NYC's Environmental Finance Business Takes Another Step: The

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NYC’s Environmental Finance Business Takes Another Step: The New York Mercantile Exchange Goes Green ... for St. Patrick’s Day?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 17, 2008 | 11:12 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Perhaps in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the New York Mercantile Exchange will begin a market to trade future and option contracts for credits representing reductions in Getty Images +Enlarge greenhouse gases and other pollutants. This is part of their Green Exchange initiative formed by a partnership between the Mercantile Exchange and energy brokerage Evolution Markets.

Midtown New York Times What is this market selling? MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast In Europe, the European Community (the “government” that issues the Euro) Atlantic Yards regulates carbon emissions. In the U.S. we haven’t gotten around to regulating More Topics >> greenhouse gasses yet. Let’s hope we do before much longer. How it works in Europe: Let’s say a European company emits 10 tons of carbon dioxide a year, but Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush under the rules they are allowed to emit 25 tons. They can sell their right to emit David Paterson Andrew Cuomo the 15 tons they are not emitting to a company that that is exceeding its target. But Ruth Reichl how does a company that needs to buy extra emission allowances find a company Dan Rather More People >> that has some to sell? Who sets the price for these emission allowances? The answer is that the market sets the price. On Monday, March 17th, one such market

Jimmy Vielkind MORE ON GREEN >> began operating when the New York Mercantile Simon Doonan Toward a Clean Energy Future Exchange started selling option contracts for John Koblin President Obama has Already Meredith Bryan Redefined the Political Center emission credits. Irina Aleksander Bringing Green Principles Into the Eliot Brown American Economy They also provide a marketplace for futures on More Authors >> Building a Sustainable Auto

Understanding Public Opinion About carbon credits—basically a bet that traders make the Environment On the Town on the future price of these credits. Futures are an Off the Record obligation to sell or purchase a fixed quantity of a commodity some time in the NYTV NY 3.0 future. Futures traders place bets on the price of that commodity in the future. Manhattan Transfers People buy future contracts to reduce their risk. If I had bought futures in gasoline Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/nyc-s-environmental-finance-business-takes-another-step-new-york-mercantile-exchange-goes-green

More Columns >> a few years ago, I might be able to by gas for $2 a gallon today instead of $4 a gallon. On the other hand, if the price goes down to $1, I still have to buy the gas at $2.

In the United States, we do not yet regulate carbon dioxide, but we have been regulating sulfur dioxide for a decade and a half. The Chicago Mercantile exchange has been trading sulfur dioxide futures and options since 1993. As Barnaby J. Feder wrote in The Times on November 29, 1992:

The (Chicago) Board of Trade's first environmental products are scheduled to start trading next spring. They will allow utilities to buy and sell permits to emit specific amounts of sulfur dioxide. The Environmental Protection Agency, which chose the board over other exchanges to test the concept, hopes that the utilities that can most efficiently invest to cut such emissions below the levels allowed for their plants will do so and then profit by selling permits covering their unused emissions allowance.

The key challenge, as with all contracts, is to attract enough traders so that anyone can get a competitive bid or offer at any time. And, as with other contracts, the exchange hopes that local traders will add liquidity to the market by buying and reselling the contracts in an attempt to profit from changing perceptions of their value as the specified date for delivery of the insurance risk or pollution permit closes in.

While government in the U.S. does not yet regulate carbon dioxide, people in the U.S. have already begun to buy “carbon offsets” to reduce their own “carbon footprint:” In all likelihood sometime in 2009, we will begin to regulate greenhouse gasses here in the United States and the value of CO2 allowances will grow dramatically as we get serious about reducing global warming. In the meantime, the Mercantile Exchange is getting a head start on this new business.

The Mercantile Exchange’s partner is a firm called Evolution Markets. This is a private firm that specializes in Environmental Markets. According to their Web site:

Evolution Markets is the world's highest volume environmental broker, having facilitated more than $50 billion in trades of environmental commodities, including more trades of Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) than any other broker….Evolution Markets has been at the forefront of global greenhouse gas emissions market development, assisting local, national and foreign governments in designing effective and efficient carbon markets. We have also facilitated trades that have met some of the market's most important milestones - including the first trade of Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) under the Kyoto Protocol's "International Emissions Trading" program, the first brokered trade of EU carbon allowances…

A number of the graduates of the Masters Program I direct at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs work for another company in the environmental securities business called Ecosecurities. According to their Web site:

EcoSecurities is a leading company in the business of sourcing, developing and trading emission reduction credits. EcoSecurities structures and guides greenhouse gas emission reduction projects from beginning to end, working with both project developers and buyers of emission reduction credits. EcoSecurities works with http://www.observer.com/2008/nyc-s-environmental-finance-business-takes-another-step-new-york-mercantile-exchange-goes-green

companies in developing and industrialising countries to create emission reduction credits from projects that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. EcoSecurities has experience with projects in a wide range of sectors, including renewable energy, agriculture and urban waste management, industrial efficiency, and forestry.

The field of environmental finance is a fairly new and growing business. Like the rest of the financial service business, some of its best firms are located here in New York City. These firms depend to some degree on the seriousness of the world’s governments in regulating pollution. Without firm regulation setting pollutant “caps,” the value of pollution rights that are traded will be volatile and could decline. I, for one, am counting on the fact that everyone needs to breath air and drink clean water. In the long run, governments have no choice but get serious about pollution control. As the billions of poor people all over the world develop their economies—from China to India to Africa—I am hopeful that in the long run we will learn how to develop in a way that doesn’t kill us or make us sick. If we do, then these firms and this exchange can play a key role in making pollution reduction as efficient as possible.

This content was provided for use by The New York Observer, specifically on Observer.com by the scientists and researchers at Columbia University. Any other use of this content without prior authorization from Columbia University and The New York Observer is strictly prohibited.

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Governor Paterson’s Challenges and the Capacity for Comebacks

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 19, 2008 | 7:52 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As David Paterson took the oath of office as New York’s 55th governor earlier this week, you could almost taste the sense of relief in legislative chambers. Our new governor Will David Paterson be an ally in carrying out Michael Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030? gave a remarkable, deeply Getty Images +Enlarge personal and engaging talk and then left to face the challenges of rebuilding the broken machine of state government.

With Wall Street melting down, the economy heading south, and the war in Iraq Midtown continuing to drain the nation’s treasury and will, Governor Paterson faces a New York Times MSNBC budget gap estimated at $5 billion. Upstate New York has been in a The New Yorker generation-long recession and now those of us in the City wonder if our own Conde Nast Atlantic Yards remarkably resilient post- 9/11 era will end with a crash. More Topics >> New York City and New York State have been counted out before, and have Rupert Murdoch demonstrated the capacity to come back. In the mid-1970’s, then-Governor Hugh George W. Bush David Paterson Carey, the city’s labor unions and financial industry got together with then Andrew Cuomo President Gerald Ford and figured out a way to dial back our near bankruptcy. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather Some of us remember the summer of 1977 as MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> More People >> Is There a New Far immortalized by sportscaster Howard Cosell’s West Side at the End of No. 7 famous phrase that “the Bronx is burning” during Jimmy Vielkind Extension? the Reggie Jackson-dominated World Series. Simon Doonan Bloomberg Breaks John Koblin Out the Elbow Meredith Bryan Grease for Wall Street For many of us, that three-home-run performance Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. by Reggie and the Yankees' series win was the for Capital Projects More Authors >> City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized turning point where the city started the long road Apartments Lost Since '05 to recovery. It has been a comeback presided over Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health On the Town by all of our recent mayors—starting with Ed Koch, Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future then David Dinkins and then Rudy NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Guiliani—culminating in the superb mayoralty of Manhattan Redefined the Political Center Transfers Michael Bloomberg. Summer of 1977 was the Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy http://www.observer.com/2008/governor-paterson-s-challenges-and-capacity-comebacks

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto summer of the Son of Sam, the .44-caliber killer Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment who drove people off the streets at night until he was finally caught. It was the summer of a power blackout that led to over 1,000 fires and nearly 4,000 arrests in two days of rioting. In contrast, the 1965 blackout was known for the number of babies born nine months later and the 2003 blackout was known for the free beer and ice cream given out by the city’s store owners and bartenders.

The contrast between 1977 and 2003 charts a remarkable comeback and shows that change is possible and that public-private partnership can really work. New York City still has many more poor and homeless people than we should have, but I don’t know too many people who would rather live in the New York City of 1977 then today’s city. (Of course, some people really liked disco and those bell bottom pants.)

During hard times we often dispense with frills and luxuries and so the issue for environmentalists is, is the issue of sustainability really seen as a central element of economic growth, or will our hopes for a green New York go down the tubes? The issue of the new governor’s record on environmental protection and sustainability is worth raising. He has had a reasonable and progressive record in his two decades as a state senator, but I would argue that his Senate record is relatively meaningless.

The Democrats have been in the minority in the State Senate since the mid-1960’s. Given the leader-dominated “three men in a room” style of governance in Albany, Paterson was free to freelance any way he chose in an essentially symbolic Senate seat.

So what can we expect? I think and hope, quite a bit. Governor Paterson was a colleague on the faculty here at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is a talented and very smart man, with a generous spirit and a sure sense of himself. Like Harry Truman and Gerald Ford before him, he finds himself suddenly placed in a position he didn’t expect to be in.

He shows every sign of understanding the challenges he faces. I hope he decides that the entire state needs a sustainability plan like PlaNYC 2030. One place to start is to provide leadership on the issue of congestion in lower New York. Things are so bad, even his predecessor as governor couldn’t get to his resignation announcement on time.

Mass transit in New York City is underfunded and overcrowded. Congestion pricing provides a way to reduce surface traffic and fund mass transit. If the state government is going to veto the mayor’s plan, they have to develop a plausible alternative. Along with the $5 billion budget gap, the first test of the governor’s leadership will be on the key sustainability issue of traffic congestion and mass transit. I hope and trust he will respond to the challenge.

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Will Paterson Endorsement Ease Congestion-Pricing Gridlock?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 24, 2008 | 7:39 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The politics of congestion pricing is nearing a boiling point and opponents continue to make the case for a different approach to traffic

reduction. Getty Images +Enlarge

There are, of course other ways of reducing congestion, but Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal has the advantage of generating new resources for mass transit.

On Friday, our new Governor, David Paterson, demonstrated political courage and came out in favor of the plan to charge drivers for entering New York’s Central Midtown New York Times Business district during the work day. He joins City Council Speaker Christine MSNBC The New Yorker Quinn and State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno in support of the bill. Assembly Conde Nast Speaker Sheldon Silver has yet to be heard from. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> However, lots of prominent politicians are opposing all or part of the Mayor’s plan. To congressman Anthony Weiner, the revenue part of the proposal is the root of Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush the problem. The congressman's argument, as reported in The New York Sun: David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl "This is where it matters that you have a certain amount of political Dan Rather acumen. What the mayor does not understand, what his supporters in More People >> the environmental community don't understand — we are playing exactly into the Republican argument that if you want mass transit, Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan you should tax yourself," he said. "I am going to be hearing from my John Koblin colleagues in Washington, 'Well, you need $200 million less. You're Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander already collecting the $200 million.'" Eliot Brown More Authors >> Bloomberg referred to this comment as “one of the stupider things I’ve ever heard said." I’m sure he has heard dumber comments, but just the same, Weiner’s On the Town Off the Record making a pretty feeble argument against congestion pricing. Most of New York NYTV City’s transit system is locally financed, so we are already taxing ourselves. In fact NY 3.0 Manhattan as conservatives are fond of reminding us, New York City is the most highly taxed Transfers Commercial Breaks jurisdiction in the nation. The fact that we would be willing to assess yet another http://www.observer.com/2008/will-paterson-endorsement-east-congestion-pricing-gridlock

More Columns >> fee on our overtaxed community only indicates how desperate we are to reduce traffic.

If Congressman Weiner were really serious about the issue he’d be working to increase transportation funding across the board. The nation’s roads, bridges and mass transit are all underfunded. Potholes and falling bridges have become a way of life on the American roadway. The best way to fund all transportation and transport infrastructure would be a substantial increase in the tax on gasoline. The tax should be set as a percentage of the price of gasoline and should be high enough to build and maintain roads and mass transit. However, as Congressman Weiner knows, with gasoline already reaching $4 a gallon, no one is going to legislate an increased tax on gasoline.

With the deficit growing, the economy tanking and the financial cost of the war in Iraq increasing daily, the federal treasury is an unlikely source of needed funds for mass transit. So, where does the Congressman think the money will come from? If Bloomberg is naive about the ways of Washington, what does that make Weiner?

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has been arguing against congestion pricing from the start. According to Brodsky: "It is basically a tax, a new tax, and a tax which falls disproportionately on the backs of . . . middle income and working families."

I guess he’s not referring to his own constituents since, according to Transportation Alternatives: “Brodsky’s Manhattan-bound drive-to-work constituents earn on average $176,231 annually—the highest of any New York county in the metropolitan area.”

Data on those who drive to the Central Business district clearly indicate that most of those who would be charged the congestion fee are nowhere near being middle-income or working class. Some opponents worry that the charge will penalize those that don’t work in the city, but need to take family members to the hospital or to a doctor. One possible solution to that problem is to make the first five trips in any calendar year free, and to provide a free pass for those with medical or similar needs that require regular transport into the central business district. A set of policies could be set on exemptions and a web-based exemption application process could be used to efficiently eliminate charges.

Some critics think the economy is too fragile for a new fee. City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. Supports congestion pricing, but suggests that the city postpone congestion fees until the economy improves. He offers the following amendments:

A More Equitable Charge: $5 for City Residents and $10 for Non-City Residents

Accelerated Spending for Capital Projects and Service Improvements before Instituting the Charge by Investing up to $500 Million

Guaranteed Maintenance of Effort for MTA Capital Program Funding

Pricing Flexibility

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said now is not the time to impose this kind of extra tax burden. "Raising the cost of things in a recession is difficult," Corzine said. "It's a difficult damp down for people already struggling."

Sheldon Silver wants low income workers that must drive into the city to get a http://www.observer.com/2008/will-paterson-endorsement-east-congestion-pricing-gridlock

rebate on the fee.

The idea of pricing flexibility makes sense, but the notion that congestion pricing is all cost and no benefit, ignores the monetary value of the time wasted in traffic. If the fee is set high enough, the people paying it get an important benefit: The time they save when congestion is reduced. If congestion pricing works, the time saved may be more valuable then the fee paid. If you make $25 an hour, a ½ reduction in travel time is worth $12.50. The time of many of the people stuck in traffic is worth more than the fee that will be charged. The idea that the people who can pay $30-$50 a day to park in Manhattan will be burdened by a congestion fee doesn’t make sense.

While a tax is a tax—congestion pricing is actually a charge for using a scarce resource that once was free. Clean water out of our kitchen faucets used to be free: Now, we pay a water bill. Television used to be free, now most people pay a pretty hefty cable bill to get more channels. Space on the streets of New York’s Central business district has become too scarce to give out for free. In order to keep traffic moving on those streets we need to figure out a way to ration it. Congestion pricing is one way to do that.

Mike Bloomberg has had the courage to get out in front on this issue and lead. We now see that Quinn, Bruno, Patterson are also behind the plan. This of course leaves the often inscrutable Shelly Silver as the last remaining major hold-out. Perhaps if he manages to veto the bill, we can start saying that those stuck in midtown traffic are being “silvered.” With the deadline for federal funding to implement congestion pricing fast approaching, it’s crunch time for the city’s best chance to reduce congestion. It will be a small miracle if that dysfunctional group up in Albany can actually pass something this creative, but the time for bobbing and weaving is coming to an end.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master of International Affairs student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

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The Good News About New York City's Water

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 27, 2008 | 11:09 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

With all the furor over the economy, congestion pricing and the philandering ways of New York’s governors, we forget sometimes that we are actually capable of acting like a real community and building for the future. I say Getty Images +Enlarge sometimes, because, while this city has a magnificent system for delivering fresh water to its people, it has one of the worst solid waste management systems imaginable. Today let’s focus on the good news, New York City’s water supply system. I’ll get to the garbage soon enough.

Midtown New York gets its water from two upstate reservoir systems that it owns and New York Times MSNBC operates. To keep the sources of water clean, the city works upstate to purchase The New Yorker Conde Nast land and ensure best-management practices by local farmers and other residents. Atlantic Yards According to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s 2006 More Topics >> water supply report, “the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has developed a $19.5 billion Capital Investment Strategy for the next decade, the Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush majority of which will be used to upgrade and add to existing infrastructure and David Paterson Andrew Cuomo guarantee that we can fulfill our mandate of delivering quality drinking water to Ruth Reichl New York for years to come.” Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future New York’s water system provides more than 1.1 President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center billion gallons of water daily to around Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the eight million New York City residents and American Economy John Koblin one million residents in Westchester, Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Putman, Ulster and Orange counties. Eliot Brown the Environment More Authors >> The two tunnels that carry our water to us represent one of the most impressive public works projects in the world. Water On the Town Off the Record Tunnel No. 1 was completed 1917, Water Tunnel No. 2 was completed 1936 and NYTV Water Tunnel No. 3 began 1970, and with luck will be completed in 2020. NY 3.0 Manhattan According to the water industry’s Web site: Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/good-news-about-new-york-citys-water

More Columns >> New York's City Tunnel No. 3 is one of the most complex and intricate engineering projects in the world. Constructed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the tunnel will eventually span 60 miles and is expected to be complete by 2020.

One reason we are building a new water tunnel is the hope that over the next century we can repair the other two tunnels. Some experts estimate that about a third of the water that we draw from our upstate system leaks before it gets to our faucets. In fact, since the late 1980’s, the Delaware Aqueduct, a piece of vital infrastructure that carries half of the city’s water, has been leaking between 10 and 36 million tons of water each day. The city is not waiting for the third water tunnel to be completed to plug this leak—a new project was just started to fix this problem.

While we may lose a lot of our supply, the quality of our water is quite good. As Elizabeth Royte wrote last year in her wonderful New York Times piece, “On the Water Front”:

The upstate water is of such good quality, in fact, that the city is not even required to filter it, a distinction shared with only four other major American cities: Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore. New Yorkers drink their water from Esopus Creek, from Schoharie Creek, from the Neversink River, straight from the city’s many reservoirs, with only a rough screening and, for most of the year, just a shot of chlorine and chasers of fluoride, orthophosphate and sodium hydroxide.”

Story continues below map. http://www.observer.com/2008/good-news-about-new-york-citys-water

The city’s filtration exemption from the E.P.A. saves it from the cost of building a $6 billion to 8 billion water filtration plant for the water that comes from the Catstkill and Delaware watersheds located west of the Hudson River. It would cost about $1 billion a year to pay the debt service and operating costs of that plant. A majority of our water comes from west of the Hudson. The rest of our water comes from the Croton Watershed up in Westchester and Putnam counties. Currently the city is spending over $1 billion to build a water filtration plant under the Moshulu Golf Course in the Bronx to protect our water supplies that come from east of the Hudson.

The city is working hard to protect the waters it doesn’t need to filter. According to the commissioner of New York's Department of Environmental Protection, Emily Lloyd:

In order to preserve this remarkable asset, and prevent the need for an expensive filtration plant for the Catskill and Delaware water systems, the city enforces an array of environmental regulations designed to protect water quality while encouraging reasonable and responsible development in the watershed communities. It also invests in infrastructure—such as wastewater treatment facilities and septic systems—that shield the water supply, while working with its upstate partners to develop comprehensive land-use practices that curb pollution at the water’s source.

The city has spent over $1 billion during the past decade in the communities near the water supply to keep development from ruining the water. This is of course cheaper then the billion dollars per year that a filtration plant would cost.

Most of New York City’s water supply is protected and filtered by the natural http://www.observer.com/2008/good-news-about-new-york-citys-water

processes of upstate ecosystems. To environmental economists, nature’s work that protects our water is an “environmental service.” Because the price of a filtration plant is known, we can estimate the monetary value of the services provided to filter our water. This comes to $1 billion per year minus the $100 million or so we spend each year to protect the upstate ecosystems. This is $900 million a year of found money that we will lose if we don’t protect these fragile ecosystems. It’s a graphic illustration of the point that what is good for the environment will often be good for our bank account. Sustainable development is more than a slogan—it is a principle of good government and sound fiscal management. New York’s water is a good news story that will only stay good if we pay attention and protect it from harm.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master of International Affairs student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

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Last Week to Pass Congestion Pricing

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 31, 2008 | 6:56 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The "final" federal deadline of April 7 is approaching for the federal subsidy of $354 million to set up a congestion-pricing system for Manhattan’s Central Business District.

In these tough budget times Getty Images +Enlarge the plan would produce an estimated $4.5 billion over the next five years for improved mass transit. It is the only source of funds available to reduce the M.T.A.’s dependence on fares and debt to improve transit. Even if the amount of funding ends up lower, it is still critical, found money.

Midtown It’s also money coming from the right place. People and goods coming into New York Times Manhattan during the work day should pay more for the right to come here. That MSNBC The New Yorker money is an appropriate source of subsidy for mass transit. Mass transit is the Conde Nast most energy-efficient and socially responsible way to move around this region. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> People who choose to drive should and already do pay tolls to make mass transit better and cheaper. Those that come to Manhattan’s Central Business District Rupert Murdoch should pay this fee in addition to tolls. George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo This is a critical moment for the city and its MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> Ruth Reichl potential for long-term growth. New York City Dan Rather For Urban Policy, More People >> Obama Loves New needs better subways and buses—faster, more Yorkers

Stimulus Politics Is frequent and more comfortable trains and buses. Fleeting, the 2008 Jimmy Vielkind Realignment Isn't Congestion and the price of gas and parking makes Simon Doonan What on Earth Does mass transit the only option for most New Yorkers. John Koblin Judd Gregg Want? Meredith Bryan Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and But we all know that mass transit in New York City Irina Aleksander Maybe a Curse Eliot Brown is a crummy ride. Delays, crowding, and grime can Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. More Authors >> Naps make you question your sanity during rush hour in MORE ON GREEN >> the City. This is the only chance for the funds On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record President Obama has Already needed to improve mass transit. NYTV Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 Bringing Green Principles Into the If the fee is high enough, and I think it will be Manhattan American Economy Transfers Building a Sustainable Auto raised over time, it will improve the time it takes to Commercial Breaks Understanding Public Opinion About http://www.observer.com/2008/last-week-pass-congestion-pricing?page=all

More Columns >> the Environment move around on the surface, and generate even more money for mass transit. The Mayor’s bill can use improvement and I assume it will be improved by:

Raising the fee for those coming over Port Authority crossings from New Jersey- otherwise they pay nothing. Allowing low income drivers to get a rebate on their taxes. Ensuring that the lock box on these funds is truly politico-proof: this money should only spent on incremental mass transit capital improvements. Not to replace other funds promised—but to provide new funding. Providing residents of New York State with five free passes a year to the congestion zone. Allowing medical patients in the congestion zone with exemptions during their treatment.

In the end, we are in the shaky hands of our elected leaders. Michael Bloomberg, Christine Quinn, David Paterson and Joe Bruno have provided leadership on this critical issue. Even out-of-town guests like Barack Obama have expressed support for congestion charges.

Anthony Weiner has disappointed us with his lack of foresight and blatant political posturing. Shelly Silver, knowing his members are nervous about voting for this charge is characteristically holding out for the best possible deal. Will New York seize this opportunity or lose this once in a generation chance to make things better?

Modern economies are built on mobility. While it’s true we use e-mail and cell phones to communicate more than ever, human beings like hanging out together. It’s why people will fly all day for a two-hour business meeting. We simply get more done and communicate better when we are in the same room, sharing a meal and catching all the nonverbal expressions you can’t see unless a person is sitting right next to you.

New York City is the most international place in the world. In the 2000 census, about 40% of the people who lived here said they were born in other countries. That does not include the people who are here illegally and tourists from all over the world. New York is the world’s capital and town square. We remain the world’s capital because people like to come here. We won’t stay that way if it takes two hours for those ubiquitous double-decker busses to get from Times Square to So Ho. People won’t come if we don’t improve the quality of mass transit and reduce travel time on the surface.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has provided real leadership on this issue, and as he has correctly observed—this is a survival issue for New York City. It’s time for the City http://www.observer.com/2008/last-week-pass-congestion-pricing?page=all

Council and the State Legislature to do the right thing and enact this innovative program. It maybe out of character, but maybe courage is contagious….

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Wasted: New York City's Giant Garbage Problem

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 3, 2008 | 6:51 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

New York City’s 8 million residents and millions of businesses, construction projects and visitors generate as much as 36,200 tons of garbage every day.

The city’s Department of A sign at the entrance of the Fresh Kills landfill in March, 2001. The site would be pressed for service sorting through the Sanitation handles nearly debris of the Sept. 11 attack, but has otherwise been closed since then. 13,000 tons per day of waste Getty Images +Enlarge generated by residents, public agencies and non-profit corporations; private carting companies handle the remainder.

Midtown During the twentieth century, the City relied on a number of landfills for garbage New York Times disposal. Then, in December 2001, the city’s last garbage dump, Fresh Kills MSNBC The New Yorker Landfill in Staten Island, closed. In response, we adopted a 20-year plan for Conde Nast Atlantic Yards exporting waste. More Topics >> The city’s annual bill for collecting and disposing residential trash jumped from

Rupert Murdoch about $658 million in 2000 and to about one and a quarter billion dollars in 2008. George W. Bush The cost of disposal has grown from $300 million in 2005 to about $400 million David Paterson Andrew Cuomo today. While some of that is inflation, most of it is due to the higher cost of Ruth Reichl transporting and landfilling garbage out of state. Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> The City’s long-term plan is to reduce costs by Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already recycling more, reducing waste and building a Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind waterfront waste transfer system less dependent Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin on trucks and able to use containers to ship Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto garbage by barge and train further away to cheaper Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment dumpsites. More Authors >> It is hard to imagine a more environmentally damaging waste-management system

On the Town than the one we have in New York. Actually, it’s not so hard to imagine, if you look Off the Record NYTV back and remember the time when we dumped our garbage into the ocean, or used NY 3.0 incinerators in the basements of apartment buildings to burn garbage at night. Manhattan Transfers Commercial Breaks Today, we collect garbage with trucks that use high-polluting diesel fuel and then http://www.observer.com/2008/wasted-new-york-citys-giant-garbage-problem

More Columns >> dump that garbage onto the floor of waste transfer stations that are typically located in poor neighborhoods. We then scoop the garbage up off the floor and load it onto large trucks that also burn high-polluting diesel fuel and ship it to landfills and waste to energy incinerators located away from New York City.

While we own our entire water system, our waste system leaves us at the mercy of the private marketplace and the whims of Congress and other states. The current system of waste export leaves the city vulnerable over the long run. It is harder to site landfills in this region than it used to be. Political opposition to landfilling is growing in many dump site communities. Bills are regularly brought before Congress that would authorize local governments, state governments, and governors to restrict or prohibit the receipt of out-of-state waste.

Though the passage of such bills is far from certain, the possibility of passage over the next twenty years is substantial enough to warrant concern. Similarly, stricter regulations on new landfills by federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies could increase the cost of new landfills and limit future landfill capacity. Finally, landfill operators will certainly raise prices over time, and state and municipal governments will likely enact taxes on waste disposal.

Why do New Yorkers create so much garbage? Well there are a lot of us and New Yorkers are busy people— we toss garbage causally and we don’t like to sort our garbage. We prefer not to think about garbage or where it will end up. I think we have this fantasy that those green plastic mounds of garbage bags on the street are magically transported to some mythical solid waste heaven.

New York’s elected leaders know that waste is a no-win issue. As long as the cost increases of exporting waste are gradual, it is unlikely that enough political noise will be generated to induce a sitting mayor to rethink waste export. No Mayor in his or her right mind will try to build a waste incinerator or landfill in or near the city.

Still, the technology of waste incineration has advanced dramatically since we stopped using those horrible apartment incinerators in the 1960's. In Japan, 70 percent of all waste is burned and generates electricity in the process. While incineration pollutes the air, it is less polluting than transporting waste in diesel-fueled trucks to leaking out-of-state-landfills.

What is the solution? In 2003 I proposed barging our garbage to waste-to-energy plants located in some of the economically distressed cities along the Hudson River. This could provide jobs and cheaper power to towns that could really use them. While I still like that idea, no one else did.

The next idea I’d like to propose is to develop community-based waste-management facilities. Perhaps smaller scale waste to energy plants coupled with recycling facilities and anaerobic digesters (a form of automated compost facility) could be located in all 59 community board districts in the city. Of course, we would lose economy of scale in managing these small facilities, and some neighborhoods would have trouble finding a place to put them. Still, it may be a good time to develop the technology to make smaller, cost-effective waste facilities. If everyone had to manage their own garbage, maybe we’d figure out a way to make less of it.

MORE: FRESH KILLS LANDFILL | GREEN | SOLID WASTE | STEVE COHENS BLOG http://www.observer.com/2008/wasted-new-york-citys-giant-garbage-problem

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The Dysfunctional Death of Congestion Pricing

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 8, 2008 | 7:48 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

"Shelly just came out of our conference and said our conference does not have the support to bring this to the floor,” Democratic Assemblyman Mark Weprin yesterday told reporters

after a meeting with Sheldon Silver at the State House in Albany. Speaker Sheldon Silver Getty Images +Enlarge and Assembly democrats about Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing bill. “I want to be clear that the conference was overwhelmingly against it,” he further said.

To say that congestion pricing died because the Assembly members were against it Midtown is of course true, but not the point. When items are important to Speaker Silver he New York Times MSNBC has this habit of “leading” his conference. He will maintain that his style is to The New Yorker Conde Nast engage his members and compromise, and his ability to bully the legislature is Atlantic Yards overstated. That is, of course, ridiculous—the Speaker usually gets what he wants. More Topics >> The bottom line is that Shelly Silver killed congestion pricing.

Rupert Murdoch The fact that it didn’t even come up for a vote tells you that this is isn’t about George W. Bush David Paterson democracy and accountability, but more of the dysfunctional, disingenuous politics Andrew Cuomo we’ve all gotten used to in Albany. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> More People >> At least here in New York City we had a vote and Is There a New Far West Side at the 30 council members voted for the bill while 20 End of No. 7 Jimmy Vielkind Extension? voted against it. Even the State Congestion Simon Doonan Bloomberg Breaks John Koblin Out the Elbow Commission that Mr. Silver helped create managed Meredith Bryan Grease for Wall Street a vote on Jan. 31, when they stood 13-2 in favor of Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. for Capital Projects congestion pricing. In the legislature, they don’t More Authors >> City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized bother to vote in public, they just pronounce the Apartments Lost Since '05 bill dead and move on to the next item of business. Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health On the Town Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> While Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal was far from NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future NY 3.0 President Obama has Already perfect, and he and his people obviously failed to Manhattan Redefined the Political Center Transfers make the sale with the legislature, what comes Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy http://www.observer.com/2008/dysfunctional-death-congestion-pricing

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto next? Do we just ignore the congestion and hope Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment that the million people moving to the city in the next twenty years decide to go somewhere else? Is that the Assembly’s idea of sound economic development policy? Are they trying to make sure that downstate starts to depopulate like upstate? I’ll be interested in seeing Speaker Silver’s proposal to fund mass transit and reduce traffic in New York City. Obviously, solving the City’s transit problem is less important to the Speaker than playing politics. Using his typical rope-a-dope style, he let this bill die the death of a thousand cuts. Why was there no effort to develop an alternative that might still manage to move the process forward and allow the city to receive the $354 million dollars of federal aid? Why was the alternative to the Mayor’s creative proposal ... nothing?

Perhaps some time soon we’ll start to wake up and decide that New York State really needs a government. We need to take on the issue of economic and environmental sustainability—which are really one and the same. We need to invest in green jobs and start attracting business and people back to New York State. Instead of a government in Albany we have this pork-laden, patronage-packed, unethical joke of a legislature. It’s a government that can’t pass a budget on time, has us all in hock to special interests and can’t even manage to vote on an issue as important as transportation in Manhattan.

New York City is growing because it is an exciting place to be and because business and government are slowly learning to work together. The city succeeds in spite of the mess in Albany. Unfortunately, the communities up state are faring less well. They need a state government that comes up with creative new approaches to attracting business and people. Instead, they’ve got a state government that seems better at killing creative ideas than coming up with them.

Yesterday’s non-decision on congestion pricing shows that Governor Patterson has a real challenge on his hands. Can he turn the place around and create a state government that is up to the challenges of the 21st century? Judging by the congestion pricing debacle, it doesn’t look promising.

MORE: CONGESTION PRICING | GREEN | MICHAEL BLOOMBERG | SHELDON SILVER | STEVE COHENS BLOG http://www.observer.com/2008/dysfunctional-death-congestion-pricing

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Green Commerce District Grows on the Lower East Side

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 11, 2008 | 8:00 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I stumbled into my first class in Environmental Politics at SUNY/Buffalo in the Fall of 1975 and first went to work for the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1977, and if you told me back then that thirty years later they would replace pickles and blintzes with eco-fashion on leslieannprice via flickr.com +Enlarge the Lower East Side—I would have thought you were nuts. I also would not have had the slightest idea what an eco-fashion was.

Midtown Fortunately, Sara Schonhardt, a graduate student at Columbia University, joins me New York Times MSNBC on this piece, and helps explain what it means to shop green. The New Yorker Conde Nast Atlantic Yards It turns out that New York City is fast developing a green shopping district. To More Topics >> learn more about green commerce in New York City checkout the Green Apple Map. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Venture into many of the small shops between East Houston and Delancey and David Paterson Andrew Cuomo you’re likely to find a new world of environmentally friendly fare, from leather-less Ruth Reichl shoes to organic stockings to dairy-free Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> cheesecake. Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center As Jill Fehrenbacher, a green-design consultant Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the and graduate of Columbia’s Graduate School of American Economy John Koblin Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Architecture and Urban Planning, told us by Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About e-mail: “I live in the lower east side, and I think my Eliot Brown the Environment More Authors >> little neighborhood is the center of the universe for eco-friendly shopping. Within a three block radius we have three eco-friendly

On the Town clothing boutiques – Kaight, Ekovaruhuset and Organic Avenue; a vegan shoe Off the Record NYTV store, Moo Shoes; Whole Foods Market; and tons of vegetarian/vegan restaurants, NY 3.0 including Teany, Tien Garden and Babycakes.” Manhattan Transfers Commercial Breaks Fehrenbacher, who founded Inhabitat.com, a blog devoted to tracking innovations http://www.observer.com/2008/green-commerce-district-grows-lower-east-side

More Columns >> in sustainable design, says being green is about being conscious of one’s consumption and the impact one’s lifestyle has on the planet.

Denise Mari, co-founder of Organic Avenue, says the declining state of the planet shows the necessity of promoting organic, healthy living. “We like to blow conceptions of what raw, organic and vegan means.”

The native New Yorker says the city is warming up to an environmentally friendly lifestyle and supporting shops like Organic Avenue, which sells hemp and organic clothing, raw food, live produce and hosts “consciousness-raising events.”

In a March 6 interview with a reporter on the release of the 2008 Zagat Shopping Guide, Nina Zagat, the guide’s co-founder, said: “One of the things we found this year is how important it is to New Yorkers that the places they shop are ecologically sound.” Seventy-six percent of voters said they desire shops that are eco-friendly. So among the 2,463 stores this year’s Zagat Guide highlights, several sell “green” goods.

Eco-friendly designers include Donna Karan and Ekovaruhuset, both with boutiques in New York. Karan’s UrbanZen boutique on Greenwich Street sells high-end green fashions, while Ekovaruhuset’s line was featured at New York Fashion week in February.

The Zagat Guide also mentions Gominyc in the East Village, which sells organic cotton jeans and tops, vegetable-tanned leather shoes, and household items made from recycled goods. The shop’s unofficial motto: "It's not cheesy being green."

Del Forte Denim, sold in shops on the Lower East Side, makes 100 percent organic cotton jeans and has partnered with The Sustainable Cotton Project, which builds bridges between farmers, manufacturers and consumers of certified, organically grown cotton.

The eco-fashion drive gained prominence in 2006, when designer and animal-rights activist Stella McCartney launched a vegan-friendly line of accessories she calls cruelty free, meaning nothing is made using leather or animal products.

“I'm not trying to take over the world, but I do want to show that accessories can be made from a more ethical viewpoint – and can be sexy and cool,” McCartney told Women's Wear Daily in an interview in 2006.

On April 24, Emerging Green Builders, a committee of the United States Green Building Council will host Project Earth Day, a fashion show dedicated to the promotion of “green design, innovation and environmental responsibility.”

What are the specifics of green fashion? It’s a pretty wide-ranging definition that varies by company. Here are some of the factors that help define green fashion:

- Cruelty-free (vegan friendly) = made without the use of animal products.

- Eco-friendly = recycled clothing, clothing made from biodegradable, sustainable material.

- Carbon neutral = production offsets the clothing’s carbon footprint.

- Campaign-based = clothing that seeks to promote a message about climate change. http://www.observer.com/2008/green-commerce-district-grows-lower-east-side

Designer Monique Péan is an example of the latter. She says she aims to raise awareness about the human impact on climate change through her jewelry collection, which utilizes animal products purchased from subsistence hunters in Shishmaref, Alaska, where melting sea ice threatens human and animal settlements.

Why does this matter? Is all of this just some of the usual trendy nonsense, or does it have substantive meaning? I think it matters, because the market matters. The success of these businesses is an indication that environmental awareness is growing. Sustainability is part of the language of commerce. Businesses seek a “green image” because it helps them make money. It helps them make money because it is a sign of a sound, well managed business. The message to consumers is: “If that store cares about the planet, maybe they will care about me. Maybe they won’t rob me.” It also conveys idealism and a sort of wholesomeness—and while that doesn’t appeal to everyone, it does increase consumer attraction to a store or product.

The other reason it matters is, that just like that ancient time before we had a bank, drugstore, and cappuccino place on every other block, districts make cities unique and attract people to them. It looks like parts of the Lower East Side stretching into the East Village are becoming a green shopping district. A green business district is one more stop on those double-decker busses and a way to suck more of those Euros, yen and yuan out of the wallets of tourists. Let’s face it, the diversity and street life of this city is what attracts people here—and green shopping can do its part.

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New York City Reaches For the Sun; But For Now, We're Not Even Close

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 14, 2008 | 6:56 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Last week Mayor Bloomberg announced that the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) would request proposals from private developers to enter into a 20-year deal with the city to buy, install, own and maintain kevinthoule via flickr.com solar panels on city-owned +Enlarge buildings in New York’s five boroughs.

The goal is to deliver two megawatts (MW) of solar power to city-owned buildings. Midtown In 2007 New York City was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (D.O.E) as New York Times MSNBC one of 13 cities to help build the country’s solar-energy market. As part of this The New Yorker Conde Nast partnership, the city set a goal of increasing its photovoltaic cell capacity from 1.1 Atlantic Yards MW in 2005 to 8.1 MW by 2015. More Topics >> This is of course a small drop in a very large bucket. According to Con Ed’s Rupert Murdoch Web site: George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Dan Rather New York’s energy use has reached unprecedented levels. For the year More People >> 2007, Consolidated Edison Company of New York’s customers used 62,591 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, which eclipsed the Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan previous record of 61,608 GWh set in 2005. This level of use is more John Koblin Meredith Bryan than 23% higher than the 50,837 GWh used in 1997. A gigawatt is a Irina Aleksander rate of energy production equal to 1,000 megawatts. According to the Eliot Brown More Authors >> latest available national data, Con Edison’s record delivery surpasses the annual electrical usage of the entire state of Colorado (49,734 GWh

On the Town in 2006) or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (55,850 GWh in Off the Record NYTV 2006). NY 3.0 Manhattan Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/new-york-city-reaches-sun-now-were-not-even-close

More Columns >> I provide these data only to communicate a sense of scale. One gigawatt equals one thousand megawatts. The tiny contribution of solar power is dwarfed by the growth of electrical demand in New York City. Still, you’ve got to start somewhere.

There are two ways we measure electrical power use, annually (as we did earlier) and based on peak demand (as we do in Con Ed’s Peak Load chart). Peak demand is important because you have to provide enough power to meet demand when everyone wants to use it. Like a shopping mall’s parking lot, you need enough spaces for the day before and day after Christmas. In the power business, you need enough power for the hottest day in August. Both peak load and annual use are growing in New York City.

Why is power use growing? It is partially due to population growth but largely due to the growth of electrical devices in our homes. The growing number of computers, air conditioners, Ipods, CD players, TVs, microwaves and videogames are increasing our need for power.

So why is solar making such a pathetic contribution to meeting our power needs? Is solar power for real? The short answer is yes. Solar cells are coming down in price, and government tax incentives, higher oil costs, and fears of global warming are all contributing to the growth of solar power.

New York City provides some challenges to the use of solar power that other cities do not present. While most of the land in New York City sits beneath single family homes, most of the people in New York City live in apartment buildings. Many of our apartment buildings do not have the space and sunlight needed for current solar technologies to provide enough power to warrant investment.

However, the technological base for solar power is starting to change. While we once needed an entire room to house a computer that had less memory than the lap top (or even the Blackberry) you are probably reading this piece on, a revolution in miniaturization has shrunk the world of electronic devices. Many engineers think this will soon happened to photovoltaic or solar technology. Despite the nearly complete absence of federal funding for solar energy research, some of our best scientists and engineers are working to improve solar cells. (Watch a video and read an article about this progress in last year's Science Daily.)

In fact, G. Pascal Zachary reported in a New York Times article this past February that a number of Silicon Valley’s chip designers are now working on solar cell technology. That piece noted that both solar and computer chip technologies were silicon-based and that to some chip engineers, solar cells were really a type of “chip.” Some solar enthusiasts see solar power as inevitable and cite its impressive recent growth rate as evidence that we will soon be living in a solar powered world.

And even without new technology, other analysts see room for increased use of solar energy in our energy mix.

I agree that solar energy has enormous potential. My engineering colleagues at Columbia tell me that the earth absorbs much more energy in the form of sunlight than we could ever need to power our homes and businesses. The problem is we don’t know how to efficiently collect that energy and store it. The technology of solar cells must become more efficient and practical and the power we take from the sun must be stored in a more cost effective battery. http://www.observer.com/2008/new-york-city-reaches-sun-now-were-not-even-close

How do we get from here to there? I think the development of new carbon-free, solar-based energy technology is the single most important scientific challenge the United States (and the rest of the world) now faces. Low cost, decentralized energy would change the way we live. We would no longer be dependent on foreign oil. We would no longer need to pollute the planet by mining and burning fossil fuels. Imagine if all of the power use in your home could be fueled by a set of solar cells that could fit on a single window pane? If you think it’s impossible, let’s imagine it’s the year 1950 and someone tells you that some day you will carry a telephone in your pocket that is smaller than a wallet—and it would work anywhere. Or you will carry 5,000 songs and 150 movies in a machine that is no larger than that tiny phone.

The next President and Congress should put together a big pile of cash, a bunch of tax incentives and then set a moon-landing type national goal for solar power. Currently, the energy companies and antigovernment ideologues have blocked significant federal funding for solar research. If we are to move forward on this, these anti-solar forces will need to be countered by the economic interests of insurance companies and other businesses that are being damaged by global warming and high energy costs. This is a critical moment for America’s technological and economic future. A lot rides on what Congress and the new President manage to accomplish in 2009.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master of International Affairs student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs

MORE: CON EDISON | GREEN | MICHAEL BLOOMBERG | SOLAR POWER | STEVE COHENS BLOG

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Water Bottles, Water Bottles Everywhere

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 7, 2008 | 8:04 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

While New York City has terrific drinking water, many of us still buy and drink bottled water. Some resourceful types carry around reusable containers and fill them with tap water, but many of us buy new bottles water at via flickr.com +Enlarge the store, often once a day or more. My colleague Eleanor Sterling, the Director of Graduate Studies for Columbia’s Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology and the Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, is the curator of a wonderful exhibit at the Museum called, “Water: H20 = Life." According to the bottled-water facts and figures presented in that exhibit: Midtown New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make Atlantic Yards More Topics >> water bottles, but in the U.S., less than 20 percent of these bottles are recycled. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl The total estimated energy needed to make, transport, and dispose of Dan Rather one bottle of water is equivalent to filling the same bottle one-quarter More People >> full of oil.

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan An estimated 40 percent of bottled water sold in the U.S. is just filtered John Koblin tap water. Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown Today, consumers worldwide spend as much as 100 billion U.S. dollars More Authors >> on bottled water.

On the Town Of course, it wouldn’t be so bad if the bottles didn’t end up in the waste stream and Off the Record NYTV were instead reused or at least recycled. Unfortunately, in New York State, we only NY 3.0 pay a nickel deposit on bottles that contain carbonated beverages. Water, juice and Manhattan Transfers sports drinks are exempt. It must be something in the bubbles that makes requires Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/water-bottles-water-bottles-everywhere

More Columns >> the deposit?

According to the Web site of the New York State Department of environmental Conservation:

The New York State Returnable Container Act, also known as the "Bottle Bill", has been a tremendous success. Over the last 25 years it has achieved significant impacts to create a cleaner and healthier New York. The Bottle Bill has: reduced roadside litter by 70%; recycled 90 billion containers, equal to 6 million tons of materials, at no cost to local governments; saved more than 52 million barrels of oil; and eliminated 200,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses each year. However, changes in the beverage market over the last three decades have limited the success of the Bottle Bill. When the Bottle Bill was passed in 1982 non-carbonated drinks like iced teas, sport drinks and bottled water made up on a small fraction of the beverage market. Today, these drinks make up more than 25% of the market. If the Bottle Bill is expanded to include non-carbonated drinks, it can: recycle an additional 90,000 tons of materials every year at no cost to local governments; save another 1 million barrels of oil annually; and eliminate 80,000 tons per year of greenhouse gasses.

This leads to another question worth asking: Why is the deposit only a nickel? At a minimum we should raise the deposit to make up for lost value due to inflation. We started collecting deposits in 1982. A nickel in 1982 would be worth 11 cents today. We also all know that even at a dime, many people would still through their bottles in the trash. Why not raise the deposit to at least a quarter—if not a dollar. At a dollar or even a quarter, more people would take the trouble to sort the bottle from other trash and redeem the deposit.

New York is a complicated place to live and people consider conveniences like bottled water a way to simplify things. For some people, carrying around a reusable water container is just one more thing to remember and one more thing to lose. It’s a waste of effort to oppose convenience. All I’m saying is that people should be made to pay for that convenience. The full cost of that water should be added to the price of water. Not just the price to bottle the water and ship it to you—but the cost of its carbon foot print and its disposal. Unredeemed deposits should be used to pay for waste disposal and for projects to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Bottles that are redeemed should be reused or recycled.

We are a species that leaves a mark on this planet—we can’t help but have an effect on the environment. I don’t think it’s realistic to think we can eliminate that impact. Instead, we should look at the things we do, and develop systems that help minimize damage. If we are going to drink bottled water, we should make sure that the bottles are not wasted. We should also try to keep the distance that we ship the bottles to a minimum. Some environmentalists think we should abandon the global economy, end rampant consumerism and get back to the land.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau World Pop Clock Projection there were 6,659,420,098 people on the planet last weekend. I think it’s a little late, and there are just too many of us, to be getting back to the land. So, let’s work to make http://www.observer.com/2008/water-bottles-water-bottles-everywhere

our cities sustainable. With any luck, we’ll do a better job of it and manage to survive.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master of International Affairs student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

MORE: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY | BOTTLE BILL | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | GREEN | STEVE COHENS BLOG

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Presidential Panderers: McCain on Gas Tax, Clinton and Obama on Trade

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 18, 2008 | 8:22 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I don’t know why it still surprises me, but the political pandering of presidential politics continues to reach new and even lower levels. With bridges falling down, potholes unfilled and mass transit Getty Images +Enlarge never mentioned, John McCain wants to suspend the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal gas tax from Memorial Day until Labor Day this summer.

McCain’s idea of an economic stimulus is that we all get in our cars and take a ride. Why worry about global warming and collapsing infrastructure? Let’s all hit the Midtown road! New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker It may be painful to hear, but America’s gasoline tax is too low. It should pay for all Conde Nast Atlantic Yards the costs of road construction and maintenance and it doesn’t even come close to More Topics >> covering our needs. The gas tax is not actually a tax, but a fee for using the nation’s roads. Most of the money from federal and state gas taxes is used for road Rupert Murdoch construction and upkeep. According to the National Surface George W. Bush David Paterson Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission that Congress Andrew Cuomo established in 2005: Ruth Reichl Dan Rather More People >> Total highway expenditure needs are estimated at $4.9 trillion through 2020; $10.0 trillion through 2035; and $18.3 trillion through 2055, Jimmy Vielkind stated in constant 2005 dollars. Simon Doonan John Koblin Meredith Bryan Total transit needs on a cumulative basis in constant 2005 dollars are Irina Aleksander estimated to be $1.1 trillion through 2020, $2.4 trillion through 2035 Eliot Brown More Authors >> and $4.4 trillion through 2055. These estimates are the sum of the constant dollar estimates for each year.

On the Town Off the Record In 2007 the trust fund generated about $40 billion. About 45 percent of the funds NYTV NY 3.0 for highway and mass transit construction and equipment comes from the federal Manhattan Transfers government and 55 percent comes from our state and local governments. If we Commercial Breaks generate $100 billion a year for 12 years we will generate a lot less than the $5 http://www.observer.com/2008/presidential-panderers-mccain-clinton-and-obama-price-gas

More Columns >> trillion that is needed.

Which brings me back to the tax-cutting plans recently announced by Senator McCain: What in the world can he possibly be thinking of? Military spending for the war in Iraq, coupled with the Bush tax cuts (that McCain originally opposed) have generated the highest federal deficit in history. We are starving our basic research scientists who can barely keep their labs functioning, disinvesting in schools and transportation infrastructure and reducing the value of our currency as we live beyond our means.

McCain is not alone in his pandering of course. Senators Obama and Clinton are both treating us to a series of half-baked critiques of global trade from one end of Pennsylvania to the other. We are really due for a reality check around here. We need to invest in science and infrastructure if we are to avoid becoming a second rate power. We need to acknowledge the reality of the global economy and ensure that workers have a stake in its success. Trade barriers and budget deficits will increase the price of goods and services, reduce the value of our currency and reduce our ability to invest in the future. We need a President who is not afraid to tell people the truth about the future. We can’t continue to live off our children’s wealth.

We need to save more and invest more and maybe even defer a little bit of gratification. Some of our investment must be for infrastructure and scientific research that the federal government will need to fund. The main legitimate argument against allowing government to play this role is the declining competence in federal administration we’ve seen during the Bush Administration. (Remember FEMA?) But the talk of tax cuts and of avoiding the competition of the global marketplace is a dangerous delusion. It is true that we need to ensure that trade is fair and that our competition doesn’t abuse their workers or their environment. We can and must insist that our trading partners follow reasonable rules. But closing off our borders to trade and immigration is the surest way to ensure that America gets left behind in the global economy.

Instead of talking about ministers and sniper fire, it would be nice if the Presidential candidates could tell us what they might do to improve government management. Instead of cutting the gas tax and reducing the money we spend on roads, we should be increasing the tax and encouraging more efficient transportation. This Presidential campaign is not just long and tedious, it’s also starting to get in the way of facing up to our real problems.

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On the Waterfront: Pier 40 and the Limits of Commercial Development

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 21, 2008 | 7:29 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

We may be seeing the limits to public-private partnerships in park development.

The plan to use funds from the development of the West Side waterfront to finance new

park construction and Pier 40 today. maintenance seems to be geedebee via flickr.com +Enlarge collapsing. While this doesn’t mean an end to these partnerships, it is a signal that public amenities still require public investment. There really is no such thing as a free lunch.

The latest episode in the Pier 40 saga took place on March 28, when Hudson River

Midtown Park officials rejected a plan by Related Companies to build a $625 million New York Times performing arts complex on Pier 40, located at West Houston Street. The Hudson MSNBC The New Yorker River Park Trust is the joint State-City agency responsible for building and Conde Nast Atlantic Yards operating the Park. After a failed bid in 2003, in August, 2006, the Trust More Topics >> issued a request for proposals (R.F.P.) to redevelop the pier. According to the R.F.P., the Trust's objectives for redevelopment were to: Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush “incorporate park-appropriate revenue generating uses to create an David Paterson Andrew Cuomo income stream for the overall park; maintain and improve Pier 40; Ruth Reichl enhance waterfront access opportunities for Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> the surrounding community and region; and Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already reconnect the park to the surrounding Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind neighborhoods. The proposal requires that Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin approximately 1,800 public parking spaces Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto be retained primarily for long-term use by Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment area residents, and that the current public More Authors >> access, programming and size of the existing athletic fields be retained. The Trust stated that it would consider On the Town Off the Record alternative locations for the fields on the site provided their NYTV accessibility and configuration was equal to or greater than the NY 3.0 Manhattan existing sports fields. Under New York State’s Hudson River Park Act, Transfers Commercial Breaks Pier 40 is one of three spots along Hudson River Park, where http://www.observer.com/2008/waterfront-pier-40-and-limits-commercial-development

More Columns >> commercial development is allowed to generate revenue for park maintenance.

However, the Hudson River Park Act prohibits the use of the pier for, hotels, residential units, office uses not related to permitted park uses, manufacturing, “big box” retail, warehousing and gambling vessels. The Act requires that at least 50 percent of Pier 40’s footprint be devoted to non-commercial park space. In addition, the Act specifically states that commercial parking at Pier 40 be used for long-term monthly parking.

The pier, which contains approximately 1.2 million square feet of space and spans 14 acres, is one of the largest in the city. It was used briefly by the Holland America Line after opening in 1963, but has been used as a parking garage for most of its existence. Today, 2,000 long-term parking spaces, excursion boats and the offices of the Hudson River Park Trust call the pier home. A three-acre courtyard in the center of the pier’s roof has been transformed into soccer and baseball fields used mostly for little league games and funded in part by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and grants from Nike and the U.S. Soccer Foundation. According to the Trust, the parking spaces provide a reliable revenue stream of more than $5 million, which is about 40 percent of the park’s operating revenue.

The Related Companies proposal rejected in late March, was one of two bids to redevelop the pier and generate cash for the park. This rejection came one day after Related lost out to rival developer Tishman Speyer in the bidding process to develop the Westside Hudson Rail Yards. According to a March 27 article in The New York Sun:

"It is not that their plan doesn't work, it just doesn't work if they don't get a longer lease," Chairperson of the Hudson River Trust, Diana Taylor, said in an interview. "With a project where you have $120 million invested before it is revenue producing it takes a little longer to earn your revenue back." "I would have loved to offer a longer lease but that is not within our power. It is up to the state legislature and we have been told in no uncertain terms that it is not happening," she said.

The Act was amended to allow a 49-year term at Pier 57 because the prospective developer was able to demonstrate that the project would provide superior benefits to the community and Trust. However, Related's plan had been opposed by community groups that use Pier 40 for its soccer and baseball fields, and did not generate the political support needed to get a longer lease.

The Camp Group, a for-profit consortium that organizes day camps, is now the only developer bidding on Pier 40. They have a little more than two months left to submit plans for development of Pier 40 and are now working with the Pier 40 Partnership, a non-profit group opposed to commercial development that has pledged to raise $30 million in private donations to redevelop the pier. The Pier 40 Partnership was created by Friends of Hudson River Park, a collection of environmental and civic groups, neighborhood and community organizations, businesses and individual citizens working to raise private-sector advocacy and financial support for a world-class park on the Hudson from 59th Street to Battery Park. Their goal is to create an “urban waterfront.” According to the group’s website, “Pier 40 is one of Hudson River Park's greatest potential assets. With its 14-acre footprint, it has the potential to provide the largest contiguous park space http://www.observer.com/2008/waterfront-pier-40-and-limits-commercial-development

in the Park; and it is the only site that can support large-scale athletic fields for youth and adult sports.”

Those heading the Pier 40 Partnership feel their conservancy, not a for-profit group, must be in charge on the pier. In a Feb. 26 letter to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Connie Fishman, the Trust’s president, revealed the Trust’s current thinking: A goal is to see if elements of the three plans can be combined “in some fashion by a nonprofit developer to create a tax exempt-eligible proposal that could be financed in the required 30-year term.” (See this article in The Villager.) According to a Jan. 30 New York Times article: “Opponents such as State Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, who represent the area, say “a mega-entertainment destination” that enriches a private developer in a public park is the wrong course to follow. “Those venues already exist in Manhattan,” Ms. Glick said. “What we don’t have is park space.”

The question raised by Pier 40 is the degree to which public amenities like parks can be financed by the profits of private development. The great park building eras in New York where characterized by public investment in public amenities. Senator Duane and Assemblywoman Glick are arguing that the type of development needed to generate the income needed for the park, can not be co-located with the park. This may be true, and may force us to find a way to generate public funds for the park. The Pier 40 Partnership is hoping that the funds needed can be raised by a private, nonprofit group such as the successful Central Park Conservancy or the Bryant Park Corporation. It appears that the Partnership is hoping that there is enough wealth nearby to pay for this amenity without requiring government expenditures. Of course, the absence of private economic activity does cost the government revenue that would be generated from that activity, but forgone income is less likely to be missed than allocations from the public treasury.

Why is this happening? Why are we unable to find the funds we used to find when we built public parks? The simple answer is that the role of government has changed. The funds that once might have been available for infrastructure like parks, roads, mass transit and schools are now devoted to entitlements such as health care, retirement and welfare. I am not arguing against social welfare programs, simply indicating the source of fiscal stress. At one time, New York City devoted public resources to housing and build a public housing system that still houses 600,000 people. Today, the only new below market rate housing built is generated by set-asides that developers agree to in order to receive permission to build luxury buildings, or by non-profit institutions that build housing for their own clients. Robert Moses was able to build new parks and public housing from the 1930’s to the 1960’s with public funds and labor, today we are looking for park funding from private developers or wealthy benefactors.

The problem with this funding model is that it only works if the parks are located near the homes or businesses of the wealthy. We still need public funding for parks in the South Bronx and in the parts of the city that are not wealthy. In a city that is running out of land to develop, the temptation to sell or lease park land will only get stronger. Pier 40 is a warning about the need to maintain public control over these essential public resources. Open space and river breezes are priceless treasures rather than tradable assets. We should keep that in mind.

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Expert Researchers and Average Citizens Understand Climate Change, Why Can't Our President?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 22, 2008 | 12:13 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In his ceaseless effort to maintain his record as the worst President on the environment since the creation of the EPA in 1970, President George W. Bush has somehow managed to outdo himself with his latest Rose Getty Images +Enlarge Garden pronouncement on climate change. He has decided that we should continue to increase emissions of greenhouse gasses, but at a slower rate of growth than today and in 2025 we should finally stop the growth of these dangerous emissions.

Midtown You can tell the President’s team must have lost some of its spin doctors, because New York Times MSNBC this latest effort in environmental public relations had no snappy title. Earlier in The New Yorker Conde Nast his administration we saw the “Healthy Forest” initiative that was a thinly Atlantic Yards disguised attack on the nation’s wilderness; and the “Clear Skies” program that More Topics >> was a clumsy and ultimately unsuccessful effort to dismantle the nation’s air pollution controls. Now, I propose we call this latest endeavor the “Floating Cities Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Initiative” because that is what we are going to need to survive this pathetic excuse David Paterson Andrew Cuomo for a policy on an issue as significant as global climate change. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather Over the past seven years this administration has conducted a relentless attack on More People >> MORE ON GEORGE W. BUSH >> our capacity to protect the environment. They have Now, It's Palin's dismantled existing programs, blocked the states Jimmy Vielkind Party

Simon Doonan Bush Wasn't from taking more aggressive action, and done John Koblin Wrong, It's Just nothing to deal with newly understood problems Meredith Bryan That the Whole Country Is Crazy Irina Aleksander like climate change and the maintenance of Eliot Brown Two Bushes, No Regrets More Authors >> biodiversity. Where once, America was a pioneer in Rolling Stone Closes Book on Bush Era With Fart Jokes protecting our environment and natural resources,

On the Town Baker Blitzes Bush Fam for today we lag behind Western Europe and are Bloomsbury, Has Big Bash! Off the Record losing our edge in policy and technology. NYTV MORE ON GREEN >> NY 3.0 Toward a Clean Energy Future Manhattan President Obama has Already Thanks to a number of the top researchers in the Transfers Redefined the Political Center Commercial Breaks world working at U.S. universities, we’ve long Bringing Green Principles Into the http://www.observer.com/2008/expert-researchers-and-average-citizens-understand-climate-change-why-cant-our-president

More Columns >> American Economy known that climate change is not something we Building a Sustainable Auto

Understanding Public Opinion About can wait until 2025 to address. My colleagues at the Environment Columbia, Wallace Broecker and Mark Cane, are among those who have been warning us about the dangers of greenhouse gasses for more than a quarter century. Someone needs to tell the President that we have already emitted enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise the temperature of the planet. The longer we wait to reduce emissions the more difficult it will be to solve the climate crisis that has already begun.

The precise impact of global warming on agriculture, human disease and water supply is difficult to predict, but ice melt and sea level rise is virtually assured. In fact, according to Klaus Lackner, the Director of Columbia’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy: “Climate change concerns may soon force drastic reductions

in CO2 emissions. In response to this challenge, it may prove necessary to render fossil fuels environmentally acceptable by capturing and sequestering CO2 until other inexpensive, clean, and plentiful technologies are available.” Professor Lackner is now working on ways we can actually capture the carbon dioxide that we have already emitted by extracting it out of the air and storing it away from the atmosphere. Given the damage already being done, we probably have no choice.

Many in the private sector are already ahead of our federal government in betting on technological solutions, even though at the heart of the climate problem itself is the impact of science and technology on our lives. Over the last two centuries, technology has allowed us to feed more people, live longer, move around the planet at greater speeds and distances and reproduce in greater numbers. We have built a culture and a way of life that stresses individual freedom, mobility and material consumption. Yet the infrastructure that allows us to live this way requires that we consume a great deal of fossil fuel. Such consumption, in turn, generates greenhouse gases that threaten the stability of the planet’s climate. Science is the enabler of this technology and lifestyle, and we are now looking to science for help in designing a technology to mitigate the negative impacts of our way of life. Already we’re recognizing that some proposed fixes— like a vast increase in farming activity to support ethanol production—actually cause more climate problems than they solve.

As our understanding of our planet grows, we find ourselves dealing with more complex and truly global environmental problems. Climate change therefore challenges our political institutions—institutions that are largely designed to deal with local issues and not particularly good at solving problems that cross national borders. The fundamental, irreducible purpose of government is to keep us safe. Yet this President has relentlessly pursued a go-it-alone approach by the U.S. that has not only failed to address what it views as the primary threat of global terrorism, but also our ability to work in collaboration to solve the clear and present existential dangers that cross national boarders like climate change, degraded and depleted fresh water and insufficient food supplies.

New Yorkers get it. A recent survey of 1,000 adults in the five boroughs found that more than three-quarters of respondents are convinced that global warming is happening now, that human activity is a cause, and that more should be done by key leaders to help New York City deal with climate change. The survey is the first-ever study of New Yorkers’ opinions about global warming and was designed and funded by Columbia and Yale Universities, and led by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia. http://www.observer.com/2008/expert-researchers-and-average-citizens-understand-climate-change-why-cant-our-president

We are long past the need for symbolic gestures or empty Rose Garden rhetoric. If we need to set a goal for the decades ahead, how about a serious goal more like the one Mayor Bloomberg has set for New York itself: reducing emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030?

Because only by taking that kind of strong action to set meaningful goals, expand public investment in new research and create effective incentives for our private sector will America become a leader instead of remaining a laggard in dealing with climate change.

MORE: GEORGE W. BUSH | GREEN | STEVE COHENS BLOG

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A Year in the Life of 'PlaNYC 2030': Performance, Promise and Limits

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 25, 2008 | 7:50 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

A little more than a year ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched his pathbreaking "PlaNYC 2030" urban sustainability plan. According to the city’s own progress report on the plan’s first year: Getty Images +Enlarge

The implementation of PlaNYC's 127 initiatives requires the effort of more than 20 City agencies; the help of our Sustainability Advisory Board; partners and supporters from all across New York City; and

Midtown close cooperation with the City Council and other elected officials. In New York Times the first year since the release of the plan, we completed rezonings, MSNBC The New Yorker planted 54,484 trees, moved our taxis and black cars toward fuel Conde Nast Atlantic Yards efficiency, encouraged bicycling with 60 new lane miles, and engaged More Topics >> New York City in the most significant transportation discussion in a generation. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl In a recently released report, The New York League of Conservation Voters Dan Rather Education Fund (NYLCVEF) assessed progress made on PlaNYC over the past More People >> year. The report evaluated the administration’s response to eight main areas: air and energy, water, sustainable agriculture, transportation, green jobs, green Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan procurement, solid waste and land use. John Koblin Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander The New York League was positive about the plan’s progress in improving air Eliot Brown quality, curbing carbon emissions and reducing energy consumption. It supported More Authors >> the mayor’s approach to reducing 30 percent of the city’s emissions by 2030 through transportation, energy and land use strategies. According to the report, On the Town Off the Record “This groundbreaking law, the first of its kind at the municipal level, will go a long NYTV NY 3.0 way toward making New York a truly sustainable city.” Manhattan Transfers The League of Conservation Voters also applauded PlaNYC’s progress on green Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/year-planyc-2030-performance-promise-and-limits

More Columns >> procurement. “In FY2007, the city made 50,586 procurements totaling $15.7 billion. Using this economic power is one important way that the city can help create a sustainable future.”

The report approved of the plan’s program to plant one million trees throughout the city over the next decade.

However, it was critical of the mayor’s lack of progress on the revitalization of the city’s waterfront, “one of the city’s last great underdeveloped resources,” as well as its attempts to reform New York’s brownfield program and improve regional parks.

The biggest disappointment came from the mayor’s handling of solid waste: “Of all the areas outlined in our 2007 Sustainability Agenda, the Bloomberg administration’s performance is weakest in the field of solid waste.”

The League criticized the mayor for not supporting broad enough recycling measures and for overreliance on congestion pricing revenue to improve mass transit. With congestion pricing now stuck in permanent Albany gridlock, the League suggested a variable-price parking program “to increase the rate for street parking in the Manhattan Central Business District during working hours.”

Dan Hendrick, the New York League of Conservation Voters Communications Director thought the congestion pricing battle had a positive impact. Hendrick observed that “…the debate over congestion pricing has really raised the bar…It helped people see the link between mass transit and congestion. Now they are looking to their legislators for solutions and action.”

Council Member James Gennaro of Queens, chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee, expressed concern over the long-term institutionalization of the PlaNYC initiatives. He would like to see the goals and programs in the plan codified into law.

“There's about 20 months left, and we have to move these bills forward," Mr. Gennaro told The New York Sun in a recent interview. "My experience has been that the mayor's vision is very bold, and his staff has been cautious regarding getting the concepts in PlaNYC crystallized into legislation.”

I think PlaNYC is an important first step. The Mayor provided strong and visible leadership, and put sustainability on the city’s political agenda.

Still, Councilman Gennaro is correct: We should use the remainder of the Mayor’s term to hardwire these initiatives and put some of them into law. The public should ask the candidates for Mayor next year to tell us where they stand on sustainability issues. Local initiatives, like New York City’s sustainability plan are necessary but not sufficient solutions to the problems caused by short-sighted economic development. We need to get our act together and build sustainability in our homes, communities and cities.

In the end though, there are limits to what can be done at the local level. For the past seven years environmental groups have been avoiding Washington D.C. because nothing like sustainable development is anywhere on the Bush-Cheney priority list.

National standards and policies are needed for everything from electronic waste to Carbon Dioxide emissions. These are national and international problems that cannot be solved at the local level. http://www.observer.com/2008/year-planyc-2030-performance-promise-and-limits

We need massive investment in research and development to transform our economy from a fossil-fuel based throw away economy to one that relies on renewable energy and reusable resources.

We need leadership in Washington that encourages sustainability and we need better technology to ensure that the economic growth is not accomplished at the expense of our childrens’ well being.

Mayor Bloomberg deserves praise for brining environmental sustainability into the poltical mainstream.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master of International Affairs student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

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The Floating Cities Initiative Comes Home

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 28, 2008 | 7:11 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

When we walk down Broadway in Manhattan, we sometimes forget that New York is virtually surrounded by water. In fact, the five boroughs have 578 miles of shoreline. If global warming

ends up melting enough sea Thousands of New Yorkers were stranded last summer when flooding incapacitated vast stretches of the city subway system. ice at the poles to cause the Getty Images +Enlarge sea level to rise, New York City is in a world of trouble.

The only borough that’s on the mainland of the North American continent is the Bronx; all the rest are islands or parts of islands. As the region’s economy has been transformed from industrial to post-industrial, and as sewage treatment has ended Midtown the role of rivers as the repository for untreated sewage, residential, park and New York Times MSNBC commercial development has gravitated to the shore line. In the old days, we The New Yorker Conde Nast avoided waterfronts. Why do you think that Riverside Drive is a quarter of a mile Atlantic Yards from the Hudson River? It’s not really by the “side” of the river because as recently More Topics >> as a few decades ago, we dumped raw sewage directly into the Hudson. No one in their right mind would want to get very close to the Hudson River on a hot Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush summer day. One benefit of federal water pollution laws is that sewage is now David Paterson treated before it is released into our waterways, Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> and rivers like the Hudson are clean enough today Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future to live next to. The bike path along the river is now More People >> President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center one of the great cycle paths of the city. Bringing Green Principles Into the Jimmy Vielkind American Economy It is difficult to project how much the sea level will Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About rise, but it’s definitely heading upward. Writing Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander over a decade ago, in a prescient 1996 article in the Eliot Brown Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Professor Rae Zimmerman of New More Authors >> York University’s Wagner School of Public Service estimated that the sea might

On the Town rise by a half a foot by 2030. However, she recognized that the world would Off the Record probably last longer than that and cited projections of sea-level rise that ranged NYTV NY 3.0 from two and a half to three feet by the end of the 21st century. Manhattan Transfers Commercial Breaks Of course, we don’t need to wait for the end of the century to know what flooding http://www.observer.com/2008/floating-cities-initiative-comes-home

More Columns >> can do. We already know the impact of a storm surge on the subway and on roads like the Bronx River, Hutchinson and Saw Mill River parkways. They become submerged and are often impassable in heavy rain. Sea-level rise will make these storm surges worse and will increase wear and tear on infrastructure.

Even if storms do not grow in intensity, as many experts on global warming believe will happen, the impact of storms will increase.

