Sustainable Community Development

The Initiative for Responsible Investment, headed by NEN co-chair David Wood, has just released a new report on impact investing. The book is an introductory approach to impact investing policies that will allow policy makers, investors, and civil society to better evaluate such policies.

Rachel Botsman’s TED talk is a great introduction to Collaborative Consumption. She argues that it’s more than a mere trend.

The Sustainable Economies Law Center has also released a video but this one is focused on how the law doesn’t cover the very kind of collaboration consumption Rachel Botsman indicates is so vital.

Environment

In January the EPA revoked the mining permit for the largest mountaintop removal mining operation in West Virginia, Arch Coal’s Spruce Mine No. 1, that would have buried more than 7 miles of streams, polluted groundwater, and destroyed communities. This has only fanned the flames of coal supporters’ rhetoric and has resulted in both concern and celebration throughout Appalachia.

The Cancun meeting on climate change didn’t yield the results the progressive community had hoped for. The Americas Program as the International Relations Center says it best in their article: “Cancun Agreement Succeeds in Meeting Low Expectations.”

The Oil Spill Commission finally released its report on BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite lacking the tools (subpoena power) to actually conduct a full investigation the Commission still managed to condemn BP’s behavior and call for tighter regulation.

Democracy and Corporate Accountability

The FCC declared new rules regarding net neutrality in December, thereby paving the way for a two-tier internet where companies can pay for faster transmission and prioritization of their sites. Net neutrality advocates remain wary that such measures will amount to censorship and restrict the free flow of information currently available.

In the wake of Citizens United, health care insurers gave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce $86 million to oppose the health care overhaul, according to tax records and people familiar with the donation.  Unsurprisingly the Chamber has come out in favor of a repeal vote.

Macroeconomic Policy

Worried about the sustainability of an economic model built on limitless growth and consumption? Check out NEN organizational member the Center for a Steady State Economy’s new report “Enough is Enough: Ideas for a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources” to learn more about policies, initiatives, and ideas for an economy that is sustainable and just.

Dennis Kucinich has introduced a bill–the National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) act– that would transform the monetary system. Among other things the bill contains a call to abolish the Federal Reserve.

The Atlantic Monthly recently ran an article about one effect of globalized capitalism: a new global elite that is not anchored to a single country. While the magazine does not go so far as to condemn this or offer solutions, it does offer a glimpse into the world’s top 1% of income earners, who it turns out are rarely wealthy through inheritance.

Social Justice

Pension funds are being attacked recently as drains on strapped state and municipal budgets for undeserving public employees. Robert Reich argues the attack on the pensions is shameless and ludicrous but Republican commentators continue unabated. The Drum Major Institute helps keep it in perspective of how attacking pensions hurts other working people.

United for a Fair Economy has released their annual MLK State of the Dream report to measure racial wealth. Check out their  video on the report: State of the Dream 2011: Austerity for Whom? from United for a Fair Economy on Vimeo.

The Center for American Progress has released a report on living wages that includes case studies from successful legislative initiatives around the U.S. For those still fighting for a living wage, like Living Wage NYC, this can help educate policymakers about what living wage legislation should look like and what its impact should be.