Sustainable Community Development

Steve Dubb from the Democracy Collaborative interviews Jon Emmeus David, co-founder of Burlington Associates in Community Development and Dean of the National Community Land Trust Academy.

Slow Money NYC held its first Entrepreneur Showcase presenting panels featuring sustainable agriculture enterprises and sustainable investment vehicles to spark conversations and connections amongst sustainable food and farming entrepreneurs, investors, intermediaries, food activists and interested parties.

The microfinance industry has been rocked with a series of scandals, and it appears to be unraveling despite many lenders’ noble aims. Grameen Bank’s challenges and accomplishments  introducing micro-finance to New York city are documented in the film To Catch a Dollar. Also on the positive side, the Sam Adams Brewing Company and Accion USA have announced a new partnershipto bring micro-financing to food and beverage entrepreneurs in New England.

Community banks are doing surprisingly well in the post crash market, bankers said, thanks to their personal, small-town style of service and a common-sense approach to balancing their books.

Environment

The media landscape is dotted by climate believers and deniers, but why are those who do much of the speaking about climate science so rarely climate scientists? That’s the question raised by a handful of Australian scientists in this hilarious video from the Australia Broadcasting Corp. show Hungry Beast.

The French public says no to ‘Le Fracking’. Opposition around Paris and southern France has halted the plans of energy titans such as Total. France’s lower house approved a bill to ban fracking on May 12th.

Advocates for the Earth are dusting off old legal concepts and developing new ones to bring the fight to save the environment to the courts. CSRwire writer Francesca Rheannon describes efforts to create an earth-friendly jurisprudence.

A report commissioned by the Vatican’s Scientific Panel, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, doesn’t mince words: it urges the world to act quickly and strongly to address climate change.

Democracy and Corporate Accountability

Simon Billenness and Sanford Lewis have prepared an analysis of the financial and operational risks to Chevron Corporation from Aguinda v. Chevron Texaco in an independent report commissioned by Amazon Watch & Rainforest Action Network .

ASBC’s Business for Democracy Campaign joins the voices of business leaders together in support of core democratic values and opposes the Citizens United ruling allowing unlimited secret corporate donations in U.S. elections.

The House Financial Services Committee voted to limit the power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as Republicans continued to fight against the centerpiece of last year’s Wall Street reform law.

There’s growing evidence that serious health problems threaten the Gulf Coast’s residents, cleanup workers and seafood consumers in the wake of the BP oil disaster.

Macroeconomic Policy

The Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars has published a National Strategic Narrative, by “Mr. Y”, which advocates for America to” pursue her enduring interests of prosperity and security through a strategy of sustainability that is built upon the solid foundation of our national values”.

World Academy of Art and Science and Cadmus have launched Seed-Ideas to address the unprecedented problems and opportunities facing the human community today. They have a forum devoted to new economic thinking; both formal papers and informal discussion are welcome.

Feasta’s latest book Fleeing Vesuvius: Overcoming the Risks of Economic and Environmental Collapse draws together many of the ideas its members have developed over the years and applies them to a single question – how can we bring the world out of the mess in which it finds itself

Speaking at the Future of Food Forum at Georgetown University, Prince Charles asks, “How can we create a more sustainable approach to agriculture that is capable of feeding the world with a global population rapidly heading for nine billion?”

In his column in New Labor Forum,  “Field Notes on Wall Street Reform: The Battle Continues” Robert Pollin argues that that whether Dodd-Frank bill is effective depends on who fills those holes, and where, in the process, their efforts are focused.

Social Justice

Wealth for the Common Good and The Agenda Project are co-sponsors of the Patriotic Millionaires Campaign, to increase millionaire tax rates. During the past month, the Patriotic Millionaires have been taking a stand: “For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.”

Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%. Joe Stiglitz writes in Vanity Fair,  ”Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.”

Richard Trumpka, the president of the AFL CIO, speaks to Congress about why immigration reform is important for the future of America’s working families.

The Center for American Progress issues a report on why organized labor is an essential driver of a strong middle class.