Science + Policy = Progress

We know greenhouse gasses are a problem. We know we need to make some drastic changes, and soon, to stave off an inexorable slide into planetary dysfunction. What we don’t know is how to make sure those changes happen. How do we identify the good policies, based on sound science? This week’s guests on Sea Change Radio are each advancing sustainable public policy in their own ways. First, host Alex Wise speaks with Indiana University biology professor, Richard Phillips, who’s just published an important study on how much trees actually do (or don’t) mitigate carbon emissions. His findings will help ensure more accurate calculations for CO2 emissions from countries like the United States that rely on forests to offset their high rates of pollution. Next, we hear from Seth Berry, an Assemblyman from the State of Maine, who gives us an insider’s perspective on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, also known as ReGGIe, a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions from power plants with 9 participating US states and some parts of eastern Canada.