It’s easy for politicians to demonize rich corporate executives and demand they fund solutions. Most of us aren’t rich and thus won’t have to chip in, making for an easy sell. But a lack of money is often not the biggest problem, and solutions that ask more people to contribute force public officials to maintain some fiscal discipline.
There are many lessons derived from this body of work, a few of which I’ve shared here. However, there is much more to be learned from research on large scale, long term, collaborative efforts. In a time when uncertainties are growing, divisiveness is the order of the day, and climate change is impacting ecological integrity throughout the world, the need for adaptive visions for resilience, collectively determined trajectories, and effective ways of working together over the long term could not be more important. Through the study of these long term landscape scale collaborative groups participating in CFLRP, we offer applicable lessons that can help shape a future in collaborative environmental management that is based on adaptive management, resilience, ecological integrity, learning, and collective action.
My research shows job opportunities are increasing most rapidly in positions that pay less than US$30,000 thanks to automation as well as the growing demand for personal services – and the accompanying low wages. These types of jobs do not share as much in the fruits of economic growth.
Lack of resources or political support for sustainability are obstacles to integrating energy with environmental economic and social sustainability, but political and bureaucratic institutions that fragment authority are often the greatest barriers to more effective sustainability.
Corcoran claims the Legislature is better able to represent public opinion because it has 120 members versus the handful on most city councils. That's a unique view of representation, but given that he's the speaker and, as the saying goes, is in “the catbird seat," we may need to start asking for local policy directly from our state Legislature.
“Urban analytics is the multi-disciplinary area of research concerned with using new and emerging forms of data, alongside computational and statistical techniques, to study cities." - Singleton, Spielman and Folch
I analyzed the drastic changes that occurred in Florida’s local housing markets as a result of the housing market crash. The crash caused many home foreclosures in the better SAZs, which ended up as bank owned properties that were sold to large investment companies. These companies rented out these homes, which provided an affordable housing option to many low income/minority families within the better SAZs. According to my research, these rentals have had important effects on moving low income and minority families from bad to good schools. Hence, I have provided the first evidence in favor of adopting the housing affordability option to desegregate our public schools.
Despite the potential gains and minimized costs, not all state-based policymakers should pursue constitutional amendments as legislative goals. Constitutional amendments require significant time and political capital to ensure success. Policymakers that do not expect reelection, therefore should avoid this process. Instead these legislators should use what little political capital they have to quickly enact general legislation in an attempt to codify their own policy preference rather than be subject to the preferences of those that will replace them.
Instead of seeking “silver bullets,” we need a “golden path” that uses the research evidence and analytical techniques developed by academics to help government make better policy, budget, and management choices.
How can we best navigate a political climate that is hostile to maternity care but that simultaneously tends to define women by their maternal capacity?