Transportation, schooling and production will be disrupted. Some of this disruption will simply be accepted. When the subways and highways are flooded, we will close them and either figure out a way around them or simply close the region down for business until the water goes away. When a blizzard comes, we all stay home and watch the snow fall, so I suppose we can always do the same thing when it rains.

Unless the damage is permanent and wrecks our homes, roads and subways we may do nothing to adapt to the impact of climate change on our infrastructure. If New Orleans could ignore its levees, why can't New York simply turn its back to the sea and hope for the best?

This is not to say that New York is as vulnerable as New Orleans. But we are vulnerable. Some of our government agencies recognize this problem.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has responded to the impact of flooding from nor’easters and constructed a dike and levee system that surrounds La Guardia airport. They have also undertaken floodgate construction beneath the Hudson River’s PATH commuter train tunnel. Of the 648 miles of subway track in New York City, 411 miles are underground. As Professor Zimmerman wrote back in 1996, “The system operates 343 pumping stations which remove an average of 15 million gallons of water a day accumulating from rainwater, high water tables and water main breaks.”

In addition to the subways, Zimmerman discuses a wide range of vulnerable infrastructure including solid waste transfer stations and sewage treatment plants that are located by the water.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (D.E.P.) and PlaNYC 2030 have been working on adaptation to climate change for a few years. In 2004, DEP began a Climate Change Task Force to work on adaptation to climate change. This was in part a response to an important study of the impact of climate change in this region that was completed back in 2001 and co-led by my Earth Institute and NASA colleague, Cynthia Rosenzweig, along with Rutgers Professor William D. Solecki. In its first progress report, PlaNYC announced the formation of a citywide intergovernmental Climate Change Adaptation Task Force to work on protecting our infrastructure from the risks posed by climate change.

Are we capable of adapting to climate change and investing in the infrastructure we need to prevent catastrophe? Well, to quote at least 20 well-known politicians, yes, and no.

If a huge and damaging flood comes suddenly and destroys billions of dollars of infrastructure, we are probably (excuse the pun) sunk. On the other hand if we get a few small, but painful, visible and easily understood examples of what may come, we might very well develop the political will to invest scarce capital in major infrastructure that could resist damage. http://www.observer.com/2008/floating-cities-initiative-comes-home

At its peak in World War II, nearly half the Gross National Product was spent by the government on national defense. Most healthy people contributed to the war effort. Many people who didn’t serve in the military worked in defense factories. While the invasion never got any closer than Hawaii, everyone could see the threat.

We also know how to invest in the future. Currently, New York City is nearing the end of a multidecade, multibillion-dollar project to build a third water tunnel to carry water from upstate. It is not a project designed to deal with a crisis of the moment, but to prevent a crisis in the future.

Hopefully, when we figure out what we need to build to prevent damage from sea level rise, we will make the necessary investment. Climate change is real and will require investment and sacrifice if we are to successfully adapt.

The right political leadership will make the threats posed by climate change just as clear now, and help form the political will to do something about it despite the cost. Hopefully, we haven’t forgotten how to act as a community.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Drew Foxman, a graduate student in Comparative and International Education at Columbia’s Teachers College.

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Hillary Clinton and John McCain's Craven Gas-Tax Maneuver

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 2, 2008 | 4:53 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the pandering Presidential politics of Clinton, McCain and Obama. McCain pandered on the gas tax and Hillary and Barack pandered on trade. Getty Images +Enlarge A few days ago, in a disheartening display of more of the same, Clinton joined McCain in supporting the suspension of the federal gasoline tax this summer. In contrast, Obama continued to oppose the tax suspension. With key primaries coming up in Indiana and North Carolina and in a clumsy attempt to court the hard-pressed middle class, Clinton has abandoned principle for a moment of possible political gain. Midtown Obama, who seems to be remembering that he is always at his best when he levels New York Times MSNBC with the voters, deserves credit for doing the right thing on this issue. The New Yorker Conde Nast Atlantic Yards This latest bit of political gamesmanship is part of Clinton’s newest attack line: More Topics >> Barak Obama is out of touch with the concerns of average Americans. After a year of intense campaigning and constant travel I’m quite confident that both Senator Rupert Murdoch Clinton and Senator Obama are fully aware of the concerns of the American public. George W. Bush David Paterson It’s a contrived argument—and Hillary knows it is. Anyone who gets in a car or Andrew Cuomo doesn’t have a million bucks in the bank knows that the middle class is feeling the Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON HILLARY CLINTON >> squeeze. The answer to that squeeze is policies that More People >> Miller on Clinton's generate real wealth and then work to ensure that Middle East Options the middle class shares in the wealth they help Jimmy Vielkind When Will Clinton Simon Doonan Dive Into Israel? generate. John Koblin 'Right After Vote' Meredith Bryan Hillary's First 100 Revitalizing the economy won’t be accomplished Irina Aleksander Days Eliot Brown Paterson Says Three Days, Schumer by sending rebate checks in the mail or defunding More Authors >> Says the Hillary Comparison Was Just 'Hyperbole' our infrastructure. We need to invest in science Obama Swears In, But is it Good For and technology, build a fossil fuel-free green New York? On the Town Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> economy and help working Americans and their NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future kids get the education they need to participate in NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Manhattan Redefined the Political Center the global economy. Transfers Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy http://www.observer.com/2008/hillary-clinton-and-john-mccains-craven-gas-tax-maneuver

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto The war in Iraq is another drain on our economy, Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment as amply demonstrated by my Columbia colleague, Joseph Stiglitz in his new book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict (co authored with Linda Bilmes). Clinton and Obama both know this. While I realize it’s too much to ask that the Presidential campaign be used to educate the country about the real challenges we face, the candidates could at least avoid misleading the American public.

The gasoline tax is needed to build and maintain our roads and bridges. Lower fuel taxes will encourage more driving and add to air pollution and global warming. A lower gasoline tax is bad public policy and it really saddens me to see someone I admire as much as Hillary Clinton sink to this level to try to squeeze out a few more votes in this campaign.

I suspect that most people can see through these blatant political maneuvers and they don’t really work. People think that gasoline is too expensive, but they also know we need to figure out a way to reduce our addiction to it. We have had seven years of politics that appealed to self interest and fear. The result of that has been an endless war and an economy on the skids.

Thee surest sign that Senator Clinton is on the wrong side of this issue was President Bush’s announcement in the Rose Garden on Tuesday that he was open to the idea of suspending the gasoline tax. Of course, the President thinks the real answer to high energy prices is additional oil exploration and refining capacity. Perhaps his Texas oil friends are envious of the profits being made by BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's two biggest oil producers, who recently announced combined first quarter profits of $17 billion. We have paid a heavy price by allowing our energy policies to be dominated by the oil industry.

We need fresh thinking and honesty from our politicians on energy policy. We see signs of honesty from Obama, less and less of it from Clinton, little of it from McCain and of course none of it from President Bush.

Stay up-to-date with http://www.observer.com/2008/hillary-clinton-and-john-mccains-craven-gas-tax-maneuver

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What a Waste

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 9, 2008 | 9:20 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Earlier this week, New York Times reporter Felicity Barringer filed an excellent story on San Francisco’s successful waste management strategy.

The story discussed San via fuzzyco.com +Enlarge Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s zeal for keeping garbage out of landfills. Currently, his city keeps 70 percent of its disposable garbage out of landfills.

You might think that would be enough, but it’s not. He is about to propose legislation to mandate recycling of cans, bottles, paper, yard waste and food scraps. If you don’t recycle, the city won’t pick up the rest of your garbage.

Midtown New York Times How much of New York City’s waste is kept out of landfills? About 30 percent. Of MSNBC course, that puts us ahead of Boston at 16 percent and Houston at less than 3 The New Yorker Conde Nast percent. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> For some reason people on the West Coast are more serious about waste management. Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s forward looking PlaNYC 2030, New Rupert Murdoch York’s waste policy is to get the garbage out of here to some place else as quickly George W. Bush David Paterson and cheaply as possible. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> Dan Rather Is There a New Far Waste management was excluded from PlaNYC More People >> West Side at the End of No. 7 2030 because the city already had a Extension? comprehensive waste management plan. That plan Bloomberg Breaks Jimmy Vielkind Out the Elbow was proposed in 2006 and enacted in 2007. The Simon Doonan Grease for Wall John Koblin Street city’s waste plan is to build marine waste transfer Meredith Bryan City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. Irina Aleksander for Capital Projects stations and barge the garbage to any place that Eliot Brown City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized will take it. Water-borne and train transport of our Apartments Lost Since '05 More Authors >> Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health garbage will reduce pollution from trucks and is MORE ON GREEN >> better than our current system. Currently we dump On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record the garbage onto the floor of huge warehouses and NYTV President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center then scoop it up and truck it out of state. NY 3.0 Manhattan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy Transfers But whether its trains or barges or trucks, our Commercial Breaks Building a Sustainable Auto http://www.observer.com/2008/what-waste

More Columns >> Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment policy is to pray that our garbage goes to solid waste heaven. More likely its toxic components will leak out of landfills into groundwater in rural Pennsylvannia.

PlaNYC 2030 focuses on land, water, transportation, energy, air and climate change. It’s a terrific and important initiative, but it leaves out waste. Why are we so ashamed of our garbage? Why no consultant-driven, PowerPoint-laden, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff-produced multimedia show in the park for waste management? Why isn’t waste reduction, recycling and enhanced waste management part of the city’s high-visibility sustainability plan? Is garbage just too negative a subject to get excited about?

Mayor Bloomberg has taken on traffic, smoking, crime and countless other challenges facing the city. The city’s waste management plan is an improvement over current practices and so the people who developed it deserve credit for a job well done. Still, it lacks the boldness and vision of many of the mayor’s other initiatives? Why?

One wants to find a psychological explanation in our unwillingness to deal with this issue. Tokyo burns most of its garbage in clean-burning incinerators that generate electricity. Barcelona has a facility that does that and also sorts garbage for recycling and creates compost. San Francisco is heading toward a 75 percent rate of landfill waste diversion. I guess New York is the city that’s too busy to manage its waste.

In the long run, we will need to do something different. Just like we own our water system and control that vital resource, we will also need to control the place we put our garbage. The price of disposal is only going to increase over the next few decades.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that as the planet’s population grows, and finite natural resources become more scarce, the economics of recycling will continue to improve. When we develop low-cost renewable energy, one of the main cost factors in recycling will be reduced.

Today’s garbage will be tomorrow’s raw materials for manufacturing. New York City’s population density will make the city an excellent place for “mining” waste.

Maybe it’s too late for this administration to develop a vision for our garbage. The clock in the City Hall bullpen is fast counting down to zero. Just like the failed congestion pricing program was a missed opportunity of historic proportions, so too has been the failure to focus attention on the city’s waste. What a waste.

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John McCain and the Politics of Climate Change

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 15, 2008 | 8:26 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In a recent speech, Senator John McCain reiterated his support for mandatory caps on greenhouse gasses and for a cap and trade policy for carbon dioxide. He also criticized President Bush’s lack of leadership on global warming. It is good news to see some consensus among all the Presidential candidates on the issue of global warming and a definite step forward. Getty Images +Enlarge Midtown New York Times Two other elements of MSNBC The New Yorker McCain’s climate and energy policy are a little less positive. First is his support for Conde Nast the suspension of the gasoline tax for the summer. I’m with Mike Bloomberg on Atlantic Yards More Topics >> this—the tax suspension is one of the most idiotic proposals of this endless presidential campaign. If you want to reduce production of greenhouse gasses you

Rupert Murdoch should not be lowering the price of gasoline. If you want to keep our aging highway George W. Bush David Paterson bridges from falling down you might not want to defund the highway trust fund. Andrew Cuomo Second is McCain’s support of nuclear power. He is not alone in pushing nuclear Ruth Reichl Dan Rather power. While no one argues, as they did in the MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> More People >> Observer 1950’s, that nuclear generated electricity would be Contributor Niall Stanage, 'An Irish too cheap to meter, many scientists are attracted to Jimmy Vielkind Reporter,' Wins Race to Publish nuclear energy’s carbon free properties. This Simon Doonan Book on Election John Koblin '08 includes a number of my colleague’s here at Meredith Bryan Why McCain Could Irina Aleksander Break the Columbia University. Eliot Brown Presidential-Loser Mold More Authors >> Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor Most of the electricity in France is generated by Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is nuclear reactors. China is rapidly building both On the Town He Saying Those Terrible Things About the G.O.P.? Off the Record coal and nuclear power plants. Both of these NYTV The Party of the South and Nowhere Else NY 3.0 nations have central governments with a great deal Manhattan MORE ON GREEN >> more authority over local governments than ours. Transfers Toward a Clean Energy Future Commercial Breaks Despite the efforts of Vice President Cheney to President Obama has Already http://www.observer.com/2008/politics-climate-change

More Columns >> Redefined the Political Center consolidate power in the White House, the United Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy States remains a federal system with states Building a Sustainable Auto retaining a great deal of authority. Local Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment governments in the United States and even communities are seen as important players in our political process. While all local government authority must be granted by states, in this country, local communities have strong veto rights over land development. That is why the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada may never open. That is why there are no Wal-Marts in New York City. That is why no nuclear power plants have been built in the United States in a generation.

While the nuclear industry is desperately promoting a revival, no one wants a nuclear power plant next door. Nuclear power plants require a great deal of water for cooling and so they tend to be located in the same place we are building condos and new beach clubs. My own view is that investing a great deal of resources in a technology that is so controversial is a waste of time and money. Even if you set aside the issues of waste, vulnerability to terrorism and risks from incompetent operation, the politics of power plant siting should be enough to apply the brakes to nuclear development.

In this region, LILCO’s customers are still paying the costs of building and never operating the Shoreham nuclear power plant. There are constant calls to shut down the Indian Point nuclear power plant north of the City. Many of America’s nuclear power plants are approaching the age where they must be renovated or decommissioned and taken out of service.

Nuclear advocates respond by saying that when brown-outs are common and we don’t have enough electricity to run our homes, we will turn to nuclear power out of desperation. I don’t think so. Moreover, why not develop other, less complicated, more decentralized and maybe even less capital-intensive power sources? It is not that I lack confidence in nuclear technology, it’s that I think it is not politically feasible at the scale we need to construct. Nuclear power’s appeal is that it is available and off the shelf. Its problem is that in our decentralized political system no one wants it next door and every community has the power to veto it.

We need to develop a carbon- free energy source. With Nissan Motors announcing that it is ready to mass market the first electric car, the need for renewable sources of electricity has become more urgent. The issue of climate change creates a crisis that is global in scale. The future of our economy depends on the development of sustainable, renewable and probably solar-based energy. It will be interesting to see if our energy future develops as a theme during this campaign. I wonder if an issue as central as this can compete for media attention with the stuff we end up hearing about? I mean isn’t more important to know who Hamas favors in this election, and how old can someone be and still serve as President? How does the future of the planet and our economic well being compete with those key issues? I guess we’re about to find out.

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Preparing the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 23, 2008 | 9:36 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

This week is graduation week here at Columbia and the campus has been hosting huge crowds of happy graduates and proud parents. I am reminded that in post-industrial New York City, education is a big business. Getty Images +Enlarge

There are over 600,000 students in 61 institutions of higher education in New York City. This is the biggest college town in the United States, and when you add the 1,100,000 students in the city’s 1,450 public primary and secondary schools and add to that the students in the 900 private secular and religious schools in the city, you get a sense for the amount of teaching and learning that goes on around Midtown here. With about 2 million students and hundreds of thousands of staff and New York Times MSNBC teachers, at least 30 percent of the people living in New York City participate in The New Yorker Conde Nast education programs every day during the school year. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> Within this huge and important enterprise a growing number of people are focusing on understanding the sustainability of our planet. A larger and larger Rupert Murdoch number of students are studying about the environment and sustainable George W. Bush David Paterson development. This is happening every day in elementary schools, preschools and Andrew Cuomo high schools. Here at Columbia we have over two dozen undergraduate and Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> graduate programs that focus on issues of More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future environmental science, policy and President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center sustainability. There are thousands of students Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the studying these issues at New York University, Pace American Economy John Koblin University, Cooper Union, The City University of Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About New York, Fordham University, and most of the Eliot Brown the Environment city’s other colleges and universities. More Authors >>

One of the jobs I do at Columbia is directing the Masters of Public Administration On the Town Off the Record in Environmental Science and Policy at the School of International and Public NYTV Affairs. On May 21, over 55 students from that program graduated from Columbia NY 3.0 Manhattan and joined about 250 colleagues who have graduated from this program since it Transfers Commercial Breaks began in 2002. Before our students graduate they all work in groups of between 10 http://www.observer.com/2008/preparing-next-generation-environmental-leaders

More Columns >> and 12 to do a study of an environmental issue for a client in the government or in the nonprofit community. This public service is the type of class done at many universities in New York, including N.Y.U.’s Wagner School of Public Service. This spring, students and faculty in our Environmental M.P.A. Program completed five great projects including:

Act Locally: Implementing Sustainability in Local Governments

One team worked with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region II office here in New York and analyzed local government sustainability plans throughout the United States. They developed a practical sustainablity handbook for local governments which is now posted on the E.P.A.’s Web site.

Ocean Observing and Emergency Management

A second team worked on integrating the Ocean Observing System into Coastal Zone Management in the Mid-Atlantic. The Integrated Ocean Observing System aims to make climate predictions, promote maritime safety, minimize public health risks, and support ecological and resource management decision-making. Columbia’s team worked with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association to incorporate this system into the New York bight.

Designing a Green Building Retrofit Training Program

Another team of Columbia students worked with the well known local environmental group, Sustainable South Bronx to help develop a model for a training people for work retrofitting buildings to be more environmental friendly. The team designed a retrofit training program to promote energy conservation, provide employment, educate workers, and encourage outside investment.

U.N. Food Programme and Climate Change in West Africa

A fourth team of Columbia students worked with the U.N. World Food Programme to create strategies for incorporating climate change adaptation into their projects. The students created a framework for climate change assessment, which looks at the impacts of drought and desertification, flooding, and deforestation.

Reducing Carbon Emissions from Power Generation: The Potential Role of Biofuels in New Jersey

This team of Columbia students worked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate biomass life cycle emissions calculation methods for use by electricity-generating facilities. The Columbia team analyzed a variety of feedstocks that could be used for generating electricity in New Jersey. They have been constructed models to assess current policies, for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Politics.

The details on all of these projects and videos of the final presentation can be found on our program’s Web site. http://www.observer.com/2008/preparing-next-generation-environmental-leaders

My faculty colleagues in our workshop, Kathy Callahan, Tanya Heikkila, Gail Suchman, and Sara Tjssoem worked closely without students throughout the semester, and like environmental faculty through out New York, are helping to train the next generation of environmental educators. Professors and teachers, please send me information on projects you and your students worked on this year. I’d love to let people know what is going on in our classrooms.

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Memorial Day Reflections

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 26, 2008 | 3:28 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I have a summer place on the West End of Long Beach, New York, that my wife and I bought in 1987. Long Beach is an urban beach—about an hour from the city and at the end of a branch of the Long Island Railroad. My small Flickr; courtesy of mason13a +Enlarge house is really a bungalow that is on a 60 by 40-foot piece of land a half block from the bay and a block and a half from the ocean. The house was built around 100 years ago and I’ve been wondering if will be around 100 years from now. The Army Corps of Engineers wants to build a huge dune on the beach to protect the island from the next storm surge, but the folks here rejected the idea and are willing to take their chances. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Barrier islands like this are truly wonderful places to Midtown New York Times enjoy, but it’s a little crazy to think we can avoid destructive storms forever. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast New York City is blessed by a location right by the ocean and close to mountains. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> When I was growing up in Brooklyn, we had Riis Park, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Coney Island. Later we discovered the beaches from the Rockaways to

Rupert Murdoch Atlantic Beach-Long Beach, from Jones Beach to Fire Island, from the Hamptons George W. Bush all the way to Montauk. To say nothing of the Jersey Shore from Bradley Beach to David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Ship Bottom on the beautiful Long Beach Island. If Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future you love the ocean, New York City is near some of More People >> President Obama has Already the world’s most beautiful beaches. Summer is a Redefined the Political Center

Bringing Green Principles Into the time for slowing down the pace or at least changing American Economy Jimmy Vielkind the scenery. For me, summer means the ocean, the Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About boardwalk and the beach. Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown This past weekend summer started with reflection and the somber determination More Authors >> of Memorial Day. In Long Beach there is a parade that features 5,000 people marching and according to the Long Beach City Web site, about half the town On the Town Off the Record is either in the parade or watching it. My neighbors and I go to the corner and NYTV NY 3.0 watch the parade and wave American flags and cheer the veterans, politicos and Manhattan the school marching bands. With a war on and in a town with as many veterans as Transfers Commercial Breaks Long Beach, there was a touch of sadness mingled with our memories. As idiotic http://www.observer.com/2008/memorial-day-reflections

More Columns >> and tragic as this war is, I am glad that we continue to honor our soldiers. When I was in High School I was active in the anti-Vietnam war movement and back then opposition to the war extended to the people who served in our military. Today that is not the case. We have been able to separate our feelings about the people who serve our nation from our feelings about this war. We owe a great deal to the people who protect us overseas and to the police, fire fighters and emergency workers who protect us here at home.

There is little question that we were deceived into fighting in Iraq. Saddam may have been evil, but he no longer had weapons of mass destruction- and we were manipulated into this war by ideologues in Washington. Terrorism is a real threat to people all over the world, but the war in Iraq has little to do with that threat. Still on Memorial Day we take the time to honor those who gave their lives so we can enjoy this still amazing country.

The ethos of public service must be nurtured if our nation is to survive and thrive. That includes the military, but also includes work in the Peace Corps, Americorp, police and fire departments and the countless community based organizations that work on everything from feeding the hungry to planting flowers in our parks. As Barak Obama said when filling in for Ted Kennedy at Wesleyan University commencement last weekend: “It’s because you have an obligation to yourself, because our individual salvation depends on our collective salvation. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in America’s story…I hope you’ll remember, during those times of doubt and frustration, that there is nothing naïve about your impulse to change the world. Because all it takes is one act of service — one blow against injustice — to send forth that tiny ripple of hope that Robert Kennedy spoke of.” There is little question that this era of self-indulgence will need to end if America is to thrive as a sustainable nation in a global economy.

As summer starts I think about shared sacrifice, public service and the passage of time. Despite our best efforts to destroy it, the south shore of Long Island retains its beauty and timeless quality. We get older, our babies become toddlers and in the blink of an eye they are teenagers bound for college. From a bike on the Long Beach Boardwalk you can’t help but feel optimistic. The sky, the sand and the ocean are simply beautiful. In a world where too many suffer, we have an obligation to share this beauty with others and to make this planet better for everyone.

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The Environmental Benefits of Organic and Local Food

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 29, 2008 | 3:59 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Growing population, drought, the use of biofuels and increased consumption have contributed to a growing world food crisis. The most vulnerable among us here in New York and poor people around the world are most Getty Images +Enlarge affected by rising food prices and shortages. At the same time, we also see a growing awareness of where our food comes from and the environmental impact of food production. One result of that has been increased use of organic foods and increased use of locally grown foods. The movement toward organic foods and locally grown and marketed organic and non-organic foods is easy to see in our supermarkets and in the Midtown New York Times sidewalk greenmarkets located in many of the city’s neighborhoods. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast Organic produce sales doubled from roughly $3 billion in 2002 to $6 billion in Atlantic Yards 2006, according to the Organic Trade Association. That figure is expected to jump More Topics >> to $8.1 billion by 2010. Just over 6% of all produce sales now fall into the organic category, up from 2.5% a decade ago. Organic food offers benefits to the Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush environment, local communities and public health. It does not rely on synthetic or David Paterson Andrew Cuomo petroleum-based pesticides or fertilizers, resulting in less water and soil Ruth Reichl contamination due to run-off. Buying organic at Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> local farmers market, reduces your carbon Toward a Clean Energy Future footprint. (Check out this article from EcoStreet President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind on ways to reduce your food miles.) In addition: Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Locally grown food reduces the Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment present average of 1,300 miles More Authors >> food travels from “field to On the Town Off the Record plate.” NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan According to the Council on the Environment of New Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/environmental-benefits-organic-and-local-food

More Columns >> York City (CENYC), “Transporting food long distances uses tremendous energy: it takes 435 fossil-fuel calories to fly a 5 calorie strawberry from California to New York.” According to the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC), “Over the past 50 years, close to a million acres of local farmland have been buried under cement and asphalt. The farms that attend Greenmarket preserve over 30,000 acres of regional open space.”

The Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC ) runs the city’s Greenmarkets and has outlined some additional reasons why they are good for New York: www.cenyc.org/greenmarket/whygreenmarket

Food Security. “Greenmarket participates in the NYS Farmers Market Nutrition Program, providing food to families at nutritional risk. In 2005, almost 250,000 such households redeemed vouchers worth $3 million for locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables at NYC farmers markets.” In 2005, Greenmarket donated over 300,000 pounds of food to City Harvest. Improve Neighborhood Economies. “In peak season, the Union Square Greenmarket draws 60,000 shoppers a day; in a recent survey, 82% cited Greenmarket as the primary reason for their visit, and 60% spent up to $50 in area businesses.” Biodiversity. “Greenmarket farmers grow thousands of varieties of fruits and vegetables, including over 100 varieties each of apples and tomatoes. In contrast, industrial agribusiness cultivates high-yield hybrids bred for fast maturation and thick skins to withstand mechanical harvest and transport. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 75% of agricultural genetic diversity was lost in the 20th century. Small, biodiverse farms http://www.observer.com/2008/environmental-benefits-organic-and-local-food

preserve our food heritage.”

Goods labeled “Certified Organic” are strictly regulated. Except for smaller growers who sell less than $5,000 in goods per year, organic farmers are inspected at least once a year to ensure compliance with National Organic Program standards on production and processing. The word organic is central to the certification and marketing process. This process is criticized by some. Certified Naturally Grown, offers a “non-profit alternative eco-labelling program for small farms that grow using USDA Organic methods but are not a part of the USDA Certified Organic program.” (www.naturallygrown.org)

According to American Farmland Trust, “New York lost 127,000 acres of farmlands between 1997 and 2002 – an average of 70 acres of farmland a day.” There were 36,000 farms in operation in 2004. A May 2005 survey by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets reported that New York represents a $30 billion per year market for food. Market demand for locally grown and processed products amounts to more than $866 million per year.

New York law makes it the state policy to encourage the creation and use of farmers’ markets in promoting agriculture. The law states: “The legislature hereby finds and declares that farmers' markets provide a vital and highly effective marketing mechanism for thousands of New York farmers, improve the access of consumers and wholesalers to New York farm products, and contribute to the economic revitalization of the areas in which the markets are located.” (McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of New York, Agriculture and Markets Law § 259, 2001)

The volume of food needed to feed a city of this size makes large scale food manufacturing a necessity. Still, it ought to be possible to make sure that at least 10% of our food is grown locally and 10% is grown organically. In the long run, we need to make sure that the food industry takes steps to reduce it’s environmental impact. On the continuum from locally grown organic food to high powered industrial agriculture there is a middle ground. We need to find that place and improve the way we grow and ship our food. Air, water, waste and food-- remind us that we humans are biological creatures. Both billionaires and homeless folks need this planet to survive. It’s really the great equalizer. As John Kennedy once said “…our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air…” We also need this planet to provide us with food. Maybe we ought to figure out some way to take care of it.

This piece was co-authored by Sara Schonhardt, Graduate Student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs

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Understanding Climate Change and Sustainability

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 2, 2008 | 3:27 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Perhaps the most eminent climate scientist at Columbia University is Wallace S. Broecker, who everyone around here calls Wally. He and science writer Robert Kunzig have just published a Greenpeace activists hold a banner and pose with painted wonderful and easy to read torsos with climate change messages during a protest. book entitled: “Fixing Climate: Getty Images +Enlarge What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat—And How to Counter It”. Both Wally and our engineering colleague Klaus Lackner concede that we have already emitted too much carbon dioxide (CO2) to prevent global warming and we will need to learn how to capture the excess carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere and keep new Midtown New York Times CO2 from being released when we burn fossil fuels. We need to learn how to MSNBC The New Yorker capture greenhouse gasses and then learn how to store them underground. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards More Topics >> I’ve been reading a lot lately about the “myth” of climate change from some folks who consider the science of climate to be some kind of environmental conspiracy.

Rupert Murdoch The fact of climate change is just that, a scientific fact. I think the problem starts George W. Bush David Paterson when people who do not understand economics or politics propose solutions to the Andrew Cuomo climate problem that are unrealistic or infeasible. Wally and Klaus have proposed Ruth Reichl Dan Rather a solution which is both realistic and MORE ON STYLE >> More People >> Rrrowl! Beware Cougar's Young feasible—although difficult to achieve. These are Niece, the Cheetah two very practical guys who understand we are not Who Knew Del Posto, Purveyor of Jimmy Vielkind Lardo, Was So Eco? going to shut down the world’s economy to save Simon Doonan Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood: Painter John Koblin Wows Speyer, Elton, Horts the planet. We need to figure out a path to Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Holiday Rift Guide sustainability that relies on technology and Eliot Brown Hedge-Fund Shaker Settles With Old-School Movers enlightened self interest to preserve the planet. More Authors >>

The fundamental fact about the planet earth these days is that we are making more On the Town Off the Record people and we are not making more planet. We have discovered that technology NYTV NY 3.0 and creativity allow us to be more efficient in our use of the planet’s resources. Manhattan There is enough water, food, space and energy for everyone if we learn how to do a Transfers Commercial Breaks better job of recycling our finite resources and making more use of renewable http://www.observer.com/2008/understanding-climate-change-and-sustainability

More Columns >> resources.

If you don’t think there are more people on the planet then ever, check out the U.S. Census’ world population clock. At 7:37 A.M. on June 1, the clock estimated a world population of: 6,671,377,329. By 7:47 A.M there were 6,671,378,797 people. In ten minutes we added nearly fifteen hundred people to the planet. Last year, on July 1, we had 6,600,411,051 people on Earth On July 1, 2008 we will have about 6,677,602,292. In one year we have added over seventy five million people. When I was born in 1953, the planet had 2,681,052,111 people, by the time I graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn in 1970 there were 3,707,183,055 of us. The good news is that the rate of increase is slowing. The bad news is that all those people need food, water, land, and air and while there is enough to go around, it won’t be sustainable unless we become much more effective stewards of this wonderful and bountiful planet.

For the people who don’t think that humans have damaged the planet, think back to when you were a kid. Remember those places you used to hike and camp 10, 15 or 25 years ago? How many of them are now strip malls or subdivisions? Let’s be serious- there is no question that humans have changed and damaged this planet. However, we have also made life better for billions of people. Civilization has made it possible for people to live longer, healthier and more productive lives. Is all this a good thing? I think so, but whatever my opinion is of all of this, I think the global economy, urban life and what we think of as civilization is here to stay. It is possible that we could destroy all of this in a war that uses weapons of mass destruction, but most people given the choice want the type of life most New Yorkers take for granted.

That is of course the problem with the modern environmental movement. There is this idea that the only way to save the planet is to do without: Get out of your cars, stop eating meat, shut off the lights and shut down the economy. There is of course the hypocrisy of that perspective being articulated by folks attending meetings at elite pow-wows like Davos where they have arrived in private jets or after dining in the first class cabins of the world’s airlines. It’s not surprising that people resist those ideas. People in the developing world find the environmentalist ethos of “denial” to be absurd and people in the middle class here in the west, are not buying it either.

The solution to climate change is not shutting down the world’s economy but growing it in ways that can be sustained. We need solar power, carbon capture and storage and a lot more. Here’s a scary thought: Climate change is only a sample of what is to come. Climate change is the first human-made change that is big enough and obvious enough that we have been able to identify it with today’s science. There is more to come. For many years, Columbia Ecology Professors like Shahid Naeem and Don Melnick and their colleagues throughout the world have been telling us about the unpredictable impact of the widespread destruction of species and biodiversity. To learn more about this check out a video from Professor Naeem’s recent lecture on “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Process Extinction Scenarios” currently posted on the Earth Institute’s Web site.

Here is the inescapable conclusion: We are not going to go back to the land and live in harmony with nature. We like our way of life and want to preserve it. In fact we need to bring some of the rest of the planet to a higher level of material http://www.observer.com/2008/understanding-climate-change-and-sustainability

consumption than they now enjoy. If we are going to do that we need to learn more about what we are doing to the planet and how to sustain it. Climate change is just one part of a growing and complex set of environmental issues that we face. The answer is not to “deny” the scientific facts, but figure out how to live with them.

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Obama vs. McCain on the Environment at the Opening Bell

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 6, 2008 | 10:14 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Now that the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominating process has ended, it is time to compare the records and positions of the two remaining major party candidates. For a Republican, Senator John McCain has +Enlarge shown some signs that he understands the issues of sustainability. He and Senator Joseph Lieberman have sponsored climate change bills that have almost been enacted. He is making noises like he might select the environment as the issue to show people that he is not George W. Bush. However, the League of Conservation Voters, a group that monitors Congress’ environmental records gave him a score of 0 percent in 2007 Midtown New York Times and 24 percent life time. In contrast, Senator Barak Obama Sen. Obama scored MSNBC The New Yorker 67% in 2007 and 86% lifetime. Most of Obama’s decline last year was due to Conde Nast missed votes related to his campaign schedule. The average score for Members Atlantic Yards More Topics >> of Congress in 2007 was 53%.

Rupert Murdoch A very thoughtful piece on McCain’s environmental record was published by George W. Bush David Paterson Bradford Plumer in the New Republic in mid-March. Plumer observed that: Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Trying to explain McCain's wildly erratic Dan Rather MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> More People >> record on environmental issues is a For Urban Policy, Obama Loves New maddening task.” He quotes Debbie Sease, Yorkers

Jimmy Vielkind Stimulus Politics Is the legislative director of the Sierra Club who Simon Doonan Fleeting, the 2008 John Koblin Realignment Isn't noted that: "We never know where he's going Meredith Bryan What on Earth Does to come from. As a general rule, on land and Irina Aleksander Judd Gregg Want? Eliot Brown Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and conservation issues ... he tends to be pretty Maybe a Curse More Authors >> good. But he's a doctrinaire conservative on Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. Naps the role of government in protecting people On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> from pollution." Plumer gives McCain credit Off the Record Toward a Clean Energy Future NYTV for trying to protect the vistas in Arizona’s NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center Manhattan Grand Canyon, “But, when he wasn't Transfers Bringing Green Principles Into the Commercial Breaks American Economy safeguarding Arizona scenery, McCain http://www.observer.com/2008/obama-vs-mccain-environment-opening-bell?page=all

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto usually held the conservative line, voting to Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment hollow out clean-water and health protections or to expand offshore drilling.

Of course, Senators survive politically by representing their states and Presidents must govern the entire country. It is possible that when faced with making policy for the entire nation, McCain could transcend his roots. From 1964-1966, President Lyndon Johnson left behind the racism of his Texas orgins. Under President Johnson the U.S. passed important legislation in Civil Rights and Voting Rights and famously made a war on poverty that ended up reducing the nation’s poverty rate from over 20% to nearly 10%. Of course he also made war on a country in South East Asia , damaging that nation and this one and impairing his otherwise impressive legacy. But I digress—the point is-- it is hard to predict how a McCain Presidency would be for the planet. It couldn’t possibly be any worse than the current President’s record, but that is setting the bar very low. It is possible that he could do what California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg have done—strengthen their centrist and visionary credentials by going green.

So what about the recently anointed presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Obama? Obama is a cosponsor of the strongest climate bill in the Senate, the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act which would reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. He seems to understand the importance of sustainable energy to economic growth and if he were elected would likely be indebted in some way to the environmental community.

In a July, 2007 interview with Grist.org Senator Obama was asked how central energy and environment would be to his campaign for President and he responded by stating that:

…energy [has] to be one of the three most important issues that we're facing domestically, along with revamping our education system and fundamentally reforming our health-care system. And the opportunities for significant change exist partly because awareness of the threat of climate change has grown rapidly over the last several years…People recognize the magnitude of the [climate] problem and are ready to take it on. Not only is there environmental concern, but you're also seeing people who are recognizing that our dependence on fossil fuels from the Middle East is distorting our foreign policies, and that we can't sustain economically continuing dependence on a resource that is going to get more and more expensive over time. As all those things converge, we have to move boldly on energy legislation, and that's what I'll do as the next president.

Overall, it seems pretty clear that Obama is the more environmentally-oriented candidate. Perhaps more importantly, the hard core opposition to enhanced environmental protection and renewable energy comes from the conservative wing of the Republican party. Should McCain win, he will owe them more than Obama would. Moreover, when McCain was pushing his own climate bills in the Senate, he had trouble getting the votes of his conservative Republican pals. Still the good news remains that the President with the worst environmental record in our lifetime will be leaving office in January, 2009. No matter what happens we will all http://www.observer.com/2008/obama-vs-mccain-environment-opening-bell?page=all

be able to breathe easier…. or hopefully continue to breathe.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Rachel Dannefer, a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

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Community Gardens: Protecting the Planet While Feeding It

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 12, 2008 | 9:26 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

While most of the people in New York City live in apartment buildings most of the land in New York City sits under single family homes. While New York is nearly completely built up, there are places within the city where Getty Images +Enlarge there is enough land to grow some crops. While we are certainly surrounded by concrete and asphalt, the natural world is never far away in New York City. From small plots to multi-acre urban farms, New York City’s community gardens turn abandoned lots into urban oases, feed city residents, and provide community spaces for birthdays, barbeques, and informal get-togethers. Midtown New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker In addition to benefits such as fostering community and offering green spaces in Conde Nast neighborhoods lacking sufficient park land, community gardens also have a Atlantic Yards More Topics >> positive impact on the environment. Unpaved garden surfaces absorb rainwater and reduce stress on the city’s sewage system, and many gardens partner with

Rupert Murdoch schools to provide outdoor classrooms for ecology and biology lessons. George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Community gardens help cool the city and reduce the urban heat island effect, Ruth Reichl Dan Rather caused when the city’s dark surfaces trap heat and MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future make it hotter than surrounding areas. Green President Obama has Already spaces offered by community gardens can even Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind reduce the amount of energy used to cool Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin buildings. According to the EPA’s website, Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About “Widespread planting in a city can decrease local Eliot Brown the Environment surface and air temperatures. Strategic More Authors >> planting…directly cools the interior of homes and buildings, decreasing air conditioning costs and peak energy demand.” On the Town Off the Record NYTV NY 3.0 While most of our food travels an average of 1,019 miles by the time it reaches Manhattan grocery shelves, community gardens are a source of fresh, affordable produce for Transfers Commercial Breaks city residents which can be transported to the dinner table without the use of fossil http://www.observer.com/2008/community-gardens-protecting-planet-while-feeding-it

More Columns >> fuels.

As Jacquie Berger, Executive Director of Just Food, points out, “As food prices rise, people are trying to figure out how they can get food more affordably. With community gardens, people can get together to grow their own food, which builds community, saves money and shrinks their carbon foot print all at the same time.”

“If you look at the Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030, there is no mention of food, but it would be so easy to incorporate food into it,” says Berger. “Abandoned land around NYC could be converted into places where people could come together and grow food.”

Just Food currently works with more than 35 community gardens to help the gardeners grow and sell their produce. Through its Training of Trainers program, Just Food pays experienced gardeners to teach workshops all over NYC on such topics as seed starting, raising chickens, building raised beds, season extension, food preservation, and even making baby food. “The Brooklyn Rescue Mission grew 7,000 pounds of produce last year at their garden in central Brooklyn,” says Berger. “That year they were growing primarily for their food pantry, but they had so much that this year we are helping them start a farmers’ market as well.”

GreenThumb, a division of the NYC Parks Department, is the largest urban gardening program in the country. They work with more than 600 gardens by providing technical assistance and materials. While some gardens can be pretty large, ornamental gardens as narrow as 15 feet provide shady benches where community residents gather.

Added Value, a nonprofit in Red Hook Brooklyn, created an urban farm by transforming 2.75 acres of city asphalt into fertile land. The farm is now the site of a youth employment program, a farmers’ market featuring produce from Added Value as well as regional farmers, and a large-scale composting operation which accepts waste from area businesses. Neighborhood restaurants proudly hang signs boasting that their menus feature Added Value’s produce.

Other groups have used gardens as a springboard for organizing around a diversity of community issues. La Familia Verde, a coalition of gardens and organizations in the Bronx, has partnered with community-based organizations to organize voter registration drives, health fairs, and a farmers’ market.

New York City’s urban gardens are rare and threatened treasures. The insatiable demand for NYC real estate puts these gardens under constant pressure. The More Gardens! coalition joins with community gardens facing development in order to fight for their preservation. Using strategies such as camping out—sometimes for months—in gardens slated for demolition, enlisting the support of local and state politicians, and even filing a lawsuit against the city, the coalition has helped save more than 400 gardens from development.

Community gardens eliminate the expenditure of energy used to transport food, provide cool, green spaces during the sweltering summer months, and give New Yorkers the most local food possible. When coupled with the local food produced just north and west of the city and sold at greenmarkets, they provide an important alternative to industrial farming. As noted in an earlier piece, a city as large as New York will always need mass agriculture—but every piece of locally food grown and http://www.observer.com/2008/community-gardens-protecting-planet-while-feeding-it

used is a small step toward sustainability.

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Congestion Charge Comeback?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 16, 2008 | 8:38 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

When congestion pricing was defeated earlier in the spring, it looked dead forever, but it’s becoming clear that the idea may make a comeback. The reason for the revival is actually the reason Mayor Bloomberg proposed it- we need the money for mass transit, and we need to reduce the volume of vehicles in lower Manhattan. As time goes by, it becomes clearer that the main reason for the fee is to raise Getty Images +Enlarge money. The absence of the fee Midtown New York Times is contributing to a fiscal crisis for the city’s mass transit system. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast The New York City region has the best mass transit system in the county, but the Atlantic Yards More Topics >> system that is in danger of going through the same decline it went through during the fiscal crisis of the 1970. It is an understatement to say that this would be a

Rupert Murdoch disaster for the city’s environment and economy. George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo According to a joint press release of the Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future Straphangers Campaign and the U.S. Public More People >> President Obama has Already Interest Research Group: “Public transportation in Redefined the Political Center

Bringing Green Principles Into the metropolitan New York saved 1.8 billion gallons of American Economy Jimmy Vielkind oil in 2006, a savings that amounted to $4.6 billion Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About for the region. By taking cars off the road and Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander reducing congestion, transit also prevented Eliot Brown emission of 13,973,040 metric tons of global warming pollution.” More Authors >>

A decade of increased deficit financing of mass transit during the Pataki years has On the Town Off the Record culminated in the long-predicted mass transit fiscal crisis. Mass transit has been NYTV NY 3.0 underfunded for many years, and the lack of funding has finally caught up with us. Manhattan As the Straphanger campaign release notes: “With the projected income from Transfers Commercial Breaks congestion pricing gone, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority faces a $17.5 http://www.observer.com/2008/congestion-charge-comeback

More Columns >> billion deficit in its proposed $29.5 billion five-year capital program.”

Governor Patterson recognizes the problem and has brought back Richard Ravitch, the guy who rebuilt the mass transit system in the 1980’s, to do it again. Ravitch is heading a newly formed Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Financing. According to the Governor’s office:

“The Commission is charged with recommending strategies to fund MTA capital projects and operating needs over the next ten years, a period when the Authority will be under unprecedented financial pressure as it expands its system and rebuilds its core infrastructure to provide the additional capacity needed to allow the region to grow. Governor Paterson announced in April that Richard Ravitch would head the Commission in wake of the failure of the congestion pricing proposal, which would have provided an additional revenue stream to the MTA.”

The Commission has been asked to look at congestion pricing along with variety of other revenue sources to help subsidize mass transit. We need to subsidize mass transit to keep the cost low to riders and entice people out of the cars. We need to improve the quality of mass transit for the same reason. If the choice is between sitting in your comfortable private auto and crowding into filthy, unreliable subway cars, anyone with the ability to chose will avoid mass transit. In the 1980’s mass transit made a comeback in this region, and the combination of high gas prices and decent mass transit has increase transit ridership over the past several months. However, mass transit requires constant investment to keep up the quality of service. Without a steady stream of funding to maintain and replace infrastructure, it fall apart.

One potential source of revenue for mass transit is to charge people for use of the streets in Manhattan’s central business district. One of the few useful points that Shelly Silver made during his disgraceful handling of the congestion issue this spring, is that cabs and livery cars should pay a surcharge for travelling in the congestion zone. A surcharge of a couple of dollars would generate plenty of revenue without destroying the taxi industry. I also think that fee exemptions should be available for people with chronic illnesses that need to be driven to medical care in lower Manhattan. I would also give every car registered in the five boroughs five free passes per year—to allow them to avoid the fee when they absolutely must drive to the city during the work day—as long as it wasn’t a regular commute.

New Yorkers like the freedom and simulation that mobility brings. We have a great transportation system that is cost effective and environmentally friendly. If we are to keep it intact and expand it we will need to raise and spend money. There is no alternative.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Rachel Dannefer, a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. MORE: GREEN | STEVE COHENS BLOG http://www.observer.com/2008/congestion-charge-comeback

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It’s Not Easy Buying Green

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 19, 2008 | 12:17 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The good news is that more and more people want to reduce their ecological footprint- the impact that we all have on this fragile and interconnected planet. The bad news is that some companies care much more about looking green than being green. Companies have learned that people care about the environment and are willing to pay for green goods and services. Advertisers and marketing folks are busy painting the world green. Some of this is real and useful and some of this can be silly or even deceptive. Fortunately consumer groups and the Federal Trade Commission have started to pay attention to corporate claims of sustainability. We have a long way to go as we try to sort this out, but the work has begun.

The Federal Trade Commission hosted a public workshop at the end of April, to examine developments in green packaging claims and consumer perception of such claims. This workshop is one component of the Commission’s regulatory review of the Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (16 CFR Part 260), which the FTC announced in a Federal Register Notice on November 26, Midtown 2007. New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker The FTC released a report recently providing guidance to those looking to “sort Conde Nast out” environmental claims. Part of it stated: “Recycled” products are made from Atlantic Yards More Topics >> items recovered or separated from the “waste stream” that are melted down or ground up into raw materials and then used to make new products. Or they may be Rupert Murdoch products that are used, rebuilt, reconditioned, or remanufactured. If a product is George W. Bush David Paterson labeled “recycled” because it contains used, rebuilt, reconditioned, or Andrew Cuomo remanufactured parts, the label must say so — Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future unless it’s obvious to the consumer. For example, a More People >> President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center used auto parts store may sell used automobile Bringing Green Principles Into the parts that have been salvaged from other cars and Jimmy Vielkind American Economy label them “recycled” without any other Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About description because it’s plain that they are used Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander parts. But an office copier that is labeled “recycled” Eliot Brown because it was rebuilt, reconditioned or remanufactured — and then labeled More Authors >> recycled — must state that the recycled content came from rebuilt, reconditioned

On the Town or remanufactured parts. That’s because it may not be obvious that it contains used Off the Record parts. NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, TerraChoice Environmental Transfers Commercial Breaks Marketing Vice President Scot Case said, “There should be a big caution to http://www.observer.com/2008/it-s-not-easy-buying-green-0

More Columns >> consumers: Don't base your purchasing decision on some green dot unless you know what that green dot really means.” (“Green product seals are gray area,” April 19 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/19/MNHGVQQIC.DTL)

So what does the public really think? According to a recent study from Cone LLC and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (http://greenbizwire.csrwire.com/news/11692.html), almost half of those surveyed (48%) think "green" products are actually beneficial for the earth, while a distinctly smaller group--22%--understands that such goods are simply less harmful than competing products. Seventy-six percent of respondents believe environmental marketing should be regulated by the government. More findings:

45 percent believe companies are accurately communicating information about their impact on the environment 61 percent say they understand the environmental terms companies use in their advertising

Another important issue is the link between “green” products and their effect on the environment. According to the Cone poll, 74 percent of Americans say providing a clear connection between the product/service and the environmental issue (i.e., a hybrid car and lower emissions) influences their purchasing decisions.

When a company makes claims that don’t hold up, it embarrasses companies and disillusions consumers, according to Mike Lawrence, executive vice president of corporate responsibility for Cone LLC. "Activists are closely monitoring green claims and can quickly share information online about the actual environmental impact of a product. The result can be accusations that a company is engaging in 'greenwashing' and is misleading the public."

In a press release that highlights the report, Bradley Googins executive director of The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, said, "The fact that Americans are so primed to trust companies may suggest the lack of control they feel around complex environmental issues, so it is not surprising that they also seek a third-party gatekeeper to help ensure the messages they see and hear are accurate … Maintaining the trust of consumers needs to be a top priority for companies."

Concerns about greenwashing and misleading labels has led to the creation of site such as GreenerChoices.org. Launched on Earth Day 2005 by Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, GreenChoices is a Web-based initiative to inform, engage, and empower consumers about environmentally-friendly products and practices.

The site offers a Green Labels Center, which helps consumers discover what the labels on their favorite products really mean. Using the search tool, consumers can get an expert evaluation of labels on food, wood, personal products and household cleaners. People can search by product, category, or certifier, and easily compare labels using the site’s “report cards.” http://www.observer.com/2008/it-s-not-easy-buying-green-0

For more on what makes good labeling, see Consumer Reports’ Eco-lables center: http://www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-good.cfm.

The planet’s population is still growing. On April 26 the U.S. Census Bureau’s population clock showed a U.S. population of 304,002,727 and a world population of 6,665,486,945. There are more of us than ever and many of us are consuming more stuff today than we did yesterday.

According to World Bank data from 2003, people in the world’s high-income countries account for 81.5% of total private consumption expenditures, while people in the world’s low-income countries account for just 3.6%. Worldwatch Institute data show that “global private consumption expenditures—the amount spent on goods and services at the household level—topped $20 trillion in 2000, a four-fold increase over 1960.”

Rapidly developing nations like China and India are joining the US in our non-sustainable patterns of consumption. Economic growth will increasingly depend on our ability to reuse resources and develop sustainably. Buying green may be mainly symbolic now, but we are learning how to make, advertise and buy goods that have less impact on the environment. That is a necessary, if perhaps sometimes frustrating, first step.

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We Can't Drill our Way out of the Energy Crisis

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 19, 2008 | 12:30 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In 1990, the first Bush Administration banned off shore oil exploration and yesterday the current President Bush decided to ask Congress to end the ban. This is the same policy now being pushed by Senator John McCain in his effort to show President George W. Bush speaks about high gas prices while he cares about rising gasoline delivering a statement about energy in the Rose Garden at the White House on June 18. In the face of record prices for oil, prices. According to Sheryl Bush asked Congress to lift the U.S. ban on offshore oil drilling. Getty Images Stolberg in The New York +Enlarge Times on June 18:

Midtown The Congressional moratorium was first enacted in 1982, and has been New York Times MSNBC renewed every year since. It prohibits oil and gas leasing on most of The New Yorker Conde Nast the outer continental shelf, 3 miles to 200 miles offshore. Since 1990, Atlantic Yards it has been supplemented by the first President Bush’s executive order, More Topics >> which directed the Interior Department not to conduct offshore leasing or preleasing activity in areas covered by the legislative ban Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush until 2000. In 1998, President Bill Clinton extended the offshore David Paterson Andrew Cuomo leasing prohibition until 2012. One person familiar with the Ruth Reichl deliberations inside the White House said that Mr. Bush was briefed Dan Rather More People >> on Tuesday by his top aides, including Joshua B. Bolten, the chief of staff, and that the aides recommended lifting the executive order.

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan This is more of the same short-sighted energy industry dominated nonsense that John Koblin Meredith Bryan we have come to know and love from the crowd that’s been running the nation’s Irina Aleksander capital for the last seven plus years. It’s true that there is a lot of oil under the Eliot Brown More Authors >> coasts—maybe 16 billion barrels. But it’s also true that there are a lot of new drivers in China and India and more to come in the rest of the developing world. A

On the Town little more oil may moderate the price of gasoline for a while, but the only real Off the Record NYTV public policy that will cut fuel prices is to develop a car that uses a renewable and NY 3.0 non-fossil fuel. Fuel prices would also be moderated if we could reduce our federal Manhattan Transfers deficit a bit and improve the value of the dollar. Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/we-cant-drill-our-way-out-energy-crisis

More Columns >> While I’ve come to expect this kind of nonsense from President Bush and Vice President Cheney, I am disappointed to see it coming from Senator McCain, who really should know better. Bush and Cheney have already demonstrated that they are a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil industry. That industry is convinced that we can drill our way out of this energy crisis. We can’t. The royal families in the Middle East’s oil countries get the idea that while modern economies require more and more energy, the combination of climate change and finite fossil fuels means that we have an urgent need to develop energy alternatives. They are investing heavily in solar research. It’s not as if we will ever stop pumping and burning oil. The market for petroleum will not disappear when we come up with alternatives. Even if oil is used less as a fuel, it’s value as a feedstock for plastic will continue.

I’ve often thought that the generations to come will wonder why we were so stupid that we burned all of that petroleum instead of using it as a material in consumer products and construction. While no one should be concerned about the future of the petroleum producers, if these companies want to stay in the energy industry they should be thinking about taking some of their huge profits and investing it in developing better solar power collectors and batteries.

Given the stock-market driven pressure to increase profits in the present, I am not surprised that the oil industry is looking for the short-run pay off of increased drilling in fragile environments. However our government’s leaders should know better. It’s their job to protect us and that includes keeping our coastlines clean and our planet from overheating. It’s true that gasoline prices have risen dramatically and people are suffering. Political candidates are under pressure to “do something”. The something to be done is to provide a tax rebate or credit to low income people who rely on their automobile to get to work or school. Let’s help the people who need the help instead of pandering to wealthy people who can afford market rates for gasoline. Drilling for coastal oil and ending gasoline taxes are short-sighted and foolish public policies. They do little to solve our energy problem and will make the climate crisis worse. John Mc Cain’s political prospects are not enhanced by his support of these short-run, anti-environmental fixes. The American people know the fundamental facts about energy and climate and don’t trust politicians that pander to them. It’s time for a little straight talk from the Senator from Arizona.

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Sustainable South Bronx: Helping the Bronx Become a Sustainable Community

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 23, 2008 | 9:36 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

There is a small town America that is idealized in myth and literature, but even in the internet age thrives outside our largest cities. In these places community spirit and what used to be called civic Bronx River south of 180th Street. virtue (or values) is nurtured Flickr via Satyadasa +Enlarge through local schools, churches, little league, scouts and a wide variety of community based organizations. The force of economic power is as present in these places as in large cities, and I do not want to leave the impression that all is light and joy in these places, but community is always present and taken for granted.

Midtown New York Times Here in New York City community must be nurtured in the face of big anonymous MSNBC The New Yorker institutions and the speed and intensity that is always present and taken for Conde Nast granted. We see community being nurtured when families bring their kids to Atlantic Yards More Topics >> crowded ball fields, when neighborhoods rather than the “street fair industry” host block parties and in the hundreds if not thousands of community based

Rupert Murdoch organizations that come and go throughout the five boroughs. Some of these George W. Bush David Paterson organizations are started on front porches in Flatbush and never hire staff or even Andrew Cuomo last very long. Some grow, raise funds and eventually incorporate as nonprofit Ruth Reichl Dan Rather organizations. In his classic, Democracy in MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future America, Alexis de Tocqueville commented about President Obama has Already the tendency we Americans have to join Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind organizations, a phenomenon he observed in the Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin 19th century: Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment More Authors >> Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations….associations of a thousand On the Town other kinds, religious, moral, serious, futile, general or restricted, Off the Record NYTV enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give NY 3.0 Manhattan entertainments, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct Transfers churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/sustainable-south-bronx-helping-bronx-become-sustainable-community

More Columns >> this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it is proposed to inculcate some truth or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society. Wherever at the head of some new undertaking you see the government in France, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you will be sure to find an association.

Today, we find social web sites like Facebook provide a way to create and join groups and thousands of these virtual groups have been formed. Just as de Tocqueville discovered at the start of the American Republic- Americans are joiners. The environmental movement is no exception- it is as American as apple pie. It began at the community level and continues to demonstrate enormous strength at the grass roots. In the next few months we will use this space to highlight some of the great community-based environmental groups that are hard at work throughout New York, making this city sustainable.

One of the best known community based environmental groups is Sustainable South Bronx. Founded in 2001 by Majora Carter, who received a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award three years ago, Sustainable South Bronx is dedicated to achieving “environmental justice through innovative, economically sustainable projects that are informed by community needs.”

Carter launched Sustainable South Bronx after organizing a successful campaign to fight a proposal to locate a new waste facility in the South Bronx. The facility would have brought 40% of the city’s waste to an area that already received a disproportionate amount of it. Once residents made the connection that community health problems, such as high child asthma rates, were intrinsically linked to these land use patterns, people began to mobilize.

According to Deputy Director Miquela Craytor, “We wanted to offer opportunities which don’t have to come at the expense of health. The communities that haven’t had green space and haven’t had opportunities are the ones that most deserve them.”

One of Majora Carter’s first accomplishments prior to starting Sustainable South Bronx was to secure a $1.25 million federal grant for a feasibility study on developing a greenway for bicyclists and pedestrians along the South Bronx Waterfront. Two waterfront parks have already been constructed, which serve as destination points as part of the greenway plan, and construction of the greenway, which connects these parks and South Bronx communities, will begin next spring. The greenway will eventually stretch 11 miles, and will address the disparities in open space and waterfront access in the South Bronx compared to other areas in the city. A 5K run planned for this Saturday will celebrate the coming of the greenway.

In another effort to “green” the community, Sustainable South Bronx is planting hundreds of trees along the greenway and throughout the Hunts Point peninsula. “When we started we had the least number of trees per acre of any community in New York City,” says Craytor. “We were comparable to Warsaw after World War II, looking like a bombed out city.” So far, almost 400 trees have been planted.

In 2003, Sustainable South Bronx initiated the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training. “We realized a lot of jobs can be generated from green space; someone http://www.observer.com/2008/sustainable-south-bronx-helping-bronx-become-sustainable-community

has to maintain it. No one was training people, so we took the jump to start a job training program.” The 10-week program is free and open to anyone in New York City who is over 18, has the equivalent of a high school diploma, and has a “drive to be outside,” as Craytor puts it.

This year the program will reach 100 graduates. “We’re very proud of it. The people we train face a lot of barriers––many were formally incarcerated or are coming off of public assistance,” says Craytor, who rattles off the program’s success rates, “As of last year 85% of our graduates were employed or in college, and 70% of them were in the green collar field.” Graduates are now working for the parks department, doing remediation for brown fields, and working at Sustainable South Bronx to maintain the street tree network in Hunts Point and the new waterfront parks.

In February this blog covered a partnership between Sustainable South Bronx and students at Columbia University to develop a business plan for a green-building retrofit program, to make buildings “green” through installing energy efficient and environmentally friendly features. The business plan is now finished, and Sustainable South Bronx is currently seeking funds to pilot the program, with hopes to eventually incorporate it into their Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training.

Advocacy is also a big focus at Sustainable South Bronx. As part of a broader coalition they brought forward the city’s first equitable trash plan, which requires Manhattan to begin managing some of its waste. (It currently handles no city waste, while the South Bronx handles 25%.) That legislation passed the city council and is now at the state level.

Sustainable South Bronx worked on successful legislation to address shortfalls in PlaNYC’s storm water management provisions. “PlaNYC didn’t create a clear plan of action for how the City would assess and encourage best management practices on public and private properties, nor how implementing these strategies would result in the creation of jobs” says Craytor.

As a key member of the S.W.I.M. coalition, the organization has also pushed legislation for a tax credit for green roofs, which has passed both houses in the New York State legislature. In addition to the legislation, Sustainable South Bronx launched their own green roof company last fall. Since then they have installed four green roofs, including their own. The roofs have soil and vegetation, which help cool buildings and lower energy costs, and reduce pressure on water treatment systems by absorbing rainfall.

Sustainable South Bronx’s newest program, FabLab (short for Fabrication Laboratory), was established through a partnership with MIT and serves an incubator for green manufacturing and design. According to Craytor, “These FabLabs give people the opportunity to visualize and create solutions to problems that their communities have. We are using it to think about waste and how to reuse it.” The FabLab has generated furniture made out of recycled wood and cardboard, is working to create environmental monitoring devices.

As Craytor sums up, “We’ve changed the landscape of what sustainability means for poor communities. Our hope is that the South Bronx will no longer be associated with burned and blighted buildings but with green, innovative projects.” http://www.observer.com/2008/sustainable-south-bronx-helping-bronx-become-sustainable-community

Community-based environmental groups play a vital role in representing the public to government and in developing and implementing environmental improvement projects. Groups like Sustainable South Bronx are particularly important because they help achieve environmental justice—ensuring that poor people do not bear the brunt of our society’s environment environmental insults.

To learn more about this terrific group visit http://ssbx.org.

Photos courtesy of Sustainable South Bronx.

MORE: GREEN | PLANNYC | STEVE COHENS BLOG | SUSTAINABLE SOUTH BRONX

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We Need a Real National Rainy Day Fund

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 25, 2008 | 5:32 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

According to the June 25, 2008 edition of the DesMoines Register, many of the people who have lost their homes and farms in the recent flooding there do not have federal flood insurance:

"David Maurstab, an assistant administrator of the Federal +Enlarge Emergency Management Agency whose duties include overseeing the flood insurance program, conceded Tuesday that few Iowans have purchased coverage. FEMA reported that as of September 2007 there were 10,649 policies in force statewide.

Midtown "That is troubling to all of us," Maurstab said. "We have a remarkably low number New York Times of insureds in the affected areas." MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast The state of Iowa is in excellent fiscal condition and has a $620 million reserve Atlantic Yards fund that the state government appears reluctant to send on emergency relief. As More Topics >> reported by Jason Clayworth in the same June 25 DesMoines Register: "Iowa ranked 47th in per-capita levels of state and local government public debt in 2005, Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush according to data from the Census Bureau. Iowa governments have borrowed an David Paterson Andrew Cuomo average of $3,941 per person, while the national MORE ON GREEN >> Ruth Reichl average is $6,985, according to the bureau." Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future

More People >> President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center Unlike states like Louisiana and Florida which also Bringing Green Principles Into the suffered weather-related disasters in recent years, Jimmy Vielkind American Economy Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto Iowa looks like it will combine local, state, private John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About and federal resources and be able to fund a Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander recovery from this recent disaster. Eliot Brown More Authors >> What does this mean for New Yorkers and people in other parts of the country? Many analysts have noted that the dollar cost of damage from weather-related On the Town Off the Record disasters is quite high and probably on the rise. The National Oceanographic and NYTV Atmospheric Administration reports that: "The U.S. has sustained 78 NY 3.0 Manhattan weather-related disasters over the past 28 years in which overall damages/costs Transfers Commercial Breaks reached or exceeded $1 billion. The total normalized losses for the 78 events http://www.observer.com/2008/we-need-real-national-rainy-day-fund

More Columns >> exceed $600 billion"

This does not include the cost of damage from the many smaller disasters that cause damage that is lower than a billion dollars. Why is the cost of damage so high? The main reason is that as the United States has grown we find ourselves moving into areas that were not settled in the past, in part, due to their vulnerability to weather impacts. Another reason is our own arrogance. If you look at old beach communities you will find that people did not build their homes right on the water. They knew that the ocean was unpredictable and didn't mind walking to the beach to see the ocean. Times have changed: Think of all those pictures we are always seeing of homes falling off of the shore and into the water in Malibu.

The other probable reason for growing damage costs is changing weather patterns related to global warming. Many climate scientists predict increased incidences of extreme weather in the future. As it is often said: "Everybody's talking about the weather, but no one is doing anything about it." What can be done?

The main thing we can do other than try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is to develop policies and institutions that enable us to adapt to climate change and damages from increased exposure of people and their property to harsh weather, If we suffer over $600 billion in damage over 30 years we need to plan on spending more than $20 billion a year on response and reconstruction. If something takes place 80 times in 30 years, it can no longer be seen as an unusual event. Let's assume that over the next 30 years, the cost of these impacts will double. The prudent thing to do is to get ready.

We need to do better at predicting weather emergencies and moving people out of harm's way. We need to use our tax system to accumulate an emergency trust fund--- a real rainy day fund-that is used to quickly pay the costs of reconstruction. No more going to the Governor or President with a tin cup to beg for money. No more pork barrel political shenanigans governing reconstruction assistance. Just like social security-emergency response and reconstruction must be a right of all Americans.

Some will argue that this will just encourage people to live in places that are subject to weather disasters. The answer to that is simple. The payout for emergency response and reconstruction is a right--- but the tax you pay into the fund varies by locality according to risk. Just like drivers with accidents pay higher insurance, so too can communities at greater risk pay more into the emergency trust fund.

It's time to stop fooling ourselves. Weather disasters can happen anywhere. The fundamental job of government is to protect people. We need to develop a routine, competent method of dealing with these emergencies. It must be funded nationally. New York City is not invulnerable to these impacts. The part of Brooklyn I grew up in was once part of Jamaica Bay. Lots of New York is built on old landfill. It can happen here. Let's hope it doesn't, but get ready just the same.

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The Impact of Gasoline Prices

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 30, 2008 | 2:31 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I'm on vacation this week, enjoying the sun, surf and sand here in Long Beach New York, where we've had a small summer home since 1987. I'm on the West End of town, where the biggest problem over the last few years has Getty Images been the proliferation of +Enlarge second and third cars and the difficulty of parking on the narrow and crowded streets: Until this summer. This summer the big news is the price of gasoline. In the last year and a half, the price of gasoline has doubled. In January, 2007 gasoline was less than $2.20 a gallon, today it is well over $4.00.

Midtown Most of the year, I live on Morningside Heights in Manhattan. I'm lucky enough to New York Times MSNBC walk to work and don't use my car as much as I do when I'm on Long Island. While The New Yorker Conde Nast New York has a great mass transit system, many people outside of Manhattan still Atlantic Yards depend on their cars and drive them every day. They drop off their kids at little More Topics >> league, go to the supermarket and use their cars to visit friends and family. For most New Yorkers, and for most Americans, the story this summer is the dramatic Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush increase in gasoline prices. David Paterson Andrew Cuomo The impact of this increase is affecting people's Ruth Reichl MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> Dan Rather Observer behavior and will almost certainly influence their More People >> Contributor Niall Stanage, 'An Irish votes this fall. On the behavior side, no one is Reporter,' Wins Race to Publish buying SUVs and if you want to buy a hybrid car, Book on Election Jimmy Vielkind '08 Simon Doonan you should be prepared to wait a while. The MTA John Koblin Why McCain Could Break the reports increased use of mass transit and Meredith Bryan Presidential-Loser Irina Aleksander Mold reductions in toll collections on their bridges and Eliot Brown Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor tunnels. Places like Long Beach, only 23 miles from More Authors >> Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things Manhattan and a short ride away on the LIRR are About the G.O.P.?

On the Town The Party of the South and Nowhere seeing big increases in summer visitors as folks are Off the Record Else hanging out closer to home. People are thinking NYTV MORE ON GREEN >> NY 3.0 about where they are driving and are reminded Toward a Clean Energy Future Manhattan Transfers President Obama has Already about the need to be careful to plan their trips Redefined the Political Center Commercial Breaks every time they pay $55 or $60 to fill their gas http://www.observer.com/2008/green/impact-gasoline-prices

More Columns >> Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy tanks. This is a major change in our mobility and in Building a Sustainable Auto our freedom-oriented lifestyles. Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment It may be that people will get used to these new prices and go back to their old way of moving around, but I doubt it. First, there is no assurance that the price of gasoline will stay at the current level. Second, as the economy continues to decline many people will simply be unable to afford to pay these prices.

Which leads to the political impact of high gas prices. As Bill Clinton famously observed in his 1992 campaign, "It's the economy, stupid". Americans vote their pocketbooks first and everything else comes later. High gasoline prices are a constant reminder that the economy is in trouble. John McCain has the unfortunate luck to be a Republican in the year that his party and his sitting President are going to be blamed for the sorry state of the economy. Polling data already reflect Republican weakness this year and the political impact is getting hard-wired into the American electorate.

Politics is unpredictable and lots can happen between now and November. However, summer only comes one time a year and people are going to remember the trips they couldn't take this July 4th. It's also unlikely that the economy will turn around before the election. The tax rebate stimulus has come and gone, and while it had a positive impact, it was clearly too little, too late. McCain should be happy about one thing-it's a good thing that the election is in November instead of December. The same forces that are driving up the price of gasoline will also drive up the costs of home heating fuel this winter. It's one thing to reduce vacation travel-it's another thing to need to wear your winter coat indoors.

America needs to get off of fossil fuels in a hurry. The economy depends on it and the next President's re-election will require it. Let's see if the people providing leadership in Washington D.C. are up to the challenge.

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Governor David Paterson’s First 100 Days: A Green Governor?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 7, 2008 | 11:31 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On March 17, 2008, Lieutenant Governor and former State Senator David Paterson was suddenly placed in the center of Albany's storm and assumed the Office of Governor. While it may seem premature, we decided to Getty Images +Enlarge review the environmental record of his first 100 days. New York State's League of Conservation Voters is known for their thoughtful representation of the electorate's interest, so we asked them for their view of our accidental governor's environmental record. Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters observed that:

Midtown "In the course of his first 100 days, Governor Paterson has shown that he can work New York Times MSNBC effectively with the Legislature and that he understands the importance of an The New Yorker Conde Nast environmental agenda. But the real tests lie ahead. New York will mostly likely Atlantic Yards miss the deadline for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative launch in September, More Topics >> and there is an enormous gap in funding for the MTA that grows larger each day. A strong executive will be essential to meeting these challenges." Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson Some specific accomplishments include: Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> Renewable Energy - Net More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future Metering A few weeks ago President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the Paterson announced "an American Economy John Koblin Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto agreement with the Legislature Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment on energy legislation that will More Authors >> authorize increased On the Town Off the Record development of renewable NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan energy with a process called net Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/governor-david-paterson-s-first-100-days-green-governor

More Columns >> metering", which should foster investment in renewable energy in the areas of solar, wind and farm waste. This law gives small scale generators of electricity the right to add the electricity to the grid and then only be charged for their net subtractions of electrical power after they get credit for the power they added. As Paterson noted; "... those businesses with large roof areas present enormous opportunities for hosting solar energy facilities. If those kinds of resources are fully realized, it could relieve significant stress from our already over-burdened utility grid and improve our energy independence." Brownfields Legislation. One of the unanticipated impacts of the 1980 Superfund toxic waste clean-up program has been to make it difficult for businesses to operate on land that had been contaminated with toxic waste. This is because as soon as you take title to the land you also own all the potential liability from any toxics that ever escaped from the land. This has had the effect of causing industry to abandon inner city "brownfields" and build factories on exurban and even rural "greenfields". Greenfields have no toxic liabilities. Ever since this problem became known, governments have been trying to encourage brownfield redevelopment without losing the benefit of Superfund's rigorous liability provisions. On June 23 Paterson announced an agreement to reform the brownfield program to continue offering companies a tax break for cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated sites. Whereas the reimbursement rate has been 22 percent, "Under the brownfields revisions, companies will get half of the cost of cleaning a site to the point it can be redeveloped," Paterson said. According to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis: "So far, not enough cleanup money has found its way into the urban core of our cities, where thousands of Brownfield sites perpetuate blight, create public health risks and discourage needed investment. This agreement reforms the Brownfield cleanup program to make it smarter, more effective and http://www.observer.com/2008/green/governor-david-paterson-s-first-100-days-green-governor

more accountable to taxpayers." Green Procurement In April Paterson signed an Executive Order to create a New York State "Green Procurement and Agency Sustainability Program," which will help State agencies to procure green products and services. CO2 Sequestering Coal Plan. In June, Paterson announced "State support for an advanced coal power plant in Jamestown. Advanced coal technology could represent the next major step in addressing global climate change while also helping to diversify the state's energy supply and create "clean-tech" jobs Upstate. The plant - which would be the first of its kind in the world - will serve as a demonstration facility for a promising new technology that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) and sequesters it underground for permanent storage."

