News & Events

News:

New podcast, Grounded, Not Divided, launched, about leaders who are making progress on important issues in the real world.

New paper, on interactions between price-driven and multispecies overharvesting threats, out in Fish and Fisheries.

Matt has joined the University of Wyoming's Economics Department, in the College of Business.

New essays on faculty hiring in higher education published, in the Heterodox Academy blog, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

New essay on how polarization will destroy itself, published.

New paper, finding that pairing climate change policies with other policies can reduce popular support, out in Climatic Change.

New paper summarizing key insights from our recent work on climate change, out in FIU Law Review.


Upcoming Events:

October 3-4, 2024, Nashville, TN: Bypassing climate polarization. Vanderbilt University Law School.

October 8, 2024, Laramie, WY: Nature is nonpartisan: A conversation with Benji Backer. 5:00-6:30pm MT, College of Business Auditorium, University of Wyoming.

October 9, 2024, Boulder, CO: The conservative environmentalist: A conversation with Benji Backer. 5:30-7:00pm MT, Kittredge Central Conference Room N114 A&B, University of Colorado Boulder.

January 10-12, 2025, Los Angeles, CA: Censorship in the Sciences: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. University of Souther California.


Reducing Polarization Dialogs:

Fridays at noon (once per month), and this year we're across the mountain west. Sign up here.


Recent Press:

'How climate change could shape the 2024 election' (KALW Radio, September 23, 2024)

'Panel event encourages discourse' (The Branding Iron, September 17, 2024)

'Surviving a climate disaster isn't likely to change how you vote' (Bloomberg, September 16, 2024)

'Débat Trump-Harris : pourquoi ils n’ont presque pas parlé d’écologie' (Reporterre, September 11, 2024)

'The next President will be a climate-disaster President' (The Atlantic, September 10, 2024)

'UW holds advantages amidst national enrollment concerns' (The Branding Iron, August 27, 2024)

'Service statements emerge as possible constructive alternative to DEI statements' (The College Fix, August 5, 2024)

'The Biden administration made progress on climate change. Experts say Kamala Harris needs to convince climate voters.' (CBS News, July 23, 2024)

'How Republicans can lead on the environment and energy to win the election' (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 14, 2024)

'With five days until the primary election, climate change is top of mind for Colorado voters' (KUNC, June 20, 2024)

'How 2024’s US election could affect the global fight against climate change' (Al Jazeera, June 20, 2024)

'Seidel names third cohort of UW Presidential Fellows' (University of Wyoming News, June 7, 2024)

'A climate scientist questioned his findings. It didn’t go well.' (The Christian Science Monitor, June 6, 2024)


Press Archives:

'Will America's wet, hot summer upend the 2024 race?' (HeatMap News, May 30, 2024)

'I'm a young conservative, and I want my party to lead the fight against climate change' (New York Times, April 27, 2024)

'Are pollsters getting climate change wrong?' (HeatMap News, April 22, 2024)

'When it comes to climate action, beware the policy bundle' (Anthropocene, April 2, 2024)

'Climate change policies lose popularity when combined with pausing regulations or social justice' (UCSB The Current, March 27, 2024)

'Jensen: Why conservative climate leadership is needed' (Rocky Mountain Voice, March 26, 2024)

'Study: Sweetening climate policies with add-ons designed to engage liberals or conservatives can kick back' (Sustain What, March 26, 2024)

'What is ESG investing? And what role does it play in Wyoming and political polarization?' (Wyoming Public Radio, March 22, 2024)

'Putting climate laws to work' (Eos, March 20, 2024)

'How important is climate change to voters?' (KALW Radio, March 18, 2024)

'Climate change matters to more and more people – and could be a deciding factor in the 2024 election' (The Conversation, March 12, 2024; reposted by the San Francisco Chronicle , Salon, and others)

'Analysis: Trump election win could add 4bn tonnes to US emissions by 2030' (Carbon Brief, March 6, 2024)

'What does Trump mean for the climate?' (Project Syndicate, March 4, 2024)

'US utilities on track to be fully renewable by 2060, CU Boulder study finds' (9News, February 21, 2024)

