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Daily Archives: November 14, 2022

How Oil & Gas Funding Distorts Energy Research

Gizmodo: “Prominent energy centers at MIT, Stanford, and Columbia may be biased toward natural gas because of funding, a new study says Journalists like me often seek out academics for comment and insight on stories related to the energy transition, since these professors have often done in-depth research into various fuel sources and their impacts. The hope is that these sources are relatively unbiased; their loyalty is to the data. But a study published Thursday in Nature Climate Change found that prominent energy policy centers at top-tier universities that are funded by the fossil fuel industry may produce content more favorable to dirty energy than other, similar centers. This is concerning, because it’s not just journalists who seek the council of these academics—it’s policymakers, too. “Reports by fossil-funded [centers] are more favorable towards natural gas than towards renewable energy, while centers less dependent on fossil fuel industry funding show a pro-renewable energy preference,” Anna Papp, a PhD student in Sustainable Development at Columbia University and one of the authors of the paper, told Earther in an email. Academic centers focused on energy research have become an increasingly respected and important voice in energy policy conversations, as the U.S. and the world begin grinding the gears on the energy transition. Representatives from places like Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy and MIT’s Energy Initiative have testified in Congress and are often featured on television as experts; some of their reports have even been the subject of their own Congressional hearings. But several of the most prominent academic think tanks working on energy issues also have significant funding from the fossil fuel industry. Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy, for instance, lists its financial partnerships on its website, which include big fossil fuel names like BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Occidental Petroleum. (Full disclosure: While I was employed at a PR firm between 2014 and 2016, Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy was a client; I worked on some of their press needs and materials.) What’s more, much of the research and whitepapers produced by these centers does not undergo the peer review process that a scientific paper may receive…”

AP Exclusive: Google tracks your movements, like it or not

“Google agreed to pay $391.5M to settle a lawsuit with 40 U.S. states over allegations that the tech giant was tracking user location data even when users had opted out. A 2018 Associated Press (AP) investigation found that the tracking issue affected as many as two billion people using Google Android devices and hundreds of millions… Continue Reading

The Myth of Online Privacy: Risks, Dangers, and Solutions

MakeUseOf: “Privacy these days means something completely different than it did even a decade ago. And the only things we have to blame for this are the internet and ourselves. In the age of the internet, we’re only as “private” as the tools we use allow us to be, which isn’t much. While you rejoice… Continue Reading

Apple Is Tracking You Even When Its Own Privacy Settings Say It’s Not, New Research Says

Gizmodo: “An independent test suggests Apple collects data about you and your phone when its own settings promise to “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether. For all of Apple’s talk about how private your iPhone is, the company vacuums up a lot of data about you. iPhones do have a privacy setting that is… Continue Reading

Design Thinking Bootleg

“The Design Thinking Bootleg is a set of tools and methods that we keep in our back pockets, and now you can do the same. It is the latest iteration of the Design Thinking Bootcamp Bootleg (archived), now with new tools. These cards were developed by teaching team members, students, as well as designers from around… Continue Reading

The clever way some states are trying to reduce waste, boost recycling

Fast Company: “An increasing number of states see an answer in an innovative regulation that tackles trash on the front end, incentivizing manufacturers to make their product packaging more easily recyclable or else pay to recycle it on the back end. The laws, known collectively as Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, could, some experts say,… Continue Reading

The Man Behind Mastodon Built It for This Moment

Wired: “Eugen Rochko looks exhausted. The 29-year-old German programmer is the founder of Mastodon, a distributed alternative to Twitter that has exploded in popularity in recent weeks as Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform has rained chaos on its users. Rochko began developing Mastodon shortly after leaving university in 2016. He was a fan of… Continue Reading

Environmental Social Governance, Social Enterprise, and Your Practice

ABA: “Over the last few decades, environmental social governance (ESG) and social enterprise have permeated the mainstream economy. Lawyers who increase their understanding of these concepts and even incorporate them into their own law practice are more likely to maintain relevance and appeal with clients and employees. This article takes a topline look at social… Continue Reading