New financial thinking drives green energy expansion

Green Finance Comes of Age in 2016

By Richard Matthews

After years of volatility, green finance is emerging as a central part of our efforts to address climate change and transform our energy infrastructure.

Green finance is preoccupied with adapting to the impacts of climate change and/or reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  

It is the means by which we can stream tremendous amounts of needed capital into emissions free sources of power.

Heart does affect your thinking

Wisdom is a matter of both heart and mind, research finds

University of Waterloo

The fluctuations of your heartbeat may affect your wisdom, according to new research from the University of Waterloo.

The study suggests that heart rate variation and thinking process work together to enable wise reasoning about complex social issues. The work by Igor Grossmann, professor of psychology at Waterloo, and colleagues based at the Australian Catholic University, appears in the online journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Their study breaks new ground in wisdom research by identifying conditions under which psychophysiology impacts wise judgment.

Sell your Volkswagen back to Volkswagen

VW agrees to buy back or "fix" 600,000 cars in North America

From: , Triple Pundit

With only days to go before the deadline, Volkswagen AG (VW) and the U.S. government reached a partial settlement over how to deal with the automaker’s “dieselgate” emissions scandal.

Volkswagen agreed to fix or buy back some 500,000 vehicles caught up in the crisis. 

What wasn’t agreed upon is how much the company should pay in fines and compensation to consumers affected by the crisis.

Under the tentative agreement, VW will give the option of a fix or buy-back (at the company’s expense) to owners of affected 2.0-liter engine cars.

Discussions are ongoing as to how to address Audi and Porsche 3.0-liter vehicles that also contain the illicit software.

Kelley Blue Book estimated that the cost to buy back and fix affected vehicles could be around $7 billion, the New York Times reported.

This Industry is Literally Making a Killing

Big money in politics doesn't just drive inequality — it also fuels war.

By Rebecca Green

The 2016 presidential elections are proving historic, and not just because of the surprising success of self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders, the lively debate among feminists over whether to support Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump’s unorthodox candidacy.

The elections are also groundbreaking because they’re revealing more dramatically than ever the corrosive effect of big money on our decaying democracy.

Following the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision and related rulings, corporations and the wealthiest Americans gained the legal right to raise and spend as much money as they want on political candidates.

The 2012 elections were consequently the most expensive in U.S. history. And this year’s races are predicted to cost even more. With the general election still six months away, donors have already sunk $1 billion into the presidential race — with $619 million raised by candidates and another $412 million by super PACs.

Big money in politics drives grave inequality in our country. It also drives war.

Technology

It never stops

First green energy. Now, yellow energy

Urine turned into sustainable power source for electronic devices

University of Bath

(Left to right): Ph.D. student Jon Chouler; Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Mirella Di Lorenzo;
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Petra Cameron.
Credit: Tim Gander

Researchers at the University of Bath have developed an innovative miniature fuel cell that can generate electricity from urine, creating an affordable, renewable and carbon-neutral way of generating power.

In the near future this device could provide a means of generating much needed electricity to remote areas at very little cost, each device costs just £1-£2. With growing global pressures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, microbial fuel cells could be an exciting alternative.

A microbial fuel cell is a device that uses natural biological processes of 'electric' bacteria to turn organic matter, such as urine, into electricity. These fuel cells are efficient and relatively cheap to run, and produce nearly zero waste compared to other methods of electricity generation.

In practice, urine will pass through the microbial fuel cell for the reaction to happen. From here, electricity is generated by the bacteria which can then be stored or used to directly power electrical devices.

Hey, kids! Wanna hold a hissing cockroach?

This weekend at URI, hands on science for grade schoolers 

Dave Lavallee

Children in grades kindergarten through 8 and their families will experience the fun and rigors of scientific investigation at the University of Rhode Island’s GEMS-Net Family Science Expo Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at URI’s Ryan Center, 1 Lincoln Almond Plaza, Kingston Campus.

GEMS-Net, which stands for The Guiding Education in Math and Science Network, is a collaboration of the University of Rhode Island’s School of Education, scientists and engineers from many URI departments, and 47 public schools in Rhode Island. 

