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*Climate Change

Understanding Carbon Markets in the Future of Climate Change: Challenges and Key Considerations following COP28

In the fight against climate change, leaders at COP28 negotiated the creation of a global carbon market that could revolutionize climate economics. Following disagreements about key regulations in an international market, this blog will outline the basics of carbon markets, its challenges, and key considerations.… Read More »Understanding Carbon Markets in the Future of Climate Change: Challenges and Key Considerations following COP28

Nothing about us, without us: Community-led research supports climate adaptation

Nothing about us, without us: Community-led research supports climate adaptation 

As President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative celebrates its third anniversary, historically underserved communities around the country continue to draw inspiration from the unprecedented commitment to environmental justice. The 40 in the title stands for the goal of channeling 40% of the federal investment benefits into neighborhoods marginalized and… Read More »Nothing about us, without us: Community-led research supports climate adaptation 

Climate-driven relocation of Louisiana’s Indigenous tribes must consider community and culture

A part of our Climate Change Equity and Adaptation series In the wake of rising seas and coastal erosion, forced home relocations raise the specter of genocide for North America’s First Peoples. Yet despite the risk of indigenous erasure, dominant climate relocation strategies fail to… Read More »Climate-driven relocation of Louisiana’s Indigenous tribes must consider community and culture

Georgism has always been Green: a tale of two movements

Building upon the foundation laid in our first blog, “Green Georgism: Environmentalism through the eyes of Resource Justice,” our second piece delves deeper into the connections between Henry George’s ideas and key perspectives from the past century of environmentalism. This blog explores how Georgism dovetails with key aspects of environmentalism, and provides useful insights into the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources. By examining the broader definition of land as encompassing all natural materials, forces, and opportunities, we align George’s vision with modern environmental concerns, addressing issues such as urban sprawl, wealth inequality, and the preservation of natural capital.

Green Georgism: Environmentalism through the eyes of Resource Justice

Our world is facing an ever-escalating array of environmental challenges. From the alarming rise in global temperatures and the subsequent impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events and shrinking ice caps, to the devastating consequences of deforestation, habitat loss, and species extinction, our planet is in dire need of urgent action. These challenges require us to think carefully about how we can promote the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources such as land, minerals, oceans and wildlife.

Here at the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation our core mission is to advance the ideas of Henry George and to realize his vision of a world that recognizes humanity’s collective right to the bounty provided by our planetary resources. We have historically focused on applying this Georgist worldview to urban land use and property tax reform. However, our pioneering research center, Resource Justice (RJ), is responding to these looming environmental challenges by expanding our mission and working to foster research into the sustainable, efficient and equitable utilization of natural resources. Recognizing the urgent need for actionable policy solutions motivated by compelling values and informed by responsive research, we consider these ecological concerns to be key priorities here at RJ.

Fiscal Weakness of Managed Retreat: Inequities and Local Disincentives

Climate change poses a significant threat to numerous regions in the United States, rendering them increasingly uninhabitable due to rising sea levels, flooding, wildfires, and more. As a response to this challenge, managed retreat has emerged as a strategy to relocate affected households, neighborhoods, and even communities away from harm’s way. Although managed retreat can involve a number of processes, the use of buyouts––the voluntary purchasing of private properties using public funds (which is intended to spur the relocation of at-risk households to lower risk locations), is a critical (and in many places, virtually the only) tool in a policy maker’s toolbox.

While physically moving people out of harm’s way makes intuitive sense, the real world applications of managed retreat-related buyouts are highly complex, emotional, and fraught with weighty fiscal and equity implications. Here we explore some basic financial considerations of managed retreat, shedding light on the challenges faced by affected municipalities and fundamental flaws in the system as a whole.