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The Wicked Problem Of Zoning, Christopher Serkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Zoning is the quintessential wicked problem. Professors Rittel and Webber, writing in the 1970s, identified as “wicked” those problems that technocratic expertise cannot necessarily solve. Wicked problems arise when the very definition of the problem is contested and outcomes are not measured by “right and wrong” but rather by messier contests between winners and losers. This accurately characterizes the state of zoning and land use today.

Zoning is under vigorous and sustained attack from all sides. Conservatives have long decried regulatory interference with private development rights. More recently, progressive housing advocates have begun to criticize zoning for making thriving cities …

Wicked Problems, Foolish Decisions: Promoting Sustainability Through Urban Governance In A Complex World Symposium: Governing Wicked Problems, Scott D. Campbell, Moira Zellner

Vanderbilt Law Review

Why do wicked problems often give birth to bad policy choices? Put another way, why do people—in the face of complex social challenges—make misdiagnoses, ineffective decisions, or no decisions at all? Typical answers point to a plethora of suspects: impatience, myopia, political stalemate, narrow-mindedness, fear and risk aversion, hubris, greed, rational self-interest, ignorance, reliance on emotionally appealing but misleading anecdotal stories, misuse of evidence, and misunderstanding of uncertainty.

Amid these divergent explanations, two classes emerge: one lies in the shortcomings and mistakes of the problem solvers, and the other lies in the nature of the problem itself. One stance is …

The Use Of Spanish Moss As A Biological Indicator To Examine Relationships Between Metal Air Pollution, Vegetation Cover, And Environmental Equity In Tampa, Florida, Yousif Abdullah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies of inequality in exposure to less common air pollutants, like metals, are often limited by the costs of high spatial resolution measurements. Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is a promising bioindicator for measuring air pollution due to its lower cost, enabling capture of time-average environmental concentrations at high spatial resolution. This study had three major aims. First, I aimed to use Spanish moss as a bioindicator to characterize ambient concentrations of selected metals (Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cd, Hg, Pb, As, and Sb) in Tampa, Florida. My second goal was to determine the impact of vegetation cover on metals …

Climate Cages: Connecting Migration, The Carceral State, Extinction Rebellion, And The Coronavirus Through Cicero And 21 Savage, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Back To The Future: Creating A Bipartisan Environmental Movement For The 21st Century, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

With a contentious presidential election looming amidst a pandemic, economic worries, and historic protests against systemic racism, climate action may seem less pressing than other challenges. Nothing could be further from the truth. To prevent greater public health threats and economic dislocation from climate disruption, which will disproportionately harm Black Americans, people of color, and indigenous people, this Comment argues that we need to restore the bipartisanship that fueled the environmental movement and that the fate of the planet—and our children and grandchildren—depends upon our collective action.

Federal Public Lands Policy And The Climate Crisis And Proposed Policy: Sequential Mitigation And Net Conservation Benefit, Robert L. Fischman

Books & Book Chapters by Maurer Faculty

Professor Fischman's contributions to this colleciton include the sections, "Federal Public Lands Policy and the Climate Crisis" and "Proposed Policy: Sequential Mitigation and Net Conservation Benefit."

Energy Efficiency And Distributed Solar Energy Targeted To Underserved Communities: Perspectives On The Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act, Leroy C. (Lee) Paddock

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article focuses on one of the most comprehensive state laws adopted to date, aimed at significantly advancing energy efficiency and distributed solar generation in underserved communities, the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA). It begins by examining what constitutes energy justice and then discusses the disproportionate burdens and benefits related to energy production and use that underserved communities must deal with on a day-to-day basis. The Article then turns to a review of FEJA with a particular emphasis on the critical role community organizations played in designing, negotiating, and implementing the law. These efforts represent important development in both …

Lessons On Race And Place-Based Participation From Environmental Justice And Geography, Sonya Ziaja

All Faculty Scholarship

As scholars grapple with racism in Administrative Law, it is important to consider place-based scholarship from the perspectives of Environmental Justice and Geography. Both provide important insights into how administrative agencies can be instruments of strategic-structural racism and how administrative law can facilitate equity in regulation.

