Extreme Heat Archives - Legal Planet

Extreme Heat

What’s at Stake in the ICJ Hearings

Representational sovereignty, Indigenous rights, and ecocide are all key to the climate obligations of states, write guest contributors Mollie Cueva-Dabkoski, Julia Phượng Nguyễn, and Molly-Mae Whitmey.

A new chapter of global climate accountability has hopefully begun, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prepares to issue an advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change. Hearings for that opinion began today with over 100 countries and other parties presenting over two weeks. At the request of the U.N. General …

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Is California’s Climate Resilience Funding Ready for the Future?

New CLEE Report Identifies Key Challenges and Opportunities in the State’s Adaptation Funding Landscape

As climate change accelerates, California faces increasingly severe threats to its communities, economy, and environment. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, sea-level rise, and worsening wildfires are among the risks stretching State and local resources and driving demand for adaptation funding. California has utilized its longstanding leadership in climate policy to confront these challenges, including developing the …

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Reflections on “Yes they can control the weather.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene is wildly wrong about government scientists controlling hurricanes. There is a rich history of weather modification experiments that make that false claim more dangerous.

Since U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted earlier this month that “Yes they can control the weather” — a bunch of commentators have pointed out that she’s wildly wrong. Yes, she’s wildly wrong. No one can make, intensify, or steer hurricanes. No ability to do anything like this is even on the horizon. Her comment …

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Let’s Make Tomorrow “National Climate Awareness Day”

Here’s the case for setting aside a day to think about climate change, and why that day should be Aug. 23

Creating National Climate Awareness Day would send a message about the importance of climate change. It would also provide an occasion to educate Americans about the issue. If it can also celebrate modern science, and the contributions of women to science, all the better. And all it would take is a Presidential proclamation.

Reforming California’s Financial Penalties for Water Theft Will Create an Effective Deterrent

Overdue State Water Reform Legislation Likely Be Enacted in 2024–Finally

In a Legal Planet Post earlier this week, I recounted the saga of how federal prosecutors recently secured the criminal conviction of Dennis Falaschi, the former San Joaquin Valley water district general manager who oversaw the decades-long theft of millions of gallons of publicly-owned water from California’s Central Valley Project. That successful prosecution certainly qualifies …

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Florida Governor DeSantis’ Head-In-The-Sand Climate Change Policies

New Florida Law Strikes Term “Climate Change” From State Laws, Promotes Fossil Fuels & Rejects Renewable Energy Projects

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in coordination with an equally myopic and partisan Florida Legislature, has approved new state legislation (HB 1645) that eliminates the term “climate change” from numerous existing Florida statutes that former Republican Governor Charlie Crist signed into law in 2008. The legislation, which takes effect on July 1st, is not just symbolic: …

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California Seeks to Protect Homes from Excessive Indoor Heat

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo is a J.D. Candidate at UCLA Law (’25) specializing in environmental law. Hotter, deadlier, and more frequent heat waves have become one of the most surefire signs of a changing climate in our day-to-day lives. California recognized the need for action on this issue in 2022 by bringing to life AB …

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A Total Eclipse of the Heat

The eclipse mania gripping U.S. media and the entire nation is an opportunity to gaze in awe at the climate crisis we’ve unleashed and talk about our collective response.

Millions of Americans traveled this week to the path of totality to hunker down with loved ones and total strangers to gaze upwards at one of the most amazing astronomical events of our lives and share something like a transcendent, spiritual experience. I hope we can collectively reckon with another terrifyingly awesome atmospheric event: the …

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Florida is a Climate-Denying Hellscape

Florida lawmakers want to erase climate change from their laws and ban local heat protection ordinances ahead of what could be another summer of record-breaking heat.

Take the latest, science-backed climate policies that are gaining traction in state houses around the country — and then do the exact opposite. That seems to be the Florida playbook for dealing with the climate crisis facing Floridians in the form of rising sea levels and deadly temperatures. This legislative session, state lawmakers in the …

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We Crossed 1.5 C. Did We Breach the Paris Agreement?

