Tag Archives: environment
Are We Going to Sink, Swim, or Do Something About It? (By Sherry Hakimi)
In a recent episode of “The Colbert Report” the comedian Stephen Colbert mocked an issue he called “near and dear to my heart, and more importantly, near and dear to my beach house in South Carolina”– that is, the very real possibility of rising sea levels destroying coastal towns as a result of climate change: […]
Evergreen Jobs: Sustainable Employment in Sustainable Sectors (By Michael Belinsky)
The creation of “green jobs” is a way to kill several birds with one stone – employment, energy, and the environment. Rio+20 certainly has the potential to further the dialogue around the creation of green jobs. For one, government regulation is a significant driver of green job creation. I saw this directly when working in […]
Rio+20 Is Around the Corner…And Everyone Needs To Do More
Rio+20 is coming up next week, and frankly, it’s not receiving nearly enough attention from Western policymakers. Today, Timothy E. Wirth, President of the Better World Fund and the United Nations Foundation and a member of the Secretary-General’s High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All, wrote in the Huffington Post that “United Nations Secretary-General Ban […]
A “Brief” Focus on Disaster Management (By Michael Belinsky)
In a little over two weeks, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, nicknamed Rio+20 for its location and timing, will kick off in Brazil. The Conference will cover a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication, and the institutional framework for sustainable development. These two themes will contain sub-themes of “jobs, energy, […]
The Learning Curve: Can Brazil Compete in Renewable Research and Development? (By Eric Lonstein and Todd Wintner)
This is part three of a three-part series. For more, please refer to part one and part two. Besides building an industry through subsidization, another way to promote domestic growth in renewable energy is through R&D. Up to this point, leading R&D has not been a part of the Brazilian growth story. Even with domestic […]
Why Alternative Renewables: Is Solar a Pipedream? (By Eric Lonstein and Todd Wintner)
This is part two of a three-part series. To read part one, please click here. Perhaps a better question for understanding renewable energy development in Brazil — and particularly the future role of solar energy — is not the “how” but rather the “why” of this industrial policy. Why did a country with vast untapped, […]
Wind and Solar Energy in Brazil: Understanding the How and Why (By Eric Lonstein and Todd Wintner)
This post is part of a 3-part blog series. For more, please see part two and part three. I: MAKING THE CLEANEST ENERGY ECONOMY CLEANER Brazil’s energy matrix is often touted as among the cleanest in the world: over 80% of Brazil’s power is produced from renewable resources. The predominant share of this 80%, however, […]
Free Webinar on the Importance of Rio+20
“The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is hosting a free webinar on Thursday, May 24, that is part of ISSP’s continuing coverage of the run-up to Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held next month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Amy Fraenkel, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) director for North America, […]
Harvard Students Talk Rio+20 