Abhi from Canada 🇨🇦

Our off-the-cuff chat might be a little rough around the edges, so lets unpack. Summary: we'd decarbonize/electrify better/faster when white-collar policy makers/shapers work *with* blue-collar (HVAC) technicians, rather than design programs *for* them from afar. 1/

@JustAFamilyMan_ I grew up in 🇮🇳 idolizing the American dream - hard work and tenacity are rewarded with opportunity & accomplishment - regardless of the circumstances of your birth, and I've lived that dream as a grad student in the US and now as a Canadian. My Masters thesis front page:

Apparently according to Twitter, if you are black, you cannot in any way achieve the American dream. I guess my life and many others is just a mirage. But it definitely feels like I am living the American dream and I do not have a worry in the world.

I was very lucky to be able to catch a bit of @Skills_Canada event in Winnipeg this year and lucky to have witnessed some Canada’s next generation of skilled tradespeople. Such a fantastic initiative to help young people find meaningful work. youtu.be/aimo5jYZ23w

@antoniogm @tabletmag This is genuinely one of my favorite essays, I keep returning to it often. Immensely quotable and gives voice to vague metaphysical discontentment many experience with modernity. Thank you for writing this.

@tabletmag They'll also be publishing the forever version of my semi-viral post about what sparked the journey that has now culminated (or only begun, if viewed from the Jewish perspective). thepullrequest.com/p/why-judaism

I'm excited to announce that my personal essay/philosophical treatise on my Jewish conversion will be published by @tabletmag this coming Thursday (the Jewish holiday of Shavuot marking the giving of the Torah, appropriately enough).

HVAC contractors work in the nasty parts of homes. As did I as an insulation contractor. The work needs to pay well or it won’t get done, or at least not done well.

@Jed_Trott @duncancampbell @cody_a_hill Dads have been steering their boys towards 'work smart, not hard' since at least 2000 BC (that we know of) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satir…

I generally think society needs to rethink work from home and be a bit more conservative with it, but this moral argument is incredibly dumb.

Want boots on the ground home electrification knowledge? And analysis of the challenge with hvac contractors? Check out @akantamn and I’s Boundary Spanners podcast. This is a wicked heavy lift! bit.ly/BSpodSpotify #electrifyeverything #HVAC

In my own conception of the world, I would like to be more attentive to our rich inner orderings that drive, shape our character and destiny. In particular, I'd like to account for it somehow in the policy research work I do. I am as yet unsure what that would look like /end

However, we are all not merely fragmented automatons that can be nudged into certain 'preferred' policy pathways to maximize our private utility. 7/

How to make room for - in thinking about energy policy - for the ordering of our inner lives? Where to begin accounting for things like - your sense of honour and dignity that bind you to a certain way of being? 1/

I'm tired now but I'll have to think about all this a bit more and write it up somewhere else.

Same patterns come up in nearly every conversation with all kinds of people. Concerns about > Uprootedness from and disenchantment with places > Erosion of shared spaces and corrosion of shared aspirations > Hostile fragmentation of attention and affection

Takeaways from 2 months spent driving 15k kms across 🇺🇸/🇨🇦 1) Home is where you're missed 2) There's an epidemic of profound loneliness & a devastating decline of social relations, in communities of all kinds- from coal towns in WV to software suburbs of WA 3) Wither antidote?

@Jed_Trott Maybe your plumber just needed a hug? nationaltoday.com/national-hug-a…

@StephenJWT Thanks man, very kind words and I appreciate it very much! Great seeing you in person too!

FWIW: Honestly, @akantamn is one of the best speakers on policy, justice, energy and climate issues around. He’s a rockstar. He wove a narrative about community-serving policy mixes being akin to a Sandwich Artist™️ picking toppings. You had to be there to see it, it was dope.

I'm looking forward to attending the Home Energy Justice Forum tomorrow here in Vancouver w/ @ecotrustcanada and a great roster of speakers and practitioners. I'll be learning and thinking about next steps for #EnergyPoverty #EnergyAffordability and #EnergyJustice in #cdnpoli

@mandhana_abhi @Jed_Trott Yes-es on the right, no-s on the left

@Jed_Trott Would love to understand how anyone can vote no on this.