Author: Steven Cohen52

The Transformative Potential of Sustainability Education

The transition to a renewable economy requires education at every level. We need students in public and private schools to develop a deeper understanding of the global sustainability crisis, but we also need aspiring professionals and current professionals to develop the expertise needed to begin the transformation in real time, today.
A Sustainable City Would Continue to Keep Cars Out of Times Square

The trade-off between regulating public behavior and free speech can be difficult, but must be taken on if we are to have public space in sustainable cities. Since we need more of these public spaces rather than fewer spaces, the behavior in Times Square is a challenge of governance that must be taken on by…
EPA Spilled, but Didn’t Dump, the Toxics That Ended up in Colorado’s River

The short-term, expedient result of ignoring environmental impacts may be greater immediate profit for some, but the long-term impact is higher costs and lower profit, and many of those higher costs must be borne by all of us. Many of the companies that made the mess will be long gone before many of the bills…
The Environment and the 2016 Elections

The environment holds the potential to emerge as a political issue in the 2016 presidential election in part because it has gone from being a non-partisan consensus issue to a deeply partisan ideological issue. The battleground will be for the heart and mind of the independent voter.
Hillary Clinton Is Right on Climate Change and the New York Times Is Wrong

I would argue that given human behavior and organizational inertia it is better to subsidize something new than tax something old. A subsidy, like a sale, sometimes stimulates changed behavior. But a tax may or may not influence behavior.
Post-Sandy Rebuilding for Resiliency: Lessons From Long Beach, NY

It is not that people have gotten amnesia and don’t remember the damage of Hurricane Sandy. Some homes are still being rebuilt and some people are still displaced. Moreover, the people who lead the shore towns in Long Island and New Jersey are speaking the language of climate resiliency.
Coal Miners, Extractive Industries, and a Sustainable Economy

The impact of new technologies on jobs is unavoidable, and not all of the news is bad. Many old jobs are destroyed but many new jobs are created. The problem is that with weak unions, global competition and inadequate wage regulation, some of the new jobs are lower paid than the old jobs.
Removing Toxic Electronics From NYC’s Waste

We need to develop the public policies and standard operating procedures to make certain that discarded electronics are either recycled or carefully discarded. This requires that we abandon the idea that “out of sight is out of mind.”
Sustainability Policy Is Taking Hold in China

I left China encouraged by the widespread receptivity to the theory and practice of sustainability, but aware of the huge challenge that lies ahead. As we flew from Guiyang to Beijing for the return flight home, I looked down and saw a countryside dotted with scores of windmills. The transition from a coal-based economy to…

The Transformative Potential of Sustainability Education

The transition to a renewable economy requires education at every level. We need students in public and private schools to develop a deeper understanding of the global sustainability crisis, but we also need aspiring professionals and current professionals to develop the expertise needed to begin the transformation in real time, today.
A Sustainable City Would Continue to Keep Cars Out of Times Square

The trade-off between regulating public behavior and free speech can be difficult, but must be taken on if we are to have public space in sustainable cities. Since we need more of these public spaces rather than fewer spaces, the behavior in Times Square is a challenge of governance that must be taken on by…
EPA Spilled, but Didn’t Dump, the Toxics That Ended up in Colorado’s River

The short-term, expedient result of ignoring environmental impacts may be greater immediate profit for some, but the long-term impact is higher costs and lower profit, and many of those higher costs must be borne by all of us. Many of the companies that made the mess will be long gone before many of the bills…
The Environment and the 2016 Elections

The environment holds the potential to emerge as a political issue in the 2016 presidential election in part because it has gone from being a non-partisan consensus issue to a deeply partisan ideological issue. The battleground will be for the heart and mind of the independent voter.
Hillary Clinton Is Right on Climate Change and the New York Times Is Wrong

I would argue that given human behavior and organizational inertia it is better to subsidize something new than tax something old. A subsidy, like a sale, sometimes stimulates changed behavior. But a tax may or may not influence behavior.
Post-Sandy Rebuilding for Resiliency: Lessons From Long Beach, NY

It is not that people have gotten amnesia and don’t remember the damage of Hurricane Sandy. Some homes are still being rebuilt and some people are still displaced. Moreover, the people who lead the shore towns in Long Island and New Jersey are speaking the language of climate resiliency.
Coal Miners, Extractive Industries, and a Sustainable Economy

The impact of new technologies on jobs is unavoidable, and not all of the news is bad. Many old jobs are destroyed but many new jobs are created. The problem is that with weak unions, global competition and inadequate wage regulation, some of the new jobs are lower paid than the old jobs.
Removing Toxic Electronics From NYC’s Waste

We need to develop the public policies and standard operating procedures to make certain that discarded electronics are either recycled or carefully discarded. This requires that we abandon the idea that “out of sight is out of mind.”
Sustainability Policy Is Taking Hold in China

I left China encouraged by the widespread receptivity to the theory and practice of sustainability, but aware of the huge challenge that lies ahead. As we flew from Guiyang to Beijing for the return flight home, I looked down and saw a countryside dotted with scores of windmills. The transition from a coal-based economy to…