Sean Meriwether's Blog: The Green Economist, page 3

The Autumn Leaves

NY Dispatch: Fall is one of my favorite seasons in the northeast. The days are sunny and brisk, the nights are cool and crisp. Trees explode into an artist’s palette of colors, deep orange, yellow, and red that paint the landscape in rich hues. Apples are ripe on the trees and pumpkins decorate our doorways. Best yet, you get to wear layers of clothes, which helps hide the extra layer of skin you may gain over the holidays. Autumn is Mother Nature’s reminder that we need to get outside as much a...

Four Less Years!

NY Dispatch: Today my quiet town was treated to a ‘rona car rally in support of the president. They drove down Main Street at midday, honking their horns, flashing their lights, screaming, “Four more years!” and being otherwise troublesome on a Sunday afternoon. They paraded back and forth through town for over an hour. It was hard to tell how many were participating because they kept circling back, but there were at least 50. A large number of them had trucks sporting the American flag next to ...

Working Women

NY Dispatch: As the wave of COVID-19 cases continues to crest across the US, the necessary lockdowns are making seismic changes in our economy. The sectors hit hardest are in the service and hospitality sectors; most of us are staying home, not eating out, and few are travelling. These sectors have a majority female workforce, many of whom were let go over the last six months. Also being impacted are other female-driven sectors including daycare, housekeeping, and even healthcare, which is losin...

Chiller Thriller

NY Dispatch: It has been a dreary wet day here in New York. With so much going on in the world tonight is the perfect night to disconnect, curl up on the sofa, and watch a good movie. With Halloween fast approaching here are three of my favorite thrillers based on books. Make some popcorn and join me for a movie marathon…

Rosemary’s Baby was taken from Ira Levin’s novel almost word for word. The movie made the Dakota (more) famous a few years before John ...

Striking the Balance

NY Dispatch: We did not have much historical context to base our forecasting models on except the 1918 flu pandemic, which came in three waves over 18 months; the majority of the deaths came in the second wave in the fall. As anticipated the case rates have risen sharply in the northern hemisphere when people moved inside as the temperatures dropped. European countries that had it under control for the last few months are seeing regional spikes of COVID-19. The countries with the most cases, the...

All the Balls in the Air

NY Dispatch: Some days it feels like we get a month’s worth of news in a week’s time. It is like drinking from a firehose, to quote my old manager. There are one too many things grabbing for our attention, so here is a recap of the headlines.

The Supreme Court decided to end the 2020 Census early. The end date to collect information had changed a few times because of the pandemic, particularly the door-to-door effort to capture all households. The Census is required to count all people living...

Self Diagnosis

NY Dispatch 10/13/2020: When I was a younger gay man, I remember the anxiety I felt every time I started to feel sick. Was I infected? Was it HIV? Had I slipped up? I was a serial monogamist with an empty dance card, but still, there was a chance. It just took that one time.

Throughout the pandemic I have been especially healthy. I pick up colds easily and they have sometimes turned into sinus infections or bronchitis. I’ve had them both often enough that within 24 hours of the onset of sympt...

Indigenous People’s Day

NY Dispatch 10/12/2020: Today is Indigenous People’s Day when we celebrate and honor First Nation people, their distinctive and ancient cultures, and to correct history. The Native People of this continent have been misunderstood, misrepresented, maligned, and murdered for centuries. As they say, history is written by the victors and we have glossed over or ignored ignoble acts perpetuated by settlers and the government. For instance, most of what we know to be true about Christopher Columbus is...

National Coming Out Day

NY Dispatch 10/11/2020: Today is National Coming Out Day (NCOD), which is a LGBTQ+ day of visibility and awareness. Many of us use this day to come out of the closet and open up about our sexuality. I celebrated my first Coming Out Day as a freshman in college. I had joined NYU’s gay and lesbian student group and added my name to the ad they placed in the school paper to build awareness (and promote a school dance). I clipped this out and sent it to my mother with a note of explanation about...

Forever Young

NY Dispatch 10/10/2020: They say it becomes increasingly difficult to make new friends as you get older. I don’t mean acquaintances who you go for drinks with after work, but 3am-emergency-can-you-drive-me-to-the-airport kind of friends. Being an introvert makes it more difficult. During a pandemic where strangers could be infectious and kill you? Give me a break. So it was a welcome surprise that my best friend from high school moved nearby.

We met when we were 14. His family had relocated t...