Welcome to The Fight, I’m your punk rock climate journalist host Jael Holzman. I’ve dedicated my entire career in journalism to understanding how and why people oppose projects crucial to decarbonization. Now, every week, I’ll be delivering must-read exclusive scoops and analysis on the local battles and national trends shaping the future of climate action as part of Heatmap Plus, a new side of the site launching today that will go even deeper into the projects, politics, and people shaping the energy transition.
As part of Heatmap Plus, you’ll get high-level analysis of our proprietary polling and forecasting data, in-depth case studies exploring why projects succeed or fail, exclusive interviews with leading policymakers, developers, and activist groups, and my weekly newsletter — The Fight — that will offer a comprehensive weekly snapshot of the battles being waged over renewable energy projects across the country, plus a lot of original reporting.
A little bit about me: For years, I reported on the transition by writing about mining – one of the dirtiest businesses central to renewable energy, vehicle electrification, and industrial decarbonization. As I covered those topics, it was evident that climate activists, policymakers, and investors alike were all quietly torn up by the reality that building things meant some pretty shocking knock-on effects for the environment and society. I also found the threat of those consequences became a useful tool for shaping public opinion against the energy transition, a practice best described as “trade-off denial.”
Earlier this year, I joined Heatmap after being approached with an opportunity: how would I like to investigate conflicts over individual renewables and battery projects in places where a hollowed-out local media left no reporters available to ask the tough questions? On top of that, I’d get to take a wide-angle lens, sussing out what national policy trends, forces, and industries were driving opposition and the hurdles to projects getting built. I could give Heatmap readers all the information they’d need, project by project, accompanied by exclusive data and regular Q&A sessions with readers.
So after months of investigating various projects and their opponents, I’m excited to debut the first edition of The Fight. I’ve got to tell you, these stories might bother you. In our inaugural send, for example, you’ll hear about how a fight against a California battery storage project might impact permitting nationwide, the ways a few activists can manipulate emotional fears to create real roadblocks to construction, and the wide gulf between what regulators and developers want versus the individuals most likely to sue to stop a project.
This won’t always be fun — in fact, sometimes it might be a bummer. But over the span of this newsletter, by talking to all sides involved and providing an airing of grievances, it’s my hope we’ll use well-intentioned journalism to inform you on how the things we need to ditch fossil fuels can be built faster and get community buy-in.
This newsletter will go out exclusively to subscribers of Heatmap Plus. If you want to get it, you can join Plus here — for a limited time, you can take $50 off by using the code FIGHTLAUNCH at checkout.
But enough small talk. Let’s get started.
A view of Drax's wood-burning plant in North Yorkshire, England. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images