GEMS-Net was founded in 1995 to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching and learning for kindergarten through grade 8. The program has received more than $3 million in external funding, mostly from the National Science Foundation. 

The Science Expo is free and open to the public and will feature 27 activities based on kindergarten through grade 8 curricula. Children and families will be able to hold and observe hissing cockroaches, engineer their own compost bin and design parachutes that help drop food to firefighters in harsh environments.

$1,400,000,000,000: Oxfam Exposes the Great Offshore Tax Scam of US Companies

"We can't go on with a situation where the rich and powerful are not paying their fair share of tax, leaving the rest of us to foot the bill."

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams

Using an "opaque and secretive network" of subsidiaries in tax havens, top American corporations have stashed $1.4 trillion offshore, a new report from Oxfam shows.

With "a range of tricks, tools, and loopholes," for tax avoidance, the 50 largest U.S. companies, including well-known names like Goldman Sachs, Verizon Communications, Apple, Coca-Cola, IBM, and Chevron, raked in $4 trillion in profits globally between 2008 and 2014, are contributing to inequality, the anti-poverty group said.

The report, Broken at the Top (pdf), states that such tax dodging is one of the "profit-making strategies of many multinational corporations."

As noted in the report: 

“With a carefully selected data set, you can do amazing things with statistics “

The Cargo Cult and Corporate Reform Theory

By Diane Ravitch

William Mathis was a school superintendent in Vermont. Since retiring, he has become Managing director of the National Education Policy Center and a member of the Vermont Board of Education.

In this post, which he wrote for this blog, he deconstructs a recent study by prominent economists about school reform. The idea of projecting how many trillions might be saved if the schools adopted certain test-based reforms rang a bell.

I checked my copy of Reign of Error and found that Eric Hanushek had predicted in 2011 that if the U.S. replaced the lowest-performing teachers with average teachers, we would match the test scores of Canada and Finland and generate an additional $112 trillion in economic output over our lifetimes. (Eric A. Hanushek, “Valuing Teachers: How Much is a Good Teacher Worth?” Education Next (Summer 2011).

The following article under review says the gains produced by raising NAEP scores would generate “only” $76 trillion in new economic output. Not sure why the future gains dropped from $112 trillion to $76 trillion. The article reviewed here can be found online at educationnext.org and will appear in the summer 2016 issue of Education Next (http://educationnext.org/pays-improve-school-quality-student-achievement-economic-gain/).

The Cargo Cult Educational and Economic Reform Theory

By William J. Mathis

As U.S. Forces island-hopped across the Pacific during World War II, Melanesians noticed that the Yankees would land, immediately bull-doze huge landing strips, put up rows of lights and build a control tower. Great metal birds would then be attracted, land, and off-load tons of valuable cargo. 

Being quick learners and believing that if they built it, manna would come; the islanders dug landing strips out of the jungle, placed torches along the sides and built a bamboo tower to attract these birds. Thus was born a new version of the economic theory of the “cargo cult.”

With rigorous application of just such impeccable reasoning, Erik Hanushek, Jens Ruhose and Ludger Woessman have published their latest re-write, It Pays to Improve School Quality, as the feature story in the summer 2016 issue of Education Next. 

“Make my day”

Hollywood’s Secret Conservative Club Shuts Down Because Actors Can’t Stop Fighting Over Trump

By Jameson Parker

A highly exclusive, highly secretive club organized by and for Hollywood’s (relatively small) conservative community has spectacularly imploded – and like many bad things, this can be blamed on Donald Trump.

According to a recent announcement by “The Friends of Abe” – a club with members including Clint Eastwood, Gary Sinise, Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer – the group will abruptly end after reported in-fighting and lack of enthusiasm caused irredeemable dysfunction .

“Effective immediately, we are going to begin to wind down the 501 c3 organization, bring the Sustaining Membership dues to an end, and do away with the costly infrastructure and the abespal.com website,” the executive director, Jeremy Boreing, told members in an email, a copy of which the Guardian has seen.“Today, because we have been successful in creating a community that extends far beyond our events, people just don’t feel as much of a need to show up for every speaker or bar night, and fewer people pay the dues that help us maintain that large infrastructure.”

