Climate Change 101

Um, Governor, how can you fix the problem, if you don’t accurately assess the causes?

 

I don’t want to argue about the causes,” she said in St. Louis. “What I want to argue about is, how are we going to get there to positively affect the impacts?”

 

To Biden, a Democratic senator from Delaware running with Sen. Barack Obama in the November 4 election, knowing the cause is critical to finding a cure.

 

“If you don’t understand what the cause is, it’s virtually impossible to come up with a solution,” Biden said. “We know what the cause is. The cause is man-made. That’s the cause. That’s why the polar icecap is melting.”

 

Are we really still having this argument? My god…

 

Sedum America Style

I for one would welcome a green roof-a-thon here in the States, and it seems like Cincinnati may be throwing down the gauntlet:

 

Officials want to see more green roofs on building tops in Cincinnati.

 

The City Council on Wednesday became the first in Ohio with a plan to channel grants and loans to residents and businesses to replace tar and shingles with vegetation.

 

Supporters of the idea want to see Cincinnati become a leader in green roofs, a European-born movement that has spread to only a few U.S. cities, including Chicago, Milwaukee and Seattle. […]

 

A report by the Green Roof Research Program at Michigan State University estimates that 12 percent of all flat-roofed buildings in Germany are covered with vegetation. It noted several barriers to widespread acceptance in the United States, including lack of government incentives or tax breaks.

 

”What the city of Cincinnati is doing is the largest effort I have heard of,” Monsarrat said. ”It will be interesting to watch that and see how it works.”

 

Hey Portland, are you going to let Cincy get away with that? How about you Chicago? Mayor Mike? Let’s up the ante here…

 

Building Bust

And the slow, steady decline of the New York City building boom officially begins:

 

After seven years of nonstop construction, skyrocketing rents and sales prices, and a seemingly endless appetite for luxury housing that transformed gritty and glamorous neighborhoods alike, the credit crisis and the turmoil on Wall Street are bringing New York’s real estate boom to an end. […]

 

It is hard to say exactly what the long-term impact will be, but real estate experts, economists and city and state officials say it is likely there will be far fewer new construction projects in the future, as well as tens of thousands of layoffs on Wall Street, fewer construction jobs and a huge loss of tax revenue for both the state and the city.

 

Ominous Ripples

I have, at best, a marginal understanding of the varied sources cities tap to fund services, expand infrastructure, etc, but it appears the municipal bond market was another overly clever Wall Street “product”, making money where none existed. (See “Big Shitpile”)

 

Analysts said the dysfunction in the municipal bond markets appeared to signal the end of an era of relatively cheap money for governments and, probably, the start of an era of tough choices for communities. When the market starts moving again, they said, it will look a lot like the municipal bond market of 10 years ago, before the arrival of financial wizardry in the form of structured-finance products, which lowered borrowing costs but added big new risks. […]

 

Municipalities will probably be able to function, but may not expand services, said John V. Miller, chief investment officer at Nuveen Asset Management, a municipal bond investment firm. “For some, the level of service they provide will decline.”

 

Some governments, already straining to balance their budgets, will have to cut payrolls, he said, and others may decide to raise taxes. […]

 

Looks like the beginnings of some un-fun times for American cities, and quite a challenge for our next President. Going to be interesting times…