For that tangy-fresh scent

Bloomberg stopped by OWS yesterday evening to tell protesters that if they don’t tidy up the property on which they’re protesting, they will have to leave on friday so a cleaning crew can do the work for them. (DNAInfo)

In other OWS news, our very own, clean-cut Jeffrey Sachs made a brief speech at the protest yesterday evening. (Youtube)

In an effort to clean up their financial situation, some college newspapers have erected paywalls for non-student readers. Don’t worry loyal, cheap readers. Bwog will never throw up (a paywall or anything else) on you. (Paidcontent)

Though it’s no secret to Columbia students that we’re always looking fresh, the New York Times ran a piece documenting the latest bizarre new college trend—dressing nicely. Click on the slide show to see several CU students represent. (NYTimes)

According to a recent study, heterosexual males are finally cleaning up their affection game. Men are now more comfortable verbally and physically expressing their platonic admiration for one another. In the U.K. 90 percent of heterosexual undergraduates “had at least once kissed a straight male friend on the lips.” Sadly, “things are not so fluid in the U.S. — he found 7 percent of heterosexual college guys had smooched a straight male pal.” (Salon)

Poorly-named product via wikimedia.

Update: Look at what showed up for free food!

Photo by Steele Sternberg

William Easterly: ready for battle

In the battle between brains and brawn, Bwog’s been choosing brains a lot lately (mostly because we’re too lazy to hit the gym). Today is no exception. Read on as Bwog’s economic rivalries expert Zach Kagan reports on William Easterly’s critique of Jeff Sachs.

The audience of William Easterly’s talk on Friday was looking forward to a catfight. Easterly, an NYU developmental economist and vocal critic of Columbia’s own Jeffery Sachs, has a reputation for snarkiness, and he did not disappoint. His hour-long talk was peppered with wry jokes and offhand remarks, mostly targeting those who disagreed with him. After one particularly vehement retort, Easterly decided he had had enough and wisecracked, “I reserve the right to be autocratic in this talk, even to professors.” He came to Columbia with the intention of poking the Earth Institute’s proverbial beehive, and succeeded.

The goal of Easterly’s lecture, “Skeptics Vs. Autocrats: The Next Battle in Development” was to dispel the idea of the Benevolent Autocrat – the idea that the economic policies crucial to development are best implemented by a person with complete economic control. Despite recent democratic uprisings in the Middle East, Easterly claimed that the majority of the audience would leave the lecture still firmly believing in the “myth of the Benevolent Autocrat.” Such is its hold on the mind of developmental economists. Easterly argues economists are too willing to accept this notion, and challenges the perception there is a clear link between economic development and autocracy.

Autocracy is attractive to economists because of something he calls “The Guy Named Bob” theory. The idea is that developmental experts do their research, and give their ideas to some guy named “Bob,” who then implements policy in order to “achieve the end of poverty”– a not-so-subtle reference to Sach’s bestseller. In a democracy, however, a legislative system prevents the existence of one ultimate arbitrator of economic policy; this “Bob” exists exists only in autocracies. Easterly claims “The Guy Named Bob” theory doesn’t work in practice because development requires innovation, and innovation cannot be predicted. It requires experimentation and local knowledge, both things that are used to a much greater effect by the market’s invisible hand than by a centralized economic planner.

Though data suggest that some autocratic nations are experiencing rapid growth, many more autocracies are economic failures: for every Hu Jintao you have many more Robert “Bob” Mugabes. Democracies have much more consistency in their growth rates; no democratic nation has experienced negative growth comparable to that of some autocratic nations.

Despite the trends in the data, Easterly believes that economists and policy makers still hold onto the idea of the Benevolent Autocrat because of a few fundamental cognitive biases. Many more papers are written on autocratic successes than failures, so we tend to believe that autocratic governments are generally successful. We also see that the highest growing economies are autocracies, so we assume that this is true for all of them, which simply is not the case. However, in the Q & A session, Easterly backed down from his position somewhat, admitting that autocrats can impose good policy but that requires them to have very certain knowledge of the problem.

