS in Energy and Earth Resources (Jackson School of Geosciences), an MGPS in Energy, Environment & Technology Policy from the University of Texas at Austin (LBJ School of Public Affairs). @faithskilee13
Jameson McBride is the senior research analyst for energy and climate at the Breakthrough Institute. He studies the political economy of decarbonization, with a focus on US energy and technology policy. His writing has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Greentech Media, and the Columbia Political Review. His research has been cited by Vox, CityLab, Utility Dive, and in congressional testimony. He is the lead Breakthrough author of two reports and many web articles. @jamesonmcb
Robinson Meyer is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers climate change and technology. @yayitsrob PARTICIPANTS
Adele Morris is a senior fellow and policy director for Climate and Energy Economics at the Brookings Institution. Her research informs critical decisions related to climate change, energy, and tax policy. She is a leading global expert on the design of carbon pricing policies. @AdeleCMorris
Todd Moss is founder and executive director of the Energy for Growth Hub. He is also a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, a nonresident scholar at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute, and a fellow at the Colorado School of Mines’ Payne Institute. Previously, Todd served as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, as chief operating officer of CGD, and has worked at the London School of Economics, Georgetown University, the World Bank, and the EIU. @toddjmoss
Katie Mummah is a Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics graduate student at the University of Wisconsin— Madison. She works in the Computational Nuclear Engineering Research Group (CNERG) under Professor Paul Wilson. AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM @nuclearkatie 25 William Murray is an Energy Policy Manager at R Street, where he helps coordinate advancement of free market solutions to solve difficult problems regarding energy and the environment. These issues include fuel-choice diversity, climate change, and conflicts over public lands. @theotherbillmu
Jeff Navin is a cofounder and partner at Boundary Stone Partners. Previously, he served as chief of staff at the United States Department of Energy and as deputy chief of staff at the US Department of Labor. A recognized expert on government, communications, and energy, Jeff has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, and others. He received his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. @jeffnavin
Ted Nordhaus is founder and executive director at the Breakthrough Institute. His book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, coauthored with Michael Shellenberger, was called “the best thing to happen to environmentalism since Silent Spring” by Wired. In 2008, he was named a TIME Magazine “Hero of the Environment.” @tednordhaus
Erik Olson is a recent graduate from Utah State University and holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering. While a student, he was a member of student government, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and various student organizations and professional societies which fostered a love for engaging in the political process, and culminated in his chairing of a statewide lobbying effort for clean energy. Professionally, he enjoys taking on large problems and combining his technical and political knowledge in complex systems. He cares deeply about climate change and wants to build his career in making a difference on the issue. @erikolsonn
Tali Perelman is the Digital Communications Manager at the Breakthrough Institute, where she works with the communications team to coordinate the content strategy. She graduated from Yale University with a degree in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health. Her senior thesis, focused on public trust in scientific institutions, got her excited about creating better, more inclusive science communications. She has experience working in many different PARTICIPANTS sectors within food systems – she’s worked on farms internationally, at a sustainable food nonprofit in San Francisco, and in nutrition policy in DC. @taliperel
Linda Poon is a staff writer at CityLab covering science and urban technology, including smart cities and climate change. She previously covered global health and development for NPR’s Goats and Soda blog.
