Culture & Ethics
Parking, Infill, and Affordable Housing
The Infill Builders’ parking bill that I blogged about this morning just passed unanimously out of the Assembly Local Government committee this afternoon, overcoming perhaps its biggest hurdle to ultimate passage. Although one would expect local governments to oppose a state bill that limits their ability to demand excessive parking for transit-oriented development, opposition to …
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CONTINUE READINGInfill Builders at the State Capitol
Part of my work with UC Berkeley and UCLA involves gathering business leaders to discuss opportunities presented by climate change policies. In the case of real estate development, the common refrain from sustainable developers seems to be to tell government to get out of their way and let them build more walkable, mixed-use communities around …
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CONTINUE READINGCan Six-year-olds Understand the Tragedy of the Commons?
Maybe not. But perhaps eight-year-olds can. Last Wednesday morning, I showed up for my weekly library volunteering at my daughter’s first grade class. School cutbacks meant that the librarian wasn’t there, so the teacher, another parent and I had to make do. The display was about Earth Day, since I had to find a book to read …
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CONTINUE READINGJohn Muir’s Birthday
If environmentalism had saints John Muir, born on April 21, 1838, would surely be on the list. He is best known for founding the Sierra Club and fighting to save Yosemite.
CONTINUE READINGRemembering Rachel Carson
Earth Day seems an appropriate time to recall past leaders in environmental thought. Few have played a greater role in the development of U.S. environmental law than Rachel Carson (1907-1964), whose books did much to spark the environmental movement. It is good to hear that her books have been reprinted as ebooks by Open Road …
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CONTINUE READINGU.S. House of Representatives v. Modern Science
Nature, one of the two leading scientific journals in the world, has a strongly worded editorial about the recent House hearings on climate change: At a subcommittee hearing on 14 March, anger and distrust were directed at scientists and respected scientific societies. Misinformation was presented as fact, truth was twisted and nobody showed any inclination …
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CONTINUE READINGRemembering Warren Christopher
News of the recent death of Warren Christopher prompted memories of a meeting I attended in 1987 — several years before Christopher was appointed Secretary of State by Bill Clinton. A major California utility had hired Christopher’s Los Angeles law firm to take its side in a regulatory proceeding with several billion dollars at risk. …
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CONTINUE READINGWill the West Coast get hit with Japanese nuclear fallout?
No, says the South Coast Air Quality Management District. For reasons unknown to me, I’m on their e-mail list, and this just came through: You have probably heard news reports about harmful radiation escaping from damaged nuclear power plants in Japan following the recent tsunami. Some have even voiced concern that this radiation could travel …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Do People Care So Much About Nuclear Accidents?
Well, for obvious reasons. But Ann, citing Will Saletan, raises a good question: why are people so much more concerned about nuclear accidents than, say oil spills or other environmental disasters? If we accept Saletan’s figures of “direct fatalities” being 18 times more dangerous for oil production per energy unit (and there are reasons not …
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CONTINUE READINGJapan’s Nuclear Reactors, Risk Assessment & Accident Theory
In the wake of Japan’s developing nuclear crisis, people have begun questioning the future of US nuclear policy. Here is Sen. Lieberman, cautiously arguing for a review of nuclear power safety: I think it calls on us here in the U.S., naturally, not to stop building nuclear power plants but to put the brakes on …
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