For the past five years, I have been researching the politics of climate change and the conditions of possibility for a “just” energy transition in fossil fuel producing regions in the rural United States. I am working on a book on the social consequences of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Louisiana, based on one year of ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in 2023-2024 as the carbon capture boom began to crash over the state. I also have several ongoing projects on the political economy of offshore wind in Louisiana and Maryland. I have several academic articles in progress, in the meantime here are some public essays:
Public Essays:
Levien, Michael, 2025. “Reactionary Decarbonization: On Carbon Capture and Techno-Utopianism.” Spectre, January 21.
Levien, Michael. 2024. “Why the IRA didn’t help the Democrats.” Jacobin, November 23.
Levien, Michael. 2024. “Carbon Capture Means More Pollution for Black Communities in Cancer Alley.” Truthout, October 13.
Levien, Michael. 2023. “Climate Change as Class Compromise? A Response to Matthew Huber.” Historical Materialism Blog.
Levien, Michael. 2023. “White Energy Workers of the North, Unite?” Historical Materialism Blog.
Michael Levien 