Search

Begin New Search Topic Environment Political Geography United States Content Type Working Paper Publication Year within 25 Years

1. A Guide to Emissions Trading under the Western Climate Initiative

Author:
Chios Carmody
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
This is a guide to the legal framework for emissions trading under the cap-and-trade system created and adhered to under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). This guide is intended to serve three aims. First, the guide is an overview of the WCI cap-and-trade system for emissions trading by current users of the system; potential industry participants; state, provincial and municipal governments; academic institutions; and members of civil society. Second, the guide’s aim is to foster learning among domestic and international actors interested in North America’s collective response to climate change and highlights one attempt to combat climate change through a subnational cap-and-trade system on the continent. Third, during the course of research for this guide in 2018, the province of Ontario linked its WCI-inspired cap-and-trade system with that of California and Quebec and six months later delinked its system, eventually terminating it altogether and announcing its intention to withdraw from the WCI. A third purpose of this guide is therefore to serve as an account of Ontario’s short-lived cap-and-trade system and its brief experience with linkage.
Topic:
Civil Society, Climate Change, Environment, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, North America, and Mexico

2. You Can't Surge Trust: Lessons on Working with Allies and Partners

Author:
George Fust
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
Abstract:
Today’s increasingly complex global operating environment can change at the speed of a tweet or viral video. It is therefore imperative for US forces to have the relationships that offer flexibility and options for any contingency—relationships established in advance of unforeseeable events. The world’s interconnectedness and US defense requirements demand partners and allies with whom we work effectively to bridge cultural gaps. Those relationships increase interoperability by creating realistic expectations and combating what can at times emerge as negative stereotypes. Further, shared experiences can help overcome misunderstandings and foster friendships that will be critical in times of crisis. Simply put, you cannot surge trust. It must be cultivated and given constant attention.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Diplomacy, Environment, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
United States and North America

3. Mapping the U.S.-Canada Energy Relationship

Author:
Andrew J. Stanley
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
he United States and Canada are each other’s largest energy trading partners as measured by the value of energy commodity trade, which in 2017 stood at U.S.$95 billion. The energy relationship between the two countries extends beyond just the trade of commodities, encompassing a variety of common, though not always identical, economic, security, and environmental priorities. In March 2018, the CSIS Energy and National Security Program undertook a project with the Embassy of Canada in the United States to create a physical map depicting the U.S.-Canada energy trade relationship. The following CSIS brief explains the various aspects of the energy trade relationship using this map, as well as highlights some of the important issues in the development of this partnership moving forward.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Regional Cooperation, and Trade
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

4. An Ironic Outcome: The United States — Even under Trump — Is Closer to Meeting Its Emission Targets Than Canada

Author:
Jeff Rubin
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Even though US President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement, the country remains much closer to hitting the 2020 emission targets pledged by the previous administration of Barack Obama than Canada is of meeting the targets originally proposed by the government of Stephen Harper. The significant difference in emission performance is the result of the very different trajectories of energy-related emissions in the two countries. In the United States, such emissions have fallen steadily over the last decade as natural gas has usurped coal’s once dominant role in the US power sector. North of the border, oil sands emissions continue to be the fastest-growing source of emissions in Canada as emission-intensive in situ oil sands production continues to increase despite unfavourable economics.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Oil, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

5. Soft vs Hard Governance for Labour and Environmental Commitments in Trade Agreements: Comparing the US and EU Approaches

Author:
Vandana Gyanchandani
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
Three methodologies are used to enforce labour and environmental commitments in the US and EU trade agreements: cooperative, sanctions and composite. In-depth analysis of the scope of commitments, level of protection, institutional framework as well as types of informal and formal dispute processes elucidates the pros and cons of such methodologies. Sanctions approach weakens cooperation by misjudging the complexity of domestic policy adjustments through transnational governance. Cooperative mechanism within the NAAEC's composite design emerges as the best approach: Submission on Enforcement Matters (SEM). As it provides for an independent secretariat supported by civil society group and factual records as a sunshine remedy to review citizen submissions. However, the process is constrained by political clout, lack of managerial capacity and legal dilemmas around informal lawmaking (IN-LAW) procedures.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, Sustainable Development Goals, and Global Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Global Focus, and European Union

6. The Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy

Author:
Munk School of Global Affairs
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
This report highlights the summary of discussions and key policy recommendations from the 2016 Canada-UK Colloquium Report (CUKC) in Edmonton last November 2016, chaired by the Hon. Jean Charest, which brought together fifty high-level policymakers, academics, industry leaders and young scholars.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

7. Footprints in Paradise: Ecotourism, Local Knowledge, and Nature Therapies in Okinawa

Author:
Andrea E. Murray
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berghahn Books
Abstract:
The economic imperative of sustainable tourism development frequently shapes life on small subtropical islands. In Okinawa, ecotourism promises to provide employment for a dwindling population of rural youth while preserving the natural environment and bolstering regional pride. Footprints in Paradise explores the transformation in community and sense of place as Okinawans come to view themselves through the lens of the visiting tourist consumer, and as their language, landscapes, and wildlife are reconstituted as treasured and vulnerable resources. The rediscovery and revaluing of local ecological knowledge strengthens Okinawan or Uchinaa cultural heritage, despite the controversial presence of US military bases amidst a hegemonic Japanese state.
Topic:
Environment, Imperialism, Tourism, and Local
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Asia, and Okinawa

8. Could the G-20 Become Coherent on Climate?

Author:
Gwynne Taraska and Henry Kellison
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:
The G-20—a forum of 20 of the world’s largest economies—has a record of ambivalence on the topic of climate change. One case in point is the disconnect between the group’s efforts to address climate risks and its efforts to reduce the shortfall in global infrastructure investment. On one hand, the G-20 is aware that investing in projects that are high-carbon or vulnerable to the physical effects of rising temperatures carries risks that could have a destabilizing influence on the global economy. On the other hand, the G-20 is seeking to narrow the infrastructure gap in the absence of a guiding principle that infrastructure investments must be climate-compatible. Members of the G-20 Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China European Union France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Korea Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Kingdom United States In September 2016, world leaders will convene for the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China. One focus of the climate agenda will be ensuring that the Paris Agreement takes effect in the near term. Negotiated by more than 190 nations and finalized in December 2015, the agreement set many collective goals, including limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and ensuring that global financial flows are compatible with low-greenhouse gas development.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Japan, China, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Turkey, India, South Korea, France, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Italy, and Mexico

9. European Climate and Energy Policy: The Challenges Ahead

Author:
Juan Martin Navarro Ruiz and Juan Antonio Pavón Losada
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Fundación Alternativas
Abstract:
The Lima meeting is already over. Again, the script from every climate summit is being repeated: a framework for negotiation has been settled, the basis for future agreements has been laid down, however, decisions are still being postponed. In this case, until the Paris Summit in late 2015. Inter alia, the lack of sensitivity of the United States towards environmental protection, coupled with the failure of the European Union in solving their almost chronic financial, social and political instability crisis, have left the world’s environmental protection strategy orphan of leadership. Certainly, a strategic project in the near future of the international community and essential for humanity.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, and Europe Union
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Germany, and Global Focus

10. Who Pollutes? A Household-Level Database of America's Greenhouse Gas Footprint

Author:
Kevin Ummel
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
This paper describes the creation of a database providing estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints for 6 million US households over the period 2008-2012. The database allows analysis of footprints for 52 types of consumption (e.g. electricity, gasoline, apparel, beef, air travel, etc.) within and across geographic regions as small as individual census tracts. Potential research applications with respect to carbon pricing and tax policy are discussed. Preliminary analysis reveals:
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States and America

11. Responding to Trends in the U.S. Electricity Sector

Author:
Dave Grossman (Rapporteur) and Sue Tierney, Chair
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
New federal regulations, changes in fuel prices and trends, the expansion of distributed energy resources, declines in U.S. electricity consumption, and advances in technology are all spurring utilities and regulators to respond and adapt. Discussions of the challenges and opportunities these forces present for the U.S. electricity sector – as well as how the industry and its regulators are adapting – formed the heart of the 2014 Aspen Institute Energy Policy Forum. This report summarizes and organizes some of the key insights from those discussions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
United States

12. The California REDD+ Experience: The Ongoing Political History of California's Initiative to Include Jurisdictional REDD+ Offsets within Its Cap-and-Trade System

