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January 2024

IT’S ALL CONNECTED: START WITH ENERGY

Joy Marie Sever, PhD

“IT’S ALL CONNECTED: START WITH ENERGY” is a collection of energy-related content designed to increase energy awareness and comprehension — beginning with “primary energy.”.

In short, START WITH ENERGY” is a contribution to learning the language of energy and the inspiration to have energy-informed conversations and discussions.

“Nothing happens without energy. Literally.”

Tim Crownshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow|Institute for Integrated Energy Systems

THE BACK STORY

My high school physics teacher gave me the nickname Joules. A joule is a unit of energy named after James Prescott Joule (1818-1889), an English physicist. I hadn’t thought about the term joule — or energy — in decades. That changed in 2019. 

October 2019: I was at a local coffee shop reading Lapham’s Quarterly (Volume XII, Number 4) titled CLIMATE. I had recently realized that if I were to have a conversation about climate change, my part of the conversation would be limited. I knew some of the basic terms, but not nearly enough to have an informed discussion.

Back to the coffee shop.

The person sitting next to me (Grace) asked what I was reading. I told her and elaborated on the reasons why. Turns out, Grace had a degree in environmental law and had just come from a climate change conference. I asked her if she could recommend something I should read. She immediately mentioned Vaclav Smil. His recently published book (Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities) had been featured at the conference. I took Grace’s advice (that day) and purchased Growth (2019) — as well as Vaclav’s previous book Energy and Civilization: A History (2017).

As I continued my research I discovered other very helpful experts — among them: Nate Hagens (The Great Simplification) and Tim Crownshaw (Energy and the Green New Deal) — (at that time, Tim was a PhD student at McGill University).

THE STORY STARTS WITH ENERGY

I set out to learn about climate change — but along the way I realized the story about how we got to where we are does not begin with climate change, it begins with energy.

IT’S ALL CONNECTED: START WITH ENERGY reflects what I’ve learned … so far.

Pick up a copy of “How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going: by Vaclav Smil (2022)

Listen to Nate Hagens’ weekly podcast “The Great Simplification” and his series “Frankly.”

Read “Energy and the Green New Deal: The Complex Challenge of Powering Societies” by Tim Crownshaw (2020).

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I am a social psychologist. My research career includes 12 years at Harris Interactive (Louis Harris & Associates/The Harris Poll) and more than 15 years as an independent research consultant. 

I follow the standards of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). My PhD in Social Psychology is from the University of Toronto.

Previously

Early in my career I interviewed well-known restaurateur Danny Meyer for a Food & Wine Magazine project, sipped tea from Eustace Tilley tea cups during project meetings at The New Yorker, and was in Los Angeles collecting data for the LA Times 15-County Through-the-Book Project shortly after officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.   

A few years later I was at the forefront of publicly-released, standardized corporate reputation measurement, partnering with Charles Frombrun (Stern Business School, NYU). Together our team designed the annual Reputation Quotient®, with survey results prominently published in the Wall Street Journal for many years.

Soon after, I became the lead researcher for the ambitious Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Business School Recruiter Survey. Results were once again published prominently in the WSJ.

After reading about students struggling with reading comprehension, I designed Tell me ODYSSEUS, a literacy program based on Homer’s Odyssey. And then, inspired by the rich history and stories of hip-hop, the realities of inner-city communities, and the vibrant tenacity of the youth who live there — I created RAP Odyssey.  

I’m fortunate to have worked with, and learned from, some of the best researchers in the field.

Done right, a career in research will never be boring.

Four "Beyond the Bio" Research Projects

PROVOCATIVE AND UNPROVEN: THE Colin Kaepernick “most disliked player” headline

A senior writer at a well-known sports media outlet published a poll claiming: “Colin Kaepernick most disliked player in league.” The research claim was unsubstantiated and misleading. Other sports media outlets repeated it anyway.

By Joy Marie Sever, PhD  |  July 7, 2017

PROVOCATIVE AND UNPROVEN looks at five public opinion polls about Colin Kaepernick, the media’s response to those polls, the public opinion polling process, and the efforts underway to increase adherence to transparency standards and the disclosure of research methods for publicly released research. As for substandard polls, professional research associations are appealing to the media to do their due diligence before reporting such polls. The paper begins and ends with timelines of Kaepernick’s activities.