Senate Progress on the Energy Bill

http://communities.thomsonreuters.com/Carbon/410436

America and Small Business

WASHINGTON – August 3 – Contrary to popular perceptions, the United States has a much smaller small-business sector (as a share of total employment) than other countries at a comparable level of economic development, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) . The CEPR researchers observe that the undersized U.S. small business sector is consistent with the view that high health care costs discourage small business formation, since start-ups in other countries can tap into government-funded health care systems.

“We think of ourselves as offering the most business-friendly environment in the world, but almost every other rich country in the world does a much better job creating and sustaining small businesses,” said John Schmitt, a senior economist at CEPR and an author of the report.

The study, “An International Comparison of Small Business Employment,” reviews the most recently available, internationally comparable data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to measure the share of small businesses in 22 rich democracies. The report finds:

The United States has the second lowest share of self-employed workers (7.2 percent).

The United States has among the lowest shares of employment in small businesses in manufacturing – only 11.1 percent of the U.S. manufacturing workforce is in enterprises with fewer than 20 employees. Eighteen other rich countries have a higher share of manufacturing employment in small enterprises, including Germany (13.0 percent), Sweden (14.4 percent), and France (18.0 percent).

U.S. small businesses are particularly weak in high-tech. The United States, for example, has the second lowest share of computer-related service employment in firms with fewer than 100 employees and the third lowest share of research and development related employment in firms with fewer than 100 employees.

“In the rest of the world, entrepreneurs who want to start a new business don’t have to think twice about where they and their employees will get health insurance,” said Schmitt. “In the United States, talented people thinking about starting a new business often have to choose between following their dream or going without health insurance.”

Proposed Forest Carbon Incentives Program Act of 2009

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-1576

Catching Up

A busy few months……

We’ve begun to work with Richard Pritzlaff and the Biophilia Foundation on an exciting business development in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Richard and his partners have been buying farms (primarily in Maryland) for several years. The farms are reconfigured to reduce nutrient runoff and enhance wildlife habitat and other ecosystem services while maintaining there viability as productive farms (by adding a few new environmental agricultural commodities to the management).

We are now involved in developing a plan and a fund to expand the scope and impact of the venture. Our intentions are to provide new sources of finance/funding to the Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.

Second, we have received a Rhode Island USDA Conservation Innovation Grant to develop a pilot water use exchange (with related ecosystem service components) in southern Rhode Island. It is an interesting opportunity to develop protocols for water use exchanges that link changes in water use/improvements in water quality to enhancements of other ecosystem services.

Our third project is the New England EcoServices Trust – as yet unfunded (we’ve provided some initial funding and are partnering with the Conservation Law Foundation).

We plan to develop new money flow for conservation by creating a new financial vehicle, the New England EcoServices Trust (NEST). Our ‘green bank’ will make low- or no-interest loans to farmers and forest landowners for conservation practices. It will support sustainable forestry, promote clean water, increase biodiversity through habitat improvements, and be a catalyst for a number of other important conservation practices.

Second, the Trust will support small green business development through loans and micro-investments. Economic development will occur as forest landowners and farmers earn additional income with cottage industries growing and producing traditional as well as specialty items such as witch hazel or bio-energy crops – an array of new local products and services. Farmers will be able to transition to organic farming, add small scale poultry and livestock operations, restart local processing operations, and meet the high demand for specialty products.

Last, and undoubtedly the most complex, is to create an Exchange for ‘green credits’. The Exchange will trade credits for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and water quality – linking conservation practices to a regionally regulated credit marketplace. Landowners implementing conservation practices (e.g., reduction in nutrient runoff from farm operations) would generate credits and receive revenue from credit buyers (e.g., a town unable to reduce runoff to regulated levels). This revenue would help to support the conservation and economic development activities of ‘green bank’ loan recipients, allowing funds to be returned to the bank in a self-replenishing system.

Carbon Tariff?

A letter from ten U.S. Senators to President Obama.

http://brown.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ClimateChange_Manuf.pdf

Oregon Ecosystem Service Market Legislation

http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/sb0500.dir/sb0513.en.html

Peak Oil

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/006417.html

Factory Farms and Antibiotics

A well-researched article on factory farms, antibiotic use in animals, and the implications to humans.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2009/080309Keiger.shtml

The World Will Warm Faster than Predicted

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/27/world-warming-faster-study

The Energy Bill and Environmentalist

The New York Times reports on concerns among some environmentalist on Obama’s committment to climate action.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/us/politics/11protest.html?_r=1&ref=earth