Author:
Jesse Lueders, Cara Horowitz, Ann Carlson, Sean B. Hecht, and Edward A. Parson
Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
For the last several years, California has considered the idea of recognizing, within its greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program, offsets generated by foreign states and provinces through reduced tropical forest destruction and degradation and related conservation and sustainability efforts, known as REDD+. During their deliberations on the issue, state policymakers have heard arguments from stakeholders in favor of crediting REDD+ offsets, and those against. After years of planning and cooperative efforts undertaken with states in Brazil, Mexico, and elsewhere, California is still determining whether to embrace REDD+ offsets. The most salient and potentially persuasive arguments in favor stem from the opportunity to influence and reduce international forest-related emissions contributing to climate change, while simultaneously reducing the costs imposed by the state's climate change law. The state is still grappling, however, with serious questions about the effectiveness of REDD+ in addressing climate change, as well as the impacts of REDD+ on other social and environmental objectives. The suitability of the state's cap-and-trade program as a tool for reducing emissions outside the state, given the co-benefits that accrue to local communities from in-state reductions, remains another key area of debate. The outcome of this policy discussion will depend on interrelated questions of program design, future offset supply and demand, and the weight given to the importance of prioritizing in-state emissions reductions and co-benefits.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States, Brazil, California, and Mexico

13. Realizing the Potential of U.S. Unconventional Natural Gas

Author:
Sarah O. Ladislaw, David Pumphrey, Molly A. Walton, Frank A. Verrastro, and Lisa A. Hyland
Publication Date:
04-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
The ability to access and economically develop vast amounts of America's unconventional natural gas resources, especially large shale gas formations, has altered our national view on energy and has subsequently changed the discourse at the federal, state, and local levels. Since 2008, when the economic viability of shale gas resources first became widely recognized, policymakers and industry leaders have worked to better understand the nature of this resource; the risks and opportunities associated with its production, transport, and use; and the potential strategic implications of the United States' new energy reality.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Non-Governmental Organization, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States

14. Institutional Choices for Regulating Oil and Gas Wells

Author:
Lee Lane
Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Hudson Institute
Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is one of the technologies that have enabled large increases both in the current production of natural gas and in estimates of recoverable reserves. However, as new technology has triggered a boom in onshore U.S. gas exploration and production (E), environmental concerns have multiplied. Much of the concern centers on use of HF. As public concern has risen, so have calls for federal regulatory control. The Interior Department has adopted tighter controls on the use of HF on public lands. Also, two former Obama White House aides, Carol Browner and Jody Freeman, have argued for more EPA regulation of all use of HF in oil and gas drilling. To achieve this control, they propose to repeal the partial oil and gas exemption under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Bills to this effect, dubbed the FRAC Act, were proposed in the last two Congresses, but they were not adopted.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States and North America

15. Redefining Leadership in the Global Nuclear Energy Market

Author:
Andrew Paterson and Walter Howes
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Global energy demand will increase substantially in the coming decades under pressure from global trends, including an increasing population that will reach 9 billion by 2040, and, for the first time in history, will be overwhelmingly urban. Meeting basic global energy needs will require the use of all available sources of energy while addressing and minimizing environmental and climate impacts. Nuclear energy is an established part of the world's electricity mix, and provides large-scale, reliable, base-load electricity demand. As such, it seems to be well matched to fit into an increasingly urban world that aims to mediate environmental challenges.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
United States and Asia

16. Responding to Change: The New World of Oil and Gas

Author:
Bill White(Chair) and Leonard Coburn(Rapporteur)
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Improved technology has led to enhanced oil and gas productivity at lower cost and significant production increases in the United States and Canada, dramatically changing energy perspectives. The shift from energy scarcity toward abundance is requiring new energy policies. The potential for the United States to become a net exporter of oil and gas changes American views of energy dependency. Shifts in global energy demand growth from developed to less developed countries, and especially to the Asia-Pacific region, require understanding of changing global energy trade. American energy will flow to markets where scarcity is the largest. Canada and the United States are reaping the benefits of this new world of oil and gas. Mexico will lag behind unless it addresses its chronic problems. Without reform, Mexico could become a net importer of all its hydrocarbons, a fundamental change from its current status. Responding to these changes will require knowledge, foresight, and strategies that are bold and comprehensive.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, Oil, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States, America, Canada, and Mexico

17. The Future of the U.S. Electricity Sector

Author:
Bill Dickenson (Co-Chair), Phil Sharp (Co-Chair), and Dave Grossman (Rapporteur)
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The future of the U.S. electricity sector is hard to foresee – and it is never wise to overpay one's fortune tellers – but there appear to be some key trends and technologies that may reshape future electricity markets and determine the innovativeness, resilience, security, and global competitiveness of the sector. Discussions of the sector's past, present, and future formed the heart of the 2013 Aspen Institute Energy Policy Forum. This report summarizes and organizes some of the key insights from those discussions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, Markets, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States

18. What are the Welfare Costs of Shoreline Loss? Housing Market Evidence from a Discontinuity Matching Design

Author:
Matthew Ranson
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper uses housing market data to estimate the welfare costs of shoreline loss along coastal beaches in Florida. I develop a forward-looking structural model of a housing market in which a time-variant housing characteristic (beach width) follows a Markov process. I use this model to provide an exact welfare interpretation for the coefficients from three empirical research designs: (1) a repeat-sales panel regression of housing prices on beach width; (2) a differences-in-differences approach based on sharp changes in beach width caused by beach nourishment projects; and (3) a new “discontinuity matching” research design that exploits capitalized housing price differentials created by predictable changes in future beach width. Using a unique panel dataset on housing sales, beach width survey measurements, and the timing of 204 beach nourishment projects along 300 miles of Florida's coastline, I then use each of these research designs to estimate homeowners' willingness to pay for an extra foot of sand. In contrast to previous work, I find that changes in beach width have little impact on housing prices, except possibly at very eroded beaches. The results imply that the welfare costs of sea level rise may be low up to a threshold, and then increase sharply.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States and Florida

19. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Negotiations: Overview and Prospects

Author:
Deborah Elms and C. L. Lim
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade agreement currently under negotiation between nine countries in three continents, including Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States and Vietnam. In late 2011 three additional countries--Japan, Canada and Mexico--announced their intention to join as well. The TPP has always been called a "high quality, 21st century" agreement that covers a range of topics not always found in free trade agreements. This includes not just trade in goods, services and investment, but also intellectual property rights, government procurement, labor, environment, regulations, and small and medium enterprises. This paper traces the complex negotiations and evolution of the talks since the early 2000s to the present.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, Labor Issues, and Intellectual Property/Copyright
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, Israel, Vietnam, Latin America, Australia, Australia/Pacific, Mexico, Singapore, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, and Brunei

20. Energizing Rio+20: How the United States Can Promote Sustainable Energy for All at the 2012 Earth Summit

Author:
Nigel Purvis and Abigail Jones
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Worldwide, about 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity (one in five people), while unreliable electricity networks serve another 1 billion people. Roughly 2.7 billion—about 40 percent of the global population—lack access to clean cooking fuels. Instead, dirty, sometimes scarce and expensive fuels such as kerosene, candles, wood, animal waste, and crop residues power the lives of the energy poor, who pay disproportionately high costs and receive very poor quality in return. More than 95 percent of the energy poor are either in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, while 84 percent are in rural areas—the same regions that are the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, and Asia

21. The Great Streetcar Conspiracy

Author:
Randal O'Toole
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Streetcars are the latest urban planning fad, stimulated partly by the Obama administration's preference for funding transportation projects that promote "livability" (meaning living without automobiles) rather than mobility or cost-effective transportation. Toward that end, the administration wants to eliminate cost-effectiveness requirements for federal transportation grants, instead allowing non-cost-effective grants for projects promoting so-called livability. In anticipation of this change, numerous cities are preparing to apply for federal funds to build streetcar lines.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Government, Political Economy, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
United States

22. Policy Priorities for Advancing the U.S. Electric Vehicle Market

Author:
Deborah Gordon, Daniel Sperling, and David Livingston
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The U.S. electric-vehicle industry has posted impressive growth over the last decade, with hundreds of companies now advancing the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market. But there is still much to do to further the transition to electric-drive vehicles. It will take a sophisticated set of policy tools and local action to spur manufacturers, utilities, localities, and states to fully commercialize PEVs.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

23. Proposed Liability Framework for Geological Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide

Author:
Wendy B. Jacobs
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Harvard Law School's Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic* supports immediate large-scale carbon capture and sequestration ("CCS") demonstration projects as part of a larger national and global effort to address climate change. Large-scale CCS projects (those that sequester at least 1.5 million tons of captured carbon dioxide ("CO2") annually) must be demonstrated soon to confirm CCS as a viable strategy to combat climate change and to show the commitment of the United States to achieving meaningful reductions in domestic CO2 emissions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States