Rachel Pritzker is president and founder of the Pritzker Innovation Fund, which supports the development and advancement of paradigm-shifting ideas to address the world’s most wicked problems. She is chair of the board of the Breakthrough Institute and is a board member and cochair of the Energy Program at Third Way. Rachel also serves on the board of the Center for Global Development and is a coauthor of An Ecomodernist Manifesto. @forachelP
Susan Rakov is founding director of Frontier Group which focuses on bridging the gaps between academia, advocacy, and citizen participation. She spearheaded the development of the analytical approach that characterizes the organization’s hundreds of reports, white papers, conference presentations, op-eds, and journal articles, setting and maintaining the high AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM standards of accuracy and integrity for which the organization is known. She also acts as a consultant to other organizations on messaging, strategic development, and staff recruitment and training. @SusanRakov, @FrontierGroupUS 26 Georgia Mackay Reid is an environmental writer and visionary building environmental frameworks better fit for our times. Her stories, poems, multimedia productions, and creative theory are compelling, accessible, and born of what Toni Morrison would call “thick love,” offering readers fresh ways forward in untangling their ties with environmental ideas and issues. She writes from her current home in Portland, OR. @shewhosprouts
Steve Reyes is Breakthrough’s Development Associate. Before Breakthrough, he worked as a communications assistant with the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, which advocates for a nationwide ban on the use of asbestos in the US. He has a BA in Environmental Earth Science from the University of California, Berkeley. While his background is in environmental science, he is also well-versed in issues of environmental health and clean energy. In his free time, he enjoys a steady diet of prestige TV and outdoor adventures.
Tom Riley is the treasurer and secretary of the Breakthrough Institute board. In his professional life, Tom is the head of finance for the Seattle Sounders FC, a franchise of Major League Soccer. Prior to that, he ran his own management and financial consulting firm. In 2000, Tom was elected the volunteer president of the board of the Seattle Audubon Society, and he was the youngest president in the organization’s 100-year history. He served on the board until 2011.
Melissa Roberts is the founder and executive director of the American Flood Coalition, where she supports coalition membership, leads policy development, and guides strategy for the coalition’s mission of advocating for national solutions to flooding and sea level rise. The coalition’s diverse membership includes members of Congress, elected officials, military leaders, cities and counties, businesses, and civic and educational organizations from 13 coastal states.
Mark Sagoff is one of the country’s foremost environmental philosophers, and senior fellow at George Mason University’s Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. His books The Economy of the Earth (2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2008) and Price, Principle, and the Environment (Cambridge University Press, 2004) are considered landmarks in the field. Sagoff has been a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson
PARTICIPANTS International Center for Scholars, and a fFellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Paul J. Saunders is chairman and president of the Energy Innovation Reform Project (EIRP). He was previously executive director of the Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) and a member of the center’s board of directors and remains a Senior Fellow in US Foreign Policy at CFTNI. He holds an MA in Political Science and an MA in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Michigan. @1796farewell
Tisha Schuller is principal of Adamantine Energy, working to create consensus and build and engage pragmatic solutions for energy’s thorniest challenges. Previously, she was an independent consultant to private clients from Fortune 500 energy companies to nonprofit environmental organizations. She also served as president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association. More at energythinks.com. @tishaschuller
Nick Schulz is Director of Stakeholder Engagement at ExxonMobil. Prior to his current role, Schulz was Manager of Public Policy and Issues. Prior to working at ExxonMobil, Schulz had nearly two decades of experience in media, public policy, and public affairs. He was the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and editor of The American magazine. He is author or coauthor of three books: From Poverty to Prosperity; Invisible Wealth; and Home AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM Economics. His writing has appeared in many publications including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Forbes. 27 Steve Schwartzman leads EDF’s work on tropical forests and economic incentives for large-scale forest protection. For more than 20 years, Steve has worked in the Brazilian Amazon with indigenous and traditional communities, governments, scientists, and the private sector to slow deforestation and protect forests. His areas of expertise include tropical forests, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), Brazil and the Amazon, indigenous peoples, and incentives for environmental protection.
Sakhi Shah is a recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon with a dual master’s in civil and environmental engineering (focused in energy) and in engineering and technology innovation management. Sakhi grew up in Kenya and has an interest in developing regions’ access to energy and infrastructure improvement in low-income areas. Her work experience includes sustainable manufacturing, sanitation in Indian slums with Engineers Without Borders, civil engineering, and urban design.
Aaron Shier is a government relations representative for National Farmers Union,where he advocates for family farmers, ranchers, and rural communities in Congress and the executive branch. Prior to employment with NFU, Shier worked for several years as a farm manager and apprentice.
