Climate Change

Putting a Cap on the Green Paradox

The Green Paradox holds that emission control measures scheduled for the future can backfire.  Foreseeing a smaller market in the future, fossil fuel sellers decide to unload more of their reserves now by cutting prices.  A recent report from Resources for the Future provides more details if you’re interested (though the details don’t matter for …

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UCLA and City of Los Angeles Publish First-Ever Detailed Long-Term Climate Forecast for a City’s Neighborhoods

A team led by UCLA researcher Dr. Alex Hall has released a study that projects temperature trends by neighborhood within the Los Angeles region for the mid-21st century.  The report is the most sophisticated regional study of climate trends that has ever been developed, and is based on climate modeling two orders of magnitude higher …

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California Court of Appeal Upholds AB 32 Scoping Plan for Greenhouse Gas Reduction

Today, the California Court of Appeal  rejected an appeal by environmental justice advocates seeking to scuttle the California Air Resources Board’s AB 32 Scoping Plan.  EJ advocates objected to the Scoping Plan’s adoption of a cap-and-trade program to achieve some of the greenhouse gas reductions required under the landmark California law AB 32.  Their primary …

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Emmett Center and NRDC Publish New Report on the Environmental, Energy, and Fiscal Benefits of Smart Roofs

My colleague and co-blogger Cara Horowitz has just published a new report on the potential benefits of adoption of “smart roofs” throughout Southern California.  Looking Up: How Green Roofs and Cool Roofs Can Reduce Energy Use, Address Climate Change, and Protect Water Resources in Southern California, co-authored with UCLA Law alumnus Noah Garrison of NRDC, …

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How to Turn a Forest Into a Desert

Anyone familiar with the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Massachusetts v. EPA will also know Georgia v. Tennessee Copper, the landmark 1907 decision used by the Massachusetts court to hold that states have standing to challenge EPA’s failure to promulgate climate change regulations.  Courtesy of the Journal of American History, I have discovered that there …

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Red Mitt, Blue Mitt, Old Mitt, New Mitt

Mitt was once the governor of a Blue state.  Now he’s appealing to voters in Red states. Perhaps it’s no surprise that New Mitt’s views are the opposite of Old Mitt’s views. A NY Times editorial this morning highlights Romney’s changes of position and just how far right he has moved on environment and energy …

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Legal Planet reviews the IPCC

Congratulations to our LP colleagues Sean Hecht and Dan Farber for having been designated as expert reviewers of the IPCC 5th assessment report, to be published in 2014.  They will be reviewing the drafts issued by Working Group II, which assesses climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability.  The IPCC’s assessment reports, written every five to seven years, have not been without …

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Who Took the “Think” Out of Think Tanks?

The American Enterprise Institute is an interesting organization, often shrilly ideological but also scholarly from time to time.  I was curious to find out what kind of research they were doing on climate change. I did find some interesting policy papers on their webpage on the topic of climate policy. But here’s the surprising part: …

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Is Environmentalism Bad for Fighting Climate Change?

Sure, it sounds like a paradox.  The environmental movement has done a lot of good for the planet and for pollution.  But in the face of the greatest environmental threat of our time, the movement may be fundamentally ill-suited to tackle the climate crisis. For most of its history, environmentalism has essentially been about stopping …

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It’s All Greek to Me

Via E&E News, here’s a leading climate skeptic’s explanation of his qualifications to pass judgment on climate science: While he acknowledged he had no scientific credentials that would allow him to speak with authority on climate science, Monckton said he was uniquely qualified to explain the various logical fallacies that supporters of man-made climate change …

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