Law Commons^™

Seven Principles For Equitable Adaptation, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

Given the inevitability of serious climate impacts, climate change adaptation is becoming an urgent priority. Policy makers at the local, regional, state, and federal level are struggling to determine how to parlay existing authorities and develop new measures to avoid future calamity.

Successful adaptation will require not only attention to physical infrastructure, but to the underlying socioeconomic conditions that strongly determine the severity of climate impacts. Given the importance of underlying socioeconomic factors, this essay argues that equity should be a central feature of emerging domestic climate adaptation initiatives. It suggests seven principles for achieving equitable adaptation, principles designed to …

Domestic Climate Change Adaptation And Equity, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

It is now commonly accepted that climate change will lead to sea-level rise, more extreme storms, heat waves, wildfires, changing weather patterns, and the spread of disease. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary, but not sufficient. Global, national, and subnational adaptation measures to reduce climate harm are essential.

This article argues that equity should be a central feature of emerging domestic climate adaptation initiatives. It details how more frequent and intense “natural” disasters, long-term impacts on habitability, and public health threats will have unequal impacts within the United States. The article suggests seven principles for achieving equitable adaptation, principles designed …

Oversight Hearing On The Federal Superfund Program's Activities To Protect Public Health, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

Mother Earth And Uncle Sam: How Pollution And Hollow Government Hurt Our Kids, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

In this compelling study, Rena Steinzor highlights the ways in which the government, over the past twenty years, has failed to protect children from harm caused by toxic chemicals. She believes these failures—under-funding, excessive and misguided use of cost/benefit analysis, distortion of science, and devolution of regulatory authority—have produced a situation in which harm that could be reduced or eliminated instead persists.

Steinzor states that, as a society, we are neglecting our children's health to an extent that we would find unthinkable as individual parents, primarily due to the erosion of the government's role in protecting public health and the …

Environmental Health In Public Health, R. Konkel, Darryl Barnett, Joe Beck, Worley Johnson

Steve Konkel

A most intriguing question, and one that leads to many debates both inside and outside of the environmental health field, is a definition of environmental health. The answer given is often tempered by one's political slant (i.e., liberal, moderate, or conservative) and by one's professional training (e.g., public health sanitation, chemistry, nursing, ecology, planning, public administration, etc). Although agreement is needed to effectively address the challenges in the field, disagreement often centers on what constitutes environmental health and even on the name or nickname that should be applied to individuals whose primary focus is on one or many aspects of …