Sean Meriwether's Blog: The Green Economist, page 16

La Alhambra de Westchester

NY Dispatch Day 85: Seven years ago my husband and I received the keys to our castle, an apartment in Westchester on the top floor of an apartment building on the top of a hill. Our aerial vantage point inspired us to name our abode after La Alhambra, the Moorish complex that seems to float above Granada, Spain. We were both inspired by that ancient buildings rich in history and symbolism. It is hard to believe that when we arrived this bare apartment had been empty for more than 5 years and was...

Let’s Start with Communication

NY Dispatch Day 84: This morning I drove out to visit my mother and help her around the house with projects that are easier done with two people. We had a wide-ranging conversation over the course of the day, including what steps we as a nation need to take to answer the call of protesters seeking justice and an end to systemic racism. It is a complex problem that we must work on together. It hasn’t been solved yet, but the millions of people in the streets have hope that they can will change in...

Be The Change

NY Dispatch Day 83: In the days following the execution of George Floyd by the police there was justifiable anger, frustration, and shock. This was one more body in an endless string of murdered black Americans. The world watched in disgust as a man who allegedly paid with a counterfeit $20 bill was killed in the street by an officer who showed no remorse. People took to the streets in protest. Protests emerged in cities across the nation, then across the globe, demanding not just justice for th...

The Legacy of Inherited Racism

NY Dispatch Day 82: This week was full of conflicting news. I have seen my share of upsetting videos with police beating and shooting protesters. Looters distracting us from the real issues. A dysfunctional tyrant who is eagerly fostering divisions for his own political gain. While we are in the middle of a health and economic crisis. Never mind the climate crisis, which has been sidelined by more pressing concerns. It can be overwhelming.

But I have also seen tens of thousands come together in ...

Bridge Cultures Through the Arts

NY Dispatch Day 81: My parents did not have much in common, but one thing they shared was a love of the arts. My mother bought us books on artwork and architecture, introduced us to protest folk music and the Beatles, while my father loved opera, The Doors, and the fiction of the Lost Generation. They both saw the importance of art in helping learn about life. We humans tend to gravitate toward things that are safe and familiar, and algorithms will only suggest things based on what you have alre...

Are Cities the Next Pandemic Victims?

NY Dispatch Day 80: One of the unspoken victims of the pandemic is our cities. The things that make Metropolis such an fulfilling place to live also facilitates the spread of this highly contagious virus. Mass transit, crowded spaces, sports arenas and theatres, high density apartment buildings. NPR had a report on US city dwellers who were considering buying a car to avoid mass transit; God bless them if they can find a parking space! European cities, which have been aggressively moving away fr...

Book Review: Climate of Hope

A number of climate change themed books track how we got to this (tipping) point and paint disaster-porn scenarios of our continued inaction. Cities underwater! Millions of climate refugees! Runaway temperatures! Melting icebergs! They raise multiple red flags and back up their statements with statistics and data trends. They rightfully lay blame on obstructionist government officials (looking at you U.S. Republican party), the oil and gas industry which continues to receive billions in gover...

Book Review: The Water Will Come

The most frightening theme in Jeff Goodell’s tour of coastal cities is not the rising oceans but the maddening certainty of many residents living in these threatened areas that someday someone else will fix the problem… if there is a problem. This blind hope is especially pronounced in Republican-dominated U.S. cities where politicians and waterfront real estate developers claim that climate change is not a problem while water reclaims land that maybe should never have been built on in the fi...

Basic Income Can Be Used to Protect Ecosystems

Objections to basic income typically follow a colonialist mentality. Like parents dispensing an allowance, those holding the purse strings are certain that they know best about how funds should (or if they should) be purposed. Detractors believe that the recipients will misspend the money, stop working, and/or become permanent dependents of the state. Expensive administrative constraints have been placed on who receives aid and how it should be delivered, for instance in the form of food stam...

How Basic Income Can Be Used to Protect Ecosystems

Objections to basic income typically follow a colonialist mentality. Like parents dispensing an allowance, those holding the purse strings are certain that they know best about how funds should (or if they should) be purposed. Detractors believe that the recipients will misspend the money, stop working, and/or become permanent dependents of the state. Expensive administrative constraints have been placed on who receives aid and how it should be delivered, for instance in the form of food stam...