Climate policy scholar Leah Stokes will visit Cornell on April 23 to examine the political negotiations and personal stories behind the landmark Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which marked the largest federal investment in climate and clean energy in U.S. history and reshaped the nation’s approach to addressing climate change.

Credit: Provided

Stokes will deliver a talk, “The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet,” as part of the annual Distinguished Lecture in the Social Sciences, hosted by the Cornell Center for Social Sciences. The lecture will take place at 5 p.m. in Room 120 of the Physical Sciences Building. Registration is required. A reception for attendees will follow the lecture.

In the lecture, Stokes will draw from her book of the same name, which recounts the passage of the legislation through the perspectives of three new parents working inside and outside government. 

The work’s narrative traces the victories and setbacks that shaped the legislation’s path, including tense negotiations among President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and then U.S. Sen Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), while weaving in Stokes’ own experience navigating a high-risk pregnancy.

Widely recognized for her research and public engagement on climate policy and politics, Stokes was named to the 2022 TIME100 Next list for what Time described as her “powerhouse” contribution to the Inflation Reduction Act.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, The 2030 Project and the ILR Climate Jobs Institute.

“Cornell Atkinson is delighted to support this visit by Leah Stokes,” said David Lodge, the Francis J. DiSalvo Director of Cornell Atkinson. “Her talk will provide students and faculty with a model for moving research into impact.” 

Stokes is the Anton Vonk Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the politics of climate and energy policy. Her previous book, “Short Circuiting Policy,” was named the Best Energy Book of 2020 by the American Energy Society and was recognized as one of the top climate books of 2020 by the New York Times. Stokes won the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication in 2024.

“Professor Stokes’ visit is incredibly timely,” said Peter Enns, the Robert S. Harrison Director of CCSS and a professor of government in the College of Arts and Sciences and of public policy in the Brooks School. “Amidst rising oil prices and ongoing efforts to dismantle climate rules, I could not imagine a more important perspective.”

The CCSS Distinguished Lecture in the Social Sciences brings leading thinkers to Cornell to address the campus and broader community on pressing social challenges. Past speakers include Fei-Fei Li, Raj Chetty, Isabel Wilkerson, David Lazer, Mahzarin Banaji, Dorothy Roberts and Matthew Desmond.

Megan Pillar is a communications specialist for Cornell Research & Innovation.