Regulating Micromobility: Examining Transportation Equity And Access, Karen Johnston, Deirdre A. Oakley, Audra Durham, Claire Bass, Stacie Kershner

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

This paper evaluates the various ways cities have or are attempting to address e-scooter usage equity concerns, with a focus on Atlanta, Georgia as compared to Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Los Angeles, California; and Portland, Oregon. The cities were evaluated by the laws in effect at the time of coding, which occurred during the project period of October through December 2019. To explore how existing laws and regulations affect access to e-scooters, this research was guided by the following overarching questions: How equitable is access to e-scooters? How can equitable access to e-scooters be improved? How can a data-driven …

Inequities Of Transit Access: The Case Of Atlanta, Ga, Christopher K. Wyczalkowski, Timothy Welch, Obed Pasha

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Public transportation systems are essential components of urban infrastructure, providing connectivity that contributes to the quality of life for urban dwellers. Particularly important for low-income populations, public transportation systems enhance access to jobs, markets, services, education, healthcare, recreation, and social networks. While low-income populations and minorities make up a disproportionately high share of transit ridership, theories such as spatial mismatch, social construction framework, and Critical Race Theory maintain that public transportation systems may not provide equitable connectivity to all riders. We utilize GIS and regression models to examine the relationship between transit connectivity and poverty, asking whether connectivity is evenly …

Institutional Framework For Open Space Conservation, Janice Griffith

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Finding an effective approach to conserve large-scale, multipurpose open spaces through a coordinated network across jurisdictional boundary lines has proved elusive. Because open space infrastructure serves so many functions ranging from recreational trails to ecological systems protection, decision makers have often treated open space as a subpart of another activity and overlooked its importance. After discussing the benefits of open space conservation, this article analyzes the impediments to its realization. Noting the institutional fragmentation that surrounds open space conservation, the article discusses the governmental and private sector bodies that implement actions designed to achieve it. The article argues that open …

Harvey: Environmental Justice And Law, Andrea Giampetro-Meyer, Nancy Kubasek

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And The Human Rights Responsibilities Of Business Enterprises, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The causes of climate change and solutions to it are inherently tied to non-state actors, including businesses. As multinational business enterprises are at the heart of global emissions, historical and current, it is vital to understand how the attribution of climate change impacts goes beyond the responsibilities of states. The first lawsuits targeting companies have begun. Meanwhile, businesses are increasingly focused on sustainability at different levels of their organizations, including by endorsement of business responsibilities for human rights. What independent responsibilities do business enterprises have when they undertake to respect the human rights of those who are vulnerable to climate …

Cle Working Paper No.1/2020--Rights Of Nature Legislation For British Columbia: Issues And Options, Rachel Garrett, Stepan Wood

Centre for Law and the Environment

This paper explores how the rights of nature could be protected through legislation in British Columbia (BC). Canada is far behind other countries in protecting rights of nature. Canadian law does not currently recognize the rights of nature in any meaningful way. Numerous statutes in Canada making nature—from fisheries to wildlife, to the land itself—the exclusive property of humans, with no inherent right to exist, flourish or be restored. We explore two potential avenues for protecting the rights of nature in British Columbia: 1) amendment of existing legislation, and 2) a new stand-alone rights of nature statute. We examine trailblazing …

Governor Northam’S Executive Order 43: One Stone And Two Birds For Virginia Energy Policy, Antonia M. Douglas

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Climate Policy & Environmental Justice Recommendations For Colorado: Environmental Justice And The Climate Action Plan To Reduce Pollution, Kevin J. Lynch, Edwin Lamair, Evan Healey

