A student-led divestment campaign to push universities to rid their endowments of fossil fuel stocks has spread to more than 250 college campuses. Government pension funds, religious communities and other investors are joining the fossil fuel divestment movement. The campaign is changing the politics of climate change as surely as the student movement to force […]
Privatizing Water: “Taxing Through the Tap”
The privatization of water is underway and you’ll probably be the one paying.
Academy Fellow Jerry B. Brown, 1960s Grape Boycott Organizer
Academy Fellow Jerry B. Brown was a co-coordinator of Cesar Chavez’ national grape boycott in the 1960’s. A new book sheds light on the campaign.
France Says “No” to Fracking
France has said “no” to fracking, the controversial production of natural gas through hydraulic fracturing. The process entails injecting large volumes of toxic chemicals deep into the ground, threatening and contaminating groundwater supplies. The anti-fracking movement is also gaining ground in the U.S. In a sharp turnaround, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has just announced […]
The Hydrogen Economy Takes Off
A new report by the Department of Energy on hydrogen and fuel cells shows how fast the hydrogen economy is taking off: “Global sales of fuel cells, which use a chemical process to draw power from hydrogen, have more than tripled since 2008 to about 74 megawatts last year.” “New, independent studies highlighted the key […]
Climate change: Do the Math
It’s been a year of record-breaking numbers, whether the number of heat records or other extreme weather events or the rate of Arctic ice melting. Bill McKibben’s article in Rolling Stone this August, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math” explains the three numbers that matter most and their repercussions. The short version is on the 350.org […]
“Things are Much Too Bad for Pessimism”
America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy, the new book by the esteemed environmentalist Gus Speth, contains a message of hope and a pathway to remaking our broken political and economic systems and solving our diverse challenges, from poverty, unemployment, and income inequality to climate change. “Things are much too bad for pessimism,” he […]
Dark Pools: Academy Fellow Hazel Henderson’s Latest Publication
In Academy Fellow Hazel Henderson’s book review of Dark Pools: High-Speed Traders, A.I. Bandits, and the Threat to the Global Financial System, by Scott Patterson, she writes that the book “explores the colorful inner workings” of high-frequency trading “through a cast of improbable characters: the traders, programming geniuses, eccentric electronic market-makers, aggressive ‘algo-warriors,’ high-rollers and […]
Wall Street Computers Gone Wild
The fragmentation of the stock market and high-speed computerized trading have transformed the market into a “playground of Google – esque algorithms, powerful banks and secretive, fast-money trading firms.” You don’t want your 401(k) playing here. Gone are the days when human traders called the shots from the floor of the N.Y. Stock Exchange and […]
