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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Climate & Community Action let’s get it

Reposted by Daniel Aldana Cohen

Climate and Community Institute @cplusc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Biden's IRA incentives favored wealthier households while falling short on green jobs and housing. The urgency of the climate crisis demands a more ambitious agenda, one that embeds it in issues that people care about. @aldasky.bsky.social explains in this @theguardian.com story—🔗 below.

When Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a law erasing the words "climate change" from state statutes in May 2024 - colloquially known as the "don't say
climate change" law - Democrats were outraged. Just six months later, many liberal politicians began to go quiet on the issue themselves. After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, mentions of the climate crisis started to disappear from Democrats' rhetoric. As the 2026 midterms approach, that retreat is still shaping how some candidates talk about climate on the campaign trail.
The trend, known as "climate-hushing" , may reflect the
limitations of Joe Biden's climate policies, said Daniel Aldana Cohen, assistant sociology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies climate politics and inequality. Green jobs and housing investments fell short of the climate movement's desires, consumer incentives disproportionately benefited wealthier households, and Democrats struggled to effectively communicate their...

The climate crisis, however, is still rearing its head around the country, fueling the heatwaves, wildfires and floods plaguing communities around the US. It also lurks behind issues animating voters, from datacenter expansion to rising home insurance rates. And while some pundits have concluded from their polling and research that Americans don't want to hear about global warming, other surveys directly contradict those findings.
"Maybe people don't rank climate as their main or top issue ... but nobody really experiences everyday life like walking around the world rank-ordering the things that they care about," said Aldana Cohen, who is also founding co-director of the thinktank Climate and Community Institute that calls for "green economic populism".
"What's important is to learn how to embed the climate issue organically amidst the other issues that people care most about."

Some progressive and populist candidates in the US midterms are pushing back against climate-hushing, linking the issue to economic concerns and everyday struggles. Others aren't speaking about it directly, but pushing for policies that could curb emissions. Such efforts could help build a mass base for climate policies, said Aldana Cohen.
"If we want to decarbonize fast enough and adapt to the impacts that are already here, we're going to need a robust majority that backs those policies," he said. "Elite consensus alone will not suffice ... we're going to need like large numbers of people really enthusiastic about climate policies."

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Thanks again @dharna.bsky.social for such a great story, which shows what it really means when candidates do this in practice. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

At @cplusc.bsky.social we call this Green Economic Populism. We shouldn't be battling over how to do climate politics in the abstract, but focused on specific, concrete ways to embed climate in economic populism in ways that make sense locally. climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com/p/what-does-...

climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com

"What Does It Mean to Earn Climate?"

An interview with Daniel Aldana Cohen

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

So is this housing policy, econ policy, climate policy? It's all three. You can say the same about Will Lawrence connecting the dots between data centers and climate. Or Dan Osborne centering "right to repair" without talking up its climate dimensions, in a context where that wouldn't make sense.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Proposals like Jane Kim's terrific single-payer disaster insurance would tackle that head on with a public insurance model that lowers costs *and* invests insurance premiums in collective climate risk reduction. And running on this bold platform, Kim finished first in her primary.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The problem with polling is that people rank "climate" as an isolated issue lower than others, like "the economy" and "housing." But climate and economy and housing are inseparable! As Dharna's story explains, climate disasters are spiking insurance costs.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

“Nobody really experiences everyday life like walking around the world rank-ordering the things that they care about,” said Cohen... “What’s important is to learn how to embed the climate issue organically amidst the other issues that people care most about.”

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I'm thrilled to be quoted in @dharna.bsky.social's terrific piece on the candidates running on climate politics in new and surprising ways. Candidates *can* center climate politics and win—by embedding them in the everyday crises of working class life. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Disaster insurance, datacenters, right to repair: meet the midterm candidates running on green policies

Some of the everyday struggles animating voters have a climate link lurking in the background

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And let's reground ourselves in the overall political economy. The US can muster a grand investment stimulus in data centers, or building a genuinely green economy. The Green New Deal is the only real alternative to the AI development machine. Eyes on the prize, people!