David Simpson has been Director for Ecosystem Economic Studies in the National Center for Environmental Economics at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, and has held academic appointments at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and University College London. Simpson’s research has focused on the valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, conservation policy, and innovation and industrial structure in environmental and resource policy.
Rachel Slaybaugh is an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California Berkeley. Prof. Slaybaugh researches computational methods applied to nuclear reactors, nuclear non-proliferation and security, and shielding. She is currently serving as a program director at ARPA-E. She is also a senior fellow at the Breakthrough Institute and at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science. Slaybaugh received her BS in nuclear engineering from Penn State and her PhD from PARTICIPANTS University of Wisconsin–Madison. @rachelslaybaugh
Alex Smith is a food and agriculture analyst. He holds a dual MA/MSc in International and World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied French colonialism and American imperial and environmental history, and a BA in History and Philosophy from Haverford College. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Alex’s interest in environmental policy derives from a study of the relationship between deindustrialization and the environment. In his free time, Alex enjoys playing basketball, cooking, and watching films.
Nikki Soltis recently completed a PhD in Plant Biology at the University of California Davis. Her research examined how a common fungal disease uses genetic variation to attack diverse agricultural plants. She is active in science communication, founding the Sacramento Science Distilled café. Nicole holds a BA in Biology from UC Berkeley, and an MS in Biology from Tufts University. She was a Breakthrough Generation Fellow in 2019 and continues as an agricultural analyst at BTI. @nic0lise
Jenny Splitter is a food, science,and health writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Slate, Mental Floss, SELF, and the Breakthrough Journal. Since 2015, she has been fascinated by the intersection of technology and food, from cutting-edge cattle feedlots to new formats like cellular agriculture and lab meat. She especially AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM enjoys writing about genetically engineered crops, food and agriculture policy, and sustainability in agricultural and food technologies. You can find her on Twitter at @jennysplitter. 28 Leah Stokes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She works on energy, climate, and environmental politics. Her research has been published in top journals including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Nature Energy, Energy Policy, and Environmental Science & Technology. She has also published articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, CNN, and elsewhere. She is frequently quoted in national media.
Sarah Taber is a crop scientist with 20 years in food, agriculture, and manufacturing. Dr. Taber’s work focuses on where the three come together: building sustainable supply chains with high worker productivity and wages.
Sola Talabi currently works as a senior consultant with Pittsburgh Technical, which provides risk-management consulting services to the nuclear energy industry. Dr. Talabi also teaches risk management at Carnegie Mellon University. He received the following degrees from Carnegie Mellon University: MBA, PhD (Engineering and Public Policy), and MSc (Mechanical Engineering). He received his BSc in Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Talabi is also a certified risk manager.
Jerry Taylor is the president of the Niskanen Center. Prior to founding the center in 2014, Mr. Taylor spent 23 years at the Cato Institute, where he served as director of natural resource studies, assistant editor of Regulation magazine, senior fellow, and then vice president. He is the author of numerous policy studies, testified before Congress, and has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. @jerry_jtaylor
Allison Thomson is a science and research director at Field to Market and has 15 years of experience in research on agricultural systems and their interactions with energy systems and the environment. Her work has included participation in field campaigns to simulation modeling at farm to national and global scales. She has written or contributed to over PARTICIPANTS 50 peer-reviewed publications and held leadership positions with several national and international scientific programs. @FieldtoMarket
Jackie Toth is a reporter at Morning Consult covering energy.
Alex Trembath is deputy director at Breakthrough. He is the lead or coauthor of several Breakthrough publications, including Coal Killer, Beyond Boom and Bust, and Our High-Energy Planet. He is also co-director of Breakthrough Generation, the Breakthrough Institute’s annual summer policy fellowship. Alex’s writing has been published by Slate, Issues in Science and Technology, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Forbes, POLITICO, Bloomberg, and elsewhere. He is a Breakthrough Generation Fellow (2011).
