Resources Radio - Resources for the Future

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Shifting Sands: Using Taxes to Build the Best Beaches, with Megan Mullin Jan 12, 2020

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This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Megan Mullin, an associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Mullin talks about her research, which analyzes how communities pay to rehabilitate beaches affected by erosion and how differential tax rates can affect levels of support for these beach nourishment projects. Mullin also makes clear why coastal management is relevant: as climate change accelerates the erosion of beaches, and as federal funding dries up, local communities will increasingly have to grapple with how to pay to replenish their shorelines. References and recommendations: "Paying to save the beach: effects of local finance decisions on coastal management" by Megan Mullin, Martin D. Smith, and Dylan E. McNamara; https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-018-2191-5 The Conversation, "Where does beach sand come from?" https://theconversation.com/where-does-beach-sand-come-from-126323 "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance"; https://www.netflix.com/title/80148535

Pricing Climate Risk in the Markets, with Robert Litterman Jan 04, 2020

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This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Robert Litterman, a founding partner at Kepos Capital and a board member at Resources for the Future (RFF). Litterman recently was named the chair of a new committee that will be advising US financial regulators on the economic risks of climate change, a new position that leverages Litterman's extensive experience working on risk management in the financial sector and his deep interest in climate change. Raimi and Litterman talk about the scale of the risks to the US financial system from climate change; whether and how markets are currently pricing the risks of climate change for assets like coastal property or energy companies; and the recent paper Litterman coauthored, which takes an unconventional and novel approach to carbon pricing. References and recommendations: "Global Warming of 1.5 degrees," an IPCC special report; https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ "Declining CO2 price paths" by Kent D. Daniel, Robert B. Litterman, and Gernot Wagner; https://www.pnas.org/content/116/42/20886

2019 Year in Review: Energy and Environmental Policy, with Susan Tierney and Sarah Ladislaw Dec 29, 2019

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This week's episode features a review of the year 2019 in environmental and energy policy, with two amazing guests: Susan Tierney, senior advisor at the Analysis Group and chair of the board at Resources for the Future (RFF); and Sarah Ladislaw, senior vice president, director, and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, with their Energy and National Security Program. Host Daniel Raimi facilitates a conversation with Tierney and Ladislaw, asking what they consider to be the most interesting environmental and energy policy developments during the past year, at the federal and state level. The discussion touches on everything from vehicles to electricity, to interstate natural gas pipelines, and more. References and recommendations: "Time to move away from old precedents in FERC pipeline reviews" by Susan Tierney; https://www.utilitydive.com/news/time-to-move-away-from-old-precedents-in-ferc-pipeline-reviews/567512/ "FERC’s Certification of New Interstate Natural Gas Facilities" by Susan Tierney; https://www.analysisgroup.com/globalassets/content/insights/publishing/revising_ferc_1999_pipeline_certification.pdf "Blowout" by Rachel Maddow; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576330/blowout-by-rachel-maddow/ "The River" by Peter Heller; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576820/the-river-by-peter-heller/ "Made in China: 2025 and the Future of American Industry" by Marco Rubio; https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d1c6db46-1a68-481a-b96e-356c8100f1b7/3EDECA923DB439A8E884C6229A4C6003.02.12.19-final-sbc-project-mic2025-report.pdf "Perspectives on the Green New Deal" with Leah Stokes and Jerry Taylor; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMPf9Zf2RSQ Riders in the Sky; https://www.ridersinthesky.com

Was Madrid a COP-Out? Assessing COP25, with Nathaniel Keohane Dec 21, 2019

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This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Nathaniel Keohane, senior vice president for climate at Environmental Defense Fund. In this episode, Keohane gives a readout on the outcomes of this year’s annual international climate negotiations, called COP25. He and Raimi talk about the goals of the conference; whether those goals were achieved; and several other issues, including conference protests, the role of the US delegation, and what to look forward to at next year’s COP26. There was so much to talk about that the episode extends about ten minutes beyond the usual length of the podcast. Given the importance and timeliness of this topic, we think you’ll appreciate the extra time. References and recommendations: "What to Expect at COP25 in Madrid" by Robert Stavins; https://www.resourcesmag.org/common-resources/what-expect-cop-25-madrid/ "Elliot Diringer on the conclusion of COP25" from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions; https://www.c2es.org/press-release/elliot-diringer-on-the-conclusion-of-cop-25/ "This Changes Everything" by Naomi Klein; https://thischangeseverything.org/book/

Understanding Water Use in the US Energy System, with Emily Grubert Dec 14, 2019

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This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Emily Grubert, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Raimi and Grubert discuss how water is used in the energy system, a subset of the topic known as the “Energy-Water Nexus.” They also talk about a 2018 paper that Grubert coauthored with Kelly Sanders—research that provides intricate detail on the life cycle of water consumption for every major fuel source in the United States. Raimi and Grubert compare and contrast the different water profiles of coal, oil, gas, biofuels, and other sources of energy. They also talk in detail about water use in hydraulic fracturing. References and recommendations: “Water use in the United States energy system: A national assessment and unit process inventory of water consumption and withdrawals” by Emily Grubert and Kelly T. Sanders; http://emilygrubert.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/PREPRINT-Grubert-Sanders-Water-for-US-Energy.pdf “Who speaks for Crazy Horse” by Brooke Jarvis; https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/23/who-speaks-for-crazy-horse “Gold Fame Citrus” by Claire Vaye Watkins; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/318277/gold-fame-citrus-by-claire-vaye-watkins/9781594634246/ “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/237233/the-water-knife-by-paolo-bacigalupi/