24. Integrating Approaches to Food, Water, Energy, and the Environment

Author:
Katherine E. Bliss and Katryn F. Bowe
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
On October 27, 2010, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the federal Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality (SWAQ) cohosted a participatory workshop on domestic and international water issues entitled “Bridging Knowledge Gaps in Water Management.” The event convened federal agency experts and influential thinkers from academia, nonprofit organizations, and local communities to share insights across sectors and develop practical, actionable recommendations regarding the management of and access to food, water, and energy both domestically and abroad. A keynote address, two expert panels, and a break-out session structured the day's discussion. David Zetland, senior water economist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, delivered the keynote address. In his remarks, Zetland critiqued the political process through which water and other resources are managed in the United States. His speech set the stage for a rigorous assessment of the challenges in conserving and using water resources efficiently. The first panel focused on identifying research and education gaps that pertain to water, as it relates to food, energy, and the environment. Allan Hoffman of the U.S. Department of Energy moderated the session, which featured speakers Piet Klop of World Resources Institute (WRI), David Reed of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Ed Link of the University of Maryland. On the second panel, representatives of the energy industry, academia, and think tanks shared their perspectives on bridging the knowledge gaps identified during the first session. Katherine Bliss of CSIS moderated the second panel, which included Reagan Waskom of Colorado State University, Kirsten Thorne of Chevron, and Paul Faeth of CNA.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Energy Policy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Food
Political Geography:
United States, Netherlands, and Colorado

25. Family Planning and U.S. Foreign Policy: Ensuring U.S. Leadership for Healthy Families and Communities and Prosperous, Stable Societies

Author:
Isobel Coleman and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Global demographic and health trends affect a wide range of vital U.S. foreign policy interests. These interests include the desire to promote healthy, productive families and communities, more prosperous and stable societies, resource and food security, and environmental sustainability. International family planning is one intervention that can advance all these interests in a cost-effective manner. Investments in international family planning can significantly improve maternal, infant, and child health and avert unintended pregnancies and abortions. Studies have shown that meeting the unmet need for family planning could reduce maternal deaths by approximately 35 percent, reduce abortion in developing countries by 70 percent, and reduce infant mortality by 10 to 20 percent.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, Environment, and Health
Political Geography:
United States

26. Needing to Have A Voice: Linguistic Grouping in the Digital Networked Environment

Author:
Han-Teng Liao
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
“[T]here isn't an economic internet and a social internet and a political internet; there's just the Internet,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about the U.S.'s Internet freedom agenda, claiming that there should not be “walls that divide the Internet.”
Topic:
Environment, Globalization, Science and Technology, Communications, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States

27. Changing Currents: Turbulence for the Electricity Industry?

Author:
Phil Sharp
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The question is never whether the United States has an energy policy. It has dozens. They come with various decision-makers at overlapping levels of authority, ample numbers of stakeholders, and generally lots of confusing and often contradictory signals.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

28. Global Energy Markets in a Time of Political Change

Author:
Bill White
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
A shift in relative energy consumption among regions and the development of new, unconventional supplies will be the most significant changes over the next twenty years. The dominant fuels in the world energy market until 2030 will continue to be hydrocarbons — oil, coal, and natural gas. Major shifts will occur, however, among the three fuels, among regions and in their supply. Globally, oil will continue to be the most widely used fuel as it supplies more than 90 percent of the energy for transportation. Coal, now the dominant fuel used for electric power generation, will lose ground to natural gas, a less carbon-intensive hydrocarbon. Natural gas will become the second largest overall supplier and well positioned to replace coal as the leading supplier for electric power. Developing countries will lead the way in overall energy growth, with Chinese and Indian energy demand growing fastest. Energy demand in developed countries will remain flat. For the United States, growth in gas shale and oil shale are likely to be “game changers,” altering the supply picture dramatically.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Markets, Political Economy, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States, China, and India

29. Less Smoke, More Mirrors: Where India Really Stands on Solar Power and Other Renewables

Author:
David Wheelter and Saurabh Shome
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Until recently, India's intransigent negotiating posture has conveyed the impression that it will not accept any carbon emissions limits without full compensation and more stringent carbon limitation from rich countries. However, our assessment of India's proposed renewable energy standard (RES) indicates that this impression is simply wrong. India is seriously considering a goal of 15 percent renewable energy in its power mix by 2020, despite the absence of any meaningful international pressure to cut emissions, no guarantees of compensatory financing, and a continuing American failure to adopt stringent emissions limits. If India moves ahead with this plan, it will promote a massive shift of new power capacity toward renewables within a decade. We estimate the incremental cost of this change from coal-fired to renewable power to be about $50 billion-an enormous sum for a society that must still cope with widespread extreme poverty. If India moves ahead with its current plan, it should give serious pause to those who have resisted U.S. carbon regulation on the grounds on that it will confer a cost advantage on "intransigent" countries such as India.
Topic:
Energy Policy and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, America, and India

30. Navigating Climate Change: An Agenda for U.S.-Chinese Cooperation

Author:
Jacqueline McLaren Miller and Piin-Fen Kok
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Between June 2009 and January 2010, the East West Institute (EWI) began exploring how the United States, China, and the international community could build strategic trust through cooperation on climate change and climate security. EWI examined this issue through policy discussions in several forums: Track 2 processes such as the U.S.-China High Level Security Dialogue and the U.S.-China-Europe Trialogue21 initiative; a roundtable session in New York; and the U.S.-China Working Group on Climate Change—a group of Chinese and American experts convened with the support of the Connect U.S. Fund who met before and after Copenhagen to assess progress and to determine ways to move forward.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, China, New York, and Europe

31. Juggling the New Triad--Energy, Environment and Security: A Case Study of the Canadian Oil Sands

Author:
Hendrik Spruyt
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Peace and Security Studies
Abstract:
The desire to acquire reliable and cheap sources of energy has long been linked to security objectives. When the British fleet transferred from coal to oil, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill saw to it that the British government acquired a controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian oil company (the forerunner of today's BP). In more recent years President Nixon argued for energy independence in the face of the Arab oil embargo and skyrocketing oil prices that increased twenty fold in less than a decade. And if the U.S. Department of Defense today were considered as an independent energy consumer similar to sovereign states it would outrank more than 100 countries, including such states as Sweden. Among the great powers, China in particular has linked geostrategic calculations with acquiring secure and affordable energy sources. Acquiring such sources is thus for most states a desirable objective which enhances a state's autonomy and security. Similarly, further development of such supplies is expected to correlate with enhanced security. Both objectives, however, stand in uneasy tension with new environmental concerns. Pending dramatic advances in renewable energy production, fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas, remain key sources of energy. Indeed, in the United States 95% of the energy used in the transportation sector derives from oil. Consequently, the desire to become more energy independent or acquire reliable supplies of such energy will for the foreseeable future lead to the continued use and even further exploitation of fossil fuels. Yet, the consumption and production of fossil fuels has been one of the key sources of greenhouse gases.And if, environmental degradation in turn leads to conflict, as, for example, the work of Homer Dixon has suggested, then environmental concerns must also enter into the agenda that is usually reserved for traditional security calculations (Homer Dixon 1999).
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, Arabia, Sweden, and Persia

32. The New World of Natural Gas

Author:
John M. Deutch
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The development of natural gas from shale is providing new possibilities for gas use in the United States and throughout the world. The largest conventional natural gas deposits are concentrated in the Middle East and Russia, but unconventional natural gas, including shale, is spread throughout the world, potentially permitting development in many different countries.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Globalization
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, and Middle East

33. Does Profit-Seeking Rule Out Love? Evidence (or Not) from Economics and Law

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Many believe that firms are driven to maximize profits, and therefore are not allowed to take actions that would benefit their workers, communities, or the environment if these actions would reduce profits even slightly. This essay shows that this belief is supported neither by sound economic evidence and arguments, nor by United States statutory and case law. The roots of this belief are, instead, to be found in a centuries-old desire of economists to make our discipline look like Newtonian physics. Among scholars of law, both misinformation and the use of University of Chicago-style economics have contributed to the belief's popularity. Among scholars and the public alike, the dualistic "love or money" view is appealing because of its simplicity and congruence with cultural gender norms. Reexamining the evidence, rather than adhering to common ideologies, this essay offers an unconventional analysis of corporate behavior and commodification.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Law
Political Geography:
United States and Chicago

34. Confronting the American Divide on Carbon Emissions Regulation

Author:
David Wheeler
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The failure of carbon regulation in the U.S. Congress has undermined international negotiations to reduce carbon emissions. The global stalemate has, in turn, increased the likelihood that vulnerable developing countries will be severely damaged by climate change. This paper asks why the tragic American impasse has occurred, while the EU has succeeded in implementing carbon regulation. Both cases have involved negotiations between relatively rich “Green” regions and relatively poor “Brown” (carbon-intensive) regions, with success contingent on two factors: the interregional disparity in carbon intensity, which proxies the extra mitigation cost burden for the Brown region, and the compensating incentives provided by the Green region. The European negotiation has succeeded because the interregional disparity in carbon intensity is relatively small, and the compensating incentive (EU membership for the Brown region) has been huge. In contrast, the U.S. negotiation has repeatedly failed because the interregional disparity in carbon intensity is huge, and the compensating incentives have been modest at best. The unsettling implication is that an EU-style arrangement is infeasible in the United States, so the Green states will have to find another path to serious carbon mitigation. One option is mitigation within their own boundaries, through clean technology subsidies or emissions regulation. The Green states have undertaken such measures, but potential free-riding by the Brown states and international competitors seems likely to limit this approach, and it would address only the modest Green-state portion of U.S. carbon emissions in any case. The second option is mobilization of the Green states' enormous market power through a carbon added tax (CAT). Rather than taxing carbon emissions at their points of production, a CAT taxes the carbon embodied in products at their points of consumption. For Green states, a CAT has four major advantages: It can be implemented unilaterally, state-by-state; it encourages clean production everywhere, by taxing carbon from all sources equally; it creates a market advantage for local producers, by taxing transport-related carbon emissions; and it offers fiscal flexibility, since it can either offset existing taxes or raise additional revenue.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

