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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Biodiversity Paradigm Shift: Adapting The Endangered Species Act To Climate Change, Kalyani Robbins
The Biodiversity Paradigm Shift: Adapting The Endangered Species Act To Climate Change, Kalyani Robbins
Faculty Publications
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was designed to protect species that had been rendered more vulnerable to extinction as a result of human activity. As such, its implementation has traditionally focused on keeping human beings away from such species and giving the species (and their ecosystems) space to heal on their own. Climate change is altering the landscape everywhere on the globe, rendering the hands-off approach no longer sufficient. Active interventions will become more necessary as we get further into the changing climate. Taking decisive action in response to climate change will also require a fundamental shift in our approach …
Responsible, Renewable, And Redesigned: How The Renewable Energy Movement Can Make Peace With The Endangered Species Act, Kalyani Robbins
Responsible, Renewable, And Redesigned: How The Renewable Energy Movement Can Make Peace With The Endangered Species Act, Kalyani Robbins
Faculty Publications
One of the most promising routes to a sustainable energy future, as well as climate change mitigation, is the development of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar energy, and hydropower. Indeed, scientists have proposed plans to move completely (100 percent!) to these energy sources within a couple of decades. Mark Z. Jacobson and M.A. Delucchi, scientists from Stanford and U.C. Davis, have outlined a plan to achieve this goal, thereby “eliminating all fossil fuels”. Hydroelectric power already provides almost one-fifth of the world's electricity, and wind and solar development is rapidly picking up as well. However, before we leave …
Governing The Ungovernable: Integrating The Multimodal Approach To Keeping Agricultural Land Use From Swallowing Ecosystems, Kalyani Robbins
Governing The Ungovernable: Integrating The Multimodal Approach To Keeping Agricultural Land Use From Swallowing Ecosystems, Kalyani Robbins
Faculty Publications
As the population grows, so does the conflict between demand for agricultural productivity and the need to maintain healthy ecosystems. Unfortunately, this concern alone does not motivate the agricultural industry to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner, nor is it an industry that has proven amenable to strict regulation. Indeed, any such effort must face one of the mightiest lobbies of all time. As it functions today, agriculture is unsustainable and at risk of wiping out more than its fair share of our already dwindling biodiversity. As demand increases, there is the potential for it to get worse than …
Strength In Numbers: Setting Quantitative Criteria For Listing Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Kalyani Robbins
Strength In Numbers: Setting Quantitative Criteria For Listing Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Kalyani Robbins
Faculty Publications
My primary thesis is that the Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service need to set quantitative criteria for listing species under the Endangered Species Act in order to promote consistency, transparency, and efficiency. I suggest a model for doing so, the use of which would create an opportunity to move beyond the political quagmire surrounding the selection of vulnerable species for preservation. Like my other environmental scholarship, the article merges scientific research in the field of conservation biology with legal analysis. With the status quo, listing decisions often turn on wildly different factors, including some not …