By the end of the talk, economists in the audience were clearly tired of Professor Easterly’s shtick. SIPA Professor Arvind Panagariya made it clear early on that he resented Easterly’s implication that Columbia economists and their partners in the World Bank were supportive of autocratic regimes. It was clear based on the crowd’s response that Columbia is not in favor of dictatorships. However many students argued that a strong economic autocrat could impose necessary policy that may never be accepted in a democratic system. Easterly gave a cheeky response: if students agree with him it’s because he was so persuasive, and if they disagree they must be suffering from a cognitive bias. Either way he wins.

What even is a line, anyway?

PoliticalLine: Our very own Jeffrey Sachs (director of Columbia’s Earth Institute) did not approve of Obama’s State of the Union Address. Media caught up with him on a bus from Zurich to Davos. That’s usually where Bwog goes, too, to express disapproval. (WSJ)

HawkLine: Apparently we’re not the only news outlet with a thing for hawks. While comforted by this recent outburst of hawk-news, we’d like to think that Hawkma could take either one of these guys in a pigeon-eating contest, or whatever it is that hawk drama consists of. [Warning: Some of these are graphic!] (CityRoom, NPR)

EconomyLine: Columbia’s $6.5 billion endowment performed the best out of all Ivy League endowments last year. Yale’s was the worst. Ha. (Bloomberg)

JealousyLine: Speaking of other schools, we thought we should break it to you early that NYU has a snow day, while we do not. Blerg! (NYU)

StressedFreshmenLine: An annual survey of college freshmen reveals today’s record levels of stress, compared to the past 25 years. We feel that this excess of stress can be attributed to lack of snow days. And, also, because school officials don’t use Columbia’s (best performing!) endowment to buy a lot of snacks, and then keep them in accessible places around campus, all the time, though we try to compensate for this. (NYT)

Image via Wikimedia.

House votes 333-79 to censure Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel for numerous ethics violations. (HuffPo)

The U.S. unemployment rate rises to 9.8%. (Bloomberg)

Creepy Disney town Celebration, FL sees its first homicide. (Gawker)

Obama celebrates Hanukkah with Michael Oren, CC ’77, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, LAW ’59, and Elena Kagan. (LA Times)

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Recommended:

Mon, Oct. 11

• “The Climate Challenge: Revitalizing the Debate” Third Floor, Faculty House, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm, Katherine Richardson, Jeffrey Sachs, and More
• “Tsugaru Shamisen Performance and lecture” 403 Kent Hall, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta
• “Prospects for 21^st Century African Agriculture” Low Library Rotunda, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Kofi Annan and Jeffrey Sachs

Tues, Oct. 12

• “Barnard Founder’s Day” Lehman Lawn, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm, Various
• “Risks from Climate Change for New York City and Adaptation Options” 417 Schermerhorn Hall, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm, Klaus Jacob
• “Covering Politics in 2010” Third Floor Lecture Hall, Journalism Building, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Tom Edsall, Ben Smith, Maggie Haberman, Charles Blow, Melinda Henneberger, Sam Stein, Todd Gitlin, Andrew Gelman, Robert Shapiro, and Bob Erikson

Wed, Oct. 13

• “The Justice Cascade” Rennert Hall, Kraft Center, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm, Kathryn Sikkink, Richard Dicker, and Robert O. Keohane
• “China Online: Politics, Activism, and the Internet” James Room, Fourth Floor Barnard Hall, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Xiaobo Lu and Guobin Yang
• “Human Rights?: A Panel Discussion Hosted by The Current” Rennert Hall, Kraft Center, 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm, Sameul Moyn, Elazar Barkan, and Nick Serpe

Thurs, Oct. 14

• “The Organizational Response to 9/11—A Quantitative Approach” 270B IAB, 4:10 pm – 6:00 pm, Peter Mearman and Bart McAllister
• “Solar-Powered Eco-City of Tomorrow” Rennert Hall, Kraft Center, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm, Lawrence D. Burns and Sydney W. Kitson
• “Shayari (Urdu Poetry) Night” 507 Knox Hall, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Janaab Manac Maasoom, Aftab Ahmad, and Dalpat Rajpurohit