35. Addressing the Risks of Climate Change: The Politics of the Policy Options

Author:
Elaine Kamarck
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
It often takes a long time for a policy issue to get to the point where all the complex factors required for change through the American political process come together. Take health care. President Harry Truman advocated universal health care for all Americans in the late 1940s, universal health care was provided for senior citizens and the poor in 1965, and now we are well into the 21st century and still arguing about whether and how to guarantee health care coverage for all Americans.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States and America

36. Emerging U.S. Climate Policy: Where We are and How We Got Here

Author:
Geoffrey Clemm and Mark Griffin Smith
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Department of Economics and Business, Colorado College
Abstract:
After eight years of non-engagement, the new administration and the U.S. Congress, led by a majority in the President's party, are rapidly developing climate policy legislation. This paper summarizes past efforts to establish a national climate policy in the United States as well as the major forces influencing the current debate. While this debate is largely shaped by domestic considerations, it takes place as the international community moves to agree on a post-Kyoto policy regime in Copenhagen next December. Whether the United States is willing to take strong action will significantly influence the actions of other nations.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States

37. Environmental Change and Security Report: Issue 13

Author:
Geoffrey D. Dabelko, editor
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
"We are not your traditional environmentalists," General Gordon Sullivan (USA, Ret.), former U.S. Army chief of staff, wryly told reporters as he presented the Center for Naval Analysis' (CNA) report National Security and the Threat of Climate Change in April 2007 (Eskew, 2007). Arguing for more aggressive U.S. action on climate change, Sullivan said the incomplete scientific understanding of global warming was no excuse for delay. Military leaders make battlefield decisions based on partial information all the time-otherwise, more lives would be lost. Penned by Sullivan and 10 other former U.S. generals and admirals, the launch of the CNA report is but one event that marked the return of environmental security to the world stage in 2007 and 2008.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

38. Between a Rock and a Soft Place: Ecological and Feminist Economics in Policy Debates

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
The field of ecological economics includes both economic analysis on the one hand, and discussions of values and visions for society, on the other. Using feminist insights into cultural beliefs about the relative "hardness" and "softness" of these two sides, this essay discusses how ecological economists can use this unique "between" space in order to better inform policy. The current crisis of global climate change, it is argued, requires that economists move beyond modeling and measurement, while ecological thinkers need to re-examine beliefs about markets and profit.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
United States

39. Five Alternatives that Make More Sense than Offshore Oil

Author:
Whitney Leonard
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Foreign oil currently fuels 55 percent of all transportation in the United States. As it struggles to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, the United States will have to completely rethink its energy policies. Instead of replacing imported oil with domestic oil, extracted at high environmental costs from new rigs offshore and across the western states, the country could opt for cleaner alternatives like higher fuel economy standards, hybrid-electric vehicles, plugin hybrids, cellulosic ethanol, and new commuting patterns. By decreasing demand rather than increasing supply, energy alternatives could reduce or eliminate the need to expand offshore oil production. This paper explores the economic and environmental costs of offshore oil and investigates a range of cleaner energy options.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Oil
Political Geography:
United States

40. A Roadmap for U.S.-China Collaboration on Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
Global greenhouse gas emissions are fast approaching unsustainable and alarming levels . There is broad consensus that these emissions, caused primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, have led to global warming. it is increasingly evident that maintaining the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions poses wide-ranging and potentially catastrophic risks to natural systems and human welfare . it is also clear that an unprecedented level of global cooperation will be necessary to successfully confront the immense challenge of reversing the effects of climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Environment, Bilateral Relations, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States and China

41. Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy

Author:
David G. Victor, Michael A. Levi, George E. Pataki, and Thomas J. Vilsack
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Unchecked climate change is poised to have wide-ranging and potentially disastrous effects over time on human welfare, sensitive ecosystems, and international security. This urgent challenge demands that the United States and the world take comprehensive action to limit the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to address the consequences of any unavoidable climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

42. Does Rail Transit Save Energy or Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Author:
Randal O'Toole
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Far from protecting the environment, most rail transit lines use more energy per passenger mile, and many generate more greenhouse gases, than the average passenger automobile. Rail transit provides no guarantee that a city will save energy or meet greenhouse gas targets.
Topic:
Civil Society, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

43. China's Development Strategy and Energy Security: Growth, Distribution and Regional Cooperation

Author:
Haider A. Khan
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper analyses both global and regional approaches to solving problems of energy security and ecological imbalance by addressing specifically the problems of China's energy security. China's growing energy dependence has become a major concern for both economic and national security policymakers in that country. The ambitious goal of modernization of the economy along the lines of the other newly industrialized economies (NIEs) of Asia has succeeded only too well, and it is difficult to reorient economic priorities. If examined rigorously, such an economic strategic assumption can be seen to entail the goal of creating further technological capabilities. In particular, China seems to be firmly committed to the creation of a largely self-sustaining innovation system as part of a knowledge-based economy of the future. Such innovation systems, called positive feedback loop innovation systems or POLIS have been created by advanced countries, and NIEs such as South Korea and Taiwan are proceeding to create these as well. But this will add to its energy burden and further dependence on the US as the power which controls the key sea lanes. Only a strategic reorientation to building a self-sustaining POLIS and appropriate regional cooperation institutions can lead to the way out of the current dilemma for China. Fortunately, such a model of POLIS which is distributionally and ecologically sensitive can be built for China and applied strategically to lead towards a sustainable development trajectory.
Topic:
Development, Energy Policy, Environment, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, China, Taiwan, Asia, and South Korea

44. Overcoming the Challenges to the Implementation of Green Chemistry

Author:
William C. Clark, Kira J. M. Matus, Paul T. Anastas, and Kai Itameri-Kinter
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The Harvard-Yale-ACS GCI Green Chemistry Project is investigating the overall question of the circumstances under which firms can enact innovations that have both economic and environmental benefits, through a focused examination of the implementation of green chemistry. The research project has taken up three fundamental, interrelated questions: What factors act as barriers to the implementation of green chemistry? What actions can be taken by the government, academia, NGO's and industry that will help alleviate these factors? What are the policy implications of these barriers and potential actions, for all of the involved stakeholders?
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

45. High-Speed Rail: The Wrong Road for America

Author:
Randal O'Toole
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
In the face of high energy prices and concerns about global warming, environmentalists and planners offer high-speed rail as an environmentally friendly alternative to driving and air travel. California, Florida, the Midwest, and other parts of the country are actively considering specific high-speed rail plans.
Topic:
Development and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, California, and Florida

46. Policies for Funding a Response to Climate Change

Author:
Brian Roach
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
This paper asserts that a significant increase in public funding for climate change research and development (R) is needed in the United States. While additional public R funding alone is unlikely to provide a sufficient policy response to climate change, it is a critical policy component in an effective long-run strategy. Different possibilities for generating additional public revenues for R funding are considered. The analysis demonstrates that quite modest taxes on carbon emissions or gasoline could fund a significant increase in public R funding for clean energy. As an alternative to tax instruments, the paper also considers a program of voluntary retirement contributions to a clean energy fund. These clean energy retirement accounts (CERAs) would allow individuals to directly contribute to a fund that would be used exclusively to support climate change-related R Specifically, the paper suggests that CERA funds be used to offer low-interest loans to private firms and to form private-public partnerships pursuing the long-term development of clean energy technologies. Loan repayment and the eventual profitability of some partnerships will at least partially fund payments to CERA holders when they retire. Using reasonable assumptions, a simulation analysis demonstrates the financial feasibility of the program and the conditions in which the program would be fully self-funding.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

47. Climate Change and the Electricity Sector

Author:
Paul Runci
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
With the expectation that a new Administration and new Congress in 2009 will actively consider climate change legislation, the Aspen Institute's 2008 Energy Policy Forum chose the topic of “Climate Change and the Electricity Sector.” The Forum, now in its 31st year, convened a select group of leaders and policy experts to discuss commercial and public policy issues at the intersection of energy, the economy and the environment. As in previous years, the format relied heavily on dialogue among the diverse participants who brought a variety of perspectives and areas of expertise to the table. Short introductory presentations kicked off each half-day session, and a spirited, off-the-record discussion followed.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

48. "Bringing in the Americans?" – Assessing EU And U.S. Post-Kyoto Policies Options towards a Copenhagen Protocol in 2009

