Some thoughts on Volts' fourth birthday

Sailing into darker waters.

Volts launched on December 7, 2020, a month after Joe Biden's narrow presidential victory and a month before Trump’s attempted coup. I was already 15 years into a career researching and writing about clean energy at that point, but it was the first time since 2008 when it felt like something significant might actually happen.

And it has. The federal government has been doing stuff — all kinds of stuff most voters never hear about, but we discuss frequently here at Volts. The Inflation Reduction Act alone was dozens of programs, dozens of different mechanisms and timelines, challenges and opportunities.

It was a hopeful and exciting time to launch and it’s been super fun covering the Democrats’ whole-of-government approach to the clean energy transition — a buffet of wonkery for a show like mine. And the vision has only just begun to unfold; most of the effects are yet to be felt. Had that vision been shepherded by people of good will over the next four years, I think we would have seen wonders.

Hey girl.

Now, as Volts enters its fifth year, it's not clear what we'll see, at least at the federal level, or how much fun I’m going to have covering it. There will be no talk of restraining or inconveniencing the fossil fuel industry. There will be no talk of environmental justice. As for the tax credits and grant programs in IRA, it will be every industry for itself. (That’s what House Speaker Mike Johnson means when he says Republicans will go after IRA with a “scalpel not a sledgehammer” — friends get subsidies, enemies get bupkis.)

I don't want to ignore the degradation that is going to be wrought at the federal level, but I also don’t want to give the bastards what they most covet, which is my constant, helpless, distressed attention. I don’t want Volts to become a chronicle of the dissolution of the administrative state.

Once I shake off this election funk — I’ve given myself until the end of the year — I’m going to go back to doing what I’ve tried to do from the beginning: find cool people who are doing cool things and talk to them about it.

No matter what happens, there will be cool people doing cool things. The clean energy transition will continue. I take some solace in the fact that my two foremost current obsessions, building out the grid and building more housing, largely play out at the state and local level and are as often intra-coalitional fights as they are partisan.

There's plenty to keep me busy and I hope you will find Volts more valuable than ever in the days ahead. In general, with billionaire-owned media already bending the knee to the incoming regime, all independent media seems more important than ever.

Hey boy.

The only thing that enables me to keep doing what I’m doing is the support of paid subscribers. I take no ads, have no sponsors, and answer to no institutions. I am not owned by any hedge fund or billionaire and do not serve at the pleasure of any interest or faction.

There’s only me and you. I try to make something useful; those of you who find it useful chip in to help me keep going. Nothing feels quite safe these days, but that, the simplicity and directness of my connection to you, feels solid, at least. Tangible.

I’d love it if you helped me. As a paid subscriber you’ll get some perks — free tickets to live events, access to monthly mailbag episodes, other goodies here and there — but the main reason to pay is so that I can keep spreading these stories, to keep you (and myself) sane and hopeful through the darkness.

I vowed when Volts was founded that I would only do one fundraiser a year, and this is it. This is my yearly plea. If you would like to help me keep doing this work, you can contribute in any of the following ways:

1. Sign up for a monthly or yearly subscription.

2. Substack subscriptions auto-renew unless you tell them not to. Some people really don’t like that! Those folks may make a one-time donation here, outside the Substack system. If you donate $60 or more, my colleague Sam will hook you up with a year’s subscription.

3. You can also give a Volts subscription to a friend or loved one as a green holiday gift. Why, it would make anyone merry!

4. Finally, you can rate and review Volts on Apple or whatever podcast platform you use. (There’s a reason every podcaster says this; it’s enormously helpful.) Or you can just mention Volts to friends or colleagues. Word of mouth is how we’ve grown so far!

I’m sorry this year’s birthday/fundraiser note isn’t as chipper as last year’s. I’m not good at faking that stuff. But the work feels more necessary than ever, so as always, to those of you helping to support it, thank you.

Forest, RIP