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Michael Shellenberger

Michael Shellenberger

President

Breakthrough Institute

Michael Shellenberger is president and co-founder of Breakthrough Institute. He is co-author with Ted Nordhaus of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (Houghton Mifflin, 2007). Time magazine called Break Through "prescient" for its prediction that pollution regulations could not transform the global energy economy, and Wired magazine said the book "could be the most important thing to happen to environmentalism since Silent Spring." The book received the 2007 Green Book Award and a starred review from Publishers' Weekly, which called the book "Convincing, resonant, and hopeful." In 2004, Shellenberger and Nordhaus generated a national debate in the pages of The New York Times and around the country when they published "The Death of Environmentalism," which argued against apocalyptic climate rhetoric and the regulation-centered policy approach in favor of an aspirational discourse and an investment and innovation-focused agenda. For their work, Shellenberger and Nordhaus were named Time magazine's Heroes of the Environment 2008. Breakthrough Institute's strategy to "Make Clean Energy Cheap" was the recent subject of a profile on NPR's Morning Edition. In 2002, Michael co-founded the Apollo Alliance. Michael has written for the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The American ProspectSalonHarvard Law and Policy ReviewDemocracyGlamour magazine and other publications.

Recent Publications

July 26, 2011

Climate Pragmatism: Innovation, Resilience and No Regrets

A framework for renewed American leadership on climate change.

December 14, 2010

The New Energy Conversation

America is built around innovation. Everywhere that is, except in energy. It’s time to change that.

November 18, 2009

Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant

This report benchmarks clean energy competitiveness in four nations: China, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

More publications by Michael Shellenberger

Recent Events and Presentations

January 29, 2013

Energy Innovation 2013

Energy Innovation 2013: Clean Energy, Ready for Primetime?

December 15, 2010

Energy Innovation 2010

ITIF and other leading policy think tanks host a day-long conference to ask the hard questions about energy technology policy and innovation in America.

November 18, 2009

Is the U.S. Losing the Clean Tech Race?

A new report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Breakthrough Institute, Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant, is the first to benchmark public sector clean energy technology investments in four nations: China, Japan, South Korea and the United States. Please join ITIF and the Breakthrough Institute for a discussion of the report’s findings.

June 10, 2009

Is Cap and Trade Enough? Why Reducing Emissions Depends on Technology Innovation

Please join the Brookings Institution, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and the Breakthrough Institute to discuss the need for a explicit innovation policy to address the challenge of global climate change.

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