When the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law last August, it was hailed as the largest piece of federal climate legislation ever passed in the United States. This was an incredibly low bar to clarify: the IRA is also the only one the actual climate legislation of the country. If his passage was a dubious landmark, it also marked the end of an era in the U.S. climate movement that was fueled almost fifteen years ago by the near-collapse of the UN climate conference in 2009 and the failure of previous federal legislation in 2010. In the interim, the climate movement has shifted sharply to the left as it it became more radical in its tactics and more visionary in its demands. The movement undoubtedly changed the nature of American politics. But she also ran into the limits of her power. What will come next? As early as 2008, when Obama's financial meltdown hit the White House, some presented a version of the Green New Deal as a stimulus response. But the administration instead opted for a slimmed-down stimulus that included some climate-related subsidies, specifically in solar R&D. The administration's signature climate proposal, introduced in 2009 by Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Ed Markey, was its first legislative failure. This legislation, known as Waxman-Markey, proposed a cap-and-trade system in which the state would set a cap on total emissions and issue emissions permits to businesses that could be traded on the market. The radicalizing right wing of the Republican Party, then formed within the Tea Party, cut its teeth in opposition to what it called "cap-and-tax." While the bill passed the House in 2009, it needed a supermajority to pass the Senate — one it didn't have. There was never a vote. With Waxman-Markey stalled, Obama went to COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009 without displaying his lofty climate rhetoric that seemed to offer a glimmer of hope that after eight years of US intransigence, a major international climate agreement might finally be possible. under George W. Bush. The negotiations ended in a weak agreement rather than the binding agreement that many had hoped for. intransigence under George W. Bush. The negotiations ended in a weak agreement rather than the binding agreement that many had hoped for. intransigence under George W. Bush. The negotiations ended in a weak agreement rather than the binding agreement that many had hoped for. (Alyssa Battistoni)