Fri, Oct. 15

• “White and Blue Shabbat Dinner” Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm, Students
• “Galactic Cannibalism, Followed by Stargazing” Pupin Hall (Follow Signs in Lobby), 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Kathryn Johnston
• “Dreams” Schapiro Studio, 605 W. 115^th, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, New Play, Runs through Oct 17 at 5:00 pm

Sat, Oct. 16

• “Navaratri Celebration” Earl Hall Auditorium, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm, CU Raas
• “Potterpalooza” Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Harry and the Potters
• “GenderFuck 2010” Lerner Party Space, Lerner Hall, 9:00 pm – 2:00 am, Queer Awareness Month Party

Sun, Oct. 17

• “CU Wind Ensemble’s Transformations Concert” Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
• “Pastors Under Fire” Roone Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Discussion with Filmmakers Lee Lawrence and Terry Nickelson after Film Screening

FULL LIST

Mon, Oct. 11

• “The Climate Challenge: Revitalizing the Debate” Third Floor, Faculty House, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm, Katherine Richardson, Jeffrey Sachs, and More
• “Indigenous People’s Day” Low Plaza, 9:00 am – 8:30 pm, students and vigil at 8:00 pm at Sundial
• “Echoes of Chongqing – Women in Wartime China” 918 IAB, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, Danke Li
• “In Pursuit of Equity During an Economic Growth Miracle” 332 Uris Hall, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm, Mai Lu
• “European Security Policy: The Blurring of Internal and External Boundaries” 801 IAB, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm, Didier Bigo and Richard Betts
• “Turning Personal Experience into Political Attitudes: The Effect of Local Weather on Americans’ Perceptions about Global Warming” 707 IAB, 4:10 pm – 5:30 pm, Megan Mullin
• “Social Network Analysis and the Analysis of Policy Debates” 509 Knox Hall, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Philip Leifeld
• “Weatherhead East Asia Institute’s Undergraduate Photo Exhibition: Opening Address” Broadway Room, Lerner Hall, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Rosalind Morris
• “Tsugaru Shamisen Performance and lecture” 403 Kent Hall, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta
• “The Dragon in the Room: China and the Future of Latin American Industrialization” 802 IAB, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Kevin P. Gallagher
• “Prospects for 21^st Century African Agriculture” Low Library Rotunda, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Kofi Annan and Jeffrey Sachs
• “US Climate Policy in the Context of Congressional Paralysis” 104 Greene Hall, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Nick Akins, Laurie Burt, Michael Levi, Gina McCarthy, Albert Bressand, and Michael Gerrard
• “Book Club: Un Balcon en foret by Julien Gracq” Buell Hall, Maison Francaise, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Henri Mitterand
• “From Palestine to Oakland: The Fight to Free Political Prisoners” 405 Milbank Hall, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm, Francisco Torres, Lamis Deek, and Michael Kennedy
• “Merton, Matteo Ricci, and Confucianism” St. Paul’s Chapel, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, William Theodore de Bary

Tues, Oct. 12

• “Barnard Founder’s Day” Lehman Lawn, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm, Various
• “Biases, Borders, and Biohazards: Misconstructing Migrants as a Public Health Threat in the Russian Federation” 1219 IAB, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, Cynthia Buckley
• “Daniel Ellsberg and the Lost Idea of Photocopy” 607B Journalism Building, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Lisa Gitelman
• “Risks from Climate Change for New York City and Adaptation Options” 417 Schermerhorn Hall, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm, Klaus Jacob
• “The Politics of the (un)Civil Marriage in Israel” 801 IAB, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Hanna Lerner
• “On Neural Encoding Circuits Built with Hodking-Huxley Neurons” 210 Mudd, 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm, Aurel Lazar
• “Restoring Ecosystem Services in Haiti” 102 Greene Hall, 4:20 pm – 6:00 pm, Marc Levy and Alex Fischer
• “Covering Politics in 2010” Third Floor Lecture Hall, Journalism Building, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Tom Edsall, Ben Smith, Maggie Haberman, Charles Blow, Melinda Henneberger, Sam Stein, Todd Gitlin, Andrew Gelman, Robert Shapiro, and Bob Erikson
• “Halcyon Days: Emerging Centers of Regional Power in Shu (Sichuan) and Jiao (Vietnam) after the Fall of the Tang” 2^nd Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for Humanities, 6:15 pm – 8:15 pm, Carl Franciscus Verellen, Peter Bol, and Robert Hymes
• “Assume Nothing Film Screening” Roone Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm, Kirsty MacDonald film
• “The U.S. Counter-Insurgency Strategy in Afghanistan: A Civil-Military Perspective” 1501 IAB, 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm, Major Jason Brezler USMC

