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In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Susan F. Tierney, a senior advisor at Analysis Group and chair of the board of directors at Resources for the Future, about the future of fossil fuels in the United States. Tierney discusses the challenges of meeting climate goals while maintaining energy security, the importance of making energy accessible to citizens, and how to support communities and states that historically have depended on the coal and oil and gas industries for jobs and public revenue. References and recommendations: “Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States: Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions” by Stephen W. Pacala, Danielle Deane-Ryan, Alexandra Fazeli, Julia H. Haggerty, Chris T. Hendrickson, Roxanne Johnson, Timothy C. Lieuwen, Vivian E. Loftness, Carlos E. Martín, Michael A. Méndez, Clark A. Miller, Jonathan A. Patz, Keith Paustian, William Pizer, Ed Rightor, Patricia Romero-Lankao, Devashree Saha, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Susan F. Tierney, and William Walker; https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/25931/interactive/ “Community Engagement for an Equitable Energy Transition, with Julia Haggerty” from “Resources Radio”; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/community-engagement-for-an-equitable-energy-transition-with-julia-haggerty/ “Our Homes and Our Climate, with Carlos Martín” from “Resources Radio”; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/our-homes-and-our-climate-with-carlos-martin/ “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese; https://www.abrahamverghese.org/the-covenant-of-water/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Simon Greenhill (PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley) and Hannah Druckenmiller (university fellow at Resources for the Future and assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology). Along with other coauthors, Greenhill and Druckenmiller recently published an article in the journal Science that uses a new machine learning model to predict which waterways are regulated under the Clean Water Act according to different definitions of what the Clean Water Act calls “waters of the United States.” Greenhill and Druckenmiller discuss the differences in regulation when considering a broader or narrower interpretation of waters of the United States, along with the implications for wetland protection, clean water, and flood mitigation. References and recommendations: “Machine learning predicts which rivers, streams, and wetlands the Clean Water Act regulates” by Simon Greenhill, Hannah Druckenmiller, Sherrie Wang, David A. Keiser, Manuela Girotto, Jason K. Moore, Nobuhiro Yamaguchi, Alberto Todeschini, and Joseph S. Shapiro; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/machine-learning-predicts-which-rivers-streams-and-wetlands-the-clean-water-act-regulates/ Clean Water Act regulation map; https://simondgreenhill.github.io/wotus-map/ Clean Water Act regulation map explainer video by Simon Greenhill; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkhz5gVUo2w&ab “Wetlands, Flooding, and the Clean Water Act” by Charles A. Taylor and Hannah Druckenmiller; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/wetlands-flooding-and-the-clean-water-act/ “The Hungry Tide” by Amitav Ghosh; https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-hungry-tide-amitav-ghosh “The High Sierra: A Love Story” by Kim Stanley Robinson; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-high-sierra/9780316306812/
In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with James Cox, a professor at Duke University, about a rule issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that mandates publicly traded firms to disclose certain greenhouse gas emissions associated with business operations. Cox discusses how the rule standardizes the disclosures of certain climate-related risks that firms face, the differences between the final rule and the initial rule proposed by the commission in 2022, the potential challenges of verifying emissions from a company’s suppliers and customers, and the value of transparency and information for investors. References and recommendations: “Special Series: The SEC Climate Disclosure Rule” from the “Common Resources” blog; https://www.resources.org/special-series-sec/
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Lala Ma, an associate professor of economics at the University of Kentucky and a new university fellow at Resources for the Future, about the effect on housing prices in California of informing homebuyers about the risk of wildfire. Ma discusses how California classifies and discloses the risk of wildfire throughout the state, the difference in housing prices between areas in which wildfire risk is disclosed and areas where that disclosure isn’t mandated, and factors that may influence the willingness of an individual to pay more to avoid wildfire risk. References and recommendations: “Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones” by Lala Ma, Margaret A. Walls, Matthew Wibbenmeyer, and Connor Lennon; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/risk-disclosure-and-home-prices-evidence-from-california-wildfire-hazard-zones Books by Emily Oster, including “Expecting Better” and “Cribsheet”; https://emilyoster.net/writing/ “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind” by Melissa S. Kearney; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo205550079.html