As the Governor correctly pointed out: "There is no silver bullet to solving the twin threats of climate change and growing energy demand, and New York should have a comprehensive strategy to address both. As a state and a nation we need to be less dependent on foreign energy supplies. China is building one new, uncontrolled coal plant every week. Therefore, we must act immediately to find ways to generate electricity, use energy wisely maintain energy diversity and create jobs locally. This comprehensive strategy has the potential to drive technology and innovation, improve our energy security, reduce energy price volatility, and create clean-tech jobs throughout the State, particularly Upstate."

Congestion Pricing and Mass Transit. . Although it had no practical impact, the Governor did support New York City's Congestion Pricing plan. He also convened the MTA's Ravitch Commission to look at the problems of funding mass transit in New York over the next decade. Improved mass transit is one of the highest priority items on the state's sustainability agenda. Green Buildings. He won approval of a new program that will enable the New York State Energy http://www.observer.com/2008/green/governor-david-paterson-s-first-100-days-green-governor

Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to provide financial incentives to New Yorkers who "go green." The Governor and First Lady Michele Paige Paterson have also initiated the "Greening the Mansion" initiative, to retrofit the NYS Executive Mansion to enable it to be certified as a green building.

While all these steps provide an indication that Governor Paterson cares about environmental issues, we do not yet know how effective he will be. On the biggest early test of his clout, congestion pricing, he was boxed out of the action by Shelly Silver. Perhaps we should attribute that to rookie miss-steps. (Not the kind of "green" governor we are after...)The next test will be far less visible but far more important. The 1996 Environmental Infrastructure Bond has been fully spent, and a new Environmental Infrastructure Bond Act is needed to improve outdated environmental infrastructure across the state. Sewage treatment and water filtration plants that were built in the 1980's and 1990's are due for modernization.

Governor Paterson has replaced the ridiculous confrontational style brought by disgraced former Governor Spitzer with a calm, consensus building approach. People like him and want to cooperate with his program. His obvious intelligence, determination, good humor and charm are tremendous assets to his emerging administration. Can he overcome the dysfunction and pay-for play tradition of one of the worst state governments in the United States? Can he build a governing coalition that acts in the public interest instead of for the benefit of special interests? The jury is out, but I remain hopeful.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Rachel Dannefer, Masters Student, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

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Running From the Presidency

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 8, 2008 | 10:48 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I made the mistake of watching some of the T.V. coverage of the Presidential campaign last night—I guess that's what happens when the Yankees have the night off and I'm too tired to do anything else. Listening to the Getty Images +Enlarge commentary is mind numbing and most of it ranges from misleading to out and out inaccurate.

As I watched these candidates move around in the security and media bubble of the modern Presidential campaign I was thinking that they must feel as if they've been abducted by aliens. Poor Barack Obama-he's going to travel to Iraq so he mentioned that while he was there he might listen to what the military folks have Midtown to say. Suddenly "Obama is moving to the right on the war". And poor John New York Times MSNBC McCain- who told him that he had to smile all of the time? When he laughs at The New Yorker Conde Nast something funny his eyes smile and he seems to laugh with his whole being. When Atlantic Yards he has to wear his media-consultant smile it's genuinely painful to watch. More Topics >> For Obama, the issue the other night was moving his acceptance speech from the Rupert Murdoch 20,000 seat venue to the 70,000 seat venue. This was considered by the punditry George W. Bush David Paterson to be an example of the same ego mania that resulted in the faux presidential seal Andrew Cuomo podium plaque of the other week. Never mind that Ruth Reichl MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> Dan Rather Observer John Kennedy gave his acceptance speech in the More People >> Contributor Niall Stanage, 'An Irish 100,000 seat Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960. This Reporter,' Wins Race to Publish was considered a move worthy of news time on all Book on Election Jimmy Vielkind '08 Simon Doonan the 24 hour news channels. I could only take so John Koblin Why McCain Could Break the much of this stuff, so I turned on the stereo, Meredith Bryan Presidential-Loser Irina Aleksander Mold opened a book and turned off the tube. Eliot Brown Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor More Authors >> Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is I hope these guys running for President are not He Saying Those Terrible Things About the G.O.P.? watching this nonsense too much. I know that On the Town The Party of the South and Nowhere Off the Record Else CNN's ratings have been going up with this endless NYTV MORE ON GREEN >> Presidential campaign. There must be money in NY 3.0 Toward a Clean Energy Future Manhattan this campaign coverage or these folks would be Transfers President Obama has Already Commercial Breaks Redefined the Political Center paying more attention to Christie Brinkley, A-Rod http://www.observer.com/2008/green/running-presidency

More Columns >> Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy and Madonna. I know that like any long-running Building a Sustainable Auto soap opera, the show needs some plot twists to Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment keep the viewers watching. Is McCain really too old? Is Obama a closet conservative? Is he a closet Muslim? Is McCain still a maverick or has he sold out to the dark side of the force? Stay tuned to this channel....

Has anyone noticed that there really are some critical "issues" out there? It's true that Presidential races are not just about "issues" but about the character of the candidates. In an uncertain world, we don't really know what challenges we will face in the next four or eight years. What worries me is that we have designed a Presidential selection process that virtually guarantees that only unbalanced people will enter the race. If Obama and McCain where normal folks before running for President, it's hard to believe they are normal today. In other words, you probably have to be crazy to run for President, but if you're not at the start of the campaign, you've got to be by the end of it.

Getting to the issues, let me mention that over a billion people on the planet are living in dire poverty. What is America's moral responsibility to those people? The planet is getting warmer and we are having trouble making sure there is adequate food and water for the humans who live here. Here in the United States of America we have created wealth and health unequaled in human history. However for the first time it is not clear that our children's life will be as good as ours. While we moan about gasoline approaching $5 a gallon, we still seem unwilling to make the investments in the infrastructure, scientific research and education that will be needed to make our wealth sustainable.

In 1798 Thomas Mathus published An Essay on the Principle of Population. Simply put his theory was that population would grow faster than food supply on our finite planet. The one element that he could not fully factor into his theory was the impact of technology. Technology has made it possible for us to live longer and healthier (which increases demand on food), but also has allowed us to grow more food than we ever could naturally. Technology has allowed us to both poison and detoxify our natural environment

Despite the wonders of modern technology, we are seeing the strains in our technologically dependent world. What are our candidates saying about these fundamental issues? We need to invest in our future. We need to build our educational institutions to make sure our kids can compete in the global economy. We need to invest in science and research and development. We need to spend money on infrastructure-especially alternatives to fossil fuel based transportation. That may mean a little less partying today to ensure that our way of life is sustainable. I know that this is not the stuff that tests well in the focus groups convened by political consultants. Still, I suspect that with some leadership, Americans would respond to a real challenge. Many of us would support a candidate who acknowledges these issues and makes it clear that we have the capacity to deal with them. While I'm not expecting it in this campaign, I'd like to be proven wrong. Maybe the candidates can escape from the Alien space ship they are travelling in and let us know what they really think.

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Recycling Street Waste

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 10, 2008 | 1:12 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

New York City produces a lot of garbage. Over 36,000 tons of solid waste is produced every day by the city's 8,300,000 residents and millions of workers and visitors. While New York still has not developed an effective Flickr via ianqui +Enlarge waste management system, and the Bloomberg Administration made some unfortunate changes in recycling rules in their first term, there seems to be a growing awareness that we have a major problem on our hands. The solution to our waste problem has four key dimensions:

1. Waste reduction. Midtown 2. Better waste transport. New York Times MSNBC 3. Better waste disposal. The New Yorker Conde Nast 4. Increased recycling. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> A small, but symbolically important part of the recycling puzzle is recycling waste in public spaces. Have you ever wondered why New York City's streets don't Rupert Murdoch feature the same recycling receptacles alongside the waste bins that you find in George W. Bush David Paterson Toronto, London, Portland, Seattle, and other cities? Well, this is starting to Andrew Cuomo change. Thanks to a public space recycling Ruth Reichl MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> Dan Rather Is There a New Far program piloted in New York City last year, we More People >> West Side at the End of No. 7 now have recycling bins in a small number of parks Extension?

Bloomberg Breaks and other public spaces, and legislation has been Jimmy Vielkind Out the Elbow Simon Doonan Grease for Wall proposed to expand the program. John Koblin Street Meredith Bryan City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. New York City first experimented with public Irina Aleksander for Capital Projects Eliot Brown City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized recycling containers in the early 1990's, when Apartments Lost Since '05 More Authors >> recycling became mandatory in the city, but Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health

MORE ON GREEN >> discontinued the practice after finding On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record contamination of recycling bins too high to justify NYTV President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center the added expense of separate recycling collection. NY 3.0 Manhattan Bringing Green Principles Into the However, through an agreement between the Transfers American Economy Commercial Breaks Building a Sustainable Auto Bloomberg Administration and the City Council as http://www.observer.com/2008/green/recycling-street-waste

More Columns >> Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment part of the October 2006 Solid Waste Management Plan, New York City is making another attempt to recycle waste in public spaces.

The pilot program that started in 2007 yielded much better results than in the old days, especially with paper recycling bins, which had an average contamination rate of 5%. Bottle and can recycling was not as successful, yielding both less waste (measured in tonnage) and having a much higher contamination rate of 37%. The program has now moved out of the pilot phase, and been expanded to thirteen sites throughout the city, with at least two in each borough.

According to Kathy Dawkins, Director of Public Information at the NYC Department of Sanitation, "Public Space Recycling works in some public spaces but not universally. The two main ingredients for success are heavy foot traffic and additional local control like a BID or [a] well maintained...heavily used park such as Union Square and Battery Park."

Might this program expand to become the rule, rather than the exception, in public spaces in NYC? Earlier this year, Council Member Jessica Lappin introduced legislation to expand the public recycling program to parks throughout the City. According to her office, at a hearing of the City Council in February, "the Department of Sanitation testified to the success of the program and suggested that the Council Member's legislation be amended to include more sites in heavily trafficked areas." The Sanitation Commissioner has agreed to 22 sites, "and the program is rolling out this summer. After these sites are tested we will be amending the legislation to include even more sites for public recycling."

As the Department of Sanitation points out, "all plans are subject to available funding." They are considering selling advertising on recycle bins as one way to fund their cost.

According to Kate Krebs, Executive Director of the National Recycling Coalition, recycling bins are now found in many cities in the United States, as well as sporting venues, parks, and institutions. However, Krebs notes that, "They are not everywhere-they are not standard yet."

One factor which may prove a challenge in promoting public space recycling is that although in New York the amount of waste-and therefore recyclables-tossed into street corner garbage cans appears tremendous, waste from public spaces only represents a small fraction of the City's total waste stream.

Even so, it makes sense to do what we can to make it easy for people to keep recyclables out of landfills. Also, expanding public space recycling would reinforce NYC's image as an environmentally forward-thinking city, and it could help other cities to establish the practice.

As Krebs says, "If we could get a toehold in a city like New York...then I think it would be standard."

In addition to increased recycling in public spaces, Krebs dreams of having a uniform receptacle to be used nationally. "I want a standard recycling bin for the U.S. that would be as easily recognizable as a blue mailbox." And, this is something the National Recycling Coalition has been advocating for. Says Krebs, "We run a bin grant program where we give away bins for public spaces, and we are working with bin designers to develop a standard look and feel for public spaces." http://www.observer.com/2008/green/recycling-street-waste

Even if you haven't seen any of the recycling bins in NYC's streets and parks, you may have noticed that trash cans in subway stations now bear signs saying, "Can it for a greener planet!" According to these signs, recyclables are sorted from the trash after collection. This system was implemented after recycling containers put on platforms on a trial basis yielded high contamination rates, questioning the value of the work of maintaining recycling bins and the security risk. The MTA's current system of sorting out recyclables after waste collection means that 40% of that waste is diverted from a landfill.

New Yorkers seem to think they don't have the time to dispose of paper in a paper bin and bottles in a bottle bin. We also thought we'd never learn how to replace subway tokens with swipe cards. Somehow we managed to cope. It may take a while, but we can learn how to sort public garbage. You know, every litter bit helps....

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Pete Seeger: A Green Hero for Our Time

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 15, 2008 | 10:05 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of reading Peter Applebome's wonderful piece in the New York Times about the new River Pool at Beacon a swimming "pool" in the Hudson River that Pete Seeger and some friends dedicated last week.

Many people know the story of Pete Seeger, who brought American folk music to the hit

parade with the Weavers in Peter Seeger in 1978. the 1950's and was then Getty Images +Enlarge Midtown blacklisted and banned from New York Times MSNBC TV for refusing to cooperate with the communist-hunting House Un-American The New Yorker Conde Nast Activities Committee (HUAC). When brought before the committee in the mid Atlantic Yards 1950's, he asserted that testifying against his will was a violation of the first More Topics >> amendment's protection of free speech and refused the protection offered by the 5th amendment protection against self-incrimination. In 1957 he was indicted for Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush contempt of Congress, was convicted of this offense and then very nearly went to David Paterson jail. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future Seeger was brought back to commercial network More People >> President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center T.V. by the Smothers' Brothers where he sang his Bringing Green Principles Into the anti-war folk song, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy". Jimmy Vielkind American Economy The first time he sang it, CBS TV's censors cut it Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About out of the show. The Smothers' Brothers then Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander invited him to sing it a second time and it was Eliot Brown finally broadcast. While Seeger's advocacy always included peace and labor issues, More Authors >> in the late 1960's he began to focus on the environment as well.

On the Town Off the Record In fact, even before there was a federal water pollution law there was a sloop called NYTV the Clearwater. According to the Clearwater website: NY 3.0 Manhattan Transfers "In 1966, folk singer and activist Pete Seeger had the vision that the Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/pete-seeger-green-hero-our-time

More Columns >> public would come to care for all of our threatened waterways by learning to care for one boat and one river. He inspired a group of dedicated people who made the dream a reality. Launched in 1969, Clearwater serves as a moveable classroom, laboratory, stage, and forum."

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act was passed in 1972 over then President Richard Nixon's veto. Pete Seeger was an important voice in the chorus that demanded government action on cleaning up our water. For nearly forty years the Clearwater has continued its educational mission. It has long been a force for environmental clean-up and education in New York. When my daughters were in elementary school I was a class parent on a Clearwater voyage and it was memorable and effective. Seeger's imagination and practical approach to education and problem solving created a lasting and important institution.

Last weekend I walked by the new Hudson River pier that looks like it will soon open in Harlem across the street from the Fairway grocery on 125th street. That park and the bike path it connects with down to Greenwich Village would not have been possible without the Hudson River clean-up that Pete Seeger helped start in the late 1960's. What Seeger has always understood is that the way to build support for clean water is to make sure that people can experience it and enjoy it.

I think it's true that the eight million plus people living in New York City can enjoy their lives without experiencing the rivers, oceans, mountains, deserts and countryside that still dominate our increasingly urban planet. I believe that our lives are enriched by experiencing nature, but without parks and sloops New Yorkers might never take the time to enjoy them.

Pete Seeger is a "green hero" because he knows that we need to mix advocacy with education and education with enjoyment. The joy of the breeze off the Hudson on a summer night can carry you through a slushy walk in midtown in February. The school kids that spend a few hours on the Clearwater will never see the river in quite the same way that they did before their voyage-and perhaps more importantly they will see the river the next time they look at it.

The new River Pool in Beacon is simply the latest in a long list of songs, ideas, innovations and actions invented or promoted by Pete Seeger. We owe this modest man a debt of gratitude. Think about it the next time you take a peek at the Hudson.

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Energy and the Sinking Economy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 20, 2008 | 9:46 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Last Thursday, former Vice President Al Gore joined the many voices that have been calling for a crash program-a "moon-shot" national effort to get us off of fossil fuels. Senator Obama applauded the speech saying "For decades, Al Gore has challenged the skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a nation to the urgency of this threat." Getty Images +Enlarge At the moment, neither Midtown Senator Obama nor Senator McCain are taking as aggressive a position as Gore is New York Times MSNBC taking. The energy industry doesn't know how to deal with this newest energy The New Yorker Conde Nast crisis. At the heart of the discussion is the impact of our current energy practices Atlantic Yards on our economic well-being and on national security. More Topics >> Even a casual examination of the data tells us that our current energy path is not Rupert Murdoch sustainable. Global warming from the use of fossil fuels has already arrived. Fossil George W. Bush David Paterson fuels damage our environment and require importation from some parts of the Andrew Cuomo world we would like to be less dependent on. While Ruth Reichl MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> Dan Rather Observer there is lots of fossil fuel left, it is a finite resource More People >> Contributor Niall Stanage, 'An Irish that will eventually be depleted. This is the Reporter,' Wins Race to Publish moment to begin to move our economy away from Book on Election Jimmy Vielkind '08 Simon Doonan fossil fuels. While some fear the costs of this John Koblin Why McCain Could Break the transfer, I believe it is an opportunity that could Meredith Bryan Presidential-Loser Irina Aleksander Mold strengthen the American economy. Eliot Brown Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor More Authors >> Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is Last Friday, the Texas state government approved He Saying Those Terrible Things About the G.O.P.? a nearly $5 billion dollar project to build On the Town The Party of the South and Nowhere Off the Record Else electrical transmission lines that would bring wind NYTV MORE ON GREEN >> power generated in the western part of the state to NY 3.0 Toward a Clean Energy Future Manhattan Dallas, Houston and other major Texas towns. Transfers President Obama has Already Commercial Breaks Redefined the Political Center http://www.observer.com/2008/green/energy-and-sinking-economy

More Columns >> Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy This past Saturday the New York Times business Building a Sustainable Auto columnist Joe Nocera wrote a piece on the Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment commercialization of the electric car. He posed the central question: Are these cars "costly toys or a new era for drivers"?

Interestingly, the original cars were in fact little more than expensive toys when they were first developed. Then a manufacturing genius named Henry Ford figured out how to mass produce a relatively affordable car called the Model T-and the rest, as they say, is history. Nocera reports that battery technology now allows electric cars to go 200 miles between charges. Most people drive less than 50 miles a day. With gasoline approaching $5 a gallon, and the possibility that we could charge our cars from fossil fuel free power plants, perhaps there is a way to kick our relentless addiction to the internal combustion engine and the oil that fuels it.

Energy is at the heart of the environmental problem. It is also at the center of our suddenly collapsing economy. While oil alone did not cause the war in Iraq, no one can deny the connection between energy and our Mid-East policy. The war in Iraq has caused deficits which weakened our economy. Our need for foreign oil has fueled our trade deficit (excuse the pun). Solve the energy crisis and we no longer need OPEC's oil. Then we can stop sending our soldiers and our dollars to the Mid-East.

Everyone worries that the capital costs of transferring our energy infrastructure from oil, gas and coal to solar, geothermal and wind will simply cost too much. While it will redistribute economic power from old companies to new ones, it will almost certainly ensure that energy will cost less in the future than it does today. Lower cost energy can make our economy more productive and more competitive. Chaper energy allows higher priced labor to compete with lower priced labor.

The factor left out of the cost equation we often see is technological innovation. Our current energy system is getting old in a hurry. We need to stimulate rapid technological change. Computing power provides a useful example of rapid technological change. Think of the laptop you owned three years ago. Your current computer is faster, does more, and is probably no more expensive then that one. The cost of communication and information continues to come down. With investment, focus and ingenuity, we can create a new energy industry that would help our economy, protect our environment and create an incredibly powerful export industry. What do we need to do?

Invest in university-based basic energy science and engineering Provide tax incentives for the private sector to innovate in non-fossil, non-nuclear energy technology Re-open the nation to immigration of scientists, experts and skilled workers Provide a regulatory environment that encourages sustainable development and environmental http://www.observer.com/2008/green/energy-and-sinking-economy

protection. In other words, get serious once again about government protecting the environment.

Many of us have been calling for a "moon-shot" type project to develop non-fossil fuel technology. But none of us are Nobel Prize winning former Vice Presidents who received more popular votes for President than anyone else did in the 2000 election. Al Gore once again has demonstrated bold and visionary leadership and deserves our admiration for giving public voice and attention to this critical issue.

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Paying for Mass Transit without Raising Fares

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 24, 2008 | 8:50 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

One of the central elements of Mayor Bloomberg's plan for a sustainable New York City is to improve mass transit and get people out of their cars and into busses and subways. In addition to better and more frequent transit service, the city also needs to ensure that Getty Images +Enlarge the price of mass transit is kept under control. In the aftermath of the defeat of congestion pricing, we see that mass transit in this region is under greater financial stress than at any time since the fiscal crisis of the mid 1970's.

Midtown State and local tax collections are in decline, and the MTA bears the burden of the New York Times MSNBC Pataki philosophy of borrowing to fund transit infrastructure. As a result, the MTA The New Yorker Conde Nast is about to raise mass transit fares for the second time in two years. Gene Atlantic Yards Russianoff of NYPIRG's Straphanger's Campaign argued the other night More Topics >> that the city contributes too little to the cost of transit-providing only 4% of the MTA's budget. Mayor Bloomberg expressed no interest in raising the city's subsidy Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush and pushed the MTA to do more with less. Former Mayor Ed Koch made the point David Paterson Andrew Cuomo that fare payers should pay about 50% of the cost of their ride and Russianoff Ruth Reichl maintained that riders now pay 58% of the cost of Dan Rather MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> More People >> each ride. Is There a New Far West Side at the End of No. 7 In Wednesday's Daily News, Pete Donahue Jimmy Vielkind Extension? Simon Doonan Bloomberg Breaks wrote that: John Koblin Out the Elbow Meredith Bryan Grease for Wall Street "City bus and subway riders pay a bigger share of Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. for Capital Projects transit operating expenses than straphangers More Authors >> City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized across the nation... MTA bus riders pay 40% of Apartments Lost Since '05 NYC Transit division expenses through fares while Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health On the Town Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> subway riders cover 72%, federal transit data show. NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future Riders in other major cities or metropolitan areas NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Manhattan Redefined the Political Center like Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and San Transfers Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the Francisco pay significantly less. MTA officials say American Economy http://www.observer.com/2008/green/paying-mass-transit-without-raising-fares

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto comparisons are unfair because riders here have a Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment system unlike any other - with 468 subway stations and 24-hour service."

The MTA response misses the point. New York's larger system also includes larger ridership, and higher revenues to go along with higher expenses. The issue actually has nothing to do with the MTA-and everything to do with our elected officials in Albany who during the Pataki years steadily reduced subsidies for mass transportation. The issue is one of public policy priorities, not the management practices of the MTA. The goals of an effective transportation system are to move people from place to place at the least possible cost and the highest possible speed in as pleasant a way as possible. In this region that means mass transit. Our high population density requires us to reduce the use of autos. We all know that mass transit is more energy efficient and less destructive of the environment than the auto. Currently we use a variety of sources, including bridge tolls, to subsidize mass transit. Obviously, these subsidies are insufficient.

Keeping the fare low requires greater efficiency at the MTA, but no matter how efficient the agency is, public subsidies are still needed. One source of revenue for mass transportation is the real estate transfer tax which has been declining at the same time that energy costs have been rising. Debt service for the MTA is also growing and will total 20% of their budget by 2012. Mass transit is caught in a cost squeeze and new forms of revenue are needed. Some of the capital needs of the agency should be borne by the state and city and not be part of the MTA's budget. Former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch and his state-appointed Commission are looking at transit financing and hopefully will develop a realistic long-term plan. The plan needs to take another look at congestion pricing and on raising the other taxes now charged on autos, trucks and taxis.

We need to get away from the idea that mass transit can be funded on the cheap. Capital finance-or borrowing for infrastructure-is appropriate, if the revenue sources are removed from the fare box. If a facility is being used for a decade, it makes sense to pay it off in ten years. One of the best potential sources of revenue for mass transit remains congestion pricing. Maybe, if the choice is between higher fares or high auto use fees, our courageous leaders will reconsider congestion charges. I wouldn't make any bets...

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A Cleaner and Even Swimmable Hudson River

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 27, 2008 | 11:02 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In the early 1980's a water engineer once described the Hudson River to me as "the biggest and fastest flushing toilet in the world". Until the North River sewage treatment plant opened in 1986 for what was called "advanced preliminary treatment" we dumped all of the west side's raw sewage straight into the Hudson. No wonder Riverside Drive is about ¼ mile from the river--up on a bluff with railroad tracks and later a park and highway between the fancy apartments and the river. No wonder the most expensive residential avenues in Manhattan, 5th Avenue and Park Avenue, were traditionally those furthest from the East and Hudson Rivers. The goal was to get as far away from the rivers as possible.

Times have changed. New parks bring New Yorkers right next to the river. This all became possible with the construction in the 1980's of the west side's North River Sewage Treatment Plant. According to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection: Midtown New York Times MSNBC The North River wastewater treatment plant is located on the Hudson The New Yorker Conde Nast River, west of the West Side Highway from 137th Street to 145th Atlantic Yards Street. The plant provides wastewater treatment for the hundreds of More Topics >> thousands of people who live and work in or visit the west side of Manhattan, from Bank Street in Greenwich Village to Inwood Hill at Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush the island's northern tip. North River treats about 125 million gallons David Paterson Andrew Cuomo of wastewater every day during dry weather, and it is designed to Ruth Reichl handle up to 340 million gallons a day when Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> the weather is wet... Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center The North River wastewater treatment plant Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the is built on a 28-acre reinforced concrete American Economy John Koblin Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto platform over the Hudson River. It rests on Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About 2,300 caissons pinned into bedrock up to Eliot Brown the Environment More Authors >> 230 feet beneath the river. The roof of the building is the home of Riverbank State Park, a popular recreational

On the Town facility with three swimming pools, an amphitheater, an athletic Off the Record NYTV center, a skating rink, a restaurant and sports fields -- and, of the two NY 3.0 New York State park facilities in the City, the only one built on top of a Manhattan Transfers water pollution control plant. Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/cleaner-and-even-swimmable-hudson-river

More Columns >>

The construction of the plant in West Harlem was the subject of great controversy. In 1962, when the plant was first being planned, its proposed location was West 72nd Street. Somehow, the plant miraculously floated upstream from a well-to-do neighborhood to a working class community of color. In fact, WE ACT, West Harlem Environmental Action, one of the city's most prominent environmental justice groups, was founded by Peggy Shepard and colleagues in 1988 to address problems related to the operation of the plant. According to WE ACT's web site:

The North River Sewage Treatment Plant's problem proved to be a rallying point with residents who complained about the foul odors emanating from it and about suffering from respiratory problems since it began operating in April 1986. Using strong community mobilization tactics and a key civil disobedience strategy, "The Sewage Seven" - then West Harlem District Leaders Shepard and Sutton, State Senator David Paterson, former Councilmember Hilton Clark and three others - were arrested for holding up traffic at 7 a.m. on the West Side Highway in front of the North River Sewage Treatment Plant on Martin Luther King Day, January 15, 1988. Gas masked, placard carrying community residents held up traffic across from the plant on Riverside Drive to dramatize the unbearable situation.

Three months later, WE ACT formed with three key objectives: to force the City of New York to fix the North River Sewage Treatment Plant, to gain the ability to participate in determining future siting and planning decisions in West Harlem, and to affect the public policy agenda by positioning environmental justice as a major political issue...WE ACT met with numerous City and State officials through the years in an effort to exact a plan of action for correcting the plant's operational flaws. However, it took a lawsuit to make the City respond. On December 30, 1993, WE ACT reached a settlement of its lawsuit against the City for operating the North River Sewage Treatment Plant as a public and private nuisance.

The clean up of the Hudson is far from complete, and has come at great cost and struggle, but earlier this week, my colleagues Michael Purdy, Director of Columbia's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (the scientific heart of the Earth Institute), along with Observatory scientists Greg O'Mullan, Andrew Juhl and Raymond N. Sambrotto, announced a river monitoring collaboration with Riverkeeper. Monitoring the river in 2006 and 2007, this research collaboration found the river to be substantially cleaner than it was before clean up began in the 1970's. However, the quality of the Hudson's waters is still subject to great variability. Riverkeeper and Columbia plan to conduct monthly monitoring studies in the next several years and make these results available to the public each month.

The Hudson River has always been important to New Yorkers, but its use as a recreational site is growing. As I wrote in my recent posting on Pete Seeger, people are now interested in swimming in the Hudson. A new park on the river is about to open in Harlem, across the street from Fairway Supermarket. It's not hard to project that on a hot summer day people will want to do more than look at the river. Some of them will want to jump in and cool off. Of course, in addition to the http://www.observer.com/2008/green/cleaner-and-even-swimmable-hudson-river

potential toxicity of the water itself, people will want to be mindful of the river's incredibly strong current. The west side riverfront is now dominated by waterside parks, where once we saw heavy industry, freight receiving piers and floating sewage. The benefit of this resource is obvious to anyone wishing to take a look. We owe our thanks to the people who built the treatment plant, to the community leaders who struggled to make sure it ran well, and to the advocates and scientists who work at Riverkeeper, the Clearwater and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Together, they have made sure that we are leaving this small part of our planet in better shape than we found it. We really can't ask for more.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Rachel Dannefer, Masters Student, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

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Wasted Again: What Can We Do With All of That Garbage?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 30, 2008 | 7:46 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As summer heats up, our thoughts return to garbage--specifically New York City's garbage. As I've mentioned before, it would be hard to invent a more environmentally damaging, or more expensive system of waste management, than the one we use. To reiterate--in New York City we collect the garbage that residents place on the curb and then dump it on the floor of huge Flickr via ShellyS +Enlarge Midtown New York Times warehouses that tend to be MSNBC The New Yorker located in low-income neighborhoods. We then scoop it up and load it on to trailer Conde Nast trucks and ship it far away--mostly to landfills (dumps), or waste-to-energy plants Atlantic Yards More Topics >> (incinerators). In the old days, when we had more vacant land in the city, we dumped the garbage in our own landfills. When I was a kid we had the Fountain

Rupert Murdoch Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue landfills in Brooklyn--which some of us called George W. Bush David Paterson the Brooklyn Alps as the dump grew higher and higher. Of course, Staten Island Andrew Cuomo had its incredible Freshkills Landfill. The story is told that there are two human Ruth Reichl Dan Rather made objects visible from outer space: The Great MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future Wall of China and the Freshkills Landfill. Ah, the President Obama has Already good old days. Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy Still, not every city has the ability to cart their trash John Koblin Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto to a landfill in Pennsylvania, so what do other Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment cities do with their waste? In 2005, some of the More Authors >> students in Columbia's Masters in Environmental Science and Policy Program explored alternative waste On the Town management practices around the world and identified a number of alternatives to Off the Record NYTV land-filling. NY 3.0 Manhattan Transfers My colleague Dr. Nicholas Themelis of Columbia's Engineering School has also Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/wasted-again-what-can-we-do-all-garbage

More Columns >> been exploring technological options to land-filling for well over a decade. He has been particularly interested in the technological developments in waste-to-energy, particularly how to reduce emissions from garbage incineration. As my students and Dr. Themelis have observed, there are many interesting examples of sophisticated waste management outside of the United States.

A terrific example is waste management in Barcelona, Spain. In 2001, Barcelona's Metropolitan Environmental Agency initiated construction on two new integrated waste treatment facilities to manage the city's waste. The facilities, called Ecopark 1 and Ecopark 2, now process more than 40% of the waste they receive into biogas and compost, and recover an additional 5% for recycling. Ecopark 2 alone processes almost 20% of Barcelona's waste, in part by using anaerobic digestion, a system which processes biodegradable waste without oxygen. The biogas and methane produced by anaerobic digestion are used to generate electricity, a portion of which the facility uses for its own operations.

Prior to building the Ecopark facilities, Barcelona's waste agency launched an aggressive campaign to involve the community and build support for the facilities. This campaign involved everything from designing the buildings to reflect the region's legacy of world-class architects such as Antonio Gaudi to door-to-door visits to give residents kits for separating kitchen waste.

Barcelona's waste facilities are now a destination for school field trips, and the Metropolitan Environmental Agency has organized conferences, training, and other events to promote education around waste treatment. After the Ecoparks were successfully up and running the city ran a TV commercial thanking Barcelona's residents for separating their waste.

Japan is a crowded island where land is simply to valuable to use for garbage dumps. Their scarcity of land has led them to using ever-advancing technology to deal with their waste. They rely heavily on waste incineration and intensive recycling. Though recycling policies vary throughout the country, most Japanese families separate their waste into at least six recycling categories. The town of Kamikatsu in Japan has implemented a "zero waste" policy which requires residents to do their own composting. The town has a "zero waste" recycling center where residents sort their waste into 34 categories, which include categories for Styrofoam, razors, and bottle caps. The town implemented this strategy after realizing it was much cheaper than incineration. Though a recent poll showed that 40% of residents were not happy with the program, the mayor is undeterred given the good it does for the environment.

Though a portion of New York City's waste stream does get recycled, we could be diverting almost half of what we currently send to landfills without the stringent measures taken in Kamikatsu, Japan. Fifteen percent of what's put into our trash bags is actually recyclable paper which just needs to be correctly sorted. The biggest component of waste that we currently send to landfills is "organics", a category including food and yard waste, which comprises nearly half (47%) of what we send to landfills.

Large scale composting of organics is not just a foreign concept-cities and towns in the United States are doing it, and New York City has been investigating the possibility. After pilot programs asking residents and institutions to separate their food waste for curbside pick up were unsuccessful, the City began investigating municipal solid waste composting. With municipal solid waste composting, rather than having residents separate out organic waste, solid waste is transported http://www.observer.com/2008/green/wasted-again-what-can-we-do-all-garbage

to a central facility where the degradable portion is recovered and composted, and the non-degradable portion is separated for recycling and for disposal. This process can be combined with the type of curbside recycling program we currently have. New York City undertook a study about municipal waste composting in 2004 which involved actually sending some waste to a composting facility in Massachusetts, and developing a theoretical pilot facility for New York City.

Another study was published in 2004 for New York City which looked at a variety of waste management and recycling technologies, including the anaerobic technologies like those used in Barcelona

While the city tries to figure it out, some individuals and businesses have taken things into their own hands. More than 300 New York City restaurants have food waste picked up by a company called Action Carting Environmental for composting.

The Lower East Side Ecology Center accepts household food scraps at various Greenmarket locations. They compost 60 tons of organic materials a year using a unique closed-container composting system. The organization then sells the finished compost, which it calls "New York pay dirt".

Is any of this realistic? Can the people living in this fast-paced place do a better job of disposing their waste? Can a city struggling with a financial crisis invest in the infrastructure to do a better job of handling our waste? The real question is can we afford not to. According to a May 2007 report of the Independent Budget Office, New York City's Department of Sanitation spending for waste disposal grew from $78.88 a ton in 2005 to $92.59 in 2008. Spending for waste disposal grew from $258 million to nearly $300 million during that span of time. While the cost of recycling also went up from $29 to $40 dollars a ton, recycling still costs less than half as much as disposal. Every ton of garbage we recycle instead of dumping saves the city over $50 bucks. Additional recycling can save the city money and could actually help contribute to solving the fiscal crisis.

It makes sense that if we figure out how to reuse the stuff we would otherwise throw out, we can save money. When you give your old winter coat to Goodwill instead of tossing it in the garbage, the city saves the cost of land filling the coat and someone gets a low-cost piece of essential clothing. This may be an oversimplification, but there is no question that reducing waste reduces costs.

Click here for more information on composting in NYC.

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The Presidential Campaign and our Energy Future: Can Reality Replace Rhetoric?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 4, 2008 | 3:59 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Over the past weekend we got to hear President Bush, Senator McCain and then Senator Obama all supporting drilling for oil off our coasts. Both Bush and McCain maintain that the way to reduce gasoline prices is to Drilling off the California coast, whale in foreground Getty Images +Enlarge develop more supplies of oil. They argue, and polling shows people believe, that drilling for more oil will lower prices. Although Obama is not crazy about drilling in fragile environments, he's willing to allow some drilling in exchange for a bill that would promote alternative energy.

Midtown For a brief moment I admired the artfulness and subtly of Obama's perspective-a New York Times MSNBC little carefully controlled drilling can't do much harm, as long as our policy The New Yorker Conde Nast encourages renewable energy. I've also read those polls that show the American Atlantic Yards public buys the argument that more drilling will lower their gasoline prices. It is More Topics >> obvious that McCain was using Obama's opposition to drilling to show that Obama was out of touch and not a "regular guy". So, to show he's a regular guy, Obama Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush supports a little drilling to try to defuse McCain's attack. McCain then shifts his David Paterson Andrew Cuomo argument and attacks Obama for changing his position and being a "flip flopper". Ruth Reichl It is truly a shame that McCain thinks that the only Dan Rather MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> More People >> way to become President is to hire Bush's political For Urban Policy, Obama Loves New team and stoop to Bush's strategy of character Yorkers assassinating or "swift boating" his opponent. This Jimmy Vielkind Stimulus Politics Is Simon Doonan Fleeting, the 2008 year's model is to tag Obama with Britney and John Koblin Realignment Isn't Meredith Bryan What on Earth Does Paris. This is really pathetic. It's too bad that Irina Aleksander Judd Gregg Want? Eliot Brown Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and Obama is responding to all of this with messages More Authors >> Maybe a Curse that seem inconsistent with his principles. Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. Naps

On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> Presidential campaigns have become media Off the Record Toward a Clean Energy Future products that need candidates to rise and fall in the NYTV NY 3.0 President Obama has Already polls to create drama, build audience and sell Redefined the Political Center Manhattan Transfers Bringing Green Principles Into the advertising. Obama goes overseas, plays well and Commercial Breaks American Economy http://www.observer.com/2008/green/presidential-campaign-and-our-energy-future-can-reality-replace-rhetoric

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto pulls ahead in the polls, only to return to be Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment attacked by McCain and then fall back into a tie. Let's all get ready for Obama's convention build up, VP soap opera and brief post convention bounce, followed by a rapid version of the same for McCain. Stay tuned for next week's episode of "as the campaign turns..." This is not a media conspiracy, just the normal dynamic of Presidential politics.

Fortunately, there is a chance for reality to intervene in this campaign of images and distortion. There will be live, nationally televised debates, and there is also the reality of war and peace, global warming and our deteriorating economy. These realities are more difficult to spin, and perhaps will supplant the back and forth image dance we seem to be watching today.

This leads to the reality of this gas drilling issue. The problem with the Bush-McCain argument on supply and demand is that demand is growing. In fact in China and India it is growing at a far faster pace then even a rapidly growing supply will be able to handle. Assuming these guys can read the same data I can read, they must know that drilling for oil will not increase supplies enough to truly lower prices here in America. It is more of the same shameful pandering and symbolic "position taking" that is common to our electoral politics.

Obama is trying to demonstrate a statesman-like willingness to compromise, and I know this will sound naïve, but I think he has missed an opportunity to educate the American people about the futility of increased oil drilling. Drilling for oil to solve our energy crisis is a little like building another highway or adding a lane to an existing highway to ease traffic. At first, the traffic moves more freely and the congestion problem goes away. Then people start to move out to where the new road goes and soon there is more traffic than there ever was. The solution to auto traffic is not better roads because better roads lead to more cars. The solution to congested roads is alternative or mass transportation.

Similarly, the solution to higher gasoline prices is to stop using gasoline altogether. Fossil fuels are finite. While they are still relatively plentiful, they are only created once in the life of this planet. At some point they will become scarce and will eventually be used up. Things that become scarce eventually go up in price. We have built our economy around mobility and personal transportation. Now, it seems that our approach to development is being imitated all over the world, particularly in Asia. The winner in the world economy is going to be the nation that builds the first renewable energy industry. Drilling for oil is not going to help us win that competition.

In the past week, gasoline prices in this region started to head closer to $4 than the $5 that seemed to be coming. Still, consumers have changed their behavior, possibly for the foreseeable future. People are driving less and buying smaller cars. They are abandoning SUVs and the companies that build them are losing money. This is a moment when we have an opportunity to redefine our energy future. We know that our current President is not up to the job of redefining our approach to energy. That challenge will be left to our next President. At the moment, it's not clear that either of them is capable of providing meaningful leadership in this critical area.

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Toward a Profession of Sustainability Managers: Wayne Balta and Sustainability at IBM

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 8, 2008 | 12:50 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

If we are to make this planet more sustainable, all of us--individuals, families, schools, nonprofits, and especially corporations--will need to change our behavior. This does not mean that we must live grim lives where we stay at home freezing in the dark. It does mean that we need to pay attention to the resources we consume and we need to switch as quickly as we can to renewable resources. This is going to require changes in public policy and increases in the funding for scientific research and development. It is also going to require the private sector do more to incorporate sustainability principles into best management practices. In the period after the Great Depression we saw the reform of financial markets and the development of rules governing corporate finance and reporting. Along with that we saw the rise of the profession of accounting. Despite the attacks of those who think that free markets require the same governing principles that prevailed in the Wild West, well-managed modern corporations understand the importance of Midtown New York Times financial rules and financial accounting. The profession of accounting is a real one MSNBC The New Yorker and it influences the behavior of corporations. Sustainability principles may never Conde Nast be as codified as accounting rules, but these principles are starting to become Atlantic Yards More Topics >> visible in many private corporations. Along with these principles we are starting to see a new profession rising: a profession of sustainability managers

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush With this in mind, we spoke to a leader in the private sector who is one of these David Paterson Andrew Cuomo new sustainability professionals--Wayne Balta, Vice President of Corporate Ruth Reichl Environmental Affairs and Product Safety at IBM. Balta has global responsibility Dan Rather More People >> for environmental leadership at the company. MORE ON GREEN >> Toward a Clean Energy Future Founded in 1911, IBM now works in 170 countries Jimmy Vielkind President Obama has Already Simon Doonan Redefined the Political Center and employs more than 380,000 people. Balta, John Koblin Bringing Green Principles Into the who holds a Master of Science Degree in civil Meredith Bryan American Economy Irina Aleksander engineering from MIT, began working at IBM in Eliot Brown Building a Sustainable Auto More Authors >> Understanding Public Opinion About 1984. He's been in his current position since 2001. the Environment According to Balta, IBM has a long history of trying On the Town Off the Record to "get it right" with the environment. Former CEO Tom Watson Junior issued NYTV IBM's first environmental policy in 1971, long before terms like "environmentally NY 3.0 Manhattan friendly" became buzz words. In 1974 the company called for energy conservation Transfers Commercial Breaks when it issued its first energy policy, and IBM has voluntarily published a http://www.observer.com/2008/green/toward-profession-sustainability-managers-wayne-balta-and-sustainability-ibm

More Columns >> corporate environmental report every year since 1990.

Balta says IBM has been proactive about environmental stewardship for two reasons. First, "Protecting the environment is the right thing to do, and that has always been consistent with IBM's historical stature as a responsible company." Second, IBM has long recognized that good environmental management makes good business sense.

For example, since 1990, when IBM began documenting its carbon dioxide emissions, the company has saved almost 300 million dollars by conserving over 4.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. They also avoided over 3 million tons of carbon emissions in the process.

Today, IBM has several environmental initiatives underway. Recently, the company set up a congestion pricing system (sound familiar?) for Stockholm, Sweden. The system, which involves 18 points of entry into Stockholm's city center, charges vehicles based on use of the road and time of day. Balta notes that the results have been very promising, showing a 25 percent reduction in peak hour traffic and a 15 percent reduction in carbon emissions, since people are driving less.

One of the company's latest environmental initiatives came out of a worldwide "InnovationJam"--basically a massive online brainstorming session--held in the fall of 2006. The topic, according to Balta, was how IBM could "help the world innovate in areas where innovation would really matter in the coming decade."

"For one calendar week we invited and encouraged all IBMers, all over the world, at any time of day, including their family and friends, to get on an IBM web-based system, and "jam," or collectively talk to each other, submit ideas, blog, post, whatever you want to call it."

More than 150,000 people from just over 100 countries participated, posting tens of thousands of ideas. "One of the topics that came up over and over and over was the environment," says Balta.

In response, IBM launched a new business unit called Big Green Innovations. "It's all about . . . setting aside a group of IBM technical leaders, researchers, others with greater business skills, to think about how IBM could apply the skills inside the company to innovate in areas for the environment," explains Balta.

The unit is looking at a broad range of areas, including water management and high performance computing to model scenarios for the world under a changing climate.

It becomes clear when talking to Balta that IBM's environmental accomplishments come from integrating the ethic of sustainability into the "fabric of the business," rather than relegating environmental responsibility to just a staff function.

"[I] don't design computers," Balta says, "but there's a bunch of IBMers who do. . . and they're the ones who can make decisions to design those computers to be better for the environment, whether it involves the materials that are used, the energy that's consumed, or the extent to which it can be used at the end of its original life. When we integrate it and get those people involved, that's when it sticks."

One key to this integration is IBM's global Environmental Management System, which identifies and manages the potential environmental impact of IBM's http://www.observer.com/2008/green/toward-profession-sustainability-managers-wayne-balta-and-sustainability-ibm

operations. In fact, when asked to name one of IBM's top environmental achievements, Balta says IBM's Environmental Management System is the most important.

"If you're going to be a leader on the environment," says Balta, "you've got to identify the way in which you're involved. You've got to measure your impact. You've got to manage the results of what you found out, and you also need to be transparent and report it, and . . . make known how well you're doing, or how well you're not doing."

"All of the eventual [environmental] results that happen, they're really due to the global environmental management system, because that's the foundation, that's what sustains our focus, and that's what drives our performance over decades."

As Balta points out, the environment is a long-term issue, with long-term importance. "It transcends generations, and getting it right really, really matters," he says.

If you look at a list of the world's 100 largest economic entities, you'll find more corporations there than countries (51 versus 49). Simply put, corporations are big and powerful. Their size means they have a big impact on global issues, including the environment. It also means they have tremendous resources that can be rallied to actually do good for the environment. We see this at IBM, we see it here at Columbia University and we are beginning to see it in many large organizations. Going green may have started as a public relations gimmick, but as the price of energy and water continue to rise, it's starting to take root with those responsible for managing production and facilities. MORE: CARBON EMISSIONS | CONGESTION PRICING | CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY | GREEN | IBM | STEVE COHENS BLOG | WAYNE BALTA

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No Straight Talk from McCain and No Change from Obama as Energy Moves to the Center of the Presidential Campaign

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 11, 2008 | 3:00 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The energy issue has become central in the presidential campaign and we see little to suggest that either candidate will engage in a real discussion about the real choices we have. The fact is that the era of fossil fuels is coming to an Getty Images +Enlarge end. There are too many people and too much need for energy for this to continue for very long. How long? More than a decade and less than a century. Why should we care? Because we probably can think of better things to do with petrochemicals than burning them for fuels. Because we shouldn’t be handing this problem to our children to solve. Midtown New York Times Will this be discussed in a meaningful way by the presidential candidates? MSNBC The New Yorker Probably not. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards I suppose I should be grateful that at least Senator Obama was able to use this More Topics >> campaign to give a superb speech in Philadelphia on race. That will be a speech that will be quoted for many years to come. It demonstrated that the public can Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush understand a complicated message. Maybe modern presidential campaigns can David Paterson Andrew Cuomo only absorb one meaningful statement per campaign. The spectacle of Senator Ruth Reichl McCain shouting to drill here and drill now for oil was simply too much to take. Dan Rather More People >> Given his history and past record on the MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> environment and climate change it is really Observer Jimmy Vielkind Contributor Niall shocking to hear McCain sink to this level. Simon Doonan Stanage, 'An Irish Reporter,' Wins John Koblin Race to Publish Both candidates are reading polls and certainly the Meredith Bryan Book on Election Irina Aleksander '08 rapid rise in gasoline prices has had a deep impact Eliot Brown Why McCain Could More Authors >> Break the on the electorate. But why do these campaigns Presidential-Loser Mold keep assuming the public is incapable of learning Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor On the Town and absorbing the truth? Yes, people are angry Off the Record Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things about high gasoline prices and the oil industry’s tax NYTV About the G.O.P.? NY 3.0 The Party of the South and Nowhere breaks and extraordinary profits. But policies like Manhattan Else Transfers Obama’s "emergency energy rebate" (from Commercial Breaks MORE ON GREEN >> http://www.observer.com/2008/green/no-straight-talk-mccain-and-no-change-obama-energy-moves-center-presidential-campaign

More Columns >> Toward a Clean Energy Future “windfall” profits) and McCain’s gas tax President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center suspension are bad public policy. They encourage Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy people to use more gasoline. I know that the Building a Sustainable Auto political problem in this campaign is the high cost Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment of gasoline, but the real problem is that we use too much in the first place. This is the moment to educate the public on the need to develop alternative sources of energy. Instead, we get this descending spiral of nonsense piled on top of nonsense.

The modern media does not seem capable of communicating nuanced facts. Everything must make it into sound bites that can be repeated in the endless loop of 24/7 TV news. Like a pop song with a hook, the news now has its own top 40 of snappy phrases that raise our emotional temper without really telling us anything. While local and state political campaigns have shown some ability to break away from these limits, national campaigns seem to turn on images like John Kerry windsurfing and Mike Dukakis sticking his head out of a tank. Obama should be happy he’s able to sink an outside shot—that image rather than one of him engaging in the issues may very well give him the election.

It is of course the academic in me which insists on seeing national political campaigns as great opportunities to teach. I know that presidential campaigns do not allow the candidates the luxury of educating the public. They need to be presidents before they can do that. Of course, once they get elected the first time, they start their campaigns to get re-elected.

The energy issue is the most profound issue that we have faced in a very long time. Our economy, environmental quality and national security depend on our ability to solve this problem. We have made little progress in addressing these issues since the late 1970’s when everyone laughed at Jimmy Carter in his cardigan declaring the energy crisis to be the moral equivalent of war. Unfortunately, the current administration decided to fight a shooting war over energy supplies rather than its “moral equivalent”, but Iraq is an indication of the futility and foolishness of wars for resources.

Carter was right, we need a national mobilization to address our energy crisis. People need to understand the facts about energy, climate change and the absolute centrality of the need for renewable energy. It may be a difficult and complicated case to articulate in a presidential campaign, but we really need both McCain and Obama to try to help the American people learn this issue. Both of these candidates emerged from the primaries because they offered the American public the promise of a different sort of politics. Obama offered change and McCain offered straight talk. Now, it seems as if the only change is the end of straight talk.

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Breathing in Beijing: Environmental Quality and the 2008 Summer Olympics

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 14, 2008 | 10:26 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Watching the wonderful spectacle of the Olympics this year, one finds the world outside the sports arenas constantly intruding. Russia manages to invade Georgia, human rights activists try to communicate their message to the world and oh yeah, Getty Images breathing in Beijing remains a +Enlarge challenge. All of these issues are important, but as you might expect, I'm going to focus on breathing today.

I have the honor of participating in a program at Columbia's School of Midtown International and Public Affairs where we provide management training for senior New York Times MSNBC government officials from Guangdong Province in China. Guangdong is an The New Yorker Conde Nast industrial province with about 80 million residents and a large number of guest Atlantic Yards workers, and is at the heart of China's massive effort to develop economically. More Topics >> During a recent discussion with my class, one of the students made the point that all nations that have developed an industrial base go through a period of intense Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush pollution followed by the generation of sufficient wealth that permits a move to a David Paterson Andrew Cuomo cleaner style of development. This is of course true, although some argue that the Ruth Reichl United States, Europe and Japan simply exported Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> their dirty industry to the developing world. Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center It seems to be the case that intense pollution is Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the typical during the early stages of economic American Economy John Koblin development. In the United States the air and Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About water in many of our cities in the 1950's and 1960's Eliot Brown the Environment was far worse than it is today. But this is the 21st More Authors >> century, and I think we are also starting to understand that in the long run you

On the Town can't trade off environmental quality for economic growth. Long term growth Off the Record requires that we sustain the quality of our environment. The people running the NYTV NY 3.0 Olympic games know that without breathable air, the games could not take place. Manhattan Transfers Billions of dollars of investment would have gone down the drain. Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/breathing-beijing-environmental-quality-and-2008-summer-olympics

More Columns >> In the case of China, the problem of pollution from economic development is one of scale. The pace and extent of China's rapid development is unprecedented. The pollution loads are also unique. Since the 1980's the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to clean up the mistakes of the mid-twentieth century and to try to prevent those mistakes in the future. The bill we are paying now in the United States will eventually come due in China as well. However in China the bill may end up being much higher-- and some of the damage will be irreversible.

This leads to the issue of China's environmental quality: In July, thousands of Chinese worked to clear algae from the Yellow Sea for the sailing races. Although Chinese officials said the algal bloom was caused by rainfall and warmer waters, the sea is contaminated with untreated sewage and agricultural and industrial runoff. Air quality has been a visible and embarrassing issue, with at least one athlete skipping the Olympics out of fear of harm. At the start of the games, four United States cyclists apologized after arriving at the airport with masks on. Someone must have mentioned that they had inadvertently insulted their hosts. So much for international diplomacy....

In anticipation of the Olympics, the Chinese government invested over $20 billion to improve environmental quality in Beijing, and over the past year, officials reported that the air has been either "fair" or "good" 70 percent of the time. After watching the opening ceremonies it is easy to see how important this event is to China's government and its people. This is a national celebration of unprecedented proportions. As visible air pollution persisted in the weeks before the Olympics, China took additional measures to improve the air. Cars were only allowed on the road every other day, based on an even-odd license plate rule, and the city halted construction and temporarily closed factories. Air quality has improved, and the head of the International Olympic Committee has said that China has done "everything that is feasible and humanly possible to address this situation", that, "What they have done is extraordinary," and that there is "absolutely no danger" to the health of athletes participating in events shorter than one hour. Endurance events might be postponed if pollution is bad.

As a New Yorker, I wondered how our air compares to the air that our Olympic athletes are breathing in China. The air here is better than it once was, but still far from perfect. In New York City, from April 19th to August 1st of this year, New York City had 16 non-attainment days for ozone (roughly 15%). As of June 2nd, parts of New York City had persistently exceeded the national ambient air quality standards for particulates (PM2.5), ozone, and even, at least in some places, larger piece of soot known as particulate matter 10.

While the Chinese government believed that Beijing's air quality would be above World Health Organization standards during the Olympics, the day before the games, the British Broadcasting Company reported that particulate matter 10 registered at "191 micrograms per cubic metre. This far exceeds the World Health Organization target of 50 micrograms/cubic metre, and also exceeds the target for developing countries of 150 micrograms/cubic metre."

While assessing the presence of large particulates may not be the best way to compare the air in both cities, we do have data on the soot in both cities and can compare the two. Particulate matter size 10 (measured in micrograms per cubic meter) was recorded in New York City and Beijing on the first few days of the 2008 Olympics: On Friday, August 8: Beijing was 156 with New York City at 11.8; http://www.observer.com/2008/green/breathing-beijing-environmental-quality-and-2008-summer-olympics

Saturday, August 9, Beijing was 110, New York, 12.1, Sunday August 10, Beijing was 278 and New York City, 19.0. You get the idea: The World Health Organization standard for these particulates is 50-New York always met the standard, Beijing never did.

It is clear that the organizers of this year's Summer Olympic Games understood that the success of Beijing's games was closely connected to the quality of the local environment. Cities around the world are learning that in addition to great restaurants, exciting night life and meaningful cultural opportunities, both residents and visitors expect cities to provide the air needed to breath.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Rachel Dannefer, Masters Student, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

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Promoting Energy Efficiency: Comparing New York State to California

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 17, 2008 | 10:32 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

One of the simplest things we can do to improve our productivity and economic well being is to increase the efficiency of our use of energy. We are so wasteful that there is an enormous amount of low hanging fruit. As New York state begins to get serious Energy Information Administration +Enlarge about this, we should look west to California, for a place that really knows how to make the most out of a kilowatt.

Since 1981, I've taught public management at Columbia, and I am not one of those Midtown New York Times people who believe that government is incompetent and only the private sector is MSNBC The New Yorker efficient and effective. Some work is best performed by government, some by Conde Nast nonprofits and some by the private sector. On energy efficiency I think that Atlantic Yards More Topics >> California has gotten this mix right, and in New York I am worried that we rely too much on government.

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson California's Energy Efficiency Program Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Dan Rather California's program began in 1996 and required MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future the three major private utilities to collect $540 President Obama has Already million in fees annually to promote "public Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind purpose" programs, with $220 million set aside Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin specifically for energy efficiency. In 2002, Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Californians began to pay another, smaller Eliot Brown the Environment surcharge to promote renewable energy. The More Authors >> renewable energy fee generates $135 million per year. The other goals of California's energy efficiency program are to improve the efficiency of appliances On the Town Off the Record sold in California and to increase efficiency standards for buildings. NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan California's 2000-01 energy crisis led to four major blackouts and caused a supply Transfers Commercial Breaks and demand imbalance. That drove the state government to create an Energy http://www.observer.com/2008/green/promoting-energy-efficiency-comparing-new-york-state-california-0

More Columns >> Action Plan designed to reduce the load on the state's electricity grid and prevent excessive price spikes.

California is also moving on renewable energy. The state leads the nation in electricity generation from non-hydroelectric renewable energy sources - solar, wind and biomass. In 2006 it set a goal of increasing the portion of electricity derived from renewable resources to 33 percent by 2020. Currently 11 percent of the state's electricity comes from renewable energy sources. (See map above)

In September 2005, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) authorized $2 billion in energy efficiency funding for 2006-08, the most ambitious energy efficiency and conservation campaign in the history of the utility industry in the United States. According to the California Energy Commission, "California's building and appliance standards have saved consumers more than $56 billion in electricity and natural gas costs since 1978 and averted building 15 large power plants. It is estimated the current standards will save an additional $23 billion by 2013."

California is the most energy efficient state in the United States. While per capita electricity consumption in the United States increased by nearly 50 percent over the past 30 years, California's per capita electricity use remained almost flat, due in large part to cost-effective building and appliance efficiency standards and other energy efficiency programs, according to the CPUC.

Comparing California's Energy Efficiency to New York's

According to the Energy Information Administration, California's per capita electricity consumption in 2006 was 7,185kWh per person, while New York consumed 7,369.8kWh per person. So both states are below the national average of around 12,000.

Of course these data actually understate how inefficient New York state is, since New York City has the highest energy efficiency of any major city in the United States with only 4,473kWh per capita consumption. Without New York City's high level of energy efficiency, New York state would rank up there with Texas for energy inefficiency.

Instead of growing a government agency to work on energy efficiency with the private sector, the funds collected for energy efficiency in California are allocated to the state's private electric utilities. However, the money can only be spent by the utilities on energy efficiency projects. Since utilities are in the business of generating and distributing energy and not saving it, most of the energy efficiency work in California has been outsourced to companies that specialize in that type of work. In fact, California's market for energy efficiency has given rise to around 40 businesses that focus exclusively on building and enhancing energy efficiency.

Intergy, a "resource conservation firm", is one example. Ben Bradford, a senior program manager at the company, estimates the California energy market at around $4 billion for energy efficiency programs, with $1 billion going to third parties, such as Intergy. He believes New York has roughly the same potential, but until now it has not been adequately tapped. http://www.observer.com/2008/green/promoting-energy-efficiency-comparing-new-york-state-california-0

Intergy was established in 2003. Of the energy efficiency companies operating in California, only about 15 are as broad as Intergy, which has recently expanded its operations to New York. It is currently developing a "research and demonstration" project with the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) that focuses on improving data centers in downtown Manhattan. Intergy is also about to start working with Mt Sinai Hospital to improve its energy efficiency.

New York State’s Energy Efficiency Program

Which brings us to New York state, and the impact of New York style politics on energy efficiency programs. As of October 2008, New York will devote $347 million each year to energy efficiency programs, mostly administered by NYSERDA. Both New York’s and California’s energy efficiency programs have been in effect since 1996, but New York’s funding increases have been modest when compared to California’s. Our increased funding from $175 to $347 million this year is still dwarfed by the $1 billion currently spent each year in California.

New York's public benefit program started with funding from the System Benefits Charge (SBC). This three-year, $234.3 million program, administered by the New York Public Service Commission, was put in place to harness funds that could be put toward programs designed to achieve peak load reductions. The System Benefits Charge funded initiatives were focused on:

Energy efficiency = $162 million Research and development in energy-related areas, particularly in renewable resources, environmental monitoring and protection, and combined heat and power = $41 million Energy affordability for low-income utility customers = $29 million

An additional $3 million was allocated to environmental disclosure activities

Since 2001 all of the money collected under the System Benefits Charge has gone to NYSERDA for the administration of Energy $mart, a program designed “to promote competitive markets for energy efficiency services, and to provide direct benefits to electricity ratepayers and/or be of clear economic benefit to the people of New York.” The System Benefits Charge generated $150 million a year from 2001-2006 and was increased to $175 million per year from 2006-2008.

Funding allocations will change in October, when the Public Service Commission increases its annual System Benefits Charge revenue collections from $175 million to $347 million. NYSERDA will receive most of the new funding – $260 million, $85 million of which will go to a group of fast-track programs. The remainder of the funds – $87 million – will go to the public utilities, which have been granted a 60-day filing period during which they can submit proposals for up to two energy efficiency programs.

So far. about 2,700 projects in more than 40 individual programs have been http://www.observer.com/2008/green/promoting-energy-efficiency-comparing-new-york-state-california-0

funded by the System Benefits Charge and made available through the Energy $mart program.

Other benefits accrued over Energy $mart’s five-year operation include:

Approximately $198 million in annual energy savings 4,200 jobs retained or created A leverage of $2.50 in private investment for every New York Energy $mart Program dollar spent 1,400 GWh saved per year 860 MW in reduced demand Annual carbon dioxide reduction equivalent to 200,000 fewer cars

Several of the state’s electric utilities, including Central Hudson and Con Edison/Orange & Rockland, have protested against the large allocations in System Benefits Charge funds going to NYSERDA. According to a Public Service Commission-issued assessment, Central Hudson argued that it is “not reasonable” to provide large increases in ratepayer funding to what it termed, “the incumbent governmental monopoly energy efficiency supplier…”

A Better Mix of Public and Private Sector Actions Might Work Better

Here’s my take on this, and I apologize for the detail I needed to review before getting to this. The people that work at NYSERDA are doing a good job of promoting energy efficiency, but the design and size of New York’s program is inadequate. I know that it is difficult to compare these two states, their economies and the age of their infrastructure are quite different. However, by directly funding utilities, California has generated a large, entrepreneurial energy efficiency business. Government can focus on setting policy and evaluating the performance of energy efficiency projects. In California, the government doesn’t need to manage the energy efficiency experiments. In New York, a government authority, NYSERDA, funds and manages the effort to make energy more efficient. NYSERDA does a good job, but the system in California works better.

California has demonstrated that a utility driven, private sector model can work. Utilities are pushed by their regulators to spend these funds and have no incentive to develop elaborate bureaucracies to spend this money. The companies that are providing energy efficiency services are growing and building their expertise and unlike many service businesses have a steady and secure revenue stream to compete for.

In the short run, New York should copy California and increase our surcharges, devote some to renewables and allocate funds to carefully regulated electric utilities rather than a government authority. As energy becomes a larger cost for families and businesses, energy efficiency will be a key determinant of a state’s economic competitiveness. Unless we change, California will win these competitions and New York will lose.

I am grateful for the extensive research for this piece provided by Sara Schonhardt, 2009 Master's candidate, School of International and Public Affairs, http://www.observer.com/2008/green/promoting-energy-efficiency-comparing-new-york-state-california-0

Columbia University

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Sustainability, the Economy and the Presidential Race

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 19, 2008 | 11:35 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The Presidential nominating conventions are now approaching, first the Democrats' and then the Republicans'. The President hangs out at the Olympics, stomps his feet over the Russian invasion of Georgia and then makes another pass at gutting the Endangered Species Act by reducing the time and scientific analysis needed to assess the environmental impact of federal projects. The energy and climate issue have provided some environmental content to this campaign, but the folks running the country still don't see the stake we have in environmental sustainability.

What does an extinct frog have to do with human well-being? What does the environment have to do with economic wealth? Can't our technology solve any environmental problem we make? The short answer, as we learned nearly half a century ago from Rachael Carson and Barry Commoner, is that everything is connected to everything else. We live on a finite planet that provides us with the Midtown air, water and food we need in order to live. We do not have the technology to leave New York Times MSNBC the planet or overcome its constraints. The New Yorker Conde Nast Atlantic Yards Economic development and the creation of wealth cannot be pursued without More Topics >> factoring in environmental quality and the preservation of natural resources. If we pollute our water, we can clean it up with enough energy, but we do not have the Rupert Murdoch technology for low-cost, limitless energy and so when we fowl up the water and George W. Bush David Paterson must clean it up, we spend money we could be using on something else. Half of Andrew Cuomo New York City's water can avoid expensive filtration because ecosystems filter the Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON GEORGE W. BUSH >> water free of charge. A well-managed environment More People >> Now, It's Palin's generates wealth; a poorly managed environment Party

Bush Wasn't costs us wealth. Jimmy Vielkind Wrong, It's Just Simon Doonan That the Whole John Koblin Country Is Crazy The political dialogue in the United States is slowly Meredith Bryan Two Bushes, No starting to reflect the reality of sustainable Irina Aleksander Regrets Eliot Brown Rolling Stone Closes Book on Bush development. If your wealth is based on a finite Era With Fart Jokes More Authors >> resource that you use up, when the resource is Baker Blitzes Bush Fam for Bloomsbury, Has Big Bash! gone, so is your wealth. The trick is to use the time On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> Off the Record you have when exploiting the finite resource to Toward a Clean Energy Future NYTV make the transition to renewable resources. That is NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center Manhattan the central economic challenge of the 21st century. Transfers Bringing Green Principles Into the Commercial Breaks American Economy Here in 2008, we see local government officials http://www.observer.com/2008/green/sustainability-economy-and-presidential-race

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto like Michael Bloomberg in New York City, Andy Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment Spano up in Westchester and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger in California who seem to get it. Environmental quality is not the opposite of economic well being, it is integral to it. In a study of local level sustainability efforts across the United States last spring, students at Columbia University's MPA Program in Environmental Science and Policy studied 14 governments of small jurisdictions (1,000,000 people or less) and analyzed a new trend to develop comprehensive local sustainability plans.

These local officials understand the connection between economic development and environmental sustainability. Why is it so difficult to make this case to the national media and our national leadership? This has been an era characterized by the promise of easy everything. Wars financed without new tax revenues and soldiered without a draft. Infrastructure allowed to crumble so that taxes could be cut. Riches made on imaginative packaging of debt "products" backed by imaginary equity in an over-inflated housing market. For a decade many of us were trying to figure out who could really afford those multi-million dollar apartments going up around the corner. The answer seems to be nobody. The gasoline price shock of the past six months, the housing market meltdown, the resurgence of inflation (producer prices jumped 1.2% in July) are indicators that the bill for this early 21st century boom is coming due.

We need to ask ourselves, what is the basis for real economic growth and wealth? Work and production based on creativity and invention financed by capital accumulated through savings: That was the fundamental formula that grew the U.S. economy. We need to add to that traditional formula a new concern for sustainability. Our wealth must be renewable- not based on a set of finite natural resources.

Which brings us back to Presidential politics. Sacrifice sounds good in public pronouncements but polls poorly when spelled out in detail. No one is going to get elected by promising to increase taxes in order to invest in research to develop renewable energy. Yet, only by deferring a little gratification and investing in our future can we maintain the wealth we now enjoy.

Instead, we will see Nancy Pelosi start to talk about drilling for oil off the continental shelf, and a lame duck President working overtime to dismantle as many environmental rules as he can between mid-November and mid-January. We will hear a few phrases at the two conventions aimed at shoring up the environmental credentials of the two candidates. They won't mean much because there will be little reality behind the rhetoric. The hope, as it often has been in the American experiment is that community, private, local and state initiatives will push the national government into action. It would be better if it came more rapidly from a well-led national government. Let's see if we manage to get one.

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Local versus National Solutions to the Energy Crisis: NYC’s Renewable Energy Policy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 25, 2008 | 11:04 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Last week Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed that New York City engage in a serious effort to develop alternative energy sources, and in return for his trouble he faced skepticism and even ridicule from a cynical media. Getty Images +Enlarge Cartoons were drawn with King Kong trying to swat a windmill off the top of the Empire State Building. Still, even the tabloids could not dismiss the idea entirely. Bloomberg commands respect, and $4 a gallon gasoline has everyone looking for alternatives.