Wed, Oct. 13

• “Advanced Analysis of Complex Seismic Waveform to Characterize Subsurface Structure” First Floor Seminar Room, Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building, Lamont-Doherty, 10:00 am – 11:30 am, Tianxia Jia
• “Ancestors and Relatives: Cognitive Sociology Meets Genealogy” 509 Knox Hall, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm, Eviatar Zerubavel
• “Mothers of the Church: The Tactile Politics of Reproducing Images” 963 Schermerhorn Extension, 4:10 pm – 6:00 pm, Angie Heo
• “Palliative Care for a Dying Physician: Teaching It and Living It” 301 Hammer Health Sciences Center, Medical Center, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm, Betty Lim, Robert Pardi, and Craig Blinderman
• “The Justice Cascade” Rennert Hall, Kraft Center, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm, Kathryn Sikkink, Richard Dicker, and Robert O. Keohane
• “The Climate Talks: Why We Failed and How We Can Succeed” 413 IAB, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Laurence Tubiana
• “Infrastructure Investment in Brazil—A Major Development Bottleneck?” 802 IAB, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Renato Mazzola
• “Joseph Urban: The Urbane Architect” 523 Butler Library, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm, John Loring
• “Book Talk—Saving Iraq: Rebuilding a Broken Nation” 1501 IAB, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm, Nemir Kirdar
• “China Online: Politics, Activism, and the Internet” James Room, Fourth Floor Barnard Hall, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Xiaobo Lu and Guobin Yang
• “Philosophy Forum: Competence and Virtue Epistemology” 720 Philosophy Hall, Students
• “Human Rights?: A Panel Discussion Hosted by The Current” Rennert Hall, Kraft Center, 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm, Sameul Moyn, Elazar Barkan, and Nick Serpe

Thurs, Oct. 14

• “Update on Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant—2010” New Vivian and Seymour Milstein Heart Center, Medical Center, All Day Oct 14 and 15, Various
• “Mao’s Great Famine—The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962” 918 IAB, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, Frank Dikoetter
• “Comparing Civil and Interstate Wars” 707 IAB, 12:15 pm – 2:00 pm, David Cunningham
• “The Structural Assimilation of the Second Generation in Germany” 801 IAB, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Frank Kalter
• “Facts of Yesterday, Challenges of Today, Opportunities of Tomorrow” 1501 IAB, 4:00 pm – Oct 15, 1:00 pm, John Coatsworth, Jose Antonio Ocampo, Thomas Trebat, Guillermo Calvo, Monte Alejandro Rubido Garcia, Joy Olson, Joseph Frank Pearl, Jamie Ravinet de la Fuente, Paulo Sotero, David Lopez-Carr, Richard Samaniego, Carlos Bethancourt, Claire Fallender, Fernando Fabre, Julio Mariscal, Mary-Elena Carr, and Sara Minard
• “The Organizational Response to 9/11—A Quantitative Approach” 270B IAB, 4:10 pm – 6:00 pm, Peter Mearman and Bart McAllister
• “Solar-Powered Eco-City of Tomorrow” Rennert Hall, Kraft Center, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm, Lawrence D. Burns and Sydney W. Kitson
• “Learning Kanji: Perceptions and Strategies” 403 Kent Hall, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Yoshiko Mori
• “Three Monkeys Film Screening” 411 IAB, 6:15 pm – 8:30 pm, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
• “Makeshift Reclamation” James Room, Fourth Floor Barnard Hall, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Jessica Hoffmann, Hilary Goldberg, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Timmy Straw, Anastacia Tolbert, irina Contreras, and Others
• “Little Wars and a Great Game: Caucasus Conflicts and the Desperate Search for Peace” 707 IAB, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Vicken Cheterian
• “Brazil’s Upcoming Elections” 802 IAB, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, David Fleischer
• “Shayari (Urdu Poetry) Night” 507 Knox Hall, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Janaab Manac Maasoom, Aftab Ahmad, and Dalpat Rajpurohit

