From the Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh, Morrocco

Here’s an interview that was taped yesterday at the climate change conference, featuring Daniel Kammen, Professor of Energy at the University of California at Berkeley. The bottom line is that he is deeply concerned that the United States is in the process of backpedaling from its position as a leader in global warming mitigation, which will set off horrible chain reactions around the world.  However, he made it clear that he believes Donald Trump, a businessman and rational agent, will listen to the scientific facts surrounding this issue, and reverse his course vis-a-vis what he’s told the world thus far, i.e., that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.

Although this has only a tangential connection to the discussion of climate change, he believes that Bernie Sanders would have easily beaten Donald Trump, insofar as his message resonated well with the exact same people who ultimately elected Trump; his policies address the true cause of the dissatisfaction that Middle America has with the political status quo. The implication here, and it’s most certainly correct, is that Hillary Clinton made a horrible mistake in alienating these people, dismissing them as idiots and worse.

Perhaps the strongest current in this interview is a validation of the premise of “Bullish on Renewable Energy,” which is that the business opportunities in clean energy are extremely enticing, especially given the plummeting costs of solar, wind, energy storage, efficiency solutions, etc.