Midtown New York City has been built by people who dreamed large and were able to New York Times MSNBC project into the future. Imagine the city without Central, Van Cortland or Prospect The New Yorker Conde Nast Parks. Could downtown have been possible without a subway system? How crazy Atlantic Yards was it to get the city’s water from a hundred miles upstate? Many of the city’s great More Topics >> institutions from the Public Library to my own university have benefited from forward looking leadership. With PlanNYC 2030 and this latest proposal on Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush alternative energy, the Mayor must be given enormous credit for adding his voice David Paterson Andrew Cuomo to the chorus of visionaries that built this place. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather The Mayor invited proposals from private organizations to develop wind, solar and More People >> MORE ON BILL CLINTON >> water current energy projects. New York City has Bobby Jindal Gets lots of buildings, water front and land that could be Jimmy Vielkind an Honor and Simon Doonan Maybe a Curse used for pilot projects—some of which could John Koblin Did Obama Really succeed and generate meaningful amounts of Meredith Bryan Give Away the Store? Irina Aleksander electricity. Bloomberg is taking the opportunity to Eliot Brown Bill and Vladimir More Authors >> Stop the Presses: Republican place renewable energy on the political agenda. In Lawmakers Oppose Democratic President contrast, our federal officials are reading polls that

On the Town Obama Swears In, But is it Good For show that 70% of the public wants to drill for oil in New York? Off the Record fragile environments and everyone starts looking NYTV MORE ON GREEN >> NY 3.0 Toward a Clean Energy Future for photo ops on oil rigs. Manhattan President Obama has Already Transfers Redefined the Political Center Commercial Breaks Other than “drill, drill, and drill”, Senator McCain’s Bringing Green Principles Into the http://www.observer.com/2008/green/local-versus-national-solutions-energy-crisis-nyc-s-renewable-energy-policy

More Columns >> American Economy new favorite solution to the energy crisis is to build Building a Sustainable Auto

Understanding Public Opinion About more nuclear power plants and build them fast. I the Environment do not share the deep fear that some have of nuclear technology, and accept the argument that plants can be made as safe as other technology we use every day. However, my argument against nuclear is that it is complicated to manage, centralized, capital intensive, produces waste we cannot detoxify and impossible to site given the U.S. federal political system. I think it’s a technology we should skip, and instead develop something that is more practical and waste free. As Mayor Bloomberg indicates, direct solar, wind, river currents and tides are all available in this coastal city.

The size and influence of the federal government dwarfs all other American institutions and so we look to Washington for leadership and the impact that only the feds can achieve. Unfortunately, the last two decades have seen little but gridlock out of the District of Columbia. Neither Bush I, Clinton, nor Bush II were able to do much to come to grips with our critical issues. The current President Bush’s initiatives were nearly all misguided. For that reason we’ve looked to state and local governments for creativity and solutions. Maybe that’s the right place to focus our attention anyway. The public policy problems we face these days require lots of learning to solve. How do we improve High School graduation rates? End homelessness? End hunger? Ensure housing? Develop carbon free energy? Maintain clean water? Maybe these problems are best solved at the community and local level- where it’s easier to see and learn from our mistakes. The scale of the federal government is seductive, but maybe we should only turn to Washington when we’ve already figured out what needs to be done.

On the other hand, it's probably a bad idea to give up on the federal government. It's true that when you compare Mike Bloomberg to George Bush you want to focus your attention on City Hall rather than the White House. Still, if we look back, just like New York City, this has nation has long been a creative and forward looking force in the world. It built an agricultural science that fed the world, developed a transcontinental railroad, landed men on the moon, created world-leading basic and health sciences, defeated totalitarianism, cleaned its air and water and built a working class into the middle class. Not bad for one country. It’s just that lately we don’t seem capable of accomplishing much of anything. This is a critical moment for the United States. We surely need better quality leadership in our national government, but we are fortunate to have a political structure that allows state and local governments to build creative programs without the approval of Washington. Mike Bloomberg has once again provided creative, forward looking leadership. He deserves our support and our gratitude. He has mine.

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Science, Governor Palin and Environmental Policy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 30, 2008 | 3:30 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On January 5th of this year, Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin wrote an op-ed in the New York Times opposing listing polar bears on the endangered species list. Her argument was well reasoned Getty Images and thoughtful, although in +Enlarge the end, unsatisfactory. In her piece Governor Palin noted her support for policies that helped preserve polar bears:

"We have a ban on most hunting - only Alaska Native subsistence Midtown families can hunt polar bears - and measures to protect denning areas New York Times MSNBC and prevent harassment of the bears. We are also participating in The New Yorker Conde Nast international efforts aimed at preserving polar bear populations Atlantic Yards worldwide." More Topics >>

In that op-ed Palin observed that: Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson "...polar bears are magnificent animals... They are worthy of our Andrew Cuomo utmost efforts to protect them and their Arctic habitat. But adding Ruth Reichl Dan Rather polar bears to the nation's list of endangered species, as some are now More People >> proposing, should not be part of those efforts."

Jimmy Vielkind Her argument against listing the polar bears is that the threat to them is not based Simon Doonan on evidence of proven threat, but a projection of threat based on models of the John Koblin Meredith Bryan impact of climate change on habitats. The governor makes clear that she does not Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown oppose the Endangered Species Act: More Authors >> "We're not against protecting plants and animals under the

On the Town Endangered Species Act. Alaska has supported listings of other Off the Record species, like the Aleutian Canada goose. The law worked as it should - NYTV NY 3.0 under its protection the population of the geese rebounded so much Manhattan Transfers that they were taken off the list of endangered and threatened species Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/science-governor-palin-and-environmental-policy

More Columns >> in 2001.

Listing the goose - then taking it off - was based on science. The possible listing of a healthy species like the polar bear would be based on uncertain modeling of possible effects. This is simply not justified." (Emphasis is mine)

For me, the most distressing part of the op-ed is its attempt to contrast "science" to "modeling". There are a number of methods used by scientists to add to our understanding of our world and our environment. Sometimes we study samples and extrapolate to an entire population. Sometimes we can study a discrete phenomenon in a laboratory and observe it with equipment that allows us to view details and relationships invisible to the naked eye. Sometimes we study a complicated set of relationships by developing mathematical models that allow us to simulate probable future effects of facts we can now observe. These models are just as "scientific" as the other methods used to understand our world. To make policy on a scientific phenomenon like species extinction we must by definition rely on some form of modeling. If we don't project extinction, then by the time we move to protect a species it is already gone.

The question for policy makers is what type of risk we are willing to allow and what type of information convinces us that extinction is a real risk. Governor Palin believes that accepting projections of species impact based on climate change opens up the possibility that the Endangered Species Act would be used to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. To her, this would be an overly broad interpretation of the Endangered Species Act.

Fair enough, she makes a good point. A better policy approach would be to leave that type of regulation to a new law specifically designed to regulate carbon dioxide. However, we all need to pay close attention to politicians who make a distinction between "science" and "modeling". As Palin correctly notes, scientists should present their analyses to elected leaders who conduct an open discussion about the policy approach needed to address the issues raised by their studies. However, if elected leaders are going to make policy based on scientific information, they need to develop at least a modest level of scientific literacy themselves.

Excellent science requires an understanding of probability and the reasoned use of extrapolation. The polls that politicians read are based on these same techniques. Just like some elections are too close to call based on the polls, some models generate results that are too uncertain to be used for policy making. However, just like the exit polls that show a landslide--sometimes the model is so predictive that it can and should inform policymaking. Effective policy in our complex world requires modeling projected impacts. Modeling is an essential method of scientific inquiry. It is science.

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Drill, Drill, Drill: John Mc Cain’s Lost Opportunity to Provide Leadership on Energy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 8, 2008 | 10:18 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In speaking about his support for the military "surge" in Iraq, John Mc Cain said that he would rather lose the Presidency than lose the war. It's too bad he hasn't followed the same principled approach on energy. The New York Getty Images +Enlarge Times lead editorial this past Sunday reiterated a point I have made a number of times on this site. We cannot drill enough oil and gas to solve our energy crisis. There are too many people on this planet and we use more and more fuel every day. John McCain has missed an historic opportunity to develop an American consensus about renewable energy, Midtown New York Times instead taking on the expedient, poll-driven mantra of "drill, drill, drill: here and MSNBC The New Yorker now". What a disappointing and shameful exercise. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards More Topics >> After September 11, the American people demonstrated that following a graphic shock, like the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, they could Rupert Murdoch understand the subtle and insidious threat of terrorism. Here in New York City, George W. Bush David Paterson our always stressed municipal budget has found room to hire 1000 staff in the Andrew Cuomo NYPD to work on this critical issue. The American people are capable of great Ruth Reichl Dan Rather insight when their leaders choose to lead. On energy, McCain knows better, but More People >> has abdicated the leadership role he once played MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >>

Observer on this issue. Jimmy Vielkind Contributor Niall Simon Doonan Stanage, 'An Irish Reporter,' Wins John Koblin Race to Publish Given how much oil we have here and abroad, it's Meredith Bryan Book on Election Irina Aleksander '08 hard for people to understand how we can run out. Eliot Brown Why McCain Could The Times editorial, mentioning all of the More Authors >> Break the Presidential-Loser Mold advertising on energy they saw at the Republican Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor Convention observed that: "... one advertisement, On the Town Off the Record Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things from Chevron, seemed strikingly on point. "It took NYTV About the G.O.P.? NY 3.0 us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil," it The Party of the South and Nowhere Manhattan Else Transfers said. "We'll use the next trillion in 30." This nicely Commercial Breaks MORE ON GREEN >> framed a big part of the energy challenge." There http://www.observer.com/2008/green/drill-drill-drill-john-mc-cain-s-lost-opportunity-provide-leadership-energy

More Columns >> Toward a Clean Energy Future are a number of ways to express the data about our President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center use of fossil fuels, but even if we didn't have to deal Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy with the issue of climate change, we absolutely Building a Sustainable Auto need to get off of our addiction to fossil fuels. This Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment is not something that needs to be completed next week, but it is something we need to start immediately.

The continued use of fossil fuels threatens our security, our economy and our environment:

It threatens our security because it requires that we pay tribute to our enemies to keep our cars moving. No matter how much domestic oil we produce, we will need more to run this place. It threatens our economy because an increasing portion of our wealth and productivity will go into paying the cost of energy. Increased competition from India and China for oil and natural gas will continue to drive the price of fossil fuels higher and higher. It threatens our environment because burning fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide and a range of more prosaic pollutants to the atmosphere.

According to his campaign web site, Senator McCain's campaign "Lexington Project", promotes energy independence, and is an "all of the above strategy" for reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Despite the plan's attempt to promote sustainable energy, it's first element is increased domestic oil and gas production and another key element is to ensure that 45 new nuclear power plants were "on track for construction" by 2030. McCain must realize that the odds of getting local communities to accept new nuclear power plants is zero. While there is an effort to promote balance on his web site, McCain's emphasis on the political stump has been "drill, drill. drill"

It's not hard to understand what's going on here. With the McCain campaign now fully in the hands of former George Bush and Karl Rove campaign associate, Steve Schmidt, McCain is being transformed into the type of Republican Presidential candidate we've gotten used to over the past decade. Jim Rutenberg and Adam Nagourney detailed these changes in a September 7 piece in the International Herald Tribune. According to their excellent article, McCain's new tougher approach was approved by Karl Rove himself who observed that: "Since the elevation of Schmidt and his new responsibilities, he's given the campaign a new focus and energy and drive that's been very impressive," ...They've had a much better July and August than April and May." Rutenberg and Nagourney report that "the new tone has been jarring to some veterans of McCain's presidential run in http://www.observer.com/2008/green/drill-drill-drill-john-mc-cain-s-lost-opportunity-provide-leadership-energy

2000 who worry that the campaign exudes a cynicism that undercuts the senator's old reputation for "straight talk" and a more elevated style of politicking. On a number of occasions, McCain's campaign advertisements have been described by campaign watchdog organizations as false or misleading, particularly those attacking Obama on tax votes.

I believe that this approach will backfire in the end. One of the reasons that Senators and Obama and Mc Cain won during the primary season was that they promised a politics that might not decend to the ritualistic exchange of rhetorical fire we've become so accustomed to. On energy and environment, McCain once represented a singular voice of sanity in a political party that seemed determined to ignore scientific fact. That is long gone now. And with it fades the hope of a civil, reasoned exchange of views during the fall political campaign. Oh well.

MORE: GREEN | JOHN MCCAIN | STEVE COHENS BLOG

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After Hurricane Ike: How do we Reduce the Impact of Natural Disasters?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 14, 2008 | 2:51 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

At the end of June, when parts of Iowa were underwater, I wrote that the United States needed to develop a rainy day fund and do more to routinize emergency response and reconstruction. In that piece I mentioned that, according to Getty Images +Enlarge the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: "The U.S. has sustained 78 weather-related disasters over the past 28 years in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. The total normalized losses for the 78 events exceed $600 billion."

Midtown New York Times Now, we are all horrified by the impact of Hurricane Ike on the Gulf Coast and on MSNBC The New Yorker Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city. The financial impact of this latest Conde Nast disaster is still being calculated, and even though the impact was not as great as it Atlantic Yards More Topics >> could have been or as devastating as some predicted, the financial cost will be huge. The loss in human lives and in quality of life will also be substantial. Once

Rupert Murdoch again, I advocate developing a more realistic and routine process for dealing with George W. Bush David Paterson these events and their aftermath. It’s nice that our president and presidential Andrew Cuomo candidates offer the Gulf Coast victims their prayers and good wishes. It would be Ruth Reichl Dan Rather nicer if they could offer them some cash and a MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future federal system of response and reconstruction that President Obama has Already is reliable and predictable. Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin In addition to reconstruction, it may be time to Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About take another look at our 20th century industrial Eliot Brown the Environment age infrastructure. This certainly includes More Authors >> electricity but it might also be a good idea to take another look at the way we assure water supply, waste water treatment, solid waste disposal and transportation here On the Town Off the Record in the United States. We have created large, centralized and quite vulnerable NYTV NY 3.0 systems to provide us with these essentials. We build systems this way because Manhattan 20th century technologies benefited from economies of scale. Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/after-hurricane-ike-how-do-we-reduce-impact-natural-disasters

More Columns >> In New York City we once proposed building five waste-to-energy incinerators, one for each borough. In the end, none were built. No one wanted to have the entire borough’s garbage next door. Perhaps instead of building large centralized waste facilities we should build a larger number of smaller facilities. With modern communications and the ever lower cost of computer controls and information, we might be able to build one plant in every community board district, and control all 59 facilities from 4 or 5 small (and redundant) control rooms.

Perhaps some part of each household’s electric supply could be provided off of the power grid with renewable energy sources. Today, solar cells are huge roof top operations that are heavy, expensive to install and not too efficient. The batteries that store this energy are also pretty primitive. But what if some day a solar cell was the size of a cell phone and you could glue it on your window? What if the batteries could hold electricity long enough to last through the evening and a few gray days? I know… it’s hard to imagine.

Still, I remember in 1970 when I packed up my stereo to go to college, most of the car’s trunk was taken up by the speakers and three heavy boxes of records. Last month when my eldest daughter packed the car’s trunk for college her iPod and laptop took up almost no space, and easily replaced the stereo, records, typewriter and TV that I took to school back in the prehistoric era. You get the picture: technology could have an unimaginable impact on how we live.

As the planet has gotten more crowded, more of us have settled in places that are vulnerable to natural disasters. I don’t think this trend is going to be reversed. Moreover, our lifestyles depend on electricity, transport, food, waste disposal and water that is sold to us by large centralized public and private organizations. The proportion of people who grow their own food, use well water, septic systems and compost their own garbage is lower every year. This means that we are increasingly vulnerable to disasters like Katrina or Ike.

It’s time to start working on ways to reduce our vulnerability. Some of the answer is better emergency response and more reliable reconstruction. But an important part of the answer is to develop and implement technologies that allow our urban population to use less centralized infrastructure. There are, of course, powerful economic interests that will oppose this idea. That’s because they own and operate the centralized and vulnerable infrastructure that we rely on. My hope is that the companies that develop these less centralized technologies will succeed in selling them to the public. Just as laptops replaced mainframe computers, and Apple iPods replaced the SONY Walkman, someday, small household renewable electricity generators might replace the power grid.

But of course, only a fool predicts the future.

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Term Limits, Democracy and Sustainability

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 3, 2008 | 6:39 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent announcement that he would seek a third term as mayor brings back the issue of term limits and its connection to good government and long-term planning. I am against term limits anywhere, including the American presidency. The 22nd amendment was an anti-democratic, anti-government mistake, just Getty Images +Enlarge as the term limit mandate in Midtown New York Times New York is a bad idea. The argument against term limits is simple and has two MSNBC The New Yorker parts: Conde Nast Atlantic Yards 1) People should be able to vote for anyone they want (this is a concept known as More Topics >> democracy). 2) Term limits extend an elected official’s “lame duck” period from about a year to Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush four. The minute the second term starts, the clock (like the one in Mayor David Paterson Bloomberg’s bullpen) starts counting down to zero. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> Dan Rather Is There a New Far By toying with running for higher office, More People >> West Side at the End of No. 7 maintaining his status as one of wealthiest people Extension?

Bloomberg Breaks in the world, and continuing to improve his already Jimmy Vielkind Out the Elbow Simon Doonan Grease for Wall considerable political and analytic skills, Mayor Street John Koblin Bloomberg has managed to avoid the aura of Meredith Bryan City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. Irina Aleksander for Capital Projects powerlessness that accompanies lame-duck status. Eliot Brown City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized Apartments Lost Since '05 In contrast, the lame duck Bush presidency is More Authors >> Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health losing authority and credibility by the hour. It’s a MORE ON GREEN >> On the Town small miracle that the Wall Street bailout bill Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record finally got through the House of Representatives. NYTV President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 Term limits should be imposed by voters at the Manhattan Bringing Green Principles Into the Transfers American Economy ballot box. The idea behind the limits is that the Commercial Breaks Building a Sustainable Auto voters can’t be trusted to vote the rascals out of http://www.observer.com/2008/green/term-limits-democracy-and-sustainability

More Columns >> Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment office when they need to be thrown out. Term limits do have a positive side – they force new people into the political process and make sure that elected officials never get too comfortable in their positions. Unfortunately, term limits also help ensure that elected officials never get too experienced or expert in their work.

In the case of Mike Bloomberg, the best argument for a third term is that it gives him more time to complete long-term projects and institutionalize the long-term approach he and his team brought to the city in PLANYC 2030. Another term in office provides him with the opportunity to fully institutionalize some of the important agenda items his administration introduced in that path-breaking sustainability plan. The issues of sustainability are not easily addressed within the time frame of election cycles. Think of the city’s third water tunnel project: This 60-mile long tunnel was first planned in 1954, begun in 1970 and will finally be completed in 2020 at an estimated cost of $6 billion. Eight years in office is a pretty short term when you compare it to that time frame.

The argument that we need Mayor Mike because no one else can get us through the city’s current financial crisis is ridiculous and reminds me of Rudy Giuliani’s rant after September 11, 2001, when he begged for a three-month extension of his term. The argument for re-electing Bloomberg is that he has been an excellent mayor and we value his accomplishments and experience. I certainly do.

Of course, no elected official is indispensible. Michael Bloomberg is a superb manager with an excellent command of financial issues and data. He may very well be the best mayor New York City could elect in 2009. But there are a lot of talented people in this city who could do an excellent job at the helm.

As for an argument against a third term for the mayor: look to the third-term performance of mayors LaGuardia, Wagner and Koch. LaGuardia and Koch were both superb mayors, but both were at their weakest during their third terms. Wagner was mediocre throughout, but never more mediocre than in his final term. The old showbiz principle, “leave ‘em wanting more” probably applies here. Eight years may go by too quickly, but it’s hard not to wear out your welcome when you pass a decade on the job.

While I think Bloomberg risks his legacy by seeking re-election again, that choice belongs to him and the voters of New York City. The argument that he is changing the rules in the middle of the game is irrelevant. The rules are anti-democratic and should be changed. The politicians who argue that the rules should only be changed for future elections, or only via referendum, are simply self-serving. Even though I would lift the limits entirely, an increase from two terms to three is a good start. Let’s change the term limits law and give New Yorkers a chance to either re-elect or defeat Mayor Bloomberg. Over 60 years ago Winston Churchill told the British House of Commons, “democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried.” I think it’s time to restore democracy to New York City and repeal term limits.

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Obama and McCain Seem to Understand the Importance of Renewable Energy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 10, 2008 | 8:48 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The good news from the presidential campaign is that even though Senator McCain and Governor Palin have resorted to swift-boat tactics, the fundamental issue of economic well-being has begun to dominate the race for the White House. In the past, Getty Images +Enlarge that would be bad news for environmental protection and sustainable development, as we’d be hearing we can either have either economic growth or environmental protection. Fortunately, Senator Obama is connecting economic well-being with energy efficiency and renewability, and he often links science and technology, education and health care Midtown New York Times with the growth of our economy. While Senator McCain is not articulating as MSNBC The New Yorker comprehensive a case for sustainability, he clearly understands the need for a Conde Nast focus on renewable energy and basic research and development. Perhaps we have Atlantic Yards More Topics >> finally entered the post environmental politics of sustainable development.

In McCain’s case, a relatively sophisticated energy policy is masked by the absurd Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush and almost obscene mantra of “drill baby drill”. For both candidates, the support David Paterson Andrew Cuomo of nuclear power represents attraction to a strategy that is simply infeasible in the Ruth Reichl United States. Unless they plan to build nuclear Dan Rather MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> More People >> power plants on military bases, local communities Observer Contributor Niall in this country will always use their veto to defeat Stanage, 'An Irish Jimmy Vielkind Reporter,' Wins power-plant sitting. Not in my backyard (NIMBY) Race to Publish Simon Doonan Book on Election is not just a cute phrase around here – it is political John Koblin '08 Meredith Bryan Why McCain Could reality. I guess it sounds muscular and Irina Aleksander Break the Eliot Brown Presidential-Loser “no-nonsense” to support nuclear power, but every Mold More Authors >> minute we spend promoting nuclear power in this Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor

Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is country is a minute wasted. If you don’t believe me, On the Town He Saying Those Terrible Things About the G.O.P.? go to the North Shore of Long Island and visit what Off the Record NYTV The Party of the South and Nowhere remains of the Shoreham Nuclear Power plant. Else NY 3.0 Manhattan MORE ON GREEN >> Built at a cost of $6 billion in 1989, it has never Transfers Toward a Clean Energy Future generated any commercial power, and cost almost Commercial Breaks President Obama has Already http://www.observer.com/2008/green/obama-and-mccain-seem-understand-importance-renewable-energy

More Columns >> Redefined the Political Center $200 million to decommission. People in Long Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy Island are still paying the costs of that “power Building a Sustainable Auto plant to nowhere.” Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment Nuclear power is too centralized, too capital intensive and too politically contentious to be a serious contributor to our energy needs here in the United States. I rarely waste much effort in making these points because I think the forces of economic and political gravity will bring nuclear power down – it really doesn’t need my help. I know nuclear proponents say that before people are forced to sit in the dark they will turn to nuclear power. Fortunately for all of us that won’t be necessary. Our country wastes so much energy that we can meet much of our increased needs with enhanced energy efficiency. Coupled with the development of renewable energy, we should be able to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, without needing nuclear power.

The economic crash around us is scary and will cause great pain, but it may also represent an opportunity to put our economy on a more sustainable footing. In the second presidential debate October 7th, Senator Obama recalled John Kennedy’s national goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960’s. He then seemed to call for a similar “stretch goal” for renewable energy. He and Senator McCain both explicitly connected renewable energy and energy efficiency to renewed economic growth and green jobs. Obama cited the case of computers and the Internet as mass consumer items that developed as a result of government-funded basic research. Both candidates articulated the basic formula that we need to replicate: Government-funded basic science and engineering research, leading to new technology that is then transferred to the private sector. The private sector takes that new technology and develops the consumer goods that lead to new products and economic growth.

As we struggle to untangle our economy from the financial mess that envelopes us, it‘s a good idea to return to the basics of wealth generation. The type of creativity that drives a modern, post-industrial economy requires careful use of resources and the application of new technology to meet human needs. When we invent new technologies that help people in their daily lives, we often improve quality of life and create wealth. It is clear that reducing the cost and environmental impact of the energy we use is an urgent priority. A technical breakthrough on renewable energy could have the same impact that we saw with the light bulb, the automobile, refrigeration, the computer or the Internet. It may be wishful thinking, but the other night during the second debate I got the clear impression that both of our presidential candidates get it. If only we hadn’t wasted the past eight years….

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Green Jobs and Rebuilding Our Economy: Beyond the Presidential Campaigns

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 20, 2008 | 12:05 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

During the recent presidential debates Senator John McCain said developing green technologies and alternative energies can "get our economy going by creating millions of jobs." On this point Senator Barak Obama agreed: "If we Getty Images +Enlarge create a new energy economy, we can create 5 million jobs, easily, here in the United States."

Despite the enthusiasm of the presidential candidates, in recent days we've seen lots of old-style thinking that the financial crisis would require steming efforts to build a green economy. The concern is that a recession is the wrong time to Midtown increase the costs of energy by regulating or taxing carbon dioxide emissions. This New York Times MSNBC is the old environment/economic growth trade off. However, if we reduce carbon The New Yorker Conde Nast dioxide emissions by making our cars, homes, appliances and businesses more Atlantic Yards energy efficient, we can reduce pollution while making our economy more efficient More Topics >> and cost effective. In Tom Friedman's new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded he correctly observes that the effort to go green could actually allow the United States Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush to maintain its economic power through the 21st century. David Paterson Andrew Cuomo We do seem to be taking some modest steps in the direction of building a Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON JOHN MCCAIN >> renewable energy industry. At least, we are no More People >> Observer longer in danger of moving backward. Renewable Contributor Niall Stanage, 'An Irish fuel tax credits for businesses and consumers were Jimmy Vielkind Reporter,' Wins Race to Publish Simon Doonan extended as part of the $700 billion economic Book on Election John Koblin '08 rescue plan approved by Congress during the first Meredith Bryan Why McCain Could Irina Aleksander Break the week of October. They include: a tax credit for Eliot Brown Presidential-Loser Mold owners of electric cars, a $20 tax credit per month More Authors >> Joe Lieberman, Democratic Survivor to employers of bike commuters and the extension Who Is Martin Eisenstadt And Why Is On the Town He Saying Those Terrible Things of the production tax credits and investment tax About the G.O.P.? Off the Record credits provisions for renewable energy, according NYTV The Party of the South and Nowhere Else NY 3.0 to US News and World Report. Manhattan MORE ON GREEN >> Transfers Toward a Clean Energy Future Commercial Breaks However, due to the current financial melt-down, President Obama has Already http://www.observer.com/2008/green/green-jobs-and-rebuilding-our-economy-beyond-presidential-campaigns

More Columns >> Redefined the Political Center many investors are holding back their capital and Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy gravitating toward conservative investments. Dean Building a Sustainable Auto Robert F. Bruner of the University of Virginia's Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment Darden School of Business, told Politico in early October: "The problem with state-of-the-art green ventures is their payoff horizons are further in the future than was the case with the technology sector."

Yet Bruner believes that Obama's plan to inject $15 billion annually into private efforts to build clean energy could help stimulate new investment. The sum, when compared with federal research into health and defense projects, is small, Bruner told Politico, but "it is a material step up. It would help to draw talent into universities and private enterprise. It would be a signal of serious intent for venture capitalists to follow along."

According to Obama's website, the goal is to, "Invest $150 billion over 10 years to accelerate the commercialization of plug‐in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, encourage energy efficiency, invest in low emissions coal plants, advance the next generation of bio-fuels and fuel infrastructure, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid."

Obama would also establish a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and help Americans learn new skills to produce "green" products. Within this program is an increased $1 billion per year federal investment for the research and development of advanced technologies.

Alternatively, McCain would, establish a permanent tax credit equal to 10% of wages spent on R&D. "At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions," his campaign websites states. The site goes on to observe that "green jobs and green technology will be vital to our economic future. There is no reason that the US should not be a leader in developing and deploying these new technologies."

For McCain, many of the "green jobs" would be in clean coal and nuclear power. I'm not sure how green I would consider those jobs, but at least the idea is to reduce the impact of fossil fuels on the environment.

It's pretty obvious that Obama has a more comprehensive and assertive approach to investment in renewables, but we will need to do a great deal more if we are going to transform the energy base of our economy away from fossil fuels. What is needed is nothing short of the same level of investment in basic science and applied research and development that the United States undertook after World War II. The Cold War motivated us to build a science establishment that set the pace for the world. We are going to need to do that again with a focus on renewable and more efficient energy.

As Obama correctly notes, we need to stimulate investment to accelerate commercialization of existing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. But we also need to develop new technology. Basic science research capacity must be expanded in the United States. This means attracting the world's best scientific minds by re-opening the doors we slammed shut after 9/11. We also need to dramatically and rapidly increase government support for scientific research. In addition, we need to enhance our effort to increase science literacy in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges. The economy of the present http://www.observer.com/2008/green/green-jobs-and-rebuilding-our-economy-beyond-presidential-campaigns

runs on brainpower, and the economy of the future will be even more reliant on technological innovation. The importance of education to our economy has been a theme of the Obama campaign, and it has been encouraging to see him emphasize this critical point.

I am grateful for the extensive research for this piece provided by Sara Schonhardt, 2009 Master's Candidate, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

What If? Submitted by PIlawyer on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 16:08. I wonder where we would be if McCain was President? www.inkcloners.com

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Joe the Plumber is the Symbol for What’s Wrong

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 23, 2008 | 3:35 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

If you read the transcript of the now famous exchange between Senator Obama and Joe the Plumber, you learn that Obama was making the point that rich people like him and those that make more than $250,000 a year should pay more taxes so that people who make less can pay fewer taxes – and so we can invest in our future. Now we learn from Senator McCain and the Fox News Channel that this is a Getty Images +Enlarge Midtown New York Times fundamental principle of MSNBC The New Yorker communism. I don’t think so. Let’s try to remember folks: In a communist system Conde Nast no one is supposed to make $250,000. It turns out that Joe is probably not about Atlantic Yards More Topics >> to make $250,000, has missed a few tax payments and may not even be a plumber. This is the symbolic hero of the McCain-Palin ticket.

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush We have all gotten used to the loose relationship between truth and American David Paterson Andrew Cuomo politics during this long and tedious presidential campaign. What is most Ruth Reichl disconcerting about this recent decent into attack Dan Rather MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> More People >> politics is that it moves us further away from the Is There a New Far West Side at the discussion about debt and responsibility that we End of No. 7 Jimmy Vielkind Extension? need to have in this country. Simon Doonan Bloomberg Breaks Out the Elbow John Koblin The fact is that we are living beyond our means. Meredith Bryan Grease for Wall Street Irina Aleksander Individually and as a nation, we are saving too Eliot Brown City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. for Capital Projects little and spending too much. We assume taxation More Authors >> City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized Apartments Lost Since '05 is too high, and that “people can do a better job of

Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health On the Town spending their own money than the government Off the Record MORE ON POLITICS >> can.” Perhaps that is true, but it’s beside the point. NYTV Who Put the Senators in Charge? NY 3.0 The market is the best way we know to efficiently The Debate: Duane Says Little, Diaz Manhattan Attacks His Leadership Transfers produce and distribute goods and services and to Commercial Breaks Thompson's Options: Senator (Risky), Comptroller (Safer), Mayor (TK) http://www.observer.com/2008/green/joe-plumber-symbol-what-s-wrong

More Columns >> Same-Sex Marriage Advocates Say They Go to the Senate, Potentially, generate wealth. But a market left on its own will With 'Momentum' result in the rich getting richer and the poor A Crushing Legacy of Bush getting poorer. The mixed economies of the 20th and 21st centuries found a better way. Through regulation of capitalism and investment in collective resources like schools, roads, water, sewage treatment and other infrastructure we created enough wealth to build a mass middle class. Yes, we learned how to spread the wealth around … We found it created a class of consumers that fueled economic growth. This wasn’t done by the free market alone. It was done by our government working with the private sector. That is the beauty of a mixed economy. It balances individual and community benefits. The myth of government as the enemy of the people has been a cynical manipulation by politicians who should know better.

The problem is that we have placed too much emphasis in our culture on consumerism and not enough on other values. The idea of sacrifice, thrift and saving has been thoroughly discredited. The idea of government as an instrument of good and an expression of our national community has been discarded. The result has been the economic meltdown we are now struggling to avert. Which brings me to Joe the Plumber and John McCain: If this country is truly “first”, why isn’t it patriotic to pay your fair share of taxes? Why are we celebrating a guy who is too selfish to pay his fair share?

There is this idea that government is a big, fat wasteful bureaucracy. Otherwise, why would we be running such a huge deficit? Let’s remember that when Bill Clinton left the White House we were running a federal surplus. Here in New York, Mayor Mike Bloomberg managed to put money into a rainy day fund. Did Washington suddenly become wasteful in January 2001? George W Bush assumed the presidency, lowered taxes, started an expensive war and refused to ask the American people to sacrifice anything – except the lives of soldiers. We asked nothing of the many and everything of the few. It’s a shameful principle and it is at the heart of our problem as a nation.

So here we are celebrating this guy who may or may not be a plumber who doesn’t like to pay his taxes. At the very point when we need to take a deep breath and re-sort our priorities, we are back to the old anti-government nonsense. This is a national moment when we are going to have to figure out a way to reform our educational institutions and rebuild our energy and transportation infrastructure. It will take sacrifice, deferred gratification and investment in the future. Our current path guarantees that our children will be poisoned and impoverished. We need to call on the better part of our culture and our values: The part that heroically withstood imprisonment during the Vietnam War: the part that decided not to go from Harvard Law to a fancy law firm, but to work as a community organizer in Chicago. Barak Obama is a man of deep principle. John McCain is a genuine American hero. We should celebrate their values and follow their example. Not the one offered by Joe the Plumber.

He was more like the jester http://www.observer.com/2008/green/joe-plumber-symbol-what-s-wrong

Submitted by Sigur Ros on Fri, 07/10/2009Classifieds - 15:45. | Subscriptions | About Us | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | RSS | Contact Us He was more like the jester during elections. I still feel like laughing thinking about the popularity that mass-media created around him... And he was just a fake... a political kitschy image... As far as I know he never planned to build a Fort Worth plumber< http://www.fortworthtxplumber.com > company... the video was ordered by McCaine just to ruin Obama's image. However, these dirty solutions that McCaine tried to use had no effect. http://www.observer.com/2008/green/discussion-sustainable-planet-city-and-campus

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A Discussion on a Sustainable Planet, City and Campus

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 30, 2008 | 1:19 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

It has now been almost a half century since the idea of a global and interconnected biosphere was popularized by environmental pioneers such as Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner. It's been about four decades since astronauts Flickr via Sylvain Leprovost +Enlarge broadcast the first images of our small, fragile bright blue planet from outer space. Until then, the idea of an interdependent planet was an abstraction. Those photos made the idea of our connectivity quite real.

Today, the issue of global sustainability has moved front and center in our political Midtown New York Times process, and it is reflected in the way we think about economic development, MSNBC The New Yorker poverty eradication and even in the way we live. Movie stars and politicians have Conde Nast to think about their carbon footprint-and so do the rest of us. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> There is increasing evidence that we humans have damaged the planet that

Rupert Murdoch sustains us. We see species dying along with poisoned air, polluted water and George W. Bush David Paterson degraded land. The issue of global climate change is the first widely recognized Andrew Cuomo example of a problem that is created locally, but impacts all of us globally. This is Ruth Reichl Dan Rather the first of these problems we have come to MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> More People >> Is There a New Far recognize, but it will not be the last one that we will West Side at the End of No. 7 discover. Jimmy Vielkind Extension? Simon Doonan Bloomberg Breaks John Koblin Out the Elbow Here in New York City we are fortunate that an Meredith Bryan Grease for Wall Street Irina Aleksander increasing number of our local leaders have figured Eliot Brown City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. for Capital Projects out that we need to move our city to a more More Authors >> City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized Apartments Lost Since '05 sustainable future. On October 23, I had the Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health pleasure of moderating a discussion here at On the Town Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> Columbia University about sustainability in New NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future NY 3.0 York City and around the world. Columbia President Obama has Already Manhattan Redefined the Political Center President Lee C. Bollinger hosted the latest of his Transfers Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy World Leaders Forum events and the panel http://www.observer.com/2008/green/discussion-sustainable-planet-city-and-campus

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto discussion focused on environmental stewardship Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment through Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative, Columbia's contributions to the city's sustainable future, and the role that New Yorkers play in the global effort. Panelists included:

Rohit T. Aggarwala, Director of the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability in the New York City Mayor's Office. Kelly Kleinert, a student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Klaus S. Lackner, Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics at Columbia University and Director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at The Earth Institute. Lionel McIntyre, Founding Director of the Urban Technical Assistance Project at Columbia University Our discussion focused on a number of key questions:

How does the unique infrastructure of New York City change the way we approach environmental stewardship? Does New York City have a heightened responsibility to demonstrate its commitment to sustainable design and encourage innovative development concepts in cities around the world? What are the distinct problems, and opportunities presented by New York City as it seeks to mitigate its climate impact and adapt to global warming? How is Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative being enacted in New York, and what does it mean to be a PlaNYC 2030 Challenge Partner? How are the PlaNYC goals related to the unique urbanization and architecture of the City of New York? What distinct responsibilities do institutions of higher learning have in environmental stewardship? What role is Columbia University playing in reaching the PlaNYC 2030 goals? http://www.observer.com/2008/green/discussion-sustainable-planet-city-and-campus

How can each individual at Columbia play a greater role in the push toward environmental sustainability?

The discussion highlighted the advantages New York City has as a green city. Our mass transit system, our water system and our population density make New York City one of the most energy efficient and sustainable places in the United States. Columbia, like many of the city's larger institutions, is working to improve our energy efficiency, reduce our carbon footprint and increase the amount of waste it recovers. Our goal is to reduce the environmental impact of our activities.

One of the insightful contributions to our panel discussion on the 23rd was introduced by Professor McIntyre. He made the point that sustainability needed to be connected to other important goals, such as increased employment opportunities, poverty reduction and elimination of homelessness. If sustainability does not include economic development for those who are struggling to make a living, then it is not a sustainable idea itself. As Professor Lackner mentioned, we can't very well tell poor people in the developing world that the way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is for the rich to continue to consume at current levels and the poor to remain poor. Other panelists agreed, and Rohit Aggarwala from the Mayor's office also made the point of connecting sustainability issues to education, quality of life and the city's effort to reduce homelessness and poverty.

Our conversation concluded with a discussion of what individuals can do to promote sustainability. Kelly Kleinert, a medical student who is active in a number of campus environmental groups, discussed the many initiatives that students are undertaking to make the campus more sustainable.

In the end, the issue of global sustainability requires all of us to think about the effect of our lifestyles on this planet. We need our government to develop incentives to go green, we need our institutions-in this case our universities-- to deploy those incentives and build sustainability into our buildings, work processes, and transport systems. We also need everyone to take personal responsibility for their own environmental impacts. Kelly and her fellow students give me hope for the future. It is our responsibility to ensure that the planet we leave to them will be a livable one.

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Let’s Not Give Up On the Idea of a More Fuel Efficient Taxi Fleet in NYC

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 1, 2008 | 12:15 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Last week, another element of Mayor Bloomberg's plan for sustainable transportation was dealt a significant, but by no means fatal setback. A federal judge blocked implementation of the requirement that all of the City's cabs be powered by Flickr via beggs +Enlarge hybrid engines. According to The New York Times' Sewell Chan: "In his ruling, Judge Crotty, who was the city's corporation counsel from 1994 to 1997, under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, agreed to block the city from enforcing the rule because the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their key legal argument - that the new regulations were pre-empted under federal law, which reserve regulation of fuel economy and emissions Midtown New York Times standards to federal agencies." MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast While the City has the right to regulate cabs through its system of licenses or Atlantic Yards More Topics >> medallions, and has been allowed to issue new medallions targeted at hybrid cabs, the blanket regulation requiring hybrids was thrown out. Although gasoline prices

Rupert Murdoch have recently dropped, most people expect them to rise again - and sooner rather George W. Bush David Paterson than later. Why then would the fleet owners resist regulations requiring them to Andrew Cuomo use more cost-efficient autos? The answer is simple and has a lot to do with the Ruth Reichl Dan Rather economics of the cab industry. For the most part, MORE ON RUDOLPH GIULIANI >> More People >> Into a Vacuum the people that own cabs don't drive them and Goes the Manhattan Institute don't pay for the gas. Drivers lease the cars from Jimmy Vielkind Let’s Not Give Up the fleet owners and the drivers pay for the gas. As Simon Doonan On the Idea of a John Koblin More Fuel Efficient anyone who prices a hybrid vehicle knows, there is Meredith Bryan Taxi Fleet in NYC Irina Aleksander Spinning St. Louis: McCain a premium on hybrid engines. Hybrid cars and Eliot Brown Supporters Loved Palin Performance, Debate Format trucks cost more. The fleet owners, not the drivers, More Authors >> Breaking! McCain Praises Community Organizers would incur the costs of upgrading to hybrid cabs. Bernie Kerik Remembers The drivers would save money on the gasoline. On the Town Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future NY 3.0 Of course, the fleet owners could and would pass President Obama has Already Manhattan Redefined the Political Center the increased costs of the hybrids along to the Transfers Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy drivers in their lease charges, but apparently the http://www.observer.com/2008/green/let-s-not-give-idea-more-fuel-efficient-taxi-fleet-nyc

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto fleet owners and their trade association just don't Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment like being told what to do by the big bad Bloomberg administration. Perhaps they think that drivers are incapable of doing the math. The extra fee in their lease for hybrids would be more than offset by savings in gasoline. It just makes sense. Given the distances taxis drive and the amount of gas they take to run, hybrid cabs would provide a return on their extra cost much faster than you or I would make back our extra investment.

The fleet owners' arguments against hybrids are that the hybrids now on the market are too small and fragile to handle New York's streets. Perhaps they have not been to Bogota, Colombia, or Mexico City, where most of the cabs are small micro compacts that bounce along streets that are much worse than New York's. Perhaps no one has told them that the Chevy Malibu and Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade, Saturn Aura, and GMC Yukon are now all available with hybrid engines. And let's not forget Ford, with its Escape hybrid or the hybrid Toyota Camry.

Fortunately for New York City, higher fuel efficiency standards will be coming from Washington in 2009. The American auto industry is closing its SUV plants and seems to be slowly figuring out what its Japanese and Korean competitors figured out a while ago. While Americans have a love affair with big, comfortable cars, they drive too much to afford all of the gasoline it takes to power them. The fleet owners may be preventing New York City from getting ahead of the federal rules, but it's a temporary victory for them at best.

Meanwhile, instead of requiring hybrids, why not find a way to tax the fleet owners in a way that makes hybrid cabs more cost effective for them in the first place? Let's encourage rather than require energy efficiency. Perhaps the city should charge an extra licensing fee for cabs that don't have hybrid engines. If fleet owners insist on using gas-guzzlers, perhaps an annual charge of say, $1,000 might get them to rethink their priorities. If that doesn't work, perhaps in the interest of reducing congestion (not regulating fuel efficiency), the surcharge might be based on the weight of the cab, rather than the engine type or gas mileage. That might encourage the use of smaller and more energy efficient cabs. Smaller cabs would take up less of the scarce space on our city's congested streets. While mandating hybrids might be illegal, it seems to me that the City has a number of other powers that could be used to encourage a more fuel efficient cab fleet. I think it's time to get creative.

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The Pageant of Democracy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 5, 2008 | 9:58 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Tuesday morning the pageant of democracy began in earnest. At 6:15am on West 120th street off Morningside Drive, I stood with my neighbors in the longest polling line I have seen in more than two decades of voting on the Upper West Side. Reading about the death Getty Images +Enlarge of Barak Obama’s grandmother as I waited in line, I thought of my own grandparents, long gone, and the journey that took all four from Russia and Poland to Ellis Island and the shadow of the Statue of Liberty nearly a century ago. America is a great country because it is, as John Kennedy once termed it, “a nation of immigrants”. Some Midtown New York Times immigrants were brought here unwillingly in chains from Africa, but then their MSNBC The New Yorker descendants also became immigrants in a great migration from the American Conde Nast South to the North. It is also true that Native Americans were exterminated and Atlantic Yards More Topics >> driven from their homes. The American story is far from perfect.

But today is a day for the promise of the American dream. This is a day for the Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush racism that remains a shameful part of our heritage to take a seat in the back of the David Paterson bus, replaced by the hope and tolerance that is at Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> the heart of who we are. This country is changing, Dan Rather For Urban Policy, More People >> Obama Loves New and this unimaginable election is proof of that Yorkers change. As former New York City Mayor David Stimulus Politics Is Fleeting, the 2008 Jimmy Vielkind Realignment Isn't Dinkins once said, we are not a melting pot, but a Simon Doonan What on Earth Does gorgeous mosaic. Each tile or community has its John Koblin Judd Gregg Want? Meredith Bryan own distinct characteristics, but when one steps Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and Irina Aleksander Maybe a Curse Eliot Brown back, a beautiful picture emerges. Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. More Authors >> Naps

MORE ON GREEN >> The great strength of the American experiment has

On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future been its tolerance of people from other parts of the Off the Record President Obama has Already world. Never perfect, this is now threatened by a NYTV Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 Bringing Green Principles Into the post 9/11 fear of immigration and immigrants. American Economy Manhattan There is this idea that immigrants take American Transfers Building a Sustainable Auto Commercial Breaks Understanding Public Opinion About jobs and somehow damage American traditions. Of http://www.observer.com/2008/green/pageant-democracy

More Columns >> the Environment course, as immigrant families like the Kennedys of Boston and the Obamas of Hawaii and Chicago demonstrate, the power of the American dream has long been its ability to absorb those who come to this shore. People are not assimilated, but immigrants are changed by America and change America as well. My family is a long way from its roots in Eastern Europe, and we are now truly Americans, but this is not the America my grandparents came to. It is a better place than that. The talents and historic memories of all of the people of this planet have managed to make their way to this country – this amazing experiment that was once called the new world. That is of course, the greatness of America.

With a global economy, instant communications, and an emerging world youth culture, we are poised for an American century based on the fact that America is a place that can continue to attract the world’s talents. Economic growth is based on the ability to develop and deploy brainpower. While our education system is not doing all it needs to develop brainpower, this country still attracts people from all over the world and puts them to work. In New York City, 40% of the people who live here were born in other nations. There is no place in the world that can say that and truly lay claim to being the center of the modern world.

Judging by the look of the line I stood in Tuesday, Barak Obama was clearly the president of Morningside Heights. By 11:00pm Tuesday night, he had become president of the rest of this nation, if not the world. Like many of my contemporaries, the news that Barak would soon be President Obama brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. Listening to him on election eve, and seeing his family join with the Biden family was like watching a movie or a dream. President-Elect Obama is correct of course: It is not a dream. It is a challenge to public service and a call to create a true national community. Just like the movies though, it has come in the nick of time.

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Financial Stress May End Up Stimulating a Greener Economy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 9, 2008 | 8:11 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

With the city's tax revenues melting down along with our local economy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and people in and around government are floating a number of large and small tax proposals. The idea of tolls on the East River bridges and even the recently

defeated proposal to institute Getty Images +Enlarge congestion pricing are once again getting serious attention as the MTA faces the need to make up revenue shortfalls. About half a million vehicles cross to and from Manhattan on those bridges each work day, and depending on the amount charged, a toll could Midtown New York Times generate up to $1 billion a year. It would also have the impact of reducing MSNBC The New Yorker pollution, traffic and congestion in Lower Manhattan. It could also reduce the size Conde Nast and pain of the next subway fare hike. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> In addition to reviving fees on drivers, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed charging

Rupert Murdoch shoppers 6 cents for each plastic bag they are given when they shop. The fee would George W. Bush David Paterson be then divided, with 5 cents going to raise city revenue and the remaining 1 cent Andrew Cuomo to be kept by the storeowner as an incentive to comply, Bloomberg spokesman Ruth Reichl Dan Rather Marc La Vorgna recently told the New York MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> More People >> Is There a New Far Times. West Side at the End of No. 7 Extension? Jimmy Vielkind The proposed charge has been labeled a "fee," Simon Doonan Bloomberg Breaks John Koblin Out the Elbow which requires approval only from the City Meredith Bryan Grease for Wall Street Irina Aleksander Council, rather than a "tax," which requires Eliot Brown City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. for Capital Projects approval from the State Legislature. Los Angeles More Authors >> City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized Apartments Lost Since '05 and Dallas are also looking at similar measures, as Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health is San Francisco, which last year banned On the Town Off the Record MORE ON GREEN >> non-biodegradable plastic bags used by grocery NYTV Toward a Clean Energy Future NY 3.0 stories and large retailers. If the City enacts a fee, President Obama has Already Manhattan Redefined the Political Center however, New York would become the first US city Transfers Commercial Breaks Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy to implement a plastic bag surcharge. http://www.observer.com/2008/green/financial-stress-may-end-stimulating-greener-economy

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment In 2002, Ireland imposed a plastic bag consumption tax that required customers to pay 33 cents per bag at the register. Within weeks plastic bag use dropped 94 percent, and after five months $4.5 million in revenue had been raised for environmental projects. Similar initiatives have spread to countries such as Bangladesh, which banned polythene bags, and South Africa, where the government requires manufacturers to make plastic bags more durable and more expensive to discourage their disposal.

It is difficult to predict how much revenue the bag fee would bring in, since we don't know how many people would switch to cloth or paper bags. Estimates range from $10 million to $16 million dollars annually; not a lot of money in a $60 billion budget, but perhaps enough to restore some hours to the library budgets that will be cut next year. Of course, if people reduce their use of plastic bags, fewer will end up in our garbage cans, lowering the cost of transporting and disposing waste. So either way, the city saves money. New York City spends about $1.3 billion dollars a year on its Sanitation Department. This breaks down to about $600 million for cleaning streets and collecting garbage, $400 million for disposing of the waste ($300 million in "waste export" contracts), $100 million for administration and $100 million for managing the Sanitation Department's vehicles and buildings. It also includes $35 million for snow removal and $16 million for enforcement. Only $28 million is spent on recycling.

An effort to reduce packaging and waste and increase recycling might not only help protect the environment, if properly managed, it could reduce the cost of waste transport, storage and disposal. Reducing the amount of garbage we generate would (eventually) reduce the $1.3 billion spent on waste removal and is just one small way to deal with the budget crisis we face.

In fact, that crisis gives us an opportunity to look at waste throughout our city and economy. We can live just as well tomorrow as we do today if we become more efficient and less wasteful in our use of resources. Better insulation in our homes, more efficient lighting and water use, reduced packaging - all can lower our costs without reducing our standard of living.

There is talk from the Obama transition team that the proposed $150-billion investment in renewable energy may become part of the plan to revive the nation's economy. In addition, public investment in modern infrastructure could have the effect of creating jobs while making our nation more energy efficient. A new school or bus garage with modern water, heating, lighting and cooling technologies will be less resource intensive than the structure it replaces.

The dramatic slowdown in the economy is frightening, and it is clear that many people will suffer as a result of the business failures we are starting to see. However, an unanticipated impact of this decline is that it is making many people and institutions look at their own consumption, and this reexamination can have a beneficial impact. This is not an argument for the virtues of poverty, since I find few virtues in a lack of resources. Rather it is an argument for thinking, for being smarter and less wasteful. If a new air conditioner can deliver the same cooling as an old one but uses half the electricity, then it makes sense to help people buy a new one. If carrying our groceries in a cloth bag is cheaper than carrying them in a http://www.observer.com/2008/green/financial-stress-may-end-stimulating-greener-economy

disposable plastic bag, we should encourage people to abandon the plastic bag and carry the cloth one.

We see that the era of freewheeling excess on Wall Street has ended. This looks like the start of a period characterized by more prudent and careful investors learning to work within a more regulated financial system. Perhaps this trend will be matched by a more careful and frugal use of natural resources in our every day lives.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master's Student, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs

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Beyond Consumerism to Sustainability

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 14, 2008 | 2:30 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The economic meltdown that began on Wall Street has spread to the rest of the nation and most of the world. Economic decline shapes the mindset of many American consumers as they start to hold their cash in the bank or hide it under their mattresses. On November 11, New York Times reporter David Leonhardt wrote an incisive piece on this issue: Flickr via scalleja +Enlarge "For decades - from the 1950s Midtown New York Times through the 1980s - Americans spent about 91 percent of their income, on average, MSNBC The New Yorker and put away the rest. In the last few years, they have spent close to 99 percent Conde Nast and saved only about 1 percent. This simply cannot continue. For one thing, people Atlantic Yards More Topics >> need to pay down their debts and replenish their retirement accounts. For another, the psychology of spending and saving may well be changing."

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush The motor of the world economy has been American consumption. Our culture David Paterson Andrew Cuomo and politics are centered on it, and ever increasing Ruth Reichl MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> Dan Rather For Urban Policy, levels of consumption has built the US economy. More People >> Obama Loves New Yorkers Take as an example my apartment, which was built Stimulus Politics Is during the first part of the twentieth century. By Fleeting, the 2008 Jimmy Vielkind Realignment Isn't modern American standards the closets are quite Simon Doonan What on Earth Does John Koblin Judd Gregg Want? small, but the upper middle class folks that lived Meredith Bryan Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and there when it was new owned many fewer articles Irina Aleksander Maybe a Curse Eliot Brown Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. of clothing than we own today. In a similar vein, More Authors >> Naps look at the sidewalk outside a New York City MORE ON GREEN >> apartment building on garbage pick-up day. You On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record President Obama has Already will see a small mountain of green plastic bags. We NYTV Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 Bringing Green Principles Into the use a lot more stuff than we used to, and we throw Manhattan American Economy out more garbage too. When my kids were growing Transfers Building a Sustainable Auto Commercial Breaks up, each of them had more toys than my friends Understanding Public Opinion About http://www.observer.com/2008/green/beyond-consumerism-sustainability

More Columns >> the Environment and I could even imagine back when we were growing up in the 1950's and ‘60s. More evidence: look at all those suburban families that park their cars in their driveways because their garages are filled with junk.

President-elect Barack Obama had many advantages in his competition against John McCain, but nothing factored into the debate more than fears over the declining economy. Why does the economy play such a central role in our politics and culture? At least four things are going on:

First, of course, we are addicted to accumulating new toys: iPods, computers, flat-screen TVs, clothes, new kinds of food-whatever strikes our imagination. Second, is the very image of poverty. The picture planted in our brain is a black-and-white photo from the 1930's of people in gray tattered clothes waiting for soup, bread, a job or anything that might make their lives less miserable. We desperately want to avoid becoming part of that picture. The third factor is ingrained in the American dream, the idea that our children's lives should be better than our own. As a parent I feel responsible for the well being of my children, and so in this economy I worry about my ability to provide them with the things they need to get a good start in life. Fourth, is the fear of an old age of dependence and poverty. Social Security and Medicare are popular in all segments of our society. Liberals, moderates and conservatives all support government provision of these benefits. Many of us worry about a time when we might be too old or too weak to care for ourselves.

It is clear from Leonhardt's report, that Americans consume almost everything they make. Our economy over the past several decades has been built on this very high level of consumption. Automobile sales dropped by a third in the past several months, but that does not mean everyone needs to start walking. It means people are keeping their cars longer, and maybe some suburban teenagers will not be getting their own cars this year.

When we think about our quality of life, replacing material consumption with reflection, thought, conversation, exercise, exploration, social engagement or even public service might not be the end of the world. Fewer trips to the mall may be http://www.observer.com/2008/green/beyond-consumerism-sustainability

bad for the economy, but might not be so bad for us. The problem is when economies slow down, it's always the poorest among us that suffer the most. Mass economic life is difficult to understand and the psychology of a slowdown is unpredictable and frightening.

This is where government and public policy comes in. We have learned that the free market is the best way to create wealth, but it needs to be tempered by public investment in goods and services that the market either can't produce or can't make available to enough people. It may be that we need to prop up the finance industry and the automobile industry to get past the current crisis of confidence, but it is time to invest in the infrastructure and services needed to make our nation and planet more sustainable.

We need to invest in education, communication, mass transportation, parks, water, sewage treatment, waste disposal and recyling, science, R & D, health care and all of the collective goods that the market won't create. This will mean higher taxes and less individual consumption. But we will become the kind of society that has learned to defer gratification to build a better future. Without these investments, we will become a second-rate economy less able to compete in the global market place. At one time we knew how to invest in the future. We built roads, water systems, universities, airports, bridges and hospitals. We need to learn how to build for the future again.

The reason we mistrust public investment is that we don't trust the government to be efficient and effective in putting our money to work. While I advocate government investment, I don't favor the construction of 1930's-style government bureaucracies to do this work. We need a partnership between the public and private sectors. Government contracting with and investment in the private sector can achieve the results we need.

If you'd like to learn more about what I mean (plug, plug) you might want to take a look at a new book Bill Eimicke and I have written called The Responsible Contract Manager. We believe that public-private partnerships can work. By combining the expertise and efficiency of market-driven firms with public purposes, we can get the most out of our public investments. The single-minded worship of private enterprise and higher levels of consumption may be coming to an end. This does not mean that quality of life needs to decline. If we manage the transition correctly, we could build a better country than the one we have now.

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Food for the Holidays

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 20, 2008 | 10:02 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On November 19 Columbia University and the Manhattan Borough President's Office held a conference on The Politics of Food. The half-day conference was devoted to one of New York City's biggest challenges: ensuring that the public has ready access to high-quality food. Speakers included Columbia President Lee Bollinger, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, New York Mayor Getty Images +Enlarge Michael Bloomberg and H.E. Midtown New York Times Father Miquel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the United Nations General MSNBC The New Yorker Assembly. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards More Topics >> At the conference, Mayor Bloomberg linked the food issue to what he considers to be his administration's most important achievement - increased life expectancy for

Rupert Murdoch the people who live here. That figure is now greater than the average longevity of George W. Bush the U.S. population as a whole, and "if that's not the purpose of government, I David Paterson Andrew Cuomo don't know what is," said the mayor. Ruth Reichl MORE ON MICHAEL BLOOMBERG >> Dan Rather Is There a New Far More People >> West Side at the End of No. 7 Speaking after Father d'Escoto, Bloomberg said the Extension? City will continue its agenda of making New York a Bloomberg Breaks Jimmy Vielkind Out the Elbow healthier city and a better place. Simon Doonan Grease for Wall John Koblin Street Meredith Bryan City: Stimulus Means Up to $544 M. Irina Aleksander for Capital Projects He touched on the administration's anti-smoking Eliot Brown City: 16,800 Rent-Stabilized Apartments Lost Since '05 campaign, which four years from the time of its More Authors >> Bloomberg’s Rx for Fiscal Health implementation in 2002 had reduced the number MORE ON GREEN >> of smokers by 240,000. The City's smoking rate for On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record 2006 was the lowest on record at 17.5%, lower than NYTV President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 all but five US states - California, Washington, Manhattan Bringing Green Principles Into the Idaho, Utah and Connecticut, according to the Transfers American Economy Commercial Breaks Building a Sustainable Auto Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That http://www.observer.com/2008/green/food-holidays

More Columns >> Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment achievement demonstrates that New York City can play a leadership role and serve as a model for other cities as they push for change.

"New York is still the city people look to for so many trends, and we need to keep focusing on these things," Bloomberg said, referring to the City's newest battles on calories, trans-fat and the sodium content in packaged food products.

As part of its drive to create a healthy, happy city, the Mayor's Office has three goals:

Get city agencies to abide by high nutrition standards that include lowering salt and calorie contents and supplying more high-fiber meals; Make healthy food more affordable; and Bring healthier food to low-income neighborhoods. Each year New York City schools serve 225 million meals, more than any other US agency other than the Defense Department. The challenge, Bloomberg noted, is getting people to eat the healthy food provided. In other places getting people to eat healthy means increasing access to nutritious food. More than ¼ of all Harlem residents are obese, a health problem that continues to get worse even as the city become more environmentally friendly, Bloomberg noted.

The city is pushing bodegas and other local grocery shops to stock more fruits, vegetables and low-fat milk and dairy products. It has also extended a program that offers free in-class breakfast to students.

"Even in difficult financial times New Yorkers are living longer, healthier lives," Bloomberg said during his closing remarks. "We're not going to walk away from our opportunity to invest in the future, whatever the cost."

Bloomberg's comments echoed those of Father d'Escoto, who attributed the current food crisis to unsustainable government policies. The UN president called the fact that so many people now suffer from hunger and malnutrition "downright sinful," suggesting a need to move beyond "monocultural homogeneity" in food production to biodiversity. "A politics of food needs to be rooted in the local and communal," he said. "We must put people first, and listen to the voices of those most affected by poverty and hunger."

A study recently released by the UNEP stated that organic farming can deliver increased yields thought to be the preserve of industrial farming, an important finding given that current methods of production are no longer sustainable. "We need a multi-functional approach to food production that has a concern for the poor, the Earth and our communities," d'Escoto said.

In later breakout sessions Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, took up the issue of food charity, referring to a November 19 news bulletin that Wal-Mart will begin giving more than 90 million pounds of fresh food annually to the nation's largest nonprofit organization addressing hunger, Feeding America. http://www.observer.com/2008/green/food-holidays

"Charity alone will not solve the problem," said the author of All You Can Eat, a book on US hunger, obesity and poverty, noting a 40 percent increase in the federal food safety net would be needed if we hoped to end all hunger in the United States. The challenge of dealing with hunger is great. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of Americans who couldn't afford a full and stable supply of food rose by 700,000 in 2007. Even before the economic slowdown, more than 36 million Americans - including 12 million children - were considered "food-insecure" by the U.S. government.

Berg and the panel speaking on the urban food agenda addressed problems with food stamps, school meals and increasing community coordination. The Director of Special Projects for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, Pat Purcell, went straight to the point: "Good food, good jobs and good health are the building blocks of every community."

As winter approaches and the economy continues to slip, the danger is that more people will go hungry. This is certainly a global issue, and the end of world hunger is a constant mission of my Earth Institute colleagues Jeff Sachs, Pedro Sanchez and Cheryl Palm. They are working every day to help stimulate a "green revolution" in African agriculture. Here in the United States, we need no agricultural revolution. There is more than enough food for everyone. It is disgusting and morally repulsive that anyone in this nation should ever go to sleep hungry.

This is the season when those of us who still have a little money in the bank need to think about how much to give to charity. I know we are all considering reducing the gifts we give each other. That makes sense. But let's not be stingy to those in need. As we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this year let's demonstrate our thanks-by continuing our giving. And let's try to remember that all the non-profits and charities we gave to last year will need even more help this holiday season.

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Investing in the Region’s Mass Transit

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS December 1, 2008 | 2:43 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

This summer I wrote about the need for increased public subsidies for mass transit and about the importance of keeping transit fares as low as possible. Due to over borrowing for capital improvements during the AFP/Getty Images +Enlarge Pataki administration and the reduction in revenues from the City's real-estate transfer tax, estimates of the size of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's budget deficit continue to grow. The most recent estimate is for $1.2 billion in red ink next year. The MTA has proposed a "doomsday budget" of massive fare increases and widespread service reductions. They are hoping that the prospect of higher prices for less service will somehow scare the courageous and forward-looking leaders in Albany into action. Midtown New York Times It's like the School Board that threatens to cancel school bus service if they don't MSNBC The New Yorker get their budget passed - a desperate and typically ineffective strategy. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards The one slight hope that something positive may happen is the Governor's More Topics >> Commission on MTA Financing now working to address the MTA's deficit. Appointed by Governor David Patterson and chaired by former MTA chair Richard Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Ravitch, the commission has already started reporting early word of its David Paterson recommendations. The three ideas for generating Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON GEORGE PATAKI >> revenues now making the rounds are: a smaller Dan Rather Investing in the More People >> Region’s Mass fare increase, tolls on the East and Harlem River Transit bridges and a payroll tax of less than half of 1 There's Love for the Sun; Spitzer Calls Jimmy Vielkind Paper 'Spectacular' percent on businesses within the 12 counties Simon Doonan The Accidental served by the MTA. John Koblin Visionary Meredith Bryan Pataki Explains Palin's Readiness Irina Aleksander According to William Neuman reporting in The Eliot Brown Community Organizers Beg to Differ New York Times, the payroll tax would: More Authors >> MORE ON GREEN >> Toward a Clean Energy Future "...be designed to raise $1 billion a year or more. It President Obama has Already On the Town Redefined the Political Center Off the Record would be coupled with the new bridge tolls, which Bringing Green Principles Into the NYTV American Economy would generate about $600 million a year, after NY 3.0 Building a Sustainable Auto Manhattan the cost of maintaining the bridges and collecting Transfers Understanding Public Opinion About Commercial Breaks the Environment the tolls is accounted for." http://www.observer.com/2008/green/investing-region-s-mass-transit

More Columns >> The fare increase, though clearly a political requirement for any additional transit taxes, remains a mistake. While it is true that we are in our current financial mess because everybody is looking to get something for nothing, cheap mass transit makes the city more efficient, productive, environmentally sound and equitable. The MTA's financial troubles were a predictable part of the fantasy financing of transit infrastructure brought to us by the infamous three men in the room of New York State government - George Pataki, Sheldon Silver and Joe Bruno. The government's subsidy for mass transit in New York and its suburbs is too low to meet the system's real needs. Just as Wall Street had its dream world of finance built on ever-inflating housing values, and George Bush funded his multi-trillion dollar war in Iraq with a tax cut, New York State lived beyond its means, and today we must pay the price. If we don't pay the price we will destroy the transit system that was nearly destroyed by the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970's.

Ravitch must have wondered, (as Bob Dylan did in Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again) "what price you have to pay to get out of going through all these things twice." Ravitch led the effort to save the mass transit system once before. It must seem like déjà vu all over again, or perhaps like the famous radio alarm in the movie Groundhog Day (remember that Sonny and Cher tune?). Can't we ever get this right? The Time's Mr Neuman correctly observes that one element of that rebuilding effort was Ravitch's skill at politics and negotiation. Another element was the leadership of Governor Hugh Carey. It turned out that a critical piece of the puzzle from 1975 to 1982 was Carey's ability to forge political consensus and his willingness to take political heat. It has been a long time since we had a governor with the political courage needed to address a crisis. New York State has slowly deteriorated over the past half century from the "Empire State" to two states: a dynamic region in and around New York City, and a declining depression zone just about everywhere else.

One of the key elements of the New York City metro area's dynamism is its mass transit system. Destroy that piece of critical infrastructure and you begin the process of destroying the region's economic well-being. Mass transit is needed because the region is simply too congested to have everyone move around in autos, and it also helps make the region energy efficient and less polluted.

Macroeconomists will point to the danger of raising taxes in an economic downturn. This is generally true. Tolls on East River bridges have been resisted by generations of Brooklynites. It's hard to believe that the same dysfunctional state government that couldn't even take a vote on congestion pricing will have the courage to finally face up to the MTA's true financial crisis. The argument I would make for these taxes is that they are likely to be less expensive than the alternative. The region's businesses need a well-functioning mass transit system to carry workers and customers to them. It will cost more to rebuild the system after it collapses then if we pay the cost needed to maintain it today.

The argument for tolling the bridges is the same as it has always been. If people need to occupy the scarce space on Manhattan's streets with their cars, they should pay for it. If they can't afford the price, there are excellent mass transit options open to them. With modern technology, the MTA could easily offer off-peak and hardship pricing for people who must drive but cannot afford the tolls. In fact, the state should give every car owner in New York City a few free toll passes each year, to make the toll more politically acceptable.

With the imminent release of the Ravitch Commission report, the transit system's http://www.observer.com/2008/green/investing-region-s-mass-transit

financial crisis will reach its carefully designed boiling point. We have the MTA's "doomsday" straw man plan, and with the commission's report we will have the new proposal for a more stable revenue stream for the region's transit. Will we have a government with the talent to meet the challenge?

The early signs look pretty bad. The State Senate cannot get organized and Shelly Silver continues his traditional "rope a dope." While I am hopeful about Governor Patterson, the jury is still out. Then of course, we have MTA CEO Lee Sander, who claims to ride mass transit to work every day but is caught in a hilarious video by John Deutzman on Fox 5 New York climbing into his chauffeured auto on numerous occasions. It really makes you want to invest your increased transit tolls and taxes with this guy, doesn't it? I don't usually go for this type of reporting, but when will our public officials learn that it is really better just to tell the truth?

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A Competently Managed Federal Program to Revive the Economy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS December 8, 2008 | 12:38 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The economy lost 533,000 jobs in November, raising the official US unemployment rate to 6.7%. When you add to that the number of people who have given up their job searches or are working part time when they would rather work full time, our real unemployment rate is Getty Images +Enlarge probably closer to 12.5%. Over the last year the US economy has lost nearly 2 million jobs. This could be the start of a depression, the deepest part of a recession or the mid-point of a bigger, but not catastrophic recession. In my view, government action will determine how Midtown New York Times much worse the situation becomes. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast The shock of the recent employment data comes at a time when government Atlantic Yards More Topics >> continues to debate how to rescue the economy. The Democrats are unhappy about how the $700 billion stimulus package has been deployed. They want homeowners

Rupert Murdoch and the auto industry to receive some benefit from the $350 billion that remains George W. Bush David Paterson unspent. On the other hand, the lame duck Bush administration is focused on Andrew Cuomo using the bailout funds to ensure the survival of the finance industry and increase Ruth Reichl Dan Rather the liquidity of the capital market. The resulting MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> More People >> For Urban Policy, federal stalemate seems to be ending with a Obama Loves New Yorkers short-term loan program for American Jimmy Vielkind Stimulus Politics Is automakers. But as the economy continues to slide, Simon Doonan Fleeting, the 2008 John Koblin Realignment Isn't it is becoming clearer that we need to rescue all of Meredith Bryan What on Earth Does Irina Aleksander Judd Gregg Want? them - the finance industry, automakers and Eliot Brown Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and homeowners - and this will probably require more More Authors >> Maybe a Curse Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. money and more taxpayer debt. Naps

On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> Off the Record Toward a Clean Energy Future Part of the problem, as the Congressional NYTV NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported Redefined the Political Center Manhattan last week, is that the funding for the finance Transfers Bringing Green Principles Into the Commercial Breaks American Economy industry has not been properly supervised. Less http://www.observer.com/2008/green/competently-managed-federal-program-revive-economy

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto seems to be getting lent than Congress intended, Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment and there is a growing fear that the Bush administration is managing the bailout with the same lack of skill that they used in Iraq and after Hurricane Katrina. On December 3, citing the GAO report, New York Times' reporter Diana B Henrique wrote:

"...the Treasury Department still does not have the tools needed to monitor whether the banks that received Treasury investments are keeping their side of the bargain by using the money to expand available credit and address mortgage foreclosures. Nor can it ensure that potential conflicts of interest among its contractors are being adequately disclosed and addressed."

A particular deficiency among the anti-government Bush conservatives who will continue to run the federal government until January 20 is that they never seemed to learn how to operate the complex machinery of the US federal government. They have chased away many of the government's most competent managers, and in this moment of economic crisis can't seem to figure out how to use the $700 billion they have demanded to revive the economy. At first they wanted to buy bad debts and clean the balance sheets of the financial industry. Then they decided to buy shares of the firms instead. At the end of November we heard Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was going to leave half of the fund to the Obama administration, now he is trying to get all of it released and the Democrats are bargaining to include help for homeowners and the auto industry in the $350 billion.

