Culture & Ethics
Green Buildings: LEEDing to Trouble?
Green construction is all the rage among legislatures, regulators and the building industry. Incentives and mandates abound at the federal, state and local level, but so too do risks of failure to meet the certification standards when all the dust settles after construction is complete. The Harvard Law School Environmental Law and Policy Clinic recently …
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CONTINUE READINGScientific integrity at EPA
Lisa Jackson was up on Capitol Hill yesterday, telling the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works how her EPA will protect scientific integrity. The webcast is available here. In her written testimony, Jackson said: While the laws that EPA implements leave room for policy judgments, the scientific findings on which these judgments are based …
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CONTINUE READINGLuke Cole, Environmental Justice Activist, Killed in Car Crash
I’m very sorry to report the news that Luke Cole, long-time environmental justice advocate, was killed in a car accident this week in Uganda. Luke had taken a sabbatical from the Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment , which he headed, to travel the world (he was also my law school classmate and friend). …
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CONTINUE READINGNew and Noteworthy in the Eco-Blogosphere
For the environmental world at large, here are some noteworthy posts: Africa needs substantially scaled-up finance, technology and capacity-building to combat climate change 2009 Hurricane Names to Watch for, as Season Begins After a record-breaking 2008 hurricane season, the first storm has formed before the official June 1 start to the 2009 season. The hydrogen …
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CONTINUE READINGBroadening the “scientific integrity” discussion
Scientific integrity was a high-profile issue under the last administration, but only in a very negative sense, with a continual drumbeat of stories accusing the Bush White House and political appointees of interfering with the proper role of science. President Obama has brought new positive attention to the topic, first with his inaugural address promise …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Hubris: Another Proposed “Fix” for the California Delta
Recently, California state water officials announced with considerable fanfare their latest technological “fix” for the environmental ills that have in recent years befallen the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, the Delta is in serious environmental decline–as scientists have carefully documented and which no one disputes at this …
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CONTINUE READINGGood News for Air, Climate, Traffic?
Two recent interesting and potentially related articles in the LA Times suggest an encouraging trend. California drivers are consuming less gasoline, a trend that began in 2006. And U.S. car buyers may begin to look more like European consumers, buying smaller, more fuel efficient cars and keeping those cars longer. As the Times reports in …
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CONTINUE READINGHonorary Degree for Joe Sax
We were delighted to learn that Joe Sax, the eminent environmental law scholar, will receive an honorary degree on May 20 from Columbia University. Congratulations, Joe!
CONTINUE READING“Smoking gun” OMB memo on EPA climate change rulemaking is not what it seems
As Dan has mentioned, there has been a bit of a dust-up over a document in EPA’s rulemaking docket relating to EPA’s recent finding that greenhouse gases pose an endangerment to public health and welfare. As Dan notes, the memo, apparently originating at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is harshly critical …
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CONTINUE READINGCap and Trade? Huh??
It turns out that hardly anyone except politicos and policy wonks knows what cap-and-trade means or that it relates to climate change. According to Rasmussen, Given a choice of three options, just 24% of voters can correctly identify the cap-and-trade proposal as something that deals with environmental issues. A slightly higher number (29%) believe the …
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