Why put a price on carbon? Anything that moves through our economy has value. Sometimes, value is quantifiable, as with a gallon of milk—which is bought and sold in stores. Sometimes, value is pervasive, and can only be seen through trace relationships, as with rainwater—which cannot be bought or sold. Carbon dioxide molecules are not … Continue reading Carbon Fee & Dividend basics
Historically, when observers to the Bretton Woods institutions would raise issues of macrocritical value distortion, they were generally told “That’s not our business.” The common practice was to treat environmental damage, the degradation of basic rights, limited access to education, as “unquantifiables” or as “social issues”. IMF leadership would refer to the founding mission as dealing exclusively with the health or unhealth of fiscal math in a given country—its budgetary solvency. At the World Bank, the mission of ending poverty was not seen as directly linked to the building of basic civic and economic infrastructure required for sustained human development.
So, for a long time, macrocritical considerations would make their way into analysis and reports, but global economic leaders went on about their business without worrying too much about environmental impacts, gender inequality, or systemic multi-directional feedback loops like the climate system.
Continue reading “Macrocritical Value Generation: The Roots of Future Opportunity”
Originally posted on Geoversiv Earth Intelligence:
This is an open letter to all writers, scholars, reporters, and policy-makers. More specifically, we also address this piece, respectfully, to editors from the world’s leading newspapers and news bureaus. The ask we are making is: Please, when you write the name of the planet, use the capital initial… Continue reading Earth: Respect
Originally posted on Geoversiv Earth Intelligence:
In 2009, three Citizens’ Climate Lobby core team members went to Capitol Hill, to start building a new way for citizens to engage Congress on climate and energy policy. In 2010, 25 volunteers came from around the U.S. Last year, CCL brought 608 citizen volunteers to Capitol Hill, for… Continue reading CCL 2015: The Poetry of Empowerment
Originally posted on Geoversiv Earth Intelligence:
The Papal Encyclical Letter Laudato Si (Praised Be)?focuses “on caring for our common home”. It makes clear the too rarely explained link between ecological ethics and a life of faith. For many, it seems like a shift in the politics of how we can or should talk about the… Continue reading Pope Francis: Caring for Our Common Home
In response to Politico’s assertion that Lindsay Graham might be “too green for the GOP” There are many more Republicans on Capitol Hill that want to act on climate than say so publicly, and there are many more who understand the human role. The divisive politics the two parties wage against each other, and the … Continue reading Congress may not be as divided as you think
Nov. 22, 1963. Three shots. Historical shock. The near destabilization of the American system. A hurried reordering of executive leadership and governing priorities. Every question asked, and unanswered. Importantly. Exactly fifty years ago today, Pres. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., was shot and killed, in Dallas, Texas. Though official filings cite Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin, no judicial process has ever found him guilty. Instead, we have the controversial and selective report from the Warren Commission, and the shooting remains a more or less unsolved mystery.
Ultimately, what matters most is what we learn and what we put into effect.
Continue reading “JFK: Voice of Collective (Non-partisan) Aspiration”
On the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, 41 scheduled speakers and a handful of walk-ins gave testimony at the Environmental Protection Agency’s New York City listening session on new regulations for carbon emissions from existing power plants. Some of the speakers spoke of theoretical technologies that would make it possible to continue burning fossil fuels, but the majority of the speakers called for action to transition away from fossil fuels, and many proposed solutions.
Many of the witnesses told personal stories of risk, cost or tragedy, relating to the burning of fossil fuels. They urged aggressive action to mitigate global climate change, and soon, before the worsening crisis passes crucial tipping points. Some of us proposed policy and technology solutions, or provided information showing the economic, commercial, and climate wisdom of speeding the transition to clean, renewable fuels.
Slow jazz. Interesting, thoughtful, energetic people: meeting, greeting, being curious, exploring something new. in the first hour, drinks are discounted, and people take the opportunity to get a table and order food, which is optional throughout the evening. The atmosphere is relaxed, and one is free to take in everything on offer, or to sift through the bold and innovative ideas, courageous undertakings and inspired socially responsible endeavors, according to one’s taste, tolerance or mood. It is Sept. 11, 12 years from the devastation brought to this city, and this space a good, and hopeful, place to be.
The debt crisis is attributable to “structural” causes, meaning the way the nation’s financing is structured over the next several decades, but also to political and economic causes, meaning both the way we make policy and the way we live and experience the marketplace for trade, credit and consumer purchases. So, we need to implement policies that make serious, sustainable corrections on all three fronts.
Stabilizing debt financing requires the least expensive cost of borrowing possible, i.e. a AAA credit rating and the reputation for 100% likelihood of on-time repayment. It is unhelpful and counterproductive to indicate that the US might not meet 100% of its obligations on time 100% of the time. The long-term solution has to be oriented toward making social services solvent, and reducing the costs of debt repayment.
Continue reading “To Solve the Debt Crisis, Rebuild the Middle Class”
The Poet Economist 