Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Governance And The Global South, Jeffrey J. Minneti

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Over the last several decades, efforts to regulate the environment through traditional public law at national and international levels have stalled. In contrast, private environmental governance has flourished as nongovernmental entities have engaged in standard setting and assessment practices traditionally left to public government. This Article observes that while private governance of producers’ environmental product claims has grown tremendously in recent years, the vast majority of the governance originates in the global North and thrusts the global North’s economic and environmental agenda into the global South. In light of recent empirical studies of the effectiveness of such governance, the Article …

An Examination Of The Need For Campaign Fianance Reform Through The Lens Of The United States Treaty Clause And Environmental Protection Treaties, Jordan Smith

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The United States’ federal election system is constantly the focus of debate, including components from voting mechanisms, to candidate selection, and to the candidates themselves. Unsurprisingly, campaign finance has also been the source of much debate. For decades, scholars, politicians, lawyers, and laypersons have debated the merits and shortcomings of the campaign finance system enumerated in the United States Code. The landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) decision in 2010, in which the United States Supreme Court equated corporate speech to human speech, merely added fuel to the fire. The considerable volume of scholarship based upon campaign finance …

Reframing Humans (Homo Sapiens) In International Biodiversity Law To Frame Protections For Climate Refugees, Jullee Kim

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Currently, application of international environmental law assumes that humans are separate from nature. Yet, the terminology commonly adopted for persons displaced as a result of climate change, “climate refugees,” represents the ultimate expression of the nexus where impacts from both natural and human systems coalesce. “Climate” represents the physical conditions appearing as a result of climate change and altering a person’s home to render it no longer habitable. While suitability of the term “refugees” in the climate change context is debated, it represents the political and societal conditions forcing the person to flee from their home, potentially across national borders, …

"Un-Designating" Marine Sanctuaries?: Assessing President Trump's America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, Kevin O. Leske

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Incentive Compatible Climate Change Mitigation: Moving Beyond The Pledge And Review Model, Gabriel Weil

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Climate change represents a global commons problem, where individuals, businesses, and nation-states all lack sufficient incentives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to levels consistent with meeting their collectively agreed upon mitigation goals. The current “pledge and review” paradigm for global climate change mitigation, which many see as a major breakthrough, relies primarily on moral pressure, reputational incentives, and global public opinion to foster cooperation on mitigation efforts over and above those driven by maximization of narrow conceptions of national interests. Given the scale of the emissions reductions required to meet stated mitigation goals, the substantial economic costs of deep …

The Environment And Nafta Policy Debate Redux: Separating Rhetoric From Reality, Linda J. Allen

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Requiescat In Pace: The Cemetery Dedication And Its Implications For Land Use In Louisiana And Beyond, Ryan M. Seidemann

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Translating Legal Norms Into Quantitative Indicators: Lessons From The Global Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Sector, Sharmila L. Murthy

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Bike Lanes, Not Cars: Mobility And The Legal Fight For Future Los Angeles, Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

In 2015, the City of Los Angeles adopted the controversial Mobility Plan 2035. The Plan restructures city transportation planning by emphasizing alternatives to cars for the next twenty years. Predictably, bike lanes became its most polemic aspect. The Plan envisions dramatic increases in bike lanes throughout car-obsessed Los Angeles. This bike lane increase was challenged in court, with objectors claiming that eliminating car lanes would increase congestion and compromise air quality. These arguments are ironic, since environmental justifications typically motivate bike projects.

The Mobility Plan illustrates how law supports and challenges bike lane projects. This Article argues that although this …