Fri, Oct. 15

• “Using Google Street View to Measure Neighborhood Physical Disorder” 270B IAB, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Julien Teitler
• “Use of Dynamic Resevoir Operations for Climate Change Adaptation” 833 Mudd, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Daniel Sheer
• “Climate Feedback Processes in Observations and Models” Monell Building Auditorium, Lamont-Doherty, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm, Dennis L. Hartmann
• “Neiman Gallery Exhibition Opening: Fool’s House” Neiman Gallery, Dodge Hall Third Floor, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Works by Becky Brown, Peter Gallo, Nora Griffin, Josephine Halvorson, and Jim Lee
• “White and Blue Shabbat Dinner” Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm, Students
• “Galactic Cannibalism, Followed by Stargazing” Pupin Hall (Follow Signs in Lobby), 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Kathryn Johnston
• “Dreams” Schapiro Studio, 605 W. 115^th, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, New Play, Runs through Oct 17 at 5:00 pm

Sat, Oct. 16

• “Navaratri Celebration” Earl Hall Auditorium, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm, CU Raas
• “Potterpalooza” Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Harry and the Potters
• “GenderFuck 2010” Lerner Party Space, Lerner Hall, 9:00 pm – 2:00 am, Queer Awareness Month Party

Sun, Oct. 17

• “CU Wind Ensemble’s Transformations Concert” Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
• “Pastors Under Fire” Roone Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Discussion with Filmmakers Lee Lawrence and Terry Nickelson after Film Screening

Peter Sterne saw Jeff Sachs IN REAL LIFE! His report from the World Leaders Forum follows.

Yesterday evening, Jeffrey Sachs hosted a panel discussion with an assortment of East African leaders. Despite not knowing exactly who would be on the panel, over 400 undergraduates, grad students, and honored guests crowded into the Low Library Rotunda to hear about the “Challenges of the Drylands.”

“The toughest development challenge on the planet, ” he began, ”are the extremely arid regions,” such as the drylands centered northeastern Kenya and the border with Somalia. This is an area where people herd cattle instead of growing crops and there are more problems than in “the Book of Job, with drought, flood, drought, then epidemic,” not to mention armed conflict. Thankfully, the Earth Institute has started to promote the development of drylands regions in Eastern Africa through the Drylands Initiative which already includes Uganda, Dijibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan, and will include Eritrea.

After hearing from other prominent organizers in the movement, it was finally time for the African leaders to give their perspectives. The first to speak was the Director of the Drylands Initiative in Karamoja, a region in northern Uganda. The Karamojong people of Karamoja, she explained, spend their time traveling and “looking for water and pasture for their cattle.” Since water is so scarce, they can never afford to settle down in one place, and as a result, “it’s hard to have schools and other things.” The water scarcity also leads to ethnic conflict and cattle-stealing, and while the latter may evoke idyllic notions of a simpler time, the reality is the Karamojong have automatic machine guns and are dying of starvation, dehydration, and war because the Ugandan government has ignored their needs while focusing on “the rest of the country, which is rich in culture and rainfall, and sedentary.” With the assistance of the Drylands Initiative, the Ugandan government is now trying to bring water sources to the people so they can settle in villages, trade in their weapons, and develop their society.

