The Bard CEP Eco Reader

Let’s buy an electric car: A guide to finding the electric car that is right for you.–by Brett Landau

Cars a part of most Americans’ lives, so sooner or later you’ll probably be buying one. Maybe buying an electric car crosses your mind, but you think, “Aren’t they expensive? Will this make my electric bill increase? Where am I going to be able to charge if I’m not at …

The New Regenerative Organic Certification Redefines ‘Organic’–by Casey Hughes

New certification alliances continue to push the boundaries for what consumers can expect from product labels. Most recently, the Regenerative Organic Alliance has come together to launch the Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) in the spring of 2018. You may ask, “Another certification? Will that be confusing or overwhelming for customers?” …

A Bright Tomorrow Thanks to a Brown Yesterday: Placing Solar Farms on Contaminated Sites–by Jake Duncan

Whether you come from a tightly packed urban neighborhood or from the rural rolling hills, you’ve probably seen a barren, possibly trashed area that’s lain dormant for decades. It could be an old, derelict industrial site or a landfill that’s full to the brim with your community’s waste. These are …

Speeding Up Superfund, Cutting Out Climate Change – by Suzanne Flaum

Communities near Superfund sites are in for a rough couple of decades. We all know that climate change is steadily intensifying extreme weather events. Sea level rise and warming oceans are already causing more intense hurricanes and superstorms, culminating in disastrous storm surge along coastlines and significant inland flooding. As …

How data management is more challenging, and satisfying, than climbing mountains–by Holly Kistner

When I started graduate school at Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP), I also started my student employment with Bard’s Office of Sustainability as the “energy intern.” Less than a year ago, I would have laughed at the prospect of me working with energy data. Me? I’d just spent two …

How to Have an Effective State EPA Without Federal Support–by James Richmond

Do you find that your state’s EPA isn’t getting the kind of support it once did from the federal government? And maybe even that recent gains it’s made in environmental regulation and protection are being rolled back? Let’s take a look at 5 ways California is able to have an …

The Core of the Big Apple: Making the Most of NYC’s Organics Program–by Allie Gumas

Everybody eats. Everybody also accumulates some amount of food waste. Growing up, and well throughout my undergraduate career I thought like this: If you lived in a city, that food waste ended up in the trash can under your sink. At some point, the bag was tied up and tossed …

The Role of Teamwork in Environmental Policy

The CEP Team One of the most common reasons any Bard Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) student offers for selecting this program out of the many other environmental or sustainability focused graduate programs is its unique, interdisciplinary approach. We each come to CEP from various academic backgrounds – ranging from …

From sea to rising sea: Jeff Goodell talks sea level rise with the National Climate Seminar

Journalist and author Jeff Goodell opened his discussion with the National Climate Seminar (hear his complete talk here) by apologizing for the call quality. As he explained, the WiFi signal isn’t reliable in Viequis, a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico, where he is reporting on the region’s slow recovery from …

Howdy, Partner: Celebrating the Human Connection of Conservation

  My internship with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) at the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (the Reserve, or HRNERR), partnered with Americorps and the Student Conservation Association (SCA), came to a close earlier this year.   It was a treat to further plug into the …