The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet

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Leah C. Stokes

The Carbon Wave

Name: The Carbon Wave
Price: 70.41 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780262054775

A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet

Leah C. Stokes

$77.95 $70.41

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

MIT Press
01 September 2026

Geography

The true, inspiring story of the new parents who spearheaded an unlikely climate victory.

From the rising climate advocate named to the Time100 Next list, for political junkies and anyone who cares about the environment.

Always. Read. Leah Stokes.

Ezra Klein, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Abundance.

They were perhaps an unlikely trio: the professor Leah Stokes, the policy wonk Sonia Aggarwal in the White House, and the DC insider Adrian Deveny in the Senate, but together, they crafted the boldest climate legislation of our times. In The Carbon Wave, Stokes chronicles the turbulent path of their climate bill as it veered between breakthrough and collapse from the hopeful beginnings of the Green New Deal in 2018 to the bill s near-certain defeat by Senator Joe Manchin in the winter of 2021 to the surprise passage of the landmark legislation in August of 2022. During this critical time, the author was pregnant or in the NICU by the side of her premature twins, and Aggarwal and Deveny were new parents too.

Interlacing personal narratives with stories from Congress, the White House, and outside activists, Stokes shows how dogged perseverance and collective action can still bend the course of history. The book concludes with an update from the second Trump administration, explaining the parts of the bill that were and were not rolled back, and why we should remain hopeful that progress is still being made.

Everyone has been told to shrink their carbon footprint and lighten their load on our planet by changing their behavior. But what if instead of making ourselves smaller, we joined with others to maximize our impact? That s the carbon wave. And this book shows us how to make it.

I have said before, and I will probably say again, that Leah Stokes understands the details of our energy policy dilemmas better than anyone.

Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun.

By: Leah C. Stokes
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780262054775
ISBN 10: 0262054779
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 01 September 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Leah C. Stokes is Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at UC Santa Barbara. As a leading climate advocate, she has championed climate policy in the United States at all levels of government and was selected for Time Magazine s Time100 Next list and Business Insider s top 30 global climate leaders. A recipient of a Harvard University Radcliffe Fellowship, she is the author of the award-winning Short Circuiting Policy, which was listed as one of the top 5 climate books in 2020 by The New York Times.

Reviews for The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet

ENDORSEMENTS “This book is marvelous: a political thriller, a how-to, a memoir, a horror story, a love story.” —Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future “Welcome to the most thrilling policy narrative you’ll ever read, one in which idealistic young people slog for years uphill, slice through endless bureaucracy, on behalf of the earth and the future, and actually win something huge. This is a gripping book, a suspense thriller, an explanation of how the sausage got made, a character study of grace under pressure, and all on behalf of the climate, which is you and me and everyone yet to come.” —Rebecca Solnit, author of The Beginning Comes After the End “This is one of those few books that will be read for a long time. It is a beautifully written inside account of world-changing legislation. What this law jumpstarted can’t be stopped.” —Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun and founder of Third Act