Business & Finance

Lauren Richter has published an article in Social Studies of Science, "Non-stick science: Sixty years of research and (in)action on fluorinated compounds" about how the risks of PFASs have been both structurally hidden and unexamined by existing regulatory and industry practice. Abstract

How do we ensure funds are available on a national or even international scale when climate disasters strike? Daniel Morris, who is currently Advisor to the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank, has spent recent years thinking about how to make communities and countries more financially resilient in the face of catastrophic disasters in the future.

As the Trump administration slashes federal estimates of the future costs of climate change, new research suggests that even the much higher cost calculated by the Obama administration might be too low.

Vermont has a problem. The state is $1.2 billion short of the funding it will need to meet federal targets for reducing pollution in state waterways. To solve that problem, Gov. Phil Scott suggested a creative solution last week in his budget address: Turning the pollutant into a commodity and selling it out of state. The pollutant is phosphorus, a primary ingredient of fertilizer, which is widely used in farming. ...

For decades, California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia has been trying to clean up the air in polluted neighborhoods — first as an activist, then as a legislator. Recently, she celebrated her most significant victory: Governor Jerry Brown needed her help to extend California’s cap-and-trade program. In return for her support, she got the legislature to pay attention to not just greenhouse gases, but all the accompanying nasty that pours out of smokestacks. The result: California’s most significant air-pollution law in years.

The competition, in partnership with the Center for Responsible Business at the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business, invites graduate students from interdisciplinary backgrounds to help Patagonia address an issue chosen by the hiking and outdoors equipment company. Patagonia targets about 40 MBA programs, especially those with agricultural elements; in fact, while most teams have MBA members, many also have graduate students in the sciences.