economy
-
![]()
![]()
Remember that massive clean-energy bill Obama signed?
If you read everything that bloggers declared a "must read," you'd have time for little else. I'll just say that if you want a lucid tour of the Obama administration's work to remake the country's energy and transportation landscape, it's tough to beat Michael Grunwald's new TIME piece "How the Stimulus is Changing America."
-
![]()
![]()
As energy use goes, so goes the economy
Economic activity tends to track energy use. In particular, demand for electricity is a reliable predictor of economic growth. Recent trends in electricity demand portend bad news for the economy (and the Democrats).
-
BP Fails to Make Top Ten
Fingers crossed. BP’s oil leak has apparently stopped shy of 200 million gallons spewed into the Gulf of Mexico and a few million more burned off into plumes of toxic smoke. Many have dubbed it the worst environmental disaster in American history. In my view, it’s not even close, but shares a great deal in […]
-
![]()
![]()
Feed the economy, or starve it? The answer’s clear.
Photo: greenforall.orgIn economic-policy circles, a debate rages around what medicine might cure the ailing economy. The topic doesn’t draw much attention in environmental media, but I would argue that the direction of economic policy is at least as important as the hopelessly vexed question of energy policy. Before I get to the green implications, let’s […]
-
![]()
![]()
Oil spill underscores need for Gulf-area economies to diversify
In the best of times, the three states most directly affected by the Gulf oil disaster have pretty fragile economies. Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi all rank among the bottom ten U.S. states in per-capita income. Obviously, the ever-growing oil spill isn’t just wreaking ecological havoc. It also threatens severe economic damage. The commercial fishing and […]
-
![]()
![]()
White flight and the urban-suburban switcheroo
Suburban ChicagoCourtesy Scorpians and Centaurs via FlickrThe idea of racially diverse American cities ringed by mostly white suburbs is essentially flip-flopping, according to the Brookings Institution’s big new demographic report, “The State of Metropolitan America.” The report draws on 2002-2008 census data to find that young, educated whites are moving into cities in record numbers. […]
-
![]()
![]()
Bill McKibben talks about how to live and organize on a reshaped ‘Eaarth’
Bill McKibben’s new book Eaarth argues that our carbon pollution has already reshaped the planet enough that it deserves a new name. McKibben has been thinking hard about climate change for longer than almost anybody else, both as a writer and as an activist, and he doesn’t sugarcoat the situation. He stopped by Grist’s office […]
-
![]()
![]()
The worst week ever, brought to you by the fossil-fuel industry
It’s a week to remember — or better yet, forget. Who could have imagined such a confluence of terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad events, rounding up what has to be the most disheartening “Earth Month” ever? In what may soon be the worst oil spill in U.S. history, crude is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico […]
-
Obama: Our security, economy, and future depend on comprehensive climate legislation
Cross-posted from Wonk Room. The process-based and partisan bickering that is derailing the Senate effort to craft climate legislation provides a good opportunity to question why this ugly process is even worthwhile. Politicians seem worried that re-election is more important than policy action, failing to recognize that clean energy reform is actually the key to […]
