What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

My most important conversations right now are focused on The Problem Solvers—those civic leaders squeezed between the climate ambition of their constituents and energy reality. In this episode, I sit down with Matt Baker, Commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission, to talk about what Problem Solver leadership looks like on the front lines of climate ambition: California.

In few places have The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition faced The Moment more clearly than in California. This conversation is important to you for a few reasons:

• Matt’s the best kind of Problem Solver—a smart, devoted, pragmatic, experienced climate hawk willing to name trade-offs and argue for workable solutions.

• He’s in the middle of the action. He sits at the center of some of the hardest questions in energy right now: what to build, how fast to build it, and who can afford the bill.

• He thinks differently than we do. And (as you’ll hear) his view of the world—what matters, what is possible, what is urgent—is very different from yours. You need that diversity of thought.

How does Matt address the yawning gap between the climate expectations of his constituencies and the on-the-ground pressures around cost and reliability? “I’m thinking of that quip from Mike Tyson’s,” he told me, “which is ‘All plans are great until you get punched in the face.’”

For a long time, he added, regulators like him operated under an implicit plan for the energy transition: First drive efficiency, then decarbonize power sources, then electrify everything else. But now that punch Tyson was talking about has arrived in California, in the form of rising costs, reliability stressors, and wildfire liabilities.

What makes Baker worth hearing is his unflinching commitment to the centrality and urgency of climate ambition to the state’s goals and his mandate. He argues that reliability and affordability are the necessary conditions for climate action.

You need to understand this point of view.

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Why Matt Baker?

I met Matt when I was head of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association and he was a Colorado public utilities commissioner. He’s someone I’ve long known to be both a passionate climate hawk and a deeply pragmatic thinker.

Matt brings a perspective we don’t hear enough from: what it looks like to sit at the center of the regulatory beast, where every decision is a trade-off—and getting it wrong has real consequences for your neighbors. In his case, 39 million of them.

Some of Matt’s insights:

On climate ambition versus reality: “It’s super important as an energy regulator to recognize that if we can’t provide safe, reliable, and affordable energy services, then we will not be able to meet those climate goals. That prime directive—particularly reliability and affordability—has to go hand in hand if we’re going to meet [climate] goals.”

On climate progress: “We have to get used to living in difficult worlds and making trade-offs—but still moving the ball as far as we can every time we get it.”

The quiet part was said out loud: “I continue to believe natural gas is a critical fuel, and that California really needs to be able to think about how do we get clean firm [power]. And until we have clean firm [power sources] that are economical, we’re going to rely on natural gas.”

On depolarizing energy and climate: “This is not a religious war. ... This is not a crusade on either side. My goal is to make energy boring again! Let’s talk about cost allocation. Let’s talk about resource planning.”

Bonus content!

More about Matt Baker: Matt Baker is a commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024. He brings decades of experience in energy and climate policy, including serving as director of the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office and deputy secretary of energy at the California Natural Resources Agency. Previously, he was a commissioner at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and a program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Baker began his career in public interest advocacy and holds a BA in history from Pennsylvania State University.

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

Read Jennifer Pahlka’s Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better.

CPUC’s report to the California Earthquake Authority: Senate Bill 254 Information and Recommendations.

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

What to do next in The Moment

• Email us and we’ll help you train for your next boxing match.

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To rolling with the punches,
Tisha

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

Fear works—up to a point.

So even before we found ourselves amid a war in the Middle East and an energy crisis, a fear-driven politics was forming in reaction to AI, data centers, and energy buildout.

Why? Because fear is politically easy for both the left and the right. But you—the successful energy leader—want much more than scoring easy political points. Your challenge: Offer an alternative vision to the demagoguery.

And then connect that vision to your stakeholder communities, to give them a path out of the fear.

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Both of these things are true:

• Fear will be the default politics around AI, data centers, and energy infrastructure growth.

