What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

Climate activists have overplayed their political hand with righteous language, inflexible targets, and clear villains.

But you don’t have to look far to see industry supporters displaying a similarly overconfident absolutism—just pro-fossil and anti-renewables.

We can do better—much better—than an energy politics focused on accumulating temporary wins. Especially when the next swing of the pendulum is always coming.While this political environment rewards performative certainty, savvy industry leaders are setting their sights past the zero-sum story. Their discipline? “Trim your sails,” focus on the destination, match tactics to strategy, and refuse the intoxicating certainty of being “finally right.” That’s how they’ve always built durable outcomes—and this time will be no different.

I wanted to explore these ideas with a thought partner who would challenge my point of view. So to kick off Energy Thinks for 2026, I sat down with Daniel Raimi, fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) and host of the Resources Radio podcast.

Why Daniel?

Daniel acknowledged something many in our audience know well:

If anyone thinks the energy transition is going to be easy, that’s totally a myth.

Daniel is a rare voice in our polarized landscape. He lays out why the work ahead is hard—technically, socially, and politically. He encourages all of us—climate hawk to industry stalwart—to check our hype and focus on building durable progress instead. Which starts by talking about what’s hard.

That’s what we do in this episode: discuss the scale of the system, the political hurdles, and the pressures—for affordability, reliability, and decarbonization—that shape public sentiment and policymaker reactions. In other words: crosswinds.

Listen and learn why it’s time to trim your sails.

Some of Daniel’s insights

* On oil and gas in the future: “I think there’s a big role for oil and gas in pretty much every scenario that I can envision, but the role is different under different policy assumptions.”

* On the Problem Solvers tack to climate realism: “I think there has been this correction and a return to realism that some of these super-ambitious climate goals are just not really achievable, and in many ways, they’re actually not desirable. They’re not realistic. They would involve trade-offs that I don’t think are acceptable to most people.”

* On the intensity of the polarization: “I think there is room for people on both sides of the argument to try and trim their sails a little bit and really focus on the things that actually make sense from an economic and a scientific perspective. I think there’s going to continue to be energy from the political left on climate. I don’t think that’s going to go away. I think it might actually become more intense.”

Bonus content!

Check out my appearance on Resources Radio next week.

My book: The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape.

Report: RFF’s Global Energy Outlook 2025.

Book: Power Lines: The Human Costs of American Energy in Transition.

Bill Gates’s memo, “Three Tough Truths About Climate.”

Watch on YouTube or listen on Substack to hear Daniel and me discuss The Myth and The Moment.

What to do next in The Moment

Let me help you trim your sails and shape realistic energy solutions:

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* Email us to book your 2026 tactical meetings.

* The most important thing you can do is tap the heart button below! It helps others find my work.

To leaders who work past the zero-sum story,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Happy new year! To celebrate the holiday season, I’m running some of 2025’s most popular episodes of Energy Thinks—including this dance favorite of mine. …

What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy Thinks

There was so much volatility in 2025. Were you occupied just doing the freak, as in the classic Chic song? (“All that pressure got you down? Has your head been spinning all around?”)

What I cover in this solo pod: How do you handle yourself as a leader during times of great volatility and uncertainty? What should you do (and definitely not do)?

You’ll hear my lessons learned from forging a career amidst chaos and volatility. One big one: While many of those experiences felt apocalyptic at the time, none of them were.

I walk you through key takeaways from major personal and professional upheavals, peppered with a few never-before-shared stories, such as watching a boss gamble away $20,000. (He could have paid off my student loans instead!)

Bonus content

To hear more about what got me from environmental activist to face of the oil and gas industry, read my first book, Accidentally Adamant.

What to do next in The Moment

* Please forward this Both True to three colleagues looking to start the new year off right!

* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

* Take heart! Hit that heart button below.

Wishing you and yours a happy new year,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Happy holidays! To celebrate, I’m returning to 2025’s most popular episodes of Energy Thinks—including this five-star feast with Chad Zamarin, CEO of Williams.

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

A great conversation (as usual) with Chad. His optimism is infectious. So is his discipline in resisting telling potential partners “I told you so” about The Myth. He’s focused on building relationships with those partners instead. Listen and learn why you should, too.

Why Chad?

Chad’s not afraid to hit hard or take a stand … and he sees The Moment as a generational opportunity for oil and gas to lead. Chad and I dig into the unraveling of The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition to discuss the bold plays he is making in The Moment at Williams.

Bonus content!

* The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape is available to order on Amazon.

* Watch the episode on YouTube or listen on Substack for our exploration of The Myth and The Moment.