Author:
Christian Hald-Mortensen
Publication Date:
08-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
Bringing in the Americans is the first task for the UN-COP-15 for the Danish government along with its EU partners. The key contents of the EU's climate leadership towards the climate conference are assessed, such as the-20% by 2020 reduction target, the effort sharing agreement and reforms of the European Trading Scheme. EU climate leadership is both based on strong public support and economic features such as a lower energy intensity of production than the U.S. The EU and Danish strategy converge in promoting the concept of a "low-carbon economy", based on first-mover advantage exports in renewables technology, such as wind power. The contents of the "Danish example" are assessed; decoupling economic growth and emissions within a "lowcarbon economy"-storyline.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Europe

49. Financial Impacts of Climate Change: Implications for the EU Budget

Author:
Christian Egenhofer, Arno Behrens, and Jorge Núñez Ferrer
Publication Date:
08-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
This study focuses on the financial resources needed to fight global climate change and the implications for the EU budget. The authors apply four different methodologies to estimate global financing requirements and attempt to determine the resources that will be needed at the EU level to meet the EU's climate change objectives. The study analyses current climate change spending of the EU budget, identifies shortcomings and indicates possibilities for correcting them. It also assesses the potential of the EU emissions trading scheme to raise additional resources to finance coordinated actions at the EU level aimed at fighting climate change. Finally, it provides three case studies of national public expenditure related to climate change in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, and Europe

50. A Comprehensive and Inclusive Peace Process for Chad

Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
Analysts, policy makers and experts are now accepting that the conflicts in Chad and Sudan have mutually reinforcing dynamics. Chad's internal political instability is having devastating consequences on the peace processes in Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR). The U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts on Sudan stated that Chad supports Sudanese insurgent groups with arms, ammunition, vehicles, food, training and safe haven. Violations of humanitarian law and international human rights continue unabated in the region and violators in eastern Chad operate in an environment of almost total impunity. A new U.S. Government strategy must be created to stabilize Chad and bring to an end the continued degradation of conditions in the region. This strategy must work in parallel with the peace process for Sudan and with the efforts led by the “Contact Group” to normalize Chad-Sudan relations.
Topic:
Environment, Government, Human Rights, United Nations, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
United States and Sudan

51. Living High on the Hog: Factory Farms, Federal Policy, and the Structural Transformation of Swine Production

Author:
Elanor Starmer and Timothy A. Wise
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
U.S. farm policy reforms in 1996 produced significant overproduction of supported crops, with prices falling to levels that were often below average farm production costs. Among the beneficiaries of the policy shift were the largest corporate purchasers of supported crops, as they saw a steady supply of low-priced inputs. Industrial livestock firms were among the most significant buyers of U.S. corn and soybeans, the main components of livestock feed. Filling an important gap in the literature, this paper estimates the savings to industrial hog operations between 1997 and 2005 from feed components priced at levels below their production costs. The savings are found to be significant. We also find that industrial hog companies benefited from weak federal regulation of environmental pollution from livestock operations. We estimate the costs to industrial hog firms of compliance with new environmental regulations regarding mitigation of surface-water contamination from excess manure concentrations. This cost is also found to be significant. We assess the implications of these findings for the continued consolidation and industrialization of the industry. We find that mid-sized diversified farms that grow their own feed may well be able to compete on cost with large-scale industrial operations if the latter pay full cost for their feed and have to pay for just one part of their externalized pollution costs.
Topic:
Agriculture, Environment, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States

52. The Third California: The Golden State's New Frontier

Author:
Joel Kotkin and William H. Frey
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
For most Americans, California evokes coastal images, the sunny beaches of south or the spectacular urban vistas of San Francisco Bay. Yet within California itself, the state's focus is shifting increasingly beyond the narrow strip of land between the coast- line and its first line of mountain ranges.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, America, and California

53. Katrina Index: Tracking Recovery of New Orleans and the Metro Area

Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
On the eve of its second Mardi Gras since Katrina, New Orleans stands poised to gain a larger economic benefit from the event than in did in 2006. Twenty additional hotels have opened since last year's Mardi Gras, and the New Orleans airport is now accommodating 100,000 more arriving passengers each month.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

54. Climate Change and Conflict: The Migration Link

Author:
Nils Petter Gleditsch, Idean Salehyan, and Ragnhild Nordås
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In October 2003, a report to the US Department of Defense received wide public attention for presenting a grim future scenario with warring states and massive social disturbance as a result of dramatic climate change. Although not intended to be a prediction, the authors nevertheless argued the plausibility of a scenario for rapid climate change which could result in a significant drop in the human carrying capacity of the earth's environment—food, water, and energy shortages, as well as extreme weather patterns. In turn, resource constraints and environmental damage could lead to geopolitical destabilization, skirmishes and even war.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

55. Managing Protracted and Deep Rooted Conflicts in the U.S. Senate

Author:
Richard A. Cocozza
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University
Abstract:
This working paper discusses actions by the U.S.Congress (primarily the U.S.Senate) to manage protracted and deep rooted conflicts in the process of making laws – current problems in managing conflicts, the traditional system for managing conflicts, the relevance of a contemporary conflict analysis and resolution approach to conflict management in the Congress, the effectiveness of the Senate in addressing conflict in five case studies, and strategies for strengthening the current approach.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Environment, Natural Resources, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States

56. Prioritizing America's Water Resources Investments: Budget Reform for Civil Works Construction Projects at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
The nation's vast water resources are critical to its economic strength and to the well-being of all Americans. Our rivers and their surrounding ecosystems hold tremendous value as sources of recreation, wildlife, channels of commerce, hydropower, flood control and aesthetic pleasure. But, human activity has the potential to both enhance and diminish this value. The nation must use effective adaptive management strategies to protect these national treasures and at the same time use them to help meet the challenges of the 21st Century. These challenges include globalization, fierce competitive pressures, a compromised environment and a continually growing and shifting population.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Natural Disasters, Natural Resources, and Water
Political Geography:
United States and America

57. The Unbearable Lightness of Regulatory Costs

Author:
Frank Ackerman
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Will unbearable regulatory costs ruin the US economy? This specter haunts official Washington, just as fears of communism once did. Once again, the prevailing rhetoric suggests, an implacable enemy of free enterprise puts our prosperity at risk. Like anti-communism in its heyday, anti-command-and-control-ism serves to narrow debate, promoting the unregulated laissez-faire economy as the sole acceptable goal and standard for public policy. Fears of the purported costs of regulation have been used to justify a sweeping reorganization of regulatory practice, in which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is empowered to, and often enough does, reject regulations from other agencies on the basis of intricate, conjectural, economic calculations.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and North America

58. An International Architecture for the Post-Kyoto Era

Author:
Robert Stavins and Sheila Olmstead
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
In February, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change came into force, but without participation by the United States. Its impacts on emissions of greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide (CO) , the primary anthropogenic driver of climate change — will be trivial; but scientific (Robert T. Watson 2001) and economic analyses (Charles D. Kolstad and Michael A. Toman 2001) point to the need for a credible international approach.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Environment, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

59. Building a Better New Orleans: A Review of and Plan for Progress One Year after Hurricane Katrina

Author:
Amy Liu
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
It has been one year since Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area and the surrounding Gulf Coast. While longtime residents of these communities can easily rattle off the names of past hurricanes, “Katrina” will be emblazoned like no other. And for good reason: After accounting for all households and structures, Hurricane Katrina is the deadliest and costliest storm this country has ever seen, causing over 1,800 deaths to date and approximately $81.2 billion in total damage.
Topic:
Development, Disaster Relief, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

60. Federal Allocations in Response to Katrina, Rita, and Wilma: An Update

Author:
Amy Liu and Matt Fellowes
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Federal allocations in response to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma now total $109 billion. Additionally, over $8 billion in tax relief is available. While these numbers appear quite large, widespread uncertainty exists over how much of this money has been spent and where.
Topic:
Development, Disaster Relief, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

61. From Traditional to Reformed: A Review of the Land Use Regulations in the Nation's 50 largest Metropolitan Areas

Author:
Jonathan Martin, Robert Puentes, and Rolf Pendall
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
A key component of the struggle for prosperity in American metropolitan areas is development patterns, which define everything from density to the socioeconomic make up of residents. Development patterns are partly a consequence of decisions by local governments—often with very little coordination, oversight, or even guidance from state or regional entities—about the physical character of new growth. Among the most important of these decisions is how to regulate land; a prerogative that local governments guard jealously.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States and America

