Grounded, Not Divided

Episode 17: Skip York: War in the Middle East and energy security

Show notes: Energy security is one of the vital issues in the news lately, with the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz restricting energy supplies and driving up prices. Today’s episode aims to demystify what the war is doing to energy markets, and what the future might look like if the war drags on. Our guest is Harold “Skip” York. Skip York [https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/harold-skip-york] is a Nonresident Fellow in Energy and Global Oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, and he is chief energy strategist at Turner Mason & Company, an energy consulting and advisory firm. Dr. York was formerly head of Commodity Strategy for Petroleum at BHP, and he has experience working with ExxonMobil, McKinsey & Company, Charles River Associates, and Wood Mackenzie. Dr. York received his undergraduate degree in economics from University of Wyoming, and he holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia. Our conversation was recorded live at the University of Wyoming on May 4, 2026. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 18, with Scott Beaulier. Scott Beaulier [https://www.uwyo.edu/business/about-us/directory/beaulier-scott.html] is the H.A. (Dave) True Family Dean of Business at the University of Wyoming. He was previously Dean of Business at North Dakota State University, and he was the youngest business dean in the country at the time. He has written about higher-education reform, and he writes The Arena Substack [https://arenainstitutions.substack.com/] about “institutions that shape economic and public life”. We discuss the challenges facing business schools and higher education in general, his approach to leadership, and marathon running—he just ran Boston for the fifth time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com [https://guidedcivicrevival.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 16: Renae Marshall: Bipartisanship on climate and energy

Show notes: Today’s guest is Renae Marshall [https://www.renaemarshall.com/]. Renae Marshall is a Ph.D. candidate at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California Santa Barbara. She studies environmental politics, with a focus on understanding bipartisanship. As part of her research [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-022-03335-w], she has read every state-level climate-change bill from the past decade, and we discuss what she’s learned about what works and doesn’t work for bridging partisan divides. We also talk about caucuses in Congress, and the important role they play in helping members find common ground and get things done. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 17, with Skip York. Our conversation will focus on the war in the Middle East and what it means for energy security globally and in the U.S. The episode will be live-taped [https://uwyo.trumba.com/engage-uw/War-in-the-Middle-East-and-Energy-Security-A-conversation-with-Skip-York/E200507207] next Monday, May 4, at the University of Wyoming College of Business. Skip York is a Nonresident Fellow in Energy and Global Oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, and he is chief energy strategist at Turner Mason & Company, an energy consulting and advisory firm. Dr. York was formerly head of Commodity Strategy for Petroleum at BHP, and he has experience working with ExxonMobil, McKinsey & Company, Charles River Associates, and Wood Mackenzie. Dr. York received his undergraduate degree in economics from UW, and he holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com [https://guidedcivicrevival.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 15: Ian Burgess: Entrepreneurship and education in the age of AI

Show notes: Today’s guest is Ian Burgess [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-burgess-35966337/]. Besides being my identical twin brother, Ian is founder and President of Ascendance Foundry [https://www.ascendancefoundry.com/], co-founder and former President of Validere [https://www.validere.com/], former Senior Venture Partner at the Pioneer Fund, board member of NEXTCanada [https://www.nextcanada.com/ian-burgess/] and Cquesta [https://www.cquesta.com/], and the world’s sixth-ranked amateur long driver [https://www.worldlongdrive.com/amateur]. We discuss his experience and philosophy on entrepreneurship, where he thinks AI will create new job opportunities, and he offers his advice for young people on how they can seize these opportunities. Preparing young people for the AI workforce of tomorrow is the focus of Ascendance Foundry. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 16, with Renae Marshall. Renae Marshall [https://www.renaemarshall.com/] is a Ph.D. candidate at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California Santa Barbara. She studies environmental politics, with a focus on understanding bipartisanship. As part of her research, she has read every state-level climate-change bill from the past decade, and we discuss what she’s learned about what works and doesn’t work for bridging partisan divides. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com [https://guidedcivicrevival.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 14: Sharon Friedman: Finding common ground on federal lands and federal science

Show notes: Today’s guest is Sharon Friedman. Dr. Friedman worked at the U.S. Forest Service for over 30 years in areas including [https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/barrier-breaking-forest-geneticist-honored-yse-alumni-award] planning, regulation, litigation, and research. In 2022, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Yale School of the Environment. In her retirement, she founded and has run The Smokey Wire [https://forestpolicypub.com/], a popular news and discussion forum for forest and federal lands issues. We discuss what federal scientists do, recent controversies surrounding federal science and scientists, federal lands issues in the news including permitting and wildfire prevention, and how to find common ground. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 15, with Ian Burgess [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-burgess-35966337/] (we’re twins, in case anyone is wondering), founder and President of Ascendance Foundry [https://www.ascendancefoundry.com/], co-founder and former President of Validere [https://www.validere.com/], former Senior Venture Partner at the Pioneer Fund, board member of NEXTCanada [https://www.nextcanada.com/ian-burgess/] and Cquesta [https://www.cquesta.com/], and the world’s sixth-ranked amateur long driver [https://www.worldlongdrive.com/amateur]. We will discuss entrepreneurship, and how young people can prepare themselves for the AI-powered workforce of tomorrow (the focus of Ascendance Foundry). Thanks for reading Guided Civic Revival! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com [https://guidedcivicrevival.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 13: Brian Kisida: Nuance on the politics of K-12 and higher education

Today’s guest is Brian Kisida. Brian Kisida [https://truman.missouri.edu/people/kisida] is an Associate Professor in the Truman School of Government & Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, Co-Director of the Arts, Humanities, & Civic Engagement Lab [https://truman.missouri.edu/artlab], and Director of the Open Minds Initiative [https://truman.missouri.edu/open-minds-initiative]. We discuss his recent [https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article-abstract/doi/10.1162/EDFP.a.423/133359/Exploring-Claims-of-Critical-Race-Theory-Divisive?redirectedFrom=fulltext] research [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15582159.2025.2575615] on K-12 education, which cuts through the political noise on what is and is not being taught in high schools about race and critical race theory. We also discuss his work on promoting viewpoint diversity in the classroom, and his perspective on broader national debates about higher education reform. We compare notes from our positive experiences at flagship public universities, in contrast to some of the news stories out of elite universities. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 14, with Sharon Friedman [https://thebreakthrough.org/people/sharon-friedman], on finding common ground in public lands. Dr. Friedman worked at the U.S. Forest Service for over 30 years in areas including [https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/barrier-breaking-forest-geneticist-honored-yse-alumni-award] planning, regulation, litigation, and research. In her retirement, she founded and has run The Smokey Wire [https://forestpolicypub.com/], a popular news and discussion forum for forest and federal lands issues. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com [https://guidedcivicrevival.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]