• Leaders must offer a vision of the future—complete with that infrastructure—that communities will actually champion.

In this solo episode, I work through:

• Why a politics of fear is emerging around AI, data centers, and energy

• What it takes to offer a credible, optimistic vision of the future rooted in innovation and real-world outcomes

• Why communities—not just policymakers—will ultimately determine what gets built and what doesn’t

A preview

The opportunity the politics of fear gives us: “Fear as a political approach is the default, and we should expect that. … I think it leaves this wide-open lane for someone to talk about the future in an optimistic way.”

On the real goal of community engagement: “You want champions. You don’t just want to be an invited guest, but a recruited, welcome, sought-after partner in building communities of the future.”

On articulating a better enemy: “What if polarization became the enemy? The polarization is turning our politics into these wild, populist pendulum swings, making it impossible to get common sense things done, like budget bills and permitting reform.”

Bonus content for this episode

My latest book, The Myth and The Moment.

A song that inspired my spring break (h/t to the hubby, Brian!).

Relevant podcasts: “The World Changed. The Climate Playbook Didn’t.” and “The Center Won’t Hold Itself.”

Mentioned: an Axios story on how AI CEOs are fueling a more fear-driven conversation about the future.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

What to do next in The Moment

• We can help your busy team work more strategically. Email us to secure a contract spot for Q3 2026.

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To providing that compelling vision,

Tisha

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

I sit down with Alex Trembath, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, because I wanted to explore a question that’s been on my mind for a while: Are we really moving past what Alex calls the “peak climate” era? (Because I’m not so sure.)

For much of the past two decades, climate change has been the central organizing force for energy policy, politics, philanthropy, and corporate strategy. But the world is shifting. Geopolitics, economic pressures, and new technologies—especially artificial intelligence—are changing the political context for energy and climate.

Alex and I talk about what that means for the future of the energy transition, the persistence of what I call the “climate orthodoxy,” and the debates now emerging inside Democratic politics around oil and gas, nuclear, the grid, and the one thing that determines how everything unfolds: permitting reform.

If you’re trying to understand where the conversation on energy and climate may go next, this is a good place to start.

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Why Alex?

I’ve known Alex for a long time, and he’s one of the people I turn to when I want to stress-test my thinking about energy and climate.

At the Breakthrough Institute, Alex has helped develop an eco-modernist perspective that puts technological innovation and energy abundance at the center of solving environmental challenges.

When Breakthrough first started advancing these ideas, they were often seen as fringe. Today, many of these same ideas—innovation, advanced nuclear, carbon removal, energy abundance—are much closer to the center of the conversation.

I wanted to talk with Alex because the world feels as if it’s shifting again. The climate agenda that dominated the past decade is running into new political and technological realities.

The question now is: What replaces the old playbook—and how does our industry contribute to a thriving, vibrant energy landscape?

Some of Alex’s insights

• On peak climate: “For most of my career, climate change was the central organizing force for progressives and for the Democratic Party. Reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century was non-negotiable. Everything was framed around how it contributed to the climate agenda. I think that world is over.”

• On our role: “The oil and gas industry has a lot of industrial and technical knowledge to share, with carbon removal, clean fuels, geothermal, and other emerging energy technologies. There are many ways industry can continue to accelerate energy innovation and expand energy abundance.”

Bonus content!

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

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

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On to what comes next,
Tisha

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

The most important conversations often must reckon with a profound tension: two opposing ideas that are both true. Example:

• Communities deserve voice and process.

• Communities can’t keep using their voices to “ban” the stuff that keeps the lights on—pipelines, transmission, firm generation—without consequences: spiking bills, stalling projects, and disappearing reliability.

I look for conversations with people with whom I don’t always agree—in order to explore the tensions that we must confront to make progress.

