Featured in USA Today
Pop quiz. What year was this written? “Our once unchallenged pre-eminence in commerce, industry, science and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. … The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.” 2012? 2004? 2000? Try 1983. These days, it sounds as if things have been bad for decades and are getting worse with each passing day. But statistics trotted out periodically — usually by education officials who are lobbying for more...
read moreWhy Everyone Should Love a Carbon Tax
Even during a time of national concern over the economy, a recent study published in Nature Climate Change concluded that the average American would be willing to spend up to 13% more on electricity bills to support clean energy. In the past several decades, Americans have shown a willingness to help the environment if they know new laws will actually help. And today, they especially like the idea of ditching our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Despite popular support for a change in direction, the Obama Administration failed to deliver on...
read moreObama’s Solar Policy: If You Can’t Beat the Chinese, Tax Them
Why is it right for Americans to provide low-cost loans to its solar panel manufacturers, but when China does it, it is an illegal subsidy and demands tariffs in response? In an article featured on Forbes.com, Hank Campbell and Alex Berezow investigate the US policies that have led to the current boom in solar panel manufacturing – and why the surge has resulted in revenue growth for China, but nothing but inferior technology at inflated prices for America and an ever-widening trade gap. Find the article here on...
read moreThe Pitfalls and Perils of Communicating Science
It’s hard to say when scientists realized that policy makers were not always going to make the best decisions regarding science funding, but a safe bet would be somewhere before 3000 BC. In the intervening 5000 years, not a lot has changed in how well scientists, politicians and the public really understand each other. A week doesn’t go by when there isn’t an article lamenting that one project or another doesn’t get funding, or that one government bureau is over-zealous or too conservative. Scientists learned early that the best way to...
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