Climate Change
The Logical Next Step After Renaming Lake Ontario
How does the “National Oceanic and Manospheric Agency” sound?
Trump: The air resource is a tremendous asset to the United States and part of our Nation’s heritage The air has long been an integral asset to American exploration, settlement, commerce, and defense. American men pioneered air travel, starting with the Wright Brothers. Moreover, we have exploited the air’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide more than any other nation on earth. Under my Administration, the Secretary of Defense has taken steps to ensure the world’s highest testosterone levels for our great Air Force. I claim the manosphere for America.
CONTINUE READINGWhat We Know About Trump’s Impact on Clean Energy
U.S. clean energy has taken a major hit but not a fatal one.
Biden’s climate legacy has taken serious hits but more has survived then we feared. There’s a general impression that Trump has wiped out Biden’s ambitious climate statute and with it brought the energy transition to a halt. It’s become clear that the situation is a lot more complicated than that. Politico has unearthed new evidence about funding under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. That new evidence complements some of the other pieces of the puzzle. Here’s what we know at this point.
CONTINUE READINGConsumer Clean-Energy Sovereignty
Consumers seem to be voting with their wallets for clean energy.
In the second quarter (Q2) of 2026, “clean energy and transportation investment in the United States totaled $75 billion, a 22% increase from Q1 2026 and a 4% jump from Q2 2025.” Considering Trump’s effort to summon all the power of the federal government to destroy clean energy, that’s not bad. One surprise: consumer spending accounted for more than half the total.
CONTINUE READINGDear 2026 1L
Today’s entering law students are preparing to start careers at a critical time for the environment.
Welcome to law school. You’re beginning your life in the law at a critical time. What we do together between now and 2035 will determine what your lives look like in 2050 and 2080, and what your children and grandchildren will see in the next century. So, grab your books, get yourselves ready, and be prepared to head for the legal trenches when you graduate. No time to waste!
You May Have Forgotten About Climate Change. But It Hasn’t Forgotten About You
Denial is a great coping mechanism. Until reality turns around and bites you.
Climate change is, apparently, passé. Democratic politicians are avoiding the topic and dialing back ambitious plans to reduce emissions. The President apparently doesn’t think it exists, and the government’s official position is that its effects are too uncertain to worry about. Denial isn’t the world’s best coping mechanism, but it works, at least temporarily. The problem is that, while sometimes that lump you were worried about does go away, sometimes it keep growing and getting harder to treat. In the end, reality doesn’t much care whether you believe in it.
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What the Disappearing Danube Could Tell Us About the Colorado
Today’s drought may not be the worst-case scenario for the Colorado
What’s happened to the Danube is a scary reminder that what we’re seeing today on the Colorado isn’t necessarily the worst case. The situation on the Danube is truly dire. The “Blue Danube” memorialized by the Strauss waltz is now only nine inches deep in Budapest. Cargo ships have come to a halt. Nuclear reactors have shut down for lack of cooling water. Meanwhile, the Colorado is suffering from the worst drought in at least 1200 years, raising fears about the fate of its shrinking reservoirs. And things could get worse.
CONTINUE READINGStrategies for the 2030s
We lost the Battle of 2025. But we haven’t last the fight for sustainability.
Two recent models have some welcome news: Trump’s rollbacks and assault on the Inflation Reduction Act have not been as cataclysmic as feared. At least not yet. The models come from different sources — an MIT researcher and the Rhodium firm — using different methodologies. The models also have implications about the next steps in climate policy. Both models highlight the critical need to rip down barriers to clean energy and transmission build out.
CONTINUE READINGUCLA Law Clinic Files Brief Supporting DC’s Clean Buildings Act in DC Circuit
Energy law experts explain local governments’ longstanding primary authority over local gas distribution and use.
Last Friday, UCLA’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed a DC Circuit brief in support of the District of Columbia’s Clean Buildings Act on behalf of 11 leading energy and environmental law professors: UCLA’s own William Boyd, Lincoln Davies at the University of Utah, Dan Farber and Sharon Jacobs at UC Berkeley, Alexandra Klass …
Continue reading “UCLA Law Clinic Files Brief Supporting DC’s Clean Buildings Act in DC Circuit”
CONTINUE READINGEscalating the War on Science
Now the National Academies are in the cross-hairs.
The National Academics of Science, Engineering, and Medicine are at the pinnacle of American science. Recently, President Trump President Donald Trump ordered a so-called suspension and debarment investigation into the National Academies for what a supposedly “fraudulent, biased, and misleading” report on climate change. The Academies, he said, are “run by Radical Left Dumocrats,” which is apparently more than enough reason to ban them from government funding.
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