In this episode, I sit down with Josh Freed, senior vice president for climate and energy at the centrist think tank Third Way, to explore what a U.S. energy strategy rooted in the national interest could look like. That’s the connective tissue between today’s theme and the bigger question behind it: We can’t ban our way to the national interest. We have to define what we’re optimizing for—reliability, affordability, security, competitiveness, and yes, lower emissions—and then build the infrastructure that makes those goals real.

Josh brings an important, and still too rare, perspective to our industry’s work: What is politically viable to Democrats, and what do American citizens care about? We talk about the affordability pressures shaping public sentiment, the deeper failure to build infrastructure at scale, permitting reform, nuclear power, natural gas, coal, innovation, and what it would take to restore a sense of mission to American energy policy.

If we are serious about moving beyond polarization—and about building again—we need this kind of conversation. And if you’re an oil and gas leader, you can’t delegate this to your government affairs team. It’s a direct call to leadership from you. The next decade will be defined by whether we can build—and whether industry (you!) shows up as a credible partner in defining and addressing the trade-offs that building requires.

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Why Josh?

I’ve known Josh for nearly a decade. We do not see the world the same way. And that’s exactly why I wanted him on the show.

Josh and his colleagues at Third Way are helping shape the future of the Democratic Party’s energy message. That’s good news—because Josh consistently challenges orthodoxies on the left, questions ideological purity tests, and argues that clean energy must compete on cost and reliability if it’s going to scale.

If you care about building durable coalitions—and ensuring oil and gas companies can be credible partners in what comes next—you need to understand how leaders like Josh are thinking. He represents the kind of center-left partner you’ll be able to do business with ... if you’re ready to make trade-offs yourself.

Some of Josh’s insights

• What energy is politically viable? “Democrats and centrists need to re-embrace ‘all of the above.’ The reality is, natural gas is still used in our economy and in economies around the world for a wide variety of reasons, and it’s going to continue to be used for the foreseeable future. Oil is the same way, and we have to not only accept but embrace that reality.”

• On a linchpin for permitting reform: “We—as a country, the energy sector, developers, investors—need to have confidence that there’s a path that works and that the government is good for its word, regardless of who’s in power in the White House ... and we just don’t have that right now, and we didn’t have that to the full extent that we should have in the last administration, either.”

• On American leadership: “There’s this broader systemic problem, which is we don’t build infrastructure or do big things in the United States anymore. And it is because there’s this ideological challenge on both sides of the aisle that we need to only adhere to a set of technologies, a set of market constraints, or other politically imposed circumstances that really do limit the way our economy builds things and powers the country.”

Bonus content!

We also talk about The Myth and The Moment—why “easy transition” narratives collapse the moment you collide with reliability, permitting reform, and the sheer scale of infrastructure required.

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

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

What to do next in The Moment

• Email us, and we’ll help you train for the energy race. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

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Over (opting out) and out,

Tisha

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 political center matters—and it won’t hold itself. Whereas the political extremes reward polarization and populism, sustaining a functioning and productive polity requires … you! The work ahead needs your engagement, curiosity, and willingness to compromise—even when your effort is awkward, incremental, and unappreciated. Whether a strong, pragmatic left emerges to join a vibrant political center matters to you, your company, and what comes next.

Why is this work so important? Because the same sort of tension defines the work of the Problem Solvers—governors, regulators, public utilities commissioners, and others caught between climate aspiration and on-the-ground energy reality. As affordability, reliability, and power-system growth collide with climate goals, these leaders are operating under tightening constraints and are accountable when trade-offs can no longer be avoided. You need to give them a path on which to walk forward confidently. You need to ensure there is firm ground in the political center.

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

• Why a functioning political center is essential—and why it requires us to build and sustain it

• What’s happening on the center left as pragmatism, populism, and institutional responsibility collide

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Here’s a preview:

On why replacing one populism with another is not a solution: “The natural order of things will be for the pendulum to swing from the current populist right to a populist, illiberal left. A lot of progressive politics suggests that this is what we should want. But I think that’s a dangerous assumption, and I don’t live in a world where that feels like a stable or healthy outcome.”

