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On September 14, I sat down with Leah Stokes in front of a live audience at Seattle’s Town Hall to talk about her new book, The Carbon Wave. It’s an insider account of how the Inflation Reduction Act got made, braided with the story of the high-risk twin pregnancy she went through while helping to make it. We get into why electrification is the heart of decarbonization, the enduring mystery of what’s going on in Joe Manchin’s head, what it means to trade your carbon footprint for a carbon wave, and how much of the IRA survives. It was followed by questions from the audience.
Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome and housekeeping
03:05 – The twins, the NICU, and writing the book
08:51 – Carbon footprint vs. carbon wave
13:39 – Sam Ricketts and 100% clean electricity
18:13 – Why electricity is the core of the solution
23:28 – Utilities and the politics of change
26:18 – Tech companies and data centers
29:11 – Inside the Manchin negotiations
33:57 – Why Manchin got to yes
38:46 – Trump, setbacks, and where things stand
42:55 – Clean energy politics and the global shift
46:25 – Audience Q&A: the transmission gridlock
48:59 – Institutions, speed, and structural reform
53:27 – If Democrats win the House, what next
55:43 – Permitting reform
59:06 – State utilities, coal, and getting involved
