Academia
Jeremy Bentham and Polar Bears
Over at the Reality-Based Community, my co-blogger James Wimberley rightfully takes to task a right-wing economist named Karl Smith for what Wimberley calls the dumbest blog post of 2011. Smith essentially seems to argue that it’s okay to cause hundreds of species to become extinct because it will increase aggregate wealth in the short run. In doing …
Continue reading “Jeremy Bentham and Polar Bears”
CONTINUE READINGLaw Schools in the Public Interest: Environmental Programs in the South
I’ve been struck by how much environmental law programs are doing to advance the public interest. Without purporting to do a complete survey, I thought it would still be illuminating to provide five or ten examples from different parts of the country. Today, I’m going to start with the South. Although the South is probably …
Continue reading “Law Schools in the Public Interest: Environmental Programs in the South”
CONTINUE READING“Female Roommate Wanted”
It’s a fairly standard advertisement. But for years, many scholars and lawyers have thought it constitutes illegal sex discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. In Fair Housing Council v. roommate.com, a recent opinion by Alex Kozinski and joined by Stephen Reinhardt (so there’s your first surprise), the 9th Circuit has said that such ads are permissible. I realize …
Continue reading ““Female Roommate Wanted””
CONTINUE READINGEnergy Scholarship Symposium in the Journal of Economic Perspectives
As I argued about three months ago, the Journal of Economic Perspectives ought to be on the regular reading for anyone interested in environmental law and policy. The most recent quarter’s issue shows why: it features a fascinating symposium on “Energy Challenges”. Not all of the articles will be music to environmentalists’ ears: for example, …
Continue reading “Energy Scholarship Symposium in the Journal of Economic Perspectives”
CONTINUE READINGMonsieur Fouche, Meet Professor Gleick
By now, Peter Gleick’s ethical indiscretions concerning the Heartland Institute are old news. But for lawyers, they raise particularly interesting ethical issues because they highlight the question of really, whether there were ethical barriers broached at all. I initially thought that this was obviously the case: someone in my profession would get disbarred for doing …
Continue reading “Monsieur Fouche, Meet Professor Gleick”
CONTINUE READINGBerkeley Environmental Alum to Head Vermont Law School
We’re delighted to report that Marc Mihaly, a graduate of Berkeley Law School, will be the next dean of Vermont Law School. Before his move to Vermont, he was a partner at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, a law firm specializing in government, land use, natural resource and environmental law. Vermont is best-known for its environmental …
Continue reading “Berkeley Environmental Alum to Head Vermont Law School”
CONTINUE READINGClimate “skepticism,” ideology, and sincerity
There’s an interesting discussion about a whole lot of things — for example, the sincerity of climate scientists and think tanks, the behavior of scientists, the relative funding of “skeptics” and climate scientists and others who believe climate change is happening and is caused by human activity — between my colleague Ann Carlson and Professor …
Continue reading “Climate “skepticism,” ideology, and sincerity”
CONTINUE READINGIs Richard Epstein Autistic?
Delightfully so! Here is Adrian Vermuele (no secret Kenyan Muslim socialist he) in The New Republic, reviewing Epstein’s latest: Many scholars have offered withering critiques of the Epstein program, but there is little sign that the arguments of the critics have been heard and considered. Epstein’s latest book targets the administrative state as the enemy …
Continue reading “Is Richard Epstein Autistic?”
CONTINUE READINGPeter Gleick, the Heartland Institute, and Scientific Ethics
The Heartland Institute is a climate denial shop well-funded by fossil fuel interests and standard right-wing extremist foundations, which has underwritten attacks on climate scientists and has plans to disrupt authentic climate science education in K-12 classrooms. Peter Gleick is one of the most respected scientific researchers in the world, who has done extremely …
Continue reading “Peter Gleick, the Heartland Institute, and Scientific Ethics”
CONTINUE READINGLegal Planet Takes Over the Yale Law Journal
Along with Dan, I also have a response to the Ewing/Kysar paper at YLJ Online. (For those of your keeping score at home, two out of three commissioned responses were Legal Planet bloggers: we win!). It should surprise no one that while Dan’s is elegant and technical, mine is cranky and dyspeptic. Here’s the abstract: This …
Continue reading “Legal Planet Takes Over the Yale Law Journal”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