Here’s what the recent rise in global temperature means for international climate targets.

If you’re not a climate scientist—and maybe even if you are—reading news headlines this month has been confounding and a little scary. “In First, Earth’s Temperature Breached Key Threshold Over a 12 Month Period” is how the Wall Street Journal put it. “Earth Just Experienced 12 Months Of Global Temperatures Above Critical 1.5C Climate Threshold,” …

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Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

NEPA and Loper Deference

The CEQ regulations will continue to receive deference. The question is how much.

New This Thanksgiving: Toxic Turkey

Losing the farm to PFAS, or losing PFAS on the farm?

CPUC Should Set a Date for Closing Aliso Canyon

A proposed decision on the gas facility gives too much deference to SoCalGas regarding the future of gas demand and misses an opportunity to set a clear mandate.

NEPA and Loper Deference (Part II)

Guest contributor Justin Pidot outlines what losing CEQ’s NEPA authority means for interagency coordination and efficiency.

A To-Do List For Biden

The clock is ticking, but there’s still time for a few important last things.

This Big Oil Sponsorship Just Got Dirtier

The Dodgers do business with a company that’s been polluting LA neighborhoods — and the climate — for years. Now, Phillips 66 faces federal charges of illegal wastewater dumping.

Extreme Heat

Representational sovereignty, Indigenous rights, and ecocide are all key to the climate obligations of states, write guest contributors Mollie Cueva-Dabkoski, Julia Phượng Nguyễn, and Molly-Mae Whitmey.

New CLEE Report Identifies Key Challenges and Opportunities in the State’s Adaptation Funding Landscape

Marjorie Taylor Greene is wildly wrong about government scientists controlling hurricanes. There is a rich history of weather modification experiments that make that false claim more dangerous.

Here’s the case for setting aside a day to think about climate change, and why that day should be Aug. 23

Overdue State Water Reform Legislation Likely Be Enacted in 2024–Finally

New Florida Law Strikes Term “Climate Change” From State Laws, Promotes Fossil Fuels & Rejects Renewable Energy Projects

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

The eclipse mania gripping U.S. media and the entire nation is an opportunity to gaze in awe at the climate crisis we’ve unleashed and talk about our collective response.

Florida lawmakers want to erase climate change from their laws and ban local heat protection ordinances ahead of what could be another summer of record-breaking heat.

Here’s what the recent rise in global temperature means for international climate targets.

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

TRENDING

What is at stake with the Manchin bill.

New tools to help local governments plan for equitable and effective investments

Some arguments surfaced in the discussion that the Court would do well to ignore.

Some thoughts about how the Court should define some limits on indirect effects.

Lawmakers can use climate policies to alleviate some cost burdens. They should also resist the narrative that climate progress is driving affordability concerns.

Expect a lot of the same, but there could be some new twists.

The doctrine has been hailed by conservatives. But it may come back to bite them.

More than 500 Rights of Nature laws and policies have been passed globally. Here’s how to make sense of this nascent movement — or movements.

Guest contributor Justin Pidot outlines what losing CEQ’s NEPA authority means for interagency coordination and efficiency.

Contrary to myth, Congress has actually passed laws relating directly to climate change.

The CEQ regulations will continue to receive deference. The question is how much.

Losing the farm to PFAS, or losing PFAS on the farm?

A proposed decision on the gas facility gives too much deference to SoCalGas regarding the future of gas demand and misses an opportunity to set a clear mandate.

Guest contributor Justin Pidot outlines what losing CEQ’s NEPA authority means for interagency coordination and efficiency.

The clock is ticking, but there’s still time for a few important last things.

The Dodgers do business with a company that’s been polluting LA neighborhoods — and the climate — for years. Now, Phillips 66 faces federal charges of illegal wastewater dumping.

The election was largely a disaster. But we’ve also seen some positive developments.

Slower, less certain, and less equitable–with a new focus on local leadership

More than 500 Rights of Nature laws and policies have been passed globally. Here’s how to make sense of this nascent movement — or movements.

The doctrine has been hailed by conservatives. But it may come back to bite them.