While the Bush administration drew a line in the sand and opposed using the $700 bailout for the auto industry, it signaled flexibility in using the $25 billion in loan guarantees for the development of fuel-efficient cars for the bailout. Initially the Democrats did not want to use the $25 billion authorized as part of last year's energy bill for the auto bailout, but in the past several days, Speaker Pelosi has relented and now agrees to use those funds as long as the Obama administration replaces them when it come into office.

It is easy to see why the public might be confused with all of this. So one way to read the story is to recognize that the wheels are off as long as the economic news keeps worsening. During the presidential campaign, President-elect Obama tried to keep his new spending proposals under control to prevent the deficit from growing. Now, and for the next couple of years, however, the size of the deficit does not matter. The good news is that the Obama team understands the need to ensure that all of this money we are about to spend be tied to performance indicators and financial controls.

On December 6, Obama's website posted this message:

"...we need action - and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.

We won't do it the old Washington way. We won't just throw money at the problem. We'll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve -- by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more http://www.observer.com/2008/green/competently-managed-federal-program-revive-economy

competitive in the world."

Since my actual area of expertise is public management (and certainly not journalism!), I see this last point as particularly critical. We need to use cutting-edge performance-measurement techniques and ensure true accountability as we spend the trillion-plus dollars it will take to revive the economy. This is a tremendous opportunity to invest in the infrastructure that a generation of anti-tax and anti-government politics has allowed to deteriorate. But we need to ensure that every dollar invested pays off. The infrastructure we build must have a multiplier effect on the economy, and we must pick these projects with care. The new infrastructure must also be competently built and maintained. We need to spend money on sophisticated management information and performance management systems, and we must ensure that government contractors are held to strict performance standards.

When we say the government is going to build subways, improve energy efficiency in their buildings and rebuild schools, we don't actually mean that government employees will be doing that work. The work will be done by private firms under contract to the government. This is not like the New Deal's Works Progress Administration or Civilian Conservation Corps - during the Great Depression the government hired people and put them directly to work. The spending now being discussed will provide billions of dollars in contracts to private firms. This will resemble the new business that came to private companies when our nation built its interstate highway system and sewage treatment plants.

We need to make sure these huge capital construction projects are undertaken with a minimum of corruption but with a minimum of bureaucratic delay as well. We need a carefully constructed system of incentives and audits to ensure honest and effective contractor performance. State and local governments throughout the United States know how to do this. The past generation of scarcity has taught them how to squeeze water from a stone. Let's make sure now that the funding spigot has finally opened up that we don't drown in waste, corruption or bureaucracy. There is a tendency during emergencies to allow performance management and accountability systems to be circumvented (the War in Iraq's contracting processes, for example). In this day of low-cost communication and information, this is not necessary. We can have both speed and accountability.

Strategically, as the president-elect and the nation's governor's seemed to indicate last week, we should start with projects now underway that have been stalled for lack of resources. In New York City, the 2nd Avenue Subway, the new Penn Station and a number of other MTA capital projects should be accelerated. I very much like Obama's "use it or lose it" declaration. If New York can't move more quickly than we did at rebuilding Ground Zero, we shouldn't receive any of these federal monies. As we learned during the Clinton administration with the earned income tax credit - a tax break directed to the working poor - the key to economic stimulus is to provide resources to those capable of spending money quickly. The economic crisis presents both great danger and great opportunity. Our newly elected president fully understands this, and that fact gives us reason to be hopeful.

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The Greening of Film Making: From Coast to Coast

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS December 10, 2008 | 2:36 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

While New York often looks to California for innovative, environmental ideas, the movie-making business that is centered in Southern California is not known for being frugal or conscious of resource constraints. The creative process dominates, and entertainment is known for excess. "A lot of waste flickr via wwward0 +Enlarge takes place on production sites," said Zahava Stroud, President and Co-Founder of iHollywood Forum, an industry group working to motivate the public to act more sustainably. The forum Midtown New York Times recently hosted Hollywood Goes Green, a conference to examine environmental MSNBC The New Yorker issues facing the entertainment industry. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards More Topics >> In this tough economic climate, the event was marketed as a way for senior media executives to operate with greater efficiency - and lower costs. That involves

Rupert Murdoch collaboration between business operations and technological solutions, such George W. Bush David Paterson energy-saving server farms, video conferencing, which many companies are Andrew Cuomo offering as an alternative to travel, and the use of electric cars or trucks that run on Ruth Reichl Dan Rather biodiesel, Stroud said. MORE ON GREEN >> More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already According to the Southern California Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind Environmental Report Card, a 2006 reported Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin prepared by UCLA's Institute of the Environment, Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About California's film and television industry accounts Eliot Brown the Environment for roughly 8.4 million metric tons of More Authors >> carbon-dioxide equivalent, and its greenhouse gas emissions in Los Angeles are higher than the apparel, hotel and semiconductor sectors. Of course, Los Angeles is On the Town Off the Record home to Hollywood, but the industry still relies heavily on transportation and NYTV NY 3.0 energy consumption in its global operations. Manhattan Transfers Commercial Breaks After Al Gore released his global warming thriller An Inconvenient Truth, going http://www.observer.com/2008/green/greening-film-making-coast-coast

More Columns >> green became the fashion for the stars in front of the camera, but Hollywood's behind the scenes players have been slower to embrace sustainability. One notable change occurred with the production of The Day After Tomorrow, a film about abrupt climate changes associated with global warming. As a promise not to contribute to that phenomenon, the director paid $200,000 to offset the carbon dioxide emissions created by the film's production.

Today's frugal industry figures may be less likely to fork over large sums of cash for environmentalism, so this year's iHollywood summit tackled innovative, cost-effective ways the industry can reduce waste during and after film production. "Everybody wants to save money in this climate," Stroud said, noting that people are less willing to invest in new, innovative technology when facing economic constraints. The goal is to promote the "tried and true" benefits that come with using environmentally friendly technology.

Central to that mission are "process" improvements during film development, production and distribution. According to Lauren Selman, chief executive of Reel Green Media, a consultant that helps movie and television sets operate more ecologically, studio lots have become more green, but fuel and energy consumption and waste generation on site are still issues that need tackling. Food is also central to the issue of excess, and iHollywood currently is working with the Los Angeles Food Bank to get leftover food out to the homeless rather than send it to landfills. "Hollywood is known for its waste and extravagance, and we're trying to change that image," Stroud said.

Also at work is the Environmental Media Association, whose members include Ed Begley Jr., Darryl Hannah, Norman Lear and Lara Dern. Leonardo DiCaprio, whose new eco-friendly apartment at RiverHouse on the Hudson has gold LEED-certification, is a board member of national environmental organization Global Green and currently is producing the Discovery Channel series Eco-Town.

"We believe that Hollywood can use its influence to raise environmental awareness, activate consumers to protect the environment, and incorporate eco-friendly practices in our daily operations," Beth Colleton, vice president of NBC Universal's "Green Is Universal" initiative, said in the run-up to the iHollywood event. Films and shows can include environmental messages, she noted, but people outside the industry also can create and deliver "green" messages through My Space and You Tube.

On the east coast, New York too has taken steps to promote eco-friendly entertainment. In mid-November Mayor Bloomberg teamed up with Green is Universal President Lauren Zalaznick for a "Green Screens" electronics recycling drive. Zalaznick explained her company's commitment to green entertainment in a press release from the Mayor's Office: "Green Screens is yet one more example of New York City's continued commitment to becoming an even more sustainable City. We encourage New Yorkers to take the opportunity to learn more about the simple steps they can take everyday to live a greener lifestyle." Green is Universal aims to bring an environmental perspective to its networks, platforms and audiences by spreading information about how viewers can "green" their lifestyles. The New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting also provides environmentally friendly information on how New York City productions can save on energy and production costs. http://www.observer.com/2008/green/greening-film-making-coast-coast

The media can improve its business and profit performance by reducing waste. However, the obvious and more important impact of the media is as a role model. People pay attention to what celebrities do and the cause of environmental sustainability benefits from the free media that famous people generate. The greening of the film industry legitimizes the sustainability issue and makes it more mainstream. When the average person sees that "important" and "famous" people care about something, they start to wonder if they should care too. Some of our more thoughtful film stars understand the impact of their fame and are eager to use that impact to do good.

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Energy Efficiency and Public Policy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS December 15, 2008 | 11:27 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In early December I moderated a panel discussion at Columbia University titled "Energy Efficiency: What Really Works." The panel featured five terrific experts on this issue: Bridgett Neely, Vice President of Energy Efficiency at New York City's Economic Development Corporation; Lloyd Kass, Director of the Energy Department at the New York City Housing Authority; Jay Bhalla, President of Willdan Energy Corporation (aka, Intergy); Luke Falk, Project Manager for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's (NYSERDA) New York City office; and Peter Meloro, Section Manager of the Energy Efficiency Programs Department at Con Ed. Columbia graduate student, Sara Schonhardt, a research assistant at Columbia's Earth Institute, summarized the discussion on the Institute's website.

While it is true we will not solve the energy or climate crisis by efficiency alone, it is equally true that our wasteful and almost mindless use of energy is part of the problem. These experts made a number of practical points about how to make Midtown better use of energy: New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast Willdan Energy Corporation's Jay Bhalla focused on Atlantic Yards More Topics >> the energy wasted in computer data centers. Bhalla and his colleagues currently are working with Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson NYSERDA to help make Mt Sinai Hospital's data Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> centers more efficient. Bhalla also Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future More People >> President Obama has Already mentioned that hotels in Europe Redefined the Political Center

Bringing Green Principles Into the Jimmy Vielkind American Economy and Asia routinely shut off room Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About lights and wondered why US Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown hotels did not do the same. More Authors >> After telling us that his parents home in Florida uses

On the Town more electricity in one day than he uses in his NYC Off the Record NYTV NY 3.0 apartment in one month, NYSERDA's Luke Falk Manhattan Transfers observed that the "Smart Cable" box that allows you Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2008/green/energy-efficiency-and-public-policy

More Columns >> to record TV when you are not at home, uses as much energy as your refrigerator. Lloyd Kass discussed the incredible inefficiency of old hot water heaters and noted how important capital improvements can be to increasing the energy efficiency of older buildings. Bridgett Neely discussed the difficulty of controlling energy use when the people who use a building do not see their energy costs charged directly and instead find them reflected alongside many other costs in their lease. Peter Molero focused on the potential savings from more efficient light bulbs.

It was an interesting discussion, and reflecting on it, I was struck by the combination of factors that cause us to waste energy. Some of the causes of energy waste are technological - many of the tools of modern life require energy. Some are economic - we know that if we could afford to buy insulated windows, new air conditioners or more efficient water heaters, we could save money in the long run. In today's financial crisis, we don't have the capital to invest in saving energy. If we had the capital, the return from that investment might not be as favorable as other investments. Some of the causes of energy waste are simply habit. We are so used to limitless, cheap energy that we can't be bothered to be efficient.

Our goal should be to use less and less energy per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP). By definition, increased efficiency will increase our standard of living. Our other energy goals must be to reduce the cost and environmental impact of energy use.

To achieve all of these goals, we need to use public policy to motivate and inspire socially beneficial private behavior. The tax code can be used to make it easier and more profitable to invest capital in energy efficient technologies and infrastructure. The government must fund the basic science and applied engineering needed to improve energy efficiency and renewable energy. As both Barack Obama and Mike Bloomberg have indicated, government must directly provide leadership by improving the performance of its own buildings and vehicles.

We know this can work. Public policy can influence private behavior. Take the example of mass transit in New York City. Twenty years of investment in the city's mass transit system has resulted in people substituting mass transit for the automobile. As William Neuman reported recently in the New York Times, "New York City grew, but traffic didn't." According to Neuman:

"As the city's economy soared and its population grew from 2003 through 2007, something unusual was happening on the streets and in the subway tunnels. All those tens of thousands of new jobs and residents meant that more people were moving around the city, going to work, going shopping, visiting friends. And yet, according to a new city study, the volume of traffic on the streets and highways http://www.observer.com/2008/green/energy-efficiency-and-public-policy

remained largely unchanged, in fact declining slightly. Instead, virtually the entire increase in New Yorkers' means of transportation during those robust years occurred in mass transit, with a surge in subway, bus and commuter rail riders."

This growth was a direct result of public investment and a policy of encouraging the use of mass transit. Now we are in danger of reversing that progress. Raising fares and disinvesting in mass transit will increase auto traffic once the economy rebounds.

The severe recession we are now dealing with poses real challenges to the leaders of our government and of all of our major public, private and non-profit institutions. Already pressure is building to view capital investment in energy efficiency as a luxury. It is not - it is a necessity. Some of the practices we need to adopt come at little or no cost: Turning off a light switch or shutting down a computer or a cable box is cost free. But many of the steps we need to take will cost money - even if those steps will save money in the long run. This is the moment when we will learn if America is capable of taking the long view and doing what is right, even if it is not easy. This is the moment when we will learn if our new leaders in Washington will live up to their promise and fulfill their "green" promises.

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Food and the Holidays: Feast and Famine

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS December 19, 2008 | 4:42 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As President-Elect Obama focuses his transition team on a green stimulus plan, here in New York, Governor Patterson is also proposing public policies that serve multiple purposes. While in Washington, they are able to print money and run a deficit, at the state and local level we have to pay as we go. In Washington they make plans to spend money, in New York we need to make plans to raise Flickr via Andrea Fregnani +Enlarge new funds. Patterson has Midtown New York Times combined a proposal to generate revenue with a public policy designed to reduce MSNBC The New Yorker obesity. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards In some ways, Patterson is following the lead of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: More Topics >> Mayor Bloomberg has pledged to make New York City a healthier place to live. That campaign promise started with controls on smoking and moved to a battle Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush against calories, trans-fat and sodium levels in packaged food. Now Governor David Paterson Paterson has proposed an 18 percent "obesity tax" Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> that would apply to all non-diet sodas and fruit Dan Rather For Urban Policy, More People >> Obama Loves New juices in an effort to raise money for state health Yorkers programs. Stimulus Politics Is Fleeting, the 2008 Jimmy Vielkind Realignment Isn't Simon Doonan According to official projections, the tax would What on Earth Does John Koblin Judd Gregg Want? raise $404 million in its first fiscal year starting in Meredith Bryan Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and Irina Aleksander Maybe a Curse April, but Paterson says ultimately the tax is more Eliot Brown Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. health related. At first glance it fits in well with More Authors >> Naps

MORE ON GREEN >> Mayor Bloomberg's attempts to make healthier

On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future food more available and more affordable for people Off the Record President Obama has Already living in New York City's low-income NYTV Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 Bringing Green Principles Into the neighborhoods. Manhattan American Economy Transfers Building a Sustainable Auto Commercial Breaks Many people in Harlem, the South Bronx and Understanding Public Opinion About http://www.observer.com/2008/green/food-and-holidays-feast-and-famine

More Columns >> the Environment Central Brooklyn buy their food at bodegas, where healthy choices are often unavailable. Only one in four bodegas in East Harlem sells apples, oranges, and bananas, while leafy green vegetables are available in only four percent of East Harlem bodegas and two percent of Central Harlem stores, according to a 2004 community health survey by the New York City Health Department. About 20% of New Yorkers in these neighborhoods reported that they ate no fruits or vegetables the previous day.

To improve access to healthier food and stem diet-related epidemics such as diabetes and obesity, the Bloomberg administration in 2006 launched a healthy bodegas initiative to make fruits, vegetables and low-fat milk more available in Harlem, the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn.

The challenge, however, is not just about making good food accessible, but about getting people to eat healthy food once it is available to them. Too often healthy optionsStay areup-to-date priced above with what average people can afford. It's also true that people don'tObserver.com always know what Newsletters! to eat and often need information on the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables eat correctly. "We need to provide support to families making Print Edition Every Wednesday difficultThe choices New York between Observer's paying print editiontheir bills and putting food on the table," said Ben before it hits newsstands. Thomases, New York City's Food Policy Coordinator. "It is not enough to give them calories. We need to give them balanced nutrition." As convener of the Food Policy News Monday through Friday Taskforce,Politics, Thomases Media, and coordinates Real Estate stories, the efforts of City agencies to improve access to plus online-exclusive Green news and New healthyYork food. sports analysis.

One such Culture+Style initiative is theMonday United through Food Friday and Commercial Worker's Union's Building Blocks Movies,Project, TV, which Books, works and Theater with newsfood, and health and nutritional advocates, as well as reviews, NYC restaurant and bar recs, and UnionsFashion and supermarket advice and industry owners coverage. to ensure that good food, good jobs and good health are the basic building blocks of all communities. Patrick Purcell, Director of Special Free Projects, Reels observes that rising foodVaries prices aren't the only problem facing Free tickets to private screenings of new New York'smovies low-income before they open communities: to the public. "We simply don't put enough emphasis on

peopleEnter being Email able Address to have good wages to buy food."

Will a tax be enough of a disincentive to get people to stop chugging back empty calories or consuming too much sugar? According to the Building Blocks Project's Food Policy Principles, "Healthy communities require a variety of purchasing options including: farmers markets, community gardens, urban agriculture, food co-ops and supermarkets. These entities must work together with city and state officials to ensure a balanced range of food sources."

Even if money from the tax is put toward health programs, New Yorkers still face constraints in actually purchasing food. And that raises another critical issue- hunger, a topic we will discuss in an upcoming post. While eating the wrong food is certainly a problem, having no food to eat is a much worse problem. As many of us gather for holiday feasts and try to control our diets, let's remember to think about the more than one billion people around the world who do not have enough to eat. Hunger is a fact of life throughout the world, and its presence is a great sadness and a moral outrage. The moral horror of hunger in the United States is compounded by both the waste of food and overconsumption so typical of the American lifestyle. This is a holiday season that is notable for a growing sense of fear and insecurity. Still, those of us with full refrigerators and warm homes need to remember those without and open our hearts and wallets to them.

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Priming the Economic Pump in 2009: A Users Manual

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS December 26, 2008 | 10:54 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As 2008 comes to a close, it really has been the best and worst of years. The economy, the continuing carnage in Iraq, the persistence of extreme poverty and the steady destruction of the planet are certainly on the negative side of the annual ledger. But, as we look toward 2009 there is reason to be hopeful. At the center of this hope, perhaps already looming larger than life, is our soon to be President Flickr via Nrbelex +Enlarge Midtown New York Times Barak Obama. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast In 2008, the issue of global sustainability achieved a permanent place on the Atlantic Yards American public policy agenda. Moreover, it looks like the economic revival that is More Topics >> being planned by the new Administration will focus on green initiatives. There are a number of factors that must be considered as we design this economic stimulus. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Tom Friedman hit some of the key points in one of his typically on-target pieces in David Paterson Andrew Cuomo the New York Times: Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> "...we don't just need a bailout. We need a reboot... More People >> For Urban Policy, But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, Obama Loves New Yorkers which we're borrowing from our kids' future, is Jimmy Vielkind Stimulus Politics Is Simon Doonan Fleeting, the 2008 spent wisely. It has to go into training teachers, Realignment Isn't John Koblin educating scientists and engineers, paying for Meredith Bryan What on Earth Does Irina Aleksander Judd Gregg Want? research and building the most Eliot Brown Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and productivity-enhancing infrastructure - without More Authors >> Maybe a Curse Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. building white elephants. Generally, I'd like to see Naps

On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> fewer government dollars shoveled out and more Off the Record Toward a Clean Energy Future creative tax incentives to stimulate the private NYTV NY 3.0 President Obama has Already sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. Redefined the Political Center Manhattan Transfers Bringing Green Principles Into the If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will Commercial Breaks American Economy http://www.observer.com/2008/green/priming-economic-pump-2009-users-manual

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto be the end of us." Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment However, as my friend, former Professor and former boss Dr. Marc Tipermas observed to me recently, there is another danger that we will need to pay attention to: With state tax receipts in free fall due to the shrinking economy, there is a real danger that the infrastructure grants being promised might end up simply being grabbed by state governments to close their deficits. Both California and New York are facing huge fiscal crises. Both are calling for a federal bailout. On December 22, a letter was sent to the Congressional leadership from the United States Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, National Association of Regional Councils, National Association of Development Organizations, American Planning Association and the American Public Works Association stating:

"On behalf of the nation's local elected officials, we are writing to express our support for economic recovery highway funding to flow quickly and directly to existing recipients: state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations. This is accomplished by directing funds to the Surface Transportation Program (STP)."

The letter to Congress then gets to the heart of the issue:

"Our recommendation does not take funding away from the states. Using STP means that, in addition to a guaranteed share of STP funds reserved for states, local areas also receive a share of funds. This guarantees accountability given current requirements set forth in the federal law. Without STP allocation, metro areas and rural communities have no assurances that they will actually get any funds"

There are four great dangers to the trillion dollar federal stimulus package that we will certainly see early in 2009:

It could be spent on the wrong projects as Tom Friedman fears. It could end up being spent to close budget gaps at the state level, and doesn't get used to stimulate the economy at all. In our haste to get this money into the economy financial controls will be sacrificed and large amounts of money will be stolen or misused. (We saw this with the no-bid contracts during the early days of the War in Iraq.) All of the above-- resulting in a huge, inefficient program that not only fails to stimulate the economy, but actually hastens our decline.

Despite the dangers that I see, I think that a well designed stimulus package could http://www.observer.com/2008/green/priming-economic-pump-2009-users-manual

actually help bring the United States economy back on track. The fact is, we have under-invested in public goods, over-consumed private goods and failed to save the capital needed to invest in the future. A generation of anti-government and anti-tax rhetoric, matched with our blind love affair with free and un-policed markets has landed us in the current economic crisis. The way out of this mess stretches before us, but it is complicated and could easily be disrupted by greed, corruption, narrow politics and idiotic ideology.

The key to an effective stimulus is that the money must get into the economy as soon as possible. It must be spent quickly on projects that are already underway. While roads are not typically thought of as "green projects", they are in need of constant repair and many repair projects are being held up due to inadequate funding. They can help stimulate the economy by re-building our roads and bridges. This will create construction jobs now and make our economy more efficient by moving people and goods more effectively on our roads. In order to restore the economy quickly some of the projects must be those that can be ramped up as quickly as possible, not necessarily those that deliver the most sustainable result per dollar invested. The Act does allow for funds to be spent on mass transit and bus terminal projects and interestingly, the most recent revisions to the Surface Transportation Program allow the funds to be used for: "Environmental restoration and pollution abatement... [and] control of terrestrial and aquatic noxious weeds and establishment of native species" related to transportation projects. If state and local governments have these environmental restoration projects ready to go, then they should be funded first.

In New York City, some of these transportation funds could be spent on accelerating the rate of construction on the 2nd Avenue Subway and buying new busses, trains and subway cars to increase the quantity and quality of our mass transit. The Moynihan Station project rebuilding Penn Station is also a worthy project. New York could also use federal money to rebuild and restore some of our roads and bridges.

While some major infrastructure projects will develop too slowly to stimulate the economy, we will need to find a way to finance longer term projects in the future. Airports, intra-city bullet trains, water and power distribution and modern secure ports are among the long term projects that should be funded. Perhaps a carbon tax or at a minimum a larger gasoline tax could be used to fund longer term projects. I know that polling always shows gasoline taxes to be wildly unpopular, but in about 18 months when we wake up and start looking at the deficit numbers we are generating, we will need new revenues and a gasoline tax ought to be part of the mix.

As an educator, I tend to think of education funding as a type of expenditure that brings multiple, long-term pay off. While I'm sure some of my view is simply self-interested lobbying, there is a strong case to be made for funding education and research in science and technology. One of my jobs at Columbia University is that I serve as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Earth Institute. The Earth Institute is a university-wide organization at Columbia that brings together scholars, students and practitioners of sustainability from public policy, engineering, environmental science, ecology, public health, law, education and a variety of other fields. We employ over 600 people directly and work with close to 1,000 scholars and at least as many students. Most of the environmental scientists working at the Earth Institute work at our Lamont-Doherty campus, located 30 miles north of the city in Palisades, New York. To keep their labs http://www.observer.com/2008/green/priming-economic-pump-2009-users-manual

functioning, many of these scientists are in a constant competition for government and private grants to support their work.

The process of competing for science grants is a good one, requiring that our scholars submit their ideas to their peers for review and comment. However, in recent years the amount of funding for science has not kept up with needs. The problem with this funding process is that our scientists are spending more and more time writing proposals and less and less time in their laboratories. By increasing the amount of funds we spend on scientific research, we can continue the peer review process, but restore the balance between time spent on fundraising and time spent on research.

I think that one way to quickly spend "pump priming" money would be for the federal government to rapidly increase funds for basic and applied research and student scholarships in sustainability science, management and engineering. There are a range of issues that we need to learn more about: Solar cells and batteries, more efficient energy transmission and use, solid and toxic waste management and clean-up, food production, water supply and sewage treatment. The list could go on, but this is an opportunity to steer higher education in the direction of sustainability studies.

The financial crisis creates an opportunity to reshape the way we do business. While the priority must be to avoid a deeper recession and restore confidence in the future, we should be smart enough to do this in a way that takes the first steps toward a more sustainable American economy. While we look to the new team in Washington for leadership, resources and hope, let's also look closer to home for innovation, inspiration and teamwork. Yes we can...

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In Support of the Obama Stimulus Plan

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS January 9, 2009 | 1:35 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The Administration's stimulus plan is now available for review and I urge you to read it yourself and not simply listen to media-tilted or politically biased views of the plan. You can find it at:

Getty Images +Enlarge

Midtown http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/ . All the predictable New York Times MSNBC ideological voices in Congress and the media have started to weigh in with their The New Yorker short sighted and narrow views of what needs to happen. Some of this is not about Conde Nast Atlantic Yards saving the economy, but is designed to reduce the new President's political clout More Topics >> before he even takes office. It's amazing. The house is burning down and these folks are fighting over the size of the hose we need to put out the fire. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson For the stimulus to work it has to be decisive, dramatic, coherent and quick. The Andrew Cuomo psychology of recovery is that people have to Ruth Reichl MORE ON GREEN >> Dan Rather Toward a Clean Energy Future believe that if they don't jump back into the More People >> President Obama has Already economy, it could take off without them. An Redefined the Political Center Bringing Green Principles Into the incremental, slowly releasing, partial and Jimmy Vielkind American Economy incoherent stimulus won't stimulate. Ask Secretary Simon Doonan Building a Sustainable Auto John Koblin Understanding Public Opinion About Paulson- he's managed to spend $350 billion and Meredith Bryan the Environment Irina Aleksander his biggest accomplishment has been to avoid a Eliot Brown complete collapse. More Authors >>

In Friday's New York Times, Peter Baker and David N. Herszenhorn wrote On the Town that: Off the Record NYTV NY 3.0 "...the broad support he [Obama] has enjoyed so far for the basic concept is now Manhattan Transfers being tested as the specifics become clearer. While conservatives criticize the high Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/green/support-obama-stimulus-plan

More Columns >> spending, and moderate Democrats express concern about the swelling deficit, liberals are pushing for even more money devoted to social programs, alternative-energy development and road, bridge and school construction."

In case no one's noticed, this is a national emergency and no time to roll out the usual suspects. The economy is suffering a deep crisis of confidence and it is going to take a lot of cash in a hurry to get it moving again. While no one will agree with every element of the plan, and some may say it's too little, too expensive or not fair enough-come on folks! Let's get this show on the road. Try this, and then adjust it once we see what's working.

The plan has a number of important provisions, and should be read in full, but let me note the plan's elements that are squarely on the sustainability agenda:

"Save one million jobs through immediate investments to rebuild America's roads and bridges and repair our schools: ...make $25 billion immediately available in a Jobs and Growth Fund to help ensure that in-progress and fast-tracked infrastructure projects are not sidelined, and to ensure that schools can meet their energy costs and undertake key repairs starting this fall. Partner with America's automakers to help save jobs and ensure that the next generation of clean vehicles is built in the United States: ... [provide]$50 billion in loan guarantees to help the auto industry retool, develop new battery technologies and produce the next generation of fuel efficient cars here in America. Invest in our next generation innovators and job creators: ...create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies. . Double funding for the manufacturing extension partnership: ... [work] with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. Invest in a clean energy economy and create 5 million new green jobs: ... invest $150 billion http://www.observer.com/2009/green/support-obama-stimulus-plan

over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. Create new job training programs for clean technologies: ... increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable, high-paying jobs. Boost the renewable energy sector and create new jobs: ...create new federal policies, and expand existing ones, that have been proven to create new American jobs. ...create a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that will require 25 percent of American electricity be derived from renewable sources by 2025, which has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs ...extend the Production Tax Credit, a credit used successfully by American farmers and investors to increase renewable http://www.observer.com/2009/green/support-obama-stimulus-plan

energy production and create new local jobs. Create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank: ...creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will directly and indirectly create up to two million new jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity. .Invest in the sciences: ...doubling federal funding for basic research and changing the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology. Make the Research and Development Tax Credit permanent: ...make the Research and Development tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes."

If enacted, the impact of this plan could be transformative. For the past decade, the innovation, energy and momentum of the emerging green economy has been thwarted by an Administration dominated by the interests of the oil business and the now discredited financial industry. Environmental sustainability was a public relations catch phrase rather than an expression of the nation's core economic strategy. If these proposed programs are made law and effectively managed, they could stimulate unprecedented creativity and investment in a green economy.

If the economy wasn't in free fall there would be time to fine tune these programs and start them gradually. Unfortunately, we are in a crisis. Congress needs to get moving with the same sense of urgency we feel outside the beltway. The new http://www.observer.com/2009/green/support-obama-stimulus-plan

Administration needs our support, and our economy needs a strong dose of adrenalin in a hurry. Come on Congress, show a little leadership and enact this stimulus package right away-if not sooner.

This crisis is both a test and an opportunity. Can we respond to a crisis of confidence that is still gathering momentum? A weak economy will harm the people at the bottom of the economic ladder. It will make it more difficult for young people to begin their careers and will cause retirees to suffer as their life savings evaporate. On the other hand, it also gives us a chance to steer the investment we are about to make, toward a more sustainable economy. The risk and the opportunity are both great. Our new President has clearly articulated his understanding of this crisis- and the potential opportunity it presents. It's time for Congress to step up and do the same.

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Miracle on the Hudson: How About a Miracle on the Potomac Too?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS January 16, 2009 | 4:56 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In this season of hope and frigid fear, the other day on the Hudson River we saw another reason for optimism. When faced with imminent danger, we saw the best in what we all can do together. A jetliner is in trouble and the pilot skillfully steers away from the most populated strip Getty Images +Enlarge of land in America, and brings his passengers and crew to safety. Ferry captains, firefighters, police, the Coast Guard and many others head toward danger to save people. Ordinary people on the jet and on the ferries lend a helping hand and no one dies. Midtown New York Times MSNBC Let's hope this is a metaphor for our country and our world. Working together, we The New Yorker Conde Nast can help each other and survive this season to live and thrive in the next one. Atlantic Yards Spring will surely follow this bleak winter. Let's celebrate the competence and More Topics >> courage of pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III, a name we will all come to know: The captain who truly was the last to leave his sinking craft. But let's also celebrate this Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush post 9-11 mantra that tells us we are all in this together. We are all interdependent David Paterson Andrew Cuomo and all part of the same community. As ecologist Barry Commoner said over four Ruth Reichl decades ago- everything is connected to everything Dan Rather MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> More People >> else. For Urban Policy, Obama Loves New Yorkers What does that mean? Next week we inaugurate a Jimmy Vielkind Stimulus Politics Is Simon Doonan Fleeting, the 2008 new President, who is as sophisticated and self Realignment Isn't John Koblin aware as any President we have ever had. I don't Meredith Bryan What on Earth Does Irina Aleksander Judd Gregg Want? think it's wishful thinking to believe that he Eliot Brown Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and understands both the peril in the modern world More Authors >> Maybe a Curse Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. and the opportunities that abound. We need to Naps

On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> turn this big boat around and become a force for Off the Record Toward a Clean Energy Future good on this planet. I recognize that we have NYTV NY 3.0 President Obama has Already enemies throughout the world, but bombing them Redefined the Political Center Manhattan Transfers Bringing Green Principles Into the into submission does not really make them submit. Commercial Breaks American Economy http://www.observer.com/2009/green/miracle-hudson-how-about-miracle-potomac-too

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto It simply makes them hate us more. Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment We need to change the rules of the game. Perhaps our competition with China is a good example. In the days when we called mainland China "Red China", we imagined they would use force to push the rest of Asia into their orbit. Instead, they learned to exercise power through economic rather than military strength. They never invaded San Francisco, but they manufacture a lot of the stuff we use and we owe them a small fortune.

A great political scientist, E.E. Schattschneider once wrote about what he called the "contagiousness of conflict". In his classic book, The Semisovereign People, he starts with a story that summarizes his main point: It is 1943 and there is a fight in a Harlem Hotel lobby between an African American soldier and a white policeman. Before long crowds are assembling at the hotel, the hospital and police station, millions of dollars of damage takes place and hundreds are injured. The cop and the solider had nothing to do with the riot, but it spread without reason. Conflict spreads due to unreasoned emotion. However, the contagiousness of conflict can also be part of someone's explicit strategy. We see this in a typical barroom brawl. One guy is pummeling another. A crowd is drawn by the fight and the guy losing starts to implore the crowd to help him. The bystanders get involved and the loser stops losing. When you are losing a fight, a typical strategy is to expand the scope of conflict and try to change the rules of the game. As Schattschneider wrote: "The outcome of every conflict is determined by the extent to which the audience becomes involved in it. That is, the outcome of all conflict is determined by the scope of its contagion." (p.2) However, as modern terrorism has taught us, it is not simply a case of expanding the scope of conflict, but changing the rules of the game.

In the modern version of Schattschneider's fist fight in Harlem, the guy losing doesn't just scream for help, he takes out a mobile rocket launcher and sends a missile into the other guy's apartment. Or even worse, if that's possible, the loser is so desperate and demented that he sends a child to a public place with a bomb in his backpack. This is the unavoidable and even unspeakable peril of the modern world. The terrorists try to change the rules of competition in more destructive directions and we need to be smart enough to change the rules in a different direction. A descending spiral of violence makes us all losers. An ascending path of sustainable commerce makes us all winners.

It can be done. We see the beauty of the response to the jet liner that landed on the Hudson. We see election evening in Grant Park Chicago and all over America. We see the possibility of situations where everyone wins. That is the nature of peace. All of us share a common humanity. As John Kennedy once said, "our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal."

The most common human need is to live in a community, free from want, secure to relate to family and friends. The 20th and 21st centuries have seen many wars fought over issues of power and competing views of god and ethics. The technology of destruction has advanced more rapidly than the technology of defense. For that reason the key to our survival is to move this competition to other arenas. We know that this will not be easy, since the losers will always try to change the rules of the game. The lesson is to not let losers stay lost. The losers in World War II, are major winners today. Japan, Germany and Italy are wealthy, peaceful societies.

Our new President and his team must learn to pilot like Chesley B. Sullenberger III http://www.observer.com/2009/green/miracle-hudson-how-about-miracle-potomac-too

and his crew. We need a safe landing where everyone wins. It's true that the winter wind is howling outside and we live in a frightening moment; but watching that miracle on the Hudson was inspiring. How about a miracle on the Potomac too?

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The Pageant of Democracy Continues

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS January 21, 2009 | 10:21 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Inauguration day, 2009 was a thrilling affirmation of the United States and the most hopeful day I can remember. The American President is both our head of government and our head of state. He is both prime minister and king. And before about two million people, and millions more on Getty Images +Enlarge TV and the web, President Barack Obama, again demonstrated the talent to masterfully fulfill both of these roles.

From my perspective it was a wonderful speech. I felt the entire country exhale Midtown and breathe a sigh of relief. Here was a voice that over these past two years many New York Times MSNBC of us had come to count on; possessed by a man with near perfect political pitch. The New Yorker Conde Nast The main message was responsibility and stewardship. He called on all of us to Atlantic Yards leave behind the childish pettiness of partisan politics and remember that we are a More Topics >> unique community, formed from every part of the planet. As technology shrinks the size of our world and creates a global, interconnected economy and society, he Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush noted that America's diversity got us there first and we have a responsibility to David Paterson lead. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> Dan Rather For Urban Policy, Of course as in any piece of great pubic oratory More People >> Obama Loves New Yorkers there was something for everyone. For me, he said: Stimulus Politics Is Fleeting, the 2008 Jimmy Vielkind Realignment Isn't Simon Doonan "...each day brings further What on Earth Does John Koblin Judd Gregg Want? Meredith Bryan Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and evidence that the ways we use Irina Aleksander Maybe a Curse Eliot Brown Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. energy strengthen our More Authors >> Naps MORE ON GREEN >> adversaries and threaten our On the Town Toward a Clean Energy Future Off the Record President Obama has Already planet. NYTV Redefined the Political Center NY 3.0 Bringing Green Principles Into the Manhattan American Economy "Our capacity remains Transfers Building a Sustainable Auto Commercial Breaks Understanding Public Opinion About http://www.observer.com/2009/green/pageant-democracy-continues

the Environment More Columns >> undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." "We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do." "What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works"

And finally:

"We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

I was not the only one thrilled by President Obama's message, I heard http://www.observer.com/2009/green/pageant-democracy-continues

Conservative pundit, Pat Buchanan, laud our new President in his call for a return to: "...those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths."

Our new President makes you want to help him and wish him well. I have never seen anything like the flood of support and good will that he has enjoyed these last few days. It was amazing to see and could not be better timed.

Of course inauguration day is more than words, it is also symbols. The most important of these symbols is the peaceful transfer of power represented by past Presidents and Vice Presidents joining together and the great tradition of the outgoing President seated on the podium with the new President. The size of the crowd on the Capital mall and at viewing parties from coast to coast was a thrilling final act of this great pageant of democracy. On the Columbia campus, our President, Lee Bollinger hosted thousands of students, faculty and neighbors in an outdoor viewing of the ceremonies.

To inaugurate is to begin. It is more than a little scary to think of the challenges we face. The sustainability of this fragile blue island in the vacuum of space, the violence of the Mideast, the dire poverty in Africa and the economic crisis here at home. The inauguration of this President was an event of enormous affirmation and, one of unity and inclusion. President Obama referred to his own story and as he often does, used it to demonstrate how much is possible here in America. In concluding he observed that assuming the Presidency was "a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant". This is the promise and potential of America. While watching the ceremony and listening to Aretha sing at the start and Dr. King's colleague Rev. Joseph E. Lowery's benediction at the ceremony's end, I felt like I was dreaming- or watching an improbably sentimental and sappy movie.

But it all was real. Each of us now, in our own way must now participate in the great national renewal that President Obama spoke of on the Capital steps. January 20th was a very moving day that we will need to remember and draw on during the difficult days that are surely ahead.

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Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS January 25, 2009 | 10:51 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On January 22, a piece in the New York Times discussed public opinion data on the environment and global warming and noted that support for protecting the environment was slipping in U.S. public opinion polls. According to Andrew C. Revkin:

"The latest in an annual series Flickr via Tony the Misfit +Enlarge of polls from the Pew Research Center on people's top priorities for their elected leaders shows that Midtown America and President Obama are completely out of sync on human-caused global New York Times MSNBC warming.... According to the survey of 1,503 adults, global warming, on its own, The New Yorker Conde Nast ranks last out of 20 surveyed issues. Here's the list from top to bottom, with the Atlantic Yards economy listed as a top priority by 85 percent of those polled and global warming More Topics >> 30 percent: the economy, jobs, terrorism, Social Security, education, energy, Medicare, health care, deficit reduction, health insurance, Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush helping the poor, crime, moral decline, military, tax cuts, David Paterson Andrew Cuomo environment, immigration, lobbyists, trade policy, global warming. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON STYLE >> On January 22, a piece in the New York Times More People >> Rrrowl! Beware Cougar's Young discussed public opinion data on the environment Niece, the Cheetah

Who Knew Del Posto, Purveyor of and global warming and noted that support for Jimmy Vielkind Lardo, Was So Eco? Simon Doonan protecting the environment was slipping in U.S. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood: Painter John Koblin Wows Speyer, Elton, Horts public opinion polls. According to Andrew C. Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Holiday Rift Guide Revkin: Eliot Brown Hedge-Fund Shaker Settles With Old-School Movers More Authors >> "The latest in an annual series of polls from the Pew Research Center on people's top priorities for their elected leaders shows On the Town Off the Record that America and President Obama are completely out of sync on human-caused NYTV global warming.... According to the survey of 1,503 adults, global warming, on its NY 3.0 Manhattan own, ranks last out of 20 surveyed issues. Here's the list from top to bottom, Transfers Commercial Breaks with the economy listed as a top priority by 85 percent of those polled and global http://www.observer.com/2009/style/understanding-public-opinion-about-environment

More Columns >> warming 30 percent: the economy, jobs, terrorism, Social Security, education, energy, Medicare, health care, deficit reduction, health insurance, helping the poor, crime, moral decline, military, tax cuts, environment, immigration, lobbyists, trade policy, global warming. Although the more general issue of protecting the environment ranked higher than climate (named by 41 percent of the poll subjects) that figure was 15 percentage points lower than in the same poll a year ago."

The data reported here is accurate, but the data can be interpreted in several ways. I think it is a mistake to assume that the public's support for protecting the environment is declining. The reporter is drawing his conclusion from Pew's own survey analysts, and there is no question that the urgency of environmental issues has shifted due to the current economic crisis. However, we need to look a little deeper to really understand what is happening here. Let's start by looking at the question that was posed by the survey. It reads: " I'd like to ask you some questions about priorities for President-elect Obama and the Congress this year. As I read from a list, tell me if you think the item that I read should be a top priority, , important but lower priority, not too important, or it should not be done".

The overall finding of the Pew report is that people are much more focused on domestic issues than foreign policy. This general concern for issues of immediate impact may work against issues like the environment and global warming. Accurate or not, many people do not see the environment as having a direct effect on their daily lives. The study also reports, as you might expect, increased priority placed on the economy. Survey researchers like to pose questions like this because they encourage people to make tough choices and express priorities. This provides a greater intensity of response than typical questions. However, this type of rating question tends to understate the latent power of a political issue. These questions are better at measuring intensity of feelings than the public's overall, considered judgment of the issue's importance. Excellent social scientists such as the ones at Pew know that public opinion is difficult to measure and use "multiple indicators" to measure opinion from a variety of perspectives. For that reason, when you see a piece of poll data it is important to ask: What opinion is being measured with this question and why is this trend taking place?

For example, during the first two years of Ronald Reagan's presidency the environmental issue kept rising in the polls. We saw the same phenomenon during the most recent Bush Administration, once the public realized that Bush's "Clear Skies" and "Healthy Forest" initiatives were public relations efforts to mask anti-environmental policies. We have seen a gradual rise in support for environmental issues over the past several years. However, once the public regains confidence in the legitimacy of government's environmental programs, concern over the urgency of environmental issues starts to drop. When President Reagan brought back William Ruckelshaus as EPA Administrator in 1983, support for environment in some public opinion polls began to drop. Some of the drop seen in the recent Pew poll, may in fact reflect President Obama's name being used in the question. People know that President Obama is pro-environment and the urgency of the issue may have receded after November's election.

Public opinion on an issue's priority has at least two components to it: 1. How important is the issue overall? 2. How confident am I in the work that government is doing to solve the problem? If I have little confidence (as we all do today about the economy) it becomes a mega-priority. If I feel that it's moving along OK, I may http://www.observer.com/2009/style/understanding-public-opinion-about-environment

not express a great a sense of urgency when responding to this question. In the Pew survey, 83% of those responding still think the environment should be a top or important priority. About 67% felt that way about global warming. While not as highly rated as the economy, it is not a minor issue either.

We see a similar phenomenon on polling about crime. The overall issue remains central to people's perceptions and lives- certainly here in New York City. But with crime rates going down, people do not consider it an urgent issue and it does not rate very high in local surveys of critical issues. That does not mean that people want the police department's budget to be cut. All it would take is one crime wave and the issue would jump to the top of the polls. People expect government to protect them. They expect their streets to be safe, and they expect their air and water to be clean. Remove that safety and you will discover the enormous latent power of those issues.

There is another factor at work here which we could call a "crisis effect". Some of the priority shuffling we see in the latest survey is undoubtedly a reflection of the urgency of the economic crisis. When there is a crisis such as the economy or the 9-11 terrorist attack, all priorities are suddenly no longer equal. Crises tend to crowd out other priorities. As important as the climate issue is to our long term survival, the issue of jobs and the economy is so important, that we are willing to hold off on those long term issues-for a short time-while we deal with the crisis.

This is a normal human response to emergencies- probably hard wired into our genetic code-and one of the reasons we have survived so far. If I get a call that one of my daughters is ill, and I need to take her to the hospital or doctor, as important as my job is to me, I will drop everything at work and take care of that emergency. When the emergency is over, I can return to "normal" priorities. As I've written before, everyone of us has that image in our head (probably in black and white) of unemployed folks on a bread line during the Great Depression. The fear of losing the ability to provide for ourselves and our families is a powerful force that can drive out our other concerns.

One of the problems with some environmental issues such as global warming is that they do not pose the immediate threat people feel from other issues, like toxic waste or "not-in-my -backyard" land use development. It does not have the urgency that the wild beast at the cave entrance had for our ancestors. When we feel an immediate crisis, our ability to deal with powerful long term threats is reduced. That does not mean that we've forgotten about the long term threat. It just means that in order to get to the long term, we need to survive over the short term.

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Building a Sustainable Auto

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS January 30, 2009 | 11:58 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The power of the American Presidency to move the environmental agenda was never more apparent than during President Obama's recent directive to EPA to reconsider California's request to set tighter air emission and fuel efficiency standards. Under the Clean Air Act, Flickr via thingermejig +Enlarge California has long had the authority to exceed federal standards and typically it has made good use of this power. What makes President Obama's directive even more important is that 13 states are joining California's effort to beat the federal government's auto emission and energy standards. These 14 states have about half of the cars and light trucks Midtown New York Times in the United States. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast President Obama is also pushing the Department of Transportation to finally issue Atlantic Yards regulations on fuel efficiency that were required in 2007 legislation. The Bush More Topics >> Administration had delayed these rules in an effort to kill them. The reflexive word out of Detroit is that these new regulations will simply exacerbate the Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush problems that the auto industry must face in it's struggle to survive. This is, of David Paterson course, more of the same nonsense that has Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> resulted in the demise of the American auto Dan Rather For Urban Policy, More People >> Obama Loves New industry. The temporary fix that SUV's brought to Yorkers the auto industry fooled them into thinking that Stimulus Politics Is Fleeting, the 2008 Jimmy Vielkind Realignment Isn't the old mantra: "mini-cars bring mini-profits", Simon Doonan What on Earth Does would remain forever. Even though gas is cheaper John Koblin Judd Gregg Want? Meredith Bryan now then it was last summer, when people finally Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and Irina Aleksander Maybe a Curse Eliot Brown make enough money to buy cars again, very few Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. More Authors >> Naps will opt for gas guzzlers. The reason is that no one MORE ON GREEN >> knows when gas will go back to $4 or higher, and Toward a Clean Energy Future On the Town the issue of environmental sustainability is Off the Record President Obama has Already NYTV Redefined the Political Center creeping into the American mindset. NY 3.0 Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy Manhattan President Obama and Governor Schwarzenegger Transfers Building a Sustainable Auto Commercial Breaks Understanding Public Opinion About are doing Detroit a favor. The capital funds GM http://www.observer.com/2009/green/building-sustainable-auto

More Columns >> the Environment and Chrysler have received to bail them out are supposed to help them retool and make a more fuel efficient auto. With the head-in-the-sand Bush era sputtering to an end, most people know that we need more fuel efficient cars. Let's go ahead and build them. During World War II, Detroit retooled from civilian to military production in a matter of months. This time, they have until 2011 to develop a fuel efficient fleet. We may not be fighting World War II, but we are in a battle for economic survival. Let's stop complaining and get down to work. The future of the U.S. auto industry requires that we quickly build a more fuel efficient auto fleet. In the long run we will need an all-electric car and we'll also need an electrical power system that does not emit carbon dioxide. American industry has an opportunity to get out front on this, develop new technology and sell it to the world.

The other day, one of my students told me that I was either unrealistic or overly optimistic if I thought that America could develop an electric car and a renewable-based energy system. It's not that I am overly optimistic; it's that I do not see any alternative. We need to develop a way to power our economy and society without fossil fuels. Nuclear is too complicated and creates a toxic waste. Oil and coal are hard to get, will eventually run out, and emit carbon dioxide. We have built the American economy and our cities around the automobile. While we need to add mass transit, this country will always require personal transportation. Getting rid of autos would destroy our economy. Dismantling the modern economy would create massive political instability and dangerous unrest. Reinventing our energy system is the critical challenge of our time-and we have no choice-we must do it. It turns out that Jimmy Carter was right in 1977 when he said that the energy crisis was the moral equivalent of war

Pushing the auto industry to modernize is a critical piece to the American energy puzzle. But it is just the first step. President Obama should be commended for taking that first step, without waiting for new legislation and exercising the power of the Presidency. It is important that American industry get the idea that the new Administration is serious about building a green economy. Of course that means the new administration must be serious about building a green economy. Lots of people will say we can't afford sustainability or that it's a distraction from the real work of economic recovery. They are wrong. Our economic and political well being depends on our ability to develop an efficient, green economy. Sustainability is not a luxury and a fuel efficient automobile is essential to our future economc growth.

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Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS February 2, 2009 | 1:09 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Some of us believe environmental sustainability can be a central element of the revival of the American economy. Some think this idea is mushy-headed, idealistic nonsense that should be rejected by hard-nosed business leaders. Wal-Mart, perhaps the best-known Getty Images +Enlarge example of a company that has done well by doing good, provides evidence of how green business can lead to greenbacks.

Midtown After the retail giant's reputation took a hit, first for not providing employees with New York Times MSNBC enough benefits and then from environmental groups that accused the corporation The New Yorker Conde Nast of polluting, CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. set about transforming the company's image. His Atlantic Yards mission: remake Wal-Mart into an environmentally conscious corporation. More Topics >> Management decided to stock Wal-Mart shelves with energy efficient light bulbs, Rupert Murdoch concentrated liquid laundry detergent and other products labeled as sustainable. George W. Bush David Paterson New products involved less packaging, and the retailer's fleet of trucks now Andrew Cuomo operates with improved fuel efficiency thanks to new loading techniques that make Ruth Reichl Dan Rather MORE ON GREEN >> better use of space. More People >> Toward a Clean Energy Future President Obama has Already According to a January 24 article in the New Redefined the Political Center Jimmy Vielkind York Times, "Wal-Mart now saves $3.5 million a Simon Doonan Bringing Green Principles Into the American Economy John Koblin year just by recycling loose plastic and selling it to Meredith Bryan Building a Sustainable Auto processors." Irina Aleksander Understanding Public Opinion About Eliot Brown the Environment More Authors >> Wal-Mart's new ethos came out further in that article, which included a quotation from Scott speaking in January to members of

On the Town the National Retail Federation: "As businesses, we have a responsibility to society Off the Record NYTV ... Let me be clear about this point. There is no conflict between delivering value to NY 3.0 shareholders, and helping solve bigger societal problems." Manhattan Transfers Commercial Breaks Improving Wal-Mart's reputation has extended beyond its own profit margin. By http://www.observer.com/2009/green/bringing-green-principles-american-economy

More Columns >> placing environmentally friendly products on its shelves over other, less sustainable goods, it has pressured suppliers such as General Electric to rethink their product lines too. "There was a time where people in business believed all they had to do was run their business," The Times quoted former Wal-Mart CEO David D. Glass as saying. "But it doesn't work that way anymore. There is an accountability that goes way beyond that."

According to Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, "We need to recognize that there's more than one measure in the success of a corporation." Also the author of a 1994 report criticizing Wal-Mart's environmental efforts, Hamberg said a corporation must rate its operations along three metrics: 1) financial success; 2) carbon and energy savings; and 3) the ability to achieve social goals. "These multiple metrics make economic sense," he noted. "The key is to take an integrated approach to changing the way we do business."

As for corporate concerns that selling long-lasting sustainable goods will reduce revenues, Hamburg said in fact, Wal-Mart is likely to benefit from transitioning to products that operate more efficiently. These goods allow Wal-Mart to grab a larger part of the market share, while products that have less packaging take up less shelf space, allowing retail stores to stock other goods in their place. Then there are the cost savings. Customers may buy fewer light bulbs, but that means they have more money in their pockets, and Hamburg says Wal-Mart is likely to see those savings come back in other ways.

Companies such as McDonalds and PepsiCo also are adding sustainability principles to their routine business operations. The Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University's Earth Institute has been helping Pepsi measure and reduce its carbon footprint on products like Tropicana Orange Juice and Gatorade.

While it's true some of this push toward environmentalism is clearly public relations, many companies are starting to see resource conservation and waste reduction as simply sound business practices.

In many respects, receptivity to these ideas goes back to the quality management principles companies such as Wal-Mart, GE and many Japanese companies adopted in the later part of the twentieth century. Sustainability is a natural extension of that long-standing effort to reduce waste and rationalize production. Total Quality Management and environmental sustainability share an abhorrence of waste and overly short term perspectives in business and production.

Not only are major corporations using sustainability principles to revive their bottom line, the new administration is hoping to use these ideas to revive America's now dormant economy. As mentioned in an earlier piece, a number of elements of the Obama administration's economic stimulus package would facilitate the development of a green economy. The $819 billion stimulus package passed by the House last Wednesday set aside $18.5 for energy efficiency and renewable energy, including $2 billion for research and development, $6.2 billion for building weatherization programs, $1 billion to support workers training programs in green job generation. A focus on innovative, renewable technologies appears in both the House and Senate bills, which could reach as high as $900 billion.

If you take even a middle-range perspective, it is obvious that an economy based on less waste and more renewable resources will be more efficient. However, the http://www.observer.com/2009/green/bringing-green-principles-american-economy

business world tends to operate on quarterly cycles and government typically focuses on the next election. The "realists" that run our world may not be that interested in the longer term focus sustainability management requires. When one looks society-wide, over an extended period of time there is no trade off between economic growth and environmental protection. However, a particular business at a particular point of time may find that such a trade off is quite real. It is government's job to change the incentive system - largely through tax deductions and credits - so that businesses can make the investments needed to reduce waste and consumption. Larger companies like GE, PepsiCo and Wal-Mart have the resources to do this on their own, but many smaller companies and even smaller local governments cannot do this without financial assistance. Public policy is required to provide the means to move toward sustainability.

In the long run, we will only succeed if sustainability principles become the norm, as routine as best accounting practices or the use of computers in the workplace. It will simply take its place along side other best management practices and principles. We'll know we're getting there when you start describing sustainability principles to a manager and she says, "Oh, that's just the way we do business around here. It's nothing special...."

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President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS February 9, 2009 | 2:31 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

It took less than a month for the 24-7 news media and political pundit class to pile on President Obama and resume their old habit of underestimating him. "His appointments were not properly vetted". "The stimulus package is a pork-laden mishmash". "He's too nice to the conservatives" "He still hasn't gotten his kids a dog". Through all of the endless analysis our new Getty Images +Enlarge Midtown New York Times President maintains his MSNBC The New Yorker balance and seems to coolly rise above the fray. He seems so..... Presidential..... Conde Nast Atlantic Yards For the cable news channels and the political websites, the prospect of an absence More Topics >> of conflict and crisis must be terrifying. What happens if the Economic Depression is avoided and all of these new programs result in an economic recovery in 2010? Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush People will stop tuning to the news media and start reading novels or something. David Paterson Andrew Cuomo The absence of perspective and understanding is amazing. The Washington Ruth Reichl insiders, as they always do, are complaining that Dan Rather MORE ON BARACK OBAMA >> More People >> the new folks in the White House don't know how For Urban Policy, Obama Loves New to find the washroom yet. The national media Yorkers keeps reporting, as news, the fact the different Jimmy Vielkind Stimulus Politics Is Simon Doonan Fleeting, the 2008 parts of Congress seem to disagree about the John Koblin Realignment Isn't Meredith Bryan What on Earth Does stimulus package. Congress is supposed to Irina Aleksander Judd Gregg Want? Eliot Brown Bobby Jindal Gets an Honor and represent different perspectives. That's their job. More Authors >> Maybe a Curse This is a big and diverse country, with many Obama Barnstorms, While G.O.P. Naps different interests and points of view. To some On the Town MORE ON GREEN >> degree Congress mirrors the nation's diversity. Off the Record Toward a Clean Energy Future NYTV Then, at a certain point in the policy making NY 3.0 President Obama has Already Redefined the Political Center Manhattan process, crunch time comes and someone must cut Bringing Green Principles Into the Transfers a deal. While I worry that the situation could Commercial Breaks American Economy http://www.observer.com/2009/green/president-obama-has-already-redefined-political-center-0

More Columns >> Building a Sustainable Auto become so toxic that no one will compromise, the Understanding Public Opinion About the Environment prospect of a Depression should be scary enough to prod Congress into a deal.

I think it is important to understand what this new Administration has already managed to do since January 20th. With a number of real and symbolic steps, they have begun to redefine the political center in American politics. In the United States, politics and especially Presidential politics is about defining the political center. The stimulus package is a case in point. The Bush Administration approach to the economic crisis was to define it as a crisis in the finance industry and to enact a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street. While Obama supported that step, and will soon add to it, he also started to talk about the need for a more direct pump priming stimulus that would cost about $800 billion. The Obama plan would include: funds for state and local governments, extra funds for unemployed and poor people, funds for infrastructure- especially the green variety- and tax cuts for all but the wealthy. What is now being fought over in Congress? An $800 billion stimulus package with all of the pieces that President Obama advocated. The fight is about the relative size of the pieces that the Obama Administration defined.

That is the key idea to keep in mind here. The definition of political feasibility has changed dramatically in the past month. In environment, in science, in foreign policy and throughout the broad spectrum of public policy issues, the center has shifted. States will be able to set more stringent auto emission and fuel economy standards. Guantanamo will be closed. Our diplomats have resumed quiet conversation with our enemies. Equal pay rights have been reinforced by new federal legislation. Poor children will find their health care financed by a new federal tax on cigarettes. The effort to transform our economy to a sustainable and green economy has been tied to the effort to avoid an economic depression. These are just the items that reach the media. Churning below the surface is over a decade of deferred governance that began in earnest when articles of impeachment were voted against Bill Clinton on December 19, 1998 and continued until January 20, 2009.

It is true that the new Administration has made mistakes. Who doesn't? In baseball, a batter fails 7 of 10 times, hits 300 and gets into the Hall of Fame. Obama is hitting well over 500 and should really not be underestimated. Last week he met with relatives of American terrorist victims who were angry about the closing of Guantanamo. President Obama assured them that closing this jail of ill repute did not mean he was about to allow criminals loose on the streets of our cities. In the NY Times on February 6, Jeff Zeleny reported on the impact of this meeting on one of the participants:

"John Clodfelter of Mechanicsville, Va., whose son, Kenneth, was killed in the Cole bombing, said he came to the meeting with apprehension over the decision to close the prison and the delay in prosecutions. But after listening to the president and being assured that the terror suspects would not be released, Mr. Clodfelter said his opinion changed. "I did not vote for the man, but the way he talks to you, you can't help but believe in him," Mr. Clodfelter said on Friday evening. "He left me with a very positive feeling that he's going to get this done right."

The tone in Washington is changing. The President invites his political opponents to a Superbowl party instead demonizing them as unpatriotic or naive. There is an effort to dial down the level of intensity and dial up the time devoted to thought and reflection. This may make for less political theatre and may not be good for the http://www.observer.com/2009/green/president-obama-has-already-redefined-political-center-0

political media business, but it is a refreshing development. Still, the news media shouldn't worry, they can always interview Dick Cheney if they want to inject a little partisan contentiousness into the evening news.

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Toward a Clean Energy Future

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS February 16, 2009 | 10:03 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In Sunday's New York Times, the reporter, Melanie Warner, (or her editor) poses the question: "Is America ready to give up coal? Describing the situation, Warner writes that:

"With concerns over climate change intensifying, electricity generation from coal, once reliably cheap, looks increasingly expensive in the Flickr via d70focus +Enlarge face of the all-but-certain Midtown prospect of regulations that would impose significant costs on companies that emit New York Times MSNBC large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The New Yorker Conde Nast As a result, utilities' plans for new coal plants are being turned down left and right. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> In the last two-and-a-half years, plans for 83 plants in the United States have either been voluntarily withdrawn or denied permits by state regulators. The Rupert Murdoch roughly 600 coal-fired power plants in the United States are responsible for almost George W. Bush David Paterson one-third of the country's total carbon emissions, but they are distinctly at odds Andrew Cuomo with a growing outlook that embraces clean energy." Ruth Reichl Dan Rather More People >> The Times piece goes on to discuss the expense of the technology to capture and store carbon and the expense and unreliability of renewable sources of energy.

Jimmy Vielkind This is a worn out argument. The article also presents the usual environmental and Simon Doonan John Koblin industry advocates arguing on each side of the issue. The Edison Electric Institute Meredith Bryan can be relied on to argue that new technology will cost too much and threaten our Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown electric supply. I wonder what old Thomas Edison would say if he knew that his More Authors >> name is now being used to oppose the development of new technology?

On the Town Why does this tired argument keep getting repeated? The cost figures on carbon Off the Record capture and storage are based on assumptions that cannot be tested. We don't NYTV NY 3.0 really know how much this will cost. The estimates that carbon capture and storage Manhattan Transfers will more than double the cost of coal fired power plants is clearly too high. Since it Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/green/toward-clean-energy-future-0

More Columns >> hasn't been done, it's easy to see why investors would believe that the first ones will be quite expensive. I'm sure that's true, but it's not really relevant. The private sector should not and will not pay the cost of developing this technology. Government will need to subsidize this until it becomes cost effective.

The debate on carbon dioxide regulation seems caught in the same rhetoric we saw in the 1970's and 1980's over more conventional environmental regulation. There was similar discussion about how arbitrary and sudden government regulation was going to shut down American business. Anyone who actually observes regulation in this country knows that the "business of America is business". Regulations are implemented slowly, with negotiated schedules and great care. Businesses are given plenty of time to clean up their act. Moreover, regulations and rules allow the good guys to do the right thing and compete on a more level playing field. And without environmental regulation there is no pressure to develop new and cheaper technologies that produce without polluting.

As for the cost of renewable energy; solar power, wind power and battery storage prices will also come down as the technology develops. Think of computers. The computer I am writing this on sits on my lap and is more powerful than the million dollar plus mainframes of the 1960's. As mass markets are developed and technology is refined, prices come down and today's infeasible ideas become tomorrow's everyday experiences.

How do we get this done? How do we go from here to there? In the case of computers, a lot of the basic Research & Development came from the Defense Department and NASA. Our rockets, missiles and space capsules needed smaller, more powerful computers. And then there's the internet that was also developed by government: Our military computers needed to communicate with each other. One thing led to another and eventually we had an internet. Government paid the costs of development and then it was turned over to the private sector and a new industry was created.

Sometimes national security drives the development of technology- sometimes it is public health. Cities like London developed sewers and indoor plumbing to prevent disease. Cities like New York developed a hugely expensive water supply system because local sources were polluted. I'm sure someone was saying: Do you know how expensive this indoor plumbing will be? We will all go broke installing these pipes and pumps everywhere!

More recently we had some of the same arguments raised against paying the cost of installing air pollution devices on cars and power plants and against spending billions of dollars on sewage treatment plants. We did all of that and the economy continued to grow. In fact, the economic benefits of cleaner air and cleaner water far outweighed the costs.

Here is the fundamental truth that it is time to face: Just as we needed to develop new public health technologies to survive in cities when they went over a million in population, we must now invest in world-scale technologies to survive on a planet of seven billion people. The climate problem is the first planet-wide stress we know about. Others will surely come. We need to learn how to develop and implement the 21st century equivalent of indoor plumbing.

We are capable of making this transformation but it requires that we escape from the environment- economic growth tradeoff paradigm we see on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Business Section. We need to work on the push and http://www.observer.com/2009/green/toward-clean-energy-future-0

pull of carbon dioxide reduction. We need to regulate and set a cap on carbon dioxide. This should be done with mandatory reduction targets, a tax on fossil fuels and a trading system to allow the most efficient reductions possible. In addition we need to spend money on the basic and applied technology of carbon sequestration, renewable energy, energy transmission and energy storage. We need cheaper and smaller solar receptors and cheaper and more efficient batteries.

Clean coal may be a fiction in 2009, but if we are to use coal for electricity, we must develop better ways to mine and burn coal. As my Columbia colleague Klaus Lackner eloquently argues, no matter how fast we develop renewable energy, we will continue to use fossil fuels for many years. He estimates the costs of sequestration will come down dramatically as technology and a mass market is developed. The problem is developing the technology and mass market. Government can and must stimulate the technology and market.

In the long run fossil fuels will be more expensive than other sources. Fossil fuels are finite and must be mined from within the planet. They will get harder to mine and scarcer and for those reasons will eventually be more expensive. We need to accelerate the development of the new technology of energy. Let's end these 20th century debates once and for all and get on with the job. MORE: CARBON CAPTURE | CARBON DIOXIDE REGULATION | CARBON EMISSIONS | CLEAN ENERGY | CLIMATE CHANGE | COAL | ELECTRICITY GENERATION | ENVIRONMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH TRADE OFF PARADIGM | FOSSIL FUEL | GREEN | GREENHOUSE GASES | NEW YORK TIMES | RENEWABLE ENERGY | STEVE COHENS BLOG | WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS

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President Obama’s Green-print for an Economic Recovery

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS February 27, 2009 | 2:48 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On Feb. 24 we once again were treated to the intelligence and inspiration we have come to expect from President Barack Obama. As the president noted in his speech, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law, and one of the central themes of the stimulus is investment in science, technology and renewable energy. President Obama's rescue plan commits $15 billion a year to develop +Enlarge Midtown New York Times renewable energy MSNBC The New Yorker technologies, such as wind and solar power, to advance biofuels, clean coal and Conde Nast fuel-efficient vehicles. Speaking before Congress on February 24, Obama Atlantic Yards More Topics >> committed his administration to "doubling the US supply of renewable energy in the next three years." That involves laying thousands of miles of power lines and

Rupert Murdoch making homes and buildings more efficient. George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo His call to nationalism evoked President John F Kennedy's 1961 challenge to land Ruth Reichl a man on the moon by the end of the 1960's. While the space race was built on a Dan Rather More People >> fear of war, the effort to dominate the technologies of the 21st century was a call to maintain the nation's dominance as an economic power. President Obama

Jimmy Vielkind observed that the rest of the world is not standing still: "We know the country that Simon Doonan harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, John Koblin Meredith Bryan it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we've fallen behind countries More Authors >> like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea." On the Town Off the Record The president hit the point precisely when he said, "to truly transform our NYTV NY 3.0 economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate Manhattan Transfers change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/president-obama%E2%80%99s-green-print-economic-recovery

More Columns >> energy." It was particularly inspiring to watch him clearly connect our economic recovery to the creation of a greener economy. What is perhaps even more remarkable is the billions of dollars that the United States has now committed to this work. It truly is the functional equivalent of the space race of the 1960s, albeit without a fixed deadline.

However, in my view the key point made by the president was in his role as historian-in-chief. Not for the first time, he dismissed the idea that America's wealth and destiny was a pure product of free enterprise:

"I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity. For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world. In each case, government didn't supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive."

And he could have added to his examples, the development of smaller computers for the space program, the development of the Internet by the Defense Department, America's ports and the amazing growth of American agriculture that followed the creation of a system of land-grant colleges.

The idiotic and ideological idea that wealth can be created without rules, collective action and strategic planning is as ridiculous as the idea that government can create wealth without a private sector. The lesson of the 20th century was not that communism worked and it was not that free markets should always prevail. It was that we need a mixed economy. Wealth is generated when government and the private sector get good at working together. America must be a lucky country after all. For at the very moment when we really needed a president who truly gets this fundamental truth, we got one. Even better, we got a president who is a masterful communicator and can convey this lesson to the American people.

I think the president is managing to get across a mixed message of realism and hope for the future. He is also building a long-term trusting relationship with the American people. I think that people can accept bad news as long as it is presented honestly along with a plausible idea of how to get from bad times to good ones. To some degree, economic revival is a psychological phenomenon. It begins when we start to take action to build the future instead of hunkering down to protect what we have. President Obama is clearly trying to reinforce the positive emotion that focuses us on the future. I think it will work as long as he continues to tell the truth and doesn't get enveloped in the presidential cocoon. Given his intelligence and high degree of self-awareness, I have high hopes that he can succeed. America and the world are looking for leadership and it looks like we have found it.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master's Student, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs

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Adapting to Climate Change in New York City

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS February 27, 2009 | 2:52 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As the first decade of the 21st century closes, the climate problem is starting to mature, both as a policy issue and as an area of academic inquiry. In fact, we are starting to see the development of two distinct elements to the field. The oldest area of inquiry is the one that seeks to understand the causes of climate change and tries to prevent them from taking place. This is an effort to +Enlarge Midtown New York Times mitigate or reduce the MSNBC The New Yorker amount of climate change. One of the facts of climate science is that the carbon Conde Nast dioxide that causes global warming tends to accumulate in the upper atmosphere. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> Much of the carbon dioxide that we have emitted since the 20th century remains in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped all fossil fuel emissions today, some

Rupert Murdoch amount of global warming is already inevitable. George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo For that reason, many policy analysts, climate scientists and engineers have begun Ruth Reichl to concentrate on the issue of adapting to climate change. Here at Columbia's Dan Rather More People >> Earth Institute, our NOAA-funded International Institute on Climate and Society, our Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy and our Columbia Climate Center have

Jimmy Vielkind all begun to focus some of their work on adapting to climate change. It's not that Simon Doonan we are giving up on preventing additional damage, it is simply that some of the John Koblin Meredith Bryan damage has already been done, and we need to learn to cope. Many of Columbia's Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown climate scientists at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory continue to research More Authors >> the basic causes and impacts of climate change. In the long run, there are limits to how far adaptation will take us. On the Town Off the Record For New York City, one of the central impacts of climate change will be the NYTV NY 3.0 possibility of sea level rise caused by melting polar ice. New York is a coastal city Manhattan Transfers with nearly 600 miles of waterfront. With the exception of the Bronx, which is on Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/adapting-climate-change-new-york-city

More Columns >> the US mainland, the rest of the city is on Long Island, Manhattan Island and Staten Island. Notice the island theme...