What to do next in The Moment

* Email us if you’re looking to navigate The Moment in your organization.

* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

* Are you ready to hit the gym? Then hit that heart button.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Planning your 2026 leadership event? Order The Myth and The Moment for your team. (Reach out for bulk pricing.)

What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy Thinks

The Myth of how climate progress is “supposed” to happen is visibly unraveling in both politics and the media. But it isn’t dead yet! We’re probably not even past “peak climate-crazy.” How we work and engage now—in The Moment—will shape everything that follows. And if you’re not vigilantly strategic, you risk feeding the zombie—maybe without even knowing it.

In this solo episode, you’ll hear me think through:

* The seemingly convincing evidence suggesting that The Myth and “peak climate-crazy” are behind us

* Why that evidence makes me nervous—really, really nervous

* The intentional leadership—how we as oil and gas leaders talk about climate and decarbonization, and how we act—that will keep The Myth from reanimating and derailing real progress

Here’s a taste of what you’ll get, in two quotes:

“This idea that we don’t have to talk about climate and decarbonization anymore is silly. Entire jurisdictions still treat it as a dominant priority—even as they hit the brick wall of affordability and reliability.”

“We have an unprecedented generational opportunity to build the next-generation energy system. Let’s do it in a way that anticipates, engages, and respects the wide and wild world of our stakeholders.”

Listen in to hear this crucial episode of Energy Thinks—it will help define your 2026 strategy.

Bonus content for this episode

My latest book, The Myth and The Moment.

My series on working with the Problem Solvers: Part 1, “The World According to the Problem Solvers,” Part 2, “Ding Dong The Myth Is Dead,” Part 3, “Three Steps to Calling It Right,” and Part 4, “How Building Becomes the New Climate Leadership”.

Article on Tom Steyer’s run for California governor.

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack.

What to do next in The Moment

* We can help your busy team work more strategically. Email us to secure a contract spot for Q2 2026.

* Please take a moment to give Energy Thinks a five-star rating wherever you listen to your podcasts.

* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

* Feeling that holiday spirit? Hit that heart button below.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

To effective inoculation,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

The best holiday gift for your team? The Myth and The Moment!

What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy Thinks

In this episode, I take you with me into the Red Sea to make sense of today’s increasingly strange climate and energy narratives.

After traveling to Egypt and swimming (voluntarily! for a long time!) in the Red Sea, I came home thinking differently about courage, villains, and what it means to keep moving forward when others around us … haven’t.

In this solo episode, you’ll hear me think through

* How climate narratives keep getting weirder—and less useful—for climate action

* Why some adherents of The Moment are stuck, retreading components of The Myth with increasingly outlandish rationales

* How all of that creates enormous opportunity for you—to lead what comes next

Because leaders see open water and dive in.

Listen in to hear about all the weird thoughts and creatures I swam with.

A preview …

Why The Myth explains today’s energy contradictions: “Climate-centric stakeholders think of you, the oil and gas employee, as a tobacco lobbyist. … It helps explain why, even when they need natural gas, they still don’t want to talk to you.”

How climate-centric media coverage keeps falling into a self-defeating framing: “Coverage overwhelmingly sets affordability, reliability, and national security in conflict with climate goals. It sets up climate in a zero-sum game with things it will almost always lose to.”

Why the industry has to own—and outgrow—its role in The Myth: “We need to understand our role as a villain, get really smart about not playing into it, and start articulating a mindset that replaces old thinking with something actually innovative.”

When courage arrives disguised as dolphins: “They turned around, they heard us calling, and they swam alongside us. … It is, other than having my two children, the most magical thing that ever happened to me.”

Bonus content for this episode

The Myth and The Moment is your guide to leading into the energy future. If you don’t have it, get it.

Check out my series on working with the Problem Solvers: Part 1, “The World According to the Problem Solvers,” Part 2, “Ding Dong The Myth Is Dead,” and Part 3, “Three Steps to Calling It Right.”

Mentioned in the episode:

* “The Future of Energy Has Arrived—Just Not in the U.S.” The Daily, New York Times.

* “With the U.S. Absent, China Takes Over at COP30” POLITICO Energy.

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack.

What to do next in The Moment

* Starting your 2026 planning? Email us to set up a briefing on The Myth and The Moment for your team.

* Please take a moment to give Energy Thinks a five-star rating wherever you listen to your podcasts.

* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

* Glad I made it back with all my limbs? Hit that heart button below.

To dolphins,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Thanksgiving! To celebrate the holiday, I’m rerunning the year’s most popular episodes.