'Denying climate change 'probably' cost Trump the 2020 election' (NBC, January 24, 2024)

'Climate concerns are driving small but pivotal shifts in voting choices' (Anthropocene, January 23, 2024)

'CBS Climate Watch' (CBS, January 22, 2024)

'The 2024 election just might turn on...climate change?' (Bloomberg, January 22, 2024)

'Americans' climate fears gave Democrats the White House in 2020--study' (Newsweek, January 18, 2024)

'What's stopping US climate policies from working effectively?' (CU Boulder Today, January 17, 2024)

'US voters' climate change opinions swing elections' (CIRES News, January 17, 2024)

'US electricity set to be 100% renewable by 2060' (Newsweek, December 19, 2023; reposted by dozens of local affiliates)

'U.S. utilities on track to be 100% renewable by 2060' (CIRES News, December 18, 2023)

'Fireside chat with Governor Spencer Cox and John Tomasi' (National Governors' Association, November 16, 2023; includes a shout out to Matt's work)

'To win the climate change messaging war, tell a new story' (US News & World Report, November 14, 2023)

'Can Arizona revive its bipartisan clean power mandate?' (EnergyWire, October 3, 2023)

'The GOP Can Win By Embracing Climate Solutions, Rejecting Climate Hysteria' (Daily Caller, September 22, 2023)

'USA TODAY, Ipsos poll: 20% of Americans fear climate change could force them to move' (USA Today, September 7, 2023)

'What's the best weapon against climate change? Hope' (Newsweek, August 14, 2023)

'Research spoiler: Reducing food waste has unintended consequences' (Anthropocene, July 28, 2023)

'Is eliminating food waste the key to stopping climate change? Probably not, study says' (KUNC NPR, July 26, 2023)

'CU Boulder study: Reducing food waste may combat hunger over climate change' (Daily Camera, July 20, 2023)

'Reducing food waste is a smaller environmental win' (CIRES News, July 20, 2023)

'21st century economic growth will be slower than we thought' (CIRES News, June 22, 2023)

'Environmental forum brings together diverse viewpoints, experts on environmental policy' (FIU News, May 2, 2023)

'Latest international report calls for adaptation, rapid action' (CU Boulder Today, March 22, 2023)

'How did everything get so political?' (Coloradan Alumni Magazine, March 6, 2023)

'Opening doors for a more robust exchange of ideas' (CU Boulder Arts and Sciences Magazine, January 24, 2023)

'The worst-case climate scenarios are no longer plausible today' (New Scientist, Januart 11, 2023)

'How Heterodox Academy hopes to change the campus conversation' (Chronicle of Higher Education, January 9, 2023)

'Governor DeSantis, Larry Fink, and the ESG debate: How climate policy could avoid the culture wars' (Forbes, December 27, 2022)

'The midterms' surprising lesson for 2024: Court the climate voter' (The New Republic, November 11, 2022)

'Climate on the ballot in U.S. midterms' (CGTN News, November 8, 2022)

'Why only some voters have climate change on the brain this November' (CU Boulder Today, November 4, 2022)

'Good climate-change news is fit to print' (Wall St Journal, November 1, 2022)

'Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View' (New York Times, October 26, 2022)

'Hope not doom? Opportunities rising in climate politics' (The Christian Science Monitor, July 26, 2022)

'CU Boulder leaders visit Vail valley' (CU Boulder Today, June 16, 2022)

'The secrets to passing climate legislation — even in red states' (Grist, May 10, 2022)

'U.S. Reps Neguse and Curtis discuss bipartisan ways to address climate change' (CU Boulder Today, April 22, 2022)

'For climate change mitigation, bipartisan politics can work' (CIRES News, April 6, 2022)

'Common ground' (UCSB News, April 6, 2022)

'Chancellor showcases CU Boulder in Washington' (CU Boulder Today, April 5, 2022)

'Win-wins in environmental management hard to find' (CIRES News, March 24, 2022)

'At the Chancellor's Summit, CU professors talk climate and justice' (CU Independent, March 1, 2022)

'Summit shines light on climate change as human rights crisis' (CU Boulder Today, February 24, 2022)

