In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with research colleagues at Resources for the Future—Senior Fellow Karen Palmer, Fellow Kevin Rennert, and Senior Fellow Margaret Walls—about the top 10 issues of 2025 they’ve been tracking in energy and environmental news from the past year. Among the topics they’ve chosen for conversation: public land sales, electricity load growth and affordability, fires and floods, California and its recent major package of environmental legislation, federal permits for renewable energy projects, and more. It’s a fun conversation with insights on the happenings in 2025 and some prognostications for the coming year.
References and recommendations:
“What’s Happening to Electricity Affordability? in Five Charts” by Jesse Buchsbaum and Jenya Kahn-Lang; https://www.resources.org/archives/whats-happening-to-electricity-affordability-in-five-charts/
“California’s Innovative Vision for Climate Policy and Energy Affordability” by Dallas Burtraw; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/californias-innovative-vision-for-climate-policy-and-energy-affordability/
“California’s Revamped Energy and Climate Policies” podcast episode with Kate Gordon; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/californias-revamped-energy-and-climate-policies-with-kate-gordon/
“Shifting Ground: Changes in Public Land Policies” webinar event from Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/events/webinars/shifting-ground-changes-in-public-land-policies/
“If/Then: A Last Hurrah for Transatlantic Fossil Fuel Energy Trade?” by Milan Elkerbout and Zach Whitlock; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/ifthen-a-last-hurrah-for-transatlantic-fossil-fuel-energy-trade/
“Landman” television series; https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/landman/
“Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/314822/haroun-and-the-sea-of-stories-by-salman-rushdie/
“The Art Thief” by Michael Finkel; https://www.michaelfinkel.com/books/the-art-thief/
Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/
All content for Resources Radio is the property of Resources for the Future and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with research colleagues at Resources for the Future—Senior Fellow Karen Palmer, Fellow Kevin Rennert, and Senior Fellow Margaret Walls—about the top 10 issues of 2025 they’ve been tracking in energy and environmental news from the past year. Among the topics they’ve chosen for conversation: public land sales, electricity load growth and affordability, fires and floods, California and its recent major package of environmental legislation, federal permits for renewable energy projects, and more. It’s a fun conversation with insights on the happenings in 2025 and some prognostications for the coming year.
References and recommendations:
“What’s Happening to Electricity Affordability? in Five Charts” by Jesse Buchsbaum and Jenya Kahn-Lang; https://www.resources.org/archives/whats-happening-to-electricity-affordability-in-five-charts/
“California’s Innovative Vision for Climate Policy and Energy Affordability” by Dallas Burtraw; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/californias-innovative-vision-for-climate-policy-and-energy-affordability/
“California’s Revamped Energy and Climate Policies” podcast episode with Kate Gordon; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/californias-revamped-energy-and-climate-policies-with-kate-gordon/
“Shifting Ground: Changes in Public Land Policies” webinar event from Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/events/webinars/shifting-ground-changes-in-public-land-policies/
“If/Then: A Last Hurrah for Transatlantic Fossil Fuel Energy Trade?” by Milan Elkerbout and Zach Whitlock; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/ifthen-a-last-hurrah-for-transatlantic-fossil-fuel-energy-trade/
“Landman” television series; https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/landman/
“Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/314822/haroun-and-the-sea-of-stories-by-salman-rushdie/
“The Art Thief” by Michael Finkel; https://www.michaelfinkel.com/books/the-art-thief/
Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/
Recreation-Dependent Communities, Public Lands, and Housing Affordability, with Megan Lawson
Resources Radio
30 minutes 23 seconds
6 months ago
Recreation-Dependent Communities, Public Lands, and Housing Affordability, with Megan Lawson
In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Megan Lawson, an economist and researcher at Headwaters Economics, about how outdoor recreation economies support communities throughout the United States despite creating unique challenges for their residents. Many US communities that border public lands and scenic natural areas have recreation-dependent economies, meaning a majority of the local economy is driven by recreational activities and tourism. Lawson explains how recreation-dependent economies can be vulnerable to over-tourism, shortages in affordable housing, and increased risk of wildfires and floods. Lawson then unpacks the feasibility of public land sales to address challenges in making affordable housing available and describes ways to increase hazard resilience in recreation-dependent communities to protect full-time residents and visitors.
References and recommendations:
“Housing on public lands will be limited by wildfire risk and development challenges” by Megan Lawson; https://headwaterseconomics.org/public-lands/wildfire-public-land-housing/
“If/Then: The Slippery Slope of Federal Land Sales” by Margaret Walls and Alexandra Thompson; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/if-then-the-slippery-slope-of-federal-land-sales/
“In Defense of Public Lands” by Steven Davis; http://tupress.temple.edu/books/in-defense-of-public-lands
“History of the Rain” by Niall Williams; https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/history-of-the-rain-9781620407707/
Resources Radio
In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with research colleagues at Resources for the Future—Senior Fellow Karen Palmer, Fellow Kevin Rennert, and Senior Fellow Margaret Walls—about the top 10 issues of 2025 they’ve been tracking in energy and environmental news from the past year. Among the topics they’ve chosen for conversation: public land sales, electricity load growth and affordability, fires and floods, California and its recent major package of environmental legislation, federal permits for renewable energy projects, and more. It’s a fun conversation with insights on the happenings in 2025 and some prognostications for the coming year.
References and recommendations:
“What’s Happening to Electricity Affordability? in Five Charts” by Jesse Buchsbaum and Jenya Kahn-Lang; https://www.resources.org/archives/whats-happening-to-electricity-affordability-in-five-charts/
“California’s Innovative Vision for Climate Policy and Energy Affordability” by Dallas Burtraw; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/californias-innovative-vision-for-climate-policy-and-energy-affordability/
“California’s Revamped Energy and Climate Policies” podcast episode with Kate Gordon; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/californias-revamped-energy-and-climate-policies-with-kate-gordon/
“Shifting Ground: Changes in Public Land Policies” webinar event from Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/events/webinars/shifting-ground-changes-in-public-land-policies/
“If/Then: A Last Hurrah for Transatlantic Fossil Fuel Energy Trade?” by Milan Elkerbout and Zach Whitlock; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/ifthen-a-last-hurrah-for-transatlantic-fossil-fuel-energy-trade/
“Landman” television series; https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/landman/
“Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/314822/haroun-and-the-sea-of-stories-by-salman-rushdie/
“The Art Thief” by Michael Finkel; https://www.michaelfinkel.com/books/the-art-thief/
Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/