Updated December 2024 - Here is a link to the professional bio of Roger Pielke Jr.
I started The Honest Broker in October 2020 to highlight data, analyses and commentary missing from public discussions of science, policy and politics. THB values intellectual hospitality and genuine debate.
In June 2022 I decided to make this publication my profession, not just my passion. Since then it has grown rapidly, and is now among the widely read and influential newsletters on Substack, with subscribers in all 50 U.S. states and in 158 countries around the world. Just over half of THB’s ~32,000 subscribers are in the United States.
My expertise lies at that messy intersection of science, policy and politics across multiple areas — climate, of course, and also extreme weather and its impacts, energy, government science advice, sports governance, scientists in the pandemic response, government science advice and more.
My academic degrees, all earned in the 1990s, are in mathematics, public policy and political science, but I am — to borrow a phrase from from my late friend and mentor Steve Rayner — an undisciplined academic. I publish peer reviewed research in many disciplinary fields, something I’m very proud of and which informs my writing here at THB. You can find a professional bio here. You can hear me describing some of my interesting experiences in the hot politics of climate in this short podcast I made.
Why “The Honest Broker”?
This newsletter takes its title from my book of the same name, published in 2007 and surely the work I am best known for in academia. You can read about the book and its widely discussed framework in this post.
The title is a bit of an in-joke, as one of the arguments of the book is that none of us are particularly well-positioned to actually serve as honest brokers of policy alternatives, as we each have limited perspectives. Honest brokering, as it turns out, is a group effort, which is exactly how I view THB — a group effort.
The icon for the site — THB in red, blue and green — is meant to signify that all perspectives are welcome here (and also demonstrates my lack of expertise in both marketing and design!). My own politics are fairly heterodox and I can pretty much guarantee that I have some views you’ll agree with and some you don’t. In fact, if something I write here at THB doesn’t challenge or provoke you, then I’m not doing my job.
If you are curious about my views on anything, just ask.
At the same time, the readers and commenters at THB are an incredibly smart and experienced group. I learn an enormous amount from them as they challenge and provoke me. It is a great community.
Why Subscribe?
To recognize that what you encounter here takes a lot of work. To become part of the THB community. To support me.
I welcome both free and paying subscribers. I announced recently that I am leaving academia at the end of 2024, which will make THB my primary source of income. It is exciting and a bit scary.
The biggest difference between free and paid subscribers is that I work for the latter. As far as employers go, THB subscribers are the best. So far the results of this experiment are promising, motivating and humbling. Paid subscribers to The Honest Broker re-subscribe at a rate of ~85% after 2 years.
Paying subscribers to The Honest Broker — what I call THB Pro subscribers — receive real value beyond the satisfaction of knowing that they are supporting independent research and writing that cannot be found anywhere else. THB Pro subscribers can find at the THB Pro page subscriber-only posts, PDFs of three of my books and other paywalled writings, engage directly on Substack Chat, and something I’m very pleased with — the opportunity to participate with you in conversations in comments under each post.
I write a lot. It is a passion. I want your attention to be sparked every time you see a new post from The Honest Broker arrive in your in-box, knowing you are about to read something unique, maybe provocative, and join a community in discussing it.
I’ve created a special offer for government and military subscribers who wish to support THB and join the community — 50% Off forever
All supporters are welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for reading!
PS. Disclosure on Conflicts of Interest
Like most people, I work for a living.
I am through the end of 2024 a tenured full professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I have been employed since 2001. Starting January 2025 I’ll shift to being a professor emeritus at Colorado. In January, 2024 I affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, DC as a Nonresident Senior Fellow. I am thrilled to be affiliated with AEI, one of the most important think tanks in the United States, which houses some of the best policy researchers anywhere.
My politics are pretty centrist — Some days I am center right, other days center left, but every day I am an American pragmatist from the Rocky Mountain west. I registered as an “independent” in the State of Colorado on my 18th birthday in 1986 and have maintained that affiliation ever since. I’m by disposition not a fan of excessive partisanship.
I have no research funding other than the support that THB readers provide via their subscriptions. I like it that way. We academics are always seeking funding from one source or another, and I appreciate doing that out in public. Over the decades I have received millions in research funding, virtually all from U.S. science agencies. My most recent grant was from NSF 2020-2021 on science advice in COVID-19 and was for ~$150k. I do not expect to again apply for government grants.
I occasionally give talks — I am a very good speaker and I plan to do more — and of course I expect to be paid for my work. I do not speak on subjects outside my expertise and no one has any editorial oversight on what I say. I welcome the chance to speak before groups that may be predisposed to disagree with my views. I occasionally consult (sometimes pro bono, sometimes paid) and I do not accept any financial support for commissioned research.
If I write it or say it … I believe it.
More than you want about me
How I Became Voldemort in Climate Science — Hear me tell the story of how the IPCC got off track on disasters and climate change
How to Get Rid of a Tenured Professor — How I got pushed out of the University of Colorado Boulder
The Hounding of Roger Pielke Jr. — Even more!
