Climate Change
Commerce Clause Challenges and State Climate Policy
As Rick previously blogged, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District struck down California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) last month on the grounds that the standard discriminates against out-of -state ethanol producers in violation of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The decision — Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene — is …
Continue reading “Commerce Clause Challenges and State Climate Policy”
CONTINUE READINGMigration and Natural Disasters: Evidence from the Past
This is my first post at Legal Planet and I’m happy to be here. I’m an environmental economist at UCLA and I’m proud to hold a courtesy appointment at UCLA Law School. In this brief post, I want to advertise a new paper of mine. Leah Boustan, Paul Rhode and I look at young men’s …
Continue reading “Migration and Natural Disasters: Evidence from the Past”
CONTINUE READINGHey Conservatives! Let’s Make a Deal on Keystone XL!
The always-thoughtful Jared Bernstein has a, well, thoughtful take on Keystone XL. It might be called the view of a Realist Progressive Economist. Bernstein’s point is that given the global demand for oil, and the Canadian government’s commitment to getting it out of the ground and selling it (much stronger now that the Tories have …
Continue reading “Hey Conservatives! Let’s Make a Deal on Keystone XL!”
CONTINUE READINGTen of the Top Environmental Stories of 2011
Nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan. EPA issues new rules limiting mercury emissions by power plants. Durban climate summit produces modest progress, as developing countries begin to acknowledge the need for binding limits on their carbon emissions. White House kills scheduled new regulations of ozone. California adopts cap-and-trade system under AB 32. White House announces stringent …
Continue reading “Ten of the Top Environmental Stories of 2011”
CONTINUE READING“White Christmas” — A Song of Climate Change?
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the ones I used to know Irving Berlin was prescient when he wrote those words over seventy years ago. Little did he know that White Christmases were on their way to becoming a thing of the past. This year is a striking illustration, as ThinkProgress reports: In …
Continue reading ““White Christmas” — A Song of Climate Change?”
CONTINUE READINGWhen Do Economic Incentives Modify Behavior?
The Journal of Economic Perpspectives ought to be on any environmental law professor’s reading list — or really, anyone interested in environmental policy. Thanks in no small part to the editorial wizardry of Managing Editor Timothy Taylor, it performs its mission — to “fill a gap between the general interest press and most other academic …
Continue reading “When Do Economic Incentives Modify Behavior?”
CONTINUE READINGChurchill’s Wisdom and Climate Change
According to Yale poll results from last month, 63% of Americans now believe climate change is real, 17% think it isn’t, and 20% say they don’t know. Where does Churchill come into this? To see that, you have to turn back the clock seventy years to December 1941. On the eve of Pearl Harbor, only …
Continue reading “Churchill’s Wisdom and Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGSigns of the (NY) Times
The Times has two interesting environmental stories today. Both are worth reading. They relate in different ways to climate change, but they’re both interesting even if climate change isn’t an issue that excites you. The first and most important story is about melting of permafrost in the Arctic. Huge amounts of carbon are locked up …
Continue reading “Signs of the (NY) Times”
CONTINUE READINGGovernor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks & California’s Future
Today I attended the California Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future, held at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It was a lively event with speakers including Governor Brown, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the UN IPCC, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a host …
Continue reading “Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks & California’s Future”
CONTINUE READINGMore Forest Greenwashing: Asia Pulp & Paper and Fake Certifications
In the firmament of environmental organizations, the World Wildlife Fund is about as centrist and mainstream as you are going to get. For many years, it was associated with the sorts of Republicans that Dan highlights in his post below: those who took the “conserve” part of conservative seriously. That’s why the report it issued …
Continue reading “More Forest Greenwashing: Asia Pulp & Paper and Fake Certifications”
CONTINUE READING