Best of the 2021 Bulletin magazine

What do advice to President Biden, clean energy jobs, pandemic misinformation, small modular reactors, the defense budget, and offshore windmills all have in common?

They were all among the best articles published in the Bulletin’s bi-monthly magazine, regardless of whether the word “best” is defined to mean the most popular, most in-depth, most colorful, most insightful, or just the most interesting article, op-ed, or interview to appear in the magazine this past year.

So that non-subscribing readers can see why these pieces were chosen, we’ve made the articles below completely free, in their entirety, for the next few weeks. Of course, if you want to read the rest of the year’s premium content—and be sure of never missing out in the future—you could always subscribe to the bi-monthly magazine for less than $5 per month. (Hint, hint.)

To build climate progress on time scales that matter, Biden should be Biden
By Andrew Revkin
During the 1980s, conservatives tied themselves in knots worrying about how to handle their man in the White House, before finally deciding to “let Reagan be Reagan.” In the 2020s, progressives should “let Biden be Biden,” this noted environmental journalist asserts.

A just transition for US workers is within reach
By Jason Walsh
Increasing unionization and improving job-quality in clean energy industries—including offshore wind generation and manufacturing sectors such as the electric vehicle industry—can drive climate action and ensure a just transition for workers.

Countries have more than 100 laws on the books to combat misinformation. How well do they work?
By Kamya Yadav, Ulaş Erdoğdu, Samikshya Siwakoti, Jacob N. Shapiro, and Alicia Wanless
Since 2015, there has been a huge increase in laws that ostensibly seek to counter misinformation. Since the pandemic began, this trend has only accelerated.

Can small modular reactors help mitigate climate change?
By Arjun Makhijani and M. V. Ramana
Small modular reactors fail the tests of time and cost, which are of the essence in meeting the challenge of climate change. Even the official schedules indicate that their contributions will be negligible by 2030 and remain small by 2035, when the grid needs to be nearly completely decarbonized.

The United States needs to cut military spending and shift money to two pressing threats: pandemics and climate change
By Mandy Smithberger
The Biden administration had an opportunity to redirect the United States’ path away from all but limitless spending on the Defense Department. That path could and should have centered on the most imminent threats to our security: climate change and potentially pandemic infectious diseases. But the Biden budget is one that only a defense contractor could love; it continues spending for unproven weapon systems, unsustainable and unneeded nuclear weapons efforts, and a new Cold War with China.

Offshore wind: Poised for the big time. An interview with Anthony Kirincich
By Dan Drollette Jr
What the United States can and cannot learn about windmills from Europe, long the world leader in this form of renewable energy.