Environment and Energy

If LAC wants to close its infrastructure gap and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the region will need to significantly increase investment in infrastructure. The pre-pandemic annual investment level of 1.4% of GDP compares poorly with the 3.1% needed to close the gap. Finding innovative policies to finance them would ensure that […]

In 2016, Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro designated an area larger than the size of Portugal as a “strategic development zone” to facilitate the mining of gold and other minerals. The area, called “The Orinoco Mining Arc,” includes some of the most pristine areas of the Amazon and borders Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage […]

African history did not begin and end with the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It began with the birth and advancement of human civilization. Ancient Africans weren’t barbaric and uncultured, but the progenitors of modern humanity. From the world’s oldest universities and empires to the shapers of society, Africa was the foundation of humanity. Across the world, […]

I comb through the accent of my adolescent street views and patterns. Deciphering the moral compass that orients its existence. In morse code street peddlers dot, dit, and dash cash flows Bringing movement to our traffic jammed economy. This is a revolt against our arrested feats. Pinned down political beats, whose sub frequencies have yet […]

In this Africa Policy Journal Fireside Chat, Public Policy and African Studies Lecturer, Prof. Zoe Marks of the Harvard Kennedy School, explores the role of agriculture, technology, and entrepreneurship in harnessing the potential of Africa’s young people, in conversation with Right Honourable Dr. Saulos Chilima, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi. Dr. Chilima has […]

After decades of inaction, humanity faces potential extinction through an ecological collapse of its own making.1 Climate change, ocean acidification, mass extinction, soil depletion, acid rain, rising seas, extreme weather, unstoppable wildfires, pollution, deforestation, and desertification would each be immense challenges for global governance individually—thecombination seems insurmountable, but because all share an underlying cause, there […]

Abstract: Electric Vehicles (EVs) provide environmental benefits to society while simultaneously providing direct health and financial benefits to drivers who adopt them. While California’s progressive state policies have accelerated EV adoption, historic bias continues to be embedded in California’s “CALGreen” building code — effectively delivering the most benefits of EV driving to already-affluent single-family homeowners, […]

A progressive vision for the United States needs to include foreign policy. Today’s challenges require a holistic view that recognizes the connections between domestic and international issues. Military-first approaches have long predominated in American engagement with the world, but advancing justice for all amid historic crises will require a new paradigm.

In the second part of SPJ’s interview series on sustainability, we continue our conversation with Melissa Low, a research fellow at the Energy Studies Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), this time focusing on the broader global context and Singapore’s role in it. In light of recent global milestones in climate policy, Melissa shares with us about how they influenced her work in Singapore, as well as her well wishes for Singapore’s climate policy.

On March 13th, SPJ hosted its first virtual discussion of the Spring semester. It was motivated by the announcement of Singapore’s Green Plan 2030, a cross-ministry initiative promoting ‘sustainable development’ in the city-state. In light of this, the discussion centered around the tensions and tradeoffs between the environment and the economy.

In SPJ’s very first interview series, we speak with Melissa Low, a research fellow at the Energy Studies Institute (NUS). As momentum builds up for a more comprehensive climate policy in Singapore, Melissa shares with us her views on sustainability in Singapore. This article is the first of a two-part series and focuses on domestic issues including existing challenges and the rebranded Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE).

I spent most of my childhood skateboarding next to a covered landfill near my home in San José, California. From the late-1800s to the mid-1900s, a brick company mined clay along the nearby creek where millions of bricks were made that were used to build San Francisco’s skyline – until it was closed and used […]