Environmental Securities and Risk

I read an interesting critique of the current U.S. economy…the general premise was that a significant amount of American finance has replaced investments in real goods and services with investments in financial derivatives (investments in ‘repackaged money’).
This is a cautionary tale…the more abstract our economy becomes, the more risk our society assumes.
I’ve also read the [...]

WTO Talks

The Doha trade talks collapsed on Tuesday when the U.S. resisted allowing China and India a loophole that would have protected farmers from a sudden surge in imports.
For the full story:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,569027,00.html

Globalization

I’ve watched with interest the various conversations, policies, and politics of globalization over the past few years. It is a vast concept…and suffers from great generalizations in the media and the political arena.
I’ve been a bit of a skeptic about much of the trade liberalization…at the same time I’ve read many well-respected economists riding the [...]

The Costs of Suburban Sprawl

Tom Sgouros, a Rhode Island writer, has put together this interesting article analyzing the increases in the State’s budget since 1950…a ninefold increase. He takes a very thoughtful look at the cost of service increases from our suburban sprawl.
I’m certain similar economic changes occurred across much of the country.
http://whatcheer.net/ripr/ripr32.pdf

New Biomass Technology

University of Georgia researchers have developed a new technology that dramatically increase the yield of ethanol from non-food grasses…switchgrass and even yard waste.
For the Story:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080728192938.htm

Drew Christy

I have never met Drew Christy. Drew was finishing his second year at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology and, on his drive home from winter exams, had a terrible accident on a patch of ice. He had severe brain injuries and for many days was clinging to life. Through testing, they found Drew had very [...]

Climate Change and Land Management

Freeman Dyson is a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.
His thoughts on “Climate Change and Land Management”…
The main subject of this piece is the problem of climate change. This is a contentious subject, involving politics and economics as well as science. The science is inextricably mixed up with politics. [...]

USDA CEAP

In 2003 the USDA began the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to quantify the environmental benefits from conservation practices on private lands. Andy Manale, a Senior Analyst at USEPA, has been working on the team and has spoken well of CEAPs work.
They have been working on a number of pilots that carefully quantify environmental effects [...]

Concealed Weapons in National Parks…huh?

The Bush Administration, under pressure from the NRA, has opened for comment the notion of allowing concealed weapons in national parks.
What did I just say! I had to read the press release a couple of times…but yes, there it was.
Your chance of being a violent crime victim in a national park is 1 in 708,333.
For [...]

Highway Taxes

This morning on National Public Radio news, there was a report on the state of highway tax revenues. Driver miles were down last year over 3 percent, leaving a significant hole in the highway tax pot (money we pay through gas taxes).
There have been discussions of tax increases, but the Bush administration is advocating for [...]