62. Managing Natural Resource Wealth

Author:
Jill Shankleman
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
This report analyzes the particular challenges of stabilization and reconstruction missions in countries rich in hydrocarbons and minerals and provides lessons learned from the recent experience of such countries as Iraq, Sudan, Angola, Liberia, and Afghanistan. It offers recommendations for the U.S. government and others involved in natural resource–rich countries emerging from conflict and also to the extractive industry companies and banking sectors––that play a critical role in these states. War-torn countries rich in hydrocarbons and minerals face particular problems in the stabilization and reconstruction of their states despite the apparent promise that natural resource wealth holds. Unless deliberate efforts are made to avoid the “resource curses”—corruption, economic instability, conflict over the distribution of resource wealth and control of resource–rich areas—these curses will undermine peace building. Elite groups who receive royalties and taxes paid by extractive industry companies have shown themselves consistently resistant to democratization. Control over natural resources is fundamental to sovereignty. Ultimately, it is the governments and people of resource–rich countries who must put in place the systems that enable resource wealth to support stability and development However, through early and consistent action, the international community can play an important role in helping resource–rich states emerging from conflict manage the wealth that accrues from these resources, and can make proper wealth management a condition for donor assistance. It is essential that international missions and indigenous transitional governments immediately secure effective control of natural resource wealth (physical and monetary) and establish the laws, institutions, and capacity to manage that wealth transparently, accountably, and in ways that support reconstruction. Achieving these goals requires prior planning by relevant U.S. agencies, a willingness to confront vested interests, a consistent approach from the international community and donors, the involvement of civil society, and the deployment of human resources, such as forensic accountants able to “follow the money,” as part of the mission staff. To be successful, the extractive industries and their bankers, the international financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must be brought into this process
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Sudan, Middle East, Liberia, and Angola

63. Energy: The New Normal?

Author:
John A. Riggs
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The title of the 2006 Energy Policy Forum—Energy: The New Normal? — raises two primary questions: has the world crossed a threshold into a qualitatively different energy environment in which the era of cheap and plentiful energy is over, and does the interaction of energy issues with other considerations, such as national security, foreign affairs, and global climate change, require fundamentally new ways of thinking about U.S. energy policies?
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, and Oil
Political Geography:
United States and Middle East

64. A Silent Tsunami: The Urgent Need for Clean Water and Sanitation

Author:
William K. Reilly and Harriet C. Babbitt
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Few issues matter more to public health, economic opportunity, and environmental integrity than the availability of clean water and sanitation. With the 4th World Water Forum scheduled for Mexico City in March 2006, the Aspen Institute and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University conducted a multistakeholder dialogue to help highlight the importance of global water issues, suggest steps to provide services more rapidly and effectively, and to identify and draw attention to constructive ways the US government and other US participants can take part in the Forum.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States and Mexico

65. Opening Opportunities, Building Ownership: Fulfilling the Promise of Microenterprise in the United States

Author:
Elaine L. Edgcomb and Joyce A. Klein
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The notion that a person can turn a dream into a small business by applying healthy doses of ingenuity, elbow grease and grit has resonated with Americans from the earliest days of this nation. Indeed, there is something so intrinsically appealing about that scenario that more than 22 million Americans are small business owners today—including some 20 million who operate "micro"—or very small—enterprises.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Environment, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States and America

66. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Enabling Joint Force Capabilities: Phase II

Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Events of the past decade provide compelling evidence that the national security environment continues to evolve at a rapid pace and in unpredictable directions. Further, it is clear that meeting the demands of the evolving environment calls for new levels of adaptable military capabilities that, in turn, demand joint forces that are responsive and effective across a range of operations from small scale operations through major theater conflict. In the two most recent major contingencies – Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) - we have seen new levels of understanding of the need for truly integrated joint capabilities and new levels of innovation in leveraging existing capabilities to achieve the needed level of effectiveness. Lessons Learned activities have verified important shifts in focus leading to a series of emerging concepts for more effectively integrating capabilities.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Environment, and National Security
Political Geography:
United States

67. South Africa's War against Malaria: Lessons for the Developing World

Author:
Roger Bate and Richard Tren
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Malaria imposes enormous human suffering and economic costs on many poor countries. For South Africa, which has a relatively minor malaria problem for a developing country, from 2000 to 2002 the economic cost ranged between US$15 million and US$41 million, excluding estimates of the human suffering and estimates of lost investment in malarial areas..
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

68. Tackling the Critical Conundrum: How Do Business, Government and Media Balance Economic Growth and a Healthy Environment?

Author:
John A. Riggs
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
One of the enduring debates about environmental issues is the extent to which progress can be achieved without economic harm, either to a business or to society as a whole. The risk of such harm has frequently been used, often effectively, as a reason to oppose or delay actions to reduce pollution or to otherwise advance environmental protection goals. The apparent political persuasiveness of the argument has led to a counterargument: that there are usually win-win solutions and that environmental and economic goals need not be in conflict.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

69. A Climate Policy Framework: Balancing Policy and Politics

Author:
John A. Riggs
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
What is the preferred framework for a domestic policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? The approach most likely to achieve environmental results? To be admin- istratively feasible and cost effective? To gain political acceptance?
Topic:
Environment, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

70. Containing Wildland Fire Costs: Improving Equipment and Services Acquisition

Author:
Frank Fairbanks, Allan V. Burman, Gail Christopher, Patrick J. Kelly, Lyle Laverty, Keith Mulrooney, Paul Posner, and Charles Wise
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
Wildland fire - related acquisition management programs of the five federal land management agencies are big business. For example, Forest Service wildfire preparedness and suppression contracting costs reached almost $800 million in FY 2002. Even at a lower level, these costs significantly affect other land management programs and their funding. Thus, searching for and taking advantage of methods to achieve cost containment of escalating wildland fire acquisition programs take on added value. That is the basic premise of this Academy report.
Topic:
Environment, Government, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States

71. A Breath of Fresh Air: Reviving the New Source Review Program

Author:
Don Kettl, Peter Harkness, Lisa Heinzerling, DeWitt John, Howard M. Messner, Robert Terrell, Christophe Tulou, and Alfred M. Zuck
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
The New Source Review program (NSR) is a critic al tool enacted by Congress 25 years ago to protect public health and improve the nation's air quality. But, as applied to existing facilities, NSR is not working as Congress intended. Thus NSR should be fundamentally reformed and strongly enforced against past violations by existing facilities.
Topic:
Environment, Government, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States

72. Strengthening Linkages Between U.S. Trade Policy and Environmental Capacity Building

Author:
John Audley and Vanessa Ulmer
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
ATTENTION TO TRADE-RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE and capacity building (TCB) has surged as people from all walks of life explore how the global trade regime can be structured to better promote equitable, sustainable human development. TCB strengthens developing countries' human, physical, and institutional capacities to participate in trade negotiations, implement trade commitments, and benefit from integration into the global trading system. Given the Bush administration's goal to “ignite a new era of global economic growth through free markets and free trade,” capacity building has become an important component of U.S. bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations.
Topic:
Environment and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

73. Trade Preferences and Environmental Goods

Author:
Scott Vaughan
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
For the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most important development in a decade related to trade-environment linkages is the agreement to liberalize commerce in environmental goods and services. If properly executed, the agreement will increase the availability of “green” goods in global markets and break the North-South deadlock that has paralyzed discussions on the trade regime governing such goods.
Topic:
Environment, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

74. Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime

Author:
Raimo Väyrynen
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
It is important to make a careful distinction between illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking which are nested, but yet different concepts. This distinction is relevant because these different categories of the illegal movement of people across borders have quite different legal and political consequences. Human smuggling and trafficking have become a world-wide industry that 'employs' every year millions of people and leads to the annual turnover of billions of dollars. Many of the routes and enclaves used by the smugglers have become institutionalized; for instance, from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia. More often than not flourishing smuggling routes are made possible by weak legislation, lax border controls, corrupted police officers, and the power of the organized crime. Naturally, poverty and warfare contribute to the rising tide of migration, both legal and illegal.
Topic:
Environment and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, East Asia, Greece, Asia, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and West Asia

75. Canada as a Minor Ally: Operational Considerations for Relations with the United States

Author:
Christopher Sands
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Good morning. I want to thank the organizers of this year's Canadian Crude Oil Conference for bringing me out here to join you today. Albertan hospitality is hard to beat, and for a kid from Detroit, I am happy to say that I had the chance to live here as a temporary Albertan one summer. My Dad is a professor of geography and urban planning, and one summer our family relocate d to Alberta while he researched a book on the patterns of suburban development in four cities: Edmonton, Calgary, Phoenix, and Houston. It was a great adventure for me, especially camping and hiking in Banff and Jasper. You will get a sense of how long ago this was when I tell you that my souvenir from that summer was a t-shirt with Chewbacca, C3PO, and R2-D2 posing with a bear.
Topic:
Energy Policy and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

76. U.S.-Mexico Binational Council Report: U.S-Mexico Transboundary Water Management: The Case of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo