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Rami talks with Jeffrey Rissman, a senior director at Energy Innovation and the author of “Zero-Carbon Industry,” a new book about decarbonizing the global industrial sector. Rissman discusses the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in major subsectors—iron and steel, chemicals, and cement—and some technologies and policies that could help reduce or eliminate emissions from these subsectors. References and recommendations: “Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity” by Jeffrey Rissman; https://zerocarbonindustry.com/ “Daybreak” board game; https://www.daybreakgame.org/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Rami talks with Heather Randell, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, about dams and reservoirs that have been built on Native American reservations in the United States. Reservoirs are built by damming a river and flooding an area of land; in the United States, Native American reservations have been disrupted by the construction of reservoirs, dispossessed of their land despite longstanding treaties with the US government. Randell discusses the history of the development of dams on reservation lands, the social and economic effects of dams on Native nations, and how the repair or removal of dams can benefit Native nations today. References and recommendations: “Dams and Tribal Land Loss in the United States” by Heather Randell and Andrew Curley; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acd268 “Dammed Indians” by Michael L. Lawson; https://books.google.com/books/about/Dammed_Indians.html?id=uuPAasyix8EC “Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country” by Sierra Crane Murdoch; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545014/yellow-bird-by-sierra-crane-murdoch/
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Carlos Martín, a project director at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and a university fellow at Resources for the Future, about housing adaptation and resilience amid climate change, using as a primary example New Orleans housing infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina. Martín argues that the resilience of housing infrastructure is key to climate adaptation, particularly for economically disadvantaged communities. He also discusses how residential buildings produce emissions and contribute to climate change; achieving US decarbonization goals will require related upgrades and improvements, which not all households can tackle with ease. References and recommendations: “Housing Resilience in Greater New Orleans: Perceptions of and Home Adaptations to Climate Hazards in Post-Katrina Louisiana” by Carlos Martín, Claudia D. Solari, Anne N. Junod, and Rebecca Marx; https://www.urban.org/research/publication/housing-resilience-greater-new-orleans “Exploring Climate Change in US Housing Policy” by Carlos Martín; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511482.2022.2012030 “Pathways to Prosperity: Building Climate Resilience” by Allison Plyer, Alysha Rashid, Elaine Ortiz, Taylor Savell, and John Kilcoyne; https://www.p2pclimate.org/ “The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection” by Dorceta E. Taylor; https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-rise-of-the-american-conservation-movement
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Ben Cahill, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the Biden administration’s recent decision to pause approvals on the construction of new facilities that export liquefied natural gas. Cahill discusses the history of natural gas production in the United States and arguments for and against increasing US exports of natural gas, including considerations of energy security in nations that are allies of the United States, national and global climate goals, and environmental justice. References and recommendations: “Escaping the Resource Curse” edited by Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Joseph E. Stiglitz; https://cup.columbia.edu/book/escaping-the-resource-curse/9780231141963 “The Nutmeg’s Curse” by Amitav Ghosh; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo125517349.html
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Fran Moore, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, about what it’s like to serve as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Moore discusses the function of the CEA within the executive branch of the federal government, the range of economic expertise within the CEA, and how economists can improve the utility and relevance of their research for policymaking. References and recommendations: Frontiers of Benefit-Cost Analysis from the US Office of Management and Budget; https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-regulatory-affairs/frontiers-of-benefit-cost-analysis/ “A Progress Report on Climate-Energy-Macro Modeling,” containing a memo on tools to support the management of near-term macroeconomic and financial climate risks, from the Council of Economic Advisors; https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2023/12/22/a-progress-report-on-climate-energy-macro-modeling/ “Losing Earth: A Recent History” by Nathaniel Rich; https://www.mcdbooks.com/losing-earth/ “If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics” by Marilyn Waring; https://www.marilynwaring.com/publications/if-women-counted.asp “The Economist’s View of the World and the Quest for Well-Being” by Steven E. Rhoads; https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/economists-view-of-the-world/ABF1A4B73AA084CB909A3FF498153F16#fndtn-information
