Disqus - Latest Comments for policyinnovations

Re: Agricultural Subsidies and Trade: The Key Alternatives

policyinnovations — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 16:40:26 -0000

Dear Giselle,
You will need to ask Dr. Peter M. Rosset (the author) for permission to repost any content from the pdf file. Good luck!

Re: No Agnostics in the Climate Foxhole

policyinnovations — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 10:31:13 -0000

Aprove

Re: Farmer Perspectives on the Local Food System

policyinnovations — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 10:24:12 -0000

Thank you for your comment, Nancy! Great insight!

Re: Why Smaller Humans Are in Our Future

policyinnovations — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:38:21 -0000

Dear Phil, thank you for your comment!

At Policy Innovations we always welcome counter-arguments and differing opinions. We believe they enrich the debate. However, we encourage our readers to use respectful language when making their comments. Even though we see the value of your comment and the point you are making, we would appreciate a more considerate approach when talking about other human beings! Thank you for reading!

Re: Nuclear, Not Fracking, Is The Answer to China's Future Energy Needs

policyinnovations — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:31:28 -0000

Thank you for your comment!

Here some further reading and links to useful articles reflecting on waterless fracking. Existing literature yields contradictory results on the risks of using propane instead of water as a fracking method.

http://insideclimatenews.or...

http://dotearth.blogs.nytim...

http://www.catskillmountain...

As regards to Malthus, it would be something in the middle.

Thank you again for reading and contributing to the debate!

Re: Electric Bicycles Moving from Niche to Mainstream

policyinnovations — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 10:56:40 -0000

Approved

Re: We Know It Works, so Let’s Keep Women’s Health Central in Global Development

policyinnovations — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 15:33:23 -0000

Approved

Re: China Could Move First To Geoengineer The Climate

policyinnovations — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:18:13 -0000

Approved

Re: A Porous Vietnam-China Border Permits Massive Animal Smuggling

policyinnovations — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 14:45:47 -0000

Good question, V.K. I reached out to the author and hopefully he will answer you.

Re: Change Comes to Tibet, the Once-pristine Roof of the World

policyinnovations — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:13:42 -0000

Well said, Joel. This article shows that the right policies can respect environment, economy, and culture all at once.

Re: SXSW PanelPicker

policyinnovations — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:15:20 -0000

This is an amazing event that leaves interesting digital tire tracks wherever it rides. Can't wait to see it go to the next level, expanding to more cities and regions around the country. I'm sure Climate Ride's social media strategy will play a key role in helping it grow. Bikes and better urbanism are two of the most powerful weapons we have in the fight against global warming.

Re: SXSW PanelPicker

policyinnovations — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:10:47 -0000

Love these guys. They make informative, fun short pieces on the most important urban innovations.

Re: Open Source WikiHouse Disrupts Traditional Design

policyinnovations — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:29:40 -0000

Robert, glad you enjoyed this story. Thanks for spreading word.

Re: Building Bioregional Politics for an Ecological Civilization

policyinnovations — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:35:28 -0000

Michael, thanks so much. Part 2 and Part 3 are now published. Enjoy:
http://www.policyinnovation...

http://www.policyinnovation...

Re: Policy Innovations - The Carnegie Council's online magazine for a fairer globalization.

policyinnovations — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:35:24 -0000

He's talking nonsense about the fake "climategate" scandal from a few years back wherein emails were hacked and stolen from scientists and then distorted in a smear campaign. The whole incident has been debunked by several different investigations. See, for example: http://www.ucsusa.org/globa... or http://mediamatters.org/res...

Re: The rules for lady bicyclists, 1895 edition: ‘Don’t be a fright’

policyinnovations — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:35:41 -0000

Scratch a match on it, @Jess Zimmerman!!! Great find.

Re: Agricultural Subsidies and Trade: The Key Alternatives

policyinnovations — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:37:01 -0000

Sounds great, Walter. Please go ahead.

Re: The Climate Change Novel: A Faulty Simulator of Environmental Politics

policyinnovations — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:06:30 -0000

Sam, this article is about fiction, not science. If you want science, read the IPCC reports: http://www.ipcc.ch/publicat...

