Politics

A Moveable Climate Feast?

Paris and the future politics of climate change

Back in 1920s Paris, an unknown writer named Ernest Hemingway hung out in the local cafes with other aspiring artists.  It was an odd group, featuring communists like Pablo Picasso, fascists like Ezra Pound, and right-wingers like Gertrude Stein.  But they helped each other, promoting their work and ultimately producing a generation of famous artists …

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Why Alberta’s Carbon Tax Matters

Combating Climate Change Will Require Reversing Three-Decade Trend of Political Economy

While Americans were preparing for our Thanksgiving, in the Great White North, a major new development occurred: the NDP (i.e. Social Democratic) government in Alberta — Canada’s major energy-producing province — announced an economy-wide carbon tax starting in 2017 and a cap on emissions from oil sands. This would be an aggressive move anywhere in the …

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Emmett Institute updates from the Climate Conference

UCLA faculty and students participating in COP21/CMP11

For two weeks starting today, negotiators gather in Paris for the annual climate-change meetings – officially, the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 21/CMP11). The meeting is located in a sprawling conference center at the edge …

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Goodbye, Keystone, Goodbye

After seven years, the project is history.

The President announced this morning that he would not approve the Keystone pipeline project.  This wasn’t a huge surprise at this point of the game.  Still, it’s a good time to take stock of the dispute. The fight was largely — but not entirely — symbolic.  With falling oil prices, the alternative of rail transport …

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Don’t Blame Canada Anymore

Climate Policy Triumphs Over South Park in New Trudeau Government

We Americans tend to think of Canadians as nice, friendly, well-intentioned folk, a little more left-of-center than the US — sort of what Blue America would be if it didn’t have to deal with the south. For the last 10 years, though, that has been anything but true: the Conservative government of Stephen Harper brought …

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Dueling California Drought Relief Bills Debated on Capitol Hill

Stark Differences Emerge Between Competing House and Senate Bills

What can and should the federal government do to assist the State of California in weathering the worst drought in recorded state history? While the U.S. House of Representatives is embroiled in a chaotic political debate over selection of a new House Speaker, the more deliberate consideration of new legislation continues apace in the Senate. …

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DuPont Found Liable In First of 3,500 Lawsuits

Chemical Used in Teflon Linked to Numerous Health Problems, but its Use is Still Legal Under TSCA

Yesterday, a jury in the Southern District of Ohio found DuPont liable for a woman’s kidney cancer in the first of 3,500 suits the company faces. The cases all stem from DuPont’s use and disposal of perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) or C8. The chemical is used to make Teflon, among other things, and the most recent …

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California Enshrines Renewables And Energy Efficiency 2030 Goals — And Maybe Greenhouse Gas Goals, Too

Buried provision in the bill codifies long-term climate goals in the context of vehicle electrification

Today Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 350 (De Leon), a landmark bill that pledges California to a 50% renewable goal by 2030, as well as a doubling of energy efficiency in existing buildings by that date. Despite the environmental win, it’s been well-reported by the media and others that California’s environmental leaders got beaten pretty …

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Evangelicals Versus Property Rights

Guess who invented the idea that property rights evolve with changing social values?

Today, evangelical Christians tend to be aligned with conservatives in defense of private property. But that was not always true. In the 19th and early 20th Centuries, evangelicals launched a major attack on property rights. As historian John Compton documents in a recent book, they also adopted the idea of the “living Constitution” to justify …

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Anti-CEQA Lobbyists Turn to Empirical Analysis, But Are Their Conclusions Sound?

Influential Attacks on California’s Environmental Impact Law Aren’t Supported By the Data

Every August, as the California legislative session comes to a head, lobbyists attempt to gain support for dramatically scaling back California’s landmark environmental law, CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act).  This year was no exception.  Last month, the law firm Holland and Knight, which has been a leading force on this issue, issued a new …

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