Oceans
Blowing in the Wind
The Trump Administration once again proves shortsighted and spiteful.
Just as sponsors are making a push to get a bipartisan permit reform bill through the lame duck session of Congress, the Trump Administration has apparently decided to sabotage the process. Democrats have worried that it does no good to streamline permitting for clean energy projects if the government simply yanks the permits later. That’s exactly what the Administration is planning to do, yet again, in a case where it has repeatedly lost in court.
CONTINUE READINGA Compendium of Good News
Hey, it’s not all gloom and doom out there.
We don’t lack for bad news these days. Still, there are also good things happening. I’ve been putting together a list of things that are good news for the environment. EVs, battery storage, and solar are growing around the world. So put on your happy face!
CONTINUE READINGThe “God Squad” is Subject to a Lot of Limits. But I’m still worried.
Getting an exemption from the Endangered Species Act is normally difficult. But there’s a scary exception.
The Endangered Species Act Committee has been nicknamed the God Squad, on the theory that it holds the power of life and death over endangered species. It does the have the power to exempt from projects from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), although that’s not quite as ominous as it sounds. It’s understandable that many people freaked out when a Federal Register notice appeared announcing a meeting of the Committee relating to offshore drilling in the Gulf. We don’t have any specifics , What we do know is that the process is complex and cumbersome, and that there are important limits on the Committee’s discretion. There’s still reason to worry, however, because Pete Hegseth actually is the one with godlike powers over endangered species.
CONTINUE READINGTime to Get Serious about Climate Change and Oceans
Science can unlock powerful tools to fight climate change and ocean acidification, but only if we fund research and govern it well.
In the Before Time, I spoke with a few ocean scientists on climate issues, and I heard a common refrain. Climate change receives little attention or funding, considering the magnitude of the problem; climate impacts on oceans get even less; and marine carbon removal gets almost none at all. Humans are short-lived terrestrial creatures. …
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CONTINUE READINGCoastal Beaches, Public Access & the Pandemic
Important Legal & Policy Considerations in Closing Beaches to Protect Public Health
As part of America’s steadily growing restiveness over state and local shelter-in-place directives, the issue of government-mandated public beach closures has recently emerged as a particularly contentious issue. It’s especially prominent now, given that many coastal states are experiencing their first heat waves of 2020. Many Americans are increasingly weary of and angry over public …
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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 …
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CONTINUE READINGConference on the Ocean’s Role in Sustainable Food Production
U.C. Davis Will Host Cutting-Edge Event on September 16-17, 2019
U.C. Davis’ Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, in conjunction with the UCD School of Law’s California Environmental Law & Policy Center, will host an important and timely conference on September 16-17, 2019. “The Ocean’s Role in Sustainable Food Production” will offer an in-depth, interdisciplinary look at current scientific, economic, social, legal and governance issues surrounding …
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CONTINUE READINGSingle-Use Plastics Need Comprehensive Federal Legislation
Despite state and local action, more effective reduction of single-use plastics must come from Congress.
Editor’s note: this article was originally published in The Regulatory Review on February 13, 2019. Plastic pollution appears to be arising ever more frequently in the news. Companies like Starbucks have announced voluntary steps to rid their stores of plastic straws. China is wielding its “National Sword” policy, which places restrictions on the amount and type of plastic waste it …
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CONTINUE READINGPlastics and our Future
How to turn off the plastics spout?
Kudos to National Geographic for its stunner of an issue on plastics and the environmental harms they cause. As this latest report and many other recent stories make clear, we are drowning in plastics. Bits of plastic have been found in beer, in major brands of bottled water, in 75% of deep sea fish, in …
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CONTINUE READINGThe science of the Anthropocene
Human impacts on global natural systems are large and diverse
Climate change is well known now as a major impact of humans on the planet. But climate change is only one of a wide range of ways in which humans are dramatically changing natural systems at the regional, continental and planetary levels. For instance, greenhouse gas emissions are the driver of anthropogenic climate change. But …
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