Literature
Mrs. Palsgraf, Meet Enviromental Law
A case involving a freakish accident with fireworks casts a big shadow in environmental law.
Today in my first-year Torts class, I teach the Palsgraf case, one of those cases that every lawyer knows by heart. More about Palsgraf in a moment. It’s a tort case, so it won’t surprise you that oil companies use similar arguments against having to pay damages for climate change. But it may be more …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Action for Earth Day
“We have a long way to go, but we’ve started down the path.” I asked my UCLA Emmett Institute colleagues what climate actions give them hope on Earth Day. Here’s how they answered.
Don’t believe what you’ve heard. There is one single thing you can give up that will help address climate change: voter apathy. One-third of eligible voters—80 million Americans—did not vote in the presidential election last time around. Why not? Because they just “weren’t registered” or they “weren’t interested in politics,” according to this Ipsos survey. …
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CONTINUE READINGA decade of unraveling the effects of regulation on water innovation
By Michael Kiparsky, with Dave Smith, Nell Green Nylen, Luke Sherman, Alida Cantor, Anita Milman, Felicia Marcus, David Sedlak, Bernhard Truffer, Christian Binz, Sasha Harris-Lovett, Jeff Lape, Justin Mattingly, Dave Owen, Lars Tummers, Buzz Thompson
In a recent post, my colleagues and I reported on our most recent research output in a long series of projects examining the effect of regulation on water innovation. The post describes a new framework for understanding and, ultimately, improving relationships between regulators and wastewater utility managers who are seeking to implement novel technical solutions, …
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CONTINUE READINGDoes Upzoning Reduce Housing Prices?
A recent careful study says no, but it suffers from unavoidable data and conceptual problems.
A new study on upzoning is out from the highly-respected Urban Institute, and it doesn’t have great news for YIMBYs: We find that reforms that loosen restrictions are associated with a statistically significant 0.8 percent increase in housing supply within three to nine years of reform passage, accounting for new and existing stock. This increase …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Most Important Environmental Story Of The Week
Fossil Fuel Interests Corrupt Media
No, it’s not the Biden Administration’s successful push to electrify tens of thousands of USPS vehicles. It’s how Matrix LLC, a consultant in the southeast with significant investments in the energy sector, made massive payments to local media outlets to slant their coverage in favor of dirty power and exorbitant electricity rates. Consider Alabama Power, …
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CONTINUE READINGCan we govern large-scale green infrastructure for multiple water benefits?
by Lidia Cano Pecharroman, Christopher Williams, Nell Green Nylen, and Michael Kiparsky
Green infrastructure is increasingly emphasized as an alternative, novel path for water infrastructure. The possibilities are intriguing: Can we transition from a landscape dominated by siloed grey infrastructure (think concrete and steel, constructed for one or a few key outcomes like water supply or flood control) to one that centers natural processes in water infrastructure …
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CONTINUE READINGJefferson’s Bridge
Anticipating modern environmental views, Jefferson viewed nature as a public trust.
Today being the Fourth of July, it seems appropriate to think about how the author of the Declaration of Independence felt about nature. A revealing example involves some land Jefferson owned between Lexington and Roanoke, which he sought to preserve. Two years before the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson purchased 157 acres of land from the …
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CONTINUE READINGFrom the Grand Canyon to Contaminated Cantaloupes – and More
Five books with fresh perspectives on environmental issues.
Law reviews make little effort to track new books, unlike other journals in other disciplines . So it’s pretty much hit-or-miss whether you learn about relevant new books. I wanted to share some interesting finds that have crossed my desk, joined a growing pile of unread books, and then slowly left the pile. The subjects …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat Do We Know About Environmental Justice?
Not As Much As We Should
If you are not a regular reader of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, you should be. Most economists fetishize what my friend and colleague Steve Bainbridge refers to accurately as “recreational mathematics.” But often, these models add more heat than light, and in any event, function as a private language. Fortunately enough, JEP’s magician-editor Timothy …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat is Environmental Justice, Anyway?
New UCLA Law Review Article Attempts To Connect It To Community Legal Empowerment
I have a new piece out in the UCLA Law Review Discourse. Here’s the abstract: This Article considers Gitanjali Nain Gill’s recent book Environmental Justice in India, the first comprehensive look at India’s National Green Tribunal. India’s environmental crisis—major international surveys highlight its severe environmental degradation—is of interest to the global public, for no progress on …
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