Climate Change
Climate’s Future in the Face of COVID
Even as emissions decrease, climate activists shouldn’t get comfortable
As many have pointed out, air and water pollution have plummeted because of COVID-19. My colleague Ben Harris wrote about the many positive environmental impacts that global-scale quarantine has caused – and they’re truly inspiring. Some have pointed to this massive pollution reduction to illustrate that “we are the virus”. Perhaps the pollution reduction is …
Continue reading “Climate’s Future in the Face of COVID”
CONTINUE READINGGrid Experts Weigh In on the Clean Power Plan Repeal and ACE Rule
UCLA Emmett faculty share expert voices in an amicus brief filed last week in the D.C. Circuit
Among the many Trump Administration rollbacks of climate regulation, a big one is its decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan and to replace it with a rule that does almost nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants. The electricity sector has made significant progress in reducing climate pollution recent years, but …
Continue reading “Grid Experts Weigh In on the Clean Power Plan Repeal and ACE Rule”
CONTINUE READINGRed States, Blue Governors
Democratic governors in deep red states can only do so much.
Democrats flipped a number of statehouses in the past two years. In some of those states, the new governors have faced GOP legislatures. Their travails indicate some of the limits of what a new President could accomplish with a GOP Senate. North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Kansas are three cases in point. I want to ask …
Continue reading “Red States, Blue Governors”
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, …
Continue reading “What Do Tomorrow’s Leaders Think About This Mess?”
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 …
Continue reading “Just a Bit More on Earth Day(s) Past and Present”
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 …
Continue reading “Green Stimulus?”
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 …
Continue reading “Fighting to Preserve the Clean Power Plan”
CONTINUE READINGDeferred Planetary Maintenance
It’s easy to put off long-term problems when there’s a crisis. Much too easy, actually.
Long-term problems get short shrift in a crisis. That’s true of infrastructure repair; it’s also true of climate change. Like deferred maintenance, climate change just gets bigger the longer it’s put off. I often see the fruits of deferred maintenance on the Berkeley campus. Building conditions are a huge problem at Berkeley. Whenever there’s a …
Continue reading “Deferred Planetary Maintenance”
CONTINUE READINGSeven Months to Election Day (and Counting)
You may have forgotten, but the clock is still ticking.
You may not have been focused on this, but there will be a Presidential election seven months from today. The stakes are enormous for environmental law. In fact, those stakes can be measured in megatons of carbon. There’s no question about Trump’s approach to environmental regulation. As of the beginning of this year, ninety-five environmental rollbacks …
Continue reading “Seven Months to Election Day (and Counting)”
CONTINUE READINGA Tearful Trump Rues Climate Denial
Greta Thurnberg Given Free Mar-a-Lago Lifetime Membership
Tears ran down his face as Trump paused in the middle of an unscheduled coronavirus briefing late last night. He turned to reporters saying, “Climate change. It’s a disaster. Who knew? It’s a real disaster. I alone can fix this!” Stunned White House aides attributed the comments to a telephone conversation that evening between Trump …
Continue reading “A Tearful Trump Rues Climate Denial”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