In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Spencer Banzhaf, a professor at North Carolina State University, about the history of the field of environmental economics. Banzhaf discusses the development of the economic definition of value, the early influence of agricultural economists in government, the origins of Resources for the Future and its contributions to the field, and how the field of environmental economics may evolve moving forward. References and recommendations: “Pricing the Priceless: A History of Environmental Economics” by H. Spencer Banzhaf; https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/pricing-the-priceless/417AAD8A445E8B64BAD6BC201D2F2163 “Scarcity” by Fredrik Albritton Jonsson and Carl Wennerlind; https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674987081 Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Beethoven)
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Julia Haggerty, an associate professor at Montana State University and university fellow at Resources for the Future, about engaging the public in the US energy transition. Haggerty discusses public engagement in the context of US efforts to decarbonize, the opportunity presented by a transition to clean energy in terms of reducing inequities in the United States, the importance of public trust in government action, and ongoing efforts to ensure that communities take action toward decarbonization. References and recommendations: “Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States: Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions” by Stephen W. Pacala, Danielle Deane-Ryan, Alexandra Fazeli, Julia H. Haggerty, Chris T. Hendrickson, Roxanne Johnson, Timothy C. Lieuwen, Vivian E. Loftness, Carlos E. Martín, Michael A. Méndez, Clark A. Miller, Jonathan A. Patz, Keith Paustian, William Pizer, Ed Rightor, Patricia Romero-Lankao, Devashree Saha, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Susan F. Tierney, and William Walker; https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/25931/interactive/ “City Hall” film by Frederick Wiseman; https://www.pbs.org/show/city-hall/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Bernie Bastien-Olvera, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Diego, about the benefits of ecosystems for humans and the global economy. Bastien-Olvera discusses the types of benefits that ecosystems provide, methods that economists use to estimate these benefits, how climate change is shifting ecosystems and biomes geographically, and why these shifts may have a relatively larger impact on nations in the Global South. References and recommendations: “Unequal climate impacts on global values of natural capital” by B. A. Bastien-Olvera, M. N. Conte, X. Dong, T. Briceno, D. Batker, J. Emmerling, M. Tavoni, F. Granella, and F. C. Moore; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06769-z “The Biggest Little Farm” movie; https://www.biggestlittlefarmmovie.com/ “Planeteando de Pelicula” podcast; https://planeteando.org/series/planeteando-de-pelicula/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi reviews developments in energy and environmental policy in 2023 and previews potential developments in 2024 with Karen Palmer, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future, and Joseph Majkut, director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Palmer and Majkut discuss reforms that could speed up the construction of energy infrastructure, the increasing prevalence of trade policies that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the intersection of US goals for decarbonization and foreign policy, and notable developments in policy at the state and local levels. References and recommendations: “How to Know a Person” by David Brooks; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/652822/how-to-know-a-person-by-david-brooks/ “The Big Dig” podcast; https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced $8.2 billion in funding for selected high-speed rail projects across the country. One major rail project that is receiving support will connect Las Vegas and Los Angeles; another will connect several cities in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. “America disinvested over the last many decades in our rail systems,” said Pete Buttigieg, secretary of the US Department of Transportation. “We’re reversing that trend.” One result of this disinvestment and additional challenges in the rail industry is a large number of abandoned railroad lines. But, although many of these railroad lines no longer carry trains, the lines have been put to new transportational use. In this rebroadcasted episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Peter Harnik, cofounder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, about grassroots and legislative efforts to repurpose abandoned railroad lines as recreational trails. Harnik discusses why the United States has so many abandoned railroad lines, the process of converting a railroad line into a trail, and the legislation that provides funding for trail projects. References and recommendations: “From Rails to Trails: The Making of America’s Active Transportation Network” by Peter