On the active work required to sustain pragmatic politics: “It’s really important in America that we have two functioning parties that encourage civility, that encourage … bipartisan legislation that encourages incremental change, compromise, and progress. … To not have a country run by polarization or populism of either left or right, illiberalism on both the left and the right, we have to be curating the center.”

On engaging across disagreement: “Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, be an organization and a leader worthy of engaging with those with whom you disagree. Be smart. Be curious. Be willing to compromise, and be willing to look at things from their perspective.”

Listen here

Bonus content for this episode

My latest book, The Myth and The Moment.

My piece “The Best Thought Experiment You’ll Do This Year”.

Relevant podcasts: “The Gas Moment Is Real. It’s Also Fragile.” and “Trim Your Sails”

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.”

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.

• If this landed for you, hit the heart button below.

Join the community

To a crowded center,

Tisha

I have a strategic advisory slot open for one leader in Q2—email to learn more.

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

Tailwinds have blown open a political window for natural gas—especially among moderate Democrats. This Moment is real. It’s also fragile. If our industry mistakes momentum for durability—or indulges our worst habits because it feels as if “we’re finally winning”—we’ll just prompt a backlash that will slam the window shut.

We won’t win The Moment with bravado—or even facts. We’ll win if our industry shows up as a good partner to the stakeholders currently trying to meet us halfway. What does this mean? That we:

• Emphasize our decarbonization ambitions

• Acknowledge their climate concern

• Deliver on environmental performance

And, most important, we must create the conditions for the climate-concerned to change their minds about The Myth without losing face.

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In this solo episode, you’ll hear me think through some of what I’m now telling oil and gas leaders privately:

• How you can use reflection and intention to deepen your meaningful leadership

• What it would take to convince me that The Myth is not a myth

• Democrats and natural gas … what’s happening, what comes next, and what could go terribly, terribly wrong

Here’s a taste of what you’ll get:

On your need as a leader to be thoughtful: “There really is a consistent interest in us humans to do something that matters, that’s meaningful, and that will endure past us. … We can only achieve that if we make some space in our lives for reflection and then be really intentional about what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.”

On the political pendulum and industry amnesia: “Do not erroneously imagine that the sense of momentum and power and winning that pervades our industry right now … Do not for one moment assume that you’re going to feel remotely that way when the political pendulum swings back. … Just think back two years.”

On the risk of disengagement: “There are people out there on the left going to extraordinary lengths to create a sensical energy and climate platform—we need to be worthy of their partnership, of their faith, of their engagement. … If you are a Republican or a centrist or an independent, and you think this isn’t relevant to you, I say you are smoking crack and wrong, and you need to pay attention.”

Listen here

Bonus content for this episode

My latest book: The Myth and The Moment

My newsletters “The Question at Dawn” and “The Best Thought Experiment You’ll Do This Year”

Alex Trembath’s recent Substack post “Environmentalism vs. Affordability in New York”

The New York Times piece “Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?”

Matthew Yglesias’ Substack “A Reply to Critics on American Oil and Gas”

Emily Atkin’s Substack “It’s Time to Embrace Climate Conspiracy”

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

What to do next in The Moment

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

• Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

• Do you want to leave a positive legacy? Hit that heart button below.

Subscribe now

Loving the fresh air from the open window,

Tisha

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.

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Why Daniel?

Daniel acknowledged something many in our audience know well:

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.”

Listen here

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:

• If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here. It’s free!

• 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.

Don’t miss the next newsletter

To leaders who work past the zero-sum story,

Tisha

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!)

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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!

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• Take heart! Hit that heart button below.

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Wishing you and yours a happy new year,

Tisha

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.

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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.

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Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

Tisha

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.

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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.

Subscribe now

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

To effective inoculation,

Tisha

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.

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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.”

Listen here

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.