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And btw, once you anchor yourself in reality, you can let go of the negative polarization frenzy of AI-centric debates. Instead of "owning" AI overlords by pretending their technology is a scam, focus on concrete fights to take away their power, while taking that power seriously.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The task of leftwing politics—and of critical thinking—is to situate the AI project in its material context. And to fight for a different political economy that's oriented to meeting our real material needs—ecologically sustainable human flourishing for all.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And we can notice the oldest story ever at the core of AI ideology: it's a mystification machine. It is misdirecting attention from an objectively given material emergency, which AI itself is worsening, to a completely vague and abstract debate about a fictional future.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Obviously, we have to wage the political battles that are in front of us, we can't just post our way to better ones. But we can insist on anchoring our concept of reality... in material reality.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And it's the struggle to literally maintain the living conditions of billions of people that creates the most important filter for even determining what "good AI" can be. "Pro-human" AI that breaks ecosystems *cannot* be good, bc breaking ecosystems is materially anti-human.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A lot of smart ppl have let themselves be bullied into retreating from climate concern. They're letting AI structure the narrative terrain of political struggle. The struggle of our times isn't no AI vs bad AI, or good AI vs bad AI, but a livable planet vs mass death.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

It's science 101 that ecological breakdown is more dangerous to billions of humans than anything else. Every kind of cancer is horrible. Runaway climate breakdown and collapsing biodiversity are an existential threat to everyone. But AI's offer there is minimal—at best!

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Objectively, humanity's greatest challenge is to combine shared prosperity for all humans with ecological sustainability. But AI boosters offer way vaguer visions of making things "better." That's the tell—they don't care about concrete, material problems.

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Reposted by Daniel Aldana Cohen

Nick @ecosozialismus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

when people whine about learning about social housing from people who are doing it well, they are actively trying to deny us a better housing future

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I'm thrilled to share our new chapter on green social housing, looking at Vienna *and* Uruguay. It was super fun to put state- and movement-led housing projects in dialogue. It's in the brilliant @joobilly.bsky.social's new book, Building Postcarbon Futures.

Chapter title: Decommodify, then Decarbonize: Lessons in Housing from Austria and Uruguay

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Reposted by Daniel Aldana Cohen

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

at this point: carbon removal is, at best, essentially a research project. renewable expansion is a policy project

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It’s pretty unlikely that the current DNC crew will be a powerful force in 10 years.

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Reposted by Daniel Aldana Cohen

isaac @sevier.io · 02/09/2026

I had the fortune to meet other public power comrades in London last year, including a student from Nepal. He has shared this fundraiser asking for help to provide meals and prevent human trafficking of orphaned children in the aftermath of the climate disaster there. Please share. 1/

every.org

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"We’re not meeting the future of George Jetson, but of George Orwell... as Robotaxi Handler makes clear, Waymo riders can be even more gross and depraved than their antisocial ideology reveals." From the belly of the tech beast in @bayareacurrent.bsky.social bayareacurrent.com/theres-a-lot...

bayareacurrent.com

Cleaning Up Poop: The Human Labor Behind Waymo

Human feces isn’t even the nastiest thing they’ve found in the backseat.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The real scandal devastating high school sports is fossil-fueled climate chaos.

