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Carl Smith

Senior Staff Writer

Carl Smith is a senior staff writer for Governing and covers a broad range of issues affecting states and localities. For the past 30 years, Carl has written about education and the environment for peer-reviewed papers, magazines and online publications, with a special focus on conservation and sustainability. He has guest-edited special issues of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health focused on the Precautionary Principle and the human rights dimensions of environmental degradation. Carl attended the University of Texas and the University of Georgia. He can be reached at carl.smith@governing.com or on Twitter at @governingwriter.

Tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act were designed to drive private-sector investments in clean energy. Where are investments and jobs landing?
Local governments have jurisdiction over the third-largest source of methane emissions: the decomposition of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
Rainfall patterns are changing. What can local leaders do to curb the growing risks?
And how does that overlap with reported deaths from firearms?
Election deniers are running for election administration jobs in some states. What would it look like to make changes they want to see?
Deepfake images and videos are just one way AI could disrupt the upcoming election. Experts are highlighting risks that could cause bigger problems and helping election officials prepare for them.
A bipartisan group of more than 350 mayors has committed to ambitious targets for fleet electrification and charging infrastructure.
This nonprofit model for increasing affordable housing supply is seeing success in convincing socially motivated investors to accept lower rates of return on rental units.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits that reimburse governments for clean energy investments. New online resources make the program more understandable and accessible.
Mark Twain famous aphorism, “History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” reminds us that while exact circumstances may be unique, patterns do in fact repeat. That is true meteorologically this year as the U.S. navigates through another summer of extreme weather.