Harnik; https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496222060/ Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; https://www.railstotrails.org/ “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634289/stolen-focus-by-johann-hari/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Ann Wolverton, a senior research economist at the US Environmental Protection Agency, about how the agency incorporates environmental justice in its rulemaking and its analysis of agency regulations. Wolverton discusses the history of accounting for environmental justice at federal agencies, how the availability and granularity of data affect this ability to evaluate environmental justice outcomes, and how formally considering environmental justice can inform federal regulations. References and recommendations: “Environmental Justice Analysis for EPA Rulemakings: Opportunities and Challenges” by Ann Wolverton; https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/724721 “EPA Draft Revision of Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis” public comment period; https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/epa-draft-revision-technical-guidance-assessing-environmental-justice “Toms River” by Dan Fagin; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/dan-fagin
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Isaac Opper, an economist at the Rand Corporation and professor at the Pardee Rand Graduate School, about how natural disasters can affect education outcomes for students and the resulting stock of skills in the US labor force. Opper discusses the relationship between education and skills in the US labor force, which is known as human capital; how natural disasters can disrupt education for students; and how school administrators and policymakers could mitigate learning losses that result from natural disasters. References and recommendations: “The effect of natural disasters on human capital in the United States” by Isaac M. Opper, R. Jisung Park, and Lucas Husted; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01610-z “The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World” by Andrea Wulf; https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780345806291
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks about improving equity in urban park systems with Norma García-González, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, and Catherine Nagel, the executive director of the City Parks Alliance. García-González discusses how data and community engagement have helped Los Angeles County increase the accessibility and quality of its urban park system. Nagel discusses similar efforts in other cities to create equitable urban park systems and the social, environmental, and economic value of parks in urban areas. References and recommendations: “Los Angeles Countywide Comprehensive Parks & Recreation Needs Assessment” by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation; https://lacountyparkneeds.org/final-report/ “Parks Needs Assessment Plus” by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation; https://lacountyparkneeds.org/pnaplus-report/ People, Parks, and Power: A National Initiative for Green Space, Health Equity, and Racial Justice from Prevention Institute; https://preventioninstitute.org/projects/people-parks-and-power “Park Equity, Life Expectancy, and Power Building” by Prevention Institute; https://coeh.ph.ucla.edu/park-equity-life-expectancy-and-power-building/ “The association of green space, tree canopy and parks with life expectancy in neighborhoods of Los Angeles” by Rachel Connolly, Jonah Lipsitt, Manal Aboelata, Elva Yañez, Jasneet Bains, and Michael Jerrett; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412023000582 “Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World” by Karen Armstrong; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671038/sacred-nature-by-karen-armstrong/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with David Wear, a nonresident senior fellow and director of the Land Use, Forestry, and Agriculture Program at Resources for the Future, about the ability of US forests to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Wear discusses how US forests fit into emissions-reduction efforts, different approaches for estimating the amount of carbon dioxide that US forests can sequester, the implications of using different modeling approaches in designing policy, and the potential of afforestation and forest protection as carbon offsets. References and recommendations: “Land Use Change, No-Net-Loss Policies, and Effects on Carbon Dioxide Removals” by David N. Wear and Matthew Wibbenmeyer; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/land-use-change-no-net-loss-policies-and-effects-on-carbon-dioxide-removals/ “Managing Wildfires to Combat Climate Change” episode of Resources Radio with David Wear; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/managing-wildfires-to-combat-climate-change-with-david-wear/ “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold; https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold/sand-county-almanac/ “The American West as Living Space” by Wallace Stegner; https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-American-West-as-Living-Space “The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle” by Heidi Blake; https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/23/the-great-cash-for-carbon-hustle
