Who’s WHO?
Trump cut off funding to the WHO. What’s that? And also, why?
Most people probably hadn’t heard of the WHO until Trump announced he was cutting off funding. Here’s what you should know about the organization and Trump's complaints about it. The Organization. The World Health Organization, an agency of the UN, was established by a 1946 agreement, which went into effect two years later. It has over 7000 workers in 150 countries. It’s budget is about $4 billion, of which about 40% goes to communicable diseases (including...
CONTINUE READINGEvery Day I’m Hustling, Or: What To Do For Earth Day?
Environmental Voter Project's Election Engagement Is The Best Way To Celebrate The Day
What to do for Earth Day? For me, the answer is obvious: send 2,000 text messages. That is neither as difficult nor as ridiculous as it sounds. I do it most days, actually. For the last several weeks I have been volunteering with the Environmental Voter Project, to me one of the most interesting and potentially exciting initiatives in the environmental movement in a while. EVP’s central theory is that there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of potential...
CONTINUE READINGGreen Stimulus?
Why so many coal plants are still being built in China.
During this Earth Week, it is encouraging to see glimmers of environmental ambition in various jurisdictions around the world. The EU is rolling out a European Green Deal with the goal of “striving to be the first climate-neutral continent.” South Korea, the world’s 7th largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, recently announced a 2050 net zero emissions goal. More than 60 countries around the world have said they will attempt to meet 2050 carbon neutrality targets. A...
CONTINUE READINGEarth Day’s 50th Anniversary: A Reflection
Why Celebrating Environmental Values & Goals Is Now More Important Than Ever
Today marks the 50th anniversary of America's first Earth Day. Beginning on April 22, 1970, the United States and global community have rallied each year to celebrate environmental values and goals. It seems especially important to commemorate and continue that tradition in the midst of the current coronavirus pandemic. The first Earth Day was a societal reaction to a number of key, alarming environmental events: in 1962 Dr. Rachel Carson published her transfo...
CONTINUE READINGFighting to Preserve the Clean Power Plan
Ted Lamm and Sean Hecht Co-Author Amicus Brief on Behalf of Clean Air Act Expert Tom Jorling
On Monday, Sean Hecht and I filed an amicus brief with the DC Circuit in the legal challenge to the Trump Administration’s attempt to repeal and replace the Clean Power Plan. (We filed the brief in our personal capacities and not on behalf of our respective institutions. Dan Farber also contributed valuable input.) Our client is one of the original drafters of the 1970 Clean Air Act, whose experience demonstrates how far EPA’s current position is from the intent and ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Story of Rona the Roaming Coronavirus
The little virus who loved to make friends.
Once upon a time, there was a little coronavirus named Rona. Rona loved to make friends with people and play with them. She could make friends with one person and just a few days later be playing with two or three or four people they met together. Rona’s Uncle Donald told everyone it was ok to play with Rona because she was just like her cousin Mister Flu. He came every year to visit people and no one minded. Rona romped and played. She could travel very ...
CONTINUE READINGLos Angeles Air Quality in the Time of Covid-19
Headlines from across the world have trumpeted one of the few benefits of the Covid-19 shutdown: cleaner air quality. Los Angeles has starred in those headlines, with many reporters calling attention to the fact that the region had some of the cleanest air in the world during a period in April. EPA data also confirm that during late March and early April, Los Angeles had its longest stretch of clean air since the agency began tracking data. Photos during the pa...
CONTINUE READINGEarth Day in the Time of Covid-19
Emmett Institute Addresses How the Pandemic and Lockdown Affect Environmental Issues
This Wednesday, April 22, marks the 50th time we have celebrated Earth Day. This year's celebrations will, of course, look nothing like the first Earth Day in 1970, when 20 million people took to American streets to raise public awareness about environmental issues. Given the global lockdown because of the covid-19 pandemic, large public gatherings are banned in virtually every country. The U.S. is no exception. The 50th Earth Day celebration -- and Earth Week -- wil...
CONTINUE READINGFederalism Is For Suckers
Donald Trump’s Assertion That He Can Order the States Around Is Unconstitutional: But Leave Federalism and the 10th Amendment Out of It
Five days is a lifetime in politics, and especially in the age of the internet. Donald Trump has – for now – given up on saying he can order governors to “reopen” their states, but the debate surrounding it has perverted our constitutional discussion. And that needs fixing. Wags from right to left – not to mention governors such as Andrew Cuomo -- condemned Trump’s move as violating the principles of federalism. Both Neal Katyal and Liz Cheney suggeste...
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s EPA May Cause as Many U.S. Deaths as the Coronavirus
The effects are more gradual, but deregulation could be as deadly as the pandemic.
The Trump Administration has been busy repealing pollution laws that protect public health. The health impact of these rollbacks isn't as dramatic as an epidemic. There's a credible argument, however, that it will be just as deadly. In order to put some numbers on the effects of deregulation, we need to make some assumptions on how long Trump's policies will last. Let’s assume for purposes of this exercise that those policies remain in effect through a second Tr...
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