In a report released February 17, a panel of climate change scientists, academics and private practitioners stated that New York City will face higher temperatures, more frequent and intense rain and increased coastal flooding in the years ahead.

The New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) predicts New York City's mean annual temperatures will increase by up to 3 degrees in the next decade and 7.5 degrees by the 2080s. Meanwhile, annual precipitation will grow by as much as 10 percent, and sea levels will rise by 12 to 23 inches by the 2080s. If a more rapid "ice melt" approach is taken into account, that level could be as high as 55 inches by the end of the century.

"Heat waves will become more frequent, intense, and longer in duration and brief and intense rains likely will lead to inland flooding," the report claimed.

The projected effects of such climate change on New York City's infrastructure include increased peak electricity loads in summer and reduced heating requirements in winter due to more extreme temperatures. We will also see increased street, basement and sewer flooding, and possibly a reduction in water quality. Rising sea levels may also cause structural damage in low-lying areas of the city.

The report will guide the Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, which is working to prepare the city's infrastructure to handle the effects of climate change. The Department of Environmental Protection's Rockaway Wastewater Treatment Plant, for instance, is preparing for increased costal flooding by elevating electrical equipment, such as pump motors and circuit breakers.

"Planning for climate change today is less expensive than rebuilding an entire network after a catastrophe," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who formed the panel to conduct the study. "We cannot wait until after our infrastructure has been compromised to begin to plan for the effects of climate change now."

In response to the report, Joseph Bruno, commissioner of the Office of Environmental Management, said New York already has developed comprehensive plans to deal with heat, flash flooding, and coastal storms. But he also urged New Yorkers to do their part: "We continue to encourage all New Yorkers to learn about the hazards they face and take the simple steps necessary to prepare for them."

Although the panel sought to reduce the uncertainties in their findings, which were based on a range of global climate models and greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, its members admitted that such uncertainties cannot be eliminated.

There are a lot of factors that will influence the accuracy of these projections. First, we may figure out how to reduce the production of greenhouse gases. Second, we may learn how to sequester and store carbon and develop policy mechanisms to deploy this technology and pay for it. No matter what we do, however, it is prudent to expect some of the impacts identified in New York City's analysis. Much of New York's water, sewage, transportation and energy infrastructure is aging and vulnerable. We will need to be constantly investing in its rehabilitation and upkeep from now on. As part of this routine maintenance and replacement program, we should analyze increased impacts from climate change. Mayor Bloomberg's leadership on the issue of climate adaptation deserves our praise and support. http://www.observer.com/2009/adapting-climate-change-new-york-city

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master's Student, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs

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The Challenge of This Tough Job Market

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 4, 2009 | 8:52 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I have been talking a lot to my students about the job market many of them will face this May. Believe it or not, this is mostly a good news story. One of my jobs at Columbia University is to direct and teach in the environmental policy programs at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). One of these programs is a one-year Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy that is a joint project with the Earth Institute. The other is a two-year program in environmental policy. I advise about 100 master’s students at SIPA. Currently, 75 are looking for jobs and the others are looking for summer internships.

Over the past month we have been hosting a variety of events to help our students prepare for this very difficult job market. At the first event, about 50 of our alumni and even more of our current students spent most of a Saturday afternoon in early February sharing insights about the current state of the field in environment and sustainability management.

Midtown New York Times In our second event, the staff at SIPA’s Office of Career Services and I devoted an MSNBC The New Yorker hour of class time to a strategy session with about 55 graduating students. Later Conde Nast this week, the Earth Institute hosts a career fair for students in the environmental Atlantic Yards More Topics >> and sustainable development programs at all the schools in the Ivy League. Last year 78 organizations staffed exhibits at the fair, this year only 69 will be present.

Rupert Murdoch According to my colleague Louise Rosen, Director of the Earth Institute’s Office of George W. Bush Academic and Research Programs, “Forty of the organizations that participated in David Paterson Andrew Cuomo the past several years have told us they are not able Ruth Reichl MORE ON NO CHANNEL >> Dan Rather New Development Listings to take part this year because they are either not More People >> Maazel's Big Mahler Toodle-Oo: hiring or don’t have the resources to go out and Grand, But a Tad Technical

The Week in DVR: We Dare You Not recruit new staff.” Jimmy Vielkind To Cry During Broadcast News. Plus, Simon Doonan Richard Dreyfuss, Movie Star? John Koblin Dear American Idol, I Already Miss Louise and her staff have worked extraordinarily Meredith Bryan you! Irina Aleksander Science, Technology and Economic hard to find new employers to replace the old ones Development Eliot Brown they’ve lost, and they have been very successful in More Authors >> their efforts. However, this is the toughest employment market I have ever seen. What this shows, of course, is that what was easy before has now become more On the Town Off the Record difficult. But it also demonstrates success is still possible. We face an extremely NYTV NY 3.0 tough economic environment – even for some of the brightest and best-trained Manhattan young people in the world. But the situation is far from impossible. While the stock Transfers Commercial Breaks market continues its slow-motion decline, the talent, energy and idealism of the http://www.observer.com/2009/no-channel/challenge-tough-job-market

More Columns >> generation that first responded to President Obama’s message of hope continues to say “Yes we can.”

And yes they are. They are demonstrating some of that toughness that before the era of supersized fast food, big-screen TVs and endless shopping, represented the essence of the American ethos. They know what they are up against, but they also know that the future belongs to those that are well educated and prepared to participate in the emerging green economy. They will simply work harder than their predecessors to find or make the opportunities they seek to make this world a better place. To see them, talk to them and teach them is to be optimistic about America’s prospect for recovery.

Nevertheless, this situation remains frightening to the core. If the top students in America’s elite universities are apprehensive about the current job market, what about the rest of young America? Tales of job loss and suffering have punctuated the story of this endless winter. Food banks are busier than ever. Homeless shelters are filled to capacity. The sight of for sale signs and the trauma of home foreclosures are everywhere. Everyone now knows someone who has lost his or her job.

While it is clear that greed, stupidity and irresponsibility caused the financial breakdown, very few Americans are greedy, stupid and irresponsible. This nation has assets in place that continue to provide me with hope, and on some days, confidence. The first is the determination and talent of my students. The second is the determination, talent and inspirational voice of our new president. While the usual interest groups are lining up for the titanic battle to restore business as usual, President Obama and his team know that the old paradigm has shifted.

There really is no choice. One of the reasons Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal sounded so silly in his now infamous response to President Obama’s fiscal recovery speech before Congress, is that the same old words sounded absurd. Private enterprise and market economies can accomplish great things, but they can’t accomplish everything. New Orleans fell because of gross negligence by our government, and it will only come back after hundreds of billions of public dollars are spent on its restoration.

I see the ideology of the past quarter century receding, replaced by the pragmatism of this generation of students and our new president. These are tough and challenging times. We need to be just as tough to meet the challenge. It is going to be difficult, but I believe we will succeed.

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Governor Paterson’s Puzzling Poor Performance

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 8, 2009 | 3:28 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

I had high hopes for David Paterson when he became governor, but I have to admit I’ve pretty much given up on him. I was appalled by the way he treated Caroline Kennedy when she expressed interest in New York’s vacant Senate seat: Hey Governor, a simple no would have sufficed. Is it Getty Images +Enlarge really a good idea to humiliate and then badmouth a public service-minded citizen who has done nothing but good works for her entire life? The disorganization and confusion out of Albany could not be coming at a worse time. Midtown New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker Last week New York state began to back away from its important and historic Conde Nast participation in the agreement among the northeastern states to reduce Atlantic Yards More Topics >> greenhouse gasses. As New York Times' reporter Danny Hakim wrote March 5:

“At the urging of the energy industry, Gov. David A Paterson has Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush agreed to reconsider a key rule New York adopted as part of a 10-state David Paterson Andrew Cuomo pact aimed at reducing the threat of global warming by cutting power Ruth Reichl plant emissions. Gov. David A. Paterson may alter regulations in which Dan Rather More People >> utilities buy or trade allowances to cover carbon dioxide emissions. Mr. Paterson appeared to overrule the State Department of Environmental

Jimmy Vielkind Conservation in making the move, which would reopen state Simon Doonan John Koblin regulations to provide power plants leeway to release greater amounts Meredith Bryan of emissions at no additional cost. Administration officials said the Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown governor was concerned the rule might unfairly burden the energy More Authors >> industry.”

On the Town While this is an absolutely inexplicable political move, it is also evidence of a poor Off the Record NYTV understanding of the grave threat posed by global warming. It also means that NY 3.0 unlike President Obama, Governor Paterson does not understand the connection Manhattan Transfers of environmental protection to economic growth. Or perhaps he understands the Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/governor-paterson%E2%80%99s-puzzling-poor-performance

More Columns >> connection, but like the most recent President Bush, has decided to pander to the energy industry for campaign contributions. Of course, the day after the Times' story, Erik Engquist reported in Craine’s New York Business that the Governor has made no decision on the issue. According to Engquist’s story: "On Friday his [Paterson’s] office sought to allay concerns. ‘We haven’t made any changes yet, and we haven’t even suggested any,’ said spokesman Morgan Hook. ‘The governor made a commitment to look at the regulations again if it’s determined that there’s a need to do so.’”

There is a disturbing pattern here in the clumsy way Governor Paterson approaches policy issues. Perhaps his long years of service in the legislature has been poor preparation for the responsibilities of executive office. A state senator in the political minority can reconsider all the policy he wants to reconsider and it is no big deal. A governor has the power to rewrite the rules, and therefore when a governor says he is going to reconsider a rule, it is not a purely academic exercise—it means the policy might actually change.

Given the importance, visibility and symbolic nature of this issue, I truly cannot understand why the governor has re-opened it. Didn’t someone on his staff mention that he would expose himself to an onslaught of political attack from the environmental community? Didn’t anyone mention to him that the policy action on global warming has now shifted to Washington DC, where a national cap and trade system of carbon limits and fees (a form of carbon tax) has already been proposed by our new President? In all likelihood, New York’s rules will be supplanted by national policy. This was not an issue Paterson needed to take on. Even if he was inclined to pander to the energy industry, he could have easily said he was waiting to see what the federal government would do.

As the most recent Marist poll reports, the broad public has lost confidence in the governor. Paterson’s approval rating of 26% is the lowest for any governor since the Marist poll began state-wide surveying almost 30 years ago.

While elected officials often come back from poor poll results, the good will and political support that Governor Paterson brought with him into office has now evaporated. Given his approach to the global warming issue, and his handling of Caroline Kennedy’s halting Senate bid, it is easy to see why. What I find so puzzling is that David Paterson is a bright, talented and dedicated public servant. The state and nation are in the midst of the deepest financial crisis of our lifetime. We need a governor capable of rising to the occasion. That is not what we are getting.

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Developing A Sustainable Planet: The Basics

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 13, 2009 | 12:02 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

While it will not be smooth or simple to build, I believe we are at the start of a sustainable or green economy. My reasoning here is not simply naive optimism, but recognition of necessity. The false wealth of the period ending has focused many of us on the need for a solid, understandable basis for our economy. One part of a solid economy is found in free market capitalism where woodleywonderworks via Flickr +Enlarge investors risk their wealth to Midtown New York Times create a valued product or service. The success of this enterprise produces wealth, MSNBC The New Yorker and some people get rich and some people do not. Along with capitalism comes the Conde Nast recognition that a certain amount of income inequality is not only acceptable, but Atlantic Yards More Topics >> also desirable.

Rupert Murdoch The question is how much inequality should there be? The answer is not so much George W. Bush inequality that people on the bottom of the ladder cannot live a decent life. Not so David Paterson Andrew Cuomo much inequality that there is hunger, hopelessness, untreated disease, violence Ruth Reichl Dan Rather and inadequate access to education. We’ve learned that a large middle class makes More People >> societies wealthier and can contribute to political stability. But without public policy to encourage a middle class, the logic of the unregulated market leads to Jimmy Vielkind greater and greater inequality. A second part of a solid economy is one that creates Simon Doonan John Koblin and maintains production and wealth over the long term. A concern for the long Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander term is central to the definition of sustainability. Eliot Brown More Authors >> If a nation achieves wealth by oppressing its people or damaging ecological resources, it eventually pays a price for its misdeeds. In the United States we paid On the Town Off the Record the price of oppression under slavery with a brutal civil war and its racist NYTV NY 3.0 aftermath. We have also spent hundreds of billions of dollars to manage and clean Manhattan the poisons we released into the environment and still release in the name of Transfers Commercial Breaks industrial production. China has only started to learn the environmental and http://www.observer.com/2009/developing-sustainable-planet-basics

More Columns >> financial cost of rapid development. In the end they will pay, and here in the United States we will continue to pay as well. Short-term gains are often bought at the price of long-term pain. This is a concept that is gaining currency. Landing on a carrier in a pilot’s outfit does not mean you accomplished your mission. Sometimes a fund that pays off the same high return year after year is too good to be true and turns out to be an unsustainable Ponzi scheme. On the other hand, an experienced pilot who knows his stuff and is humble and dedicated just might manage to land a jet plane on a river. Most people can distinguish solid from shaky. Sustainable means solid, dependable stuff that is designed to last for the duration.

What do we need to develop a sustainable planet? There are a number of prerequisites: • Reduce the destructiveness of competition between people and nations. • End the growth of the human population, end poverty and eliminate extreme levels of income inequality. • Develop renewable, non-fossil fuel based energy. • Learn how to reduce the damage we do to our environment.

Peace. With the presence of weapons of mass destruction, we need to develop a system of international law that reduces the probability that these weapons will be used. Our current system of international law, balance of power and diplomacy has failed from time to time, but has at least prevented unimaginable disaster from taking place. We need to improve these international institutions.

Population and Poverty. The human population continues to grow. Last month, the world’s population grew by about six million. This growth was uneven across the globe. In developed countries such as Japan, that do not encourage immigration, population is declining. Last year Japan’s population went down by 50,000. In the developed world, population growth would end if not for immigration. In developing nations the population is still growing. The reason for these different growth patterns is simple. In the developing world, a parent cannot be sure that their child will grow to be an adult, and in the absence of social security, children are the best form of old-age insurance. Moreover, in an agrarian world, children are needed to grow and harvest food. In the developed world, children are typically economic liabilities. They cost a great deal to raise and educate. We love and value our families, but do not raise children for the economic benefits they bring.

People who study economic development and population talk about something they call a demographic transition. This is what happens when a developing country makes the transition to full economic development. Children are no longer perceived to be economic assets, but economic liabilities; and the population stops growing. The best way to end population growth is to end poverty.

Ending poverty also leads to sustainability in two other ways. First, poverty breeds political conflict. People without an ownership stake in society have less to lose and may be drawn to conflict. Parents who can provide for their children and realistically hope for a better life for them will favor peace over war. Second, some of the best brains that will one day invent a new technology or the cure for cancer may very well be trapped in a life of poverty and will never get the education they need to help us think our way to a sustainable future. http://www.observer.com/2009/developing-sustainable-planet-basics

Energy. To reduce damage to the biosphere, reduce global warming and reduce the cost of energy, we need to transition our economy to renewable, non-fossil fuels. While there are plenty of fossil fuels left on the planet, extracting those fuels will only get more difficult and expensive in the future. Burning fossil fuels will continue to damage our ecology and atmosphere. Renewable energy is the key to the green economy. Without it such an economy will never be achieved. The Obama administration’s energy initiative is a critical first step in developing this new energy economy.

Ecological Footprint. The year 2007 was a turning point in world history – for the first time a majority of the world’s population lived in cities. One of the great paradoxes of modern life is that given the size of the world’s population, it is better for the planet’s ecosystems if people live together in cities than if they are dispersed throughout the countryside. By living in cities we make it easier to preserve natural environments outside of cities. New York City is much more energy efficient than most other places in the United States. As we learn to more effectively manage our energy, water and waste through increasingly sophisticated technology, we can reduce our impact on the planet and gradually transition to sustainability.

Can we do it? Can we get from here to there? Let’s put it this way, if we don’t learn to grow our economy while protecting our environment, we may survive, but to paraphrase Nikita Khrushchev, “the living will envy the dead.” While the human species has some irrational tendencies, we don’t tend to be suicidal. The opposite of sustainable development is short-term wealth that can’t be maintained. Sounds a little like Wall Street at the start of the 21st century. I like to think we are a teachable species. Let’s hope we are.

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Measuring Emissions of Greenhouse Gasses: EPA Takes a Critical First Step

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 17, 2009 | 12:00 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Watching the Obama Administration’s “green team” in action is inspiring. In a very short period of time, these folks have revitalized our environmental agenda. They are doing it with words and with deeds. While there is plenty of rhetoric and lots of symbolic action, there is also Kevin Krejci via Flickr +Enlarge significant and important activity underway at the ground level. Taken together, we are seeing a rapid repudiation of the Bush environmental legacy, along with the reversal of many of the Bush era’s environmental policies. Midtown New York Times MSNBC On March 10, 2009 EPA took an important positive step under the Clean Air Act to The New Yorker Conde Nast begin the regulation of greenhouse gasses. At long last the U.S. government Atlantic Yards proposed a national system for reporting emissions of carbon dioxide and other More Topics >> greenhouse gasses. According to EPA estimates, about 13,000 large facilities produce over 80% of the nation’s greenhouse gasses and those facilities are Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush covered by the proposed regulation. Most of the information we have about the David Paterson Andrew Cuomo concentration of greenhouse gasses are estimates based on computer models. This Ruth Reichl new rule starts the process of collecting detailed information on emissions, Dan Rather More People >> measured at the actual source of those emissions. In order to implement policies to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we need detailed information on

Jimmy Vielkind who emits these gases and how much they generate. We need to learn to collect, Simon Doonan report, analyze and verify real data on actual emissions. John Koblin Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Lisa Jackson, EPA’s new Administrator, acknowledged the importance of this Eliot Brown proposed rule and observed that: “Our efforts to confront climate change must More Authors >> be guided by the best possible information. Through this new reporting, we will

On the Town have comprehensive and accurate data about the production of greenhouse gases” Off the Record NYTV The importance of this step cannot be minimized, and the absence of such a system NY 3.0 Manhattan made any discussion of reducing global warming little more than a symbolic Transfers Commercial Breaks exercise. The fact that EPA is getting serious about measuring the actual sources of http://www.observer.com/2009/measuring-emissions-greenhouse-gasses-epa-takes-critical-first-step

More Columns >> greenhouse gas emissions tells you that they are finally serious about controlling them. A fundamental of management is that you can’t manage something unless you measure it. Measurement tells you if the actions taken by management are making things better or worse. You can’t set a precise price on carbon unless you have real information on how much a source emits.

I know that some people find details like this boring and unexciting, but change in public policy always begins with ordinary, prosaic steps like this one. It’s important to understand that this is just a critical first step of a very long process. If EPA’s regulation survives the public comment period and is not delayed by the courts, the first reported data will not arrive until 2011. This means that regulations or carbon fees designed to reduce these emissions cannot be put into effect until these emission reports are submitted and verified.

While it will take a while to achieve reductions in greenhouse gasses, the first U.S. program to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act is now underway. While we need a law that will focus specifically on global warming, and we also need an international agreement, this is a good place to start. EPA often begins new areas of regulation by reinterpreting existing laws. Before there was a Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972, EPA began regulating water pollution through the creative use of the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act. Even though that law was designed to keep the ports clear for shipping, its language could also be used to regulate discharges of pollutants in waterways near major cities. (We’ll leave out the fact that the Republican Nixon Administration focused its early enforcement efforts on cities with Democratic Mayors!)

Solving the climate crisis will require a series of concerted actions on a variety of fronts:

- We need to develop cost effective renewable energy technologies.

- We need to learn how to sequester and store the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere and the additional carbon to come.

- Americans waste enormous amounts of energy-- so one of the easiest things we can do is become more efficient in our use of energy.

- The global warming now under way requires that here in New York City we adapt our infrastructure to minimize damage from flooding.

- National and international law must be established to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses.

- We need to learn how to set a price for carbon that reduces the use of fossil fuels and encourages renewable energy but does not stunt economic growth.

The idea that we should choose among these actions is absurd. We need to do all of it as soon as we can. However, in order to reduce global warming, we must develop an effective and accurate system for measuring this type of pollution. On March 10, 2009, the EPA took an important and long overdue first step in this process. Elections really do have consequences. Fortunately.

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Public Service and Private Greed

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 22, 2009 | 1:48 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On Election Day in 1960, my family placed a hand lettered sign in our living room window on East 59th street in Brooklyn that read “Kennedy for President”. A few months later, as a seven year old boy, I remember watching President Kennedy on our black and white television ask us to pledge “what we could do for our country”. It was a thrilling, inspiring moment. I think that the start of my lifelong Flickr via cliff1006 +Enlarge commitment to public service Midtown New York Times can be found somewhere within that poetic and historic speech. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast I began my career working in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency back in Atlantic Yards 1977 when EPA was only seven years old. I worked to improve public participation More Topics >> in our water pollution control programs. A few years later I was part of a small team that set up the Superfund toxic waste clean up program. Since the Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush mid-1980’s I’ve led a series of public administration programs at Columbia David Paterson University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The goal of those programs Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl was to promote public service and educate professional public servants. Through Dan Rather More People >> most of that time, these past three decades, our culture has glorified private enterprise and denigrated public service.

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Public service does not necessarily mean working for government. It means John Koblin serving the broader community and pursuing something other than personal Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander profit. President Obama has made it clear that we all share responsibility for taking Eliot Brown care of each other. That is the essence of public service. I think of public service as More Authors >> both an activity and a value, and as our highest secular calling.

On the Town Off the Record Last week, by a vote of 321-105, the House of Representatives enacted a dramatic NYTV expansion of the AmeriCorp program. Under this new legislation the program will NY 3.0 Manhattan grow from 75,000 to 250,000 slots. The Senate is expected to do the same very Transfers Commercial Breaks soon. AmeriCorp funding provides stipends that range from $11,800 to $22,800 http://www.observer.com/2009/public-service-and-private-greed

More Columns >> (though most are set at $11,800) along with educational benefits as well. The jobs are typically in nonprofit organizations working at the local level on education, social service, energy and health programs.

As the vote indicates, there is strong bipartisan support for encouraging public service. Senators Orin Hatch and Ted Kennedy have co-authored a number of these statutes over the years. This is not to say that Congressional support was unanimous. For example, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C) complained: “Well, I think it's important that we encourage volunteers, but this is a paid job. This is a government-authorized charity." Fortunately, this is not a mainstream view. Most everyone gets the idea that community service ought not be limited to those who can afford to work without being paid.

The revival of public service stands in sharp contrast to the finance industry’s greed and sense of entitlement. The disgusting spectacle of the AIG bonus scandal is the most visible evidence of Wall Street’s fall from grace. I’m not sure what is so complicated about the notion that bonuses should only come to those who earn money for their companies. When the finance industry is finally re-regulated, most of the riskiest financial practices that have evolved over the past few decades will be illegal. The free market will be preserved, but the unregulated, anything goes market, has already died.

As the shattered economy begins to revive, I expect to see some old fashioned values return. Hard work, thrift and a less cavalier attitude toward risk are definitely back in style. Some fear that American creativity and entrepreneurship will fade along with the demise of downtown’s Masters of the Universe. I suspect not. I think the community organizers on the streets of Southside Chicago and Bed-Sty along with the engineers working on solar cells in their garages are the real risk takers in our society; So too are the soldiers, cops and firefighters that put their lives on the line for all of us every day. The greedy jerks that risk other people’s money while pocketing their up-front cash are not worth worrying about.

Everyone understands the idea of public service. We all know what it means to offer a helping hand, or to be offered one when we are in need. We also know what greed looks like. For too long we have justified greed and selfishness in the interest of promoting a free market. That was a mistake. We need a little less private profit and a lot more community service. The expansion of AmeriCorps is an important step in the right direction.

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Homelessness Is On the Rise

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS March 27, 2009 | 10:01 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The growth of tent settlements in California and elsewhere is one of the saddest developments in this season of sadness. As President Barack Obama recently observed, “It is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.” Getty Images +Enlarge Here in New York City successive mayors since the Koch administration have wrestled with this difficult and seemingly intractable problem. The website of the NYC Department of Homeless Services’ posts a “Daily Homeless Census”, and on March 24 it logged 35,107 New Yorkers without a home. This number included 8,092 families with Midtown New York Times children and 6,865 single adults. According to the City, 2,328 individuals living MSNBC The New Yorker in New York City are without shelter, a drop from 3,306 a year ago and 4,395 Conde Nast individuals in 2005. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> While the decrease is positive, this data still means that about 7% of New York

Rupert Murdoch City’s homeless are without shelter on an average night. New York does a better George W. Bush job of sheltering its homeless than many other places – the City contracts with David Paterson Andrew Cuomo more than 150 non-profit providers of shelter and other services for homeless Ruth Reichl Dan Rather people, and since the early 1980’s New York State’s courts have maintained that all More People >> New Yorkers have the legal right to shelter. Yet, homelessness remains a horror for adults and a disaster for children and families. Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan John Koblin For a number of years I have been on the Board of Directors of Homes for the Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Homeless, an amazing organization founded in 1986 by Hartz Group Chairman Eliot Brown Leonard N. Stern. Homes for the Homeless is a public-private partnership More Authors >> between city government, private business, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Since 1987, my good friend and Columbia colleague Dr. Ralph Nunez has On the Town Off the Record served as President and CEO of Homes for the Homeless. Each year, the NYTV NY 3.0 organization provides shelter for about 1,000 families and 2,500 children. In Manhattan addition to a place to sleep, "Homes" provides meals, after-school day care, adult Transfers Commercial Breaks education, summer camps and other services designed to help homeless families http://www.observer.com/2009/homelessness-rise

More Columns >> escape poverty. For about 20 years Dr. Nunez taught quantitative analysis to public policy students at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. In addition to working to help homeless families survive, he has worked to analyze and understand the causes and effects of homelessness. To do that, he and his colleagues began a small think-tank called the Institute for Children and Poverty. According to the Institute’s website:

-More than 1.35 million children from 600,000 families are homeless in America, and available shelter and housing for homeless families is decreasing.

-Overcoming homelessness is almost impossible without steady employment, and more than two-thirds of homeless parents nationwide are unemployed.

-Homeless children have less of a chance of succeeding in school. Frequent school transfers are the most significant barrier to the academic success of homeless students.

-Homeless families are more vulnerable to serious health issues. Mental health, tuberculosis and HIV are far more common than in the general public.

-Homeless parents and their children are more likely to have experienced violence. One out of three homeless teens have witnessed a stabbing, shooting, rape, or murder in their communities.

-Homeless parents and their children are more likely to be separated from each other. In fact, 34% of school-aged homeless children have lived apart from their families. More than 60% of children placed in foster care come from formerly homeless families.

As the new Hoovervilles springing up on the West Coast indicate, homelessness is a symptom of poverty and the lack of low-cost housing. As President Obama indicated, we have a responsibility to help our neighbors who do not have the means to help themselves. One difference in New York City, when compared to some other American cities, is that homeless people are more difficult to ignore here. While many homeless are “invisible,” many are not. This is a city of mass and walking transit. Most people can’t simply hide up high behind the wheel of their SUV and drive to the mall. The responsibility for our neighbors here is not simply an abstraction – we see real human beings on our walk to work.

When I think about taking responsibility for our neighbors and building a community, I have to think about Leonard Stern, the wealthy and powerful business leader who founded Homes for the Homeless and then recruited Ralph Nunez to run it. Theirs is an inspiring partnership comprised of Stern’s strategic business sense and Nunez’s deep understanding of city politics and organizational management. Homes for the Homeless is not perfect, but it is an impressive organization. It shows what can be done, and it has made a material and significant difference in thousands of lives. If you are interested in their story, check out this video and you’ll see what I mean.

I believe that we will come out of these difficult economic times, renewed and reminded of what matters. If you see a homeless child given a place to sleep and a chance to overcome the poverty trap, you can’t help but be motivated. That motivation is the source of the hope I feel for the future.

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The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009: Climate Policy Gets Real

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 1, 2009 | 4:08 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Recently, Congressmen Henry A. Waxman and Edward J. Markey released a draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. And so the great climate and energy debate will finally begin for real. I have been studying environmental policy development for over three Getty Images +Enlarge decades and just as we saw the start of policy to clean the air and water in the 1970's and we then started working on toxic waste clean-up in the 1980's, today, in 2009, we are finally at the moment when climate policy truly begins. While we can’t see the finish line, we’ve just Midtown New York Times heard the starter’s pistol. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast This bill covers just about all bases: It provides for: Atlantic Yards More Topics >> -Renewable energy- by requiring utilities to use it for 6% of their power generation in 2012 and 25% by 2025. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush -Carbon Capture and Sequestration- by promoting the technology and large scale David Paterson Andrew Cuomo use of carbon capture and storage. To make clean coal a reality. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather -Clean Fuels and Vehicles- by providing greater incentives for electric vehicles. More People >>

-Smart Grid and Electricity Transmission- by providing new rules and resources to Jimmy Vielkind modernize our capacity to transmit power. Simon Doonan John Koblin Meredith Bryan -Energy efficiency- by requiring energy savings in buildings, manufactured homes, Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown appliances, transportation, industry and government. More Authors >> -Reducing global warming pollution- by requiring reductions in emissions and

On the Town establishing a tradable permit system. Reductions begin at 3% below 2005 levels in Off the Record 2012, 20% below that level in 2020 and 83% below 2005 levels in 2050. NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan Finally, the bill requires governments to begin planning for adaptation to climate Transfers Commercial Breaks change and includes a number of provisions to facilitate the transition to a clean http://www.observer.com/2009/american-clean-energy-and-security-act-2009-climate-policy-gets-real

More Columns >> energy economy.

There is going to be a heated and probably very symbolic debate with a “green side” and an “economic growth” side and we will soon hear scientists and environmentalists testifying before Congress that the approach is inadequate and too slow. Some business leaders and free market advocates will say this bill will ruin capitalism and the economy. I find neither argument persuasive. The economics of this legislation will not impair economic growth. Because previous environmental rules forced technological innovation, we found that environmental law tends to fuel economic growth. As to the argument by some environmentalists that the new policy will not work well enough or fast enough- that is the fundamental question and an issue that no one knows the answer to.

Scientists sometimes find politics frustrating, due in part to the difference between the scientific method and the policymaking process. Science tests hypotheses and even builds mathematical models to try to gain knowledge and solve problems. Science is goal seeking and rational. The policy process is different. Policymakers don’t actually try to solve problems, but to make them less bad. The goal is not to solve the problem, but to “move away from it”. In New York City we reduced homicides from over 2,000 a year to less than 600- the problem is less bad but far from solved. We aren't always capable of destroying the wild beast, but we somehow manage to keep it away from our door. Policy, to quote the great public policy scholars David Braybrooke and Charles Lindblom: is “remedial, serial and exploratory”. That means public policy tries to: 1.) Remedy the worst parts of society's problems; 2.) Solve problems through trial and error. Most efforts to solve public policy problems are not a continuous process from start to finish. We start, we catch our breath and reconsider- and then we start again. We make public policy this way becuase the problems we ask governments to address are more complicated than the problems we assign to science. Environmental problems are caused by human interactions with our biosphere. Human beings and the biosphere are hard to understand. Add culture, economics and technology to that mix and you see why human and social behavior are so difficult to predict. Even simpler behaviors like “how do I motivate a teenager to clean her bedroom” sometimes seem beyond our reach.

The punch line to the climate joke is that we will not solve it all at once. We simply do not know how to motivate all of the behaviors needed to solve the climate problem. In fact, we don’t even know all of the actions that might allow us to solve the problem. What is critical is that we get started: For real. No more symbolic silliness. Real law, real money, real leadership: Now. For the environmental community, let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We need to learn how to do this job. Maybe cap and trade will fail and only a pure carbon tax will work. Anyone who says they know that for a fact is wrong. No one knows how to transform our economy to renewable fuels. At best we are making educated guesses. We are in for lot of two steps forward and one step back. When you’re in a crisis, as I believe we are, the key is to take those steps quickly. We also need to aggressively and even ruthlessly measure results and take corrective action when we make mistakes.

The issue of climate policy and global sustainability is at long last at the heart of our political dialogue and firmly placed on the political agenda. Despite the rumblings, even the world economic crisis is not able to push it aside. There is a growing understanding of the need to use this crisis to begin the transition to a green economy. While the path will be long and meandering, the introduction of http://www.observer.com/2009/american-clean-energy-and-security-act-2009-climate-policy-gets-real

Waxman-Markey, along with Henry Waxman’s new power as Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, allow us to finally begin this critical journey. Let’s get started.

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Understanding the Climate Policy Debate

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 11, 2009 | 12:49 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

It is amazing to me how the media can both create and resolve its own conflicts. On April 10 John Broder wrote a piece for The New York Times, "Obama, Who Vowed Rapid Action on Climate Change, Turns More Cautious." In the story Broder asks, “Has the Getty Images +Enlarge administration scaled back its global-warming goals, at least for this year, or is it engaged in sophisticated misdirection?” The answer: “Maybe some of both.”

Broder seems surprised that the Obama administration is moving carefully to Midtown New York Times build consensus behind new policies aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. MSNBC The New Yorker He identifies actions the administration has taken to move climate change forward Conde Nast and then seems perplexed when it pauses to reflect and build consensus. I’m not Atlantic Yards More Topics >> sure why anyone would expect President Obama to be aggressive and reckless when everything about him seems persistent and careful.

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush The transition to a “green” economy will take a long time, and it will require David Paterson Andrew Cuomo determined, constant and strategic effort. Rapid, risky and symbolic actions may Ruth Reichl Dan Rather make dramatic news stories, but they are not going to do much to reduce carbon More People >> dioxide emissions.

Jimmy Vielkind The electricity that allows me to sit at my computer and write these words is wholly Simon Doonan John Koblin dependent on the fossil fuels that power New York City’s electrical grid. The still Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander fragile economy, which saw the shedding of nearly 700,000 jobs in the United Eliot Brown States last month, is fueled in the same way. It is clear to me and an increasing More Authors >> number of world leaders that this is not a sustainable energy future. What is less clear is how we get to one that is. On the Town Off the Record NYTV NY 3.0 The policy prescription is obvious in general, but complex when you get to Manhattan specifics. Think about congestion pricing. It is clear to many of us that when there Transfers Commercial Breaks are too many vehicles on the streets of lower Manhattan to move freely, someone http://www.observer.com/2009/understanding-climate-policy-debate

More Columns >> needs to figure out a way to reduce traffic. But how do you do that without destroying the vibrancy of the local economy?

If you set a price on bringing a vehicle downtown, what is the correct price? In addition to policies that “push” cars off the street, you also want to make mass transit convenient and comfortable to “pull” people down underground as well.

To make this real we need to answer specific questions. How much do we charge as a congestion fee? How much do we invest in new transit infrastructure and technology? No one really knows. We need specific answers, but do not have enough experience and hard data to do more than guess. The same is true of the transition to a fossil-fuel-free economy. What should it cost to emit carbon dioxide? How much should we invest in new energy technology? How do we push the economy off fossil fuels and pull it toward renewable energy?

There is no question that we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. There is also no question that we will not do this quickly enough to stop global warming. So we will also need to sequester and store the carbon dioxide we have already emitted and will continue to emit. We will need both a regulation limiting carbon emissions as well as a tax on the carbon dioxide that is emitted. But how quickly can we reduce emissions? What is technologically and economically feasible? What are the positive economic impacts that will come from the technological development of alternative energy and increased energy efficiency? What are the negative economic impacts of the increased price of energy that will come from a tax on carbon and/or a cap on carbon dioxide emissions? The simple answer to both of these questions is that no one knows.

I have seen plenty of compelling analyses based on many sophisticated mathematical models of what this energy future should look like. While these models help us understand the complexity of the issue, none can predict the future. We are going to have to do this the old fashioned way – through trial and error. We will end up formulating climate policy the same way we have developed all the other environmental policies we have set to date. We will start with less stringent standards than the ones we will eventually adopt.

As Broder’s piece indicates, The Waxman-Markey climate bill, which I wrote about in an earlier piece, provides an aggressive approach that changes the political equation and allows the Obama administration to play the role of climate moderate. We’ve seen this approach before. In building a consensus approach, the White House can point to the Waxman proposal and tell industry insiders that if they don’t play ball the law will end up even more extreme.

During the debate leading to the 1970 Clean Air Act, then-Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed banning the internal combustion engine. Suddenly the catalytic converter seemed a lot more technologically feasible to auto industry lobbyists. The climate issue will follow the same well-worn path to environmental regulation we have seen before. It will be made more complicated by the international dimension of the issue, but the general pattern will look the same.

From my perspective, the key issue is to start this trial and error process as quickly as possible. Let’s avoid the symbolic debate over the level of reductions we will achieve in 2050. Let’s focus on what we can do by 2010 and 2012. Let’s get started. http://www.observer.com/2009/understanding-climate-policy-debate

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A Better Bottle Bill is Only the Beginning

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 15, 2009 | 2:17 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Amid the New York State budget’s disaster lays some sign of progress. At long last the state legislature has expanded its law requiring deposits on beverage bottles to include a five-cent refundable deposit on water bottles in addition to beer and soda beverage packaging. Getty Images +Enlarge According to state estimates, water bottles comprise nearly a quarter of all beverage packaging sold in New York (around 3.2 billion bottles), and revenues from the tax would generate around $115 million each year. The law also requires beverage companies to return 80 percent of their unclaimed bottle and can deposits to the state’s Environmental Midtown New York Times Protection Fund, but allows stores to keep a 3.5-cent handling fee, up from the MSNBC The New Yorker current fee of 2 cents. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards More Topics >> For consumers the process is relatively easy. The law requires stores with more than 40,000 square feet to install reverse vending machines that enable customers

Rupert Murdoch to place bottles in the machine and receive money (or a credit slip) in return. George W. Bush David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Implementation of the bill, however, may be more complicated than some Ruth Reichl Dan Rather lawmakers believe. A requirement that a New York State-specific bar code be More People >> placed on each bottle has distributors and store owners complaining that the June 1 start-up does not provide enough time to use all of the bottles currently in Jimmy Vielkind circulation. Despite this start-up constraint, I suspect the new requirement will Simon Doonan John Koblin eventually be absorbed into the current distribution system. Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown Bringing back all of these old bottles is a good idea. But the question then becomes, More Authors >> what happens to them once they are collected? Long ago, in the Brooklyn of the 1950’s and 1960’s, we used to have a more close-ended system of beverage On the Town Off the Record distribution. Back then my Great Uncle Joe was a “Soda Man.” He drove a big NYTV NY 3.0 truck from house to house and delivered wooden (and eventually plastic) boxes Manhattan with slots for soda. When he reached our home, he carried them on his shoulder Transfers Commercial Breaks down into the basement and for a week we enjoyed the locally bottled soda and http://www.observer.com/2009/better-bottle-bill-only-beginning

More Columns >> seltzer. At the end of the week he returned with a new beverage crate and took back the old bottles. The empty bottles were washed out and reused. Our milk was distributed in much the same way. The “Milkman” left glass bottles of milk in an insulated aluminum box by our front door.

So what happens to today’s deposit bottles? Most of them are shipped out of the United States, and many end up in China, where they are used to make shoes, clothes and plastic containers. That supply chain has not always been negative.

“China's scrap trade has lifted the fortunes of both the very wealthy … and very poor farmers who have migrated to the city to earn more from recycling than they ever could by working the land,” wrote Austin Ramzy in a November article in Time Magazine.

But as the world’s economy has crashed, piles of plastic are building up the country. According to the Time story: “Plastic bottles, which sold for $1,175 to $1,300 a ton as recently as the summer, are now trading in the $300-to-$450-a-ton range. Zhang [Wei, a worker at a recycling center outside Beijing] claims that as a result of the downturn in scrap prices, the losses sustained by some of his neighbors have ranged from $6,000 to $150,000.”

The products we use are now part of a global system of production, consumption and reuse or disposal. The system is fueled by relatively inexpensive energy and is interconnected in many ways that we rarely notice. The advantage of the bottle bill is that it provides some of the resources needed to encourage us to collect and reuse waste. As long as a bottle has a deposit on it, its economic value is high enough to encourage someone to carry some of the bottles to a place where they can be collected for reuse. While it is good to see the law extend coverage to non-carbonated beverages, I am disappointed that the State did not take advantage of this opportunity to raise the charge to 25 cents. The deposit has been a nickel for very long time, and the average person often finds it easier to toss the bottle in the garbage then hold it to collect the deposit. The large number of non-returns are evidence of this problem.

In the long run, we need to develop ways to close the loop between production and consumption. The idea of producer responsibility is important to establish. If you make something and sell it, the price of disposal or reuse should be included in the cost of the product. Deposit bills on bottles or tires are one useful way to establish this principle. In some cases, the private sector is not waiting for government regulation. Companies like HP are providing free shipping to recycle printer toner. Other approaches need to be developed, and we need to reduce the amount of stuff this throw-away society throws out. New York’s expanded bottle bill is small but positive step in the right direction.

I am grateful for the research assistance of Sara Schonhardt, Master of International Affairs Student, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

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Earth Day 2009

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 20, 2009 | 10:37 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

This week we will celebrate the 39th Anniversary of Earth Day, a holiday that in many ways coincided with the beginning of the mass environmental movement in the United States. The first Earth Day, in 1970, was proposed by then Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, and organized by Denis Hayes, one of the truly effective leaders of the environmental Photo by John LeGear via Flickr. +Enlarge movement. Here in the 21st century, the planet needs protection more than ever, and we finally find a concern Midtown New York Times for sustaining the earth slowly entering the political mainstream. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast The challenge in this increasingly urban world is to build an understanding of the Atlantic Yards importance of the biosphere. Today, it is important because we need it in order to More Topics >> survive. As advanced as our technology is, we require the ecological services provided by sunlight, biodiversity, and the subtle and complex web of natural Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush environmental relationships to provide us with air, water and food. We may David Paterson someday be able to live without our planet, but that day is a long way off. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Dan Rather In addition to the services that humans require from the planet to survive, there is More People >> a deeper relationship with the biosphere that we need to acknowledge. Let’s imagine that some day we had the technology to live without the planet: Would we Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan want to? Beyond sentiment and nostalgia, what does our relationship with the John Koblin Earth say about our own ethics and values? Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown We are a species that takes our domination of the planet pretty seriously. We are More Authors >> most interested in maintaining those forms of life that help us maintain our own. That is probably both logical and biological- we are very much attracted to the idea On the Town Off the Record of survival. But we also take great pleasure in our natural surroundings. We want NYTV more than mere survival. Earth Day coincides with spring time and even here in NY 3.0 Manhattan Manhattan, many of us are thrilled to see the light green aura of life remerge as Transfers Commercial Breaks trees bud and flowers bloom. This past weekend I enjoyed biking from the new http://www.observer.com/2009/earth-day-2009

More Columns >> waterside park in Harlem (just west of Fairway) down to the Intrepid along the Hudson. All over the Northeast, people are emerging from winter’s cold and rediscovering their gardens, forests and beaches. The preservation of these pleasures requires that we preserve and value our planet.

It is possible to imagine a world without nature. In fact, science fiction is filled with technologies that replace natural systems. When I was a kid I used to watch the TV cartoon, “The Jetsons”. The Jetsons was a cartoon about family and work life in the future. Cars flew through the air, your food came from a machine in the wall, the family dog walked on a treadmill—and there was no nature. No trees. You lived up in the sky and no one ever looked down at whatever was going on below. You never saw a mountain or the ocean. In Star Wars, the home planet is completely covered by a “world city”. To find nature in that version of the future (or the past) you must travel to other planets.

Human imagination has a way of someday becoming human reality. Look at the “communicator” held by Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek TV show- now look down at your cell phone—anything look familiar? In the end, the preservation of our planet and its amazing beauty requires that we value it enough to control the technologies that damage it. Someday, the precautionary principle that we apply to the introduction of new drugs in the market place will need to be applied to the use of new production and product technologies. In the United States, the FDA requires extensive testing of new drugs before they can be sold. We take the precaution of making sure we understand how the new drug interacts with the human body. We see if the drug’s desired effects are more valuable than its side effects. When it comes to new technologies, we are all like the canary lowered into the cave to see if the mine is safe for humans. If the canary comes back alive, we send the miners down. If the canary is dead, we don’t. Similarly, if a new technology kills us, or destroys the biosphere, we consider stopping it.

Technology makes modern life possible, but its use must be guided by a deeper understanding of its impact on the biosphere. On this Earth Day, it’s important to think about the Earth and our responsibility to our children and to their children. It’s our job to pass the planet to the next generation intact and in good repair. To do that we need to value the earth for more than what it provides to us, but for the miracle it represents. Let’s make that the theme of this 39th Earth Day.

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The Politics of Climate Science

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 27, 2009 | 12:00 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Newt Gingrich, while gearing up for a possible Presidential run in 2012, is making the point that legislation to regulate carbon dioxide and reduce global warming will raise the price of energy and deepen the recession. New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin recently reported that MiguelViera via Flickr +Enlarge the Global Climate Coalition, a now defunct interest group once linked to the fossil fuel industry was putting out public relations skeptical of global warming science, even when its own experts were confirming the link between fossil fuels and global warming. Maybe Newt should have gotten the memo: global warming is real. Midtown New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker These industry voices learned that denying scientific fact was a losing strategy. Conde Nast Gingrich may eventually learn the same thing about the economics of global Atlantic Yards More Topics >> warming. It is true that greenhouse gas regulation will raise the cost of fossil fuels; just as catalytic converters, seat belts and air bags raised the price of cars. The

Rupert Murdoch point is that the costs were outweighed by the benefits. Or perhaps Newt would George W. Bush like to live in a world where cars were “unsafe at any speed” and the air was David Paterson Andrew Cuomo something you could see as well as breathe. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather More People >> In the long run, global warming will cost more than the cost of moving to a fossil fuel free economy. Think about how much it would cost to build a system of sea Jimmy Vielkind walls to protect New York City’s 600 miles of coast line from the impact of sea level Simon Doonan John Koblin rise. Fossil fuels are finite resources. While there may be enough left for a hundred Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander years, doesn’t our species plan to be around after that? Fossil fuels will become Eliot Brown increasingly scarce, harder to pull out of the earth, and more expensive. On the More Authors >> other hand renewable energy is not finite and will only get less expensive as its technology develops. The short run pain of a carbon tax will increase the On the Town Off the Record competitiveness of renewables and ultimately lower the price of energy. NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan Renewable energy results in lower prices in the long run and even in the short run, Transfers Commercial Breaks we can buffer the economic impact of higher fuel prices with more efficient use of http://www.observer.com/2009/politics-climate-science

More Columns >> energy. Americans waste enormous amounts of energy. It leaks out of our homes and we pump it into gas guzzling vehicles that could get twice as many miles to the gallon as they do today. A 30% increase in the price of fossil fuels can be absorbed by increasing energy efficiency by the same amount.

Global warming is not a joke. Its onset will be far from cost free. We now know that even the energy business knew the facts on global warming, but tried to suppress them. Newt Gingrich is smart enough to know that taxing carbon dioxide emissions will do more than generate revenue for the government. It will encourage energy efficiency and energy alternatives. Our long term economic growth depends on energy innovation. We need to be the world leader in renewable energy technology. If we don’t do it, someone else will.

Why are these business and political leaders willing to lie and distort the truth? Newt is hoping it can gain him some attention in the 2012 Republican Presidential contest. The energy industry is obviously hoping for a few more quarters of large profits before they are submerged by the impacts of sea level rise. In Gingrich’s case, you could argue that he is simply acting out of his long-standing opposition to taxation of all kinds. In the case of the Global Climate Coalition, the story has no redeeming value. They just decided to lie and hide the truth.

It is amazing that skepticism about the facts of global warming remains. Without it, Gingrich would not dare attack policies that will regulate the emission of greenhouse gasses. In the more complex world of the 21st century, the people who lead our government and our businesses need a firm understanding of scientific reality. Controversy is often part of new scientific discoveries. Science sometimes leads to breakthroughs that can change our understanding of how the world works. But while new discoveries often emerge and create controversy, they are eventually confirmed and a scientific consensus emerges. That consensus is built on fact, not opinion.

The scientific establishment has a variety of institutions that can be used to settle scientific controversies. Those institutions have uniformly confirmed the facts of global warming. We ignore that science at our peril. Our political institutions need to do a better job of absorbing and acting on scientific information. Of course suppressing and playing politics with science is destructive. As we learn to cope with global climate change, let’s hope that we also learn to do a better job of integrating scientific fact into the policy making process. Let’s act as if our lives depend on it: Because they might.

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Science, Technology and Economic Development

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS April 30, 2009 | 11:28 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On April 27th, President Obama gave an inspiring speech at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C about the importance of scientific research and education. He began by describing the threats to global sustainability and economic well being faced throughout the world and here in the United States. He observed that: woodleywonderworks via Flickr +Enlarge Midtown “At such a difficult moment, New York Times MSNBC there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science, that support for The New Yorker Conde Nast research is somehow a luxury at moments defined by necessities. I fundamentally Atlantic Yards disagree. Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our More Topics >> environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been before.”

Rupert Murdoch While Presidential Candidate Obama was criticized by some during the endless George W. Bush David Paterson Presidential campaign for being all talk and no action, the President Obama of the Andrew Cuomo past 100 days has matched his words with deeds. He did that at the National Ruth Reichl Dan Rather Academy of Sciences when he announced: More People >> “Federal funding in the physical sciences as a portion of our gross domestic Jimmy Vielkind product has fallen by nearly half over the past quarter century. …So I'm here today Simon Doonan John Koblin to set this goal: We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and Meredith Bryan development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, More Authors >> create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.” On the Town Off the Record NYTV The President then discussed the transformative effects of science on our world NY 3.0 view and sense of perspective. He related the often told story of Apollo 8’s first Manhattan Transfers photos of the earth from beyond the moon: Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/science-technology-and-economic-development

More Columns >> “In 1968, a year defined by loss and conflict and tumult, Apollo 8 carried into space the first human beings ever to slip beyond Earth's gravity, and the ship would circle the moon 10 times before returning home. But on its fourth orbit, the capsule rotated and for the first time Earth became visible through the windows.

Bill Anders, one of the astronauts aboard Apollo 8, scrambled for a camera, and he took a photo that showed the Earth coming up over the moon's horizon. It was the first ever taken from so distant a vantage point, and it soon became known as "Earthrise."

Anders would say that the moment forever changed him, to see our world -- this pale blue sphere -- without borders, without divisions, at once so tranquil and beautiful and alone. "We came all this way to explore the moon," he said, "and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth."

I admit that I am not an objective observer of the science establishment. I am a highly biased advocate of the importance of science education and research. I work for a great American research university, and one of my jobs at Columbia is to serve as Executive Director of the Earth Institute. Most of the more than 650 people who work at the Earth Institute are scientists; and they are, to a person, dedicated to the task of learning more about our planet, and teaching what they learn to students who come here from all over the world.

President Obama’s actions in his first several months in office have been like a shot of adrenalin to the scientific community. People in our laboratories have been encouraged in ways that have not been seen in a generation. They are being challenged by national needs, by the President’s words, and by the sudden availability of funding to expand their research and train more students.

The increased funding is important because it will allow our scientists to spend less time searching for resources and more time working on their research. It will also encourage students to major in the sciences and consider careers engaged in scientific discovery. When the President advocates science and invests in scientists, it sends a powerful signal that cannot be underestimated. For much of the past quarter century many of our most talented quantitative minds headed toward Wall Street and shunned other, less lucrative professions. The combination of losses in the finance industry and increased funding for science can not help but direct some of our brain power away from finance and toward basic and applied sciences.

I am not arguing that financial products are unimportant. Providing capital in new and imaginative ways helps build new businesses and is essential to the process of bringing new technologies and goods to the market place. However, over the past several decades the finance industry dominated the market for young, quantitative minds. Tilting that market back in the direction of careers in basic and applied science and engineering is good for the United States and helps us compete in the global economy.

President Obama and his science team deserve our praise and thanks for their effort to bring science research and education back into the center of American life. This is not science for its own sake, but science in our national interest. To quote, once again, from his talk to the National Academy:

“The pursuit of discovery half a century ago fueled our prosperity and our success as a nation in the half century that followed. The commitment I am making today will fuel our success for another 50 years.” http://www.observer.com/2009/science-technology-and-economic-development

Economic growth in the 21st century shares at least one characteristic with growth in the 20th century. It is based on technological innovation. The new team in Washington clearly understands this fundamental fact.

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Torture: Ineffective, Illegal, and Unprincipled

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 4, 2009 | 11:48 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The issue of torture and security keeps reemerging in the news, as we debate matters of national survival and our core values. The issue is often posed in the following way: What if a terrorist had information about an urgent threat to American lives and the only way to obtain that --Sam-- via Flickr. +Enlarge information would be to torture it out of him? The responses range from: No, even if we were under grave threat, torture would violate our principles and we should never do it; to, torture doesn’t work or produces unreliable information, so, we violate our principles and Midtown New York Times get nothing for it. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast My own view is that principles and values are important. We should not torture Atlantic Yards because it is wrong and it violates the spirit of U.S. and International law. We More Topics >> know that in the real world, people violate principles all of the time. Does that mean we should have no principles? Does that mean we should develop less Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush stringent ones? One of our most deeply held ethical principles is about the sanctity David Paterson Andrew Cuomo of human life. The commandment is: “Thou shall not kill”. It does not say: “don’t Ruth Reichl kill except in self defense”. The principle is don’t kill. Yet, we kill all of the time. Dan Rather More People >> Does that mean the principle should be watered down? One could argue that it has never been an absolute principle. Wars and capital punishment have long violated

Jimmy Vielkind this principle. Nevertheless, its presence has influenced human behavior for Simon Doonan thousands of years. It has not eliminated brutality but it has delegitimized it. John Koblin Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Since we can’t operate a civil order without killing people, we focus on the method Eliot Brown of killing. When we remove someone from life, it should be done with a minimum More Authors >> of pain in the process. The eighth amendment of the United States constitution

On the Town prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment”. Water boarding is a cruel punishment, Off the Record although we have recently learned it is not as unusual as we thought. By holding NYTV NY 3.0 accused terrorists as “enemy combatants”, they do not receive the protections of Manhattan Transfers the American constitution. Alumni of the Bush Administration and its defenders Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/torture-ineffective-illegal-and-unprincipled

More Columns >> argue that without torture, America would have been subjected to further terrorist attacks. It is a claim that logically cannot be proven or disproven, but is, of course, irrelevant.

The danger in eliminating the ban on torture as a method of investigation is that it erodes a critical principle. We know that the principle will be violated during times of duress, but if it is eliminated, torture will be legitimized and its day to day use will be increased. Is that the type of world that America wants to build? Are those the values that we have raised the world’s strongest military to defend? America's claim to moral leadership is fundamentally debased by the defense of torture.

It is a tough world out there and there are evil people who are out to do us harm. No one living in New York City or Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001 could ever deny that point. We need to be aggressive and vigilant in defending our families, property and ideals. But in the process of doing that we need to defend our way of life—and that includes our values and self image.

If America is subjected to another large scale terrorist attack, you can be certain that Dick Cheney and his pals will blame it on the “softer” approach to defense and interrogation advocated by President Obama. I believe this is a ridiculous argument. It is also a political argument and an effort to restore the post-Vietnam image of the Democrats as the party that is soft on defense. We do not need to use brutal tactics to reduce criminal behavior. Vigilance, intelligence, skill and strategic thinking are far more effective. Here in New York City nearly two decades of increasingly professionalized policing has taken place along side steady reductions in crime. While civilian complaints against police misconduct continue, and that misconduct continues, no one would argue that the increased safety of New Yorkers was accomplished through increased incidences of police brutality.

Brutality is not a cost free strategy. When police act within the law and behave with professionalism and dignity, it delegitimizes outlaw conduct. George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson’s famous broken window theory states that if one window in an abandoned building is broken, soon the rest will be broken as well. Misconduct is contagious. The importance of order and rules of correct behavior should never be underestimated. I would argue that if the “window” is broken by the police, if our government tortures prisoners, the situation is worse. If the people who are responsible for enforcing our laws—and our principles—violate those laws and principles, it fosters disrespect for all principles and laws. Ultimately that makes us less safe. That is the case on the streets of New York City. When our police act within the law, they build respect for law. If police are corrupt and brutal, the fabric of public order becomes frayed. While the analogy is far from perfect, I think it works that way in the international arena as well.

While I find torture personally abhorrent, and I suspect it is not all that effective as an interrogation method; the central point is that torture is not the type of behavior we expect from civilized, law abiding nations. When we look for loopholes in the Geneva Conventions we undermine the rule of law. Torture is ineffective, illegal, and a violation or our principles. The arguments in favor of it are far weaker than the arguments against it. President Obama is correct in prohibiting torture, and we should applaud his efforts to end its practice.

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Global Sustainability and the Class of 2009

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 11, 2009 | 4:10 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Here on Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus, at around Broadway and West 116th street, the surest signs of spring are all of the preparations for graduation now underway. Groundskeepers are planting new shrubs, and bleacher seats and tents are being maxintosh via Flickr +Enlarge assembled everywhere. Working in a place like this is both a joy and a privilege-- a fact never far from my mind- especially this time of year. As another group of students gets ready to face the challenges of the “real world,” a source of hope is the growing number of students working on environmental issues. This can be seen in many of Midtown New York Times Columbia’s Schools: its undergraduate College and School of General Studies, its MSNBC The New Yorker graduate schools of International and Public Affairs, Public Health, and Conde Nast Architecture. In these schools and in our Engineering School we are seeing a Atlantic Yards More Topics >> dramatic increase in interest in the study of environment, energy and sustainable development.

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush At Columbia, a new undergraduate minor in sustainable development will soon David Paterson graduate its first class. Masters programs in climate and society, environmental Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl science and policy, environmental health policy and ecology have all been created Dan Rather More People >> in the past decade-- and are all growing. A Ph.D. program in Sustainable Development attracts about 150 applications each year for only six spaces. While

Jimmy Vielkind our schools and Columbia’s university-wide Earth Institute are constantly Simon Doonan developing new environmental educational initiatives, it is our students that are John Koblin Meredith Bryan providing the drive and demand that is fueling the growth of sustainability studies Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown on campus. This is happening here in New York City and around the nation. More Authors >> A few weeks ago the graduating environmental science seniors at Columbia and

On the Town Barnard presented their senior projects in a poster session held before a Off the Record packed crowd on the Barnard campus. Papers ranged from Alison Powell’s, NYTV NY 3.0 “Reducing Emissions on Agricultural Lands in the Hudson Valley “ to Robin Manhattan Transfers Broder’s “The Future of Electric Vehicles and Challenges for Commercial Breaks Infrastructure”. If watching these young scientists present their findings doesn’t http://www.observer.com/2009/global-sustainability-and-class-2009

More Columns >> provide you with hope for the future, I don’t think you’re paying attention.

At Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, I direct a Graduate program that awards a Master of Public Administration Degree in Environmental Science and Policy. In their final semester, about 60 students are divided into five groups and work with a faculty member to produce consulting reports for public sector clients. Over the past several weeks, these students have been presenting the results of their latest projects. Last week, a group of students I worked with presented their study on how to improve energy efficiency in the New York City Housing Authority. The Housing Authority has an impressive record of accomplishment in energy efficiency and my students studied cases from around the world to come up with some new ideas for New York City. Other projects presented by our students included: • Assessing the Effectiveness of Payments for Environmental/Ecological Services-- for the Wildlife Conservation Society;

• Gateway National Park’s Long-Term Ecosystem Management Options under Changing Climate Conditions-- for the U.S. National Park Service;

• Quantifying and Reducing a National Organization’s Impact on Global Climate Change and Developing a Model to be Replicated-- for the National Audubon Society;

• An Analysis of Renewable Energy Payments (REPs) Policies for the United States-- for the nonprofit groups Alliance for Renewable Energy (ARE) and EarthAction

Columbia is far from unique in producing these reports and in educating students interested in ensuring a sustainable planet. This is happening everywhere and in greater numbers every day. The new administration in Washington is encouraging it, but they too, like our faculty at Columbia, are responding to a strong and constant demand from young people across the country and around the world. Educating the next generation of environmental professionals and scientists is a challenge, even to those of us who have worked in this field for many years. Students are demanding that traditional questions and methods be replaced by programs of study that bring together many fields and help solve real-world problems.

These demanding students and the dedicated faculty working in this area are a source of optimism for the future. This generation of students is not interested in the environment simply out of a love of nature. While some care about the outdoors, many are just as interested in sustainable cities and “green buildings”. They do not see the environment as a “frill”, but view a sustainable planet as a necessity for their own future.

The graduation season on campus is always a time of hope as well as a nostalgic rite of passage. Proud families and posed photos are the order of the day. One of the most renewable resources we have is the brainpower, hard work and sense of idealism of our young people. This precious resource is an essential component of our transformation to a sustainable planet and a green economy. They deserve our thanks and our support, along with our congratulations.

MORE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONALS | GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY | GREEN http://www.observer.com/2009/global-sustainability-and-class-2009

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The Stuff of Sustainability

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 14, 2009 | 5:39 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Recently, New York Times reporter, Leslie Kaufman wrote an excellent story on an interesting and important video called “The Story of Stuff”. Kaufman writes that: “The video is a cheerful but brutal assessment of how much Americans waste, and it has its detractors… The video Flickr via Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer +Enlarge was created by Annie Leonard, a former Greenpeace employee and an independent lecturer who paints a picture of how American habits result in forests being felled, mountaintops being destroyed, water being polluted and people and animals being poisoned.”

Midtown The video is compelling and thought provoking but at times factually incorrect and New York Times MSNBC misleading. For example, when you include state and local government spending, The New Yorker Conde Nast there is no way that half of our tax dollars are spent on the military—one of the Atlantic Yards points made by the “Story of Stuff”. However, I don’t think the issue of defense More Topics >> spending is central to the argument made in the video. The video’s overall point is correct: that our economic base is built on overconsumption and waste of finite Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush natural resources. It makes the point in simple graphic terms and is easy to follow David Paterson and mostly correct. It’s too bad that its inaccuracies mar its production and Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl undermine its overall point. It’s also too bad that it doesn’t present a workable Dan Rather More People >> solution to the problem it poses. Still, I urge you to take twenty minutes and watch it.

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan An important point raised by the video is the role of planned obsolescence and John Koblin advertised based demand in the creation of the American consumer culture. The Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander current economic climate is making many of us think about the connection of Eliot Brown material consumption to quality of life, and that reflection is long over due. More Authors >> However, some of its analysis is overly simplistic and off base. The video’s

On the Town treatment of garbage, or solid waste management, is a case in point. Incineration Off the Record and landfills are seen as evil, with incineration’s dioxin emissions portrayed as the NYTV NY 3.0 greatest of evils. The answer to our waste problem proposed by the video is “zero Manhattan Transfers waste”. This is, of course absurd. Perhaps we should send all those big green bags Commercial Breaks on the sidewalk to solid waste heaven instead. Waste can’t be ignored or wished http://www.observer.com/2009/stuff-sustainability

More Columns >> away and it can’t be totally eliminated. It must be reduced, recycled and managed.

Making people feel guilty about consuming and opposing all forms of solid waste management doesn’t seem particularly helpful. Yes, we need to build more durable goods that should be engineered for re-use. Yes, we should develop waste management systems that pollute less than the ones we have. Yes, we should build our economy on renewable rather than finite resources. But, the future of the planet must deal with the presence of seven to ten billion people. It is too late for all of us to live in rural settings in complete harmony with nature. We must learn to manage our way to sustainability. For better or worse our survival depends on our ingenuity and our ability to develop and manage technological fixes.

The world economy is so tightly interconnected that even the slight reduction in American consumption now underway has already increased misery here and around the world. If this small decline in consumption has had a dramatic impact on the world’s economy, it should be obvious that the transition to a sustainable economy cannot be done overnight and must be carefully undertaken.

The video’s treatment of the flow of materials in and out of our economy is an important concept for people to understand. Its discussion of alternatives to consumption and the causes of over consumption are also well presented. What we need now are realistic solutions that can be sold to everyone. One problem with a non-sustainable economy is that even wealthy people are endangered by it. The politics of sustainability requires that everyone understand that wealth itself requires functioning ecosystems. We humans are biological creatures. We need healthy air, water and food in order to live. If we poison our planet, even your local, over-priced organic market will have to close down due to lack of supplies.

People like modern conveniences. These demands are not simply created for us. IPods, laptops, cell phones, air conditioning, autos and travel are attractive elements of our life style. While we don’t need a new cell phone every year, we like to use these devices to conveniently communicate with family and friends and people who provide us with services. These demands are not simply created by advertisers and capitalists. They are responses to human wants and needs. If sustainability requires that we return to campfires and hunting and gathering to eat, it’s a concept that will never get very far. It is not only infeasible and undesirable, it would be politically destabilizing.

The answer to the “story of stuff” is not to shut down the economy, but change the way it operates. We need sustainability management. We need an economy built on the principles of industrial ecology: Industrial production with as little waste as possible. We need to make sure that most of the raw materials that go into the production process emerge as useful products. The goods we produce should be designed to be re-engineered and reused when they reach the end of their useful life. Agriculture must be approached as a sustainable industry based on renewable resources. Energy must transition from finite fossil fuels to renewable solar-based sources. Waste must be reduced and whenever possible put to use as energy, fertilizer or construction materials.

The Story of Stuff raises critical issues and provokes discussion and so it is worth watching. I’ll be waiting for the sequel, I’m hoping for a video called “The Story of Sustainable Stuff”…

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Finally, A More Fuel Efficient Auto

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS May 21, 2009 | 4:49 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The Obama Administration has once again demonstrated its commitment to progress on sustainability issues. On May 19th, the President announced dramatically improved auto fuel efficiency standards. In case you missed the announcement, according to the White House web site: Flickr via david megginson +Enlarge

“President Obama today – for the first time in history – set in motion a new national policy aimed at both increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. The new standards, covering model years 2012-2016, and ultimately requiring an average Midtown fuel economy standard of 35.5 mpg in 2016, are projected to save 1.8 billion New York Times MSNBC barrels of oil over the life of the program with a fuel economy gain averaging more The New Yorker Conde Nast than 5 percent per year and a reduction of approximately 900 million metric tons Atlantic Yards in greenhouse gas emissions. This would surpass the CAFE law passed by Congress More Topics >> in 2007 required an average fuel economy of 35 mpg in 2020.”

Rupert Murdoch There is a great deal of discussion about the causes and possible effects of this new George W. Bush David Paterson policy. What is left of the American auto industry supports the new policy. As New Andrew Cuomo York Times reporters John Broder and Micheline Maynard recently wrote, this is Ruth Reichl Dan Rather in part, “because they had no choice”. The auto industry has very More People >> little political clout in American politics. While for many years they had Michigan Congressman John Dingell protecting their interests, today they contend Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan with California Congressman Henry Waxman- who is eager to make up for lost John Koblin time in regulating auto emissions and gas mileage. Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown The other night, Jon Stewart did a short piece with a bunch of TV talking heads More Authors >> arguing about how dangerous small cars are and that these new auto standards will kill people. Other pundits argue that people will hold on to their old cars because On the Town Off the Record they will be bigger and more comfortable than the new ones. I suppose these are NYTV the same people holding on to their SONY disc man or possibly their old eight NY 3.0 Manhattan track tape cartridges and still refuse to move on to an IPod. Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/finally-more-fuel-efficient-auto

More Columns >> While these new regulations can be seen as a threat to the American auto industry, there is a good chance that they represent the very opposite. They could be an opportunity to reengineer the auto industry for a new era. The new regulations will be “technology forcing”. They will require the auto industry to rethink the way they engineer cars and focus on delivering more energy efficient autos. In a time when concern about climate change and the volatile price of fossil fuels dominates our consciousness- a car that looks good, isn’t expensive, handles well and gets 100 miles to the gallon would dominate the world market instantly. A great new car could be just the thing to revive this declining industry.

Some people assume that we must trade off comfort, safety and style for fuel efficiency. I suppose these are the same people who once assumed that small computers couldn’t include much memory or computing power. Today’s laptops have more computing power than yesterday’s mainframes. In the urban and developed world we live in, the key to sustainability is rapid technological development. While the goal of 35.5 miles per gallon seems ambitious, it is actually reasonably modest. Twenty years from now, people will wonder why we were so tentative when we began to develop fuel efficient vehicles.

In the long run we are going to need electric cars and a power supply based on renewable sources of energy. Some day, the idea of “miles per gallon” will seem quaint. In the short run, the steps taken by the Obama Administration are essential. They demonstrate that we have discarded the bankrupt energy policies of the most recent Bush Presidency. The auto and oil industries no longer dominate this policy arena, and our nation’s credibility on the climate issue should be restored.

The crisis in the auto industry provides an opportunity to reshape and revitalize this critical part of our economy. For better or worse, this nation has developed its land in a way that requires personal transportation. While we can and should improve mass transit, we will always be dependent on the automobile. Under the President’s new plan California and the rest of the country will have a single auto mileage standard. I think that everyone is starting to understand that the future belongs to the fuel efficient.

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Mayor Bloomberg's Persistent Sustainability Agenda

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 2, 2009 | 11:54 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The past several weeks we once again saw the Mayor at his best and at his worst. At his worst, he berated a NY Observer reporter who raised the issue of term limits. At his best, he demonstrated the political courage to experiment with banning cars from parts of Times Square and Herald Square, and pushed hard, if unsuccessfully, to get the City Council to tax plastic bags. Flickr via EVERYDAYLIFEMODERN +Enlarge Midtown New York Times MSNBC Taxing Plastic Bags: The New Yorker Conde Nast Atlantic Yards The Mayor would like to tax plastic bags to generate revenues and to lower More Topics >> expenses by reducing the volume of solid waste. Every bag that’s tossed in the garbage adds to the city’s waste disposal bill. On May 29, Celeste Katz and Frank Rupert Murdoch Lombardi reported in the Daily News that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn George W. Bush David Paterson was opposed to the tax. In their piece they quoted a number of City Council Andrew Cuomo members, several of whom did not even have the guts to go on the record: Ruth Reichl Dan Rather More People >> "We just don't want it," said one Brooklyn Council member, who asked not to be identified because the budget negotiations are supposed to be confidential. "It's Jimmy Vielkind just another tax on working people." "There's extreme resistance on our side of Simon Doonan John Koblin the building [the Council side of City Hall]," said another member. "For me, it's a Meredith Bryan nickel tax on food." Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx) said: "I personally Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown support it [the fee] because I want to discourage the use of plastic bags. More Authors >> "Consumers can avoid the fee by bringing their own bags or using paper bags. But the speaker is not a supporter. She's taking a position that is popular with many of On the Town Off the Record the members." NYTV NY 3.0 Koppell is, of course correct. This is a tax that can easily be avoided by asking for Manhattan Transfers paper bags, or bringing your own bag when you shop. Plenty of grocery stores have Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/mayor-bloombergs-persistent-sustainability-agenda

More Columns >> already begun to sell canvas shopping bags and even without the tax, you see these cloth bags more often than before. The plastic bag tax is really a convenience tax. In a sense it is similar to the deposit on beverage bottles. Many people simply toss the bottle in the garbage and can’t be bothered to return it for deposit. Poor people scavenge garbage bags for bottles, but still, many deposits are never recovered. There are some differences between bottle deposits and the tax on plastic bags. While bottle deposits can't be avoided, the nickle tax on plastic bags can be saved by bringing a bag with you. The idea that this is a tax on food or the working poor is completely absurd. This is the City Council at its inexplicable worst. This is Mayor Bloomberg cleverly combining revenue generation with a sustainability agenda. While in the end he had to give in on the plastic bag tax, you get the feeling that we might see the proposal come up again some time in the future.