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Temple Stoellinger, an associate professor at the University of Wyoming, about state trust lands, which are public lands that states own and must use to raise revenue for public schools and other public beneficiaries. Stoellinger discusses how state trust lands historically have been used; the existing and potential uses of these lands for conservation; the legal and policy barriers to conservation efforts; and additional uses of these lands, including energy development and livestock grazing. References and recommendations: “Valuing conservation of state trust lands” by Temple Stoellinger; https://www.americanbar.org/groups/environment_energy_resources/publications/trends/2022-2023/march-april-2023/valuing-conservation/ “Opening the Range: Reforms to Allow Markets for Voluntary Conservation on Federal Grazing Lands” by Shawn Regan, Temple Stoellinger, and Jonathan Wood; https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2023/iss1/4/ “Allow ‘nonuse rights’ to conserve natural resources” by Bryan Leonard, Shawn Regan, Christopher Costello, Suzi Kerr, Dominic P. Parker, Andrew J. Plantinga, James Salzman, V. Kerry Smith, and Temple Stoellinger; https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi4573 “Stolen” by Ann-Helén Laestadius; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Stolen/Ann-Helen-Laestadius/9781668007167 “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” by Ben Goldfarb; https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/eager-paperback/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Ben Storrow, a reporter with E&E News, about recent challenges for the offshore wind industry. Storrow discusses state and federal goals for offshore wind development; how factors related to inflation, supply chains, installation capacity, and tax rules can create obstacles for wind projects; and methods for pushing offshore wind projects through these obstacles and toward successful development. References and recommendations: “What is an ‘Energy Community’? Understanding the Effects of the Inflation Reduction Act” event hosted by Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/events/rff-live/what-is-an-energy-community/ “Dune” series of books by Frank Herbert; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/AU8/dune
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Jimena González Ramírez, an associate professor at Manhattan College, and Sarah Jacobson, a professor at Williams College. González Ramírez and Jacobson discuss some ways that systemic racism can unintentionally permeate research in the field of environmental and natural resource economics. They consider how historically racist policies and practices can affect research data and analysis and, in turn, produce findings which may render outcomes that discriminate. Specifically, the scholars identify several contributing issues: the prioritization of cost-effectiveness; inattention to procedural justice; abstraction from social and historical context; and a focus on problems that are easier, rather than more important, to solve. A recent Common Resources article by González Ramírez, Jacobson, and other coauthors delves into even more of the details that their conversation here doesn’t cover. References and recommendations: “Looking at Environmental and Natural Resource Economics through the Lens of Racial Equity” by Amy Ando, Titus Awokuse, Jimena González Ramírez, Sumeet Gulati, Sarah Jacobson, Dale Manning, Samuel Stolper, and Matt Fleck; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/looking-at-environmental-and-natural-resource-economics-through-the-lens-of-racial-equity/ “Achieving environmental justice: A cross-national analysis” by Karen Bell; https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qgzvd “Sensing Air Pollution Exposure in New York City Schools, with Beia Spiller” podcast episode; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/sensing-air-pollution-exposure-in-new-york-city-schools-with-beia-spiller/ Work on waste sanitation infrastructure from Catherine Coleman Flowers; https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2020/catherine-coleman-flowers “An Immense World” by Ed Yong; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616914/an-immense-world-by-ed-yong/ “Solito: A Memoir” by Javier Zamora; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/705626/solito-by-javier-zamora/ “Can we talk to whales?” by Elizabeth Kolbert; https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/09/11/can-we-talk-to-whales
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Angela Parker, an assistant professor at the University of Denver, about oil and gas production on Native American reservations. Parker discusses the history of oil production on Native American lands, the environmental and economic effects of this production, Native American perceptions of the oil and gas industry, and the current state of the industry on Native American lands. Parker and Raimi also talk about the historical exploitation of oil and gas–producing Native nations and the history behind the new film “Killers of the Flower Moon.” “The Prize” documentary series; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278873/ “Reservation Dogs” television series; https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/reservation-dogs “Sex Education” television show; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7767422/