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

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To dolphins,

Tisha

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.

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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.

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Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tisha

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

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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.

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To the most important job ahead,

Tisha

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

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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.

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Play ball!

Tisha

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.

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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.

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To being both wrong and right,

Tisha

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.

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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

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What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

Toby Z. Rice, CEO at EQT, is unabashedly America’s natural gas champion—and I always enjoy his high-energy, high-optimism takes! On this episode of Energy Thinks, Toby was clear: Energy security, reliability, and affordability are nonnegotiable. He paired this resolution with unwavering commitment to the trajectory to zero carbon. Toby framed his company’s imperative this way:

We are still in one of the greatest races ever when it comes to energy. I don’t care if you’re in renewables, batteries, nuclear, natural gas, oil, coal—we are all in a race to be the first energy solution that can present the trifecta to the world: affordable, reliable, and zero-carbon.

Given his outspoken optimism, I pressed Toby on leadership in The Moment—globally, nationally, and locally. You’ll hear:

• How energy abundance can fuel economic development, with Pittsburgh as a proving ground

• Why “best of the above” beats “all of the above” (“RIP ‘All of the Above’”!)

• How American LNG underpins global energy security and (I ask) climate security, too

• Toby’s bold vision for using energy abundance as a “wrecking ball” against poverty to unleash human potential around the globe

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Why Toby?

Toby leads EQT, one of America’s largest natural gas producers. His abundance lens is pragmatic: affordability, reliability, cleaner outcomes. That combination makes him a compelling voice for The Moment.

Some of Toby’s insights

• On reframing energy: “Energy is life; energy is wealth; energy is technology and prosperity. Energy is freedom. And that’s a very good message for us to get excited about. And the one way that every single person in this industry can move that ball forward is by making the energy we produce more affordable, more reliable, and cleaner. And then tell people: ‘You do it.’”

• On the role of American LNG: “What’s been proven over the past few years is that LNG, specifically American LNG, is the global guarantor of the world’s energy security. We cannot say that enough times. It was America that really stepped up to deliver energy to Europe when their supply was yanked away [by] Russia. And one truth that we’ve learned from going through that crisis is that without energy security, the world cannot transition. So American LNG is going to play a huge role in providing that energy security.”

• On turning The Moment into action: “What are the next steps [so] that we can take this passion and convert it into real action? That’s going to be different for every company. But one thing that’s going to underpin every one of those action plans is bringing more energy into the world. Because the more energy we bring into it, the better the world will be.”

Bonus content!

My op-ed in The Hill: The “easy energy transition” myth is causing your bills to go up.

My Both of These Things Are True: “The 3 Ts of Energy Realism.”

Watch on YouTube or listen on Substack.

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 translate your team’s optimism about The Moment into a 12-month action plan.

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

• Wreck that wall! Tap the heart button below. (It really helps!)

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Smash!

Tisha

What you’ll get in this mini pod Energy Thinks

Scott Hallam, president & CEO of Boardwalk Pipelines, joins me to offer his takes on my new book, The Myth and The Moment, and to map how leaders can drive what comes next. You’ll hear:

• Why “the Myth” won’t disappear—but will evolve

• How leaders can engage with true believers in the Myth

• How to build and test a durable strategy for your business that stands up under changing political regimes

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Why Scott?

Scott has front-line experience making the case for the triple mandate for energy leadership: decarbonization + reliability + affordability—all anchored in technology and innovation. He challenges us to think big (not “small ball”) to drive what comes after The Myth: America’s energy advantage and best-in-class infrastructure.

Some of Scott’s insights

On the Myth’s staying power (and how to meet it): “I think that The Myth will continue to evolve, and I just think there’s too much investment emotionally and intellectually for The Myth to ever really go away… as those of us that are in the moment, we have to find ways to come alongside those that really believe in the promises of clean energy.”

