Desalination has received more attention in recent years as many countries have adopted the process to provide clean water to their population. Freshwater resources continue to deplete at unsustainable rates, amplifying concerns over future “water wars.” Only 1% of the world’s population currently relies on desalinated water, with a total of over 18,000 desalination plants. Current … Continue reading
Latest Entries
How To Measure the Skills Gap
In the United States, the number of unemployed and number of open jobs has remained above 6 million since June 2017. Most recently in September 2017, the United States had 6.8 million unemployed people while there were 6.2 million open jobs. Thus, it is evident that the current problem is not unemployment but a “broken … Continue reading
America / Communications / Culture / Politics / Technology
Salads, I-Pads, and Anomie
What’s an Eatsa? Earlier this month the DC branch of the fast-casual restaurant, Eatsa officially closed its doors. Eatsa, founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco has a unique business model that limits human interaction and separates the consumer from the producers of the product, which in this case happens to be salads. Often … Continue reading
Health in Today’s US Society
Health and nutrition have become important topics in recent decades, with physical inactivity and overeating rising sharply. A troubling 2017 report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 36.5% of U.S. adults suffer from obesity, driving up medical costs by $147 billion. To address this health crisis, attention should be focused on … Continue reading
Fossil Fuels to the Rescue
It is past peak hurricane season, and the southern continental United States has been pummeled by massive storms this year. Many have been quick to demonize fossil fuels, blaming them as the root cause of these powerful storms. However, regardless of one’s opinion on the major cause of climate change, humans need fossil fuels now … Continue reading
America / Culture / Healthcare / Politics
Cabell County and More: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic
Rates of opioid addiction in the United States have continued to increase leading to the destruction of families, a decline in labor participation, and rising healthcare costs. Out of all the drug overdose deaths in 2015, 63.1% involved an opioid. This problem has been appropriately called an epidemic and its consequences and widespread effect have … Continue reading
On Dreamers: Too Many Bills, Too Little Consensus
Last month, Senate Republicans introduced yet another bill to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation after the Trump administration announced earlier this month that the Deferred Action for Childhood (DACA) program is being rescinded. DACA, an executive order signed by President Barack Obama in 2012, provided temporary legal status to young immigrants (commonly referred to … Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Tax / Taxes
Tax Cut-Implications for Behavioral Economics
Richard H. Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences this year “for his contributions to behavioral economics.” This is a relatively new field that combines the idea of psychology and economics. Standard economic models assume that humans are rational actors. However, behavioral economists … Continue reading
America / Economy / Healthcare / Medicaid / Medicare / U.S. Domestic Policy
VBP Has the Chance to Become the MVP
America has a drug problem that goes well beyond opiates and abuse. Pharmaceutical drug prices have skyrocketed in the last decade and fueled an overall increase in health care costs and spending[1]. The top ten most prescribed medications have all risen more than 50% since 2011, with four out of ten having doubled in cost. … Continue reading
Three Mile Island Shutdown: A Major Setback for our Clean Energy Future.
The Paris Agreement serves as the bridge between existing policies and the low-carbon development economy needed to sustain our future. Although the agreement is non-binding, 160 Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have ratified the agreement, and hope to transition into the low-carbon pathway needed to keep warming below 2oC (3.6o … Continue reading
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