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

I’m joined by longtime friend and colleague Roger Pielke Jr., senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute—and one of the most fearless, objective, and valuable analysts of the climate-and-energy space.

Roger’s work lands at the messy intersection of science, policy, and public discourse—the crucial place where oil and gas leaders find themselves navigating The Moment.

Why Roger?

Roger brings a unique blend of academic rigor and clear-eyed political insight to the fraught conversations around energy and climate. Together on this episode, we dive into how political division is dismantling traditional climate narratives—and why that’s good news. Roger shares eye-opening findings from a national poll that reveal a critical insight: Most Americans aren’t buying into climate-apocalypse scenarios. Instead, they’re seeking energy solutions that are reliable, affordable, and realistic.

The climate debate we’ve known for decades—polarized, partisan, predictable—is changing. As Roger explains, the simplistic framing of climate apocalypse versus climate denial no longer holds water, and that creates opportunity for pragmatic energy solutions. Roger’s insights are crucial for leaders like you who are juggling conflicting pressures from your stakeholders.

Bonus content!

* Subscribe to The Honest Broker on Substack for Roger’s thoughtful insights on science, policy, and public dialogue.

* Read Roger’s survey analysis, co-authored with Ruy Teixeira: “The Clean Energy Transition’s Voter Problem.”

* Watch the episode on YouTube or listen on Substack for our exploration of The Myth and The Moment.

What to do next in The Moment

* Got this email from a colleague? Subscribe here.

* Ready to face The Moment head on? Hit that heart button below.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Check out my new book, The Myth and The Moment. Give it a read (or listen on Audible) and let me know what you think!

What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy Thinks

I explore a simple, hard question: What comes after The Moment? Answering this question is mission critical if we want to ensure that The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition doesn’t hang on with zombie strength. In the midst of my Problem Solvers’ series (Part 1 and Part 2), I wrestle with how we seize this generational opportunity to write what comes next for the energy system.

In this solo episode, you’ll think through the following with me:

* Who fills the vacuum (and why it’s you)

* A simple framework that attracts the Problem Solvers and lets them build things (listen for the model)

* A case for natural gas—but better

I’m working on both the vision that you, the oil and gas leader, can offer to the Problem Solvers and the framework that can inspire politically feasible platforms. Listen in—and help me make it better.

Bonus content for this episode

The Myth and The Moment sets up the paradigm for today’s episode. Why is The Myth unraveling, and what opportunity does The Moment hold?

Both of These Things are True editions “The World According to the Problem Solvers” and “Ding Dong The Myth Is Dead”.

“The Post-Myth Playbook with Kevin Krausert”

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack to hear me discuss The Myth and The Moment.

What to do next in The Moment

* Thinking about those year-end gifts? Email us for a bulk order of The Myth and The Moment for your team.

* Please give Energy Thinks a five-star rating on your podcast platform.

* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

* Hit that heart button below! It’s the most important thing you can do to support my work.

To the most important job ahead,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

How can oil and gas leaders like you meet the Problem Solvers where they are? Listen to my new conversation with Kevin Krausert, CEO and co-founder at Avatar Innovations, an energy technology venture studio operating in both Calgary and Houston. (Disclosure: I sit on the advisory board for Avatar, because I share Kevin’s vision of the industry as central to meeting the generational opportunity of The Moment.)

In this episode you’ll hear about

* The opportunity our industry has during the current “five-year hangover” following cleantech euphoria

* Kevin’s three-pillar vision of an energy future led by you

* The hazards of over-relying on a purely disruptive energy future

Why Kevin?

Kevin leads Avatar Innovations, at the sweet spot of energy opportunity: the center of a Venn diagram of innovation, investment, and infrastructure.

Some of Kevin’s insights

* On what cleantech euphoria got wrong: “Five years later, we’ve woken up and realized that the Silicon Valley obsession with disruption is not going to work in energy. You can’t disrupt your way to a new energy future. You can only build it.”

* On the secret sauce of Avatar’s oil-and-gas-centric innovation: “You have to do technology development and leadership development at the same time. … If you do technology development without leadership development, culture will eat technology for breakfast every day of the week.”

* On Canada’s Avatar for The Moment: “There’s probably no one person that amalgamates this moment than Mark Carney, our new prime minister. He was really the high priest of the net-zero finance movement, but now he’s prime minister of the world’s third largest oil exporter. [He leads] at a time when the easiest and fastest way to turn around Canada’s economy and productivity challenges is going to be through doubling down on oil and gas.”

Bonus content!