'Paris climate agreement goals are still within reach' (KUER Utah News, February 15, 2022)

'Paris climate agreement goal still within reach, suggests new CU Boulder study' (CU Boulder Today, February 11, 2022)

'People need to hear the good news about climate change' (Slow Boring, February 10, 2022)

'Worst-case climate change scenarios are highly implausible, argues new study' (Reason, February 9, 2022)

'Why it’s time to stop defining a nation’s success through economic growth' (CU Boulder Today, November 18, 2021)

'Slowing ahead' (UCSB News, November 18, 2021)

'IPCC Climate Change Report Gives a Less Extreme but More Sobering Outlook' (Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2021)

'The Scariest Predictions in the New U.N. Climate Report Are Also the Most Unlikely' (Reason, August 9, 2021)

'Viewpoint diversity award for Matthew Burgess' (CIRES News, December 17, 2020)

'The debate over the United Nations energy emissions projections' (Eos, December 18, 2020)

'Coronavirus Is Buying Time on Climate Change. Will We Make Use of It?' (Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2020)

'CU Boulder Professors: ‘Tax’ On Satellites Will Reduce Space Junk' (CBS Denver, May 26, 2020)

'Good News And Bad News As Carbon Dioxide Emissions Grow More Slowly Than Models Predict' (Forbes, February 18, 2020)

'Can we balance conservation and development? Science says yes' (Davos World Economic Forum Agenda, October 16, 2018)

'Blowing up illegal fishing boats helps Indonesian fishers' (Scientific American, August 6, 2018)

'Reducing collateral damage' (The UCSB Current, March 15, 2018)

'Cornered' (The UCSB Current, March 28, 2017)

'Is China's hands-off approach to fisheries producing more fish?' (Hakai Magazine, February 23, 2017)

'National seafood rule could prevent marine mammal deaths...if it's not revoked' (National Geographic Ocean Voices, January 27, 2017)

'Intense industrial fishing' (The UCSB Current, January 17, 2017)

'New US seafood rule shows global trade and conservation can work together' (The Conversation, January 10, 2017). Reposted by Huffington Post (January 17, 2017)

'Fishing rule aims to do for all marine mammals what it did for the dolphin' (NPR, January 5, 2017)

'A new law will try to save whales and dolphins by wielding America's purchasing power' (Quartz, December 15, 2016).

'New US law poised to improve marine conservation worldwide' (ScienceDaily, December 15, 2016)

'Thinking outside the box on fisheries management? Think again.' (National Geographic Ocean Views, July 17, 2015)

'Can balanced harvesting really save the oceans?' (Davos World Economic Forum Agenda, July 17, 2015)

'Could 'balanced harvesting' really feed the world and save the oceans?' (The Conversation, July 13, 2015)

'California North' (The Globe and Mail, April 8, 2015)

'Carbon pricing models' (The Globe and Mail, January 16, 2015)

Interview on CBC's The Fisheries Broadcast about fleet diversity (CBC Radio One, November 12, 2014)

Is fleet diversity key to sustainable fisheries? (Bren School News, October 30, 2014; ScienceDaily, October 31, 2014)

'Shaping the Earth's eco-future' (The Globe and Mail, September 27, 2014)

'Climate is a centrist issue' (The Globe and Mail, June 14, 2014)

'Turning the PC household debt analogy on its head' (The Hamilton Spectator, May 30, 2014)

'Libs on right track' (The Toronto Sun, May 25, 2014)

'Predicting fish species' decline before it's too late' (Science for Environment Policy, European Commission, January 16, 2014)

'Can the use of 'big data' help save the world's fisheries?' (ClimateWire, November 19, 2013)

'U research predicts overfishing threats' (Minnesota Daily, October 3, 2013)

Interview on CBC's 'The Fisheries Broadcast' about the Eventual Threat Index (CBC Radio One, September 20, 2013)

'Identifying threatened fish species before their populations decline' (PNAS 'New & Newsworthy', September 16, 2013)

'Early-warning system to prevent fishery collapse' (ScienceDaily, September 16, 2013)

'U of M Researchers discover early-warning system to prevent fishery collapse' (Discover UMN, September 12, 2013)