Sallie Mae and Our Environment

Over the weekend I read an article about the college loan fund Sallie Mae. The article told the story of a father and son. The son wanted to be a Marine, so Dad said ok, but go to college first. He went to college, double majored in engineering, graduated and enlisted to join the Marines. [...]

Abrupt Climate Change

From a USGS Press Release:
The United States faces the potential for abrupt climate change in the 21st century that could pose clear risks to society in terms of our ability to adapt.
“Abrupt” changes can occur over decades or less, persist for decades more, and cause substantial disruptions to human and natural systems.
A new report, based [...]

What Changes in Store for the Forest Service under Obama

An interesting article hypothesizing about the Forest Service and USDA under an Obama Administration.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/12/14/news/local/news04.txt

Last Week and No Posts

My apologies for dropping the ‘posting’ ball last week. EAM has been starting a new – and exciting – project to develop a green bank for southern New England….and it has required a good deal of my time and energy for a month. More on that soon.
I also spent a good bit of last week [...]

USDA Announces New Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2008–Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced the intention to establish a new USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets and the creation of a federal government-wide Conservation and Land Management Environmental Services Board to assist the Secretary of Agriculture in the development of new technical guidelines and science-based methods to assess environmental [...]

A Letter to Representative Barney Frank

Dear Representative Frank,
I’ve watched the evolving mortgage crisis from both near and afar. Near, in that I interestingly had taken a small mortgage on a piece of property before our financial meltdown…and it happen to be sold to IndyMac Bank. Afar, in that I follow trends in the real estate business very closely because of [...]

Cash for Trash

This is a wonderful article by economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, about the evolution of our current financial crisis. A very concise history written in an ethically sound manner.
http://www.truthout.org/121008R

The Process of Creative Destruction

I’m concerned that our national bailout and stimulus processes are manipulating the ‘creative and destructive’ processes that are fundamental to dynamic free economies. It’s not just about protecting executives that ought not to be protected (although I think we need to have a new generation of executives that ‘think’ differently about economics)…..my concern is that [...]

Why I’m Not Worried About Inflation…

I yesterday became aware of the weblog and writings of Sharon Astyk…
Well, I wish I could take the credit for having constructed a brilliant analysis, but really, the best answer I can give is “What she said.”  That is, Ilargi and Stoneleigh have been running analysis of the credit crisis since before most people knew [...]

Turkey Lag and Injury

The recent black hole in posting begs for an explanation. I enjoy posting and seldom miss during the workweek…but Thanksgiving threw in some curves.
Last Friday I was working – primarily to accommodate a specific task – and then the ’specific task’ did not happen. By the time I figured out what happened…I lost my window [...]