Region: International
Protecting Marine “Wilderness”
A new study shows how to strengthen marine preserves.
The Bush Administration is not remembered fondly by environmentalists, but one important exception came at the beginning of 2009. That’s when President Bush created an additional 195,000 square miles of marine reserves, on top of the 140,000 miles he had created previously. Such marine reserves are not unique to the United States, of course. Yet, …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Impacts: The Economist’s View
Climate change may damage economies more than previously thought.
The Economist has an important story about climate change impacts. There are two big takeaways, one about growth in developing countries and one about economic repercussions in developed countries like the U.S. It has long been known that climate change will impose costs on developing countries. But there is increasing reason to think that it …
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CONTINUE READINGNewsflash: Not All Climate Stories are Dismal, Scientists Actually Try to Discover the Truth
Methane Leaks Not Caused by Human-induced Climate Change,
NPR aired a story this week about what scientists thought, in 2008, were ominous signs of a warming ocean. Churning bubbles of methane — a very potent greenhouse gas — were pouring out of the ocean floor in Arctic Norway. Scientists theorized that as the globe and the oceans warmed, the methane trapped in the …
CONTINUE READINGWhen Cooking Can Kill
Cookstoves are a major threat to health in developing countries, while also wreaking environmental damage.
Cooking dinner, as it turns out, is one of the most serious public health and environmental problems in the world. There’s a common misperception that environmental concerns are just a First World luxury. But the cookstove example shows that the global poor, too, are in need of better, more efficient, less polluting energy sources. Here …
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CONTINUE READINGTen Energy Stories to Watch in 2014
What will shake the energy world this year?
In our energy law classes at Cal, we like to start the day by talking about Energy in the News. The media never fails us. Every day, there are multiple energy-related stories of significance touching on resource development, new technologies, policy shifts, jobs, regional politics, prices, international relations, or the environment. Once you start looking …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Quiet Failure of Climate Denial in 2013
2013 Wasn’t A Good Year for the Opponents of Climate Science
The latest IPCC report proves that scientists are unwavering in their view that human carbon emissions are causing dangerous climate change. In the scientific world, climate denial has no traction. It isn’t gaining traction in the judicial or congressional worlds either. First, the judiciary. A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit, headed by a conservative …
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CONTINUE READINGCarbon Responsibility — Producers versus Consumers
Carbon emitters, not their customers, bear the primary responsibility for combatting climate change.
Has the U.S. “exported” its carbon emissions to China by relying on China to manufacture so many of our goods? There seems to be growing support for the idea that carbon emissions should be tied to consumption of goods rather than their manufacture, as the NY Times reported recently. There is a grain of truth …
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CONTINUE READINGScholarship Trends in International Environmental Law
What do the numbers show about the trajectory of scholarship in international environmental law?
It can be difficult to identify patterns in legal scholarship. One way of doing that is to check on the frequency of key words, using Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis to track the numbers. There are some interesting patterns in scholarship on international environmental law: The field came into its own in the decade from 1987 and …
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CONTINUE READINGGoing for Broke at the Climate Casino
The new Nordhaus book is good as far as it goes. But its analysis is muddled in crucial respects.
I finally had a chance to read Nordhaus’s new book, The Climate Casino, on a long flight. There are some goods lessons in the book. The book makes the case for serious mitigation, even rhough Nordhaus takes a fairly optimistic view about adaptation. Nordhaus also tells us that “it would be relatively inexpensive to slow …
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CONTINUE READINGSkinning Cobras and Climbing Trees in Belgium
Trying to save energy in Europe and around the Mediterranean
Brussels is at least two cities in one: a modern European municipality rich in history and containing some spectacular gilded palaces, and a capital city. It is the seat of government for Belgium – a flag flies over the palace when the king is nearby – and the capital for the European Union. The governing …
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