On building a strategy that survives political whiplash: “We have to consistently test our strategies and our thinking… finding the right alliances… with those that may not be like-minded, but there’s common ground.”

On how we create what happens next in The Moment: “We want to think big. We want to make sure that everything we’re looking at and considering is because we’re thinking large scale, big, big opportunities.”

What to do next in The Moment

• Watch on YouTube or listen here.

• Order The Myth and The Moment for your team’s year end meeting! Contact us for a bulk order.

• If you’re a paid subscriber, thanks! If not, you can support my work by upgrading to paid.

• Hit that heart button in a BIG way to help others find my work!

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Home run!

Tisha

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

I sit down with Arjun Murti, partner at Veriten, creator of the Super-Spiked newsletter and video Substack, and one of the most influential voices for energy realism. You’ll love Arjun’s sharp insights into why The Myth of an Easy Energy Transition is dissolving and what that means for oil and gas leaders, climate stakeholders, and global energy demand. We use his Wall Street framework of “getting the call right” to move past tribal takes and toward action.

You’ll hear:

• Why the “delayed transition” narrative is grabbing attention—but is risky for company leaders

• How decarbonization actually advances—by paying attention to the interests of the emerging economies that will become the global middle class

• Why oil and gas companies must use The Moment to take smart risks and articulate a credible vision for an energy-rich future

• How to build the leadership muscle of “getting the call right”—data in, ego out—and update the call when facts change

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Why Arjun?

Arjun has spent over 30 years on Wall Street as a sell-side equity research analyst, buy-side investor, advisor, and board member, with expertise in the global energy sector. Arjun is trusted across the spectrum, from climate-centric stakeholders to oil and gas executives, because he leads with data, humility, and curiosity. He’s trained to “only care about getting the call right” and isn’t afraid to correct his calls publicly.

Some of Arjun’s insights

• On unrealistic expectations: “There is never any one-size-fits-all. … There's a lot of evidence that the bulk of humanity understands there’s no such thing as an easy energy transition.”

• On the “delayed transition” crutch: “They are going to simply try and punt: ‘We’re still right; it’s just delayed.’ And I am encouraging everyone that we advise: Don’t fall for that. Don’t fall for those who are not recognizing the failed analytics of that net-zero mindset.”

• On what actually drives decarbonization: “We will decarbonize, but not by counting carbon. No one on earth, with the exception of activists, actually cares about carbon. … And so then the question is ‘What is going to actually motivate decarbonization?’” (Listen to find out!)

• On the new day in energy: “The greatest thing to be optimistic about is the technology companies—they now care about energy.”

Bonus content!

Arjun’s Super-Spiked video podcast on “delayed transition” narratives: “Obliterating Mainstream Macro Narratives: Natural Gas.”

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

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

Interview recorded on August 27, 2025.

What to do next in The Moment

• Check out my piece in The Hill “This one climate myth is what’s causing energy prices to rise”.

• Craft your “get the right call” blueprint. Email us for help.

• If this email was forwarded to you, please subscribe here.

• Are you usually right? Hit that heart button below.

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To the right call,

Tisha

1. The kind of endurance it takes to keep moving when every instinct says stop,

2. A culture-war symbol that may become a bridge, and

3. The surprising leadership muscle that unlocks momentum after you’ve run out of strategies.

Mentioned in the episode:

The Myth and The Moment is now available.

“Ruben Gallego's 'Big Ass Truck' Pitch to Fellow Democrats”, Newsweek by Jesus Mesa

“Ford leaders sharpen their focus on how to beat the Chinese to lead in global markets”, Detroit Free Press by Jamie L. LaReau

“Beatitude”, Vocabulary

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

Subscribe here for Tisha’s weekly Both of These Things Are True email newsletter.

Follow all things Adamantine Energy at www.energythinks.com.

Thanks to Kayla Chieves who makes the Energy Thinks podcast possible.

[Episode recorded on August 24, 2025]