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Becky Epanchin-Niell, an associate professor at the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at Resources for the Future. Epanchin-Niell discusses how climate change and human land and water use have accelerated the frequency and extent of saltwater intrusion, which is saltwater contamination in freshwater rivers, soils, and aquifers. Epanchin-Niell and Walls also talk about the implications of saltwater intrusion for coastal ecosystems, drinking water, and the agricultural sector. Epanchin-Niell’s recent research examines how saltwater intrusion affects agricultural practices on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. References and recommendations: “The Spread and Cost of Saltwater Intrusion in the US Mid-Atlantic” by Pinki Mondal, Matthew Walter, Jarrod Miller, Rebecca Epanchin-Niell, Keryn Gedan, Vishruta Yawatkar, Elizabeth Nguyen, and Katherine L. Tully; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/the-spread-and-cost-of-saltwater-intrusion-in-the-us-mid-atlantic/ “Coastal agricultural land use response to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion” by Rebecca S. Epanchin-Niell, Alexandra Thompson, Xianru Han, Jessica Post, Jarrod Miller, David Newburn, Keryn Gedan, and Kate Tully; https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/agsaaea22/335970.htm “Two Degrees” by Alan Gratz; https://www.alangratz.com/writing/two-degrees/
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Emily Browne, who has worked on wildfire prevention and suppression in Alaska with the US National Park Service. On September 27, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission released a report with recommendations for addressing the challenges that are associated with wildfire in the United States. Browne discusses some of these recommendations, the day-to-day life of working on wildfire mitigation in the wilderness, various wildfire-mitigation strategies, the experience of working with an all-female fire crew, and the gender disparity in the US firefighting workforce. References and recommendations: “On Fire: The Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission” from the US Department of Agriculture Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission; https://www.usda.gov/topics/disaster-resource-center/wildland-fire/commission USAJOBS website; https://www.usajobs.gov/ “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer; https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass “The Big Burn” by Timothy Egan; https://www.timothyeganbooks.com/the-big-burn
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Alexander Gazmararian, a doctoral candidate at Princeton University, and Dustin Tingley, a professor at Harvard University. They discuss how a national transition to a clean energy system may affect communities with economies that historically have depended on fossil fuel production; the moral, economic, and political reasons for the US government to oversee a energy transition in these communities; and how a bottom-up approach to policy could help facilitate the transition. References and recommendations: “Uncertain Futures: How to Unlock the Climate Impasse” by Alexander F. Gazmararian and Dustin Tingley; https://www.uncertainfuturesbook.com/ “Can Federal Efforts Help Build Economic Resilience in New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Communities?” by Daniel Raimi and Zachary Whitlock; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/economic-resilience-new-mexico-oil-and-gas-communities-energy-transition/ “The Fight to Save the Town” by Michelle Wilde Anderson; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Fight-to-Save-the-Town/Michelle-Wilde-Anderson/9781501195990 “How We Survive” podcast; https://www.marketplace.org/collection/using-tech-to-adapt-to-climate-change/ “White Gold” episode of the “How We Survive” podcast; https://www.marketplace.org/shows/how-we-survive/white-gold/ Heatmap News; https://heatmap.news/
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Will Gorman, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, about the interconnection queue. The interconnection queue is the waiting list for developers that hope to connect power plants to the electric grid; regulators must first study the potential effects of connecting a plant to the grid before moving forward with a project. Gorman discusses the reasons for recent growth in queue wait times, the costs that are associated with connecting a new power plant to the grid, a new federal regulation that aims to improve the interconnection queue, and additional reforms that could speed up the process of connecting new power plants to the grid. References and recommendations: “Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements” from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/fact-sheet-improvements-generator-interconnection-procedures-and-agreements “Queued Up: Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection” by Joe Rand, Will Gorman, Seongeun Jeong, Fredrich Kahrl, Julie Mulvaney Kemp, Ben Paulos, Dana Robson, Jo Seel, and Ryan Wiser; https://emp.lbl.gov/queues “Generator Interconnection Costs to the Transmission System” by Jo Seel, Will Gorman, Fredrich Kahrl, Julie Mulvaney Kemp, Dev Millstein, Joe Rand, and Ryan Wiser; https://emp.lbl.gov/interconnection_costs “Beyond FERC Order 2023: Considerations on Deep Interconnection Reform” by Tyler H. Norris; https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/publications/beyond-ferc-order-2023-considerations-deep-interconnection-reform “Energy at the Movies” television program; http://energyatthemovies.com/about/ “The Art of Energy Efficiency” by Arthur H. Rosenfeld; https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.energy.24.1.33 The “Parable” book series by Octavia E. Butler; https://www.octaviabutler.com/parableseries
