“In the 2022 midterms, the 100 largest donors collectively spent 60 percent more than every small donor in the United States combined, according to a Brennan Center analysis of publicly available data. (Small donors are those who give $200 or less.) The wealthy have always wielded disproportionate power over American government. In 1895, GOP strategist Mark Hanna famously said, “There are only two important things in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember the second.” But money’s outsized influence has ebbed and flowed through U.S. history.”
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Category Archives: Climate Change
Dimming the Sun to Cool the Planet Is a Desperate Idea, Yet We’re Inching Toward It
The New Yorker [subscription req’d]: “The idea behind solar geoengineering is essentially to mimic what happens when volcanoes push particles into the atmosphere; a large eruption, such as that of Mt. Pinatubo, in the Philippines, in 1992, can measurably cool the world for a year or two. This scheme, not surprisingly, has few public advocates,… Continue Reading
Climate Change from A to Z
The New Yorker – The stories we tell ourselves about the future – by Elizabeth Kolbert November 21, 2022. Illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook [subscription req’d – this is an articulate, insightful and cleverly designed chronologically organized longread]: “…Both the effort to limit climate change (by replacing the world’s energy systems) and the effort to adapt… Continue Reading
Zero-Emission Vehicles Factbook, November 2022
“This special report, Zero-Emission Vehicles Factbook, November 2022, has been produced by BloombergNEF in cooperation with the Accelerating to Zero Coalition and in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, to coincide with COP27, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Since the last Conference of the Parties in 2021, global momentum towards zero-emissions road transport has continued… Continue Reading
How the forest dies
Washington Post: “The Amazon is going dry. In one parched corner, a desperate wait for water is only just beginning. For years, scientists have been warning that the Amazon is speeding toward a tipping point — the moment when deforestation and global warming would trigger an irreversible cascade of climatic forces, killing large swaths of… Continue Reading
Asteroids! Solar Storms! Nukes! Climate Calamity! Killer Robots!
Washington Post: “A guide to contemporary doomsday scenarios — from the threats you know about to the ones you never think of…There are just so many things we don’t want to happen. There are so many potential doomsdays. This is not the cheeriest topic, to be sure, but it’s endlessly fascinating if you can stomach… Continue Reading
9 in 10 US counties have experienced a climate disaster in the last decade
Rebuild by Design: “Ninety percent of U.S. counties have experienced a federal climate disaster between 2011-2021, with some having as many as 12 disasters during that time. In 2021 alone, the U.S. experienced 20 separate billion-dollar climate disasters with over 688 direct or indirect fatalities. We can do better. Rebuild by Design worked with APTIM and… Continue Reading
USGS – New maps provide carbon stored in wetland soils across the country
USGS – “These datasets represent a revised national scale estimate of wetland soil carbon stock assessments by improving representation of soil organic carbon densities. Carbon storage in wetland soils can have physical influences on water flow, water retention, and biogeochemical cycles and thus are critical to water models that guide decisions that affect downstream users.… Continue Reading
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.… 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
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
TIME The Best Inventions of 2022
“Every year for over two decades, TIME editors have highlighted the 100 most impactful new products and ideas. This year, in a rapidly shifting world, innovation boomed. So in 2022, for the first time ever, we selected the year’s 200 Best Inventions. To compile the list, we solicited nominations from TIME’s editors and correspondents around… Continue Reading