The next leader to speak was Roble Ohaye, Ambassador to the UN for the Republic of Dijibouti. Perhaps overestimating the geographical knowledge of the average Columbian, he assumed that we knew Dijibouti’s neighbors, “Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia…and our fourth neighbor, the Red Sea, by far the most peaceful.” He explained how Dijibouti may run out of freshwater within twenty years, and that there is no rainy season. In spite of the difficulties, he clearly had pride in his country and its social-welfare policies. “Dijibouti,” he volunteered, “is the world’s least-known welfare state.” Education is free, and “Dijibouti guarantees free health care to all its people, both citizens and refugees.”

Following him was Somalia’s Special Envoy to the United States, Abbukar Addow Arman. After admitting that “when it comes to famine and failed states, Somalia is the poster child,” Arman devoted most of his short and fairly pessimistic speech to an entertaining and engaging analogy dealing with Somalia’s place in the world: “Imagine a patient who suffers from multiple chronic illnesses and is comatose. Half his family debates with one another over which illness to treat first…and the other half is corrupted, they just go through his pockets…. Then the international community asks, ‘Why isn’t he paying his bills? Why doesn’t he take care of his family?’” It was a brilliant illustration of all the external pressures that act upon Somalia and why Somalia’s development must be dealt with “in a holistic manner.”

All the panelists having spoken and the lecture having gone over its allotted time, Sachs made some quick closing remarks, encouraged undergraduates to check out the new Sustainable Development major, and opened the floor to questions. One girl went up to the microphone and asked how the disputes between the Egyptian and Sudanese parties and the Eastern African bloc nations would affect the Drylands Initiative. Dr. Belay responded, “Egypt is very far from here and not included in the program.”

Map from Wikimedia Commons

He shall walk among you! Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Romney will be speaking at the Millennium Campus Conference, a gathering of 1,000 or so student leaders and leading minds for a candid discussion on matters of sustainable international development. Chuck Roberts, CC’12 and executive director of the event, confirms that Romney will speak on “matters relating to global education and volunteerism.”

“We are expecting some more big names to confirm [their participation] in the near future,” said Roberts. Bwog is just glad to finally have someone other than Jeffrey Sachs headlining a sustainable-anything event on campus (not that we don’t love our Sachs, but variety is the spice of life).

The Conference will run September 17th-19th, and anyone looking to get in on the action should consider registering now.

Grant D’Avino explains everything you will ever need to know about green energy. Thanks, Grant!

Financiers, environmentalists, and concerned citizens packed into Faculty House on Thursday night for “Innovative Methods of Green Energy Finance”, a panel discussion sponsored by the Earth Institute. Steven Cohen, Executive Director of the Earth Institute, opened discussion with a simple observation, “Most people are aware of the need to switch from a fossil fuel based economy to one based on renewable energy.” Given this consensus, the moderator mused, why is there need for a discussion of “Innovative Methods of Green Energy Finance”? Shouldn’t the merits of green energy, financially and environmentally, speak for themselves? He argued that they succeed in doing so. But sadly, from his perspective, initial costs inherent in switching to green technologies have clouded the long term vision of investors and stymied those with little cash or credit available. With this paradox in mind, Cohen opened discussion to the night’s panel.

From the beginning, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans took center stage. PACE loans are loans made to property owners by municipalities to retrofit buildings with green technologies like solar panels, as well as to make environmentally friendly upgrades like installing double-paned windows. The innovative aspect of PACE loans is that the cost of repaying them is embedded in the property tax of the person taking out the loan. In this way, individuals do not continue to pay for upgrades to the property if they move away. Also, the increase in property tax is more than offset by savings in utility bills. This is what one panelist referred to as the “beauty” of the PACE system: even after taking out a loan, property owners are essentially earning money.

Given the success of PACE programs in a handful of communities across the country, panelists were asked to consider how the loan programs might be “scaled up”. One panelist pointed out that the spread is already underway, as both Bedford, NY and Babylon, NY are considering similar programs. Another panelist claimed that large capital providers were key to the expansion of loan programs. A third agreed, saying that PACE programs have been a “tale of haves, have nots, and innovative thinkers”. Using decidedly Marxian language to describe a purely capitalist phenomenon, she said that wealthy communities have the money to begin programs on their own while less affluent communities lack the capital to get similar loan systems off the ground.

