The Initial Response Of Biodiversity Conventions To The Covid-19 Pandemic, 2024 William & Mary Law School
The Initial Response Of Biodiversity Conventions To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Royal C. Gardner, Lauren Beames, Katherine Pratt
William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the operations of global biodiversity conventions, requiring virtual meetings in place of in-person events. Yet the pandemic also highlighted the importance of biodiversity conservation as a mechanism to reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases, as the October 2020 report issued by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (“IPBES”) emphasized. Now that in-person, international meetings have resumed, this Article examines the extent to which four biodiversity conventions—the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, the Ramsar Convention, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the Convention on Biological Diversity—considered the nexus …
Legal And Ethical Concerns Within Emergency Management, 2024 Arkansas Tech University
Legal And Ethical Concerns Within Emergency Management, John R. Hiland, Cody Neal
ATU Research Symposium
Emergency management involves a complex interplay of logistical, social, and ethical considerations, with legal frameworks guiding actions at every stage. This research investigates the ethical and legal challenges inherent in the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Through a multi-method approach including literature review, case studies with comparative analysis, this study aims to clarify the intersection of ethical and legal issues in emergency management and propose practical strategies for addressing these challenges.
In the mitigation phase, equitable resource allocation, environmental sustainability, and transparent decision-making emerge as key ethical concerns, while legal frameworks dictate compliance with regulations …
Climate Zoning, 2024 Vanderbilt Law School
Climate Zoning, Christopher Serkin
Notre Dame Law Review
As the urgency of the climate crisis becomes increasingly apparent, many local governments are adopting land use regulations aimed at minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The emerging approaches call for loosening zoning restrictions to unlock greater density and for strict new green building codes. This Article argues that both approaches are appropriate in some places but not in others. Not all density is created equal, and compact multifamily housing at the urban fringe may actually in-crease GHG emissions. Moreover, where density is appropriate, deregulation will not necessarily produce it. And, finally, green building codes will increase housing costs and so …
The Impossibility Of Corporate Political Ideology: Upholding Sec Climate Disclosures Against Compelled Commercial Speech Challenges, 2024 Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
The Impossibility Of Corporate Political Ideology: Upholding Sec Climate Disclosures Against Compelled Commercial Speech Challenges, Erin Murphy
Northwestern University Law Review
To address the increasingly dire climate crisis, the SEC will require public companies to reveal their business’s environmental impact to the market through climate disclosures. Businesses and states challenged the required disclosures as compelled, politically motivated speech that risks putting First Amendment doctrine into further jeopardy. In the past five years, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated an increased propensity to hear compelled speech cases and rule in favor of litigants claiming First Amendment protection from disclosing information that they disagree with or believe to be a politically charged topic. Dissenting liberal Justices have decried these practices as “weaponizing the …
Existing Challenges And Possible Pathways For Case Success In Climate Litigation With Human Rights Claims, 2024 St. Mary's University
Existing Challenges And Possible Pathways For Case Success In Climate Litigation With Human Rights Claims, Daniel Ziebarth
St. Mary's Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Restore Texas Land: A Proposal To Utilize Emission Reduction Credits To Fund The Railroad Commission Of Texas' Well Plugging Initiative, 2024 St. Mary's University
Restore Texas Land: A Proposal To Utilize Emission Reduction Credits To Fund The Railroad Commission Of Texas' Well Plugging Initiative, George Coates Roberts
St. Mary's Law Journal
No abstract provided.
The Secret Lives Of Environmental Rights, 2024 University of Baltimore
The Secret Lives Of Environmental Rights, Sonya Ziaja
Pace Environmental Law Review
Do constitutional environmental rights change hearts and minds? How could they? This Essay describes three possible hypotheses of the relationships among constitutional environmental rights, meaning, and behavior: The Separate Domains Approach, The Constitutive Approach, and The Mutually Constitutive Approach. The theories underlying these hypotheses, and explored in this Essay, may provide some insight into constitutional environmental rights and how they may evolve throughout generations.
State Constitutions In The Woods, 2024 Widener University Commonwealth Law School
State Constitutions In The Woods, Quinn Yeargain
Pace Environmental Law Review
Before the adoption of environmental rights provisions beginning in the 1970s, most state constitutions did not contain provisions that protected the natural environment from degradation. Instead, to the contrary, many constitutions—especially in western states—contained policies that have long entrenched carbon-intensive infrastructures and have favored extractive industries. But starting in the early 1900s, a handful of states began amending their constitutions to incorporate environmental policy provisions. These additions helped preserve forested lands by giving state governments the power to respond to uncontrolled forest fires and adopt policies to prevent deforestation. Other amendments established fish and game commissions as constitutional entities, safeguarding …
Some Lessons For Crafting A State Constitution-Based Right To A Clean Environment, 2024 Cleveland State University College of Law
Some Lessons For Crafting A State Constitution-Based Right To A Clean Environment, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson
Pace Environmental Law Review
While New York most recently added an environmental rights amendment to its constitution, Pennsylvania and Montana have had these amendments in their constitutions since the seventies. Hawaii, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Massachusetts have enacted weaker iterations of rights to a clean environment. Other states, like Maine, have faced challenges that blocked an amendment’s passage. This Article provides an initial analysis of the state environmental rights amendments currently in place, examining their origins, language, placement in the constitutions, and the major judicial decisions impacting their interpretation. It concludes by comparing the existing environmental rights amendments to the proposed amendment that failed …
Indigenizing The Right To A Healthy Environment, 2024 S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
Indigenizing The Right To A Healthy Environment, Elisabeth Parker, Heather Tanana
Pace Environmental Law Review
The most severe impacts resulting from environmental degradation are experienced by already-vulnerable populations, including Indigenous peoples. A growing number of countries are formally recognizing the basic human right to a healthy environment, which can help realize environmental and climate justice for these communities. On July 28, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed a landmark resolution formally recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The adoption of this resolution represents a pivotal moment in the understanding and implementation of a human rights-based approach to protecting the environment. However, it is important to recognize that historically, Indigenous …
Green Amendments, Land Use, And Transportation: What Could Go Wrong?, 2024 Touro Law Center
Green Amendments, Land Use, And Transportation: What Could Go Wrong?, Michael Lewyn
Pace Environmental Law Review
As more states amend their constitutions to include a green amendment, the vague nature of these amendments leaves a concerning amount of interpretative power to courts. This article examines how some courts have interpreted green amendments and how these interpretations risk the misuse of green amendments. Additionally, this article examines how such misuse may be avoided.
