Academia

Remembering Tom Graff

Last week, California and the nation lost a true giant of water law and policy, Tom Graff, who founded the California office of the Environmental Defense Fund in 1971 and had a hand in every key water battle or negotiation (as well as many other environmental developments) since then. EDF’s memorial page is here; it …

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The multiple values of nature

Two interesting storylines came together last week about what nature does for people. The first has to do with economic value, the second with non-economic value. On the economic side, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, a project of the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Union, and several European nations, released a report for …

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One-Stop Shopping for Climate Information

CITRIS, which is  a University of California engineering consortium, has a really useful site called Climate Navigator.  The site is a great source of information about the many dimensions of climate change, from policy to energy technology.  One neat feature is an interactive model that allows you to design your own global climate policy, setting  …

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Journal watch

I’ve been catching up on some reading.  Here are links to a few interesting recent journal articles. Thomas Dietz, Gerald T. Gardner, Jonathan Gilligan, Paul C. Stern, and Michael P. Vandenbergh, Household Actions Can Provide a Behavioral Wedge to Rapidly Reduce U.S. Carbon Emissions, 106 PNAS 18452 (Nov. 3, 2009).   The authors, including Vanderbilt law …

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Hot off the press at Ecology Law Quarterly

Ecology Law Quarterly has a new issue available online, featuring articles about global environmental law; standing; and NRDC v. Winter; as well as a review of Doremus and Tarlock on the Klamath Basin.  Browse the ELQ website to see this issue, a preview of the next one, the latest from Ecology Law Currents, and more. …

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Climate and Energy Research @ Berkeley

Berkeley, like UCLA, is on the forefront of research on climate change and energy policy.  There’s a lot going on here — ranging from breakthroughs in climate modeling to new energy technologies to improved analysis of economic impacts.  It’s hard, even for those of us on the campus, to keep track of all of these …

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UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy launches new website, publishes climate policy issue

Forgive me for a little boasting about our great student-run environmental law journal, which has just launched a new website with downloadable content and published a terrific, policy-oriented issue (together with the Emmett Center) with lessons from state leaders across the country on tackling climate change.    The issue focuses on how states are addressing the climate …

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The Triumph of the Commons

Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics today, along with  Oliver Williamson here at Berkeley.  To understand why her work is relevant to environmental law, you have to first know about the “tragedy of the commons.” Many medieval and early modern villages had a “commons” where all of the peasants were entitled to …

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Another Law Professor to Washington

We’ve just received word that Rob Verchick has been appointed the Deputy Associate Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation (OPEI). OEPI is the main policy arm of the EPA, responsible for supervising the rulemaking process and pushing innovative strategies, among other things. He will report to Associate …

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A student’s law school rankings for environmental law

In general, I’m a skeptic of rankings for schools. My view is that decisions about where to go should depend not just on the school but on the student and her or his individual goals and interests. There’s no way that a single ranking system can represent the best choices for everyone. So I’m all …

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