In February, Tesla announced it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and would soon accept the cryptocurrency for car purchases. While bolstering Elon Musk’s crypto cred on Twitter, the move has a serious climate impact. Tesla prides itself on being the green car company, made starker after its 2016 acquisition of SolarCity. Yet...
The most-watched election in the world is over, and the United States will have a new president. Democrats succeeded in removing Donald Trump from office — the first one-term president in nearly 30 years and the fourth in the last century — but the Republican Party won this election. Joe...
There are many things we look for in a president. We look for leadership and the ability to manage grave challenges like a pandemic. While most people are focused on avoiding COVID-19 and keeping their jobs, we would be wise to remember that one of the most important roles for...
This year’s US presidential election is likely to unleash the most polarizing discourse we’ve seen in decades. We’re likely to hear both sides use extreme labels like fascist, socialist and racist. We’ve already seen a clear schism between the parties and an equally deep-seated hostility within the parties. A Better...
Freedom is under attack around the world. Police are rounding up hundreds of opposition protesters in Moscow, while hundreds of thousands are protesting in Hong Kong for freer elections, a free press and freedom from extradition to China. Yet in the United States, the hard right is taking extraordinary actions...
The Green New Deal as proposed makes the right diagnosis, but the wrong prescription for government action on renewable energy. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey’s Green New Deal has sparked an important and overdue debate about America’s energy future. The core message of the controversial bill is correct: America...
The real solution to reducing California’s wildfires lies in building a world-class economy that moves off carbon-based fuels to sustainable energy. Smoky skies and incinerated homes from wildfires are becoming the new normal in the United States and other countries throughout the world. Bad luck alone is not to blame....
The looming problem of California’s pension system should be front and center for the upcoming governor’s race. As the California governor’s race heats up, voters should focus on one issue that towers above all others in importance: our public pension system’s slide toward insolvency. Even as the stock market soars to...
You can now add landslides to the list of America’s climate change concerns. This last year California had two of the most devastating fires in its history, with a firestorm that burned 245,000 acres and killed 44 people. The cost to the economy was over $85 million. Just seven weeks...
Today, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to recapture some of the space we need make our cities more liveable. Americans love cars and shopping malls, but changes on the horizon suggest that this love affair will not last. Technology is triggering massive transformations in our economy, and...
