--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 16 description: Why standardized tests don't work for reading, how carbon capture could work, campaign cash and judges, and making art to save communities. canonical: https://time.com/3513164/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-16/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-16T16:01:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:22.952Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas og:description: Learn about: Weaning off fossil fuels, why testing reading doesn't work, campaign finance reform, making art that helps the community, and more. og:url: https://time.com/3513164/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-16/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas twitter:description: Learn about: Weaning off fossil fuels, why testing reading doesn't work, campaign finance reform, making art that helps the community, and more. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 16 > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Oct 16, 2014 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Oct 16, 2014 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**Accountability in education is essential and non-negotiable, and testing works. Just not in reading.**](http://edexcellence.net/articles/let%E2%80%99s-tell-the-truth-high-stakes-tests-damage-reading-instruction) By Robert Pondiscio in Flypaper from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute **2\.** [**Carbon capture technology is costly, but could be an interim solution for climate change. And a carbon tax could pay for it.**](http://e360.yale.edu/feature/can%5Fcarbon%5Fcapture%5Ftechnology%5Fbe%5Fpart%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fclimate%5Fsolution/2800/) By David Biello in Yale Environment 360 **3\.** [**Immersive public art is improving lives and safety in one Detroit neighborhood — and serving as a model for other communities.**](http://www.highgroundnews.com/features/detroit-powerhouse-project-art-neighborhood-safety.aspx) By Anna Clark in High Ground News **4\.** [**Presidential pool reporters are circulating their own news reports to bypass pressure from the White House Press Office.**](http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/white-house-pool-reporters-test-own-news-distribution-system/2014/10/14/e005686a-53cc-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773%5Fstory.html) By Paul Farhi in the Washington Post **5\.** [**Unregulated campaign cash and elected judges together undermine the independence of our judiciary.**](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/courting-corruption-the-auctioning-of-the-judicial-system/381524/) By Norm Ornstein in The Atlantic  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3513164/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-16/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3513164/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-16/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 16","datePublished":"2014-10-16T16:01:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:22.952Z","description":"Why standardized tests don't work for reading, how carbon capture could work, campaign cash and judges, and making art to save communities.","url":"https://time.com/3513164/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-16/","keywords":["Innovation","Children","Education","Detroit","White House","Art","Election","President","reform","reading","campaign","Fossil fuels","urban","landscape"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3513164/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-16/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 16"}}]}] ```