News and Analysis Alerts are provided to our community. They give you a taste of the unique work we do on a range of environmental issues that focus on scientific advances, current policy actions, and emerging risks and opportunities. We hope you find it useful. Stay tuned for more and please let us know how we can help you.
Latest OpEd
Trump's Wall Plans Presents an Environmental Quagmire
A little known Act could upend environmental protection in favor of border wall construction triggering consequences across the US. The resulting environmental effects of a wall are likely to ensnarl existing and future projects.   Learn more >  ( Huffington Post Impact Article.)
Emerging
What Next for Carbon Tax and Social Cost of Carbon?
Recently, I wrote how a 7 th Circuit ruling may pave the way for a Carbon tax. Although controversial, this tax along with the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) offer attractive solutions to many. They raise the thorny issue of whether businesses can find their own path to sustainability or whether they are regulated (more on that later). The National Academy of Sciences prepares to issue a report on SCC,and several Republican politicians have called for a Carbon Tax.I'll be keeping you posted    Learn more >
On the Blog
New Science: Seagrasses protect human health by reducing disease causing pathogens   
Attention developers, conservationists, and regulators.  Seagrasses know as nurseries for commercial fish, traps for beach sand, and assets in the blue carbon economy, also reduce, by 1/2 to 3-fold the levels of pathogens that cause diseases in humans and corals.....    Learn more >
To Consider
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under fire today, but why did America first feel a need to establish an EPA
The EPA is in the news and in the firing line,  Popular Science explores its origin and history. Why America may still need it and more than ever  Learn more >
Topic Brief
Update:Ocean Trade and Carbon Emissions.
Up to 90% percent of world trade is transported by sea. Shipping and aviation have largely been excluded from international negotiations on climate change partly because allocating their emissions to a particular country is hard. Shipping accounts for about 2.2% percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, a figure forecast to rise dramatically. While the International Maritime Organization is focused on monitoring emissions, the EU recently adopted reforms of their post-2020 carbon market that could result in emissions from shipping being included in  emissions trading system (ETS) for the first time- a move not supported by the Global Shipping Industry. But efforts to shine a light on shipping and climate change are increasing. The EU's Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) regulation will require ship operators to publicly report information on the environmental performance of ships. Expect this transparency to be a game changer. 


Events
The GIS and Web-based Coastal Resilience Tool that we have worked to develop with The Nature Conservancy and NASA is nearing completion and with a workshop and open house.
Aligning ecosystems and engineering- I'll be reporting on my recent participation and efforts with ASCE and the UN.
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