Law Commons^™

Does Ceqa Need A Rewrite Or Just A Better Public Relations Manager?, Brian Gillis

GGU Law Review Blog

I’ve recently been tempted to blame my existential climate-change-induced dread on a 50-year-old environmental law that may be exacerbating California’s contributions to the climate crisis. The impacts of climate change are here and will only grow more severe. I’m angry, and I am scared for the future because we aren’t doing nearly enough to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. The climate action pledges taken by many countries are insufficient, and we aren’t even on track to meet these pledges. The calls-to-action are all about urgency: “we need to act yesterday to avoid a climate catastrophe.” So, an environmental …

Fast Fashion: A Price The Planet Has To Pay, Abby Gager

Environmental Law Journal blog

With fashion trends rapidly changing, the fashion industry is placed under pressure to produce new styles quickly and for a cheap price. Although consumers enjoy having the latest trends at their fingertips with the convenience of online shopping, the rise of fast fashion will have a long-lasting detrimental impact on the environment. Fashion is considered “fast” for a variety of reasons; the constant change in trends is fast, the rate of production is fast, the consumer’s decision and methods of buying are fast, delivery is fast, and articles of clothing are worn fast before they are tossed and to never …

Climate Change And Social Vulnerability In The United States A Focus On Six Impacts, Us Environmental Protection Agency

Federal Documents

Climate change affects all Americans—regardless of socioeconomic status—and many impacts are projected to worsen as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, snow and rainfall patterns shift, and some extreme weather events become more common. A growing body of literature focuses on the disproportionate and unequal risks that climate change is projected to have on communities that are least able to anticipate, cope with, and recover from adverse impacts. Many studies have discussed climate change impacts on socially vulnerable populations, but few have quantified disproportionate risks to socially vulnerable groups across multiple impacts and levels of global warming.

This report …

The 2020-21 Budget: Climate Change Proposals, Legislative Analyst's Office

California Agencies

In this report, we assess the Governor’s major 2020-21 budget proposals related to climate change. The four proposals we evaluate are:

• Cap-and-Trade Expenditure Plan ($965 Million). The budget includes a $965 million (Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund [GGRF]) discretionary cap-and-trade expenditure plan. Funding would mostly go to a variety of existing environmental programs, including programs related to low carbon transportation, local air quality improvements, and forestry.

• Expanded Climate Adaptation Research and Technical Assistance ($25 Million). As part of the cap-and-trade expenditure plan, the Governor proposes $25 million (GGRF) ongoing for several new and expanded climate adaptation research and technical …

Sea Level Rise And Storm Surge Projections For The National Park Service, M. A., R. L. Beavers Caffrey, C. H. Hoffman

Federal Documents

Over one quarter of the units of the National Park System occur along ocean coastlines. Ongoing changes in relative sea levels and the potential for increasing storm surges due to anthropogenic climate change and other factors present challenges to national park managers. This report summarizes work done by the University of Colorado in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS) to provide sea level rise and storm surge projections to coastal area national parks using information from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and storm surge scenarios from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) models. This research …

A Flaw In California's Cap-And-Trade Plan, Alan Ramo, Janet Redman

Publications

California has made clear its intention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But is it taking the right steps to do so? The state has set a goal of returning to 1990 emissions levels by 2020. It has adopted renewable energy standards, driven the national trend in controlling automobile emissions and instituted a cap-and-trade program aimed at curbing climate pollution from power plants, refineries and other "stationary sources" of emissions. But a low-profile bill scheduled for consideration by the Legislature next year has exposed that, at least as far as its cap-and-trade program is concerned, California may be off-track. As it …

From Dirty To Green: Increasing Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy In Environmental Justice Communities, Deborah N. Behles

Publications

The stifling summer heat that raged across the nation was difficult for everyone, but one group had a more difficult time than others—those who could not afford to cool their homes. Disparities like these will likely only get worse. Poor communities of color that are already vulnerable and disproportionately impacted by pollution will shoulder a larger burden of climate change impacts. These neighborhoods, often called environmental justice communities, have fewer resources to adapt to the effects of climate change. More measures should be taken to increase the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency in environmental justice communities before the …

Recognizing The Link Among Climate Change, Food, And Poverty, Helen H. Kang

Publications

The United States must begin to meet in earnest the challenges that climate change poses to adequate nutrition for the poor and the hungry. Climate change is profoundly affecting agriculture and is expected to continue to do so, resulting in sometimes-sharp food-price fluctuations to which our government at all levels is unprepared to respond. While those with resources may be able to cope with price volatility, those who are already undernourished are less able without government programs nimbly responding to fluctuations in food prices. Compounding the problem for U.S. households, the predicted cost increases of other necessities such as energy …

A Renewable Future: Jerry Brown's Environmental Agenda, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Ken Alex

Publications

The Environmental Law Section was honored to welcome Cliff Rechtschaffen and Ken Alex, two prominent Senior Advisors to Governor Jerry Brown, as its featured speakers for the first plenary session at the 2011 Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® last October. Messrs. Rechtschaffen and Alex led a lively discussion of energy and environmental issues in the Brown administration, which touched on topics ranging from the Governor's agenda for addressing climate change to the Office of Planning and Research's approaches to CEQA to the administration's vision for a California with 50 million people, among others. They have adapted the following article from …

Climate Adaptation Policy At The Continental Level: Natural Resources In North America And Europe, Paul Stanton Kibel

Publications

This article assesses the extent to which the concepts of climate proofing and climate policy coherence have found expression in continental natural resource regimes established in North America and Europe. The article first examines the recognition of these concepts within three North American crossborder regimes directly impacted by climate change: the Waters Treaty between Mexico and the United States; the Pacific Salmon Treaty between Canada and the United States; and the North American Waterfowl Management Plan between Canada, Mexico and the United States. Next it considers the extent to which these concepts are reflected in recent European initiatives related to …

Pursuing Environmental Justice: Obstacles And Opportunities - Lessons From The Field, Helen H. Kang

Publications

This article argues that the clinic‘s clients and similarly situated grassroots groups pursue litigation because the laws do not adequately protect them from pollution at the neighborhood level. Environmental lawsuits filed by such groups result from the conclusion that there is "too much" pollution in the neighborhood—there is elevated background pollution, violations of environmental laws contribute to excess pollution, and litigation is one of the few ways to redress the distributive injustice resulting from pollution created by multiple sources.

The Greenhouse Effect And Global Climate Change: Doing Something About The Weather, Senate Office Of Research

California Senate

No abstract provided.