Hi everyone and sorry I could not join the Lab session yesterday.

 

I’ve just watched the recording. This is such an interesting topic and it seems like there was lots of discussion already!

 

Here are my thoughts fwiw:

 

• Practical point: For speech transcription, I would highly recommend Fireflies.ai over Otter or any other platform. It is very accurate, more than Otter and much more than Teams.
• I agree with Till, that renewable energy may be too specific. Also, where are the bounds of renewable energy as it merges with energy efficiency of housing, transport policy and many other areas. As well as positive action, it might also be good to look at stopping/preventative actions like preventing new oil pipelines.
• If you are going to analyse text, you might need to look for subtleties and pick keywords carefully. I sense climate action is increasingly being framed by putting other key benefits first, or even without mentioning the word ‘climate’ or ‘environment’…and this may be a promising way forward. Republicans and other parties (like Labour currently) may purposely steer away from overtly linking to climate policy for fear of backlash. For instance, the IRA has had success in generating jobs and economic benefits and some Republicans are supportive of these policies. Labour have made very few explicit references to climate since coming to power yet have quietly changed some policies around clean energy.
• How about female vs male judges’ decisions? There are increasing cases of climate litigation around the world. Would the sample size be big enough?
• In the UK I am not sure if you can analyse voting behaviours due to the influence of whips..??
• If you look at the UK, it might be worth speaking to people who know how the realities of the UK Parliament system really well and what data might be available, like Westminster journalist Isabel Hardman. Rory Stewart has also just published a book on this.
• For everyone/anyone: What is Alie Hilda’s book club?

 

Really cool topic!

 

Liz