Leah C. Stokes — The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet - with Gerry Petrella, Maxine Joselow, & Christy Goldfuss — at the Wharf
Leah C. Stokes presents *The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet* in conversation with Gerry Petrella, Maxine Joselow, and Christy Goldfuss. The event explores the unlikely coalition of a professor, a White House policy expert, and a Senate insider who helped guide landmark climate legislation from the early promise of the Green New Deal through near-collapse and eventual passage in August 2022.
Stokes connects the political story with the personal experience of early parenthood: she was pregnant or caring for her premature twins in the NICU while her fellow advocates were also becoming parents. The book examines how collective action, persistence, and democratic engagement can create change at a moment when climate progress appeared nearly impossible. It also includes an update on which parts of the legislation were rolled back or preserved during the second Trump administration, and why climate advocates still have reason for hope.
When: Friday, September 18, 2026
Showtimes: The event begins at 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 610 Water Street SW, Washington, DC 20024
Tickets: Free
Seating: Seating is first come, first served.
Participants: Leah C. Stokes will be joined in conversation by Gerry Petrella, Maxine Joselow, and Christy Goldfuss.
Leah C. Stokes: Stokes is the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at UC Santa Barbara and a prominent climate-policy advocate. She has been named to *Time* magazine’s Time100 Next list and to *Business Insider*’s list of the top 30 global climate leaders. She is also a Harvard University Radcliffe Fellow and the author of the award-winning *Short Circuiting Policy*, which *The New York Times* named one of the five best climate books of 2020.
Gerry Petrella: Petrella formerly served as policy director for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, where he worked on legislative planning and negotiations involving the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He has advised Congress, the White House, and businesses on technology, environmental policy, infrastructure, and health care. He is now general manager for U.S. Public Policy at Microsoft.
Maxine Joselow: Joselow is a climate-policy reporter for *The New York Times*. Previously, she worked at *The Washington Post*, where she helped launch a daily climate newsletter and later became the newspaper’s lead climate-policy reporter. She began her journalism career at *E&E News*, the environmental publication owned by Politico.
Christy Goldfuss: Goldfuss is executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. She previously served as senior vice president for Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress, where she helped develop the climate-investment strategy later enacted through the Inflation Reduction Act. She was also managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality during the Obama administration, helping develop and implement its environmental and energy policies, including the Climate Action Plan.
Book: *The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet* is a hardcover published by Leah C. Stokes. The related book listing gives a publication date of September 1, 2026 and a price of $32.95.
Accessibility: Requests for accommodations and accessibility questions should be sent to events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. The organizers will make an effort to accommodate requests made up to the time of the event.