Author:
Armand Peschard-Sverdrup and Meghan Bishop
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Although the highly publicized water dispute between the United States and Mexico has focused attention in both nations on the issue, the need to address comprehensively the problem of water scarcity and water quality is not one that is limited to the U.S.-Mexico border region. In fact, water scarcity is increasing around the world and approaching crisis conditions in many regions. It is a phenomenon that is impacting the lives of a growing number of the world's people. According to the United Nations, 31 countries in the world are currently facing water stress and scarcity. Over 1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water, and almost 3 billion people have no access to sanitation services. It is estimated that today 166 million people in 18 countries suffer from water scarcity, while another 270 million in 11 additional countries are considered "water stressed." By the year 2025, the world's population will have increased by more than 2.6 billion, but as many as two-thirds of those people will be living in conditions of serious water shortage, and one-third will be living with absolute water scarcity. By 2025, the affected populations will increase to about 3 billion people, or about 40 percent of the world's population, most of them in the poorest countries. As a result of this daunting diagnosis, there is now a consensus that the severity of the problem requires a strategic approach that emphasizes equitable and sustainable management of water resources.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and North America

77. In Defense of Environment and Security Research

Author:
Richard A. Matthew
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, many policymakers and researchers have been rethinking and pushing the boundaries of the definition of security. Perhaps the most extensive and controversial part of this project has been the numerous and varied attempts to identify links among environmental change, conflict, and security. But concern has recently been raised about whether a decade of environmental security research, debate, and policy experimentation has produced worthwhile results. This article argues that such concern is premature. Environmental security has (a) reinvigorated important elements of security research and policy; (b) made pioneering contributions to understanding the shifting sources of global violence and the changing requirements of security; (c) contributed to a broader debate about the social and political effects of transnational change; and (d) been a conceptual and political boon for the environmental movement. Now is the time to build on these gains instead of abandoning them.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Migration, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United States

78. Security and Ecology in the Age of Globalization

Author:
Simon Dalby
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The environment has emerged as a major theme in the post-Cold War discussion of human security. There has been a considerable amount of detailed empirical work on the relationship between environmental change and likely conflicts. This article argues that, while the interconnections between the environment and conflict are many and complex, the likelihood of large-scale warfare over renewable resources is small. Nonetheless, environmental difficulties do render many people insecure. A parallel conceptual discussion suggests that the empirical work of environmental security research needs to be placed in the larger context of global economic changes and large-scale urbanization of a growing humanity. This urban population increasingly draws resources from rural areas, disrupting indigenous populations. All these dynamics are also complicated by the rapidly increasing scale of human activities, which has induced a level of material- and energy-flow through the global economy that is a new and substantial ecological factor in the biosphere. Given the scale of these processes, societies should carefully consider these interconnections and reduce their total resource throughput to improve environmental security and develop sustainable modes of living for the future.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Migration, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United States

79. Protecting the Environment While Opening Markets in the Americas

Author:
William Krist
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Market Access Negotiations are a major element of the efforts to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2020. If successful, these negotiations will remove all tariff and nontariff barriers to trade among the 34 participating countries on all nonagricultural products, including forest and mining products, fish, and manufactured goods.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, and North America

80. Environment's New Role in U.S. Trade Policy

Author:
John Audley
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Trade Act of 2002 integrates environmental policy priorities into U.S. trade negotiations. The manner in which resulting tensions between trade and environment are resolved requires greater involvement by Congress. Of particular short-term importance to Congress should be how bilateral negotiations with Chile and Singapore are concluded and regional negotiations with Central America begun. Congress should also use its oversight power to develop clearer instructions regarding a host of environmental policy issues, including investment and services negotiations, environmental reviews of trade agreements, and clarification of U.S. foreign assistance regarding technical assistance and capacity building for our trading partners. In short, TPA presents Congress with the leverage it needs to oversee trade negotiations, an opportunity to work with the administration and win back public support for U.S. trade policy that respects worker rights and protection of the environment.
Topic:
Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and Chile

81. Politics and Parallel Negotiations: Environment and Trade in the Western Hemisphere

Author:
John Audley and Edward Sherwin
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
IN DECEMBER 1994, at the behest of then–U.S. president Bill Clinton, the leaders of the 34 Western Hemisphere democracies convened in Miami for the first comprehensive hemispheric summit in more than 25 years. The assembled heads of state pledged that their countries would forge a path toward regional integration based on four overarching principles: Governments should build strong democratic institutions, prosperity should be promoted through free trade and economic cooperation, poverty and discrimination should be eliminated, and the natural environment should be preserved through policies promoting sustainable development. “Future generations,” Clinton said at the time, “will look back on the Miami summit as a moment when the course of history in the Americas changed for the better.”
Topic:
Environment and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, America, South America, Latin America, Central America, and North America

82. America and the Global Energy Challenge

Author:
Hal Harvey
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Energy is at once the lifeblood and the bane of the modern world. Fossil energy has fueled tremendous economic growth over the past 150 years. The economic history of the United States is largely the history of extracting and using coal and oil. At the same time, the profligate use of these energy sources has created the world's most pressing environmental problems, and led to major national security concerns for the United States. Energy consumption is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, smog, acid rain, oil spills, and nuclear waste. American dependence on oil from the Middle East forces our hand on foreign policy and imposes high economic and human costs. It is becoming increasingly clear that America's—and the world's—current diet of fossil energy is not sustainable.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Middle East

83. Sustaining a Revolution: A Policy for Crop Engineering

Author:
David Victor and C. Ford Runge
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Controversy, even fear, of new foods is not new. The tomato was widely regarded as poisonous in the United States and northern Europe as late as the 1830s, due to its relationship to the night-shade family of plants. There was such concern that in 1820, the state of New York banned their consumption. Tomatoes even had their own “Frankenfood” label: “wolf 's peaches.”
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

84. From B2B to G2G: Re-engineering the Canada-United States Relationship

Author:
Christopher Sands
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
The new century is marked by a transformation in the economy that is changing the environment in which the United States makes policy regarding Canada, which is already a complex and diffuse process. First: what is new about the new economy? Second, how does the U.S. approach Canada in its policy processes. Third, how does Canada attempt to manage its relations with the United States? Fourth, how can business models help both countries to improve relations?
Topic:
Energy Policy and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, Germany, and North America

85. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Improving Fuel Efficiency of Weapons Platforms

Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics), recognizing the crucial importance of weapons platform fuel usage to U.S. military capability, requested that the Defense Science Board form a task force on Improving Fuel Efficiency of Weapons Platforms. Asked to consider existing or emerging technologies that could significantly improve platform efficiency, the task force also examined institutional barriers that exist and must be overcome to understand and capture the full advantages of more efficient military systems.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

86. Commentaries: The U.S. National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2015: Excerpts, Commentaries, And Response

Author:
Ellen Laipson, Michael A. Ledeen, Michael J. White, John Gannon, Eugene J. Carroll, Richard P. Cincotta, Johanna Mendelson Forman, Michael Hanssler, Liliana Hisas, Leslie Johnston, Gavin Kitchingham, Gayl D. Ness, David Rejeski, Ervin J. Rokke, Judith Shapiro, Aleksei V. Yablokov, and Arno Weinmann
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
In January 2001, the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), a center within the Central Intelligence Agency that provides the agency's director with mid- and long-term strategic thinking and direction, published Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future with Nongovernmental Experts. This unclassified and public report, which expanded on the NIC's previous effort Global Trends 2010, takes a look at the world over the next 15 years from the perspective of the national security policymaker.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

87. Caribbean Tourism: Igniting the Engines of Sustainable Growth

Author:
Anthony T. Bryan
Publication Date:
11-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Tourism drives economic growth in ways that make it one of the best engines for job creation and development for poor countries that possess natural beauty and relevant infrastructure. The industry is highly labor intensive and encourages entrepreneurship. Under its ambit, property owners, restaurants, and local suppliers of goods and services, among others, develop the habits of risk taking without which no economy can realize its full potential. Tourism holds out the prospect of a better life for those stakeholders who make money from it. Not unlike trade, it improves an economy's competitiveness. Trade does so because it stimulates local suppliers to match the quality and variety of imported goods. Tourism does so because returning travelers to a destination demand the goods and services they have seen in other countries (Elliott 2001).
Topic:
Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and Caribbean

88. Geography, Markets, Resources, and Development: The Assets of the Americas Revisited

Author:
L. Ronald Scheman
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
In May 1996, the price of copper crashed from US$2,600 to $1,775 per ton. The Sumitomo Corporation of Japan acknowledged unprecedented losses of $2.6 billion from unauthorized trading by its chief copper trader, one of the faceless manipulators of the international commodities markets, Yasuo Hamanaka. Among the major banks caught in this modern variation of the Ponzi scheme were J.P. Morgan and the London Metal Exchange. Chile, whose economy was highly dependent on income from the commodity, was quickly and painfully reminded that the highly leveraged markets on which it depended, even in the hands of the most reputable institutions, are fragile and subject to unexpected forces beyond its control. Copper prices began a downward spiral, and they have not yet recovered.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Caribbean

