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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.

Mathematicians, social scientists, lawyers and programmers have led the development of a new generation of free tools to make and evaluate redistricting maps. Can they make the process more transparent?
A blockbuster video stars a LEGO re-creation of the city of Arlington, Texas. A city official’s hobby is helping citizens understand how it makes budget decisions.
Natural disasters such as fires, floods and storms are more intense and are developing more rapidly. The “new normal” that climate change has brought to emergency managers is unpredictability.
China’s decision to end imports of recyclable materials created huge challenges and forced a hard look at recycling in the U.S. New legislation aims to increase private-sector responsibility for waste reduction and recovery.
What’s behind distrust of public health advice? Harvard's Rima Rudd, a founder of the field of health literacy, explains the ways that health messaging can go wrong.
State spending on key public health activities has been flat or in decline since 2008 and salaries lag behind the private sector. Stakeholders are exploring strategies to meet the need for these essential workers.
The state is already home to the largest potable water reuse programs in the world. Massive expansions worth more than $11 billion are in the works to keep supply steady in the face of worsening climate impacts.
Wildfires aren’t caused by forests, but the default approach to fire prevention is to clear them. Climate may be the real problem, and preserving trees a big part of the solution.
Ongoing efforts to find election irregularities might serve the ambitions of some in politics, but they aren’t viewed favorably by many Americans. A new report documents the spread of unconventional “audits” to new states.
Registered apprenticeship can bridge the gap between job seekers looking for a living wage and employers who need skilled workers. The system, established during the Great Depression, is experiencing a renaissance.