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This report was primarily drafted in the Spring of 2019, as the Colorado Legislature considered, and ultimately enacted, HB 19-1261. Since that time, developments have only highlighted the critical importance of considering the justice impacts of any public health and environmental responses to the threat of climate change. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the stark racial and class disparities that environmental conditions have on the health of a community. The same facilities and mobile sources that emit climate pollution also typically emit particulate matter and smogforming pollution that cause respiratory illness in many communities. These underlying conditions are …

Making The Case For A Right To A Healthy Environment For The Protection Of Vulnerable Communities: A Case Of Coal-Ash Disaster In Puerto Rico, Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The connection between the environment and human rights is not a surprising one. The enjoyment of human rights depends on a person’s ability to live free from interference and to have his or her rights protected. The interdependence of human rights and the protection of the environment is manifested in the full and effective enjoyment of the right to a healthy environment. This article argues that in order to protect vulnerable persons and communities facing environmental harm, a human rights framework—specifically the right to a healthy environment—must be applied. A human rights approach complements environmental justice work, recognizing that individuals …

Analysis Of Environmental Law Scholarship 2018-2019, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Courtney A. Tibbetts, Linda K. Breggin, Elizabeth A. Holden

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to highlight the results of the ELPAR article selection process and to report on the environmental legal scholarship for the 2018-2019 academic year, including the number of environmental law articles published in general law reviews versus environmental law journals, and the topics covered in the articles. We also present the top 20 articles that met ELPAR's criteria of persuasiveness, impact, feasibility, and creativity, from which five articles were selected to republish in shortened form, some of them with commentaries from leading practitioners and policymakers. Thus, the goal of this article is to provide an …

Black Lives Matter In Engineering, Too! An Environmental Justice Approach Towards Equitable Decision-Making For Stormwater Management In African American Communities, Maya Elizabeth Carrasquillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States and the world have recently been challenged with the disparate effects of COVID-19 and the continual killings of unarmed Black men and women across the nation. A history of anti-black racism has led to systemic structures of inequity that thread throughout institutions and communities across the nation. This environmental engineering research comes at a time when understanding how to effectively engage in, and with Black communities is at the forefront of discourse in academia, utilities and private sector.

In 2018 the Brookings Institute published a report on workforce in the water sector demonstrating the lack of diversity …

Modern Provisions In Investment Treaties, Jesse Coleman

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Governments are pursuing substantive and procedural reform of the international investment regime in recognition that there are fundamental, systemic, and interrelated concerns about current approaches to investment governance, and that current approaches have failed to meet their purported objectives.

A vast majority of the 1,023 publicly-known treaty-based claims have been brought under “old-generation” treaties. In 2018, for example, 60% of such claims were brought under treaties originally concluded in the 1990s or earlier, and all but one was filed under a pre-2011 treaty. These old-generation treaties include vague and far-reaching obligations for states, generally do not include any reference to …

The Green New Deal And Green Transitions, Nicholas Bryner

All Scholarship

In February 2019, Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey introduced a "Green New Deal" Resolution in Congress, calling for a tenyear mobilization toward action on climate change, socioeconomic inequality, and other issues. A Green New Deal--evoking the language of FDR-erapolicy--envisions a transition to a green economy that is integrated with concern for the social and economic welfare of those who are most harmed by environmental degradation and those who are most likely to be displaced by the reinvention ofU.S. infrastructure and energy systems. This Article addresses the need for engaging with regulatory transition theory in order to assess the legal, policy …

Assessing The Performance Of Voluntary Environmental Programs, Luis Inaraja Vera

Utah Law Review

In recent years, government agencies have increasingly relied on voluntary programs to achieve a variety of goals, from improving worker safety to creating healthier living conditions in urban areas. This type of government initiative is based on a bargain between the agency and private citizens: the government provides certain incentives—economic or otherwise—and private actors voluntarily adopt behaviors that benefit the public. One example is cleaning up a contaminated site and building an affordable housing project.

