with Prof. Leah Stokes
The Network welcomes Prof. Leah Stokes (Political Science, UC Santa Barbara) to discuss the creation and ramifications of the Inflation Reduction Act for climate policy.
Dr. Stokes will explain the process of agenda setting and policy crafting for the Inflation Reduction Act. She will cover agenda setting for climate policy during the Democratic presidential primaries through activist groups, and how networks of climate groups worked together over the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration to craft what was initially the American Jobs Plan, then Build Back Better, then the Inflation Reduction Act.
Dr. Leah Stokes is the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is also affiliated with the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and the Environmental Studies Department. Stokes focuses her research on climate policy and politics. Her recent book Short Circuiting Policy examines why we are behind on climate action, telling the history of electric utilities promoting climate denial and delay. It was named the Best Energy Book of 2020 by the American Energy Society, listed as a top 5 climate book from 2020 by The New York Times, and won 3 awards from the American Political Science Association. For her exceptional engaged scholarship, Stokes was recently recognized on the 2022 TIME100 Next and Business Insider Climate Action 30 lists. Her academic work is published in top journals and is widely read and cited. She is quoted frequently in national media, has written for top outlets including The New York Times, and hosts a popular climate podcast, “A Matter of Degrees.”
This event is co-sponsored by the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI), and the Network for a New Political Economy (N2PE).