Region: International

“Oil and politics mix well, but I’m not sure if oil and science mix well”

By Alexa Engelman, UCLA Law delegation — one in a series of posts from COP 15 in Copenhagen: “Oil and politics mix well, but I’m not sure if oil and science mix well.”  So stated IPPC Chair Rajendra Pachauri when asked by reporters in a session at the Bella Center Tuesday morning about the hacked emails from …

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COP 15 Kicks Off!

By Maya Kuttan, UCLA Law delegation — first in a series of posts from COP15: Today we were inundated with weighty rhetoric and a shiny vision of what the future could hold.  The COP 15 opening was inspiring and seemed to focus on influencing developed nations, like the US.  The conference started with a short film …

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Winning Hearts and Minds on Climate Change: Climategate, EPA Announcement and Copenhagen

Proponents of rigorous regulation of greenhouse gas emissions finally have the international stage today as all attention shifts to Copenhagen.  And the EPA has chosen this opening day to announce the finalization of  its finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.  Moreover 56 …

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Off to Copenhagen…

Tomorrow afternoon, the UCLA Law / Emmett Center on Climate Change delegation to COP 15 departs from LAX for Copenhagen.  I’ll be there with six terrific law school students, all of whom have backgrounds in climate and the environment and who have been studying the history of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in preparation for …

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Thankful for U.S., China News on Climate?

After yesterday’s news that Obama will attend the international climate talks in Copenhagen and commit to near term targets (discussed by Cara here and Dan here) we’re greeted today with the news that China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao will attend and commit to reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of China’s economy.  China’s commitment …

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Should Obama Go To Copenhagen?

President Obama has, of course, already been to Copenhagen once this year — in his quest to bring the Olympics to Chicago —  and brought nothing home to show for it.  The stakes for the December United Nations Climate Change Conference are obviously much higher:  the negotiation of an international agreement to govern greenhouse gas emissions …

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China, Congress and Climate Change

This week brings two related and interesting stories on the prospects for domestic climate change legislation and progress in Copenhagen when the international community gathers in December to try to hammer out a post-Kyoto treaty on climate change.  The first is that China’s top climate negotiator is “optimistic” that the international community will reach agreement on …

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Report from the Field: Thailand

I’m writing this post from Thailand, where I’ve been attending a conference of the Thai judiciary.  My presentation was on developments in U.S. climate law. It’s been a very interesting trip. Thailand faces some serious environmental issues, which you can’t help noticing just from breathing the air in Bangok.  The traffic jams, as seen on …

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National park futility in Kenya

Parks don’t guarantee conservation success, a new study by David Western and colleagues in PLoS ONE reminds us. Compiling census data from 270 studies over the last 25 years, they found that large mammal populations in Kenya are declining just as rapidly within national parks as in other parts of the country. Poaching, the authors …

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Notes From Japan

A few environmental observations from my family vacation in Tokyo.  The first is an obvious one:  Tokyo’s public transportation system is a marvel.  Several American cities have admirable subway systems but what is so impressive about Tokyo’s is the sheer area it covers.  It’s the largest subway and train system in the world.  No American …

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