Year: 2013
William Brennan, Bob Woodward, and the Ethical Duties of a Justice
Washington Post editor/reporter Bob Woodward is in a good amount of hot water, and deservedly so, for publicly insinuating that White House economic advisory Gene Sperling threatened him in a recent e-mail exchange. As it turns out, when the exchange was revealed, Sperling was merely saying — in a very friendly way — that Woodward …
Continue reading “William Brennan, Bob Woodward, and the Ethical Duties of a Justice”
CONTINUE READINGCity of Los Angeles will promote widespread adoption of “cool roof” technology, citing benefits documented in Emmett Center report
One of the core goals of our environmental law programs at UCLA Law is to influence and inform public policy with our research. I’m proud to say that our Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment is doing exactly that. The City of Los Angeles, influenced by the Emmett Center’s work, is moving forward …
CONTINUE READINGHow Warm is the Planet? — The Warmest in 5000 Years
A new study in the journal Science shows just how extraordinary our current weather is. Here are the key findings: In one century, we have reversed a five thousand year cooling trend. Global temperatures have gone from nearly the coldest to the warmest in the past five thousand years. To give some perspective, five thousand years ago was about …
Continue reading “How Warm is the Planet? — The Warmest in 5000 Years”
CONTINUE READINGNew Hope for Genetically-Engineered Food Labeling?
Many observers believed that the defeat of California’s Proposition 37 at the polls last November spelled a significant–and perhaps fatal–political setback for state and national efforts to require labeling of genetically engineered food products. But two recent articles from the New York Times suggest that the GMO labeling movement is far from dead. Last week …
Continue reading “New Hope for Genetically-Engineered Food Labeling?”
CONTINUE READINGDavid Brooks, Tree-Hugger
David Brooks’ column a few days ago makes an interesting case for radical environmentalism — even if Brooks doesn’t see the implications of his argument. Brooks thinks he is writing a paean to Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn: Those of us in secular America live in a culture that takes the supremacy of individual autonomy as …
Continue reading “David Brooks, Tree-Hugger”
CONTINUE READINGMiddle of the First Inning: Big Cola 1, Public Health 0
The NY Times reports that a New York trial court has invalidated New York’s rule banning giant-sized sugar soft-drinks. The court’s decision can be found here. On a quick read, the decision seems to rest on two grounds: 1. The rule exceeds the powers of the public health board, despite a provision in the New …
Continue reading “Middle of the First Inning: Big Cola 1, Public Health 0”
CONTINUE READINGReaders: We Need Your Feedback
Dear Readers, We are engaged in an exciting process of redesigning Legal Planet. We would appreciate if you could lend a few minutes of your time to answer 15 simple questions about how you use the blog, what you enjoy, and changes you would like to see going forward. Please complete our short survey here. …
Continue reading “Readers: We Need Your Feedback”
CONTINUE READINGLogging, tropical forests, and biodiversity — what we don’t know
Cross-posted at The Berkeley Blog. A new paper in Conservation Biology (subscription required) from researchers at UC Berkeley and elsewhere provides an important reminder that we often don’t know as much as we think we do about ecological systems and the effects of human actions on those systems. Lead author Benjamin Ramage and colleagues evaluated …
Continue reading “Logging, tropical forests, and biodiversity — what we don’t know”
CONTINUE READINGOT 2012 and the Environment
This Supreme Court Term features a number of environmental cases. We’re now about two-thirds of the way through the Term, so I thought it might be helpful to post a summary of the cases. My impression is that the Court is interested in environmental law to the extent that it seems to impinge on the …
Continue reading “OT 2012 and the Environment”
CONTINUE READINGThe Sandwich and Urban Pollution Progress in China
The principal-agent problem is a classic issue in modern economics. Consider the case of a Chinese Mayor who must choose whether to enforce regulations on a local steel plant. Pollution would decline if this regulation is enforced but the profits of the firm might fall and this could affect the local economy if the …
Continue reading “The Sandwich and Urban Pollution Progress in China”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
