Today's guest is Maggie Thomas, Political Director of Evergreen Action.

I was very excited for this discussion, as Maggie is deep in climate policy and has done so on behalf of campaigns that have arguably the best climate policy around. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including the key tenants of the Inslee policy plan, what it was like to be a part of the Inslee campaign and the Warren campaign, and where we find ourselves in this pivotal moment of the clean energy transition. In addition to dissecting the merits of various policy positions, we also discuss what other levers can be most impactful to bringing about the change that we so desperately need. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I suspect you will as well. Enjoy the show! 

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Maggie’s interest in and passion for climate policy
• How Maggie found herself in politics, policy and climate
• Her time and experience as Climate Deputy Director on Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s presidential campaign
• What she learned during the campaign
• What she observed of the landscape of climate stances among the Democratic presidential candidates
• Her transition to the role of Climate Policy Director in Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign
• The founding, mission and work of Evergreen Action
• The need for clear timelines for specific sectors to abandon fossil fuels
• Why clean energy standards are critical for addressing climate change
• Examples of meaningful market incentives
• The importance of climate justice and its part in addressing climate change
• Putting a price on carbon, thoughts on its effectiveness and political feasibility
• The role of the private sector
• The role of nuclear power as a solution
• Why Maggie feels natural gas has no role in a clean energy future
• Whether bipartisan support is needed to make progress on climate change
• What she recommends a potential Biden Administration do to address climate change

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• Evergreen Action: https://evergreenaction.com/
• NextGen America: https://nextgenamerica.org/
• “The US can reach 90 percent clean electricity by 2035, dependably and without increasing consumer bills”: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/news/news-center/the-us-can-reach-90-percent-clean-electricity-by-2035-dependably-and-without-increasing-consumer-bills
• “A Clean Jumpstart for America”: https://www.dataforprogress.org/clean-jumpstart

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant