Category: Analysis

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The Chilling Effect of Trump’s Climate Actions on the Climate Community

The non-governmental organizations and institutions dedicated to climate mitigation and adaptation have long been the backbone of efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, develop sustainable technologies, and build resilient communities. However, the chilling effect of Donald Trump’s climate policies has cast a shadow over this critical work, obstructing progress at a time when urgent action is needed more than ever.

Trump’s systematic dismantling of climate policies—ranging from withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to rolling back emissions standards and cutting climate research funding—has created a hostile environment for those working in climate science, renewable energy, and environmental advocacy. With government leadership retreating, NGOs and private organizations face increased challenges in securing funding, influencing policy, and mobilizing public support for meaningful climate action.

Yet reducing global greenhouse gas emissions remains urgent. By reversing its climate policies, the U.S. is not only losing valuable time but actively accelerating the depletion of its remaining carbon budget. As climate models have long predicted, predictable climate-related disasters—wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, and sea-level rise—are arriving sooner and with greater intensity.

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Ignoring the True Cost of Carbon Emissions

President Trump’s recent Executive Order (EO), titled “Unleashing American Energy,” signals a significant shift in U.S. energy policy. While the EO aims to boost domestic energy production and reduce regulatory burdens, it notably targets the concept of the social cost of carbon (SCC), calling it “logically deficient,” “poorly based in empirical science,” “politicized,” and “absent of a foundation in legislation”. This move has profound implications for our understanding of climate change and how we address it.

What is the Social Cost of Carbon?

The SCC is an economic estimate, measured in dollars, of the long-term damage caused by emitting one additional ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. It encompasses a wide range of impacts, such as:

  • Rising sea levels
  • More frequent and severe weather events
  • Reduced agricultural productivity
  • Negative health impacts

By assigning a monetary value to these harms, the SCC allows policymakers to weigh the costs of carbon emissions against the benefits of policies that reduce them. For example, if reducing emissions costs less than the SCC, then the action is economically justified. The SCC is also used to evaluate the benefits of reducing other greenhouse gasses, such as methane and nitrous oxide. Estimates of the SCC increase over time because future emissions are expected to produce larger damages as physical and economic systems become more stressed.

Why is the Social Cost of Carbon Important?

The SCC is essential for making informed decisions about energy production, infrastructure, and climate adaptation. It helps to justify investments in renewable energy and other measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It provides a way to evaluate the trade-offs between short-term economic gains and long-term climate costs. Without this valuation, the true cost of carbon emissions remains hidden. Continue reading “Ignoring the True Cost of Carbon Emissions”

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A Sage’s Thoughts…

“Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years 
And whose strong citizens are yet in cradle
Pity the nation divided into fragments
Each fragment deeming itself savior of the nation!”

(Adapted)

By Zaheer Jan

As the new year dawns and as we, the Democrats take control of the house, I, a person who has been running from country to country, in the hope of having found the ultimate haven, am hopeful that we all in general and Nancy Pelosi in particular will hark to the words of President Abraham Lincoln and, “strive on to. . . bind up the nation’s wounds”, because “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” And, “With malice towards none and justice for all”, take courage; go into the ‘Lion’s den, the states President Trump claims as his base, and reach out to HIS base.

Citizens of these states have for long felt disenfranchised from the decision making processes that affect them financially. Invite them and include them in the democratic party’s vision.

Our country and its system of government, our constitution is too great to be allowed to fall victim to petty rivalries and cheap theatrics. For if we allow that to happen, and let us be sucked into the whirlpool of international jealousies, then the only option left will be a cataclysm for mankind, nay perhaps the planet itself.

Our country’s adversaries are lying in wait, are deadly serious, and are playing for keeps.

Zaheer Jan

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Economics Driving the Clean Energy Revolution

The fossil fuel era, one of the principal drivers of the industrial revolution, is gradually giving way to a new energy future, one in which less energy is needed and what is needed is generated from renewable sources. Donald Trump notwithstanding, this transition is well under way, and will only accelerate in coming years, as humanity seeks cleaner sources of energy and a more harmonious relationship with nature. With the cost of renewables coming down dramatically, and the recognition of carbon pollution as a global waste management problem, more and more capital is being directed into the transition, whether it’s being invested in new solar capacity or in conservation or energy storage.

A 2016 Bloomberg report found that at least $11.4 trillion will be invested in new power-generating capacity over the next 25 years, and 60 percent of that will fund wind and solar power. And that’s just the power-generating capacity; overall, the UN estimates that $90 trillion will need to be invested in the next 15 years to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the promises made in the Paris Agreement.

These are seemingly staggering numbers; the entire world economic output in 2015 was about $73 trillion. But they are also a measure one of the most profitable opportunities in the history of the planet. What we’re talking about is essentially a wholesale conversion from dirty energy to clean energy, from toxic waste to the circular economy, and the recapture of carbon from the atmosphere and the oceans in order to restore soil fertility and feed a world of ten or eleven billion people a healthier diet than most of us consume today.

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Hitler or Hillary? A Stark Choice

Why we all need to stand up and be counted

jcloud-spainThe mere fact that Donald Trump has been designated the Republican nominee for President should give us all cause for concern. No one with such a clearly authoritarian personality has ever been a plausible candidate for the most powerful office in the world. The campaign that we see unfolding before us is not a reality show, but a sobering reality. It is not unreasonable that we should ask ourselves what would happen if we were to stand by and not speak out against it.
Continue reading “Hitler or Hillary? A Stark Choice”

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What the First Annual Survey of New Jersey Business Sustainability Tells Us

polskysm_200By Matt Polsky and Pooja Aravkar

None of the world’s leading companies pursuing sustainability are U.S.-based, reports Oekom Research, a German company in its annual Corporate Responsibility Review. What could we do about this in New Jersey? Researchers from the Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) Institute for Sustainable Enterprise(ISE) can offer some ideas. The mission of ISE is to “bring people together to learn how to live and manage sustainably by solving problems and capitalizing on opportunities in ways that simultaneously enhance economic, social, and environmental vitality.” It is the intellectual hub of sustainable business thinking in New Jersey.

ISE’s 2010 report Developing and Implementing a Sustainable Growth Strategy for New Jersey provided several guidelines for developing a “Green Economy” – an economy that includes and extends beyond clean energy, potentially penetrating all business sectors to protect and restore the environment while creating economic growth. The report, which urges all sectors to practice corporate social responsibility and aim towards greater levels of sustainability, concludes that “New Jersey has a unique opportunity to play a leadership role.”

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Seeking Sustainable Growth in the Wake of Sandy

The Center for Regenerative Community Solutions and Regenerative Community Ventures, Inc. have recently circulated a position paper on “Laying a Foundation for Sustainable Growth in New Jersey in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy” with policy makers and community leaders in the state. Here is a final version, and several excerpts. The authors are co-founders of the Center for Leadership in Sustainability, the Sustainable Leadership Forum, and Acumen Technology Group, LLC. Jonathan Cloud is Senior Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Managing Partner, Acumen Technology Group, LLC.Victoria Zelin is Principal, Regenerative Community Ventures, Inc., a licensee of Unified Field Corporation.

Superstorm Sandy has dramatically altered NJ’s economy as well as its geography for years to come. While there may be a short-­term “bounce” from the money spent on reconstruction, the thinking about how that rebuilding should be carried out is already moving very quickly toward the view that it needs to be substantially more hurricane-­proof and disaster-­resistant, more resilient, and — in a word — more sustainable.

This paper sets out some considerations and recommendations for creating a foundation for sustainable growth in New Jersey, describes some of the initiatives we are taking through our new nonprofit organization, the Center for Regenerative Community Solutions, and makes specific suggestions for policies and programs for state and local government to support these and similar initiatives from other organizations.

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Toward a Sustainable Future for Haiti

JCloudStorerSmThe earthquake in Haiti has been many things – including both a wakeup call for Americans, and an opportunity to demonstrate our compassion – but it has above all been a human tragedy that has revealed the weaknesses and deficiencies that were there before. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake will no doubt cause some damage no matter where it occurs, but it does not always need to cause the extent of devastation that has occurred in Haiti, or to leave the population as unaided.

Some colleagues of ours at the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise met last week to discuss what we could do to contribute to a longer-term recovery, that would try to address the social, environmental, and economic challenges facing this troubled nation. We talked about a great many things, including the fact that many of us feel powerless in the face of such catastrophes, especially those that afflict human beings in distant places. We are all “overcommitted” to many worthwhile and challenging tasks already, and taking on such a monumental task as helping to chart the way forward in Haiti clearly seems to require that we steal time and energy from other causes. But if we can make even a small difference, while honoring our other commitments, this seems a compelling goal. Continue reading “Toward a Sustainable Future for Haiti”

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An Open Letter to the President

The Road Not Taken:
A Letter to President Obama
from a Concerned Democrat,
and a Concerned Citizen

Jonathan Cloud (Publisher)
Jonathan Cloud (Publisher)

Dear Mr. President:

I write out of deep concern as to the state of our nation today.

I believe that in the year since your inauguration, an important opportunity has been missed to unify and mobilize the American people in the service of their highest ideals.

I acknowledge the many pressures and challenges that have been thrust upon you by circumstances, and I applaud you for the intelligent and courageous actions you have taken. Your actions have, as almost all economists now recognize, averted an outright collapse of the financial system. And this is but one of many remarkable accomplishments, not the least of which has been changing the tone around America’s role in the world. Continue reading “An Open Letter to the President”

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The Democrats Still Don’t Get It

 

LNaultHi folks:

I copied below a column from tomorrows NYT by Bob Herbert.  This is the story I was yelling about in Sonal’s campaign and you guys were wondering if I was nuts and were full of denial respecting the troubles brewing here and on everybody’s mind.  My specific charge was limousine liberals.

Reading the stuff you two are batting back and forth I wonder if you two are on the same planet as I live on.  The health care legislation is dead.  Cap and trade or any variations of carbon restrictions are dead.   President Nero fiddled while the economy was burning,  hostage as he is to environmental interests as hostile to progress as the republican cabal is to co-operation.  The cart was placed before the donkey.  You can accomplish nothing until the private economy gets back on its feet.  With a robust economy, with unemployment dropping all these other things could be considered rationally. Until then nothing will get done. Continue reading “The Democrats Still Don’t Get It”