Region: International
Six Things to Know about Rights of Nature
More than 500 Rights of Nature laws and policies have been passed globally. Here’s how to make sense of this nascent movement — or movements.
This Fall, I have been co-teaching a course on Rights of Nature with the historian Jill Lepore. This is the first time either of us have taught the subject and it has proven a wonderful opportunity to explore with our students this emerging movement — one that some have praised as “A Legal Revolution That …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s at Stake in the ICJ Hearings
Representational sovereignty, Indigenous rights, and ecocide are all key to the climate obligations of states, write guest contributors Mollie Cueva-Dabkoski, Julia Phượng Nguyễn, and Molly-Mae Whitmey.
A new chapter of global climate accountability has hopefully begun, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prepares to issue an advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change. Hearings for that opinion began today with over 100 countries and other parties presenting over two weeks. At the request of the U.N. General …
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CONTINUE READINGOne Bright Spot to COP29 in Baku
The outcome of this year’s U.N. climate conference was depressing. But there was some notable news regarding global methane emissions commitments.
Some have described the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku as “challenging,” “ineffective,” and “disappointing.” On the one hand, global greenhouse gas emissions have reached an all-time high, and the temperature for 2023 is the highest ever recorded. On the other hand, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the U.S. from …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s Making this COP Especially Difficult?
Notes from COP29 in Baku, where the subject of real money, U.S. politics, and other tricky factors are converging.
My UCLA colleagues Ted Parson, JP Escudero and I just returned from Baku. Most of our work there related to side talks on advancing methane regulation (and our UCLA project on that topic), but we also got a sense of how the central negotiations were unfolding. As the New York Times and others are reporting, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe 2024 Election Outcome Could Boost the Case for Geoengineering
A Trump victory would increase the odds that we will ultimately need to start blocking solar radiation as a last resort to limit climate change.
A Trump victory would increase the odds that we will eventually need to “break the glass and pull the red lever.” To be prepared for that possibility, we would also need to do more in the short term to research various forms of geoengineering, their feasibility, and their potential side effects. Basically, if you decide you’re going to start smoking a lot more cigarettes, you need to be prepared for the greater likelihood you’ll need chemo.
CONTINUE READINGAn Ethical Framework for Climate Intervention Research
Can the AGU’s new principles defuse controversy and enable responsible research?
Research into climate intervention techniques, especially solar geoengineering, has long been controversial. Scientists as well as publics and policy makers have been divided on its risks and merits. In recent years, experiments proposed or undertaken in the USA, Sweden and Mexico have triggered vociferous opposition. Growing and unregulated commercial interest in the technologies seems likely …
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CONTINUE READINGGovernors Present Bold Vision for Investing in a New Forest Economy
As global leaders gather in Cali for COP16 and devastating fires continue across the Amazon, we should look to subnational groups for solutions to both the climate and biodiversity loss crisis.
The world has continued to watch as fires burn – yet again – across much of the Amazon basin. With historic droughts and ongoing lack of resources to tackle these fires and their underlying causes, they have ravaged millions of hectares of forests, communities, and wildlife habitat in Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, and beyond. These fires, …
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CONTINUE READINGReflections on “Yes they can control the weather.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene is wildly wrong about government scientists controlling hurricanes. There is a rich history of weather modification experiments that make that false claim more dangerous.
Since U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted earlier this month that “Yes they can control the weather” — a bunch of commentators have pointed out that she’s wildly wrong. Yes, she’s wildly wrong. No one can make, intensify, or steer hurricanes. No ability to do anything like this is even on the horizon. Her comment …
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CONTINUE READINGModel Uncertainty in Politics and Climate Policy
The polls could be systematically off, not just due to random error. That’s a worry with climate models as well.
Yes, your favored candidate could sweep the swing states, and yes, climate change could be more moderate than we now expect. But that shouldn’t give you much comfort on either issue, since the errors could equally be in the opposite directions.
Obviously, we’d like to improve our models, but that’s not always easy. In the meantime, the smart thing is to plan on the basis of the best models we have but avoid overconfidence about our predictions.
CONTINUE READINGHow to Make Trees Worth More Standing Than Cut Down
The Katoomba Group is celebrating 25 years of pioneering new approaches to realizing value in nature. Here’s what we’ve learned.
West of Sydney, Australia, lies the Blue Mountains, a range of plateaus and panoramic canyons forested with eucalyptus trees. Oil in the leaves produces a bluish haze, hence the name of the area. Twenty-five years ago, in 1999, a new NGO called Forest Trends brought together a small international group to the town of Katoomba …
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