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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.

From regulation to restoration, the work of environmental stewardship falls largely on the shoulders of those in government. For Earth Day 2022, Governing asked public-sector leaders how they see the path forward.
Kate Wright, the new executive director of the nonprofit Climate Mayors, talks about the ways that mayors from both parties are on climate’s front lines, working for change.
Started by Jerry Brown nearly 50 years ago, the CCC is a rock-solid model for programs that combine workforce development, public service and pushback against climate change.
Pilot projects in five communities will test how best to address the health risks that are connected to homelessness. Results could help guide professionals in reducing what has been a chronic problem.
The median net worth of white households in the U.S. is almost eight times greater than that of Black households. Most mayors agree this is a problem but differ on what solutions are best.
Many could quit their jobs because of harassment and burnout, leaving communities at great risk. The public hostility toward the workers has been referred to as “moral injury.”
A new study highlights innovative state-level strategies driven by data that emerged during the pandemic to address social factors undermining the well-being of too many Americans.
Housing costs were rising faster than income before historic inflation made things worse. The CEO of Habitat for Humanity blueprints what local governments can do to ease the current crisis.
California got the ball rolling, working to keep organic materials out of landfills by issuing regulations and using technologies that can turn them into an energy source and carbon sink. Now, other states are joining in.
A public service academy at Arizona State University is helping students consider a career in the public sector. As other universities offer similar programs, will they succeed in expanding the talent pool for government?