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Reposted by Daniel Aldana Cohen

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The footage of this flash flood, circulating on social media, is possibly the most horrifying I've seen of any climate impact. Great to see NPR highlighting the cause without any hedging.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Ok adding more context… afaik, the risks of blowing through higher-end warming scenarios (in the 3C range, if not 2+ C) are completely insane. So I don’t think a kind of ontological refusal of SRM makes sense. It’s a risk calculus. But… I see a lot of folks way too excited about SRM soon.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

And while we know decarb works, we don’t know if SRM is even worth the risk even jnder ideal conditions. So by all means… discuss! But put it in the appropriate context. Anyone offering it as a shortcut is just not being helpful—on the contrary! Curious what ppl think 😬

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Having that tool as an option IF we can secure low-carbon hegemony in 15-30 years… that seems worthwhile. But from a sequencing POV, its the desert that you earn after a hard day’s work and plates of veggies. Its not a substitute for those things.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I don’t think the moral hazard arguments around preventing research are compelling at all. I just don’t think they’re that relevant under foreseeable political conditions. SRM just isn’t an end run around stabilizing geopolitics under low-carbon hegemony.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Hot (?) take: In the late 2030s, in a geopolitically stable world with rapid GHG reductions, it could be better to try SRM than risk crossing catastrophic tipping points. But in an unstable world without lockbox decarb… starting SRM would be a wild risk.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Yes! Couldn’t agree more w you. So gendered, so embarassing for these dudes.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

These pragmatists are some of my favorite people—working their asses off to prevent catastrophic harm. I see you!

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The surprising thing is how euphoric some ppl are, like they’re showing off how tough and smart they are because they’re familiar w energy density and they like saying the word abundance.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

There’s a line between acknowledging the economic challenge of decarbonizing industry (pragmatism), and acting like rapid decarbonization is annoyong and optional (denialism). A lot of ppl are crossing that line these days.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

A very cool new thing from @cplusc.bsky.social: a toolkit to help communities negotiate the best possible community benefit agreements. cbatoolkit.climateandcommunity.org

CBA Toolkit: Leveraging Community Power in the Energy
Transition

Primary Authors: Toni Symonds, Reva Butensky

Contributing authors and editors: Emmett Hopkins, Tai Kondo Koester James J. A. Blair, Thea Riofrancos, Kate Berry

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Yes but franky not just descendents. Gen Z’s retirement will be shaped by the next 10-20 yrs.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Without decarbonizing at shocking speed, none of this adapatation will work. But even if we abolish carbon fast enough, we have to adap. Either strategy, alone, is just Sisyphus rolling his boulder up hill. But combine the two and we can have a good a century.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

European cities are planting forests, greening boulevards, shading streets—and yes, installing AC. But they will have to move even faster to catch up with record warming. Read Eric Klinenberg’s latest. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

newyorker.com

The End of the European Summer

As extreme heat overwhelms the Continent’s great cities, they are racing to adapt to a climate that they were never built to withstand.

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Reposted by Daniel Aldana Cohen

Todd Tucker @toddntucker.com · 30/07/2026

NEW @rooseveltinstitute.org: as wildfires & heatwaves rage, we are not powerless. As 19 authors argue in our 157-page "Building Up in 2029" report, we can adapt & expand Biden & Trump experiments to create lasting state capacity to tackle climate change. 🧵🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

rooseveltinstitute.org

Building Up in 2029: How to Make Green Statecraft Durable

Explore 17 essays on durable US climate and industrial policy after Inflation Reduction Act rollbacks, covering governance, planning, finance, and production.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Every field fights about politics, it's as predictable as the rising sun 😴

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The real problem in Sociology is that it's too slow to encourage work on emerging topics of massive consequence for social life: climate breakdown, AI, rise of Asian capitalisms, biotech, etc etc. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/u...

nytimes.com

Is Activism Hurting Sociology? Sociologists Are Torn.

A group of sociologists broke away in protest from their colleagues over disagreements about Israel. Some worry the political stances are harming the field.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Amen. I can’t believe how many times I want to scream that it’s both/and in (climate) politics. Sheeesh. We enough genuine choice points, don’t have to add fake ones.

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Tbc, I’m not saying we should all get more normie! The planet is literally bruning. We have a world-historic responsibility to build, win, & govern for the working class. Of today—of tomorrow. Whatever it takes! Ultras don’t come for me if your “materialism” has no nature!!

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