Literature Imitates Law — At Least in Bombay
Aravind Adiga is one of the most brilliant forces in world literature today. His previous novel, The White Tiger, won the Man Booker Prize a few years back. Now he is out with a new novel, Last Man in Tower, a work which its publisher promises is "Searing. Explosive. Lyrical. Compassionate." And what produces this searing, explosive, lyrical and compassionate work of literature? A land use dispute! Here is the astonishing new novel by the Man Booker Prize–...
CONTINUE READINGWhen Do Economic Incentives Modify Behavior?
The Journal of Economic Perpspectives ought to be on any environmental law professor's reading list -- or really, anyone interested in environmental policy. Thanks in no small part to the editorial wizardry of Managing Editor Timothy Taylor, it performs its mission -- to "fill a gap between the general interest press and most other academic economics journals" -- with astonishing success. A typical issue will have several articles at the highest level of discussi...
CONTINUE READINGEPA Set to Release New Mercury and Air Toxics Regulations
Later this afternoon - at 2pm ET - EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson is expected to announce EPA’s new regulations on mercury and toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants. EPA is developing the air toxics emissions standards for power plants under the Clean Air Act (Section 112), consistent with the D.C. Circuit’s opinion (PDF) regarding the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). The long-delayed final regulations have come under fire from industry groups and Republi...
CONTINUE READINGChurchill’s Wisdom and Climate Change
According to Yale poll results from last month, 63% of Americans now believe climate change is real, 17% think it isn't, and 20% say they don't know. Where does Churchill come into this? To see that, you have to turn back the clock seventy years to December 1941. On the eve of Pearl Harbor, only 52% of Americans thought war with Japan was likely, 27% did not expect war, and 21% said they didn't know. In other words, the public has a better grasp of the reality of th...
CONTINUE READINGSigns of the (NY) Times
The Times has two interesting environmental stories today. Both are worth reading. They relate in different ways to climate change, but they're both interesting even if climate change isn't an issue that excites you. The first and most important story is about melting of permafrost in the Arctic. Huge amounts of carbon are locked up in the permafrost. Current estimates are that carbon releases due to warming of the permafrost could equal 10-30% of current human ...
CONTINUE READINGGovernor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks & California’s Future
Today I attended the California Governor's Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California's Future, held at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It was a lively event with speakers including Governor Brown, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the UN IPCC, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a host of distinguished scientists, economists, and policymakers. The backdrop of the California Academy of Sciences set...
CONTINUE READINGMore Forest Greenwashing: Asia Pulp & Paper and Fake Certifications
In the firmament of environmental organizations, the World Wildlife Fund is about as centrist and mainstream as you are going to get. For many years, it was associated with the sorts of Republicans that Dan highlights in his post below: those who took the "conserve" part of conservative seriously. That's why the report it issued yesterday, slamming forest despoiler Asia Pulp & Paper, carries such a wallop. (One is tempted to say that it is learning from that oth...
CONTINUE READINGCongressional Dim Bulbs at Work Again
The House of Representatives is continuing its campaign to increase electricity bills, harm a domestic industry, and create regulatory uncertainty. According to E&E, the House appropriations bill "Eliminating funding for light bulb efficiency standards is especially poor policy as it would leave the policy in place but make it impossible to enforce, undercutting domestic manufacturers who have invested millions of dollars in U.S. plants to make new incandescent bul...
CONTINUE READINGWhy The Expiration Of The Payroll Tax Cut Hurts The Environment
As Congress wrangles over the expiration of the payroll tax cut at the end of this month, environmentalists should note that the impacts of the expiration go beyond economics. Some environmental goodies will die with the soon-to-expire package of tax benefits, barring congressional action. For starters, I received this message in an email from my employer-sponsored transit benefit service, which allows me to purchase transit passes with $230 worth of pre-tax income eac...
CONTINUE READINGFour Great Republican Environmental Leaders
Teddy Roosevelt was an early conservation, who fought even as a young man to help preserve Yellowstone National Park from commercial exploitation. As President, he created the national forest system, TR created the Tongass and the Chugach forest reserves in Alaska. In Hawaii, he set several small islands aside as the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation, and in Florida he created the Pelican Island Bird Reservation. Other protected areas included Mount Olympus (Washingt...
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