Environmental Policy & Law

At the Commerce Department, I have the privilege to serve as Secretary Bryson's senior policy adviser on energy and environment issues.

For millennia, Colorado's Yampa River Valley has followed the rhythms of wildlife mating and migration, the habits of elk and grouse and bear. The arrival of ranching in the 1880s altered the pattern a little, but radical change didn't occur until the last half of the 20th century. That's when the big ranches began to be broken up into small ranchettes and vacation-home lots, the kind of low-density exurban sprawl responsible for habitat fragmentation across the West.

"Investment decisions involving loss of land and access to critical resources like water can have a devastating impact on the poorest communities who are dependent on the land to feed their families and make a living. For such projects, there must be even greater transparency, due diligence, and attention to community rights to resources - not less," said Anne Perrault of the Centre of International Environmental Law, co-author of the briefing. Read the full story

Laura Bozzi, a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, said that Green jobs are one career path that people can be trained for, and the result will be dependable employment that is needed in a world that is growing more “green” every day.

New investments in China and the Middle East have demonstrated a developing strategic interest in renewable energies. Yet every country still faces obstacles: be it legislation in the United States or enforcement and rapid development in China. Kelly Sims Gallagher of the Fletcher School at Tufts University sits down with IP to talk about the future of energy policy and its effects on foreign relations. Read the full interview

Sad tales of our failures in society to be adaptable, remarkable stories of the intricate ways in which natural organisms have survived and thrived for billions of years on an unpredictable planet, and hopeful examples of how all sorts of people, organizations, corporations and bureaucracies have learned to be adaptable.

Vermonters speak their piece about local issues on Town Meeting Day, but some people want to be heard on controversial national issues. This year more than 50 towns are taking up a resolution on corporate personhood, and in past years the war in Iraq and genetically modified foods have been on Town Meeting warnings, or they've been debated under "other business." Monday on Vermont Edition, we'll discuss whether town meeting is the right place to debate issues that reach far beyond your town line.

Sen. Barbara Boxer seems to have achieved the impossible by crafting a transportation bill that is overcoming partisan gridlock in the U.S. Senate. Recently, the Senate voted 85-11 to advance Boxer's transportation bill, MAP-21, to a floor vote that is expected to be scheduled when Congress returns to Washington on Feb. 27. Read the full op-ed