General
Emergency?
What If We Really Acted as if Climate Change is an Emergency
The world’s scientists warn of massive disruption to the planet in report after report. The leading edge of that disruption is already here. Wildfire in Canada, smoke in NYC, heat domes in Texas, massive heat in the Atlantic ocean are just some of this month’s news. We give lots of lip service describing climate change …
CONTINUE READINGTechnology’s Role in Governing Sustainable Food Systems
Digitalization is altering how we understand the environment and act upon issues of sustainability.
This article is a summary of the third interview in a three-part interview series that explores how digitalization is reshaping environmental governance. I spoke with Sake Kruk who’s a Ph.D. researcher at the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands. His research examines how digital technologies are ushering in a new form of environmental …
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CONTINUE READINGNEPA 2.0 and Transmission Projects
Will the new NEPA provisions speed approval of urgently needed projects?
In terms of the energy transition, the most important question about the recent NEPA amendments is whether they streamline permitting for transmission projects. The answer is complicated. We can divide transmission projects into two groups. The first group consists of transmission projects where federal involvement is limited to specific segments, such as stream crossings requiring …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Clinic Submits Amicus Brief in Water Rate Design Case
A trial court decision invalidated the City of San Diego’s tiered water rates. This amicus brief by the Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of California Coastkeeper Alliance and Los Angeles Waterkeeper argues a reversal is needed to pursue conservation and equity.
Court challenges to the use of tiered water rates in California are threatening the state’s own water conservation and affordability goals. That’s what’s at stake in a case called Patz v. City of San Diego. Climate change is intensifying California’s hydrologic variability and exacerbating the state’s water supply challenges. Dwindling water supplies have led …
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CONTINUE READINGCommunity Benefits Agreements (CBAs) and Offshore Wind
Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) can provide tools for California communities negotiating offshore wind development impacts
Offshore wind is one of many renewable industries taking off in California as the state accelerates infrastructure investment and development to meet its climate targets. The California Energy Commission has adopted planning goals of 2-5 GW of offshore wind (OSW) by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045. Other state goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Law Clinic Files Amicus Brief Seeking Review of Decision in Berkeley Gas Case
The Environmental Law Clinic joins other local, state, and federal governments, as well as NGOs, in urging the Ninth Circuit to take a second look at the case.
Yesterday, the UCLA Environmental Law Clinic filed a brief in the California Restaurant Association v. Berkeley case on behalf of seven law professors: our own William Boyd, Dan Farber and Sharon Jacobs at UC Berkeley, Jim Rossi at Vanderbilt, David Spence at UT Austin, Shelley Welton at UPenn, and Hannah Wiseman at Penn State. (The …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia must move more quickly to decarbonize existing residential buildings
New Report recommends scaling California’s Go Green financing program faster, changing program design and implementation
California has set ambitious climate goals, which include reducing state greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 40 percent by 2030 and reducing GHGs 85 percent (and achieving statewide carbon neutrality) by 2045. Amongst all the sectors state leaders seek to address, existing buildings (which are responsible for over 10 percent of state emissions), and especially existing residential …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Farm Is Not An Algorithm
The inaccuracies of precision agriculture carry socio-environmental risks and produce inequalities.
This article provides an overview of the second interview in a three-part interview series that explores how digitalization is reshaping environmental governance. I spoke with Oane Visser, an Associate Professor in Agrarian Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies. Visser earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from Radboud University, Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. His research …
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CONTINUE READINGDigitalization and Predictive Policing in Conservation
Does technology shift focus toward “green policing” and away from integrated conservation and development?
Digitalization is reshaping environmental governance in profound ways. As environmental degradation and climate change intensify, society increasingly turns to digital technologies to live more sustainably and protect biodiversity and other natural resources, such as land, water, and energy. Digital tools are transforming who is involved in environmental decision-making, how environmental problems are understood and assessed, …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s Next in the Fight over Berkeley’s Natural Gas Ordinance
In a petition seeking review of the decision, the City of Berkeley says that the opinion from a Ninth Circuit panel takes federal preemption too far.
The City of Berkeley just filed a petition for en banc review in its long-running litigation in defense of an ordinance it passed that restricts natural-gas infrastructure in new construction. This litigation has been watched by many in the climate-policy world because of the popularity of laws like Berkeley’s; it took on new relevance for local-authority …
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