Climate Change
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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CONTINUE READINGWinning 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 …
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and International Human Rights Law
A report released today by the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and the Center for Law & Global Justice at the University of San Francisco School of Law finds that climate change policies may unintentionally increase …
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CONTINUE READINGProperty Rights, Coastal Protection and the Roberts Court
Today the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the most consequential environmental case of the current Term: Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, No. 08-1151. This case bears close watching, for several reasons. First, the litigation represents the Roberts Court’s first foray into the longstanding legal and policy debate pitting …
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CONTINUE READING“Say What?” – Learning to Communicate About Climate Change
Scientists and journalists have very different professional training and skill sets. Often they find it hard to communicate with each other. Steps are being taken at Berkeley to try to address this problem. Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group (ERG) and the Journalism School have announced a new set of resources on effectively communicating about climate …
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CONTINUE READINGGoogling Climate Change
I was curious about what information people would find if they were curious about climate change and took the easiest route by googling the phrase “climage change.” It’s a mixed story. The first listing on the page (presumably sponsored) is a Chevron site. Right below that are “related searches” for climate change emails climate change …
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CONTINUE READINGIn Terms of Ethanol, Corny Is Not Funny
Today’s NY Times has an excellent op ed on corn ethanol. In terms of the environmental impact, the author (Russell Harding) says: . . . . if ethanol use was really helping the environment, it might be worth putting up with higher costs. But many environmental groups dropped their support for corn-based ethanol after two …
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CONTINUE READINGThankful 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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CONTINUE READINGMore on today’s White House announcement re Copenhagen
Dan writes immediately below about Obama’s announcement that he’ll attend the talks in Copenhagen in two weeks, and with a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of the 17% below 2005 levels found in the House bill. At the press conference on this announcement, a little more was said about the kind of agreement the White House is …
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CONTINUE READINGEverything You Always Wanted to Know About China But Were Afraid to Ask
As President Obama heads to China, the World Resource Institute has launched a very interesting new website devoted to China, energy, and climate change. The chart above is an example of the kind of information on the website. Notice for example the important role of manufacturing emissions on the Chinese side versus transportation emissions on …
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