Excerpt from NYTimes, March 2020. The $700 billion bank bailout elicited a voter backlash, which means any aid this time is likely to have large strings attached. Those could include limits on executive compensation, prohibitions on stock buybacks and, most prominent, measures to force bailed out companies to keep workers on their payrolls. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, released an …
The $700 billion bank bailout elicited a voter backlash: we don’t want to bailout to well-off equity holders
We are entering a recession – but what did we learn from the last one? March 20, 2020, in The Conversation, Ken-Hou Lin, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin and Megan Neely, Postdoctoral Researcher, Stanford University As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, it is abundantly clear that the global economy is entering a recession – the first we’ve …
Government interventions should be predicated upon making the urgently required transition to a post-fossil fuel economy and society. Rescued or subsidized institutions (especially oil companies, airlines, and the banks that finance them) should be put under public control as part of an emergency climate transition plan
Lessons learned from 2008 In this case, any government interventions should be predicated upon making the urgently required transition to a post-fossil fuel economy and society. Rescued or subsidized institutions (especially oil companies, airlines, and the banks that finance them) should be put under public control as part of an emergency climate transition plan. Once in public control, these institutions …
Report: An Alternative to Electricity Monopolies Enables Communities to Center People and Planet
BY JOHN FARRELL | DATE: 19 FEB 2020 Download the Report Register for a webinar on the report, March 5th, 2020 at 12pm CT More communities than ever want to exercise control over their energy systems. In 2016, Americans collectively spent $360 billion buying electricity. Most of the revenue accrued to the benefit of increasingly-large, investor-owned utilities. Inspired by the individuals who put solar on their …
Tackling the climate crisis and pollution; Creating good, high-paying jobs; and Counteracting racial and economic inequity
By Ben Beachy January 1, 2019, the Sierra Club From kitchen tables to the halls of Congress, talk of a Green New Deal continues to grow. In the past year of writing and speaking about this bold plan to tackle climate change and inequality, we’ve covered Green New Deal goals, local policy wins that offer tangible Green New Deal models, and the recent surge in Green New Deal momentum. …
Why some cities are targeting gas stoves to fight climate change
Why building electrification, and removing gas from new and retrofitted homes, has become a movement By Patrick Sisson Feb 4, 2020 Ever since the Green New Deal became a key talking point and policy goal of progressive politicians last year, there’s been a renewed push to make American homes and buildings better for the environment. For a growing number of municipalities and local leaders, …
21st Century Bill of Rights
From Brand New Congress: The founders of the United States of America and those that followed established a Bill of Rights to constitute the values reflected by this great nation and those who reside within. Now more than 225 years into our nation’s founding, we recognize the current Bill of Rights falls short of securing the full scope of unalienable …
Gus Speth, After 40 Years of Government Inaction on Climate: The important thing is for people to redouble their efforts. Now that we’ve got a fighting chance, we really have to fight.
Gus Speth: The important thing is for people to redouble their efforts. Now that we’ve got a fighting chance, we really have to fight. We all should be engaged with a Green New Deal. I think one reason the idea is getting so much attention is that it is not just about climate and the environment. They are seeing the connections …
Cost, comfort emphasized as building electrification takes off in Colorado
Allen Best, Nov 2019 Boulder, Colorado. A Boulder campaign is making a pitch to residents that they can save money and breathe easier by switching from gas. Comfort, not climate, is the central message of a campaign in Colorado to persuade homeowners to switch from natural gas to electricity for heating and other indoor purposes. The joint program sponsored by …
Democratization and Putting People at the Center in a Just Transition, Political Reform and the Green New Deal
By Evan Casper-Futterman and Jason Spicer, Metropolitiques.euNovember 18, 2019 | CREATE! Earlier this year, US Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez introduced a Congressional resolution for a Green New Deal (GND), an idea since supported by a number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The resolution calls for “transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil-society groups, academia, and businesses.” To some, the reference to …