Here Today, Gone to Maui
U.S. Supreme Court Issues Environment-Friendly Ruling in Major Clean Water Act Case
This week the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the Court's most important environmental law case of the current Term: County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. In a somewhat surprising ruling, the justices rejected both sides' argument over the scope of government authority to regulate water pollution discharges under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). The Court instead fashioned a Solomonic outcome, adopting a middle ground and legal rule that neither the Cou...
CONTINUE READINGFlint Five Years On
What has happened with Flint’s drinking water?
The history of environmental policy can well be told by place names. Love Canal – hazardous waste. Los Angeles – air quality. The Cuyahoga River – water quality. And, most recently, Flint – drinking water. The tragedy in Flint, Michigan, entered the 24/7 national news cycle five years ago, led President Obama to visit the city, and resulted in over a dozen criminal indictments. Flint is undoubtedly the most publicized drinking water story in U.S. history and co...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Can We Learn from Modeling a Pandemic?
Individual-based modeling offers untapped opportunities for policymakers and researchers
With the emergence of the corona virus, modeling – the science of representing processes and systems for purpose of analysis—has been at the center of debate how to respond to this public health crisis. Experts and non-experts alike follow the latest modeling predictions, and federal and state public health policies are grounded, at least in part, on those constantly shifting predictions. That got me thinking—what can legal scholars and environmental regulators...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Do Tomorrow’s Leaders Think About This Mess?
Listening to student voices on the pandemic, climate change, and the future
One thing I've always loved about teaching is the opportunity to see important issues through my students' eyes. So for my last Climate Law and Policy class at UCLA Law this week, I asked my students to tell me what they are thinking about the future of climate policy in light of today's global circumstances, keeping in mind lessons we've learned through the semester. Their answers are both heartbreaking and heartening. The responses are, by turns, funny, desperate, h...
CONTINUE READINGNever Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste
Coronavirus, Climate Change, and the Global Energy Transition
There has been no shortage of commentary on what the Coronavirus pandemic means for climate action and for the energy industry. Obviously, it is too early to draw firm conclusions, but the last several weeks have made clear that the crisis is affecting the entire energy economy in profound ways and that our collective response to these changes will determine a great deal about the makeup of our future energy system and our ability to fight climate change. Impacts on...
CONTINUE READINGDespite COVID-19, This Earth Day Brings Animals Closer to Human Society
Sheltering in place during the pandemic has had dramatic impacts on various wildlife, raising questions about our relationship with animals in urban spaces.
Two months into a global pandemic, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on human society. But outside of the monumental human suffering and disruption to our livelihoods, Earth continues to turn at the same rate, and the natural ecosystem continues to operate as it normally does. Except this time, the human influence on the natural environment is noticeably less present. As a result, urban wildlife and other animals have been impacted in different and unprecedented ways. ...
CONTINUE READINGRichard Epstein Strikes Again
Once again, the famed libertarian law professor offers wildly offbase advice.
Having previously pooh-poohed the dangers of the coronavirus, Richard Epstein is now calling for an immediate end to social distancing and business shutdowns. It's unfortunate that he has chosen to dig himself deeper into a hole rather than admitting his earlier mistake and moving on. As I discussed in a previous post, Epstein initially predicted that the coronavirus would cause about 500 deaths in the U.S., which he then revised to 5000. The U.S. is now at 50,000...
CONTINUE READINGJust a Bit More on Earth Day(s) Past and Present
Kudos to the New York Times for Its Stellar Earth Day Coverage--Today & 50 Years Ago
This week, several of my Legal Planet colleagues and I have been posting and musing about Earth Days past, present and future. As I write this, Earth Day 50 is winding down after a multitude of (largely online) demonstrations and celebrations across the globe. One long-term, disturbing development over the past couple of decades has been the steady decline of journalistic resources dedicated to environmental news and policy. Back in the halcyon days of environ...
CONTINUE READINGWho’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...
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