And this is where the innovative thinkers (i.e. investors) come in. To fund PACE programs, simply securitize and package the debt of homeowners! Given the recent financial crisis, your correspondent found it somewhat suspect that derivatives based on loans to homeowners would be the financial backbone of the green revolution, although the PACE mechanism seems to be working swimmingly where it has been implemented.

As discussion wrapped up, moderator Cohen inquired as to which policy initiatives each panelist would bring to fruition if they had a “magic policy wand”. One panelist suggested a Google Maps-esque overlay showing energy consumption, which would help individuals understand how much energy they consume compared to other parts of the population. Magic policy wand apparently in mind, this bold young panelist admitted, “I wanna make a joke about Harry Potter.”

No Columbia celebrity packs a room quite like Jeffrey Sachs. Invited by the young student group Delta GDP to speak on his already notorious views on development programs in impoverished nations, this brief and cursory event filled a rather uncomfortable Fayerweather classroom well beyond capacity. Streams of equal exchange, fairly traded, organically grown dark chocolate flowed in abundance through the audience, accompanied by advertising placards for reverse trick-or-treating with large and inspiring pictures of smiling African children. So cute. And in this utopian lull, the crowd bustled with excited commentary on the veritable demigod soon to grace us with his presence

Interestingly, this event was originally conceptualized as a potential debate between Sachs and arch-nemesis William Easterly of NYU. Sachs, however, shot down this idea, claiming that he does not do debates, at least not in person – he’s just not that confrontational. So William Easterly will appear alone Friday, same time, same place, exact opposite message (Bwog can only image in this backwards world what the audience and amenities will be like). With Easterly out of the picture, though, Sachs found the time and the freedom to paint his rosy picture of development – such earnest hope and trust in the goodwill of man and his pocketbook, it’s like watching an elevated Sally Struthers commercial.

Sachs began with a brief biological sketch of the birth and growth of his ideas starting with a trip in the mid-1990s to Zambia where he was first confronted with the truth of the AIDS epidemic. He thereafter set out to discover what could be done to alleviate the situation only to realize that any expert anywhere could name several simple, almost commonsense, solutions to the problems of infectious diseases, malnourishment, and childbirth and infant morality. It was Sachs’ job, then, to put a price tag on these measures.

What Sachs realized in the realm of health then, and has since realized in infrastructure, agriculture, and numerous other realms, is this: given the levels of technology and absolute wealth in the world, alleviating poverty (not defined by Sachs in dollar terms, but rather in terms of access to the necessities of life – clean water, healthcare, food) is an extremely cheap proposition. And he proposes to kick off an ascent from poverty towards growth by modest redistributions of wealth from the incredibly rich world to the incredibly poor world. Sachs claims that the transfer would be so small – on the order of 0.1 percent of the developed world’s annual GDP – that one would hardly notice its loss in America or Britain, but its benefits to the poor would be immeasurable. His quest, then, working on behalf of the UN on the Millennium Development Goals for the past nine years, has been to increase global contributions from 0.01 percent of GDP to 0.1 percent.

Unfortunately, Sachs claims, they have thus far only approached somewhere near 0.03 percent. Global leaders, he claims, often view his and the UN’s goals as nothing more than a photo-op, soon to be forgotten. However, despite negligence by former President Bush (Sachs notes that Bush only mentioned the MDGs once in eight years – “September 14, 2005, at 10:15 AM, precisely”), Sachs notes the resilience of the MDGs in various global summits and, promisingly, in the rhetoric of the Obama administration. Sachs, then, sees 2010 (ten years in to the MDGs timeframe with five years remaining) as the year to mobilize the population and pressure global governments into acknowledging the moral imperative and ethical obligation not just to help the poor, but also to fulfill previous promises of funding for such development projects. And he wants you to join his army to help make 2010 the year of shaming politicians and destroying poverty.