Banning Cars from Times and Herald Squares:

According to the Department of Transportation web site: “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan are beginning a pilot program, "Green Light for Midtown," to reduce traffic congestion throughout Midtown Manhattan via targeted improvements on Broadway, focused at Times and Herald Squares.” The plan, which was put into effect the day after Memorial Day, closes two sections of Broadway to vehicles, from 47th to 42nd Streets and 35th to 33rd Streets.

According to the Department of Transportation, over 356,000 people walk through Times Square each day, and even though “there are 4.5 as many people as vehicles, only 11% of the space is currently allocated for pedestrians.” While the change is not popular with some cabbies, most of the initial reaction has been positive. The Bloomberg Administration considers it an experiment and will evaluate its impact on people, traffic and business—before deciding whether to make the street closings permanent.

Sustainability as Smart City Management:

What is characteristic about the Bloomberg Administration’s approach to sustainability management is that it typically involves reducing environmental impacts while creating economic wealth. In addition to reducing pollution and the use of natural resources, they focus on cost effectiveness and the impact on New York’s businesses, residents and visitors. This is not environmental protection for its own sake, but sustainable development with the goal of improving the city’s economic well being and quality of life. Two of the goals of New York City’s sustainability plan illustrate this point: 1.) Planting a million trees reduces our carbon footprint, but also makes the city cooler in the summer and a more pleasant place to be. 2.) Making sure that a park is within a ten minute walk of everyone who lives here does the same thing, while raising the value of real estate. Times Square and Herald Square are ridiculously crowded for most of the day and night. During some times of the day it’s nearly impossible to window shop, or even hold a conversation, as you’re carried along on a moving river of pedestrians determined to get to the next corner. It’s not clear how to fix the problem, but prohibiting cars and trucks is worth a try.

The ban on vehicles also makes the point that the city does not need to defer to the almighty auto in every instance. Sometimes pedestrians come first. In this incredibly dense place, one way to reclaim some space for parkland is to take it away from vehicles. Obviously, this must be done carefully and gradually, like the experiment in mid-town Manhattan. The path to a sustainable city is not a straight http://www.observer.com/2009/mayor-bloombergs-persistent-sustainability-agenda

line. Public amenities, reductions in the waste stream, and energy efficiency are all important elements- and are all part of Mayor Bloomberg’s impressive sustainability effort. Now, if only he can figure out how to deal with reporters he finds annoying….

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Reflections on the Leadership of President Obama

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 5, 2009 | 4:25 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Watching President Obama in Cairo the other day, I was struck by his vision, ambition, and his desire to bring about change. Having voted for him in the New York primary last year and in the general election in November, I confess to having enormous sympathy for him. I root for him like he is the home team. Since I focus my work on easy issues like environmental sustainability, I don’t pretend Flickr via jetheriot +Enlarge Midtown New York Times to have any answers for the MSNBC The New Yorker more difficult dilemma of peace in the Middle East. As an American Jew, I have a Conde Nast deep emotional attachment to the State of Israel, and I can’t help but be worried Atlantic Yards More Topics >> about Israel’s security. However, I know that generations of Palestinian refugee camps and years of armed conflict cannot be a path to peace and security. So, I

Rupert Murdoch give the President enormous credit for his search for a new start. I guess it’s a George W. Bush David Paterson mark of his sense of balance and possibly the hopelessness of this effort, that he is Andrew Cuomo criticized by people on all sides of the issue. Answers to conflicts like this take Ruth Reichl Dan Rather years of effort, toughness, clever strategic thinking, and patience-- and I think we More People >> are beginning to learn that Obama is capable of all of this.

Jimmy Vielkind The day after his Cairo speech, President Obama visited the site of the Buchenwald Simon Doonan Concentration Camp with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and holocaust John Koblin Meredith Bryan survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and anti-war activist Elie Wiesel. Wiesel Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown spoke movingly of his father’s death in the camp and President Obama’s brief More Authors >> remarks also resonated with deep emotion. "I will not forget what I've seen here today," Obama said after touring the camp. "These sites have not lost their horror On the Town with the passage of time …This place teaches us that we must be ever vigilant about Off the Record NYTV the spread of evil in our times.” It was a remarkable event, with words and images NY 3.0 Manhattan that were truly memorable. Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/reflections-leadership-president-obama

More Columns >> It is early in the game, and the endless global news cycle and complex interconnected economy makes it tough to even know what it means to be a leader and change agent in these difficult times. In this wacky world, the President and First Lady can’t even take in dinner and a Broadway show without someone finding fault with them. Still, I see the seeds of greatness in the first half year of this Presidency. The potential is all there: The obvious brainpower and ambitious street smarts; the heart, soul and commitment of a man who knows who he is and is comfortable with his place in the world. It’s too early to know how this story will evolve, but the President and his new team have only made a few obvious mistakes so far.

The contemporary tendency to constantly sit in judgment of every small thing our leaders do is more than a little weird. The intense scrutiny of constant cable news coupled with the Blogosphere, creates an endless demand for news and analysis. This is happening at the very time when the business model that supported large news staffs in great metropolitan newspapers and TV networks is in a state of free fall. Our thirst for facts and analysis is growing at the same time our capacity for supporting a profession responsible for gathering and assessing facts is shrinking. In the case of President Obama, I think it is worthwhile to sit back and reflect on both the accomplishments and the potential of his young Presidency.

First and foremost, we see a guiding intelligence and an effort at dispassionate judgment that I didn’t think we’d ever see again in the White House. The process that produces the modern President is so grueling and circus-like that it seems to attract people who need the Presidency more than we need them to be President. Why would a smart, normal, balanced person be attracted to a crazy process that if you succeed only makes you a prisoner of a security bubble for four or eight years? At times, it seems like a small miracle to see a talent like Barack Obama behind that Presidential podium.

It’s also a talent that may have arrived in the nick of time. The strains on the planet and the world’s economy as well as the danger posed by terror and weapons of mass destruction require greatness in our leaders. So far, we’ve seen movement at home with economic and energy policy, and efforts abroad, to redefine American diplomacy and reinforce our national security. A lot has happened in a short period of time- but a lot more still needs to be done.

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Green Business and Sustainability Management Have Finally Arrived

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 12, 2009 | 1:31 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The $800 billion federal stimulus package is only slowly starting to kick in, and we see the President pushing to accelerate job creation over the summer. The good news is that a recent study of green jobs by the Pew Charitable Trusts indicates that the Administration’s focus on Flickr via greenforall.org +Enlarge sustainability is sound economics- and the government may very well be throwing its money in the right direction after all. According to the Pew study:

Midtown “The number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two New York Times MSNBC and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007… Pew found that The New Yorker Conde Nast jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent, while Atlantic Yards traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent between 1998 and 2007. There was a More Topics >> similar pattern at the state level, where job growth in the clean energy economy outperformed overall job growth in 38 states and the District of Columbia during Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush the same period....This promising sector is poised to expand significantly, driven David Paterson Andrew Cuomo by increasing consumer demand, venture capital infusions, and federal and state Ruth Reichl policy reforms.” Dan Rather More People >> The Pew study carefully defines green jobs to include employment in: “(1) Clean Energy, (2) Energy Efficiency, (3) Environmentally Friendly Production, (4) Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan Conservation and Pollution Mitigation, and (5) Training and Support.” This is an John Koblin important and methodologically sound study and Pew is to be congratulated for Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander a thorough and creative piece of policy analysis. (O.K., the professor in me is Eliot Brown enough of a wonk to get a little thrilled by the quality of this work… what can I More Authors >> say?).

On the Town Off the Record I am seeing increasing signs of the mainstreaming of green business and its move NYTV out of public relations and green washing into the world of hard-headed, realistic NY 3.0 Manhattan business practice. As performance measurement systems have become ubiquitous Transfers Commercial Breaks within organizations, management has focused on reporting cycles that include http://www.observer.com/2009/green-business-and-sustainability-management-have-finally-arrived

More Columns >> quarterly, monthly, weekly and even daily reports. This focus on the present creates an organizational culture and environment that makes it very difficult for the issue of long term sustainability to be taken seriously. However, we are starting to see the notion of sustainability added to the definition of effective management. Organizations seek to maintain themselves. An organization that fails to take into account the long term sustainability of the planet may survive while everything around them dies, but the odds are against them. My view is that healthy organizations depend, more than they think, on a healthy planet. Organizations have trouble absorbing those long term considerations, but many of the best managed companies are starting to learn how to act sustainably.

It comes down to the issue of waste and the relationship of efficiency to good management. Why wouldn’t an organization strive to maximize the productive benefit of all of the resources that they have access to? One way that successful organizations thrive is by keeping the costs of production and service delivery as low as possible without sacrificing quality. If there is a technology that can allow you to use less energy, water or other materials in production, all things being equal, why wouldn’t you use it? The issue is often one of competing capital investments. The funds for reducing waste are the same funds needed to actually produce the product or service you are selling. Shouldn’t the rate of return for sustainability investments be analyzed the same way you would analyze other investments? The mania for short term financial gain is both the enemy of sustainability and also, as we learned in the recent economic crash, the enemy of a sound economy as well. This was clearly articulated by Mindy S. Lubber, the President of Ceres, a U.S. coalition of investors and environmental leaders in mid September, 2008:

“The fiscal crisis on Wall Street is a painful lesson in how entire industries can delude themselves into ignoring the most fundamental issues -- in this case, the hidden risks from easy sub-prime mortgages. It also reveals the vast pitfalls of an economic system obsessed with short-term gains and growth at all costs while ignoring essentials such as building long-term shareholder value and protecting the future of the planet. As we confront global climate change -- perhaps the biggest challenge mankind has ever faced -- business and government leaders have an opportunity to learn from the ongoing Wall Street debacle and get it right.”

I often hear arguments about the relative role of government and the private sector in building a green economy. This is more of the same old tired debate about socialism vs. capitalism. At the risk of stating the obvious, let me reiterate: The war between the commies and the capitalists is over…. And the winner is…. both. We need government to encourage "green" practices with regulation and incentives, and; we need the private sector to actually do the work of building the green economy. The Pew study indicates that over the past decade the green economy has grown faster than the rest of the economy. The Obama recovery strategy is built on the idea of using government funds to accelerate that growth. It makes sense to me.

Going green are definitely Submitted by johnb on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 17:36. Going green are definitely growing each year. this is definitely a good thing. Why is this stimulus package taking so long. I heard on the news that only 10% of the stimulus money has been spent. this is not good. http://www.domic.info http://www.jenhorne.com http://www.homeremodelvideos.info http://www.greenbergfarm.com http://www.gardendiscount.info http://www.artyko.com http://www.myspassos.com http://www.stihotvorenie.info http://www.jeremyorr.info http://www.jenhorne.com

i think this will definitely Submitted by johnb on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 17:37. i think this will definitely help the economy. Also will help the environment. Its good to have new jobs for this economy. I am glad to see it. Party Planning

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Let's Re-light the Lamp by the Golden Door: A Case for Immigration Reform

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 16, 2009 | 4:05 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Recently, we read news reports that a Sudanese family, granted asylum in the United States due to the war in Darfur, was finally reunited after a two year struggle with U.S. Immigration. The separation of these parents from their four year old child was heartbreaking, and an example of an immigration system that does not serve our national interest. Flickr via Esparta +Enlarge Midtown New York Times I know that when most people MSNBC The New Yorker think of immigration reform they think of the issue of illegal immigrants and of Conde Nast our border with Mexico. That is a problem that needs to be addressed, and I do not Atlantic Yards More Topics >> want to minimize the importance of that issue. Even though illegal immigrants take jobs that American citizens would not accept and at salaries citizens would

Rupert Murdoch not tolerate, the issue of immigration remains wrapped in fear for many George W. Bush David Paterson Americans. There is the fear that an immigrant will take your job. There is the fear Andrew Cuomo that an immigrant is a terrorist and a danger to our security. Despite these fears, as Ruth Reichl Dan Rather long as there is a tourism industry, global trade and jet travel, there will be More People >> relatively free movement of people and goods around the globe. Sealing our borders is a fantasy and it’s an idea that doesn’t serve us well. Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan John Koblin As long as we have poor nations and rich nations, people from the poor ones will Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander try to immigrate to the wealthy nations. My grandparents came from impoverished Eliot Brown Russia and Poland at the start of the twentieth century, and I like to think the deal More Authors >> worked out well for my family and for America as well. I remember reading John F. Kennedy’s book “A Nation of Immigrants”, back in junior high school and On the Town Off the Record thinking that my family was part of what made America a great country. America’s NYTV NY 3.0 willingness to open the door to poor and ambitious people from other parts of the Manhattan world is what built this country. I know that some of this "immigration idealism" Transfers Commercial Breaks is a myth, but a lot of it is true. American history has had its share of brutality. http://www.observer.com/2009/lets-re-light-lamp-golden-door-case-immigration-reform

More Columns >> Slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and violence against newly arrived immigrants are prominent examples of our capacity for cruelty. But the march toward a more perfect union has proceeded, even if the path has been far from direct. At the heart of our national vision is this idea of American opportunity, which is delivered through a unique combination of individualism and community.

A critical part of our nation’s unique quality is its ability to welcome and absorb immigrants. It was never all sweetness and light. Immigrants were abused and oppressed and they are to this day. But they built communities, helped each other, and eventually were brought into what Mayor David Dinkins once called “this gorgeous mosaic”. Not the melting pot of pure assimilation, but something more interesting where assimilation is tempered by retention of some of the older customs and cultures brought here by immigrants. The balance between foreign and American is in many ways the story of America: Steak and potatoes, seasoned with bagels, tacos and sushi. America transforms its new arrivals and is itself transformed by each wave of immigration.

The issue of immigration must be understood in the context of the global economy and this nation’s long term role in that economy. Our three hundred million people cannot possibly outmuscle the sheer human force of China and India. We have already completed our “demographic transition”. Just as in Europe and Japan, if left to our native population, our birth rate would no longer replace our current population. In traditional agrarian societies, healthy children are a form of wealth and social security. Children have a positive economic function in a family and are an economic asset. In modern, developed nations, children become economic liabilities. We raise families for love and gratification, but not for their economic benefits. As the economic role of children has changed, birth rates in the developed world have gradually dropped below zero population growth. In the long run, in a fully developed world, we will see this phenomenon everywhere. However, in the near term, and for the foreseeable future, we will continue to see large-scale population growth in poorer nations.

What is America’s unique long term niche in the global market place? I think of the Apple computer box that got delivered to my office last year that said “Designed in California, made in China”. That’s it in a nutshell. We have to be the place that specializes in brainpower and creativity. Freedom is not simply a political value here, it is an economic asset. We need to attract the best creative and scientific talent in the world and welcome them to America. Our way of life, entertainment, educational and natural resources can make this the best place on Earth to live, work and play. To attract the brainpower and talent we need we must make it easier to come here and stay here if a person has drive and talent. It needs to get easier for immigrants to come to America again.

I am not advocating that the door must be open with no limits. We need an immigration policy that attracts the world’s best and the brightest. America’s great strength in the global economy is that we have long allowed people to settle here from other parts of the world. That is not the case in China and Japan and in many other places in the world. Coupled with our strengths in media, communications and education, we can be the most exciting and cosmopolitan place in the world. An important part of that will be a sophisticated and strategic immigration policy administered by a competent, flexible, and agile immigration service.

TOURIST INDUSTRY | “DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION”

Article IV Section 4 Submitted by StokeyBob on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 20:15. I think they should uphold the rule of law and govern by the rules set forth by the United States Constitution, as they swore they would with their oaths of office. Back in the sixties the government came into the schools and brainwashed us with the idea we needed to control the population because it was rising so fast. They said the roads would become crowded and we would run out of things like water. They unleashed abortions, birth control pills, and other forms of Family Planning. To allow the country to be over run with the criminals in businesses illegal labor while the criminals in the government aid and abet the invasion is a travesty against mankind. They have seen to it our children were killed to control the population at the same time allowing the world to export their population problems here. What about our sacrifices, many made against our will????? P.S. We still haven't recovered from the last time the criminals in business were allowed to bring in their slaves.

So where is the "case for immigration reform"? Submitted by Icarus5 on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 21:57. I was hoping to find a rational argument supporting the "open the flood gates" cause, but this article didn't provide one. There isn't much to argue against here because there isn't much of an argument in the article. How does the rest of the article relate back to the first paragraph? Am I missing something? The immigration debate is more about a conflict between age groups than anything else: those who are in their 50s and 60s understand "immigrants" to be cheap nannies, yard keepers, carpet cleaners, and people who wash clothes and do other messy jobs for almost nothing, while anyone under 50 views immigrants as those people who were hired by the older people for pennies because the older people knew the immigrants didn't have rights and were financially desperate. There is a good reason why U.S. citizens don't want to work the jobs performed by illegal immigrants: the jobs pay less than minimum wage because they are performed by desperate people with almost no rights who aren't able to unionize. If there weren't desperate immigrant workers to choose from, the messy jobs would have to pay reasonable wages otherwise the jobs simply wouldn't be done. Isn't it odd that far left liberals want to simultaneously raise the minimum wage and make the minimum wage irrelevant by importing desperate immigrant workers who have historically almost always worked for less than the minimum wage?

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The Impact of Technology on Political Communication

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 23, 2009 | 4:49 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Watching the mass impulse toward democracy in Iran over the past week has been alternately inspiring and terrifying. The power and clumsiness of the state never fails to scare me and the courage and intensity of the public in the street continues to inspire. Something is different about political participation in these early years of the 21st century. In part, we are seeing the impact Getty Images +Enlarge Midtown New York Times of technology on political MSNBC The New Yorker processes. Conde Nast Atlantic Yards The power of mass images is not a new thing. In the 1960’s and onward, images of More Topics >> wealth in the west eventually exposed the weakness of the communist regime running the old Soviet bloc. There is the story, perhaps apocryphal; of Nikita Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Khrushchev narrating a film of Harlem in the 1960’s to demonstrate poverty in David Paterson Andrew Cuomo America. Instead, his poor, beleaguered constituents focused on the Ruth Reichl nylons hanging on backyard clothes lines and the number of fine autos in the Dan Rather More People >> street, and saw wealth rather than poverty. Then there was that famous video of the “tank guy” darting to and fro in Tiananmen Square twenty years ago, literally

Jimmy Vielkind placing his body in the path of the machine of state. The transformative power of Simon Doonan the mass media has changed governance and made it more difficult for the state to John Koblin Meredith Bryan wall off the outside world. Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown More Authors >> In the past two years, we’ve seen the transformative impact of the internet and

On the Town cellular technology. Instead of a handful of news photographers hiding to capture Off the Record images at Tiananmen Square, we now see millions of people in the street, cell NYTV NY 3.0 phones in hand, taking increasingly high quality videos and photos of state Manhattan Transfers oppression. Every day the pictures from Iran appear in graphic detail on our Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/impact-technology-political-communication

More Columns >> screens. In the book 1984, George Orwell prophesized that Big Brother would watch over us. Now, it looks like we get to watch over Big Brother too. The benefit of a world with no privacy may very well be a world with no secrecy.

There are now four billion cell phones in use throughout the world, and many of them can capture and transmit images. When coupled with social networking websites, they make millions of people both producers and consumers of information. While the information on the web is difficult to verify and easy to manipulate, it is a fact of modern political life.

In the Obama presidential campaign here in the United States we saw another example of the transformative impact of the World Wide Web. According to the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas: “…3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more thanStay $500 up-to-date million. Of with those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100Observer.com or less. The average Newsletters! online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.” Print Edition Every Wednesday The New York Observer's print edition The mobilizationbefore it hits newsstands.of the public through the web has managed to overcome the anti-democratic impact of money in our electoral system. When the United States News Monday through Friday SupremePolitics, Court Media, ruled and that Real political Estate stories, campaign contributions were a form of speech plus online-exclusive Green news and New that couldYork not sports be analysis. limited, our ability to regulate the role of money in politics was effectively ended. The use of the web to raise campaign cash first came to prominence Culture+Style during HowardMonday Dean’s through presidential Friday campaign and was raised to an art Movies, TV, Books, and Theater news and form duringreviews, the NYC Obama restaurant campaign. and bar recs, The and impact of the web on political fundraising is the mostFashion significant advice and change industry coverage.in political campaigning since JFK beat Nixon in their first TV debate back in 1960. Free Reels Varies Free tickets to private screenings of new movies before they open to the public. The impact of technology on political communication is not a new phenomenon. Obama,Enter Emaillike Jack Address Kennedy before him, managed to master a new technology before any other politician. FDR set the pattern when he learned to use the radio to communicate directly with the public during his fireside chats throughout the Depression and World War II.

The internet and cell phones add a new dimension to political technology; they are interactive media. In addition to the images presented on the web, the internet allows people to quickly spread ideas, information and organize political protest. Information comes to the public and from the public as well. Efforts to jam and shut down these technologies are nearly always overcome by hackers and clever political organizers. In the case of Iran, no one can predict the future or even the immediate outcome of this conflict. But something is changing in politics. Perhaps it is as President Obama remarked recently, quoting Dr. King: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice’ “I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people’s belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.”

Bearing witness may not be enough, but it’s a start.

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Another Step on the Long March to Global Climate Policy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS June 29, 2009 | 11:23 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On June 26, 2009, the House of Representatives took the historic step of passing the first piece of U.S. legislation to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses. While the bill, like all legislation, is not perfect, it is a giant step in the right direction. The most important provisions of the Flick via cliff1066 +Enlarge bill require:

• Reductions in greenhouse gases by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 through a cap-and-trade program. Midtown • Electric utilities to produce at least 12 percent of their power from renewable New York Times MSNBC sources by 2020. The New Yorker Conde Nast • Reductions in greenhouse gasses from new coal-fired power plants. Atlantic Yards • New buildings to be 30 percent more energy-efficient by 2012 and 50 percent More Topics >> more efficient by 2016.

Rupert Murdoch The bill also authorizes $1 billion a year to develop carbon-capture and storage George W. Bush David Paterson technologies. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl The Republicans are ferociously propagandizing this bill as a job-killing tax that Dan Rather More People >> raises the cost of energy and will destroy the American economy. The close vote of 219 to 212 in the House indicates that a lot of people are buying this tired Jimmy Vielkind argument. In the interests of political cover, 40 Democrats in marginal districts Simon Doonan John Koblin were allowed to join with the all-but-nine Republicans who opposed this bill. My Meredith Bryan gut tells me that this inside-the-beltway mind-set is misreading American public Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown opinion and that a "no" vote on this bill will eventually come to be a badge of More Authors >> dishonor, rather than the safe vote some representatives believe it to be.

On the Town The American public understands that global warming is a real problem and they Off the Record NYTV also understand the need to develop sources of energy that do not require fossil NY 3.0 fuels. They are correctly worried that we do not know how to build a green Manhattan Transfers economy and that the high costs of shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/another-step-long-march-global-climate-policy

More Columns >> will be difficult for our economy to handle. But the problem with the same old anti-tax mantra that is coming from the same old political dinosaurs is that it misses the point. People get the idea that we need to invest in new and cleaner forms of energy. The average person knows that we can’t maintain the status quo. They may not like it, but no one thinks the transition to a sustainable economy can be done for free. It will require investment.

We need to accelerate the pace of development of renewable energy. We need to force the development of the technology of carbon capture and storage. This can’t be done as long as fossil fuels are as inexpensive as they are today. If capital is to flow into these new technologies, government must help ensure that the full price of the use of the fuel is included in the price that people pay for energy. The environmental impact of fossil fuel use creates costs that all of us must pay. It costs money to remedy pollution, ecosystem destruction and global warming. The cap-and-trade regulatory scheme provides a way to create a dollar value to pay for these costs. A direct carbon tax is another, probably simpler way of doing the same thing. In any case, by raising the price of fossil fuels we make renewable energy more cost competitive.

In the long run, fossil fuel prices will rise. Fossil fuels are finite, and as they get scarce and harder to dig up, they will get more expensive. For all practical purposes, solar power is infinite. Eventually, as we get smarter about how we capture and store solar energy, it will come down in price. Unfortunately, eventually takes too long. We have lots of fossil fuels left on earth, and climate change is already under way.

Many people do not like this new law. Some environmentalists feel it does not go far enough. Some business lobbyists think it goes too far. Like all legislation in the American political system it represents a compromise. To build support among moderates, some of the original provisions of the bill had to be watered down. This is typical lawmaking in our political process, and is of little concern. As I have written elsewhere, public policy does not attempt to solve problems, but to make them less bad. For example, homicide is down dramatically in New York City—from a high of over 2,000 per year in the 1990's to around 500 last year. The problem is less bad, but is far from "solved." The families of those murdered continue to suffer. Social security provides a second example: When the original Social Security Act was passed in the 1930s, many important provisions were omitted and then added in the next half-century or so. Lots of people were left out and lots of important benefits couldn’t generate a political majority at first. It took until the 1960s to add health care for seniors when Medicare was finally enacted. It took until the 21st century to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare. Environmental legislation typically follows the same incremental path. That is why it is so critical that we take the first step.

It is important to stand back and understand the importance of this step. In 2007, Senators Lieberman and McCain fell a few dozen votes short in their effort to enact national climate policy. The recent vote in the House was close, and victory was far from automatic, but it was achieved. The difference was Democratic control of the Congress and the effective leadership of President Barack Obama. Obama, Representative Henry Waxman and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went all-out to secure this win. While the battle in the Senate will be equally difficult, a similar dynamic will be in place. The success of the president’s agenda depends on this win. The survival of Democratic majorities in Congress depends on the success of this agenda and the president, who is pushing it. If these senators and

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representatives hope to be returned to power in 2010 and 2012, they cannot afford for Obama to fail. Fortunately for them, Obama’s agenda is doing pretty well. When seen alongside victories on the stimulus bill and the budget, this climate and energy bill must be seen as another sign of a presidency that is beginning to show signs of success. In the era of the endless news cycle and infinite media sources, this is a small miracle.

Before we tax carbon we should stop subsidizing it. Submitted by Icarus5 on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 23:53. Taking carbon out of the ground and putting it into the air is one of the most heavily subsidized activities in the United States. To get a sense of how much we like to subsidize greenhouse gas emissions, just compare the cost of a gallon of gas in the U.S. to a gallon in Europe. In Europe on any given day, gas costs 3 to 5 times as much at the pump as it does in the U.S. This is because European nations do not subsidize greenhouse gas emissions like we do in the U.S. In fact, the largest and most expensive project ever implemented, which receives hundreds of billions of dollars annually from taxpayers (whether they know it or not) is the U.S. interstate highway system, which is essentially one giant subsidy for greenhouse gases. Carbon is put into the air to build the roads, reroute them, maintain them, clean them, police them, repair them, use them, demolish them, and the roads themselves are used to ship billions of pounds of carbon to local gas stations so the carbon can be released into the air and contribute to more global warming. We live in a time when trillions of dollars of taxpayer money is spent to pull billions of pounds of carbon out of the ground and put it into the air every year, while other people on the fringes of society get attention for coming up with absolutely feeble ideas to take carbon out of the air and put it back into the ground. Even worse than this, efforts are entertained to track the carbon through all its many complicated twists and turns in the economy so that it can be monitored and taxed on the demand side thousands of miles from where the carbon was extracted from the ground and so "carbon emission reduction credits" can be sold like the Pope used to sell indulgences to sinners worried about their afterlives. There is one word for it all: absurd. If we as a nation are truly concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, we will first stop directly and indirectly subsidizing them with trillions of dollars annually. Then, we will tax greenhouse gases in the most efficient and effective way possible: as tariffs on the import of carbon into our country and as taxes on the extraction of carbon where and when the carbon is removed from the ground. Emission reduction credits and the other nonsense ("New buildings to be 30 percent more energy-efficient by 2012"? Does anyone out there even know what this means?) is advocated by politicians who want to complicate everything because they don't want people to know that they are pansies afraid of standing up to the oil industry.

Turning the Corner Submitted by Adam Cherson on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 11:23. The ACESA is certainly a turning of the corner and should be heralded as such. To think that the job is done and the rest will take care of itself would be a silly mistake. This legislation is going to require the same level of focus and energy in its execution as its passage (which by the way ain't done yet either). We also need a similar effort and comprehensive legislation on the national grid. So, this is not yet Miller time on climate change and won't be for a while. Thank God for all the environmental grads coming up to lend a hand. Will work for food......

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Reflections on Security, Democracy and Community

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 7, 2009 | 3:26 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

President Obama is in Russia trying to reduce our nuclear arsenal and once again we hear that he is naïve and is out to endanger our security. Let’s step back and think about this for a moment and review the fundamentals. What makes us safer and more secure? Flickr via rockmixer +Enlarge July 4th passed and after the rocket’s red glare and the fireworks (thankfully not bombs) finished bursting in air, our flag and our nation remained safe and secure. Here on the West End of Long Beach, New York, flags were everywhere this past weekend. This is a patriotic Midtown New York Times small city, with plenty of public participation in local politics, and a town, like New MSNBC The New Yorker York City that came back from the depths of near ruin in the 1970’s. Part of what Conde Nast makes these places work is our sense of ownership of our town, state and nation. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> When that sense of ownership and pride is present- communities thrive and our nation works. Democracy is a central ingredient of our quality of life and our

Rupert Murdoch prosperity. I know this is a strange time to be writing about prosperity, but despite George W. Bush David Paterson the difficult time our economy is going through, our families, communities, Andrew Cuomo businesses and democracy remain hard at work. Our security in a very real way is Ruth Reichl Dan Rather built on our democracy. More People >> The media thrives on bad news and conflict, and there is no shortage of those

Jimmy Vielkind things these days. People are suffering. But crises and tough times motivate Simon Doonan heroism and selflessness too. In Iran, we see the hunger for self determination John Koblin Meredith Bryan creating a movement that keeps changing its shape and form, but persists Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown nonetheless. We are learning that the Iranian people and the regime that rules over More Authors >> them are not one and the same. Here in America, people are responding to the economic crisis by digging into their own pockets and savings to help neighbors On the Town and families in need. Off the Record NYTV NY 3.0 In the modern world what unites us is this hunger for a safe haven where it is Manhattan Transfers possible for the individual to achieve great things and where we can raise a family Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/reflections-security-democracy-and-community

More Columns >> where our children have the chance to live up to their potential. This hunger is what brings people into the streets of Tehran and was the force that led our founders to fight a war for independence. In this country these values shape the common ground we saw from time to time in the Presidential campaigns of John Mc Cain and Barack Obama. Despite the certainty claimed by our political rhetoric, it is not clear how we accomplish freedom and security in this world of imperfect human beings .

Walking on the beach among friends and families this July 4th, I couldn’t help but believe that the great majority of Americans have found a safe haven. While too many Americans do without, and too many people around the world are without hope, the American dream of community and freedom endures. Many continue to seek it. You see it in many places and in many forms. Early in the morning in Long Beach, you can watch dozens of teenage lifeguards train in a set of coordinated lifesaving exercises. Like clock work they race into place and practice pulling a "drowning" swimmer back to shore. Then only five hours later you see the same actions, only with greater intensity as a rip tide pulls two swimmers away from the beach. If you think our country is falling apart, know that the spirit of public service is strong in our military, our police and fire departments, as well as in Americorps, the Peace Corps, and on the sands of Long Beach New York. Our ability to be free as individuals is built on a foundation of community. Just like those teenage lifeguards carrying a line of rope to those drowning in the sea, our community provides a lifeline for individuals whose life or security is threatened.

These days, there is a fair amount of consensus about what needs to be done when we see someone drowning. Economic and political life is a little more complicated, but there is actually more agreement than the cable news channels would like to admit. It was the Bush Administration that started the financial bailout in the fall of 2008. Right wing pundits may call President Obama a socialist, but he did not begin the expansion of government’s role in the banking industry- that was a policy he inherited. Similarly, it now seems clear that the Bush Administration was moving away from their initial pro-torture stance, as they had second thoughts about the wisdom and legality of their actions. And of course, we now see that while the Obama Administration has banned torture, it is struggling to find a place to imprison captured terrorists- the same dilemma faced by their predecessors. Our values as a nation, and the President's role as a global and national leader, push our Presidents to confront the same set of issues, from the same institutional vantage point. Even two Presidents as different as Bush and Obama end up seeing some issues through the same lens.

While our polarized politics seems committed to maintaining the veneer of unbridgeable differences, the reality of our common interest continues to reassert itself. This does not mean that our views are identical and there are not serious differences in how we might achieve our goals. Globally, there are clear distinctions in values and priorities. Within the United States these distinctions are far less pronounced, but real. While President Obama seems to recognize these distinctions, he is, I believe correctly, focused on trying to find and build on the common ground that we share. He is trying to do this at home and abroad. In a complex, interconnected and dangerous world, this effort at communication and understanding is a welcome change.

Which brings us back to this issue of security. President Obama is not considering dismantling or reducing our military. He is, like his predecessor, trying to figure out how to make it more effective. Unlike his predecessor he seems to have more http://www.observer.com/2009/reflections-security-democracy-and-community

interest in the other tools of national interest: diplomacy, economics, and communication. If we assume that we have nothing in common with the nations we oppose, these other tools are useless. If, however, we find out, as we have, that the Iranian people are actually more opposed to their President than we are, then maybe our security can be served by building on those values we share, rather than those we do not.

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The Attack on Climate Policy Begins

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 17, 2009 | 12:32 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As expected, the counter offensive to climate change policy is well underway. The coal industry is gearing up its lobbying effort and even Sarah Palin is calling cap and trade “cap and tax”. Her view is that regulating greenhouse gasses will cost rather than create jobs. There will be much more Flickr via Harry Limey +Enlarge of this, and the 24-7 news media and the blogosphere will attempt to turn this into a conflict that can attract attention and sell advertising.

However, the fact remains that the green economy is creating jobs. Just as America Midtown has transformed itself from an industrial economy to a higher-end information- New York Times MSNBC and service-oriented economy, we are now at the start of another The New Yorker Conde Nast transformation—to a green economy. In June the Pew Foundation released a Atlantic Yards study on this transformation, which concluded that: More Topics >> The number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew Rupert Murdoch nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and George W. Bush David Paterson 2007…Pew developed a clear, data-driven definition of the clean Andrew Cuomo energy economy and conducted the first-ever hard count across all 50 Ruth Reichl Dan Rather states of the actual jobs, companies and venture capital investments More People >> that supply the growing market demand for environmentally friendly products and services. Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan John Koblin This does not mean that the debate will be settled by these new facts, but hopefully Meredith Bryan this information will have some influence on matters. Senator John Kerry’s Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown response to Governor Palin’s op-ed referred to the job creating capacity of a More Authors >> green energy economy. While it is never a good idea to predict the future, I think that a new era of climate policy is about to begin. The public understands the On the Town Off the Record reality of the issue and has begun to appreciate the vulnerability of our economy to NYTV the current energy supply system. NY 3.0 Manhattan Transfers As I have argued before, if handled carefully, climate and energy policy can help Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/attack-climate-policy-begins

More Columns >> modernize our economy’s technological base and ultimately increase our standard of living. Our goal should be to ensure that the percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) devoted to energy expenditure is as low as possible. According to the United States Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy, there has been a fair amount of volatility in this indicator over the past forty years. The first year that the federal government reported our expenditures on energy as a percent of G.D.P. was in 1970. That year we spent eight percent of the G.D.P. on energy. This grew to 11.6 percent in 1979 and peaked at 13.7 percent in 1981. In 1999 it dropped to an all time low of six percent, due to a fast growing economy and low fuel prices. However, in the 21st century, this percentage has tended to grow. It jumped to seven percent in 2000 and to 8.8 percent in 2006, the last year for which we have government data.

With our shrinking economy and increased fuel prices the amount of our nation’s wealth devoted to energy may be growing once again. The question we need to address in the long run, is how do we reduce the price and also the unpredictability of energy costs? Fossil fuels are subject to a wide variety of unpredictable cost factors—ranging from increased use of automobiles in China to Middle East politics. In the long run, however, the cost of fossil fuels is bound to grow. While the Earth retains huge quantities of fossil fuels, we are not making any more of the stuff. Each day that we burn fossil fuels less of them remain. Fossil fuels will continue to get more difficult and more expensive to extract, and the environmental impact of extraction will not let up. While fuel extraction can be made more cost-effective and environmentally friendly through the use of technology, the fundamentals remain: fossil fuels will become more expensive over the next century. In contrast, look at the cost of computing. According to Moore’s Law, a truism first popularized by Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, the processing power of microchips doubles every 18 months and the cost of computing drops every year. Anyone who buys a laptop knows that they keep getting more powerful and less expensive. Solar technology has the potential for the same type of cost reductions over time. The basic fuel of solar power, the sun, will always cost the same to tap into—zero. Solar cells and batteries will only get less expensive as a mass market develops and as technology improves.

What is most impressive about the way Congress is approaching climate change policy is that they are linking it to the use of energy. The Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill recently passed by the House of Representatives not only sets a regulatory cap on carbon emissions, it also encourages energy efficiency and renewable energy to ensure that we can actually achieve these caps without shutting down the economy. While the start up of the green energy economy will require investment, the pay-off potential is enormous. In the case of the emerging climate policy, the anti-tax mantra of the Republican right is in reality an anti-investment policy. It is unfortunate that they are “rounding up the usual suspects,” but I continue to hope that the approach taken by Waxman-Markey emerges as the national consensus.

Tapping into solar power is not free Submitted by Icarus5 on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 21:18. Compare "The basic fuel of solar power, the sun, will always cost the same to tap into—zero" to the next sentence "Solar cells and batteries will only get less expensive as a mass market develops and as technology improves." Does anyone else notice a contradiction in saying that the cost is zero and then that the cost will decrease? Tapping into solar power is not free at all, and it is misleading to say so. In reality, tapping into solar power is extremely costly. In fact, a kilowatt of electricity generated from solar energy actually emits more greenhouse gases than a kilowatt of electricity generated from coal or oil. This is because the production and disposal of the photovoltaic cells themselves has a carbon footprint. Unlike in La La Land, sound policy in the real world must be based on sound science. There needs to be at least a touch of reality in there somewhere. Implementation of a cap and trade system for green house gases is absurd. As the embarrassing "meltdown" of the financial markets has proven, we are unable to even track our own money accurately and honestly. Does anyone seriously believe we will be able to track greenhouse gas emissions truthfully? Such a system would provide thousands of new jobs consisting of "greenhouse gas accounts" whose sole purpose would be to come up with creative new ways to cook a new set of ridiculous books. All of this cap and trade talk is a bunch of nonsense coming from politicians who are afraid to stand up to the oil companies.

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Principles, Values and Leadership

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS July 27, 2009 | 2:12 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

While it may be my own warped sensibility, I find a common thread in the following recent news items: • President Obama’s treatment of Harvard Professor Gates’ recent conflict with the Cambridge Police, • Obama’s struggles with health care policy, Flickr via JTHammond +Enlarge • Mike Bloomberg’s insistence on Mayoral control of education, and; • The cascading pay-for-play political scandal in New Jersey.

The common thread is the importance of principled leadership in public life, and Midtown the often difficult choices that principles create for our leaders. New York Times MSNBC The New Yorker President Obama, having experienced racial profiling personally, initially provided Conde Nast unequivocal support to his friend, Professor Henry Louis Gates. It is easy to Atlantic Yards More Topics >> identify with the horror and indignity of being arrested for disturbing the peace in your own home. Coupled with the issue of racial profiling it seemed to be a clear Rupert Murdoch miscarriage of justice. However, as more details emerged, it appeared that both George W. Bush David Paterson the police and Professor Gates shared some blame for the conflict. President Andrew Cuomo Obama then faced a clash of principles- his abhorrence of racial profiling and his Ruth Reichl Dan Rather desire to move the country to a new era of race relations. His condemnation of the More People >> police was an uncharacteristic burst of heat from our typically cool chief executive. However, upon reflection, he sought to resolve the issue in his characteristically Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan thoughtful and direct way. He spoke to both the arresting officer, Sgt. James John Koblin Crowley and to Professor Gates, and went before the media to accept blame for Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander escalating the conflict with his own rhetoric. He then invited the two men to the Eliot Brown White House for a beer and the opportunity to get to know each other in more More Authors >> pleasant surroundings.

On the Town Off the Record We, of course react with sympathy to the President’s sense of self-confidence and NYTV his honesty, and perhaps even develop a deeper understanding of both the impact NY 3.0 Manhattan of racial profiling and the difficult job our police have on the front lines of public Transfers Commercial Breaks safety and criminal justice. At the heart of all this is a President with a deep set of http://www.observer.com/2009/principles-values-and-leadership

More Columns >> principles, clear values and an almost unparalleled ability to communicate his views.

If only health care, the issue that he tried to focus our attention on the night of his recent press conference, was as simple as the issue of race! Which is only to say that these are two of the most complicated issues now before us. The President wants to bring health care coverage to the nearly 50 million people who have no coverage. He wants to do this without adding to the tax burden of working and middle class Americans. He wants people to have the ability to choose their own health care provider. He thinks the current system is too expensive. These beliefs and principles are difficult to reconcile with each other. The health care system may be too expensive, but it is allowing people to live better and longer lives than ever before. How much would you pay for a better and longer life—for yourself and for your family? How do we, as a nation, make decisions about limits on health care? We don’t want to ration health care, but without limits, costs can only continue to escalate.

Principled leadership requires, just as with the Gates-Crowley conflict, that there be an explicit discussion of competing needs and values. The health care issue is more complicated than the conflict in Cambridge because of the vested interests and dollars involved in the outcome. Too many lobbyists and advertising dollars will be devoted to distorting the truth, although the need for clarity and frank discussion will remain. At some point, the President will need to invite the antagonists of the health care debate to the White House for a beer too. In fact, he might want to invest in a couple of kegs and maybe some stronger stuff as well. This conversation will result in a more-than-one-beer thirst.

Closer to home, here in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg seems to have finally gotten the pathetic New York State Senate to agree to maintain Mayoral control of the city’s schools. The Mayor has been steadfast in pushing this key element of his agenda. Just as he has in financial management, sustainability, public safety, and public health, the Mayor defined and then adhered to his principles. His consistent articulation of his core sets of beliefs and principles is at the heart of his success as Mayor and as a leader. You need not agree with everything he does to admire his leadership. He may be accused of arrogance and a short temper, but no one thinks he simply goes with the political flow. Like President Obama, we have come to expect truth telling from our Mayor.

Also closer to home we see that too many public officials in New Jersey are for sale. Not only is the public trust violated but we are simultaneously treated to the horrifying spectacle of religious leaders laundering money. Governor Corzine may be discovering that he has made one too many accommodations with the corrupt power brokers that actually run New Jersey and now his own political future is in question. There is always a line between the deals you make to accommodate legitimate interests and those that are made as a result of dollars passed along in a cereal box. Our leaders have to make sure they can tell the difference between Captain Crunch and cold cash.

The people who run our nation and its institutions must make difficult choices, and those choices are typically best made when they are guided by an underlying sense of clear principles and ethics. This is true of elected leaders, but is just as important for people leading all of our organizations.

The key to effective management and inspired leadership is principled and consistent leaders: People who persist in the face of adversity. We see it in http://www.observer.com/2009/principles-values-and-leadership

Washington, we see it in City Hall, we see it throughout our communities. When I see principled, ethical leaders it gives me great hope, even during these difficult times. As to what I see in Trenton, New Jersey and Albany, New York—I’m afraid I’m not really sure.

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Cash for More Than Just Clunkers

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 1, 2009 | 2:57 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Our inability to predict policy outcomes was once again confirmed this week by the wildly popular Cash for Clunkers program. The program provides between $3,500 and $4,500 to anyone who trades in an older auto for a shiny new car that has better fuel efficiency. One billion +Enlarge dollars was originally allocated for the program, which was designed to sunset on November 1 or whenever the money ran out. Whoever designed the program figured it would last until sometime in the fall, but instead it lasted about a week. Obviously, in the land of the $800 billion stimulus and the half-trillion-dollar bank bailout, a billion dollars Midtown New York Times is just a drop in the bucket. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast So what to do now that the money’s run out? This is so obvious, it’s almost absurd: Atlantic Yards Add a few billion dollars to the program. Do it now. On July 31, the White House More Topics >> agreed to continue the program and the House of Representatives took $2 billion from the stimulus fund to buy more clunkers. The goal is to get car owners to come Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush into auto showrooms looking for new, more energy-efficient vehicles, but if we David Paterson really want to juice up the economy, we need to Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl MORE ON POLITICS >> start using this form of subsidy to encourage other Dan Rather Who Put the Senators in Charge? forms of energy-efficient retrofits. Let’s do it for More People >> The Debate: Duane Says Little, Diaz Attacks His Leadership air-conditioners, for example, or any other Thompson's Options: Senator (Risky), Jimmy Vielkind Comptroller (Safer), Mayor (TK) higher-priced, energy-draining appliances with Simon Doonan Same-Sex Marriage Advocates Say longer shelf lives. While some consumer habits John Koblin They Go to the Senate, Potentially, Meredith Bryan With 'Momentum' might be wasteful and unnecessary, incentivizing Irina Aleksander A Crushing Legacy of Bush Eliot Brown more responsible, energy-conscious consumption More Authors >> patterns would benefit everyone.

On the Town Energy efficiency has enormous potential for growing our economy. While it’s Off the Record important to develop renewable sources of energy, we can also work to reduce our NYTV NY 3.0 carbon footprint through energy efficiency. Simply put, we can reduce the price of Manhattan Transfers most goods and services by reducing the amount of energy it takes to produce Commercial Breaks those goods and services. Talk about an economic stimulus! http://www.observer.com/2009/politics/cash-more-just-clunkers

More Columns >> New York Times reporter Kate Galbraith recently wrote about a new energy-efficiency study from consulting firm McKinsey and Co. that reported: “An investment of $520 billion in improvements like sealing ducts and replacing inefficient appliances could produce $1.2 trillion in savings on energy bills through 2020. … Such a program, if carried out over the next decade, could cut the country’s projected energy use in 2020 by about 23 percent.”

So where to get that initial $520 billion investment? According to the McKinsey report, we now spend about $10 billion a year on energy efficiency, and the stimulus package added another $10 to $15 billion. Some of the extra funds could also become available once cap-and-trade carbon-dioxide regulation puts a price on carbon, allowing us to assign a dollar value to carbon-dioxide reduction. A dollar invested in energy reduction might net more than a dollar’s worth of carbon reduction, and companies may then see the benefits of investing their scarce capital in energy efficiency. Some of the $520 billion in funding could also come from energy-efficient building codes, such as those that have already been implemented in California. Those codes stimulate energy efficiency because builders can’t get certificates of occupancy without proving that they have complied with the codes, and over time the price of compliance for builders has come down as the market for energy-saving building materials has grown.

But we can also stimulate investments in energy efficiency by requiring greater energy efficiency in our appliances. Funds for energy-efficiency programs will need to come from creative public policies, such as an expanded Cash for Clunkers program, as well as tax laws that reward efficiency while punishing waste. Taxes on wasteful energy use will discourage inefficiency while also generating capital to be used toward the $520 billion called for in the McKinsey report.

Cash for Clunkers demonstrates that consumer behavior can be influenced by well-designed incentives. Let’s build on this success by copying it in other arenas besides automobiles. And the Senate should now follow the House’s lead and throw a few more billion dollars at those clunkers crowding our driveways and highways.

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With Friends Like These… Midwestern Democrats Fight Climate Policy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 7, 2009 | 3:53 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On August 6th, ten Midwestern Democratic Senators sent a letter to President Obama that began the hardball phase of creating climate policy as it moves from the House’s Waxman-Markey bill to Senate deliberations in the fall. In this letter, the Senators insist that climate change legislation must protect U.S. manufacturers from unfair foreign competition. They do Flickr via eflon +Enlarge Midtown New York Times not want U.S. manufacturers MSNBC The New Yorker to face competition from foreign industries that might not have to pay the cost of Conde Nast compliance with new climate rules. Atlantic Yards More Topics >> The letter writers are Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), Russell D. Feingold (D-Wisc.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Evan Bayh Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush (D-Ind.), Robert P. Casey (D-Pa.), Robert C. Byrd (D-W.V.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), David Paterson Andrew Cuomo John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.V), and Al Franken (D-Minn). In the letter, these Ruth Reichl Senators express: Dan Rather More People >> “… strong support for the inclusion of a package of initiatives, including a border adjustment mechanism, to ensure the viability and effectiveness of any climate

Jimmy Vielkind change policy crafted by Congress… As Congress considers energy and climate Simon Doonan legislation, it is important that such a bill include provisions to maintain a level John Koblin Meredith Bryan playing field for American manufacturing… Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown Measures to ensure that U.S. manufacturers do not bear the brunt of our climate More Authors >> change policy could include: short-term transition assistance in the form of rebates provided to energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries; negotiating objectives On the Town requiring any international agreement to address manufacturing competiveness; Off the Record NYTV effective means to measure, monitor, verify, and hold countries accountable for NY 3.0 Manhattan emissions reductions; and policies that promote investments in energy efficient Transfers and clean technology manufacturing and help the sector retool for the clean energy Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/friends-these%E2%80%A6-midwestern-democrats-fight-climate-policy

More Columns >> economy.”

This is a key issue, and if not addressed it has the potential to split the Democratic Party in two and to eliminate the possibility of climate regulation both here and throughout the world. The underlying cause of this issue is the uneven pattern of economic development worldwide. The developed nations built their economies on fossil fuels and never had to worry about greenhouse gases. Nations just now building their economies, such as India and China, want the same “right to develop” that the world’s wealthy nations had back in the 20th century. The perspective of American manufacturers is that if they have to comply with these new regulations, then everyone else should as well. They assume that compliance with greenhouse gas regulations will raise the price of their goods and services. They propose tariffs as a method of equalizing prices and “leveling the playing field.” Tariffs, of course, interrupt the free trade of goods, restrain competition and ultimately reduce wealth.

It seems to me that the solution is not to raise the cost of imported goods, but rather to use the tax code and innovative federally funded research to lower the cost of compliance with new global warming rules. We should not automatically assume that cleaner manufacturing is inherently more expensive. While this tends to be true when we retrofit old factories with pollution control equipment, we can encourage the construction of new facilities that have a smaller carbon footprint from the start. But where will the money come from for this?

One source might be the funds raised by the auction of emission allowances under Waxman-Markey. A second source requires that we break the taboo on new taxes and levy a new tax on fossil fuels. This money could then fund a tax deduction or credit for investments in technology that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we can reduce emissions from Midwestern manufacturers by targeting new renewable energy sources for manufacturing. We can also fund research on carbon capture and storage that will enable us to burn fossil fuels without impacting climate systems.

Rather than wasting time protecting old and dirty factories, we should fund the research needed to revitalize American manufacturing. We should use the tax code to encourage investment in manufacturing facilities that can compete with the foreign factories that rely on cheaper labor and less stringent environmental laws. We should work to build lower-cost, non-fossil fuel energy sources and more automated factories engineered to reduce waste and emissions.

It is disappointing, but not surprising, to see these Senators “rounding up the usual suspects.” It is really time to break this depressing cycle of rust belt protectionism and anti-environmentalism. One look at Detroit tells you how successful this strategy has been. If we are going to get the developing world to build their industries according to green principles, the United States must lead by example. We need to develop green technology, implement it at home and provide incentives for adopting it in the developing world.

This is not an argument for allowing our industrial base to disintegrate. We need to stimulate private investment in that base and directly fund the research and development required to build a competitive but sustainable economy. While this letter to the President is simply an opening gambit in the intense bargaining process that awaits us this fall, it is both pathetic and short-sighted. These folks know better, and rather than providing vision and forward-looking leadership, they have decided to protect their flanks. It is high time that we focus on the http://www.observer.com/2009/friends-these%E2%80%A6-midwestern-democrats-fight-climate-policy

fundamentals--which even these senators acknowledged when they wrote: “Climate change is a reality and the world cannot afford inaction.” At least they got that part right.

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Measuring Public Opinion on Environment and Sustainability: How Conventional Wisdom Gets That Way

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 11, 2009 | 10:45 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The False Trade Off

Since 1985, the Gallup poll has asked survey respondents to trade off environmental protection against economic growth. This past spring, for the first time, more people chose economic growth than environmental protection. via gallup.com +View Slideshow (See Gallup graph) The data is an accurate reflection of public opinion, and there is no question that conventional politics frames the environment as an impediment to economic Midtown growth. However, in my view, this survey question taps into opinion that is based New York Times MSNBC on a false premise. The survey question not only assumes that environment and The New Yorker Conde Nast economic growth are separate concepts, but also that by focusing on one you must Atlantic Yards sacrifice the other. During an economic downturn, many trade-off questions More Topics >> trading just about anything against economic growth will result in a preference for economic growth. Still, this question needs to be updated and asked in a different Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush way. The problem with the existing survey question is that as long as we draw our David Paterson Andrew Cuomo wealth and sustenance from the natural environment (you know, things like food, Ruth Reichl air and water), economic growth will depend on environmental quality. While our Dan Rather More People >> political dialogue is often built around the assumption that we can trade off one against the other, we really can’t. No biosphere = no wealth.

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan It is true that businesses in China and other parts of the world have generated John Koblin economic growth and short-run profits by disregarding development’s impact on Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander the air, land and water. As we discovered in the United States, this approach is a Eliot Brown More Authors >> short-run strategy. Unfortunately, the costs of clean-up will eventually need to be paid. Every time you pay your water bill, you are paying for environmental clean

On the Town up here in New York. While survey researchers love the longitudinal data they can Off the Record obtain when they ask the same question every year, it is not clear that people are NYTV NY 3.0 really responding to the same question today that they answered in 1985. The issue Manhattan Transfers of economic sustainability and the green economy was not discussed or understood Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/measuring-public-opinion-environment-and-sustainability-how-conventional-wisdom-gets-way

More Columns >> back in the mid 1980’s. In 2009, companies as diverse as Wal-Mart and Apple Computer have integrated green principles into their business planning. The idea of sustainable business practice was virtually unknown in 1985. Gallup’s web site provides a clear picture of public response to this trade off question from 1985-2009 (See the graph in the slide show above).

It would be interesting to see what might happen if Gallup’s survey asked respondents if they believed that economic growth and environmental quality were incompatible or interconnected. It would also be interesting to see what might happen if the response of “equal priority” was given as a potential response to Gallup’s survey question. Since 1985, this answer is only coded when volunteered by the respondent. Although the question is attempting to force respondents to choose between environmental protection and economic growth, there are clearly some people who do not accept the environment-growth trade-off. Such forced trade-offs questions are a staple of survey research methodology, but the trade-off must be meaningful for the technique to be an effective measure of real public opinion. In this case, I am not sure we know what opinion we are measuring.

Perceptions of Global Warming

Another widely reported environmental opinion indicator is Gallup’s measure of perceptions of global warming. Gallup’s question measuring perceptions of global warming asks the public to judge news coverage of the issue. The question does not ask the respondent if they believe that global warming is a serious issue. Rather, it asks them to do two things: First, think about climate coverage in the news media; Second, judge whether or not global warming’s seriousness has been exaggerated by media coverage. If I were being surveyed, I’m not sure what I would say. I think that global warming is a serious issue, but I believe that everything in the media is exaggerated. I think that exaggeration is the media’s middle name. So I might be seen as a “climate skeptic” in this survey, because I think that the seriousness of the issue of global warming is exaggerated by the media. Does the question asked by Gallup below, measure attitudes toward global warming, or attitudes toward the media?

The data indicates a decline in the percentage of people who believe that the media reports on the seriousness of global warming are correct, and it points to an increase in the percentage of people who think that the seriousness of the issue is exaggerated in the media.

Gallup is, of course, quite expert in measuring public opinion, and the measures in their surveys are uniformly reliable and valid. However their environmental surveys seem to be almost routinely misinterpreted by the media. Gallup’s own analyses tend to be quite precise and accurate. For example, their analysis of the question on the seriousness of global warming focuses on news coverage of the issue, and they report that most Americans accept the facts of global warming. Unfortunately, there are less objective observers. For example, on August 10th, The Drudge Report provided the following interpretation in their teaser: “GALLUP: Americans Growing More Skeptical Of Global Warming...”

Public Support for Sustainable Development

In fact, the data indicates a fair amount of consistency in the structure of public opinion on environmental protection. While issues like global warming can be difficult for people to see and feel, the American public knows it’s a real issue and is concerned about it. Concern for more visible pollution is even stronger, with http://www.observer.com/2009/measuring-public-opinion-environment-and-sustainability-how-conventional-wisdom-gets-way

over 80% of the American public routinely expressing concern about air, water and toxic pollution.

The media seems to be entranced by the idea that the public’s support for environmental protection declines whenever the economy falters. Some parts of the media can’t seem to shed the idea that the environment is a John Kerry, wind-surf and brie effete liberal luxury item. The fact is that most polling, including Gallup’s own, reports consistent public support for environmental protection. We are also seeing growing signs that the public understands the connection between environmental protection and economic sustainability. President Obama has put this idea at the center of his plan to revitalize the national economy, and polling indicates widespread acceptance of the policy of “green economic growth”.

I am not arguing that every effort to protect the environment adds to our wealth and creates jobs. But the argument that one must always be prepared to trade off environment for growth is outmoded. Mayor Bloomberg’s PlanNYC 2030 considers clean air, water, energy efficiency and access to park land as preconditions for the city’s continued economic growth. A clean city provides a high quality of life and attracts new economic activity. The Mayor’s plan for New York’s future rejects the old environment-growth trade off, and so should the rest of us.

Bees Submitted by aprilwordwolf on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 05:35. "The survey question not only assumes that environment and economic growth are separate concepts, but also that by focusing on one you must sacrifice the other." This is an important point. It's been shown that nature does a lot of work for us. For instance, we need bees to pollinate plants for us so that we have food to eat. If bees didn't do this we would have to do this ourselves which would cost a phenomenal amount of money and put prices up sky-high. April

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Trying to Understand the Health Policy Debate

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 14, 2009 | 11:11 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Since I am a long way from being a health care expert, I have tried to stay away from the increasingly nasty and difficult health policy debate now raging throughout America. As a parent and as someone who is treated for a variety of typical getting older ailments, I find myself in regular contact with the health care system, but also confess to finding it well beyond my comprehension. Flickr via wcm1111 +Enlarge Midtown New York Times MSNBC As a student of organizational management, I am amazed by the incompetence The New Yorker Conde Nast and waste I see, but also by the outstanding skill, dedication and improved Atlantic Yards systems that are clearly evident as well. Members of my family have found More Topics >> incredibly high quality treatment for heart disease at St. Francis Hospital in Long Island, and my family has also experienced wonderful care at the Hospital for Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Special Surgery, Mt. Sinai Hospital and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital here in David Paterson Andrew Cuomo Manhattan. Our personal physician is terrific, and like many fortunate Americans, Ruth Reichl my employer, Columbia University, provides excellent, though increasingly Dan Rather More People >> expensive, health insurance coverage.

Despite, or maybe because of the price tag, the health care system seems to be Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan doing a good job of keeping me and my family healthy. Health care costs continue John Koblin to rise in the United States, and when compared to other systems, I am told that Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander our outcomes are no better. The issue of cost control is incredibly difficult. First, Eliot Brown while we can educate ourselves on treatment choices when we or a family member More Authors >> get sick, picking a health care treatment option is more complicated than buying a

On the Town sofa, car or computer. First, we are emotionally engaged in the decision due to the Off the Record ultimate downside of making the wrong choice. I might be willing to make NYTV NY 3.0 decisions based on cost effectiveness when buying a car or a computer, but when Manhattan Transfers bringing a member of my family to the doctor, I want the best possible health Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/trying-understand-health-policy-debate

More Columns >> care—regardless of price. I am not willing to settle for cost-effective health care.

Of course, it is insurance that gives me the luxury of ignoring price. Still, asymmetric information, unpredictability and emotion make it difficult for market-based cost pressure to work very well in the case of medicine. Competition does not seem to be an effective means of cost control. From where I sit, the price keeps going up, but modern medical technology is allowing many of us to live longer and healthier lives. The question for our society is then, how high are we willing to allow the price to rise? In a world of finite resources, what are we willing to give up to be able to afford all of this improved health?

There are also two other fundamental questions that must be addressed when it comes to the health care debate – the first one ethical and the second practical. The ethical question is how do we extend health care insurance to the 50 million Americans without coverage? The practical question is how do we pay for this coverage? Even in the current economic crunch, America is simply too wealthy a country to allow 50 million people—over 15% of our population—to go without health care. Logically, there are two ways to fund this: 1. Increased taxes, 2. Increased efficiency in the health care system. We probably need both, but for decades we’ve been unable to figure out how to do it. I confess that I have no idea of what might work, and would like to hear some reasoned debate on the topic.

While I am not a health policy expert, I do know something about politics, and it is the politics of health care that many of us find distressing and disgusting. The level of misinformation and anger is distressing. The sleazy manipulation of the discussion by interest groups that are simply trying to defend their dough is downright disgusting. This is a difficult and wrenching debate. We need high quality cost-benefit analysis, creative thinking and honesty. Instead, we are getting cooked numbers and shrill, uninformative lies.

Although I am satisfied with the health care I receive, I agree with President Obama that the system is not sustainable and requires reform. I strongly believe that people without health insurance must be provided with access to health care. Despite the noise and dishonesty in the media, I think there is a growing consensus about the need to restrain cost increases and about the importance of extending insurance coverage as far as possible. While it may be too late for a dignified, civil debate on the merits, perhaps we can still have one that provides real information, clear choices and improved health policy.

While the noise and anger level is unpleasant, I give President Obama credit for continuing to bring people back to the basics of the problem we must address. My read of the debate from the outside is that we don’t really know how to solve this problem. Therefore, we need to set up a reform process that changes the system, but that also permits mid-course corrections for the mistakes we are bound to make. That may be too much to ask for, but I think that is what we need.

Good News ! Submitted by hsr0601 (not verified) on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 16:10. Good News ! A staff writer at The New Yorker and some experts have examined Medicare data from the successful hospitals of 10 regions, and they have found evidence that more effective, lower-cost care is possible. Thankfully, the provisions in the reform include more expansive policies than they have. Please be 'sure' to visit http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/opinion/13gawande.html?hp for credible evidences ! Some have followed the Mayo model with salaried doctors employed, Other regions, too, have found ways to protect patients against the pursuit of revenues over patient. And a cardiac surgeon of them said they had adopted electronic systems, examined the data and found that a shocking portion of tests were almost certainly unnecessary, possibly harmful. According to analysis, their quality scores are well above average. Yet they spend more than $1,500 (16 percent) less per Medicare patient than the national average and have a slower real annual growth rate (3 percent versus 3.5 percent nationwide). Surprisingly, 16 % of about $550 billion (the total of medicare cost per year) is around $88 billion per year, except for Medicaid (total cost of around $500 billion per year), medicare 'alone' can save $880 billion over the next decade. In addition, under the reform package, along with the already allocated $583 billion, the wastes involving so called "doughnut hole" , the unnecessary subsidies for insurers, abuse, exorbitant costs by the tragic ER visits etc are weeded out, the concern over revenue (below) might be a thing of the past. (( Net Medicare and Medicaid savings of $465 billion + the $583 billion revenue package = $1048 billion - the previously estimated $1.042 trillion cost of reform = $6 billion surplus - $245 billion (the 10-year cost of adjusting Medicare reimbursement rates so physicians don’t face big annual pay cuts) = the estimated deficit of $239 billion )) In modernized society, the business lacking IT system is unthinkable just like pre-electricity period, nevertheless, the last thing to expect is happening now in the sector requiring the best accuracy in respect to dealing with human lives. Apparently the errors by no e-medical records have spawned the crushing lawsuits (Medical malpractice lawsuits cost at least $150 billion per year), and these costs have led to the unnecessary tests, treatments, even more profits so far. And in different parts of the U.S., patients get two to three times as much care for the same disease, with the same result. Thank You !

The HEALTH CARE CRISIS writ large Submitted by cmbdoc on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 14:22. The HEALTH CARE CRISIS, writ large, is on most everybody’s minds these days. Perhaps that’s because it’s in the news so often. Pundit after Pundit takes a swing at the problem. But I’ve yet to see an analysis that makes any sense. We’re all pointing our fingers in the wrong direction – straight up, at the insurance companies. It’s as if there we all were, the unsuspecting public, walking along innocently, eating our usual lunch: McDonald’s 4 patty cheeseburger and slurping down all 2600 calories of that Baskin Robbins Large Chocolate Oreo Shake. Meanwhile calling the wife to ask what we’re having for dinner…. When there’s a tweet from our Blue Cross/Shield agent that our families’ health insurance premium is going up again. What! Why is this happening? It’s not fair! Maybe the agent found out our son got the part of Santa Clause this year because he didn’t need any pillow inserts to play the role in the high school musical “Santa, You've Got Mail”. Or because the wife wears Moo Moo’s all the time because none of her regular clothes fit any more and she is growing so rapidly it doesn’t make any sense to buy anything until she reaches her maximum size? (XXXXX large) Few know the real meaning of the term “crisis”. It is actually a medical term, used more often in the early and middle part of the last century. If the doctor told you that your sick father was in crisis, that meant daddy was going to start getting better by morning or he was going to die. Well, that sounds about right. Access to and affordability of healthcare in America in 2009 is about as screwed up as it can be. And, one doctor’s opinion, a new “public option” is not going to fix things. Hell, we already have 4 “public options”. Medicare, the public option for seniors passed in 1965, is on track to bankrupt the country by 2017, as the 78 million baby boomers become eligible for and begin to use it in large numbers. Bill Clinton already has had his heart attack and open heart surgery and he was barely 60. 78 million senior citizens all expecting the miracles of modern medicine, including but not necessarily limited to stem cell infusions are on the way. Look out! There aren’t enough doctors or nurses or hospital beds or medical miracles to handle that load. Then we have Medicaid and SCHIP, which most doctors won’t accept because the reimbursement rate is too low to cover their “overhead” let alone buy them a new Lexus every year. The VA system is so overwhelmed by returning veterans suffering from http://www.observer.com/2009/trying-understand-health-policy-debate

PTSD, burns and amputations that older veterans with diabetes and heart disease can’t get in anymore. You want to go to the doctor at the Wadsworth VA in West Los Angeles? The line starts on Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley. Health insurance in America is too expensive for the same reason that flood insurance is too expensive in New Orleans and hurricane insurance is too expensive in South Florida and the Bahamas. Try buying earthquake insurance in California if your house sits on the San Andreas Fault. If we all took as poor care of our cars as we do our bodies, who could afford auto insurance…Donald Trump? Bill Gates? T. Boone Pickens? Covering “pre-existing” medical conditions is a non-starter. Could you buy a new homeowners policy from State Farm if your kitchen was already in flames and the fire engines on the way? Duh! Could your family buy a new insurance policy on your life if you were already dead? There is a great deal of sympathy out there for all the millions of Americans who can’t afford health insurance. My question for all of those unfortunates: are you taking really good care of yourself so you won’t get sick or injured? Is your diet low salt and fat, and high fruits and vegetables, fish and poultry? Are you walking once or twice a day? True or false: You’ve quit smoking, you always fasten your seatbelts, and you imbibe a lot more water than booze. Hey these things are important. And you know what? If everyone in America lived that way, that would solve the healthcare crisis and make all those *&%#$ pundits shut the f… up!

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The Roof is Caving In: Time to Find Funds for Infrastructure

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 21, 2009 | 11:21 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

A few days ago, at the West 181st Street station of the No. 1 subway line, the roof literally caved in. According to the MTA’s website:

“Due to a collapse of the brick façade from the ceiling above the tracks at the 181st Street station, 1 train service will remain suspended throughout Flickr via chrisbastian44 +Enlarge the rest of today, Monday, August 17th, 2009. Service through this area will be suspended until further notice. At approximately 10:30 p.m. Sunday, a section of the brick architectural Midtown façade fell 35 feet to the track bed below. A downtown 1 train was in the station, New York Times MSNBC but did not sustain any major damage. No customer injuries were reported. The The New Yorker Conde Nast cause of the ceiling collapse at the 181st Street station is under investigation.” Atlantic Yards More Topics >> To anyone who has ever been in that station, the cause of the collapse didn’t hold much mystery—the ceiling has been leaking for years and the collapse was Rupert Murdoch completely predictable. The station, over a century old, is a landmark which once George W. Bush David Paterson featured chandeliers and an almost elegant décor that in recent decades has Andrew Cuomo suffered relentless neglect. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather More People >> Mayor Bloomberg used the ceiling collapse to make the critical political point that the MTA still does not have a capital budget, and that this near tragedy needs to be Jimmy Vielkind seen as a warning: Simon Doonan John Koblin Meredith Bryan “It just goes to show the M.T.A. has for decades underfunded what they needed to Irina Aleksander do,” said Mr. Bloomberg at a news conference on Tuesday. “This could have killed Eliot Brown More Authors >> somebody. Fortunately, it did not. It goes into the inconvenience class rather than in the class of something that could really leave a terrible, permanent scar. But

On the Town nevertheless we have to have — and I have been saying this all along — a capital Off the Record NYTV budget to maintain what we have.” NY 3.0 Manhattan The MTA said that a repair of the roof was approved in 2008 and funded last week. Transfers Commercial Breaks My guess is that now they’ll need a little more money for this repair than they http://www.observer.com/2009/roof-caving-time-find-funds-infrastructure

More Columns >> originally approved. We should also add the cost of commuter delays and the funds spent on shuttle busses to the cost of the repair.

