The Distributional Effects of Carbon Regulation: Why Auctioned Carbon Permits are Attractive and Feasible

We examine the distributional effects of carbon regulation. An auction of carbon permits is the best way to achieve carbon caps set by international negotiation to limit global climate change. An auction is preferred to grandfathering (giving polluters permits in proportion to past pollution), because it allows reduced tax distortions, provides more flexibility in distribution of costs, provides greater incentives for innovation, and reduces the need for politically contentious arguments over the allocation of rents.Auctions; Carbon Auctions; Pollution

Tradable Carbon Permit Auctions: How and Why to Auction Not Grandfather

An auction of carbon permits is the best way to achieve carbon caps set by international negotiation to limit global climate change. To minimize administrative costs, permits would be required at the level of oil refineries, natural gas pipe lines, liquid sellers, and coal processing plants. To maximize liquidity in secondary markets, permits would be fully tradable and bankable. The government would conduct quarterly auctions. A standard ascending-clock auction in which price is gradually raised until there is no excess demand would provide reliable price discovery. An auction is preferred to grandfathering (giving polluters permits in proportion to past pollution), because it allows reduced tax distortions, provides more flexibility in distribution of costs, provides greater incentives for innovation, and reduces the need for politically contentious arguments over the allocation of rents.

THE BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS

International Relations/Trade,

Preventing childhood obesity by reducing consumption of carbonated drinks: cluster randomised controlled trial

Objective To determine if a school based educational programme aimed at reducing consumption of carbonated drinks can prevent excessive weight gain in children. Design Cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting Six primary schools in southwest England. Participants 644 children aged 7-11 years. Intervention Focused educational programme on nutrition over one school year. Main outcome measures Drink consumption and number of overweight and obese children. Results Consumption of carbonated drinks over three days decreased by 0.6 glasses (average glass size 250 ml) in the intervention group but increased by 0.2 glasses in the control group (mean difference 0.7, 95% confidence interval 0.1 to 1.3). At 12 months the percentage of overweight and obese children increased in the control group by 7.5%, compared with a decrease in the intervention group of 0.2% (mean difference 7.7%, 2.2% to 13.1%). Conclusion A targeted, school based education programme produced a modest reduction in the number of carbonated drinks consumed, which was associated with a reduction in the number of overweight and obese children

Auctioning Greenhouse Gas Emissions Permits in Australia

The allocation of permits is an important design aspect of an emissions trading scheme. Traditionally, governments have favoured the free allocation of greenhouse gas permits based on individual historical emissions (‘grandfathering’) or industry benchmark data. Particularly in the EU, the free allocation of permits has proven complex and inefficient and the distributional implications are politically difficult to justify; auctioning emissions permits has therefore become more popular. The EU is now moving to auction more than 50 per cent of all permits in 2013, and in the US the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has begun auctioning more than 90 per cent of total allowances. Another case in point is the Australian proposal for a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which provides for auctioning a significant share of total permits. This paper discusses the proposed Australian CPRS’s auction design. A major difference to other emissions trading schemes is that the CPRS plans to auction multiple vintages of emissions permits simultaneously.Auctions, carbon auctions, greenhouse gas auctions

A model for investigating the reliability of train-to-train connections in railroad freight yards.

Thesis: M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering, 1973Bibliography: leaves 120-121.M.S.M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil Engineerin

Queer/Green collaboration as a radical response to climate crises:Foregrounding the Green Stripe

This article has two aims. Firstly, to highlight a general marginalisation of queer and trans voices within the environmental/ecological movement. Secondly, to identify and explore some contemporary efforts to overcome these tensions and forge closer alliances between queer and green politics. Drawing on queer and trans ecology literatures, we highlight the radical potential that closer synergy between the progressive goals and activities of environmentalist and LGBTQIA2+ politics can bring about. Examining the online content of a number of activist organisations and platforms, we highlight some of the ways in which the queering of green politics and the greening of queer politics are being given practical contemporary expression. In doing so, we highlight the space that this type of politics can create for a reimagining of alternative ecological futures and a more progressive political economy based around a transformation of relationships both within human populations and between humans and other-than-human species and ecologies

The application of jazz methods to Brazilian drum kit improvisatory techniques in choro, samba and bossa nova

There are a number of excellent books currently available that address Brazilian drum kit playing, but across all these books, there is a general lack of ideas for further development and advanced applications, particularly improvisation. Meanwhile, there are many excellent texts that deal with improvisation and the development of improvising skills, but they are largely within the realms of jazz drumming. As a drummer with a long interest in jazz and Brazilian styles, I came to a point where an in-depth look at the methodology for practicing improvisation within the framework of Brazilian music was a clear next step. It is something I felt the need for as a performer and as an educator. The first section of this thesis provides: a background to the characteristic sounds of choro, samba and bossa; background information on the development of Brazilian drum kit playing; a look at Brazilian phrasing concepts; and a discussion of rhythmic frameworks in these styles. The second section addresses practice and performance methodology based within the framework laid out by the earlier chapters. A significant part of this is the outlining of a graduated process for the development of three- and four{u00AD}way co-ordination. It also includes analysis of rhythmic tension-and-release devices and discussion of some of the subtler aspects of Brazilian drum kit performance. The final part addresses the development of solo ideas, primarily through motivic development. The ideas presented throughout are focused on the concepts of fluent and responsive drumming

The Brexit Religion and the Holy Grail of the NHS

The role of populism in mobilising support for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has been well noted. But a key feature of populist politics – the use of religious discourses – has been largely overlooked. This article addresses this gap by exploring the way in which the Leave campaign framed Brexit in quasi-religious and mythological terms. Three core themes are identified: (1) that the British ‘people’ had a unique role to play in global affairs; (2) that the sanctity of this special status was threatened by elites and migrants; (3) that the referendum gave voice to the sacred ‘will of the people’. These narratives were underpinned by a strategic discourse centring on claims that EU membership was exacerbating a crisis in health and social care. This myth was encapsulated by the so-called ‘Brexit bus’ campaign