Public Affairs

Where is the Alaska economy headed? How will our fiscal choices affect the Alaska economy? What do the answers to those two questions say about what fiscal choices make sense?

• Bill Popp vs. Mark Foster
• Moderator: Rhonda McBride

Citizens present proposals to fill $2.5-billion annual gap for five consecutive years and then answer questions

• Citizens with proposals: John Havelock; Brad Keithley; Liz Medicine Crow; Gary Wilken
• Moderators: Cliff Groh; Gunnar Knapp; Larry Persily

Proposals:

• Brad Keithley: “Sustainable Budget Proposal”
• Gary Wilken: “Everyone Helps a Little: A Five-Year Fiscal Plan”
• John Havelock: “The Hat Trick”
• Liz Medicine Crow: “Progress Will Come by Investing in Our Own”

• Introduction Cliff Groh, Chair of Alaska Common Ground
• Overview: What’s the Problem? What Steps Could We Take?Overview by Prof. Gunnar Knapp; David Teal, Director, Alaska Legislative Finance Division; Larry Persily, and Ian Laing (with explanatory tools)
  • Moderator: Cliff Groh

From Juneau World Affairs Council: “The Success of British Columbia’s Carbon Tax and What It Means for Alaska” with Eion Madden

Eion Madden (pronounced “Owen”) grew up in Ireland where he witnessed a drastic shift in the climate, from mild and rainy to one of extremes. He trained as a lawyer, serving firstly as a corporate attorney to an international diamond company, and then as a criminal prosecutor for the Irish State. In 2009, he traded in his career as a criminal lawyer to complete a post-graduate degree in climate change and moved to British Columbia. He came “straight off the boat” to work as a legal assistant at Ecojustice, Canada’s only national environmental law charity, where he tracked applications to Canadian regulatory bodies, before joining Wilderness Committee as their Climate Campaigner. For the last three years he has worked with British Columbians to stop harmful resource projects and move toward real action on climate change. His latest work is on climate solutions and the potential power of effective carbon pricing in North America.

Recorded September 15, 2015

Roland Bunch has worked as a consultant in agricultural development for over 40 NGOs and governments in 50 nations, including Cornell University, the Ford Foundation, several of the Oxfams, Save the Children, CARE, and the governments of Guatemala, Honduras, Swaziland, Laos and Vietnam. In 1982, he authored the second of his four books, Two Ears of Corn, A Guide to People-Centered Agricultural Improvement, which was eventually published in ten languages and became one of the all-time best-sellers in agricultural development.

He has also, over the last 30 years, been one of several worldwide leaders (along with a half-dozen Brazilians) in developing green manure/cover crop technologies and spreading them around the world. Roland has been nominated for the Global 500 Award, the US President’s End the Hunger Prize, and the World Food Prize.

Recorded August 26, 2015