With bans on utility shutoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic expiring, action is needed to ease the energy burdens of at-risk communities. By Ariel Drehobl, US News, Sept 30, 2020 How Energy Efficiency Can Help Those With Lower IncomesMore Energy efficiency and weatherization can help ease the burdens of millions of struggling families. PAY THE ELECTRIC BILL or the mortgage? Run the air …
More than 1 in 3 US rooftops are suitable for solar: 30 million rooftops should be in next relief bill
350 Colorado’s Take on the Governor’s Roadmap + Why 30 Million Solar Rooftops Should Be In the Next Relief Bill https://ilsr.org/why-30-million-solar-rooftops-should-be-in-the-next-relief-bill/ by JOHN FARRELL 10 April 2020 As the federal government looks to a second (or even third) stimulus bill, Congress should consider a huge opportunity to pay Americans that pays back: solar rooftops. Somewhat more than one in three home …
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 …
A Moral Policy Agenda to Heal and Transform America: The Poor People’s Jubilee Platform (Aug 2020)
July 2020 We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States. Preamble to the U.S. Constitution No State shall make or …
Study finds renewable energy has created 6,300 jobs and generates $388.6 million a year in economic activity in eastern rural Colorado, which has 55% of the state’s solar arrays
By Wayne Heilman wayneh@gazette.com Colorado Springs Gazette, Jul 28, 2020 Updated Aug 6, 2020 The renewable energy industry has created 6,334 jobs and generates $388.6 million a year in economic activity in eastern Colorado, according to a study released Tuesday by three Colorado advocacy groups. The study from The Western Way, a Denver-based conservative environmental group, was conducted by Littleton-based Development Research Partners. It found $9.4 billion …
8 cities share how racial justice is embedded into their climate plans
By Jesse Klein, Green Biz, July 20, 2020 As COVID-19 rampages through vulnerable minority populations with tragic consequences, and protests for racial justice surge among a similar demographic, city climate planners see a renewed focus on climate justice. The pandemic, in some ways, has been a trial run for the anticipated coming impacts of climate change — a not-so-distant future in …
Five Arguments for Making Subways Free
Now is an opportune time to think more broadly about how to fund urban rail. A fare “holiday” that was successful in attracting new riders By Lucas Davis, Berkeley, CA Lowering subway fares would save energy and make cities greener. Subway ridership has fallen sharply around the world due to COVID-19. For most of the 170+ subway systems worldwide it is going …
Time and pressure, courage to take unpopular positions necessary to overcome one’s country or community’s racist past
Excerpt, New Yorker, July 2020 In her 2019 book, “Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil,” the philosopher Susan Neiman examines the different ways in which Germany and the United States have confronted their past sins. Neiman, who grew up in the American South and now lives in Berlin, describes how Germany has reckoned with the Nazi era, …
Analysts say as much as a quarter of America’s malls may close in the next five years
Brick-and-mortar retail was in the midst of seismic changes even before the pandemic. Analysts say as much as a quarter of America’s malls may close in the next five years.” With Department Stores Disappearing, Malls Could Be Next. + Will malls disappear, or will they become something different? “At the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, a suburb north of Seattle, an …
The racial gap in pollution exposure is high. And the same communities are suffering from much higher COVID death risk.
Jul 1, 2020 – Energy & Environment on Axios, by Ben Geman, author of Generate Counties that score in the top 20% nationally on 8 or more of EPA’s 11 environmental risk measures have had an average COVID-19 death rate (through June 23, 2020) of 60 per 100,000 (Figure 4). In contrast, those counties that scored in the top 20% on 2 …