Re: ETHICS MATTER: A Conversation with Peter Singer

policyinnovations — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:51:59 -0000

It seems that China has reached its "Kitty Genovese" moment: http://www.guardian.co.uk/w...

Re: Get Out Your Electric Bill, Then Get Out and Vote

policyinnovations — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:43:33 -0000

Thanks, the text has been emended to reflect this correction. Our apologies. We're happy you're alive!

Re: SUSTAINABILITY FORUM on What Individuals Can Do

policyinnovations — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:36:50 -0000

Reader Alan Ecob submitted the following to the Forum:

Sustainability and Full-Product Barter

In 1946, Kurnell, the "birthplace of Australia," was a weekender village on the south side of Botany Bay, seven miles from Sydney, our capital city. Through that year, twelve dads, aided by their families—mums and kids all pitching in—but working only on weekends, built twelve cottages to full residential standard. Each family owned their own block of ground and paid for their own materials. It was a team effort. Seven of the men as tradesmen counted their worked hours as standard. The others as helpers worked 1.5 hours to equal a standard hour.

It was a fun gig. Morale was so high—the atmosphere was so stimulating—that even other kids like me welcomed being roped in to assist as occasion required, such as carrying building materials to site from off the punt that brought them across the bay. The scheme was an example of full-product barter. The need for money had been minimal. Cottage completion was attained for only a quarter of comparable market prices.

Despite the enthusiasm and benefits, such schemes were seen by authority to be seriously illegal. When in 1961, in the midst of a severe recession, I naively made a submission to our ATO (Australian Tax Office) proposing to organize out-of-hours full-product barter among consenting tradesmen, a no-name voice on the phone told me that if I did, they would impute $ values to everything, impose $ penalties on all concerned that I would find hard to believe, and pursue us through every court in the land—if necessary, "to the ends of the Earth"—to exact payment.

What connection may be made between sustainability and nationally organized full-product barter? The starting point could be the 20 percent of our federal government's budget now being spent because of unemployment, idle manufacturing capacity, and widespread social need. If this level of government expenditure and application of resources could be halved, as it could so easily be if full-product barter were made freely allowable, even if only on weekends, then the savings could be directly applied to sustainable environmental objectives.

In response to the posed question—What can a person do?—my suggestion is: Become aware of all the options, including the freeing of full-product barter, perhaps under the banner of Saturdays Tax-Free for the Workers, and act, agitate, and vote accordingly.

Re: SUSTAINABILITY FORUM: What are the Limitations and Benefits of the Sustainability Approach?

policyinnovations — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:45:43 -0000

A slightly longer meditation on this question can be found in Peter Marcuse's 1998 essay "Sustainability is not enough" (Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 10, No. 2) wherein he reformulates the Brundtland definition of sustainability: "Sustainable development is development that meets specific needs of the present, and can be maintained into the future, without detracting from the satisfaction of other needs in the present or future." His view is that sustainability should be considered a constraint, not a goal in itself: "If ... sustainability is a constraint rather than a goal, then it can be used as a criterion to evaluate measures that achieve otherwise defined desirable goals; a desirable measure that is not sustainable is not as good as an equally desirable measure that is." Those desirable goals being ones that are socially just. For more:
http://eau.sagepub.com/cont...

Re: Policy Innovations - The Carnegie Council's online magazine for a fairer globalization.

policyinnovations — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:00:03 -0000

Bronwen, I'm not sure which questionnaire you mean. I would try contacting nef directly or searching their site for your needs: http://www.neweconomics.org/

Re: Carbon Capture and Utilization

policyinnovations — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:30:51 -0000

Good points. Craig Venter is playing the algae game as well: http://www.washingtonpost.c...

Re: Policy Innovations - The Carnegie Council's online magazine for a fairer globalization.

policyinnovations — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:15:19 -0000

Sour Strawberries, Thanks for sharing these links with us. As you may have noticed, the author is a government official offering a unique internal perspective, and it should be read as such.