CLOSUP publications

As policymakers progress further into finding sustainable, renewable energy solutions for the United States, local and state governments have been fixating on solar power. The price of solar energy has dropped dramatically in recent years — but not...

Nationally, the Great Recession officially ended in 2009, with employment and market conditions on a steady incline to recover from the economic downturn. However, many nationwide improvements of the economy were not truly seen until 2015, as the...

Attitudes towards the implementation of renewable energy technologies vary in complexity as an increasing number of renewable projects are proposed in the United States and the rest of the world. These projects remain controversial, as proponents...

This paper examines the emerging international trend of dockless electric scooters and evaluates how Michigan’s state and local policymakers can best respond. While there are important public safety and other concerns that must be addressed with...

Housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable. The for-profit housing market is failing working class and low-income families. As a lingering effect of the 2007 foreclosure crises, over 36% of households now rent their home. 1 Rent continues to...

The 130,000 undocumented immigrants in Michigan are disproportionately affected by poverty, limiting their access to higher education due to affordability concerns, in addition to the various institutional obstacles that create hardships for this...

A decade of major job loss resulted in declining government revenue, wages, and youth population in Michigan, all of which has place economic strain on the state and its residents. Michigan, once the leader in auto industry manufacturing, now...

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are the transportation of the future, promising mobility like the world has never seen. The development of this technology is still underway, and a finished product is years-to-decades away. Michigan should fight to be the...

The United States Government and the various state governments all have laws establishing rules around government ethics and transparency. These are put in place to avoid conflicts of interest or corruption among public officials and to ensure that...

Michigan has access to some of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world, and is surrounded by more than one-fifth of the world’s surface fresh water (US EPA, 2015). However, the quality of its constituents’ drinking water contradicts this sort...

Over the recent years, many studies have attempted to shed light on the negative impacts and gaps of exclusionary discipline practices within Michigan schools. Research shows that students who face suspension and expulsion are as much as 10 times...

Growing up people often spend time dreaming of their perfect home, in hopes that one day if they work hard enough and put enough money aside, that their dream will become a reality. A perfect home where one can raise their children and grow old in,...

When exploring the K-12 curriculum structure, it is important to note what the most effective methods are when it comes to making sure that students are getting all of the training that they need in order to be ready for college when the time comes....

Only one in two Michigan 3rd graders were proficient in reading at the end of 2015, according to the M-STEP, and this number is only decreasing (EdTrust Midwest, 2017). The MSTEP is the Michigan Student Test of Education Assessment, an annual...

During, and in the wake of, Michigan’s Lost Decade and the Great Recession, Michigan’s urban centers struggled to retain and attract young people. This dilemma became known as the “brain drain” and led to a number of issues, including an unwelcome...

Transitioning our energy supply to renewable sources has become an objective for policymakers, worldwide, and wind energy has emerged as a leading alternative energy source. In the US, much of the wind energy growth has occurred in rural communities...

Due to a lack of concerted federal action to promote renewable energy, understanding and evaluating the rigors of state-level energy policies such as renewable portfolio standards is of great importance. The literature on state renewable policies...

To evaluate current Republican views on climate, this study performs an inventory of all 51 US Republican senators’ official websites. It analyzes how each member speaks of "climate change" and "energy," which types of climate change mitigation...

In the global fight against climate change, cap-and-trade programs remain one of the most effective means of greenhouse gas mitigation at policymakers’ disposal. Within the United States, several sub-national cap-and trade programs have emerged with...

Despite lacking oil and gas resources and its accompanying wealth, Jordan and Morocco are leading renewable energy producers in the Middle East and North Africa. This research paper is a comparative case study that analyzes policy intent, policy...

Solar power has historically been a high cost form of renewable energy. Other renewables like wind have dominated the market, leading to a lack of diversity within American states’ renewable portfolio standards (RPS). To combat this lack of...

The gas tax in the United States has significant implications for the environment and for infrastructure funding. In contrast to federal inaction for over two decades, many states have recently increased their own state-level gas taxes. This study...

Local policies aimed at reducing the emissions that contribute to climate change are growing in popularity in the United States, but progress on reducing vehicle emissions remains incremental. Cities are slowly shifting away from zoning policies...

Since the 1980's international climate negotiations have occurred more frequently and with increasing importance. Research on international climate agreements has largely been limited to their effectiveness, with very few considering the formation...

A combination of rapid population growth, lack of proactive water management policy, and prolonged drought have put Cape Town, South Africa on the verge of becoming the first major, global city to effectively run out of water, a crisis projected to...