Preparing for the Coming Climate Disruption, with Alice Hill and Leonardo Martinez-Diaz Dec 07, 2019

Show notes

This week, host Kristin Hayes talks with Alice Hill and Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, authors of a new book released this fall by Oxford University Press, called "Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption." Hayes, Hill, and Martinez-Diaz delve into the topics covered in the book, including ten lessons for decisionmakers in building a resilient future. To introduce Hill and Martinez-Diaz, using their own words from the book (with some light editing for length): Alice Hill spent the bulk of her career in courtrooms, first as a US federal prosecutor chasing white-collar crooks and, later, as a judge presiding over cases ranging from homicide to medical malpractice. She became immersed in climate change after she joined the US Department of Homeland Security in 2009 as senior counselor to the secretary. She was tasked with helping the department understand how climate could affect its operations. Hill went on to the White House to lead resilience efforts as special assistant to President Obama and member of his climate team. She is now a senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council of Foreign Relations. Leonardo Martinez-Diaz spent several years as an academic before joining the Obama administration, where one of his first tasks as head of the policy office at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was overseeing the development of a climate change strategy for the agency. Later, as deputy assistant secretary for energy and environment at the Treasury Department, he negotiated finance elements of the Paris Agreement and represented the United States on the governing bodies of major providers of climate finance, including the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility. He now works at the World Resources Institute as the Global Director for WRI’s Sustainable Finance Center. References and recommendations: "Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption" by Alice Hill and Leonardo Martinez-Diaz; https://global.oup.com/academic/product/building-a-resilient-tomorrow-9780190909345 “New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding” by Scott A. Kulp and Benjamin H. Strauss; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12808-z "Ultimatum" by Matthew Glass; https://groveatlantic.com/book/ultimatum/

Public Attitudes toward Climate Activists, with Nathaniel Geiger Nov 30, 2019

Show notes

This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Nathaniel Geiger, assistant professor of communication science at Indiana University. Geiger studies, among other things, how the public responds to communication around climate change. Geiger and Raimi discuss the recent history of advocacy on climate change; how recent movements like the youth-led climate strike might shape public attitudes toward climate policy and toward the activists themselves; communicating with a wide range of audiences about climate issues; and much more. References and recommendations: "Is Climate Change like Diabetes or an Asteroid?" by Ted Nordhaus and Alex Trembath; https://thebreakthrough.org/articles/is-climate-change-like-diabetes "On Fire" by Naomi Klein; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-Fire/Naomi-Klein/9781982129910

Waive Goodbye? The History and Future of the California Waiver, with Emily Wimberger Nov 22, 2019

Show notes

On this week's podcast, Emily Wimberger talks with host Kristin Hayes about the so-called "California waiver." The waiver has flown under the public radar for decades, but it’s now getting a closer look from the Trump administration, and it’s been turning up in the headlines. In this episode, Wimberger and Hayes discuss what the waiver is; how it came to be; and why it matters for California, the rest of the United States, and perhaps even the rest of the world. Emily Wimberger is a climate economist at the Rhodium Group, working on the energy and climate team. Prior to Rhodium, she served as the chief economist for the California Air Resources Board, where she analyzed the economic impact of California’s portfolio of climate change and air quality policies, focusing on programs related to carbon markets and transportation. References and recommendations: "Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore" by Elizabeth Rush; https://milkweed.org/book/rising

Balancing the Ledgers: Pollution and GDP, with Nicholas Z. Muller Nov 15, 2019

Show notes

Nicholas Z. Muller, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, recently published a paper with coauthors that measures the health damages from air pollution in the United States. The paper looks at how those health damages compare with traditional economic metrics such as gross domestic product (GDP) and describes the harm that some economic activities impose, relative to their contribution to the economy. Raimi talks with Muller about how these trends have changed over time, which parts of the economy account for the most pollution, and what this all means for environmental policy. References and recommendations: "Fine Particulate Matter Damages and Value Added in the US Economy" by Peter Tschofen, Ines L. Azevedo, and Nicholas Z. Muller; https://www.pnas.org/content/116/40/19857 "The Sixth Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/elizabeth-kolbert Impossible Whopper at Burger King; https://impossiblefoods.com/burgerking/

Carbon Pricing Proposals in Today's Congress, with Marc Hafstead Nov 11, 2019

Show notes

In this special episode of Resources Radio, host Daniel Raimi partners with the Energy 360° podcast from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Energy Program. Raimi and CSIS's Sarah Ladislaw interview RFF Fellow Marc Hafstead, director of RFF's Carbon Pricing Initiative. Raimi and Ladislaw talk with Hafstead about a raft of recent legislative proposals in the US Congress to price greenhouse gas emissions: the major design elements of these bills, such as how revenues are used; how border adjustments can help protect US manufacturers; the political viability of these different proposals, including which policy elements might help build support for a carbon price; and whether other policy approaches, such as a Clean Energy Standard, stand more of a chance in today's political environment. References and recommendations: "The Wizard and the Prophet" by Charles C. Mann; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220698/the-wizard-and-the-prophet-by-charles-c-mann/ "Paying for Pollution: Why a Carbon Tax is Good for America" by Gilbert E. Metcalf; https://global.oup.com/academic/product/paying-for-pollution-9780190694197 "Paying for Pollution, with Gilbert Metcalf" Resources Radio podcast episode; https://www.resourcesmag.org/resources-radio/resources-radio-paying-for-pollution-with-gilbert-metcalf-of-tufts-university/

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