We at GCRI oppose racism, full stop. We previously expressed this in our Statement on Racism published in June 2020 amidst protests over the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. As that explains, racism is important in its own right and also has significant implications for global catastrophic risk. Now, a troubling new incident within the field of global catastrophic risk motivates us to comment further.

The incident involves the very harmful and scientifically dubious idea of a genetic basis of racial differences …

Over the past month, GCRI has lost two team members: Deputy Director McKenna Fitzgerald and Research Associate Andrea Owe. As a consequence, the current GCRI team consists exclusively of White males from very similar backgrounds.

We wish to state for the record that we are aware of our current lack of demographic diversity and we are not happy about it. We believe that demographic diversity is important for a multitude of reasons, including to benefit the GCRI team from the infusion of different and complementary perspectives, …

View the article “Even With Electric Vehicles, An Expanded Turnpike Extension Would Be Bad For The Environment”.

There is currently a heated policy debate over a part of the New Jersey Turnpike across from Lower Manhattan (circled in the image above). The Turnpike Authority has proposed replacing and expanding this stretch of road. The governor supports it, but most local politicians oppose it. This article argues against the Turnpike expansion, detailing its environmental harms and instead calling for investment in transit, cycling, and walking. It …

View the article “New York’s Housing Plans Must Address Affordability—& Climate Change”.

New York City is one of the most energy-efficient places in the United States, thanks to its high population density and excellent (by US standards) transit. However, it is also one of the most expensive places, thanks to its extremely high cost of housing. This article calls for an ambitious increase in the local housing supply to address both affordability and climate change. It is published in City Limits, a news publication …