Jeffrey Rissman

Hal Harvey

Robbie Orvis

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.

A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy

Designing Climate Solutions

Justin Gillis

An engaging, accessible citizen’s guide to the seven urgent changes that will really make a difference for our climate—and how we can hold our governments accountable for putting these plans into action. Dozens of kids in Montgomery County, Maryland, agitated until their school board committed to electric school buses. Mothers in Colorado turned up in front of an obscure state panel to fight for clean air. If you think the only thing you can do to combat climate change is to install a smart thermostat or cook plant-based burgers, you’re thinking too small. That’s where The Big Fix comes in, offering everyday citizens a guide to the seven essential changes our communities must enact to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down to zero—and sharing stories of people who are making those changes reality. Energy policy advisor Hal Harvey and longtime New York Times reporter Justin Gillis hone in on the seven areas where ambitious but eminently practical changes will have the greatest effect: electricity production, transportation, buildings, industry, urbanization, use of land, and investment in promising new green technologies. In a lively, jargon-free style, the pair illuminate how our political economy really works, revealing who decides everything from what kind of power plants to build to how efficient cars must be before they’re allowed on the road to how much insulation a new house requires—and how we can insert ourselves into all these decisions to ensure that the most climate-conscious choices are being made. At once pragmatic and inspiring, The Big Fix is an indispensable action plan for citizens looking to drive our country’s greenhouse gas emissions down to zero—and save our climate.

Seven Practical Steps to Save Our Planet

The Big Fix

Michael Shuman

The Cold War may be over, but the United States is still practicing Cold War foreign policies. From the Persian Gulf to El Salvador, from Bosnia to Somalia, U.S. policymakers continue to rely on force, threats, arms, and military aid. A fundamental redefinition of national security–beyond war and militarization, beyond bilateralism, beyond sovereign states–is long overdue. In Security Without War, a dynamic author team lays out new principles and policies for the United States to adopt in a post-Cold War world. Shuman and Harvey encourage Americans to take account of all threats (not just military ones), to emphasize preventing conflicts over winning wars, to enhance every nation's security (including that of its enemies), to favour multilateral approaches over bilateral ones, and to promote greater citizen participation in foreign policy. Throughout, they show how military, political, economic, and environmental security interests are all linked–and how emphasizing one over the others can undermine the nation's safety. Security Without War brings together for the first time the major elements of post-Cold War security thought. The authors show how a new framework for U.S. international relations can enhance U.S.–and indeed, global–security at a substantially lower cost.

A Post-cold War Foreign Policy

Security Without War

Paul Brest

Winner of the 2009 Skystone Ryan Prize for Research, Association of Fundraising Professionals Research Council “All outstanding philanthropic successes have one thing in common: They started with a smart strategic plan,” say authors Paul Brest, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Hal Harvey, president of ClimateWorks. Money Well Spent explains how to create and implement a strategy that ensures meaningful results. Components of a smart strategy include: Achieving great clarity about one’s philanthropic goals Specifying indicators of success before beginning a project Designing and implementing a plan commensurate with available resources Evidence-based understanding of the world in which the plan will operate Paying careful attention to milestones to determine if you are on the path to success or if midcourse corrections are necessary Drawing on examples from over 100 foundations and non-profits, Money Well Spent gives readers the framework they need to design a smart strategy, addressing such key issues as: Effective use of tools—education, science, direct services, advocacy—that can achieve your objectives. How to choose the forms of funding to achieve stated goals How to measure the impact of grants or programs When to be patient and stick with a winning strategy and when to abandon a strategy that isn’t working This is a book for everyone who wants to get the most from a philanthropic dollar: donors, foundations, and non-profits.

Hal Harvey

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