A simple tweak to an existing law could help the city reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and create a template for the rest of the country to follow. Local Law 84, enacted in 2009, obligates the city’s largest buildings to report how much energy they consume each year. Participating buildings then receive …
How P2P politics can change the world, one city at a time
By Ann Marie Utratel Commons Transition, 5 June 2017, Commons in the Time of Monsters promotion of real, needs-oriented entrepreneurship, bolstered by explicit recognition and support of bottom-up productive infrastructures, such as Open Coops, mesh wireless networks or community renewables through public-Commons partnerships. It would allow commoners to repurpose or take over unused or underutilised public buildings for social ends …
Fossil fuel industry seeks to withdraw from Our Children’s Trust case, avoid discovery
“Trial of the century” By Chelsea Harvey, December 1, 2016, Washington Post The U.S. Capitol Building stands past the natural-gas-and-coal-fueled Capitol Power Plant, which provides heating and cooling to Capitol Hill facilities, including House and Senate office buildings. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg) A few weeks ago, a federal judge in Oregon made headlines when she ruled that a groundbreaking climate lawsuit will proceed to …
The “big hush” and other maps showing what Americans really think about climate and the transition before us
New York Times, 21 March 2017, excerpt by Nadja Popovich, John Schwartz, and Tatiana Schlossberg Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is happening, and that carbon emissions should be scaled back. But fewer are sure that the changes will harm them personally. New data released by the Yale Program on Climate Communication gives the most detailed view yet of public opinion …
Massachusetts Bill Text for 100 Percent Renewable Energy Act
SECTION 1. The General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 25C the following chapter:- CHAPTER 25D. 100 Percent Renewable Energy Act Section 1. The purpose of this chapter is to steadily transition the commonwealth to 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2050 in order to (1) avoid pollution of our air, …
Good wages, jobs, services, saved money, and governance by the people: a cooperative in DC shows the way
From our friends at Shareable, by Cat Johnson, 31 Jan 2017 — exciting news about new cooperative approaches. After 14 years of incarceration, seven of it in solitary confinement, Juan Reid found himself living in a van, unable to get a steady job, struggling with bills, addiction, and the residue of childhood trauma. As Reid puts it, he was “going down …
Building new options to the extractivist sharing model
By Nathan Schneider, 21 Dec 2014 Image from OpenSource.com’s post, “Don’t Build a Better Mousetrap. Change the Business Model.“ One chilly morning last winter, I reconnected with an old friend, Joel Dietz, on a video chat. We hadn’t seen each other for years, and we’d each had several starts and stops in our lives since. He began telling me about his latest undertaking, …
Cost-benefit analysis: the coming battle between the Trump team and economists over the true cost of climate change
By Chelsea Harvey 22 December 2016 cross-posted from The Washington Post In this Jan. 20, 2015 photo, a plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) This story has been updated.As we learn more and more about the tenor of the Trump transition, a key part of its regulatory rollback strategy on climate change is …
Leveraging startup culture to improve government and make the rapid shifts we need
By The Intersector Project By Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor, City of West Sacramento and Mark Johannessen, Council Member, City of West Sacramento As advancements in technology revolutionize customer experiences in every aspect of our residents’ lives, local governments are under evolutionary pressure to adapt or risk losing the support and trust of the communities they serve. However, by design, governmental entities are organized to …
Improving public consultation in public-private partnerships
By The Intersector Project DOWNLOAD PDF In their recent article, “An Empirical Examination of Public Involvement in Public-Private Partnerships: Qualifying the Benefits of Public Involvement in PPPs,” in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Eric Boyer, Professor of Public Administration, David Van Slyke, Associate Dean and Chair of Department of Public Administration and International Affairs, and Juan Rogers, …
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