Sean Meriwether's Blog: The Green Economist, page 8

“I Have A Dream”

NY Dispatch Day 167: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his aspirational “I Have a Dream” address 57 years ago, asking our nation to imagine a future in which all people were considered equal, regardless of race or creed. Yesterday thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate that historic event. Dr. King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, reminded us of the future his father had envisioned, but invoked the fresh wounds of today. Mr. King said, “We need you to vote as if your l...

Big Blue Marble

NY Dispatch Day 166: I grew up on Upper Greenwood Lake, the low-rent cousin of Greenwood Lake, which was a real estate venture thought up by the New York Daily Mirror. They bought the land cheap, dammed up a river to flood the shallow valley, and sold waterfront lots at a profit through the newspaper. However, they were not very organized, well financed, or fast enough to cut down all the trees before the waters rose. The lake has always been very silty; not ideal for swimming but picturesque. O...

The GOP: We Are the Storm

NY Dispatch Day 165: Inspired by calls from his president, the Republican National Convention, and local police, a teenage boy had his mom drive him across the state line into Wisconsin. He wanted to join the volunteer militia that was called upon to protect property from people protesting the most recent shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake. The child walked around the streets with a semi-automatic rifle staring in his own single-shooter video game. He shot into the crowd, killing one ...

Another Way To Get To 270

NY Dispatch Day 164: In the months to come we are going to hear a lot about the Electoral College. One of the pain points raised every presidential election is that we as individuals are not actually voting for the president, we are casting our ballot for our state electorates to vote for the president. There are 538 electors who are bound to cast their vote for the presidential candidate based on the outcome of their state’s popular vote. The election is decided by an absolute majority of 270 v...

“I merely sing the truth”

NY Dispatch Day 163: As the GOP gathers to rewrite history, defend white nationalism, and turn the RNC into a dynastic event of unbridled nepotism where all of the president’s family and friends have been given speaking roles to promote season 2 of the White House Reality Show (except the ones who have been arrested or resigned in scandal), another Black American was shot by police, giving fresh fuel to the peaceful protests taking place around the country.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, Jacob Blake, wh...

“I merely sing the truth”b

NY Dispatch Day 163: As the GOP gathers to rewrite history, defend white nationalism, and turn the RNC into a dynastic event of unbridled nepotism where all of the president’s family and friends have been given speaking roles to promote season 2 of the White House Reality Show (except the ones who have been arrested or resigned in scandal), another Black American was shot by police, giving fresh fuel to the peaceful protests taking place around the country.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, Jacob Blake, wh...

Reopening Schools 101

NY Dispatch Day 162: The dog days of August are giving way to back to school shopping, but this term comes with hard lessons learned. In the middle of the spring semester most schools and universities had to scramble to develop remote learning plans. Teachers were forced to use technology in innovative ways, conducting classes via Zoom and trying to keep their student’s attention. The digital divide broadened as students who did not have the resources, Wi-Fi, or a safe and quiet place to learn r...

Sticks and Stones

NY Dispatch Day 161: I have always had a passion for books, but they became my companions during my childhood. Books allowed me to enter the insulated safety of another writer’s imagination. My hometown in rural New Jersey may have been bucolic, but it was no haven for readers. The nearest bookstore was at the mall more than an hour away and the town’s two-room library had a meager selection. Undeterred by the lack of literary choices, my mother and I became professional book vultures, able to r...

Responding to Our Climate Crisis

NY Dispatch Day 160: Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency in California on August 18th. There are close to 6,880 fires burning across the state, which has left 729,000 acres in ashes; this is about the size of Rhode Island. The fires are still growing in size but are already some of the largest in the state’s history. They were sparked by an unprecedented number of lighting strikes during a storm; another storm is on the horizon. The monumental blaze has outstripped resources and manpow...

Lie Down With Dogs…

NY Dispatch Day 159: Is is still schadenfreude when you enjoy seeing a criminal caught in the act? In the run up to the Republican National Convention, Steve Bannon, the president’s first political strategist and founder of the conspiracy theory website Breitbart News, was arrested along with three others on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They had launched a crowdfunding campaign called “We Build the Wall” to profit off of the GOP fear campa...