Big Ideas to Save the Planet

A Carbon-Free Future

An Interview with Arjun Makhijani

Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. He is the principal author of the first study ever done (completed in 1971) on energy conservation potential in the U.S. economy. Most recently, Makhijani authored Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy (2007). MORE>>

Green Stimulus

An Interview with Robert Pollin

Robert Pollin is professor of economics and founding co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He most recently co-authored A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages in the United States (2008) and An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya (2008). MORE>>

The Green Chemistry Revolution

An Interview with Paul Anastas

Paul Anastas is frequently referred to as the “father of green chemistry.” He is director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University. MORE>>

A New Life for the IMF: Capitalizing on Crisis

by Robert Weissman

April's G-20 meeting - involving the heads of state of 20 of the world's most economically powerful countries - failed to yield an agreement on increased European stimulus spending or on new global financial regulatory rules. But it did feature one overriding tangible agreement: A commitment to expand massively the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in order to channel funds to developing countries rocked by the financial crisis.

The G-20 countries agreed to give the IMF up to $750 billion in new resources, three times more than it currently controls. The G-20 also pledged to provide $250 billion in trade financing to developing countries, and to channel $100 billion to low-income countries through multilateral developing banks. MORE>>