The Value Of Constitutional Environmental Rights And Public Trusts, 2024 Widener University Commonwealth Law School
The Value Of Constitutional Environmental Rights And Public Trusts, John C. Dernbach
Pace Environmental Law Review
As part of the modern environmental movement of the 1970s, five states (Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, and Pennsylvania) adopted constitutional amendments recognizing a right to a quality environment, a public trust for public natural resources, or both. Half a century later, there is a renewed interest in constitutional environmental rights, inspired in no small part by the failure of existing laws to adequately address the climate crisis. A sixth state (New York) recognized a constitutional right to a quality environment in 2021, and more than a dozen states are considering such amendments. Still, the great majority of environmental protection at …
130 Years And Counting Into Forever — New York's Forever Wild Constitutional Amendment And Lessons For Modern Green Amendments, 2024 Pace University
130 Years And Counting Into Forever — New York's Forever Wild Constitutional Amendment And Lessons For Modern Green Amendments, Timothy E. Cox
Pace Environmental Law Review
In the 135 years of New York’s Forever Wild Amendment’s existence, it has been challenged by a range of court cases and thereby interpreted by courts throughout New York. The results of these cases frequently have upheld the heart of Forever Wild: to protect New York’s Forest Preserve land. This Article provides a history of the Forever Wild Amendment, an analysis of the courts’ and New York Attorney General’s interpretations of the Amendment, and a discussion of how this information can guide the future of New York’s Green Amendment.
Administering Environmental Justice: How New York’S Environmental Rights Amendment Could Transform Business As Usual, 2024 CUNY School of Law
Administering Environmental Justice: How New York’S Environmental Rights Amendment Could Transform Business As Usual, Rebecca Bratspies
Pace Environmental Law Review
Since New York became the latest state to pass an environmental rights amendment, there has been a great deal of analysis regarding how the judi- ciary will interpret the Green Amendment; however, state and local officials need not wait for the courts to enforce the Green Amendment. This Article explores the authority state and local officials have to carry out the purpose of the Green Amendment. Additionally, it discusses what the passage of the Green Amendment means in practice and how, and why, state officials such as the Attorney General should implement the Green Amendment.
Introduction, 2024 Pace University
Navigating Murky Waters: State-Level Strategies For Wetland Preservation And Tile Drainage Regulation After Sackett V. Epa, 2024 University of South Dakota
Navigating Murky Waters: State-Level Strategies For Wetland Preservation And Tile Drainage Regulation After Sackett V. Epa, Caleb M. Swanson
Honors Thesis
Wetlands are some of the world’s most valuable ecosystems, serving as provisioners of species habitat, carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, water quality purification, and other ecosystem services. Human development has resulted in substantial wetland loss the world over. In the 1970s, the United States Congress passed the Clean Water Act, giving the EPA broad authority over wetland protection. However, in the summer of 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided Sackett v. EPA, limiting the EPA’s jurisdiction over wetlands to those indistinguishably connected to generally recognized “Waters of the United States” and removing federal protection for millions of acres of wetlands, …
What The Trust? Overcoming Barriers To Renewable Energy Development In Indian Country, 2024 University of Montana
What The Trust? Overcoming Barriers To Renewable Energy Development In Indian Country, Malcolm M. Gilbert, Aspen B. Ward
Public Land & Resources Law Review
No abstract provided.
Avoiding The Pitfalls In Administrative Record Review Cases, 2024 University of Montana
Avoiding The Pitfalls In Administrative Record Review Cases, Kim Wilson, Brian Brammer
Public Land & Resources Law Review
No abstract provided.
Corner Crossing: Unlocking Public Lands Or Invading The Airspace Of Landowners?, 2024 University of Montana
Corner Crossing: Unlocking Public Lands Or Invading The Airspace Of Landowners?, Kevin Frazier
Public Land & Resources Law Review
No abstract provided.
States Of Mind Or State Of Crime: Exploring The Prosecution Of Environmental Crimes In The Western United States, 2024 University of Montana
States Of Mind Or State Of Crime: Exploring The Prosecution Of Environmental Crimes In The Western United States, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Ozymy
Public Land & Resources Law Review
No abstract provided.