Scott Montgomery

Scott Montgomery

Scott L. Montgomery is an author, geoscientist, and affiliate faculty member in the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle. He has 25 years' experience in the energy industry, where he worked on projects in many parts of the world. His many technical publications include papers, monographs, articles, and textbooks, mainly focused on cutting edge hydrocarbon plays, technologies, related impacts and issues.

Since 2010, his energy writings have moved to general audiences and a wide variety of topics of global concern. These have ranged from climate change to fracking, and included energy issues, technologies, and geopolitics in most parts of the world, as well as global trends and their relation to demographics. Scott’s writings have appeared in online journals such as The Conversation, Newsweek, Salon, Forbes, Fortune, and The Huffington Post. He also lectures publicly on these subjects and provides commentary for online and broadcast (radio, tv) venues both in the U.S. and internationally.

In addition to his popular writing and speaking, Montgomery has published 12 books on a range of subjects, including energy. These include, most recently, Seeing the Light: Making the Case for Nuclear Power in the 21st Century (Cambridge, 2017) and The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Built the Modern World(Princeton), co-authored with Dan Chirot. The latter work was selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2015. Other works include Does Science Need a Global Language? (Chicago, 2013) and Powers that Be: Global Energy for the 21st Century and Beyond (Chicago, 2010).

Post Archive

04 January 2023
Scott Montgomery on George Santos' assemblage strategy for political success.  George Santos, the recently elected representative for New York’s third Congressional…
21 December 2022
Scott Montgomery argues against an absolutist position in the debate over monument removal. This brief essay is a response to a colleague, whom I respect for being outspoken on…
22 November 2022
Scott Montgomery argues that whether Trump runs in 2024 or is replaced, the Trump era is unlikely to end anytime soon. We in the U.S. are being urged to believe that the country…
19 September 2022
Scott Montgomery uses his column to highlight several positive events in the midst of a particularly worrisome year. First, Mikhail Gorbachev. The recent passing of…
12 September 2022
Scott Montgomery lays out why science is be better advanced in democratic societies. China’s long-term goals for global power are strongly linked to its capabilities in science…
18 July 2022
Scott Montgomery argues that SCOTUS is "a true" example of the American “deep state” and examines where it might turn its gaze next. It was a quiet fourth of July…
01 June 2022
A friend of mine who lives in San Antonio sent me this leaflet, which has been placed on car windshields at many malls and is being displayed on the websites of gun stores, gun…
17 May 2022
Scott L. Montgomery argues that dangers can transpire when myths and lies evolve into abiding truths. Vladimir Putin’s war, it seems clear, is not waged against Ukraine…
24 January 2022
GP Columnist Scott L. Montgomery argues that young people have an opportunity to play the leading role in reverting the USA’s democratic backslide. It seems time that two vital…
04 January 2022
Scott Montgomery offers a questioning homage to the evolutionist E.O. Wilson who died on December 27th 2021. On a glowing October day in 1976, I attended a talk by…
07 December 2021
Scott Montgomery on why abandoning coal is akin to replacing the circulatory system of a living body. There’s no debate. Global coal use continues to be a major hurdle…
01 November 2021
Scott Montgomery discusses the difficult links between anti-vax positions and ongoing democratic backslides in the USA and elsewhere.  As of this writing, covid-19 defines the…
31 August 2021
Scott Montgomery unpicks the discourses surrounding the U.S.' uncomfortable withdrawal from Afghanistan.  There is an ugly quality of thrill in the surge of media coverage on…
22 June 2021
Scott L. Montgomery argues that the specter of global ageing shouldn’t haunt the present and offers reasons to be optimistic about demographic change. Humanity is facing yet…
30 April 2021
Bill Gates has published an important book on an urgent topic, How to Avoid Climate Disaster. It’s mostly about energy, as it needs to be, so I want to discuss it. The book…