Center for Sustainable Economy’s (CSE) work on fossil fuel risk bond programs (FFRB) – a signature ‘polluter pays’ project on fossil fuel infrastructure that was launched about 2 years ago — would provide a major deterrent for building new fossil fuel infrastructure as well as incentives to retire existing infrastructure early in any jurisdiction that adopts it. 2019 and 2020 brought …
US suffers largest rise in poverty rate in more than 50 years. More states want to tax the rich + proposal to end child poverty
US Suffers Sharpest Rise In Poverty Rate In More Than 50 Years By Alex Tanzi and Catarina Saraiva, Chicago Tribune. The end of 2020 brought the sharpest rise in the U.S. poverty rate since the 1960s, according to a new study. Economists Bruce Meyer from the University of Chicago and James Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame found that …
Grid map requirements to ease solar integration
California regulators modify grid map requirements to ease solar integration By David Wagman on Feb 1 2021 The California Public Utilities Commission ordered several key improvements to the Integration Capacity Analysis, a grid transparency tool. The motion requesting the changes that the CPUC responded to was filed last October by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, the California Solar & Storage …
Colonialism is the interplay of dispossession, dependency and oppression
Art Manuel: The Reconciliation Manifesto, 2007 Truth must come before reconciliation Loss of our land that has been the precise cause of our impoverishment Systemic impoverishment is used as a weapon by Canada to keep us too poor and weak to fight back. It is used to bribe and co-opt Indigenous leadership into becoming neo-colonial partners to treat the symptoms …
Reality is a Commons
Our greater understanding of the Earth as alive and interconnected At the beginning of 2020, David Bollier published a blog post on “The rise of a New Animism” (read it here). Recognising the historical problems of animism as a Western-centric concept, Bollier suggests that ‘New Animism’ which “sees the experience of life as a dynamic conversation among the creatures and natural systems of …
Rethinking how we build so people can drive less: LOS to play more limited role in planning, to reduce VMT
SB 743 Implementation SB 743 Overview fact sheet (PDF) SB 743 Technical fact sheet (PDF) SB 743 Video: Rethinking How We Build So Californians Can Drive Less (10 minutes) Caltrans Guidance Document Question & Answer (PDF) General SB 743 Implementation Question & Answer (PDF) Current mitigation resources are highlighted in SB 743: Mitigation and VMT Reduction (PDF). Caltrans October 6, 2020 TAF/TAC …
‘She had the courage to act on her knowledge’: Civil disobedience saved Pope Francis’ life when he was young. ‘I’ll always owe them so much. They fought for me to the end…They taught me what it is to use science but also to know when to go beyond it to meet particular needs.’
Pope Francis reveals an important story from his life, in his recent piece in the NYTimes, and also shares a quote: “Where the danger is, also grows the saving power.” That’s the genius in the human story: There’s always a way to escape destruction. Where humankind has to act is precisely there, in the threat itself; that’s where the door …
Biden’s clean energy & EJ plan. What can he get done on energy in his first 100 days?
Biden has made a long list of promises and commitments to the environment and future of clean energy if elected. Which of these promises could we see immediate action on and which are years down the line? If there is a way that Biden is going to be able to break through to Republicans in the Senate, using the economy …
To form a government
By Lloyd Cutler, Foreign Affairs 59 (1): 126-143, Fall 1980 Our society was one of the first to write a Constitution. This reflected the confident conviction of the Enlightenment that explicit written arrangements could be devised to structure a government that would be neither tyrannical nor impotent in its time, and to allow for future amendment as experience and change might …
Democracy Collaborative: We must move away from current system prioritizing corporate profits sourced from monopoly rights to one that values and centers public health, social equality, and ecological sustainability. The design, implementation, and governance of our systems are critically important.
It is imperative that we quickly move away from the current system that prioritizes corporate profits sourced from monopoly rights to one that values and centers public health, social equality, and ecological sustainability. The design, implementation, and governance of our systems are critically important. However, the incredible rise of the intangible economy has dramatically altered these systems and our wider economic …