Sightline Seeking Leadership Intern
This week, Sightline is happy to announce a rare internship--an opportunity to work with Sightline's executive director Alan Durning on organizational development and research projects. It's a valuable experience for anyone interested in nonprofit management and leadership--something of a cross between an extended job shadow and an internship.
Typical tasks include:
- gathering info on, and outreach to, community leaders
- research for Alan's speeches and publications
- supporting efforts toward recruitment and orientation of Sightline's Directors and Trustees.
Mid-career professionals making a job transition are encouraged to apply, as are aspiring nonprofit leaders at the beginning of their careers. The intern must hold at least an undergraduate degree; a graduate degree or two years experience preferred.
To read more, see the full internship posting.
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Bus Me Out To the Ballgame
I agree with Atrios, this policy is nuts:
King County Metro Transit won't run extra buses to Major League Baseball games this year, forcing hundreds of fans to rearrange their travel plans.
The buses went to and from weekend games, and left Safeco Field after weeknight games — when regularly scheduled transit was unavailable. They carried 300 to 500 passengers per game last season, said Rebecca Hale, spokeswoman for the Seattle Mariners. That included special service to 13 outlying park-and-ride lots.
But the "Metro to the Mariners" service has been banned by the federal government, which ruled a public-transit agency cannot operate a sports charter if private operators are available to do so.
Right-o, a private operator that will charge $15 to $20 per trip (split between riders and the M's) is available to provide limited service to ballgames. So we have hundreds of riders traveling at predictable times to a central congested area near first-rate transit infrastructure -- precisely the sort of rides that a public transit agency should be serving -- but no legal authority to run buses because a private operator is in the mix. Wow.
If this ruling doesn't get overturned, I'm going to start a private commuter service in my car from Ballard to downtown Seattle. It will cost $50,000 per trip, but I don't want Metro buses competing with me. Sorry Ballard bus commuters: if you can't afford it, you can hoof it!
Power Plant Performance Down in 2008
Here's an interesting followup to last week's post about about the uncertain links between recession and long-term climate change: Shakeb Afsah at Climate Data Due Diligence wrote to tell us that even though total carbon emissions from power plants fell in 2008, the carbon intensity of the power sector -- that is, the amount of CO2 released per megawatt-hour of power produced -- actually increased last year.
In the chart to the right, the yellow line at the top shows the tons of CO2 released per megawatt-hour of electricity produced by the nation's power plants. And just as the recession kicked in in 2008, the CO2 intensity of the US power system -- which had been steadily improving for the previous 4 years -- went in the wrong direction.
Ultimately, of course, it's the total CO2 emissions that matter, not the emissions intensity. But it's still somewhat disheartening to see the carbon-intensity trend move in the wrong direction, since it doesn't bode well for the performance of the power sector once the economy recovers. After all, the climate crisis is a very long term problem; we need to make real, tangible progress in our emissions performance no matter what the economy does in the short term. And that puts an even bigger premium on making sure that we're making the right kinds of stimulus investments while the economy is down: we want to be sure we emerge from the recession in a better position than we were when we went into it. That makes the carbon intensity figure one that's worth watching.
Driving Downhill?
The Wall Street Journal reports that an increasing number of energy analysts think that US gasoline sales will never surpass their 2007 record:
Among those who say U.S. consumption of gasoline has peaked are executives at the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as many private analysts and government energy forecasters...
Many industry observers have become convinced the drop in consumption won't reverse even when economic growth resumes. In December, the EIA said gasoline consumption by U.S. drivers had peaked, in part because of growing consumer interest in fuel efficiency.
Now, I've got something approaching zero confidence in the ability of energy analysts to predict the future. (Or, perhaps more to the point, different analysts say different things, and I've got no confidence in my ability to pick and choose which ones are making sense.)
Still, it's interesting to read that Exxon is beginning to bet against a resurgence in highway fuel consumption, by easing out of the retail gasoline business. They've got actual skin in the game, and if they're betting against a short-term rebound in gas consumption, then at a minimum the other analysts aren't crazy. And, of course, recent trends add some heft to the belief that consumption is falling: despite my skepticism a few months back, it looks like US vehicle travel is continuing its freefall. (Chart after the jump.)
Special Series
Cap and Trade and the "Gaming" Question
In a Series
Eat Your Spinach
Congressman Jim McDermott on the radio last week:
You have to believe in a tooth fairy to believe that we can regulate a cap and trade system.
Say what?! That's an odd thing to say. Cap and trade markets have been in existence for well over a decade -- and the programs have worked quite well.