While agencies have made substantial progress since the creation of the first voluntary programs, much work remains. To move forward in this area, and especially …

Indigenous Rights And Climate Change: The Influence Of Climate Change On The Quantification Of Reserved Instream Water Rights For American Indian Tribes, Dylan R. Hedden-Nicely, Lucius K. Caldwell

Utah Law Review

The people indigenous to the Western portion of the lands now referred to as North America have relied on aquatic species for physical, cultural, and spiritual sustenance for millenia. Such indigenous peoples, referred to in the American legal system as Indian tribes, are entitled to water rights for fish habitat pursuant to the Winters Doctrine, which holds that the federal government impliedly reserved water rights for tribes when reservations were created. Recently, the methodology for quantifying these rights has been the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) and/or one of its major components, the Physical Habitat Simulation Model (PHABSIM). These models …

Session 3: Virtual Luncheon Session, Student Submissions

SITIE Symposiums

A Working Lunch brainstorming discussion, moderated by Professor Smirniotopoulos, to discuss “What Comes Next?” in the context of Innovating the Built Environment: How the Law Responds to Disruptive Change.

Registered students in Prof. Smirniotopoulos’s Innovating the Built Environment course will take one-to-two minutes each to present their initial project ideas for their Final Projects in the course, as well as outlining and moderating a discussion of the Challenges and Opportunities presented by their ideas. Symposium participants are encouraged to set up lunch in front of their computers and participate actively in discussing each student’s project idea, providing relevant …

Indigenous Feminism Perspectives On Environmental Justice, Deborah Mcgregor

Articles & Book Chapters

In this chapter, you will learn about the emergence of a distinct theoretical, methodological, and practical approach for accounting for gender in relation to environmental justice called Indigenous feminism. Indigenous feminism will be defined and outlined as an important field of study to advance the contributions, insights, rights, and responsibilities of Indigenous women. While the ideology of feminism has been in existence for decades, Indigenous feminism has only recently emerged. Joyce Green, an Indigenous scholar, writes that Indigenous feminism seeks to “raise issues of colonialism, racism and sexism and unpleasant synergies between these three violations of human rights” (Green, 2007, …

Hatching A Plan For Local Communities: Environmental Justice In Poultry Siting Decisions, Diana Stanley

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

One of the implementation problems for environmental justice is reconciling the need to protect public health with the economic realities of struggling communities. This article explores that tension through the lens of siting decisions for large scale poultry operations in rural communities. Poultry siting decisions have major economic and environmental impacts and have been underdiscussed in the environmental justice literature. This article focuses on the role of law and policy in concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) siting— from community benefit agreements to Right to Farm legislation. It uses a Kansas CAFO siting and the wider Kansas experience as a case …

Table Of Contents

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Concerning Catskill: Missed Opportunity, Broken Precedent And The Plight Of American Waters, Chase Corey

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As society progresses and the population grows, uninhibited and unregulated pollution has become a pressing dilemma for current and future generations. Whether it is plastic on the beaches, oil in the oceans, or smog in the air, modern citizens of the Earth face a daily onslaught of visible consequences from the actions of polluters. But what about the not so visible consequences? Every day there is pollution occurring at a microscopic level, yet many are unaware of its presence. This infinitesimal issue is nutrient pollution, and despite its diminutive cause, it is deeply affecting one of the world’s most vital …

Environmental Justice: Law, Policy & Regulation, Clifford Villa, Nadia Ahmad, Rebecca Bratspies, Roger Lin, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Eileen Gauna, Catherine O'Neill

Faculty Book Display Case

Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, & Regulation explores theory and practice in this dynamic subject, which fuses environmental law and civil rights enforcement. From early concerns over toxic waste in minority communities, environmental justice expanded to consider the range of environmental threats facing poor, immigrant, and indigenous communities; women, children, and seniors; and other vulnerable populations. This third edition provides extensively updated materials to address environmental justice concerns today, including oil drilling in the Arctic, the Dakota Access Pipeline, drinking water contamination in Flint, and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Featuring new chapters addressing disaster justice and …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Spring 2020, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.