Archive
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Advancing Energy Equity and Climate Solutions in Chicago
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Briana Parker works at Elevate, a community-centered organization focused on fighting for policies that help people keep the lights and heat on. For 4.8 million American households facing energy insecurity in the country, cost surges – up to 30% this winter for gas-powered heat – are a growing crisis. Nationwide,…
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Participatory Budgeting for a Stronger City
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Budgets are the new battlegrounds. While cities debate how to spend unprecedented amounts of federal relief funds and activists demand reallocation of police budgets to social services, decisions about how to allocate public dollars are drawing increased public scrutiny. It’s often said that budgets are moral documents that display a…
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Who Participates in Small-Scale Urban Agriculture? And Why?
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As urbanization increases across the globe, it is important for policymakers and local leaders to ensure that urban residents find affordable, sustainable produce that positively impacts local and global ecosystems. One solution is community gardening and private at-home gardens, otherwise known as “small-scale urban agriculture.” Community gardens are often run…
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Try Accuracy Prompts to Reduce the Spread of Misinformation Online
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The rapid dissemination of inaccurate information––otherwise known as misinformation––within the online news media ecosystem has become a subject of pressing concern. As media consumption habits move increasingly online, the pernicious effects of misinformation on readers’ long-term beliefs are particularly alarming. Research shows that mere exposure to misinformation leads to belief…
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Ending Infinite War: Rethinking Congressional War Authorization in The Age of Drones
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With the National Defense Authorization act coming up for a vote, the war in Iraq may finally be over. The war in Iraq is technically still ongoing, as is the war in Afghanistan. We may have pulled out the troops, but the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) for…
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Anti-Asian Violence Is Not Random: Why Increased Policing Will Fail Us
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With the Atlanta spa shootings earlier this year, and the pandemic exacerbating incendiary rhetoric about Asian Americans, violence has become a regular conversation topic in my circles. My Asian-American friends share stories about street harassment, while my mother, in her native Chinese, always urges me to “stay careful” and “pay…
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When Liberals Become Conservative: A Danish Political Culture of Islamophobia
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In June of 2021, Denmark’s parliament voted in favor of a law allowing the Danish authorities to send asylum seekers to reception centers outside the European Union. This vote was the most recent turn of events in Denmark’s policies to tighten immigration. In May of 2021, the Danish authorities announced…
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Put a Socket in It: Getting EV Charging into Multi-Unit Buildings
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Combatting climate change is an all-hands-on-deck emergency. To fully eradicate emissions by 2050 – the path that scientists agree will keep warming below 1.5ºC and mitigate the worst warming-induced catastrophes – the world needs to electrify practically everything and power the grid with carbon-free electricity. It’s an enormous task, and…
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Should Policy Makers Push for Supply Chain Resilience?
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Your Christmas gifts this year may be stuck somewhere on the ocean. The latest NBER research gives some tips for policymakers to prevent this kind of supply chain disruption from happening again. Over the past two years, you may have had a hard time finding daily necessities in a supermarket,…
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Public Perception May Curb Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket
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Mike Bedell is a student in the University of Chicago’s Evening Master’s Program. Just before midnight on September 1, 2021, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order declining to block S.B. 8, the Texas law that bans almost all abortions in the state. The order…
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How Chicago Successfully Reversed Opioid Trends
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After a century of increasing life expectancy in the United States, 2020 witnessed a decline of 1.5 years. Although primarily attributable to COVID-19, the pandemic only exacerbated the persistent health crises of the “before-times,” further contributing to the decline. In particular, the opioid epidemic, which continues to ravage the country,…