I have written before about the lack of capital funding for mass transit and the system’s over-reliance on fares for its operating budget. Since a lack of common sense seems to be a problem in Albany, I don’t know how we are going to find any political courage up there, but we really need to find a way to pay for the upkeep of this essential service.

There are three critical pieces of infrastructure that make a city as dense and complex as New York work. One is the water and sewage system, the second is the power system and the third is the subway system. It costs more to maintain these pieces of infrastructure in a city as built up as ours than it does in less crowded places. A lot of our infrastructure is old and in need of maintenance. Some of that infrastructure maintenance is well financed. Some, like our mass transit system, is not.

If you look at your water bill, you’ll notice that it keeps going up. The same is true of your gas and electric bill. Some of these increased charges are due to the costs of higher priced raw materials like fuels, but some of it pays the increased cost of infrastructure maintenance and expansion. In the case of mass transit, the logical way to fund the infrastructure of those willing to venture underground is to tax people driving in cars on the surface. That can be done with gasoline taxes, increased registration fees, tolls, and taxi surcharges. Charging higher mass transit fares makes little sense since it will simply encourage more people to drive and increase traffic on our already clogged roadways.

There are also less direct ways of funding mass transit, such as a commuter tax or a tax on businesses, and in some ways it doesn’t really matter where the money comes from, as long as it comes from somewhere. This requires political courage. Like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz, our state government needs an injection of fortitude. The need for the courage to look ahead and to raise funds to secure our future is not limited to Albany. We could use some of that kind of thinking in Washington D.C., where new taxes have become the third rail of American politics.

One would like to think that the roof falling in would be a signal that change is needed. In China and Europe, government is investing in infrastructure at a ferocious rate. Here, we need to keep our money private to make sure we can drive our aging SUVs on deteriorating bridges to half empty shopping malls. I know that I’m simply showing my New Yorker’s bias, but it really might be time to rethink our approach. We caught a break up on 181st street this week. We might not be so lucky next time.

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What is the Role of Government?

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS August 27, 2009 | 1:23 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Since 1981, I have taught a graduate course called Public Management at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. I care a lot about what government does and how it does it, and I know that government has a reputation for mismanagement - some of Flickr via billaday +Enlarge it deserved and some not.

At the heart of the current health care debate there is discussion of the “public option”. This would be a government-run and subsidized health insurance program. This is the policy option that in some nightmarish visions of health Midtown New York Times reform would drive private health insurance providers out of business, raise our MSNBC The New Yorker premiums, ration health care and “pull the plug on grandma.” Conde Nast Atlantic Yards More Topics >> Obviously, there is a consensus that in America, we do not want government to be the sole provider of health services. As we continue to explore the issue of

Rupert Murdoch government’s proper role in our economy and in our communities, let’s remember George W. Bush two points: 1) Government has no monopoly on management incompetence and; David Paterson Andrew Cuomo 2) Government provides many services efficiently and effectively. Call 911 and the Ruth Reichl Dan Rather fire, police, and emergency services arrive in a hurry. Turn on your faucet and More People >> water comes out of the tap, or place your garbage in a bag by the street and a big white truck will come and take it away. These are the routine tasks of government, Jimmy Vielkind completed largely at the local level. Simon Doonan John Koblin Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander Let’s take a look at management in the private sector. According to the American Eliot Brown Bankruptcy Institute (reported in the Kansas City Business Journal on August More Authors >> 25, 2009), “more than 30,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy protection in the first half of 2009, up 64 percent from the nearly 18,500 in the same period last On the Town Off the Record year”. This means that even during a good year, over 35,000 American private NYTV NY 3.0 businesses go under. Of course, sometimes they fail due to bad luck and market Manhattan conditions. Not all bankruptcies are caused by incompetence, and not all Transfers Commercial Breaks incompetence leads to bankruptcy. http://www.observer.com/2009/what-role-government

More Columns >>

While government programs cannot go bankrupt, not all of them are as quick to respond as the FDNY. Consider the recent “Cash for Clunkers” program. While we may disagree on the value of the program (I thought it was a great idea), we can all agree that its administration was awful. The problem started with a substantial underestimation of the popularity of the program. Surprisingly, a one billion dollar budget lasted for about ten days instead of the expected ten weeks. In response, the federal government tripled the budget, but the managers of the program took several weeks to ramp up for a larger effort.

The U.S. Department of Transportation was very slow to increase the size of the staff needed to process the already overly-long application that dealers were required to submit to receive their cash. On August 19th, Nick Bunkley and Jack Healy of the NY Times reported that:

“The Transportation Department is tripling the number of workers handling reimbursement claims for the program, which started July 24 and exhausted its initial $1 billion in financing in a little more than a week. By week’s end, 1,100 people are scheduled to be reviewing the 13-page applications from buyers.”

Since over 435,000 cars were sold under the program, even with a larger staff, each person was assigned to review about 400 applications. If the staff had not been tripled in size each staff person would have had to review 1,200 of these 13 page documents. If we assume one person could review about two of these applications every hour for a total of 80 a week (a number I’ve picked out of thin air), it would have taken 15 weeks to authorize checks and who knows how much longer before dealers actually got paid.

A superbly well-managed operation would have had a contingency plan in place to deal with the possibility of high demand. Even a poorly managed organization could have done better than the Department of Transportation. Once the popularity of the program was established and the probability of extra funding seemed high, why didn’t DOT move quickly to expand their staffing? The Senate tripled the program’s budget on August 6th, so why did DOT wait two weeks to add more review staff? While the size of the application form can be blamed on the program requirements created by Congress, the inadequate number of review staff was entirely DOT’s fault. While I recognize the constraints that government managers must operate within, there is always a way around these obstacles if a manager is both creative and aggressive.

What does all of this mean? It means that the central issue is effective management, not socialized vs. private medicine. Bad management can take place in any organization - in government, in non-profits and in the private sector. But awful service need not last forever. I remember a visit to the Verizon Store shortly after they developed the mass consumer cell phone business. During that visit I was tortured by their bureaucracy for over three hours trying to arrange a family plan. I felt like I was in the old Soviet Union trying to buy a loaf of bread. Over the past year I’ve visited with Verizon a couple of times and was impressed by the efficient, friendly and even high-tech service. Competition and good management led to improved service.

As we approach the end game of the health care debate, we need to ensure that the http://www.observer.com/2009/what-role-government

system that emerges encourages both competition and good management. This does not preclude a public sector insurance provider, but it means that if we go that route we need to ensure that it does not evolve into a monopoly. We also need to consider the size and scale of the organizations that are developed to deliver health insurance. While organizations that are too small do not benefit from economies of scale, organizations that are too large can develop dysfunctional, slow-moving bureaucracies. You know them—organizations like the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the pre-2009 General Motors Corporation. My concern about the health care debate is its focus on ideological litmus tests. A better idea would be to pay attention to more pragmatic issues related to cost-effective service delivery and effective, innovative management.

DOT not necessarily to blame Submitted by Icarus5 on Sat, 08/29/2009 - 12:38. Steve, I'd have to disagree with your assessment of the Cash for Clunkers program. It is easy in retrospect to point out that a contingency program should have been in place to hire new workers to process the increase in applications. However, the hiring, training, and retention of competent staff has always been one of the most challenging aspects of management. You give a back of envelope mathematical equation to show how long it takes to process applications, but you do not provide similar consideration to how long it takes an organization to hire and train a new employee, even if temporary and even if a contingency plan is already in place. If DOT was able to hire and train almost 1,000 new employees to process a 300% increase in applications for a program that is itself brand new, that may represent a major success story, even if car dealerships and customers find themselves waiting an extra month or two longer than they expected to get their checks. For almost any organization, public or private, hiring a new employee takes well over 80 hours of the organization's time for boring but necessary things, such as selection, orientation, setting up payroll, setting up a health care plan, and additional resourcing for office space, a phone number, etc. To hire 1,000 employees could have easily taken over 80,000 hours of DOT's time. This is before the new employees are trained to process an application. As the saying goes, "the devil is in the details," and this tends to be true for any endeavor, whether or not there is a contingency plan. With regard to the health care discussion, the guiding principle should be simple: leverage the advantages of centralization to eliminate inefficiency. The sole focus of discussion should revolve around a single question: How can a nation-wide, centralized effort most simply and cost-effectively reduce the waste and inefficiency that currently exists? There are probably five or less key areas that could be addressed with the creation of narrowly focused policy and a narrowly focused program that would save society hundreds of billions of dollars annually and improve health care for all through better organization.

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Ecosystem Services Come to New York City: The Natural Way to Reduce Pollution

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 3, 2009 | 3:53 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

On August 27th, New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced that his office will provide $1.8 million of a $7 million settlement with a number of towns in Westchester that had been illegally dumping raw sewage into the Bronx River. Cuomo. According to Cuomo’s web Getty Images +Enlarge site:

“The funding will be provided to seven entities, including the Bronx River Alliance, THE POINT Community Development Corporation, Midtown the New York Botanical Garden, the New York City Parks Department, New York Times MSNBC and the Westchester County Planning Department, for “green The New Yorker Conde Nast infrastructure” - natural systems, like wetlands, or engineered systems Atlantic Yards that mimic them - that capture and treat polluted stormwater before it More Topics >> reaches the river.”

Rupert Murdoch The idea here is to use existing ecosystems to filter pollutants and protect streams George W. Bush David Paterson and other water sources. While some pollutants require artificially engineered Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl treatment systems powered largely by fossil fuels, many other pollutants, such as Dan Rather human waste and conventional, non-toxic household waste, can be filtered with More People >> natural systems powered by old-fashioned, solar-based photosynthesis.

Jimmy Vielkind It turns out that most pollution control equipment is not only capital-intensive, but Simon Doonan John Koblin also expensive to operate and maintain. The good thing about the use of natural Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander systems as pollution control devices is that they tend to be cheaper to build and Eliot Brown much cheaper to maintain. The term currently being used to describe the practical More Authors >> use of ecosystems to protect the environment is “ecosystem services.” A number of scholars have worked to quantify the monetary value of these services, including On the Town Off the Record my colleague Geoff Heal at the Columbia University School of Business, NYTV who is the co-author of a landmark 2004 National Academy study entitled, NY 3.0 Manhattan “Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision Making.” Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/ecosystem-services-come-new-york-city-natural-way-reduce-pollution

More Columns >> This study pointed out in 2004 some indisputable facts that we later learned the hard way during Hurricane Katrina: when we destroy natural ecosystems to develop land, we also destroy the services that those systems provide for us. In the case of New Orleans, the ability of the city to withstand the power of the hurricane was impaired by the development of wetlands and islands that once served as a natural buffer for the city. Heal and his co-authors pointed out that the economic analysis that led to paving over these areas did not factor in the economic benefits of the services provided for the city and its inhabitants by surrounding wetlands and protected ecosystems.

In New York, we can see an excellent example of the importance of ecosystem services. About 90% of the water we use in New York City comes from the Delaware-Catskill water system, about 120 miles north of the city. Over the past dozen years, the city has been able to purchase land and subsidize best management practices for the watershed, avoiding the need for extensive filtration of our upstate water supply. If, in fact, the federal EPA required us to filter this water, it would cost about $8 billion to build the facilities needed to treat the billion gallons of water New York City residents use every day. It would cost between $300-400 million each year to operate these filtration facilities. Instead, we spend about $200 million a year to preserve ecosystems and manage our land use in ways that help keep our water supply clean naturally.

We are beginning to learn that the natural environment is more than something nice to look at or camp in, that it actually does work of economic value that can improve our quality of life. The irony is that one of the best ways to preserve the quality of our countryside is to concentrate our population in cities and towns. Redeveloping the “brownfields” of our inner cities can help preserve the “greenfields” of the exurbs.

Our policymakers are starting to learn about and take advantage of the practical value of ecological preservation and restoration. We see evidence of this every time we turn on the tap water in New York City, and, thanks to Attorney General Cuomo, we will soon see evidence of this in a cleaner Bronx River as well.

MORE: ANDREW CUOMO | STEVE COHENS BLOG

if only others were as smart Submitted by Icarus5 on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 20:47. Not long ago there was a similar initiative proposed to LA City and it was narrowly defeated by the vote of one council member. Studies showed that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, not to mention lots of greenhouse gas emissions and oil, could have been saved every year by simply returning waste water to the uplands and letting it seep into the ground instead of dumping into the ocean through outfall systems. Putting the water back into the ground through wetlands would have naturally filtered and purified the water, while making it accessible for use in the near future. It is rumored that owners of one of the companies operating one of the existing treatment plants, sensing that revenues from their smelly and energy-intensive operation could come to an end, decided to lobby against the idea. Soon the phrase "toilet to tap" began circulating in the media and the idea was killed by the city council by a single vote. Now LA residents can continue to pay more to enjoy water shipped to them across the desert from the Colorado River, which happens to receive the waste water from Las Vegas. http://www.observer.com/2009/ecosystem-services-come-new-york-city-natural-way-reduce-pollution

Ashley Dupre is not happy. Submitted by Braydon G on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 04:05. Ashley Dupre is not happy. Ever since she's been the subject of a media firestorm, she has left the hustle (not an intentional joke) and bustle of the city, and gotten out of the public eye. The media has been hounding Ashley Dupre, calling her all sorts of names – though they do not realize the former call girl, who had an affair with Eliot Spitzer, was just the person there at the time and if she had found a different line of work, Spitzer would have cheated on his wife and resigned the governorship of New York with someone else. Perhaps everyone should leave Ashley Dupre alone, get instant payday loans and find a hobby.

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Civility in Modern Political Life

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 14, 2009 | 4:07 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

The civility of our political discourse was not helped the other night when South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson called President Obama a liar on the floor of the Congress. Fortunately, his outburst was followed by his rapid apology and the President’s quick acceptance Getty Images +Enlarge of that apology. I would like to think that the follow-up may be evidence of a consensus that Representative Wilson crossed a boundary that should be maintained.

As I watched the TV talking heads dissect the event, one resident wizard made the Midtown point that the atmosphere in the Congress was relatively tame compared to Prime New York Times MSNBC Minister’s questions in the British Parliament. While that is true, it sort of misses The New Yorker Conde Nast the point. In Britain the head of government is the Prime Minister, but the head of Atlantic Yards state is the Queen. In Israel and many other Parliamentary democracies the head More Topics >> of state is the President and the head of government is the Prime Minister. In the United States the President is both the head of government and the head of state. Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush This means that President Obama’s role is not simply to manage the federal David Paterson bureaucracy, but to represent and symbolize the nation as well. He not only cuts Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl the budget, he is expected to cut ribbons too. In our democracy there is no King to Dan Rather More People >> symbolize the nation’s history or culture. The President plays that role. He is both Prime Minister and King.

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan I should mention that this does not make me a monarchist, or President Obama a John Koblin monarch. Last week I was quoted making the same point in a wonderful article Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander by the Associated Press writer Jocelyn Noveck on heckling in Congress, and I have Eliot Brown received a pile of e-mails explaining that America has no king. That is clear, but the More Authors >> function of head of state and head of government is often split in most political

On the Town systems, just not in ours. Off the Record NYTV NY 3.0 This combination can be confusing, and at times Presidents have tried to take Manhattan Transfers advantage of the dual role by arguing that those who disagree with their policy Commercial Breaks positions are unpatriotic. That is of course completely false. A President’s policies http://www.observer.com/2009/civility-modern-political-life

More Columns >> are fair game. In fact, it’s also OK to call the President a liar. It’s just probably not something you should scream at him while he is speaking to a joint session of Congress in front of 30 million TV viewers.

This has been a nasty political summer as evidenced by disruptions at Town Hall Meetings on health policy and the absurd attack on the President for advising school kids to stay in school, work hard and do their homework. While many of us long for civility and respect in our political debates, it’s important to remember that American political history has not always been characterized by mild discussion and broad consensus. Back in 1804, at the start of the republic, Alexander Hamilton died after being shot by Aaron Burr- possibly a low point for political civility in the early days of our poltical system. In the mid-19th century a complete breakdown of our political process led to the Civil War. According to the web site of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, political dialogue in the House was particularly contentious in the years leading up to that horrific war, In fact,

“The most infamous floor brawl in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives erupted as Members debated Kansas’s pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution late into the night of February 5-6 [1858]. Shortly after 1 A.M., Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow and South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt exchanged insults, then blows….More than 50 Members joined the melee.”

The 20th century was no picnic either. More than a few of us remember the discord at the -1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago as well as the many moments in the 1960’s when orderly and symbolic civil disobedience descended into disruption and violence.

In a world made smaller by low-cost information and communication technology and made more dangerous by constant advances in the technology of destruction, civility and peaceful methods of dispute resolution become more and more important. I write this on September 11, 2009 and have been reminded all day of the presence of evil in the world and the importance of civility and the rule of law in modern life. In his famous June 1963 American University speech on the path to world peace, John Kennedy spoke about the need for nations to develop safe ways to resolve sharp differences and live in peace. JFK urged tolerance and civility when he said:

“So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”

Health care, climate change, the economy and issues of war and peace dominate national policy debates in our nation’s capital. There is a great deal of political power and a boatload of money at stake for our Representatives in Washington, their constituents back home and powerful stakeholders. The presence of these powerful forces and vested interests make it even more important that the discussion be civil and that all parties be respectful of each other. Despite the attention he has garnered from his shout at the President, I am certain that Representative Wilson wishes he hadn’t pushed the “send” button the other night. My hope is that his fifteen minutes of national fame does not inspire others to mimic his unfortunate outburst.

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But Not a Drop to Drink: The Threat to America’s Drinking Water

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 16, 2009 | 11:41 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

For those of us who worked closely with environmental professionals during the eight years of the Bush Administration, we know that it was a time of declining resources and reduced political support for environmental regulation. It was demoralizing and more than a little scary. Last weekend an excellent piece of environmental reporting by the New York Times writer Flickr via Sweet One +Enlarge Midtown New York Times Charles Duhigg highlighted MSNBC The New Yorker declining drinking water quality throughout the United States. While New York Conde Nast City’s drinking water appears safe from the threats cited in the Times piece, it Atlantic Yards More Topics >> provides a clear indication that it is quite dangerous to let our attention ever wander from this critical issue and vital resource.

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush Summarizing his reporting Duhigg observes that: David Paterson Andrew Cuomo “Almost four decades ago, Congress passed the Clean Water Act to force polluters Ruth Reichl to disclose the toxins they dump into waterways and to give regulators the power Dan Rather More People >> to fine or jail offenders. States have passed pollution statutes of their own. But in recent years, violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the

Jimmy Vielkind nation, an extensive review of water pollution records by The New York Times Simon Doonan found.” John Koblin Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander The Times has also created an excellent data base on violations of water Eliot Brown pollution rules and state enforcement of those rules. In this region, New York’s More Authors >> legal authorities managed only 6.4 enforcement actions per 100 violations, in

On the Town contrast to New Jersey’s 53.5 per 100 violations. Connecticut was even worse than Off the Record New York with only 3.7 enforcement efforts per 100 violations. NYTV NY 3.0 Manhattan Protecting our drinking water is a fundamental function of government. Just as we Transfers Commercial Breaks expect our streets to be safe from crime and our nation protected from the threat of http://www.observer.com/2009/not-drop-drink-threat-america%E2%80%99s-drinking-water

More Columns >> terrorism, our health and welfare also depend on the provision of safe water to drink and clean air to breathe. This is basic and non-negotiable. A Times “quote of the day” last weekend came from this piece, when West Virginia resident, Jennifer Hall-Massey asked “How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?”

It is of course not an issue of technical competence, but profit and political will. There is big money in the cable and internet business and plenty of competition. Water supply is a public utility that is delivered by government and funded by use fees and general revenue taxes. This monopoly means that we have no choice when selecting a water supplier. Our water supply is also more fragile and vulnerable than the infrastructure that delivers Internet and cable TV.

The cause of this attack on our water supply is untreated and poorly managed industrial dumping of toxic substances. While this is rampant in the developing world, America, from the mid-1970’s to the late 1990’s made enormous progress in reducing these practices. Apparently, part of the lasting environmental legacy of the Bush-Cheney years is the backsliding reported by the Times in this article.

The new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson is making the right noises about increasing enforcement, and I suspect the New York Times piece will strengthen the hand of environmental professionals inside the agency that are trying to push this agenda. The article also makes the point that the focus on climate change may be pushing attention and resources away from more traditional concerns such as water pollution. I doubt that is true, the real issue is not enough resources are going to either issue.

In any event, the issue of clean drinking water has far more political potency than climate change. Most of the impacts of global warming are in the future, and it is difficult for the average person to understand the connection between cause and effect. Moreover, the causes of climate change come from many places and the impact will also be felt in many places. Water pollution is locally caused and felt. The impact is nearly immediate and some of the impacts, like illness and skin rashes, are very visible. Because climate change is a global problem that crosses all borders, it creates real challenges for our planet’s political system which is based on sovereign nation states. While some water pollution issues cross borders, in the U.S. the borders they cross are mainly state borders rather than national ones.

We know how to keep our drinking water clean. We have laws that require it and institutions capable of administering those laws. What we need is the political will and resources to use those institutions and enforce the laws we have. Unlike climate and health care, the structure is already in place and a national consensus was established long ago to ensure clean drinking water. The challenge to the Obama administration and the EPA is clear. What is less clear is if they are up to the task.

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Self Interest as the Driver of National Climate and Energy Policy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 21, 2009 | 3:56 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

This weekend found President Obama hitting every Sunday TV talk show to talk up health care policy. For some environmental advocates, this focus deepened their concern that the United States would lose this moment and punt on climate policy. However, take heart, this week the U.N.’s Getty Images +Enlarge climate summit begins in New York and the President will be speaking there as well. While nothing in our nation’s capital is ever certain, count me among those who expect to see both health care and climate policy laws land on the President’s desk by December or Midtown New York Times mid-winter at the latest. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast The normal ebb and flow of American politics requires this dance which includes Atlantic Yards one step back for every two steps forward. On climate, there are powerful forces More Topics >> arguing that we should not reduce greenhouse gas emissions unless China and India are also required to reduce emissions. This argument that the developing Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush world must be treated the same way we are is simply an excuse for inaction by David Paterson Andrew Cuomo those who are not yet convinced that we have a climate crisis. The developing Ruth Reichl world will also need to make the transition to renewable energy, but should be Dan Rather More People >> expected to follow rather than lead developed nations in this transition.

There are also Europeans who think that the climate regime we establish must Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan include mandatory targets enforceable by the United Nations. I understand the John Koblin European perspective, and after a century of world wars it easy to see why Europe Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander decided to form a real union and dial back their national sovereignty. However, the Eliot Brown rest of the world is still a collection of sovereign nations and I promise you that is More Authors >> not going to end any time soon.

On the Town Off the Record The United States, by virtue of its military dominance, and the government of NYTV China, by virtue of its increasing economic and military might, are not about to NY 3.0 Manhattan cede authority to the United Nations- or anyone else. This means that climate Transfers Commercial Breaks policy must be based on the self interest of these still very sovereign states. Our http://www.observer.com/2009/self-interest-driver-national-climate-and-energy-policy

More Columns >> goal should be to imitate the imperfect international regime that seeks to control nuclear weapons. That regime is firmly based on national self interest. No nation is going to unilaterally disarm just as no nation is going to unilaterally dismantle their economy to stop emitting greenhouse gasses. As imperfect as the nuclear regime is, for the sixty plus years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nation state has ever deployed a nuclear weapon. No sane national leader would consider using these weapons. What does the control of nuclear weapons have to do with climate policy? It’s all about the definition of national self interest.

Reduction of greenhouse gasses may or may not be in the long-term interest of the U.S., China, or Europe, but the transition to a fossil fuel free economy is in everyone’s self interest. There is a broad consensus that preventing global warming and maintaining the viability of our planet’s ability to sustain life are important goals. Although it is hard to argue against these goals, most nation states still manage to act as if the planet doesn’t matter. The key is to turn enlightened long-term self interest into short-term national interest and real-world public policy. While there is no danger of running out of fossil fuels in the short-term, in the long-term these finite resources will be depleted. Laws like the Waxman-Markey climate bill, which cap allowable emissions of greenhouse gasses, will gradually raise the price of fossil fuels and encourage energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy. A gradual, well managed transition to a green economy is in our national interest as well as in the world’s interest.

Why is a green economy in our national interest? The national interest here is in not being left behind. The real goal, of critical importance to economic well being, is to ensure that we don’t fall behind other nations in the race to devote as little of our wealth as possible to energy. Waxman-Markey contributes to that goal. If other nations find a way to run their economies with lower cost energy, the United States will be less able to compete in the global economy. Our goods and services will tend to cost more than those made in other nations. Public policy that pushes low cost renewable energy is in our national interest.

Opponents of the transition to a non-fossil fuel economy will do the same thing this time they did when the U.S. Senate rejected the Kyoto accords. They will argue that a cap on emissions is the functional equivalent of unilateral disarmament. That is why the comprehensive approach of Waxman Markey represents a breakthrough and a more effective policy direction. This time we have embedded climate regulation in energy policy. Climate policy is not simply about preserving the planet; it is about preserving the competitiveness of our economy in the global marketplace.

This does not tell you why I am confident that a climate bill and a health bill will emerge from this Congress. While Congress can sometimes act irrationally, it focuses first and foremost on its own survival. In this case I am counting on the self interest of the Democrats in control of Congress. In 2010, one third of the Senate and all of the House of Representatives must face the electorate. Mid-term elections typically result in reduced margins for the President’s party. The Democratic Party’s goal is to stay in charge as the new Congress forms in 2011. To win, the Democrats need a successful President. They need to prevent their opponents from defining the terms of these debates, as conservatives did through the summer. For the Democrats to maintain control of the Congress they need to face the electorate with three accomplishments: 1. A growing economy; 2. The start of national health policy, and; 3. A climate and energy bill. http://www.observer.com/2009/self-interest-driver-national-climate-and-energy-policy

Niccolo Machiavelli once said that “it is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.” Similarly, self interest is a more reliable predictor of politics and policy than idealism is. By moderating the impact of boom and bust capitalism, government policy in the 20th century preserved entrepreneurship and the market economy into the 21st century. By pushing our economy toward a more efficient green energy economy, we will preserve our prosperity through the 21st century. We will do this because survival and prosperity are in our self interest.

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Cool Roofs for the City and the Country

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS September 28, 2009 | 4:29 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

A few days ago, New York City announced its “Cool Roofs” initiative, an effort to save energy by combining volunteerism and green design. According to the Mayor’s press release:

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former Vice President and founder of the Alliance for Climate Protection Al Gore today launched an Flickr via basykes +Enlarge NYC Service initiative, Midtown “NYC Cool Roofs,” to mobilize volunteers to coat the rooftops of New York Times MSNBC participating buildings with reflective, white coating to reduce cooling The New Yorker Conde Nast costs, energy usage and greenhouse emissions… A cool roof absorbs 80 Atlantic Yards percent less heat than traditional dark colored roofs and can lower roof More Topics >> temperatures by up to 60 degrees and indoor temperatures by 10 to 20 degrees on hot days. The decrease in temperature reduces the need for Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush air conditioning, lowering electric bills and reducing energy David Paterson Andrew Cuomo consumption. Coating all eligible dark rooftops in New York City could Ruth Reichl result in up to a 1 degree reduction of New York City’s ambient air Dan Rather More People >> temperature – a significant and lasting change towards cooling the City."

Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan While the city’s building code requires that new buildings include these types of John Koblin Meredith Bryan roofs, the city has thousands of old structures that are not subject to these rules but Irina Aleksander could still be painted and help save energy. This is the low-hanging fruit of energy Eliot Brown More Authors >> efficiency. The Mayor and his team should also be congratulated for integrating this program into the national effort to encourage greater volunteerism and public

On the Town service. Off the Record NYTV However, in addition to the modest effort announced here, given the level of NY 3.0 Manhattan unemployment in the city and around the country, I wonder why we don’t take Transfers Commercial Breaks some of those billions of stimulus dollars still unspent and put a bunch of people to http://www.observer.com/2009/cool-roofs-city-and-country

More Columns >> work painting roofs throughout America. We could start with public buildings, including the nation’s schools. Most people know how to paint or can be quickly trained, and it seems to me to be the kind of “shovel-ready” project that could do a lot of good in a hurry.

While a national program might make sense, what about our own government? The city government itself has a lot of buildings, and buried deep in the press release announcing the cool roofs program is the following puzzling declaration that seems to be the work of the City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services:

“The Department of Citywide Administrative Services has identified 1 million square feet of roof space on City-owned buildings that could benefit from reflective, white coating, including homeless shelters, police precincts, fire stations, sanitation and transportation garages and office buildings. Once the results of the pilot program are reviewed, the City will move forward with coating applicable City-owned buildings with reflective, white coating.”

For the life of me, I can’t understand why this agency would think of roof painting as a pilot project. While I can see why a volunteer-based program to paint 100,000 square feet might be seen as an experiment, the energy reduction benefits of these roof surfaces is well established. More to the point, the city can’t be asking private owners to resurface their roofs if they are unwilling to quickly renovate the roofs on their own buildings.

As Mayor Bloomberg heads into his November reelection bid, I think his efforts on sustainability, climate change, indoor air quality and overall public health are among the strongest parts of his very strong record. Still, the press statement on the Cool Roofs program provides an indication of the difficulty of bringing lasting change to city government. While the Mayor’s office is creatively forging partnerships with Al Gore and with the voluntary sector, the City’s own Department of Citywide Administrative Services is taking a “wait and see” approach toward cool roofs.

New York City’s government faces many difficult, complex problems: Issues such as crime, terrorism, homelessness, education and emergency response come to mind. Painting roofs has got to be one of the easy ones. That is also why a program like this should go national. It is a simple, low-tech action that could put people to work and save energy as soon as the weather gets warm.

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Climate Regulation Has Begun in the U.S.

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 2, 2009 | 11:00 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

In the last several days, some of the attention in our nation’s capital has shifted back to the issue of climate change. Most concretely, EPA has finally taken the essential step of regulating Carbon Dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Meanwhile, over in the U.S. Senate, Senators Kerry Getty Images +Enlarge and Boxer have introduced a bill that focuses on energy and climate, the upper house’s counterpart to the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill that passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year. Both are crucial developments, but EPA’s decision is more important in the short run since it means that the U.S. finally has Midtown New York Times a functioning form of climate law. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast According to EPA’s website, the new rule was announced by EPA Chief Lisa Atlantic Yards Jackson on September 30: More Topics >> “The Administrator announced a proposal requiring large industrial facilities that Rupert Murdoch emit at least 25,000 tons of GHGs [greenhouse gases] a year to obtain construction George W. Bush David Paterson and operating permits covering these emissions. These permits must demonstrate Andrew Cuomo the use of best available control technologies and energy efficiency measures to Ruth Reichl Dan Rather minimize GHG emissions when facilities are constructed or significantly More People >> modified.”

Jimmy Vielkind Jackson remarked that: “By using the power and authority of the Clean Air Act, we Simon Doonan John Koblin can begin reducing emissions from the nation’s largest greenhouse gas emitting Meredith Bryan facilities without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the vast Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown majority of our economy.” EPA’s proposed climate regulation applies to the More Authors >> approximately 14,000 large businesses that emit about 70% of the nation’s greenhouse gases. On the Town Off the Record In Washington, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of NYTV NY 3.0 Manufacturers have already voiced their opposition to the proposed rule. That is Manhattan Transfers far from surprising, but, paradoxically, an interesting impact of this rule might be Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/climate-regulation-has-begun-us

More Columns >> an increase in industry support for legislation like Waxman-Markey because it provides more flexibility in meeting emission caps. Waxman-Markey’s cap and trade provision allows companies to trade pollution allowances. The new approach to climate in Waxman-Markey also attacks the root causes of global warming by promoting the development of new energy technology and encouraging greater energy efficiency. It includes programs for climate adaptation, carbon sequestration and the transition to a green energy economy. EPA’s new rule, on the other hand, is good, old-fashioned command and control. The business community might prefer a bill with both carrots and sticks, if the alternative is the current law, which only provides sticks.

In comparison to Waxman-Markey, the Clean Air Act is a non-comprehensive, one-dimensional approach to climate policy. EPA’s proposed rule is a hacksaw, when the Obama Administration would rather operate with a scalpel. Nevertheless, if Congress is unable to provide an elegant tool to begin the process of reducing greenhouse gases, then the EPA will simply have to use the best tool they can grab hold of. Though outdated, the Clean Air Act is far better than nothing. This approach to environmental regulation finds its historical roots in the early days of EPA. Seven days after EPA was created in 1970, its first administrator, William Ruckelshaus, used provisions from the River and Harbors Act of 1899 to force a number of large cities (run by mayors that were not of the President’s political party) to stop dumping sewage into local waterways.

EPA’s strong action is possible because of President Obama’s deep understanding of the climate problem and his willingness to use the authorities he has available. In the 1970’s many industry groups eventually realized that the public demand for clean water and clean air would result in new and more stringent laws. Rather than opposing all efforts at change, some decided to try to shape the change they saw coming. Today, anyone running a business with even a small amount of foresight realizes that climate and energy policies are going to be changed over the next several years. Better-managed businesses will be trying to figure out how to plan for change rather than continue to resist it.

Unfortunately, despite the President’s desire to usher in a post-partisan period, the lines only seem to be getting more sharply drawn. Let’s keep in mind that the lobbying business has grown dramatically in recent years, along with limitless electronic communication. Intense partisanship has become a big business. And there is simply more money to be made if you are part of the entrenched, hard line opposition than if you are a moderate, pragmatic deal maker.

EPA’s tougher approach to climate regulation will enable our negotiators at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in mid-December to claim that the U.S. has put in place a new policy to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases. While a new piece of legislation would be better than what we have now, using the Clean Air Act is better than doing nothing. Here comes the hacksaw.

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The Daily Show, Cap and Trade, and Scientific Literacy

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 6, 2009 | 11:18 a.m. ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Watching Jon Stewart use Capn’ Crunch as the logo for climate cap and trade regulation the other night started me thinking about the need for our society to get more sophisticated about its understanding of economics, policy, and science. My reaction to the pitiful state of Getty Images +Enlarge our public policy dialogue is what you might expect from someone who teaches public administration at a university. While Stewart claims to just be a comedian, he is very influential and usually is both smart and correct. He just missed the point this time; I guess he Midtown New York Times couldn’t resist the Capn’ Crunch gag. MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast It’s true that, under cap and trade, companies receive permits to pollute. But it’s Atlantic Yards also true that the permits gradually reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses they More Topics >> are allowed to emit. For the record, it’s not just rich companies that get to buy permits to pollute, but clean companies that get to sell them. The idea is to get as Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush much pollution reduction as possible at the least possible cost. There are two basic David Paterson Andrew Cuomo alternatives to cap and trade: 1. a simple cap—what is often called command and Ruth Reichl control regulation; or 2. a tax on carbon. By setting a cap or tax on pollution, you Dan Rather More People >> are still allowing it to take place—and so it is still “permission to legally pollute.” An out and out prohibition on carbon dioxide emissions is infeasible, since it

Jimmy Vielkind would end economic life as we know it. Jon Stewart’s Daily Show would be taken Simon Doonan off the air, since there would be no electricity to run our televisions. That would be John Koblin Meredith Bryan a shame, since it’s my favorite TV show. Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown The problem of global warming is a complicated one, and it is only the most visible More Authors >> of the impacts of our growing technological capacity. Our economic and political

On the Town lives are becoming more complicated and more difficult to manage. We benefit Off the Record from these technological marvels, but we are more vulnerable as a result of them. NYTV NY 3.0 The growing complexity of economic life and financial transactions has been Manhattan Transfers further complicated by the increased technical and scientific content of the goods Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/daily-show-cap-and-trade-and-scientific-literacy

More Columns >> and services provided by our post-industrial society. For example, the free market marvel of Henry Ford’s Model T has been replaced by today’s highly regulated automobile—a vehicle that includes pollution control technology, required safety equipment, and a range of computer controls and other technologies. Similarly, American farming has come a long way from “40 acres and a mule” to become a highly mechanized, computer-controlled agribusiness.

Public policy requires an understanding of science and technology to be effective. Farming practices influence food safety, public health, and water supplies, and even generate ethical issues that stem from cloning and genetic engineering. Our public officials cannot regulate those activities in the public interest if they do not understand the science and technology upon which they are based. How can one create policy on “how clean is clean” at a toxic waste site—how far clean-up must proceed before it is complete—without some understanding of the transport, toxicity, and latency of the individual and interacting chemicals?

The names Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison are well known and are of a time when technology and the economy was simple enough for inventors to become “heroes” and even players in the national economy. Today’s version of these innovators, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, may not be “inventors,” but are technically sophisticated managers who depend on huge R & D machines to develop new products. They continue the 20th century practice that tied economic growth to technological innovation.

New products, made with new and more efficient production techniques, are constantly introduced and upgraded: autos, electricity and illumination, refrigeration, air conditioning, radio, telephones, black and white TV, color TV, digital TV, main frame computers, laptop computes, satellite communication, air travel, cell phones, Blackberries, the Internet, and computer software. Modern economic life is dominated by the development and introduction of new technologies.

Just as economic life is dominated by science and technology, public policy issues are increasingly shaped by scientific and technological developments as well. Understanding public policy requires increased levels of scientific literacy. For example (not an exhaustive list):

• National security: Arms, aircraft, submarines, ships, missiles, atomic weapons, and spy satellites are all subject to constant technological change and advancement. Modern warfare is dominated by the importance of new technology and the ability or inability to develop counter-measures to these new technologies. • Health care. From immunizations to MRIs, health care and the associated calculation of costs and benefits are constantly changing due to the development of new drugs and technologies. Moreover, the effect of the use of non-medical technologies on human health requires both an understanding of those technologies and of their impact on human biology and chemistry. People are living longer and healthier lives as a result of medical technologies. These technologies are reshaping our economies, societies, and politics in profound ways that we are only beginning to understand. • Environmental Protection and Sustainability. The entire range of human activity influences a web of biological relationships in our ecosystems that eventually lead back to humans and their health. We are learning more every day about the science of our planet, how it is changing due to human impacts and what we need to do to minimize our negative impact or “footprint.” We need to learn http://www.observer.com/2009/daily-show-cap-and-trade-and-scientific-literacy

more about how to provide food, water, energy, and other resources based on the principles of reuse and sustainability.

Scientific and technical literacy is essential for understanding and governing the modern world. To maximize the benefits and reduce the costs of using new technologies, decision-makers must develop a more sophisticated understanding of the science of the new technologies they are selling or trying to regulate. For example, in the 1950s and 1960s, engineers knew that the toxic waste they were dumping the ground could kill people and ruin the environment, but the business leaders they worked for were largely ignorant of those scientific facts. Most of the elected leaders responsible for the communities “hosting” these dumpsites did not even know they existed or, if they did, that they were dangerous. At the infamous Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, the Hooker Chemical Company sold the land they dumped chemicals on to the local government for a dollar. The community then built a school on top of the site, with a playground directly over the dump. Eventually, the chemicals leached off the site, causing great harm to the local community. It is difficult to know how much it will cost us to clean up this nation’s toxic waste, but the job is far from over and the bill is probably over $100 billion. Ignorance was far from bliss. In the 21st century we need to do a better job of teaching our leaders to understand science and technology.

In addition to understanding science, last year’s Wall Street meltdown should also convince us that we need our leaders to develop a deeper understanding of finance as well. The media can play a role in increasing our scientific and economic literacy, or they can focus on death squads, the President’s birth certificate or cute word plays on “cap’n trade.” A cheap laugh is always better than a vicious lie, so I’ll keep tuning into The Daily Show—since even on the rare occasions that he is wrong, Jon Stewart always does his job and makes us laugh.

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The Persistence of Hope

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 9, 2009 | 12:42 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Barack Obama’s Presidency is less than a year old, and he has already found himself on the roller coaster ride of American politics, media and celebrity. It must have been a pleasant surprise to wake to the news on October 9th that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. While it Getty Images +Enlarge will be derided by extremists of both the Right and the Left (probably more by the Right), it is a significant and telling moment for the President and for the United States of America.

For the extreme Left, he’s the President who is still fighting a war in Iraq, an Midtown escalating war in Afghanistan, and possibly thinking about taking out Iran’s New York Times MSNBC nuclear capability. For the extreme Right, he’s a foreign born egomaniac who is The New Yorker Conde Nast getting ready to allow gays to serve in the military and planning to cut and run Atlantic Yards from all American military engagements. However, it is instructive to read the More Topics >> President’s Nobel Prize citation and see how Obama is being perceived abroad: Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush David Paterson “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Andrew Cuomo Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role Ruth Reichl Dan Rather that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and More People >> negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s John Koblin initiative, the United States is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights Eliot Brown are to be strengthened.” More Authors >>

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s On the Town Off the Record attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in NYTV the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values NY 3.0 Manhattan and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population,” Transfers Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/persistence-hope

More Columns >> My favorite part of the news stories about the Prize is the way the President was informed of this award. Due to time zone differences, American Nobelists are typically informed of their win in the middle of the night. Not this time. According to Nobel Committee Chair Thorbjoern Jagland , the Committee decided not to inform Obama early because it didn't want to wake him up. "Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn't really something you do," Yes, he might think the nation was being attacked.. Deploying the air force would not be the correct response to winning a peace prize.

Of course, Obama is not the first sitting American President to win the Prize. Teddy Roosevelt won in 1916 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The move by the Nobel committee serves to reinforce the central position of American diplomacy and the continued importance of the American Presidency. With Europe, China, India, and Russia emerging as world powers, the United States continues to retain its critical position, with the world’s most powerful military and a huge if struggling economy. Of equal importance is America’s central position in the world’s media, on the web and in the popular imagination. Images of America are communicated throughout the world and continue to dominate the world’s collective bandwith.

It matters what the American President does, how he does it and what he says. When President George W. Bush swaggers on to an aircraft carrier to declare “mission accomplished” it says one thing. When President Barack Obama goes to Cairo to hold out an olive branch to the Muslim world, it says something quite different. While being popular outside the United States may not be the main objective of the American President, Machiavelli aside, being feared and loathed is not always the best way to promote American interests in an interdependent global system.

A number of polls this summer show that the United States is more respected abroad than it was during the Bush Administration and it is clear that the Obama team sees diplomacy as well as the military as tools for advancing American interests. Obama is a masterful communicator and a compelling figure on the world stage. While it is too early to know if all of this promise will translate into performance, the Nobel Committee seems to be betting on our still new President. I admit that I am too. Obama has written his own story and termed it the Audacity of Hope. I think the Nobel committee has added its voice to that story- making the case for the persistence of hope. I think it is a wonderful gesture, worthy of the traditions of this important prize.

Nobelism Submitted by Ruckweiler on Fri, 10/09/2009 - 16:01. So now we award the prize for intentions? Silly me, I thought the Peace Prize was for actually doing something to cause peace to occur. The Kenyan is a cipher and the Narcissist-in Chief. His true biography will be very short. http://www.observer.com/2009/persistence-hope

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The Slow and Steady Stimulus Package is Moving Down the Track, Or: It's a Local, Not an Express

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 19, 2009 | 3:31 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

At the start of my professional career, I worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and, like many, I found the federal government to be a source of both inspiration and frustration. It was frustrating because getting it in motion was like turning around a Flickr via Cliff1066 +Enlarge huge cruise ship (no, not the Titanic!). It was inspiring because when it did get moving it represented this entire great nation and could do amazing things. The symbols of our country-The White Midtown New York Times House, the Capitol Dome, the monuments to Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR MSNBC The New Yorker and our veterans-still move me. This nation transformed the world and remains Conde Nast this planet's best and brightest hope for the future. While that big, cumbersome Atlantic Yards More Topics >> federal government always moves slowly, it is finally in motion, and building momentum in a way we have not seen in decades. The source of that motion? The Rupert Murdoch much-maligned American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed George W. Bush David Paterson into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. You know it better as the Andrew Cuomo stimulus package. Ruth Reichl Dan Rather More People >> If you spend nearly 800 billion dollars to get the economy moving again, you can be sure of three things: 1. some of the money will be wasted and/or stolen, 2. some

Jimmy Vielkind of the money will do some good, and 3. some federal agencies will get the money Simon Doonan John Koblin out the door faster than others. One of the agencies given a large amount of new Meredith Bryan funding under the stimulus program was the Department of Energy, which Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown received $36.7 billion dollars of the $43 billion allocated by the bill to energy More Authors >> projects. Since the transition to a green energy economy is critical to recovery, one would think that it would be important to spend these funds as quickly as possible. On the Town Off the Record Recall that the stimulus package included a number of provisions that NYTV NY 3.0 simultaneously increased spending and reduced taxes. The $787 billion package Manhattan Transfers spent nearly $500 billion for programs and allocated about $288 billion to tax Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/politics/slow-and-steady-stimulus-package-moving-down-track-or-its-local-not-express

More Columns >> relief. The NY Times website includes a detailed outline of the program's allocations.

The spending or non-tax portion of the bill breaks down into seven broad categories:

1. State and local fiscal relief: $144 billion

2. Infrastructure and Science: $111 billion

3. Welfare Programs: $81 billion

4. Health Care: $59 billion

5. Education: $53 billion

6. Energy: $43 billion

7. Other: $8 billion

Some of the science funding is beginning to make its way to universities like the one I work at, providing funds for student scholarships, research jobs, facilities and equipment. While the impact of these funds will certainly be felt in waves, the first of these waves has hit the shore. It takes a while to make good use of these extra funds, and once we receive them from Washington, we cannot instantly build a lab or hire a researcher. Still, new grants are arriving on campuses across America, and scientists are moving quickly to take advantage of this rare opportunity to obtain extra funding for their labs. Moreover, in addition to these immediate short-term impacts, the longer-term economic benefits from scientific discoveries and newly trained researchers will ensure that the effects of these funds will be felt for many years to come.

In the Energy Department, the pace of spending stimulus funds has been excruciatingly slow. Fortunately, in recent weeks we have begun to see some signs that this particularly lumbering federal giant is finally beginning to get its act together. In early October, the Department announced a $750 million program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to "help accelerate the development of conventional renewable energy generation projects." According to the DOE website, these funds would "cover the cost of loan guarantees which could support as much as $4 to 8 billion in lending to eligible projects." The goal is to use federal loan guarantees to entice private capital into the energy marketplace. The Department of Energy has also announced a number of grant programs for universities researching energy issues.

The Department of Energy's share of the stimulus bill totals nearly $37 billion dollars. According to the department's "Recovery and Reinvestment" website, the funds have been earmarked for various projects and allocated in the following manner:

1. $16.8 billion invested in improving energy efficiency and developing sources of renewable energy

2. $6 billion for decontamination and clean up of Cold War nuclear sites

3. $4.5 billion for development and implementation of Smart Grid programs and efficient electrical transmission

4. $4 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects http://www.observer.com/2009/politics/slow-and-steady-stimulus-package-moving-down-track-or-its-local-not-express

5. $3.4 billion for research on carbon capture and storage and other ways to control carbon emissions

6. $1.6 billion in funding for research and academic programs like those discussed above at schools and universities across the country

7. $400 million to the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy for other research and technology development projects

Recovery.gov, the federal government's website for tracking stimulus spending, shows that the Department of Energy has received about $18 billion (actually $18,255,356,221) of the $36.7 billion listed above, but as of October 9, 2009, had only spent about one billion (or $1,023,085,017). The Department of Energy is spending its stimulus money at a much slower rate than the rest of the federal government. While the team at Energy has only spent about 3% of the $36.7 billion they were allocated, overall federal spending has reached about 22%, or $173 billion of the full stimulus package of $787 billion.

While I am tempted to observe that an inability to spend money may very well be a comment on the overall competence of the Department of Energy, I will instead try to believe that just like the tortoise and the hare, DOE's leadership believes that "slow and steady wins the race."

This brief run through the stimulus spending data tells us two things. First, most of the impact of the stimulus will be in the future; over three quarters of the money promised is still in the bank. Second, we should not be surprised at the lack of impact of the stimulus on development of a green energy economy. Economists are telling us that the recession is over, yet unemployment is still rising. Perhaps the economy needs an extra shot of stimulus to caffeinate the job market. The good news is that when you look at the spending data, that extra burst of economic espresso is still being brewed.

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Cash and Carry Political Campaigns

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS October 26, 2009 | 1:52 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

Saturday's New York Times and much of our local media have been calling attention to the amazing amount of money that Mike Bloomberg is spending on his reelection campaign. In the end, he will spend between $100 million and $150 million on his personal stimulus program for Getty Images +Enlarge New York's political consultant and media industry. He will outspend his opponent, NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, by more than 15 to 1. New York's good government groups lament the impact of money on politics and are providing predictable quotes for familiar-looking news stories. The Thompson campaign is trying to combine Midtown New York Times Bloomberg's spending with the term limits repeal to portray the mayor as a MSNBC The New Yorker power-hungry, out of touch Upper East Side billionaire. We are reminded, once Conde Nast again, that the Mayor is very wealthy. But New Yorkers already know that, and in Atlantic Yards More Topics >> my view Thompson's attack misses the point. The fundamental issue is the role of money in our political process. Bloomberg's spending is a symptom of that

Rupert Murdoch problem, but it is not the cause. George W. Bush David Paterson The problem is that American democracy has never been overly democratic. Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Vermont's 600,000 or so people elect the same number of Senators as New York's Dan Rather More People >> 19,000,000. However, these days the problem with our system of representation is less one of geographic bias than of the power of economic interests. Economic

Jimmy Vielkind power is projected by direct lobbying in today's complex legislative process and by Simon Doonan corporate campaign contributions to elected officials. President Obama recently John Koblin Meredith Bryan blasted the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers Irina Aleksander Eliot Brown for opposing the climate and energy bills before Congress. Why should the More Authors >> President care about the views of those business groups? He was elected by a large majority and his party controls both Houses of Congress. He cares because he On the Town knows that his election was made possible by two anomalies unique to the 2008 Off the Record NYTV election. The first was the Wall Street crash that appeared to be out of control in NY 3.0 the weeks before the election. American business was in a state of panic and the Manhattan Transfers McCain ticket, especially with Palin on it, seemed riskier than Obama and Biden. Commercial Breaks http://www.observer.com/2009/cash-and-carry-political-campaigns

More Columns >> The second was Obama's remarkable success in raising money from small online contributions. Obama was able to out-fundraise the Republicans and negate the usual advantage of wealth and economic power in American politics.

It is of course silly to believe that people with economic power would not use that power to advance their own interests in the political system. Every regulation ever created to control the role of money in politics is closely followed by an army of lawyers looking for loopholes. Economic power is like a stream flowing down a mountain; gravity alone can bring it to where it wants to go. If you make it difficult for this power to be expressed legitimately, some power brokers will still manage to achieve their goals illegally.

But not Mike Bloomberg. The problem with the current state of campaign finance law is that decent, civic-minded people like our Mayor are not only allowed to spend as much of their own money as they can, but the system actually encourages it. If you are a prudent, competent public servant, convinced that your election is in the public interest, failing to spend your own money on your own cause seems idiotic. With $16 billion in the bank, one could spend $200 million and barely notice that it's gone. However, if it was illegal to spend your own money on a campaign, I know that Mike Bloomberg would not spend his.

As scary as Bloomberg's spending might be for democracy, the fundraising conflicts of interest by the non-billionaires running for office in NYC is even worse. Comptroller Thompson takes money from people in the investment and finance industry even though he runs the city's pension system, and City Councilman de Blasio takes campaign money from the same nonprofits he helped to secure city funding. These two guys are among the most honest, incorruptible elected officials you will ever find, but to compete in this electoral system, candidates have to become part-time public servants and full-time fundraisers.

The root of all this evil is in a well-known 1976 Supreme Court case called Buckley vs. Valeo. In that case:

"...the Court found that the expenditure ceiling in the FECA (Federal Election Campaign Act) imposed "direct and substantial restraints on the quantity of political speech" and invalidated three expenditure limitations as violations of the First Amendment."

In a ruling that makes democracy a cash-and-carry operation, the Court decided that campaign contributions were a form of free speech. There are probably good libertarian and even free speech arguments for allowing people to spend their own money to promote their own views. But the impact of this ruling, coupled with the escalating costs of modern political campaigning, has been to elevate the importance of money in politics to an absurd level.

The spectacle of a wealthy man spending his own money in a legal effort to stay in office makes for a good, entertaining news story. But all the whining changes nothing. The fundamental problem is that as long as we equate campaign spending with free speech, it will not be possible to control the impact of money in our political process. Bloomberg's money is not the real problem. His contributions are upfront and visible for all to see. The real problem is the quiet, constant cash campaign contributions of businesses ranging from the health care industry to oil companies. These companies are working overtime, but out of the media spotlight, to influence public policy. The President will only get health and climate bills enacted this year if he is able to overcome these powerful economic forces. That's http://www.observer.com/2009/cash-and-carry-political-campaigns

the real money and politics story going on right now. The Mayoral election in New York City is just a sideshow.

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Baseball and the Heart of New York City

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 2, 2009 | 4:43 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

My parents moved to Brooklyn in 1955 when I was almost two years old, and by the time I was four, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants had played their last home games in the five boroughs. Until Casey Stengel and the Mets arrived in 1962, the only baseball team in town Getty Images +Enlarge was the New York Yankees. It was during that time, while the Yankees held a monopoly on New York baseball, that I developed my lifelong love for baseball. And that is why, despite growing up in Brooklyn, I am a semi-fanatical Yankee fan.

Midtown I grew up thinking that the natural order of things dictated that the Yankees New York Times MSNBC belonged in the World Series. But Derek Jeter and I have both learned the hard The New Yorker Conde Nast way that other teams get to play and win in the Series too. Still, watching the Atlantic Yards Yankees in this year’s World Series feels to me like the planet has been restored to More Topics >> its proper orbit. What is there about baseball and New York that puts them in sync? I suppose some of it is that baseball is a 19th century sport, with plenty of Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush time for contemplation and beer between plays. In the rest of the country, if people David Paterson want to see smashing, crashing and fast-moving action, they check out football Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl games or NASCAR. In New York, we just walk down Broadway. Dan Rather More People >> For many, but especially for New Yorkers, the search for calm and a sense of connection to the past leads to baseball. That’s why some of us were so moved Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan when Derek Jeter broke Lou Gehrig’s Yankee base hit record this summer. It was John Koblin wonderful to see that someone whom we admire so much can somehow be Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander connected to the guy who made the famous “luckiest man in the world” speech, Eliot Brown way back when the world was filmed in black and white. The importance of More Authors >> baseball has never been better expressed than by the “Terrance Mann” character in

On the Town the great baseball movie Field of Dreams: Off the Record NYTV “The one constant through all the years… has been baseball. America has rolled by NY 3.0 Manhattan like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and Transfers Commercial Breaks erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of http://www.observer.com/2009/baseball-and-heart-new-york-city

More Columns >> our past… It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again….”

Baseball appears again and again in our culture as a unifying symbol and set of images. Baseball is Jackie Robinson and the fight against Jim Crow. Baseball is the growth of the global economy and players from Latin America and Asia sharing a field of dreams with guys from Kansas. And baseball is the Yankees and New York City—from the “Bronx is burning” Reggie Jackson images of 1977 to the post-9-11 World Series against Arizona that was emblematic of the tenacity and toughness of New York.

This year, the cultural touchstone for the World Series may very well end up being the rap star Jay-Z. I admit that most rap songs don’t move me, but ever since I heard Jay-Z and Alicia Keys sing “Empire State of Mind” a few weeks ago. I have not been able to get those lyrics or melodies out of my head. As with all great art, the song has captured the sound and feel of this place perfectly. Jay-Z has created an indelible image of New York City in 2009. Watching his performance at Yankee Stadium before the second game of the World Series the other night, with the Yankees looking on, was simply amazing.

New York City has a reputation for being a cold and unforgiving place, but those of us who have been here a long time know that is simply not true. This place gives and receives great loyalty and heart, and one sign of that spirit is the number of Yankee caps and A-Rod t-shirts you see all over town these days. Jay-Z may be able to “make the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can,” but all he’s really pointing out is that the cap and the team are just a part of this place. The “streets that can make you feel brand new” are bigger than the Yankees and bigger than rap music. They are what David Dinkins once called a “gorgeous mosaic.” Each community in the city is distinct and identifiable, but when you step back and look at the whole, it provides an image of great beauty. This is a unique place where the entire world gathers to meet, learn, have fun, make a living and, of course, watch the game.

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Zoning the Sustainable City

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 12, 2009 | 2:25 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

About a week before Election Day, with little fanfare, the Bloomberg Administration announced its one hundredth zoning change since the mayor came into office in 2002. In New York City, zoning is one of the most important regulatory tools available to government in its efforts to enhance sustainability and the via flickr +Enlarge quality of life available for the city's residents, workers and tourists. The Bloomberg Administration, under the leadership of City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, has had a stunning degree of success in putting into place an intelligent and far-sighted plan to govern Midtown New York Times the future development of the city MSNBC The New Yorker Conde Nast In the past fifty years, New York City has been a city transformed. Where this was Atlantic Yards once a manufacturing hub with a range of factories located throughout Manhattan More Topics >> and parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, today it is a thriving post-industrial city. The docks on the west side of Manhattan have been replaced by containerized Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush port facilities on the Jersey side of the river. In West Harlem, a vertical auto David Paterson factory that once manufactured Studebaker cars now houses the offices of Andrew Cuomo Ruth Reichl Columbia University's human resources, finance and information technology staff. Dan Rather More People >> New York's land use plans have been adjusted to fit the city that we have become. Since we no longer do much manufacturing here, what kind of work do we do in Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan New York City? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September John Koblin 2009 nearly 3,700,000 people in New York were employed. Only 200,000 of those Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander jobs were in manufacturing and construction. We have about 725,000 people Eliot Brown working in education and health care, about a half a million in trade, More Authors >> transportation and utilities, and 580,000 jobs in professional and business

On the Town services. About 560,000 New Yorkers work in government, 430,000 have jobs in Off the Record the finance industry and 311,000 work in leisure and hospitality businesses. New NYTV NY 3.0 Yorkers think, teach, design and do things, but for the most part we no longer Manhattan Transfers make things. Although the Meatpacking District no longer packs much meat, you Commercial Breaks can eat plenty of meat in the District's fancy restaurants. The High Line doesn't http://www.observer.com/2009/zoning-sustainable-city

More Columns >> move freight anymore, but it does provide breathtaking views of the post-industrial cityscape. The physical fabric of the city has adapted itself to a new economy, and one of the Bloomberg Administration's lasting accomplishments will be its effort to steer the city's development patterns with their new zoning rules.

What have these rules actually done? According the Mayor's press release:

"City Planning's 100 re-zonings have created a blueprint for sustainable development. Together, they offer new housing and job opportunities near transit hubs while maintaining the diverse character of New York City's many residential neighborhoods by updating decades-old zoning to protect the scale of lower density and auto-dependent neighborhoods... Approximately 2.1 million people live in areas touched by re-zonings."

Developers sometimes complain about Commissioner Burden's "intrusive" involvement in their development projects, and a fair amount of public attention has been devoted to her decisions to reduce the size of some building projects. Still, I think the most important impact of her work has been to increase population density in areas convenient to mass transit and preserve low density neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.

New York is a city of often startlingly diverse neighborhoods. Manhattanites may be surprised to learn what outer-borough folks rarely forget: that most of the land in New York City sits beneath single family homes. While most New Yorkers live in apartments, parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx are as auto-dependent and low density as much of Long Island, Westchester and New Jersey. Burden's zoning decisions discourage increased population density in the parts of New York City that are dominated by single family homes while encouraging efforts to increase density in the city's many commercial hubs located near subway stops.

In addition, the new zoning rules recognize the importance of greening our neighborhoods to improve the city's attractiveness to new residents and businesses. As Commissioner Burden notes on her agency's website :

"As a result of new zoning regulations, new developments must plant street trees to green and beautify our city as Mayor Bloomberg envisioned in PlaNYC2030. This initiative will result in as many as 10,000 street trees a year. Along with our green zoning requirements for landscaping parking lots and planting front yards, it will reduce storm water runoff, tame the urban heat island effect, and create a more pedestrian-friendly environment."

Moreover, the Commission is now working on a zoning rule that would encourage the development of neighborhood grocery stores in low income sections of the city. There are parts of New York City where it is a lot easier to find a beer that "tastes great and is less filling" than a piece of fresh fruit for your daughter's lunch bag.

When you look closely at the accomplishments of the City Planning Commission under Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Burden, it is easier to explain the Mayor's 70% approval rating than his meager electoral victory. Zoning reform of the type we have had in New York City these past eight years typically has a profound and long lasting impact on the physical contours of the city. There is little doubt in my mind that the impact of this visionary zoning reform will be felt in New York for decades to come. It will make the city a better place to live-especially when the economy picks up and the million new New Yorkers predicted by the http://www.observer.com/2009/zoning-sustainable-city

City's PLANYC 2030 start to settle in. The large scale of New York City makes this city the ultimate "big tent." This place has just about everything. Riverdale, Forest Hills and Mill Basin may not look like Harlem, East New York and Times Square, but they are all neighborhoods of New York City. Mike Bloomberg and Amanda Burden deserve our praise for increasing the odds that these neighborhoods will be preserved well into the 21st century.

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They Can Run But Cannot Hide from the Climate Conference in Copenhagen

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 19, 2009 | 3:32 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

As the nations of the world prepare to meet in Denmark in December, there is some well publicized noise being emitted to lower expectations for a climate treaty. The United States and China-the two largest emitters of greenhouse gasses (over 40% of the world's pollutant Getty Images +Enlarge load)-appear to be at the center of this effort at political agenda setting. They are trying to lower expectations so that any progress at all can be presented as a major victory. While politics often denies and defies logic, I think that we are going to see some real Midtown New York Times action in Copenhagen. The pressure and momentum from the public, the media MSNBC The New Yorker and other non-governmental players in Copenhagen in December will be Conde Nast enormous. While it is true that it may be too late to develop and sign a global Atlantic Yards More Topics >> climate treaty, it is way too late to do nothing. When the government folks arrive, they will find themselves in the center of a media onslaught.

Rupert Murdoch George W. Bush There are two motors behind the emerging climate policy. The first is the actual David Paterson Andrew Cuomo danger posed by global warming. The second is the rising cost and uncertain Ruth Reichl supply of fossil fuels. The transition to a renewable energy base is not a luxury Dan Rather More People >> item; it is essential to our economic well being. The side effect of a renewable energy base is a reduction of greenhouse gasses. Regulation of carbon dioxide will

Jimmy Vielkind stimulate and hasten the transition to a green energy economy. It will also promote Simon Doonan more efficient use of all forms of energy, even fossil fuels. John Koblin Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander In his November 17th column in the New York Times, David Leonhardt Eliot Brown discussed "cash for caulkers", a proposed stimulus program to promote More Authors >> weatherization in private homes. Leonhardt concluded that while

On the Town Off the Record "... cash for caulkers would be trickier than cash for clunkers ... [it] would have the NYTV potential to do far more good. McKinsey, the consulting firm, estimates that NY 3.0 Manhattan households could reduce their energy use by 28 percent over the next decade. In Transfers Commercial Breaks terms of greenhouse gases, that would be the equivalent of taking half of all http://www.observer.com/2009/they-can-run-cannot-hide-climate-conference-copenhagen

More Columns >> vehicles in this country off the road...Done right, cash for caulkers would be precisely the kind of stimulus that makes the most sense: spending money now to save money later."

It makes good economic sense to use less energy to get the same benefit. This is true in appliances, homes, autos and every place else we use energy. However, the argument is often made that fossil fuels are cheaper than renewables and so the move away from fossil fuels will increase costs and reduce economic well being. However, as I and many others have frequently observed, the era of cheap, easily accessible and abundant fossil fuels will not last forever. The price spikes and political battles over drilling are warning signals of the uncertain future of fossil fuels. Eventually, capital will move away from uncertainty and the risks of fossil fuels toward energy sources that are more susceptible to cost reduction through application of new technology. While today renewables are far riskier than fossil fuels, this is not a trend that will last forever.

In the globally interconnected economic competition we all work within, the future will belong to those nations that learn to deliver energy with the least economic and environmental cost. This competition requires companies to look to cut costs on materials, labor, production processes, waste management, transportation and energy. These trends will continue with or without a climate treaty.

But the climate treaty and a climate law in the U.S. will provide a strong signal to the public and to business leaders that governments will push the move to a green energy economy. In the case of the Obama Administration, the failure to produce such change endangers the fragile political coalition that brought it to office. The Copenhagen conference should be seen as a giant two-week long media event pushing climate policy. It will be the climate change Olympics. President Obama and his fellow world leaders will not be able to drive this issue off of the agenda no matter how hard they try to reduce expectations.

Moreover, it is in President Obama's political interest to ride this media wave and encourage it to build. The predictable aftermath of Copenhagen will be a rise in understanding of the climate problem and support for change policy at the national and international level. As the mid-term elections approach and the Democrats continue to sink in the polls, they will need tangible results, or at a minimum a well fought loss, to energize the first time voters that made the difference in 2008. During his presidential candidacy, Obama made hope a principle, and when questioned about the feasibility of fundamental political change, responded "yes we can." Many of us continue to hope that we can and we will.

I have argued that the Democrats need three successes to have any chance of maintaining control of Congress in 2010: 1. Economic revival; 2.Health care reform, and; 3. Climate change and energy policy. However, in addition to making progress in all of those areas, they need to link the three together in a convincing message that the change we were promised is well underway. If the main message out of Copenhagen is that the United States temporized and retreated, the Democrats will have deep problems motivating 2008's first time voters to the polls. In that election Obama was the choice of 69% of first time voters. At a minimum, the President needs to go to Copenhagen and clearly articulate his own policies on climate change. In my view, going to Copenhagen is less risky for him than staying away.

GREENHOUSE GASES | MCKINSEY | RENEWABLE ENERGY BASE | STEVE COHENS BLOG | U.S.

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Sewage Treatment and Investment in National Infrastructure

By Steve Cohen VIEW STORY ON PRINT THIS SHARE THIS November 24, 2009 | 3:11 p.m ONE PAGE STORY STORY

An excellent article by Charles Duhigg in the NY Times on November 23, 2009, detailed the degree to which cities around the United States have violated water pollution control standards by dumping raw sewage into our waterways. Unlike the situation he described in a +Enlarge similar piece a few months via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/petroleumjelliffe/7730071/sizes/l/ ago, the violators are not private companies dumping industrial waste, but our own governments.

Midtown The problem is what is sometimes called "combined sewer overflows." In cities like New York Times MSNBC New York, the sewage from your home and the rainwater in the street both end up The New Yorker Conde Nast in the same sewer system. During big rainstorms, the surge of water through the Atlantic Yards system is too much for our sewage treatment plants to process and so the raw More Topics >> sewage is dumped straight into our waterways.

Rupert Murdoch This is less of a problem in New York City than in other places, because our George W. Bush David Paterson drinking water comes from upstate reservoirs. However, in places like Long Island Andrew Cuomo that rely on groundwater for household use, pollution of this sort is a major Ruth Reichl Dan Rather problem. Serious health problems can also result from raw sewage back-ups in More People >> people's basements. And while the issue of private dumping of toxins into public water systems seems to be a case of lax law enforcement against corporations that Jimmy Vielkind Simon Doonan can easily modify their practices, the combined sewage overflow problem is much John Koblin more difficult to address. A solution would require massive investment and major Meredith Bryan Irina Aleksander public resources. Eliot Brown More Authors >> Duhigg's piece notes that the government has spent over $35 billion in the past thirty years to improve the city's water quality, yet over $50 billion more would be On the Town Off the Record needed to prevent these combined sewer overflows. The issue is clearly one of NYTV resources, technology and investment in infrastructure. This is yet another NY 3.0 Manhattan example of a society that refuses to tax itself sufficiently to provide adequate Transfers Commercial Breaks investment in the transportation, park, educational, library, health and http://www.observer.com/2009/sewage-treatment-and-investment-national-infrastructure

More Columns >> environmental facilities that we require.

The recent financial crisis seems to have caused some scaling back of our high rates of consumption, and we even see private savings rates starting to grow. However, as a society we seem to be unwilling to admit our need to invest in infrastructure. The American political culture currently rejects taxation almost as a reflex at virtually every turn.

Governments' highly visible failures are one reason for this continued anti-tax fervor. So too is the culture of consumption that gets people trampled to death at Black Friday store sales the day after Thanksgiving. In the case of the combined sewage problem, the $50 billion solution is probably not a great idea anyway. It is based on a bricks-and-mortar approach typical of traditional engineering thinking and technology that I believe is being supplanted by more ecologically-oriented, creative and cost-effective pollution control technologies. One of the causes of combined sewage overflows is that we have paved over land that used to absorb water during rains. If we encourage green roofs and other decentralized ways of collecting the water during storms, we can more easily reduce surges and avoid spending at least part of the $50 billion that some think is needed.

Still, new large-scale investments are needed to improve treatment of sewage in New York City. When this is added to funds needed for transportation, energy, new school buildings, and other basic needs, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

What we need both in New York and nationwide is an infrastructure investment strategy and financial model - sort of a business plan for the United States. For a variety of reasons, our federal government does not have a capital budget. Our cities and states have capital budgets, which separate funds allocated to long-term projects from funds allocated to day-to-day expenses, but not the federal government. The federal government has a single budget that incorporates both immediate expenses and expenses that should be paid off over time into one lump sum. Consequently, the U.S. doesn't have a means of managing its borrowing - all borrowing is considered part of the federal deficit. Some of that borrowing is for capital improvements that we should finance and some is for day-to-day expenses that in good times should not be paid for with borrowed funds. In that respect we are like those people that use their credit card to buy groceries and other necessities, but don't pay the full balance on their bill each month.

State and local government debt is relatively transparent and is analyzed and rated by private firms that guide investors. The ratings of state and local finances by private rating agencies such as Moody's influence the interest rates that states and cities must pay to borrow money. This serves to encourage at least a little bit of financial planning by these governments. But the federal government has no similar incentive to plan their long-term borrowing or think about the investments the nation truly needs and can actually afford.

The issues of combined sewage overflow and the capital needs of our society as a whole require that we give some thought to a long-term capital investment plan for this complicated business called the United States of America. I know that our policy and investment decisions are based on a wide variety of political factors that have nothing to do with rationality and even common sense. But shouldn't our national, state and local infrastructure investment decisions be based on a plan that looks realistically at our capacity to generate the revenues needed for investment and the priorities among capital facility needs? I do not think we are rich enough to do everything, and I know we need to start making some strategic http://www.observer.com/2009/sewage-treatment-and-investment-national-infrastructure

investment choices.

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