As the Guardian notes, one of the major reasons the celebrities can’t get along is because of the question of Donald Trump.

Labor mourns Prince’s passing

Prince Was a Champion for Working People

By Kenneth Quinnell

The world lost a musical icon. You can read about his impact as a musician and an entertainer elsewhere, but let's take a second to look at Prince's career-spanning fights on behalf of working people.

For more than 40 years, Prince was a union member, a long-standing member of both the Twin Cities Musicians Local 30-73 of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and SAG-AFTRA.

Beginning with "Ronnie Talk to Russia" in 1981 on through hits like "Sign o' the Times" and later works like "We March" and "Baltimore," Prince's music often reflected the dreams, struggles, fears and hopes of working people.

And he wasn't limited to words, his Baltimore concert in the wake of Freddie Gray's death raised funds to help the city recover. I got to sit on the right side of the stage, high in the rafters, to watch joyously.

Few of America's artists have so well captured the plight of working Americans as Prince, putting him in the line of artists like Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen as working-class heroes.

Kitty of the Week

Meet Chloe

Animal Rescue Rhode Island

Meow! I'm Chloe, a 6 year old love bug who's just looking for a place to call my own.

Do you seek affection? I do!

If you also like petting, purrs, and paws kneading at your lap then I think we might have a LOT in common.

Unfortunately I don't like other kitties, so I'd do best in a furever home where I'm your only princess.

Sometimes I get a little talkative - but hey, I'm a big girl with a lot to say!

I'm looking for someone who enjoys quiet naps in the sun spots, and togetherness for the rest of our days. Might that someone be you?

“Pro-Life” or death

Violence and Death Threats Spike As Result Of False Planned Parenthood Smear Campaign

By Kimberley Johnson 

New research from the National Abortion Federation (NAF) shows a direct connection in the uptick in death threats against abortion providers and the release of the deceptively edited videos by the Center for Medical Progress last year.

The report states in part:

“Our 2015 statistics reflect a dramatic increase in hate speech and internet harassment, death threats, attempted murder, and murder, which coincided with the release of heavily-edited, misleading, and inflammatory videos beginning in July. Since 1977, there have been 11 murders, 26 attempted murders, 42 bombings, 185 arsons, and thousands of incidents of criminal activities directed at abortion providers.

“Three of those murders happened in November 2015, when Robert Dear opened fire at an abortion facility in Colorado Springs, killing three people and wounding nine others. This clinic is part of the Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains affiliate, which was featured in the highly-edited, inflammatory videos. When police arrested Dear, he made a reference to part of the video smear campaign.

“… After each video, social media, blogs, and news websites were filled with inflammatory comments about the doctors who were misrepresented in the videos, including that they were ‘evil,’ ‘vile,’ ‘unhuman,’ ‘murderers,’ and that abortion providers ‘deserve everything they have coming’ to them.”

Wednesday hearing on Charlestown’s preparations for major catastrophe

A sobering look at what could go wrong

By Will Collette

An ad hoc task force comprised primarily of Charlestown’s professional staff had the unenviable chore of thinking hard about all the things that could possibly go wrong in Mother Nature’s treatment of our town.

They had to rank those calamities by probability and severity and outline what we can do about them.

The Charlestown Natural Hazard Mitigation Committee’s (CNHMC) work product, Charlestown’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, will be up for a public hearing this Wednesday, April 27, from 6-7 PM at the Cross’ Mills Public Library. You can also send comments, deadline April 29, to dboardman@charlestownri.org

The plan is available for advance reading HERE – highly suggested if you plan to go to the hearing.

The Plan spans a total of 202 pages, with 123 pages of narrative, including the Executive Summary reprinted at the end of this article. 

There is also a collection of appendices including maps and some tables detailing the history of past natural disasters that have impacted Charlestown.

While the prose is mostly dry and professional, as you would expect from a group of professionals studying a serious problem, it is nevertheless a very interesting read.

You will learn quite a lot about Charlestown’s history, social structure, infrastructure and physical layout as the Committee reviews how natural events, such as hurricanes, winter superstorms and sea level rise caused by climate change, will turn the town upside down.

Here are some of the things I found especially interesting.