When we think of the economy we normally think of things like labor and capital. Labor is the workforce that enables our social and economic well-being. But there is also the thing economists call capital—in effect, the infrastructure, the machines,
In honor of my long-time colleague, mathematical physicist, and economist, but also a likely nominee for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, Dr. Robert U. (“Bob”) Ayres, I call it the Blue-Green-Red Resource Squeeze on the American economy. It is
Climate scientists are shocked by the intensity and scale of floods in Germany. In the West and Pacific Northwest of the United States, we’ve had record-breaking heatwaves. In fact, June 2021 was the hottest June on record for the United
There is an ongoing, slow erosion of the economy. . . Even as the burdens of growing waste and the cost of climate change continue to grow. The good news is that the Biden Infrastructure Plan is a step forward that might bolster our lagging infrastructure and weakened economy to a positive benefit. But it is just a down payment on the scale of effort needed if we are to succeed as a nation. Indeed, as a global economy!
It is decidedly time we took a fresh look at the economics of job creation. And if we do so? Then we will find that investments in energy efficiency, clean renewable energy, other energy productivity upgrades, as well as decarbonization improvements can all create a larger and more sustainable number of jobs. Yes, the new employment opportunities include construction and manufacturing jobs as well as the many jobs created when the energy bill savings are spent locally.
Because maritime shipping doesn’t receive as much attention as it merits, we asked our Paris-based colleague, Rod Janssen, if we might reprint an article he wrote on the topic in the May 20, 2019 issue of his newsletter Energy In
Published by – The National Council for Science and the Environment Since 1950 the U.S. population has more than doubled. It has grown from an estimated 152 million people to perhaps as many as 329 million inhabitants today. Real per capita
By: John Reed and Jerome Dion July 19, 2018 Policymakers and business leaders are issuing calls to accelerate productive investments that address both climate change and societal resource sustainability issues. Indeed, in the last 40 years there have been significant
By David Schaller What exactly does sustainability mean? The issue has been discussed and debated for decades; and yes, there is still so much to consider when trying to explain such an important concept. Over these past 18 years, I
By: George Burmeister* Local government leaders are starting to see the climate and economic necessity of decarbonizing and transitioning to 100-percent renewable electricity supply. They are now focusing on the importance of investments to transform their economies by the productive use
There is neither a law of physics nor economics that prevents us from quadrupling the productive use of energy and other resources. Rather, it is much more an issue of imagination and our political will to get it done.
– John A. “Skip” Laitner