Latest Articles
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Obama plan would educate clean energy scientists and engineers
Last week, the Obama administration introduced a proposal that every college student and educator in the country should know about. It represents the nation’s first comprehensive federal program for clean energy education, and it’s a critical step toward regaining American leadership in one of the most important industries of our time. Over the past two […]
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Smart Growth even makes snowstorms better
Mixed land use is a tenet of Smart Growth development that has a lot of virtues. But the name is boring and not very descriptive. Here’s Matt Yglesias describing what it’s like to live in a mixed-use D.C. neighborhood: The building where I live turns out to be a really good place to pass a […]
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Did Michelle Obama get the president to create a national Food Policy Council?
Michelle Obama kicked off her campaign against childhood obesity today. Among the provisions are a revamping of the school lunch program, a small boost in funding for farmers markets, a major initiative to “end” food deserts by 2017, a focus on maintaining children’s exercise levels, a set of broad public-private partnerships, along with reforms to […]
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Policy fixes to unleash clean energy
Suppose you became King tomorrow and your first order of business was to modernize the U.S. energy system — make it cleaner, cheaper, more reliable and more sustainable. What would you do? Now suppose you’re the King’s subjects, and he has just announced his plan per the above. What will you learn? Clearly, you’ll learn […]
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Companies that invest in states like Massachusetts and California are going to prosper
Is Arnold a carbon girlie man?United NationsAs mudslides on the west coast and an epic blizzard on the east coast competed for news coverage last week, nothing could dim the glow of an economic report that contained a remarkable conclusion: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is trying to make California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a […]
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Car free in Boston, for all the wrong reasons
I’m currently in transportation transition. By the end of the month, I will have transferred my aging VW into my partner’s name, and canceled my own insurance. I will have tuned up my bike, spent a good chunk of money on a metro pass, and signed up with the local car-sharing business. But I’m not […]
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The hidden costs and benefits of things we take for granted
Raj Patel has an interesting list of “things that aren’t as cheap as you think,” with an always-welcome reminder that many industries and social practices have costs that don’t appear in the sticker price. These “externalities” are offloaded to the public; they represent, in effect, enormous subsidies. Free marketeers hate market-distorting subsidies, right? For the […]
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Michael Pollan video on Democracy Now
In “Chewing the Scenery,” we round up interesting food-related videos from around the Web. ————- Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman interviewed Michael Pollan yesterday. You may think you’ve heard all that Pollan’s got to say, as many interviews that he does. But Amy’s a great interviewer–she enforces a “no sound bites” policy–and the converation gets really […]
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CBS News previews its no-holds-barred report on antibiotics in livestock
Update: Catch part 1 and 2 of the series. Oh, boy. This one has blockbuster written all over it. Tonight, the CBS Evening News is broadcasting the first in a two-part series on the use of antibiotics in livestock (some background here). Katie Couric previewed the report this morning — and it looks like a […]
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Create jobs, reduce lung disease, and help solve the climate crisis at zero cost
As economic stimulus moves back onto the table, why not consider zero cost opportunities to create jobs, opportunities that would reduce lung diseases, and greenhouse gas emissions as a side effect? Create a federal agency with authority to issue federal infrastructure bonds, perhaps an infrastructure bank. Attach conditions that this authority can only finance projects […]