89. Covert Biological Weapons Attacks against Agricultural Targets: Assessing the Impact against U.S. Agriculture

Author:
Jason Pate and Gavin Cameron
Publication Date:
08-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Since 1995, analysts, policymakers, and the news media in the United States have focused unprecedented attention on the threat of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly chemical and biological weapons (CBW). The Aum Shinrikyo attack in Tokyo in March 1995 and the Oklahoma City bombing the following month significantly contributed to this phenomenon in two important ways. First, Aum proved that subnational groups could obtain CBW, previously only a theoretical possibility. After the Tokyo incident terrorists using CBW appeared to be an evolving and dangerous threat that required creative new thinking in counter- and antiterrorism policy. Second, the Oklahoma City bombing brought the threat of terrorism to the American heartland. No longer was terrorism a foreign phenomenon characterized by media accounts of masked Islamic fundamentalists taking hostages, hijacking planes, or bombing far-away buildings. The terrorists in this case were Americans targeting Americans: not only had terrorism reached the center of the country, but the terrorist threat originated much closer to home.
Topic:
Environment, Nuclear Weapons, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States and Tokyo

90. Overview of Federal Programs to Enhance State and Local Preparedness for Terrorism with Weapons of Mass Destruction

Author:
Gregory D. Koblentz
Publication Date:
04-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Over the past five years, the United States has launched an unprecedented series of initiatives to prepare for the possibility of a terrorist attack employing a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) within the United States. These initiatives, originating in Congress, the White House, and Cabinet departments, have resulted in a complex web of programs to improve the preparedness and response capabilities of local, state, and federal agencies by providing specialized equipment, training, and planning assistance. While a debate has raged over the risk posed by terrorist groups seeking to cause mass casualties with chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological weapons, federal spending on domestic preparedness has climbed steadily despite the lack of consensus on the severity of the threat. From 1997 to 2000, federal spending to prepare for WMD terrorism swelled from roughly $130 million to $1.4 billion, a tenfold increase. Almost one-quarter of the entire domestic preparedness budget, and roughly one-half of federal spending on preparedness and response for WMD terrorism, has been in the form of federal assistance to state and local governments.
Topic:
Environment and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States

91. U.S. Preparations for Biological Terrorism: Legal Limitations and the Need for Planning

Author:
Juliette N. Kayyem
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The threat of terrorism has focused the attention of the United States on domestic preparedness. Although the likelihood of a domestic terrorist attack may be relatively low, the country is nonetheless preparing first responders, local, state and federal officials, and the public on what to do and what to expect should one occur. Lawyers have only recently begun to consider the issue of domestic preparedness. Any steps to improve preparedness must, of course, involve an assessment by the proper legal authorities to determine their lawfulness and legitimacy.
Topic:
Environment, National Security, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States

92. The Role of International Organisations in the Mediterranean

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
09-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The Mediterranean is an area where many different political, societal and cultural entities happen to stay in touch with one another. In some respects it may be regarded as a region in itself, in particular because of environment and a number of dwindling premodern, subcultural similarities. In general, though, it can hardly be regarded as a regional entity, i.e. endowed with a significant inner coherence. There is no doubt, that what characterises the Mediterranean area is its quintessential inter-regional structure. If we look at the initiatives to institutionalise inter-Mediterranean relations in the last few decades, we see that they are in fact of both regional and inter-regional character. In the functional realm, a clear example of Mediterranean regional organisation is the “Blue Plan”, set out within the framework of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) with a view to manage common environmental resources relating to the sea. An example referring to the political realm can be drawn from the Cold War, namely the Mediterranean component of the Non-Aligned Movement. At that time, within that Movement there was a Mediterranean feeling shared by Southern European as well as Third World countries belonging to the area. Such common feeling was motivated by the perception of a cultural and political oppression enforced by imperialist quarters (the West, USA, NATO). This gave way to a search for a Mediterranean region de-linked from Western dominance.
Topic:
Security, Environment, and International Organization
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

93. Designing an Efficient International Regime for Global Protection of Coral Reefs

Author:
Svetlana Morozova
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
International regimes have been a major focus of research in International Relations and Political Economy since the end of the 1970s. Theoretical regime studies owe a great deal of progress to the scholars researching international environmental protection, such as Peter Haas (1989, 1992, 1993), Oran Young (1977, 1982, 1989), Robert Keohane and Marc Levy (1993). From the Young's model of institutional bargaining (1989) to Haas's research on epistemic community activities (1989), we observed the importance of environmental decision-making structures for stimulating the study of institutional birth, maintenance and decline of international regimes.
Topic:
Environment, Globalization, and International Law
Political Geography:
United States

94. Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts

Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Over the past 15 months, the National Intelligence Council (NIC), in close collaboration with US Government specialists and a wide range of experts outside the government, has worked to identify major drivers and trends that will shape the world of 2015. The key drivers identified are: Demographics, Natural resources and environment, Science and technology, The global economy and globalization, National and international governance, Future conflict, The role of the United States. In examining these drivers, several points should be kept in mind: No single driver or trend will dominate the global future in 2015 Each driver will have varying impacts in different regions and countries The drivers are not necessarily mutually reinforcing; in some cases, they will work at cross-purposes. Taken together, these drivers and trends intersect to create an integrated picture of the world of 2015, about which we can make projections with varying degrees of confidence and identify some troubling uncertainties of strategic importance to the United States.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

95. The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States

Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
New and reemerging infectious diseases will pose a rising global health threat and will complicate US and global security over the next 20 years. These diseases will endanger US citizens at home and abroad, threaten US armed forces deployed overseas, and exacerbate social and political instability in key countries and regions in which the United States has significant interests.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Human Welfare, and National Security
Political Geography:
United States

96. Commentary: Trade and the Environment After Seattle–Perspectives From The Wilson Center

Author:
William M. Daley, Andrea Durbin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Martin Albrow, Stacy D. Vandeever, Anju Sharma, Stephen Clarkson, Kent Hughes, and Tamar Gutner
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Free trade, seen by many as the engine of world economic growth, has once again become the subject of bitter dispute. Nowhere was this more evident than at the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle at the end of 1999. There, environmentalists joined with trade unionists and advocates for developing countries in staging mass protests. These diverse groups claimed the WTO is unrepresentative and undemocratic, overlooking environmental interests and those of the world's poor in favor of big business. Inside the negotiating halls, the United States and the European Union clashed over agricultural subsidies and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Developing country representatives complained that they remained marginalized in the official talks.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

97. Human Population and Environmental Stresses in the Twenty-first Century

Author:
Richard E. Benedick
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Human populations have put pressure on their natural surroundings throughout history. Yet the world is now facing truly global environmental challenges and rapid population growth in the final half of the twentieth century is a critical component to understanding these phenomena. In his article, Ambassador Richard Benedick examines a host of population dynamics and their complex interlinkages with three representative environmental issue areas: forests, freshwater resources, and climate change. These connections raise the importance of meeting the commitments made at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development. Benedick maintains that investments in measures to slow the rate of population growth-and thereby to reach a stable population earlier, and at lower levels, than under current trends-would significantly reinforce efforts to address the environmental challenges of the century ahead, and considerably lower the cost of such efforts.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Central America

98. National Intelligence Estimate: The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States

Author:
David F. Gordon, Donald Noah, and George Fidas
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Infectious diseases are a leading cause of death, accounting for a quarter to a third of all deaths worldwide. The spread of infectious diseases results from both human behavior such as lifestyle choices, land-use patterns, increased trade and travel, and inappropriate use of antibiotic drugs, as well as mutations in pathogens. These excerpts from a January 2000 National Intelligence Estimate highlight the rising global health threat of new and reemerging infectious diseases. The National Intelligence Council argues that the infectious disease threat will complicate U.S. and global security over the next twenty years. These diseases will endanger U.S. citizens at home and abroad, threaten U.S. armed forces deployed overseas, and exacerbate social and political instability in key countries and regions in which the United States has significant interests, according to the report.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

99. The Problems of Preparedness: Challenges Facing the U.S. Domestic Preparedness Program

Author:
Richard A. Falkenrath
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The U.S. government is now actively engaged in preparing the nation for highly destructive acts of terrorism, especially those involving chemical and biological weapons. This effort involves multiple federal agencies and a wide variety of programs. Collectively known as the “U.S. domestic preparedness program,” these programs are a very recent innovation in American governance. The budget of federal weapons of mass destruction (WMD) preparedness programs has grown from effectively zero in 1995 to approximately $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2000. 1 This made the U.S. domestic preparedness program one of the fastest growing federal programs of the late 1990s.
Topic:
Environment and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States

100. Analytic Models and Policy Prescription: Understanding Recent Innovation in U.S. Counterterrorism

Author:
Richard A. Falkenrath
Publication Date:
10-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The threat of terrorism has received enormous attention in the last decade. Anxieties ran particularly high at the turn of the millennium, which fortunately passed without a major terrorist incident. Virtually all states expend some resources to combat terrorism. The policies, programs, and operations that governments undertake to meet this challenge are known collectively as counterterrorism. Although this term is only a few decades old, the practice of counterterrorism is as old as terrorism itself. Like terrorism, counterterrorism is easily recognized, even if its boundaries are somewhat imprecise.
Topic:
Environment and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States