Category: Education

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New Jersey Now “Gets” Climate Change. What We Are Still Missing: “From Government and Really Helping”: Part 3

By Matt Polsky

Image result for Texas National Guard aid residents in flooded areas from Hurricane Harvey daily kos

Photo by Army National Guard/Lt. Zachary West

The first two articles of this Series, see here and here, discussed ideas and gave recommendations about opportunities to address climate change about which we’re not hearing enough of in New Jersey. We continue to provide more of these in Part 3.

Two historians of science, Oreskes and Conway, responding recently to the latest IPCC report, and invoking the “transformation” concept, both discussed in Part 2, tell us that “Major transformations can happen in a generation. But not without government help.” So, we’re going to have to talk about State Government yet again, because it is that important.

They also rebut the conventional wisdom that the technological advancements many are counting on to address climate change are going to come solely from the private sector.

Continue reading “New Jersey Now “Gets” Climate Change. What We Are Still Missing: “From Government and Really Helping”: Part 3”

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What We Need to Do Now about GHG Emissions in New Jersey

By Jonathan Cloud

Over the past several decades, scientists have warned us that we need to curtail further greenhouse gas emissions if we wish to keep global warming below 2°C, which many consider a major danger limit for the Earth’s climate. The latest IPCC Special Report suggests that our economy must undergo a series of rapid transformations if we are to have a chance of staying at or below 1.5°C, and going over that could have disastrous consequences for many millions of people. The global emissions trajectory we are on is clearly incapable of even slowing the rate of temperature growth and sea-level rise, and must be reduced dramatically if we are achieve even a modest extension of the time we have before the Earth hits another milestone and potential tipping point.

Both U.S. and NJ emissions have been declining since the early 2000s, and NJ actually hit its 2020 goal of bringing emissions down to 1990 levels by 2008. But reaching the next set of objectives, an 80% reduction by 2050, will be significantly harder. According to a 2017 Rutgers report, “meeting the state’s limit of an 80 percent reduction from the 2006 level by 2050 will require a 75 percent reduction from 2012 emissions.”[1] The UN estimates that global emissions overall must be trending firmly downward by 2020 (just over a year away) if we are to have any hope of staying “well under the 2°C limit,” which is the language of the Paris Accord.

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Launching NJ’s New Green Economy

A More Comprehensive Look at a Green Economy Strategy for New Jersey

Launching this web site is an opportunity to feature the ideas of a new environmental generation — and a platform for shaping the public discourse in New Jersey. The election of Phil Murphy marks a return to a progressive, green, and socially-affirming agenda, and it’s important to support this direction against the general drift of New Jersey politics. The recent (June 2018) budget battle is an example of the frustrations and compromises that seem likely to place limits on what Murphy can accomplish, but neither he nor we can afford to be discouraged by it. His reach may exceed his grasp, but it’s worth reaching for.

Creating a genuinely green economy is, arguably, a win-win proposition.1 It creates jobs — jobs that are meaningful, satisfying, and worthwhile.2 It makes us more resilient, and more sustainable, and a better example for the rest of the country. It demonstrates that green is profitable, inclusive, and uplifting. It creates a world that works better for everyone, not just for a select few — but it works for them also. (How is it not in the interests of “the elite” to have a society that is prosperous, and generous, and fair? Many if not most of the wealthy recognize that much of their wealth comes from the rising productivity, prosperity, and well-being of everyone else.) When things get better for everyone, they get better for everyone.

This is what the Murphys, both Phil and Tammy, are all about. But it’s up to the rest of us to make sure they stay on track, and are not derailed by circumstances, naysaying, or the daunting challenges they face in pushing NJ into the fast lane toward a sustainable future.3 This web site offers a more comprehensive look at a green economic strategy for New Jersey, and provides some practical opportunities for civic action, green entrepreneurship, and grassroots engagement.

Continue reading “Launching NJ’s New Green Economy”

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Fellow ISErs!

Yet another one from me on a Green Economy for New Jersey. I’m really testing that famous definition of insanity about failing, failing, failing at the same thing and still expecting different results. But after this maybe 16th attempt, I think that will be it on this topic.

Anyway, a few things about it.

  1. The first part of it is largely my class’ product. But that also catalyzed me to then go beyond it with what I had to say in the second part
  2. Well, I had a lot, some 40 years’ worth of ideas and experience, which is why it is so long—as well as because I think it is important and hope it is useful to someone someday
  3. This is my third “legacy-type” offering, both on New Jersey and not. The first two were “A Look at Sustainable Development in New Jersey: How Have We Done & What Are the Opportunities– If We Want Them?,” a history of the Ups and Downs of Sustainability in New Jersey; and “On 40 Years Watching the Sustainable Business Field,” on where I think the sustainable business field needs to go. I fear I have a fourth in me if I can find the time, energy, and spirit—and/or if I can find a co-writer late summer willing to write every odd-numbered draft. It would be on “Now that New Jersey is Interested in Climate Change—Finally, what are we still missing?” I’d really like to finish getting these 40-year things off my plate so I can focus outside of New Jersey on global things, especially transformational (big societal) change (the subject of my Ph.D. research). Not that New Jersey will ever be totally out of my watching
  4. As this document is so long, I wanted to point out both the students’ section, and mine, have separate Tables of Contents. Both have Executive Summaries, Intros, Conclusions, and Recommendations. So you can read a bit here and there!
  5. Both the students’ section, and mine, summarize a number of relevant historical reports, etc. You may find some familiar ones there
  6. Beyond the green economy topic, you might find a more meta-topic interesting. In my section, there’s a unit on “Mindset Barriers.” These are, in my view, quiet attitudinal and communications obstacles, not just to the green economy, but to other new ideas. This one I may re-use in my thesis research.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

Hope you all have restful summers.

Matt

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