The financial crisis that was precipitated in 2007 by structured finance (credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations et al.) parallels the Deepwater Horizon spill in important ways. And indeed, the very first credit default swap was engineered to offset Exxon’s exposure to remediation, fines and legal costs resulting from the Valdez spill. Experts […]

Mainstream media coverage of the critical depletion of key fish populations – and the serious economic threat it represents – echoes a key refrain at Fund Balance. Time Magazine covers how climate change is warming oceans and thus reducing their ability to support life, and CNN.com has a post by Fedele Bauccio addressing ways to […]

One of our focal points at Fund Balance is extraordinary local efforts to sustain the environment. Recently a story appeared in the Birmingham News covering a Pastor’s efforts in Powderly, Alabama to save the endangered Water Cress Darter (Etheostoma nuchale).  It chronicles a story of how faith and efforts to sustain ecosystems converge. The Pastor, 90 [... […]

There is an important synergy emerging in principle between the London Accord, the World Bank, Central Banks and the Prince of Wales’ Rainforests Project. We recently learned that the World Bank is already working with the Rainforests Project to improve financing and investment opportunities in protected, living rainforests. We encourage the Rainforests Proj […]

Fund Balance has been examining the Dead Zones occurring in coastal and estuarial zones over the last year. Their magnitude is striking. Their damage to ocean ecosystems, seafood supplies and business is severe. And they are connected to vital food supply economies in the Midwest. Nitrogenous run-off from fertilizer used in large scale agriculture binds [... […]

I was on David Bacon's "Living on the Edge" program at 6:30p Thursday on KSFR 101.1 FM in Santa Fe, discussing the need to "Free the Grid". I don't think the shows are archived, so I hope you got to hear it live. What do you think about a state-wide movement to make the grid a public asset dedicated to the public interest?     […]

PNM is traveling around New Mexico hosting public meetings, complete with cookies and coffee, to discuss the future of electricity in the state. This past Tuesday’s meeting at the Santa Fe Community College drew about 30 members of the public, and although I could only stomach the first hour, that was enough to reach an important conclusion: Investor-owned u […]

I will be on Kim Shanahan's "Green Building" radio show Saturday (today) at 1:00p talking about how to revolutionize the electric utility grid by creating municipal utilities, building active microgrid networks, and interfacing the electric grid with district heating grids. We will even talk a little about how the BP oil spill should be helpin […]

I was interviewed by Jim Williams on KUNM news tonight for a segment that aired right before Obama's address to the nation on oil disaster in the Gulf. Jim and I discussed the larger issues of corporate power that brought us to such a dangerous place, and how to get a handle on turning things around. I hope you will listen to the segment and let me know […]

Obama just gave his flattest speech ever in an address to the nation that was supposed to show us how tough he’s getting on oil companies. Instead he just tossed out a few military references, calling the disaster an “assault” and a “siege”, and referring to the oil slick as a “menacing cloud”. Then he repeated something BP had told him about how much oil th […]