Latest Articles
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Water too often overlooked in development efforts, U.N. report says
ISTANBUL — Fresh water and money have one thing in common: Their mismanagement has left billions of people without ready access to either, according to policymakers, non-governmental agencies and activists attending the World Water Forum here this week. AquaFed’s Gerard Payen (Courtesy U.N.) It was one of the few things all parties seem to agree […]
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African ethanol producers accepting employment applications
Wanted: Young cane cutters for part time seasonal work. Must be willing to work ten hours a day swinging a machete in tropical sun while wearing gloves, long sleeved shirt, and hat — no retirement benefits (because you won’t live that long). Apply within. The comment below ElMarto’s photo on Flickr titled “Truck Shadow Escape” […]
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U.S. media largely ignores latest warning from climate scientists
In the last two years, our scientific understanding of business-as-usual projections for global warming has changed dramatically (see here and here). Yet, much of the U.S. public — especially conservatives — remain in the dark about just how dire the situation is (see here). Why? Because the U.S. media is largely ignoring the story. Case […]
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Whatever its virtues, the gas tax is nearing the end of its life
The post on the mileage tax stirred up a lot of reaction, much of it negative. As it happens, the state of Oregon recently wrapped up a successful trial of a mileage tax system, so for the next few posts I’m going to be relying heavily on an excellent final report on the system (PDF) […]
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UNEP yearbook distills a year’s worth of climate science and innovation
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released its 2009 Year Book last month to relatively little fanfare. Here are a few highlights, in case you’re behind on the State of Things (and missed the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World report, President Obama’s unofficial state of the union speech last month, Stephen Faris’ Forecast of […]
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Why it makes sense to use carbon revenue to fund efficiency programs
I wrote earlier about some Congressional Budget Office testimony before Congress on the “distributional effects of cap-and-trade.” There are a few more things in there I want to discuss. The CBO looked at three options for what to do with carbon revenue: rebate it to taxpayers, use it to lower corporate income taxes, or give […]
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If it walks like a tax and quacks like a tax … then it’s called cap-and-trade?
In an otherwise solid post, David said something that made me cringe: In a cap-and-trade system where the pollution permits are auctioned, the money goes to gov’t, and the gov’t decides what to do with it. Poorly paraphrasing James Joyce: no and my heart was beating like mad and no I said no I NO. […]
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Don’t make too much of current energy prices; they are disconnected from fundamentals
There is a fair amount of hand-wringing over the recent collapse in energy prices which — while academically interesting — is largely irrelevant to larger macro forces. Here then a quick observation that is critically important and horribly misunderstood throughout our current energy, environmental, and economic conversation: current energy prices have very little to do […]
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New jobs program, school buses in the Golden State
Two news items of note from sunny Californ-i-a: Gov. Schwarzenegger officially unveiled the California Green Corps, a program that will train 16- to 24-year-olds in green-tech industries. “It’s the kind of program President Obama envisioned when he put together the economic stimulus package,” he said. “It’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs.” The L.A. school district […]