In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with V. Kelly Turner, an associate professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles, about the impacts of heat on students in US schools. Heat not only affects the body but also has implications for children’s behavior and learning outcomes. Turner also discusses architectural and landscape design choices and technology that can mitigate hot temperatures on school grounds, funding sources for improving school infrastructure, and issues of equity in allocating such resources to schools. References and recommendations: The Los Angeles Living Schoolyards Coalition; https://www.lalivingschoolyards.org/ “Green schoolyards for Los Angeles: The smart policy solution for equity, health, and climate resilience” from the Trust for Public Land; https://www.tpl.org/green-schoolyards-los-angeles “The Heat Will Kill You First” by Jeff Goodell; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jeff-goodell/the-heat-will-kill-you-first/9780316497572/
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Victoria Sanders and Molly Robertson. Sanders is a research analyst at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, and Robertson works at Resources for the Future as a research associate. They discuss a recent report that Sanders and Robertson have published alongside coauthors about the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a 2019 law in New York State that aims to achieve net-zero emissions and specifies that at least 35 percent of the benefits should go toward disadvantaged communities. Sanders and Robertson describe the role of environmental justice communities and advocacy groups in the development and implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, options for implementing the law, and how these implementation options are projected to affect greenhouse gas emissions and air quality in specific communities. References and recommendations: “Prioritizing Justice in New York State Climate Policy: Cleaner Air for Disadvantaged Communities?” by Alan Krupnick, Molly Robertson, Wesley Look, Eddie Bautista, Victoria Sanders, Eunice Ko, Dan Shawhan, Joshua Linn, Miguel Jaller, Narasimha Rao, Miguel Poblete Cazenave, Yang Zhang, Kai Chen, and Pin Wang; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/environmental-justice-communities-new-york-state-climate-policy-clcpa/ “Broken Ground” podcast; https://brokengroundpodcast.org/ “Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future” by Rob Dunn; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rob-dunn/never-out-of-season/9780316260695
In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Milan Elkerbout about how the European Union has responded to the Inflation Reduction Act. Elkerbout will join Resources for the Future as a fellow in October, transitioning from his role as head of the climate policy programme at the Centre for European Policy Studies. Elkerbout discusses the ongoing conversation about the Inflation Reduction Act among EU policymakers, climate policies that the European Union has proposed since the passage of the US law, and global trends in industrial and trade policy. This conversation with Hayes and Elkerbout comes on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, which became law in August 2022. References and recommendations: “The New Economics of Industrial Policy” by Réka Juhász, Nathan Lane, and Dani Rodrik; https://drodrik.scholar.harvard.edu/publications/new-economics-industrial-policy
In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Tyler Felgenhauer, a research director and senior research scientist at Duke University, about social science issues that are associated with solar geoengineering. Felgenhauer discusses different technologies that can facilitate solar geoengineering, the risks and benefits of these technologies, how international cooperation could affect the deployment of solar geoengineering, and recent social science research on solar geoengineering. References and recommendations: “Solar Geoengineering Futures: Interdisciplinary Research to Inform Decisionmaking” event on September 28 and 29, hosted by Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/events/conferences/solar-geoengineering-futures-current-research-and-uncertainties/ Solar geoengineering research at Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/topics/comprehensive-climate-strategies/solar-geoengineering/ “Social science research to inform solar geoengineering” by Joseph E. Aldy, Tyler Felgenhauer, William A. Pizer, Massimo Tavoni, Mariia Belaia, Mark E. Borsuk, Arunabha Ghosh, Garth Heutel, Daniel Heyen, Joshua Horton, David Keith, Christine Merk, Juan Moreno-Cruz, Jesse L. Reynolds, Katharine Ricke, Wilfried Rickels, Soheil Shayegh, Wake Smith, Simone Tilmes, Gernot Wagner, and Jonathan B. Wiener; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/social-science-research-to-inform-solar-geoengineering/ “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace-Wells; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586541/the-uninhabitable-earth-by-david-wallace-wells/ “Climate Change and the Nation State” by Anatol Lieven; https://global.oup.com/academic/product/climate-change-and-the-nation-state-9780197584248
