Tag Archives: RGGI

Science + Policy = Progress

We know greenhouse gasses are a problem. We know we need to make some drastic changes, and soon, to stave off an inexorable slide into planetary dysfunction. What we don’t know is how to make sure those changes happen. How do we identify the good policies, based on sound science? This week’s guests on Sea Change Radio are each advancing sustainable public policy in their own ways. First, host Alex Wise speaks with Indiana University biology professor, Richard Phillips, who’s just published an important study on how much trees actually do (or don’t) mitigate carbon emissions. His findings will help ensure more accurate calculations for CO2 emissions from countries like the United States that rely on forests to offset their high rates of pollution. Next, we hear from Seth Berry, an Assemblyman from the State of Maine, who gives us an insider’s perspective on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, also known as ReGGIe, a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions from power plants with 9 participating US states and some parts of eastern Canada.

Inside The Mind of Mitt: Romney and the Environment

In the past Sea Change Radio has sought the input of journalists and policy-makers on President Obama’s environmental record. So far, however, we have not looked at his challenger, Mitt Romney. Many onlookers find themselves baffled as they try to make sense of this candidate’s positions on multiple topics, including climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency, and energy policy.  This week on Sea Change Radio, host Alex Wise talks with environmental journalist Neela Banerjee. A Washington DC-based reporter for the LA Times and Chicago Tribune, Banerjee helps shed some light on the Republican candidate who wants so badly to lead the United States. She discusses Romney’s past and current environmental positions and we get a glimpse of what a hypothetical Romney presidency might look like from a sustainability perspective.

Clean Energy Connections

philgiudicekevindoyleAt the Clean Energy Connections Conference in November 2008, Sea Change Radio Co-Host Francesca Rheannon spoke with Massachusetts Commissioner of Energy Resources Phil Guidice about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and state-level clean energy initiatives. She also interviewed Kevin Doyle, co-chair of the workforce development group of the New England Clean Energy Council, about the importance for low income people to have a voice at the table in developing the clean energy economy. For the News Analysis, Rheannon and Co-Host Bill Baue speak with Elizabeth Kolbert about her New Yorker profile of Green for All Founding President Van Jones entitled “Greening the Ghetto.” And Francesca brings us a modest proposal for funding energy efficiency in this week’s ViewPoint.Read the show transcript