With a gentle nod to the absent Easterly, Sachs acknowledged the popular dissent among economists to his redistributive methods – they do not honor the sanctity of the market as a tool for alleviating poverty. Sachs, though, holds that if someone is clever enough to develop the world totally with markets, well, that’s great. But for now the world needs international welfare, which should be viewed not as cheating, but as no different than the programs we enact within nations to keep our poor from dying on the streets (well, at least to keep they from dying on the streets in droves). Some commodities can become accessible and beneficial via markets, Sachs argues (cell phones), but others (healthcare) need to be given to the entire population and a gradual market dispersion that often never fully trickles down will not achieve that necessity.

True, Sachs admitted during the question and answer period, his ideas face a spate of challenges: corrupt governments, sustainable development goals, restricting birth rates and keeping growth in harmony with environmental constraints, and other complications ad infinitum. But Sachs urges all to plunge onwards with him, to fight each battle with great resolve as they arise, to never waver, and, above all, starting right now, to do the right thing.

James Franco drops out of speaking at UCLA’s commencement.

Jeff Sachs wants the US to send water, not money.

Will cities of the future need “vertical farming?” Two Columbia professors say “yes.”

David Helfand has said that a meteor could bring down a plane. Did it bring down Air France 447?

Hamid Dabashi: “The first 100 days over, Obama is looking more and more like Bush”

Bwog thought spring was already over, but then again, Bwog has never been an expert on the equinoxes.

In an email sent to the Columbia community this afternoon, President Bollinger outlined the Global Fellows program Annan will be joining, and hinted at all the hijinks he’ll soon be up to with fellow, um, “global practitioners.” A penny for whomever knows what those are.

PrezBo’s full email is after the jump.

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

It is my very great pleasure to announce that former United Nations Secretary-General and 2001 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Kofi Annan, will be joining the Columbia community this spring.

Mr. Annan already has deep professional bonds with many of our faculty (notably Jeff Sachs, Director of Columbia’s Earth Institute and Michael Doyle of the School of International and Public Affairs) and has done many things with Columbia over the years.  He will now forge more formal links with our schools, faculty, and students.

Mr. Annan will join a new program being launched by Dean John Coatsworth at the School of International and Public Affairs next year as one of the first group of Global Fellows.  The Global Fellows program will bring students together with global practitioners to share firsthand knowledge of experiences in the life of an international or public figure.  As Dean Coatsworth will be announcing today, the other Global Fellows in the program’s inaugural year will include Chee Hwa Tung, former and first Chief Executive of Hong Kong and Alfred Gusenbauer, former Chancellor of Austria.  Mr. Annan will also participate in several of our other global initiatives, including the Committee on Global Thought led by Joseph Stiglitz, the World Leaders Forum, our recently launched Global Research Centers, and the Earth Institute.

Mr. Annan presently leads the Kofi Annan Foundation and is an active chair of the board for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.  His extraordinary contributions to the world are well known, and it will be a great addition to our community to have him with us.

We are grateful to the generous donors who make it possible for us to create such fellowship opportunities for world leaders to be a part of the Columbia experience.

Please join me in welcoming Kofi Annan to our community.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger

He’s a fan! Good for him for being honest! It’s nice to see that not all professors have been scared away from the internet.

It’s not uncommon to see Columbia’s celebrity economist in the news, but three times in one day? First, “the noted economist” tell the Press Trust of India (India’s AP) that India needs to spend more money stimulating the economy to ensure a quick recovery. Sounds kinda like what a Columbia alum just signed.

Not content to merely be interviewed, Sachs also has his own essay on Fortune‘s website, detailing his plan on how to fix the Big 3 auto companies. “The Big 3 are not just another industry segment,” he writes, “they are world-leading organizations that can reassume that role in technology and markets with an appropriate public-private partnership over the coming decade.”

And because writing isn’t enough, he’s also headlining the launch of a new Earth Institute project, GlobalSoilMap.net, today at Casa Italiana. According to the event description, “this initiative, which will map most of the ice-free land surface of the globe over the next five years, will help scientists and policy makers tackle pressing issues like food security, climate change and water scarcity.”

Next up: leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Hey, it’s easier than saving the Dow.