REUTERS 06/09/21 By Michael Shank After years of delays in acting, it’s now time for a radical ramp-up in emissions reductions goals There’s been a lot of postponing on the climate front of late. Some postponing has been understandable: The annual United Nations-facilitated climate talks, for example – known as […]
REUTERS 01/20/20 By Michael Shank A peer-to-peer energy sales platform will allow businesses to buy locally generated renewable power from others in the U.S. state When it comes to green energy innovation, there are few American states that innovate like Vermont. Last month, Vermont’s biggest power utility – Green Mountain […]
REUTERS 11/21/19 By Michael Shank The global environmental sensor market, as just one example, is already proliferating and expecting to be a $3 billion annual market in under ten years The Economist Intelligence Unit’s report this week warns that climate change will shave 3% off the world economy, costing almost […]
REUTERS 11/12/19 By Michael Shank and Joachim von Braun This week in Vatican City, at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, we discussed one of the world’s most critical economic, environmental, and social issues: food loss and waste. When one-third of all food is lost or wasted, this is a crisis […]
REUTERS 10/17/19 By Michael Shank Banks are still investing too heavily in fossil fuels, but 30 other top investors are making a green shift The news this month that the world’s largest banks still heavily finance fossil fuels, failed to respond to climate risks, and have yet to make substantial […]
REUTERS 07/22/19 By Michael Shank and US Congresswoman Yvette Clarke As the costs and threats from climate change rise, the key is not to wait until it’s too late to take action U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke represents New York’s 9th district and serves on the House Energy and Commerce […]
REUTERS 08/14/14 By Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers The article originally ran last October. It has been updated by the authors. There is a growing bipartisan public outrage about the local police force’s fiercely militarized response to protestors in Ferguson, Missouri. From Democrats to Republicans, progressive to libertarian, citizens across […]
REUTERS 08/06/14 By Michael Shank Africa is the new frontier for the U.S. Defense Department. The Pentagon has applied counterterrorism tactics throughout the Middle East and, to a lesser extent, Central and South Asia. Now it is monitoring the African continent for counterterrorism initiatives. It staged more than 546 military […]
REUTERS 12/09/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Michael Honda The annual United Nations climate change talks, which concluded last month in Warsaw, unfortunately found little common ground on carbon. The talks broke down over the world’s richest nations’ inability to agree with the poorest on how to address the […]
REUTERS, CHICAGO TRIBUNE 10/22/13 By Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers This month, more Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles (MRAPs) have found their way from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the Main Streets of America. These are just the latest acquisitions in a growing practice by Pentagon that’s militarizing America’s municipal […]