Ted Trimpa is the Principal and CEO of Trimpa Group LLC, a national political consulting and government relations firm that specializes in progressive public policy advocacy and political strategy. With offices in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Trimpa Group develops cutting-edge public policy strategies at the state and federal levels. Trimpa also serves as a board AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM member for numerous organizations, including the Democracy Alliance, ProgressNow, Third Way, Citizen Engagement Laboratory, and Tectonic Theater Project. 29 Lindsey Walter is a senior policy advisor for Third Way’s Clean Energy Program. Her work promotes low-carbon energy systems and clean energy innovation to mitigate climate change and encourage economic growth. She holds two degrees from Columbia University: an undergraduate degree in Sustainable Development and an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy. In between, she spent time at Heidelberg University in Germany for a year as a Fulbright Research Scholar. @LindseyNWalter
Seaver Wang is the climate and energy analyst at the Breakthrough Institute. He holds a PhD in Earth and Ocean Sciences from Duke University, where he conducted his dissertation research on ocean plankton and their role in storing carbon dioxide and producing nutrients. His research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed scientific journals including Nature Communications and The ISME Journal. He additionally holds a BA in Earth Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania.
Kelly Wanser is executive director of SilverLining, which is dedicated to ensuring safety for people and ecosystems by driving options for reducing atmospheric heat. Working closely with leading scientists, engineers, technologists, and government leaders to advocate for increased geoengineering research, Kelly recently testified before the US House Committee on Space, Science and Technology. She is also board director for BioCarbon Engineering and a senior advisor to BlackBirch.
Iddo Wernick has worked in the field of industrial ecology. An applied physicist by training, Dr. Wernick received his PhD from Columbia University. He continues to teach graduate-evel courses in industrial ecology and has presented work to governments and universities around the world. He cofounded Ecos Technologies, an environmental knowledge management software venture, and served as a project leader at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C..
Avi Zevin is a senior attorney at Policy Integrity. His work focuses on clean air and climate regulation, electric market design, federal and state clean energy policy, and the regulatory process. Previously, Avi was an Associate at Van Ness Feldman LLP in Washington, D.C., where he provided strategic advice, legal advocacy, and policy development for diverse clients, including PARTICIPANTS clean energy businesses and associations, NGOs, electric utilities, and Fortune 100 companies. @azevin AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
30 TERMS FREQUENTLY HEARD AT ECOMODERNISM 2019
ACHIEVING DISAGREEMENT: A conversation aimed at overcoming misunderstandings to get at genuine disagreements; requires understanding the other person’s point of view and values.
AGRARIAN TRANSITION: The shift from rural societies dependent upon agricultural livelihoods to predominantly urbanized, industrialized, and market-based societies.
ANTHROPOCENE: The age of humans; what some people call the current geological era, characterized by massive, global-scale human impacts; debated to have begun about 7,000 years ago with the rise of climate-changing agriculture, or 200 years ago with the Industrial Revolution.
AQUACULTURE: Refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments including ponds, rivers, lakes, and the ocean.
CREATIVE DESTRUCTION: A phrase popularized by economist Joseph Schumpeter to refer to how new technological innovations destroy old industries and create new ones.
CULTURAL COGNITION: Perceiving information or news through the lens of identity, political affiliation, personal affiliation, and/or tribal alignment.
DECARBONIZATION: A more than 200-year-old process in which economies produce fewer carbon emissions per unit of economic output; it has occurred alongside rising overall carbon emissions but may eventually result in declining emissions; a kind of decoupling.
DECOUPLING: A process whereby human development and economic growth occur with relatively or absolutely declining impacts on the environment, eg, people grow more food on less land, freeing up more areas to return to their natural state.
DISTRIBUTED GENERATION: A decentralized electricity system; a system in which many small generators displace large central power stations. GLOSSARY
ECOMODERNISM: A new paradigm that embraces technology and modernity to simultaneously meet human needs and leave more room for nature.
