FORTUNE 04/30/16 By Michael Shank and Carolyn Kissane There’s no more time for stalled sustainability measures. After 170-plus nations signed the Paris climate agreement last week and now with trans-Atlantic trade talks back on President Obama’s agenda, it’s clear that the international community’s trade rules will need to be rethought, […]
Trade Policy
Hottest Year on Record, 2014, Brings Economic Opportunity
HUFFINGTON POST 01/07/15 By Michael Shank and Julia Trezona Peek With 2014 weighing in as the hottest year on record, the window to mitigate global warming rapidly shrinks. It’s time to eliminate the debate that action on climate change will harm economic growth. Climate change, left unaddressed, will decimate our […]
Fossil Fuel Divestment Works in Slowing Global Warming
HUFFINGTON POST 09/02/14 By Michael Shank and Julia Trezona Peek Once the lone province of climate scientists, the chorus warning of the costs of inaction on climate change grows larger daily, from former United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who warned Washington this summer of the coming climate bubble, to […]
Africa Needs More From Obama Than Promises
CDN 08/08/14 By Michael Shank WASHINGTON, August 8, 2014 — As the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit concludes with well over $30 billion in commitments from the U.S. government, World Bank and private companies, it is important for President Barack Obama to move beyond the Summit’s primary focus on big business expansion, […]
Military-First is the Wrong Approach Toward Africa
POLITIX 08/07/14 By Michael Shank As President Barack Obama hosts the Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. this week, it’s important for the president to put on the front-burner policies that promote peace on the continent. Instead of prioritizing counter-terrorism, resource extractive or aid-only agendas – which is what has […]
EU-US Free Trade Zone ‘Deeply Problematic’ Without Developing Economies
RIA NOVOSTI 05/20/14 NEW YORK, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – It is “deeply problematic” for the EU and the US to promote a free trade zone deal that eschews big developing economies, according to a legislation expert for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby group. Supporters of […]
TTIP Will Only Be to The Benefit of Industries
RUSSIA TODAY 05/19/14 Most of the working groups involved in trade negotiations are represented by industries and such biased approaches raise concerns over access and the transparency of the whole process, Michael Shank from Friends Committee on National Legislation told RT. “If you want to be a part of the […]
Can TTIP Live up to its Promises?
ATLANTIC 05/09/14 By Neil Thompson The Friedrich-Ebert Foundation invited two opposing speakers to debate the merits of TTIP. An important point to come out of the argument was both agreed it should not be set in stone once signed. It is meant to be a living document, subject to a […]
A Budget for Working America
THE HILL 04/04/14 By Michael Shank and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) To hear corporate America tell it, our economic recovery is going great. The top 1 percent of earners saw their incomes grow by 31.4 percent from 2009-2012. Oil companies are seeing record profits. Unfortunately, that’s not the recovery — […]
Jobs: A Human Right
ROLL CALL 02/12/14 By Michael Shank There are several signs in the House of Representatives that indicate that members of Congress are taking seriously the call to create quality employment for Americans. This is a good thing and something of which we need to see more, especially with 50 million […]