Applications for the Avatar 2026 program are now open for the cohort starting in February 2026. Check out the program and consider encouraging two high-potential leaders in your organization to apply.

Kevin’s podcast interview on The Climate Cycle: “Rewiring Risk and Return in Climate Tech with Kevin Krausert, Avatar Innovations”

My Both of These Things Are True newsletters “California’s Refinery Reckoning” and “The 3 Ts of Energy Realism.”

Watch on YouTube or listen on Substack to hear Kevin and me discuss The Myth and The Moment.

Order The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape.

What to do next in The Moment

* Email us to help your team build a 12-month action plan to lead The Moment. We have one project opening in February.

* If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here.

* Did you skip the five-year hangover? Tap the heart button below! It helps others find my work.

Play ball!

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

Check out my new book, The Myth and The Moment. Give it a read and let me know what you think!

What you’ll get in this solo episode of Energy Thinks

I published “Good Riddance to Climate Week” recently, and I got a lot of feedback, from readers loving and hating it. Overwhelmingly, those who attended Climate Week said I got it wrong—for them, Climate Week was still an inspiring, engaging experience. And those who didn’t attend loved the piece, because it called out the “cringy spectacle” that turns off the very outsiders Climate Week seeks to motivate and mobilize.

That split-screen response inspired me to think about whom I’m targeting in my ongoing work of helping people to acknowledge the end of The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition and to take charge of what comes next.

I start with this question: In our world of stakeholders, who most needs our help right now? That answer is clear: the Problem Solvers. These are the countless regulators, planners, utility commissioners, city staffers, engineers, and dealmakers who have to deliver power, pipes, and projects in the real world.

And so, in this solo episode, I think out loud about these things:

* Who are the Problem Solvers, and what are they tasked with?

* What do they need from us, the oil and gas leaders?

My answer: They need three things from us, starting with help understanding The Myth so that they can name it—and leave it behind. And the key to this work, as always, is to respect the Three Ts. Listen in to hear the rest.

Bonus content for this episode

The Myth and The Moment describes who the Problem Solvers are and why they are tasked with our energy future. (Spoiler alert: because no one else is!)

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack to hear me discuss The Myth and The Moment.

What to do next in The Moment

* Starting your 2026 planning? Email us to order The Myth and The Moment for your team.

* Please take a moment to give Energy Thinks a 5-star rating wherever you listen to your podcasts. It helps others in the industry discover these conversations.

* Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

* Support my work: Hit that heart button below.

To being both wrong and right,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe

My new book, The Myth and The Moment, is here! Order your copy today.

What you’ll get in this (solo) episode of Energy Thinks

In this solo pod, I reflect on the Abundance conference I attended in D.C. last month. Is there an abundance agenda that oil and gas employees, communities, leaders, and supporters could get behind? In other words, is there an abundance for the rest of us, in which cost of living eclipses everything else?

At the conference, speakers added “clean” before every mention of “energy” as if it were a tic, conveying a reflexive, tribal desire to say “We want to build, but only the stuff that our tribe approves of.” Sure, cleaner energy is undoubtedly our shared goal—but it has to be affordable and reliable as well.

Listen to hear me unpack the qualities our industry—and the rest of the world—could get behind in an abundance movement:

* Nonpartisan: Target outcomes, not tribes.

* High-energy: Energy makes other abundance priorities possible and affordable.

* Pro-building: Not just ADUs—support pipelines, too.

* Clear trade-offs: It’s more than permits; it’s understanding and making way for trade-offs.

Above all—and most radically—abundance needs to shed any good-guys-versus-bad-guys framing. Transforming policy conversations will require a real shuffling of coalitions—not just convenient “labor” additions, but real labor additions, like the employees of oil and gas companies and the citizens of their supporting communities.

My recommendation: Let’s take the first step and define what we would like to see out of the abundance movement. It will have to grow beyond its center-left roots—and I’m guardedly optimistic that it will.

Mentioned in this episode

Varieties of Abundance by Steven Teles, Niskanen Center

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack.

What to do next in The Moment

* Email us to set up a briefing on how your company can understand The Myth and The Moment—and activate on it.

* Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

* Love energy? Love your enemies? Tap that heart for either or both.

Energy without enemies cannot exist unless we make the first moves. Here’s what that looks like in practice: disciplined transparency, posture that calms the room, and a bias toward projects that measurably improve affordability, reliability, and cleaner outcomes. It’s how we foster trust—and permission to build—at the same time.

Build more—and argue less,

Tisha

Get full access to Both of These Things Are True at tishaschuller.substack.com/subscribe