ENERGY ACCESS: The effort and need to increase the availability and reliability of modern energy services in developing countries, especially parts of Africa and Asia, with the goal of supporting human development.
ENERGY LADDER: The progression toward higher-quality energy resources, ie, moving societies from wood and dung toward coal and oil, and ultimately toward cleaner technologies like natural gas, nuclear, renewables, and hydrogen.
ENERGY TRANSITION: The shift from one energy source to another, often prompted by the availability of new primary energy sources (eg, nuclear displacing coal) or new energy carriers and end uses (eg, electricity replacing town gas, automobiles replacing horses).
GEOENGINEERING: The artificial moderation of Earth’s climate systems through either solar radiation management or carbon removal.
HIGH-ENERGY PLANET: A framework for thinking about increasing levels of energy use in such a way as to simultaneously meet human development goals and protect the planet.
LAND SPARING: An effect that results from improving land productivity in agriculture, forestry, and other sectors. Higher crop yields or denser cities require less land, and therefore, more land can be spared for nature.
NOVEL ECOSYSTEMS: Ecosystems that have been heavily influenced by human activities but are not actively managed by humans. Novel ecosystems are composed of unique combinations of native and nonnative species.
PLANETARY BOUNDARIES: The hypothesis that there is a set of hard biophysical limits to nitrogen use, water consumption, biodiversity loss, and other environmental systems that cannot be breached without catastrophic results.
REWILDING: The large-scale restoration of ecosystems, including the reintroduction of plants and animals (oftentimes large predators) in places where they once thrived.
SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE: A mode of farming in which a plot of land produces only enough food to feed those who work it, with little or nothing produced for sale or trade.
UP-WINGER: Someone who believes in risk-taking and the boundlessness of human innovation for the survival of our species and the environment. AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
WICKED PROBLEM: A predicament whose existence and meaning are disputed for ideological reasons; eg, global warming is a wicked problem because there is no single objective solution to it, and one’s views of the problem, as well as proposed solutions, often reveal preexisting agendas and values. 31 STATE OF PLAY CONCURRENT SESSIONS
1. Nuclear Innovation Policy Frontiers Bluemont I 2. Managing Agriculture’s Global Footprint Bluemont II MAP 3. Consolidation & Agriculture Sustainability Hamilton 4. Nuclear Big vs. Small Marshall Boardroom 5. Carbon Pricing Problems (Monday) Middleburg Ballroom II & III 6. Climate Risk Management (Tuesday) Middleburg Balroom II & III
HALLWAY TO GUEST ROOMS
The GROUP REGISTRATION/ Plains PARIS GARDEN BUSINESS CENTER Suite
4 2 1 3 MARSHALL BLUEMONT BLUEMONT HAMILTON BOARDROOM II I WATERFORD
COOKING STUDIO
ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM 2019 Monday: Breakfast & Lunch All Insight Talks Tuesday: Breakfast All Dinners DELAPLANE TERRACE 5 6 MIDDLEBURG BALLROOM UPPERVILLE I II III Private HARRIMANS COMPUTER Dining Room (Available for WORKSTATIONS private functions) & PRINTERS
Middleburg Ballroom Foyer ECOMODERNISM 2019 Registration Cocktail Receptions
MIDDLEBURG TERRACE AFTER NEOLIBERALISM? AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ENVIRONMENTAL ECOMODERNISM 2019 ECOMODERNISM
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IN GRATITUDE
Breakthrough Institute is grateful to the Pritzker Innovation Fund for providing the funding for Ecomodernism 2019.
Breakthrough is also thankful for generous support from:
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, Rodel Foundations, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Aimee and Frank Batten Jr. Foundation, Fieldstead and Co., Bellwether Foundation, Comer Family Foundation, Anthropocene Institute, Swartz Foundation, Garrett Gruener & Amy Slater Fund, The Jeff and Jacqueline Miller Fund, Michael Burnam-Fink, Ross Koningstein, Mac McQuown, Ray Rothrock, and Matt Winkler.
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